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Village Technologies 5

The credibility and effectiveness of country climate targets under the Paris Agreement requires that, in all greenhouse gas (GHG) sectors, the accounted mitigation outcomes reflect genuine deviations from the type and magnitude of activities generating emissions in the base year or baseline. This is challenging for the forestry sector, as the future net emissions can change irrespective of actual management activities, because of age-related stand dynamics resulting from past management and natural disturbances. The solution implemented under the Kyoto Protocol (2013–2020) was accounting mitigation as deviation from a projected (forward-looking) “forest reference level”, which considered the age-related dynamics but also allowed including the assumed future implementation of approved policies. This caused controversies, as unverifiable counterfactual scenarios with inflated future harvest could lead to credits where no change in management has actually occurred, or conversely, failing to reflect in the accounts a policy-driven increase in net emissions. Instead, here we describe an approach to set reference levels based on the projected continuation of documented historical forest management practice, i.e. reflecting age-related dynamics but not the future impact of policies. We illustrate a possible method to implement this approach at the level of the European Union (EU) using the Carbon Budget Model. Using EU country data, we show that forest sinks between 2013 and 2016 were greater than that assumed in the 2013–2020 EU reference level under the Kyoto Protocol, which would lead to credits of 110–120 Mt CO2/year (capped at 70–80 Mt CO2/year, equivalent to 1.3% of 1990 EU total emissions). By modelling the continuation of management practice documented historically (2000–2009), we show that these credits are mostly due to the inclusion in the reference levels of policy-assumed harvest increases that never materialized. With our proposed approach, harvest is expected to increase (12% in 2030 at EU-level, relative to 2000–2009), but more slowly than in current forest reference levels, and only because of age-related dynamics, i.e. increased growing stocks in maturing forests. Our science-based approach, compatible with the EU post-2020 climate legislation, helps to ensure that only genuine deviations from the continuation of historically documented forest management practices are accounted toward climate targets, therefore enhancing the consistency and comparability across GHG sectors. It provides flexibility for countries to increase harvest in future reference levels when justified by age-related dynamics. It offers a policy-neutral solution to the polarized debate on forest accounting (especially on bioenergy) and supports the credibility of forest sector mitigation under the Paris Agreement. In order to achieve the Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C” , countries “should take action to conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases […], including forests” (Art 5.1 of the Paris Agreement) and “are encouraged to take action to implement and support […] activities relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation” (Art 5.2). A high expectation for forest mitigation emerges both in countries’ climate targets (i.e., the nationally determined contributions, NDCs), where forests are assumed to provide up to a quarter of planned emission reductions by 2030 , and in estimates of land-based mitigation potential and pathways to achieve 2° . Globally, most of the cost-effective mitigation potential is expected from avoided deforestation in the tropics . However, the management of temperate and boreal forests also offers a rich portfolio of effective mitigation options (e.g. ), including conserving and enhancing the existing sink and using wood-based products to reduce emissions in other sectors through material and energy substitution . Furthermore, when countries “account” for the impact of mitigation actions towards their NDCs (including the forest sector), they “shall promote environmental integrity, transparency, accuracy, completeness, comparability and consistency, and ensure the avoidance of double counting” (Art 4.13 of the Paris Agreement). In order to achieve the most cost-effective mitigation and to ensure no displacement of emissions among GHG sectors, countries are required (or encouraged, for developing countries) to commit to economy-wide mitigation targets (Art 4.4 of the Paris Agreement). In these kinds of targets, the fungibility across sectors requires that mitigation contributions from different GHG sectors are consistent and comparable, i.e. “one ton of carbon” in one sector should correspond to “one ton of carbon” in other sectors. In principle, within an economy-wide target expressed relative to a base year (or baseline), future net GHG emissions from all sectors should be compared to the net GHG emissions of the base year (or baseline), and any resulting reduction of emissions may be considered to reflect changes in management (i.e., in the type and magnitude of activities, due to policy or market drivers) and consequently a mitigation effort. However, this approach does not necessarily work for existing forests. Assessing the mitigation outcomes in the forest sector is more complex than in other GHG sectors (e.g., energy, agriculture). This is because it can be hard to disentangle the simultaneous natural and anthropogenic processes that determine forest-related fluxes. Moreover, unlike other sectors, future emissions and removals in forests can change over time as a result of forest characteristics such as age-class distributions, which are largely determined by past forest management and natural disturbances . Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), this complexity has been addressed through a distinction between “reporting” and “accounting” of GHG fluxes, which is unique for the sector “land use, land-use change and forestry” (LULUCF, [8, 9]). “Reporting” refers to the inclusion of estimates of anthropogenic GHG fluxes in national GHG inventories, following the methodological guidance provided by the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC). As a pragmatic solution for reporting anthropogenic fluxes under UNFCCC, the IPCC developed the “managed land proxy”. This assumes that all GHG fluxes occurring on land identified by the country as “managed land” are “anthropogenic” [10, 11]. The GHG inventories reported under the UNFCCC should, in principle, aim to reflect “what the atmosphere sees” in managed lands, within the limits given by the method used and the data available. In the context of mitigation targets (e.g. under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement), “accounting” refers to the comparison of emissions and removals with the target and quantifies progress toward the target. Targets are typically expressed relative to the emissions in a base year (or baseline), thus the accounted mitigation outcomes should reflect genuine deviations from the activities generating emissions in the base year (or baseline). For the LULUCF sector, specific “accounting rules” may be applied to filter reported flux estimates with the aim to better quantify the results of mitigation actions (and implicitly to reflect a deviation from a historical or business-as-usual management). LULUCF accounting then produces “debits” or “credits” (i.e. extra emissions or extra emission reductions, respectively) that count toward the target. This should provide appropriate incentives/disincentives for beneficial/detrimental actions and help assessing the effectiveness of policy measures . At the same time, credibility in LULUCF accounting is required to give confidence that credits are not earned when mitigation has not occurred. Note that the “filtering” done by LULUCF accounting may be important in the context of the NDCs—to help ensuring comparability and consistency across sectors and countries—but it does not necessarily apply for assessing the “balance” between global anthropogenic GHG emissions and removals in the second half of this century (Art. 4.1 of the Paris Agreement). The “balance” refers more to “what the atmosphere sees”, reflecting the collective countries’ progress, rather than to the impact of individual country’s mitigation actions. Although the modalities for assessing “balance” under the Global Stocktake (Art 14) are still under discussion, all the “anthropogenic” removals reported for managed lands in GHG inventories are expected to be taken into account , including those that do not necessarily reflect a deviation from historical management. For land that experiences human-induced forest conversions (i.e. afforestation, reforestation or deforestation), the quantification of the mitigation actions is straightforward because the GHG fluxes are clearly result of direct human actions. Thus under the Kyoto Protocol all forest conversion fluxes reported under UNFCCC are accounted towards mitigation targets. However, the problem of disentangling the impact of mitigation efforts in extant forests (i.e. “forest remaining forest” in country GHG inventories, including areas classified as forest for at least 20 years) is more complex. Legacy effects, resulting from past natural disturbances and forest management activities, determine today’s forest age-class distribution and in turn future emissions and removals . In this situation, countries could be “penalized” if forests are getting older, because the net sink may decrease due to age-related effects (e.g., lower increment generally associated with older forests) and not with changes in management. Conversely, countries may benefit from increasing sinks in young existing forests without implementation of deliberate changes in forest management that happen subsequent to the base year (e.g., sinks could be due to recovery from past disturbance). Despite several efforts to develop widely acceptable accounting rules, assessing the mitigation outcomes in extant forests has always been a controversial topic during climate negotiations, affecting adversely the credibility of the forest sink mitigation and its comparability with other GHG sectors [13–16]. The solution adopted under the 1st commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008–2012)—i.e. a simple cap applied to the GHG flux of extant forests, to reflect that this flux was not entirely anthropogenic—has been widely criticized for limiting the incentive for further mitigation action . To better reflect the deviation from a business-as-usual management of mitigation actions, the concept of a projected (forward-looking) “reference level” was developed. The reference level provides a counterfactual business-as-usual scenario of what future net emissions would be, against which the actual future net emissions can be compared [7, 12, 17]. If mitigation actions beyond the business-as-usual management resulted in changes in net emissions, then this will be reflected in the difference between the business-as-usual reference level and the actual emissions. This concept was adopted for accounting the mitigation by extant forest under the 2nd commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (KP-CP2, 2013–2020) , with an additional “cap” on any resulting accounted “credit” which is equal to 3.5% of total emissions (in all sectors) in the base year (e.g. 1990). To this aim, Annex 1 (i.e., developed) countries submitted projected forest reference levels in 2011 following a specific UNFCCC guidance . Importantly, these reference levels under the Kyoto Protocol included the projected impact of not only age-related dynamics, but in some cases also of the assumed future implementation of domestic policies adopted by 2009. For example, pre-2009 policies allowing increasing harvest up to a certain % of the increment, or planning new biomass power plants (which require additional harvest), were included in some reference levels . This was controversial, as it opens up the possibility of inflating future expectations of emissions, in order to make targets easier to meet [15, 16, 21–23]. Despite these concerns, reference levels have been generally seen as a step forward in accounting for mitigation through the forest sector. In the EU, forests have recently been accumulating more timber volume (growing stock) than was harvested : for the period 2000–2016, they acted as a average net sink of ≈ 430 Mt CO2/year, equivalent to about 9% of total EU GHG emissions over the same period . Most of this sink (≈ 380 Mt CO2/year) occurs in the “forest remaining forest” category, with the remainder in the “land converted to forest” (including afforestation or reforestation) category. Since forests are getting older in most EU countries, and because older forests grow more slowly, the extent to which this sink may be sustained in the near future is uncertain . In addition, new policies will likely increase harvest (e.g., ), leading to a possible reduction of the sink over the next few decades. In the context of the discussion on the inclusion of the LULUCF sector in the EU 2030 climate targets and thus in the EU NDC to the Paris Agreement, the approach and criteria to set the projected “forest reference levels” (FRLs) for post-2020 have triggered controversy and much debate, especially in relation to forest bioenergy (e.g. [15, 29]). The controversy is, in simple terms: if the forest sink decreases as a result of an increase in harvest driven by policies (e.g. support for biomass use for energy, leading to increase in wood demand), should this reduced forest sink be reflected in the accounting toward the EU NDC target? Some country and forest stakeholders consider that any increase in harvest in the context of existing “sustainable forest management policies” (e.g., harvesting potentially up to the full forest growth increment) should be allowed without generating accounting “debits” (see e.g. ). The proponents of this approach argue that they have growing forests due to their past management and thus should be able to harvest this growth so long as they are not reducing stocks. Enabling such an increase in harvest without debits would be similar to the approach implemented in the KP-CP2, i.e. allowing for inclusion in the reference level of a projected (assumed) policy-driven increase in harvesting (i.e. a “demand-side” projection), and the related reduction in the net carbon sink. However, does this approach truly reflect a genuine deviation from a business-as-usual management? And is this approach comparable with the way GHG emissions are treated in other sectors? The aim of our study is to present a credible approach for the accounting of forest mitigation that is consistent and comparable to the way GHG emissions are treated in other sectors, while avoiding potentially “unfair” outcomes associated with the possible future decline of the forest sink (or the increase of forest harvest) because of age-related dynamics. We first assess the EU-level impact of including the assumed future effect of policies in the forest reference levels under the Kyoto Protocol, based on the country GHG reporting available so far (2013–2016). Based on the lessons learnt under the Kyoto Protocol, and building on a previous methodological report , we propose our approach for a more credible accounting of the forest sink mitigation outcomes and illustrate a possible method to implement it. We then apply this method in the EU, using the Carbon Budget Model [31, 32], and discuss the implications of our findings in the context of EU policy, the Paris Agreement and the recent debates on bioenergy accounting. The calculation the forest reference levels under the Kyoto Protocol CP2 (called “forest management reference levels”, FMRLs), submitted and technically assessed in 2011 , considered the effects of age-related stand dynamics and implicitly allowed for inclusion of the assumed future implementation of domestic policies that had already been approved. The data reported by EU countries for the period 2013–2016 shows that the observed annual harvest at EU level was significantly lower (about 45 Mm3/year less) than that projected in FMRLs (Fig. 1a). This discrepancy may be explained by various factors, including an under-estimation of the impact of the 2009 economic crisis, and other factors that mean policies to increase harvest had not been implemented. This difference in projected vs. actual harvest, in turn, led to a reported forest sink in the 2018 GHG inventories that is much greater than the projected FMRL sink (Fig. 1b). Using the available information on HWP and on “technical corrections” (i.e. corrections to be applied when accounting, to ensure methodological consistency ), the amount of forest credits at EU level would be about 110–120 Mt CO2/year (or about 70–80 Mt CO2/year, equivalent to 1.3% of 1990 EU total emissions, when the “3.5% cap” on credits is applied). These estimates are preliminary, because they are based only on the first 4 years out of the eight of the KP-CP2. Based on the lessons learnt under the Kyoto Protocol, we developed an approach for a more credible accounting of the forest sink mitigation. Our approach is based on the principle that the accounting of mitigation outcomes should reflect fully the impact of changes in forest management practice (policy- or market-driven) relative to a historical reference period, similarly to the way GHG emissions are treated in other sectors. As a consequence, we propose that forest reference levels are projected assuming the business-as-usual “continuation of documented historical forest management practice”. This approach considers the country-specific forest characteristics and the forest age-related dynamic, but does not include assumptions on the future impact of policies (see “Methods” for details). We estimated the harvest (Fig. 2a) and the forest sink (Fig. 2b) at EU level for the period 2009–2030, assuming the continuation of the forest management practice documented for the historical reference period (RP) 2000–2009. The historical and future evolution of net emissions from harvested wood products (HWP, Fig. 3) reflects the balance between the carbon inflow (affected by the current harvest) and the outflow (affected, among other things, by the long-term turnover rate of HWP commodities, influenced by past harvest rates). The influence of the inflow is evident comparing Figs. 2a and 3: the rapid increase in harvest observed between 2000 and 2007, followed by a rapid decline in 2008–2009 (Fig. 2a), is also partly reflected in the historical HWP trend (Fig. 3). Our estimated continuation of historical management practice produced a trend of a slightly increasing HWP “sink” up to 2030 (Fig. 3), because of the increased inflow associated with increased harvest. Figure 4 shows the long-term evolution (1960–2010) of the historical net forest increment (rate of annual growth) and harvest at EU level (based on ), alongside our estimates of future increment and harvest expected up to 2030 assuming the continuation of historical forest management practice. Our projections suggest a slight decline in the net increment, consistent with the recent trend reported by EU forest inventories and in the scientific literature (e.g. ): after a long-lasting increase in net forest increment from 1960s to early 2000s, from around 2005 the forest increment at EU level showed the first signs of saturation and possible slight decline. It should be noted that our simulations do not incorporate the impact of environmental change (e.g. temperature, CO2), the effects of which have been a net sink in northern temperate regions during recent decades . Since the biomass available for wood supply is expected to increase in the future (due to forest aging), application of our method means the absolute harvest volumes are also going up. This means that at the EU level, based on our results for the scenario of continuation of historical forest management practice, the proportion of harvest to net increment (i.e. the % of net increment that can be harvested as part of the reference level, i.e. without debits) is expected to increase by more than 10% in 2021–2030 relative to 2000–2009. The approach that we propose is based on the principle that the accounting of forest mitigation outcomes should reflect fully the impact of changes in forest management practice relative to a historical reference period. This allows the accounting of forest mitigation to be more comparable to other GHG sectors, and thus more credible, because all sectors implicitly reflect the impact of policy/management changes relative to a base year or period. This is a key feature of economy-wide climate targets under the Paris Agreement, where “one ton of carbon” in one sector should correspond to “one ton of carbon” in other sectors. For instance, for a given area the emissions from the Agriculture sector depend, among other things, on the management of agricultural soils (e.g. on the amount of nitrogen fertilization). If this management remains constant, the associated emissions also remain constant. If some management practice changes, emissions also change (relative to a base year), and the reporting and accounting will reflect the emissions including the change. For the areas of existing forests (“forest remaining forest”) the age-related dynamics complicate things for two reasons. First, growth rates are age dependent, and the age-class distribution of a landscape, which reflects past natural and human disturbances, therefore affects future growth. Second, the current forest management may be, e.g., to harvest a certain forest species at 80 years. The total amount of future harvest (i.e., a key driver of forest net emissions) does not only depend on the age at which harvest occurs, but also on the amount of forest area which reaches 80 years in a given period, i.e. on long-term legacy effects generated by past management and natural disturbances. One may continue the same management (e.g., harvest at 80 years) but the total amount of harvest over time will increase or decrease depending on the age structure of the forests. As a consequence, measuring the forest mitigation performance relative to the absolute emissions and removals of the base year (or period) may lead to outcomes that reflect age-related legacy effects rather than changes in forest management, with accounted credits and debits therefore not reflecting mitigation efforts. We address this challenge by proposing to account the forest sink mitigation as deviation from a projected “forest reference level” (FRL) estimated assuming the “continuation of documented historical forest management practice”. This approach is based on three key concepts. First, the method reflects continuation of management practice that is documentable, quantifiable and reviewable for a historical Reference Period (RP) comparable to the base year used in other GHG sectors. Forest management practice may be defined in different ways, based on country-specific circumstances. This typically includes the operations aimed at fulfilling specific forest functions (production, protection, etc.), such as the regeneration modality (natural or artificial) and the schedule and intensity of thinnings and final cut (e.g. ). Our approach simply requires identifying and documenting the country-specific forest management practices in the RP by using the best available data and quantifiable country-defined operational criteria (e.g., age, diameter, volume, etc.). Second, the projection fully reflects the country-specific age-related forestry dynamics. To this aim, the continuation of forest management practice is combined with the expected changes in forest characteristics (e.g. biomass available for wood supply, net increment) as estimated deterministically from age-related dynamics after the RP. Third, the projection does not include the assumed impact that existing or future policies and markets (i.e. demand-side dynamics) may have on future forest management practices. This represents the main difference with the approach under the Kyoto Protocol, where the assumed future impact of pre-2009 policies on the projected forest management was implicitly allowed. However, our approach will inherently reflect—through the documentation of management practice during the RP—the already observed impact of policies and markets enacted during the RP. Therefore, our approach is flexible to accommodate country-specific circumstances yet is science-based, because it builds on documentable and reviewable past management practices (and does not include unreviewable assumptions on the future impacts of policies). The main aim of our approach is to enable a scientifically robust, transparent and credible accounting of forest mitigation, making it more similar to the way GHG emissions are treated in other sectors, while avoiding potentially “unfair” outcomes associated with the possible projected decline of the forest sink or increase of forest harvest because of age-related dynamics. At the same time, our approach maintains the appropriate incentives/disincentives for beneficial/detrimental actions, i.e. the positive or negative atmospheric impact of changes in management relative to the historical period are fully reflected in the accounts. While the concepts above are particularly relevant for the EU, because of the predominant role of age structure dynamics in determining EU forest GHG fluxes, our approach is potentially applicable to all countries. Building on an earlier methodological report supporting the EU legislative LULUCF proposal , here we illustrate and implement at EU level a method aimed at implementing the principle above. Our method helps to distinguish between a change in harvest rate that results from policy changes, from a change in harvest that is independent of policy changes (see Methods for details). When implementing our method at EU level, here we used 2000–2009 as the RP. This RP ensures a good comparability with other GHG sectors (whose targets are expressed relative to 2005) and excludes the impact of national policies that, following the adoption of the 2009 EU renewable energy directive, incentivized forest bioenergy and thus increased wood demand. The refined and more detailed approach and calculations presented in this paper should help clarifying some common misunderstanding of the approach as presented earlier and widely debated: First, the forest reference that we propose is not “an estimate of the average annual net emissions or removals realized in the past” (e.g. ), but incorporates fully the impact of age-related forest dynamics in future emissions and removals. Second, arguing that the continuation of historical forest management practices would lead to chose “incorrect harvesting strategies” implies that our approach aims to identifying uniquely the best harvesting strategy (for the propose of climate mitigation), which is not the case. The best forest mitigation strategy is the one that optimizes the sum of all mitigation options in a given (policy-determined) time frame, a complex task whose solution is very much country-specific (e.g., [6, 37]). If such country-specific solutions are identified and implemented, any resulting reductions in emissions or increases in sinks relative to the reference level will be accounted by countries. Therefore, our approach implicitly encourages those improvements to forest management that improve the net GHG balance. We note that other methods may exist that fulfill the principles above. For example, if a country has very precise information on the forest management practice that actually occurred during the historical RP, then the country may directly use this information, without necessarily performing all the specific calculations described here. Instead, our method has been specifically designed to be potentially also applicable when only generic information on historical management practice is available, which is the most likely situation. Our method, as any modeled projection, contains uncertainties, mainly related to the original input data and to methodological assumptions. Different factors, such as initial age class distribution (i.e., at the beginning of the model run), past natural disturbances (fires and storms), the criteria and timing for thinnings and final cuts, the share of harvest between different silvicultural operations and between different species, may considerably affect the projected age class distribution and, as a consequence, the future amount of harvest . Other sources of uncertainty are the future impact of natural disturbances and of climate change or atmospheric CO2 , not addressed in our study. The analysis presented here supports and reinforces previous suggestions (e.g. [16, 21, 23, 40, 41]), i.e. that including policy-driven harvest assumptions in the FRL risks compromising the accuracy and credibility of the forest accounting, as summarized and further developed in the following points. Risk of “”windfall” credits, i.e. credits for no activity: Based on the available data (Fig. 1), we show that the forest management sink reported at EU level for the first 4 years of the KP-CP2 (i.e. 2013–2016) would result in potential credits equal to about 110–120 Mt CO2/year (or 70–80 Mt CO2/year, with the cap on credits applied, equivalent to about 1.3% of 1990 EU total emissions). Our estimates based on the continuation of forest management practice documented during 2000–2009 (Fig. 2) suggest that most of these potential KP-CP2 forest credits do not reflect a genuine change in management, but are rather associated with the high projected harvest rates assumed at the time of setting the reference level (2011), and which have in fact not yet materialized. Although this analysis is preliminary, it raises legitimate doubts on the credibility of forest “credits” accounted as a result of deviations from policy assumptions that are essentially not reviewable from a technical point of view (a review of policy assumption may be perceived as a policy judgment, not acceptable under a review process, e.g. ). Adding a cut-off date on policies (e.g. 2009, as for KP-CP2) does not necessarily help, because policies approved before that date (e.g. plans of future new biomass power plants) may still potentially justify including a policy-assumed future increase of harvest in the reference level. Risk of “hiding emissions”, i.e. omitting policy-driven increases in emissions: From an atmospheric perspective, a reduction in the forest sink leads to more CO2 remaining in the atmosphere and is thus mathematically equivalent to a net increase in emissions. If this reduction in sink is driven by policy-related harvest increases, including it in the FRL means effectively “hiding” the impact of new or modified forest policies on resulting changes in forest management from the accounts. No other GHG sector is allowed to omit anthropogenic emissions from accounting. Even under “sustainable” forest management, e.g., when harvest does not exceed forest growth (so the forest carbon stock does not decline), omitting a policy-driven decrease of the sink from the accounts cannot be justified if credibility and comparability with other sectors is to be maintained. Should this be allowed, in the EU a loss of a sink of up to 380 Mt CO2/year (i.e. the current sink in forest remaining forest) could be “seen by the atmosphere” but disappear from the accounts. This issue of credibility and comparability holds true even if the policies behind the harvest increase are well justifiable from other perspectives (adaptation, bio-economy, stimulation of future sink, etc.). Both points above are linked to the cross-sectorial consistency and comparability. Higher harvest rates may reduce the forest sink, but use of the extra harvested wood may lead to increased carbon stored in wood products and extra emission reductions in other sectors, e.g. through the substitution of wood for other more emissions-intensive materials (e.g. cement) or fossil fuels for energy purposes. Regardless of whether or not these emission reductions in other sectors fully compensate the reduced LULUCF sink due to extra harvest, they will be implicitly fully counted in the non-LULUCF sectors. With specific regard to bioenergy, the IPCC guidance does not assume that bioenergy use is “carbon neutral” (i.e. that biomass combustion emissions are always compensated by regrowth), but that any carbon loss is reported (and implicitly accounted) under the LULUCF sector rather than under the energy sector, to avoid double counting. Including policies in the FRL (e.g., policies incentivizing forest bioenergy, which leads to increased wood demand) means factoring out the impact of such policies from the accounting. This would undermine the comparability with the other economic sectors, where the atmospheric impact (positive or negative) of any policy after the base year is fully reflected in the accounts. Therefore, to avoid bias through incomplete accounting, and to ensure consistency and comparability with other GHG sectors, the full impact of policy-based changes in harvest beyond the continuation of management practices should be accounted for in the LULUCF sector. There has recently been much debate within the EU on the proposed legislation for including LULUCF in the EU 2030 climate target . On the most controversial topic, i.e. on how to account forest mitigation through projected reference levels , the approach described here is compatible with the final EU LULUCF regulation . The implementation of our approach at EU level shows that harvest volumes are expected to increase by 9% in the period 2021–2030, relative to 2000–2009, with a consequent reduction of the sink (by about 15%). This increase in harvest is slower than that assumed under the Kyoto Protocol (for 2013–2020) and it reflects only age-related dynamics, i.e. the increased growing stocks in maturing forests require more harvest to continue the forest management practice documented historically. This extra harvest will in any case provide opportunities for additional mitigation through material and energy substitution, without generating “debits” against the reference level. On the other hand, the impact of actual deviations from the historical management practice will be reflected in the account, like in any other GHG sector. The decrease of the sink associated with our projected increase in harvest may be actually lower than we estimated. This is because our model runs did not include the impact of climate change or atmospheric CO2 on forest growth, which at EU level is likely to enhance growth (especially in Nordic countries )—although considerable uncertainty exists on the impact of natural disturbances ,—and because large opportunities exist to enhance forest growth through new management practices , beyond the business-as-usual continuation of historical management practice that we considered. The EU legislation on bioenergy mirrors international (IPCC) rules and relies on the fact that carbon emissions are fully accounted under LULUCF in each country from which the biomass originates. Where the LULUCF sector is included in the economy-wide and internationally agreed commitments (as for the EU), if emissions occur in the LULUCF sector from biomass used for energy, they would have to be compensated by emission reductions elsewhere in the economy . In this context, we think that our proposed approach on FRL will help reconcile the very polarized debate on the use of forest bioenergy (e.g. [46, 47]). As noted by , there are strong reasons to object to generalized statements on the climate effect of forest bioenergy. While an in depth analysis of the climate effects of forest bioenergy is outside the scope of this paper, we do note that our approach is policy-neutral: it does not assume a priori that increasing bioenergy is good or bad, but requires the atmospheric impact of any bioenergy use associated with changes in management to be fully reflected in the country LULUCF accounts. In that respect, our approach leaves entirely to the countries the evaluation of which mix of forest mitigation options (e.g., increasing the forest sink, increasing carbon storage in harvested wood products, or increasing energy and/or material substitution) is more effective in their specific circumstances. At the same time, our approach will represent, if implemented, a strong incentive for countries to promote those forms of wood uses and bioenergy (e.g., including the cascading use of wood ) whose impacts effectively reduce net GHG emissions, and discourage those which result in negative impacts on the atmosphere (e.g. ). The long-term goal of the Paris Agreement cannot be reached without a substantial and credible contribution from forests. Therefore, countries “should take action to conserve and enhance sinks”, and “shall promote environmental integrity, transparency, accuracy, completeness, comparability and consistency” in accounting towards their NDCs. While the forest sink can contribute to GHG emission reductions in many countries [2, 3, 6], the credibility of this option is often challenged. In the context of a possible lack of precise rules on forest accounting under the Paris Agreement, the approach proposed here, compatible with the new EU legislation, may represent a precedent that helps other countries to make the forest sector more comparable to other GHG sectors, and therefore supports the much-needed credibility of the forest sink mitigation . For the economy-wide country climate targets under the Paris Agreement to be credible, the accounts should reflect the atmospheric impact of all the changes in management activities (policy- or market-driven) relative to a base year (or baseline). This is challenging for the forest sector, because age-related legacy effects associated with past management and natural disturbances affect future net emissions. A way to address this challenge is accounting future mitigation as deviation from a projected (forward-looking) “forest reference level”. Under the Kyoto Protocol (2013–2020), these reference levels considered age-related forest dynamics, but also implicitly allowed the inclusion of the assumed future implementation of approved policies. We show why including policy assumptions in reference levels undermines the credibility of the accounting. Our analysis of provisional results (for 2013–2016) for the EU forest reference levels under the Kyoto Protocol indicates that most of the anticipated 110–120 Mt CO2/year of forest credits (capped at 70–80 Mt CO2/year, equal to about 1.3% of 1990 EU total emissions) do not reflect real mitigation actions but mostly deviations from policy-assumed increases of harvest that failed to materialise. Conversely, had these policies materialized, a policy-driven reduction in the EU forest sink (equivalent to an increase in net emissions) would have been omitted from the accounts. This is not comparable with the way emissions are treated in other GHG sectors. Instead we propose a science-based framework to assess the atmospheric impact of forest mitigation actions in the context of country climate targets. The main aim of our approach is to enable a transparent and credible accounting of forest mitigation, making it more similar to the way GHG emissions are treated in other sectors, while avoiding potentially unfair outcomes associated with the possible projected decline of the forest sink or increase of forest harvest because of age-related dynamics. To this aim, forest reference levels are projected assuming the continuation of historically documented forest management practices. This approach does not include assumptions on the future impact of policies but considers fully the country-specific forest characteristics and the age-related forest dynamics, i.e. depending on the age-class legacy resulting from past management and natural disturbances, continuation of historical forest management activities may lead to future increases or decreases in the carbon sink. As a result, countries are not “penalized” if forests get older, or past management successes result in increased available timber volumes in the future. The approach described here is compatible with the EU Regulation including the forest sector in the EU 2030 climate targets . We then illustrate, and apply at EU level, a possible method to implement this approach. Our results shows that, because of increased timber volumes resulting from aging forests in many EU countries, the continuation of historical forest management practice implies increasing harvest rates by about 12% in 2030 at EU level, relative to a historical reference period 2000–2009 (Fig. 2). This extra harvest, and the consequent reduction of the sink, are associated with age-related dynamics and not with policy changes, and therefore will not generate “debits” against the reference level. Our proposed approach offers a credible solution to the controversial debate on accounting the forest sink at the country level, particularly polarized in the case of forest bioenergy, and helps to increase the transparency and scientific credibility of forest mitigation within the Paris Agreement. We analyzed the impact of the Forest Management Reference Level (FMRL) used for the KP-CP2 on the potential accounting credits from ‘forest management’ (FM) at EU level, for the period 2013–2016. This analysis is preliminary, because only the first 4 years of the eight of the KP-CP2 are assessed. We compared the values of projected harvest and sink included in the EU countries’ FMRL submissions (2011) with recent published data on actual values, i.e. FAO and other country statistics for the harvest , and the 2018 GHG inventories for the sink in the ‘forest remaining forest’ (F–F) category . To facilitate the comparison and have a longer time series, here we use F–F (as reported in the 2018 GHG inventories for 1990–2016) as proxy for FM (as reported under KP only for 2013–2016); although in specific countries F–F and FM may slightly differ for the years 2013–2016 (F–F includes the area being forest for at least 20 years, while FM includes the area being forest since 1990), the difference at the EU level is negligible (< 1%). The data on F–F sink were complemented by the available information (from 2018 GHG inventories) on harvested wood products (HWP) and on “technical corrections” (i.e. corrections to ensure methodological consistency between the FMRL and reported GHG estimates ), in order to obtain a preliminary estimate of the potential FM credits at EU level for the period 2013–2016, with or without the “cap” of forest credits. The conceptual framework that we propose for accounting mitigation from forest management is based on the principle that the accounting of mitigation outcomes should reflect fully the impact of changes in forest management practice (policy- or market-driven) relative to a historical reference period. This principle makes the forest accounting comparable to other GHG sectors. The approach that we propose aims to fulfill the above principle through a “forest reference level” (FRL) based on projected business-as-usual continuation of historical management practice, i.e. continuing the forest management practice documented in a historical Reference Period (RP). This RP is comparable to the base year used in other GHG sectors. This approach builds on documentable and reviewable past management practices (that should be defined by the country), fully reflects the country-specific age-related forestry dynamics, and does not include unreviewable assumptions about the future impacts of policies. In other words, our approach is based on the supply-side deterministic evolution of forest resources, but ignores the demand-side dynamics (i.e. possible future impact of policies and markets). The principle and concepts above may be implemented with different methods. For instance, if a country has very precise information on the forest management practice that actually occurred during the historical RP, based on model reconstructions and/or silvicultural management plans and thinning and harvest records for individual stands (e.g., for even-aged Norway spruce privately owned, final clear-cut occurs at 90 years and thinning of 20% of biomass occurs at 25, 40 and 55 years, etc.), the model may directly use this information. In this case, which is very data intensive, the harvest would be an output of the model. However, a second case is more likely, i.e. that information on management practice during the RP can be expressed only through ranges, based on plans, silvicultural books or expert judgment (e.g. for even-aged Norway spruce privately owned, final clear-cut occurs between 80 and 140 years and thinning occurs anywhere between 20 and 60 years). For this latter case (information on management practice expressed as ranges), we developed and implemented at EU level a possible (i.e., non-exclusive) method to implement the principle outlined above. In the following two sections, we first illustrate the key steps of this method, largely following an earlier methodological report supporting the EU LULUCF legislation, and then we describe the implementation of this method at EU level with the Carbon Budget Model. The purpose of this section is to illustrate the key methodological steps applied to produce the results shown in the next sections. For further details, see . Step 1. Stratify the area of “forest remaining forest” (F–F), based on national circumstances and data availability. Each stratum is typically characterized by specific management objectives and supporting practices which may depend, among other things (Duncker et al. ), on (i) predetermined (and largely un-modifiable) conditions, such as the climate and bio-geophysical site conditions; (ii) the forest species/type, and (iii) the functions assigned to a certain forest area (production, protection, recreation, etc.), affected also by the ownership. Step 2. Identify and document the forest management practices for each stratum during the RP, using the best available data. Each management practice (e.g. thinning and final cut) is described through quantifiable country-defined “operational criteria” (e.g., age, diameter or volume at which thinning or final harvest occurs) representing the most plausible estimate of the practices applied during the RP. For example, an even-aged conifer high forest (i.e., a forest originated from seed or from planted seedlings), whose main function is timber production, may require a clearcut between 60 and 100 years, while an uneven-aged mixed forest requires partial or selective cutting. Step 3. Project the evolution of F–F area. This area may change in time due to two dynamic processes, i.e. area of “land converted to forest” entering the F–F category (after a transition period, typically 20 years), and area of F–F converted to other land-uses (i.e. deforestation). While for the gross expansion of F–F area data from GHG inventories can be used (i.e. the area of land converted to forest in the period 2001–2005 is typically expected to enter the F–F category in 2021–2025), for deforestation it can be assumed that the past rate of deforestation (as documented in the country GHG inventory for the RP) will continue. Step 4. Project the future carbon gains (step 4.1, forest increment) and losses (step 4.2, i.e., harvest, mortality, natural disturbances) in each forest carbon pool and stratum of F–F, and then project the carbon stock change in harvested wood products pool (HWP, step 4.3). Step 4.1. The forest increment is calculated by combining, for each stratum, the expected evolution of increment (i.e. as affected by age structure and yield curves) with the continuation of the management practices described in step 2. Iterations with step 4.2 may be needed. Step 4.2. Here we summarize the procedure to calculate the carbon losses due to future harvest expected under the continuation of the management practices (for other losses and non-CO2 emissions, see ). For each stratum and management practice, the following sub-steps need to be implemented (see Fig. 5). Calculate the “biomass available for wood supply” during the historical RP, BAWSRP (including wood for energy uses). This BAWS is the potential biomass subject to each operational criterion defined above for each forest management practice and in each stratum (e.g. if 80–140 years is the range at which final cut occurred for Norway spruce during the RP, the BAWS is the biomass available in this range). Each stratum can be potentially subject to multiple operations (e.g. thinning and final felling, can occur in the same stratum, on different age classes). Document the harvest volumes (e.g., m3) during the historical RP (HRP), based on statistics and/or modelling analysis. The HFRP is a proxy that implicitly expresses the impact of all constraints (markets, policies, owners’ behavior, accessibility, etc.) on harvest volumes during RP. HRP BAWSRP are, respectively, harvest volumes and biomass available for wood supply for the historical RP. This parameter provides a link between the broadly defined forest management practice (e.g. through ranges) and the amount of harvest that actually occurred during the RP. Calculate the expected evolution of the biomass available for wood supply in the compliance period (CP, i.e. when accounting will occur), BAWSCP, by applying the same management practices of the RP (e.g., clearcut between 60 and 100 years) to the expected age-related evolution of forest characteristics (e.g., biomass, increment). Project the amount of wood commodities entering the HWP pool in the CP consistently with the estimated harvest level during the CP, by assuming the use of the same fraction of harvest for the HWP commodity production as in the RP. This implicitly means continuing with the same % share of energy vs. non-energy use of wood as documented for the historical RP. Project the use of wood in the CP by using the same % of HWP commodities (sawnwood, wood-based panels, paper and paperboard) as documented for the RP. Once all the components above have been estimated, the projections of CO2 emissions and removals associated with the continuation of the management practices in F–F may be calculated as the sum of all gains and losses for all strata and years in the CP. The method above was applied to 26 EU countries (all EU countries except Malta and Cyprus), using the Carbon Budget Model (CBM) developed by the Canadian Forest Service . The CBM is an inventory-based, yield-curve-driven model that simulates the stand- and landscape-level C dynamics of above- and belowground biomass, dead organic matter (DOM; litter and dead wood) and mineral soil. The model has been already implemented at the EU level to estimate the forest C dynamics from 2000 to 2012 and the future carbon budget and fluxes under different management scenarios to 2030 . The main input data come from National Forest Inventories (NFIs, see [30, 38, 53]). Here we apply the same methods, data and assumptions used in these studies. The spatial framework applied by the CBM conceptually follows IPCC reporting method 1 , in which the spatial units are defined by their geographic boundaries and all forest stands are geographically referenced to a spatial unit (SPU). The intersection between 26 administrative units (i.e., European countries) and 36 climatic units yielded 910 SPUs. Within a SPU, each forest stand is characterized by age, area and seven classifiers that provide administrative and ecological information: the link to the appropriate yield curves; the parameters defining the silvicultural system, such as the forest composition (defined according to different forest types, FTs) and the management type (MT). From the NFIs of each country, we derived (i) the country-specific original age-class distribution (for the even-aged forests), (ii) the main FTs based on the forest composition, (iii) the average volume and current annual increment (if possible, defined for each FT), and (iv) the main MTs. The MT parameters may include even-aged high forests, uneven-aged high forests, coppices and specific silvicultural systems such as clear cuts (with different rotation lengths for each FT), thinnings, shelterwood systems, partial cuttings, etc. In a few cases, because of the lack of country-specific information, some of these parameters were derived either from the literature or from average values reported for other countries. Additional methodological details and country-level input data may be found in [32, 52, 54]. Consistently with the EU LULUCF Regulation , the implementation of our method at EU level used 2000–2009 as the RP. The country-specific stratification, the forest management practices and their associated quantitative operational criteria (steps 1 and 2 above) were defined according to information provided by the countries, found in the literature or through an expert assessment (see [30, 53] for a summary of country data sources). The main operational criterion used in our study was the minimum rotation age, except for thinnings and uneven-aged forests where the minimum time interval between two consecutive operations has been applied. The evolution of F–F area in our model runs used data from country GHG inventories, as described in step 3 above. With regards to the calculation of carbon gains and losses in various pools (step 4 above), the links between living biomass, dead wood, litter and mineral soil are automatically modelled by the CBM . The model runs shown here do not include the impact of climate change or atmospheric CO2 and nitrogen fertilization on forest growth. While our model runs took into account the impact of all major historical natural disturbances , no disturbances have been assumed after the RP. Other carbon losses (e.g. mortality) occurring after the RP were automatically included by the CBM model [31, 32]. Input data and methods applied to estimate the HWP emissions and removals for the RP are described in . Since a model used to project the FRL should be able to reproduce historical data from the national GHG inventory , the GHG emissions and removals estimated by CBM after 2000 were “calibrated” (i.e., adjusted ex-post) to match the historical emissions and removals data in F–F, as reported by the 2018 GHG inventories for the period 2000–2009. This procedure, identical to the one applied by many EU countries when setting the FMRL under the Kyoto Protocol, represents an application of the ‘overlap’ method [10, 33] to ensure time-series consistency when different methods are used over time. This procedure does affect the projected trend. The magnitude of the calibration carried out on our results (i.e., the difference between the original CBM results and the GHG inventories for the period 2000–2009) is significant for some EU countries, but is small at the EU level. The average EU-level 2000–2009 sink is − 380 Mt CO2/year based on GHG inventories and − 396 Mt CO2/year based on the CBM runs; therefore, the original CBM results were corrected with + 16 Mt CO2/year for the whole time series. GG and RP conceived and designed the approach and the methods for the EU, and drafted the paper; JH and WAK contributed to refining the approach and to writing the paper; SF contributed to refining the approach. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The Authors wish to thank the forest experts Hannes Böttcher, Paulo Canaveira, Giulia Fiorese, Nicklas Forsell, Aleksi Lehtonen, Robert Matthews, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Zoltán Somogyi, Sebastian Rüter and Giorgio Vacchiano for the fruitful discussion and the useful comments that they provided, in their personal capacities, during a workshop illustrating the approach presented in this paper. We also thank Anu Korosuo, Matteo Vizzari, Ariane De Dominicis and three anonymous reviewers for constructive comments to the manuscript. The data supporting our conclusions are available either in the paper itself or in the links listed in the references. Additional data may be requested from the corresponding author. The views expressed are purely those of the writers and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission or any other Government Agency. All authors were supported by their respective Institutions. JH was funded by the EU LUC4C Project and by the NERC Greenhouse Gas Removal Programme Project GGRiLS-GAPS. UNFCCC. Adoption of the Paris Agreement. Report No. FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1. 2015. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. UNFCCC. LULUCF. http://unfccc.int/land_use_and_climate_change/lulucf/items/1084.php. Accessed 11 May 2018. Iversen P, Lee D, Rocha M, Canaveira P, Davis G, Elias P, et al. Understanding land use in the UNFCCC. 2014. http://www.climateandlandusealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Understanding_Land_Use_in_the_UNFCCC.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. IPCC. IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. In: Eggleston HS, et al., editors. National greenhouse gas inventories programme, institute for global environmental strategies. 2006. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/. Accessed 11 May 2018. IPCC, Eggleston S, Srivastava N, Tanabe K, Baasansuren J, editors. Revisiting the use of managed land as a proxy for estimating national anthropogenic emissions and removals. 2010. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/mtdocs/pdfiles/0905_MLP_Report.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. Kurz WA. “Large inter-annual variations in carbon emissions and removals”. IPCC. Revisiting the use of managed land as a proxy for estimating national anthropogenic emissions and removals. In: Meeting Report, 5–7 May, 2009, INPE, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. 2010. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/mtdocs/pdfiles/0905_MLP_Report.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. UNFCCC. Decision 2/CMP.7 land use, land-use change and forestry. https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/durban_nov_2011/decisions/application/pdf/awgkp_lulucf.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. UNFCCC. Decision 2/CMP.6 the Cancun agreements: land use, land-use change and forestry. R. 2011. p. 1–32. http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/repository/entri/docs/cop/Kyoto_CMP6_dec02.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. UNFCCC. Technical assessments of the forest management reference level submissions. http://unfccc.int/bodies/awg-kp/items/5896.php. Accessed 11 May 2018. Forest Europe. State of Europe’s forests. 2015. http://foresteurope.org/state-europes-forests-2015-report/. Accessed 11 May 2018. European Comission. EU reference scenario 2016. 2016. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/ref2016_report_final-web.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. Euractive. LULUCF dossier. https://www.euractiv.com/topics/lulucf/. Accessed 11 May 2018. IPCC, Hiraishi T, Krug T, Tanabe K, Srivastava N, Baasansuren J, Fukuda M, et al., editors. IPCC 2013 revised supplementary methods and good practice guidance arising from the Kyoto Protocol task force on national GHG inventories. 2014. p. 1–14. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/kpsg/pdf/KP_Supplement_Entire_Report.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. Grassi G. Robust and credible accounting rules for forests. http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/activities/lulucf/presentations/. Accessed 11 May 2018. House J. Forest accounting rules put EU’s climate credibility at risk. https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/opinion/forest-accounting-rules-put-eus-climate-credibility-at-risk/. Accessed 11 May 2018. EU. LULUCF regulation. http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-8049-2018-INIT/en/pdf, see item 9. Accessed 11 May 2018. European Commission. Renewable energy directive. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52016PC0767&from=EN. Accessed 11 May 2018. European Commission. Impact assessment—sustainability of bioenergy accompanying the document proposal for a directive of the European parliament and of the council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. 2016. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/1_en_impact_assessment_part4_v4_418.pdf. Accessed 11 May 2018. Euractiv. Bioenergy dossier. https://www.euractiv.com/topics/bioenergy/. Accessed 11 May 2018.

2019-04-24T13:49:33Z

https://cbmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13021-018-0096-2

Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: Fino Rojas is a unique Mexican coffee both for its quality and origin. It is sold under the Fino Rojas name because it is the highest quality coffee offered by an elderly Mexican grower and mill owner who, in defiance of modern coffee practices, only sells his coffee from available lots. In other words, he never makes contracts on coffee yet-to-be-produced or deals in futures ...Much like a consumer who shuns credit for cash. His well-established name allows this. While he sells coffee processed at his mill grown on surrounding farms, the Fino Rojas mark on the bag is coffee grown on his Estate and processed in his mill. We haven't bought this coffee since the 1999 crop year; there have been general quality problems with the Oaxaca Plumas the last 2 years and even the top-rated Fino Rojas was down a notch. And even the early samples from this season were so-so. But this late crop sample was really impressive, with brightness, balance and a little bite too. I especially like this coffee roasted a bit slower, as in the Alpenrost or the Caffe Rosto. It makes a great straight espresso when roasted to a light Vienna and rested 48 hours after the roast. Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: Full City to Vienna: the pungent roast flavors are really nice and the brightness in the cup seems to hang on through the Full City+ stage. add 50 50 Compare to: Balanced mild coffee, with a bit of pleasant bite. Frankly, its not that unlike some Hawaiian coffees. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.0 Notes: Chiapas is the southern state in Mexico, at the Guatemalan border. The coffees are distinct from the Oaxaca Plumas and Coatepec coffees: they are a little brighter, sweeter, and bear resemblence to the Huehuetenango coffees of Guatemala. Many of the coffees from Chiapas are cooperatively wet-milled and sold. The names of co-ops are quite elaborate: this coffee is "Union de Ejidos Profesor Otilio Montana" and has the environmental mission printed on each bag: "Por la Conservacion de Tierra, La Naturaleza, Y la Cultura." In my memory, this coffee is unique and cups a little more like the coffees of Segovia, Nicaragua. It has a sage-like herbiness in the cup making it have herbal tea qualities. It develops a nice pungency as the roast turns darker, but you lose the delicate bright snap that is in this cup, hinting at the high altitude at which it is grown (Strictly Altura, top grade high grown). Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2.0 Roast: City roast: You can take it darker to Full City (at second crack) or Vienna (30 seconds into 2nd crack or so), but the brighter notes and delicate flavors disappear. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.0 Notes: It is more difficult to find really good Oaxacan Pluma this year. We were lucky with the El Olivo, but our traditional source (San Pablo Tres Flechas) did not come in at the expected quality. So it was a relief to get the pre-shipment samples of our other best source from the Oaxacan micro-region of Loxicha in San Augustin. This is a co-operatively grown coffee from the Cepco organization, and is Organic and Fair Trade Certified. It is rated as SHG: Strictly High Grown (top grade for altitude). It is a medium-bodied coffee with great milk chocolate and almond flavors. The more roast you expose it to, the more the chocolate flavors turn bittersweet and pungent. A moderate acidity balances out the cup and the finish is attractively aggressive(Full City Roast) and chocolate with a little tangy carbony flavor. It also happens to be great as espresso too ...surprising since this is a wet-processed coffee! As a traditional organic growth, the coffee has a bit less uniformity green with an occasional odd seed, but this will not affect roast quality. its great at City, Full City or Vienna. But the chocolate flavors really develop at Full City, where the coffee has maximum depth and complexity. add 50 50 Compare to: The best Oaxaca Plumas and Nicaragua from the Matagalpa region. Dry Fragrance: 82 Notes: Oaxaca Pluma are the prototypical Mexican coffees in my book, better than the Coatepec coffees to the North. They have great balance, medium-light body, and wonderful flavor from the moderate acidity through to the aftertaste. The El Olivo is a true Pluma estate coffee and this year that in itself is remarkable (we have reports of many coffees sold as Plumas that are not, and from "eye-cupping" some pre-ship samples at a brokers sample room, I must say these so-called Plumas do not have the appearance or quality preparation of a true Oaxacan. We do not expect to stock the Fino Rojas or other San Pablos this year based on these pre-ship samples). The El Olivo coffee is beautifully prepared, almost blue-green in color, with only an occasional abberation. The roast is very even and it accepts a wide lattitude in terms of degree of roast to suit your taste. It has above average acidity for a Mexican coffee. It's both exceptional as a straight roast and as a blend base for light and dark roasts. Great espresso potential too. Flavor- Depth: 86 Roast: City Roast: This coffee has great balance in the light roasts, but also offers a wide lattitude of great roast results. If you like it darker go ahead and try a Full City or Vienna roast. I have tried this coffee as espresso too and it is excellent. Dry Fragrance: 82 Notes: This new lot of Mexican Natural Decaf originates with a slightly higher quality coffee than the Esmeralda decaf. Cepco is the Mexican farmer cooperative that produces some of our best Mexican coffees, like the excellent San Augustin Loxicha coffee. This coffees has a very distinct, attractive aroma while it roasts and the cup is mild and has a very pleasant nuttiness. It has medium body and a light aftertaste. Because it is nutty and mild, its great as a crowd-pleasing straight roast or as a base for a decaf blend, either for drip coffee or espresso. Cup quality rates a tad better than Esmeralda but it is very much "cut from the same cloth" and I think the difference between them is more academic in terms of character. But I like the fact this is a co-op coffee, is the same price as Esmeralda, decaffeinated in the same place (Cafiver) and it benefits the farmers to a greater degree. Check out our article on decaffeination. ...or some information from Cafiver in Mexico. Flavor- Depth: 84 Roast: A lighter City roast preserves the brightness in the cup. See our notes on roasting decafs, especially the dark-colored Swiss Water ones! Score: 82.2 Compare to: Nice, simple sweet Central American coffee! Notes: The San Pablo sold under the Becafisa Tres Flechas (trans. Three Arrows) mark is a really great Mexican coffee for straight roasts, blending, and espresso blend base (for a sweet, clean espresso). This coffee is a beautiful bluish green in color, hinting at freshness, good picking / preparation, and a good moisture content. Ukers All About Coffee talks about fine Mexican coffees with a beautiful jade color and a white stripe down the center. This always confused me, and I thought it was another Ukers anachronysm, but this coffee DOES have a distinct stripe of very white chaff. It is a really great cup and as a lark we conducted a bling cupping with 3 Jamaica Blue Mountain samples and the Tres Flechas. This was a totally blind cupping with Jovan and I: we both picked the Mexican as the best cup! Nice chocolate notes, spice, and for a Mexican quite a lot of brightness ...acidity. With the right roast, it rocks. BTW San Pablo is a town, Tres Flechas is an exporter's mark. Roast: City to Full City ...dont burn this stuff! A tad into 2nd OK. Or its great as a blend base in Continental or French roast degrees of roast. Compare to: good Mexican, very good Mexican! Notes: This is a premium Robusta that is on par with the best washed robusta from India or Indonesia. I say that only based on my experience: I can't tell the difference between 12.5% of this in my espresso blend and 12.5% of that. It is extremely well prepared and has almost no chaff. There is but 1 defect per 300 gram sample. Remember, we offer Robusta only for use in espresso! I do not recommend ever using robusta in filter coffee (it also has at least double the caffeine as coffea arabica) ...and I barely recommend it for espresso. I prefer most of my espresso without robusta. But I do find that 10-15% of this added the to our Espresso Monkey Blend adds that certain bite to the cup. Flavor- Depth: n/a Roast: For espresso blends: roast to your personal preference. Dry Fragrance: 85 Notes: I love having a good Chiapas in stock; the coffees from this extreme-Southern region of Mexico are so distinct from the excellent Oaxaca Pluma, or the not so excellent Veracruz or Coatepec (we have rarely carried coffees from Coatepec, never from Vercruz). Chiapas are brighter, sweeter, and are more similar to the excellent Huehuetenango coffees from Guatemala ...the region just across the border to the South. It is very light-bodied, and not long in the aftertaste, but there is always some unique aromatic to the cup. In this case, we have found the La Alianza Organic to have a unique combination of sweetly floral-fruity (apricot) acidity and clove. You may lose these delicate flavors with a heavy roast, so keep it light (City, just before 2nd crack starts) and you will see the flavors pass from sweet to bittersweet, from floral to clove. Score: 83.2 Compare to: More like the Huehuetenangos than like other Mexican coffees, yet it is still distinct from any of the Guatemalans. But in general It is a mild, light-bodied, delicate cup. Flavor- Depth: 86 Roast: Full City: Wide latitude of roast I particularily liked how the deeper roast flavors a few snaps into the second crack underscored the origin flavors. Score: 82.2 Compare to: Non-fuity Central Americans, pungent spicy Colombians. Dry Fragrance: 78 Notes: The strength of the Oaxacan coffees is their moderate acidity and nice nutty and bittersweet roast tastes. In general I prefer the Oaxacans to the Coatepecs or other northern regions (the Chiapas is all the way to the south and really bears little resemblance to the other Mexican coffees. We chose this same coffee last year in blind cupping because of the very attractive roast flavors ...meaning the flavors that develop at different degrees of roast. With this coffee there's a nice nutty flavor at the City roast stage and a nice bittersweet chocolaty flavor developing at Full City/ Vienna. And there is just a little acidity there to balance out the cup in the lighter roast stages. We use it as part of an Organic French Roast blend we do, because it has very attractive carbony flavors in the deepest stages of the roast. Flavor- Depth: 86 Roast: City has great nutty flavors, Full City or darker develops nice bittersweet roast tastes. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: Bright, light bodied, full of character and "snap". I am not talking describing a person although a few come to mind. The new Water Process method used to decaffeinated this coffee leaves an astounding amount of cup character. I always felt that the SWP decaf was weakest when applied to bright, acidic high-toned coffees. They cupped like water flavored with cardboard. So this blend here is, to me, the ultimate triumph of our new Water Process decaf source (from Mexico, although the DO use the same method essentially as official SWP coffee -which is processed in Canada actually). It is an "indirect contact", non-chemical process that is truly a water filtration process. The other factor is that other decafs sometimes don't originate with the best green coffees. This is a true Auction Lot Kenya blended 50-50 with one of the best Ethiopian Yirgacheffe lots from this season. As I mentioned, it is a coffee that is lighter in body, bright (striking the front of the palate and tongue in the center-front and front-sides), and very fruity. Although the scores are already very high for a decaf, I objectively felt the cup rates higher than a combined 86 so there is a "Cupper's Correction" of 2. Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8 Roast: While this coffee becomes sharply pungent in darker roasts, I really enjoy its bright, fruity character too much to roast it that way. I keep it light, stopping the roast at Full City, right at the verge of 2nd crack but not into it. Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2.0 Roast:a City roast stopped near 2nd crack, but with no indication at all that it reached 2nd crack is great. add 50 50.0 Compare to: Lighter in body than other Nicaraguans and than Colombians too, but a great interplay of flavors like the best of either of these two countries. Dry Fragrance: 84 Notes: There have been quite a few nice Nicaragua samples coming down the pipe this year. The Cup Of Excellence auction has focused more attention on this origin,. which like Panama is greatly under-rated in relation to its cup quality, and overall potential to produce great coffee. But the best Nicaraguan samples I received were not from the auction lots, they were from other single-farm sources. This Nueva Esperanza is one (and the Carlos Fonesca we will have later is another). Of the two, the Nueva Esperanza is the bolder cup, with distinctive rooty/aromatic woody roast notes emerging at the lighter end of the spectrum (City/Full City) and turning into great pungency a little lighter in the roast. The suprise is the slightly sweet acidic brightness that balances out the cup, making it a true "complete" single-origin cupping experience rather than a "blender" status that Nicaraguans used to be relegated to (and some lower grown HG ones still are only that, a blender). And at this price this is truly an incredible cup for the money! Flavor- Depth: 87 Roast: As stated above, this coffee has a huge great character and can be roasted to a wide degree of roasts ...it's great at medium (City) roast, Full City and even toward Vienna --a bit into 2nd crack. But the chocolate roast taste and peak complexity is at Full City, just a couple snaps into 2nd crack. Flavor- Depth: 83 Roast: Wide lattitude of roasts, and can be used as single-origin espresso too. See notes above. Score: 82.5 Compare to: Matagalpas are lower-acid Centrals, and bear some resemblence to the best Oaxacas of Mexico. Flavor- Depth: 84 Roast:Wide lattitude of roasts, and can be used as single-origin espresso too. See notes above. Score: 83.8 Compare to: Matagalpas are lower-acid Centrals, and bear some resemblence to the best Oaxacas of Mexico. Dry Fragrance: 83 Notes: The Segovia from Nicaragua bears some resemblence to the Mexican Oaxaca Pluma, more so than it resembles the Nicaraguan Jinotega-Matagalpa coffees. It is interestingly soft, and intense: the acidity is moderate, it is full-bodied, and is quite mild at first. The first flavors you might get are a soft milk-choclate roast taste, which fades into a really interesting aromatic woodyness (not at all like the woody flavor defect that reveals a coffee is past crop, or possibly improperly stored.) It finishes rather mild but then seems to hang around a bit with a pungent slightly carbony aftertaste ...very nice! And as you continue to sip this coffee the aftertaste seems to accumulate. I always wwaonder of this quality is directly related to the heavy body of a coffee: if it has more "Soluble Solids" which make you sense a thickness in the cup, it might also follow that these solids would be retained on the palate and give a long, slowly-diminshing aftertaste, or even a sort of phantom "return" of flavor. Nonetheless, this is a great coffee, and the pungency lead me to try an unorthodox espresso test with it: 100% Canta Gallo Espresso! Try it, its remarkable! Flavor- Depth: 87 Roast: City to Full City. The coffee has darker roast characteristics even in the lighter roasts. Very interesting as espresso too, although you should expect a little less crema since its wet-processed coffee. Score: 84.8 Compare to: Mexican Oaxaca Pluma! Flavor- Depth: 87 Roast: As stated above, this coffee has a huge altitude. it's great at medium (City) roast, Full City and even toward Vienna --a bit into 2nd crack. But the chocolate roast taste and peak complexity is at Full City, just a couple snaps into 2nd crack. Score: 85.8 Compare to: Excellent Colombians, balanced and full of character! Dry Fragrance: 86 Notes: Matagalpas are known for their excellent depth and pungent flavors. Selva Negra is one of the most respected Estates from the region, both for their environmentally sustainable farming methods and for the excellent cup. Like any Estate-level coffees, the coffee does vary from year to year and this is the best Selva Negra I have had for the past 2 seasons. It has excellent chocolate flavor, that has hints of aromatic wood to it, and spiceyness. The acidity is in balance with the other flavors and reveals itself as the cup cools. Multiple coexistent flavors like this are the benchmark of good complexity, flavors that alternate as you try to get a sense of them. Its what every cupper appreciates; an interesting sensory problem! And its what makes the Selva Negra great... This coffee is Shade Grown on one of the most beautiful coffee estates in Nicaragua, where coffee trees are interplanted with native forest. I have met the farm owner and have deep respect for the Selva Negra operation... this is ecologically aware coffee farming without the eco-certification, but with all the good sense. Flavor- Depth: 87 Roast: City, Full City OK too but this coffee has fully developed its body at a real medium roast and you loose some complexity if you let it enter 2nd crack. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: The great cup from this La Berlina was a surprise, even after visiting the farm last year and seeing the incredibly old 18 foot tall Typica trees. I had cupped it in the past, and while I found it always to be a nice clean cup it was always outdone by such coffees as the Lerida estate coffee from Boquete. But Lerida has replanted with new hybrids and the cup shows it. Berlina is 100% traditional Typica cultivar. It has remarkable brightness, complexity and depth for a clean Central American cup, easily as good or better than the best lots of Lerida I have had. Panama is basically an under-rated coffee in total, always playing second fiddle to the big name Costa Ricans and Guatemalans. But when you put this Berlina cup up against many of the Tarrazus from Costa Rica, it rates higher. The coffee is expertly prepared, fairly large bean size for Panama of the longer Typica, the old arabica cultivars. The cup really shimmers: bright citrus passes quickly to spice and sharp lively chocolate flavors. The aftertastes is moderate and thoroughly enjoyable. Just outstanding, hence and overall cupper's correction of +2 to communicate the attractiveness of this cup. Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8 Roast: City, through first crack and not yet to second. You will lose some complexity in this coffee in a darker roast, so I would keep it from going into second crack at all. Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2 Compare to: Other high-grown Centrals that have complexity: Guats & Costa Rican Tarrazus. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: Monsieur Gilbert Maunier was the French founder of Finca Maunier, but after the farm reached maturity he decided to move to Costa Rica and he sold the Finca to another Boqueteño that eventually sold it to Mr. Plinio Ruiz. With his expertise he developed a biodiverse coffee plantation keeping the original shade trees and planting separated lots for each of the three varieties. The original Finca philosophy remains the same. The first coffee roasting machine that Mr. Ruiz acquired belonged to Mr. Maunier. The farm is all above 1500 meters, and all the processing takes place in the Casa Ruiz facility in the town of Boquete. The coffee was awarded the 2nd place in the 2002 Panama Auction and 8th last year, but this is not the auction lot coffee here. The coffee is blended from cultivars as such: Typica 40%, Bourbon 15%, Caturra 45%. What the Maunier had over the competing lots was depth and complexity. It has lower acidity than the other winning coffees, but a great mild fruity-winey character, excellent body compared to the other auction samples, and hints of spice. The roast taste is sweet and a bit butterscotch. Cupping it next to the la Minita of Costa Rica, I find them very much on par. Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: Preserve the fruitiness and complexity by roasting to City stage and don't let this coffee get into the second crack much. add 50 50 Compare to: The best Centrals, especially the great years of Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees back in the '80s. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: I visited the farm that was right across the narrow dirt lane from Mama Cata. That was the well-known Finca Lerida, winner of the 2001 Panama Auction (we bought that winning lot last year too). They both share some of the highest altitude of Boquete coffees, above the Finca La Berlina (a 100% Typica farm) and Maunier. There was a striking difference between the two farms. Lerida seems to be replanting their land with higher yield arabica cultivar, Caturra. But Mama Cata appears to be planted entirely with the tall, rangy Typica cultivar. While it yields less than more modern hybrids, old "traditional" cultivar trees last longer, and there is the notion that a plant that is not stressed by the overproduction of fruit (coffee cherry) will produce better cup quality in the fewer cherry it yields. Folks like me traveling to coffee lands are often proven wrong, and cup really good coffees produced by newer cultivars, but we always want to cup the Typica (and Bourbon) varietals first. Anyway, I was part of the panel that picked the Mama Cata (in totally blind cupping from 28 finalist lots) and the cup character I remember down in Panama impresses me each time I enjoy this coffee here at home. It doesn't knock the socks off - it charms them off. The aromatics are attractive and sweet. The roast develops a pungency that cups like an Antigua from Guatemala, mildly alkaloid/chocolaty, but is offset by a black cherry fruitiness. Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8 Roast: The Mama Cata is one of the Centrals that takes a wide latitude of roasts, and band that spans the City to Vienna spectrum. I enjoy the mildly sharp tang that develops this roast about 10 seconds into 2nd crack. not surprising since they across the road from eachother! Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.0 Notes: This coffee from the Northeast mountain state of Chirqui has a beautiful dark green-blue appearance (fresh, new crop), with a delicate light-bodied cup that will win over your friends and relatives to the merits of home roasting. Very pleasant clean sweet taste with a unique cedar aromatic woodiness in the finish. This hints that this is Sr. Hartmann's special lot of coffee that he dries in a special wooden Bodega next to the patios on the farm. The humidity and native hardwoods give the coffee a characteristic flavor -very subtle but unmistakable. It's not a super complex coffee overall, just real fine and delicate. To get a full sense of this acidity, taste it hot and taste it cool too. In fact, my first sip of it is always a little disappointing based on the wonderful aromatics you get when grinding it. But a lot of bright coffees are this way. As it cools the bright notes that make it so special are fleshed out, and you will fall in love with this coffee by the time you reach the last sip. The Volcan Chirqui is right at the Costa Rican border so it is not a wonder that the coffee cups like a bright, delicate Costa Rican. For more information on the Hartmann farm, see our review of the 2002 Panama Cupping Competition. The Hartmann land is a model of sustainable farming and bird-friendly, shade grown agriculture with much of the farm preserved as forest ... in a bitter irony it does not qualify as certified bird-friendly because of very limited use of nitrogen fertilizer! Cupper's Correction (1-5) 2.0 Roast: I prefer this at a light City roast to accentuate the moderate acidity and that unique woody note in the aftertaste. add 50 50 Compare to: Light-bodied delicate coffees, similar to Coast Ricans from the southern areas of La Amistad, the Boquete coffees of Panama, and also similar to some of the Chiapas coffees from the south of Mexico. Notes: Monsieur Gilbert Maunier was the French founder of Finca Maunier, but after the farm reached maturity he decided to move to Costa Rica and he sold the Finca to another Boquete�o that eventually sold it to Mr. Plinio Ruiz. With his expertise he developed a biodiverse coffee plantation keeping the original shade trees and planting separated lots for each of the three varieties. The original Finca philosophy remains the same. The first coffee roasting machine that Mr. Ruiz acquired belonged to Mr. Maunier. The farm is all above 1500 meters, and all the processing takes place in the Casa Ruiz facility in the town of Boquete. The coffee was awarded the 8th place in the 2001 Panama Cup of Excellence, but I chose it as my #2 coffee of all the samples, surpassed only by the Lerida. And in fact it might be the #1 coffee for those who want to avoid the citrusy acidity of the Lerida. What the Maunier had over the competing lots was depth and complexity. It has lower acidity than the other 8 winning coffees, but a great fruity-winey character, excellent body, and hints of spice. The roast taste is sweetly butterscotch. Please note: we offered the actual Auction-lot earlier this year. This is NOT the auction lot, but I was stunned that it cupped JUST LIKE the auction lot! That says a lot for the consistency of the coffee from this farm. In contrast, the Lerida Auction Lot was far superior to any subsequent Lerida offerings. Flavor- Depth: 88 Roast: As with the Lerida, preserve the fruitiness and complexity by roasting to City stage and don't let this coffee get into the second crack much. Compare to: The best Centrals, especially the great years of Costa Rican Tarrazu coffees back in the '80s. Dry Fragrance: 87 Notes: Lerida Estate is situated in the valley of Boquete in the Northwestern part of Panama. Surrounded by 500 acres of tropical forest on the slopes of the Baru Volcano. It has volcanic soil, an altitude ranging from 1600 to 1700 meters above sea level, adequate rainfall with a sunny and dry harvesting season. The coffee cherries are harvested daily and go through a meticulous wet process in Lerida’s unique processing plant (few farms have their own wet-mill on the Finca). The beans are sun-dried and set to rest for no less than 60 days. The coffee in this lot is the sample submitted to the 2001 Panama Cup of Excellence Auction, where it was awarded the blue ribbon by the international panel of cupper's, and received the highest bid in the auction, paid by Sweet Maria's. It is from batches No.30-36, harvested on January 4-11, 2001. Fermentation took place from 39-48 hours. The sun drying process took an average of 11 days per batch. The cup character is the best coffee from the Lerida farm we have ever tasted, since it represents the "best of the best" the farm offers in the effort to win the #1 spot in the Auction. It is a bright, effervescently acidy coffee with sweet fruity/floral notes. The brightness has hints of fresh citrus and a touch of wineyness that rounds out the flavor in the finish. It is remarkable while on the palate, but light in body and medium in the aftertaste, as is characteristic of Panamanian coffee. The quality of this cup, in terms of high notes and complexity, surely ranks it as a Gran Cru of Central American coffee. Flavor- Depth: 89 Roast: To preserve the fruitiness and complexity, don't let this coffee get into the second crack much. A City roast is best, and a Full City with a few snaps of second crack will tone down some of the citrusy flavors and allow a black cherry flavor to emerge, with some light bittersweet caramelly notes. Flavor- Depth: 88 Roast: City, throught first crack and not yet to second. You will lose some complexity in this coffee in a darker roast, so I would keep it from going into second crack at all. Score: 87 Compare to: Other high-grown Centrals that have complexity: Guats & Costa Rican Tarrazus. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: This is a newly arrived coffee grown on the 300 hectare Kinjibi Tribal Plantation, in nearby small plantations and local villagers "coffee gardens". The coffee grown on the plantations are of the Typica (blue mountain), mundo novo, and arusha varieties. The village gardens range in size from 20 to 600 trees, exceptionally small compared to the size of farms in other producing nations. At a high altitude of 5500 to 5700 feet, the arabica coffee they grow is exceptional and of the Typica (blue mountain) and arusha varieties. Kinjibi Plantation has its own processing mill which benefits quality in that the cherry doesn't have to travel great distances from the time it is picked to the beginning of the wet-processing; a very quality-critical part of the process that should occur within 12 hours. Kinjibi is imported by New Guinea Coffee Traders (http://www.newguineatraders.com/) into the US, a small family business focused on this one origin, and this one source, with the express goal of aiding indigenous coffee workers. We found the samples they sent to class right alongside the Kimel Plantation coffee, our favorite wet-process PNG cup for the past 2 years, with some interesting differences. I think the Kimel has more straightforward brightness in the cup, and the Kinjibi is more nuanced with spicy subtle flavors that emerge behind the dominant roast tastes. At these high growing altitudes, the brightness certainly is there, and provides an initial snap to the cup. It's easy to overroast a peaberry like this; they simply have a different thermal quality than flat bean coffee and roast faster. But this coffee produces great cups throughout the City to Full City range, and a nice pungent cup at Vienna roast too. add 50 50 Compare to: On par with our Kimel Plantation coffee, but with perhaps more subtlety. Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: I stocked the Purosa estate coffee several years ago (you'll have to look at our pre-2000 reviews to find that one) and was really taken by it. It had been rated high in a trans-national cupping review and the comment from that was as follows: "only the two estate coffees from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, Arona and Purosa, attracted the very highest level of enthusiasm and ratings from the panel, equal to the response provoked by the best coffees from Kenya, Guatemala and Ethiopia." That's high praise and might need some clarification. The Papua New Guinea is a "classic cup" profile, one with clean flavors that are found in Central American coffees without the fermenty-hidey-earthy character of rustic coffees like dry-process Sumatras, Ethiopians and Yemens. So rating PNG vs. Guatemala makes a lot more sense because both share a very, very general cup profile. This cup is sweet, very aromatic, fruited with a touch of coffee cherry and a little vanilla, and so balanced that it is hard to come up with adequate descriptions that don't sound half-hearted : this is pleasant -I mean REALLY pleasant. Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: City or Full City. Roasted darker the Purosa loses too much character so stay on the light side. add 50 50 Compare to: Deeply balanced "classic" cup with great resonance, somewhat sweet, a great PNG coffee! Dry Fragrance: 83 Notes: Papua New Guinea occupies the Eastern half of the island it shares with the Indonesian provice of Irian (no organized coffee production originates from Irian) There can be a huge range of cups from Papua New Guinea, and the so-called Plantation coffees represent the cleaner character of the coffee produced on the island... more like a good Central American than part of the Indonesioan profile. The coffee plantations are larger farms that have their own coffee processing wet mills, so they are able to control all the variables of production better than the small farm "coffee gardens." Kimel has great body and balance: buttery mouthfeel, and acidity - flavors in very harmonious balance in the cup. It's a "Classic" cup profile for sure! It makes an excellent vacuum-brewed cup too, and in a French Press we have had great results using the roast recommendation below (blending 2 roasts together). Flavor- Depth: 87 Roast: City (Medium), this is coffee has fine, delicate flavors that get obliterated in darker roasts. But for an interesting cup, try roasting one batch to a light City roast, another to a Full City (a few snaps into second crack) and then blend them together! It brings out interesting dimensions in the cup while keeping with the single-origin roasting tradition. Score: 86.2 Compare to: Compares more to Central Americans more often than other Indonesians like Sumatra --Although Timor bears resemblence too. Dry Fragrance: 84 Notes: It has been tough to find a good Papua New Guinea coffee this year. I often think the Organics are superior: they are traditional varietals grown on small farms. Its just a matter of exactly whose small farms they are pooled from, and the overall quality of the crop year. To find a good organic Papua New Guinea there is no method other than cupping every lot you can get your hands on. I went through 5 to find this one. It is the larger AA grade bean size (the Organics tend to be large, I think because they are descended from the Jamaican coffee stock that was used to plant Papua New Guinea originally!) Smallholder farms can be the best IF the co-op that organizes themselves for organic certification maintains high standards and good milling practices. I think that's the case with this lot here, and while there are a few misshapen seeds in here, the cup quality is excellent: good balance and complexity, that slight gamy/tea-like flavor that distinguishes the good PNG Organics. Flavor- Depth: 86 Roast: I prefer a Full City roast on the PNG, just to the verge of Second crack, but not entering it. Score: 84.0 Compare to: Medium acidity, great balance, good body, interesting midrange flavors. Dry Fragrance: 81 Notes: Papua New Guinea occupies the western half of the island it shares with the Indonesian provice of Irian Jaya (no organized coffee production originates from Irian Jaya) There can be a huge range of cups from Papua New Guinea, and the so-called Plantation coffees represent the cleaner character of the coffee produced on the island... more like a good Central American than part of the Indonesioan profile. The coffee plantations are larger farms that have their own coffee processing wet mills, so they are able to control all the variables of production better than the small farm "coffee gardens." Mile High platantion has been our favorite of these, and we have picked over the well-known Sigri for the past 2 years running. It makes an excellent vacuum-brewed cup too, and in a French Press we have had great results using the roast recommendation below (blending 2 roasts together). Score: 84.2 Compare to: Compares more to Central Americans more often than other Indonesians like Sumatra --Although Timor bears resemblence too.

2019-04-26T09:22:22Z

https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/coffee.arch2001-02.pt3.html

In October 2012 I was appointed as researcher at LACITO (CNRS, Paris); since September 2015, I am also deputy director of LACITO. During 2011-12 I was a British Academy postdoctoral fellow based at SOAS (University of London), working on the development of agreement in Berber, with a particular focus on the typologically unusual phenomenon of indirect object agreement. In August 2010 I finished a PhD on the grammatical effects of contact (mainly with Arabic and Berber) on two languages of the Sahara, Kwarandzyəy or Korandjé (a Songhay language of southwestern Algeria) and Siwi (a Berber language of western Egypt) at SOAS. I spent most of October 2007 through May 2008 in the Sahara documenting these two languages, whose speakers I would like to thank for their amazing generosity and good nature. I also thank the AHRC for funding my research. Before starting my MA, I was Curator of the Rosetta Project for two years; during my studies at SOAS I spent some time working at the SOAS Endangered Language Archives, where I built the bilingual language documentation link library OREL. My BA was in Mathematics at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; while I haven't used it directly much, the resulting analytical and programming skills have often come in handy. I reached the finals in University Challenge in 2004, which turned out to be good fun. I keep a linguistics blog, Jabal al-Lughat. You can email me at [my first name] at gmail.com. Berber and Arabic in Siwa (Egypt): A Study in Linguistic Contact. Berber Studies Vol. 37. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 2013 (published 2014). Siwi is the easternmost Berber language, one of the few surviving representatives of the languages spoken in the eastern Sahara before the arrival of Bedouin Arab groups in the 11th century – although this apparent continuity conceals a history of migration, as this book argues based on loanwords and intra-Berber relationships. The effects of contact upon the grammar are far more far-reaching than in better documented westerly Berber languages, extending to non-concatenative templatic morphology and some pronominal endings, as well as prominent calquing. Siwi itself is inadequately documented and under threat; this book, based on in situ fieldwork, describes Siwi grammar in greater detail than any previous publication, reporting many hitherto unattested constructions. The appendix includes a selection of Siwi texts spanning multiple genres – public speech, description, storytelling, poetry – and produced by speakers of different ages. "Clitic Doubling and Contact in Arabic". Forthcoming in Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik. Forms of clitic doubling are attested in a significant number of Arabic varieties, including the Levant and northern Iraq, parts of Algeria and Morocco, Malta, Central Asia, and even, doubtfully, Dhofar. Language contact is widely accepted as an explanation for its presence in the Levant, and has been advanced as an explanation for its occurrence in North Africa, Malta, and Central Asia. However, none of the contact explanations proposed have yet addressed this phenomenon's overall distribution across all of Arabic, usually limiting themselves to one or two regions at a time, and few have examined the parameters along which the relevant constructions vary. Without such an overview, it is not possible to exclude the hypothesis that clitic doubling simply reflects Arabic-internal trends, nor to determine whether its distribution reflects a single innovation or multiple independent ones. Updating the pioneering work of A. FISCHER (1907; 1909), this article demonstrates that clitic doubling has arisen independently within Arabic at least four times under the influence of different substrata/adstrata, and suggests areas in which more data on this construction would be especially useful. "The origin of mid vowels in Siwi", with Marijn van Putten. Forthcoming in Studies in African Linguistics. Recent documentation has established that the Siwi language of western Egypt, unlike most other Berber languages, has two phonemic mid vowels appearing not only in Arabic loanwords but also in inherited vocabulary: /e/ and /o/. This article examines their origin. Proto-Berber originally had a single mid vowel *e, which appears to have been retained in Siwi only before word-final /n/. In all other environments the contrast between *i and *e has been neutralized, although word-finally it seems to have survived into the 19th century. Instances of /e/ in other environments are phonetically conditioned, deriving variously from *i, *ăy, or *ă in appropriate contexts. The few attestations of /o/ are irregular, but occur in environments paralleling those in which /e/ is attested synchronically. Modern Siwi mid vowels are thus mostly secondary developments; except in final /-en/, they provide no direct evidence for the reconstruction of mid vowels in earlier intermediate stages of Berber. "Berber languages". Forthcoming in ed. Anthony Grant, The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015?. Like any other language family, Berber has been in contact with a variety of languages, and the relatively good early documentation of Mediterranean languages allows this contact to be traced back almost three millennia. Its contact with Arabic is particularly remarkable for the unusually wide range of examples of intense language contact phenomena that it provides, enabled by widespread fluent bilingualism. This article first summarises the long history of Berber lexical contact with languages as various as Egyptian, Phoenician, Turkish, and French, along with efforts to reverse it by creating neologisms. It then examines the far-reaching influence of Arabic on the morphology and syntax of most Berber languages, including even verbal inflection in one variety. Finally, a brief glossed text in Siwi illustrates the distribution of borrowings in discourse. "Songhay languages". Forthcoming in ed. Rainer Vossen, The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Songhay is a language family of the Sahel with more than four million speakers, mainly in western Niger and northeastern Mali. In spite of its small population, its role in regional history has been substantial. Strong contact effects along the periphery have resulted in a remarkable situation where different varieties may have nearly identical basic vocabularies but conspicuously different typologies. Cladistic and lexical evidence shows that much of the observed variation reflects contact influences quite different from those obtaining today. After briefly detailing the distribution, history, and phonology of Songhay and the principal sources for its grammar and lexicon, this chapter examines morphology and syntax across the family. Particular attention is given to innovations distinguishing the three principal subgroups. Finally, the structure and history of the lexicon is briefly discussed, with an emphasis on borrowing as means of expansion. "Sokna re-examined: Two unedited Sokna Berber vocabularies from 1850". In ed. Anna Maria Di Tolla, Quaderni di Studi Berberi e Libico-Berberi 4 : La lingua nella vita e la vita della lingua. Itinerari e percorsi degli studi berberi. Naples: UNIOR, pp. 179-206. The Berber variety of Sokna, in west-central Libya, is rather unusual and not very well described. In 1915 it already had only five fluent speakers, and today only the old still remember a few words. The two vocabularies gathered by the English traveller James Richardson in 1850, previously unpublished, are thus important for the study of this variety, and by extension for the study of Libyan Berber more broadly. This article presents them for the first time, with transcription, commentary, and comparisons with the few previously published materials. "Language Contact in the Sahara". In The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2016. As might be expected from the difficulty of traversing it, the Sahara Desert has been a fairly effective barrier to direct contact between its two edges; trans-Saharan language contact is limited to the borrowing of non-core vocabulary, minimal from south to north and mostly mediated by education from north to south. Its own inhabitants, however, are necessarily accustomed to travelling desert spaces, and contact between languages within the Sahara has often accordingly had a much greater impact. Several peripheral Arabic varieties of the Sahara retain morphology as well as vocabulary from the languages spoken by their speakers' ancestors, in particular Berber in the southwest and Beja in the southeast; the same is true of at least one Saharan Hausa variety. The Berber languages of the northern Sahara have in turn been deeply affected by centuries of bilingualism in Arabic, borrowing core vocabulary and some aspects of morphology and syntax. The Northern Songhay languages of the central Sahara have been even more profoundly affected by a history of multilingualism and language shift involving Tuareg, Songhay, Arabic, and other Berber languages, much of which remains to be unraveled. These languages have borrowed so extensively that they retain barely a few hundred core words of Songhay vocabulary; those loans have not only introduced new morphology but in some cases replaced old morphology entirely. In the southeast, the spread of Arabic westward from the Nile Valley has created a spectrum of varieties with varying degrees of local influence; the Saharan ones remain almost entirely undescribed. Much work remains to be done throughout the region, not only on identifying and analysing contact effects but even simply on describing the languages its inhabitants speak. "From existential to indefinite determiner: Kaš in Algerian Arabic". In George Grigore and Gabriel Bițună (eds.), Arabic Varieties: Far and Wide. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of AIDA – Bucharest, 2015. Bucharest: Editura Universității din București, pp. 505-513. 2016. (ISBN 978-606-16-0709-9). Algerian Arabic has developed a new indefinite determiner kaš, with a number of loosely related functions. Despite its ubiquity in modern Algiers, this word is absent from 19th century sources, and appears to be a relatively recent development. More recent sources allude to it briefly without ever giving a full description. This article describes its syntactic distribution and its meaning in the dialect of Dellys (north-central Algeria) for the first time, identifying five distinct constructions in which kaš appears. It then examines this form's history based on written data. Based on the results, it reconstructs the reinterpretations that produced the present-day distribution of kaš, showing that it derives from a combination of an existential predicator with the polyfunctional morpheme ši. This finding confirms the existence of a grammaticalisation pathway from existential to indefinite quantifier, a question bearing on some scenarios proposed in the context of the debate within Arabic dialectology over the history of ši/šay'. "Attrition and revival in Awjila Berber", with Marijn van Putten. Corpus 14, pp. 23-58, 2015. Awjila Berber is a highly endangered Berber variety spoken in the East of Libya. Only minimal material is available on the language. This is unfortunate, as that material reveals that the language is in some respects very archaic and in others grammatically unique, and as such is of particular comparative and historical interest. Fieldwork has been impossible for decades due to the political situation, leading to uncertainty about whether the language was even still spoken. With the rising popularity of Facebook, however, more and more Berber speakers are taking to Facebook to converse in their own language. Several inhabitants of Awjila have accordingly set up a Facebook page Ašal=ənnax "our village" where they communicate with one another in the Awjila language. The authors have collected a corpus of the conversations on this Facebook page, which have been transcribed and translated. Analysis of this corpus adds substantially to our knowledge of Awjili and its situation. The posters' discussion of their motivations for using the language cast light on the language's prospects for survival, while the posts themselves yield many previously unattested words. At the same time, the corpus provides a case study in language contact. Examination of the grammatical and lexical features of this “Facebook-Awjili” language reveals that these speakers' usage is heavily influenced by Arabic, showing extensive language attrition absent from earlier data. The resulting constructions show parallels with other contact-heavy varieties, notably Siwi. In both respects, this study casts light upon the uses and limits of social media as a source of linguistic material. "Explaining Korandjé: Language contact, plantations, and the trans-Saharan trade". Journal of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics 30:2, pp. 189-224, 2015. The intense Berber-Songhay language contact that produced Northern Songhay cannot be understood adequately without taking into account the existence of a Northern Songhay language outside the Azawagh valley – Korandjé, in Algeria – showing no significant signs of Tuareg contact. This article proposes a new explanation based on linguistic, epigraphic, and historical data: Western Berber-speaking Masūfa, present throughout northern Mali around 1200, founded Tabelbala to facilitate a new trade route; they chose Northern Songhay speakers, already a distinct group, for their experience in oasis farming and possibly copper mining. As Masūfa influence waned, the language was reoriented towards North Africa. "Gaining a language, losing a language: Korandje from the 12th to the 21st century". The Middle East in London 11:5, pp. 11-12, 2015. An overview of the linguistic history of Korandje for a popular audience. "Non-Tuareg Berber and the Genesis of Nomadic Northern Songhay". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 36:1, pp. 121-143, 2015. "How to make a comitative preposition agree it-with its external argument: Songhay and the typology of conjunction and agreement". In Paul Widmer, Jürg Fleischer, and Elisabeth Rieken (eds.), Agreement from a diachronic perspective, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 75-100, 2015. This article describes two hitherto unreported comitative strategies exemplified in Songhay languages of West Africa – external agreement, and bipartite – and demonstrates their wider applicability. The former strategy provides the first clear-cut example of a previously unattested agreement target-controller pair. Based on comparative evidence, this article proposes a scenario for how these could have developed from the typologically unremarkable comitative and coordinative strategies reconstructible for proto-Songhay, in a process facilitated by contact with Berber. The grammaticalisation chain required to explain this has the unexpected effect of reversing a much better-known one previously claimed to be unidirectional, the development COMITATIVE > NP-AND. "Archaic and innovative Islamic prayer names around the Sahara". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 78:2, pp. 357-374, 2015. Berber in the Sahara and southern Morocco, and several West African languages including Soninké, Mandinka, and Songhay, all refer to the five Islamic daily prayers using terms not derived from their usual Arabic names, and showing striking mutual similarities. These names’ motivation has not hitherto been explained. An examination of Islamic sources reveals that many correspond to terms attested within Arabic from an early period which have passed out of use elsewhere. Others, with a more limited distribution, reflect transfer from a time-keeping system widely attested among Berber-speaking oases of the northern Sahara. These results demonstrate that the variant prayer terminologies attested in the hadith reflect popular usages that were still commonplace at the time when North Africa was conquered, and underscore the conservatism of non-Arabic Islamic religious terminology in and around the Sahara. "The development of addressee agreement on demonstratives". Diachronica 31.4, pp. 535-563, 2014 [actually appeared 2015]. The person-oriented nature of a demonstrative system can be marked explicitly by incorporating person markers into demonstratives. When those distinguish gender or number, this can lead to an unusual type of allocutivity: addressee agreement on medials. The latter development is cross-linguistically rarely reported, but is attested in Siwi Berber, Quranic and Razih Arabic, and arguably Imperial Aramaic. Examination of these and other languages shows a pathway whereby demonstrative systems gain addressee-anchored terms through grammaticalisation of a phrase including an oblique 2nd person pronoun, occasionally producing addressee agreement. The semantic properties of allocutivity help explain the rarity of the latter result. "The Development of Dative Agreement in Berber: Beyond Nominal Hierarchies". Transactions of the Philological Society 113:2, pp. 213-248, 2015 (online 2014). Diachronically, agreement commonly emerges from clitic doubling, which in turn derives from topic shift constructions (Givon 1976) – a grammaticalisation pathway termed the Agreement Cycle. For accusatives, at the intermediate stages of this development, doubling constitutes a form of Differential Object Marking, and passes towards agreement as the conditions for its use are relaxed to cover larger sections of the Definiteness and Animacy Scales. Berber shows widespread dative doubling with substantial variation across languages in the conditioning factors, which in one case has developed into inflectional dative agreement. Examination of a corpus covering 18 Berber varieties suggests that low Definiteness/Animacy datives are less likely to be doubled. However, since most datives are both definite and animate, these factors account for very little of the observed variation. Much more can be accounted for by an unexpected factor: the choice of verb. “Say” consistently shows much higher frequencies of doubling, usually nearly 100%. This observation can be explained on the hypothesis that doubling derives from afterthoughts, not from topic dislocation. "Syntactically obligatory code-switching? The syntax of numerals in Beni-Snous Berber", with Fatma Kherbache. International Journal of Bilingualism 2016, Vol. 20(2) 97 –115. Grammatical rules in one language that induce the speaker to switch to another language (Matras’ ‘bilingual suppletion’) are reported for two languages: Beni-Snous Berber, and Jerusalem Domari. Few details are available, yet the two cases show greater similarities than expected if any grammatical rule could specify switching. This paper seeks to describe the phenomenon more precisely and to provide a principled explanation for the similarities. The results indicate that Beni-Snous Berber – like Domari – shows a statistically significant tendency to use Arabic nouns with numerals for which Arabic and Berber selectional requirements conflict. Modern speakers additionally show optional syntactic calquing in such cases, accompanied by fewer switches. These facts are predicted by the hypothesis that ‘bilingual suppletion’ is induced by words shared across the two languages with different selectional requirements. "Siwi addressee agreement and demonstrative typology". In ed. Catherine Taine-Cheikh, StuF 67:1, Berber in typological perspective, 2014, pp. 25-34. Siwi shows gender/number agreement of medial demonstratives with the addressee. Such phenomena are cross-linguistically very rarely reported, and are not discussed in major surveys of the typology of demonstratives. However, within person-oriented demonstrative systems, such marking amounts to an iconic representation of addressee anchoring. The pragmatics of Siwi demonstratives thus cast light on the nature of the mapping from person to place that such systems reflect. Comparative eastern Berber data suggests that demonstrative addressee agreement may be more widespread than the literature reflects. "Writing 'Shelha' in new media: Emergent non-Arabic literacy in Southwestern Algeria". In ed. Meikal Mumin and Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Script in Africa: Studies on the Usage of a Writing System. Leiden: Brill, pp. 91-104, 2014. This article examines the transcription choices and social purposes involved in the writing of non-Arabic local languages ("Shelha") in southwestern Algeria, including several Berber varieties and Korandjé, in the Arabic script, mainly online. Examination of the transcription choices suggests that 'Ajami' writing is a natural side effect of Arabic literacy, which can show significant homogeneity across individuals and languages without the practice itself ever having been institutionally taught. The contexts and purposes of the examples confirm that, in public contexts, Arabic remains the default choice, with 'Shelha' reserved almost exclusively for presenting language-specific form rather than translatable meaning; in private messages, however, 'Shelha' may still be used to emphasise solidarity, paralleling its oral sociolinguistic status. "Sub-Saharan lexical influence in North African Arabic and Berber". In ed. Mena Lafkioui, African Arabic: Approaches to Dialectology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 211-236, 2013. This article discusses sub-Saharan loans in North Africa, many of them previously unidentified. While Hausa influence is most widespread, Songhay is a close second, and Manding and Kanuri have also played a role. Most loans are limited either geographically to the Saharan region or socially to the context of ex-slaves' music and organisations; however, four plant names have passed into general usage even in some coastal areas. Sub-Saharan influence on Ghadames Berber is particularly profound, including the borrowing of a new word class of ideophones. "Language and the Study of Africa", with Philip Jaggar. In ed. Thomas Spear, Oxford Bibliographies in African Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. This is an annotated introductory bibliography for African languages and linguistics, attempting to give at least some information on each family, as well as on more general questions of phonology, morphology, syntax, and orthography. This article shows, based on shared arbitrary innovations, that the Northern Songhay (NS) languages of the Sahara form a valid subfamily, and that Northern Songhay and Western Songhay (WS) together form a valid subfamily, Northwestern Songhay (NWS). The speakers of PNS practised cultivation and permanent architecture, but were unfamiliar with date palms; those of PNWS were already in contact with Berber and Arabic, and lived along the Niger river. This is compatible with two scenarios for the northerly spread of Songhay: A. NS spread out from an oasis north-east of Gao, and PNWS had been spoken in areas west of Gao which now speak Eastern Songhay; or B. NS spread from the Timbuktu region, and WS derives from heavy “de-creolising” influence by Eastern Songhay on an originally Northern Songhay language. Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, PhD thesis, 2010. This thesis examines the effects of contact on the grammars of the languages of two Saharan oases, Siwa and Tabelbala. These share similar linguistic ecologies in many respects, and can be regarded as among the most extreme representatives of a language contact situation ongoing for centuries across the oases of the northern Sahara. This work identifies and argues for contact effects across a wide range of core morphology and syntax, using these both to shed new light on regional history and to test claims about the limits on, and expected outcomes of, contact. While reaffirming the ubiquity of pattern copying, the results encourage an expanded understanding of the role of material borrowing in grammatical contact, showing that the borrowing of functional morphemes and of paradigmatic sets of words or phrases containing them can lead to grammatical change. More generally, it confirms the uniformitarian principle that diachronic change arises through the long-term application of processes observable in synchronic language contact situations. The similarity of the sociolinguistic situations provides a close approximation to a natural controlled experiment, allowing us to pinpoint cases where differences in the original structure of the recipient language appear to have influenced its receptivity to external influence in those aspects of structure. "The Western Berber Stratum in Kwarandzyey", in ed. D. Ibriszimow, M. Kossmann, H. Stroomer, R. Vossen, Études berbères V – Essais sur des variations dialectales et autres articles. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, pp. 177-189, 2010. By examining regular correspondences and vocabulary distribution, this article demonstrates that many of the Berber loans in Kwarandzyey (Korandjé) derive neither from the Berber varieties currently spoken near the oasis nor from Tuareg, but rather from the highly divergent Western subfamily of Berber to which Zenaga and Tetserrét belong. These loans are particularly conspicuous in the domains of herding, marriage, and religion. Their presence implies that Western Berber must once have been far more widely spoken, including areas near at least one of Tabelbala or the Niger bend. The principal sound changes that have affected Kwarandzyey are also examined. "Ajami in West Africa", Afrikanistik Online 2010. This article examines the practice of adapting the Arabic script to write non-Arabic languages in West Africa, a form of literacy known as Ajami which remains widespread despite little or no government support. Among the methods found to be used to transcribe non-Arabic sounds, the "ajami diacritic" of Senegal and Guinea is of particular interest, appearing unmotivated from a narrowly linguistic perspective but readily explicable as a rational adaptation to the parallel educational system in which Ajami is typically learned. "Siwa and its significance for Arabic dialectology" (pre-review version), Zeitschrift für Arabische Linguistik 51, pp. 51-75, 2009. Siwi is best known for being the easternmost Berber language, but includes a very substantial Arabic stratum. The q reflex of qāf and the final ʾimāla of -ā to -ī in loanwords alone suffice to establish that most of this influence derives neither from Bedouin dialects nor from the main Nile Valley dialects; instead, these link Siwa to other Egyptian oases. Some borrowed grammatical elements, notably lā "not" and qət ̣t ̣"ever", the actor noun formation a-CəCCēCī, and demonstrative agreement with the addressee, underline Siwi’s archaism relative to almost all modern Arabic dialects. The depth of Arabic influence on Siwi suggests very close social contact, and historical sources indicate an Arab presence in the oasis alongside Berber in the 12th century. The Arabic element of Siwi thus provides a new source of evidence on sedentary Arabic dialects that reached the region independently of the Banī Sulaym and probably prior to their 11th century arrival. "The Typology of Number Borrowing in Berber", in ed. Naomi Hilton, Rachel Arscott, Katherine Barden, Arti Krishna, Sheena Shah, Meg Zellers, CamLing 2007 Proceedings, Cambridge:Cambridge Institute of Language Research 2007, pp. 237-244 (first presented at CamLing 2007). In Berber, numerals are commonly loanwords from Arabic; some languages retain as few as one or two non-Arabic numerals, while others preserve a complete inventory. Closer examination reveals differences in intensity of borrowing even within single languages, depending on the numbers' functional usage. The languages in question are closely related to one another and are all influenced by varieties of Arabic, allowing what amounts to a controlled experiment, with similar contact situations in different areas yielding a spectrum of possible outcomes. Careful examination of this spectrum allows us to set up a typology of numeral borrowing in Arabic-Berber contact, showing how linguistic, social, and cognitive factors all affect the process of number borrowing and how synonymy may emerge as a transitional stage in the adoption of a new system. Explorations in the Syntactic Cartography of Algerian Arabic, MA thesis (SOAS 2006). Using original data from the Dellys dialect, this thesis presents a preliminary map of some important points in the syntactic cartography of Algerian Arabic, mapping out some of the multiple DP-related functional positions to reveal a surface situation bearing strong similarities to those postulated by Beghelli and Stowell (1997) and Rizzi (1997). In both Algerian and Classical Arabic this structure is subject to a basic dichotomy that justifies some version of the traditional CP/IP distinction: positions below FocP are accessible to movement, while positions above it can be accessed only through the use of resumptive pronouns. A functional hierarchy of minimally six positions is required to account for the observed facts in a cartographical framework; these may be labelled as follows: TopP FocP AgrSP NegP NeutP VP. "Notes on the Algerian Arabic Dialect of Dellys" - Estudios de Dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí 9, pp. 151-180, 2005. The Arabic dialect of Dellys belongs to the little-documented urban north-central Algeria dialect group, and - like most such dialects - it displays traits unusual in pre-Hilalian dialects, in particular the retention of interdentals. Berber, Andalusi, and later Bedouin influence are all observable in its lexicon, and occasionally in its grammar. Lexically, the Dellys dialect is particularly noteworthy for its extensive retention of precolonial vocabulary relating to fishing and sea creatures, largely replaced by French loanwords in other towns of the region. This paper summarizes points of dialectological interest in a framework loosely based on Caubet (2001). "Broken Plurals – or Infixes?: The Case of the Algerian Arabic of Dellys" - Estudios de Dialectología Norteafricana y Andalusí 6, pp. 19-34, 2002. This paper, written before I started the formal study of linguistics, presents an alternative analysis of broken plurals in Algerian Arabic in terms of infixation, combined with a description of the system for the Dellys dialect. Erratum: Further investigation revealed that ṭəms (p. 33) refers to a rare type of fish rather than a seal. There's also work in progress. 29 August 2016 - CALL 46 (Leiden), on "Final vowel loss in Korandje: A verb-specific sound change". 12 November 2015 - Les trente ans de la revue Études et Documents Berbères » (MSH Paris Nord, Saint-Denis la Plaine), on "Le parler de Sokna (Libye) à la lumière de nouvelles données". 24 June 2015 - Journée des jeunes chercheurs du LACITO, on "Etudier l'arabe chez les juifs originaires de l'Algérie" (with Benjamin Touati). 11 June 2015 - Workshop on Morphosyntactic interference in heritage languages, UWE (Bristol), on "Verbal infection interference among heritage speakers of Awjili Berber" (with Marijn van Putten). 27 May 2015 - 11th Conference of the Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe (AIDA), Bucharest, on "From existential to indefinite determiner: kaš in Algerian Arabic" 29 January 2015 - Réunion du GLECS, Paris, on "La diffusion en Afrique du Nord : vers l’étude du contact intra-berbère". 17 January 2015 - Journée d'études de la SLP "Diffusion, implantation, convergence" on "Diffusion in North Africa - What are our models hiding?" 23 September 2014 – Typologie de l'indéfini (LACITO) on "Des origines kašées : L'histoire et la polyfonctionnalité d'un déterminant indéfini en arabe algérien" 9 October 2014 - 11 October 2014 - 8. Bayreuth-Frankfurt-Leidener Kolloquium zur Berberologie (Bayreuth), on "Le substrat berbère non-touareg du Tadaksahak". 28 August 2014 – Symposium "Language Contact: The State of the Art", Linguistic Association of Finland (Helsinki), on "Borrowing Arabic elatives (comparatives): Root-and-Pattern morphology in language contact". 1 July 2014 – Labex RT3 seminar, LACITO, on "Le contact linguistique comme cause de changement typologique au korandjé". 14 May 2014 – Endangered Languages Outreach Day 2014 (Endangered Languages in the Middle East and North Africa), SOAS, London, on "Korandjé: An Algerian case of language endangerment in historical perspective". 4 April 2014 - Problèmes d'analyse et de comparaison des langues (LACITO) on "L'emprunt de syntagmes en berbère : ses causes et ses effets" 15 February 2014 – NACAL 42, Leiden, on "Back consonants in Berber". 19 December 2013 – Réunion du GLECS, Paris, on "Redoublement clitique et contact linguistique en arabe". 12 November 2013 – AIDA 10, Doha, on "Clitic Doubling and Contact in Arabic". 20 September 2013 – 46th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europae, Split, on "Adposition borrowing and complement position in Northern Songhay". 26 May 2013 – The Arabic Script in Africa 2, Brussels, on "Understanding a Decontextualised Ajami Manuscript". 24 May 2013 – Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium 2013, Cologne, on "Songhay lexica and the trans-Saharan trade". 21 March 2013 – Labex EFL seminar "Quantification, scalarité, pluralité", Paris, on "Numeral syntax in northern Songhay: The syntactic impact of language contact". 11 January 2013 – LACITO seminar, Paris, on "L'intonation en korandjé". 26 October 2012 - Journée d'étude internationale : Le berbère dans une perspective typologique, Paris, on "Les déictiques en berbère oriental". 5 October 2012 - Agreement from a diachronic perspective, Marburg, on "The Development of Indirect Object Agreement in Berber: Beyond nominal hierarchies". 26 January 2012 - Réunion du GLECS, Paris, on "Du redoublement clitique à l'accord : le cas du berbère". 9 December 2011 - Seminari di MNAMON, Pisa, on "Re-examining Libyco-Berber: how much do we know, and how does it fit into the family's subclassification?" 18 November 2011: Journée scientifique (LLACAN), Paris, on "Indirect object agreement in Berber." 17-21 August 2009: World Congress of African Linguistics 6, Cologne, on "Adposition Borrowing in Kwarandzyey" 13-16 July 2009: LFG09, Cambridge, on "Addressee agreement in Siwi demonstratives" 28-29 November 2008: 5000 Jahre Schrift in Afrika, Cologne, on "Ajami in West Africa" 8-11 October 2008: 5th International Colloquium on Berber Languages and Linguistics, Leiden, on "Kwarandzyey, the language of Tabelbala, and what it tells us about the history of Berber" 28-31 August 2008: AIDA 8, Colchester, about "Siwi and its significance for Arabic dialectology" 24-28 September 2007: ALT 7, Paris, where I spoke at the Typology of African Languages Workshop about "The Decay of Clitic Attraction across Berber: A Typological Overview" 27-29 August 2007: CALL 37, Leiden, about "Tondi Songway Kiini and the subclassification of Songhay" 8-9 April 2005: CELCNA, Salt Lake City, where I gave a joint presentation with Laura Buszard-Welcher on "Building Virtual Speech Communities for Endangered Languages: The E-MELD Query Room" Mena Lafkioui's Atlas linguistiques des variétés berbères du Rif. Reviewed in Afrikanistik Online (2007). and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Reviewed in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 30 (2009), pp. 267-272. David Sudlow's Dictionary of the Tamasheq of North-East Burkina Faso. Reviewed in Afrika und Übersee 90 (2008/09), pp. 306-308. Catherine Taine-Cheikh's Dictionnaire zénaga-français and Dictionnaire français-zénaga. Reviewed in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 32.1 (2011), pp. 165-168. Claire Bowern's Linguistic Fieldwork: A Practical Guide. Reviewed in Language Documentation and Conservation 5 (2011). Lionel Galand's Regards sur le berbère. Reviewed in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 34:1 (2013), pp. 186-198. Terence F. Mitchell's Zuaran Berber (Libya): Grammar and Texts. Reviewed in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 34:2 (2013), pp. 305-308. Regula Christiansen-Bolli's A Grammar of Tadaksahak. Reviewed in Journal of Language Contact 7.2 (2014). Maarten Kossmann's The Arabic Influence on Northern Berber. Reviewed in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 35:2 (2014), pp. 284–290. Carole de Féral (ed.) In and Out of Africa. Languages in Question. In Honour of Robert Nicolaï. Volume 1. Language Contact and Epistemological Issues. Reviewed (en français) in Bulletin de la Société Linguistique de Paris CIX (2014), fasc. 2, pp. 110-116. Werner Diem's Negation in Arabic: A Study in Linguistic History, and David Wilmsen's Arabic Indefinites, Interrogatives, and Negators: A Linguistic History of Western Dialects. Reviewed in Linguistics 2016, S4(1), pp. 223-229. Dominique Casajus's L’alphabet touareg. Histoire d’un vieil alphabet africain. Reviewed in Anthropos 111.2016.1, pp. 233-234. Oropom Etymological Lexicon - a philological analysis in some depth of what unfortunately turned out to be a very dubious wordlist, allegedly of an extinct Ugandan language. You can see an archive of my former homepage - notably including a Grammar of Algerian Arabic and a page on the various methods of Writing Berber Languages - on the Wayback Machine. Both contain some minor errors, and one has an inadequate bibliography; I haven't had time lately to bring them up to my current academic standards, but hope that they may nonetheless be useful to learners.

2019-04-24T10:43:28Z

https://sites.google.com/site/lameen/

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City Ventures believes that the future of homebuilding lies in the power of solar electricity, transferring the limitless energy from the sun into the energy needed to sustain the modern way of living. That’s why their Green Key Homes offer healthy, clean air through cutting-edge airflow systems, the use of earth-friendly elements and non-toxic materials and advanced Energy Star appliances. It also includes state-of-the-art innovations such as dual-glazes windows with ultraviolet coating, high solar reflective index roofing materials, the option to prepare your home for an electric vehicle charger, the choice to eliminate your gas bill, as well as the alternative to balance the use of solar energy and the convenience of natural gas power. In essence, the ultimate goal of City Ventures in terms of green homebuilding is their desire to manufacture homes that utilize as little as natural resources as possible and produces the least possible carbon dioxide emissions. For them, it is the best and the most logical thing to do. Being an Energy Star Partner since 2004, Schell Brothers is one of the most established names in terms of building energy-efficient homes in Delaware and the Sussex County beach resort area. Aside from providing their clients with exceptional homes and excellent home buying experience, they make a distinction in the homebuilding industry by incorporating happiness in their mission. They take business seriously but at the same time, their team knows how to have fun and how to make work even more rewarding. They connect, show appreciation and honor their homeowners by throwing parties, participating in community services and involving themselves in certain events that benefit relevant causes such as cancer research. Moreover, Schell Brothers is not new to prestigious recognitions. They have been acknowledged by The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for eight consecutive years and have been consistently recognized by other award-giving bodies in Delaware. The company was named the 2011 Green Partner of the Year by the NAHB Research Center and was declared Winner of the Delaware Home Builders Regal award for Best Green Built Home in 2011, 2012 and 2013. To add, Schell Brothers was one of the only eight homebuilders across the country to be honored with the 2015 Indoor AirPLUS® Leader Award by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Furthermore, the company also takes pride in their Schellter™ Advanced Building Science program, which provides a smart technology to ensure that your home functions to its ultimate performance. They work side-by-side with other leading experts in energy conservation such as Integrated Building and Construction Solutions (IBACOS) and has become one of the elite qualifiers for the US Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge Program. Currently, Schell Brothers homes score an average of 52 on HERS scale. The combination of their high-standards in building energy-efficient and sustainable homes and their positive culture comprises the Schell Brothers advantage. Their work doesn’t end after closing the deal rather they extend it by providing the security of comfortable living to their buyers for years to come and most importantly, by taking the opportunity to give back to the community. Headquartered in Walnut, California, Shea Homes has humble beginnings. The firm’s history started in 1881 when John Francis Shea opened a small plumbing business in Portland, Oregon. With high value for honesty and integrity, he was able to turn his one-man shop into one of nation’s largest and oldest privately-owned construction companies. Highlighted in the family’s legacy are their major contributions to America’s great projects such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam and the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. With the company’s commitment to long-lasting quality, Shea Homes prides itself on providing exceptional customer service and master-planned housing and community options for everyone. It offers condominiums, townhomes, traditional single-family detached homes and luxury residences that are all thoughtfully-designed to suit the way you live. In addition, each home also exceeds the standards for healthy living. Their Energy Star® products and solar power systems allow you to enjoy your savings of superior energy efficiency and at the same time, help you do your part for the environment. Shea Homes takes green living very seriously. Their lumber comes from sustainable forests and they use 10-15% less wood by utilizing Optimum Value Engineering method and recycling construction materials in their projects. On top of that, they use satellite controlled irrigation technology and low-flow faucets, shower heads and toilets to cut overall water usage and help reduce urban runoff that could be harmful to wildlife habitats. To guarantee high performance construction and customer’s ultimate satisfaction, Shea Homes performs 11-Point Quality Inspections assigned to one Field Manager to ensure consistency. All Shea Green Certified Ultra Homes are tested by an independent third party as well. Moreover, it also comes with a written guarantee that your energy usage for your heating and cooling systems will not exceed the predetermined usage listed on your new home at the time of purchase. By its very nature, Shea Homes cares. It cares about the wellness of your family and the health of our planet. It cares enough to think about your grandchildren and it cares enough to take a step further to protect the environment and to leave a greener planet for future generations. Landon Homes is one of the premier home builders in Texas that has been creating eco-friendly homes and exceptional neighborhoods for more than 20 years. As a visionary company, it respects the environment and at the same time, understands the needs of your family. Their team of skilled architects, engineers and energy consultants work hand in hand to ensure superior energy efficiency in your home, to minimize your utility bill, to maximize livable spaces and to give you exemplary value for your money. Their Better Built Homes feature high-end performance 24/7. To create exciting, functional and energy efficient home designs, Landon Homes uses unique 2” x 6” exterior wall construction process, superb-heat reducing windows, exceptional attic insulation ratings and tech-shield radiant heat barriers. Other energy saving components include Energy Star® appliances, 80% AFUE gas furnace, programmable thermostat, tankless water heater and many more. Furthermore, Landon Homes has received several prestigious awards and recognitions for outstanding architecture, product designs and excellent customer service. They have been named “Texas Builder of the Year” for five out of seven years. Being good stewards of environment, this firm believes that constructing homes is more than just being “green.” As written on their website, a perfect home “must be a combination of space, function, location, price and community.” With that being said, Landon Homes continues to live up to their mission to building better homes that deliver the best value possible. Since 2003, LGI Homes has become one of the fastest growing names in housing developments in the nation. Their team of skilled home builders and home buying professionals have been crafting beautiful yet affordable homes in excellent locations throughout Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Georgia, and Florida. Driven by their commitment in providing consistent individualized service and their desire to make every homeowner’s dream come true, LGI Homes has simplified the buying process by providing high quality homes that cater to the specific needs of their customers, affordable financing options and creating the “First Time Homebuyer Guide,” a compilation of frequently asked questions to help their clients make wise life-changing decisions. LGI’s products feature only top-of-the-line materials, energy-saving appliances, insulation and heating and cooling systems, which are all included in each home’s upgrade package with no out-of-the-pocket cost. They also offer one of the most comprehensive and high quality warranty programs around to assure you quality service, responsiveness and enduring peace of mind of having low utility bills and great savings month after month. LGI’s energy efficiency standards and strict requirements also limit the amount of impact we create on the environment thus promoting not only affordability but sustainability as well. Furthermore, LGI Homes has gathered numerous awards in customer satisfaction and product designs. It was named one of Houston’s Fast 100, based on revenue growth on 2012. In addition, according to Builder Magazine, it was the fastest growing private company in 2008 and 21st largest home builder in the United States in 2015. Elliot Homes has been developing shopping centers, office buildings, apartment projects, single-family homes and master-planned communities since 1914. With more than 100 years of experience, the firm has been synonymous to providing outstanding quality construction and innovative ideas in building homes that accommodates everything a family needs. As a broadly diverse builder and developer of both residential and commercial centers, Elliott Homes’ team has showcased their expertise in creating fine buildings with exquisite architecture such as Folsom’s Broadstone Marketplace, West Sacramento’s Westbridge Plaza, Fresno’s Villaggio and Palladio at Broadstone, an astonishing lifestyle center which is currently home to the largest digital, solar-powered movie theater in the world. In 2002, Harry Elliott III, President of Elliott Homes, was elected to head the California Building Industry Association, a statewide trade alliance that represents nearly 6,000 businesses and industry professionals. Furthermore, Elliott Homes has been consistently ranked in the top 100 builders across the nation. The company also earned the Home Innovation Quality Certified Award, a recognition given by Home Innovation Research Labs to builders delivering the highest level of quality and excellence in customer satisfaction. Along with Elliott Homes’ passion for promoting high-performance living is their interest in the health and welfare of the community and environmental preservation. Building green has always been the company’s choice, from promoting energy efficient products, using designs and procedures that help preserve natural resources to environmental stewardship. Some of their best practices include the use of water-conserving faucets, use of water-wise landscape plant materials, fresh-filtered air ventilation system, use of sustainable lumber products, onsite recycling of waste building materials and many more. To take things a step further, they also created The Elliott Conservancy, a program for the enhancement of natural open spaces and habitats that also provides education and research opportunities to the public. Clearly, Elliott Homes’ vision goes beyond building neighborhoods, parks and recreation, most importantly, it is about the conservation of biodiversity, environment and natural resources. A premier home builder in Las Vegas, Nevada, American West Homes has been known for its construction excellence since 1984. With more than 30 years of expertise, they believe in the importance of family and how a home should reflect the family’s personalities and values. They also understand that purchasing a home is one of life’s biggest decision and investment. It is in this regard that they are fully-committed in applying only the highest possible standards in building signature neighborhoods and in achieving exceptional homeowner’s satisfaction. American West Homes has been honored with the building industry’s most sought-after awards. In fact, it has accumulated over 200 local and national building awards including the national ACE Award. It has also been consistently recognized as one of the top 100 builders in the nation and as one of America’s largest locally-owned homebuilders. American West Homes has built more than 100 new home communities that speak of distinct appeals and styles to meet the needs of different types of buyers and families. Moreover, the team believes that demonstrating excellence and respecting the environment are equally important. This principle is transparently integrated in every eco-friendly home they built. Their green residences’ most technologically-advanced features include dual-paned, low-e windows, R-30 insulation in ceilings, programmable setback thermostat, energy-efficient radiant barrier roof sheathing, Energy Star appliances, water-saving professional landscape designs, protective house wrap and many more. With over 16,000 satisfied homeowners, American West Homes’ success in the industry is clearly characterized not only by the passion they put into creating beautiful homes but most importantly, by the quality of life that comes with it. Delaware-based and NAHB Certified Green Professional Boardwalk Builders is a team of dedicated and detail-oriented home builders, from carpenters, marketing professionals, project managers, designers, estimators and more. Their portfolio includes bathroom and kitchen renovation, interior and exterior home remodeling and visually-appealing custom-built homes. The company has been building and remaking eco-conscious homes for over 30 years. Though Boardwalk Builders’ ultimate goal is to exceed client expectations, they are no stranger to prestigious awards and recognitions of various categories such as construction, management, employee and customer satisfaction. In 2004, they have bagged the NRS Homeowners Satisfaction Award and the NHQ Silver Award for Commitment to Quality Remodeling. They have also earned several design awards including Professional Remodeler Best of the Best Gold Award, Remodeling Magazine Merit Award and many more. In addition, Boardwalk Builders is proud to be in compliance with the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Section 402 and has received certification to conduct lead-based paint renovation, repair and painting activities. Each of their lead carpenters is a certified Lead Renovator, which guarantees lead-safe work practices for their clients and for their crew as well. Essentially, Boardwalk Builders doesn’t just build homes, they build dreams as well. They develop genuine relationships with their customers that is based on trust and understanding before, during and after the construction. Founded in 1950 in Oakland County, Michigan, Pulte Homes is one of the nation’s leaders in energy efficient home building. What started as a single-home built and sold by an 18-year old entrepreneur has grown into a multi-brand homebuilding company that currently operates in approximately 50 markets throughout the country. The company prides itself in their unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction through their Life Tested Home Designs, which is fundamentally a collaboration of Pulte Homes’ construction excellence and the homeowners’ best ideas. Their consumer-inspired approach is what sets them apart from their competitors. They keep their buyers well-informed during and after the building process through an exclusive online portal. This feature encourages the clients to get involved and be always updated about construction status, warranty details, discounts and other special privileges. As a result, each home is designed and built with precision for the way buyers want to live. When it comes to energy advantage, Pulte Homes guarantees more comfort and less waste. Their HERS score indicates that their homes are up to 30% more energy efficient than a typical existing home. Each Pulte Energy Advantage® Home features radiant barrier roof decking for warmer climates, high-efficiency HVAC system, programmable thermostat, compact fluorescent lights, Energy Star qualified appliances, low emissivity windows and enhanced insulation. Pulte Homes is not a stranger to prestigious recognitions as well. It has gathered numerous awards for customer satisfaction and has consistently been ranked “Top 50 Performing Companies” by the Business Week Magazine. In 2009, Pulte Homes has also been recognized by the US Department of Energy and BASF for its outstanding achievement in the DOE Builders Challenge Program, a voluntary energy-savings project with a goal of constructing energy efficient homes. Award-winning home builder Taylor Morrison Homes has a long history in the construction market, from building low-cost, high quality housing to creating custom luxury homes. The company was established when Taylor Woodrow and Morrison Homes, two of the most respectable names in the industry, decided to join forces in July, 2007. With more than a century of experience in quality construction, superior design and customer service, this Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm has become one of the largest home building companies in the United States. Every detail of Taylor Morrison Homes undergoes careful consideration. Locations are thoughtfully-researched and chosen based on its proximity to schools, business establishments and other essential community services. Floor plans and styles offer nothing less than quality craftsmanship and design. Their team of experts make sure that all details are fresh, elegant, trustworthy, timeless, and something you’ll certainly fall in love with. Also, Taylor Morrison Homes’ customer service is proactive and reliable in nature. Their representatives address clients’ concerns as quick as they can and always check to see that you’re getting the best of your warranty. Taylor Morrison Home is also a proud Energy Star partner committed to protecting the environment by providing energy efficient homes that follow US EPA’s strict guidelines for household products and new home construction. Essential elements used in the building process include higher-R value installation, radiant barriers, jump ducts, low-E windows, tankless water heaters and water recirculation pump. A typical Taylor Morrison Home also has a HERS score of 60s-70s. Along with their 132 years of experience in building and designing quality homes in superior communities across the country, Taylor Morrison Homes also has a long history of success and customer satisfaction. Their Southern California Division alone has garnered 15 Builder’s Choice Awards. Their Darling Home brand received the McSam Award “Realtor’s Choice Builder of the Year” and named one of the “Best Places to Work” five years in a row by the Dallas Business Journal. The company was also named “Builder of the Year and Fastest Growing Public Builder” by Builder Magazine. In addition, it has also been inducted into both “Builder Magazine Hall of Fame and the Best in American Living Award Hall of Fame,” sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders. Fulton Homes has become one of Arizona’s largest family-owned and operated home builders. It has been constructing mid-priced to high-end luxury homes since 1975. The company believes that a home should be a reflection of the homeowner’s taste and vision. In this regard, they have created the Fulton Design Center, a place that offers a wide range of finest and elegant designs created by Fulton Homes’ very own team of world class interior designers. This provides customers a perfect venue to express their styles, ideas as well as their concerns about their homes. Aside from high quality building practices, Fulton Homes takes environmental responsibility very seriously. They want to protect the health and well-being of their homeowners and subsequently reduce their ecological footprint. In fact, their Energy Star certified new homes are all equipped with comprehensive air sealing, quality-installed insulation, high performance windows and high efficiency heating, ventilation and cooling system. It also includes other features such as comprehensive water management system and energy efficient lighting and appliances. To add, their HERS score indicates that their homes use 20-30% less energy compared to typical homes on the market today. Fulton Homes’ collection of notable recognitions demonstrates their deep respect for nature. In 2010, they became the first builder in Arizona to construct all of its homes to Energy Star 3.0 standards, with complete inspection done by a third party verifier. In 2013, they became the recipient of the Energy Star Leadership in Housing Award by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In 2014, they made a commitment that all new homes built moving forward will be an EPA Indoor AirPlus qualified home. Furthermore, in 20015, out of more than 700 home builders across the country, Fulton Homes was chosen by the US EPA as a National Leader in Indoor AirPLUS. Fulton Homes empowers you to dream and create the home that you’ve always wanted. And at the end of the day, they make sure that you are a proud owner of their excellent creations. For over 40 years, Richmond American Homes has been designing and building superior quality new homes in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia. With more than 180,000 homes to their credit, there is no doubt that their signature bears first-rate quality craftsmanship. To deliver extraordinary customer service experience, the company has developed a personalized approach through their Home Gallery Design Center, a place that provides an ideal setting to give buyers the ability to select certain options from fixture to finish. A team of design consultants makes sure that everything in your home is tailored for you. They will help you discover the neighborhood that you have been looking for, choose a floor plan that fits your lifestyle as well as your budget and pick a design for every surface and texture, such as flooring, carpentry, cabinets and tiles. This special venue covers every aspect of your home buying experience to make sure that everything in your home is uniquely yours. Moreover, the company also provides mortgage financing and insurance and title services for its homebuyers. Richmond American Homes also believes in enhancing the quality of life through home ownership. They take pride in their eco-conscious homes that are designed right and built right. To help cut down energy usage, reduce waste and create a healthier environment in your home, they incorporated features efficient HVAC system, mechanically controlled ventilation, advanced framing methods, effective insulation solutions, interior air sealing and Energy Star qualified low-e windows and Energy Star qualified appliances. In addition, Richmond American Homes has indeed set the bar for home quality and customer satisfaction. In 2012, their Tucson division was named “Builder of the Year” by the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association. In 2015, they won the Avid Cup, a top honor given to the company with the highest customer ratings throughout North America. They also received numerous recognitions in different categories of the 2015 Avid Service Award. With its large portfolio of home plans, American Heritage Homes has been offering an extraordinary amount of variety for its homebuyers ranging from single-family to huge custom homes and farmhouses. They are the builders who can offer it all, regardless of the size or the price, because for them, what matters the most is the satisfaction they get in turning your dream home into a reality. They understand that purchasing a home is an important move that affect families that’s why they care about your homes as if it were their own. Aside from having a great eye for detail, American Heritage Homes’ architects encourage your involvement in the process of designing your dream home so that your personality and style would reflect on it as well, giving your new home a sense of identity and a unique character. Also, with the company’s 35 years of proven experience in home building and real estate industry, you can be assured of stability, security and knowledge. Some of their best recognitions include Finest in Family Living Award, Numerous Best Furnished Model in Parade of Homes, Best Subdivision and Best Floor Plan. When it comes to lowering utility costs while increasing efficiency, there’s no need to look further because American Heritage Homes is confidently consistent with the new Energy Star building code requirements and EPA’s strict guidelines. Their Energy Star qualified custom built homes are all independently verified by a third party to ensure exemplary performance. Its features include effective insulation to achieve even temperatures, high-performance windows that blocks ultraviolet sunlight from damaging your furniture and discoloring your carpets, tight construction and tight ducts to ensure quality indoor air and energy efficient heating and cooling equipment to provide better comfort. Given all these advantages and benefits, you can also expect to save about $200-$400 every year on your utility bill while you take part in saving our planet by reducing the use of energy and by building a cleaner environment for the future. Founded in Bridgeville, Delaware, Insight Homes has been exclusively building award-winning green single-family homes since 2007. It all started as an experimental company under the guidance of the US Department of Energy, multiple building science companies and the American Lung Association, who’s primary mission is to develop systems and approaches to show other home builders that it is possible to create energy-efficient, healthy and durable homes at cost-competitive prices. Successful in refining its building specifications to reduce energy usage, Insight Homes has now become a premier provider of highly efficient, highly affordable and healthily built homes in the Mid-Atlantic. Using advanced construction techniques, Insight Homes claims that their houses are in the top 1% in the nation for energy efficiency. Their standard energy features start with outdoor exhausting central vacuum clean air system, Rinnai tankless unlimited capacity water heater, York Affinity top tier heating and cooling system, R-23 dense pack non-batt wall insulation, low thermal bridging advanced framing package, conditioned crawlspace, double-hung double-paned “better than” low-e windows, fiberglass exterior doors, engineered single span quiet flooring system and Energy Star appliance package with side-by-side refrigerator. All of these and many more, amounting to more than $65,000, are all included in each Insight Home with no additional charge. When it comes to quality, value and structural innovations, it is not surprising that Insight Homes has won numerous significant awards such as five time recipient of the “Best Affordable Home” and six time winner of the “Best Built Green Home” for their house models in Fox Haven, Stonewater Creek and Summercrest. They have also won production awards from the Home Builders Association of Delaware’s annual “Regal” awards reception. Insight Homes’ willingness to experiment to find solutions and develop cost-effective methods is their strongest point. Marketing homes on the basis of energy efficiency more than great location and design is an extraordinary principle and is what sets them apart from other home builders. Moreover, the company’s consistency in delivering high-quality production houses and cutting-edge products is very impressive. For Insight Homes, if it’s better for the environment then it’s better for you and your family. Renaissance Builders LLC is a family-owned and operated business based in Wyoming, Delaware. It has been building high quality green homes since 2006. Their goal is simple: to make each of their customers happy and 100% satisfied. To do that, they take customer service approach to a different level by adding some personal touch to it. They don’t treat home buyers as merely business opportunities but a part of their growing family. In addition, Renaissance Builders LLC is not happy to see many homes being built to very low standards builder grade. In it is this respect that they have become one of Delaware’s premier high performance home specialists. The company constructs excellent eco-conscious homes that are certified by the National Green Builder Association. This only means that Renaissance Builder LLC’s High Performance Homes have excellent features when it comes to design resource efficiency, water and energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation and maintenance. All green homes are also subjected to undergo thorough complete evaluation during and after the construction. These elegant and energy efficient homes typically score below 50 on the HERS Index, which means it uses 40-60% less energy compared to a typical construction home. In essence, Renaissance Builders LLC may offer services similar to other companies but their passion to make every home really special for the new owners is what makes them a smarter and a better choice. Resort Custom Homes has been designing and building superior quality residences since 1997. Aside from offering extraordinary ideas, creativity and quality, the company also provides easy, efficient and seamless building process that will exceed your expectations from the first meeting, to planning and creating lasting architectural character and interior design, to exceptional construction and maintenance and up to realistic estimation of cost. With years of invaluable experience, Resort Custom Homes has earned an outstanding reputation in the building industry. They take pride in their success in creating excellent neighborhoods and communities such as The Cliffs Vineyards Residence, Mountain Park Residence, Wilson Cottages, Palmetto Bluff Residence, The Springs in Lake Keowee, South Carolina and many more. The firm is also a proud member of NAHB, is Earth Craft Certified and a Certified Green Professional. In 2011, they have won the HBASC Pinnacle Award for sterling craftsmanship in construction. Also, in 2013, they have received the Best of Houzz Badge, an award given by Houzz, a leading online platform for residential remodeling and design. From a real estate investor to a real estate developer, Reybold Group has managed to become one of Delaware’s largest multi-service development companies. With more than 40 years of invaluable experience, the group specializes in a variety of services such as residential construction that caters to every taste and lifestyle, property management, commercial construction that offers flexible leasing options and self-storage. The company also prides themselves in their best practices such as maintaining the highest level of ethics, values and integrity in everything they do. This extraordinary principle provides them a strong foundation of their success, particularly in providing superior products and services to their customers. Furthermore, when it comes to eco-conscious living, the Reybold Group believes that a better world starts with a green home. They follow strict green building guidelines that exceed minimal county standards and use environmentally-sensitive methods to reduce the carbon footprint of their communities and to protect wildlife habitats. Every home is Energy Star certified. Other Green Initiative features include high recovery Bradford White electric hot water heaters, CFL bulbs, formaldehyde-free insulation, use of low VOC paints, R-19 wall and R-38 ceiling insulation, low-e glass, high efficiency gas furnace, energy saving house wrap and low flow showers. They also offer geothermal heating and cooling by Trane and expense-saving solar electric by KW Solar Solutions. Reybold Group’s impressive commitment in building state-of-the-art energy efficient homes only shows the firm’s dedication to settle for nothing less than the best. In 2009, the company’s first two Meridian Townhomes were awarded “Green Certification at a Gold Level” by the National Association of Home Builders. In addition, in 2013 and in 2014, they were recognized by Home Innovation Research Labs as a “National Green Building Standard (NGBS) Green Partner of Excellence,” for their outstanding commitment to voluntary, market-driven, third-party certification of high performance homes throughout the community. For Reybold Group, caring is the core of their business that’s why they also are known for their contributions in the community. They have partnered with other organizations to support economic and social growth. They work with non-profit groups with relevant causes such as Leukemia Research Foundation of Delaware, Annual Down Syndrome Association Run, and Delaware’s Walk for Wishes and many more. Established in 1974, Christopher Companies have fulfilled the dreams of over 5,000 satisfied home buyers. With more than four decades of experience in home building and land development, they have become a leader in design, quality service and energy efficiency in homebuilding. Their diverse portfolio and award-winning projects include single-family homes, townhouses, residential condominiums, apartments, office condominiums and mixed used commercial properties in convenient and naturally beautiful locations in Virginia, Metropolitan Washington DC and lower Delaware regions. As a design conscious company, their quality handcrafted homes feature superior designs and elegant appeal that provide comfort for any lifestyle. As one of the leading builders of Energy Star certified homes, Christopher Companies’ thoughtful designs provide cutting-edge and sustainable technologies that are environmentally sensitive. Aside from the standard built-in energy and resource efficient details of their green homes, the group also specializes in creating fascinating “rain gardens” as a storm water management feature. On top of that, they also construct low impact amenities for the whole family to enjoy including walking trails, gazebos and beautifully landscaped outdoor spaces. Furthermore, in 2010, the company has adopted the National Green Building Standard and has made a commitment to apply these strict construction guidelines in all of their future communities. Each home by Christopher Companies is built with an unwavering commitment to construction excellence. In this respect, it is not surprising that they have more than 50 homebuilding awards in their collection. Some of these prestigious recognitions include Finest for Family Living Award, Monument Design and Architecture Awards and Great American Living Award for Design and Architecture. Community Housing Partners (CHP) is a non-profit organization that has been building and designing affordable and sustainable homes and neighborhoods in the southeastern United States since 1975. With 40 years of expertise in real estate development, housing services and energy solutions, CHP has become a leader in the industry in revitalizing communities by promoting a healthier environment for future generations. Their clients include senior citizens, formerly-homeless people, single female heads-of-household and other individuals and families of low-income and low-wealth. CHP also provides integrated services delivery such as sustainable development, real estate sales, architectural design, construction, emergency home repair, energy training and research, asset and property management, homeownership facilitation and resident services. To help their clients maximize their investment while minimizing their environmental impact, CHP includes eco-friendly features in their homes such as Energy Star qualified mechanical systems, windows, lighting and appliances, low VOC paints and finishes, durable siding, 14 SEER heating units, indoor air quality, metal recycling onsite during construction and EARTHCRAFT House Certification. With 40 years of long-standing tradition of environmental, economic and social responsibility, it is not surprising that CHP has earned numerous recognitions for their efforts from reputable award-giving bodies in the industry. In 2010, CHP received the ‘Energy Star Excellence Award for Affordable Housing” and the “Virginia Housing Award for Best Affordable Housing Energy Conservation Effort.” In the following year, they got “Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award” and “FAHE Energy Innovator Award for Highest Production of Energy Efficiency in the Multi-Family Housing Category.” In 2015, CHP was named as one of the nation’s “Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers” by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine. In the same year, they were also listed as one of the “101 Largest Affordable Multi-Family Property Managers in the US” by the National Affordable Housing Management Association. Established in 1996 with a commitment to quality and value, Grayhawk Homes Inc. has become one of the premier home builders in Columbus, Georgia. They are also constructing quality neighborhoods in Opelika, Phenix City, Fort Benning area, Auburn, AL as well as Midland, Fortson and Lagrange, GA. To offer more value and choice, the company has a unique design center staffed with professional interior decorators. This place provides a perfect venue to showcase their numerous decorator options and a wide range of unique individual design choices, color selections, materials and a large variety of floor plans to perfectly suit the different lifestyles and personalities of their homebuyers. In addition, the design center also gives their customers the opportunity to put their own twist and touch on their new home. As a proud GuildQuality GuildMember, Grayhawk Homes pride themselves on exceptional customer satisfaction before, during and after the construction of your home. They rely on customer surveys and feedback to help them deliver an exemplary customer experience. Also, through their customer orientations and follow-up programs, Grayhawk Homes makes sure that you are happy with every detail of your new home and that you are secured and protected by their 2-10 Bonded Builder Warranty. To enjoy significant savings while making positive steps towards helping our planet, Grayhawk Homes offers the benefits of owning Energy Star qualified homes. Aside from reduced maintenance fees and energy efficient mortgages, these environmentally friendly homes deliver better protection for you and your family against cold, heat, moisture, noise and pollution through their energy efficient improvements. Other features of their eco-homes include effective insulation, high performance windows, tight construction and ducts, efficient heating and cooling equipment, programmable thermostats and Energy Star qualified lighting and appliances. Grayhawk Homes has also been recognized by the industry for their energy efficient practices, construction excellence, outstanding customer service, community leadership and charitable services. The company is known for their great contributions to St. Jude Dream Home Builder, one of the largest single-event fundraisers for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Moreover, they have been recognized as the” #1 Energy Efficient Builder in Western Georgia” by Georgia Power every year since 1996. In 2013, they won the “Leadership in Housing Award” by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In the same year, they were also named “Energy Star Partner of the Year-New Home Builder and Affordable Housing.” In 2014, they bagged the “GuildMaster Award” for their ability to deliver consistently superior customer experience. Founded in 1977, Milford Housing Development Corporation (MHDC) is a private, non-profit social enterprise that has been building homes and providing housing services for very low to moderate income households throughout Delaware. They offer unique services such as transitional housing, rental housing, self-help housing, home repairs and rehabilitation, financial fitness, property management, preservation, single-family new construction and engineering and site design. Driven by their mission to help people of modest means acquire decent, safe and affordable housing, MHDC believes that they can meet their clients’ needs and at the same time, protect, sustain and enhance housing opportunities for the future. They also pride themselves on their core values and principles which include integrity, teamwork, and respect for every individual, highest standard of professionalism, outstanding customer service and commitment to quality. Along with their long history in affordable housing development that has benefit hundreds of low-wealth citizens, MHDC is also committed and dedicated to construct 100% of all new housing units to Energy Star specifications. Their eco-homes have features like improved efficiency with new windows and doors, additional insulation in the attic, brand new combination heat pump/AC unit for the upper level, state-of-the-art Mitsubishi HVAC system for the lower level and many more. Furthermore, MHDC has received numerous recognitions for their outstanding effort in energy efficiency, particularly in their Self-Help Housing Programs. In 2012 and 2013, they received the “Energy Star Excellence Award for Affordable Housing.” And in 2015, they were honored “Energy Star Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence” for their dedication and continued leadership in protecting the environment by building high performance homes. Established in 1997, Design Tech Homes has become one of the largest, family-owned, full-service custom home builders in Texas. They have constructed more than 2,000 homes for families in excellent neighborhoods in San Antonio, Kerrvile, Houston, Livingston, Austin, Corpus Christi and everywhere in between. Each of their finest homes goes through a comprehensive, third party inspection and is covered by a 20-year limited structural warranty. In addition, the company also offers a wide quality selection of appealing home plans, excellent architecture, exceptional craftsmanship and exquisite styles that can be fully modified according to your desires to perfectly fit your family’s lifestyle and individual personality. At Design Tech Homes, a team of experienced and professional architects is always ready to assist you in integrating your design concepts and ideas for your custom homes through a technology called “VisionRez,” which quickly and accurately creates a computer-generated 3D model of your plan. In this way, they can bring your visions to life and actually provide you a virtual tour of your future home. It also aids in the estimating and purchasing process as well as in finding ways to work more efficiently while maintaining lower costs. This technology only shows that the company has the expertise and the perfect tool to build your dream home at the best price possible. As part of their commitment to quality, Design Tech Homes uses a balanced, cost effective, three-pronged approach to green building: eco-friendly construction, energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. Each fundamental element of their sustainable homes is certified for comfort and energy savings, from windows, effective insulation, orientation and HVAC system. Truly a leader in innovation, Design Tech Homes has received the “Energy Star Leadership in Housing Award” for eight consecutive years. In 2011, they were named “Energy Star Partner of the Year” by the US Department of Energy for demonstrating high construction standards and commitment in protecting American’s health and the environment through energy efficiency achievements. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Beazer Homes USA is one of the nation’s largest single-family homebuilders with operations in strategic markets in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Making history since the late 1600s, its name has become synonymous to nine generations of quality construction, craftsmanship and innovation. The company’s homes exceed the benchmark for excellent construction and are all designed with flexible floor plans to suit the owners’ preferred choices and lifestyles. To make sure that you are 100% satisfied when you walk in to your new home, Beazer Homes simplifies your home buying experience. They make it stress-free and enjoyable by providing you everything that you need including finding the ideal location at one of their beautiful communities, helping you choose the mortgage plan that’s perfect for your budget, giving you the option to put your own spin on your new space, keeping you well-informed throughout the building process and most importantly, giving you peace of mind as you settle in through their home warranty choices. Furthermore, when it comes to homes that are built to save, the company takes additional steps to ensure that they meet the most current requirements of Energy Star. Some of its features include a complete thermal enclosure system with comprehensive air sealing, quality-installed insulation and high performance windows, high efficiency HVAC system for optimum performance, comprehensive water management system and energy efficient lighting and appliances. In addition, every Beazer Home is inspected, tested and certified by the US EPA to conserve energy and reduce your monthly costs. In fact, an average new Beazer Home scores 65 in the HERS Index, which is equivalent to 35% more energy efficiency. Beazer Homes has been recognized for years by the industry for its energy efficient construction practices and excellent designs. In 2006 and 2007, it won awards across the nation in various Parade of Home events. In 2013, it received 15 Energy Star Leadership in Housing Awards for providing their homeowners with significant cost savings. In 2014, it was recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program as Partner of the Year. Brookfield Residential is a premier North American homebuilder and land developer with operations in 11 strategic major markets: Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Northern Virginia and Washington DC area. The company has been designing and creating quality homes and master planned communities since 1956. Aside from home building, they also sell lots to third party developers and specialize in real estate opportunities such as infill projects, mixed-used developments, infrastructure projects and joint ventures. With six decades of experience and expertise, Brookfield Residential believes that their success is only based on one thing and that is giving people the best places to call home. And to give the best means to make a positive impact on people’s lives through excellent construction and to create an exceptional home buying experience through their welcoming and lasting communities. Moreover, Brookfield Residential also understands the power of energy-wise efficiency and budget-smart living. They can help you find healthier and more affordable environment with their Brookfield Blue Efficiency Options, which includes low-VOC paint, enhanced efficiency Energy Star appliances, Delta Water Sense bathroom faucets, 90% efficiency furnace, solar panel power systems and geothermal heating and cooling systems. In addition, every new home they built has an average HERS index rating of 69, which means that its performance is 31% more efficient compared to a standard new home. Hard work in itself is a rewarding experience but most of the time, it comes with awards, too. Brookfield Residential has numerous achievements in green building, energy efficiency, design and marketing. In 2012, it was honored by the Orange Country Register as a “Top Workplace” and was given the “Marketing Excellence Award” by the Canadian Home Builders Association. In 2013, it was recognized as “Canada’s Best 50 Small and Medium Employers.” Other prestigious recognitions also include JD Power Builder of Excellence Award for providing outstanding service and high customer satisfaction, and “Project of the Year Finalist” by the Building Industry and Land Development Association of the Greater Toronto Area. With a history that date back to 1968, Brighton Homes started as a small group of entrepreneurs developing residential neighborhoods in Boise, Idaho. Today, with over 50 years of experience and expertise in every aspect of real estate development and construction, including residential, office, retail, commercial and industrial properties and mixed-used communities, the company has become one of the region’s finest homebuilders. Some of their premier projects include Paramount, River Heights at Barber Valley, Mill District Square at Harris Ranch, Boise Research Center, Victory Business Center, Ten Mile Crossing and many more. In order to create a skillfully-designed and masterfully-crafted home that has a long-term value for their customers, Brighton Homes decided to give its 100% commitment to the Energy Star Program, which means constructing only energy efficient homes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change. Aside from being Energy Star certified and HERS rated, all Brighton homes come with value added energy efficiency features such as complete thermal enclosure system with properly installed and inspected insulation, high efficiency ventilation, heating and cooling system, qualified windows, comprehensive water management system and energy efficient lighting and appliances. On top of that, to make sure that their homes are of the highest quality, the firm partnered with the best and highly recognized brands in the business. Bosch appliances and Kohler plumbing fixtures are part of Brighton Homes’ impeccable craftsmanship, attention to detail and elegant designs that elevates space. Energy Star-certified homes may come with a little label but it carries a big message for the people of today and for future generations. Brighton Homes is a proud bearer of the Energy Star label. They take their commitment to the environment very seriously. As a matter of fact, they have been a two-time recipient of the “Energy Star Partner of the Year” for 2014 and 2015 for building the best environment-friendly homes possible. In addition, they recently received the “Best of Houzz 2016 Award” for exquisite design and customer satisfaction. With their team of most talented and service-oriented professionals, Brighton Homes is always ready to build, design and decorate the perfect home for you and your family. You are always welcome to experience the wow factor and feel the difference in their healthy homes. Ivey Residential is a collaboration of the expertise of a civil engineer and a real estate master. Formed in 2004, it has become an award winning home builder that offers a fresh home buying environment to its clients. With their full array of aesthetic floor plans and layouts, design selections and resource conservation features, the company can surely meet almost every home buyer’s needs. They have built some of the finest homes and neighborhoods in Augusta, Evans and Grovetown, Georgia, and North Augusta and Aiken, South Carolina. Ivey Residential prided itself on the amount of repeat business and satisfied homeowners they have. Unlike other homebuilders who use captivating marketing statements to sell their products, the company believes in the power of getting direct feedback from their customers. They use GuildQuality to survey each and every one of their buyers to make sure that they are fully satisfied and happy with their new homes. They have received the highest satisfaction ratings for nine years in a row, from 2007 to 2015. These awards only strongly demonstrate the firm’s commitment to exemplary customer service. Furthermore, Ivey Residential’s new homes are built according to the energy efficient Energy Star standards. Their “IveyWise” homes features cutting edge sustainability, affordability and comfort while utilizing the most advanced construction techniques that goes above and beyond the International Code requirements. Every home comes with a quality assurance test on energy efficiency, a blower test and a duct blaster test done by a third party inspector, R-38 ceiling insulation, R-15 exterior wall insulation, radiant barrier roof sheathing, advanced framing, CFLs in at least 80% of all light fixtures, low VOC paint, carpet and hardwood floor glue, increased indoor air quality and programmable thermostats. Visit Forest City Stapleton, Inc. Founded in 1998, Forest City Stapleton is a real estate company that is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate throughout the nation. Their history started after the closing of Stapleton International Airport, which gives them the opportunity to redevelop 4,700 acres of land and give it a new purpose. They broke ground in 2001 and started one of the world’s largest urban infill projects ever. Since then, the company has been regarded as the master developer for Stapleton for their invaluable efforts in reconstructing the city and creating the guiding principles for the new Denver neighborhoods such as energy efficient building standards, affordable housing and sustainable, pedestrian-friendly mixed-used environment. As an international model of sustainable development, Forest City Stapleton sets the new standards for urban living with their award-winning parks, pools, retail districts, schools, offices and excellent homes with a diverse array of people with different lifestyles. On top of that, they have also established an internal sustainability road map based on the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating systems. Furthermore, the firm is also a proud bearer of the Energy Star label, which means that you can be sure that their homes meet and exceed the industry standards and deliver better performance compared to other newly constructed ordinary houses. To ensure reduced utility costs and to provide better comfort, Forest City Stapleton eco-friendly homes feature effective insulation system, high performance windows, tight construction and ducts, properly installed efficient heating and cooling equipment and energy saving lighting and appliances. Forest City Stapleton is indeed leading the way environmentally, economically and socially. It has received numerous awards that recognize their significant contributions in the industry in terms of excellent construction, environmental protection and promoting smart living. Some of their prestigious awards include US Conference of Mayors’ Award for Excellence, Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities Award, James C. Howland Urban Enrichment Award and the Silver Level Environmental Achievement Award from the Colorado Department of Public Health. In 2004, they were given the Best in American Living Award for Smart Growth. In 2005, they bagged the Metro Vision Award by the Denver Regional Council of Governments for their outstanding projects that move the region’s growth. Their other awards for energy efficient constructions include Best Sustainable Neighborhood from Pacific Coast Builders and several Energy Star Market Leader Awards. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville has been bringing people together to build homes and communities since 1985. It provides home ownership opportunities in four counties: Davidson, Wilson, Dickson and Cheatham. The organization was named as the 21st largest residential builder in Middle Tennessee and is in the top 30 of national habitat affiliates in number of homes built. In unique partnership with families, volunteers and donors, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville offers decent and affordable homes and provides low interest and fixed rate mortgages to qualifying low and moderate income families. Furthermore, to encourage homeowners to become contributing members of the community, they conduct training programs, which include homeownership classes, workshops and volunteer labor. In addition, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville operates four retail centers called the ReStores, which sell used and new home and office furnishings and building supplies to the public. To demonstrate responsible stewardship and promote positive change in the environment, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville uses green building techniques in their home building projects. They design and produce homes that are Energy Star certified and are 37% more efficient compared to other ordinary homes. Their award-winning sustainable home features include offsite fabrication-panelized wall construction, high performance HVAC system, low-flow products for maximum water efficiency, effective insulation, thermal glazed low-E windows, Energy Star certified lighting fixtures and many more. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Meritage Homes is a fast-growing real estate development company that has been building single-family detached homes across the nation since 1985. Their goal is to build affordable, new and beautifully designed homes and communities in the most prestigious locations. Whether you are single or with family, the busy type or someone with relaxed lifestyle, Meritage Homes is committed in making a difference in your life and the way you live by building your dream home the way it should be built: cleaner, healthier, smarter and safer. Along with their bold architectural designs and high level of craftsmanship, Meritage Homes also takes pride in their incredibly energy efficient home plans that consistently exceeds the Energy Star requirements. They believe in going above and beyond the norm when it comes to energy efficient living. Some of their money-saving home features include spray-foam insulation, low-E2 windows, HVAC and fresh air management system, energy efficient lighting, PEX plumbing, weather sensing irrigation, superior solar energy system and remote home management system. In addition, their homes achieve HERS score as low as 61 which means less energy wasted and more money for your savings. With their excellent building practices, the company has become one of the most trusted builders in America. It is not surprising that they have received numerous achievements in terms of construction excellence and energy efficient building practices. Some of their regional and national awards include Phoenix Business Journal’s 2011 Green Pioneer, AZ Business Magazine’s 2013 AREA Home Builder of the Year, NAHB Research Center’s 2011 Energy Value Housing Award, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Energy Star Leadership in Housing Award and 2013, 2014 and 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence Award. Known as Jacksonville’s Hometown Builder, Providence Homes has been building affordable, high quality and thoughtfully-designed homes for more than 20 years. They have developed a good reputation through their guiding principle: to construct each home with great attention to details and reliability as you would with your own. Practicing this approach every working day is their fundamental commitment to their customers, trade partners and realtors. Providence Homes makes a difference in the industry simply by doing the right thing not only for their clients but for the environment as well. They have made outstanding efforts in providing comfortable, long-lasting, healthy and earth-friendly high performance homes. Their green homes meet and exceed the strict EPA and DOE requirements needed to earn the Energy Star label. Built using a state-of-the-art approach to construction, each of their eco-friendly homes include comprehensive air-sealing, controlled ventilation, properly installed insulation, high performance windows, effective lighting fixtures and many more. Built better from ground to up, their high performance homes are also 33% more energy efficient compared to a regular home. Truly committed in providing the highest possible standards in residential construction while outperforming other builders in the industry, Providence Homes has earned numerous significant awards in terms of energy efficient construction. They have received the EPA’s Energy Star for Homes Certified Market Leader Award for six consecutive years (2010-2015). They were also named 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year for their exceptional efforts to bring homes that operates at optimal energy usage to market. Cobblestone Homes is a leader in building luxurious, high performance homes for individuals and families in Midland, Bay City, Saginaw, and beyond. Inspired by their fascination with homes, founders Mark and Melissa Wahl started by buying a house, remodeling it and then, renting it out. After meeting some friends who happen to be residential home builders themselves, they decided to elevate their business from improving to creating. In 2002, the couple built their first house and the rest is history. Cobblestone Homes believes that you have the power to choose who builds your home but they are also confident that if you choose them, they will never make you regret your choice. Their team of experts, electricians, plumbers, and heating and cooling specialists will help you with the concept design and interior design of your dream home to make sure that everything is in the right place and that it is exactly how you want it. Leading the way in innovation and craftsmanship, Cobblestone Homes is also committed in constructing environment friendly and energy efficient homes. The company believes that saving money and preserving our planet’s resources are equally important. They perform rigorous tests to ensure your home’s durability, comfort and safety, making it significantly different than other ordinary houses. Some of Cobblestone high performance homes’ key features include advanced framing, thermal envelope, air sealing, sealed ducts, superior insulation, high tech mechanicals, proper ventilation, carbon monoxide detection, Radon protection, moisture management and many more. To show that they truly value cutting-edge innovation and continuous learning, Cobblestone Homes has earned numerous awards and has been recognized on a national basis. Some of their major awards include 2011 EVHA National Gold Award, 2011 Dow Diamond High Performance Builder Award, 2012 DOE National Builders Challenge Award and 2013 Greatest Builder in Great Lakes Bay Region. In 2014, they received the National Housing Innovation Award for significantly reducing home energy costs. Furthermore in 2015, they were named Energy Star Partner of the Year – New Home Builder and Affordable Housing and Guildmaster with Distinction for providing the highest standard in customer experience through expertise and consistency in excellence. For over 50 years, Lend Lease has been developing and constructing high quality homes and state-of-the-art buildings and infrastructures, including hospitals, roads and bridges. They also offer other services such as financing, design, leasing and management of healthcare real estate. The company has more than 13,000 employees around the world with a huge portfolio of assets making them one of the nation’s leaders in both public and private community development. They operate under a code of conduct that values respect, culture, non-negotiable integrity, transparency, best solution and maximum performance. Lend Lease believes that creating positive environmental and social impact is more important than just economics. This guiding principle serves as a basis for their commitment in delivering the next generation sustainable property solutions such as environmentally rated infrastructures and large-scale low carbon communities. As a start, they have designed and constructed solar-powered homes and neighborhoods for military families and have incorporated Energy Star standards and products into their daily lives. Furthermore, their Nashville office (Actus Lend Lease) alone has earned numerous awards for their great environmental protection efforts and construction excellence. In 2009, they were given the Energy Star Excellence Award for Promotion and Leadership in Housing Award. In the following year, they have won the NAHB National Safety Award for Excellence and the AGC Construction Safety Excellence Award. In addition, in 2010, they were named Energy Star Partner of the Year – New Home Builder and Affordable Housing. Essentially, Lend Lease’s approach is to put their clients at the heart of everything they do. For them, sustainability means getting it right economically, socially and environmentally. The company’s strength lies in their flexibility to adapt to challenges and new trends to deliver outstanding performance and to eliminate all waste from their business. NeighborWorks America is a non-profit community development corporation that has been building and rehabilitating residential homes, revitalizing neighborhoods and strengthening communities all over the nation since 1968. They provide low to moderate income families the opportunity to live in affordable, healthy and safe housing, whether they own or rent. The group also has a support network of more than 240 non-profit organizations, which serves about 4,500 communities across the country. Their mission is to improve the lives of the people and to create vibrant environments that they can call home. For NeighborWorks America, home buying doesn’t have to be difficult and frightening. They have a team of housing and community development experts that can make purchasing your dream home easier with the help of their competitive products and services such as mortgage lending, down payment and closing cost assistance, financial education classes to learn about the basics of home selection and purchase, rental housing programs and many more. Aside from making housing more affordable, Neighborworks America also takes pride in infusing green building principles and practices in its operations not only for the purpose of reducing long-term maintenance and operating costs, but also to keep families and the environment healthy and safe. Their high performance homes have standard features like engineered post tension foundation, 100% masonry exterior, fiber cement siding and soffit, programmable HVAC thermostats, high efficiency windows, Energy Star appliances, effective insulation and energy saving central heat and air. NeighborWorks America has earned numerous awards for their overall commitment to improving energy efficiency in new residential construction. Some of their achievements include 2010 Energy Star Award Excellence Award for their Indio, California office and 2010 Energy Star Award for Sustained Excellence for their Christiansburg, Virginia office. In addition, in 2015, their Toledo regional office received the Energy Star Excellence Award for Affordable Housing for building and promoting energy efficient and affordable homes to low-income communities. Established in 2008, VPC Builders is a fast growing full service construction firm that specializes in commercial and residential construction, green building, custom built homes and renovation in key areas in North Carolina and South Carolina. Through the years, the company has earned a good reputation by working closely with their clients and by delivering projects according to their standards and expectations. They believe that open communication and transparency throughout the building process are the keys to successful business relationships with their customers. In addition, their team of carefully chosen architects, subcontractors and suppliers are more than happy to assist you with your design concepts so that you can achieve the best results for your dream home without compromising its schedule, quality and budget. In terms of utilizing the most innovative means and methods, VPC Builders aims to improve the way homes are being built by employing construction practices and measures that promote energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. They offer different levels of high performance homes that are inspected and verified by the industry’s well-known green building certification systems such as US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program, US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program and North Carolina Healthy Built Homes Program. VPC Builders’ outstanding construction practices and creativity has earned them numerous prestigious awards. They were voted Best Home Builder two years in a row in the Watauga Democrat People’s Choice Awards. In 2015, they won the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s EverGreen Award for Sustainability for their excellent efforts and leadership in green building. And in 2016, they started the year with a bang by winning the Best of Houzz Award for Customer Satisfaction three years in a row. Jimmy Jacobs Homes has been building luxury new homes in Austin and Central Texas for more than 20 years. As a premier home builder, the company is famous for its exquisite design, attention to detail, quality craftsmanship and outstanding customer care. They offer you no less than a home for life and home building experience of a lifetime. To start with, they will help you find your personal paradise with their exceptional selection of beautiful communities from active adult, lakefront and country clubs. And to make your dream home come true exactly the way you want it, their team of highly trained professionals will work side-by side with you from the initial meeting, to assessment, to architectural design, to construction and to completion. They are fully committed and dedicated in making home buying an easy and an enjoyable experience for you. In terms of best practices to ensure the health, safety and well-being of your family and to protect the environment, Jimmy Jacobs Homes chooses to play a significant role in the green movement. They believe that building self-sufficient homes is the right thing to do. They take pride in their high performance homes, which meet and exceed the strict mandates of the US Green Building Council’s LEED Program, an international certification system the ensures the use of less energy, less water, less waste and fewer natural resources in the overall home construction process. Their green homes’ other key features include high performance air filters, enhanced water efficiency through PEX plumbing system and the use of engineered lumber to save more trees during the construction. In addition, all of their original homeowners are qualified for the Efficiency Promise Program, which provides a 2-year limited guarantee that the energy used to heat and cool the house will not exceed a specific amount. Truly a leader in craftsmanship and customer care, Jimmy Jacobs Homes has earned numerous awards in the industry. In 2011, they received Texas Star Awards’ Best Product Design and Best Interior Merchandising. In 2012, they were named Silver National Award Winner and Gold Award Finalist for Interiors – Custom Homes and Best Product Design. Also, in the same year, they were awarded Number One Custom Home Builder for 3 years in a row by the Austin Business Journal. In 2014, they won two National Association of Home Builders’ awards for their model homes in The Canyons at the Scenic Loop and in Crystal Falls in the city of Leander. And in the following year, Houzz, a leading platform in home renovation and design, gave them the Best of Houzz badge for their exceptional design. Lennar Homes has been designing and constructing quality residential homes since 1954. Their services are available in 19 states in more than 40 of the major key markets in the nation. As one of the country’s premier home builders, they create master planned communities in the most beautiful cities that caters to all kinds of lifestyles, from urban, suburban, active adult and golf course living. With more than half a century of experience and expertise in home building, they are confident that they can deliver superlative quality homes with the best possible value. Furthermore, Lennar Homes is more than just a home builder. They value the community as much as they value their business. In this regard, they created The Lennar Foundation, whose mission is to support education, elder care, and medical research and to serve the needs of those who are less fortunate. They believe that they are responsible for giving back to the community and for helping those who may not be able to help themselves. To distinguish themselves from the competition and to demonstrate their leadership in energy efficiency, Lennar Homes promotes construction that is economically smart and ecologically responsible. They promote next generation living by employing green building practices and using environment-friendly features in your eco-homes such as solar roof panels, radiant barrier roof sheathing, low-E dual pane windows, improved insulation techniques, properly sealed duct system, compact fluorescent bulbs, programmable thermostats and high efficiency Energy Star water heater and appliances. Lennar Homes’ collection of awards truly reflects the quality of their team. In 2010, they were recognized at the annual Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) Laurel Awards with the event’s most prestigious award, the Grand Laurel, and took home 8 additional awards for architectural design, merchandising excellence and many more. In 2012, the company made it to the top 5 in the Professional Builders’ annual Housing Giants’ ranking of the nation’s largest home-building companies. Moreover, in 2015, their Las Vegas office received the Design and Architecture Silver Nugget Award for their distinct “Next Gen Home” featured in their Eagle Ranch community. Next Gen Home is uniquely designed for multigenerational living. It is basically 2 homes under one roof which allows you to live with your extended families in separate yet integrated spaces.

2019-04-23T15:08:00Z

https://www.newhomessection.com/b/green/

Dr. Marcia Canto and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report the results of the "CAPS 2" screening for early pancreatic cancer program in the June issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Dr. Canto screened 72 individuals with a strong family history of pancreatic cancer, 6 patients with the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome, and 149 controls using a combination of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and computerized tomography (CT scanning). If something abnormal was identified the patients also underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). All of the patients were asymptomatic. Remarkably, 8 of the patients were found to have a tumor in their pancreas (10% yield of screening); 6 patients had 8 benign intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), 1 had an IPMN that progressed to invasive ductal adenocarcinoma, and 1 had pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and computerized tomography (CT scanning) also diagnosed 3 patients with 5 extrapancreatic neoplasms. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography abnormalities suggestive of chronic pancreatitis were more common in high-risk patients than in control subjects. From these studies, Dr. Canto concluded that screening EUS and CT diagnosed significant asymptomatic pancreatic and extrapancreatic neoplasms in high-risk individuals (people with a strong family history of pancreatic cancer and people with the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome). Dr. Canto also concluded that abnormalities suggestive of chronic pancreatitis are identified more commonly in high-risk individuals. Dr. Canto plans to start "CAPS 3." More information about this research screening protocol will be posted on this web site as it becomes available. The biggest challenge of pancreatic cancer is to try to detect the cancer at an early stage when it can be surgically removed. Dr. Michael Goggins' Early Detection Laboratory is dedicated to identifying new markers for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. Just as there is mammography for breast cancer and the PSA test for prostate cancer, so too do we need a test for early pancreatic cancer. Scientists working in The Early Detection Laboratory at Johns Hopkins examined the DNA in pancreatic juice samples that were collected from pancreatic cancer patients to determine if the DNA from these samples showed an abnormal amount of methylation. Methylation is the addition of an additional carbon to specific areas of the DNA. Hypermethylation (or too much methylation) of certain genes will stop the genes from working properly. In particular, hypermethylation of genes whose normal function is to protect a cell from developing into a cancer (tumor suppressor genes) or whose function is to repair damaged DNA (mismatch repair genes) have been associated with the development of cancer. The scientists found that there was more methylation in the pancreatic juice samples collected from pancreatic cancer patients than there was in the samples collected from chronic pancreatitis patients and patients with no history of pancreatic disease. This finding is important because it suggests that the detection and quantification of methylated DNA in pancreatic juice may provide a promising approach to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Researchers in the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center in the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center are encouraged by early results of a treatment vaccine for pancreatic cancer. At about two years into a study of 60 patients, the researchers report that 88 percent survived one year and 76 percent are alive after two years. "Even though our results are preliminary, the survival rates are an improvement over most published results of pancreatic cancer treatment studies," says Daniel Laheru, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Laheru is expected to present his findings in a press briefing at a joint meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research/National Cancer Institute/European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer in Philadelphia on November 15. Until recently, most studies have shown pancreatic cancer survival rates at about 63 percent one year after diagnosis and 42 percent at two years. The long-term outlook is more grim - only 15 to 20 percent of patients with local disease are alive at five years. "Since there is no universal standard for treating pancreatic cancer, it is difficult to make direct comparisons between all the studies," says Laheru. In the current study, his team combined an immune-boosting vaccine with surgery and conventional postoperative chemotherapy and radiation. The vaccine, originally developed at Johns Hopkins, uses irradiated pancreatic cancer cells incapable of growing, but genetically altered to secrete a molecule called GM-CSF. The molecule acts as a lure to attract immune system cells to the site of the tumor vaccine where they encounter antigens on the surface of the irradiated cells. Then, these newly armed immune cells patrol the rest of the patient's body to destroy remaining circulating pancreatic cancer cells with the same antigen profile. Patients get one vaccine injection eight to ten weeks after surgery, then four booster shots after chemotherapy and radiation. Laheru and his team completed enrolling patients in the study this past January. The average follow-up time is 32 months. Jaffee and Laheru hope to begin multi-institutional studies in about a year. They are working with Hopkins pathologists from the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center to analyze proteins from pancreatic cancer cells that may help them refine the vaccine's targets. Proceedings, AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, November 2005. (Abstract #2229, A Safety and Efficacy Trial of Lethally Irradiated Allogeneic Pancreatic Tumor Cells Transfected with the GM-CSF Gene in Combination with Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for the Treatment of Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas). Reaction of the Normal Pancreas to an Adjacent Pancreatic Cancer Provides Clues about Tissue Invasion and Detection. Two papers from the Hopkins group help define the genes that are expressed (made) in the tissues adjacent to pancreatic cancer. In the first paper by Ricci and colleagues, the technique of in situ hybridization was used to determine the genes that are turned on in the body's response (called a stromal reaction) to an infiltrating cancer (analogous to the body trying to heal a wound). Importantly, Dr. Ricci found that the genes that are made in this stromal response to an invasive pancreatic cancer are related to how aggressively the tumor invades the surrounding pancreas, and not to the underlying biology of the tumor. Understanding how pancreatic cancers invade the normal pancreas and spread to other organs is a critical step to understanding how to interfere with this process. In the second paper by Fukushima and colleagues, gene expression profiling was used to better understand the gene expression patterns of pancreatic tissue adjacent to infiltrating pancreatic cancers as compared to pancreatic tissue adjacent to chronic pancreatitis. Dr. Fukushima found 20 different genes were overexpressed in pancreatic tissue adjacent to an invasive cancer compared to normal pancreatic tissue adjacent to chronic pancreatitis. These results demonstrate that some of the molecular alterations in normal pancreatic tissues that occur in response to adjacent infiltrating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma can provide a rich source of markers for detecting pancreatic cancer. Dr. Anirban Maitra and colleagues at Johns Hopkins have identified a genetic change in pancreatic cancers that has potential therapeutic implications. MTAP is a gene on chromosome 9 and novel chemotherapeutic strategies exploiting the selective loss of MTAP function in cancers have been proposed. The MTAP gene is adjacent to the p16 gene and MTAP and p16 are frequently deleted from the DNA of pancreatic cancers. Dr. Maitra has found these deletions of the MTAP and p16 genes in 30% of pancreatic cancers, suggesting that selected patients with pancreatic cancer may benefit from therapies targeting this loss. Studies are now underway in animal models to test this potential new treatment approach. Three articles by Johns Hopkins scientists have expanded our knowledge of the precursor lesions which are thought to develop into invasive pancreatic cancers. Understanding the biology of these precursor lesions is of critical importance if we are to detect, and potentially treat, pancreatic cancer before it spreads. In the first article, Anirban Maitra and collegues comprehensively reviewed the various subtypes of precursor lesions that are known to progress to invasive pancreatic cancer. While Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia or "PanIN" is the prototype precursor lesion associated with the "usual" cancers (ductal adenocarcinomas), other larger precursor subtypes such as intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) and mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCNs) are being increasingly recognized with better imaging and screening techniques. The pancreatic cancers that arise in the context of these latter precursor lesions, particularly IPMNs, can have a different biology and outcome than the usual PanIN-associated invasive cancers. Therefore, it is important that pathologists who examine surgically removed pancreata are familiar with the histology of the various non-invasive precursors to invasive pancreatic cancers. The second and third articles identify potential therapeutic targets in PanINs, the most common precursor lesion of pancreatic cancer. Inactivation of function of a critical gene that controls the cell cycle - p16 (CDKN2A) - is extremely frequent in invasive pancreatic cancers. In about a third of these cases, loss of p16 function occurs via deletion of both p16 gene copies (called "homozygous deletion" in genetic terminology) and is large enough to include a neighboring gene known as MTAP in the deletions. Complete loss of MTAP function can be exploited for therapy using drugs that selectively affects MTAP-negative pancreatic cancer cells without damage to normal tissues. Now, Dr. Hustinx and collegues have shown that even subsets of non-invasive precursor lesions (PanINs) harbor deletions of both copies of the MTAP gene. This is the first demonstration of a homozygous deletion in a PanIN lesion, and the authors have described a simple assay that will enable determining MTAP gene status in limited tissue materials, such as biopsy specimens. Why is this important? Compounds that selectively target MTAP-negative pancreatic cancers are already in clinical trials; if successful, one can envision extrapolating these trials to treat the precursors to invasive cancer before a cancer develops. The challenge will be in identifying patients with non-invasive, MTAP-negative precursor lesions who might potentially benefit from this therapy. With advances in molecular imaging and biopsy techniques, scientists are hopeful that this strategy will be actualized in the future. In the third article, Dr. Prasad and colleagues performed the first large scale gene expression profiling of PanIN lesions using "gene chips". Johns Hopkins scientists were one of the first to comprehensively determine the gene expression profile of invasive pancreatic cancer, and the group at Hopkins has now extended this knowledge to precursor lesions as well. In order to isolate these tiny ductal lesions from surrounding normal tissues, the scientists used a technique called "laser capture microdissection". They found 49 genes that were expressed differentially compared to normal ductal epithelium. Of note, they found many of the overexpressed genes in PanINs are normally turned on by activation of the sonic hedgehog pathway during development, thereby confirming that abnormal activation of this pathway plays a role in both early and advanced pancreatic cancers. Hopkins scientists had previously demonstrated that the sonic hedgehog pathway is a powerful therapeutic target in invasive pancreatic cancers, and this current work provides rationale for investigating this line of therapy in the prevention of pancreatic cancers as well. Why is this important to me? The studies of the MTAP gene are important because compounds that selectively target MTAP-negative pancreatic cancers are already in clinical trials; if successful, one can envision extrapolating these trials to treat the precursors to invasive cancer before a cancer develops. The challenge will be in identifying patients with non-invasive, MTAP-negative precursor lesions who might potentially benefit from this therapy. With advances in molecular imaging and biopsy techniques, scientists are hopeful that this strategy will be actualized in the future. There are no early warning signs of pancreatic cancer and there are no early detection tests. As a result, most patients are not diagnosed until after the cancer has spread. Just as there is a PSA test for prostate cancer, so too do we urgently need an early detection test for pancreatic cancer. Dr. James Eshleman at Hopkins has recently developed a new technology that can detect rare DNA mutations (alterations in the DNA sequence) even when these mutations are admixed with much larger numbers of normal DNA sequences (Nat Methods. 2004 Oct 21;1(2):141-147 ). The technology, called "LigAmp" detected the most common mutation found in pancreatic cancer (KRAS2 gene mutations) even when a single mutant KRAS2 gene was admixed with 1,000 normal genes. Dr. Eshleman and colleagues have further shown that LigAmp can be used to detect DNA mutations shed from pancreatic cancers in pancreatic juice samples. The cloning of the human genome has opened the door to global analyses of gene expression in pancreatic cancer on a scale not imaginable a few years ago. These analyses can help identify literally hundreds of genes that are made at high levels by pancreatic cancer cells. All too often however, the analyses produce potentially interesting gene sequences but the identity of the gene for which these sequences code for has not been identified. Akhalesh Pandey at Johns Hopkins has used cutting edge bioinformatics tools to identify a number of exciting genes that are overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. These genes are potential targets for new therapies and for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. Proteomics is the study of all of the proteins in a tissue or fluid. Dr. Akhelesh Pandey carried out a comprehensive characterization of the "pancreatic juice proteome" in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. A total of 170 unique proteins were identified including known pancreatic cancer tumor markers (e.g., CEA, MUC1) and proteins overexpressed in pancreatic cancers (e.g., hepatocarcinoma-intestine-pancreas/pancreatitis-associated protein (HIP/PAP) and lipocalin 2). In addition, he identified a number of proteins that have not been previously described in pancreatic juice (e.g., tumor rejection antigen (pg96) and azurocidin). The proteins identified in this study will be further assessed for their potential as biomarkers for pancreatic cancer by quantitative proteomics methods or immunoassays. Nine years ago, the Kern Laboratory found mutations of a new gene, called BRCA2. Soon, this laboratory and others working in other tumor systems found that mutations of the gene were often inherited, raising the risk for pancreatic, ovarian, and breast cancer when an individual inherits one bad copy of the gene. This was the second gene found to cause inherited breast cancer, thus leading to the gene name, BRCA2. Dr. Kern's postdoctoral fellow Michiel van der Heijden followed up on this earlier discovery and showed that that pancreatic cancer cells with BRCA2 gene mutations are especially susceptible to the anticancer drugs mitomycin and cis-platin. Based on this exciting finding, it may be possible in the future to recommend individualized therapeutic regimens for patients with these mutations. More research, and possibly even a clinical trial, in this new area are underway. Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee has developed a novel whole cell vaccine to treat patients with pancreatic cancer. She has previously found that this vaccine treatment produces an anti-tumor immune response in some patients. In the August issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Dr. Jaffee reports that she has discovered a protein, mesothelin that appears to be responsible for the anti-tumor effect seen with the whole cell vaccine. Mesothelin is an antigen demonstrated previously by gene expression profiling to be up-regulated in most pancreatic cancers, and Dr. Jaffee found the consistent induction of CD8(+) T cell responses to mesothelin in patients who responded to the vaccine. This finding not only provides insight into the immune mechanisms underlying anti-tumor responses, but it is also hoped that it will lead to new "peptide" based vaccines that are cheaper and easier to administer than the whole cell vaccine. In the July issue of Clinical Gastroenterology Hepatology, Dr. Marcia Canto and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report the results of screening for pancreatic cancer in asymptomatic (patients without symptoms) individuals known to be at increased risk because of their family history. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) was used. In this technique a small tube with an ultrasound device at the end is inserted through the patient's nose and into the patient's stomach and duodenum. The ultrasound device can then be used to image the pancreas. Thirty-eight patients were screened in Dr. Canto's study and six pancreatic masses were found. Several of these patients went to surgery and one was found to have an early cancer and another a precancerous tumor (intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm). Therefore, 5.3% or 1 in 20 patients was found to have a clinically important pancreatic mass. This study therefore represents the first step towards demonstrating that screening for early pancreatic cancer is possible. Dr. Klein and colleagues followed 838 families who participate in the National Familial Pancreatic Tumor Registry at Johns Hopkins to determine how if new pancreatic cancers are more likely to develop in families in which more than one family member has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Twenty-two new pancreatic cancer cases developed in these families after the family had entered the registry. Dr. Klein found that individuals with three or more first-degree relatives with pancreatic cancer (brothers, sisters, parents or children) had a 32-fold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Individuals with two first-degree relatives with pancreatic cancer had a 6.5-fold increased risk. This increase in risk was even higher among family members who smoked cigarettes. The results of this study further establish that pancreatic cancer does cluster in families. Additionally, these results help to identify individuals who may benefit from screening for the early signs of pancreatic cancer once reliable screening tests are developed. New blood markers for the early detection of pancreatic cancer are urgently needed. Just as there is a PSA test for prostate cancer, so too do we need a test for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Goggins' lab is dedicated to the discovery of these markers and in 2004 he reported the discovery of two new promising markers, osteopontin and MIC-1. These markers were identified in previous studies of gene expression using "gene chip" analysis of surgically resected cancers, and Dr. Goggins went on to show that both MIC-1 and osteopontin are released into the blood and that the blood levels of these markers are higher in patients with pancreatic cancer than they are in patients without cancer. Both markers were significantly better than the previous "gold standard" CA 19-9. Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs) of the pancreas are being diagnosed with growing frequency, but these distinctive tumors of the pancreas have not been well-characterized. Dr. Goggins and coworkers used cutting edge oligonucleotide microarrays to analyze the genes made ("the gene expression profile") by a series of IPMNs. They identified four genes that appeared to be highly associated with the presence of an invasive adenocarcinoma. Notably, the expression of at least two of the four genes was observed in 73% of 22 invasive IPMNs but in none of 16 noninvasive IPMNs (P &lt; 0.0001). These findings suggest that preoperative assessment of gene expression profiles may be able to differentiate invasive from noninvasive IPMNs. They have also performed a similar analyses on another type of tumor in the pancreas called "mucinous cystic neoplasm." Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue recently published two exciting articles in Cancer Research. The first article, published in the December 15 issue (Cancer Research 2003; 63:8614-22) describes the largest, most comprehensive study to date of gene expression (the genes made) in pancreatic cancer. Close to 100 samples were analyzed using the most current gene chip (Affemetrix U133). Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue and colleagues discovered 142 potential new markers of pancreatic cancer. Already, Dr. Koopmann has shown that one of these markers, called "osteopontin," is elevated in the blood of patients with pancreatic cancer (Cancer Epi Biomarkers Prev, 2004; 13:487-91) and Dr. Nichols has demonstrated that another of these markers, claudin 4, may be a useful therapeutic target (Am J Clin Pathol. 2004; 121:226-30). In the second paper published by Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue (Cancer Research 2004; 64:871-875) she describes the largest genetic analysis conducted to date of the DNA changes in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue and colleagues conducted a large-scale "allelotypes" (an analysis of DNA losses in a cancer) on a series of pancreatic cancers and they discovered a number of hot spots of DNA alterations in pancreatic cancer. These hot spots will help other scientists identify the genes that are targeted for inactivation in pancreatic cancer. An understanding of these genes, in turn, may lead to a better understanding of why pancreatic cancer develops and how to treat it. It has become clear that pancreatic cancer is a disease caused by damage to the DNA (called mutations). The identification of which genes are mutated in pancreatic cancer provides insight into the fundamental nature of the disease. In the October issue of the American Journal of Pathology, Dr. Kern and colleagues report mutations in the BRAF and in the FBXW7 genes. It is hoped that a better understanding of the effects of these mutations will provide insight into why pancreatic cancer is so aggressive. Just as colon polyps give rise to invasive colon cancer, so too has it become clear that small non-invasive lesions in the pancreas (called PanINs) can give rise to invasive pancreatic cancer. These small non-invasive lesions in the pancreas are exciting, because they represent a curable stage of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Anirban Maitra at Johns Hopkins has studied a large series of "PanINs" and he has defined the stages at which different genes are made by the tumor cells. This finding is exciting because it identifies which genes are the best targets for the development of early detection tests, and which genes are the best targets for the treatment or prevention of early tumors of the pancreas. It can be very difficult to biopsy the pancreas, and when the pancreas is biopsied often only a few cells are obtained. As a result, the diagnostic interpretation of pancreatic biopsies can be very difficult. Scientists at Johns Hopkins have identified a group of genes that are made at high levels by pancreatic cancer cells. They then showed that staining small biopsies for two of these markers, PSCA and mesothelin, can greatly improved the accuracy of diagnosis and therefore improve patient care. Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered a cellular pathway that is activated in pancreatic cancer, a finding that provides a potential new way to treat pancreatic cancer. These findings are reported in the journal Nature (the September 14 advanced online publication can be accessed at www.nature.com/nature). This work was performed in the laboratory of Dr. Philip Beachy, who is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a renowned developmental biologist at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Beachy and colleagues demonstrated that the "Hedgehog" pathway is abnormally turned on in many digestive tract tumors, including those of the pancreas. In addition, they have demonstrated that the administration of a drug known as cyclopamine that specifically blocks this pathway in cancer cells results in dramatic reduction of cancer growth. In a mouse model they showed complete and sustained reduction of the tumor following only two weeks of therapy with cyclopamine; most importantly, the mice did not appear to suffer any side effects from the therapy. Although application to humans is years away, the results of this study have potential implications for future treatment options in pancreatic cancers, and demonstrate how knowledge of underlying molecular abnormalities in tumors can lead to new therapies. Research by Norihiro Sato M.D., Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Goggins has led to the discovery of multiple genes that undergo silencing by DNA methylation (the addition of a carbon group to DNA) in pancreatic cancer. Knowledge of these genes provides us with a better understanding of the role of DNA methylation in pancreatic cancer development. The doctors also showed that these abnormally methylated genes can be detected in pancreatic juice from patients with pancreatic cancer and raising hopes that their detection could aid in the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Research by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center specialists has uncovered a novel pathway in the origin of pancreatic cancers. The "Notch" pathway, normally turned off in adults, can be turned on after injury to the pancreas. The findings of Dr. Steven Leach et al. are reported in the June 23, 2003, issue of Cancer Cell. Dr. Michiel van der Heijden and colleagues studied two of the Fanconi genes: FANCC and FANCG. Inherited and new mutations were found in a number of pancreatic cancers. Some of these mutations are inherited, meaning that these individuals had an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer because they were born with these mutations in their DNA (they had inherited them from one of their parents. Dr. van der Heijden and colleagues had another interesting finding: three of the nine persons whose pancreas cancer had young onset (less than 50 years of age) had such mutations. There are no easy tests for the kinds of Fanconi gene mutations now being studied by the researchers, but such tests may become available in the future. Such testing is likely to be of clinical importance. Cells that are defective in the Fanconi genes are known from other research to be highly sensitive to certain chemicals. If may be possible in the future to recommend a different therapeutic regimen for patients with these mutations. More research in this exciting new area is needed. Activin receptors play an important "controlling" roll in normal pancreatic cells. Dr. Byungwoo Ryu and colleagues in the Kern Laboratory therefore studied the genes that respond to activin signals to uncover the ways in which the cells are regulated by activin. Using a high-density gene expression screen, they studied gene expression changes characteristic of activin. Some of the genes regulated include genes that directly control cell division. This work was published in the journal Cancer Biology &amp; Therapy, (Volume 2, pages 164-70), and represents the largest study of gene responses to activin published to date. Also working in Dr. Kern's lab, Dr. Paula Hempen and colleagues found mutations of another form of the activin receptor in pancreatic cancer cells, extending the numbers of tumors known to have abnormalities in the activin system. The newly discovered mutations are in the ACVR2 gene, the activin type 2 receptor. The ACVR2 gene mutations were found in nearly all gastrointestinal tumors that had defects in a DNA-repair pathway involved in familial forms of cancer, including families at high risk of colorectal, pancreatic, and endometrial cancers. Dr. Sato and colleagues reported an unexpected adverse effect of an anti-cancer drug that is used to remove "methyl" groups (carbon-hydrogen) from DNA. The authors found that this drug can inadvertently switch on certain genes (matrix metalloproteinases) and that the switching on of these genes can promote cancer invasion. This study shows that each therapy needs to be carefully evaluated, because therapies can have unanticipated side effects. One of the more exciting approaches to saving lives is preventing pancreatic cancer through the use of "chemopreventive" agents. Chemopreventive agents are drugs that are taken regularly and reduce one's risk of cancer. Cox-2 (also known as cyclooxygenase 2) is an enzyme made by cells that is a target for some chemopreventive drugs. In the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Dr. Maitra and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report that cyclooxygenase 2 is expressed (made by) small lesions in the pancreas called "pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia." This is important because pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is believed to be the precursor to pancreatic cancer. The expression of cyclooxygenase 2 in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions suggests that cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors could be used to prevent the development of pancreatic cancer. Further work is needed, but clearly chemopreventive agents, such as cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors, offer an exciting new approach to fight pancreatic cancer before it develops. Investigators from Johns Hopkins found that 1 in 6 (17%) patients with a very strong family history of pancreatic cancer have inherited ("germline") mutations (changes) in the BRCA2 gene. The BRCA2 is also known as the second breast cancer gene. Although it has been known for years that BRCA2 was important in familial breast cancer, the importance of BRCA2 in familial pancreatic cancer is only now coming to light. Inherited mutations in BRCA2 are particularly common in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. The identification of a gene responsible for the familial aggregation of pancreatic cancer is important because at-risk family members can now be tested to see if they carry this gene. Solid-pseudopapillary tumors are rare tumors of the pancreas that arise primarily in young women. They have a distinct appearance under the microscope and a much better prognosis than the more common ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. Scientists at Johns Hopkins studied the fundamental genetic (DNA) changes in a series of solid-pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas and found that they almost all have mutations (DNA changes) in a particular gene called Beta-catenin. By contrast, usual ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas almost never have Beta-catenin mutations. It can sometimes be difficult in a small biopsy or even in a resected specimen to distinguish between the various types of tumors that arise in the pancreas. This discovery suggests that the presence or absence of Beta-catenin mutations in a tumor can be used to distinguish between solid-pseudopapillary tumors (which have a very good prognosis) and usual ductal adenocarcinomas (which do not have a good prognosis). Acinar cell carcinomas are rare malignant tumors of the pancreas. They are microscopically different from the more common "ductal adenocarcinomas" of the pancreas. The fundamental DNA (genetic) changes that underlie the development of acinar cell carcinomas have not yet been elucidated. Scientists at Johns Hopkins studied 21 acinar cell carcinomas of the pancreas and found a distinct pattern of DNA changes in these tumors. These DNA changes included loss of chromosome arm 11p and changes in the "APC/beta-catenin pathway." These results indicate that acinar cell carcinomas are genetically distinct from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, but some cases contain genetic alterations common to another rare tumor type in the pancreas called "pancreatoblastomas." An understanding of the variants of pancreatic cancer helps us understand why some tumors occur in different patients. In addition, it should form a basis for targeting specific therapies to specific tumor types. Scientists at Johns Hopkins used two different techniques&#8213;"SAGE" and gene chips&#8213;to discover a panel of over 100 genes that are made at high levels in pancreatic cancer but not in normal tissues. They used the recently developed technology "SAGE" (serial analysis of gene expression) technology as well as cutting-edge gene chips. These technologies were applied to a panel of pancreatic cancers and normal pancreas cells and the investigators discovered a novel panel of over genes that appear to be made ("expressed") at high levels in pancreatic cancer. Several genes that may be involved in the fundamental nature of malignant changes in pancreatic ductal epithelium were identified. Some genes, such as S100A4, prostate stem cell antigen, and carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6, suggest potential use as diagnostic markers. Others suggest potential novel therapeutic targets. These two studies provide insight into the fundamental nature of pancreatic cancer and each of the more than 100 genes discovered to be made at high levels in pancreatic cancer may serve as a new marker for the early detection of pancreatic cancer, or as a target for the development of new chemotherapies. One of the more exciting approaches to saving lives that would otherwise be lost to pancreatic cancer is preventing pancreatic cancer through the use of "chemopreventive" agents. Chemopreventive agents are drugs that are taken regularly and reduce one's risk of cancer. For example, a recent study suggested that regular aspirin use may reduce the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Cox-2 (also known as cyclooxygenase 2) is an enzyme made by cells that is a target for some chemopreventive drugs. In the August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology Dr. Maitra and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report that cyclooxygenase 2 is expressed (made by) small lesions in the pancreas called "pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia". Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia is believed to be the precursor to pancreatic cancer. The expression of cyclooxygenase 2 in pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions suggests that cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors could be used to prevent the development of pancreatic cancer. Further work is needed, but clearly chemopreventive agents, such as cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors, offer an exciting new approach to fight pancrewatic cancer before it develops. Am J Clin Pathol 2002 Aug;118(2):194-201. In the July 2002 issue of Cancer research K. Murphy and colleagues from Johns Hopkins reported that 1 in 6 (17%) patients with a very strong family history of pancreatic cancer have inherited ("germline") mutations (changes) in the BRCA2 gene. The BRCA2 is also known as the second breast cancer gene. Although it has been known for years that BRCA2 was important in familial breast cancer, the importance of BRCA2 in familial pancreatic cancer is only now coming to light. Inherited mutations in BRCA2 are particularly common in the Askenazi Jewish population. The identification of a gene responsible for the familial aggregation of pancreatic cancer is important because at-risk family members can now be tested to see if they carry this gene. If you are interested in learning more about genetic testing visit: http://www.pbs.org/gene/findout/3_findout.html. To find a genetic counselor near you visit: http://www.nsgc.org/. To join the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry at Johns Hopkins, contact Alison Klein: [email protected]. Cancer Res 2002 Jul 1;62(13):3789-93. Solid-pseudopapillary tumors are rare tumors of the pancreas that arise primarily in young women. They have a distinct appearance under the microscope and a much much better prognosis than the more common ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. Dr. Susan Abraham and colleagues studied the fundamental genetic (DNA) changes in a series of solid-pseudopapillary tumors of the pancreas and found that they almost all have mutations (DNA changes) in a particular gene called Beta-catenin. By contrast, usual ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas almost never have Beta-catenin mutations. Acinar cell carcinomas are rare malignant tumors of the pancreas. They are microscopically different from the more common "ductal adenocarcinomas" of the pancreas. The fundamental DNA (genetic) changes that underlie the development of acinar cell carcinomas have not yet been elucidated. Scientists at Johns Hopkins studied 21 acinar cell carcinomas of the pancreas and found a distinct pattern of DNA changes in these tumors. These DNA changes included loss of chromosome arm 11p and changes in the "APC/beta-catenin pathway". These results indicate that acinar cell carcinomas are genetically distinct from pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, but some cases contain genetic alterations common to another rare tumor type in the pancreas called "pancreatoblastomas". An understanding of the variants of pancreatic cancer helps us understand why some tumors occur in different patients. In addition, it should form a basis for targeting specific therapies to specific tumor types. Scientists at Johns Hopkins used two different techniques- "SAGE" and gene chips to discover a panel of over 100 genes that are made at high levels in pancreatic cancer but not in normal tissues. Dr. Ryu and colleagues used the recently developed technology "SAGE" (serial analysis of gene expression) technology while Dr. Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and colleagues used gene chips. These technologies were applied to a panel of pancreatic cancers and normal pancreas cells and Drs. Ryu and Iacobuzio-Donahue discovered a novel panel of over genes that appear to be made ("expressed") at high levels in pancreatic cancer. Several genes that may be involved in the fundamental nature of malignant changes in pancreatic ductal epithelium were identified. Some genes, such as S100A4, prostate stem cell antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6, and mesothelin, suggest potential use as diagnostic markers. Others suggest potential novel therapeutic targets. These two studies provide insight into the fundamental nature of pancreatic cancer and each of the more than 100 genes discovered to be made at high levels in pancreatic cancer may serve as a new marker for the early detection of pancreatic cancer, or as a target for the development of new chemotherapies. The extent of surgery appropriate for patients with pancreatic cancer has long been debated. Some surgeons perform a "standard" whipple resection (also called a standard pancreaticoduodenectomy) while others have suggested that more extensive ("radical") surgery is needed. Dr. C. Yeo and colleagues from Johns Hopkins therefore performed a randomized study of 294 patients surgically treated at Johns Hopkins. Patients were randomized to either a "standard" whipple or a more "radical" whipple procedure. In the September 2002 issue of the Annals of Surgery, Dr. Yeo reports that the radical (extended) whipple can be performed with similar mortality (death rate) but some increased morbidity (complications) compared to standard whipple. No long-term benefit was found in the more radical surgery. This study suggests that although more radical surgery can be performed safely, it may not provide any long-term benefits. Researchers at Johns Hopkins identified a new marker for pancreatic cancer. This marker was discovered using "SAGE" a technology developed at Johns Hopkins to help scientists determine which genes are expressed (made) by a cancer. Dr. Argani found that almost all pancreatic cancers express the gene called "mesothelin" at levels much higher than those found in normal, non-cancerous, tissues. The discovery that mesothelin is made at high levels in pancreatic cancer has potential diagnostic, imaging, and therapeutic implications. For example, scientists in Dr. Liz Jaffee's lab are already conducting studies in the laboratory to see if mesothelin can be used as an immune target to treat patients with pancreatic cancer. It can be very hard to predict the prognosis for patients with pancreatic cancer. Dr. M. Tascilar and colleagues at Johns Hopkins studied 249 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent a Whipple resection for pancreatic cancer. Patients with pancreatic cancers that expressed (made) the SMAD4 protein had significantly longer survival (19.2 months) than did patients whose cancers did not express (make) the SMAD4 protein (14.7 months). This SMAD4 survival benefit persisted after adjustment for known prognostic factors including tumor size, margins, lymph node status, pathological stage, blood loss, and use of adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. From this, Dr. Tascilar was able to conclude that patients undergoing Whipple resection for pancreatic cancer survive longer if their cancers express SMAD4. This study helps confirm the importance of the SMAD4 gene in pancreatic cancer. While scientists have made great strides in advancing our understanding of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, little is known about rare tumors that arise in the pancreas. Pancreatoblastoma is a rare pancreatic tumor with a distinctive microscopic appearance that generally affects infants and young children. Researchers at Johns Hopkins analyzed a series of nine pancreatoblastomas for genetic alterations (changes in the DNA sequence of the tumors). They found three interesting things. First, pancreatoblastomas are genetically very different from the more common ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. Pancreatoblastomas show alterations (mutations) in the beta-catenin/APC genes. Second, they also showed that chromosome 11p is frequently altered in pancreatoblastomas. Chromosome 11p is frequently altered in hepatoblastomas (a rare pediatric tumor in the liver), suggesting that pancreatoblastomas are more closely related to hepatoblastomas than they are to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. Finally, one of the patients included in the series of pancreatoblastomas had the clinical syndrome called "familial adenomatous polyposis" or "FAP." Patients with familial adenomatous polyposis develop numerous polyps in their colon at an early age and this study demonstrates that they can also develop pancreatoblastomas. An understanding of the variants of pancreatic cancer helps us understand why some tumors occur in adults and some in children. In addition, it should form a basis for targeting specific therapies to specific tumor types. There is a great effort underway to identify new ways to detect cancers early. A major approach is to identify "tumor-specific" and "tissue-specific" markers. For example, useful markers can be substances found to be produced by cancer cells in both tissue culture (cancer cells grown artificially outside the body) and in patient samples. Such markers would not be normally found in normal tissues at a high level. These are the invasion-specific markers. Dr. Ryu and colleagues in Dr. Kern's laboratory for pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins searched for such genes. Dozens of invasion-specific markers were identified in invasive cancers obtained from patient samples. Many of these were new markers not previously considered as cancer markers and many of the genes are expressed not by the tumor cells but instead by the patient's response to the tumors. Some of these markers are known to be secreted and to be detectable in simple blood samples. A strong effort is underway to examine these candidates and develop markers for use in the early detection of cancer, to aid medical imaging and to serve as targets for the development of invasion-specific anticancer therapy. The major problem with human tumors is that they do not obey the signals from their surrounding cells that should restrain their growth. To date, very few of such signals have been defined, and this limits our ability to understand and counter this basic abnormality. Because we need to understand these signals, there has been a great effort to identify genes that are mutated and turned off in tumors. These are the "tumor-suppressor genes." The inactivation of these genes allows tumors to escape from the normal growth controls that the surrounding cells and tissue are trying to place on them. Activin is a protein secreted by normal cells. To exert its action, it must bind receptors on a cell. The receptors propagate a signal to the cell but it was not previously known that these signals were able to suppress tumor growth. Mutations within the activin receptor gene were found in some pancreatic and biliary cancers by Dr. Gloria Su and colleagues in Dr. Kern's laboratory for pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins. In tumors that lack the mutations, someday it might be possible to administer activin as a therapeutic strategy. It might also be possible to mimic the effects of activin on tumor cells by a precise molecular targeting using specially designed new drugs that directly activate the signal pathway without the need for intact receptors. This is a new idea that was previously unknown, but now can be explored. It is our hope that one can design a therapy to attack the most vulnerable components of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Argani and colleagues from Johns Hopkins discover a new marker of pancreatic cancer. This new marker called "prostate stem-cell antigen" (PSCA) was discovered by using a technique developed at Johns Hopkins called "serial analysis of gene expression" (SAGE). Since the original description of SAGE, a group of cooperating scientists from a number of institutions have created an online database of gene expression that includes SAGE data on a variety of tissues and cancers (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SAGE/). The investigators at Johns Hopkins used this database to compare the gene expression levels in pancreatic cancer tissues with those seen in non-cancerous pancreatic tissues. The goal was to identify genes selectively "turned-on" in the cancers. One of the genes found using this approach is called "prostate stem-cell antigen." Prostate stem-cell antigen is a gene originally thought to be largely restricted to prostate cells. Dr. Argani and colleagues demonstrate that prostate stem-cell antigen (PSCA) is, in fact, highly overexpressed in approximately 60% of primary pancreatic cancers. It is not expressed in the normal pancreas. These findings are exciting for several reasons. First, they demonstrate the power of new technologies such as SAGE to discover new tumor markers. Second, PSCA, because it is selectively overexpressed in pancreatic cancers, might be a useful marker for pancreatic cancer. Third, other groups have shown that PSCA can be an immune target and therefore PSCA is being explored as a target for the immune treatment of cancers. The demonstration of PSCA expression in pancreatic cancer suggests a new avenue for treating pancreatic cancers, immunotherapy directed at cells expressing PSCA. Dr. Argani and colleagues published the largest series of cases examining small cell carcinomas of the gallbladder, a highly unusual neoplasm that has been described only recently. Dr. Maitra characterized the clinical, histopathologic, immunohistochemical and molecular features of 12 small cell carcinomas of the gallbladder. It was discovered that only half of these rare cancers are "pure" and half are combined with other neoplasms (e.g., adenocarcinoma, squamous carcinoma, and rarely, carcinosarcoma). These cancers were studied using molecular and immunohistochemical techniques. We found that the molecular changes in small cell carcinomas were similar to those of adenocarcinomas occurring at this site, with a high frequency of p53 and p16INK4a abnormalities, and a low frequency of deleted in pancreatic carcinoma-4 (Dpc-4) inactivation and K-ras codon 12 mutations. In contrast to small cell carcinomas of the lung, p16INK4a function appears to be abrogated more frequently in these carcinomas. We hope these results will help us develop a rational approach to the diagnosis and therapy of these unusual tumors. Using immunohistochemical labeling, Dr. Argani and colleagues were able to show that the DPC4, a tumor suppressor gene discovered at Johns Hopkins that is known to play a major role in pancreatic cancer, is also targeted in bile duct carcinomas. Loss of Dpc4 protein was identified in a significant percentage of bile duct carcinomas. However, not all bile duct carcinomas were equal: we were able to demonstrate that distal common bile duct carcinomas (those located near the pancreas) were far more likely to demonstrate loss of DPC4 than proximal bile duct cancers (Klatskin tumors and cholangiocarcinomas of the liver). In fact, the frequency of DPC4 loss that we demonstrated in distal bile duct carcinomas (55%) is identical to that which was demonstrated in pancreatic cancer. Similarly, we were able to show that the p53 gene product was abnormally expressed far more frequently in distal bile duct cancers than proximal ones. These results show that distal common bile duct cancers have some of the same genetic alterations as pancreatic cancers, while other bile duct cancers are biologically distinct. We hope that these results will allow us to develop more rational therapies for these tumors. For years, isolated reports in the medical literature have suggested that pancreatic cancer runs in some families. For example, it has been reported that former President Jimmy Carter lost his father, two sisters and brother to pancreatic cancer. A. Tersmette and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report that first-degree relatives (brothers and sisters, parents and children) of patients with "familial pancreatic cancer" have a significantly increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Tersmette and colleagues followed 341 families enrolled in the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry (NFPTR) and found that the first-degree relatives of familial pancreatic patients had an 18-fold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer when compared to the general population (the "SEER" database). In this study, familial pancreatic cancer was defined as at least a pair of first-degree relatives with pancreatic cancer in a family. Remarkably, if there were three or more family members with pancreatic cancer when the family enrolled in the NFPTR, then the risk of other family members developing pancreatic cancer jumped to 57-fold greater than the general population. This study firmly establishes that "Familial Pancreatic Cancer" is a real entity and it provides a quantitative measure of the risk of pancreatic cancer in these families. Studies such as this will form the basis for identifying individuals at-risk for developing pancreatic cancers who might benefit from new screening tests as they are developed. Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee and colleagues at Johns Hopkins report the result of a phase I clinical trial of a novel vaccine treatment for patients with a pancreatic cancer. The vaccine was produced by genetically altering pancreatic cancer cells growing in culture so that the cells would produce large quantities of an immune activating factor called "Granulocytic-macrophage colony-stimulating factor" (or GM-CSF for short). Dr. Jaffee treated 14 patients with this vaccine in a phase I dose escalation trial. The patients underwent surgery at Johns Hopkins after which they received various doses of the vaccine. No dose-limiting toxicities were encountered. Instead, Dr. Jaffee was able to demonstrate that the vaccine induced an anti-tumor immune response in three patients who received the highest dose of the vaccine (>10x107 vaccine cells). Remarkably, these three patients remained alive and free of disease more than 36 months after diagnosis. Based on these results, Dr. Jaffee and her team will conduct phase II trials of the GM-CSF vaccine. These trials are scheduled to begin in the late summer. Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS) is the primary enzyme involved in the breakdown of fats. FAS has been demonstrated to be overexpressed in several human cancers (breast, endometrial, prostate, colon). In some cancers, high levels of FAS expression have been associated with poor prognosis, suggesting that FAS expression may promote tumor growth and virulence. Recently synthesized inhibitors of FAS have demonstrated antitumor activity without concurrent toxicity to normal tissues, and hence hold promise as therapy for tumors that overexpress FAS (Cancer Res 2000; 60: 213-218) (PNAS 2000; 97: 3450-3454). FAS expression had not been studied in biliary tract carcinomas, which are highly aggressive and often do not respond to conventional therapy. Dr. Argani and colleagues recently examined 107 biliary tract carcinomas for FAS overexpression using an immunohistochemical assay on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue. FAS was overexpressed in 93% of carcinomas of the biliary tract. Therefore, FAS inhibitors hold promise as a new therapy for biliary tract carcinomas. In the December 2001 issue of Clinical Cancer Research Dr. Argani and colleagues from Johns Hopkins reported the identification of a new marker for pancreatic cancer. This marker was discovered using "SAGE" a technology developed at Johns Hopkins to help scientists determine which genes are expressed (made) by a cancer. Dr. Argani found that almost all pancreatic cancers express the gene called "mesothelin" at levels much higher than those found in normal, non-cancerous, tissues. The discovery that mesothelin is made at high levels pancreatic cancer has potential diagnostic, imaging, and therapeutic implications. For example, scientists in Dr. Liz Jaffee's lab are already conducting studies in the laboratory to see if mesothelin can be used as an immune target to treat patients with pancreatic cancer. While scientists have made great strides in advancing our understanding of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, little is known about rarer tumors that arise in the pancreas. Pancreatoblastoma is a rare pancreatic tumor with a distinctive microscopic appearance that generally affects infants and young children (click here for more information on pancreatoblastomas and other rarer variants of pancreas cancer). Dr. Abraham analyzed a series of nine pancreatoblastomas for genetic alterations (changes in the DNA sequence of the tumors). She found three interesting things. First, pancreatoblastomas are genetically very different from the more common ductal adenocarcinomas of the pancreas. Pancreatoblastomas show alterations (mutations) in the beta-catenin/APC genes. 2) Dr. Abraham also showed that chromosome 11p is frequently altered in pancreatoblastomas. Chromosome 11p is frequently altered in hepatoblastomas (a rare pediatric tumor in the liver), suggesting that pancreatoblastomas are more closely related to hepatoblastomas than they are to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. 3) Finally, one of the patients included in Dr. Abraham's series of pancreatoblastomas had the clinical syndrome called "familial adenomatous polyposis" or "FAP". Patients with familial adenomatous polyposis develop numerous polyps in their colon at an early age and Dr. Abraham demonstrates that they can also develop pancreatoblastomas. An understanding of the variants of pancreatic cancer helps us understand why some tumors occur in adults and some in children. In addition, it should form a basis for targeting specific therapies to specific tumor types. In an effort to identify new ways to identify cancers that otherwise would remain undetected for too long, Dr. Ryu and colleagues in Dr. Kern's laboratory for pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins searched for genes ("markers") produced by the invasive tumor or the body's reaction to it. Dozens of invasion-specific markers were identified in invasive pancreatic cancers obtained from patient samples. Many of these were new markers not previously considered as cancer markers, and many of the genes are expressed not by the tumor cells but instead by the patient's response to the tumors. Some of these markers are known to be secreted and to be detectable in simple blood samples. A strong effort is underway to examine these candidate genes and to develop markers for use in reliable assays for cancer that can be done on serum, to aid medical imaging, and to serve as targets for the development of invasion-specific anticancer therapy. The major problem with human tumors is a social one. Tumor cells do not obey the signals from their surrounding cells that should restrain their growth. To date, very few of such signals have been defined, and this limits our ability to understand and counter this basic abnormality. Because of the need to understand these signals, there has been a great effort to identify genes that are mutated and turned off in tumors. These are the tumor-suppressor genes. The inactivation of these genes allows tumors to escape from the normal growth controls that the surrounding cells and tissue are trying to place on them. Activin is a protein secreted by normal cells. To exert its action, activin must bind receptors on a cell. The receptors propagate a signal to the cell, but it was not previously known that these signals were able to suppress tumor growth. Mutations within the activin receptor gene were found recently in some pancreatic cancers by Dr. Gloria Su and colleagues in Dr. Kern's laboratory for pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins. In tumors that lack the mutations, someday it might be possible to administer activin as a therapeutic strategy. It might also be possible to mimic the effects of activin on tumor cells by a precise molecular targeting using specially designed new drugs that directly activate the signal pathway without the need for intact receptors. This is a new idea that was previously unknown, but now can be explored. It is our hope that one can design a rational therapy that would specifically attack the most vulnerable components of pancreatic cancer. In the June 1st issue of Cancer Research Dr. Argani and colleagues from Johns Hopkins described the discovery of a new marker of pancreatic cancer. This new marker called "prostate stem-cell antigen" (PSCA) was discovered by using a technique developed at Johns Hopkins called "serial analysis of gene expression". Since the original description of SAGE, a group of cooperating scientists from a number of institutions have created an online database of gene expression that includes SAGE data on a variety of tissues and cancers (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SAGE/). The investigators at Hopkins used this database to compare the gene expression levels in pancreatic cancer tissues with those seen in non-cancerous pancreatic tissues. The goal was to identify genes that were selectively "turned-on" in the cancers. One of the genes the Hopkins found using this approach coded for a protein called "prostate stem-cell antigen." Prostate stem-cell antigen is a gene that was originally thought to be largely restricted to prostate cells. Dr. Argani and colleagues demonstrate that prostate stem-cell antigen (PSCA) is, in fact, highly overexpressed in approximately 60% of primary pancreatic cancers. It is not expressed in the normal pancreas. These findings are exciting for several reasons. First, they demonstrate the power of new technologies such as SAGE to discover new tumor markers. Second, PSCA, because it is selectively overexpressed in pancreatic cancers, maybe a useful marker for pancreatic cancer. Third, other groups have shown that PSCA can be an immune target and therefore PSCA is being explored as a target for the immune treatment of cancers. The demonstration of PSCA expression in pancreatic cancer suggests a new avenue for treating pancreatic cancers. That is, immunotherapy directed at cells expressing PSCA. On an important side note, this work was supported, in large part, by generous donations from the friends and family of Michael Rolfe demonstrating the power of private giving to advance pancreatic cancer research. For years, isolated reports in the medical literature have suggested that pancreatic cancer runs in some families. For example, it has been reported that former President Jimmy Carter lost his father, brother and two sisters from pancreatic cancer. Tersmette and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report that first-degree relatives (brothers and sisters, parents and children) of patients with "familial pancreatic cancer" have a significantly increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Tersmette and colleagues followed 341 families enrolled in the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry (NFPTR) at Johns Hopkins and found that the first-degree relatives of familial pancreatic patients had an 18-fold increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer when compared to the general population (the "SEER" database). In this study, familial pancreatic cancer was defined as at least a pair of first-degree relatives with pancreatic cancer in a family. Remarkably, if there were three or more family members with pancreatic cancer when the family enrolled in the NFPTR, then the risk of other family members developing pancreatic cancer jumped to 57-fold greater than the general population. This study firmly establishes that "Familial Pancreatic Cancer" is a real entity and it provides a quantitative measure of the risk of pancreatic cancer in these families. Importantly, studies such as this will form the basis for identifying individuals at-risk for developing pancreatic cancer who might benefit from new screening tests as they are developed. If you have a strong family history of pancreatic cancer and would like to join the research studies currently underway at Hopkins, please consider joining the NFPTR. If you would like to join, please contact the Coordinator of the NFPTR, Mirian Tillery. In the January issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology (volume 19; 2001: pages 145-156), Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee and colleagues at Johns Hopkins reported the result of a phase I clinical trial of a novel vaccine treatment for patients with a pancreatic cancer. The vaccine was produced by genetically altering pancreatic cancer cells growing in culture so that the cells would produce large quantities of an immune activating factor called "Granulocytic-macrophage colony-stimulating factor" (or GM-CSF for short). Dr. Jaffee treated 14 patients with this vaccine in a phase I dose escalation trial. The patients underwent surgery at Hopkins after which they received various doses of the vaccine. No dose-limiting toxicities were encountered. Instead, Dr. Jaffee was able to demonstrate that the vaccine induced an anti-tumor immune response in three patients who received the highest dose of the vaccine (>10x107 vaccine cells). Remarkable, these three patients remained alive and free of disease more than 25 months after diagnosis. Based on these results, Dr. Jaffee and her team are conducting phase II trials of the GM-CSF vaccine. As much as Dr. Jaffee would like to offer the vaccine to everyone, eligibility criteria had to be established for this study. Patients with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas who have surgery Johns Hopkins Hospital to remove their pancreas cancer and who have no clinical evidence of spread of the cancer outside the pancreas will be eligible for this study. Patients with bile duct cancer or neuroendocrine tumors or islet cell cancer are not eligible. Please contact Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee or Barbara Biedrzycki, R.N. for more information on eligibility criteria. Dr. St. Croix in Bert Vogelstein and Kern Kinzler's laboratory identified 46 genes which appear to be specifically elevated (or "turned on") in tumor-associated blood vessels. The identification of these genes is exciting because they are potential targets for drugs aimed at shrinking tumors by starving them of their blood supply. Drs. Gloria Su and Taylor Sohn in Scott Kern's laboratory tested over 16,000 chemical compounds looking for compounds that can "turn on" on a specific function that is often "broken "in pancreatic cancer (DPC4 signaling pathway). They identified half a dozen promising compounds, one of which turned out to be a novel and specific inhibitor of a protein called HDAC (histone deacetylase). This finding represents a new method to develop drugs to treat pancreatic cancer - "fixing" the cancer cells by screening for compounds that turn on specific functions lost in the cancer. Drs. Michael Goggins and Robb Wilentz studied the genetic changes in the very earliest lesions that give rise to invasive pancreatic cancer. They found that the BRCA2 and DPC4 genes are inactivated in some of these early lesions (called "Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia"). These studies provide an important first step in the development of novel screening tests to detect early, and therefore potentially curable, pancreatic cancers. Dr. T. Ueki in Michael Goggins' laboratory discovered that a number of genes are selectively "hypermethylated" in pancreatic cancer. Methylation refers to the addition of an extra carbon atom to DNA and it is a common mechanism by which cancer preventing genes (tumor-suppressor genes) are inactivated in cancers. These findings provide a novel target for the development of a new screening test for pancreatic cancer. Drs. Taylor Sohn and Charles Yeo studied patients' self-reported quality of life after Whipple surgery (pancreaticoduodenectomy). Over 192 patients were studied and over 30 quality of life measurements assayed. Remarkably, quality of life scores for patients who underwent a Whipple at Johns Hopkins were comparable to those patients who had their gallbladder removed for stones. These data demonstrate that surviving Whipple patients as a group have near normal quality of life scores. This corrects the misimpression that Whipple patients have severely impaired quality of life, and cannot return towards normal activities. In 1996, Dr. Scott Kern and colleagues at Hopkins discovered a new gene which appeared to be selectively inactivated (deleted) in the development of cancer of the pancreas. Dr. Kern and his colleagues named this gene "DPC4" for Deleted in Pancreas Cancer locus 4 (see Science 1996, vol. 271:350-353). The discovery of this gene was exciting because DPC4 is inactivated in a large number of cancers of the pancreas, and because its inactivation appears to be relatively specific for cancer of the pancreas. That is, DPC4 appears to be only rarely inactivated in other tumor types (see Cancer Research 1996, vol 56:2527-2530). Robb Wilentz and colleagues from Johns Hopkins developed a new immunohistochemical stain for DPC4. This new stain can detect DPC4 in tissue sections (such as biopsies), and the staining pattern directly mirrors the DPC4 gene status. Because of its simplicity and availability, the immunohistochemical staining technique Dr. Wilentz developed for DPC4 has a number of direct clinical applications. For example, staining for DPC4 may help to distinguish benign chronic pancreatitis (which should express DPC4) from cancer of the pancreas (half of which will not express DPC4). Thus, DPC4 staining will add a valuable tool to the interpretation of needle biopsies of the pancreas. In addition, the immunohistochemical assay reported by Wilentz and colleagues for DPC4 may lead to answers in the investigative area. For instance, the immunohistochemical study of early lesions in the pancreas may help determine the stage at which DPC4 inactivation contributes to neoplastic progression and thereby help in the development of new screening tests for early pancreatic cancer. Mucinous cystic tumors are rare neoplasms of the pancreas characterized by the presence of large cysts (fluid filled cavities) lined by mucin producing cells. Some investigators have suggested that all mucinous cystic neoplasms are malignant (capable of spreading to other organs) and that all mucinous cystic tumors should therefore be designated as cancers - "mucinous cystadenocarcinomas." Robb Wilentz at Johns Hopkins studied over 60 of these rare tumors and found that with careful examination they could accurately separate mucinous cystic tumors into two groups - those that are entirely benign (the tumors never recurred) if completly resected ("mucinous cystadenomas") and those that had a malignant or cancerous potential ("mucinous cystadenocarcinomas"). Importantly, two-thirds of the mucinous cystic tumors in Dr. Wilentz's study fell into the entirely benign group. This study demonstrates that simply lumping all mucinous cystic tumors into the malignant category would have incorrectly labeled two-thirds of the patients as having cancer when they didn't! The study is also important because it highlights the impact private donations can have on research. Dr. Wilentz conducted this research during a research fellowship year he spent in the laboratory of Dr. S. Kern and this fellowship was supported by the Helen S. Heller and Daniel Kim Memorial Funds for pancreatic cancer research at Hopkins. Without this private support, Dr. Wilentz would not have been able to do his study. Private giving makes a difference! Twelve years ago doctors at Johns Hopkins reported that patients with a rare syndrome, called "The Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome," had an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. The reason for this increased risk remained a mystery until now. The Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome is rare inherited syndrome in which affected patients develop dark pigmented spots on their lips ("mucocutaneous melanin macules") and polyps in their intestinal tract ("hamartomas"). These patients have an increased risk of cancer, expecially pancreatic cancer. Gloria Su, Ph.D. and colleagues from Johns Hopkins uncovered the genetic basis for this association. The STK11/LKB1 gene in chromosome 19 is responsible for the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome. Gloria Su and colleagues examined the status of the STK11/LKB1 gene in a large series of pancreatic cancers and in pancreatic cancer resected from patients with the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome. They found that the STK11/LKB1 gene was inactivated in 4-6% of the pancreatic cancers. While the inactivation of this gene plays a role in only a small percentage of pancreatic cancers, Gloria Su and colleagues made a second, quite remarkable discovery. They found that the inactivation of the STK11/LK1 gene in patients with the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome explained the development of pancreatic cancer in these patients. These findings solve a long-standing mystery. The inheritance of a defective copy of the STK11/LKB1I gene causes the Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome and the inactivation of this gene in these patients explains their increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Surgical resection is currently the most effective treatment for cancer of the pancreas. The extent of the surgery which should be performed is, however, controversial. Some have argued that the standard pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure) should be extended to include the removal of the distal stomach (distal gastrectomy) as well as the removal of additional lymph nodes (retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy). The more extended surgery is called a "radical pancreaticoduodenectomy". The controversy over standard versus radical Whipple has been difficult to resolve, because most centers do one surgery or the other and data between institutions may not be comparable. In the May 1999 issue of the Annals of Surgery, Drs. Yeo, Cameron and colleagues from Johns Hopkins report a study that may finally help resolve this controversy. They reported a randomized single-institution trial in which patients were randomized to receive either a standard or a radical Whipple. Of the 114 patients randomized, 56 underwent a standard Whipple and 58 a radical Whipple. Dr. Yeo and colleagues found that the two procedures can be performed with similar morbidity and mortality. Importantly, the one-year survival rate for both groups was similar (~80%). This important study will continue and the patients enrolled will be followed to determine if there are any long-term benefits to doing a radical Whipple. For now, part of the controversy in the radical versus standard Whipple debate has been answered. Both can be performed with equal morbidity and mortality, but the radical Whipple does not provide any improvement in survival at one year. Drs. Michael Goggins and Jaile Dai in Scott Kern's laboratory extensively studied the DPC4 pathways in pancreatic cancer using modern genetic techniques. Dr. Goggins found that the "TGF-&#223; receptors" can be targeted in pancreatic cancer and Dr. Dai discovered that if he took cells that made no DPC4, and then genetically engineered the cells so that they would produce DPC4, then the cells grew much slower. He also showed that activated DPC4 can kill selected cancer cells. These studies provide a clearer understanding of just how pancreatic cancer cells come to misbehave. An understanding of "what's broken" in pancreatic cancers should, in turn, lead to new methods to treat the disease. Michael Goggins identified a new type of pancreatic cancer called "Medullary Cancer". This new type of pancreatic cancer has a very specific appearance under the microscope, and Mike has discovered that medullary cancers have an usual pattern of genetic changes called "microsatellite instability". Patients with this newly recognized type of pancreatic cancer may have a better prognosis than patients with typical pancreatic cancer, and they may also respond to different types of chemotherapy. Furthermore, because this newly recognized type of cancer has an unusual genetic change associated with it, it may be possible to detect these cancers using genetic tests. Ralph Hruban established the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry at Hopkins in 1994. Over 350 families have enrolled in this registry. These include a family in which five brothers and sisters died of pancreatic cancer and seven families in which three generations have been affected. Analysis of the families enrolled in this registry has demonstrated that genetic changes cause pancreatic cancer to run in some families. Just as children inherit their hair color and eye color from their parents, so too do some inherit an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. As the genetic changes responsible for familial pancreatic cancer are uncovered, family members can be tested to see if they are at risk. Furthermore, because they have such a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer, these families will be the first to benefit from new screening tests for pancreatic cancer. Surgeons at Hopkins have worked hard to improve the surgical approach to tumors of the pancreas. Thanks to their efforts the Whipple operation (removal of the head of the pancreas) is now a safe option for many patients. In fact more Whipple procedures are performed every year at Hopkins than any other hospital in the world. The impact of improved surgery on the pancreas has been dramatic. Operative mortality rates have dropped from over 20% to less than 2% at Hopkins. Remarkably, because more patients are now coming to Hopkins, these improvements at Hopkins have led to a significant decrease in hospital mortality in the entire state of Maryland for pancreatic surgery. Elizabeth Jaffee at Hopkins has developed a novel vaccine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Jaffee has used two cancers resected from patients at Hopkins to develop this vaccine. After the cancers were grown and cultured, she used a virus to introduce a new gene into the cancer cells. This new gene called "Granulocyte - Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor" was incorporated into the cancer cells and it codes for a factor which actively stimulates the body's immune system. These cultured cancer cells are then used to produce a live anti-pancreas cancer vaccine. This vaccine has already been tested on 15 patients with pancreatic cancer in a Phase I clinical trial. Although early in the testing process, Dr. Jaffee has already seen positive skin reactions in vaccinated patients. This is a completely new approach to the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Should it prove effective, it will harness the body's immune system against the cancer without causing the side effects of chemotherapy. Importantly, Dr. Jaffee has been studying the immune reaction of patients vaccinated with this vaccine and hopes to use these studies to develop a second generation of pancreatic cancer vaccines. Ester Rosenblum in Scott Kern's laboratory has characterized the genetic profile of pancreatic cancer. This includes mutation (DNA changes) in multiple genes, including the K-ras, p16, p53, DPC4, BRCA2, LKB1, MKK1 and TGF Beta receptor genes. Furthermore, Robb Wilentz and Carlos Caldas have demonstrated, using the technique of PCR (polymerase chain reaction - the equivalent to a genetic xerox machine), that some of these genetic changes (such as K-ras) can be detected in the duodenal fluid and/or stool of patients with pancreatic cancer. An understanding of the genetic profile of pancreatic cancer will allow scientists to develop new drugs to treat pancreatic cancer, and, because these genetic changes can be detected in stool these discoveries will lead the way to new screening tests to detect early pancreatic cancers. Just as colon cancer can now be detected by testing stool for blood, so too do we envision detecting pancreas cancer by testing stool samples for genetic changes. Dan Brat and Robb Wilentz have examined a large series of resected pancreatic cancers and they have identified the precursor lesions to cancer of the pancreas. Called "Duct Lesions" these precursors arise in the smallest pancreatic ducts. They probably arise years before the patient develops an infiltrating cancer and many years before they develop any symptoms. Hopkins scientists have characterized these under the microscope, and they have also studied these duct lesions at the genetic level. This two-pronged approach to the study of duct lesions has established that duct lesions are indeed the elusive precursor to pancreatic cancer. This important findings represents a first step towards the development of new tests to detect pancreatic cancer at very early stages. If we are to be effective in treating pancreatic cancer we must detect it before the "Horse out of the barn." Stephen Hahn in Scott Kern's laboratory at Hopkins discovered the DPC4 (Deleted in Pancreas Cancer 4) gene on chromosome 18 and he demonstrated that this gene is mutated (missing) in approximately half of all pancreatic cancers. In the other half of the cancers, DPC4 is harder to turn on, due to other gene defects. Remarkably, the mutation of DPC4 appears to be relatively specific for pancreatic cancer. DPC4 is the first gene which appears to specifically altered in pancreatic cancer. Now that it has been identified scientists at Hopkins are working to understand how DPC4 works so that they can develop new drugs to "replace" the missing DPC4 function in pancreatic cancers. The second breast cancer gene (called "BRCA2") was discovered because of a remarkable advance made by the Johns Hopkins pancreas cancer research team. Mieke Schutte in Scott Kern's lab used a revolutionary technique called "RDA" to study a pancreas cancer removed by surgeons at Johns Hopkins. She discovered that this cancer was missing a small piece of DNA from chromosome 13. This piece of DNA was the second breast cancer gene. Michael Goggins extended these and found that as many as 7% of patients with pancreas cancer get their cancer because they inherit had a defective copy of the BRCA2 gene. These patients were born with a defective copy of the BRCA2 gene and they inherited this defective copy from one of their parents. This discovery is quite remarkable because it suggests: (1) that there is a link between pancreas and breast cancer; and (2) that patients with a family history of breast and pancreas cancer can now be tested to see if they carry this gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:5950-5954, 1995. Connie Griffin has applied "classical cytogenetics" (a test performed on fluids obtained by amniocentesis from pregnant women to determine the health of their babies) to visualize and examine individual chromosomes in pancreatic cancers. She examined a large number of pancreatic cancers using this technique and has identified recurring chromosome changes in these tumors. These include losses of specific chromosome, and gains of other portions of chromosomes. These studies provide an important advance in our understanding of the genetic changes responsible for the development of cancer of the pancreas. Because genes sit on chromosomes, the cytogenetic analysis of cancers can lead to the discovery of genes important of the development of the cancer. It is our hope that further analysis of the recurrent chromosome changes identified by Connie Griffin, will lend to the identification of additional yet undiscovered genes responsible for cancer of the pancreas. Once discovered an understanding of the function of these genes may lead to new ways to diagnose and treat pancreatic cancers. Victor Velculescu in Ken Kinzler's laboratory developed a revolutionary technology called "SAGE" (serial analysis of gene expression). SAGE is a powerful technique which can be used to identify and quantify all genes expressed in a tissue. When the investigators applied SAGE to pancreatic cancer they were able to identify a total of 404 "transcripts" expressed at high levels in pancreatic cancers (transcripts are pieces of RNA which code for proteins (also called antigens) that might be released into the blood). The identification of these transcripts is an important advance, because any one of the 404 may form the basis for a new screening test. In an effort to share this exciting data the Hopkins investigators have established a Web page on which they freely share all of their SAGE findings (http://welchlink.welch.jhu.edu./~molgen-g/home.htm). This is the first step in developing a completely new screening test for pancreatic cancer. For example, prostate cancers make "prostate specific antigen" which is detectable in the blood and which forms the basis for the current screening test for the early detection of prostate cancers. The application of SAGE technology to pancreatic cancers is the first step in developing such a test for the pancreas. We hope to find a "pancreas specific antigen". Carlos Caldas in Scott Kern's laboratory was the first to demonstrate the role of p16 gene in the development of pancreatic cancer. Christopher Moskaluk extended these studies and demonstrated that some cases of inherited pancreatic cancer, particularly those associated with melanoma, are caused by inherited mutations (defects) in the p16 gene. Dr. Moskaluk also showed that p16 is defective in many of the earliest forms of pancreatic cancer, providing a clue as to how the disease develops. Family members from families in which there is a strong history of pancreatic cancer and melanoma can now be tested for inherited defects in the p16 gene. Carriers of the p16 defects can be screened more carefully for pancreatic cancer and melanoma, while those found not to carry the p16 defect will be relieved of their anxiety.

2019-04-23T14:22:06Z

http://pathology.jhu.edu/pc/professionals/researchPCprev.php

Exciting new changes at GlassFrog! At GlassFrog we've been promising changes. Today the time has come for us to announce the new UI is ready to be used in beta! For any user interested, you can beta test the new UI by clicking on your name on the top right corner and selecting "Try new UI" of the drop down menu. You can always switch back to the current interface by clicking on your organization's name in the top left corner and selecting "Use classic UI" in the list. Click here to read more about this and feel free to share your feedback with the GlassFrog Team at [email protected]. Also, in case you missed it: for Glassfrog Premium users also using Slack, you can now make actions and projects requests from one role to another role, directly in Slack. If you were experiencing issues using this feature, we just fixed a small bug so re-installing the Slack integration on the Organization Settings page should now allow you to get the request functionality. If you had user group syncing enabled, don’t disable it in order to re-install the Slack integration (that would remove all of your synced user groups), but afterwards re-enable user group syncing to keep it working again. To learn how to make requests in Slack, check this article. We're happy to announce the Italian translation is now complete and live! If you're an admin, you can switch to the Italian language by going to your "Organization Settings". Check this article for more details. Currently GlassFrog is also available in Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Polish, and Spanish. Stay tuned! Next languages on their way: Hindustani and Portuguese. You might feel that something’s different in Governance meetings and while making Asynchronous proposals in GlassFrog. That’s because our team has largely rebuilt the entire proposal system. The vast majority of this functionality is behind-the-scenes, so you might not notice many visible changes; however it will provide a much smoother user experience in some of GlassFrog's core functionality. Also, for GlassFrog Premium users, if you have a Premium account with Slack, you can now enable a new feature that will allow you to tag roles in Slack and automatically notify all of the individuals filling that role. GlassFrog administrators can set this by syncing your Slack team’s user groups with GlassFrog roles and role-fillers. See more details and follow these instructions. Habit Support Program completed in Polish! Habit Support Program is now available in Polish for GlassFrog Premium members! Click here to know how to enable the Habit Support for your account. Click here to see what's your preferred language URL. Habit Support Program is also available in English and French. German is coming soon! We are very excited to announce that GlassFrog is now translated into main land Chinese!!! For info on how to change languages in GlassFrog, check out this article. More languages are on the way - Italian should be next! If you are an OmniFocus user, now you can sync with GlassFrog in public beta! Projects and actions you add to GlassFrog will automatically populate your OmniFocus folders (and vice versa) making for a seamless weekly review experience. If you want to participate, please read these instructions before installing the OmniFocus sync app and check this article to find answers to common questions regarding the tool in beta. Try it out and let us know what you think at [email protected]. Habit Support Program now in French! For GlassFrog Premium account holders, our Holacracy complete Habit Support Program is now available in French! Polish and German translations are in progress and should be completed soon! If you’re an Admin and want to turn on the Habit Support Program for the entire organization, check this article. To see how to enable the Habit Support Program for your account, click here. We now have GlassFrog translated into Spanish! Currently GlassFrog is also available in Dutch, English, French, German, and Polish. More languages are on the way - Chinese is next on our list. You can now add all your tensions into our new Inbox feature. Once you're ready to process, these tensions can be turned into Projects, Actions, or Agenda Items to bring to Tactical or Governance meetings. For more info, check out this article and this one. Browsing through your projects is now easier with the project menu. On the left-hand side of the Projects page, you can now browse through your circles, roles and projects. We will be performing server maintenance on Friday, March 2nd from 7-9pm PST. During this time, GlassFrog will be unavailable, though we will be working hard to get it back online as quickly as possible. Please contact us if you have any questions! Want specific people to be able to see your GlassFrog organization without making it public to everyone? Starting this January - GlassFrog premium organizations will not be charged for non-participating members. For the full criteria we use to automatically classify such accounts, see this article. New to GlassFrog or rolling out a Holacracy implementation to a new division of your company? Add all those users at once by using the bulk user import feature. GlassFrog Premium users will find their circle's asynchronous governance proposals in a new location - look for them under the bell icon. For those of you still working this holiday season we have some treats for you! Explore this article to learn how to add add actions to your projects -- as well how to link existing projects on the Actions page. Check out the new Reports menu and this article. Now both premium and free subscribers can share their Holacracy-powered organization structure with others. For more information check out this article on how your GlassFrog Admin can make your organization public. With tags, GlassFrog Premium users can give more context to roles and people. Example uses include skills, badges and focus time. To get started, visit a role or person's page and click "Add Tag". For more info, check out articles on adding tags to roles and people. With our new iOS app, users can view org information, log tensions, and view facilitation guides. Click here to download it from the iOS app store, and click here to explore the FAQ. With our new Actions feature, you can now track actions assigned to you during tactical meetings, as well as add your own by clicking the Actions tab. For more info, click here. Single Sign-On (SSO) allows (Premium) GlassFrog users to log in using their existing SAML authentication (e.g. Active Directory, OneLogin, and Okta). This means they no longer have to manage another set of usernames and passwords. It also streamlines account provisioning. For more information on how to configure SSO, click here. We now have GlassFrog translated into Dutch. With our new Slack integration (Premium Plan only), Secretaries can now automatically send asynchronous Governance proposals for their circles to a Slack channel of their choice. Members can then review the proposal and select No Objection or Bring to Meeting right from Slack. To enable, simply go to Admin > Organization Settings, and click Enable next to Slack. More info here. Once enabled, Secretaries can turn on the Slack integration for their circles, and members can choose to disable email notifications for asynchronous Governance proposals. We now have GlassFrog translated into German. More languages are on the way - Dutch is next on our list. What used to be an exclusive program for our implementation clients is now available to all our Premium GlassFrog users. Once turned on, you'll receive an email every few days to help build the habits and skills you need to get the most out of your Holacracy practice. You can also pause or unsubscribe at any time. For more info on how to enable Habit Support, check out the following FAQ. Wondering who's in GlassFrog following along during Tactical and Governance meetings? Now you can see the profile pictures of attendees in the navigation bar. Ever need to switch secretaries during a Governance meeting? This can also be useful when participants would like to type their own proposals when they're complex. Note: Secretary functionalities are already available for everyone during Tactical meetings, so there's no need for the "Take over as Host" option there. For minor and multi-filled roles, we now have an indicator showing who's excluded from meetings. Try our new Live Chat Support Feature! Still in beta and available to premium GlassFrog users, connect with GlassFrog Customer Support live using the chat window visible in the bottom right corner of your screen when you're logged into GlassFrog. GlassFrog has been translated into French with more languages on the way - German and Dutch are at the top of our list. Learn how to switch languages here. Need GlassFrog in your language? Want to help translate? The GlassFrog Team chooses new languages based on demand and assistance available. Email us at [email protected]. New GlassFrog user interface is live! This has been coming for a long time and we're getting a lot of questions about what motivated us to make such a big change. The answer is that GlassFrog's styling had been with us for a long time and the libraries were becoming out of date. We wanted to switch the look to something more clean and modern, and prepare for more functionality and responsiveness, especially with mobile devices. The switch to these more modern style libraries will make it much easier to quickly make visual changes to the site. Our developers now have more fluid ability to tweak layouts and improve the overall look and feel. You can expect to see GlassFrog growing in new directions now that our frameworks has been upgraded. Send us your feedback at [email protected]! GlassFrog is getting a new look! In the coming days expect to see a big change to GlassFrog’s look and feel. We’re delivering an improved layout and font selection as well as many minor usability improvements. Most of the changes are subtle and we’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring that all of your favorite features will still be easy to find. Nothing has been removed although some widgets and links have had their positions adjusted. If you have trouble finding a particular feature please don’t hesitate to email [email protected]. For more see: What will the styling changes look like? We’re double checking our nouns and triple checking our verbs as we prepare to deliver GlassFrog in French. Special thanks to iGi partners for their help with our beta test! If you would like to volunteer to assist in upcoming translations for your language of choice, contact GlassFrog customer support and we’ll add you to the list. - Removed a display problem with role names that include ampersands (&) in tactical meeting projects. - Fixed an erroneous translation error message on tactical meeting agenda box. - Fixed some lingering display issues with policy text. - GlassFrog credit card receipts now correctly include organization number and name. GlassFrog administrators now have the ability to edit the name of their organization. More info here. We’ve made more progress on GlassFrog internationalization and translation features. Beta testing for GlassFrog translations will start soon! Email [email protected] to volunteer as a proofreader or translator. Asynchronous proposals that were escalated to a meeting can now be reproposed. This is accomplished on the proposal screen. Click the "proposals" link next to the search box to access. Escalated proposals will still have a "Propose Now" option available. In this release, the GlassFrog team has added some new ways to email and export users. Administrators can now access mailing lists for Lead Links, Facilitators, Secretaries, Rep Links and all circle members. More info here. We've put in more of the background work required to prepare GlassFrog for translation into other languages. We are still accepting translation volunteers. If you would like to help us get GlassFrog translated into your language, email [email protected] and let us know. Include a link to your organization and the language or languages you speak fluently and we'll contact you when the time comes. A proposal badge indicator has been added to notify you when there are new proposals. This will appear next to the "Proposals" link at the top of GlassFrog when there are new proposals to review. We've added the ability to add custom sections to any Circle Page. Go to any of your Circle Pages, hover over the left blue sidebar and notice the gear icon that appears. Click to reveal a new screen that allows you to add new sections to your Circle Page. We changed the way Glassfrog loads resources in your browser and initial page loads are now much faster. Users in Australia are seeing pages load twice as fast! In the US, the benefit is around 100ms or so on the first page load. Did you notice? The overall speed and reliability of Glassfrog are two of our top priorities. You may have noticed that our sign in page has changed. You now have the option to sign in with your Google account. Just click the [Sign in with Google] button on the main log in page (You may need to sign out to see it if you haven't lately). This will link your Glassfrog account to your Google account and make signing in quick and easy. One fewer password to remember! As of Jan 1, we’re offering two pricing plans: a Free version with all the basic features needed to get started and practice Holacracy, and a Premium version with a richer feature set to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your Holacracy practice. The Free version can be used by anyone at any organization size, with unlimited users and circles. We are setting pricing for the Premium version using a simple per-user model, similar to other team productivity tools, and pricing it at $9/user/month. We created the Free version because we want to support the Holacracy community and ensure anyone practicing Holacracy has access to the essential tools to do so, regardless of budget. This is part of an overall initiative to offer a core toolset for implementing Holacracy at no cost, including the Quickstart Guide and various resources available on our website. The pay-per-user model for Premium is a response to feedback from paying members to create a simplified version that's easier to calculate and predict, and pricing doesn't change as you add and remove circles through the Governance process. For transparency, we estimate our overall revenue from GlassFrog as a result of this change will be neutral to slightly negative--this is not intended as a pricing model increase, although some clients will pay more and some less under this new formula. - Why is Glassfrog offering a totally free option? You can now view the history of role assignments from a role page. Just click on the role name from the circle page "Roles" tab to visit the role page. In the upper right corner, you will see all of the role fillers for the role, and there is now a "History" link that will take you to a new page listing the history of assignments for that role. Note that this history is not yet available for the elected roles of Facilitator, Rep Link, or Secretary. Secretaries can now help Lead Links with the administrative task of assigning and unassigning people to roles. As a circle secretary, You can assign roles either by dragging circle members from the circle member table into the role, or via the role assignments icon to the right of the role on the role tab. Lead Links and Secretaries of your organization's anchor circle can now configure it by clicking on the gear icon next to the circle name on the anchor circle page. You can now see when the election term expires for a circle Secretary, Facilitator, or Rep Link on the circle page (in the Core Roles section). You can now send proposals outside of meetings via GlassFrog. Craft a proposal using My Tensions, and submit it for review. Circle members will receive an automatic email notification to review the proposal, and can either say no objection or request that a submitted proposal be proposed in a meeting. If there are no objections, the proposal will be adopted automatically and circle members are notified via email. Secretaries do not have to do anything. To use this feature, propose a policy to accept proposals after a number of days, or your proposals will just remain unaccepted unless everyone accepts the proposal. - Click My Tensions (found via blue navigation bar across the top), craft a proposal, and submit it or save for later. - Click submit, and confirm. Circle members are emailed about the proposal. - When viewing My Tensions, submitted proposals indicate they are being processed instead of just a draft. See the number of responses, and view the proposal. - If a proposal is escalated to a meeting for processing, the proposer will be notified with an email. You can't re-submit after it is escalated. - To stop the circle from processing a proposal, add it to the agenda from your My Tensions list during an open Governance meeting. - If a proposal is submitted that includes editing governance records that are in conflict because other proposals have been processed, GlassFrog will email the proposer and not process further. Proposers can add to agenda during an open Governance meeting to process further. - Click Review Proposal to access a proposal in GlassFrog. Review the proposal, and click accept or escalate to a meeting. - If there are a number of days after which the prospoal would be automatically accepted, that time will be displayed. - GlassFrog will indicate if someone has requested that a proposal come to a meeting. - On the "roles page" or circle page enter the time to auto accept Governance proposals via a gear icon to the right of the circle name. - Admins, Lead Links, and circle Secretaries can edit the time to auto accept proposals and the circle's nickname. The My tensions and proposal builder feature has been available for a few months, but here is how to use it if you are new or want some guidance. When you have a tension for governance, add it to your My Tensions list (found in the blue navigation bar next to My Projects). Type as little or as much as you need for each tension. Save the tension. There is also an option as a tactical output called Tension to capture governance tensions. Here you can also add an agenda item, the tension, circle, and a proposal if you want. Edit the proposal later to be prepared before the meeting. The benefit of this is that you have a way of both tracking tensions and starting proposals outside of meetings. Create draft proposals with multiple parts, just like Secretary does during the Governance meeting. Your proposal will be available to select for the next Governance agenda, but you don’t have to add it to the list if you aren’t ready. When there is a Governance meeting open, click Join Governance meeting to be able to add your tensions to the agenda. Then click the ‘choose from tensions' link right below where you enter agenda items to add your tension to the list. You get a pop up of agenda items / tensions, and you click to add it to the agenda. When Secretary selects your agenda item, those watching via ‘Join Governance’ link will see the proposal, just like when it is entered by Secretary. When you click on the agenda item that was added from someone’s My Tensions list pre-populated proposals automatically load in GlassFrog. Edits to any parts of the proposal made before clicking Accept Proposal are saved (so the originally pre-populated proposal is changed if you change or remove anything. Once Secretary clicks accept proposal then the agenda item can be 'checked off'. Now GlassFrog adds your initials when you add agenda items during a meeting. If you type a dash '-' and your initials, then that overrides the initials GlassFrog displays. For Secretaries, if you are adding an agenda item for someone else, type the item, followed by a dash and the initials of the agenda item owner. Then Facilitator can know immediately who owns each item. "My Authority" page, linked from the nav-bar. Try the role selector showing 'My Roles', and select one of your roles to see constraints on authority in the role. View domains and policies that you may need to consider, and find helpful Holacracy tips as you scroll to the bottom. Simple core role definitions are now in GlassFrog. They are a summary of the constitutional definition. See the constitution for the full definitions, but the definitions in GlassFrog (found by clicking the word Secretary, Facilitator, Lead Link, or Rep Link on any roles page) are intended to mean the same thing. Agenda items can now be unchecked in a Governance meeting. Secretary should still click the agenda item label when facilitator is ready to process that agenda item. The agenda items are automatically checked when you click accept proposal, but you can click the agenda label to 'uncheck' the item if needed. As always, contact us with any questions or feedback via our webform. Projects can now be sorted by business value to the organization. Simply open up a project and fill in the business value estimate (value) and the effort to complete the project (effort), and GlassFrog will calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) for that project. We recommend using 'unitless' or 'relative' numbers for value and effort estimates. In other words, 2 being twice the value of 1, and twice the effort of 1. Lead Links typically enter the Value (with input if desired) and the role filler / project owner typically enter the effort. Recommended options are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, or 13 for each. Save the project, and GlassFrog will show the ROI value on the project, and will sort projects with higher ROIs and values to the top of the project board so that you can see which projects are more valuable to your organization. Or, if you want to enter the value for now and enter the effort later, GlassFrog will show the value on the project and include that when sorting. Role fillers can then prioritize their work based on these ROIs or just the Business Value Estimate, or Lead Link can specify prioritizing by highest Business Value or ROI if that is available. We've happy to announce that we're introducing a new version of the API (v3), and we're ready to begin public testing! API v3 is in beta- we expect to be adding and potentially changing functionality in the weeks and months ahead. You can get more details about the v3 API on the documentation page. We have two new big pieces of functionality. Actions and triggers can be private to circle. They will be displayed in your tactical meeting history if you do not make them private. Follow or unfollow circles other than your own to receive tactical and governance meeting emails. Manage your subscription page to choose whether you want tactical and/or governance emails for the circles you follow. View actions and projects in a tactical meeting history for your circles and other circles. You can now view actions and projects in a tactical meeting history. The default for actions prior to January 31 is 'private to circle'. Click the History tab on your circle page and scroll down below the Governance history to view Tactical history. Now you can select private to circle for any action, trigger, or project that is created during a tactical meeting. The default is that any outputs are viewable by anyone in the organization, so all outputs will show up in the tactical meeting history if they are not saved as private. Click the lock icon in the output field to make an action, trigger, or project private to circle. Note: for companies with information set to publicly viewable, actions and triggers are by default not publicly viewable, but projects are. Non-circle members can follow circles and receive Tactical and Governance meeting emails, and unsubscribe from them later. You cannot unsubscribe from circles in which you fill roles. If actions or projects are marked as private to circle, then those won't show up in Tactical Meeting emails to non circle members (who are following that circle). Find your subscriptions by hovering your mouse over the drop down menu next to your name to the left of What's New in the upper right part of your screen. Uncheck boxes to edit your preferences, such as if you'd like to receive only Tactical or Governance meeting emails in the circles that you follow. Role info in the org chart and more! There is role data in the org chart, which will is informative when you are clicking and zooming in to see what roles are in a circle. When you zoom to a role, you can see the role definition (it scrolls if there are a lot of accountabilities) and the Gravatar of the person who fills the role. I'm excited to announce that last week's release included a much needed update to the org chart. The new visualization of an organization is now more aligned with a Holacracy structure. The circle structure view also now works much better for larger organizations. Click around to explore HolacracyOne's circle structure! Mouse over a circle/role to see the name appear, or to zoom in/zoom out. You'll see the circle selected by the border changing color when you mouse over, and then click to zoom in or out. Zoom in to see labels of sub circles more than three layers deep. Internet Explorer is not recommended for best results. You can still use the org chart and navigate to a circle by clicking on the (hyperlinked) circle name. Or use the search function to find a circle and click through in the search results. To navigate to a circle page, click the circle name displayed as a hyper link in the circle. More circle names will appear if you zoom in. Colors show roles that are filled, unfilled, core roles, or roles that do not have an accountability or a purpose. There are more plans for enhancing the org chart, but this is a big step forward for now! If you have any issues with the circle structure, want to give us feedback, or have questions, contact GlassFrog Customer Support! We've fixed some bugs and added a scratch pad for Governance meetings. The scratch pad is located below the agenda in an open governance meeting. Secretary can capture starting proposals that are not clearly a Role or a Policy. The text is not saved, as it is just a temporary note pad. Secretary can also chart objections here for the Facilitator. When editing a role that is a Subcircle, if Remove Role is selected, then the default selection is Destroy the Role Entirely. If you want to retain any policies or keep the circle as a role, select the relevant options after selecting Remove this Circle. Contact GlassFrog Customer Support via the Contact Us form with any questions or bug reports. When creating proposals, there are fewer menu options for more intuitive navigation and viewing. Create or edit roles in the left column, or create or edit policies in the right column. Agenda: Secretary can type the agenda item into the agenda field in the left column. Press enter/return to save the agenda item. Like the Tactical Meeting agenda, click the check mark to complete the item or click the x to delete the item. Screenshare during a virtual meeting or use a projector to show the agenda and proposal. Working with Roles: To create, edit, or remove a role or a circle, mouse over the Add/Edit role menu and click on either New Role/Circle or select the existing role by clicking on it. When editing a role, at the bottom of the accountabilities find two options to either expand the role to a circle or else remove the role. Multi-part proposals: Add parts to a proposal by clicking the green menu bar labeled Add Part at the bottom of the screen. View parts by scrolling down. Contact GlassFrog Customer Support with any feedback or questions. Role foci appear in search results. Searching for Governance information will now return the role focus. This is for checklists and role notes like processes. On the role page, scroll down to see Published Information (see below). Type the title in the field. Insert a link into the field, or type text. Use html tags if necessary. Add more or edit existing notes as you need. Now the list is automatically generated per Constitution 4.0. Circle Members removed from all role assignments in the circle will be automatically removed from this list. Lead Link, Secretary, or Admins can add people as extra circle members even if they don't fill a role in the circle, and later remove them (or see them automatically removed if later they are assigned to a circle role and then the role assignment is removed). If a circle member was added manually and needs to be removed, click the "x" to the right of the name in the circle member list. Earlier in the week there was also a deployment to fix a bug causing Rep Links not to display or behave properly. Contact GlassFrog Customer Support with any questions or issues. In Tactical Meetings, during Triage Issues, you now have the option to capture a 'Trigger' in addition to other actions and projects. Triggers are actions that need to happen after an event or date. For example, you could have a trigger to Tell Trainer the venue details after the venue is confirmed. Secretary would first enter the action, and then the triggering event or date. Both fields are labeled. The trigger gets assigned to a role, just like other actions and projects. We deployed a few bug fixes and have some new functionality in both the Tactical and Governance interfaces. In a Tactical Meeting during Triage Issues, drop down menus are now (reversed) in the order of Role, and then who it is Assigned To (person). Hopefully this will be more intuitive. Recently we did a handful of bug fixes that hopefully weren't too problematic for most users, but should make adding and editing policies, assigning roles, removing a sub circle, and configuring your anchor circle go a lot smoother! Thanks everyone for reporting issues, as it helps us in our efforts to improve GlassFrog. New functionality includes a minor update and a bigger one. New: Configure your Anchor Circle. Click here for the YouTube video for users who have not started using GlassFrog. New users can just rename their Board to what their Anchor Circle is called. Click the Edit icon immediately to the right of the Board header on the circle/roles page, found by clicking the Board Circle in your new organization. Type the Name, Short Name (if you wish), Purpose, and Lead Link (there will be a drop down to select the Lead Link). You are ready to go. Click here for a video walk through of this. If you are using your Board, you can keep using it or rename it as described above, as needed. If your GCC is really your Anchor Circle, and you don't use your Board, then you can delete it. Use caution, as you cannot currently create a new anchor circle if you decide you need to insert a new Anchor Circle (that will be some months from now based on our current prioritization. Select General *Please note: Record your 'Alignment Circle' strategy elsewhere before clicking Accept if you'd like to retain this in your 'new' Anchor Circle. Either keep as a role or remove entirely. I will remove entirely. Select all the roles and policies to retain in your Anchor Circle There is no way to easily select all; you must check each one that you want to keep. Then Configure Board to be your Anchor Circle by renaming, updating Purpose, and adding former GCC Lead Link, as described above and in the video. Circle Policies view, ability to add and edit Role Policies for your Roles with a Domain, and pasting a Role definition. Contact Customer Support with any questions or issues. When you view a Circle page, Policies are now organized by Domain (see below, or visit this link for a live example). There are no longer categories. When you create a Policy for the Circle during a Governance Meeting, you still select a Domain. See this post for more on creating Policies and selecting Domains. If your Role has a Domain, you can store your Policy in GlassFrog to control the Domain. If there is a Domain, an icon to add a new Policy appears immediately to the right of the Domain. 2. Enter a title and the Policy. Use role-linking/cross-referencing if applicable. Click Save. After you click the link, you will see the Policies. When creating or updating a Role in a Governance Meeting, you can now paste Role definition parts. If you've emailed a Proposal to the Secretary, it will be easier to enter. Below, a Domain was added, as well as two Accountabilities during a Proposal that Updated the existing Finance Role. Follow the instructions and label all lines that are not Accountabilities. (You may label each Accountablity too, but that is not needed.) Paste each part on a separate line. When you click Submit, the definition will be added to the Role you are updating (or creating). Clicking Submit does not save the Proposal to the Governance records; you still need to click Accept Proposal if you want to capture it for the Governance records. When the output field is selected during "Triage issues" in a tactical meeting, pressing Enter will now no longer close the meeting. This was happening sometimes, and you won't be able to accidentally close the meeting this way now. Links in emails are working again. If you are a Lead Link and get an email stating that there are unassigned roles to fill, if you are logged in, the link in the email takes you to the circle page where you can add people to the roles. Project create date. When you create a project, GlassFrog will store the date. When you click the name of any project to open the pop up (as if you to edit it) and view the create date immediately above the "Update" button. Eventually more dates will be stored, such as when the status changes. Type the text of what you are waiting on in the For What. Click Update to save your changes. When in a governance meeting or taking Secretary perogative, use the Update Policy button to associate existing policies witha scope. Now you can archive your done projects to make them disappear from the project tab but stay in the database. Eventually, these will be findable via expanded operational data support, such as a Tactical Meeting History. If you'd like to actually delete a project, then you can still do that, but this is generally not advisable unless you want it to be gone forever (see below). Click the check mark when you complete your project to update the status to "Done" At the appropriate time (either when you complete it or after you report on it a final time perhaps), click the folder icon that appears on the top of completed projects. For now, what you will see is that the project no longer is visible on the project tab. Decide a project needs to be destroyed rather than completed? Remove it from the project tab by clicking on the project card (see below). Click OK when asked if you are sure (if you ARE sure!). by Role), and change the status. Click on the project card you want to move. Drag the card to any where in the the desired column/status. Release the mouse when the card is in the new status column. Users are now guided through the entire Tactical meeting process within GlassFrog to help circles easily practice and learn the process. Secretary can open the meeting and the series of steps are displayed at the top from Check-In to Closing Round, and the corresponding tab will be displayed. Click the green button to get to the next step. For example, after the checklist review, click Metrics to move to Metrics and display Metrics information. During triage issues, enter agenda items one by one and hit enter after each one. Then click the check mark to complete it. Read the agenda announcement for more information and an image. Tag role names within policies or role definition fields. Try out the new feature to link roles in accountabilities, purpose, and scope as appropriate. When creating a proposal, type the @ symbol followed by the role name, and you will get a drop down menu of options. Click the desired role and keep typing. If this cross-referencing feature is used, when the role name changes, the field referencing the role will automatically update. Additionally, if a proposal includes removing a role that is cross-referenced, GlassFrog will suggest specific objections to address the conflict. Users can customize the look of the projects tab. Click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the projects tab to display the options. 1)Show all/Hide empty to display either all rows or only those that contain projects. 2)Group by person or by role to organize the projects depending on your preference or needs. By person may work well for tactical meetings, and by role may be more useful in other cases. 3)View as rows or grid to quickly show all current, waiting, done, or future, while still keeping the data of what role or person owns the project. To close the settings, click the gear shape a second time. Circle members may open a Tactical or Governance meeting without the Secretary via the large button icons located above the Projects tab. This is to allow circles to meet when the Secretary is absent. See Section 2.7.4 in the Constution v 3.0 for the protocol on Surrogates for Elected Roles. For role fillers with no projects, the default view is that the role name is hidden and thus does not display on the Projects tab. To 'show all" circle members to add a project, click the Show all link in the upper right corner of the Projects tab. When Opening a Tactical Meeting, users can now capture agenda items within the left sidebar of GlassFrog. The first item entered will appear at the top of the list. The Secretary can enter items one by one and hit enter after each item to build the agenda. Click the check mark to the left of the item when it is completed, or click the “x” to the right of the item to delete it. Capture actions and projects as needed in the main column to the right of the agenda, and add items at any time to the agenda list. Email the Account Manager or submit questions via the webform if you need support. We have launched help text intended to support users even more to practice Holacracy when using GlassFrog. When viewing a circle, within the left column users can see definitions as mouse-over tooltips on small question mark icons directly to the right of key terms such as Purpose, Strategy, Scope, and Accountabilities. If you have any questions, let us know via the webform or by contacting your GlassFrog Account Manager! You should now be able to easily assign a different project status by clicking on an icon in the upper left corner of each project card within the projects tab. With the check mark you can select status to done; select current with the green circle, select waiting with the red square, and select future with the hour glass. If you have any questions, contact the GlassFrog Account Manager directly or use the webform. As a result of this evening's update, you will now notice some differences in the overall visual appearance, including cleaner formatting when viewing the tabs in your circle. You'll also notice an indicator for project statuses, which will add more clarity for project tracking and weekly updates in tactical meetings. In addition to this visual indicator, you can select a status when adding a new project to the project tab. Clicking on a project name already captured will also allow you to choose Done, Current, Waiting, or Future. Other changes are in the works and planned for the near future, and I will let you know as they arrive! If you have any questions or comments, use the webform or contact me in my Account Manager role. Enjoy these improvements, and let me know if you have any questions! You may notice that GlassFrog looks a little different. As of yesterday evening, GlassFrog now appears in widescreen, which will support easier usage and reading. To experience the full effect, you may need to clear your cache. Hold the shift key and click refresh to do this. With any questions or issues, please contact us via our support form, and we will respond promptly. As the next step in our plans for supporting the use of GlassFrog as a Corkboard, Organizations can now use GlassFrog for the Tactical Meeting Checklist Review. The Checklist tab is next to the Metrics tab. The available frequency options are weekly, monthly, and quarterly, and there is an optional field for a link for additional visibility. Checklist items can be associated with one role or all roles in a circle. Contact GlassFrog support with any issues or questions. GlassFrog now supports metrics. You can find the Metrics tab next to the Projects tab within your circle. Click the "+" button to add a metric, where you can add a description, role, and frequency. Optionally, users can add a link to where the metrics are stored for more detail. For assistance, click here to use our webform. You're about to see, if you haven't already, what we're so excited about: our GlassFrog production update has just deployed. In addition to the new look and extended information available from each Circle page, GlassFrog now bakes in support for Tactical as well as Governance meetings. We wish you well in your practice of Holacracy, which we expect will benefit from these new features. Feel free to contact us with any questions as we continue to develop GlassFrog! Last night's anticipated update was delayed; everything is ready to go on our side and our current re-target is sometime today. We'll announce further details here and on Twitter as they become available. You might notice some brief downtime tonight starting around 9 pm Eastern, when we're scheduled to deploy a major update to GlassFrog that will rearrange the look and feel of each Circle's page into a tab-oriented view. We're also very excited to be adding GlassFrog support for Tactical Meetings, including a project corkboard. Among other things, you'll soon see a new Circle view, a "Projects" tab, and a new "Open Meeting: Tactical" button. Support for metrics and checklists will appear in future updates. For user support and guidance to ease adoption and catalyze benefits from this exciting new functionality, just contact us with any questions. GlassFrog has a production update scheduled for this Friday, June 29th at 9pm ET which may involve some brief downtime. What's up with GlassFrog? Follow us on Twitter for the latest news & status updates. GlassFrog is scheduled for maintenance on Tuesday, June 5th between 10 pm and 12 midnight EDT (the actual time is likely to be only 1 hour or so, somewhere in that block). 1) Working with Sub-Circles: You can now work with sub-circles in a governance meeting, including moving roles and policies from your circle into a newly-created sub-circle, and re-absorbing roles and policies from a removed sub-circle back into your circle. Creating a sub-circle can happen from scratch (for a totally new sub-circle), or you can expand an existing role into a full sub-circle. You'll see the new buttons to work with sub-circles within GlassFrog's governance meeting interface. 2) Working with Cross-Links: Version 3.0 of the Holacracy Constitution added the ability to authorize one sub-circle to appoint one of its roles as a cross-link into another sub-circle (see the Holacracy Constitution for details). This is now supported in GlassFrog, via a new act in a governance meeting to "Authorize a Cross-Link". Use this to either authorize a cross-link (by selecting a sub-circle from the resulting drop-down), or to specify a specific role to act as the cross-link (by selecting a role from the resulting drop-down). You'll see a cross-link role automatically show-up in the target circle's role list. Looking forward, the GlassFrog development team here at HolacracyOne is now hard at work adding support for Holacracy's operational constructs. We'll announce updates as soon as they're available, and please do let us know if you have any questions or feedback in the meantime. We've just added search functionality to GlassFrog, in addition to fixing several formatting and usability-related issues. You'll see the new search box in the nav-bar on most pages - try it out and send us any feedback or suggestions! Hi Folks - We'll soon launch an update to GlassFrog™ which will enhance a circle's core roles: Facilitator, Secretary, Lead Link, and Rep Link. Once this update goes live, you'll see the definition (Purpose, Scope, and Accountabilities) of each of these roles listed in the system, just like you do with other roles. The definitions all come from the latest version (v3.0) of the Holacracy™ Constitution; for those still using Holacracy™ v2.x, this shouldn't create much trouble as the definitions are very similar. Once this update is deployed, you'll also be able to add Accountabilities and Scope within a governance meeting to the Facilitator, Secretary, or Rep Link, and edit or remove anything you've added; the system will not support adding to the Lead Link role, as v3.0 of the Constitution does not allow this (you should create another role instead to differentiate functions from the Lead Link, even if it's then assigned to the same person). We're pleased to announce that we've just launched several improvements to GlassFrog™, including this announcement system to keep you informed of future updates. Today's update included a major redesign of the governance capture interface (used by the Secretary during a meeting), as well as several bug fixes, tweaks, and minor improvements, which we hope will improve both the aesthetics and usability. Please contact us if you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions for future improvements.

2019-04-25T09:56:32Z

https://app.glassfrog.com/announcements

The new International Health Regulations (IHR) require World Health Organization (WHO) member states to assess their core capacity for surveillance. Such reviews also have the potential to identify important surveillance gaps, improve the organisation of disparate surveillance systems and to focus attention on upstream hazards, determinants and interventions. We developed a surveillance sector review method for evaluating all of the surveillance systems and related activities across a sector, in this case those concerned with infectious diseases in New Zealand. The first stage was a systematic description of these surveillance systems using a newly developed framework and classification system. Key informant interviews were conducted to validate the available information on the systems identified. We identified 91 surveillance systems and related activities in the 12 coherent categories of infectious diseases examined. The majority (n = 40 or 44%) of these were disease surveillance systems. They covered all categories, particularly for more severe outcomes including those resulting in death or hospitalisations. Except for some notifiable diseases and influenza, surveillance of less severe, but important infectious diseases occurring in the community was largely absent. There were 31 systems (34%) for surveillance of upstream infectious disease hazards, including risk and protective factors. This area tended to have many potential gaps and lack integration, partly because such systems were operated by a range of different agencies, often outside the health sector. There were fewer surveillance systems for determinants, including population size and characteristics (n = 9), and interventions (n = 11). It was possible to create and populate a workable framework for describing all the infectious diseases surveillance systems and related activities in a single developed country and to identify potential surveillance sector gaps. This is the first stage in a review process that will lead to identification of priorities for surveillance sector development. The new International Health Regulations (IHR), which came into force in June 2007, require World Health Organization (WHO) member states to assess their core capacity for surveillance and response within two years from this date. Such actions should strengthen the capacity of nations to detect infectious diseases that may represent potential public health emergencies of international concern (PHEIC), notify such events to the WHO, and implement appropriate early interventions . Reviewing surveillance systems for infectious diseases also has the potential to identify worthwhile improvements to the organisation of such systems at a country-level. It may also identify gaps in these systems and whether or not important diseases, hazards, determinants, and interventions are under surveillance at all. We describe in this article a review of these systems and use the term surveillance sector review as this work seeks to identify and examine all of the important surveillance activities across a defined area of disease burden. This approach is therefore distinct from, but complementary to, established methods that concentrate on evaluation of specific surveillance systems . Such methods have often focused on important system attributes such as timeliness , sensitivity , and ability to detect outbreaks , though they have also been applied to evaluation of quite broad disease surveillance systems . A surveillance sector review builds upon concepts of more integrated surveillance promoted by the WHO, notably for linking surveillance and action . We broaden this approach to consider hazards, consistent with the Global Burden of Disease focus on risk factors and their surveillance (eg, the STEPS programme for surveillance of risk factors for non-communicable diseases ). Our approach is also consistent with frameworks for environmental health surveillance (such as the DPSEEA: Driving-force - Pressure - State - Exposure - Effect - Action framework) that consider the causal web of policies and factors that contribute to health outcomes . Here we attempt to extend the concept of integrated surveillance to an entire disease sector including associated health hazards, determinants and interventions. In this article we aim to: (i) Present a framework for describing and categorising diverse surveillance systems and illustrate this by applying it to all of the surveillance systems operating for one disease sector in a single developed country (in this case infectious diseases in New Zealand); (ii) Present an approach for systematically reviewing the public health surveillance systems operating across a broad public health sector (a surveillance sector review); and (iii) Discuss preliminary findings from this review to illustrate its use for identifying potential surveillance sector gaps that require assessment in later stages of the surveillance sector review. Since we could identify no published model or framework in the literature for systematically describing and categorising a full range of surveillance systems, we developed one for this review. We took our basic definition of public health surveillance to be: "the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data regarding a health-related event for use in public health action to reduce morbidity and to improve health" . For this review, we interpreted health-related events to include diseases and also upstream hazards and determinants as well as interventions that relate to infectious diseases. Diseases were taken to include injury, changes in health status and health outcomes. Hazards were defined as risk and protective factors (including behaviour, population vulnerability, agent characteristics, and exposures) that may affect health through specific, direct causal mechanisms. Determinants were causal factors that may affect health through multiple, often indirect pathways. Interventions were actions taken to control or prevent the occurrence of disease or to minimise its negative health effects. We used the concept of upstream to refer to events and factors that were causally related to the disease or other health outcome of interest, and preceded it. For example, these can be proximal hazards, such as exposure to a person with active tuberculosis, or more distal determinants, such as socio-economic position and household crowding . Interventions concerned with prevention may precede disease (primary prevention) or be focused on reducing the effects of disease (secondary and tertiary prevention). The hypothesised relationship between these components of surveillance is shown in Figure 1. Framework for classifying events under surveillance (diseases, hazards, determinants and interventions) based on their position along the causal pathway. Public health surveillance has multiple aims. To facilitate the functional classification of surveillance systems, we have grouped these aims into two broad purposes: control-focused and strategy-focused (see Appendix 1). The purpose of control-focused surveillance is to identify each occurrence of a particular disease, hazard, or other health-related event that requires a specific response and support delivery of an effective intervention. For example, a single case of polio, a common-source salmonellosis outbreak, a shipment of contaminated produce, or an un-immunised child. The purpose of strategy-focused surveillance is to provide information to support prevention strategies to reduce population health risk, such as describing the epidemiology of the annual influenza season and the characteristics of the seasonal influenza viruses. Control-focused surveillance usually provides information that can also be used for strategy-focused surveillance, so these purposes are often combined within the same surveillance activity. By contrast, strategy-focused surveillance cannot generally support control-focused surveillance. • Event surveillance - defined as "prospective surveillance to identify in a timely manner each occurrence of a particular health-related event, including disease and injury cases, outbreaks, health hazards and interventions". • Screening - defined as "surveillance to identify a particular inapparent disease or pre-disposing risk factor in all members of a specified population, or a particular health hazard in specified settings or environments". • Service tracking - defined as "surveillance to identify delivery and non-delivery of a particular intervention or programme of agreed quality to specified individuals, populations, and settings". • Prevalence surveys - "surveillance based on repeated surveys to measure the prevalence over time of a particular disease or injury, health state, health hazard, health determinant or intervention use in a specified population or setting". It ideally involves a representative sample of the population or setting of interest. • Monitoring - defined as "surveillance based on collection and periodic analysis and interpretation of information to characterise the occurrence and distribution of a particular health-related event, including disease and injury cases, health states, health hazards, interventions, and determinants." It may use data derived from event surveillance, screening, service tracking, or from samples of events (eg, sentinel surveillance, episodic surveillance). These key terms are consistent with definitions in standard use , though they have been adapted for this application to surveillance. In this framework, screening can extend to hazards as in behavioural risk factor screening , and environmental screening (eg, screening for resistant organisms in hospitals , or microbial contaminants in drinking water ). The framework we have developed for conducting a surveillance sector review follows the broad stages shown in Figure 2. We describe each stage in more detail below and refer to how these stages were applied as part of this review work in the New Zealand context. Framework for carrying out a surveillance sector review (note that stage 2 forms the major part of this paper). It is important to establish the aims and scope of the review. This process will usually be part of negotiating the mandate and resources for the work. Given that public health surveillance is based on a collaborative network of organisations and public health professionals, it is important to engage effectively with the key stakeholders, including end-users and surveillance system operators . We found that this was feasible in the New Zealand setting to the stage reached in this work. To apply this framework to the infectious disease sector, we divided it into meaningful categories. In the New Zealand setting, this step was facilitated by adapting a pre-existing set of infectious diseases categories from a national infectious disease strategy . This process resulted in the following 12 categories based on logical groupings of diseases: vaccine preventable infections; respiratory infections; infections from close physical contact; sexually transmitted infections (STIs); congenital and perinatal infections; blood and tissue borne infections; hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and antibiotic resistance; food borne infections; environmental and water borne infections; zoonotic infections; vector borne infections; and new, exotic and imported infections. It is then necessary to identify the surveillance systems operating in each category, which we were also able to do for New Zealand (see Additional File 1). In this country many of these systems had a specific name and identity and were managed by a single agency (eg, the notifiable disease surveillance system). Some classification difficulties arose where an agency operated a range of related surveillance activities that shared some common characteristics (eg, the Institute for Environmental Science and Research - ESR - operates several systems for laboratory testing of different groups of microorganisms) or a common information collecting pathway for information that was subsequently analysed and reported on for two different surveillance purposes (eg, the New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit includes acute flaccid paralysis surveillance along with strategy-focused surveillance of a range of paediatric conditions). The resulting listing of surveillance systems could be presented diagrammatically as a surveillance sector map using the framework shown in Figure 1. The next step is a systematic description of each identified system using the framework described in the previous section (see Additional File 2). In this review we have tabulated for each system the following features: Event under surveillance; Main purpose; Coverage (population or setting); System type; Reporting source; Local/regional collation; and National collation. There is a great deal of additional information which could be used to describe surveillance systems, notably a summary of the system architecture, information collected, resources used, and system performance. We considered this information less critical for this stage of the review for New Zealand, so have not presented it here. This component describes the surveillance information requirements of end-users. It follows a somewhat analogous approach to the previous section, except that it focuses on information users rather than providers. The first step is identifying the agencies and practitioners responsible for disease prevention and control in each disease category. These agencies and practitioners include central government end-users (such as the Ministry of Health), regional agencies (such as public health services) and institutional end-users (such as hospital infection control staff), as well as practitioners working at a range of levels inside and outside the health sector. A major focus of this analysis is characterising end-user information needs according to purpose using the same distinction as already noted: control-focused surveillance where end-users need to identify and respond to every infectious disease event or scenario (which would include IHR requirements); and strategy-focused surveillance where end-users would be asked to define the broad types of strategic information they needed on infectious disease burden to enable them to formulate prevention policies and programmes and measure their effectiveness. An important part of this assessment would be asking end-users to identify their likely future surveillance information needs. This step would be particularly important for identifying uncommon and novel threats that require control-focused surveillance. Information gathering includes interviewing key informants from these agencies and reviewing their infectious disease prevention and control strategies. It may also be useful to review the aims of infectious disease surveillance systems operating in other comparable countries. This component is closely aligned to the kind of assessment that would be produced from evaluation of a specific surveillance system . In particular, it seeks to gather empirical data on the performance of each individual surveillance system according to system attributes such as usefulness. The performance of the surveillance systems would be assessed according to the critical attributes required for control-focused surveillance (timeliness, sensitivity, stability) and strategy-focused surveillance (representativeness, completeness and validity). Information gathering would ideally be based on reviewing completed evaluations of existing surveillance systems. This evidence base is generally quite limited, so instead would often have to use semi-quantitative assessments based on reviewing the outputs of existing systems and interviews with system operators and users. For control-focused surveillance it should usually be possible to estimate timeliness from assessing time-delays in each step of the reporting pathway . Estimating sensitivity may be more difficult and usually requires use of multiple surveillance sources (eg, by a capture-recapture method ). For surveillance of uncommon events and those that have not yet occurred, it would be necessary to use scenario-based exercises to assess system performance. This requirement applies to many of the events that are covered by IHR requirements (where timeliness is probably the single most important system attribute to assess ). This component identifies high-level deficiencies in existing systems, processes and arrangements. We defined nine types of surveillance sector "gaps" in three broad categories (Table 1). The first category is leadership and resource gaps, which concern the whole sector. They include potential gaps in the leadership and organisational structures to prioritise, develop and coordinate the sector (leadership and organisational gap) as well as potential gaps in the workforce and other resources needed to sustain surveillance systems (workforce gap, resource gap). The second category is design and structural gaps, which aim to identify important disease events, hazards, determinants or interventions that are not covered by surveillance systems. This category is concerned with situations where there is no system for surveillance of an important event (system gap). Or an established system has not been designed to collect all of the important information to meet its intended purpose (scope gap) or is not covering the necessary populations or settings (coverage gap). The third broad category is operation and functional gaps. These gaps include a focus on the performance of a surveillance system (performance gap) which is closely aligned to the kind of assessment that would be produced from a specific surveillance system evaluation . We also identified a surveillance integration gap where "surveillance systems exist but do not link information in a way that supports optimal surveillance, prevention and control measures". A related type is analysis and communication gap, which is concerned with ensuring that information generated by multiple surveillance activities across the sector is being analysed and communicated in an optimal manner to support public health action. Once these gaps have been identified they would be assessed according to their importance. This assessment would be based on the surveillance information needs identified under stage three above. It is likely that it would be supported by the use of a rating system that categorised gaps according to their importance, distinguishing control-focused and strategy-focused priority areas. There are approaches for identifying disease surveillance priorities that consider such factors as incidence, impact, preventability and outbreak potential . Burden of disease type analyses would also be useful to highlight the hazard areas contributing most infectious diseases and therefore particularly deserving of surveillance . This stage seeks to identify the recommended approaches for improving surveillance sector effectiveness. It includes identifying options for addressing high priority gaps and the selection of optimal approaches. This stage would review the broad institutional arrangements for surveillance and associated activities to identify the extent to which these might need to be modified to achieve the necessary sector improvements. These institutional arrangements include national surveillance functions (eg, surveillance system operation, information collection, integration, analysis, laboratory testing, interpretation, dissemination, aberration detection, investigation, modelling, quality assurance), national response functions (eg, strategy formulation, policy advice, communication, outbreak and epidemic management, emergency response planning and management, linking to other government agencies), national capacity development functions (eg, sector engagement and governance, system planning, evaluation and development, workforce training and development), and regional/local surveillance and response functions (eg, operation of regional/local infectious disease surveillance systems, outbreak detection investigation and management, periodic analysis, reporting and interpretation of infectious disease distribution, integration of data from multiple surveillance sources, development of prevention strategies). The final part of this stage would be to select priority options and recommended approaches for improving surveillance sector effectiveness. This process would need to include a high level of engagement with the surveillance sector across agencies, levels and disciplinary groups. This final stage seeks to communicate the findings of the review to stakeholders. Depending on the mandate, the review might extend to implementing the findings. For the New Zealand situation we were able to report findings to the Ministry of Health and also aim to reach the broader health sector in this country through describing some of the findings in this article. New Zealand was selected for this review because of the authors' in-depth familiarity with its systems and because this country is small and organisationally simple for a developed country (ie, it has no state or provincial governments and no agencies at the national level with significantly competing roles). Furthermore, infectious diseases remain an important concern for this country's health sector given the role they play in morbidity and mortality and the absence of an overall decline in incidence or health impact [18, 19]. We carried out an extensive review that aimed to identify all the current infectious disease surveillance systems in New Zealand. A literature review was performed by searching articles in Ovid Medline using MESH headings and Google Scholar, using search terms such as "surveillance", "infectious disease" and "New Zealand". Articles from 1 January 1990 to December 2009 were included in the search. The search also covered key websites of national surveillance providers such as the website of ESR and the websites of surveillance end-users such as those of the Ministry of Health, Department of Labour, Ministry for the Environment, Pharmac, Medsafe, Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand Food Safety Authority and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (which includes Biosecurity New Zealand). Information was mainly extracted from reports found on these websites, however some information was also found directly from the websites themselves. Information was also found by referring to key infectious disease guidelines such as the Ministry of Health's "Communicable Disease Control Manual" , and the "Manual for Public Health Surveillance in New Zealand" . As the information was found, it was summarised in tabular form to identify and describe the systems. Once an extensive review had been performed, key informants with expertise in infectious diseases in New Zealand were interviewed either by telephone (n = 6) or face-to-face (n = 12) to clarify and confirm the information gathered. Informants were either academics, working for agencies that run infectious disease surveillance, or specialised clinicians involved in the infectious disease part of the health sector. At least one informant specialising in each of the 12 infectious diseases categories was interviewed and each was asked to critically review the information related to their area of expertise. They were also asked whether there were any systems that had not been identified for disease, hazard, determinant or intervention surveillance. The final draft of the document was also reviewed by 13 of the same informants. Results were further checked by the authors through direct inquiries with public health workers and surveillance system operators and review of published material. The final revision of the manuscript for this article benefited from discussions that took place as part of a subsequent Ministry of Health review of New Zealand's infectious disease surveillance capacity. For the 12 coherent categories of infectious diseases examined, we identified 91 systems and related activities for surveillance of diseases, hazards, determinants and interventions. These systems are shown in Additional File 1 and listed in more detail in Additional File 2. As noted in the Methods Section, some of these activities are not formally described as public health surveillance systems but do provide essential ongoing information (eg, the five-yearly population census). There is also potential to combine or sub-divide some of these systems (eg, the notifiable disease surveillance system). Consequently, the final total of systems is somewhat arbitrary. We identified 40 systems (44% of the total) for surveillance of infectious diseases and outcomes. All 12 infectious disease categories were covered, to varying degrees. Several systems monitored disease outcomes in multiple categories, such as the Mortality Data Collection (deaths), National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) (hospitalisations), the Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit (uncommon infections in children)[25, 26], Notifiable Occupational Disease Surveillance System (infections acquired at work) , and outbreak surveillance. In addition, most disease categories also had specialised surveillance systems for specific diseases, notably influenza [29–31], HIV/AIDS [32, 33], sexually transmitted infections (STIs) , transfusion related infections , Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) , and HAIs [36, 37]. The surveillance of upstream hazards for infectious diseases used a further 31 identified systems (34% of the total). All categories of infectious disease had hazards that were covered, except for infections from close physical contact. These systems could be considered in several ways, including the types of hazards under surveillance. Several systems (n = 4) focused on surveillance of microbial agents and their characteristics, notably antimicrobial resistance surveillance of organisms from humans and food animals and surveillance of agents in relation to vaccine composition [40, 41]. Seven systems focused on behavioural factors (knowledge, attitudes, practices) influencing infectious disease risk. These factors included sexual behaviour [42, 43], tobacco use , food handling , hand washing by healthcare staff in hospitals , hand sanitiser use by hospital visitors [47, 48], and registration of skin piercing practitioners . Two systems focused on identifying infected people who might pose an infectious disease risk to others, including hospitalised patients and pregnant women [50–52]. Only one system specifically measured exposure incidents, and that was for needle-stick injuries (although data were not collated nationally). Five systems were concerned with surveillance of contamination levels of food [53–56] and drinking water. Four systems were concerned with surveillance of specific environmental events and contaminant levels in a range of settings, including recreational water , and less developed systems for cooling towers, swimming pools, and hospital operative equipment. There were a total of five systems concerned with surveillance of zoonotic infections that might also pose a risk to human health [59–64]. We identified a further three systems concerned with borders and introduction of new pathogens and their vectors (focusing on detection of mosquito vectors [65, 66], arboviruses , and other pests and new organisms ). We have listed six activities that generate data on the size of the potentially exposed population. On their own, these activities are not surveillance systems but are included in this review because of the critical information they provide for surveillance purposes. For example, the five-yearly census provided population data for most infectious disease categories . These data were supplemented by more specialised sources where specific sub-populations were relevant, notably for births , overseas travellers , and the hospitalised population. Apart from providing basic demographic data, these data sources generally did not provide much information about the characteristics of those populations that could be used to assess risk and protective factors. A recent addition is New Zealand Health Tracker, which combines data from multiple national data collections, along with primary health organisation (PHO) enrolments, to provide denominator populations that can be analysed according to chronic disease status. In addition to population size and characteristics, we identified three other determinant areas where information was being gathered. These areas were socio-economic [72–74], environmental , and health sector conditions . All of these areas were monitored and reported on by central government agencies. However, results were not fully integrated into the infectious disease surveillance sector. The one exception was socio-economic position where disease cases could be linked to the deprivation level of their domicile area (via the small area-based deprivation measure: NZDep2006 ) allowing the impact of socio-economic inequalities to be measured and monitored over time. We identified 11 surveillance systems that focused on interventions. Such surveillance was most evident for vaccine preventable infections with four systems for aspects of immunisation coverage [30, 78–81], plus adverse events surveillance [82, 83], and cold-chain monitoring for vaccines [84, 85]. There was a system for surveillance of food borne disease interventions (auditing of food control plans ), compliance with drinking water standards , and the capacity for surveillance of contact tracing and prophylaxis (tuberculosis, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and pandemic influenza). The key features of all 91 identified infectious diseases surveillance systems and related activities are systematically described in Additional File 2. All the systems had a specific event(s) under surveillance. The disease surveillance systems (n = 40) mostly monitored disease outcome by measuring disease incidence. The hazard (n = 31), determinant and population (n = 9) and intervention (n = 11) surveillance systems varied in the type of event they were monitoring. For example, upstream surveillance for vaccine preventable infections focused on vaccine coverage (which we have classified as an intervention, but which could also be a hazard if the focus is on the risk posed by under-immunised populations) [78, 80]. We classified 44 systems (48%) as exclusively strategy-focused, 11 systems (12%) as control-focused, and 36 systems (40%) as meeting both control and strategy purposes. There was a tendency towards more control-focused surveillance of hazards and interventions than was seen for diseases and determinants. Each surveillance system had a set population or setting it aimed to cover. For many of the disease surveillance systems this was the total population, however some systems were aimed at specific subgroups (eg, the Notifiable Occupational Disease System covers only those who are employed ). Most of the hazard surveillance systems covered only a sample of the population or settings. The surveillance of determinants aimed to cover a representative sample of the whole population or specific environments, using the census and large-scale national surveys and data collections. Coverage for the surveillance of interventions depended on the intervention. Since most interventions aimed to reach an entire population, the associated surveillance activity was similarly based (and depended on a representative sample of the target population, or all individuals in that population if it was tracking delivery of the intervention). The identified surveillance systems varied in their type (as defined in the Methods Section). Disease surveillance was generally based on event surveillance (n = 15) and monitoring (n = 15) of incident cases. There was less use of active methods such as screening (n = 5) and prevalence surveys (n = 4). Multiple system types were used in some environments (eg, HAI surveillance in hospitals). Hazard surveillance was more reliant on active information collection processes, notably screening (n = 10), and periodic prevalence surveys (n = 6), though still used event surveillance (n = 4) and monitoring (n = 3). Determinant surveillance, including measuring the size and characteristics of the population, used monitoring (n = 4), periodic prevalence surveys (n = 3), and combinations of the two (n = 2). Intervention surveillance tended to use service tracking (n = 7), with far less use of monitoring (n = 2), and prevalence surveys (n = 1). Surveillance systems require data collection, collation and analysis. Key features of the system architecture are summarised in Additional File 2, which lists the reporting source, local/regional collation, and national collation. Occasionally the same group undertook all three tasks within a surveillance system eg, some surveillance by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority [53–56], and Biosecurity New Zealand [59–63, 86, 87]. But usually data were reported by different individuals from those who performed the collation and analysis. Most disease surveillance systems, not surprisingly, were dependent on clinicians recognising and reporting cases. There is a legal requirement to report certain diseases (eg, the notifiable disease system), while others are reported voluntarily (eg, to the New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit [25, 26]). Hazard surveillance involved a much wider range of reporting sources, which tended to be associated with a particular activity or product, often monitored at the industry level and only scrutinised at the national level periodically or if an outbreak occurs. Determinant surveillance was run at a national level by relevant government agencies. Intervention surveillance was run by varying groups depending on the specific intervention under surveillance. About one third of data collation and analysis included a local or regional level prior to transmission to a national-level agency. This is a key role for public health services where such data are used to guide control-focused actions such as contact management and outbreak investigation and control. This function also happens at an institutional level, such as for District Health Board (DHB) infection control surveillance. At the national level, collation functions were often performed by groups within the relevant policy agency (notably Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Department of Labour, Accident Compensation Corporation, Ministry for the Environment). There were also several specialised surveillance agencies and units that performed these national collation, analysis and reporting functions on contract to the Ministry of Health (notably ESR, New Zealand Paediatric Surveillance Unit, AIDS Epidemiology Group, Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring). In the case of Statistics New Zealand, the collection, analysis and dissemination of robust data are its core business activities. • Potential surveillance systems gaps: These gaps occur when there is no surveillance system established for important disease events, upstream hazards, determinants or interventions. Assessing such gaps depends on knowledge of which events are important. However, it is reasonable to assume that all disease areas should have sufficient surveillance systems to be able to characterise the disease burden and identify emerging health threats. All infectious disease categories had systems in place for disease surveillance, at least for severe outcomes like deaths and hospitalisation [22, 23]. Two areas appeared to have a comprehensive set of established systems covering diseases, hazards, and interventions. These areas were surveillance of vaccine preventable infections and food borne infections. They included many of the diseases that are prone to outbreaks and are under intensive ongoing surveillance through the notifiable disease surveillance system. Both areas regularly analysed and reported on disease burden and used this information to inform prevention activities [80, 88]. At the other extreme, respiratory infections and infections from close contact appeared poorly covered by surveillance systems, with little focus on upstream hazards and interventions. Although individual hospitals had systems for surveillance of hospital-acquired infections, there was little aggregation of these data nationally. Potential surveillance system gaps tended to be for less severe illness at the community and primary care level. There was a particular lack of a well established primary care surveillance system, except for notifiable diseases , influenza-like illness , and some events under laboratory surveillance . New Zealand has successfully piloted syndromic surveillance in the past for conditions such as gastroenteritis and skin and subcutaneous tissue infection . But such surveillance is now largely absent (except for influenza-like illness ). There were many potential gaps in hazard surveillance. For congenital and perinatal infections, national surveillance of HIV infection in pregnancy has only recently commenced [51, 52] and there is little national surveillance of other infectious hazards in this category. Behavioural risk factor surveillance remains limited for STIs [42, 43]. The New Zealand Sexual Health Survey, which aimed to collect data on health-related risk and protective behaviours was piloted in 2006, but is currently (as of 2009) either on hold or possibly abandoned. There is little surveillance of hazards for respiratory infections, apart from smoking and no surveillance for factors influencing the risk of infections from close physical contact, such as skin infections. By contrast, some categories of infectious disease included multiple hazard surveillance systems, such as food borne infections [53–56]. There were not many surveillance systems aimed at monitoring disease interventions and therefore many potential gaps. In some instances, such as surveillance of contact prophylaxis and treatment, there is considerable disease control work being carried out by health professionals. However, the surveillance systems have not been fully developed and implemented to capture such data so that it can be used to guide disease control practices and prevention policies. • Potential surveillance scope gaps: These gaps occur where a surveillance system is established, but its type, range of events covered, and scope of information it is designed to collect does not meet its purpose. Some of these potential gaps are apparent from the systematic descriptions presented here. Some of the surveillance systems identified did not monitor the full range of important events within their scope. An example is latent or asymptomatic disease (eg, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C infection, and some STIs). These forms of infection are poorly covered by most infectious disease surveillance systems, which are orientated towards measuring the incidence of acute clinical infections. Such diseases are often not diagnosed until disease is symptomatic and more serious. A new Public Health Bill has been proposed for New Zealand to classify Chlamydia infection, gonorrhoea, HIV infection and syphilis as notifiable diseases . This change should improve STI surveillance and guide prevention efforts to reduce disease. A further issue around scope arises from the observation that some (n = 11) of the control-focused surveillance systems do not supply information to support strategy-focused surveillance (eg, serological testing of new prison inmates, immigrant screening for tuberculosis, most antenatal screening for infectious diseases). This problem is particularly common in surveillance of upstream hazards in healthcare settings (eg, surveillance of patients colonised with high risk organisms and contaminated operative equipment) and for hazards in the community (eg, surveillance of contaminants in cooling towers and public swimming pools). All of these systems have the potential to supply aggregated data for strategy-focused surveillance. The type of surveillance systems appeared to match their main purpose, at least as described. For example, control-focused systems used types of surveillance (ie, event surveillance, screening, and service tracking) that should be able to provide suitable surveillance information to support their purpose. However, it is not possible to say from a description that these systems achieved the necessary performance (eg, in terms of high sensitivity and timeliness). • Potential surveillance coverage gaps: Some surveillance systems identified the appropriate events but did not monitor all of the necessary populations or settings. One example was the clinic-based surveillance of STIs. Data were only reported from participating sexual health clinics, family planning clinics, and student and youth health clinics . Many individuals with STIs see their general practitioner and consequently may not be recorded (except through laboratory-based surveillance which remains incomplete ). Consequently, STI surveillance data are far from being representative of the general population. Another example is the surveillance of refugees and immigrants entering New Zealand. All quota refugees are monitored through the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre . However this system misses the refugees entering under family reunification or asylum seekers for whom there is no organised screening programme . Another coverage gap is for HAIs. Data are collected on various HAIs within each hospital and to a certain extent each DHB. However, because the databases and denominator information used within each DHB are different, it is difficult to collate and compare data nationally . As far as we can ascertain, this is the first published attempt to describe the entire infectious disease surveillance sector at a country level. Furthermore, it is also unique in encompassing upstream hazards, determinants and interventions along with the more traditional emphasis on disease and health outcomes. This description represents the first major stage in a surveillance sector review aimed at identifying high priority improvements to these integrated sector-wide systems. In this small, developed country, all categories of infectious disease had some form of surveillance, at least for severe outcomes. Most of the large, widely used national infectious disease surveillance systems were aimed at measuring disease outcomes, particularly disease incidence. There were many smaller, narrower systems looking at specific infectious disease hazards. However, these systems generally did not attempt to cover all the hazards in a disease category and thus there are many potential surveillance gaps that require further assessment. The surveillance of interventions was even less well covered with only a small number of systems identified for the whole infectious disease sector. The surveillance of determinants was achieved by large-scale prevalence surveys and ongoing monitoring by national policy agencies. A surveillance sector review approach has some advantages compared with evaluating individual surveillance systems (see Appendix 2). It deliberately 'looks at the forest instead of the trees'. This perspective allows consideration of a wider set of issues than would be covered by evaluation of individual surveillance systems . In particular, it can consider sector development in a more strategic way, and specifically identify gaps in surveillance and areas where investing greater effort could result in public health gain. For that reason, a surveillance sector review should be a useful tool to support the assessment requirements of the new IHR which take an all-hazards approach . One generic driver is the need to shift the focus to upstream hazards and determinants to provide a surveillance base to support prevention actions. Such a shift requires knowledge of disease causal pathways to identify suitable upstream surveillance points. A related strength of the surveillance sector review approach is that it supports opportunities for greater integration of surveillance activities. Such integration could occur across diseases or between disease and upstream hazards, determinants and interventions. One consequence of such integration could be a gain in efficiency if the review process identifies surveillance activities that could be stopped (eg, where there was duplication or where effort could be shifted upstream to a more suitable surveillance point). The categorisation we are using may also provide useful insights when considering opportunities for improved surveillance. Such opportunities may come from deliberately building surveillance activities on existing disease control activities. For example, we identified a number of control-focused surveillance activities, such as needle-stick injury surveillance, where these is currently no collation of information for strategy-focused purposes. Utilising such information sources is likely to be more efficient than developing separate surveillance systems. A surveillance sector review approach also has disadvantages and limitations (see Appendix 2). By its very nature, this approach provides only a broad overview of the surveillance systems operating across a disease sector. It does not attempt to evaluate the performance of individual systems in depth. That process requires a far more intense focus on individual systems. Methods for such evaluation are well described . This review method also has a number of definitional difficulties, including: establishing the scope of public health surveillance activities; distinguishing these activities from investigation and research; deciding how surveillance activities should be divided or aggregated; and drawing the boundaries of the sector being reviewed (in this case infectious diseases). The defining features of public health surveillance systems are that the activity is: (i) ongoing, (ii) based on collection and use of information, and (iii) linked to public health action to protect and improve health . Some of the systems included in this review do not currently have all of these features. Because this review process is attempting to identify opportunities for surveillance sector improvement, we took a wide approach to identifying information gathering processes that might contribute to infectious disease control and prevention, even if not currently defined as a surveillance system (eg, inspection and testing of cooling towers for organisms that cause legionellosis). A related issue was whether to include systems that are only operating at a local level, particularly those at the pilot stage. This review has erred on the side of including such systems, particularly where they illustrate an approach that has potential for further development. An example is the pilot sentinel system for influenza-like illness surveillance based in one hospital emergency department . A related boundary is with investigation and research. Given that such activities are not usually ongoing, they are not included as surveillance systems. However, prevalence surveys and other studies can be repeated periodically to provide ongoing information. And many surveillance activities are highly integrated with investigation and research. For that reason, some reviews of surveillance combine these activities with 'studies' as both approaches aim to provide information to guide an effective public health response . Dividing surveillance activities into discrete systems is somewhat arbitrary, so the number of systems listed here is only indicative. For example, organisms collected for public health surveillance purposes, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, may contribute to both disease surveillance (notably outbreak detection) and hazard surveillance (notably antimicrobial resistance testing), which have been listed as two separate systems. In other areas, particularly determinants, we have grouped a number of surveillance systems into a single named activity. It can also be difficult to categorise some surveillance systems into separate disease, hazard and intervention areas. Effective surveillance of tuberculosis, for example, supports all of these activities. Similarly, surveillance of compliance with food control plans and drinking water standards provides information on the distribution of both hazards and interventions. The boundary of infectious disease surveillance also becomes less clear as one moves away from systems that are exclusively concerned with surveillance of disease. Most of those involved in surveillance of upstream hazards and determinants would not define their work as infectious disease surveillance. Similarly, some of the health consequences of infectious diseases would not necessarily be included in this sector. For example, surveillance of cervical cancer (including screening) could justifiably be included in this review because this disease is largely an outcome of infection (with human papilloma virus). For these reasons, this review is likely to have under-counted systems contributing to surveillance of infectious diseases. This review work to date is still just a 'snapshot' of the situation in just one year (2009). For New Zealand, there are important potential developments that are likely to improve surveillance eg, the requirement for direct laboratory notification to local public health services commenced at the end of 2007 and is likely to increase the sensitivity and timeliness of such surveillance . Proposed legislative changes (a new Public Health Bill) would revise the schedule of notifiable diseases by adding STIs (including HIV infection, Chlamydia infection, gonorrhoea and syphilis). It would also extend surveillance (notification) requirements to some hazards, notably microbiological contaminants in water cooling towers and drinking water . This analysis is just the first stage in a complete surveillance sector review, which is currently (2009) underway in New Zealand. This review will critically assess the potential surveillance gaps identified during this description of the current sector. More importantly, it will assess these gaps against the surveillance information required by end-users for prevention and control of infectious diseases. The framework used here emphasises the identification of surveillance sector gaps as potential opportunities for system improvements. It is important to also recognise the considerable strengths and successes of the sector being reviewed and the ongoing review and development work already underway. The approach described in this paper (surveillance sector review and the associated descriptive framework) needs to be used more widely to assess its value. It could be applied to the infectious disease surveillance sector in other countries to see if the pattern is comparable. It would also be useful to apply this approach to other disease sectors such as injuries (where surveillance of both outcomes and risk factors is already highly developed ), chronic diseases (where risk factor surveillance is particularly well developed for cardiovascular disease ), specific hazards (such as tobacco use ), and to complex emerging determinants such as climate change. We have developed a novel approach for reviewing the full range of surveillance systems required for a single disease sector at a country level (a surveillance sector review). As part of this approach we also developed a framework for categorising and describing surveillance systems in a way that highlights their common and contrasting characteristics. This framework appeared useful when applied to describing the infectious disease surveillance systems in a single developed country (New Zealand) and was able to identify potential surveillance gaps for further consideration. This approach and framework could be used to support immediate goals such as assessing surveillance capacity as part of the new IHR requirements. It also provides an approach that could be applied to assessing surveillance of other disease, injury and hazard sectors. The authors thank the key informants who kindly contributed their time: Helen Heffernan, Katherine Clift, Nigel Dickson, John Holmes, Quentin Ruscoe, Frank Darby, Annette Nesdale, Donald Campbell, Nikki Turner, Jane MacDonald, Pat Meade, Sue Huang, David Harte and Don Bandaranayake. This project had partial funding support as part of the University of Otago's summer student programme for funding one of the authors (SE). The final revision of the manuscript benefited considerably from discussions that took place as part of the Ministry of Health's Review of New Zealand's Infectious Disease Surveillance Capacity (undertaken by two of the authors (MB and NW) and colleagues working for Allen and Clarke Policy and Regulatory Specialists Ltd, Wellington). Advisors to this review included Nicholas Jones, Paul White, Donald Campbell, Greg Simmons, Sally Roberts, Darren Hunt, Rebecca Blackmore, and Anna Gribble. The paper was also considerably improved by incorporating excellent suggestions from all three of the journal's reviewers. Two of the authors (MB and NW) were contracted by the Ministry of Health to assist with a Review of New Zealand's Infectious Disease Surveillance Capacity that reported in late 2009. These authors have previously played a role in establishing, running and evaluating some of the surveillance systems described in this review. MB and NW initiated this study. SE conducted the literature review and key informant interviews and tabulated the key findings. MB and SE drafted most of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

2019-04-19T09:17:22Z

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-10-332

The purpose of the paper is to analyze some key requirements of Rawls’ ideal of public reason under the light of a twofold neutrality, that is, as political pluralism and as epistemic inter-subjectivism. Rawls claims that his notion of justice is free-standing, and, in general, he defends an understanding of the political discourse as something separable from epistemic and metaphysical discourses. My goal will be to analyze if by separating his theory from these discourses he manages not to step into them implicitly, even if he never mentions their questions explicitly. To do this, I will start by refining the distinction between political neutrality and epistemic neutrality (section 2), that lay at the core, respectively, of the liberal state and political philosophy. My central claims thus will be (1) that although these two neutralities overlap, they do not fully correspond to each other, due to the burdens of reason. One is related to the plurality of citizens in a framed political sphere, the other is related to cognitive stand-points. Secondly (2) that Rawls way of dealing with political neutrality is dependent on his view on epistemic value, a view that we find implicitly stated in his use of intersubjectivity. Once I have defined this distinction, I am going to reconstruct the the 5 requirements for public reason as they appear in Rawls’ The Idea of Public Reason Revisited, but in order to weight their importance in the entire theory, I will also draw from some of his other works, especially, Political Liberalism, as well as to his Reply to Habermas, and, marginally, to some critiques around their debate, McCarthy’s and Lafont’s. The first two requirements, what I will refer to as the ‘who’ and the ‘what to’ of public reason will serve as an opening for the application of the distinction of neutralities on the idea of public reason (section 3); but the main critique will be focussed on the role that reasonableness, reciprocity and legitimacy play in trying to secure the freestanding position of the political conceptions of justice that lay behind his claims (section 4). My three main claims in this respect will be that (1) although these requirements respect the necessary political neutrality under the conditions specified by Rawls’s idea of public reason, (2) the conditions themselves do trespass into an epistemic debate without providing a sufficient account of its neutral position. A deeper claim underlining the whole critique is that (3) any account of the political based on the idea of the consensus of reasons, when settling the limits for this consensus, necessarily ends up affirming one form or another of epistemic legitimacy that does not respect the initial implicit claim for neutrality and free-standingness. John Rawls’s political philosophy is ‘impressively self-contained,’ as Habermas puts it, and its concepts are profoundly interdependent. The reason for these two qualities, I think, is the non-metaphysical aim that pervades Rawls’ political theory. Rawls delimits the notion of the political in a precise anti-metaphysical fashion, making explicit its adherence to the sphere of practical reason, as opposed both to epistemological and metaphysical uses of it. Although he denies any adherence to the Kantian idea of transcendental reason, he inserts himself into a broad Kantian tradition by endorsing possible distinctions between uses and legitimacies of reason, but, in his case, through a limited application of a form of political constructivism in matters of what traditionally has been understood as matters of practical reason, but without endorsing Kant’s moral constructivism. This idea of neutrality is related to the modern debate over the legitimacy of reason that he updates politically and thus to the non-metaphysical stand-point as well. It is the lack of full epistemic and metaphysical value concerning human affairs what demands for a particular use of reason. Political reason must be able to bridge the distance that we find between the rational assent of a theoretical problem and the urgency of praxis that all political communities must deal with. In other words: if the modern project of ‘objective reason‘ (or ‘rational intuitionism’, as Rawls refers to it) had succeeded to the extent of definitive truths, even in moral issues, this problem would not exist. But nevertheless it does. This is the reason why plurality is regarded not only as a fact of human nature qua social, or a natural offspring from a liberal democracy, but it is also a necessary outcome of the weakness of reason. Conversely, plurality and disagreement serve as proof of the limits of reason and, at the same time, of the relevance of perspectives in cognitive stand-points. We are not heading towards an radical skepticism here, nor towards a form of sophistic moral relativism; but the idea of neutrality, as seen in most neoKantian theories of the liberal state, such as Rawls’, is meant to guarantee a fundamental openness not only due to moral standards –such as the ones that can underline the right to liberty of consciousness or to free speech– but also due to (the lack of) epistemic legitimacy. The idea of neutrality becomes a negative idea, its main focus is restraining reason from trusting its powers completely. The embodiment of this neutrality, politically, is public reason. These two facts taken together –the presence of pluralism and of the limits of reason– open the door for a new kind of legitimacy, namely, intersubjective legitimacy. This can be applied both to science and politics, but in different manners. I have argued elsewhere that from the pragmatist, Piercean view on science some lessons can be learned for social praxis, especially when it develops the idea of a community of inquirers. Behind all forms of falsification there is an account of fallibility, and behind all forms of social cooperation –in science and elsewhere–, there is an account of beneficial opposition and overlapping of perspectives. For half a century now, many social and political theorists have tried and built up different approaches to this topic: theories of communication, inter-subjective cognitive processes, or social action. All of them point to the contradiction that informs the idea of democracy: there is strength to be found in the sum of weaknesses. Key concepts in Rawls’ theory of the liberal state, such as reciprocity, overlapping consensus, or reasonability deal with this same contradiction. These concepts are meant to address the problem of the limits of perspectives, and the limit of plurality. This is where science and politics diverge. A limit in scientific discourse can not be the same as a limit in political (or moral) discourse, in the same manner as a political law is not the same as a scientific law. The tension between positivism and naturalism, when translated into ius positivism and ius naturalism, opens a new set of problems, not like a genus to species, but, rather, like genus to genus. Questions on what, why, where, when and how things are fundamentally differ from the one on how things should be. Not all claims on nature are scientific, whereas all claims on the social fabric, even if they are scientific, are political to some extent. Although the border between science and pseudoscience is far from settled, within science, among other standards, results and means work as facts; whereas in political and moral discourses results work as telos and means as ideology. This is the reason why neutrality in the eyes of science (or philosophy, for that matter) is different from political neutrality. It is the fact/value distinction. A neutral point between facts and interpretations is eased because although natural laws must exist –in one way or another–, scientific laws are secondary to them. A neutral point between goals and ideologies, values ultimately, is burdened because political laws –especially in a democracy, and even more specifically in a liberal democracy– must exist (even their absence is a form of law, as Hobbes showed). This is what I earlier called ‘the urgency of praxis’. In setting the limits of plurality, even if procedural, there must always be an assessment concerning the value of intersubjectivity. They are mutually dependent. However, the neutral position is different in each case. The first is political, the second, at least, epistemical, if not metaphysical. The first needs to be settled to some extent, it is necessary, the second is an open question fundamentally, on necessity. The key to any liberal conception of the state is to be able to settle the former, without settling the latter. That is, a form of political neutrality must be present without, at the same time, settling the question on necessity. There is doubt that this can be done, but many proposals for a theory of the liberal state, like Rawls’, assume that this is possible. Therefore, a common accusation for some of them is that they fail in doing so. Rawls’ contribution to the solving of this problem is central to the debate on it. Rawls’ idea of public reason is meant to offer material and procedural value to the claims on political organization, that is, ultimately, coercion, without imposing itself into what he calls ‘background culture.’ Politically, public reason works in opposition to what he calls ‘comprehensive views.’ If a comprehensive view were to take the place of public reason, then neutrality would be broken. However, to close the circle, the most problematic trait of a ruling comprehensive view is not so much that plurality would not be possible –as such, a comprehensive view could be comprehensively pluralistic–, but rather that the fundamental proviso of intersubjectivity, openness, would be trespassed. Therefore, one of the most fundamental requirements of public reason is not to be a comprehensive view. Rawls builds his idea of public reason against this challenge, and he does so, as I said earlier, by using the avoidance strategy of a self-contained theory. In order to see if it works we must then go into detail under the light of these two ideas of neutrality, and the necessities for each one of them. 3. Rawls’ public reason I: who and to what. Apparently, these two conditions are consistent with the requirement of a neutral state concerning plurality. The subject and the predicate, state and basic justice, must restrain from imposing themselves on plural visions. There is no doubt that the historical reference for this delimitation on agents of public law — creators, interpreters, and executioners of it–, and for the fact that they apply only to certain actions allowed or prohibited to public institutions (in the broadest sense), is the period of religious wars in Europe. The overwhelming power of the state, as configured before the appearance of the modern version of limited government, established a competition for dominance of the public action. When the doctrine of the separation of church and state became effective, it had to address both problems: the problem of the presence of religious justification for public legitimacy, and the question of public legitimacy in itself. The former, is related to a negation of interference in public affairs by certain foundations for thought and action, namely, comprehensive views, the latter, implies a negation of the discretionality of the state in general. If the separation of the church and state is imperfect or difficult to achieve, or at least, progressively implemented, the limitation of the discretionally of the state ensures that even if a faction holding an active comprehensive view were to interfere in government, there is only so much harm it could do. Hopefully, moreover, the weakening of the possible interventions of the state can be an incentive for churches and individuals with comprehensive views to take their quarrel for cultural hegemony elsewhere. However, these two limits point to two different neutralities. The limitation affecting the ‘who’ and ‘where’ of public reasoning is directed towards differentiating the sphere of the public from all other spheres, be them purely private or somehow in between public and private, like public opinion. As such, it only demands of certain people to behave in a certain way. Admittedly, this could be required from a comprehensive point of view. For example, it could be argued that a church, the Catholic Church to be specific, might ask their clergy to discuss moral matters from the pulpit making use exclusively of theological reasoning. In this case, plurality would be relative to a common standard, namely, theological argumentation and its sources; but intersubjective neutrality would be trespassed, precisely because this standard works as if it were an objective stand-point –embodied, ultimately, by an explicit God’s-eye view–. Similarly, in public reason, the fact that there’s a limit that separates public officials and the general population, in itself it only assures that plurality is not formally restricted, but it does not guarantee that there will not be an objective standard that will impose itself when this general population tries to translate its plurality into public action. It bans certain reasons to be used as coercive reasons, but it has yet to establish which reasons may count as legitimately coercive. The key, then, is if it is limited enough. The second limitation, that is, the topics in which this public reason is allowed to have a coercive impact, is meant to address this, and points to the other kind of neutrality, i.e., inter-subjective neutrality. The problem with this second limitation is that, in the end, it must affirm something. By delimiting not the content of public reason but the content to which this public reason can and must be applied, Rawls is highlighting which aspects of a communal existence ensure the possibility of living according to one’s own cognitive stance. Necessarily, this implies a restriction in an individual-to-individual or group-to-group basis, as much as unrestricted conditions for affirming one’s view and living according to it. This a very delicate moment because it demands a standard that must be, at the same time, external to any comprehensive view and internal to intersubjective legitimacy. This tension is seen clearly in the use of the words ‘essential’ and ‘justice‘ in Rawls‘ account. To some extent, his use of them is question begging. If government officials must follow public reason in deciding on constitutional essentials and matters of basic justice, and what counts as essential or as justice were to be defined formally by what these government officials decide it is, then we would be facing a banal vicious circle. Therefore, there must be content somewhere, in order to inform public reason in such a way that essentials for social life and matters of political justice are delimited. Furthermore, there is not enough with limiting the presence of comprehensive views in deciding this, but there must also be an affirmation of content, and to this extent, external to the debate, that can work as if it were a standard for the essentiality of social life and justice within it. This is the reason why Rawls needs an account of justice and essence that neither negates nor affirms the possibility of old and new subjective perspectives as well as a system of limitations that protects this very diversity. In a nutshell, ideas of justice and political essentials that do not confront comprehensives views, provided they comply with some requirements. It goes both ends, the ideas of justice and political essentials are a limit both to themselves and to comprehensive views. This is why, to see if it holds, all goes down to the requirements. Besides the ‘who’ and the ‘to what’ the other three aspects of public reason that Rawls establishes are intended to solve this riddle. The first one is content: “its content as given by a family of reasonable political conceptions.’ They key word of this aspect is ‘reasonable’, otherwise the aspect would again lapse into a vicious circle. The second one is transparent objectivization: ‘the application of these conceptions in discussions of coercive norms (are) to be enacted in the form of legitimate law for a democratic people.’ The key of this aspect is legitimate, otherwise it would be a truism. The third, critical self-consciousness: ‘citizens’ checking that the principles derived from their conception of justice satisfy the criterion of reciprocity.’ Here the spotlight is on ‘reciprocity,’ otherwise the work of citizens would be solipsistic. As I have been saying from the beginning, these three concepts, reasonability, legitimacy, and reciprocity are intimately interdependent. There is no legitimacy without reasonability, there is no reasonability without reciprocity and vice-versa, and there is no real reciprocity without legitimate procedures. Likewise, the aspects they point to are consistent with the problems that a comprehensive view shows: content, objective standards and self-consciousness. A religion, or a moral view, has a content derived from a standard claimed to be objective that can lead to an impermeable self-consciousness. What Rawls wants to find by interconnecting reasonability, legitimacy, and reciprocity is a content derived from a standard that does not claim to be objective in the traditional, modern way; that is, not like rational intuitionism. Rather it should bear a sort of objectivity that is just neutral, so as to produce a permeable self-consciousness. In Political Liberalism, when describing his idea of political constructivism, Rawls dedicates a few pages to clarify his understanding of objectivity. The six essentials for objectivity that he states are all meant to deny the ‘objective eye’ of the moderns, by affirming common grounds: frame, aim, distinctive point of views, the burden of reason, and agreement among reasonable agents. So, again, the aspects of reasonableness, reciprocity and legitimacy appear to inform the validity of an ‘as if’ for objective reason for politics, which finds the strength in the claim for an unepistemical neutrality. Let us briefly see then how these three concepts interact. Since reasonableness, reciprocity and legitimacy are inter-connected, each of them has meanings that overlap with those of the others. To unfold this, in this section I will start with a longer reconstruction of Rawls’ reasonableness, the content of which I am going to stretch until it touches the other two requirements, the content of which will only need to show consistency with the problems appeared in reasonableness, and thus, a much shorter analysis. Acting from and following the idea of public reason, according to Rawls, means explaining “to other citizens their reason for supporting fundamental political positions in terms of the political conception of justice they regard as the most reasonable.’ It is clear that public reason does not demand, to those who are to exercise it, a justification for truth. A political conception is, strictly speaking, the place for the content of justice to affirm itself. But of all political conceptions, that is, of all possible contents, the ones that count for the constitutional essentials and matters of basic justice are only those that can claim to be reasonable. Reasonableness, then, works as a substitute for truth in the sense that its presence excludes the possibility of asserting views based on truthfulness. In this substitution, the word ‘reasonable’ points to the idea of process both in its grammatical structure and in the faculty it highlights. The suffix ‘able’ signals a potentiality not an actuality. As such, it could mean able to think, or understand, but then it would only refer to its active voice: one who is reasonable, thus, judges according to some logical laws. Rawls, however, uses this term also in its passive form: something is reasonable if it is able to be thought, digested through reason alone. The coincidence of these two voices brings a meaning that implies idealization. Reasonability is a feature of a conception, responsible for an expectation regarding the reasonability of other citizens (especially if they hold a different comprehensive view). This expectation is an idealization of reason, projected onto others. The first usage of the word is passive, a quality of the conception; the last one is active, a quality of a subject, the one in the middle corresponds to the act of idealizing, and links the conception with the subject. Now, the requirement for a neutrality among plurals is met because the account of reason incorporates in principle the existence of the Other. Grammatically, the potentiality applied to reason is the acknowledgment of the weakness of rationality in its actuality. And therefore, is meant to moderate the act of idealization. This is further stressed by the use of the word ‘sincerely’, –an essential for political objectivity to appear– which implies willingness as a value, in order to compensate for the lack of accuracy in the projection that reason imposes on other subjects’ reason. But, beyond grammar, the faculty highlighted by the use of ‘reasonable’, namely, reason, is what keeps the problem unsolved. Reasoning and rationalizing are meant to be different, in this account. The implication is that there does not exist a rational political conception that is, at the same time, fully reasonable, unless it accepts as a standard the impossibility of a standard. In this account, reason is a mediating faculty that impedes a full assertion of truth. This view is paradoxically a uncomprehensive comprehensive view. It holds that the only way not to be wrong is assuming that everybody could be wrong in their particular way. This particularity, including interests, is what Rawls wants to extract in his Theory of Justice’s original position. This is where constructivism comes into play to assert freedom and equality as preconditions for deliberation, as we will see further on. Being reasonable, then, means using reason and a sincere will to project an idea of the Other as free and equally reasonable in asserting that their reasons and beliefs might not have anything to do with the truth. An unreasonable political conception then would be any conception that is unable to project this notion of reason onto Others. This would exclude also this view: there is no political conception that one can reasonably expect others to reasonably endorse if they are free and equal. The limit of the intersubjective neutrality appears to be the idealization of citizens as free and equal, including, both in freedom and equality, freedom of consciousness and equality of imperfection in reaching truth. The content of public reason as expressed in reasonableness, then, is a correction not only of truth, but also of rationality. As such, it proposes a notion of the person as a cognitive stand-point, in which the plurality of views is respected through the emphasis on the potentiality of reason as opposed to the actualization of rationality, but also, in which subjectivity is conditioned by the frame of freedom and equality. Subjectivity is deprived of its particularity through idealization — and by means of the original position–, and then the question is again whether this use of reasonability unwarrantedly trespasses intersubjective neutrality. The risk, here, is that this imposed idealization, this content, could lead to an impermeable self-consciousness. If it did there would be little difference between this idealization and a comprehensive view. The ‘aspect’ of reciprocity, extremely connected with the rational expectation, is meant to avoid the solipsism of this idealization. Although the formulation of the criterion of reciprocity resembles remarkably the formulation of reasonableness, there is an important difference: reciprocity partially actualizes the reason that was potentially present in reasonability. Reciprocity affirms the possibility of inter-subjectivity, or, in other words, it permits the idea of a reasonable overlapping consensus to emerge. It assumes that inter-subjective communication is possible. Appealing only to political values, as Rawls claims he does, assumes that there are political values that do not pervade the subject, when the simple possibility of imagining a kind of value that, in a free-standing position, can reach out to different comprehensive views, already presupposes a subject able to assert such values in general, and be understood only by them, while keeping in mind the burdens of reason. Clearly, therefore, Rawls thinks that the notion of citizen provides enough grounding for the overcoming of the disputes about the notion of person, without forcing any comprehensive view to change its own notion of person. The fact that he adds that these comprehensive views will not be forced to change their views on the person only if they are reasonable permits the reversal of the argument: a reasonable comprehensive view is that view that holds an idea of person in line with the idea of citizen that Rawls’ political liberalism promotes. The requirement of reciprocity, then, is not universal, because it finds its limit in the idea of citizen. It guarantees plurality among citizens, not among persons. And this is why Rawls claims his idea of public reason not to be metaphysical, or not concerned with ‘causal necessity’. Politically it is neutral; epistemologically, it is not. Reciprocity, then, actualizes the inter-subjective value, not among subjects-persons, but among subject-citizens. A citizen is one who has already accepted the basic premisses of the whole system –obtained through the original position and the constructivist frame-dependent objectivity–, that is, someone who has accepted inter-subjective value as such, epistemically, as expressed in the ultimate content of the idea of justice, which corresponds to the premisses of freedom and equality of citizens. The tension between these two qualities of the political subject, both theoretically and historically, is the reason, I think, for the insistence on the nature of autonomy that Habermas shows in his critique of Rawls. A part from the distinctions that both Habermas and Rawls introduce in different accounts of autonomy, distinctions that parallel the debate over their mutual dependency on Kant’s view of it, the notion of political autonomy can be seen formally, and then, be applied to notions of freedom and right, and can also be seen materially, and be applied to notions of capability and goods. In the extremes, libertarianism and communitarianism isolate these two views respectively. The debate itself is of no relevance here, it suffices to say that the problem of autonomy, in Kant as in today, depends very much on the disagreement about transcendence (and communication in and out) of the person. Precisely because the premiss of this debate is that the solution to the problem of violence –both public coercion and state-of-nature like violence– depends on the possibility of advancing reasons, the value of inter-subjective agreement must be stated to some extent. It is a question that must be answered explicitly to be fully honest and transparent because it is always answered implicitly, if one is to take serious the burdens of judgement. Habermas calls this, ‘weak transcendental necessity.’ Or this is why McCarthy can charge both of them of assuming a disputable use of reason as original source: “we need only glance at contemporary debates concerning “the nature, scope, and limit of reason” among modernists and postmodernists, neoKantians and neo Hobbesians, neoHumeans and neoAristotelians, neoHegelians and neopragmatists, and so forth.” Or why Lafont narrows the requirement of reciprocity to the answering of ‘objections’. The demand for reciprocity as a feature of reasonability, and viceversa, is what steps into this debate. The built-in imperfection on all ‘human political procedures’, coherent with the burdens of reason, is only compensated with the substantive idea of justice, from where legitimacy obtains its force. The fact that a ‘legitimate procedure is one that all may reasonably accept as free and equal when collective decisions must be made and agreement is normally laking,” implies that the content of freedom and equality is what compensates for the imperfections of all ‘human political procedures’. To sum up, we end up with an idealization of the person through the idea of citizenship, from which citizens idealize the Other as reasonable, in order to settle constitutional essentials and matters of basic justice, according to the qualities of persons as citizens, that is, as free and equal individuals, both in form and in matter. This is necessary because human political actions are imperfect, due to both the burdens of reason and the fact that we are not fully free and equal. So, what is lacking in terms of epistemic or metaphysic content –an account of freedom and equality–, is posed politically as a precondition. Rawls’ liberal constructivism poses the requirement of freedom and equality to citizens to address the fact that they are not given as free and equal. These facts are what the veil of ignorance is meant to cover, so as to let the frame outcrop. Although the point of the interaction between these requirements is “to secure for normative statements -and for the theory of justice as a whole- a form of rational obligatoriness founded on justified intersubjective recognition, but without according them an epistemic meaning,” throughout this section I have tried to show that all of them point to a basic epistemic frame that contains value, specifically, that the act of reasonably expecting reasonableness is actualized by an assumption of possible reciprocity. This reciprocity is, at its turn, based on intersubjective value that warrants a form of legitimacy beyond the procedural limit towards a substantive conception of justice, a conception that ideally poses freedom and equality among citizens due to the impossibility of asserting them as facts of epistemic reason. In this paper I have tried to show that the self-imposed requirement for a free-standing political conception of justice and the political in general that Rawls wants to meet involves and understanding of neutrality in a twofold way. The one which Rawls refers to explicitly is political neutrality, connected to the fact of ideological pluralism. The second points to epistemic values (at the very least), and must take into account the fact of subjective cognitive stances under the light of the limits of reason. As of the first, I wanted to show that in a well constructed system, neutrality understood as the affirmation of contingent, relative pluralism is not enough to secure free-standingness. Even a comprehensive doctrine could achieve that, under some conditions. In this respect, Rawls’ ideal of public reason shows the maximum possible affirmation of plurality within the limits of the system. His political neutrality is dense, it occupies all the space available, and secures all possible doctrines within. On the necessity for the second kind of neutrality, although it is specifically denied by Rawls, I wanted to show that it is implicitly embedded into the fabric of both the goals of his idea of public reason –i.e. reasonable overlapping consensus and reflective equilibrium– and the means to achieve them –i.e. political constructivism and the requirements of public reason. To this extent, I claim, Rawls’ system is not neutral. The value of inter-subjectivism is assessed epistemically (a) through an assumption of effective communication and of a capacity for acceptable idealization of rational expectations –that is, an assumption of faculties–; and (b) through the posing of a rational ideal of citizens as free an equal to compensate for the impossibility of affirming them as facts, due to an understanding of the burdens of reason. This a very weak epistemic ground, but it surely enters into the epistemic debate. A deeper claim that I wanted to test with this immanent critic is whether there is a general impossibility of not entering into the epistemic or metaphysical debates if one wants to set the limits of plurality in the political sphere. Given plurality and epistemic post-metaphysical principles on the limits of reason and humanity in general, it seems that the only way is to set up some form of ground with, at least, epistemic meaning and rules. At this point, the question on whether this ground is a comprehensive view, I think, is secondary: a battle for words. Personally, I find myself comfortable with Rawls’ epistemic presuppositions. And I find them reasonable. His effort accomplishes a remarkable purification of the limits of the State and strengthens the possibility for political consensus and peace. And I believe that his is probably one of the most open political conceptions in responding to the challenge of plurality in the form of a democratic State. But I do not see that he proves his conception to be free-standing, and to that extent, objective or neutral.

2019-04-24T15:04:24Z

https://jordigraupera.cat/2013/an-immanent-critique-of-rawls-idea-of-public-reason-under-the-light-of-a-twofold-neutrality/

Now that It Works, What Do You Have? Republicans and Democrats. Toothpaste and orange juice. Linux and Windows. Some things just don’t mix, right? Every IT shop I’ve ever been involved with has been divided into two camps: the Windows team and the Linux team. They don’t really compete with each other, but they sure don't collaborate either. In fact, some places even go so far as to put a yellow line on the floor just to make absolutely sure that there's no inappropriate fraternization between the two groups. I'm a Windows guy, and I've certainly poked fun at my Linux-oriented colleagues, but we all have the same goal of providing high-quality and cost-effective IT services to the organization. One way we can do that is by sharing core software infrastructure like Active Directory. Just about all IT organizations have settled on Active Directory to provide authentication services to their Windows desktops and servers. Instead of maintaining a separate authentication infrastructure for the Linux environment (along with a separate set of user names and passwords), wouldn't it be better if the Linux computers used Active Directory as well? I think it would, and I'll show you how to do it in this article. Windows has shipped with an integrated network authentication and single sign-on system for quite some time now. Before Windows 2000, Windows NT domain controllers (DCs) provided authentication services to Windows clients using the NT LAN Manager (NTLM) protocol. Although NTLM was not as secure as was originally thought, it was very helpful because it neatly solved the problem of needing to maintain duplicate user accounts across multiple servers on the network. Starting with Windows 2000, Microsoft moved from NTLM to Active Directory and its integrated Kerberos authentication services. Kerberos was considerably more secure than NTLM, and it scaled better, too. And Kerberos was an industry standard already used by Linux and UNIX systems, which opened the door to integrating those platforms with Windows. Originally, Linux (and the GNU tools and libraries that run on it) was not built with a single authentication mechanism in mind. As a result of this, Linux application developers generally took to creating their own authentication scheme. They managed to accomplish this by either looking up names and password hashes in /etc/passwd (the traditional text file containing Linux user credentials) or providing an entirely different (and separate) mechanism. The resulting plethora of authentication mechanisms was unmanageable. In 1995, Sun proposed a mechanism called Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM). PAM provided a common set of authentication APIs that all application developers could use, along with an administrator-configured back end that allowed for multiple "pluggable" authentication schemes. By using the PAM APIs for authentication and the Name Server Switch (NSS) APIs for looking up user information, Linux application developers could write less code, and Linux administrators could have a single place to configure and manage the authentication process. Most Linux distributions come with several PAM authentication modules, including modules that support authentication to an LDAP directory and authentication using Kerberos. You can use these modules to authenticate to Active Directory, but there are some significant limitations, as I will discuss later in this article. Samba is an open-source project that aims to provide integration between Windows and Linux environments. Samba contains components that give Linux machines access to Windows file and print services as well as provide Linux-based services that emulate Windows NT 4.0 DCs. Using the Samba client components, Linux machines can take advantage of Windows authentication services provided by Windows NT and Active Directory DCs. The particular part of Samba that is most interesting to us for this project is called Winbind. Winbind is a daemon (service in Windows parlance) that runs on Samba clients and acts as a proxy for communication between PAM and NSS running on the Linux machine and Active Directory running on a DC. In particular, Winbind uses Kerberos to authenticate with Active Directory and LDAP to retrieve user and group information. Winbind also provides additional services such as the ability to locate DCs using an algorithm similar to the DCLOCATOR in Active Directory and the ability to reset Active Directory passwords by communicating with a DC using RPC. Winbind solves a few problems that simply using Kerberos with PAM doesn't. In particular, instead of hard-coding a DC to authenticate to the way the PAM Kerberos module does, Winbind selects a DC by searching DNS locator records similar to the way the Microsoft DC LOCATOR module does. Given the availability of LDAP, Kerberos, and Winbind on Linux machines, there are three different implementation strategies we can employ to allow our Linux machine to use Active Directory for authentication. Using LDAP Authentication The easiest but least satisfactory way to use Active Directory for authentication is to configure PAM to use LDAP authentication, as shown in Figure 1. Although Active Directory is an LDAPv3 service, Windows clients use Kerberos (with fallback to NTLM), not LDAP, for authentication purposes. LDAP authentication (called LDAP binding) passes the user name and password in clear text over the network. This is insecure and unacceptable for most purposes. The only way to mitigate this risk of passing credentials in the clear is to encrypt the client-Active Directory communication channel using something such as SSL. While this is certainly doable, it imposes the additional burden of managing the SSL certificates on both the DC and the Linux machine. Furthermore, using the PAM LDAP module does not support changing reset or expired passwords. Using LDAP and Kerberos Another strategy for leveraging Active Directory for Linux authentication is to configure PAM to use Kerberos authentication and NSS to use LDAP to look up user and group information, as shown in Figure 2. This scheme has the advantage of being relatively more secure, and it leverages the "in-the-box" capabilities of Linux. But it doesn't take advantage of the DNS Service Location (SRV) records that Active Directory DCs publish, so you are forced to pick a specific set of DCs to authenticate to. It also doesn't provide a very intuitive way of managing expiring Active Directory passwords or, until recently, for proper group membership lookups. Using Winbind The third way to use Active Directory for Linux authentication is to configure PAM and NSS to make calls to the Winbind daemon. Winbind will translate the different PAM and NSS requests into the corresponding Active Directory calls, using either LDAP, Kerberos, or RPC, depending on which is most appropriate. Figure 3 shows this strategy. Because of the enhanced integration with Active Directory, I chose to use Winbind on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5) for my Linux-to-Active Directory integration project. RHEL5 is the current version of the commercial Red Hat Linux distribution, and it is fairly popular in enterprise datacenters. Locate and download the appropriate Samba and other dependent components. Configure Linux, specifically PAM and NSS. The next few sections in this article describe these steps in more detail. One of the biggest differences between Linux and Windows is that Linux consists of a small operating system kernel and a huge collection of separately downloadable and installable components. This makes it possible to create very specific Linux configurations optimized for certain tasks, but it can also make configuration and management of a server extremely complicated. Different distributions handle this in different ways. Red Hat (and its non-commercial cousin Fedora) use the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) to install and manage these components. Linux components for Red Hat come in two forms. RPM files contain binary files that have been pre-compiled and built for a specific combination of component version, Linux distribution, and CPU architecture. So you could download and install, for instance, the 1.3.8-5 version of the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) built for Fedora version 10 running on an Intel x86 architecture CPU. Given that there are a dozen different CPU architectures, more than 100 Linux distributions, and thousands of packages and versions, you can see that there are an incredible number of binary RPMs from which to choose. Source RPM files, on the other hand, contain the actual source code for a given package. The expectation is that you will download and install the sources, configure the build options, and compile and link the binaries yourself. The idea of building your own operating system components is daunting for a Windows guy used to installing whatever Microsoft provides on the Windows installation CD, but the package manager makes the process fairly painless and surprisingly reliable. The Samba group releases updates and security patches at a furious rate; in July and August 2008 alone, there were four releases of Samba 3.2, with a total of more than 100 bug and security fixes. For this project, I downloaded the sources for the latest stable version of Samba, version 3.0.31. Why did I download the Samba sources instead of a pre-compiled set of binaries? That was certainly what I attempted to do first. What I discovered after many hours with a debugger was that the binaries I downloaded were not built with the correct options to support Active Directory authentication. In particular, the code that supports Linux ID mapping in Active Directory was turned off in the default builds; hence I had to rebuild Samba with the appropriate build options. I'll talk more about ID mapping later in this article. Even though Linux is natively a small kernel, the Red Hat Enterprise distribution comes with many packages preinstalled. Normally this makes life much easier because you start out with a complete working operating system, but the packages that are preinstalled sometimes conflict with software you wish to install later. I did not include Samba when I installed Red Hat (normally Samba is installed by default) because I wanted to use a more current version. However, the newer version of Samba requires new versions of several other libraries and utilities that were already installed. These sorts of dependency problems are quite annoying, but they are easily solved using the RPM. There are many Web sites that host binary RPM packages. The one I used (for no other reason that it was the first one I found) is called PBONE, located at rpm.pbone.net. It has a convenient way of searching for packages and had all the binaries that I needed for my CPU architecture (i386) and operating system distribution (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5/Fedora 7&8). I had to download and update the packages listed in Figure 4 to build and install the latest 3.0 version of Samba (there is an even later 3.2 version tree that I have not tried). Note that these packages target the Fedora Core (fc) distribution. Red Hat is based on the same sources Fedora uses and is completely interoperable with it. Packages built for Fedora Core 7 and later will run on RHEL5 with no modification. Place the downloaded RPM files in the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS directory. The first step in building Samba is to download the proper source RPM. I downloaded the source RPM for Samba 3.0.31 from the PBONE site. Next, place the downloaded source RPM file in /usr/src/redhat/SRPMS; this is the standard directory for source RPMs during the build process. Open a terminal session (command-line window in Windows parlance) and move to the SRPMS folder. Once that is done, install the source package using the command, as shown in Figure 5. If you see the error warning "user mockbuild does not exist—using root," don't worry. This error indicates that the Mock build utilities aren't installed. The build process will work without them. Next, move to the /usr/src/redhat/SPECS directory and edit the file SAMBA.SPEC, which contains the Samba build options. Search for the line that starts with "CFLAGS=", and make sure the option "--with-shared-modules=idmap_ad,idmap_rid" is present. This option ensures that the build process will include the code that translates Linux UIDs (unique identifiers) properly to Active Directory. Figure 6 shows this option. Next, you may have to update some of the libraries on your machine to properly build and install Samba; it depends on what versions of the libraries you happen to have installed. In my case, I had to install the packages listed in Figure 4 using the rpm --install command; in some cases I had to use the --force option to get past some of the dependency problems. To build Samba, move to the /usr/src/redhat directory and run the command rpmbuild –bb SPECS/samba.spec, as shown in Figure 7. The process will leave a new samba-3.0.31-0.i386 RPM file in the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS directory. We will install this RPM file later in the project. In order to authenticate with Active Directory, your Linux machine must be able to communicate with a DC. You have to configure three networking settings in order for this to happen. First, it's important to make sure that the network interface for your Linux machine is configured properly, either by using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or by assigning it an appropriate IP address and netmask using the ifconfig command. Under RHEL5, you configure the network by selecting Network from the System | Administration menu, as shown in Figure 8. Next, ensure that the DNS resolver for the Linux machine is set to use the same DNS name server that your DCs use; in the majority of cases, this is a DC in the domain to which you want to join the Linux machine, assuming you are using Active Directory-integrated DNS. You configure the DNS resolver on the DNS tab of the same Network configuration utility you used to configure the network, as shown in Figure 9. Finally, once you have completed those steps, you must set the host name of the Linux computer to reflect its name in the domain. Even though you can set the host name using the Network configuration app, this doesn't seem to always work properly. Instead, edit the /etc/hosts file directly, and add an entry below the localhost.localdomain entry that has the form <ip address> <FQDN> <host name>. (An example would be "10.7.5.2 rhel5.linuxauth.local linuxauth".) I should note that failure to do this will result in the creation of an incorrect computer object in the directory after you join the Linux computer to the domain. The Kerberos protocol is dependent on the authenticating systems having clocks that are synchronized within a relatively small value. By default, Active Directory allows a maximum time skew of five minutes. To ensure that your Linux systems and your DCs' system clocks stay within this value, you should configure your Linux systems to use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) service of a DC. Next, on the Linux server, run the Date & Time utility from the System | Administration menu, and then click on the Network Time Protocol tab. Check the Enable Network Time Protocol box, and then add the IP address of the DC you want to use as a network time source. Note that this should typically be the DC in the domain that holds the primary domain controller (PDC) emulator Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) role. Figure 10 is an example of how to set the Linux network time source. PAM and NSS provide the glue between a Linux application, such as the desktop, and Winbind. Like many Linux services, you configure PAM and NSS through text files. We'll look at configuring PAM first. PAM provides four authentication-related facilities to apps that use it. The authentication facility lets an application determine who is using it. The account facility provides account management functions that aren't specifically related to authentication, such as login time restriction. The password facility provides mechanisms for soliciting and managing passwords. The session facility performs user-­related setup and tear-down tasks for the application, such as logging or creating files in a user-specific directory. PAM under Red Hat stores its configuration files in the /etc/pam.d directory, which will contain a text file for each application that uses PAM for authentication. For instance, the file /etc/pam.d/gdm contains the PAM configuration information for the Gnome Desktop Manager (GDM), the default windowing environment for Red Hat. Each PAM configuration file contains multiple lines, with each line defining some aspect of the PAM authentication process. Figure 11 shows the contents of the PAM configuration file for GDM. Each entry in a PAM configuration file has the form <management group> <control> <module> <parameters>, where <management group> corresponds to the facility the configuration entry pertains to: auth, account, password, or session. The control keywords, which are described in Figure 12, tell PAM how to process the configuration entry. The third column of the file contains the name of a PAM shared library in the /lib/security directory. Shared libraries contain dynamically loadable executable code, similar to DLLs in Windows. Additional terms after the module name are parameters that PAM passes to the shared library. Required If the module succeeds, PAM continues evaluating the remaining entries for the management group, and the results will be determined by the results of the remaining modules. If the module fails, PAM continues evaluation but will return failure to the calling application. Requisite If the module succeeds, PAM continues evaluating the management group entries. If the module fails, PAM returns to the calling application with no further processing. Sufficient If the module succeeds, PAM will return success to the calling application. If the module fails, PAM continues evaluation, but the results will be determined by subsequent modules. Optional PAM ignores the results of the module unless it is the only module specified for the management group. Include PAM includes the contents of the referenced PAM configuration file and processes the entries it contains. You can see that each management group has several entries. PAM processes the entries in order by calling the named module. The module then returns either success or failure, and PAM proceeds according to the control keyword. You'll notice that the PAM configuration file for GDM includes system-auth in all of its management groups. This is how PAM establishes default authentication behavior for GDM. By modifying system-auth, you can modify the authentication behavior for all of the applications that include the system-auth file in their PAM configurations. The default system-auth file is shown in Figure 13. The Name Service Switch (NSS) module hides the specifics of system data storage from the application developer, in much the same way that PAM hides the details of authentication. NSS lets the administrator specify the way system databases are stored. In particular, the administrator can specify how user name and password information is stored. Because we want applications to look up user information in Active Directory using Winbind, we have to modify the NSS configuration file to show that. Red Hat includes a little graphical applet for configuring PAM and NSS called system-config-authentication. It takes care of most (but not all) of the changes you need to make to the system-auth and nss.conf files. Run the system-config-authentication application and you will see a dialog like the one shown in Figure 14. Check the Winbind option on both the User Information tab (which configures the nss.conf file) and the Authentication tab (which modifies system-auth file). Click the Configure Winbind button and you will see the dialog in Figure 15. Enter the name of the domain you want users to authenticate to in the Winbind Domain field, and select "ads" as the security model. Enter the DNS domain name of the Active Directory domain in the Winbind ADS Realm field. In the Winbind Domain Controllers field, enter either the name of a DC you want this Linux system to authenticate with or an asterisk, indicating that Winbind should select a DC by querying DNS SRV records. Select the appropriate default command shell your Active Directory users should have; in this case, I selected the Bourne-again Shell, or BASH. Don't try the "Join Domain" button at this point. You will join the machine to the domain later on. There is one additional change to make to the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file after you have modified it to support Winbind. When a Linux user logs in, the system requires that the user have a home directory. The home directory contains many user-specific preferences and configuration items, much like the Windows registry. The problem is that because you are creating your users in Active Directory, Linux will not automatically create the user's home directory. Luckily, you can configure PAM to do this as part of its session configuration. Open the /etc/pam.d/system-auth file, then scroll down toward the bottom and insert a line before the last line in the session section that reads "session optional map_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel umask=0644" (see Figure 16). This line configures PAM to create a home directory for a user if one doesn't exist. It will use the directory /etc/skel as a "skeleton" or template, and it will assign the permissions mask 0644 (read and write for owner, read for the primary group, and read for everyone else) to the new folder. To install the Samba binaries you just created, change to the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS directory. All of the RPM files created by the rpmbuild command will appear in this directory. Remember that Samba includes binaries that allow a Linux client to access a Windows (or Samba) file share, as well as code that allows a Linux system to act as a Windows file server, a Windows printer server, and a Windows NT 4.0-style DC. Once you've installed the Samba client binaries, you must modify the default Samba configuration to make sure Winbind handles authentication properly with Active Directory. All of the Samba configuration information (both client and server) can be found in the smb.conf text file, which by default is in the /etc/samba directory. Smb.conf can contain an enormous number of configuration options, and a complete discussion of its contents is beyond the scope of this article. The samba.org Web site and the Linux man pages discuss smb.conf in some detail. The first step is to configure Winbind to use Active Directory for authentication. You must set the security model in smb.conf to "ads". The system-config-authentication utility should have set this for you already, but it's always good to check. Edit the smb.conf file and search for the section labeled Domain Member Options. Find the line that starts with "security" and make sure it reads "security = ads". The next configuration step determines how Winbind will map Windows security principals such as users and groups to Linux identifiers, and that requires a little more explanation. There's one big problem I haven't mentioned yet with authenticating Linux users with Active Directory, and that is the problem of UIDs for users and groups. Internally, neither Linux nor Windows refer to users by user name; instead they use a unique internal identifier. Windows uses the Security Identifier, or SID, which is a variable-length structure that uniquely identifies each user within a Windows domain. The SID also contains a unique domain identifier so that Windows can distinguish between users in different domains. Linux has a much simpler scheme. Each user on a Linux machine has a UID that is simply a 32-bit integer. But the scope of the UID is limited to the machine itself. There is no guarantee that the user with UID 436 on one Linux machine is the same as the user with UID 436 on another Linux machine. Consequently, a user will have to login to each machine he needs to access, clearly not a desirable situation. Linux network administrators usually address this problem by providing network authentication using either Network Information System (NIS) or a shared LDAP directory. The network authentication system provides the UID for the user, and all the Linux machines that use that authentication system will share the same user and group identifiers. In this situation, I will use Active Directory to provide the unique user and group identifiers. There are two strategies I can use in order to address this problem. The first (and also most obvious) strategy is to create a UID for each user and group and store that identifier with the respective object in Active Directory. This way, when Winbind authenticates a user, it can look up the UID for the user and provide it to Linux as the user's internal identifier. Winbind refers to this scheme as Active Directory ID mapping, or idmap_ad. Figure 17 shows the process of Active Directory ID mapping. The only downside to Active Directory ID mapping is that we have to provide a mechanism to ensure that every user and group has an identifier, and that these identifiers are all unique in the forest. See the sidebar, "Configuring Active Directory for Active Directory ID Mapping," for more information. Happily, there is another ID mapping strategy that has a lot less administrative overhead. Recall that the Windows SID uniquely identifies the user within a domain as well as the domain itself. The portion of the SID that uniquely identifies the user within the domain is called the Relative Identifier, or RID, and is in fact a 32-bit integer. So, Winbind can simply extract the RID from the SID when the user logs in and then use the RID as the unique internal UID. Winbind refers to this strategy as RID mapping, or idmap_rid. Figure 18 illustrates how RID mapping actually works. RID mapping has the benefit of zero administrative overhead, but you can't use it in a multi-domain environment because of the likelihood of users in different domains having the same RID value. But if you have a single Active Directory domain, RID mapping is the way to go. To configure the Winbind ID mapping strategy, edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file again and add the line "idmap backend = ad" to use the Active Directory mapping strategy, or "idmap backend = rid" if you want to use the RID mapping strategy. Make sure that there are no other lines specifying the mapping strategy in the file. There are a couple of other configuration options we need to add to the smb.conf file for Winbind. Even though we set up PAM to make the home directory for each user when they log in, we need to tell Winbind what the name of that home directory is. We do this by adding the line "template homedir = /home/%U" to smb.conf (see Figure 19). This tells Winbind that the home directory for each user that authenticates using Active Directory will be /home/<user name>. Be sure to create the /home directory beforehand. Now that the network, PAM, NSS, and Samba Winbind are all configured properly, it's time to join the Linux machine to the domain. You do this using the Samba NET command. At a shell prompt, run "net ads join –U <administrator name>". Replace <administrator name> with the name of an account that has sufficient privileges to join a machine to the domain. The net command will prompt you for the user's password. If everything works properly, the net command will join your machine to the domain. You can use Active Directory Users and Computers to locate the newly created computer account. You can test the state of the join using the Winbind test tool called wbinfo. Running wbinfo –t will test the trust relationship between the machine and the domain. Running wbinfo –u lists all the users in the domain, and wbinfo –g lists all the groups. If you successfully join the Linux machine to the domain, the next step is to try to log in using an Active Directory user account and password. Log off the Linux machine, and log in using an Active Directory user name. If everything works properly, you should be able to log in. This information applies only if you're using Active Directory ID mapping. If you've decided to use RID mapping, feel free to skip this sidebar. Before you can start logging in to your Red Hat server using an Active Directory account, you have to make some changes to Active Directory itself. First, the Active Directory schema has to accommodate the attributes that Winbind uses to store user information. If you are running Windows Server 2003 R2, the schema is ready to go. If you have an earlier version of the Active Directory schema, you will have to extend it using the Microsoft Services for UNIX (SFU) package. You can find more on Services for UNIX on TechNet. SFU also includes an additional property page for the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that lets you manage the user ID and group ID information that Linux requires. Linux requires a UID for every user that authenticates. Because you want to manage user information in Active Directory, every user account that will log in to a Linux machine must have a unique uidNumber attribute. The specific value you use for a uidNumber isn't important, but it must be unique across all the users that might log in to the Linux machine. Every Linux user must also have a default group identifier, so each Active Directory user that will log in to a Linux machine requires a value for the gidNumber attribute as well. This value doesn't have to be unique among users, but it must uniquely identify the group. Every group in Active Directory should have a unique value for its gidNumber attribute. Strictly speaking, it's OK for groups to not have a value for the gidNumber attribute, but Winbind expects, when it authenticates a user, that every group to which that user is a member will have a unique gidNumber value. It's probably easiest just to make sure that every group has a unique gidNumber value. Winbind expects that every user it looks up in Active Directory is a member of the Domain Users group, so it also expects that the Domain Users group has a value for its gidNumber attribute. Setting up a Linux machine to authenticate with Active Directory using Winbind is not a trivial project. There are lots of pieces to configure and lots of things that can go wrong. The fact that every version of Linux and every version of Samba is a little different doesn't help matters. But there are a handful of places you can look to help determine what's going on. First, there is the Linux system log file, which is maintained in /var/log/messages. Samba will place messages within this file for significant events such as missing files or bad configuration. In addition to the system log file, there are also the log files for Samba and Winbind. You can find these in /var/log/samba, and they will provide you with some additional information. You can increase the detail (and the volume) of the log messages emitted by Winbind by modifying its startup script to set the debug level. Edit the /etc/init.d/winbind shell script, and add "-d 5" to the winbindd command. This will increase the debug level to 5 (allowable values are from 1 to 10), which will cause winbind to generate more detailed error messages. If Winbind is getting as far as communicating with a DC, you can run a network packet capture utility such as Netmon 3.1. This lets you analyze exactly what Winbind is trying to do. And you can also inspect the Windows security log on the DC, which will show authentication attempts. If you've managed to get everything to work, you now have the ability to log into your Linux system using credentials that you maintain in Active Directory. This is a huge improvement over managing identities locally on the Linux machine or using an insecure system such as NIS. It lets you centralize your user management on one identity store: Active Directory. But there are a several things that are missing to make this solution truly useful. First, getting technical support is a bit of a hit-or-miss operation. Most Linux organizations are somewhat in the dark when it comes to Active Directory, and the support you can get from the Linux community depends entirely on who happens to read your post and how they feel that day. There are also no migration or deployment tools with Samba. If you have existing Linux accounts with their associated user IDs and permissions, you will have to manually ensure that they maintain their UIDs when you migrate them to Active Directory. Finally, one of the most important Active Directory apps, Group Policy, isn't yet available with Samba, although it is in the works. Even though you can join a Linux system to Active Directory with Samba, you can't manage it using Group Policy. Authenticating Linux machines with Active Directory is clearly A Good Thing, but rolling your own solution using Samba Winbind is tedious if not downright painful. You would think some innovative software vendors would step up with an easier-to-use solution, and you would be right. There are four commercial software vendors that have developed easy-to-install-and-use versions of what I've demonstrated in this article. They provide the code and migration tools for nearly every popular version of Linux, UNIX, and Apple Macintoshes, as well as support for managing Linux machines using Group Policy. Does it make sense to build your own authentication system using Samba and Winbind when there are commercial options available? If spending money on integration software isn't in the budget, then going the open-source route with Samba has the advantage of being free. You also get all the source code, which can be a compelling benefit. But migrating existing Linux machines and their existing UIDs is a very thorny problem. On the other hand, if you want to save installation and implementation time, you have existing Linux machines you need to migrate, or you would rather have someone to call for an authoritative answer to your question, then checking out one of the commercial solutions makes sense. And if you need Group Policy management, then the commercial alternative is your only choice. But whichever way you go, integrating Linux authentication with Active Directory reduces the effort you spend managing multiple user accounts, improves system security, and provides you with a single identity store to manage and audit. And those are all pretty compelling reasons to give it a try. Gil Kirkpatrick has designed or developed dozens of successful commercial software products in his 30-year career, and he is the founder of the Directory Experts Conference (now called The Experts Conference). Gil is the author of Active Directory Programming and is a frequent contributor to Windows IT Pro and TechNet Magazine. In his current role as Expert-in-Residence at NetPro (now part of Quest Software), Gil consults on various security, identity, and marketing projects and speaks at technology seminars and conferences around the world.

2019-04-18T12:52:04Z

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-magazine/dd228986(v%3Dmsdn.10)

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The kitchen. Yep, it’s the room that holds the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and assorted smaller appliances. But it’s also the center around which the house revolves – a gathering place, communication center, and a warm and cozy room to receive nourishment. As such it must be spotless, sparkling and spacious. Potential homebuyers want to feel they can eat off the floor or the tops of appliances even though they would never do it. While massive kitchen remodeling isn’t a good idea when you’re preparing to put your home on the market, replacing old, inefficient appliances may be a good idea. Not only does this make the kitchen seem updated without a lot of work, but also “new appliances” looks good on the listing. Make sure your garbage disposal is in good working order. If it doesn’t work properly, have it fixed or replaced. You don’t have one? Have one installed. Many a cook has said that the garbage disposal is the one appliance they must absolutely have in their kitchen! Check your sink, pipes and faucets for leaks. Replace chipped porcelain or a rusty stainless steel sink. If faucets leak, replace them with an inexpensive set with a simple design. If your faucets are in good condition, this is a good time to replace the washers to keep them from wearing out while your house is on the market. For heavy duty plumbing issues, call a professional plumber. Sellers need to “lighten up” when preparing their kitchens for the onslaught of potential buyers. At the very least, clean the walls until they sparkle by scrubbing them with detergent and a sponge. However, spending some extra money on a light shade of paint will make the room look fresh and clean. Paint the walls and trim. If your cabinets are dark and out of style, paint them, too. Go with neutral colours like beige or white because they make the room look bigger and brighter. Keep rooms bright with natural sunlight and light fixtures. Keep windows clean and curtains open. Install lights over counters, food preparation areas and the stove. This is a convenient time to reset the stove clock, too. Replace light bulbs in existing fixtures and increase wattage if necessary. Allow maximum light to shine by cleaning anything the light shines through – domes, shades, chandeliers, etc. Adding new accents instead of making major changes will save time and money. New handles on cabinets and drawers will complete their updated look. Ditch dark window treatments and replace them with an inexpensive, airy-looking valance in a pale colour. If flooring is damaged and must be replaced, opt for a simple pattern no-wax floor or neutral tile. The idea is to get the most mileage out of fewer dollars. When the basics are completed, invest in good cleaning supplies and scrub every inch of that kitchen like it’s never been scrubbed in the house’s history. Remove magnets and everything else from the refrigerator door. In fact, clean out the inside as well. Use a sponge and antibacterial cleaner to scrub dirt, grease and food particles from the surfaces. Unless you have a self-cleaning oven, use oven cleaner to make the oven spotless inside, including the door. Use antibacterial cleaner to clean the stovetop and any other spot you can reach. Clear off all counters in order to clean and disinfect them. Replace only the items you use every day and limit them to three. Remember to clean small appliances before returning them to the counter or cupboard. Everything else should be packed away and stored. If your kitchen also serves as “command central” for the family, be sure to take care of this area as well. Clean the phone with antibacterial cleaner and a paper towel. Remove outdated notes from the bulletin board or remove the entire board and store it in a closet. Sort through items in the mail organizer and throw out as much as possible and file everything else. If you can do without the organizer for awhile, clean out the letters and store it with the bulletin board. If there’s an alternate space to locate your command central, then do so. This will make the kitchen area look more organized and functional. As long as your house is open to prospective buyers, be extra careful to keep the kitchen free of dirt and clutter. Wash and put away dishes, pots and pans after each meal. Never, ever leave dirty dishes in the sink for others to see. Clean and store small appliances, such as food choppers, immediately after each use. Be sure to wipe down the counters and sink following each meal. Sweep the floor daily and wipe up any spilled food as soon as it hits the tile. Give the floor a good mopping at least once a week or whenever it looks less than spotless. Keep the towel and dish cloth clean and hanging on rails. If the kitchen is put back into top shape after each use then it will eliminate frantic, last-minute efforts to clean leftover messes. Just before prospective buyers arrive to look at the house, double-check the details. Have you turned on all the lights? Are the towels clean and hanging on a rail? Do you need to give the faucets a quick wipe? Does the garbage need to be taken outside? Everything is ready? Light a gingerbread-smelling candle, put on some soft music and wait for the doorbell to ring. Find The Best Hiding Places Buyers Will Never Look! What do you do when your Realtor calls and wants to show your home in say, half an hour? Jump for joy first, since someone wants to look at YOUR home, right? Then, panic. As you hang up the phone, you notice that your teenagers have been at it again…your house is CLEAN, it’s just not TIDY. Now, what do you do? Since we all know that the first impression is important, especially if you want to sell your home in the next decade, we have a few tips that will help you quickly hide away “stuff.” But first, you have to know where the buyers are going to look, and ensure that these places are constantly tidy. Places that buyers will look include the oven, any closets, kitchen drawers, laundry room, and the kitchen pantry. Think about it; these places give them an indication, essentially, of how much storage space there is. If they’re overflowing, the buyers will think there just isn’t enough room to store their own things, since obviously you don’t have the space. Don’t defeat your efforts by stashing clutter in these places at the last minute, no matter how tempting it may be! Enough of that! What you want to know is, at the last minute, where CAN you hide things? Under the bed. It’s spacious, easy to get to, and no one in their right mind would get down on their hands and knees to look there during their first visit. In addition, kids are probably used to stashing things there anyway, and can help you. In the washer and dryer. Who hasn’t seen the commercial where a little kid has stashed a pet in there? We don’t recommend putting your pets in there, but clothes and shoes and “stuff” can easily fit. Although buyers like to look in the laundry to see the size and neatness, they won’t be looking to see if you actually have things in there. Our caution is to let everyone in the family know that it’s a hiding place, and to never start the machines without checking the contents first. In the refrigerator. This is risky; you know your kids are going to be in and out of the fridge – and how embarrassing would it be to have a shoe fall out? On the other hand, if you’ve just walked in from the grocery, you can certainly stash the entire grocery bag in there, until you’re ready to unpack it and put things away neatly. Behind the couch. That is, if the couch is against the wall. We all know that things get trapped there anyway, so it could be a quick opportunity to drop a toy or wayward socks for a quick fix. In the trunk of your car. Your garage or carport needs to be tidy. If it isn’t garbage day, yet you have bags lying around, drop them in. Skateboards and roller blades are a hazard anyway, so drop them in, too. Nobody has a right to check in your vehicle – take advantage of that fact! Let me leave you with this quick story. My aunt, being a naturally organized person, has clothes closets organized by colour and like items, linen closets with towels and sheets stacked by size and color, and jars in her kitchen pantry with labels facing the front like a grocery store shelf. This may seem extreme, but when she showed the house for sale, one buyer actually told her that he’d buy her home for the state of her closets alone! He believed that if she paid that much attention to a closet, that she must have taken that kind of care with the rest of her home. Before you consider buying another home, you need to find out how much homes are selling for in today’s market, so you can make your plans based on the most up-to-date information available. Now you can do that for free over the phone in just a couple of minutes. Just call me a call at 647.448.6106 or email me at [email protected] with some basic information about the kind of house you’re looking for and areas you’d like to know about. When we get the information, we’ll prepare a report for you that shows the most current market activity in any area you choose (including all the homes that are currently on the market – even if it’s out of town). You’ve found your dream home, so you’ll make an acceptable offer and live happily ever after...unless another buyer beats you to the punch! In a competitive marketplace, this can not only happen, but can potentially have a far greater impact than any negotiating gambit the seller would hurl your way. Yet, more buyers erroneously fear the seller more than they do other competing buyers! That’s why it’s important to make sure your offer strategy includes a strong stance against other potential buyers and their offers. There are several factors that make buyer competition a threat in today’s real estate market. First, in a competitive market with relatively few quality properties available, “dream home” category houses will become hot properties – often as soon as the for sale is planted in the yard. Most buyers want to purchase a home that requires very little fix-up. They comment, “I want to bring in my toothbrush and immediately set up housekeeping.” And to obtain these turnkey benefits, buyers are willing to pay a premium. That can translate into not only a full-price offer, but one that exceeds the seller’s listed price. In an active market, timing is everything. In the good old days, you might have the luxury of viewing a home several times – even dragging your relatives to see it... before you actually made an offer. “He/she who hesitates is lost” aptly explains buyers who dally to make a buying decision today. And don’t forget that being pre-approved for a loan has leveled the playing field for a majority of buyers. If they’re all equally qualified financially, the best offer (as interpreted by the seller) gets the property. So, what can you do to arm yourself to the teeth with added value to capture a seller and counteract offers from other buyers? First, make sure you’re financially pre-approved by a Lender for the loan you’ll need and be prepared to document this fact to a seller if requested. Be honest with the seller about your interest in purchasing the property. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t negotiate a fair purchase; but it also doesn’t mean that you’ll act nonchalant and noncommittal either. Sellers often choose one buyer’s offer over another based on the level of personal interest and commitment the buyer appears to have to the seller’s home. Lastly, make sure you fully communicate the desired outcome to the real estate consultant you’re working with. The consultant will then evaluate the best tack to take in terms of price, purchase terms, and negotiating tactics to help you realize that goal. The next time you’re inclined to wonder what evil trick the seller might be up to, better look behind you first...to see if other buyers are trying to pull the rug out from under your dream home! We’ve all heard the horror stories about movers who didn’t deliver (literally) what they’d promised, or the priceless vase from Great Aunt Edna that got broken in a move. Here are seven things to help you find the best mover that you can. Identify only licensed, insured, and bonded moving companies. Think about what you’re moving. What is it worth to you to know that it will get to your new home safe and sound? Licensed, insured, and bonded companies take the extra step to ensure that your things get to your new home, because they’re held responsible if they don’t. Ask for estimates from two to three companies. Shop and compare prices. Invite a mover’s representative to inspect the contents of your home. They should be able to tell you how long the move will take, what it’ll cost, and the size of the truck you’ll need. Long-distance moves can cost anywhere between $3,000 and $10,000. This is a large investment, so treat it like you would any other – and shop around. Be sure of what you’re buying. Typically, movers charge by weight and mileage. If you can get a flat rate, you’ll probably be better off. Get definite dates (in writing) of when the contents of your home will be picked up AND delivered. Declare the value of the contents of your home with the mover before you move. Otherwise, your furnishings will be valued at $1.25 per pound as a lump sum. This means that a truckload containing the contents of your home that weight 3,000 pounds is only worth $3,750. Heaven forbid that it should happen – but could you replace the things you need for that amount? This is why declaring the value and adding extra protection are so important in ensuring your sanity during your move. Stay with them as they inspect, pack, fill out the inventory, and weigh the contents of your home. The weight is particularly important because this is used to figure the final cost in most long-distance moves. Creditworthiness is your history of borrowing and repaying against things like loans, credit cards, rent, and whether you’ve ever filed for bankruptcy. Find out what credit bureau the Lender uses, then call or go online for a copy of your credit report. This is to make sure that there are no errors or surprises that you’ll have to explain to the Lender. If there are mistakes, it can take a few months to resolve, so it’s good to have a compelling explanation ready when the Lender sees it! The best way to demonstrate that you are “creditworthy” is to pay your bills in full and on time, particularly for the year or two before you want to get a loan. Lenders want to know that you have a history of sufficient and consistent income – so that you’ll be able to repay the loan. So, when you submit your paperwork to a Lender, make sure to take a letter verifying your employment (how long and what your salary is), your last couple of paychecks, and your last couple of T4 forms. So, when you’re calling around looking for the best rates, make sure and ask what the APR is on each loan you’re being told about! When you get a mortgage, there are three important terms for you to remember. I’ve combined these three terms here because they’re related, and you’ll understand them better if I explain them together. Interest Rate: “Interest Rates” are the price that Lenders charge for the use of their money. So, when interest rates are high, it’s because Lenders are charging you more to use their money right now. Again, it’s a trade-off between now and later. Lenders are only going to give you so much money to use over the next 15 to 30 years (the life of your mortgage). They work backwards from that figure using interest rates. If you have a higher interest rate, you have less money to spend now. If you have a lower interest rate, you have more money to spend now. When you hear the word “points,” what do you think of? Maybe points in a football game? Maybe a test score? Well, some smart person in the mortgage industry started using the word “points” to mean 1% of your entire loan amount, that you get to pay up front, as a fee for certain things. So let’s say your mortgage is for $200,000. One “point” would mean $2,000. Now I’ll tell you about the third term and how it relates to the first two. APR: “APR” stands for “Annual Percentage Rate.” That sounds friendly, too, doesn’t it? The APR is what you get when you add the interest rate, the points, and all of the other fees together and then calculate what the loan will cost you each year, based on all of the fees added together. Have you ever been driving through a neighbourhood and all of the sudden a Pepto Bismal pink house shocks you out of a daydream? Did you notice anything other than the colour – the lush green lawn or the squeaky clean entry way, perhaps? Of course not. You were probably too busy gawking at the colour. Colour is a powerful thing. Red is stimulating, which is why you don’t see too many school rooms painted this colour. Dark blue is relaxing. Yellow reminds us of sunlight, so it has a tendency to evoke cheerful feelings. Green encourages peacefulness and stability. Colours can remind us of certain people, specific places or times in our lives – some good, some bad. When preparing your home to put it up for sale, one thing you don’t want to do is evoke the wrong feelings. It’s best to play it safe and opt for neutral, reflective colours like white or ivory for the interior. White, light grey and tan work well for the exterior. Use of colour is a great way to create optical illusions that are effective in downplaying a home’s shortcomings. For instance, using lighter colours will make a small space seem larger. Conversely, if you wish a room to look smaller, then paint it a warmer colour. If a room is long and narrow, paint the walls at either end a dark, warm colour like deep brown or green. This will draw the ends to the center of the room, giving it more of a square look. To lower a ceiling that’s too high, paint it a darker colour – coffee tones, greys, or dark green. Just make sure the room is light enough to handle the darker colours. To make a low ceiling appear higher, paint the walls a darker colour than the ceiling. Busy walls with areas chopped up by radiators, doors, vents and windows make a room look smaller. Paint the room in a flat tone, including the radiator, doors, vents and casement, and these negative features will blend into the room. Colour allows one to make the best of a home’s not-so-great features. Many experts favor paint over wallpaper, but there are times when wallpaper may be the best choice. Use wallpaper if it covers a cosmetic problem or if it adds to the home’s historic charm. Exercise caution and self restraint, though, and stay away from large or loud patterns, strong colours and unusual designs. Vertical stripes make a room seem taller and hallways shorter. Horizontal stripes make a room look wider and hallways longer. Regardless of the design flaw being camouflaged, it’s best to keep wallpaper as nondescript as possible. Generally, the rule is to keep walls, ceilings and floors neutral and add colours with accent items. Temporary splashes of colour can be added with all types of fabrics – area rugs, table cloths, napkins, sofa cushions, window curtains, bed spreads and quilts. Kitchens can be spiced up with canisters, dish towels, framed prints, curtains, window blinds, wallpaper boarders and green plants. Just be sure to keep the plants watered. Give pizzazz to bathrooms with matching towel sets, bath mats, shower curtains, toilet seats, decorative hand soaps, silk flowers, curtains, blinds and wall hangings. In bedrooms, throw in colour through comforters or quilts, sheets, window treatments, area rugs, and plants or flowers. Just keep in mind that these items are to enhance the look of the house; they’re not to add clutter or make a statement. You want the house to speak for itself. Purchase a new door mat to give the front door area a fresh look. Have at least three quotes done on costly repairs so you can select the most economical company for the job. All repair work can be negotiated. Don’t be afraid to ask for a better deal. To create a spacious feeling in the house, turn on lights in every room. Use the proper type of paint for each surface you need to cover. Kitchen and bathrooms require paint that can withstand heat and moisture. Consult a professional at a paint store for advice. Create an information booklet containing property tax statements; records of maintenance, service work, warranty work and improvements made to the house; utility bills; and warranties for the roof, pool, spa, electrical systems and major appliances. Immediately before showing the house, make the home inviting by cleaning windows, opening the drapes, turning on lights and playing soft music. Keep under-the-bed storage containers handy for last minute clean up. Fill them with clutter and shove them out of sight. Light a couple of lightly scented candles to give a feeling of warmth and add a nice aroma. Have an ultimate scenario of where you’re trying to be. What will life be like when you get there? How will it be better than where you are now? Dwell on that picture and write it out, fill up at least a page about how it feels in the new place. This is imperative. Having the goal in front of you at all times energizes you to achieve it, in spite of setbacks and frustrations. Emotions will run high and you need an anchor. You must focus on that future goal when anxiety threatens to get the better of you. In your monetary calculations, overestimate by a thousand dollars. In this market, anything can happen between contract acceptance and closing. It could be the inspections reveal areas of concern that the seller is unwilling to fix or the repair costs are higher than the amount limited in the contract. Or the interest rate changes which affects the necessary down payment and closing costs you’ll need to come up with. As your real estate team, we’ll strive to tie up loose ends as quickly as possible, but remember there is no perfect world. Most buyers feel a bit overwhelmed when taking on a new mortgage and the responsibilities of a new home. We’ve seen many buyers get angry when it seems like the cost just keeps going up. Anger is caused when reality doesn’t match up with the expectations you had in your mind. If you anticipate this happening in advance, you won’t get angry. In fact, it’ll probably go better than you expected. There’s just so much to do, it’s easy to panic. You wonder if it will ever work out. In fact, when we bought our house, we couldn’t eat for a day, we felt so sick to our stomachs! You think you’re taking a big chance, but the truth is you’re giving yourself a big chance. Even though you can’t see every step of the way, as you move towards your goals, the way opens up. We know that you haven’t moved in a long time and it’s a major upheaval in your life. But we’ve been there many times before, and we’ll be looking out for you. Trust that we know the way to get you there. One thing you’ll probably feel during this transition time is being out of control. It feels like everyone else has taken over your life. The seller, your Lender, the appraiser, the inspectors, all have the power to say yes or no to your moving plans. We’ll try our best to let you know ahead of time what your expenses will be, and what the unknowns are. We’ll tie down the loose ends as soon as possible. We’ll try to get your loan approved within a reasonable time frame. We’ll educate you as best we can and let you in “behind the scenes” so you won’t ever feel stupid or out of control. Whenever you’re ready to start looking at homes, you may want to take advantage of our FREE HomeFinder Service, where our computers will search and match your exact wants and needs with ALL the new homes that come on the market each day. Our HomeFinder Service is perfect for when you’re starting to look at homes, and you want to find out about NEW listings as soon as they come on the market. If you’d like more information on our free HomeFinder Service, just call me at 647.339.7721 or email me at [email protected] and I’ll help you any way I can. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re getting ready to put your home on the real estate market. After all, a plethora of books have been devoted to the subject, and each one has a to-do list that could intimidate even the most organized of sellers. Take heart, though, because many experts agree on five relatively inexpensive repairs or renovations that won't blow your budget to bits or cause your stress level to skyrocket. They will, however, enable you to sell your home more quickly and get top dollar for it. Take a deep breath, relax, and know that these suggestions will make your experience a bit easier. Before you pick up the first paint brush, carpet swatch, or bag of mulch, reach for the scrub brush and cleaning solution – or hire a cleaning service.The first order of business is to give your house an in-depth cleaning. This means scrubbing ceilings, floors and everything in between them, inside and out. A trip to your local discount store can yield adequate cleaning solutions, scrub brushes, sponges, mops and anything else you need to make your home sparkle. And once it’s sparkling, you’re all set to work your way down this list! Many experts rate painting the house inside and out right up there with cleaning on the importance scale. Usually the cost of the paint is lower than the value a paint job adds to the house. This even holds true if you opt to hire a professional to do it, which may be a good idea since it would get done more quickly and with less mess. Either way, opt for light, neutral colours such as white or beige and paint every room the same colour. These colours appeal to more people, enhance the light in the rooms, make space seem larger, and give continuity to the house. Use a flat finish on walls and a washable high gloss finish in a complimentary colour for the doors and woodwork. Don’t forget to paint the ceilings, which get dirty and appear darker over time. A painted room will still look dreary if the ceiling is neglected. After deep cleaning your house, painting is the next step in preparing your home for the scrutiny of potential buyers. Think your carpet looks okay and needn’t be replaced? Think again. Most experts agree that carpet should be replaced if it’s over a year old. Take out worn, dated or outlandish-coloured carpet and replace it with a tight weave in a neutral colour like white or beige. Lighter colours will make the room appear larger. Carpet needn’t be expensive to improve the look of the house, be attractive to a buyer, and pay for itself with a higher selling price. Putting some time and effort into landscaping your property goes a long way towards improving the home’s curb appeal (the first impression a prospective buyer has when he pulls up to the house.) With landscaping there’s a direct trade-off between time and money. You get more for your money when you have the time to plant grass seed instead of sod or purchase smaller plants and let them grow into maturity. Sod costs more but is instantly green. Seeds cost less but take more time. An inexpensive way to add colour to the yard is to clear out dead foliage or grass and replace it with flowering plants. Make sure you add some fresh topsoil and mulch around the flower beds. Don’t forget to prune shrubs so they stay healthy, and mulch around them to stave off weeds. After putting effort into improving the landscaping, remember to maintain it with regular watering, fertilizer and edging. While we’re talking about curb appeal, it’s time to mention the importance of your driveway. It is, after all, what the buyers will see when they first arrive! While a good driveway isn’t likely to evoke exclamations of joy, a bad driveway creates an initial bad impression that will have to be reversed. It’s better to repair the driveway. Buyers will see oil and rust stains, broken pieces and cracks, so it’s best to clean and repair as much as possible. Commercial cleaners and bleach work well on cement driveways and are readily available at discount or home improvement stores. Areas that are cracked can be cut away and repoured without replacing the entire driveway. If your driveway is asphalt, putting down a new coat of tar or resealing the black top gives it a clean look. Brick driveways should be carefully examined for loose and broken bricks; replace any that are broken, make sure all the bricks are in alignment, and spray weed killer between them. The front door is the entrance into what could be the prospective buyers’ new home so it needs to be clean, in good repair and inviting in appearance. Often, a new hardwood door – which can run between $1,000 to over $2,000 – can upgrade the entire appearance of the entryway, giving it a stately look. However, if nothing else, give the door a good scrubbing and a couple coats of paint. Fix squeaky or sticky hinges, make sure door knobs work well, double check the doorbell and replace light bulbs. It doesn’t hurt to put out a new welcome mat and add a potted plant for colour – you want to beckon visitors to come inside your sparkling clean home! There are some simple things you can and should be doing right now to make sure you’ll get the highest price in the least amount of time. If you’re going to be selling your house in the next 6 to 12 months, a free “Room-by-Room Review” is the perfect first step and will give you a head start on which projects or fix-ups will give you the best return on your investment. The review shows you the most important things you can do now to prepare for your move. Just give me a call at 647.448.6106 or email me at [email protected] and we can arrange a time to get together. Fix or replace damaged flooring, such as torn linoleum, scratched hardwood floors or cracked tiles. If you can't afford to replace damaged or worn floors, consider offering the buyer an allowance for renovation. Polyurethane or varnishing the wood floors will make them look like new. Fix any drains, faucets or plumbing fixtures that aren't operating. Fixes can range from replacing a faucet washer to buying a new toilet, reglazing the bathtub may be another option instead of buying a new one. Fill and paint any cracks or holes in the walls (You may need to repaint entire walls to mask such repairs). Replace burned out bulbs and broken electrical sockets. Most agents will want you to turn on all the lights before a showing. Replace or fix broken stairs. Fix any creaks as well. Replace old locks and doorknob. Make it easy for a buyer to walk in or look at rooms or closets. Fix any doors that don't open easily, including the garage door. If your garage door opener doesn't work, repair or replace it. 1. Replace cracked windows and torn screens. Don't let your house be shown with the equivalent of a black eye. 2. Fix cracks in the driveway and entry walkway, and clean up stains. If the driveway requires major repair, it may be preferable to offer the buyer an allowance for the work. Replace broken gutters or missing downspouts. A good drainage, it's "key" to passing a home inspection. 5. Replace or fix broken stairs or steps. It's a matter of both safety and aesthetics. Plus the possibility of a lawsuit is always important to keep in mind. Reseal the deck and repair broken boards. A new coat of sealer can spruce up a fading deck. Replace shingles and tack down loose flashing. If the roof is old, you may want to replace it and adjust your sales price accordingly. For more information about selling your home, please do not hesitate to contact us. The 6 Secrets to SOLD in 60 Days(or less)! In the current economic environment, bad news is everywhere. If you listen long enough, you just might believe it. Have you heard that homes aren’t selling? Have you heard that no matter what, there are no buyers out there? Both of these statements are categorically FALSE. Homes sell every single day, and some surprisingly fast. Below is a list of the 6 secrets that most home sellers don’t know about selling their home (and if they do know, then they aren’t implementing). CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION! I mean it. No, I REALLY mean it. You must be willing to invest some time and money into getting your home in perfect showing condition. Take down the 1970’s flowered wallpaper. Install new neutral carpet. Get your trophies off the wall and put away. Clean out your closets. Clean out your cabinets. The goal is to make the potential homebuyers see THEMSELVES in the home and not you. It is worth a financial investment in hiring a professional home stager to come in to consult on the condition of your home. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, we will reimburse you for the cost of our home stager once your home is sold and closed. Additionally, we offer a 100% Free Service called a Room by Room Review. Give us a call and we can come out to help you. ACCESS, ACCESS, ACCESS! Again, I am serious about this. If there are any hurdles to giving a buyer access to see your home, they may not be interested in buying it. Qualified buyers should be able to see your home from 9am to 8pm seven days a week with at most a one hour notice. If you have animals, they should take a vacation at a friends’ or family member’s home. (It’ll only be for 60 days, right?) You should NOT be home. A huge mistake home sellers make is trying to “Sell” their home to the potential buyers. Buying a home is an emotional and personal thing. Leave it up to your listing broker to inform the buyers and their agent of the features that make your home stand out. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, we take extra precautions to make sure that only qualified buyers and their agents have access to your home. Additionally, we create professional material to be displayed inside your home that highlights the features that can help the buyers make the decision to make your home their home. EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE, EXPOSURE! This is not just about the 3 P’s that most agents do when they list your home… “Put it in the MLS, Plop a sign in the ground, and Pray that it sells.” Your home must be exposed to every single person that it might appeal to. This means a focused, intensive, leave-no-stone-unturned strategy to expose your home to the homebuyers out there. This multi-tiered strategy must include signage, email marketing, direct mail, the MLS, brokerage tours, massive web presence, social media, video, flyers, networking, toll free recordings, and numerous additional strategies. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, you will enjoy a comprehensive exposure package that is second to none in the industry; a package that allows us to sell over 5 times as many homes as the average REALTOR® in the area. COMMUNICATION & FLEXIBILITY! When all of the buyers and/or their agents have come through your home, they all have opinions. It is important to find out what their opinion is and if it is important to sell your home. For example, if two or three possible buyers feel that the carpet is old or is dirty, perhaps you need to be flexible enough to either change it or clean it. So there are two steps here, first you must know what the buyer’s and their opinions are and second, you must be willing to react. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, you can feel confident that we work hard to get feedback from every buyer who comes through the home. We email the buyer’s agent for FOUR CONSECUTIVE DAYS with questions about their opinion on your home. If we receive the feedback, you will know instantaneously via email what their opinion is (and if there is something you can do about it). MASTER THE MARKET DATA How many homes are you competing against? How long are homes taking to sell? How much are homes selling for and what percentage of list price are they getting? What is the current economic environment both nationally and in your local market? How many months supply of inventory are there? These are all very important questions that need answers because you don’t sell your home in a bubble. There are so many different factors that affect your home and you need to understand all of them. For example, if a massive employer in your market suddenly goes out of business, many of your neighbors are out of work and may need to move to find new employment or they may begin to struggle to make their monthly payments if they can’t find a new local job in short order. In either scenario, the collapse of the local employer affects the salability of your home. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, you can expect a report that provides all of this information to you in a clear and concise format. Additionally, we are going to help you decipher this information and figure out how this translates into a strategy to get your home SOLD in 60 days or less. Figure out how many similar homes sell a month on average. Figure out exactly how many homes you would be competing against. Figure out what the condition of the competition is. Be priced within the number of homes that sell a month. House #1 priced at $329,000 in excellent shape. House #2 priced at $335,000 not in good shape. House #3 priced at $339,000 but on a main road. House #4 priced at $339,000 in excellent shape. House #5 priced at $345,000 in good shape. House #6 priced at $349,000 in excellent shape. Where do you price your home? The answer is at $339,000 but absolutely under $345,000. Why? Because 3 homes are going to sell in the next 30 days approximately. House #1 is going to sell due to price and condition. House #2 and #3 are not going to sell because they have issues with either location or condition. House #4 is going to sell. Now, you need to be next in line because 3 homes are going to sell this month. By being priced at $339,000 but no higher then $345,000, you’ll sell. When you hire The Property Savvy Team of Century 21 Millennium Inc. to consult on the sale of your home, you can expect this analysis of pricing and your competition. This is information that most sellers and their agents NEVER even think about and we’ve got it for you! Additionally, we will go further into the pricing strategy to maximize every possible dollar that you deserve! THE PROPERTY SAVVY TEAM OF CENTURY 21 MILLENNIUM INC. BONUS: By requesting a Free Report, you will automatically be signed up to receive our monthly “Home Seller Newsletter” it is bursting with information about staging your home and simple tips and tricks to make your home show in its best light when it is time to sell. DID YOU KNOW the LONGER your home is on the market the less it will sell for? You deserve to be SOLD in 60 days or less, do you not? Are you wondering how the GTA real estate market is doing? Below you will find helpful information from the Toronto Real Estate Board. February 4, 2015 -- Toronto Real Estate Board President Paul Etherington announced a strong start to 2015, with robust year-over-year sales and average price growth in January. Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 4,355 home sales through the TorontoMLS system during the first month of the year. This result represented a 6.1 per cent increase over January 2014. During the same period, new listings were up by 9.5 per cent. "The January results represented good news on multiple fronts. First, strong sales growth suggests home buyers continue to see housing as a quality long-term investment, despite the recent period of economic uncertainty. Second, the fact that new listings grew at a faster pace than sales suggests that it has become easier for some people to find a home that meets their needs," said Mr. Etherington. The average selling price for January 2015 home sales was up by 4.9 per cent year-overyear to $552,575. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite benchmark was up by 7.5 percent compared to January 2014. "Home price growth is forecast to continue in 2015. Lower borrowing costs will largely mitigate price growth this year, which means affordability will remain in check. The strongest rates of price growth will be experienced for low-rise home types, including singles, semis and town houses. However, robust end-user demand for condo apartments will result in above-inflation price growth in the high-rise segment as well," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Director of Market Analysis.

2019-04-25T10:42:20Z

http://www.propertysavvy.ca/Blog

§ Lord VAIZEY rose to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of the difficulties facing young people who are training for careers in the arts. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. First, may I thank all noble Lords in the Chamber who are going to take part in the debate for their great concern about this important issue. A number of other Peers wanted to take part, but they cannot, unfortunately, be present, notably the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, the noble Lord, Lord Miles, and the noble Lord, Lord Vernon, who is unfortunately ill. I hope very much that he will soon be better. I am sure, though, that despite their absence it will be an interesting and valuable debate. Not least, may I in anticipation thank my noble friend for his reply and say how much we are looking forward to the maiden speech of the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, who has come here tonight specially for this important debate. § I had the privilege of being the chairman of two committees of inquiry into training for the arts which were established by the Gulbenkian Foundation. One was into drama and the other was into music. There were two further reports: one on dance, chaired by Mr. Peter Brinson; and another on the visual arts, chaired by Dr. Richard Hoggart, will soon follow. The three reports on the performing arts—I know that my noble friend Lord Gosford will be speaking particularly about the visual arts—make many similar points, and I wish to draw your Lordships' attention to them tonight. § Achievement in the arts is of course a matter of talent and genius, but the high levels of achievement are dependent upon high levels of training. You get good dancers, good orchestras, good actors, out of a well tilled and well fertilised seedbed in which individual plants of genius and talent are nurtured. The rise in the standards of British dance, drama and music in this century, and especially in the past 30 years, is principally due to the excellence of the training which is provided here in Britain. All the reports provide chapter and verse for that. There is no 1534 doubt at all that training leads to excellence, and we have excellence in this country probably without parallel in the Western World. § The next point I want to make is that we are dealing with very small numbers of people. All children of course have artistic gifts of one kind or another but the number who are gifted, in the sense that they have the potential to go on to become professional performers or to play in one of the great symphony orchestras, is exceptionally small. In the report on music, we estimated that out of the 10 million children in our schools, something like 30,000 children were probably gifted in that sense. The figures for dance and for drama may well be smaller. Not all of those people with these very rare gifts will want to make use of them in their professional lives. Many gifted people, like my noble friend Lord Annan, whose brilliant lecture on Shakespeare the other night showed that he would make a brilliant actor, has chosen to use his gifts in academic life. Not all of these gifted people want to be professional performers, and many of these very gifted children are dealt with perfectly adequately in normal local authority schools or in independent schools, like St. Paul's Girls' School. So the numbers involved that we are talking about are very small, but of course they are terribly important. § If I may come to the first problem to which I wish to draw your Lordships' attention, if you want to exercise a musical or a dancing gift—and there can be few greater gifts that can be bestowed upon anybody than to have the gift to be a musician of genius or a dancer of genius—you have to begin very early. Local authorities are more and more setting up schemes to identify talent and to develop it through music centres and the use of peripatetic teachers in ordinary schools. But there is no doubt at all that some children need a special environment. Noble Lords will know that Mrs. Shirley Williams in the 1976 Education Act exempted schools for music and dance from the general provisions about secondary educational reorganisation which were incorporated in that Act. My Lords, the noble Lord will remember that noble Lords on his side 1535 of the House were bitterly opposed to this exemption. My Lords, that is perfectly true, although no doubt the noble Lord will also remember that I helped to move various amendments along those lines at that time. Yes, my Lords, that is right. If we take some of these schools, like Chetham's School, Manchester, which is a very great school, or Wells Cathedral School or the Royal Ballet School, the difficulty is that these schools are charitable foundations. Although they in some respects get a direct grant from the Department of Education and Science, I hope that ways and means can be found for local authorities to give direct support to these schools—as, indeed, is being tried very imaginatively by the London Borough of Brent for the Purcell School—and that other local authorities will not be unduly restrictive when they are called upon to pay the hefty fees for those very few children who need to go to these schools—perhaps in the whole country at most a few hundred in every year. May I now turn to the second set of questions relating to the colleges—sometimes misleadingly called schools—which take people from 17 or 18 onwards. Some, like most of the arts schools, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Central School of Drama and the Guildhall School, are in the public sector and are adequately financed. Others, including some of the most prestigious, like the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Upper School of the Royal Ballet, the London Contemporary Dance School and RADA, are in the private sector, and they are finding it increasingly difficult to raise funds. I have for very long thought that for many of them a carefully negotiated entry into the public sector would be for the best. But one problem stands out, and it is the vexed question of mandatory and discretionary grants to students. Roughly speaking, if a British student goes to a university or to a polytechnic to read for a degree, he is in most circumstances qualified for a grant to cover the fees, and 1536 a maintenance grant, which is of course means tested, to cover his living expenses. But for other students attending private colleges or non-degree courses—this applies especially to dancers and to actors, for the course at the Upper School of the Royal Ballet is a non-degree course, and this also applies to a good number of musicians—the grants for fees and maintenance are at the discretion of the local authority. Now the fees in the private sector are necessarily large since they have to contribute to all the costs of the institution which in the case of the universities and the polytechnics are covered by the state. These fees are naturally quite beyond most students. In these hard times, this is where most local authorities, or many local authorities, are cutting. The consequences are that many really brilliant candidates are not able to train and that some outstanding institutions, like the London Contemporary Dance School, are threatened by closure. That is particularly sad because, as many noble Lords will know, Mr. Robin Howard, having overcome enormous personal difficulties, has created this school which is one of the most distinguished in the world, and it is now threatened by closure. It would be a terrible tragedy if this outstanding contribution to the artistic life not only of this country but of Western Europe and North America were to close. I tried to get the law on this matter amended during the passage of the Education (No. 2) Bill, but my amendment was defeated. I cannot for the life of me see the reason why the dimmest polytechnic student in business studies or the stupidest chemist at a university should get a mandatory grant while a brilliant dancer or musician is left to the vagaries of discretion. Now that the Prime Minister has reaffirmed in the strongest terms at the Royal Academy Dinner the Government's commitment to the Arts and has announced today an extra £1 million to the Royal Opera House fund, perhaps we can look at this matter again. It is surely illogical, as the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, has often said, to protect the specialist secondary schools in the Arts and then, the moment the 1537 children leave the junior school in the Royal Ballet at the age of 16, to leave them to the vagaries of local authority discretion when they get to the upper school. It is a bizarre arrangement. Of course the argument is used that it is difficult to discriminate between one kind of student and another. I think that is the wettest kind of argument I have ever heard. After all it is an old adage that "To govern is to choose" and if civil servants cannot devise a scheme I cannot see why they should have such enormous salaries. I am sure it could be done if there was the political will. I turn now to what is fundamentally the most important issue of all, namely, employment. The over-supply of people trained for the arts seems to me to be endemic in a free society. If you never dare to sell your talent then you never win the prize for expressing it. It is in the nature of being a free country that more people will try to get into the professional arts than are likely to succeed. In my opinion therefore there will always be unemployed actors, artists and musicians. It is a very difficult thing to measure because people are reluctant to give up this ambition in the face of repeated failures. All our attempts to measure it statistically ran into the sand. It does not make it any less unhappy or miserable for the people concerned because it is something which is in the nature of things, but, if we could limit the supply of training places and help to regulate entry to some extent by setting up proper career patterns, I think we could mitigate the misery and ensure that the really able boys and girls progress in their careers. Two very promising things point the way. We now have a training council in drama under the chairmanship of Mr. Van Straubenzee, the Member of Wokingham, a training board for music under the chairmanship of Mr. John Hosier of the Guildhall School of Music, and one for dance under the chairmanship of Mr. Michael Wood, formerly of the Royal Ballet School. These boards represent the employers, the unions and the training bodies and their job is try to match demand and supply and to raise standards at the training institutions. I hope that one day we shall see a training board for the arts of which these important existing boards would be constituent elements. 1538 That would be an enormous breakthrough because it would link one in to the whole power base of the Manpower Services Commission and all the agencies attached to it. It is important because one of the reasons why the arts have been so badly treated has been because they have not been organised as the rest of the economy is organised. That could be a misleading and philistine statement to make, because I share the view that we do not want an enormous bureaucracy dealing with the arts; that would be death, as it has been in Eastern Europe. "The spirit bloweth where it listeth". On the other hand, there is a great body of legislation and rules, like social security, the tax system, and so on, which affect the arts as much as they affect everything else in our lives. There is little doubt in my mind that those of us in the arts have to organise if we are to win the legitimate rewards which are available to other people in our society who are organised. It is indicative that we have virtually no lobby in the other place or here, whereas the heritage lobby—which, after all, is ultimately dealing with dead art—is immensely strong. The unions, like Equity and the Musicians' Union (for which I feel very warmly because I have worked with them for a long time) are fully seized of this and I think they are growing more and more influential and we shall see more of their impact on Parliament in the next few years. I come now to my last point. After graduation, there has to be a path to a full career. The most promising development is the National Centre for Orchestral Studies which was set up by Mr. Nick Tschaikov, a former member of the Philharmonic. My report endorsed and developed his idea and it has the support of the Musicians' Union, the BBC and the Association of British Orchestras. It is located at Goldsmiths' College—that is Dr. Richard Hoggart's college—and it gives graduates in music a full-time professional training in orchestral playing, which is something we have never had before in this country. It prepares them for excellence, but the trouble once more is grants. It picks the candidates to play a particular instrument but the candidates might live in the wrong place to get the money to get them through the course. 1539 I have only a couple of points to make in closing my speech. The major question is, what help do we need from public authorities? First, quite clearly we want mandatory grants for people taking courses in the arts. That really is essential. The second requirement is an open mind about the entry of some private bodies of great distinction into the public sector. That may be unacceptable in the present atmosphere of cutbacks and economic hard times, but it ought not to be. The equation is simple. We want more money for the gifted who form, certainly, a much smaller number than the talented. If the country does not look after the gifted, then, in my judgment, we might just as well give up talking about the outstanding achievements of this country in the arts. But even on a strict economic calculus the reports that the Gulbenkian Foundation has supported suggests less rather than more public expenditure, for a very simple reason. Perhaps I may explain, since the Minister on the Front Bench at the time could not take it in, although I am sure this Minister will. The present position offers no firm guidance to local authorities as to which are strong and which are weak colleges and schools. Discretion is used to support a large number of private institutions indiscriminately. In our view—and I speak now for the members of the committees which I chaired—too many students are now trained, with a consequent overcrowding of the labour market. We want fewer students to be trained, but trained to an even higher standard. The way to do that is to make the good schools and colleges financially secure enough to enable them to turn away mediocre applicants. At the moment they are having to take in anyone who can pay the fees. So that is why mandatory grants for institutions approved by the training boards are essential for excellence and economy. My Lords, I have ranged over a wide area of the topic and inevitably I have spoken briefly and superficially about a subject to which I have devoted much study and which I believe to be fundamental to the arts in this country. What used to be lacking was knowledge. The Gulbenkian Foundation has now made knowledge available and the time has 1540 come for action. The foundation, the unions and the employers have taken some of the action; the training boards are in existence and so is the National Centre for Orchestral Studies. It is now time for the Government to accept their responsibilities. My Lords, I am delighted to be able to be the first to thank the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, for having raised this matter with us tonight. We know of his work with the committees of the Gulbenkian Foundation and also some of us know of other work that he does in the arts world, helping the proliferation of the arts and helping others, and we are grateful to him. I think we ought also to express our thanks for the immense help which the Gulbenkian Foundation has given to the arts in this country and to this subject in particular. I think it is right to say that our discussion tonight would not be half as informed as I hope it will be if it had not been for them. Although unfortunately some noble Lords have had to remove their names from the list, we have a distinguished list of speakers and we are delighted to see the name of the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, who is about to make his maiden speech. I am going to trespass on your Lordships' time—though not very much of it—to go a little wider than the area covered by the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey. That is because he has covered it so well and there is very little with which I disagree. There will be a certain amount, I think, that will emerge in the course of what I am about to say. I am speaking tonight on behalf of the general feeling of those of us in the Liberal Party who have paid particular attention to the problems of the arts in modern life and what Government should do and should not do about it. I think it is important to put what is being said tonight against a rather broader background. If one had to make a choice, if the money was so short, as to whether you were going to cultivate excellence or you were going to cultivate as much as possible of the bubbling art which can be encouraged at the grass roots among the people of this country, it is the latter that I would choose. It is, of course, a 1541 false dichotomy. On the whole it is difficult to have one without the other, in either way. But why I think the grass-roots effort is the more important is because if you have the grass roots then I think it is impossible that the real geniuses and the really talented people, or at least a very large proportion of them, will not burst their way through and find help, indeed find the help that they are finding from the Gulbenkian Foundation and from your Lordships' debate tonight. But I think it is possible to have a sterile situation in which the few geniuses that there are in every generation are sedulously cultivated and the rest of the art world of the country goes cold and stale. I think that is something which we ought never to allow to happen. I am quite certain that the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, and I are at one in thinking that both are desperately important, but I thought it important that we should not lose track, even in discussing this rather narrow subject tonight, of the basic importance of the arts in society. To that main point I would add just three shorter ones, almost plucked at random from among the advice I have received from numerous Liberals who work in these fields. The first is the only point on which I think perhaps I disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey. I do not think I want to see fewer schools dealing with the arts, although I entirely take the point that there must be discrimination in the way that state money is used in supporting pupils in the arts. I think we must get away from the idea, which we sometimes have, that if you cannot get a job in the profession of the arts then in some way your education in the arts has been wasted. It has not. Education in the arts is a wonderful education and can be used by people in themselves in the whole of their lives. Of course it is a pity and of course it is a tragedy, and I would not deny it for a moment, if people with real talent are not allowed to use that. But what I am saying is that that kind of education is never wasted, and I am not entirely certain whether it is right to say that if you concentrate on fewer schools for better education you must necessarily get rid of the slightly less good schools and the less good education. We must 1542 remember, going back to what I was talking about earlier, that we have the need for the teachers and the animateurs who will in fact keep alive this feeling for the arts in the great mass of the people. We are at last no longer really a philistine country; that artistic feeling does exist in many places and in many ways. The second minor point I wanted to make was that we must be very careful that we do not concentrate on the special schools to the exclusion of postgraduate entry. I know the Gulbenkian Trust took this fully into consideration when they made a report under the chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey. I do not think it has been mentioned and I think it is important that it is. The third point I want to raise is the importance of the ethnic arts or ethnic artists. It is very difficult to speak on this matter without appearing to be condescending in some way, without producing half-baked theories as to whether what we need is pure ethnic art from our ethnic minorities or for them to be merging into us. AH I do say is that there is a danger of losing the art that can be produced sometimes in wonderful ways by the ethnic minorities who are with us to stay, and to lose it would be very sad indeed. T. S. Eliot pointed out in his Notes Towards the Definition of Culture that a culture always benefited from the diversity of the sources on which it could count and it always suffered from uniformity. This country is very lucky to have so many ethnic minorities, and one of the things we can actually take from them and use is their arts. Do let us never forget that when we are discussing the main subject of what we are doing about art education. Before concluding, my Lords, I should like to repeat, or at least re-emphasise, what the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, said about mandatory grants. It is, as he said, absolutely absurd that somehow in this country, which has produced and is producing great musicians, great artists, great sculptors, where our arts are in some ways in many fields at the top of what the world is producing, it should still be thought of as an optional extra which is of no importance. That is something which the Government should do and can do straight away, and I hope they will do 1543 something about it, as indeed I hope they will do everything they can to meet the points the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has put. My Lords, I rise on this occasion to support completely the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, because I totally agree with the propositions that he has put forward. My Lords, order. Is the noble Lord in order? We have a list of speakers and a maiden speaker should be speaking next. I beg your Lordships' pardon. My Lords, I, too, must thank the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, for the opportunity to discuss this important and, even more, urgent question. I must say first of all that I can lay no claim to the depth of study and the qualifications which the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, possesses, and that is particularly so in the area of dance and the theatre. I, too, can claim Robin Howard as an old friend of some 35 years. I have always been interested and aware of what he has been doing at the Institute of Contemporary Dance, but the dance has never played as much a part in my life as music. At this stage, I should like to pick up a point which the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont of Whitley, made about ethnic contributions. At the Institute of Contemporary Dance, I saw a performance which seemed to me to achieve what I did not believe was possible in dance—namely, a performance that contained such complicated intellectual and, indeed, cerebral ideas that I would not have believed it possible. It was a dance performed by a solo dancer who was black and whether it was due to a genius which was in him irrespective of his colour, or whether it was a particular contribution which came from his ethnic origins, I do not know, but I merely put it forward as a point. I have in the past had some connections with the theatre. I was in a theatrical management company of charitable status which did not try to make money, and I was a director of a commercial manage- 1544 ment company which did try to make money. The latter put on some plays of which I was proud and which lost money; and also some plays of which I was ashamed and which made money. Therefore, on a general basis all that I can really say is that I fully support the recommendations that the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has advanced tonight; namely, that mandatory grants should be available for the arts as they are for other subjects of higher education, and there should be—but obviously on a longer-term—some reorganisation of education, especially in music, in the colleges. Having said that, I shall confine any further remarks to the field of music. For, although I have no professional qualifications I have continuously for the past 25 years been involved with various types of musical organisations and two in particular were concerned with young artists. For about 15 years I have been chairman of the National Trust Concert Society which, until two or three years ago, was responsible for putting on concerts in National Trust houses. That active function has now reverted to the National Trust which has grown, which has an organisation and which is happy to take it on. Partly by design and partly because of economic necessity those concerts employed a very high proportion of young artists. If one has a house which can accommodate an audience of perhaps 150, the economics mean that one must look for promising young artists at the beginning of their career. For that we depended upon the most expert professional advice and also on the wide knowledge of a number of my colleagues who had irons in the fire in a similar way in other organisations. One of the problems that were brought home to us was, for example, that a promising young pianist in this country who, say, enters the Leeds Festival Piano Competition is at a great disadvantage as regards his competitors from, say, Eastern Europe simply because he does not have the exposure to the public, he does not have the opportunities to perform. That is one of the very grave handicaps which, in my view, are faced by young artists in this area. I would agree, too, with the views expressed both in Gulbenkian and tonight by the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, that there 1545 is a strong argument for raising the standards of entry to the musical colleges; reducing the number of students in the musical colleges; improving the ratio of teachers to students; and raising the standards on leaving, often after, I think, a fourth year, especially for string players. A musician friend of mine, who already has an international reputation, I think expressed it fairly succinctly when he said that what we wanted was rather less of a finishing school and rather more of the conservatoire. At this time I do not propose to go further along the lines that the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont of Whitley, has followed about the general virtues of music for education. I agree with the noble Lord, but I do not think that this is the occasion on which to expand on this. For a moment I should like to draw on my personal experience. I can claim no formal musical education whatever other than that I made an unsuccessful attempt to play the piano up to the age of nine. The lady who taught me, no doubt an inept pupil, could not resist pulling my then copious hair, and I abandoned this in an attempt to avoid baldness. Nevertheless, I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without music. It may not be a very scientific way—I might have learned much more quickly if I had understood more about it—but, simply by using my ears, it has come to play an almost major part in my life and there are very few days when I do not listen to music. Therefore, I think that when we talk about the balance between concentrating on the excellence at the top—that is, producing performers of the highest quality—we are talking about education as well. When the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont, talks about a few musicians of genius, I do not think that he has quite understood what the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has said, which is that when we talk about excellence we are talking about a quality of a first-rate orchestral player, not of a world-famous star. How much does musical life in this country owe to the efforts of, for instance, Sir Robert Mayer?—who has exposed children to something that they did not imagine. I think that we owe an equal debt to Sir William Glock, whose work 1546 on the original Third Programme has continued so that musical horizons which never dawned even on our parents have been available to everybody in this country who, of course, went to the trouble to listen. There is something formidable about what is regarded as serious music. I suggest with some diffidence that perhaps it is just as important to achieve first-rate performances of second-rate works as well as not particularly distinguished performances of great masterpieces. In Vienna the New Year concert of what seems to me to be very second-rate music, and what Sir Thomas Beecham charmingly described as his "lollypops", brings into the musical field people who would not otherwise listen. There is one point for which perhaps I could make a special pleading. It is something about which I know a certain amount. Since its formation I have been the chairman of a body with a charitable status which administers a baroque orchestra in this country which I think I can describe as second to none, though some critics have said that it is the finest in London. This is a development over not more than the last 10 years in this country, perhaps even shorter. It raises particular problems about training. The performance from original scores on original instruments, or copies of them, and in a style which, after a certain amount of research, is as close as we can get to what the composer intended, is very exacting. No doubt the position in the colleges is improving rapidly as there is a feedback through the professors and teachers who are themselves experts in this particular kind of performance, an expertise which they have probably had to achieve the hard way in their working life. I think that it is peripheral to the general argument, but it reinforces the importance of the high standards in the music colleges and, above all, of the necessity for a fourth year when required. The economic prospect at the moment is, I think all your Lordships will agree, fairly bleak for the immediate future, but we must look beyond this, and whatever solution is arrived at, it is certain that the next 10 years or so will bring a totally different world for us to live in and that it will be hastened on us by new technologies. In some form or another, we 1547 must deal with increased leisure, whether it is due to working a shorter week, to earlier retirement or, alas, to continuing unemployment. In that world the arts—I have spoken with feeling about music but I am sure this applies equally to the other two—have an important role to play. If we do not build on that now, let alone allow to perish the valuable institutions we have, it will be much too late to do anything about it when the new world to which we look forward comes. My Lords, what a pleasure and privilege to be allowed to be the first to congratulate the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, on such a confident, civilised and, above all, enormously knowledgeable maiden speech. How appropriate also that it should be on the arts that he spoke, considering the enormous gifts to the arts, the dedication to them, that lie within his family, a family whose name, I am happy to say, is embodied in what is now one of the most famous and distinguished theatres in Europe. But I am sure your Lordships will not thank me for expatiating upon the noble Viscount's forbears but will want me to say how enormously we enjoyed him himself and his maiden speech. It is not often that one can say, hand on heart, that one agreed with every single word of a maiden speech, but that indeed I can say, and I know I echo all your Lordships when I say how very much we hope to hear him often in this House. I wish also to add my voice to those who have congratulated the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, on introducing this debate, on such an important topic. It has been covered by Lord Vaizey and those who have spoken subsequently so widey that I do not intend to detain your Lordships for long. I intend in fact to take up only one aspect of Lord Vaizey's opening remarks but to echo them perhaps even more fervently than he did. He said that employment was a major factor and I believe, to take him up on the wording of his Question—which is the difficulties facing young people in the arts—that the biggest difficulty facing young people in the arts is the profession which they hope to enter. In many cases, the profession they hope they are entering is either in 1548 decline or on the point of going out of existence altogether. If not, they face other difficulties of employment that their training can scarcely have equipped them to face. I wish to talk about two areas with which I have had some slight acquaintance in my working life. One of course is the theatre, and here there is a particular problem. Everybody knows—it has almost become a cliche of our own, by now limited, self-advertisement—that our acting and theatres are the greatest in the world, are a world attraction and are one of the few remaining aspects on which we can confidently congratulate ourselves. I think that our acting schools might share in that; certainly the distinction of their direction and the enthusiasm of their pupils would lead one to believe so. It is, therefore, for the theatrical profession in general, and certainly for the casting directors of those great theatres who have some potential to offer work to young people, a desperately dispiriting thing to find that they cannot do it. They are not empowered to offer work to brilliant young talent emerging from acting schools. I do not want to involve myself in a debate about union procedures and union attitudes about which I am not totally informed. But to prevent young people entering a profession because of the dire and catastrophic under-employment of the older members of it may be sympathetic in a way but cannot in the long run be anything except suicidal. A policy which allows no young blood in until better times—those better times which by now are becoming legendary, certainly in financial terms, and which I doubt we shall ever see—will eventually wind up supporting a profession which can offer only King Lear and Gloucester, and in which Edgar and Edmund are no longer castable. I beg the unions in their attitude to consider that the normal cycle of human life must be preserved in acting, as it must in any other field. So far as the films are concerned, the problem is different. There is a flourishing film school in the National Film School, but there are 'indeed other film schools, and they, too, are flourishing. They face a different problem—this time not from the unions, who have made an understanding approach to this matter and have in fact undertaken to see that the 1549 path into employment is not strewn with too many obstacles for the graduates of these schools. No, the problem for them is quite different. The problem is that the profession which they are entering has long been regarded as self-sufficient, so commercial, so rich, and indeed in some cases so disgraceful, that it needs no help whatever from private funds, or Government either; that the moguls of the world happily support it and grow rich upon it, and that no further action is necessary. A small corner remains in this attitude which says that of course there is film art. It can confidently be left to the British Film Institute, because film art consists of either old films or foreign films—not exactly our own industry. Your Lordships will be relieved to know that I do not intend to weary you at this hour of the night with a lecture upon the dire economic circumstances of the British film industry. Your Lordships have been wearied with it before, and not only from me. Nevertheless, I believe that the point I am making, though I make it in slightly joking terms, is real. There must be an understanding that to enter a film industry which makes films—and like any other art they have their high points and their low points—requires some kind of opportunity to be offered in a national film industry. You cannot work exclusively in an archive, and you cannot be expected to go abroad immediately. So the problems of the film industry are concerned with an understanding that some chance is needed later, and that films do not always involve millions. In fact there is a growing caucus of films in this country which shows that you do not need an excessive and almost plutocratic amount of money to be able to make a film. From the amateur world of the 8 millimetre film maker up to the minor film maker, and the off-shoot film maker in full 35 millimetre professional circumstances, films are possible on a limited but nevertheless exciting scale. That fact needs to be realised by the public, by the Government, and by institutions of all kinds when considering the output of our film schools. Lastly, I wish to take up one further point of the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey. He drew a very nice contrast between the gifted and the very gifted, as I understand 1550 it. It was a contrast, if I jotted down his figures fast enough, which involved 10 million children going in and 30,000 coming out. That represents a tapering effect, and as I understand it, it is the funnel of interest tapering to the group of real talent. If we are to accept those figures, and certainly the principle behind them—and it is difficult not to—I think we must realise that it is very early that we have to start looking at our children to see how they are going through that long, exciting but in the long run probably not encouraging tunnel. We do a great deal for our teenagers, for our 14, our 15 and our 16-year olds; we have competitions at the end of the road for our graduates; we have competitions for our university students; and we have grants—I appreciate all the points which have been made about the mandatory grant, but I am no expert on it and cannot speak to it—but as yet we do not do much among children before their teens, up to the age of 11 or 12, to encourage them to perform or exhibit, even on the most amateur terms, on school terms, their excitement and their talent in art. I believe (I have spoken briefly before on this subject, and I shall be even briefer now) that an international, or at least a national, children's art centre, where the children of the world, as opposed to the up-and-coming already-forming graduate talents of the world, can meet each other to perform and to excite each other about the artistic possibilities of the world, is something which, somehow, we must design, and fight for; because it is at that age that we shall start that long process to which the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has so eloquently referred, which leads them to become the practitioners of the arts whom we all admire. My Lords, first of all I should like to congratulate the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos. I, too, made my maiden speech in an arts debate, two or three years ago; and I was very interested to hear of his involvement in these thorny matters. Interestingly enough, more or less all the protagonists in that debate are here this evening. I should also like to thank Lord Vaizey for asking this Question, and for extending it from his original Question, which was going to be restricted to the performing arts. 1551 However, this bestows a great responsibility on me, as I must declare my interest as a visual artist and as honourary chairman of the Artists' Union. I say right away that I agree with Lord Vaizey on the matter of the mandatory grants, and I supported his amendment to the Education (No. 2) Bill. I also agree with several sentiments which he expressed in his speech. Not least, I share his burning enthusiasm for the arts in this country. However, as he will well know, I do not agree with him that the answer lies in limiting the supply of training places. There are dangers here which I shall endeavour to explain. In effect, I believe the answer is very much broader. First, the problems as regards art and design courses are similar to those outlined by the noble Lord. The foundation course gets a discretionary grant, the degree course a mandatory grant by the local education authority. To enter a degree course you must have qualifications ranging from three A-levels to five O-levels. The preferred route through the various foundation courses caters for 96 per cent. of the students; 3 per cent. get straight into the degree courses but must also be academically qualified as above. That leaves roughly 1 per cent. who can still get into degree courses with no qualification, but the college must get permission from the validating body. Here arise some of the dangers. One of the dangers which is recognised is that mostly middle-class children are in higher education—which is also recognised as not a good mix. The other danger is that academic qualifications may become the norm, thus cutting off the chances of those who are inarticulate through any other means. May I read from the page of questions which I sent to the Minister earlier today? Is a subject like mathematics when used as a generalisable skill, say, as an A-level qualification, regarded as being of greater value than an art A-level? If so, what is the reason behind this? I differ from the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, and I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont of Whitley, in that I do not believe that there should be more money for the gifted. There ought to be more provision for all to have a chance of further education; and if their talents 1552 lie in the arts they should not be denied the discipline of training, even though this might eventually lead to a different career, especially as talent may not be immediately obvious but may come through after several years' training. I am indebted to a friend for giving me a list of people who have benefited from visual arts education but have taken up different careers. They span from Makepeace Thackeray to David Storey, the playwright, Gerald Hoffnung, the composer and musician, Gerald Mansell, of the BBC; the noted art critic, John Berger, Roseburg, the poet; and we all know the Beatles, to name but a few. I am also indebted to a head teacher who sent me the following information: The most important single fact about the education of artists and designers is that there is not enough of it. Speaking now of degree level education, the present proportion of the post-school age group who enjoy the benefits of advanced further education (i.e. higher education) is approximately 13 per cent.—and this is the figure for all subjects. Virtually no other developed country educates so few of its post-school population, and the figure is now stabilising, or dropping, after a fairly rapid rise from around 6 per cent. in the early 1960's. New courses in higher education are almost non-existent; … The number of students taking degree courses in art and design is of course an extremely small proportion of that 13 per cent.; I think the figure is now around 4,500 graduates per year in all art and design subjects … The number of people graduating in Fine Art each year, I think, is around 1200. This is also the number who enter the system, more or less". I should like now to quote from Lord Redcliffe-Maud's document, Support for the Arts in England and Wales, (founded again by Gulbenkian) and dated 1976: I read from the paragraph headed "Education and training" The excellence of our artists, professional and amateur, and our increasing enjoyment of old and contemporary art depend in each case more on education than on anything deliberate arts patronage can do. A revolution, therefore, in educational policy over the next ten years which brought the arts nearer the heart of the curriculum in British schools (and teacher-training institutions) is what I would most dearly like to see ". He goes on: … what we need is another revolutionary change, this time in the scale of national expenditure. Within the next five years or so, the adult education movement must receive priority such as it has had at no time in our history, and when it does the arts must at last have their chance ". This is underlined by the progressive approach of the National Union of Students. They make several points: that 1553 reducing teachers and courses reduces choice; that school-leavers should be able to choose a worthwhile course, not necessarily with a job in view but a good all-round education. They point out that we are moving into times of less employment and therefore more opportunity and growth in the leisure area, where a cultural outlet is necessary to soak up creative energy. They believe that a good healthy stock of artists will be necessary for more opportunities not only to use art in the service of the community, but also linked courses such as fine art and practical printing techniques et cetera, to help gain export markets needed so desperately by Britain by good marketing through original design. We should perhaps remember the importance of industrial design in the building of the great Wedgwood company by the coming together of the artist Flaxman and Wedgwood himself. The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education—NATFHE—of course are worried about the cuts and the effects of the intention of streamlining through the new body, the Technicians Education Council. I should like to ask the Minister my next question. As a result of the Further Education Circular 1/80, what steps are the Government taking to protect the vocational and degree level art and design courses which are necessarilly staff intensive? Special provision must be made to protect some of these courses which, while they do not attract a mass of people, arc none the less essential. The fear is that technical courses will stay and fine art courses will be scrapped first, thus ending up with colleges run only for certain studies. I come to my next question. As a result of the local authority resources failing to keep abreast of the pay increases, will the Minister give an assurance that the staff/student ratios will not decline any further? One fear is that the Delaney system will have disastrous effects on the establishment of the art colleges, not least the practical element of overseeing in laboratories and expensive equipment. Here I agree with the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, the teacher/student ratios must not worsen. 1554 Further education must strengthen links with industry. The London College of Printing is, I believe, very much affected as many processes are required and injection of the real world by part-time teachers brings in expertise from a wide range of disciplines. The fear is also therefore that cuts in staff will kill vitality, and the fear is a return to academicism. May I ask the Minister also what steps are the Government taking to protect part-time teachers, so necessary for the DA courses? I should like to quote from a speech made by Norman St. John-Stevas entitled "Arts in Education", on 21st March 1980. He said: In conclusion, I would like to say that education in the arts can no longer be regarded as the aquisition of specialist knowledge unrelated to everyday life. It is a vital ingredient in living a fuller life, in building a richer society ". Finally, we move into the area of employment of artists and designers. The demand for designers is great. It is all a question of attitude. It is well known that artists and designers form part of managerial teams in the most successful firms abroad, notably in Japan. Design is an integral part of the whole industry. The Government have underlined their belief in the arts and I applaud the creation of a Minister with a seat in the Cabinet. But art is nothing without artists, who must feel as secure as the vest of society in order to carry out their work. As the Redcliffe-Maud Report said: "We underpay our artists". I should like to quote from the TUC working party report on the arts which says this: There is no doubt in the working party's view that society does not benefit fully from the work of performing and creative artists. Much of the exploitation and under-employment of artists arises from the unsatisfactory terms and conditions of their employment, which are often of a casual nature. For every one of the stars and other brilliant successes in the arts there are many artists who make their contribution from a position of acute economic insecurity, which militates against them making a significant contribution to society ". There is no category for an artist so far as the DHSS and the Department of Employment are concerned. They neither fit on to the professional register nor the worker register. Where are all the provisions that other countries are promoting, such as a percentage of building costs? Bulgaria, for instance, recognises that 1555 artists newly out of art schools will not yet have developed nor necessarily have found a market. They allow an artist to take a job which is most suited to him and to take half a day off to pursue his career in the arts. Also, I believe that Bulgaria has several thousand artists who are in fact living off their work as full-time arts artists. May I ask the Minister whether he will approach the Arts Council to look into provisions that could be made to help young artists immediately on leaving art school?—as I believe these major grants and awards usually go to mature artists. I should like to quote now from a speech by the right honourable gentleman Mr. St. John-Stevas at a meeting of the representatives of the regional arts associations on 9th November last year. He said: I intend to do all that I can to enable those in the regions to enjoy our great national achievements in the arts but the regional arts associations have a special role to play. In order to encourage devolution from the centre, as expounded in the Redcliffe-Maud Report, how much effect has the report had on the level of commitment to the arts by the local authorities? That report says: The new local authorities created by the 1972 Act are the chief arts patrons of the future. Local government is the democratic instrument whereby individual members of a community combine their efforts for common purposes within limits laid down by Parliament. Local communities in district and county have recently lost some of their traditional functions (sewage disposal, for example, water and health) but they now have the power (though no legal duty) to ensure that all members have the opportunities to practise and enjoy the arts. The future of the arts in England and Wales now chiefly depends on the extent to which, and the pace at which, these local councils come to regard the use of their arts patronage powers as part and parcel of the social fabric which they already help to sustain through their provision of education, housing, the social services, roads, land-use control, police, fire-protection, and the rest of local government. 1556 So I differ with Lord Vaizey on the need for less rather than more public finance. I am heartened by Norman St. John-Stevas's quote on 28th April this year: Nor are the benefits those of prestige and influence only. The arts can genuinely be said to pay their way. In every field from literature to painting they earn money for Britain. This is especially true of the performing arts: a high proportion of the tourists who flock to our country every year are drawn by the magnet of the British theatre. But I do not agree with him when he said the following, in June 1979: … private patronage frees art from the threat of censorship and establishmentarianism which constitute the unacceptable face of state support for the arts ". The reason why I am a bit doubtful about that is that in the document put out by the Association of Business Sponsorship of the Arts it is said: It is very important firstly to distinguish between patronage and sponsorship. We are only dealing with the latter and it is also important to talk to businesses not in terms of the effect that they ought to be helping art (that is quite clearly not so) but more in terms that there are perfectly normal business reasons for being involved in art sponsorship. If ABSA can look after the interests of business when it is involved in the sponsorship of the arts, and can ensure that business will get a good return on its investment it will be the best possible way of ensuring the continuing increase in the total amount spent by industry on the arts in the UK". I, like every Member of your Lordships' House, I am certain, dislike any kind of censorship whether it be by state or private hands. Let me end by pointing out that the Richard Hoggart-chaired inquiry, again sponsored by Gulbenkian, that Lord Vaizey spoke about at the beginning, will tell us a lot more about the artists. Its terms of reference really are the inquiry into the economic situation of the living artist. I hope it will be only a short while now before that is prepared. My Lords, may I, first of all, congratulate our maiden speaker, the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos. It was a truly marvellous maiden speech, without any question one of the finest I have heard in this Chamber. Seeing the noble Baroness, Lady Elliot of Harwood, still in the Chamber, it is a rather fascinating fact that her half-sister married the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos's grandfather, and I shall leave your Lordships to work that one out! At this late hour, I expect that the shorter my speech the better it will sound to your Lordships, so I shall indeed be brief. As with everyone else who has taken part in this debate, I should like to thank my noble friend Lord Vaizey. He has certainly most persuasively argued that Government really does have an obligation to ensure that the high standards that exist in the performing arts in this country are maintained. Even if one looks at this question from a very simple economic viewpoint, high standards produce excellent returns for this country. There is no need to elaborate on the number of people who come to this country merely to see our theatre, concerts and ballet. I wonder whether maintaining these high standards need cost the Government any additional money, and perhaps the Minister will be talking about this aspect of the question tonight. I wonder whether it is not just a question of a redeployment of the existing resources that are spent on training. There is no question that part of any redeployment must surely be in the giving of mandatory and discretionary grants to students, which have been much talked about this evening, and I very much hope that the Government will look at this point carefully again. It will clearly be a tragedy if the talented cannot train simply for lack of funds; and of course, if the talented cannot train, then the institutions to which they would be going simply have to pack up. Along with other noble Lords, I know the work of the London School of Contemporary Dance very well, and they have made a truly remarkable contribution in the sphere of contemporary dance. 1558 They are genuinely threatened with closure and if that happens it will surely be a tragedy. I was interested in what my noble friend Lord Vaizey said about the all-important issue of employment and, indeed, this has been mentioned in other speeches. I should like to make two points about this, one which has been made already and one which has not been. The first was made by the noble Lord, Lord Birkett, and I agree with him that this is not the place to discuss in any detail the union problems that exist in theatre and in film. But we know that it is very difficult for a trained and talented actor to become a member of Equity, and I do not know whether there is any way in which the Government can help. I rather doubt it, but it is worth mentioning because it poses real problems for young performers. The second point should be heartening to all of us, and it really extends a point made by the noble Viscount, Lord Chan-dos, which is that in the next 10 years we are going to see an incredible technological revolution. We are continually living through technological revolutions, but the things that are soon going to be with us will make an enormous difference to the performing artist. There will be an enormous growth in the demand for the services of those engaged in the performing arts. We shall see tremendous developments in the home video market, the video disc market and the pay television market, which is already a great success in America and will probably start in this country in the latter part of this year. Satellite TV will become a reality in about 1983, and will probably be bigger than all those markets put together. We have the fourth channel, we have breakfast television and we have an extension of the commercial radio network. All these markets will require specially created material, and I have no doubt that the potential employment for performers will be greater in the next few years than at any time since the war. This is surely another reason, and a happy reason, why the Government must look very carefully into this most important question which my noble friend has most correctly allowed us to discuss tonight. My Lords, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to my noble friend Lord Vaizey, first because he initiated this very worthwhile debate, and, secondly, because he has provided us with the great joy of listening to the maiden speech of my noble friend Lord Chandos. May I add my congratulations to those which my noble friend has already received? When there is talk of abolishing this House, those who wish to do so might care to reflect that we should all be the poorer if we were deprived of hearing speeches such as the one delivered by my all too modest noble friend—a moving and brilliant specialist speech which could have been made only by someone who has devoted a lifetime to the service of the arts. It was a rare experience to listen to him. Much that I should have liked to say has already been said, and I suppose that noble Lords will be thankful for that! However, while echoing the hopes of others, I feel that there is a certain difference between the needs of those who are gifted as actors, or who are concerned with drama, and the needs at an early age of those who dance or who are associated in any way with music. To put it baldly, actors have a way of making good, whatever their education, but the gifted child in the realms of dance and music needs specialist training from an early age. Specialist training needs money, and there is no doubt that it is often very hard for music students to get discretionary grants. Private school fees are very high because they are not subsidised, but local authorities are often not prepared to meet these high fees. This is of particular application to opera students. Public bodies may jib at the fact that they do not get superb results from everyone they subsidise, but they must expect a percentage of non-high fliers in order to produce that pearl of great price. For example, within the last two years the London Opera House closed down. One of the reasons given for this was that it was not producing a high enough percentage of successful talent. It had, in fact, produced a number of stars, including Kiri te Kanawa, together with a very 1560 large number of talented and efficient performers who are still immensely active in the opera houses of Britain, Australia, Canada and America. My Lords, if I may interrupt the noble Baroness, she spoke of the London Opera House. I think she meant the London Opera School. The Opera House is still open. I do apologise. I thought I said "London Opera Centre", and I am glad to be corrected. I should hate to be misunderstood, because this is a vital point. There were of course a number of people who did not make the grade at the London Opera Centre and, by the very nature of things, there had to be. I hope that this supports the point that I have already made. The worrying aspect is that talented youngsters will be forced to look outside this country for their training. There are brilliant teachers. Many speakers have mentioned Robin Howard, who is an old friend of mine. He has employed one of the most brilliant teachers in his school of ballet. Brilliant teachers, however, without pupils or without a school will obviously look elsewhere for work. Do we really want there to be a talent drain from this country? Unless we support the young, that is surely what will happen. Indeed, it is already happening. I cannot believe that that is what this Government want. My Lords, I should like to join in the tributes paid to my noble friend Lord Chandos on a most distinguished maiden speech—as we might have expected from a member of the very distinguished family from which he comes. The more we hear him speak in this House, the better the House will be. I intervene briefly in this debate for two reasons only. First, for some years I was a trustee of a repertory theatre in Surrey, near where I live. Secondly, for a few years I was a chorister at my school, and therefore have a particular love of music. 1561 The repertory theatre movement in this country is really the breeding ground (if I may use that expression) not only for young actors and actresses but for designers, directors and others. It is also true that, through the repertory theatre, some of our finest actors and actresses graduate. Certainly the theatre in which I have an interest, although not a financial one—the Thorndike Theatre, named after the great Dame Sybil Thorndike and her very distinguished late husband—produced a number of plays with very young actors and actresses, and particularly "The Match Girls", which had a tremendous success there, although not as great a success in the West End as it deserved. But if ever there was a real example of some talented young actors and actresses, that play certainly provided it. The repertory theatre movement generally, both in England and in Scotland—and I instance here the splendid Pitlochry Theatre, which I have had the pleasure of visiting and which is such a great tourist attraction, as well as catering for the native population—is suffering financially. Certainly so far as the Thorndike Theatre is concerned, due to inflation there has been a cut-back of some 50 per cent. on young actors and actresses; and although occupation of the theatre by audiences is in the main well over 90 per cent., and for many performances 100 per cent., there are serious problems of cost. Last year there was a 25 per cent. escalation in costs and of course the increase in admission charges is something which every theatre wants to avoid. This is particularly serious for the young actors and actresses who really are subsidising these theatres. The wages which they are paid are very much below the national average, but they still continue to give splendid performances. Without our repertory theatres in this country the potential for young actors and actresses would be dire indeed. Turning for a moment to music, those of your Lordships who work in the City of London will know that in a number of the churches there are some splendid lunchtime concerts where those who work under pressure can unwind for half an hour to an hour. These concerts are given by the young students from the Royal College of Music. Not infre- 1562 quently I go along and listen to these highly talented pianists, violinists and singers, who give immense pleasure to their audiences. But I wonder whether my noble friend has anything to say about the future of these young players, particularly the violinists and the woodwind players, in view of the cut-back of some of the BBC orchestras—and I do not want to get involved in that question at this late hour. There is no doubt that the musical life of this country will suffer if this cut-back is anything like permanent. We as a country have for long led the world in music, since the 14th and 15th century, and it is the same with the stage. My noble friend Lord Vaizey has asked a Question of enormous importance this evening, and it is to be hoped that with the plethora of experienced speakers we have had this evening the Government can hold out some hope, even if it be medium long-term hope, for these young men and women on the stage and in the world of music who give such pleasure nationally and internationally. My Lords, may I apologise on three counts. May I first apologise to the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, for butting in when I did earlier? I do apologise most sincerely to him for that. I also apologise to the acting Leader of the House because I did not give notice that I intended to speak in this debate. May I apologise too to my noble friend Lord Vaizey for not putting my name down on the list of speakers, and to my colleagues on this Bench that for the first time I have stepped down here to make a speech? So I have done the four apologies in one, and f your Lordships all accept my apologies, that is it. I want to say very briefly that I have been chairman of a local education committee and have served on various education authorities up and down the country many times and in many ways. One of the things I have always been very worried about is the way in which we distribute grants to people who perhaps have not got academic talents but nevertheless are first-class in the world of the arts. I come from a place called Blackburn 1563 and we had Kathleen Ferrier in Blackburn. She was refused a grant from the local authority there because academically she could not qualify for that grant. Because she did not qualify, she did not get to any school or any organisation that would help to train her, and therefore she went on her parents' request. What I want to do, like Lord Vaizey, is to make sure that these people are entitled to a grant in the same way that other people are entitled to a grant. I think that is vital. If we have got people in our communities who are good in the arts in any way at all, we ought to encourage them and we ought to give them the encouragement by providing financial resources. I do not want to go on any longer, but I completely support the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, in the way that he has gone on this. My Lords, I fear that the noble Lord's Question will get a fairly frosty answer from the noble Lord opposite. It is indeed refreshing to hear a new recruit on the other side make a plea for proper planning, for a carefully negotiated entry into the private sector (is not that something rather like nationalisation?), for more Quangos, and for more spending on the arts. I agree with pretty well everything which he puts forward, but I must remind him which side he is on. His leader and her colleagues are highly sceptical of all planning and believe with doctrinaire passion in competition and the free market. The Government are contemptuously opposed to Quangos and yet the noble Lord proposes in his drama plans a new one without which the plans could not work. And in all his suggestions there must be more, not less, expenditure. I repeat I am in favour of pretty well all that he suggests. But I doubt whether this evening's Question will get us much nearer to what he is asking for. Doctrinaire though the Tory devotion to the market may be, I am glad to note that even this somewhat philistine Government accept that the arts cannot flourish without subsidy. The Minister is now asking the business world to put up £500 million 1564 for the arts. I admire this optimism. The figures of who does what show how formidable his task is. At the moment the Government distribute £70 million through the Arts Council and another £93 million through the museums and libraries. The local authorities put up £69 million and the business sponsors £5 million. So the right honourable gentleman has £495 million to go for and good luck to him. But, however successful he may be the arts will for ever, in my opinion, depend upon Government as their main supporter. So the question of more money for training in the arts is not one the Government can shrug off. The noble Lord has served a particularly useful function in differentiating clearly between art in education and vocational training. The two are quite different and need separate discussions. I wish for a moment to look at art in education which generally speaking has not been discussed much this evening. When going around schools, which for three years I did quite a lot of, I was enormously impressed with two arts which seemed to be well put forward to children. One of them was painting. In nearly every school—both the big and the small, and the forward and backward—one saw exhibitions of children's art with a great deal of dross but some real talent. And that seemed to me—I would not say all that one could ask for—very much in the right direction. As regards music I wish to join with the noble Viscount in saying that it is also my passion. I should like to take the opportunity to congratulate him on his splendid speech. I was so pleased that he spoke of Sir Robert Mayer and William Glock who have, in fact, done a very great deal personally to transform things here. However, as regards music, I found, as I went around, that there was a good deal of good elementary education and presentation of music to children at a young age. It was nothing like as good as they are doing in Hungary and nothing like as good, I think, as the Suzuki system in Japan, both of which, by taking children very early, are producing more converts to the subject than we are able to do. However, I think that we are doing quite well here. I have two grandchildren in a comprehensive, both of whom have music 1565 scholarships and I must say that I think that the education they are receiving is extremely good. That is not true of all schools—it could not be true—but I think that in their case it is very good. As regards drama, the most important aspect is the peripatetic companies to which the noble Lord's report refers, which go round to schools, and places like the Cockpit in London which have schools in, and who, roughly speaking, do theatre in education. What worries me about theatre in education is that largely the troupes who deal with it are attached to local theatres which are financed by local government, and I am afraid that they may be cut. I shall not ask the Minister to give me an answer tonight, but I think that I shall put down a Question for Written Answer to ask about the position of theatre in education over the last four or five years. I believe that it is bad, and if that is so, then it is very serious. It is one of the most hopeful movements in the whole of art in education. As to dance, I saw very little. I saw one or two dance activities going on, but there is a great deal to be done here and it is probably the least forward of them. Looking back on one's own experience, I had an extremely expensive education, like some other noble Lords, and I was exposed to all these things. The exposure to painting did nothing for me until many years later when I became interested. As for the exposure to dancing, I danced the hornpipe in a sailor suit with somebody who is now a High Court judge and that went down very well, but it was a long time ago. As for drama, I acted in a couple of plays at school and I say with some pride that the noble and learned Lord who sits on the Woolsack had a very prominent and successful part in drag in one of them. As to music, it has become a basic part of my life, as the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, said. I began to learn the violin at the age of seven and I have never looked back in my intense interest in music, which I think is the noble Viscount's position. So much for the schools. On the whole, quite a lot is happening. But there was a nasty report in The Times last week suggesting that some of the art colleges are suffering from cuts and may have to close. I should like to know whether we can be given information, 1566 either today or by letter, about that. I do not necessarily want it tonight. However, it is very important that these colleges should not be closed down. I want to turn to the vocation business, which is an entirely different matter. However, before doing so, let me say that over the intermediate stage—that is, not the elementary school child, but the boy or girl of 15 or 16 years of age who is quite interested in music—there are a number of very serious problems. The noble Lord, Lord Somers, who could not stay to speak tonight, gave me a few figures. Do noble Lords realise that it costs £1,400 to buy a bassoon; that it costs £500 to buy a trumpet, £800 to buy a French horn, £600 to buy a flute, and so on? This is an absolutely new situation. I bought my first clarinet for £11, although admittedly that was a long time ago and I cannot say I still have it, but I remember buying it very well. I have received complaints, particularly from people in North Wales who regard themselves as being in a neglected area in this world, who say that to obtain intermediate teaching in musicianship is almost impossible there. I should like the noble Lord to look at this and possibly talk to me about it later on. The other point about Wales is that actors who act in the Welsh language need special help and find it very difficult to get. Returning to the question of vocational training in the higher sense, here, in spite of the Tory reluctance to indulge in planning, it is quite crazy to leave matters to sort themselves out. The noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has made a very powerful case. The problem is particularly urgent in music and dance for, as the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington, said, both are almost wholly dependent on technical training as opposed to painting or drama, where natural genius can sometimes, but not always, flower with little or no training. But excellence in music or dance can be achieved only with, first, talent and then training. Therefore, it is extremely important. Following the general lines of the noble Lord's excellent Gulbenkian report, Training Musicians, it seems that we should have mandatory and not discretionary grants to the five specialist music schools 1567 and, I would add, to the 30 or so choir schools. I think that the question of mandatory or discretionary grants is crucial. It is the matter about which I am perfectly certain we shall get a raspberry, and not a strawberry from the noble Lord, Lord Mowbray and Stourton. However, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, that if the Minister and his colleagues wanted to find a way of doing this, it could be done. It could be done at the cost of certain other people, but every now and then one must have priorities, and I think we ought to do it. The various speeches tonight have stressed the importance of this in a moving way from all sides of your Lordships' House, and I hope the noble Lord, Lord Mowbray and Stourton, can get his colleagues to look at this again. Of course it could be done, although it would create a lot of trouble with other people; but, then, that is what Ministers are for. Planning comes in here because somebody has to look at the prospects for professional musicians and dancers and make sure that the number being so expensively trained with mandatory grants of which the taxpayer pays 60 per cent., should be kept in line with the vacancies available. The orchestral players, for example, have just been conspicuously reduced by the BBC, and in his drama training study called Going on the Stage the noble Lord suggests a new Quango to do this for drama. My view is that there should be a similar Quango—in a sense, he has already told us that the training boards might so act—in each of the four fundamental arts we are discussing. I endorse the noble Lord's main recommendation that vocational training at a specialist level should command mandatory grants in a limited number of training institutions approved by a high-level committee drawn from the relevant profession and the same committee should be responsible for keeping the numbers roughly in line with professional opportunities for employment. This is all quite complicated and we cannot elaborate it now, but the basic idea is quite simple, perfectly practicable, will cost money and, in my opinion, I regret to say, will not be done, though it ought to be done. My Lords, despite the lateness of the hour, I must thank my noble friend Lord Vaizey and express gratitude to him for the opportunity to debate this important and very interesting topic. We have had an extremely impressive list of speakers, and many interesting and useful contributions have been made by noble Lords whose experience and concern in training for the arts commands the respect of the House. I am very conscious of my own relative inexperience in this area, but I have listened with great care to all that has been said and I shall endeavour to clarify the Government's position on the matters raised. I too pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Chandos for his most eloquent and delightful maiden speech. It is delightful to have among us such a man, remembering his splendid father and his equally splendid ancestor, Sir John Chandos, of Poitiers fame. To have had his descendant expounding so charmingly on music has been a great pleasure, and the words of praise of the noble Lord, Lord Birkett, were extremely apt. Lord Birkett mentioned that better times were hoped for. I am reminded that one of William the Conqueror's knights had inscribed in French on his sword le bon temps viendra. Hope springs eternal and hopefully one day somebody will find that the good times have arrived. The commitment of the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, to the development of the arts is well known and has been witnessed again tonight. He has mentioned his leadership of the two inquiries sponsored by the Gulbenkian Foundation into training for drama and dance. The first, Going On The Stage, was published in 1975, and the second, Training Musicians, in 1978. These have done much to promote useful discussion and debate, and the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, has performed an invaluable service to the arts in this respect. The noble Lord, Lord Beaumont, began by speaking of the importance of getting the brilliant pupil identified and trained. This subject is one which I remembered being the theme of many of the speeches of the noble Lord, Lord James of Rusholme, in so many of our 1569 debates on the brilliant child, and of course we are now discussing the brilliant child in relation to the arts. While the Government recognise the value of the Gulbenkian Reports, and not least those which centre on individual aspects of the performing arts, and the contribution which they make to the development of both education and training in these fields, it must be stated that these are independent inquiries which have been, and will be, carefully studied by the Department of Education and Science, and I trust, by the many other bodies closely affected by their recommendations. In the final analysis, however,—and I know that the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, will understand this—the Government have no commitment to adopt any recommendations made, and could do so only after the fullest consideration of the effect which they would have on public expenditure. Both the noble Lords, Lord Vaizey and Lord Donaldson, rightly referred to the marked improvement in standards in dance, drama and music, and attributed this, in the main, to the high level of training available in this country. We must certainly remember that there is much in the present system from which we can take satisfaction; and I was glad to hear the point made that many children of school age with an artistic talent can be catered for in their own schools, or by means of special arrangements made by local education authorities. I feel very strongly that industry has a role to play in sponsoring the training of exceptionally bright children in the performing arts. In the past, especially in central Europe, the Churches used to support musicians and artists in their work. Could not commerce and industry take over some of this good work? The noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, mentioned that my right honourable friend had been suggesting this; and I do not see why they should not help these children with their special training, in the same way as companies finance concerts, opera and ballet performances, and the theatre. The noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, mentioned the cut-back in orchestras. There is a very hopeful sign. Discussions are going on at this moment between four parties: the Arts Council of Northern 1570 Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra Society, the BBC in Northern Ireland, and Gallaher Ltd. It is proposed to form a Northern Ireland orchestra of up to 70 players, and it is hoped that at least 33 of the new posts in the symphony orchestra might go to players from the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra. This is an example which, if it does come off—and it is only at the discussion stage—will be one occasion where industry is entering into discussion in order to help. The report Training Musicians to which I have referred rightly stressed the central position of local education authorities in this area. The report made a number of interesting and positive recommendations, which I am sure will have been studied with care by local education authority music advisers. These dealt with the identification of musical ability in primary and secondary schools, the encouragement of non-specialist teachers to become more involved in musical activities in schools, the supporting of weekend and evening music centres, and a number of other detailed points. Perhaps the key recommendation, linking the others, was that local education authorities should be prepared to provide musical training in whichever of a number of possible ways is most appropriate to the particular circumstances of an individual area and the particular needs of each individual pupil. This is a useful reminder that individual needs and circumstances differ, and that local education authorities are particularly well placed to assess these, and, if they consider it necessary, to make or support special arrangements. I am sorry, my Lords, but the Minister is not aware of what is going on among local authorities in regard to cut-backs, and the cut-backs are on this side. My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord will allow me to finish my speech, and then he will hear what I have to say. It is too early to interrupt me to tell me what I am not going to say. My Lords, talented musicians at maintained schools are also able to apply for junior exhibitions at the main music colleges, which are sponsored by education authorities. Some of these arrangements may be under pressure as a result of the public spending economies which are having to be insisted upon, but in general, it seems to me, there is a background of increasing musical education and training, which is encouraging. My Lords, few would dispute that special arrangements may be needed for school-age children with outstanding talent or promise in instrumental playing. Your Lordships will be aware that in 1973 the previous Conservative Government introduced a direct grant scheme to provide precisely this for pupils at the Yehudi Menuhin and Royal Ballet Lower Schools. This, in part, replaced assistance formerly channelled through the Arts Council. The principles accepted by the Prime Minister when she was Secretary of State for Education and Science were that there was a limited need for specialised training of a high order; that these excellent schools should not have to compromise their very high standards for financial reasons; and that pupils of the necessary talent should not be denied access to a place for lack of parental means. About 150 pupils are at present supported by fee remission grant, which totalled some £440,000 in the 1979–80 financial year. This is a high per capita outlay, but few would dispute that this has been a successful and desirable arrangement. As a 1572 Government, we are fully committed to the continuation of these arrangements. My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Beaumont, and my noble friend Lord Chandos asked about ethnic art. We know there is public support for the performing arts, and it is of course a matter for the Arts Council, whose patronage is very extensive. I am sure they will study with interest the points which the two noble Lords have made on this particular topic. My Lords, other schools considered tonight, such as Chetham's School of Music, the Wells Cathedral School and Purcell School, have much to offer as well. Many local education authorities have been willing to sponsor children at these schools, particularly Chetham's School, and I understand that the scale of this particular form of support was steadily increasing until 1979, when some intending pupils were unable to persuade their authorities to give support. In some cases, too, the support given may have been at a fixed level, leaving the parents to find a large balance of the fees, which I know are somewhat hefty. The schools are worried that last year's check in local education authority support may be repeated, and that more pupils who would otherwise have been admitted will not be able to take up places. This must, of course, be a matter for the authorities concerned, who may wish to have regard, not only to their policy on discretionary awards but to the alternative provision which may be possible. Thus, concern by the music schools about support by local education authorities has led them to propose to my noble friend the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science that they should be supported by direct grant from the Government on the lines of the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Ballet Lower School. My noble friend (that is Lady Young, of course) has told the schools that their bid for financial support will have to be considered in the context of the assisted places scheme, which your Lordships will recall discussing at length when the Education (No. 2) Bill was before us earlier this year, and this the Minister is doing. Any extension of existing arrangements for Government support for specialised schools would have to come 1573 from the resources available for that scheme, and would also be subject to the same timing. This means that the earliest any assistance could be available might be for the September 1981 intake, as that is when the assisted places scheme is to start. At the moment, our position on this is completely open, but we shall let the three schools have our answer as quickly as possible. I have taken a little of your Lordships' time to explain the Government's position on this particular point, and I hope it will be of interest to noble Lords. My Lords, perhaps I may say how grateful I am for that particular point. I thank my noble friend. My noble friend Lord Drogheda, who, unfortunately, owing to the lateness of the hour at which this debate was to come on, had to go to another engagement, gave me notice of the two chief points that he would have liked to talk about. They were ballet schools and the London School of Contemporary Dance. Like my noble friend Lady Trumpington, I, too, must be in on the act. I, too, know Mr. Robin Howard. I have known him for 35 years, in fact. For good measure, I know his mother Lady Lorna and his sister, Kiloran, as well. The noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, and the noble Lord, Lord Crathorne, expressed anxiety on this point and the noble Lords can be assured that we are looking at this point sincerely and sympathetically. Turning to the further education sector, the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, would, I know, be the first to acknowledge that the mixed bag of provision in the performing arts, which stretches across age levels and across both the independent and public sectors, is an inheritance largely due to historical accident. The noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, I remember, told us he had danced the hornpipe when he was young. My only dancing achievement when I was young, in 1929, was that I was Madame Vacani's star pupil with the sister of the Chairman of Committees. My Lords, I went to Miss Vacani's when I was young. As I did, my Lords. My Lords, so did I. My Lords, as somebody who was born in 1929,I hope we are not going to dance the hornpipe in here tonight. My Lords, we hope not. However, it is a fact that most of the art schools or colleges and several of the music and drama schools are in the public sector and are therefore maintained by local education authorities, while others remain independent, having been established on that basis. Any attempt to rationalise this diverse provision must take into account the competing claims on public resources of other, quite unrelated, disciplines and the consequential effect on educational resources. The question of mandatory and discretionary grants to students has been described as a "vexed" question. We have no doubt that it is, have we? The noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, spoke about the theatre and education and the noble Lord, Lord Auckland, referred to the same point. The present awards system is based on the principle that awards should be mandatory for students taking full-time courses of first degree or equivalent level or teacher-training courses, irrespective of the subject of study. Courses comparable to first-degree courses can also, on application, be designated individually for mandatory awards; this applies to courses in drama, dance and music as well as in more academic disciplines. Noble Lords will realise that, except in music, most such courses are designed for performers and in consequence do not require academic study of a level which can be regarded as comparable to that of a first degree. This is particularly so for courses in dance which for professional reasons are designed for 17-year-olds. Nevertheless, local education authorities do have the power to make awards at their discretion for courses which are not designated for mandatory awards. I am most grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Gosford, for giving me notice of the questions to which he wanted an 1575 answer. I will point out to him now one of his answers, but I must ask him when he addresses your Lordships' House in future to comply, please, with the conventions and not just to refer to "Norman St. John-Stevas"—he is the right honourable the Minister, or your Lordships' right honourable friend. We do not refer to him in that way. My Lords, may I say that I am sorry. My Lords, I thank the noble Earl. The noble Earl raised the question of the effect of cuts in local government expenditure on awards for foundation and diploma courses. I take it that the noble Earl has in mind non-advanced courses which do not attract mandatory awards. Undoubtedly, there will be some effect but it is difficult to say at present how reductions in expenditure on local authority discretionary awards will affect particular areas. So far as foundation courses are concerned, those which form an integral part of a degree course do attract mandatory grants. Courses intended to bring a student up to the standard at which they can embark on a degree course, however, do not. The Government's expenditure plans assume that local education authorities' expenditure on discretionary awards will remain broadly at the present overall level of about £80 million a year. This does not, of course, imply that every local authority will be maintaining its expenditure at the present level, and indeed there is evidence that some local authorities are having to reduce severely the number of discretionary awards they are making in 1980–81. It is difficult to estimate the extent of local education authority economies on discretionary awards and their effect on particular fields of further education, and it may be that their effect is being felt disproportionately by students wishing to undertake courses in the performing arts. While we are of course aware of the consequences of this, both for individuals and for institutions, it remains the responsibility of each local education authority to decide upon the priority to be given to discretionary awards compared with other pressing claims on 1576 resources, and upon the priorities they are prepared to give to courses of various kinds. The Government have no intention of interfering with or advising authorities on the use of their discretion: it is up to them to formulate their own policies and to make awards in accordance with their own judgments of local circumstances and the merits of each case. It is my impression that authorities take their responsibility for discretionary awards very seriously. This is no easy task and particular difficulties arise in the field of the performing arts in identifying the standard of the courses concerned. Moreover, I should like to point out that, if some of the more profligate local authorities reduced their unnecessary spending, they would have more money to provide grants for children with great artistic talents. Still, I am sure that those who have spoken tonight applaud the efforts of all those authorities which have found it possible in these difficult times to give discretionary grants in deserving cases. I do not think that we should take too gloomy a view of the future prospects for local authority discretionary awards, either. Though some have found it necessary to make economies in this area in the short term, these may become less necessary as longer-term expenditure plans are formulated and applied. Noble Lords will know, from the debate we had at Report stage on the Education Act 1980 on Lord Vaizey's amendment, that the Government have no plans to change the present legislative position on mandatory awards. We recognise that difficult problems may arise for would-be students of the performing arts where authorities reduce their expenditure on discretionary awards. But they are not alone in this predicament, and it would be quite inequitable to extend the scope of mandatory awards to courses in the performing arts while ignoring the claims, for instance, of lawyers, social workers and many others who depend on local authority discretionary awards as well. If that is the case, my Lords, why are they prepared to give mandatory grants to business studies in chemistry but not for dance and drama? If you are going to make that kind of 1577 argument, it is a very "wet" answer, if I may say so. My Lords, I will write to my noble friend on that point. If anybody else is interested, they can have a copy of the letter. We have concluded that such a call on public resources could not be justified when we are asking for restraint in other areas. Even if we were able to, however, the problem for performers would not be wholly solved since, as I have already explained, a number of courses for performers are not advanced courses. To make awards mandatory for all non-advanced courses of further education would of course be prohibitively expensive. It would be virtually impossible to find an equitable basis for extending mandatory awards only to selected non-advanced courses of further education, and it is not self-evident that courses in the performing arts could be regarded as having priority. This brings me to the question on which the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey, touched. At present, the education and training systems of this country produce more qualified aspirants to careers in the performing arts (with the possible exception of string players) than can be accommodated in the volume of professional activity as we know it at present. Against this background, it is probably not in the long-term interest of any but the most talented young people to encourage them to think in terms of a professional career in any of these fields: and it is difficult to justify spending public money to give awards for such training as an automatic right. I appreciate that Lord Vaizey's proposal, that courses should be designated for mandatory awards only at accredited institutions, is designed to reduce the number in training; but there can be no guarantee that it would do so. With mandatory awards assured, the selected institutions might well increase their intakes. Special mention has been made of the National Centre for Orchestral Studies, and I should like to add my own appreciation of the work of the centre. Nevertheless, it is a performers' course and students must look to their local education authority for discretionary awards. The noble Lord said that it is time for the 1578 Government to face up to their responsibilities. This has been echoed by other noble Lords. Let me say a word first about the visual arts, on which the noble Earl, Lord Gosford, also spoke. We shall, of course, study with interest the impending report from the Gulbenkian Foundation, but I think I should make the point that there are currently 41 colleges offering degree courses in the fine arts catering for a wide range of interest, and it is unlikely that there can be any aspirant frustrated by the absence of the right kind of course. At the lower level, vocational courses are about to become subject to national validating arrangements under the Technician Education Council's Committee for Art and Design. I was going to answer some more of the questions of the noble Earl, Lord Gosford, but, if he will allow me, I will write to him, and, again, if any other noble Lord would like to have copies, I will arrange for that. My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord the Minister for that kind offer of writing to me, and may I take up his offer of receiving a copy of the letter he sends to the noble Lord, Lord Vaizey? My Lords, as for our responsibilities in the area of school age provision for training in the performing arts—and most of us would accept, I am sure, that we are talking here about providing for high talent in music and dancing—we have to recognise, on the one hand, the special role of local education authorities in identifying and assessing need; and, of course, the quite special funding by means of direct grant at the Yehudi Menuhin and Royal Ballet Lower School to which I have already referred. My noble friend Lady Young is currently considering with great care the case made to her for similar funding for pupils at three other music schools and they can expect an answer from her before very long. Discretionary support by education authorities is not, of course, a responsibility of government. It has been made abundantly clear by the local authority associations that local authorities should 1579 be entirely free to make their own decisions in those areas, including awards, where they are charged with a discretionary responsibility. The Government have no wish to intervene in matters which are properly the concern of local authorities, who must determine their own priorities in the light of their particular needs and resources, as I have said. Moreover, if the Government started to sponsor arts training directly, it could become a never-ending drain on the Exchequer from all the folk whose hopes of financial support had suddenly been raised. There may, as noble Lords have suggested, be a case for looking again at the scope of mandatory awards, though I can see little prospect of any extension in present economic circumstances. However, I assure your Lordships that the Government will be keeping the question under review in the light of local education authorities' future plans for discretionary awards. I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, that we are not trying to shrug anything off and we are not trying to issue raspberries or strawberries! I am afraid that I have not offered very much by way of further finance for training gifted children in the performing arts, although we all agree on the desirability of this. Still, I think we have tonight given the various aspects of this topic a most useful airing, and who knows but that some businessman or commercial organisation may read about this debate and be spurred on to sponsor the training of a bright child—for example, a future musician, actor or dancer. Also, I hope very much that local education authorities will feel encouraged to continue with their crucially important and very worthwhile work in this field. My Lords, if I find I have left out certain things—and I am sure I have—apart from what I have said to the noble Earl, Lord Gosford, I will promise to write. I will also write to the noble Lord, Lord Donaldson, about art in the art colleges. I would like to thank all your Lordships who have contributed to this very interesting debate and to apologise for my inadequacy if I have not answered sufficiently well.

2019-04-25T17:47:52Z

https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1980/jun/04/the-arts-career-training

Last winter, heavy floods brought severe devastation to Vietnam during two months. Sanghas throughout the world sent $10,000 to help Vietnamese people. In Central Vietnam, we assisted the most impoverished villages where there were no schools, health care systems, or bridges. In the rainy season these villages flood with water. In the summer, the land is too dry for anything to grow. With the $7,600 we received from the Canada Sangha and the Nu Hong Sangha, we bought blankets and old clothes and rebuilt houses in remote areas of Qui Nhon, Quang Ngai, Thua Thien, Dong Niu, Quang Xuyen, and An Tuyen. In Phu Hoa and Sen Thuy, Quang Binh, and in Quang Tri, 120 families were given $50 each to rebuild their houses. In Thua Thien, 80 families were helped. We were able to to rebuild 109 huts in Binh Hoa Trung, Binh Thanh, Huyen An, and Thanh Hoa, Long An in South Vietnam with $2,100, and to lend money to peasants there to buy fertilizer and seeds for planting rice. Twice a month, a group of doctors, pharmacists, and social workers travel to remote areas to examine patients, distribute medicine, and treat dental problems of young children and poor adults. In these areas, there is no other form of health care. Plum Village and a benevolent association in the U.S. give $350 for every trip to buy medicine, pay for travel expenses, and buy simple meals for the workers. We gave $2,000 to the leper camp in Van Mon, in North Vietnam to increase the amount of food given to undernourished families. Doctors specializing in leprosy have asked Plum Village to build at least five operating and recovery rooms so they can offer effective treatment. We will help with $36,000 (1/5 of the total amount needed to build a good hospital in Van Mon). A hospital in Van Mon, Thai Binh, also needs some rooms rebuilt. Plum Village and a Sangha in Germany are looking for sponsors to carry out this work. We gave $4,200 to help build two rooms at an herbal medicine clinic in the valley of the Yen Tu mountain—one is used for examinations and acupuncture treatments, the other for storing medicine. We sponsor 133 undernourished children, and provide food for 76 children at the day care center in Kinh Te Moi Xa Bang, Suoi Nghe in South Vietnam. The South Vietnam Sangha travels to the mountains of Quang Ngai where there is no school and the children are undernourished. Their lips are often purple from the cold, and most only have a pair of torn shorts to wear. We sent 400 packages to these children, each containing rice, a blanket, instant noodles, and clothes. Social workers show young mothers the importance of including protein in their children's diet. Together, they make a porridge that contains brown rice, string beans, tofu, and eggs. Each month the mothers are given 30,000 dong which they use to prepare this meal for their families. With the help of Partage in France and Aktion Lotus in Switzerland, the Sangha in South Vietnam gives scholarships to 180 students in Kinh Te Moi Xa Bang, Suoi Nghe. In Dieu Giac, we supply provisions for 16 kindergarten classes in areas where there were no public schools. In North Vietnam, 150 children in Tu Liem and Soc Son near Ha Noi are sponsored by funds collected through the Community of Mindful Living. Two day-care centers are maintained in Soc Son with help from the Maitreya Funds in Germany. In Thua Thien, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, and Nha Trang in Central Vietnam, we give monthly scholarships to over 1,500 undernourished students, $10 a month to 148 apprentices, and income supplements of $2.50 a month to 732 people who are old or have physical disabilities. We provide salaries for 267 teachers and 48 students who are carefully trained to take care of the young children. We also sponsor 127 students at the universities of Hue and Da Nang. We have helped ten communities in remote areas of Binh Tri Thie. We give 10% of what the community itself takes responsibility for in order to realize the various projects. $600 a month supports the work the social workers are doing. It costs $150 a month to feed the children in one kindergarten boarding school. The Washington D.C. Sangha, the Community of Mindful Living, and the Maitreya Funds in Germany, have sponsored 14 daycare centers in these communities where children learn songs such as "Fresh as a Flower, Solid as a Mountain" and receive soy milk daily to supplement the protein in their diets. Trung An is a very poor and arid area with white sand and few trees. Most of the children are not educated, and have only one pair of trousers and few have shirts. Eighty percent of the teenagers do not know how to read. The aid from Plum Village makes evening classes available for them, because during the day they must work—even seven-year-old children must work or else they starve. Teenagers learn a trade in their own village or are sent to Hue for an apprenticeship. This program helps to eliminate the gambling, smoking, drinking, and fighting that are common. Every school has a health care team of nurses and physicians from Hue. Dear International Sanghas, if you would like to sponsor a community, please talk to the social work staff at Plum Village. Each community has a long-term project which they discuss with the Sangha that sponsors them. The name of our community is Loc Hoa. It is 30 kilometers southeast of Hue, and 15 kilometers west of the Phu hoc district, hoc Hoa is a very impoverished town. The land is wooded and mountainous. Five hundred families live here. Two years ago we were fortunate enough to receive support from the Understanding and Love Project sponsored by Plum Village. Before this support, we had no health-care center, and the one elementary school here had only two classrooms. Six groups of inhabitants were separated from each other by rivers and steep mountains. Many parents wouldn't dare let their children cross these deep rivers. There were only a few Buddhist practitioners. My family was one of them. This area doesn't have a Buddhist temple yet. Thanks to the monks, nuns, and the brothers in our community, we are not afraid of the obstacles that prevent us from reaching the hearts of people. Every project the government questions, the people vehemently support, and eventually the government accepts the project. As a result, the six groups of inhabitants in Loc Hoa that are separated from each other now each have a kindergarten center that permits the young children to be taken care of and educated while their parents work in the forests. Doi Mot is lucky enough now to have a boarding house where the children can stay and have soy milk and lunch. Two bridges have been built so people can now cross the very dangerous rivers. They are called the Bridge of Understanding and the Bridge of Love. Lonely and poor families receive a small amount of financial support every month. Social workers visit anyone in the village who has had an unfortunate accident. People in Loc Hoa feel that they are very close to these projects. They are very thankful to Thay and to Thay's students for their help. They have learned that in order to have human morality they have to be mindful. Two-thirds of the people in our area now follow the Buddha's teachings. They participate in every retreat in our region. By looking deeply, we and the people in Loc Hoa are taking refuge in the island of the self. Everyone is watering the seeds of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in themselves. Everyone in Loc Hoa is very happy and peaceful. We are not lonely as we were two years ago. Even though there is no Buddhist temple yet in Loc Hoa, there are hundreds of Buddhist temples in the heart of each one of us. I myself am a Buddhist. For 45 years I have been involved in many organizations, but I have never been peaceful. When anyone asks me, "What is the use of being a Buddhist?" I always respond, "It's to have peace. " Sometimes they ask, "When will we have peace ? " I do not know how to answer that. For the past year I have had the opportunity to work with many monks and nuns from the Understanding and Love Project and have had the opportunity to participate in many retreats. Thanks to that, I can really feel peaceful now and I can also answer people's questions based on my own experience in practice. Sometimes during sitting meditation I see you doing walking meditation with the whole community of Loc Hoa. Sometimes I see you sitting with people who are highly esteemed in society. They have all the material possessions they could want, but what they miss is peace. I do not have the material possessions, but since practicing what you teach, I am more peaceful. I can continue to help people with a clear mind and a peaceful heart. I can love without being attached to results. During this New Year's, I bow to you and the monks and nuns (the Buddhas-to-be) in the Western world. By Leah Matsui The plans for my trip to America were jampacked: a seven-day mindfulness retreat with Amie Kotler and Therese Fitzgerald, three days with my beloved aunt in Florida, and a meeting with my mother—the first in 24 years. I anticipated Florida as a high point—Aunt Helene and me drinking iced tea under the palm trees and reminiscing about my darling stepmother who died last January. It was a great scenario of peace, reconciliation, and comfort, especially for me. A perfect plan for happiness. Imagine my shock when the day before my departure, I received news that Aunt Helene's only daughter had just had surgery for a malignant brain tumor! A second surgery would take place the day I planned to arrive in Palm Beach. My plans flew out the window. Ironically, a few weeks before I had spoken about wanting to become a "big river" as the Buddha taught, with the capacity to absorb and transform suffering with ease. But in this moment, with plans dashed, I was a tiny stream inundated by a storm of emotions. As I sat in front of the Buddha in our living room, my mind whirled. "Should I go straight to Florida? Cancel the trip? Who can help us? Can my cousin survive? Can my aunt survive? Can I survive this suffering?" One decision was made for me—no part of the bargain air ticket from Japan could be changed. My aunt said, "Come anyway, Leah." But there was a chance she would be out of the state, consulting with specialists when I arrived. Out of the confusion, I realized that the three Jewels —Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—are on-call 24 hours a day, but that it was up to me to make the call. First, I would be at a retreat. After the retreat, I could contact our teacher the Buddha, or Dharma brothers and sisters if things became turbulent. So I felt ready to go and meet whatever circumstances arose. The only meditator in my family, I planned to go as a "good Buddhist." Maybe I could be a "Compassion Distribution Center" in the midst of crisis. Maybe my practice could help others. Many things worked favorably for my cousin, and when I landed in Palm Beach, my aunt was waiting. Luckily, as soon as we hugged at the airport, my preconceived notion that I was on a "mission of mercy" disappeared. I was able to hug my aunt in the present moment. I was able to be myself and she felt just like herself in my arms. Aunt Helene and I have been talking about feelings since I was three and she was sixteen. Now, forty years later, we were together in Florida, talking and listening from the heart. Anchored in the present by conscious breathing, I was able to relax my grip on how things "should" be. I felt joy and gratitude for my aunt's smile, the melon pink sunset, and the fact that my cousin had survived this day. Before bed that night, Aunt Helene and I practiced hugging meditation. Early the next morning, I sat in meditation. Then, walking into the Florida dawn, I met a wild jackrabbit. My aunt prepared "American Bagels" for breakfast—a real treat. I gave her a Japanese Shiatsu hand massage. Later, my cousin called. She was out of intensive care and very upset. She was losing big clumps of hair. We talked, and for me, it was one of the deepest interactions I've ever had with her. She asked for a hat. "Please," she said, "so I won't be embarrassed in the hospital." That afternoon, my aunt and I went hat shopping. It was tough for me as we started out. I have always admired my cousin's beautiful hair. On this shopping trip, only the present moment could offer peace. "When you live a long time, there are a lot of ups and downs," my aunt told me. We found the perfect hat in a surf shop, and then enjoyed some delicious iced tea. Nothing that day went according to my "plans" for happiness, but for me it was the best day and the worst day at the same time. There was no need to be the Buddhist of the family or to hand out any prepackaged compassion. My aunt and I took turns, each sometimes embodying terror or equanimity. We were both in touch with plenty of genuine peace during the storm. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that the conditions for happiness are right before us. He often stresses that "happiness is being fully alive in the present moment." I have always been moved by the possibilities this teaching offers. But until recently, it has just been an idea. We each study and practice the Dharma at our own pace. On this trip, it was my turn to really practice dwelling deeply in the present and letting go of worries and plans. Looking back now, I see that expectations gave in to reality, and with that came fear and confusion. The surf was up, the waves were rough, but the anchor of the present held me firm and stable. On the retreat, Arnie Kotler had quoted Dogen-zenji: "Every day is a good day." And so it was for me. Thanks to the Buddha's teaching, I was able to open up to the present, and enjoy the gift of three wonderful days in Florida. As of June 2000, Cousin Alicia is back home, a joyful wife and mother of two. Officially cancerfree, to me, she is more beautiful than ever. May all beings be protected and safe. Leah Matsui, True Light of Awakening, practices with the Sazanami Sangha in Kumamoto, Japan. The voice of your tears,is the fragrance of your heart when it smiles, is the color of your freedom. Winds of peace, let me be your paint, Paint me like the clouds over the sky, On the face of a refugee, On the falling rocks of holy rage, On the abyss of fear, On the eyes of an oppressed child, On the mouth of a hungry ghost. I will have no form. Please come softly, Or you'll find my door closed My house empty, I'm not there. Confused and shrunk I am nowhere to be found, Please blow softly. Wake me up with a warm and tender hand, So I can be here To be your paint. Hagit, Deep Aspiration on Love of the Heart, lives in Israel and practices with the Jerusalem Sangha. Dear Brothers and Sisters on the path, in this moment my heart is clear, not because i have attained much understanding, not because i am able to love all without discrimination. my heart is clear because i have a path to go. a path that is rich and full of learning, with many companions to support me and protect me. i know that i am best protected by our practice, by our capacity to calm, to embrace suffering and pain to bridge the chasms of separation and fear, to relax into connection. dear friends, dear companions, i am aware of your presence, of your sincerity and care. i am in touch with a source of peace, a source of energy, not dependent on the great elements of earth, air, water and fire. yet not independent. our energy arises from our aspirations, our sincere wish to understand, to love, to hold as one. i touch the earth, i touch my life source with gratitude, with concentration, with joy. and i am nourished, to continue. to grow. to love. i acknowledge my weaknesses, my mistakes and i make the vow to lay all my suffering on the earth, to transform everything i have received from my ancestors, from my society into a great source of peace and presence. dear brothers and sisters, please enjoy this small booklet in your hands. it is an offering to you. it is an opportunity to meet your friends on the path of practice, to smile to each other, to simply acknowledge each other’s presence, as real. The stars appear slowly and dim one shark kite still sways above the darkness to meet the stars advancing toward the west and this last kite and all those who meet at night are the freedom of a people greater than any flag. Thay Chan Phap Tue currently lives at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California. An altar in the alley in Da Nang, Vietnam by Gary Richardson, Chan Dieu Hanh. By Paul Davis In Vietnam this year, as I walked mindfully on the earth that had experienced such destruction and suffering during the American war, my mind returned to the Vietnam of 1965. At that time, I was often part of a team searching for land mines. In many ways, that was also mindful walking, but the seeds being watered were fear and anxiety and the psychological ground was ignorance. Now, walking with the support of Thay and a loving and compassionate Sangha, I was able to breathe in the suffering of war and breathe out peace and compassion to all those killed or wounded and for those who killed or wounded others. The psychological ground had been transformed from ignorance to awareness and the seeds from fear to compassion. Paul Davis, Authentic Connection of the Heart, sits with the Eastside Sangha in Cincinnati, Ohio. Within three days of arriving home, I was on a plane to Colorado to visit my nephew and join in the celebration of my mother’s ninetieth birthday. What was to be a joyous occasion was soon transformed into something quite different. My mother fell, breaking her arm and badly bruising her face. Then we learned that in just two days, on Sunday morning, my nephew was to begin his journey from this life as we know it. I felt my equanimity slipping away, replaced by the sorrow of what was to come. I sat alone that night. Focusing on my breath, I slowly eased into a place of stillness, readying myself for the days to come. We spent Saturday afternoon saying our good-byes to him. It wasn’t easy. He is my hero and I knew I would miss his physical presence. Yet I felt that all my weeks of practice with the Sangha had given me the peace and solidity I needed to be with him for him. Thay’s teachings on no-birth no-death, and on accompanying the dying made it possible for me to wish him a peaceful journey without any fear. I held him close and could feel his peace as well. I shared with him some of my happiest memories of our times together. His eyes sparkled. My nephew once was asked what he thought about heaven. He replied, “I think it’s like graduating to God.” But for me, he already had manifested his God-like nature in his patience, acceptance, and surrender without complaint to his illness, and in his joy of living in a body that increasingly was unable to support him. In graduating to God long ago, he allowed the lives he touched to awaken just a little bit more to the God within, to the Buddha within. This was a gift he gave to me. Family and friends arrived early Sunday morning. I did walking meditation before we gathered, and periodically during the day and evening as the process unfolded, which helped me maintain a center of calm. I joined in massaging his hands and feet. I silently sang to him “Namo Avalokiteshvara,” and I could hear the monastic brothers and sisters and our lay Sangha in Hue, Hanoi, and Binh Dinh singing with me. Throughout, I felt the love and support of our Sangha, and while my practice is far from perfect, I was able to bring into the room the peace and stability I had developed on the retreat. During the night, I followed my nephew’s breath as it gradually eased and the time between breaths lengthened. And finally, with only his parents present, he passed from this life early the next morning. Several months have passed. To some, it might look as though very little has changed. My mother’s arm has mended, her bruises faded. Our family has returned to the busyness of life, much as before. Yet I am aware that my nephew’s transformation has been my transformation as well. I am taking more time to be with family and friends. My heart is more open. There are times when the tenderness is almost too much to bear. More shared tears and joy, more awareness of life in the present moment. This too is a gift my nephew gave me. Susan Glogovac, Wonderful Calling of the Heart, lives in Long Beach, California and practices with the Los Angeles Compassionate Heart Sangha. A retired psychology professor, she now serves her community as a mediator in victim-offender reconciliation cases. When I took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha many years ago, I was given the dharma name “Joyful Purpose of the Heart.” At the time I didn’t think much about it. Frankly, the name didn’t mean much to me. Joyful Purpose? I had no idea what my joyful purpose might be. I had been practicing mindfulness in a personal way, meditating by myself and reading books on mindfulness. As a result, my life had been changing slowly. For example, I found myself having more patience for my kids and a sense of calm inside myself. But I did not feel there was any purpose to my life. I was living life aimlessly. After the events of September 11, everything changed. As I listened to the coverage of the crashes, I felt a sense of compassion and courage growing inside of me. Suddenly, interbeing—the idea that every one of us is intimately connected to one another—was a concrete reality rather than an abstract concept. My own need for Sangha surfaced as I sought the support of other people who could see the interbeing in this event and find the connection between the victims and the terrorists. I began to sit regularly with the Stillwater Mindfulness Group in Maryland. I needed the support of other people for my growing mindfulness and to be in an emotionally safe place. By joining fully in the Sangha, I made the decision that mindfulness was my life path, and I began to live from this foundation. Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, “Do thy work in the peace of yoga and, free from selfish desires, be not moved in success or in failure… In the bonds of works I am free, because in them I am free from desires.” I began to think that it might be okay to express my creativity through my work and even to do it with joy. I knew there was something I could do to transform the growing anger and mutual misunderstanding that led to the events of September 11. I had a talent for teaching children, and my study and practice of mindfulness and my relationship with Thay gave me insights into peace and conflict resolution. On September 14, I sent an e-mail to Coleman McCarthy, a former Washington Post columnist turned peace activist, asking how I could get involved in teaching peace and conflict resolution in the Washington, D.C. public schools. His organization got me in touch with Marsha Blakeway who works with the public schools’ peer mediation and conflict resolution programs. Marsha happily became my peace mentor, and I immediately began to assist her with peer mediation meetings at Alice Deal Junior High. I also contacted my son’s third grade teacher and asked if she would be interested in having me teach a weekly conflict resolution class. I had no experience in this area, but I had books and I had my new mentor and I had my mindfulness practice. With these tools I was able to fabricate a wonderful class in which I used games, literature, discussion, and dramatization to help third graders learn how to resolve disputes peacefully. At the end of my first month of teaching, I was approached by another third grade teacher to teach in her classroom. During the first year, I often wondered whether the kids were getting anything out of the class. Then one day, my son had a friend over to visit. Both of them were in my conflict class at the time. When my son did something that irritated me, I began to scold him. His friend said, “Annie, use your ‘I’ language.” I had taught them to do this in our conflict class, and he not only remembered it, but also applied it to real life. After that, I worried much less about the impact of my teaching. In the fall of 2002, I saw a notice for a program training people how to teach yoga to kids. I had long been a yogini and had experience in the connection between the mind and the body. Kids especially live in and through their bodies and their ability to stay centered depends on this connection. As we teach children how to think rationally, they begin to lose this grounding, and I think this can cause children—and adults—to become physically and mentally ill. During the last day of the training, I was asked to teach a free yoga class for children with two of my fellow students. We gave a forty-five minute class to seven kids, ages eight to twelve. What surprised me was that the students liked the relaxation part of class best. These kids really needed the time and space to relax. They are often busy all day at school and afterwards with activities, and then they usually watch TV or use the computer. After the training, I approached the owner of a small exercise studio where I took classes and asked if I could teach a yoga class for kids. They were happy to try it. I also decided to offer an after-school class at the local elementary school. That class was so popular I ended up offering two classes after school, each class filled with twelve students. After a while I realized that part of the experience for kids was having a kid-friendly, aesthetically pleasing space. So I decided to open a yoga studio for kids. In March, 2003 I opened Budding Yogis, Mindful Yoga Studio for Kids. My practice is to stay open to what the world, my students, and coworkers need; to express my creativity without becoming attached to the outcome; to create a space for myself and the community; and to remember that the connections—interbeing—are what matter. The business supports the vision. At long last my dharma name begins to make sense. Now I understand what it means to have—to be—Joyful Purpose of the Heart. Annie Mahon, Joyful Purpose of the Heart, practices with the Stillwater Mindfulness Practice Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. She has four wonderful and sometimes stressed-out children of her own. From: Spoken Like a True Buddha, an unpublished compilation of stories about mindfulness practice in everyday life, edited by Carolyn Cleveland Schena and Sharron Mendel. By Laura Lester Fournier The night before I received the Five Mindfulness Trainings at Stonehill College last August, I sat with friends and together we read the Trainings. I remember taking in every word deeply and contemplating what I was about to commit to. The topic that kept coming up for conversation was found in number five: specifically, “I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant.” For me, there was no question that if I were to commit to that, I would commit to no longer drinking alcohol. My friends, however, found peace in the idea that this is a practice and not a commandment. They did not have to be absolute; they simply needed to approach drinking with more mindfulness—although that in itself seems like a contradiction in terms. Can one ever drink mindfully, given that alcohol is an intoxicant that alters our consciousness? As we shared our feelings and laughed together, I became crystal clear about my intention. I was no longer going to drink alcohol. I come from a long line of alcoholics, though I myself am not an alcoholic. I have a strong desire to help transform this disease for my ancestors and for the children who will follow in the generations yet to be born. It occurred to me that although I am not an alcoholic, my beautiful ten-year-old daughter Abby-Rose could be. The moment I realized that my daughter’s very life could be the price I pay if I continued, I felt completely grounded in my intention to no longer drink alcohol. I had a profound opportunity to transform something in me and in my ancestors and potentially in my daughter. It was my chance to shine a light on something that could alter my daughter’s life profoundly. Although I only have a drink once or twice a month, alcohol was still something that I continued to reach for. I could dedicate my decision to my ancestors, my precious child, and all those who suffer with alcoholism. The following morning as I stood with my friends listening to Thây’s beautiful voice and hearing the Five Mindfulness Trainings, I felt so proud and sure that I was taking a step that only good would come from. When I got home, I sat down with Abby and shared with her my decision to no longer drink. I shared how much suffering there has been in our family because of alcoholism and my wish for her for a life that is free from that kind of suffering. She listened quietly and when I was done she reached for me and gave me the longest and deepest hug I have ever received from her. I knew that she understood. I knew that she heard me on a level of spirit, connection, and conviction, beyond words. The next day, I took my bottle of vodka out of the freezer. I walked to the kitchen sink and held it up to the sunlight shining through the window. As I gazed into the bottle, all I saw in it was suffering, and it caused me to weep. I unscrewed the cap and poured the contents down the drain, breathing deeply and remaining truly present to my commitment. I then walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. I held the water up to the light streaming through the window and saw nothing but joy and thanksgiving. I drank the water and blessed it with gratitude. But there was still the liquor cabinet in the family room. Ultimately, all that was left was a bottle of French wine. I thought that was appropriate, given that Plum Village is in France and it felt like a synchronistic connection with the Sangha and Thây. I knew right away what I wanted to do with the bottle. I wanted to return it to the earth. I walked outside to our summer house, a wonderful sanctuary where we have had many celebrations at our home in New Hampshire. The summer house is surrounded by a grove of trees and is very magical. I thought about all the good times we have had there and also about all the times when liquor was a central ingredient in those celebrations. I knelt on the ground; the sun was shining through the trees, dappling the ground with little moments of radiance. I dug a hole and placed the bottle in it and covered it back up with dirt. I bowed to the earth and placed my hands on the dirt. I felt all my ancestors around me at that moment. I felt their hands on my back and I felt them smiling, I felt their gratitude and their healing. I felt myself healing, too. I knew that the cycle had come full circle—all for the love of one very special little girl, one promise of the future, one Abby-Rose. Since giving up drinking, I have had the opportunity to really see when I want a drink. There seem to be two times when I crave it. First, when I want to really let my hair down and have a good time! And the other is when I am completely stressed out and want to escape. During those times I miss the feeling I would get from that first sip of alcohol. Instant relaxation. A few sips later, I would not even remember whatever it was that I was stressed or worried about. It was like a mini-vacation. I did not realize how much I had come to rely on that bottle to give me peace or just take the edge off. I didn’t drink very often, but I knew alcohol was available if I wanted it. Just the thought that I could go to the freezer and get that bottle and escape was sometimes intoxicating enough for me. Now that I am not drinking I have found myself wondering if I truly am an alcoholic. There have been days when I wanted a drink, because I was stressed or because I wanted to party. That’s when I have an opportunity to roll up my sleeves and go deep into my practice. I get to return to my breath. I get to go home. I can choose to celebrate and fill my champagne flute with something nourishing and joyful, rather than something that will only cause me more suffering. I have the opportunity to remind myself of ways that I can avoid becoming so stressed. Rather than escaping into a false peace, I can embrace a true peace. A peace that I joyfully pass on to the next generation. Laura Lester Fournier, Awakened Direction of the Heart, lives on a small farm with lots of animals in New Hampshire, where she facilitates a children’s sangha. Dear Thay, dear Sangha, While this issue was coming together, I spent an evening reading our teacher’s poetry on his experiences in war. Afterward, I dreamt that people in my community were drafted into military service and a war was going to break out within a few days. I was very conscious of the peaceful conditions of our lives. The sky was clear and quiet with-out bombers. No grenades were hidden in the fields. The children’s faces were innocent and happy. If war came to our community, I thought, we would look back on this day as a blissfully peaceful time, a day in heaven. In our world, moments of peace are priceless. Too many people are living in the chaos and terror of war. Even when there’s no external violence, we can have a war going on inside us if the seeds of anger and hatred have been watered. War is never far away. My dream reminded me to cherish peace wherever I find it, and also to cultivate inner peace and use it to nurture harmony in my community. Thay shows us the way of a bodhisattva, one who continually embodies and generates peace within the crucible of war. He showed us by his example in Vietnam. He shows us by embracing all of our suffering, by meeting one wound after another with the healing balm of compassionate presence. He shows us how places of conflict and suffering are the very places to birth peace. Anh-Huong Nguyen, in this issue’s interview, encourages us to embrace our pain and to lean into the Sangha for support, because “sometimes our mindfulness is not strong enough to hold the pain that arises in us. We need to lay this pain inside the Sangha’s cradle, so that it can be held by the collective mindfulness and concentration.” Resting in the Sangha’s arms can give us the strength to practice the art of suffering—to engage with our difficulties and transmute them into gifts. Also in this issue, young practitioners in the Wake Up movement share what it’s like for them to rely on the Sangha and to be transformed by the collective energy of awakening. Their exuberance, deep questions, playfulness, and freshness are inspirations to continue opening new doors in our practice. And practitioners of all ages share stories of their ever-deepening gratitude and compassion. May these offerings nourish compassion and loving-kindness in us. May we nurture and share our inner peace to help transform war and amplify peace in the world. By Bridgeen Rea This talk was presented at the Vesak Conference in Hanoi in May 2008. I first went to Plum Village for a week of the summer retreat in July 2005. Sitting with Thay and the Sangha around the lotus pond in Upper Hamlet — following my first-ever walking meditation— had a massive impact on me. Maybe it was the strong French sunshine or the beautiful pink lotuses, which I’d never seen before in my life, but I was deeply touched by the peace and the happiness all around me in Plum Village. I had a joyful, wonderful time and I felt lots of love. I decided to take the Five Mindfulness Trainings that week. Back in Northern Ireland I went to meditation once a week in the Belfast Zen Centre, which follows the Soto Zen tradition. I feel like the Mindfulness Trainings worked on me, rather than me working on them. I was training to be a yoga teacher and tried to be as mindful as I could — when I remembered! In August 2006 I went to the Neuroscience Retreat at Plum Village, where I met a psychologist from Dublin who told me I should go to Vietnam. I thought it was impossible, but I went! Many friends supported me to go and even my family were happy for me. For the whole three weeks of segment two, I shared a room with Gladys from Hong Kong, who has now been ordained as Sister Si. I felt so happy to have met such a beautiful person. In Vietnam many of the lay friends encouraged me to start a Sangha in Belfast. In Belfast it’s not really possible to be Buddhist — if I say I practice Buddhism, people say ‘but are you a Catholic Buddhist or a Protestant Buddhist?’ and it’s only half a joke! I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1974, five years into what is known as “the Troubles.” Growing up in a divided society rife with sectarianism, hatred, and fear was the norm, but I had a happy childhood and enjoyed school. The Troubles did penetrate my life though. I was born on July 8, which is right in the middle of the ‘marching season’ — the guaranteed time for trouble in Belfast. Belfast used to shut down and become a ghost town. I have memories of people protesting out on the streets when a hunger striker died around my eighth birthday and I didn’t get to go on a planned outing. When I was much older and wanted to have a party or an evening out in a local place, often my friends couldn’t come because of trouble in parts of the city. As a teenager I had to be aware of going to places wearing my school uniform because it identified me as Catholic. I had to be careful about going out with Protestant boys. Also I was very aware that my name, Bridgeen, labels me as a Catholic, unlike my sister’s neutral name Jenny, which can be either Catholic or Protestant. In April 2007 I told my friend Sinead about the idea of Sangha — she is a poet and very open to new ideas. She thought it was wonderful! She had just had a baby and thought that Sangha would be the perfect thing to help her balance her life. So with her encouragement I called a couple of friends who were interested or at least open-minded towards Buddhism and meditation. The Tall Trees Sangha started in my apartment. After a year five of us are still practicing once a week. It is very wonderful and brings all of us many blessings. How to Be at Peace? By coincidence when the Sangha started in May 2007, Northern Ireland installed its first power-sharing executive. Ten years after the historic Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland finally has a locally elected government. This is something that my Granddad didn’t live to see and would never have believed could happen. Belfast has been transformed. In some ways the peace is still tenuous and people are now having to learn how to live in a new situation after forty years of conflict. I work in the new government administration as a Press Officer — for a Minister who belongs to a party that my community once saw as the enemy. But in spite of the many positive events, sectarianism and fear are still rampant. The society is still very much divided in terms of where people live and the schools they go to. There are many social problems of deprivation, depression, and suicide. My mindfulness practice and Sangha can’t do much on a large scale but on a micro scale five us are learning a lot from Thay and trying to nourish our good seeds. Every week we practice sitting meditation, walking meditation, listen to Thay speak on CD and we have a Dharma discussion. Two of us come from a Catholic background, one was brought up Protestant, one was brought up with no religion; there’s also a German guy whose religious background doesn’t really count in the Northern Ireland context! We don’t discuss politics or the state of society, rather our personal problems and challenges. I really believe in Thay’s saying “peace in oneself, peace in the world.” I aspire to follow the Five Mindfulness Trainings, though sometimes I don’t find it easy to live up to them. Another Sangha member in his fifties with five children says gratefully that the Sangha nourishes the spiritual aspect inside him and that it makes a space in his week. He remembers being angry and depressed during the Troubles and shouting at the TV. I think every family experienced that. When I am out socialising and people find out I practice meditation they ask me all sorts of questions. There is a lot ignorance, confusion, and misunderstanding about anything that comes from the East. There is fear that it’s some kind of cult or it’s against Christianity. Yet Belfast people are the salt of the earth; they are warm and friendly and funny! If you ever visit Belfast you will find people go out of their way to help you and make you feel welcome. Because of our history we may have a dark sense of humour, but there is also awareness of the importance of forgiveness. People understand about changing and moving on for the sake of future generations. Bridgeen Rea, Peaceful Gift of the Heart, hosts Tall Trees Sangha in her apartment in Whiteabbey Village, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

2019-04-20T03:15:57Z

https://www.mindfulnessbell.org/archive/tag/peace

The evolutionarily conserved transmembrane protein Crumbs is required for epithelial polarity and morphogenesis in the embryo, control of tissue size in imaginal discs and morphogenesis of photoreceptor cells, and prevents light-dependent retinal degeneration. The small cytoplasmic domain contains two highly conserved regions, a FERM (i.e., protein 4.1/ezrin/radixin/moesin)-binding and a PDZ (i.e., postsynaptic density/discs large/ZO-1)-binding domain. Using a fosmid-based transgenomic approach, we analyzed the role of the two domains during invagination of the tracheae and the salivary glands in the Drosophila embryo. We provide data to show that the PDZ-binding domain is essential for the maintenance of cell polarity in both tissues. In contrast, in embryos expressing a Crumbs protein with an exchange of a conserved Tyrosine residue in the FERM-binding domain to an Alanine, both tissues are internalized, despite some initial defects in apical constriction, phospho-Moesin recruitment, and coordinated invagination movements. However, at later stages these embryos fail to undergo dorsal closure, germ band retraction, and head involution. In addition, frequent defects in tracheal fusion were observed. These results suggest stage and/or tissue specific binding partners. We discuss the power of this fosmid-based system for detailed structure-function analyses in comparison to the UAS/Gal4 system. Many internal organs of multicellular organisms develop from epithelial tubes, which further differentiate to serve a variety of functions. They can be specialized for secretion, as salivary glands or the pancreas, or for respiration, forming branched networks of interconnected tubes, e.g., in the lung of vertebrates and the tracheal system of arthropods (Affolter et al. 2009; Kerman et al. 2006; Warburton et al. 2010). Others are specialized for absorption and filtration, for example, the kidney or the Malpighian tubules, the excretory organs of vertebrates and arthropods, respectively (Denholm and Skaer 2009; Little et al. 2010). Several mechanisms are used to form tubular organs, including budding and invagination from an existing epithelium, oriented cell division, cavitation of a solid epithelial rod, or formation of a lumen by fusion of intracellular vesicles (reviewed in Andrew and Ewald 2010; Rodriguez-Fraticelli et al. 2011). Strikingly, many molecules and pathways involved in tube formation are conserved between invertebrates and vertebrates. This finding and the relatively simple organization of the fly embryo, its accessibility to high resolution in vivo imaging, and the availability of a large genetic toolbox has made the Drosophila embryo an ideal system to study the cell biological and genetic basis of tubulogenesis. In particular, studies of a simple tube, the salivary gland, and a branched tubular system, the tracheae, have provided detailed insight into the different steps of tubulogenesis and their regulation (Affolter et al. 2009; Baer et al. 2009; Maruyama and Andrew 2012; Pirraglia and Myat 2010; Schottenfeld et al. 2010). Most processes during salivary gland and tracheal development take place in the absence of any cell division. This means that the final organization of the organ depends on changes in cell shape and cell size, on remodeling of junctions, and modification of apical and basolateral surface areas (reviewed in Andrew and Ewald 2010; St Johnston and Sanson 2011). After allocation of ectodermal cells to either salivary gland or tracheal cell fate, the initial morphogenetic processes common to both organs can be subdivided into three different steps: apical constriction, internalization, and elongation. Apical constriction depends on the coordinated activity of signaling molecules and components of the actin cytoskeleton. This leads to a shrinking of the actino-myosin belt and a reduction of the apical surface (reviewed in Sawyer et al. 2010). Internalization of cells occurs by coordinated and often patterned invagination, resulting in a small sac or pit. Once internalized, the sac expands to form a tube. Directed migration of the tube is under genetic control, which ensures the stereotypic localization and patterning of the organ. While the salivary glands stay as simple tubes, the tracheal sacs start to branch in a very precise and stereotypic pattern. Individual branches further elongate and eventually fuse at later stages (Affolter and Caussinus 2008). The Drosophila ectoderm, from which salivary glands and tracheae originate, is a single-layered epithelial sheet, with a pronounced apico-basal polarity. A hallmark of epithelial cell polarity is the apical zonula adherens (ZA), a belt-like structure, characterized by accumulation of the homophilic adhesion molecule Drosophila E-cadherin, which is linked to the actin cytoskeleton via Armadillo, the Drosophila ortholog of β-catenin. Maintenance of epithelial cell polarity is crucial for proper embryonic development, and its loss results in severe morphogenetic defects and embryonic lethality. One of the key regulators of epithelial cell polarity is the evolutionarily conserved Crumbs complex. It is composed of the transmembrane protein Crumbs (Crb), which recruits the scaffolding proteins Stardust (Sdt), DPATJ, and DLin-7. Embryos lacking Crb or Sdt fail to maintain the integrity of most of their epithelia. Cells of the epidermis, for example, are unable to establish a proper ZA, lose contacts to their neighbors, and undergo extensive apoptosis. The same happens to cells of the salivary glands, whereas the tracheae invaginate, but fall apart later, forming small vesicles with proper apicobasal polarity (Grawe et al. 1996; Tepass 1996; Tepass and Knust 1990). Crb, a type I transmembrane protein, contains a large extracellular domain, composed of an array of repeats with similarity to the epidermal growth factor (EGF-like repeats), interspersed by four domains with similarity to the globular domain of laminin A. Its small cytoplasmic portion of only 37 amino acids contains two highly conserved motifs, a C-terminal, PDZ (postsynaptic density/discs large/ZO-1)-binding motif, -ERLI, which can bind the PDZ-domain of Sdt and Drosophila Par-6, and a FERM-binding motif, which can directly interact with the FERM (protein 4.1/ezrin/radixin/moesin)-domain of Yurt and Expanded (Ex) (Laprise et al. 2006; Ling et al. 2010) and is required to recruit Moesin to the apical membrane (Medina et al. 2002). Besides a role in epithelial cell polarity, Drosophila crb controls tissue size in imaginal discs by acting upstream of the Hippo pathway (reviewed in Boggiano and Fehon 2012; Genevet and Tapon 2011), regulates the morphogenesis of photoreceptor cells, and prevents light-dependent retinal degeneration (reviewed in Bazellieres et al. 2009; Bulgakova and Knust 2009). The modular organization of the Crb protein raises the question of whether individual domains serve particular functions. This idea is supported by the observation that one of the three mammalian Crb orthologs, Crb3, contains only the conserved cytoplasmic domain but lacks the typical extracellular domain with EGF- and laminin A-like repeats (Lemmers et al. 2004; Makarova et al. 2003). Using the Gal4/UAS system (reviewed in Elliott and Brand 2008), we elucidated the function of the short cytoplasmic domain of Crb. We found that ubiquitous expression of a membrane-bound cytoplasmic domain, called Crbintra, suppressed the crb mutant embryonic phenotype to the same extend as the full-length protein. Removing the PDZ-binding motif (CrbintraΔERLI) completely abolished this activity (Klebes and Knust 2000; Wodarz et al. 1995). This result was in agreement with the observation that crb8F105, an allele encoding a mutant protein that lacks the C-terminal 23 amino acids, develops only a slightly weaker embryonic phenotype than the protein null allele crb11A22 (Wodarz et al. 1993). Expression of UAS-crbintraY10A or UAS-crbintraY10AE16A, which carry mutations in conserved amino acid residues within the FERM-binding domain, also failed to suppress the crb mutant phenotype (numbering of amino acids according to Klebes and Knust 2000), starting with the Arginine residue C-terminal to the transmembrane domain (Figure 1). However, unlike UAS-crbintraΔERLI, these constructs induced polarity defects when overexpressed in wild-type embryos, similar to those observed with the full-length cytoplasmic domain (Klebes and Knust 2000). Using the same UAS-constructs, it was found that the FERM-binding domain is required to rescue invagination defects of the anlagen of the tracheae in crb mutant embryos (Letizia et al. 2011) and to activate the Salvador/Warts/Hippo pathway in otherwise wild-type wing imaginal discs (Robinson et al. 2010). On the other hand, a UAS-construct encoding the membrane-bound extracellular domain, which does not rescue the embryonic phenotype, could rescue the overgrowth phenotype in heads and eyes associated with loss of crb (Richardson and Pichaud 2010), but not the embryonic crb phenotype. foscrb variants used and their expression. (A) Genomic region covering the crb locus (adopted from Flybase). foscrb (dotted line) covers nearly the same region as cosmid Pw-1 (dashed line), which was shown to rescue the crb mutant phenotype (Tepass and Knust 1990). (B) Crb variants used in this study. Green rectangles: EGF-like repeat, brown hexagon: repeat with similarity to the globular domain of laminin A, gray bar: transmembrane (TM) domain, purple: insertion of EGFP. Depicted proteins are based on the Crb-PA isoform (2.146 amino acids). Numbering of amino acids in the cytoplasmic domain starts with the first arginine residue (R) after the transmembrane domain. The fosmids encode all Crb isoforms, although only Crb-PA is shown here. The amino acid sequences of the wild-type and mutant versions of full-length Crb are indicated, red symbols indicate exchanges. (C) foscrb does not cause Crb overexpression in the presence of endogenous Crb (lane 2), whereas UAS/Gal4-driven crb does. Western blot of lysates prepared from overnight embryos, probed with anti-Crb and anti-Tubulin as a loading control. Embryos, from which extracts were prepared, had the following genotypes: lane 1: wild-type; lane 2: foscrb/foscrb (carry four copies of crb); lane 3: UAS-crbfull-length; GAL4daG32; lane 4: foscrb/foscrb; crbGX24/crbGX24. (D) crb, foscrb, foscrbEGFP, and foscrbY10F express Crb protein at similar levels. Western blot was probed with anti-Crb and anti-Tubulin, antibodies. Extracts were prepared from overnight embryo collections from wild-type (lane 1) and homozygous foscrb/foscrb; crbGX24/crbGX24 (lane 2); foscrbEGFP/foscrbEGFP; crbGX24/crbGX24 (lane 3); and foscrbY10F/foscrbY10F; crbGX24/crbGX24 (lane 4) embryos. (E) Cross section of the embryonic epidermis at stage 13/14 showing the localization of Crb and the lateral marker Dlg in wild-type (wt) and homozygous foscrb/foscrb; crbGX24/crbGX24, foscrbEGFP/foscrbEGFP; crbGX24/crbGX24 and foscrbY10F/foscrbY10F; crbGX24/crbGX24 embryos. Scale bar, 10 µm. Despite the tremendous power of the Gal4/UAS system, there are several disadvantages. In most cases, a heterologous promoter is used, which does not reflect the endogenous expression pattern of the gene and often results in ectopic and/or strong overexpression. In addition, only one isoform of the gene of interest is expressed. Recently developed methods using large genomic fragments, such as bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) or fosmids, which cover whole genes, including all splice variants and regulatory elements, overcome most of these problems (reviewed in Ejsmont et al. 2011; Venken and Bellen 2012). In combination with recombineering, which allows the introduction of mutations into the transgenes by homologous recombination in bacteria before insertion into the genome (reviewed in Ciotta et al. 2011), this technology now opens the possibility for structure-function analysis under optimized in vivo conditions. Here, we used fosmid-based transgenesis to analyze the role of the PDZ- and FERM-binding domains of the cytoplasmic tail of Crb during early stages of salivary gland and tracheal development. We show that the PDZ-binding motif is essential for proper invagination of both salivary glands and tracheae. Surprisingly, however, and in contrast to previous results obtained with UAS-constructs, a Crb protein with a mutated FERM-binding domain (fosCrbY10A) rescued apical constriction, invagination, and elongation of salivary glands and tracheae despite some defects during apical constriction observed during tracheal morphogenesis. Embryos expressing fosCrbY10A showed later defects, such as incomplete tracheal fusion, defective dorsal closure, and germ band retraction. Flies were kept at 25°. The following stocks/mutant alleles were used: OregonR as wild-type control, crb11A22 (Jürgens et al. 1984), crbGX24 (Huang et al. 2009), Gal4daG32, Gal4385.3, UAS-crbintramyc2b (Wodarz et al. 1995), UAS-crb8xMycintra16.1 (S. Özüyaman and E. Knust, unpublished data), w; foscrb;crbGX24, w; foscrbEGFP; crbGX24, w; foscrbY10F; crbGX24, w; foscrbY10A;crbGX24, w; foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24, and w; foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24 (this work). Mutant stocks were balanced over TM3, twist-GAL4, UAS-EGFP (Bloomington Stock Center). The foscrb variants are based on the fosmid library clone pFlyFos No P52 G02 obtained from Pavel Tomancak [MPI-CBG, Dresden (Ejsmont et al. 2009); named foscrb throughout the text]. The contained genomic region of crumbs was modified by recombineering in Escherichia coli in vivo by use of the Red/ET Recombination technology according to the technical protocol for the “Counter-Selection BAC Modification Kit by Red/ET Recombination” (version 3, 2007; Gene Bridges) with following major changes: The recombineering as well as the amplification of the vector foscrb were performed in the E. coli strain TOP10 (Invitrogen). Whenever foscrb was kept in liquid culture, 0.01% L-arabinose and 20 µg/mL chloramphenicol are added (Ejsmont et al. 2009). The concentration of streptomycin in the counter-selection step was increased from 50 µg/mL to 8000 µg/mL to enhance the efficiency of the counter-selection. In addition, the counter-selection by streptomycin was performed overnight in liquid culture, and then 1 µL of this liquid culture was plated onto LB-Agar plates containing chloramphenicol and streptomycin for a final counter-selection step. Cotransformed recombineering source served the plasmid pRed4Flp (Sarov et al. 2006), whereas 0.35% L-rhamnose was used to induce Red expression and was selected by adding 100 µg/mL hygromycin in low-salt LB medium, pH 8, cultured at 30° due to the temperature-sensitive origin of replication. However, after we added L-rhamnose and before the addition of the recombineering cassette, the temperature was shifted to 37° to obtain an optimal Red expression. The plasmid pR6K-rpsL-neo (Wang et al. 2006) was used as template to amplify the respective counter-selection cassette in the first recombineering step. After the first as well as second recombineering step a medium-scale plasmid DNA isolation (QIAGEN), followed by retransformation into E. coli TOP10 cells, was performed to identify the clone containing the correct integration of the counter-selection/modification cassette by colony-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A detailed description of the protocol can be obtained from the authors. foscrb contains the nonmodified wild-type crb locus. For the generation of foscrbEGFP the oligonucleotides 5′-GGGTCAGGTGGTTCTGGCATGGTGAGCAAGGGCGAGGAGC-3 and 5′-CCCGGATCCTCCCGAGCCCTTGTACAGCTCGTCCATGCCGA-3′ were used to amplify the sequence encoding the EGFP tag from the plasmid pEGFP-C1 (Clontech), without STOP codon and to flank the tag with a stretch of glycines and serines (GSGGSG). The linker shall enhance a proper folding and reduce effects onto the Crb protein. The PCR product served as template in a second PCR to add the homology arms for recombineering using the oligonucleotides 5′-TCGAATTTTGCCAACACGTTACATGTCCGGGACAGAGCTTGTGCCAAAATGGGTCAGGTGGTTCTGGCATGGTGAGCAAGGGCGAGGAGC-3′ and 5′- TCCTGCCCAGTAAATGTGGTGTTCGTAACACACTCATAGCCATCGTCCAGCCCGGATCCTCCCGAGCCCTTGTACAGCTCGTCCATGCCGA-3′ (homology arms, linker GSGGSG). The counter-selection cassette was amplified from the template pR6K-rpsL-neo (Wang et al. 2006) by using the oligonucleotides 5′-TCGAATTTTGCCAACACGTTACATGTCCGGGACAGAGCTTGTGCCAAAATGGCCTGGTGATGATGGCGGGATCG-3′ and 5′- TCCTGCCCAGTAAATGTGGTGTTCGTAACACACTCATAGCCATCGTCCAGTCAGAAGAACTCGTCAAGAAGG-3′ (homology arms). For all foscrb variants mutated in the cytoplasmic domain, the same counter-selection cassette was amplified from the template pR6K-rpsL-neo (Wang et al. 2006) by using the oligonucleotides 5′-GACATTGCCATCATTGTAATACCCGTAGTGGTGGTGCTGCTGCTGATCGCGGCCTGGTGATGATGGCGGGATCG-3′ and 5′-TGTAAACCATAACTAGGGGCCAACTTAGTACAAAACATTGAGTTACTCCTTCAGAAGAACTCGTCAAGAAGG-3′ (homology arms). The oligonucleotides 5′-GACATTGCCATCATTGTAATA-3 and 5′-TGTAAACCATAACTAGGGGCCA-3′ were used to amplify the mutated cytoplasmic domains of crumbs from the following pre-existing plasmids: foscrbY10F from pBS-8xMyc-crbintra-Y10F (C. Clemens and E. Knust, unpublished data); foscrbY10A from pUAST-8xMyc-crbintra-Y10A (S. Özüyaman and E. Knust, unpublished data); foscrbΔERLI from pBS-8xMyc-crbintra-ΔERLI (S. Özüyaman and E. Knust, unpublished data); foscrbY10A, ΔERLI from pUAST-8xMyc-crbintra-Y10A,ΔERLI (C. Clemens and E. Knust, unpublished data). The obtained modification cassettes exchanged the counter-selection cassettes in the second recombineering step in the different foscrb variants, respectively. All foscrb variants were verified by sequencing before injection into Drosophila melanogaster. Transgenic flies were generated via the phiC31 integrase mediated site-specific integration into attP landing-sites (reviewed in Venken and Bellen 2007). For the injection and establishment of transgenic lines standard protocols were followed (Bachmann et al. 2008). All foscrb variants were integrated into the landing site attP40, of the stock y, v, P(nos-phiC31\int.NLS)X ; P(CaryP)attP40 (Bloomington #25709). Embryos were collected on apple juice plates for 2 hr at 25° and then incubated for 6 hr at 25° or 12 hr at 19°, dechorionated in 50% bleach for 3 min, and fixed for 20 min in 4% formaldehyde in phosphate-buffered saline/heptane. For heat fixation, dechorionated embryos were sunk into boiling TTS solution (68 mM NaCl, 0.03% Triton X-100) and then transferred immediately to ice. Devitellinization was done in heptane/methanol. Embryos were blocked for 2 hr at room temperature in PBT (phosphate-buffered saline + 0.1% Triton X-100) + 5% normal horse serum. Embryos were incubated for 2 hr at room temperature with primary antibodies: rat anti-Crb 2.8, 1:500, (Richard et al. 2006a), mouse anti-Crb-Cq4, 1:300 (Tepass et al. 1990), mouse anti-Discs large (Dlg) 4F3, 1:50 [Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank (DSHB), 1:50], mouse anti-Armadillo N2 7A2, 1:50 (DSHB) (Riggleman et al. 1990), rabbit anti-Stranded at second (Sas, 1:500; kindly provided by E. Organ and D. Cavener), rabbit anti-Canoe (Cno), 1:1.000 (Matsuo et al. 1999, kindly provided by K. Takahashi), rabbit anti-Pyd, 1:5.000 (Djiane et al. 2011, kindly provided by Sarah Bray), guinea pig anti-Eyegone (1:1000) (Aldaz et al. 2003, kindly provided by Natalia Azpiazu), rabbit anti-phospho moesin (Cell Signaling Technology, cat. no. 3150, 1:100), mouse anti-alpha-spectrin SA9, 1:25 (DSHB), rabbit anti-GFP (Invitrogen, cat. no. A11122, 1:500). Incubations with the appropriate secondary antibodies were performed for 1 hr at room temperature: 1:500 for Alexa Fluor 488-, 568-, and 647-conjugated antibodies (Invitrogen). Stained embryos were mounted in glycerin propyl gallate (75% glycerol, 50 mg/mL propyl gallate) and visualized using a Zeiss LSM 780 NLO confocal microscope with a C-Apochromat 40x/1.2W Corr objective with the correction collar at 0.18 (at this position the brightness and contrast was enhanced). All images were taken under the same settings for laser power, PMT gain and offset. Maximal projections and merging was performed using Fiji and Adobe Photoshop CS4. Cuticle preparations were performed according to standard procedures (Wieschaus and Nüsslein-Volhard 1986). Adult flies of the desired genotype were kept on apple juice agar at 25° and removed after 2 hr. The number of embryos on the plate was counted and the plate was further incubated at 25°. After approximately 48 hr, the number of empty eggshells was determined and divided by the total number of embryos to determine the viability. This experiment was done three times for each genotype. In summary 201, 296, and 351 embryos were collected after 2 hr for WT; 322, 246, and 331 for foscrb/foscrb; crbGX24/crbGX24, 114, 187, and 273 for foscrbEGFP/foscrbEGFP; crbGX24/crbGX24; and 187, 175, and 169 for foscrbY10F/foscrbY10F; crbGX24/crbGX24. For embryo collection, adult flies of the respective genotype were kept overnight at 25° on apple juice agar plates. Embryos were dechorionated for approximately 3 min in 3% bleach and homogenized with Biovortexer (Biospec products) in lysis buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 8.0; 150 mM NaCl; 0.5% Triton X-100; 1 mM MgCl2) supplemented with complete protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche). The lysate was centrifuged for 2 min at 4° at 1.900 g and protein concentration was determined by standard Bradford biochemistry using Roti-Quant (Roth). The supernatant was analyzed by western blotting using standard procedures. Primary antibodies used were: rat anti-Crb 2.8 (1:1.000) (Richard et al. 2006a) and mouse anti-α-Tubulin (1:3.000, Sigma-Aldrich). Drosophila Crb is involved in several processes, such as maintenance of epithelial cell polarity, regulation of the Hippo pathway, morphogenesis of photoreceptor cells, and prevention of light-dependent retinal degeneration. To better understand which region(s) of this multidomain protein are required for these different functions, transgenes encoding the whole genomic region of crb have been designed. It has previously been shown that the cosmid clone Pw-1, containing a genomic region of approximately 32 kb, completely rescues the crb mutant embryonic and adult eye phenotypes [(Tepass et al. 1990); M. Richard and E. Knust, unpublished data]. Beside the ∼19-kb transcribed region, this clone contains ∼9 kb upstream genomic sequence of the crb locus and ∼4 kb downstream (Figure 1A). The fly fosmid clone pFlyfoscrb (no.P52GD2) used here (called foscrb) contains the complete transcribed region of the crb locus plus ∼7 kb upstream and ∼5 kb downstream genomic sequence, thus spanning a similar genomic region to that contained in cosmid Pw-1 (Figure 1A). A second variant, foscrbEGFP, was generated by recombineering, which contains an EGFP tag N-terminal to the fourth laminin A G domain-like repeat (Figure 1B), thus allowing to distinguish the transgene-encoded from the endogenous Crb protein. foscrb was the template for several mutant variants, which are summarized in Figure 1B. The design of these variants was based on previous constructs, which used the GAL4/UAS system (Klebes and Knust 2000; Wodarz et al. 1995). The deletion of the C-terminal amino acids in foscrbΔERLI removes the PDZ-binding motif, ERLI, which links Crb with Sdt (Bachmann et al. 2001; Hong et al. 2001) and DmPar-6 (Kempkens et al. 2006). Two variants, foscrbY10F and foscrbY10A, carry mutations in Tyrosine10 of the cytoplasmic domain, which is conserved in all Crb variants described so far (Richard et al. 2006b). This residue is part of a conserved FERM-binding domain (Klebes and Knust 2000), which has been shown to bind the FERM protein Yurt, a negative regulator of Crb (Laprise et al. 2006), and the FERM domain of Ex, an upstream regulator of the Hippo pathway (Ling et al. 2010). In addition, a version carrying both mutations, foscrbY10A,ΔERLI, was generated (Figure 1B). Both foscrb and foscrbEGFP rescued crb the loss-of-function mutation crbGX24 (Huang et al. 2009) or crb11A22: 87% and 75% of the embryos homozygous for crbGX24 and carrying two copies of the fosmid, i.e., foscrb; crbGX24 or foscrbEGFP; crbGX24, respectively, hatched, which is slightly less than wild-type embryos (95%). Flies with either genotype were fertile, did not show any obvious mutant phenotype, and could be kept as homozygous stocks. In contrast, a UAS-transgene encoding the full-length Crb protein was unable to rescue embryonic lethality and could only suppress some aspects of the crb mutant embryonic phenotype (Wodarz et al. 1995). Surprisingly, 82% of the embryos with the genotype foscrbY10F; crbGX24 hatched and gave rise to adult viable and fertile flies. This result is striking because expression of UAS-crbintraY10F, which encodes a protein consisting of the transmembrane and the cytoplasmic domain of Crb, in which Tyr10 was mutated to Phenylalanine, did not rescue embryonic lethality and showed only minor suppression of the crb mutant embryonic cuticle phenotype upon ubiquitous expression, compared to that of UAS-crbintra (C. Clemens and E. Knust, unpublished data). It is well established that the amount of Crb protein expressed in a cell is crucial for the maintenance of apicobasal polarity and proper size of the apical domain (Hamaratoglu et al. 2009; Klebes and Knust 2000; Muschalik and Knust 2011; Wodarz et al. 1995). Therefore, we analyzed the levels of Crb protein in flies carrying different copy numbers of the endogenous and/or fosmid-encoded crb gene. Surprisingly, the presence of four copies of crb did not increase the overall Crb protein levels. In the absence of endogenous crb, each of the three fosmids that rescued embryonic lethality expressed comparable amounts of Crb protein when present in two copies (Figure 1, C and D). To analyze the expression pattern of foscrb- and foscrbEGFP-encoded Crb protein in embryos in the absence of endogenous crb, we stained foscrb; crbGX24, foscrbEGFP; crbGX24 and foscrbY10F; crbGX24 embryos with different markers at different developmental stages. At all developmental stages, fosCrb protein in these embryos was expressed in epithelia of ectodermal origin as in wild-type, i.e., in the epidermis, the amnioserosa, the tracheae, the salivary gland, the hindgut and the Malpighian tubules (Figure 2 and data not shown). As revealed by the apical marker Sas, epithelia in embryos carrying one of these fosmids maintain proper apicobasal polarity (Figure 2, C′−E′). In embryos with these genotypes, fosCrb is localized apical to the basolateral marker Dlg (Figure 1E and data not shown). foscrb variants completely rescuing crb mutant embryos. Lateral view of stage 13/14 whole-mount embryos stained for Crb and Sas (right). (A) Wild-type. (B) crbGX24. (C) foscrb; crbGX24. (D) foscrbEGFP; crbGX24. (E) foscrbY10F; crbGX24. Arrows in A′, C′, D′, and E′ indicate salivary glands, and arrowheads in A, C, D, E the tracheae. In B, the embryo negative for Crb staining is outlined with the dotted line. Inset in B′ is a maximal projection of a stack through the remnant tracheal system. The arrowheads in the inset in B′ indicate discontinuities in the transverse connective (TC) and dorsal trunk (DT) branches. Anterior is to the left, dorsal up. Scale bar, 100 µm. crb mutant embryos lack a continuous cuticle, and only grains of cuticle can be detected (compare Figure 3, A and B) (Jürgens et al. 1984; Tepass and Knust 1990). crb mutant embryos with transgenes that either carried a mutated FERM-binding domain (foscrbY10A; crbGX24), lacked the PDZ-binding motif (foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24), or carried both mutations (foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24) did not hatch. The different transgenes suppressed the crb mutant phenotype to different degrees. In comparison with foscrb, which completely rescued the cuticle phenotype (Figure 3C), crb mutant embryos carrying two copies of foscrbY10A form continuous anterior and ventral cuticle with rather fully developed denticle belts (Figure 3D). This result is striking in view of previous observations showing that Gal4-mediated expression of UAS-crbintraY10A completely failed to suppress the crb mutant cuticle phenotype (Klebes and Knust 2000). The phenotype of foscrbY10A; crbGX24 embryos resembles that of wild-type embryos overexpressing UAS-crbintra with a ubiquitously expressed GAL4 line (compare Figure 3, D and E) (Wodarz et al. 1995) and is characteristic for embryos with impaired germ band retraction and dorsal closure. crb mutant embryos carrying foscrbΔERLI developed only small patches of continuous cuticle (Figure 3F) reminiscent to the phenotype of crb mutant embryos with a strong intermediate phenotype (Tepass and Knust 1990) but more severe than a crb mutant embryo expressing the membrane-bound intracellular domain (UAS-crbintra) using an ubiquitously expressed GAL4 line (Figure 3G) (Klebes and Knust 2000). The phenotype of crb mutant embryos with one copy of foscrbY10A and one copy of foscrbΔERLI was the same as that of crb mutant embryos with two copies of foscrbY10A (compare Figure 3, D and H). crb mutant embryos carrying foscrbY10A,ΔERLI did not develop any continuous cuticle and resembled crb embryos with a strong loss of function allele (data not shown). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue the crb mutant phenotype. Cuticle of Drosophila embryos (lateral views) with the following genotypes: (A) wild-type (WT), (B) crbGX24, (C) foscrb; crbGX24, (D) foscrbY10A; crbGX24, (E) Wild-type embryo overexpressing UAS-crb8xMyc-intra under the control of a strong, ubiquitously expressed Gal4 line, GAL4daG32, (F) foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24, (G) crb11A22 mutant embryo overexpressing UAS-crbMyc-intra under the control of a ubiquitously expressed Gal4 line, GAL4385.3, and (H) foscrbY10A/foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24. Anterior is to the left, dorsal up. Loss of crb differentially affects various ectodermally derived embryonic epithelia. Although some epithelia, such as the epidermis, almost completely die, others, such as the tracheal system, partially survive and their cells form vesicles that maintain epithelial cell polarity. Some organs, such as the hindgut, are nearly unaffected (Tepass and Knust 1990). To analyze in more detail the effects of the expression of the different foscrb variants during embryonic development, we stained these embryos for Crb and the apical marker Sas at different developmental stages. Epithelial polarity and integrity in foscrbY10A; crbGX24 was normal in the epidermis (compare Figure 4, A and B), the fore- and hindgut, the salivary glands (compare Figure 4, A′ and B′, arrows), and the Malpighian tubules until the end of embryogenesis. In contrast, the amnioserosa exhibited defects from stage 13 onwards (not shown) and was completely lost at stage 15. This defect was accompanied by impaired germ band retraction, head involution (arrowhead in Figure 4C′), and dorsal closure. In fact, the leading edge of the epidermis appears uneven and wiggling, instead of straight as observed during dorsal closure in wild-type embryos (highlighted by a dotted line in Figure 4C). In addition, segments exhibited variable widths. For example, the width of segments T3, A1, and A2 is largely unequal, contrary to what is observed in wild-type embryos (Figure 4C′). This finding suggests defects in the tension of the actin cable in the leading edge cells. In contrast, the hindgut (Figure 4C, asterisk) and the Malpighian tubules (Figure 4C′, inset) were maintained. Interruption of Crb staining in some transverse connective branches manifested defects in the tracheal system already at stage 13 (Figure 4B, arrowhead in inset; see below). These discontinuities were also observed along the dorsal trunk at later stages (not shown). In foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24 embryos at stage 13, nearly no Crb protein was detected (Figure 4D). Sas expression indicated the presence of remnants of the dorsal epidermis at this stage, whereas the tracheal tubes were fragmented (Figure 4D′, inset). At the end of embryogenesis, only the hindgut (Figure 4E, asterisk), the Malpighian tubules (Figure 4E′, inset) and vesicular structures, probably remnants of the tracheae, were visible (Figure 4E′). The phenotype of foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24 embryos was similar to that of crb mutant embryos carrying the foscrbΔERLI transgene (Figure 4, F−G′). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue the crb mutant phenotype. Lateral view of whole embryos stained for Crb (left column) and the apical marker Sas (right column). (A, A′) Wild-type embryo at stage 13/14. All ectodermally derived epithelia show apical localization of Crb and Sas. (B−C′) foscrbY10A; crbGX24 embryos at stage 13 (B, B′) and 15/16 (C, C′). The arrowhead in the inset in (B) indicates a discontinuity in Crb staining along the transverse connective branch. The dotted line in (C) delineates the leading edge of the epidermis. Arrowhead in (C′) indicates the head that fails to undergo involution. In (C′), the third thoracic segment (T3) and the first two abdominal segments (A1, A2) are marked to highlight their variable width. (D-E′) foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24 embryo at stage 13 (D, D′) and stage 15/16 (E, E′). (F-G′) foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24 embryo at stage 13 (F, F′) and stage 15/16 embryo (G, G′). Arrowheads in A, B, D′, and F′ indicate the tracheae, insets in B, D′, and F′ show tracheal hemisegments. Insets in C′, E′, and G′ show a Malpighian tubule. * in C, E, and G point to the hindgut. Arrows in A′ and B′ point to the salivary gland. Anterior is to the left, dorsal up. Scale bar, 100 µm. As previously shown, cells of the developing epidermis of crb mutant embryos fail to form a proper zonula adherens (ZA) (Figure 5, A and A′) (Grawe et al. 1996; Tepass 1996). To analyze the effects of the different transgenes on the development of the ZA we stained stage 11 embryos with antibodies against Armadillo, the Drosophila ortholog of β-catenin. Both foscrb and foscrbY10A restored wild-type Armadillo staining, suggesting a normal formation of the ZA (Figure 5, B, B′, C, and C′), whereas foscrbΔERLI completely failed to restore a continuous adhesion belt (Figure 5D′). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue the ZA defects of crb mutant embryos. Optical sections taken from the epidermis of stage 11 embryos of the following genotypes: crbGX24 (A, A′), foscrb; crbGX24 (B, B′), foscrbY10A; crbGX24 (C, C′), and forscbΔERLI; crbGX24 (D, D′). The embryos were stained with Crb (A, B, C, D) and Armadillo (Arm; A′, B′, C′, D′), a component of the zonula adherens. Scale bar, 10 µm. Taken together, a Crb protein lacking the PDZ-binding motif is unable to maintain epithelial polarity from early stages onwards. In contrast, the Y10A mutation in the FERM-binding domain had no effect on epithelial polarity. Embryos expressing this mutant Crb protein showed defects in fusion of tracheal tubes and in the development of the amnioserosa, resulting in defective dorsal closure, head involution and germ band retraction. The Drosophila tracheal system originates from groups of about 40 ectodermal cells each, called tracheal placodes. They form on the lateral side of the embryo from the second thoracic segment to the eighth abdominal segment. Invagination of epithelial cells of the placode is initiated by localized apical cell constriction, which is preceded by apical enrichment of Crb and actinomyosin (Brodu and Casanova 2006; Letizia et al. 2011; Llimargas and Casanova 1999). At early stage 11, tracheal cells are internalized and undergo their last round of postblastodermal division. Together, apical constriction, cell rearrangements, and oriented cell divisions are important for organized invagination of tracheal cells (Brodu and Casanova 2006; Nishimura et al. 2007). This results in the formation of the segmentally arranged tracheal sacs or pits at stage 11, each composed of about 80 cells, which are organized in a polarized epithelial monolayer. At stage 12, expression of the chemoattractant fibroblast growth factor induces the formation of primary branches in the tracheal sac in a stereotypic pattern. These branches elongate by cell intercalation, a process that involves changing neighbors and remodeling of adhesive contacts, to form long, thin tubes. At stage 15, fusion of branches is initiated, which finally leads to an elaborate network of interconnected tracheal tubes (reviewed in Affolter and Caussinus 2008). Tracheal development was completely normal in foscrb;crbGX24, foscrbEGFP;crbGX24 and foscrbY10F;crbGX24 embryos (Figure 2, C−E′, Figure 6, A and B′, and data not shown). crb mutant embryos, which do not express any Crb protein (Figure 2B, Figure 6, C and D), showed aberrations already in the initial invagination process at early stage 11, as revealed by the mislocalization of the ZA marker Cno, the Drosophila ortholog of mammalian Afadin (Figure 6, C′ and D′). Nevertheless, some internalization occurred, resulting in the formation of an irregular tracheal sac (Figure 6D′). At stage 13/14, the tracheae showed abnormal branching, discontinuities in different branches, or lack of a discernible single lumen later on (Figure 2B′, inset). At the end of embryogenesis, a complete breakdown of the tracheal system was observed (data not shown) (Tepass and Knust 1990). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue tracheal development of crb mutant embryos. Tracheal sacs of the second and third hemisegments of stage 11/12 embryos, stained for Crb and Cno, with the following genotypes: (A, A′, B, B′) foscrb; crbGX24, (C, C′, D, D′) crbGX24, (E, E′, F, F′) foscrbY10A; crbGX24, (G, G′) foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24, and (H, H′) foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24. The images shown in (A), (A′), (C), (C′), (E), and (E′) are single planes through the spiracular branch, the tube that connects the sac to the exterior. This plane of section allows one to detect whether a normal tube is formed and whether the tube develops normal apical-basal polarity. In (C′), the branch in the third segment is encircled by a dotted line. Scale bar, 10 µm. Strikingly, crb mutant embryos expressing a Crb variant with a mutated FERM-binding domain (foscrbY10A; crbGX24) showed nearly normal accumulation of Crb in the placode and normal apical constriction and invagination (Figure 6, E and F′). However, at stage 13, some transverse connective tubes showed discontinuities in Crb staining as in crb mutants (Figure 4B, inset). In later stages, gaps also were observed in the dorsal trunk (data not shown). In contrast, fosmids encoding a Crb protein, which lacked the PDZ-binding motif, completely failed to rescue the crb mutant phenotype in the tracheae (Figure 4, D′ and F′, Figure 6, G−H′). Similar to crb mutant embryos, development of the trachea in foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24 and foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24 mutant embryos proceeded to stage 13, at which the dorsal and visceral branches as well as the posterior lateral trunk could be identified, (Figure 4D′ and F′, insets). Later on, the complete tracheal system disintegrated (Figure 4, E′ and G′). To further dissect the early steps in the different mutant backgrounds, we used additional markers to follow the invagination process. One of the earliest events during invagination is the apical accumulation of the phosphorylated form of Moesin, phospho-Moesin, or pMoe (Letizia et al. 2011). Moesin is the single Drosophila member of the ERM (ezrin-, radixin-, moesin) protein family (McCartney and Fehon 1996). ERM proteins act as linkers between membrane proteins and the actin cytoskeleton and are crucial in organizing distinct membrane domains (Fehon et al. 2010). Apical pMoe, together with some apical enrichment of α-spectrin and baso-lateral localization of Dlg, highlights the apicobasal polarization of cells in the tracheal placode, both in wild-type and in crb embryos carrying foscrb, foscrbEGFP, or foscrbY10F (Figure 7, A−C, and data not shown). Loss of polarized pMoe, α-spectrin and Dlg expression indicated loss of cell polarity in the placodes of crb mutant embryos (Figure 7, D−F) (Letizia et al. 2011). foscrbY10A;crbGX24 mutant embryos showed reduced levels of pMoe, diffuse staining of α-spectrin, and mostly baso-lateral, but also diffuse Dlg staining (Figure 7, G−I). These data indicate that the polarity defects of crb mutants were not completely rescued by the CrbY10A variant. Nevertheless, the placodes underwent normal invagination and elongation. In contrast, foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24 mutant embryos failed to accumulate pMoe and did not show polarized distribution of α-spectrin and Dlg, yet some uncoordinated internalization of cells occurred, resulting in a tiny and irregular lumen (Figure 7, J−L). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue the early stages of tracheal development of crb mutant embryos. Spiracular branch of the embryonic tracheae at stage 11, stained for Crb, pMoe, α-spectrin (α-Spec), and Dlg in the following genotypes: (A, A′, B, C) foscrb; crbGX24, (D, D′, E, F) crbGX24, (G, G′, H, I) foscrbY10A; crbGX24 , and (J, J′, K, L) foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24. The arrowheads point to the lumen observed in the reconstructed stacks of the spiracular branch. Scale bar: 10 µm. Taken together, expression of CrbY10A with a mutated FERM-binding domain allowed proper invagination of the tracheal sac and normal elongation of the branches, but was not sufficient for proper fusion of the tracheal branches at later stages. In contrast, in the absence of the PDZ-binding motif, Crb is not stabilized by Sdt, resulting in defects in apical constriction, apico-basal polarity, invagination and outgrowth of the tracheal system. Development of the salivary glands is initiated by the formation of two placodes of approximately 100 cells each on both sides of the ventral part of parasegment two. Invagination is initiated in an orchestrated manner at stage 11, with dorsal−posterior cells constricting their apical surfaces first, followed by dorsal−anterior, ventral− anterior, and ventral−posterior cells (reviewed in Maruyama and Andrew 2012). In wild-type embryos, Crb accumulates in the salivary glands placode before invagination (Myat and Andrew 2002). A similar accumulation of Crb and the ZA markers Cno and Polychaetoid (Jung et al. 2006) as well as normal invagination of cells of the placode was observed in foscrb;crbGX24, foscrbEGFP;crbGX24 and foscrbY10F;crbGX24 embryos (Figure 8, A and B, data not shown). In all cases, properly elongated salivary glands developed (Figure 2, C′−E′ arrows, data not shown). In crb mutant embryos the expression of eyegone, a marker for the anlage of the salivary glands (Jones et al. 1998), is normal, demonstrating that the salivary gland placodes are properly specified. However, cells fail to undergo apical constriction (Figure 8, C and D) and invagination does not occur. Interestingly, although foscrbY10A partially restored accumulation of Crb in the placode (Figure 8E), apical constriction was less well organized as revealed by Cno staining (Figure 8E′). Nevertheless, invagination and elongation proceeded in a similar way as in wild-type, and CrbY10A protein was properly localized apically (Figure 8F and Figure 4B). In contrast, foscrbΔERLI;crbGX24 (Figure 8, G−H) as well as foscrbY10A,ΔERLI; crbGX24 (data not shown) mutant embryos did not show any apical constriction nor invagination. Similarly, and in contrast to recently published results (Roper 2012), we observed that salivary glands of crb8F105 mutant embryos, which carry a premature stop codon that removes the last 23 amino acids of Crb, including the -ERLI motif (Wodarz et al. 1993), do not accumulate Crb and fail to invaginate (data not shown). foscrb variants and their ability to rescue the early stages of salivary gland development of crb mutant embryos. Embryonic salivary gland placodes stained for Crb (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H), Cno (A′, C′, E′, G′) Polychaetoid (Pyd; B, D, F, H, magenta) and Eyegone (Eyg; B, D, H, blue). (A), (A′), and (B) foscrb; crbGX24 early-stage 11 embryo. (C), (C′), and (D) crbGX24 stage 11 embryo. In (C′), the placode is highlighted by the dotted line. (E), (E′), and (F) foscrbY10A; crbGX24 early-stage 11 (E, E′) and stage 12 (F) embryos. (G), (G′), and (H) foscrbΔERLI; crbGX24 early-stage 11 embryo. Anti-Eyg was used in every staining to identify the salivary gland placode but only shown in B, D, F, H. Scale bar in (A),10 µm, applies to all images except for F (5 µm). To summarize, foscrbY10A allowed normal invagination and morphogenesis of the salivary gland in the absence of endogenous Crb, despite uncoordinated apical constriction at early stages. In contrast, the PDZ-binding motif of Crb is essential for all steps of salivary gland development that require Crb. Two functional domains have been characterized in the cytoplasmic tail of Crb: the C-terminal PDZ-binding motif -ERLI and the juxtamembrane FERM-binding domain. Using fosmid-based transgenes, we could confirm previous results showing that the PDZ-binding domain is essential for the maintenance of epithelial polarity in the early embryo and for proper invagination of cells of the tracheal and salivary placodes. The PDZ binding domain is required for recruiting Crb to the apical membrane by binding to Sdt, and embryos expressing this truncated version of Crb develop the same phenotype as those lacking sdt function (Bachmann et al. 2001; Hong et al. 2001; Krahn et al. 2010). Similarly, the crb allele crb8F105, which lacks the -ERLI motif, behaves like a null allele in the embryo (Wodarz et al. 1993). These results are in line with the observation that UAS-crbintraΔERLI, when ubiquitously expressed in a crb mutant embryo, did not suppress the polarity phenotype in crb mutant embryos despite the presence of the FERM domain (Klebes and Knust 2000; Letizia et al. 2011). This finding supports the view that the PDZ-binding domain is essential for maintenance of apicobasal polarity by stabilizing the Crb-associated complex members, including Crb itself, at the plasma membrane. However, since apical localization of Crb depends on its binding to Sdt via its PDZ-domain, no conclusions can be drawn for possible function(s) of the residual part of the cytoplasmic domain under these experimental conditions. As suggested by S2 cell culture capping assays, the truncated cytoplasmic domain encoded by crb8F105 still carries an intact FERM-binding domain, which could recruit Moesin and βH-spectrin, but failed to do so after introducing a Tyr10 or Arg7 mutation (Medina et al. 2002). Therefore, we assume that the Y10A mutation in foscrbY10A abolishes the function of the FERM-binding domain of Crb also in vivo and conclude that the FERM-binding domain of Crb is of little importance for epithelial polarity at early embryonic stages. However, foscrbY10A ; crbGX24 embryos showed later defects in dorsal closure and germ band retraction. Structural analyses have revealed that Tyr10 in the nonpolar region of the intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-2 is crucial for the interaction with the FERM domain of Radixin. An exchange of Tyr10 to Ala in the cytoplasmic tail of ICAM-2 resulted in a 16-fold reduction in its binding affinity to Radixin (Hamada et al. 2003). Therefore, we speculate that the protein encoded by foscrbY10A fails to interact with its FERM-domain containing partner(s). One of its binding partners is Ex, a regulator of the Hippo pathway. Results on the effect of a similarly engineered crb gene, which carried several mutations in the FERM-binding domain (crbY10AP12AE16A), are controversial. Although Ling et al. showed basolateral mislocalisation of Ex, Robinson et al. showed elevated level of Ex in mutant wing disc clones (Ling et al. 2010; Robinson et al. 2010). Because the Hippo pathway has not been shown to act in the embryo, a more likely partner of the FERM-binding domain of Crb in the embryo is Yurt (Laprise et al. 2006). In fact, phenotypes observed in foscrbY10A;crb embryos, e.g., defects in germ band retraction and dorsal closure, are similar to those of embryos lacking zygotic yurt activity (Hoover and Bryant 2002). Yurt binds to the FERM-binding domain of Crb and shows apical colocalization with Crb from stage 13 onwards. Complete removal of Yurt results in apical enrichment of Crb and an expansion of the apical surface (Laprise et al. 2006). We observed slightly lower levels of Crb and higher levels of Sas in foscrbY10A; crbGX24 embryos at later stages (Figure 4C and C′). However, more detailed analysis is required to find out whether the late phenotypes of foscrbY10A; crbGX24 and yurt mutant embryos have the same cell biological basis. Interestingly, some aspects of the mutant phenotype of foscrbY10A;crbGX24 embryos, such as un-coordinated apical constriction, resemble those described for human colon cancer epithelial DLD-1 cells upon RNAi-mediated knock-down of Lulu, the mammalian ortholog of Yurt. These cells fail to organize the apical circumferential actinomyosin belt and exhibited discontinuities in β-catenin staining (Nakajima and Tanoue 2011), comparable with our observations of foscrbY10A;crbGX24 embryos stained with the junctional marker Canoe (see Figure 8E′). Despite a defective FERM-binding domain, Crb proteins expressed in foscrbY10A; crbGX24 embryos promote tracheal and salivary gland invagination, although these processes occur in a less-coordinated manner, possibly due to reduced pMoe recruitment. In contrast, overexpression of UAS-crbintraY10A in crb mutant embryos did not rescue the tracheal invagination defect of crb mutant embryos, which was traced back to a failure in pMoe recruitment (Letizia et al. 2011). This discrepancy could be the result of a dominant-negative activity of the UAS-encoded protein due to overexpression, by which the normal binding partner of the FERM-binding domain of Crb is outcompeted, leading to a delayed and uncoordinated invagination. Currently we cannot explain the discontinuities in Crb staining observed in some tracheal branches in foscrbY10A; crbGX24 embryos. Fusion of tracheal branches is a complex process, which requires, among others, formation of filopodia, DE-cadherin-mediated cell-cell contact and regulation of associated F-actin structures (Lee et al. 2003; Lee and Kolodziej 2002; Tanaka-Matakatsu et al. 1996). Although not studied yet, any of these processes could require ERM-protein(s), the function of which may depend on an intact FERM-binding domain of Crb. Strikingly, foscrbY10F rescues lethality of crb mutant embryos, suggesting that the phosphorylation of Tyr10 (as predicted by NetPhos) is not important for viability, but we cannot exclude subtle defects, such as modified dynamics of internalization. Nevertheless, this finding is surprising, given the observation that UAS-crbintraY10F, when ubiquitously expressed in a crb mutant embryo, suppressed the mutant phenotype much less than UAS-crbintra, which encodes the wild-type cytoplasmic domain (C. Clemens and E. Knust, unpublished data). Our results also revealed differential requirement of Crb during tracheal and salivary gland invagination. Although cells of the tracheal anlage invaginate to some extent in crb mutant embryos, Crb is absolutely essential for polarity, apical constriction, invagination, and survival of cells of the salivary gland placode (Tepass and Knust 1990; Xu et al. 2008). In the salivary gland, the FERM-binding domain is necessary for coordinated apical constriction, organized localization of the junctional markers Cno and Pyd, and invagination movements but dispensable for internalization of cells and correct elongation of the tube. Our data do not support the function of a putative negative regulator acting via the FERM-binding because we did not observe greater Crb levels at later stages nor an expanded apical domain attributed to overexpression of UAS-Crb (Myat and Andrew 2002; Wodarz et al. 1995). The presence of both a FERM binding- and a PDZ binding-motif is not uncommon in transmembrane proteins and has been described, among others, for ICAM-2, syndecans (Bass and Humphries 2002; Kwon et al. 2012), and the immunoglobulin-like, Ca2+-independent cell−cell adhesion molecule nectin (Dudak et al. 2011; Ishiuchi and Takeichi 2012). These proteins have short cytoplasmic domains, in which a nonpolar region, flanked on both sides by basic regions, contains a conserved tyrosine residue at position 10. The Tyr residue in the putative FERM binding domains of syndecan-3 can be phosphorylated in vitro (Asundi and Carey 1997). In syndecan-2, Tyr10 and another, more C-terminal tyrosine residue is phosphorylated by the EphB2 receptor tyrosine kinase, and this phosphorylation is essential for clustering of syndecan-2 and spine formation in hippocampal neurons (Ethell et al. 2001). In contrast, exchange of Tyr10 in syndecan-1 by phenylalanine had no effect on the association of syndecan-1 with the actin cytoskeleton (Carey et al. 1996), suggesting that the functional importance of phosphorylation may be syndecan and/or cell-type specific. Taken together, although the Gal4/UAS system provides an invaluable tool to analyze gene functions, fosmid- or BAC-based transgenes combined with the recombineering technology will be our preferred approach for in depth structure-function analyses of proteins in an in vivo system. We acknowledge Pavel Tomancak and Radoslaw Ejsmont for providing pFlyFos vector foscrb, the TransgeneOmics facility for providing tools and advice for the recombineering, Sven Ssykor for injection of Drosophila embryos, and Catrin Hälsig for technical support. We thank the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center for fly stocks, and Kuniaki Takahashi, Sarah Bray, Natalia Azpiazu, and the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank for antibodies. 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2019-04-25T09:05:14Z

http://www.g3journal.org/content/3/2/153

Technically on the daily charts we see minor support on the downside for Zinc Mcx Future lies in zone of 220- 222 levels, whereas minor resistance on the upside is capped around 230- 232 levels. Currently Zinc Mcx Future is trading above 200 days exponential moving average and suggests long term trend is bullish. EquityPandit’s analyst predicts range for the week is seen from 240- 245 on upside and 218- 215 on downside. Technically on the daily charts we see minor support on the downside for Zinc Mcx Future lies in zone of 184- 185 levels, whereas minor resistance on the upside is capped around 204- 205 levels. Currently Zinc Mcx Future is trading above 200 days exponential moving average and suggests long term trend is bullish. EquityPandit’s analyst predicts range for the week is seen from 218- 220 on upside and 175- 174 on downside. Technically on the daily charts we see minor support on the downside for Copper Mcx Future lies in zone of 184- 185 levels, where as minor resistance on the upside is capped around 204- 205 levels. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 2.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 191 and close the week around the levels of 199. Minor support for the commodity lies around 193 to 195. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of February-2019 is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 187 – 190 on downside & 206 – 209 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 2.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 187 and close the week around the levels of 194. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies around 193 to 195. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 185 – 188 on downside & 200 – 203 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.20%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of November-2018 and December-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 183 to 185 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 183 and close the week around the levels of 191. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 180 – 183 on downside & 200 – 203 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 3.40%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 203 and close the week around the levels of 193. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of November-2018 and December-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 183 to 185 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 183 – 186 on downside & 200 – 203 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 183 to 185 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 190 and close the week around the levels of 199. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 193 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of November-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 183 on downside & 205 – 207 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.20%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 182 to 184. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 174 to 176 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 183 and close the week around the levels of 191. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 183 to 185 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 193 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of November-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 183 – 185 on downside & 198 – 200 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 5.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 184 to 186 where Fibonacci levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 186 and close the week around the levels of 185. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 182 to 184. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 174 to 176 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 193 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and high for the month of November-2018 is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 175 – 178 on downside & 192 – 195 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 173 to 175 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of November-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 167 and close the week around the levels of 171. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 164 to 166 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 158 to 160 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 173 to 175 from where the commodity broke down from November-2018 and December-2018 low. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 160 – 163 on downside & 180 – 183 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.80%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 180 and close the week around the levels of 174. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 173 to 175 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of November-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 163 – 166 on downside & 185 – 188 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 3.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 187. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 186 and close the week around the levels of 177. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 172 to 175 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of November-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 192 and close the week around the levels of 183. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 172 to 175 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of November-2018. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 187. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 172 – 175 on downside & 190 – 193 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 181 to 183. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 188 where Fibonacci levels and short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 192 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 191 and close the week around the levels of 188. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 172 to 175 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of November-2018. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 178 – 180 on downside & 195 – 197 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 173 to 175 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 173 and close the week around the levels of 180. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 173 to 175. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 163 to 166 where Fibonacci levels and low for the month of August-2018 & September-2018 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 155 to 158 where the commodity has taken support in the month of June-2017. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 181 to 183. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 188 where Fibonacci levels and short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 192 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 165 – 170 on downside & 190 – 195 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 5.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 194 to 196 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 194 and close the week around the levels of 182. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 183 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 173 to 175 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 194 to 196 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 170 – 173 on downside & 190 – 193 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.80%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 165 to 168 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 181 and close the week around the levels of 192. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 183 to 185 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 194 to 196 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 198 to 200 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 182 – 185 on downside & 198 – 200 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.80%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of August-2018 & September-2018 high and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 181 and close the week around the levels of 185. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 165 to 168 where the commodity has formed a double bottom in the month of August-2018 and September-2018. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 193 to 95 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 170 – 175 on downside & 195 – 200 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.90%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 from where the commodity broke down from May-2018 lows and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 205 to 207 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 203 and close the week around the levels of 198. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of August-2018 & September-2018 high and Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 from where the commodity broke down from May-2018 lows and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 205 to 207 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 180 – 185 on downside & 210 – 215 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of August-2018 & September-2018 high and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 192 and close the week around the levels of 197. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 193 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of August-2018 & September-2018 high and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 193 and close the week around the levels of 198. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 5.90%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 198 from where the commodity broke down from December-2017 & May-2018 lows and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 203 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 200 and close the week around the levels of 198. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 from where the commodity broke down from May-2018 lows and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 187 where high for the month of August-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 192 where long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 195 and close the week around the levels of 192. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of August-2018 high and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 198 from where the commodity broke down from December-2017 & May-2018 lows and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 203 to 206 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 175 – 180 on downside & 200 – 205 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 9.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor resistance for the commodity lies around 170 to 173. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 185 to 187 where high for the month of August-2018 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 184 and close the week around the levels of 182. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 170 to 173 where break out levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 187 where high for the month of August-2018 is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 192 where long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 170 – 175 on downside & 190 – 195 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 4.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies around 172 to 174. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 164 to 167 where long term Fibonacci levels and low for the month of August-2018 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 166 and close the week around the levels of 166. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 164 to 167 where long term Fibonacci levels and low for the month of August-2018 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. Minor resistance for the commodity lies around 170 to 173. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 185 to 187 where high for the month of August-2018 is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 155 – 160 on downside & 175 – 178 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 180 and close the week around the levels of 176. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 165 – 170 on downside & 185 – 190 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 6.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor resistance for the commodity lies around 172 to 175. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 179 and close the week around the levels of 178. Minor support for the commodity lies around 172 to 174. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 167 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 4.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies around 174 to 176. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 170 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 164 and close the week around the levels of 168. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 167 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. Minor resistance for the commodity lies around 172 to 175. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 155 – 160 on downside & 175 – 180 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies around 174 to 176. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 170 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 176 and close the week around the levels of 177. Minor support for the commodity lies around 174 to 176. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 170 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 180 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.80%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 182 and close the week around the levels of 181. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 183 and close the week around the levels of 180. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 182 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 190 to 195 from where the commodity broke down from June-2018 lows. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 170 where long term Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 150 to 155 where the commodity has formed a bottom in the month of June-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 171 and close the week around the levels of 179. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 5.70%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 200 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of December-2017 and May-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 190 where the commodity has hit a low in the month of September-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 185 and close the week around the levels of 191. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 190 where the commodity has hit a low in the month of September-2017. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 170 to 175 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 200 from where the commodity has broken down from the double bottom pattern. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 175 – 180 on downside & 205 – 210 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 200 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of December-2017 and May-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 190 where the commodity has hit a low in the month of September-2017. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 194 and close the week around the levels of 198. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 200 where the commodity has formed a low in the month of December-2017 and May-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 185 to 190 where the commodity has hit a low in the month of September-2017. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 218 to 220 where high for month of April-2018 and Fibonacci levels are lying. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of May-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 199 and close the week around the levels of 202. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 185 – 190 on downside & 215 – 220 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 218 to 220 where high for month of April-2018 and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 219 and close the week around the levels of 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of May-2018. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 218 to 220 where high for month of April-2018 and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 200 – 205 on downside & 220 – 225 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.70%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of October-2017 and December-2017. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 206 and close the week around the levels of 217. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 212 to 215 where short & long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of October-2017 and December-2017. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 200 – 205 on downside & 225 – 230 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 212 to 215 where short & long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 213 and close the week around the levels of 208. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of October-2017 and December-2017. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 212 to 215 where short & long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 195 on downside & 220 – 225 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.90%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of October-2017 and December-2017. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 205 and close the week around the levels of 207. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.40%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of October-2017 and December-2017. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 205 and close the week around the levels of 211. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 212 to 215 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 195 – 200 on downside & 225 – 230 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 215 where short, medium & long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 210 and close the week around the levels of 208. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 215 where short, medium & long term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 195 on downside & 225 – 230 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 199 and close the week around the levels of 205. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 185 – 190 on downside & 220 – 225 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 220 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 216 and close the week around the levels of 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 220 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 202 and close the week around the levels of 215. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 4.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 220 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 202 and close the week around the levels of 203. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 209 to 211. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 208 and close the week around the levels of 211. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 209 to 211. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 195 where Fibonacci levels and lows for the month of September-2017 is lying. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 220 where short & medium term moving averages and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 216 and close the week around the levels of 214. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.40%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 207 and close the week around the levels of 210. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 208 and close the week around the levels of 214. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 205 where Fibonacci levels and long term moving averages are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 220 to 223 where short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 205 – 210 on downside & 230 – 235 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 222 to 225. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 232 and close the week around the levels of 220. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 223 to 225. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 235 to 237. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 205 – 210 on downside & 235 – 240 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 222 to 225. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 226 and close the week around the levels of 230. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 222 to 225. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 from where the commodity broke out of December-2017 high. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 235 to 237. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 212 – 215 on downside & 240 – 245 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 5.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 221 to 223. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 235 to 237. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 231 and close the week around the levels of 230. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 3.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 220 to 222. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 216 and close the week around the levels of 218. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 221 to 223. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 228 to 230 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 235 to 237. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 210 – 212 on downside & 228 – 230 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 2.20%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 222 to 224. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 227 to 229. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 230 and close the week around the levels of 226. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 220 to 222. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 215 to 217 where the commodity has taken multiple support in the month of January-2018. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 210 to 212 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 228 to 230. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 235 to 237. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 212 – 215 on downside & 235 – 237 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.20%. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 217 to 219. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 207 to 209 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 222 to 224. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 227 to 229. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 210 – 212 on downside & 227 – 229 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 216 to 218 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017 and November-2017. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 224 to 226. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 221 and close the week around the levels of 219. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 214 to 215. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 207 to 209 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 220 to 222. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 225 to 227. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 208 – 210 on downside & 225 – 227 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.80%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 205 to 207 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 213 and close the week around the levels of 217. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 216 to 218 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017 and November-2017. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 224 to 226. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 205 – 207 on downside & 225 – 227 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 216 to 218 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017 and November-2017. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 224 to 226. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 215 and close the week around the levels of 214. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 205 to 207 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 200 – 202 on downside & 220 – 222 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 216 to 218 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017 and November-2017. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 224 to 226. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 213 and close the week around the levels of 211. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 207 to 209. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 196 to 198 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 2.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 196 to 198 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where long term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 203 and close the week around the levels of 209. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 205 to 207. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 200 to 202 where break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 196 to 198 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 208 to 210 where short term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 207 and close the week around the levels of 205. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 196 to 198 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where long term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210 where short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 216 to 218 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017 and November-2017. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 195 – 197 on downside & 216 – 218 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 5.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 198 and close the week around the levels of 199. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 196 to 198 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 188 to 190 where long term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where medium term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 208 to 210 where short term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 188 – 190 on downside & 208 – 210 on upside. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.20%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 202 and close the week around the levels of 210. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 214 to 216. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 218 to 220 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of October-2017. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 206 and close the week around the levels of 210. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 208 to 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where break out levels for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 204 and close the week around the levels of 209. ZINC closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.70%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 206 to 207. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 is lying and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 206 and close the week around the levels of 212. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 202 – 204 on downside & 220 – 222 on upside. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 214 to 216. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 218 to 220 where the commodity has formed a short term top. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 216 and close the week around the levels of 209. ZINC closed the week on a negative note losing around 3.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 199 and close the week around the levels of 205. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 202 to 204 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 is lying and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and medium term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 207 to 209. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 217 to 219 where the commodity has formed a short term top. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 192 on downside & 214 – 216 on upside. ZINC (212.15) closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.90%. As we have mentioned last week, that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 211 and close the week around the levels of 212. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 218 to 220. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 225 to 227. The commodity is trading at the multi year high so virtually no resistance exists. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 200 – 202 on downside & 222 – 224 on upside. ZINC (214.10) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.90%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 218 to 220. The commodity is trading at the multi year high so virtually no resistance exists. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 219 and close the week around the levels of 214. ZINC (210.20) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 210 to 212. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 210 and close the week around the levels of 210. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 190 to 192 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 210 to 212. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 218 to 220. The commodity is trading at the multi year high so virtually no resistance exists. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 195 – 197 on downside & 218 – 220 on upside. ZINC (201) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 197 from where the commodity has broken down from the consolidation. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 203 and close the week around the levels of 201. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 196 to 198. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 183 to 185 where trend-line support for the commodity is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 210 to 212. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 192 on downside & 210 – 212 on upside. ZINC (194.90) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.70%. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 189 to 191 where break out levels and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 183 to 185 where trend-line support for the commodity is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 197 from where the commodity has broken down from the consolidation. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 185 – 187 on downside & 205 – 207 on upside. ZINC (195.50) closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.60%. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 195 to 197. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 189 to 191 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 185 to 187 from where the commodity broke out of July-2017 highs and declining trend-line support is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where trend-line joining highs of 208 and 204 are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity will broke out of multiple years of consolidation and correction. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 185 – 187 on downside & 208 – 210 on upside. ZINC (200.80) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 8.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 186 to 188 where declining trend-line resistance for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can witness a major long term break-out and the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 202 and close the week around the levels of 201. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 190 – 192 on downside & 208 – 210 on upside. ZINC (185.45) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.50%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 179 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 185 to 187 where the commodity has formed a short term top and declining trend-line resistance are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 190 and close the week around the levels of 185. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 182 to 183. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci level and 200 Daily moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 170 to 172 where short & medium term moving averages and break out levels for the commodity is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 186 to 188 where declining trend-line resistance for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can witness a major long term break-out and the commodity can move to the levels of 196 to 198. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 175 – 177 on downside & 195 – 198 on upside. ZINC (179.20) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.70%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 176 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 170 to 172 where short & medium term moving averages and break out levels for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 176 and close the week around the levels of 179. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 176 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 170 to 172 where short & medium term moving averages and break out levels for the commodity is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 179 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 185 to 187 where the commodity has formed a short term top and declining trend-line resistance are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 170 – 172 on downside & 188 – 190 on upside. ZINC (178) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.30%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 176 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 170 to 172 where short & medium term moving averages and break out levels for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 177 and close the week around the levels of 178. ZINC (177.55) closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.00%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 173 to 174 where 200 Daily moving averages and break out levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 175 and close the week around the levels of 178. ZINC (179.30) closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.60%. As we have mentioned last week, that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 173 to 174 where 200 Daily moving averages and break out levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 177 and close the week around the levels of 179. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 173 to 174 where 200 Daily moving averages and break out levels are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 183 to 184. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190 where channel resistance for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 195 to 198 where the commodity has formed a top in the month of February-2017. ZINC (180.30) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.10%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 188 to 190 where channel resistance for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 183 and close the week around the levels of 180. ZINC (178.25) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 2.20%. As we have mentioned last week, that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 188 to 190 where channel resistance for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 179 and close the week around the levels of 178. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 173 to 174 where 200 Daily moving averages and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 165 to 167 where Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 178 to 180 where Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 188 to 190 where channel resistance for the commodity is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 165 – 167 on downside & 188 – 190 on upside. ZINC (174.40) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 7.50%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 162 to 163 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 163 and close the week around the levels of 174. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 172 to 173 where 200 Daily moving averages and break out levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 165 to 167 where Fibonacci levels are lying. ZINC (162.30) closed the week on a negative note losing around 0.50%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 162 to 163 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 157 and close the week around the levels of 162. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 162 to 163 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 165 to 166. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 168 to 170 from where the commodity broke down after consolidation. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 172 to 173 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 153 – 155 on downside & 170 – 172 on upside. ZINC (163.15) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.10%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 162 to 163 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 156 and close the week around the levels of 163. ZINC (162.90) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.30%. As we have mentioned last week that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 171 to 173 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 171 and close the week around the levels of 163. ZINC (170.25) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 0.30%. As we have mentioned last week that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 171 to 173 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 172 and close the week around the levels of 170. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 167 to 168. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 163 to 165 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 171 to 173 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 160 – 162 on downside & 178 – 180 on upside. ZINC (169.80) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 3.20%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 163 to 165 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 159 and close the week around the levels of 170. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 163 to 165 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. ZINC (163.60) closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.90%. As we have mentioned last week that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 169 to 170 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 171 and close the week around the levels of 164. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 166 to 167. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 169 to 170 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. ZINC (166.70) closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.60%. As we have mentioned last week that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 167 to 168. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 163 to 165 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of around 158 to 160 where channel support for the commodity is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 163 and close the week around the levels of 167. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 169 to 170 where 200 Daily moving averages are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 158 – 160 on downside & 175 – 177 on upside. ZINC (169.45) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 1.70%. As we have mentioned last week that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 169 to 170. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 170 and close the week around the levels of 169. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 158 – 160 on downside & 177 – 179 on upside. ZINC (166.65) closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.15%.. As we have mentioned last week that minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 172 to 173. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 171 and close the week around the levels of 167. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 169 to 170. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. ZINC (168.60) closed the week on a negative note losing around 1.95%.. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 168 to 170 where 200 Daily MA is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where Fibonacci level and low for the month of December-2016 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 165 and close the week around the levels of 169. Commodity has closed just below the support zone of 168 to 170 where 200 Daily MA is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where Fibonacci level and low for the month of December-2016 is lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 172 to 173. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 177 from where the commodity broke down. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 179 to 181 where Fibonacci level is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 161 – 163 on downside & 178 – 179 on upside. ZINC (171.95) closed the week on a negative note losing around 4.70%.. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 176 to 178 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 168 to 170 where 200 Daily SMA is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 171 and close the week around the levels of 172. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 168 to 170 where 200 Daily MA is lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 164 to 166 where Fibonacci level and low for the month of December-2016 is lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 175 to 176. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 179 to 180 where Fibonacci level is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 184 to 186 where short & medium term moving averages are lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 163 – 165 on downside & 178 – 180 on upside. ZINC (180.40) closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.15%.. As we have mentioned last week that resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 188. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 194 to 196 where trend-line joining earlier highs is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 200 to 202 where top formed in the month of November-2016 is lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a high of 186 and close the week around the levels of 180.40. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 183 to 184. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 189 where the commodity has formed a short term top. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 193 to 195 where trend-line joining earlier highs is lying. ZINC (184.35) closed the week on a negative note losing around 2.15%.. As we have mentioned last week that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 186 to 187. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 183 to 184 from where the commodity broke out. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 182 and close the week around the levels of 184.35. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 183 to 184 from where the commodity broke out. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 187 to 188. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 194 to 196 where trend-line joining earlier highs is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 200 to 202 where top formed in the month of November-2016 is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 175 – 177 on downside & 192 – 194 on upside. ZINC (188.40) closed the week on a positive note gaining around 4.70%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 173 to 175 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 176 and close the week around the levels of 188. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of 186 to 187. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 183 to 184 from where the commodity broke out. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 188 to 190. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 194 to 196 where trend-line joining earlier highs is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 200 to 202 where top formed in the month of November-2016 is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 180 – 182 on downside & 198 – 200 on upside. ZINC (180.00) closed the week with a negative note losing around 3.20%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 176.55 and close the week around the levels of 180. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 173 to 175 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 181 to 182. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 185 to 186 from where the commodity broke down from the double bottom pattern. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 188 to 190. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 170 – 172 on downside and 190 – 192 on upside. ZINC (185.85) closed the week with a negative note losing around 1.60%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 184.75 and close the week around the levels of 185.85. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 190 to 192. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200 where trend-line joining highs of 204 & 199 is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of 204 to 206 where 52 week highs for the commodity is lying. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 182 – 184 on downside and 194 – 196 on upside. ZINC (188.95) closed the week with a positive note gaining around 0.50%. As we have mentioned last week that support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 185 and close the week around the levels of 188.95. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 191 to 193. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where 52 week highs for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 210. ZINC (188.05) closed the week with a negative note losing around 4.25%. As we have mentioned last week that minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of around 192 to 194. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. During the week the commodity manages to hit a low of 186.45 and close the week around the levels of 188.05. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 179 – 181 on downside and 194 – 196 on upside. ZINC (196.40) closed the week with a positive note gaining around 5.15%. Minor support for the commodity lies in the zone of around 192 to 194. Support for the commodity lies in the zone of 184 to 186 where the commodity has taken multiple support and short term moving averages are lying. If the commodity manages to close below these levels then the commodity can drift to the levels of 179 to 181 from where the commodity broke out after consolidation and Fibonacci levels are lying. Minor resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 198 to 200. Resistance for the commodity lies in the zone of 204 to 206 where 52 week highs for the commodity is lying. If the commodity manages to close above these levels then the commodity can move to the levels of around 210. Broad range for the commodity in the coming week can be seen between 184 – 186 on downside and 205 – 207 on upside.

2019-04-24T18:36:39Z

http://www.equitypandit.com/tag/zinc-news/

A method for training a server for content delivery based on communication of state information from a mobile device browser, the method comprising providing a control channel between the server and mobile device browser, transmitting over the control channel a plurality of request messages from the mobile device browser to the server for Web pages, each of the messages indicating browsing-related state data, and implementing heuristic algorithms within the server to detect and learn patterns of the request messages, pre-fetching at least hypertext content of Web pages that the server has learned will likely be requested, and embedding the hypertext content in response codes within response messages over the control channel from the server to the mobile device browser. A portion of this specification contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever. This specification relates generally to mobile data communication systems, and more particularly to a method of training a server for content delivery based on communication of state information from a mobile device browser. Mobile communication devices are becoming increasingly popular for business and personal use due to a relatively recent increase in number of services and features that the devices and mobile infrastructures support. Handheld mobile communication devices, sometimes referred to as mobile stations, are essentially portable computers having wireless capability, and come in various forms. These include Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellular phones and smart phones. It is known in the art to provide local file caching. One approach is set forth in GloMop: Global Mobile Computing By Proxy, published Sep. 13, 1995, by the GloMop Group, wherein PC Card hard drives are used as portable file caches for storing, as an example, all of the users' email and Web caches. The user synchronizes the file caches and the proxy server keeps track of the contents. Mobile applications (clients) are able to check the file caches before asking for information from the proxy server by having the server verify that the local version of a given file is current. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the method of training the proxy server to deliver content based on detecting and learning patterns of request messages from the mobile device browser. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a broad aspect of the exemplary method of training a proxy server for content delivery based on communication of state information from a mobile device browser. In general, there is provided a method of training a server for content delivery based on communication of state information from a mobile device browser, the method comprising providing a control channel between the server and mobile device browser, transmitting over the control channel a plurality of request messages from the mobile device browser to the server for Web pages, wherein each of the messages indicates browsing-related state data, implementing a heuristic algorithm within the server to detect and learn patterns of request messages and pre-fetching at least hypertext content of Web pages that the server has learned will likely be requested, and embedding the hypertext content in response codes within response messages over the control channel from said server to the mobile device browser. A specific application of this method provides for communicating information between an enterprise or proxy server and a mobile Internet browser. An HTTP-like protocol is set forth, referred to herein as the Browser Session Management (BSM) protocol, for providing a control channel between the proxy server and the mobile device browser, so that the mobile device browser can communicate to the proxy server what data the first mobile device browser has stored in memory (from previous browsing). The BSM protocol is an “out of band” protocol in that BSM communications are in addition to the usual stream of HTTP requests from the mobile device browser to the proxy server and provide “metadata” relating to cache contents. This metadata is used by the proxy server when handling subsequent requests from the mobile device browser, to determine what data to send to the mobile device browser, thereby significantly reducing data transfer on subsequent requests relative to the prior art methodology discussed above. Because the proxy server is aware of what the mobile communication device has stored in its cache, the amount of data sent to the mobile communication device may be reduced, thereby increasing the performance of the mobile communication device and reducing operational cost. If after the first request the CNN.com banner is cached and provided the proxy server “knows” that the information has been cached, then there will be no need to send the CNN.com banner to the mobile device browser upon subsequent visits to the CNN Web site. In contrast to the prior art GloMop caching methodology discussed above, the exemplary method set forth herein synchronizes the cache contents when the mobile device browser connects to the proxy server in order to initiate a session and keeps track of changes to the cache via knowledge of what data has been sent to the mobile device browser in combination with state information periodically received from the mobile device browser identifying what has actually been cached. Also, as set forth in greater detail below, the proxy server uses this cache knowledge to determine what to send back to the mobile device browser. In contrast, the prior art GloMop methodology does not contemplate sending any state information to the proxy server for identifying what has actually been cached in the device. Moreover, the prior art GloMop approach first checks the local cache, and then queries the proxy server to determine whether a particular data item in the cache is current or not. According to the GloMop prior art, the proxy server does not use its own knowledge of the mobile device browser cache to determine what to send back to the mobile device browser. Another aspect of the specification provides a method comprising: providing, via a server, a control channel between the server and a mobile device; receiving, at the server, over the control channel requests from the mobile device for content, the requests comprising data identifying previously requested content cached at the mobile device; implementing, at the server, a heuristic algorithm to build an internal statistical model of patterns of the requests to determine subsequent content that the mobile device is most likely to request; pre-fetching, at the server, a portion of the subsequent content when the statistical model indicates that probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a first threshold, and otherwise awaiting another one of the requests comprising a content identifier and adjusting the statistical model in response thereto; and embedding at least the portion of the subsequent content in responses transmitted over the control channel from the server to the mobile device browser. The method can further comprise modifying downloading of the content from the server to the mobile device based on tracking history of changes reflected in hash values of the data identifying the previously requested content cached at the mobile device. The method can further comprise fetching a further portion of the subsequent content when the statistical model indicates that the probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a second threshold greater than the first threshold and otherwise awaiting the another one of the requests. The method can further comprise inlining subsequent content data after sending current content to the mobile device. The subsequent content data can be inlined within the current content. The statistical model can include time information for predicting that subsequent content will likely be requested within a specific time after the server begins sending current content to the mobile device. The method can further comprise building different statistical models for each of a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. The method can further comprise building a global statistical model for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. The statistical model can comprise a selective blend between a single statistical model built for the mobile device and a global statistical model built for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server, selected on a content-identifier-sequence-by-content-identifier-sequence basis. The heuristic algorithm can be selected from a group consisting of Hidden Markov Model algorithms, Bayesian inference methods and Neural Networks. Yet a further aspect of the specification provides a communication system comprising: a mobile device enabled to transmit over a control channel a plurality of requests, comprising data identifying previously requested content cached at the mobile device; and a server enabled to: implement a heuristic algorithm to build an internal statistical model of patterns of the requests to determine subsequent content that the mobile device is most likely to request; when the statistical model indicates that probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a first threshold pre-fetch a portion of the subsequent content, and otherwise: await another one of the requests comprising a content identifier; and adjust the statistical model in response thereto; and embed at least the portion of the subsequent content in responses transmitted over the control channel from the server to the mobile device browser. The server can be further enabled to modify downloading of the content from the server to the mobile device based on tracking history of changes reflected in hash values of the data identifying the previously requested content cached at the mobile device. The server can be further enabled to fetch a further portion of the subsequent content when the statistical model indicates that the probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a second threshold greater than the first threshold and otherwise awaiting the another one of the requests. The server can be further enabled to inline subsequent content data after sending current content to the mobile device. The subsequent content data can be inlined within the current content. The statistical model can include time information for predicting that subsequent content will likely be requested within a specific time after the server begins sending current content to the mobile device. The server can be further enabled to build different statistical models for each of a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. The server can be further enabled to build a global statistical model for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. Additional aspects and advantages will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art, residing in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 depicts the architecture of a system for providing wireless e-mail and data communication between a mobile device 1 and an enterprise or proxy server 9. Communication with the device 1 is effected over a wireless network 3, which in turn is connected to the Internet 5 and proxy server 9 through corporate firewall 7 and relay 8. Alternatively, the device 1 can connect directly (via the Internet) through the corporate firewall 7 to the proxy server 9. When a new message is received in a user's mailbox within email server 11, enterprise or proxy server 9 is notified of the new message and email application 10 (e.g. Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), MS Exchange, etc.) copies the message out to the device 1 using a push-based operation. Alternatively, an exemplary architecture for proxy server 9 may provide a browsing proxy but no email application 10. Indeed, the exemplary embodiment set forth herein relates to mobile browser device functionality and is not related to email functionality. Proxy server 9 also provides access to data on an application server 13 and the Web server 15 via a Mobile Data Service (MDS) 12. Additional details regarding e-mail messaging, MAPI sessions, attachment service, etc., are omitted from this description as they are not germane. Nonetheless, such details would be known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. In terms of Web browsing functionality, the device 1 communicates with enterprise or proxy server 9 using HTTP over an IP protocol optimized for mobile environments. In some embodiments, the device 1 communicates with the proxy server 9 using HTTP over TCP/IP, over a variant of TCP/IP optimized for mobile use (e.g. Wireless Profiled TCP), or over other, proprietary protocols. For example, according to the communications protocol of FIG. 2A, HTTP is run over Internet Point-to-Point Protocol (IPPP) and an encrypted Global Messaging Exchange (GME) channel over which datagrams are exchanged to transport data between the device 1 and proxy server 9. The GME datagrams are 64 Kbit in size whereas the wireless network 3 can only transport UDP (User Datagram Protocol) datagrams with payloads up to 1500 bytes. Therefore, a Message Delivery Protocol (MDP) is used to separate the GME datagrams into one or more MDP packets, each of which is less than 1500 bytes (default size 1300 bytes), which are transported over UDP/IP to and from the relay 8 which, in turn communicates with the proxy server 9 via Server Relay Protocol (SRP)/TCP/IP. The MDP protocol includes acknowledgements, timeouts and re-sends to ensure that all packets of the GME datagram are received. The communication between the device 1 and proxy server 9 is optionally encrypted with an encryption scheme, such as Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA, formerly referred to as Triple Data Encryption Standard (Triple DES)), as is known in the art. The proxy server 9 enables Internet access, preprocesses and compresses HTML and XML content from the Web server 15 before sending it to the device 1, transcodes content type, stores HTTP cookies on behalf of the device 1, and supports certificate authority authentications, etc. In order to indicate device browser state information to the proxy server 9, three transitional state messages are defined herein, as follows: CONNECT, UPDATE and DISCONNECT, each of which conforms to the exemplary BSM protocol. As shown in FIG. 2B, the BSM communications protocol is identical to the protocol of FIG. 2A except that the conventional HTTP layer of the protocol stack is replaced by an HTTP-like BSM layer, including a Browser Session Management (BSM) Handler at the proxy server 9. The CONNECT transitional message creates a new session with a connection identifier carried in the payload, device information and state data (e.g. current cache and device information) in the form of a set of hash functions for use by the proxy server 9 in preparing a response. Specific care is taken not to identify to the proxy server 9 what cookies or cache entries are contained on the device 1. Only hash values of the state data are sent to the proxy server 9 in order to protect the identity of state data on the device 1. The CONNECT message also contains a unique authentication key for generating a MAC (Message Authentication Code) using a Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) algorithm that incorporates a cryptographic hash function in combination with the authentication key. Each portion of a multi-part document from the proxy server 9 also contains an HMAC, generated using the authentication key, that is used for authenticating the proxy server 9 before adding that portion to the device cache. This prevents a third party from creating its own multi-part document and sending it to the device 1 for injecting cache entries that could be used to extract personal information from the user. The UPDATE transition message notifies the proxy server 9 of changes that have occurred on the device 1 since the last CONNECT message or the last UPDATE message, between the device 1 and proxy server 9 (e.g. new cache entries added because of a push, or invoking the “Low Memory Manager” (LMM) or other memory-space preservation policies on the device and purging items from the cache). The DISCONNECT transition message notifies the proxy server 9 that the device 1 will no longer send any more messages using the connection identifier specified in the payload. The proxy server 9 can then de-allocate any memory reserved for the connect session between the device 1 and proxy server 9. Upon receiving the disconnect message, the proxy server 9 deletes any session cookies for the device 1 (if it is processing cookies) along with state information. Receiving a request on the identified connection after the DISCONNECT has been received, and before any subsequent CONNECT message has been received, is defined as an error. Since state is indicated from the device 1 to the proxy server 9, and state may be stored in transient memory within proxy server 9, a mechanism is provided for the proxy server 9 to return to the device 1 a message indicating that the session the device is trying to use is not valid. Once this occurs, the device 1 issues a new CONNECT message and establishes a new session with the proxy server 9, and re-issues the original request. The data protocol set forth herein is similar to HTTP in order to reduce complexity and to reuse code that already exists for the HTTP protocol. Thus, data transmission according to this protocol begins with a STATE keyword; followed by a BSM (Browser Session Management) protocol identifier and a “Content-Length” header. The end of the “headers” is indicated by a double CRLF (a sequence of control characters consisting of a carriage return (CR) and a line feed (LF)), much like HTTP. After the double CRLF pair (i.e. \r\n) a WBXML (WAP Binary Extensible Markup Language) encoded document is inserted as the message payload. The WBXML document is later decoded using a DTD (Document Type Definition) and codebook, as discussed in greater detail below. The indication of the protocol version refers to what version of the DTD to validate the request against (ie. BSM/1.1 stipulates using version 1.1 of the DTD). It should be noted that WBXML encoding of the contents of BSM messages is set forth to allow for more efficient processing of the BSM message at the device 1, but that in alternate embodiments, the BSM message may be formatted as normal (textual) XML. In the foregoing, the first four lines form the CONNECT message from the device 1 to the proxy server 9, and the last two lines are the response from the proxy server 9. In the example, the state data includes the URL of an HTML page within the device cache. It will be noted that the XML document payload includes a connection identifier (i.e. bsm id=“2”), a value indicating when the document was last modified (i.e. etag=“SomeEtag”), a page expiry (i.e. expiry=“256712323”), and hash values for a URL (i.e. entry urlHash=“FEEDDEED01”) and a data attribute (i.e. entry dataHash=“FDDEDEED11”) rather than transmitting the actual URL and data attribute themselves. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the hashes of the URL and data attribute of the cached page are sent to the proxy server 9 in the CONNECT string (step 21). The proxy server 9 then fetches the requested page from Web server 13 (step 23), computes hashes of device browser state data (step 25) and data from the Web server 13 (step 27), and compares the hashes of the URL and data attribute of the requested page with the hashed URL and data attribute of the cached page, and also compares the time stamps/expiration information (step 29) in order to determine whether the cached page is current. Specifically, in response to the proxy server 9 retrieving a portion from the Web server 13, it computes the dataHash and urlHash of that portion and performs a comparison to the dataHashes and urlHashes of the entries it has saved. There are three cases. In the first case, if both the dataHash and the urlHash of the retrieved portion match the dataHash and urlHash of a cache entry that the proxy server 9 knows the device 1 has, then the server 13 simply omits this portion from the response, as the device 1 still has a valid entry in its cache. In the second case, if the dataHash of the retrieved portion matches the dataHash of a cache entry that the proxy server 9 knows the device 1 has, but the urlHash of the retrieved portion does not match the urlHash of that cache entry, the server 13 inlines this updated portion in the combined response to the device 1. However, because the dataHash matches a dataHash of an entry that already exists on the device 1, the inlined response does not include the actual data, but instead only includes a new HTTP header whose value is the new dataHash. When the device 1 receives this inlined portion, it detects the special header, looks for the cache entry with that dataHash, and either creates or updates its cache entry for that URL with the data corresponding to the dataHash by copying that data from the other cache entry (the cache for device 1 is modified to have two indexes, one to retrieve cache entries by URL, the other to retrieve cache entries by dataHash). Finally, if the proxy server 9 already has a cache entry for the urlHash, it updates that entry with the new dataHash; otherwise it creates a new entry for this portion. In the third case, if the dataHash of the retrieved portion does not match the dataHash of any of the cache entries that the proxy server 9 has received from the device 1 in the BSM messages, then the server inlines the entire portion (headers and new data), since this portion has been updated and the device 1 does not contain the updated value anywhere in its cache. Although not indicated in FIG. 3, it will be appreciated that each inline part to be added to a document to be displayed at the device 1 is fetched. If the response code from the proxy server indicates a “304” (step 31), then the part (i.e., the “304” response) is written as a block in the multipart document. On the other hand, if the proxy server 9 returns a “200” (step 33), then the hash compare operation is performed, and the portion is only included in the multipart document if the hash compare function indicates it is not already on the device 1. The method of FIG. 3 ends at step 35. As is well known in the art, the codebook is used as a transformation for compressing the XML document to WBXML, wherein each text token is represented by a single byte from the codebook. As discussed above, the proxy server 9 transmits multi-part documents in a proprietary format of compressed HTML, interspersed with data for images and other auxiliary files (which may or may not be related to the main HTML Web page). However, in a departure from conventional HTML, each document part may also include a response code (e.g. “200” for OK, or “304” for “not modified” to indicate that the specified document part has already been cached in the device 1). This may be used for selective downloading of document parts rather than entire documents and for indicating when a part (e.g. image) is about to expire. This is useful, for example, when one Web page links to another page containing one or more common elements. Of course, certain device requests (e.g. page refresh) will always result in a full document download, irrespective of device state information stored in the proxy server 9. It is contemplated that the inclusion of response codes may be used by heuristic processes within the proxy server 9 to learn user behaviour and modify downloading of documents based on tracking the history of certain changes reflected in the hash value (e.g. the server 9 may learn to download a certain page (e.g. CNN news) at a particular time each day based the user's history of issuing requests for that page at regular times. As discussed above, because the downloaded documents are multi-part and contain embedded response codes, only those portions of the document that have changed are actually downloaded. Turning to FIG. 4, a method is set forth in which the proxy server 9 uses heuristic algorithms to learn what additional data requests the device 1 may make based on knowledge of the current request, and knowledge of past activity. For example, in some instances, the device may consistently follow a pattern of requesting a first Web page (e.g. “cnn.com” Web page), followed by a second Web page (e.g. “cnn.com/news” Web page). According to the method depicted in FIG. 4, the proxy server 9 learns this pattern, such that whenever the device 1 requests the first Web page, the proxy server 9 determines that the device is likely to then request the second Web page and therefore automatically fetches the second Web page, uses its knowledge of the data cached on the device 1 (i.e. from the state information transferred to the proxy server 9 during initiation of the connection) to determine whether the second Web page already exists within the data cached on the device and whether the cached page is current (i.e. by comparing the time stamps/expiration information as discussed above with reference to step 29 of FIG. 3). If soothe second Web page exists and is current, the proxy server 9 includes information about the second Web page via response codes embedded within the response provided for the first Web page, as set forth in detail above. If the device 1 requires the second Web page, then the device 1 references its cache and thereby avoids having to make a request to the proxy server 9 for the second Web page. Thus, at step 37 of FIG. 4, the proxy server 9 retains a history of the sequence of specific page requests made by the device browser. Preferably, the tracking history is based on changes reflected in the hash values of the browsing-related state data, as discussed above. The proxy server 9 then uses a heuristic technique to build an internal statistical model of the request patterns (step 39). Where the proxy server 9 services multiple devices 1, a separate statistical model is developed for each device 1. Alternatively, a global statistical model may be developed across all devices that the proxy server 9 is servicing. Or, indeed, the two foregoing statistical models may be blended to yield a best prediction on a URL-sequence-by-URL-sequence basis. In any event, the statistical model developed at step 39 is used to determine the set of URLs that the device 1 is most likely to request next, given the particular historical sequence of previously requested URLs (step 37). If, at step 41, the statistical model indicates that probability of a certain previously requested URL being requested next is above a certain threshold (Threshold 1), the proxy server 9 proactively fetches the HyperText content of the predicted next page (step 43). Otherwise, the method awaits the requested URL from the device 1 and adjusts the statistical model accordingly (step 45) and the method ends (step 51). If, at step 47, the probability exceeds a higher threshold (Threshold 2) then all of the associated images and/or auxiliary files are fetched for the predicted next page (step 49). According to one embodiment, the proxy server 9 inlines the “next page” data after it has sent the data for the current page to the device 1, in order to allow the device to fully render the current page. In another embodiment, the “next-page” data is inlined within the HTML of the current page rather than appended at the end of it. In both cases, the “next-page” data is still part of the response for the current page, rather than appearing in a separate request or response. One example of the embodiment in which the “next-page” data is inlined is where the statistical model includes time information and determines that particular “next pages” will likely be requested very shortly after the proxy server 9 has started sending the current page data to the device 1. As discussed above, because the downloaded documents are multi-part and contain embedded response codes, only those portions of the document that have changed are actually downloaded. Examples of heuristic techniques that may be used in step 39 include, but are not limited to, the Hidden Markov Model algorithms, Bayesian inference methods and Neural Networks. The method set forth in FIG. 4 causes the proxy server 9 to constantly learn and refine the statistical model with every new page request it receives, to ensure that it most closely tracks the current behaviour of the devices it is servicing. Turning now to FIG. 5, a broad aspect of the exemplary method of training a proxy server for content delivery based on communication of state information from a mobile device browser, is illustrated by way of a flowchart. At step 52, a control channel is established between the proxy server 9 and mobile device 1. The device 1 transmits a plurality of request messages to the proxy server 9 for Web pages, wherein each of the messages indicates browsing-related state data (step 53). At step 54 a heuristic algorithm is implemented within the proxy server 9 to detect and learn patterns of request messages. The proxy server 9 then pre-fetches at least HyperText content of Web pages that the proxy server 9 has learned will likely be requested (step 55). The pre-fetched HyperText content is then embedded in response codes within response messages transmitted to the mobile device 1 (step 56). The process ends at step 57. As indicated above, the protocol of the preferred embodiment is preferably carried over a proprietary IPPP transport layer, but can also be easily adapted to run over TCP/IP on a specific port. The protocol is preferably implemented as a handler in the proxy server 9, thereby simplifying any currently existing protocol. (e.g. to avoid overloading a current HTTP protocol). A person skilled in the art, having read this description of the preferred embodiment, may conceive of variations and alternative embodiments. For example, the conditional transfer of data based on communication of state information, as set forth above, may also be applied to separately transmitting individual portions of the multipart document as opposed to transmitting the entire document at once. All such variations and alternative embodiments are believed to be within the ambit of the claims appended hereto. embedding at least the portion of the subsequent content in responses transmitted over the control channel from the server to the mobile device browser. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying downloading of the content from the server to the mobile device based on tracking history of changes reflected in hash values of the data identifying the previously requested content cached at the mobile device. 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising fetching a further portion of the subsequent content when the statistical model indicates that the probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a second threshold greater than the first threshold and otherwise awaiting the another one of the requests. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising inlining subsequent content data after sending current content to the mobile device. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the subsequent content data is inlined within the current content. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the statistical model includes time information for predicting that subsequent content will likely be requested within a specific time after the server begins sending current content to the mobile device. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising building different statistical models for each of a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising building a global statistical model for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical model comprises a selective blend between a single statistical model built for the mobile device and a global statistical model built for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server, selected on a content-identifier-sequence-by-content-identifier-sequence basis. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the heuristic algorithm is selected from a group consisting of Hidden Markov Model algorithms, Bayesian inference methods and Neural Networks. embed at least the portion of the subsequent content in responses transmitted over the control channel from the server to the mobile device browser. 12. The communication system of claim 11, wherein the server is further enabled to modify downloading of the content from the server to the mobile device based on tracking history of changes reflected in hash values of the data identifying the previously requested content cached at the mobile device. 13. The communication system of claim 11, 11, wherein the server is further enabled to fetch a further portion of the subsequent content when the statistical model indicates that the probability of requesting the subsequent content exceeds a second threshold greater than the first threshold and otherwise awaiting the another one of the requests. 14. The communication system of claim 13, 11, wherein the server is further enabled to inline subsequent content data after sending current content to the mobile device. 15. The communication system of claim 14, wherein the subsequent content data is inlined within the current content. 16. The communication system of claim 15, wherein the statistical model includes time information for predicting that subsequent content will likely be requested within a specific time after the server begins sending current content to the mobile device. 17. The communication system of claim 11, 11, wherein the server is further enabled to build different statistical models for each of a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. 18. The communication system of claim 11, 11, wherein the server is further enabled to build a global statistical model for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server. 19. The communication system of claim 11, wherein the statistical model comprises a selective blend between a single statistical model built for the mobile device and a global statistical model built for a plurality of mobile devices serviced by the server, selected on a content-identifier-sequence-by-content-identifier-sequence basis. 20. The communication system of claim 11, wherein the heuristic algorithm is selected from a group consisting of Hidden Markov Model algorithms, Bayesian inference methods and Neural Networks.

2019-04-24T05:16:52Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110264731A1/en

You will be lucky if your air mattress came with a pump and even luckier if it held up for long. Anyone who owns an air mattress will at some point need to buy an air pump and that’s why we have compiled a list of the best air mattress pumps, from various brands and categories to help you make the right selection. We also have a guide on the factors to consider when buying one and the benefits of using air pumps. We have chosen OutdoorMaster Electric Air Pump best overall. It's very compact for portability, storage, and durability. Its design makes it a good choice for both home and outdoor use. This electric air pump is very portable thanks to its smaller size and lightweight design. It will not only occupy just a small space in your storage space but also not add any significant weight. Again, it’s small enough to be used by both adults and kids since it fits in either palm perfectly. With it, you can just inflate any inflatables since it’s designed to be a universal air pump. It thus might make a good choice for use at home or outdoors. OutdoorMaster is the best air pump for inflatable pool available in the market. So you won’t have to struggle with manually inflating your pool toys or anything else. For safety purposes, this little electric air pump is ETL certified so you can inflate everything faster and safely. It is also compatible with any inflatable brand so you don’t have to worry if it will work with what you want to inflate. Again, it has a long cord to make the inflating process easy and convenient. It’s not always that you will have a power outlet, especially when camping or on other outdoor activities. Thus, getting a pump that’s not 100% dependent on electricity is very convenient. This pump is designed to use three power options. You can use 8 AA batteries, 12V car use, or 110V/220V home use. This is very convenient because you can rely on it without disappointments no matter where you are. When it comes to the actual task, inflating, the pump is very fast and you can use it to inflate various inflatables thanks to its effortless operation. It inflates and deflates effortlessly. Again, it features three detachable nozzles for more convenience. If you are operating on a tight budget but badly need a good electric air pump then the Intex quick-fill rechargeable air pump might be a great choice. It features a compact design for durability and portability. If you are needing a good air mattress inflator for outdoor use this might be a good pick. It’s small enough to take it with you to any destination. Again, since it has various nozzles all of the different sizes, it can be used to inflate different things besides air mattresses. This again is a great feature for home and outdoor uses because you might need to inflate other things as well. Also, since it needs a 110-120V electrical outlet, it can fit in most homes because this is the most common standard voltage in households. The only limitation would be when you need to use it in places without electrical outlets. And, you can use it for deflating and it’s pretty easy to use and fast too. The pump’s fans run hot when used continuously for a long time, so give it some breaks when inflating, say a large pool. We all need an efficient inflatable experience because there is no fun in a slower fill. This little pump features a high-pressure design that makes inflating quick and efficient. If you know the pain of using a traditional hand pump, you will be happy with this one. And, since you might need to inflate various air mattresses or other inflatable stuff around your home, the pump is designed to have interlocking nozzles to fit various inflatables. It also deflates and it’s easy to operate. Again, if you are after the best electric air pump for inflatables then Etekcity might work for you. It features a compact and lightweight construction for portability. The size is small enough to throw it in any small space and you don’t need a second hand to operate it so you can rely on it or solo travels. About noise, we all know that most airbed pumps are noisy and some can be too noisy. However, with this air pump, the noise is greatly reduced by its wheel design plus the choice of impellers. As such, you can use it even when some people near you have already fallen asleep and you won’t wake them. It’s also sturdy as it’s made from solid thick plastic thus you can count on its durability. As much as it works with various inflatables, the pump can’t inflate balls that require a needle inflator and it’s also not compatible with balloons. This is a very reliable air mattress inflator and deflator. It can be used both indoor and outdoor hassle-free thanks to its design. You can use the 12V DC to either inflate or deflate. Again, if you want it cordless, just recharge the battery airbed pump and you will have all the convenience or inflating your inflatables from anywhere. Its design makes it very versatile in terms of power use and also what you can use it with. It features three nozzles that make it compatible with various inflatables, both for indoor and outdoor use. Again, it’s very portable thanks to its compact and lightweight construction. Taking it with you for camping or any other activity won’t be a problem because you will only require a small storage space and it’s not heavy. A bit pricey than most other air mattress inflators but it’s worth the price. If you are looking for the best battery air pump for inflatables then Coleman air mattress pump might meet your needs. All you need is 4 D-cell batteries and you will be good to go. The batteries are sold separately though they are not expensive and are readily available. This battery air mattress pump works best for people who are absolutely sure that they won’t have electrical outlets and it’s very reliable especially for outdoor use such as camping to inflate your inflatables. It also inflates and deflates fast and can be used on various airbeds. Again, since it features a Boston/double lock combo valve adapter, it not only inflates airbeds but other inflatables as well. As long as the batteries are okay, you will have your inflatables inflated or deflated within no time. And, it is compatible with any airbed brands and various other inflatables. With three detachable nozzles, this inflatable pump can be used to either inflate or deflate various inflatables. Again, with the kind of accidents we have seen with these type of pumps, you want to make sure that whatever you are buying is safe and this air pump is CSA and ETL/Interek certified so it’s safe. This particular pump features a new design that enables it to not only inflate or deflate faster but also quieter. It is also very simple to use and its size and weight are ideal for portability. However, when using it, make sure to take breaks especially when blowing large inflatables because it might shut off from overheating or worse, burn the motor out. This air pump works impressively fast for both inflating and deflating. It features three nozzles so you can use it to either inflate or deflate just anything besides air mattresses. And, it is very easy to use as it features really simple mechanism. It is small in size and also lightweight so if you are looking for a portable option this might serve you right. Also, the power cable is long so you get to do everything conveniently but you have to give it a five minutes rest after every ten minutes of use to avoid overheating which might result to motor burn. This is a powerful auto air pump that comes with both home power and car power adapters making it ideal for both indoor and outdoor use. Again, because it is very powerful, it can be used to inflate and deflate and it works fast either way. Again, since it comes with three differently sized nozzles, this air pump can be used on various inflatables with ease. Also, there is no complicated construction or designing. So, using it is pretty simple. It also features a practical design for both outdoor and indoor use as it’s not only small in size but lightweight as well for portability and easy storage. Cannot be used on high-pressure inflatables such as basketballs, tires, etc. Cannot be used for more than fifteen minutes continuously as it will overheat and burn the motor. This is a great indoor and outdoor electric air pump. It uses both AC and DC for convenience and it can be used for both inflating and deflating. It has three detachable nozzles for a wide compatibility with inflatables and this is why you can use it for both indoor and outdoor inflatables. Again, the air pump features a travel-friendly construction. It is small and lightweight for portability and you can use it when camping, event decoration or any other. Also, it comes with 2-in-1 long enough wire for easy inflating and deflating. It is easy to use but always remember to give it at least a five minutes break after every ten minutes of use to avoid overheating. All air bed pumps are not designed the same nor are they meant to handle similar blowing tasks. Some are specifically designed to work on smaller inflatables while others can handle both small and bigger perfectly. To be on the safer side, or to avoid buying various air pumps, just buy one that will inflate both smaller and bigger inflatables with ease. This ties to the first point and it basically means how fast the pump is able to inflate your mattress or other items. You don’t want to spend too much time inflating one item. The best air pump should take just a few minutes with each item. If you go for an electric air pump, ensure that you will a power outlet. Mostly, this won’t be a big deal if you are buying one for home use, but it might be a challenge when buying one for outdoor use and especially in a different country because you also have to ensure that it matches their standard voltage. If you are not sure about power outlet availability, you can always take the battery operated mattress pump. The only thing to ensure with this option is that you have enough batteries and that they are all in a working condition to avoid disappointments. You might just be in need of an air bed pump today, but with time, you might need one for other inflatables such as decorations, toys etc. Thus, it’s good to ensure that your pump is compatible with as many inflatables as possible. The size and weight of your air pump will matter when you need to take with you and when storing it. As long as it’s powerful and sturdy, there is no need of buying a big air pump. Some air mattress pumps are only designed for inflating while others can inflate and deflate efficiently. Now, manual deflating is just as much work as manual inflating so why go through the trouble while your pump can do it for you at no extra cost. You will hardly come across a quiet air mattress pump but the noise intensity varies. Some are too noisy while others are well-manageable so check the how loud your choice is before ordering. Again, try not to use the pump at night as the noise might be disturbing. When it comes to airbed pumps, there is no need of going fancy or looking for big brands. Essentially, all these pumps, whether you have come across the brand or not, will perform the same way and have similar durability. Luckily though, most air mattress pumps are very affordable so whichever way you swing you won’t be breaking your bank. There are many accidents that emanate from the wrong use of air pumps. To avoid such, ensure that you read the manufacturer’s recommendation of how to use them. Most will tell you not to exceed certain working time before giving it a break while others will warn you against using the pump to inflate certain products. And, if you notice that your pump is getting too hot even before you hit the recommended use time, just let it rest for some minutes then resume. You should also look for safety certifications. What are the benefits of using air mattress pumps? Well, if you have inflated a large mattress by mouth or many balloons and toys, you will certainly understand the relief that comes with air mattress pumps. For one, they are quicker than using your mouth and you get to properly fill your inflatables as recommended. Again, most air pumps are compatible with various inflatables so you won’t have to buy one for each. They are also very affordable yet efficient so there is no loss in buying one. Plus they can serve you for many years if used as recommended. All the ten air mattress pumps are great in their own rights and any one of them might be the best that you have come across. However, Dr.Meter Electric Air Pump stands out as our winner of the day for several reasons. One, this pump has three power options thus making it very convenient. You can comfortably use it at home/indoors or outdoors. Second, it’s not only for inflating but deflating as well and it works efficiently either way. It is also very travel-friendly thanks to its small but compact size and a lightweight construction. As such, you can take it with you to whatever destination and won’t struggle with weight or storage space. Again, you can count on its construction and the quality of the materials used for durability. Generally, you don’t have to spend too much on an air mattress pump, but be careful to choose the best for your needs. The best air mattress pumps should not only be within your budget but also efficient and dependable. If you think new kitchen gadgets are not a thing anymore, allow me to introduce you to the emerging world of air fryers. These simple, yet intricate devices are rapidly rising in popularity as more people are learning about what they do, and all of the advantages that come with them. Although there weren’t very many buying options available at first, a slew of manufacturers have joined the fray over the last year, doing all they can to beat out the competition with one of the hottest new kitchen items in recent memory. As you can probably guess, the influx of new products has led to a suddenly oversaturated market, making it a little hard to initially determine which are the best air fryers not only in terms of the best quality, but the best for your needs in general. We’ve identified and analyzed every current air deep fryer on the market, and compiled a list of the 10 best rated air fryers for 2019. This buying guide goes through a wide range of types, sizes, prices, and features, so there should be something here for everyone. So, if you’re in the market for a new dry air fryer, but don’t know where to start, we’ve done all the work for you, and now all you need to do is decided which one is best for your own kitchen. We’ll start with how we ended up rating each product. How We Rated These Air Fryers? Air Fryers all do the same thing for the most part, and all utilize the same concept, so we narrowed it down to 4 main aspects we considered the most important. Ease of Use – They are made to be user-friendly, but there are some that are a lot easier to use than others. They are quick to set up, easy to open and close, require only a small amount of cooking savvy, if any, and have clear, simple buttons and features. Useful Features – I’d say most of us appreciate some added features on kitchen appliances when applicable. There are some airfryers that are very basic in build and design, and may have just an on/off button, and a temperature setting/timer. Others will have presets for certain foods, accessories, and innovative designs that help you to better monitor the cooking process. Price – The initial ones were fairly expensive, often around the $350 mark. Fortunately, the prices have come down some, and there are some real bargains to be had out there. That said, the price of an dry fryer should be in relation to how well it operates. The more you spend, the better product you’ll get for the most part, but the price needs to be fair in regards to what the air deep fryer offers, and how well it works overall. The Philips XL Airfryer has all the things you could want from a fryer, including a large capacity, a sleek design, easy to use controls, and most importantly -- even cooking. Philips is the manufacturer that started it all, so it’s no surprise to see their largest dry air fryer top this list of the best air fryers on the market. The XL Airfryer can accommodate up to 2.65 lbs of food, and has a large basket design that allows for simultaneous frying of enough for for at least 3-4 people. The temperature control reaches as high as 390 degrees Fahrenheit. The actual body of the fryer has a modern, minimal design, which anyone leaving it on their counter will appreciate. A sleek touchscreen is used to set the temperatures and cooking times, which can be programmed up to 60 minutes, including an auto shut-off so you don’t overcook your food. The controls are clear and concise, and easy to understand right from the first use. In most cases, you’ll be able to cook most dishes in about 15-20 minutes thanks to the rapid air technology facilitated by the star-like fan design, allowing for better air rotation efficiency. This results in an even browning on all sides when the food is rotated halfway through cooking. If you happen to find the perfect temperature and time setting for a particular dish, you can make it a preset for future use. Also, all of the removable components of the Airfryer XL are dishwasher safe, making cleanup a breeze for the most part. The strongest aspects of the Philips Airfryer XL are definitely its capacity and cooking efficiency, which are always the most important. In most cases, you can fit in a large amount of food without cramming or obstructing airflow. The presets, auto shut-off, and responsive digital screen make the unit easy to operate for anybody, and the unique fan design really does make a huge difference in terms of even cooking. The Airfryer XL is one of the most expensive units on the market, which may turn some away. It also takes up a lot of space on the average countertop. And while the parts are dishwasher-safe, the mesh basket may require some extra effort to get rid of any entrapped food bits after cooking. Overall, the Philips Airfryer XL offers the most in regards to cooking ability and cooking size, and backs it all up with convenient features, high max temperatures, and just a genuine quality feel to it. If you want the ultimate air fryer and don’t mind paying for it, this is the one to get. The Power Air Fryer XL can best be described as a less-expensive version of the Philips XL, that still retains many of the same features and functionality. And while it may fall short in a few ways to the Philips model, the Power Dry Fryer XL actually does a few things better, so if you’d like a more affordable air fryer with high capacity and numerous features, this is an excellent choice. As indicated, the Power XL has a 5.3 quart basket capacity that lets you fry a substantial amount of food all at once. Even more impressively, it operates off of 1,700 watts, making it the most powerful dry fryer you’ll come across currently. The design is a little generic, but I’m sure most won’t mind. Controls are operated using a vibrant digital touchscreen, which allows for precise dialing in of both cooking time and temperature. The basket handle is in the front, and is easy to pull out and place food in before beginning the cooking process. Cooking times can go as long as 60 minutes, and as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is quite high. Due to the high power and extended temperature setting, the Power Air Fryer XL can fry foods in a short amount of time, which is not only good if you’re a little impatient, but if you have multiple batches to cook. Aside from the fast and efficient cooking times, the fryer comes with a very handy divider basket that will allow for separate cooking of two different items at the same time, without interfering with flavors, smells, or sauces. Programmable presets make things a little easier as well. One of the only drawbacks of the Power dry Fryers is how the plastic exterior of the basket can actually expand a bit when cooking at high temperatures, making it somewhat difficult to pull the basket out to flip the food. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely not smooth when this happens. Despite a few small flaws, the Power XL performs incredibly well, and offers a large enough size to make larger meals for more people at the same time. If you need a bigger capacity, prefer faster cooking times, and also like to use digital controls, this air deep fryer is an economical buy in terms of capability. The GoWISE USA Electric Air Fryer may be our pick for the best large capacity air fryer, but it’s more than just a huge basket. This unit combines a spacious frying basket with smooth, seamless operation, easy controls, and plenty of convenience — and all while keeping a very fair price point that will be well within the range of most shoppers. The GoWISE USA Electric Air deep Fryer’s 5.8 quart size takes the form of a spacious, deep, and large circumference basket that can easily fit in everything from small snacks, to larger main dishes, meats, pizzas, and even cakes. Not only that, but it can cook food up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the highest you’ll see an dry air fryer go. The controls are located on the front, and all cooking settings are accessed via a colorful, responsive touchscreen that has a number of different settings, including shrimp, fish, cakes, and many more. You can adjust the cooking settings during a cycle, and also make use of pausing, and using alerts and auto shut-off. The high temperature, spacious basket design, and high power of the GoWISE USA Electric Air Fryer allows it to cook large food quantities in times ranging from 5 to 20 minutes, requiring one quick flipping of the food halfway through, if desired. For those who place an emphasis on aesthetics, the fryer is available in 4 different colors, although not nearly as many as the smaller sized option. The GoWISE USA Electric Air Fryer has a sleek look, which is reinforced with the sharp touchscreen. The main advantage with this fryer is obviously the largest food capacity size you’ll see, but the various presets and expanded cooking controls are a major bonus too. The parts are easy to clean after cooking, and GoWISE USA also includes a handy recipe book for some easy ideas to use with the fryer. Drawbacks are few and far between with this model, but I will say the size is a little overwhelming, but hey, you know going in that it has a huge cooking capacity, so it comes with the territory. A lack of accessories is a little puzzling, I will say. Not a big deal though. We honestly went back and forth on making this one of the top picks, but felt it better to designate it as one of the best large capacity air fryers, because, well, that’s exactly what it is. Bottom line, the GoWISE USA Electric Air Fryer offers a stellar combination of size and quality and is currently the best large air fryer to buy in 2019. You can’t go wrong here. No surprise; another Philips air fryer on this list, and this one is literally named the “Original.” The Philips Airfryer Original gives you some of the highest cooking performance in a smaller package, and also in a much more simplified format, which some may actually prefer anyway. The basket size of this air fryer is 28 ounces, which comes out to about 1.75 lbs capacity — enough to cook an entire bag of frozen french fries. Perfect, right? Although this model is obviously not best for those needing to cook larger items or a lot at once, for smaller snacks, or a meal for 1-2, it’s very effective. Rather than elaborate digital controls and touch screens, this fryer keeps things simple by utilizing analog dials instead. You don’t get the same level of accuracy as a digital dial, but the knobs on this fryer are well-constructed, easy to turn, and as accurate as you can get for an analog version. The Philips Airfryer Original uses the same smart design as its bigger brother, which results in fast, efficient, and even cooking times, bolstered even more by its smaller size. The smaller design of this air deep fryer makes it more suited to leave out on the counter, right next to your toaster, blender, or whatever else. It’s also very easy to clean, and comes with a very detailed 150 recipe cookbook that has some great ideas for the fryer, well beyond just chicken nuggets and fries. While the Philips Airfryer Original is one of the best on the market, the price is still a little high for some I’m sure, especially when considering how basic it is in a lot of areas. It also doesn’t come with any accessories, which makes the higher price seem a bit stretched. Despite the higher price, the Philips Airfryer Original is still worth it for those who want the most quality and performance out of a smaller air fryer. Why not go with the original, and the most established? You won’t be disappointed. Not everyone is wanting to spend hundreds of dollars for an air fryer, which is certainly understandable. If you’ve been bummed out about some the higher prices when first shopping around, the Simple Chef Air Fryer is the answer. Yes, it’s a lot cheaper in price than most models out there, but it can still perform on a comparable level. At 3.5 liters, the Simple Chef Air Fryer actually has a sizable capacity, even for being under $70. It has 1,300 watts of power, and can reach a temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which is definitely impressive for a fryer in this price range. So far, so good. As expected, there isn’t anything flashy in terms of controls. You get your basic knob timer, and knob temperature setting, but if you like things simple, this won’t be an issue or you at all. A quick twist here and there, and you’re all set. You don’t get any presets or anything of that sort, so be advised. Thanks to the smaller size, high wattage, and even higher max temperature, you can really make quick work out of smaller batches of food, ranging anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes, and without any preheating times. The Simple Chef Air deep Fryer doesn’t really have any unique features, but that’s part of its allure I’d say. As soon as you get it out of the box, you know exactly how to operate it. The basket, controls, design, and general operation are all basic. It even has a bit of a dated look to it, actually. The biggest advantages to the Simple Chef Air Fryer are its price in relation to performance, but not at the expense of how well it works. This fryer can hang with some nearly twice its price and not skip a beat. It’s surprisingly efficient, even, and fast. However, with an air fryer this simple and cheap, there will be some drawbacks. The analog controls are boring and limited, there are no presets, no alerts, no expansive adjustments, or anything else. It’s as exciting as an old toaster. But hey, it works well. And as you probably guessed, there aren’t any accessories either. If you’re looking for a high-quality and best cheap air fryer that doesn’t skimp on any of the important stuff, the Simple Chef Air Fryer is best air fryer for the money. This is great for small apartments, RV’s, or really just anyone who simply needs a more compact air fryer without a bunch of features — just pure cooking power, and that’s it. The Big Boss Oil-Less Air Fryer takes a bit of a different approach to the cooking process, and not only by the way it looks, but by how the actual heating is done as well. On top of that, this is one of the biggest capacities you’ll ever see in an air fryer. First, let’s talk about the basket size. The Big Boss Oil-Less Air Fryer can hold up to 16 entire quarts of food, and eve has the ability to cook two different dishes on top of each other with a dividing system. The internal cooking temperature can reach all the way up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. “Big Boss” indeed. The cooking temperature and timer are both located on the very top, along with some helpful suggested settings and cooking times for various food items. Indicator lights let you know when the unit is on, and when cooking is complete. As the name says, this unit is oil-less, so heating is actually done with infrared, halogen, and convection. The infrared heats the inside of the food, while the halogen creates surface heat that is then circulated around the food with the high-powered fan. This is as healthy as it gets in terms of “frying.” You still have the option to add oil though. This fryer offers a lot of advantages. First off, the glass bowl lets you see how the food looks while cooking, which is not something you get anywhere else. Also, the heat is more intense, general quicker, and all the components are dishwasher safe. You even get two different cooking trays, tongs, and a ring extender for larger food items. There are some cons though. First of all, this thing is HUGE. Don’t plan on leaving it on the counter, unless you live in some giant mansion with a giant kitchen.That’s the tradeoff to the large capacity. Another tradeoff is the glass body — it’s very hot when in use. You’ll need either quick hands, or oven mitts. Overall, the Big Boss Oil-Less Air Fryer is a force when it comes to cooking quickly, and taking on a family-sized amount of food all at once. It has a very fair price, and you can even pick from several different colors, some with varying prices. While it does have some inconveniences, its effectiveness, extra accessories, and functionality are hard to beat. The FrenchMay Air Fryer kind of flies under the radar for many, but it’s very much a capable air fryer that has several innovative features and design traits that make it not only easy to use, but very safe as well. This fryer is a little on the compact side, but not to the point of being overly small. It stands about 14.3 inches tall, and has a 3.7 quart capacity, which is enough for 1-2 people, depending on what food you’re frying. The FrenchMay Air Fryer runs off of a powerful 1,500 watts, and gets as hot as 400 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the cooking processes are controlled using the sharp touchscreen menu. The touchscreen lets you dial in the exact temperature, determine cooking timers up to 60 minutes, has a number of presets, along with a pause/stop option as well. The FrenchMay Air Fryers have a sleek, minimal, understated design that allows them to blend in with most decors, should you choose to leave them on the counter. Cleanup is incredibly easy thanks to the removable parts being dishwasher safe. A non-slip base, cool-touch handle, and auto shut-off feature all help to up the safety factor a bit. This fryer is not fancy by any means, but the low-key design, intuitive controls, and ease of use all make this a very quality air deep fryer that anyone can quickly figure out. The compact size, additional safety aspects, and fair price all work together to create one of the best air fryers under $100. This unit isn’t all that wide but it is a little taller than it seems, likely due to the slightly expanded capacity. There also seems to be some discrepancy with the temperature presets for certain foods, so keep an eye on your food when first using them, and making mental notes of what works well and what doesn’t. The FrenchMay Air deep Fryer is a perfectly good fryer that doesn’t get the same attention as some other models, but it performs just as well, and has an awesome price. If you need an air fryer you can leave sitting out at the back of the counter, and don’t need to cook large amounts, this fryer will make a fine addition to your kitchen. For those that prefer to keep things basic, and with a more kitchen counter-friendly size, the AirFryer by Cozyna is an ideal appliance that offers the same basic air fryer functions and features you get with any other quality model, with a price tag that stays below $100. The AirFryer by Cozyna has a capacity of 3.7 quarts, so this unit is more ideal for smaller servings, or maybe just for 1-2 people. The integrated timer can go up to 30 minutes in cooking time, while the temperature range can be adjusted from anywhere between 176 to 392 degrees Fahrenheit. The actual controls on the AirFryer by Cozyna are very basic. You get a knob for the timer, and a knob for the temperature adjustment. The design of the fryer is fairly basic as well, and uses the standard handle pull-out to access the frying basket inside. The cooking time of the fryer is on par with other units its size, but it’s not exceptionally fast or more efficient than others. With that said, it’s still very effective, and certainly more than adequate at frying evenly on all sides in an acceptable amount of time. The AirFryer by Cozyna does come with two different cookbooks, one ebook, and one physical recipe book that has over 40 easy and quick ideas you can actually use the fryer for. The frying basket and housing can be quickly removed, and cleaning can be done in the sink, or in the dishwasher. The allure of the AirFryer by Cozyna resides with its simplicity and durability. You do also get a fairly extensive 2 year warranty as well, so it’s fully covered for multiple years. The simple design means there’s less to go wrong too. On the other hand, some shoppers may find the AirFryer by Cozyna a tad boring or generic. It also doesn’t come with any extra accessories, and the cooking time is rather limited, and there are no presets. The AirFryer by Cozyna is polarizing in some ways. Those who like their appliances to function more like gadgets and have lots of extra features will not be all that pleased with the AirFryer, while others that prefer simplicity and durability will likely appreciate it. The Secura Electric is a total package appliance that provides everything you need for successful and versatile air frying from the moment you get it set up. It combines a high level of performance and convenience with a smart design, and some very helpful extras too. Secura is the best hot air fryer powered by 1,500 watts, and has a maximum temperature setting of 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This particular model has a 4.2 quart capacity, which not on the large end of the spectrum, but it’s well above the mid-size capacity. With a little ingenuity, you can cook for 3-4 people at once. Although the interface of the Secura Electric Hot Air cooker looks sleek, it’s actually controlled with analog knobs, including a 60 minute timer setting, and the temperature control. Suggested cooking temps for various food items are printed near the controls for quick reference. It does come with an auto shut-off feature. Cooking time is standard, typically around 10-20 minutes depending on what the food is, and how large the quantity is. The fryer does come with a toaster rack that you can use for certain foods, or to separate two different kinds. Metal skewers are included as well. And like every good air fryer, the Secura Electric Hot AirFryer also comes with a recipe book to give you some ideas. The flatter shape of the fryer is much preferred over the typical cylindrical shape many other air deep fryers have. As far as any potential drawbacks go with this unit, there are a few small ones. The control knobs for the Secura Electric Hot deep Air Fryer are just a little…off. They feel strange to move around, and you sometimes feel like you may not have it on the exact temperature. You eventually get a feel for it though. Also, when frying with max temps, sometimes you’ll smell a little burnt plastic smell. This does fade away over time. Overall I’m a pretty big fan of the Secura Electric Hot Air. I like how it sits flatter against the wall, the large capacity, and the extra accessories. Once you get the hang of the controls, you’re all set. This is a great value for under $90. Last but not least, we have the Black and Decker Air Fryer. In fact, there are a lot of air fryer users who think this is actually the best one available for the money. While I respectfully disagree, it’s actually not too far off. This durable, sleek, and simple air fryer excels in a lot of different areas — as long as you aren’t cooking for more than two people. The has a 2 liter capacity, but it’s a spacious 2 liters. The cooking temperature ranges from 175 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, with adjustments within increments of 50 degrees. In terms of shape and design, the Purify Air Fryer has a rounded look, but it is a little flatter than similar models, saving some front end space on the counter. The 60 minute cooking timer and temperature controls are adjusted using the two centered knobs on the unit. I’m not always a huge fan of knobs, but these feel very solid, and I kind of like the look as well. The cooking time and efficiency of the Purify Air deep Fryer is above average thanks to dual convection fans instead of the typical one. This doubles the air circulation and makes the heating effect more efficient. The Purify Air Fryer has some integrated safety features, such as an overheating protection, auto shut-off, and a non-slip base. All detachable parts can be washed in the microwave, and a handy basket divider lets you cook two different foods at the same time without worrying about flavor interference. Very helpful, and essentially cuts cooking time in half if your frying multiple foods. The only notable drawbacks with the Purify Air Fryer involce temp control. The numbers are tiny, and the 50 degree increments is a bit much. It’d be nice to at least have it down to 10 degrees instead. Also, aside from the basket divider, there are no other accessories. Black and Decker Dry Fryer is definitely one of the best you can buy, we just didn’t know what category to put it in. So just consider it a top 10 all-around air fryer. For less than $100, it’s a steal. Simply put, an air fryer is something that fries with air. Easy, right? Well, thanks go a bit further than that, but that’s the general idea. Prior to dry fryers, the only way to fry things like potatoes, chicken tenders, and similar items was to submerge them in cooking oil, like you would at a fast food restaurant. The food stays submerged under the hot oil until done, you strain the oil out, and you’re all set. While the name “air fryer” makes it sound like no oil is used, that’s not entirely true. There is a small amount of oil used, but you definitely don’t submerge your food in it. How an Air Fryer Works? Air fryers cook food using a number of different heating methods. There is a heating element inside the unit, similar to what you’d see in a standard oven. On top of the element, there is a fan that spins at a high speed to distribute the heat evenly around the inside, similar to a convection oven. Here’s where things get a little more innovative. The fryer uses a small amount of oil, which is turned into a very fine mist, and spread all around the inside with the fan. This allows the tiny oil droplets to heat up and “fry” the food, but using the hot air that’s moving all around the inside at the same time. The result is a three-pronged heating method that still delivers a crispness you’d find with deep-fried foods, while still cooking the food evenly, and very quickly. Towards the back or top of the unit, there is an exhaust chute that allows excessive hot air to safely escape through a filter, which also helps to eliminate smells. For the most part, the majority of air fryers can reach temperatures of up to 200°C. Air fryers weren’t invented merely as some way to fry stuff easier on your countertop. For the most part, they are intended to be a much healthier and safer way to cook a variety of foods, and not just stuff you would normally fry. If you didn’t know already, frying foods in oil isn’t exactly the healthiest way to cook. Fried foods are a pretty big contributor to a variety of health issues when eaten excessively, which is actually pretty easy to do. Who doesn’t love french fries and basically any other fried food, right? The problem resides in the amount of oil used to cook the food. Regardless of the food or oil type, using that much leads to a high fat and cholesterol content — not ideal. But here’s the other thing though, a little oil is actually a good thing. That’s what makes an air fryer so useful. Best Air fryers let you decide what kind of oil you want to use, whether it’s canola, coconut, sesame; whatever you want. You can even use spray butter if you’d like. The advantage is the fact that you barely have to use any, often about 80% to 90% less than you’d use with an actual deep or pan frier. The design of the air fryer distribues it evenly as a fine mist, so you get the most out of a little, and still get that fried effect. Can’t beat that. With an air fryer, there’s no open oil anywhere. It’s all contained inside, nice and safe. It doesn’t get any safer than that. Another huge benefit of an air fryer is how fast it is. The three-heat method significantly cuts down on cooking time, and there’s no preheating. Just turn it on, add the oil, pop the food in, and you’re good to go. Most items can be cooked in around 15-20 minutes, whether it’s fries, chicken breasts, vegetables, whatever. Air fryers aren’t just for basic fried foods. For the most part, whatever you can cook in a standard oven, you can cook in an air fryer. And depending on the model you have, you can really fine-tune the settings to handle everything from burgers, to even cakes. This means you have a fryer and oven, all in one. And on top of your counter, not taking up a bunch of space. Most units can fit into a large drawer, cabinet, or pantry when not in use. Or you can just leave it on the counter next to your other main appliances. Is it the Same as Traditional Frying? It’s important to mention the fact that you will not get that exact deep-fried texture and taste of a conventional frier, but it’s close. Some people may even prefer the lighter texture and lack of excessive oil when air frying their favorite traditionally fried foods. Air fryers have been quickly embraced by numerous renowned chefs, even ones such as Gordon Ramsey. He gets it. Also, this newer method of cooking may allow some buyers to experiment in ways they haven’t before, finding new ways to enjoy foods they’ve always cooked in different ways. No matter what you’re cooking or how, you can always bet on a crisp, evenly-cooked surface on each side, which often involves flipping the food just once during cooking. How to Know What is the Best AirFryer to Buy? As I’ve mentioned, air fryers aren’t the most complicated kitchen appliances you’ll find. With that said, there are a number of characteristics you can look out for during the buying process that will help ensure you end up with the right one for what you’d like to use it for. If you’re tight on counter space, you may want to first check out the dimensions to make sure the unit will fit under your cabinet, or maybe just on the available surface space you have. Air fryers can get quite big if you’re opting for a higher capacity, so try not to end up with one that you can’t actually use in your kitchen/RV/wherever. This is definitely something you don’t want to overlook. The actual capacity can vary a lot amongst models, so you first need to address how much food you’d like to cook at once. If you have a family, I’d advise trying to get an air fryer with at least 2 lbs in capacity. Some models list their capacity in liters and quarts instead, so in that case, about 3 liters, or at least 4 quarts. If you’re cooking for yourself, or two most of the time, you can get by with smaller units, and maybe save some cash as well. Regardless, make sure you read over the manufacturer’s info to see in their words how they describe the capacity, as different designs may be a little more efficient in how they use the space. Air fryers can come with several different features that can aid you in cooking different items, and just how to use it in general. The cheapest models will only have analog controls operated by knobs and such, while more expensive models will have a digital display that likely has programming options as well. This can include options such as presets, and sometimes even different cooking temperatures for different time periods during the cooking process. You can also set timers and make other adjustments with some models too. Accessories are another thing to check out. Some top rated air fryers will come with pan dividers, covers, different pans for different foods, cookbooks, trays, tongs, baskets, and a number of other things. One last thing to consider is the air fryer’s design itself. Some models have ways to let you rotate and move the food around without actually having to pull the basket out. Others have transparent bodies so you can see the food while it’s cooking, which is certainly helpful in many cases. I touched on the price aspect a bit earlier, but let me elaborate a little. These are not very cheap for the most part, even when buying one of the more basic models. The majority of these appliances are going to over $100, while some of the best air fryers with larger and much more complexity will be over $200. The Christmas mood kicks in immediately one sees thousands of dancing stars and this laser Christmas light makes this possible with just a click of a button. And, if after some time you will need the laser display to be still, all you do is click the button again and voila! The laser light comes in two color modes, and it’s designed to enable you to choose between what most people refer to as the breath-taking green and red combination and the all green light show display. You can also switch from either of the display as often as you wish with just a click of the button. The laser light also has a built-in light sensor which enables the star shower motion to turn on in darkness or off in daylight automatically. However, if you wish to have it on even in the daylight, this is totally possible, and the effects are still the same because the red and green colors are clearly visible even in daylight. What’s more, this star shower motion lights projects up to 100 yards away while covering more than 3200 square feet which is a good coverage even when you have just one but if you need a more spectacular result you can add several. Again, the dazzling holographic lights are ideal for both indoor and outdoor use. They come with an indoor base that enables you to create a galaxy of dancing stars in your house and also it is weather-resistant thus perfect for outdoor use. Unlike most Christmas laser lights that require you to press a button to switch from one mode to the other, this here is remote controlled which makes things easier. What’s more, these Christmas projector lights are available in three mode options; green, red, and red & green and you can instantly switch from one to the other. They make a great choice not only for the use during the Christmas festive but also for various parties, patios, weddings, or any other outdoor garden decorations. When it comes to coverage, this laser light gives you over 3000 square feet, and it is also weather-resistant meaning it is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. Again, because it comes with a remote control, it is very convenient even in snowing or raining days. The laser light projector also features a built-in timer thus giving you all the benefits of an auto-timer feature. Basically, the laser light will go off after being on for six hours then automatically turn on after eighteen hours. For safety purposes, the light is certified by FCC, FDA, CE, UL, ROHS, & EMC plus it is IP65 waterproof thus there is no doubt about how safe it is for use around the homes. Again, if in the past you have experienced the overheating effect of laser light, this light gives you a different experience as it features a unique, metallic heat-dissipating design that prevents overheating. And, its maximum projection rate is less than 5mW, so it doesn’t use a lot of power. It is also IP65 waterproof level meaning it can withstand normal water spray from the rain, so you don’t have to take it in when it’s raining. It also comes with a ground stake and indoor base thus making indoor and outdoor installation easy. It is also sturdy and well-constructed for durability. It is also the perfect definition of simple and convenient as assembling takes just a few minutes. Does not give you the option to select all green lights but if need be, you can simply cover the single red emitter using a gaffing tape. The UNIFUN laser Christmas light combines LED landscape projector with red christmas lights that shine on house and bring an amazing light show effect. Its design creates the festive atmosphere instantly and works perfectly on gardens and other exterior surfaces and also in interior rooms with its 300 square feet coverage. It also switches images automatically, so you don’t have to press buttons every time. And, controlling this laser projector light is easy as it comes with a remote control. You can also display just the blue or red lights using the remote control. And, this is a year-round kind of laser light as it comes with 16 slides that enable you to switch from one theme to another depending on the kind of celebration. You have the option to either stick the waterproof led projection lights in the ground using the included stake or mount it on a round plate, also included. The laser light also has moving patterns that create a unique display around your home. It is also brighter than most other given in this list of laser Christmas lights reviews and above all it's very affordable. Comes with 16 slides to enable you to switch from any festive say Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc. Hanging individual Christmas lights strands is not everyone’s favorite task, not unless it’s your hobby. Thanks to 1byone Christmas laser lights, this will be a thing of the past. This is an energy-efficient laser light, and it is designed to serve you all year round. It features red stars plus green Christmas tree patterns thus brings out a great festive atmosphere the moment it’s on. And, the laser light works perfectly both indoor and outdoor, and the projections look awesome in any garden, interior rooms or external surfaces. It’s a great option when you want your home to stand out during the Christmas festive. It also features a built-in timer automatic function and ambient light sensor that goes off once it senses the daylight and turns it on at night. Basically, the laser light relies on the light intensity to turn on or off. Again, with the automatic timer function, this laser light turns off after being on for six hours and turns back on after eighteen hours. This laser light gives you a 2,100 square feet coverage from a 20 feet distance. This is a broad application compared to what most brands are offering. Again, it is snow-proof and waterproof which makes it ideal for use at any time of the year. It comes with an outdoor laser light spike, an indoor laser light stand and the needed screw and bracket for installation. For the price, this is a great laser Christmas light to purchase. If you have other lights around, the laser light might keep shutting off because they make the photocell react. However, you can prevent this by covering it up with an electric tape. This is a remote-controlled star laser shower with single green, single red, and green & red which you easily choose using the remote. The patterns move, and you can control the moving speed or set it stationary with the RF remote control. It also features an automatic timer that sets your laser light on or off depending on the light intensity. Again, the remote control allows you to set a timing mode that turns the light on and off at the same time every day and night. You can choose to have it off after 2, 4, or 8 hours of being on. This is unlike most other laser lights with the option of being on for 6 hours and turning on again after 18 hours. The construction is just right for both indoor and outdoor environments. It features a metallic shell which facilitates a great heat dissipation to prevent overheating while also promoting durability. You also have three mount options to choose where you can go for wall mounting, tripod mounting or ground mounting. This makes it very versatile and convenient because setting up is straightforward. It also comes with an indoor base plus an outdoor plug. And, it is power efficient as it needs just 2.0mW power output plus it is CE, FDA, FC, and ROHS certified for safety. This is a beautiful laser Christmas light with red, green and blue colors. As such, it is not only perfect for Christmas seasons but also for any other events around the year. This is why the lights are also referred to as year-round magic lights. Controlling it is super easy as you just use the remote and you have the option to choose either of the single colors or a combination of either the two or all. The coverage is also huge, and you might just need one to have the entire house covered. The construction is super sturdy for durability, and because the case is all metallic, heat dissipation is perfect thus no overheating. It is a great laser light for both outdoor and indoor because it is waterproof. Also, it is very bright, and it uses holographic technology and cutting-edge laser to bring out the perfect celebrations atmosphere. The LED Mall laser light goes through the aging test to ensure that they will be able to perform perfectly in any environment. However, in extremely cold environments, the laser light appears dim and will require some time to warm up and luckily, it features a built-in heater for this. It is also straightforward to use as all you do is plug and play then use the remote to control it. And, it comes with a metallic stake which way better than the plastic ones in other brands, and it is generally brighter and vibrant than most laser lights on the market. The Red color is weaker than the green and blue in terms brightness and spread. However, this might be a matter of preference, and you have the option to choose either color or a combination of either two or all three. If you are looking for quality and high performance, then you should get this blinking star projector laser light. It’s a premium quality and uses the holographic laser technology thus projecting breathtaking stars. It is also weather resistant, IP65 waterproof, thus withstands rain, snow, and even intense sun. And, whatever surface you want to illuminate, houses, patios, lawns, among others, this laser light will perform perfectly as long as the light intensity is right. With a cover range of 800 square feet from 100 yards away, you will love the illumination effect given that it is super bright. It has three colors, green, red and blue, and you have the option to display either individually or a combination of the three. The star pattern makes it ideal for other seasons and events as well unlike those specifically designed to display Christmas themed patterns. Installation is super easy and eliminates the hassles that come with ladders. All you do is plug and play. Again, controlling it is easy as it comes with a remote control whose range is 8m to 15m so you won’t have to walk in the rain to go and change patterns. This is a two color motion laser Christmas light that’s easy to set up and control. It offers blue and green colors where you have the option to display either single blue or single green, or you can also display a combination, green and blue. Controlling it is easy as it comes with an RF remote control that enables you to choose which option to go by. Also, it features an auto on/off timer that helps in energy saving by ensuring that it goes off and on at the appropriate time based on the light intensity. Again, you can choose to have a moving pattern or a stationary one using the wireless remote control. This laser Christmas light has a cover range of up to 3900 square feet from 25 feet away. This gives you a broad coverage eliminating the need to buying too many of them for proper display. Whatever way you set it, twinkle/flashing or stationary, you will love the outcome. And, this is a multi-use laser light because the light and the pattern fits various moods, Christmas, parties, Halloween, camping, etc. With 8 patterns, this Geekers laser Christmas light is about to light up your home and bring in the Christmas mood in a new way. It features a high-end technology, advanced chips, aimed at enhancing brightness, promote for projection distance, to enable you to light up your house and compound without having to purchase many units. The total coverage is 2100 square feet which are pretty awesome for the price. The eight patterns include led snowflake projector pattern, snowman, Xmas tree, jingle bells, reindeer, Santa Claus, cabin, and RG stars. You can use the RF remote control to select the patterns you want to display, and this makes the laser light ideal for other celebrations as well. It also has a built-in timer function that helps in energy saving as you can set it to turn off automatically after either 2, 4, or 8 hours of being on. Again, the remote control up to 15m away thus making it better than IR. Also, this laser light’s design makes it great at heat dissipation which gives it longer durability plus it is also waterproof and dust-proof thus ideal for outdoor use. The blue LED background gives it a unique look. LCL - Laser Christmas Lights are either plastic or metal constructed. Now, for weather resistance and durability, the metal construction always wins. If you need a laser light for outdoor use, ensure that this is clearly stated or confirm beforehand because if it’s not constructed to withstand the elements, it might not perform well outdoors. The same case applies to indoor use. The Christmas laser lights are meant to relieve you of the hassle that comes with the traditional Christmas lights decorations. As such, they should be easy to install and control. Mostly, you will only need to plug and play, but if you get one with a remote control, it will be better than having to walk over everytime you need to change the pattern and press a button. The Christmas season comes around once a year, but we still have other celebrations throughout the year. You might find it helpful to get a laser light that you can use in other events as well instead of having to purchase one for each. If your laser Christmas light has a wide coverage, it will save you from purchasing several units. Some people will go for AC powered laser lights while others prefer battery powered. Check this out before purchasing to get what you want. The more the number of patterns the better the Christmas mood. Some laser lights have up to 8 and 10 patterns. Mostly, the brightness of your laser lights will be affected by the light intensity. As such, the lights will do better in a dark environment, but you should ensure that the light is bright enough to your liking. You don’t want to risk using untested laser lights. Some certifications such FDA guarantees that the light is safe for use around your home. To save on power, you need a laser light with an inbuilt auto-timer function to ensure that it will always go off at the right time. You will no longer take too much time hanging Christmas lights. With the lazer Christmas lights, it will take you even less than 5 minutes to set up and have your home covered with beautiful Christmas patterns. Again, most laser lights are easy to control as most come with a remote control while others have a button that’s easy to operate. Packing away the traditional Christmas lights might take up some space, but laser lights are usually small and compact thus needing just a small space for storage. Most of the laser lights can be used for other celebrations, events, parties, etc. Most of them allow you to choose what pattern to display and you can choose different patterns for different events. All these Christmas lights are awesome, but the only product that topped our list of laser christmas lights reviews post is Geekers Laser xmas Lights. Apart from its affordable price, this laser light stands out by having all the necessary features that any home would need to bring in the celebration mood. It features a metal construction which makes it ideal for both outdoor and indoor use while also giving it a longer durability. It also has 8 amazing patterns (snowflake projector light, snowman, Xmas tree, jingle bells, Santa Claus, RG stars, and reindeer cabin) that make it ideal for most events that happen around the year. It also has a built-in timer function plus it comes with a remote control. The Christmas mood kicks in immediately one sees thousands of dancing stars and this laser Christmas light makes this possible with just a click of a button. And, if after some time you will need the laser display to be still, all you do is click the button again and voila! The laser light comes in two color modes, and it’s designed to enable you to choose between what most people refer to as the breath-taking green and red combination and the all green light show display. You can also switch from either of the display as often as you wish with just a click of the button. The laser light also has a built-in light sensor which enables the star shower motion to turn on in darkness or off in daylight automatically. However, if you wish to have it on even in the daylight, this is totally possible, and the effects are still the same because the red and green colors are clearly visible even in daylight. What’s more, this star shower motion lights projects up to 100 yards away while covering more than 3200 square feet which is a good coverage even when you have just one but if you need a more spectacular result you can add several. Again, the dazzling holographic lights are ideal for both indoor and outdoor use. They come with an indoor base that enables you to create a galaxy of dancing stars in your house and also it is weather-resistant thus perfect for outdoor use. Unlike most Christmas laser lights that require you to press a button to switch from one mode to the other, this here is remote controlled which makes things easier. What’s more, these Christmas projector lights are available in three mode options; green, red, and red & green and you can instantly switch from one to the other. They make a great choice not only for the use during the Christmas festive but also for various parties, patios, weddings, or any other outdoor garden decorations. When it comes to coverage, this laser light gives you over 3000 square feet, and it is also weather-resistant meaning it is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use. Again, because it comes with a remote control, it is very convenient even in snowing or raining days. The laser light projector also features a built-in timer thus giving you all the benefits of an auto-timer feature. Basically, the laser light will go off after being on for six hours then automatically turn on after eighteen hours. For safety purposes, the light is certified by FCC, FDA, CE, UL, ROHS, & EMC plus it is IP65 waterproof thus there is no doubt about how safe it is for use around the homes. Again, if in the past you have experienced the overheating effect of laser light, this light gives you a different experience as it features a unique, metallic heat-dissipating design that prevents overheating. And, its maximum projection rate is less than 5mW, so it doesn’t use a lot of power. treeDoes not give you the option to select all green lights but if need be, you can simply cover the single red emitter using a gaffing tape. The UNIFUN laser Christmas light combines LED landscape projector with red christmas lights that shine on house and bring an amazing light show effect. Its design creates the festive atmosphere instantly and works perfectly on gardens and other exterior surfaces and also in interior rooms with its 300 square feet coverage. It also switches images automatically, so you don’t have to press buttons every time. And, controlling this laser projector light is easy as it comes with a remote control. You can also display just the blue or red lights using the remote control. And, this is a year-round kind of laser light as it comes with 16 slides that enable you to switch from one theme to another depending on the kind of celebration. About its construction, you’ll be right to say that this is a well-made laser Christmas light. First off, it is FDA, FCC, CE, and ROHS certified. It also features ABS plastic construction, so it feels sturdy, plus has a high-quality power adapter and light casing. It fits both outdoor and indoor use, and it is secure without radiation You have the option to either stick the waterproof led projection lights in the ground using the included stake or mount it on a round plate, also included. The laser light also has moving patterns that create a unique display around your home. It is also brighter than most other given in this list of laser Christmas lights reviews and above all it’s very affordable. Hanging individual Christmas lights strands is not everyone’s favorite task, not unless it’s your hobby. Thanks to 1byone Christmas laser lights, this will be a thing of the past. This is an energy-efficient laser light, and it is designed to serve you all year round. It features red stars plus green Christmas tree patterns thus brings out a great festive atmosphere the moment it’s on. And, the laser light works perfectly both indoor and outdoor, and the projections look awesome in any garden, interior rooms or external surfaces. It’s a great option when you want your home to stand out during the Christmas festive. It also features a built-in timer automatic function and ambient light sensor that goes off once it senses the daylight and turns it on at night. Basically, the laser light relies on the light intensity to turn on or off. Again, with the automatic timer function, this laser light turns off after being on for six hours and turns back on after eighteen hours. This laser light gives you a 2,100 square feet coverage from a 20 feet distance. This is a broad application compared to what most brands are offering. Again, it is snow-proof and waterproof which makes it ideal for use at any time of the year. It comes with an outdoor laser light spike, an indoor laser light stand and the needed screw and bracket for installation. For the price, this is a great laser Christmas light to purchase. This is a remote-controlled star laser shower with single green, single red, and green & red which you easily choose using the remote. The patterns move, and you can control the moving speed or set it stationary with the RF remote control. It also features an automatic timer that sets your laser light on or off depending on the light intensity. Again, the remote control allows you to set a timing mode that turns the light on and off at the same time every day and night. You can choose to have it off after 2, 4, or 8 hours of being on. This is unlike most other laser lights with the option of being on for 6 hours and turning on again after 18 hours. The construction is just right for both indoor and outdoor environments. It features a metallic shell which facilitates a great heat dissipation to prevent overheating while also promoting durability. You also have three mount options to choose where you can go for wall mounting, tripod mounting or ground mounting. This makes it very versatile and convenient because setting up is straightforward. It also comes with an indoor base plus an outdoor plug. And, it is power efficient as it needs just 2.0mW power output plus it is CE, FDA, FC, and ROHS certified for safety. This is a beautiful laser Christmas light with red, green and blue colors. As such, it is not only perfect for Christmas seasons but also for any other events around the year. This is why the lights are also referred to as year-round magic lights. Controlling it is super easy as you just use the remote and you have the option to choose either of the single colors or a combination of either the two or all. The coverage is also huge, and you might just need one to have the entire house covered. The construction is super sturdy for durability, and because the case is all metallic, heat dissipation is perfect thus no overheating. It is a great laser light for both outdoor and indoor because it is waterproof. Also, it is very bright, and it uses holographic technology and cutting-edge laser to bring out the perfect celebrations atmosphere. The LED Mall laser light goes through the aging test to ensure that they will be able to perform perfectly in any environment. However, in extremely cold environments, the laser light appears dim and will require some time to warm up and luckily, it features a built-in heater for this. It is also straightforward to use as all you do is plug and play then use the remote to control it. And, it comes with a metallic stake which way better than the plastic ones in other brands, and it is generally brighter and vibrant than most laser lights on the market. If you are looking for quality and high performance, then you should get this blinking star projector laser light. It’s a premium quality and uses the holographic laser technology thus projecting breathtaking stars. It is also weather resistant, IP65 waterproof, thus withstands rain, snow, and even intense sun. And, whatever surface you want to illuminate, houses, patios, lawns, among others, this laser light will perform perfectly as long as the light intensity is right. With a cover range of 800 square feet from 100 yards away, you will love the illumination effect given that it is super bright. It has three colors, green, red and blue, and you have the option to display either individually or a combination of the three. The star pattern makes it ideal for other seasons and events as well unlike those specifically designed to display Christmas themed patterns. Installation is super easy and eliminates the hassles that come with ladders. All you do is plug and play. Again, controlling it is easy as it comes with a remote control whose range is 8m to 15m so you won’t have to walk in the rain to go and change patterns. This is a two color motion laser Christmas light that’s easy to set up and control. It offers blue and green colors where you have the option to display either single blue or single green, or you can also display a combination, green and blue. Controlling it is easy as it comes with an RF remote control that enables you to choose which option to go by. Also, it features an auto on/off timer that helps in energy saving by ensuring that it goes off and on at the appropriate time based on the light intensity. Again, you can choose to have a moving pattern or a stationary one using the wireless remote control. This laser Christmas light has a cover range of up to 3900 square feet from 25 feet away. This gives you a broad coverage eliminating the need to buying too many of them for proper display. Whatever way you set it, twinkle/flashing or stationary, you will love the outcome. And, this is a multi-use laser light because the light and the pattern fits various moods, Christmas, parties, Halloween, camping, etc. LCL – Laser Christmas Lights are either plastic or metal constructed. Now, for weather resistance and durability, the metal construction always wins. You will no longer take too much time hanging Christmas lights. With the lazer Christmas lights, it will take you even less than 5 minutes to set up and have your home covered with beautiful Christmas patterns. Again, most laser lights are easy to control as most come with a remote control while others have a button that’s easy to operate. When it comes to hot water heaters, there really is no debate: everyone needs one, and it doesn’t matter where you live. Nothing beats a hot shower, right? We depend on hot water each day in our homes, from washing dishes, to washing laundry, to baths. Hot water boilers make it all possible. Now, when I say on demand hot water heaters, you’re probably envisioning one of those huge 7 feet tall metal tanks that essentially sits on top of a big gas range, constantly lighting up throughout the day to keep the water inside hot. That’s understandable, as these have been the conventional choice of most households for years. However, have you ever run out of hot water in the middle of a shower? Or dealt with that cold blast of water because someone elsewhere in the house flushed a toilet, or decided to start a load of laundry? Of course you have. Nobody enjoys that. Tankless hot water boilers avoid the trouble of having a finite amount of hot water stored away in a tank, in constant need of reheating. These small, yet powerful devices can instantly turn cold water from your home’s incoming plumbing into an endless supply of piping hot water that’s always readily available right when you need it. Intrigued? You should be. Think these are too expensive for you? Think again. Tankless hot water heaters come in a variety of sizes and types, ranging from immensely powerful models that provide hot water for entire hotel room floors, to smaller versions you can easily install in your home with little fuss. As an experienced HVAC professional, I’ve dealt with my fair share of tankless hot water boilers over the years, and have gotten to know them well. In fact, I use them in my home, and now I’m going to show you the 10 best water heater models currently available, spanning many different sizes and price points. So, if you’re in the market for a water heater, or are simply curious about what they can do for you, read on to see my picks, as well as some helpful buying advice. For those that think you have to spend a ridiculous amount of money in order to have a fully functioning hot water convector that can support multiple water sources at one time, the Stiebel Eltron Tempra Plus begs to differ. While this unit is certainly not cheap, it still costs less than several other water heaters that advertise themselves as superior, while providing a top-tier level of performance that’s hard to find elsewhere — one of the many reasons it’s our overall favorite for best tankless water heater. The Tempra Plus is electric-powered, so you don’t have to worry about using a gas source. The unit is relatively small when considering the power output, and it requires absolutely no ventilation whatsoever. It’s available in a wide range of wattages, helping you better match it to your actual climate. The water temperature is displayed digitally in an easy-to-read manner, and the temperature can be controlled with a dial that tells you what each setting is best for. Auto-modulation allows for ideal temperature control without exerting too much energy, helping you save on your bill. Constant and quick heating is provided by dual copper chambers that help you avoid the dreaded cold spurts that can sometimes interrupt your hot water flow, especially when other sinks and showers are being used at the same time. A minimum flow rate of 0.5 gallons triggers the unit on, and depending on your outside water temp, it can provide around 5 gallons per minute at whichever temperature setting you’ve selected. You may notice that there is a Tempra Plus, and just an ordinary Tempra. The “Plus” indicates that it comes with Advanced Flow Control, which restricts the water pressure as needed in case there is a lag in maintaining the water’s heated temperature. This is definitely preferred over the cold spurts you get with models that can’t offer such a feature. As far as disadvantages go, it’s hard to really pinpoint any with a unit of this quality and price. Having a digital temperature control would be welcome, and maybe a slightly smaller unit, but this is really just being picky for the sake of being picky. No major flaws here. The Stiebel Eltron Tempra Plus is simply the best you can buy for under $1,000. And depending on your needs, you can purchase the unit in smaller or larger sizes to better match the water sources in your property. If you’re aiming for the best, definitely start here — you can’t go wrong. For many, one of the biggest allures to using a tankless hot water heater is the energy-saving aspect. While the most energy-efficient heaters sometimes involves sacrificing the overall effectiveness and capabilities of a unit, that’s not the case with the EcoSmart ECO 27. This innovative, powerful tankless hot water convector is capable of supplying hot water to a number of different outlets in your home, while not only maintaining even heating throughout, but also at a significantly reduced energy rate during the duration of its use. The ECO 27 is one of the smaller units you’ll come across, at least in terms of ones that can supply the amount of hot water as this model. Its smaller footprint makes it suitable to be mounted where your hot water tank used to be, or as a point-of-use unit below a sink, or near a shower. The unit’s temperature is displayed directly on the front of the box with a digital readout, and it can easily be controlled with the turning of a dial, right down to one degree at a time — anywhere in between 80 degrees and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The minimum flow rate to activate the ECO 27 is 0.25 gallons per minute, so a dripping faucet will not unintentionally turn it on. For this model, you can expect about 2.7 gallons per minute in colder climates, and up to 6.6 gallons per minute in warmer climates, or during the summer. Most top-level hot water heaters have a modulation feature that allows the water temp to remain the same by altering the flow rate as needed. The ECO 27 is self-modulating, but does things a bit differently, using anywhere from 1 to 3 of its copper heating pipes at a time, depending on the incoming water, combined with the desired pressure on the other end. This is what makes it “eco smart,” as the modulation features only uses what it needs in real time, helping keep energy costs down, and eventually even letting the ECO 27 pay for itself, sometimes within a years time. The EcoSmart ECO 27 is easily one of the best tankless hot water heaters on the market, and for one of the best prices you’ll come across. Its combination of affordability, effectiveness, and low energy use makes it a can’t miss purchase on every level. For those that want to keep the price down and need a powerful point-of-use model, or simply live in a warmer climate that doesn’t require a large unit, the Rheem tankless water heater RTX-13 is the best option in their expansive line of water heaters. The RTX-13 has sort of a cool, modern look, and is very small in stature when compared to other models. Hoses are connected on each side, and the temperature dial and display are located in the center. The display is crisp and bright, and the dial adjusts temperatures one degree at a time, ranging from 80 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Although not technically Energy Star rated, I wouldn’t be surprised if the RTX-13 eventually achieves the rating officially. It used two separate copper pipe heating elements as needed, as the unit determines how much heating is needed as the water passes through, utilizing self-modulation for more energy efficiency. This results in an average gallon per minute output of around 1.5, with a maximum of 3.17 in ideal conditions. In most cases, this is enough to run the shower and a faucet at the same time, with no hot water drop off or flow reduction. Flow-optimizing shower heads allow the unit to be even more efficient, so keep that in mind. While the RTX-13 is efficient and powerful, do realize that it’s not an ideal unit to use in a large house in the middle of winter. If you have higher water demands in a colder climate, you’re better off getting one of Rheem’s larger, more powerful models. All in all, the Rheem RTX-13 is the best you can get when trying to spend less than $350 and still come close to supplying an average sized house with endless hot water throughout the year. Its surpsign energy efficiency, small profile, and economical price are more than enough reasons to keep it high on your buying list, if your living situation is appropriate for its size. Portable tankless hot water heaters are a bit of a different beast when compared to permanent models you install inside a home. While the concept is relatively the same, the application is not, so it’s best to know the limitations and advantages. With that said, if you are requiring a powerful, reliable, and capable hot water boiler you can use on a camping trip, in your yard, or practically anywhere else you need to set one up, the Camplux 10L is the clear choice for a variety of reasons. While many hot water heaters are powered by electricity and copper heating elements on the inside, the Camplux 10L takes the gas route instead, due to its need for portability. In this case, that power source comes from propane, not unlike what you see with a camping stove or boiler. You can go for hybrid water heaters if you want to save the gas or electricity bill. To use the Camplux 10L, you simply hang it up in an outside location, attach the propane tank, and use either an electric outlet or two DD batteries for the flame’s ignition. From there, you can adjust both the water flow and the temperature using the dials located in the front. The unit includes a shower hose to make things a little easier, or you can opt to use a standard hose. The same connectors are used for attaching the Camplux 10L to your water source. Depending on the inlet water temp, you can achieve up to 2.6 gallons per minute of water output with full water heat. The Camplux 10L is intended for outside use, but it can be converted to an inside model bty installing a flue pipe to carry exhaust away from its location. This gives it an added amount of versatility, and makes it suitable for smaller cabins, homes, horse stables, etc. Want to use it on a modified water system? Connect it to a 12v pump and you’re good to go. The main advantages with this system center around its overall portability, along with its ease of use, and surprising heat efficiency. This unit can definitely make campouts and outdoor stays a lot more luxurious, and you still have the option to use it inside. Obviously there are going to be some limitations due to the design, but as long as you know what you’re getting going in, it shouldn’t be an issue. The Camplux 10L is simply the best portable tankless hot water heater, offering a mixture of convenience and innovative design, which is reinforced with impressive heating ability, and ease of use. And with a price of just over $200, it’s a great bargain. Not every tankless hot water heater buyer needs a giant unit that can deliver scalding water in the dead of winter in Canada. For those that have smaller homes, cabins, or guest houses in warmer climates, the Titan SCR2 N-120 is an inexpensive option that is capable of getting the job done. As a small, compact electric-powered unit, you have a lot of leeway as to where you can install the unit, whether that’s in your water tan closet, or even as a point-of-use unit mounted below a sink or behind a shower. The SCR2 N-120 measures only 10x7x3 inches, and weighs a mere 8 pounds. You’ll have no trouble mounting it, and won’t need a bunch of assistance in getting it installed. Nice and simple. Push buttons on the front allow you to change the temperature, with a graph display that lights up to indicate the setting, which starts at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. As for the GPM, this tiny unit can put out 4 gallons per minute, but the inlet water temperature has to be above 65 degrees, so keep that in mind. Colder temps will result in low water pressures if you’re using a high flow appliance like a washer or shower. The SCR2 N-120 maintains consistent water temps by using a sampling system that checks the temp 21 times in a single second, making small adjustments to the flow rate as it operates, ensuring the temperature always stays the same. For many, the price point is the most attractive part of this unit, and that’s understandable. It’s cheap, yet packs a big punch in the right environment. The flow rate is excellent considering the size, and the water sampling system keeps things consistent — literally all you could ask of a tankless heater. The only negatives are the high inlet water temp requirements, but again, this is geared towards warmer climates ands small homes/cabins, so this shouldn’t be an issue when used correctly. The high starting temp is a little odd, but doesn’t detract from things much at all. If you’re looking to spend the least amount of money, live somewhere like Florida or Arizona, and have a smaller home or family, the Titan SCR2 N-120 may be just what you need. Looking for a point-of-use tankless hot water heater that doesn’t look terrible? The Atmor 24kw/24V ThermoPro is a perfect solution for those needing a reliable and capable water boiler they can install visibly in a bathroom or kitchen area, or simply the same location where their hot water tank used to be. Temperatures can be controlled right on the front of the sleek-looking unit by using the chrome knob, allowing for adjustments in 1 degree increments — a rarity for nearly any hot water heater, regardless of type. The unit maxes out at 120 degrees Fahrenheit. As with any tankless unit, the gallons per minute will depend on the inlet water temperature at that point of the year. The ThermoPro has a maximum of 4.6 GPMs when used with an inlet water temperature of 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Colder climates will attain a GPM capacity of around 2.5 to 3, which is still enough to run a shower and dishwasher at the same time. The ThermoPro is definitely striving to be the best in the style department, but this little unit packs a punch in terms of heating ability. While it’s still better for warmer climates, it can still deliver adequate water amounts during winter months in colder climates. This is further improved by using it as a point-of-use installation, but that’s not required. The ability to change heat settings by 1 degree is awesome, and the large dial makes things even easier. Furthermore, the unit is corrosion-proof and spill-proof, making it ideal for point-of-use installations where it will be exposed near the water fixture. The only real potential drawbacks here revolve around the actual installation It can be a little trivy if you’re new to the process, and you’ll aso have to check quite a few different aspects of your home’s electrical setup to make sure you can support the unit. At just under $400, the Atmor ThermoPro is an efficient and surprisingly powerful tankless hot water convector with a very modern aesthetic. The more decor-conscious buyers will certainly appreciate a unit that combines both form and function — and for a fair price. Tankless on demand water heaters come in two distinct setups: gas, and electric. The majority of this list involves electric-powered models, but gas-powered versions are not to be overlooked. For many, this is actually a better option for homes with a conventional hot water boiler setup. With that said, the Takagi tankless water heater T-Kjr2-IN-NG is one of many models in the company’s lineup, with this one being more of a mid-range model. But don’t let the size fool you. While this is a smaller, more compact version of larger Takagi models, this is also one of the most capable. The T-Kjr2-IN-NG can be installed where your hot water tank used to be located, using the same gas connection. It’s larger than most electric units, but for a gas-powered model, it’s actually quite small, weighing just 38 pounds, and measuring 20x14x7 inches. Water is heated as it passes through the unit by the way of gas-powered flames. Temperatures can range between 99 and 167 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the ground temperature. Rather than using knobs, the T-Kjr2-IN-NG comes with a remote control to adjust temperatures as needed. Thanks to its efficient design and gas power, the T-Kjr2-IN-NG can offer a GPM rate of up to 6, which is certainly more than most electric models in its range. In favorable conditions, it can supply hot water to homes with 2-3 bathrooms, allowing someone to shower, while the dishwasher is being run. The T-Kjr2-IN-NG is a very feasible replacement solution for someone who wants to get rid of the tank and save on energy, yet not sacrifice on the amount of hot water they can immediately access without interruption or diminished temperature range. The fact that is is so small provides advantages during installation, and for anyone with cramped space in their closet. I really like the use of a remote control as well. You don’t have to leave it sitting out if you’re worried about losing it, simply set it near the unit at all times and you’re fine. As with any gas tankless boiler, you’ll need to properly ventilate the heat exhaust, so do keep that in mind. You also won’t get the same energy savings as an electric model, but it’s still a lot better than using a tank. Overall, the Takagi T-Kjr2-IN-NG is probably the best gas water heater for the money. For just under $500, you can attain a very capable solution that provides a very high amount of gallons per minute, and at a fraction of the maintenance, replacement costs, and energy usage. This is a great unit. The Noritz NRC98-DV-NG is a massive tankless gas water heater for buyers needing to meet high water output requirements for larger homes and families. Powered by gas, this is as close as you can get to a conventional tank water heater’s performance — only without the tank. The NRC98-DV-NG accomplishes this in several ways, but mostly through two different heating elements that work together to create instantly hot water with a huge output level. The first element serves as a pre-heater in a way, while the second element actually uses the heat exhaust to further heat the water. Genius, right? Not only does this make the unit more efficient and quicker at heating, it also minimizes the amount of heat exhaust, which is one of the main drawbacks of a gas-powered unit. With this design, the exhaust is around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a lot cooler than other models. The NRC98-DV-NG is definitely on the larger side, measuring 24x18x10 inches, and weighing 58 pounds. It has three main heat settings, but you can access 9 settings by purchasing a remote, also allowing you to adjust the temperature by 5 degree increments. Temperatures range between 100 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. As for the gallons per minute? The NRC98-DV-NG can maintain an output of 9.8 GPM with favorable inlet water conditions. This makes it suitable for a variety of climates. Yes, using it in cold climates will affect its output, but you can still get around 4-5 GPM, the max of many other units. The NRC98-DV-NG also has a lot of safety settings, including a flame sensor, overheating prevention, and freeze protection. And while the unit does it the 4 figure price range, it will eventually pay for itself anyway. It’s large size and exhaust setup is probably better with professional installation as well, so you’ll need to factor that in to your budget. Simply put, the Noritz NRC98-DV-NG is the most powerful tankless on demand gas water heater on this list. If you’re looking for a high output model that can sustain standard temps and pressure for multiple bathrooms and fixtures at the same time, this is the way to go. For those looking for a tankless hot water heater that can really crank out a high amount of water, be it for home or commercial properties, the Rinnai RL75iN is definitely worthy of your attention. Another great example of a high output propane/gas-powered model, the RL75iN is up to task, and you don’t have to live in a warm climate to benefit. The RL75iN is designed to take the place of your tank boiler in the spot it once occupied (or wherever you’d like to route gas lines.) And while it is a standard gas-powered unit, it does do things a little differently, mainly in being a high output model that can use natural gas or propane. This unit can attain water temps anywhere from 98 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, all of which can be controlled on the front of the unit with digital dials and readouts.It also offers error codes if something goes wrong so you know exactly what the issue is. In terms of gallons per minute, the RL75iN can reach a whopping 7.5 GPM in ideal conditions, with a 5 GPM level in colder environments. This is all powered by anywhere from 10,300 to 180,000 BTUs, so this thing really is a beast. If you have around 2-3 bathrooms in a moderate climate with cold winters, you won’t be lacking in hot water, even with two showers going at once. You can also convert the unit to a commercial model with a controller upgrade, reaching temps of 160 degrees. That’s hot. The RL75iN comes with a giant 12 year warranty, with 5 years on parts, so it’s in it for the long haul. It’s one of the most powerful units on this list, and still manages to be Energy Star certified, which is hard to do, A scale detection system indicates when hard water is causing issue and requires a descaling cycle. There are a few obvious drawbacks, mainly revolving around the price of the unit., but powerful models will always cost more for a reason. Ventilation can be tricky too, and you’ll need to make sure your gas line can offer enough pressure to reach 180,000 BTUs, so a reconfiguration my be needed. As I’ve said, this is a massive unit that combines reliable water temps, versatility between fuel sources, ease of use, and built-in features that elongate the unit’s life. Rinnai RL75iN is the best propane tankless water heater and if a high GPM is your goal, the Rinnai RL75iN is worthy of your attention. Gas and electric tankless hot water heaters are well represented on this list, as they should be, but propane-only units can be every bit as useful, and not only in RVs and small cabins/vacation houses. The Eccotemp FVI-12-LP is a great example of a versatile and easy-to-use tankless hot water heater that can be used in a variety of locations. As i’ve said, the FVI-12-LP is powered by propane, and you can actually use anywhere from 20 pound to 100 pound tanks, giving you the ability to tailor your tank size for how much the unit will be used. It has a standard 2-prong plug-in that powers the ignitor. The FVI-12-LP uses dials on the front to control the temperature, which is digitally displayed for better accuracy, taking out the guesswork. The maximum setting is 120 degrees Fahrenheit. When plugged in, the unit only activates the gas when it sense the water flowing through, so you save on gas there too. The GPM can range from anywhere between .09 gallons per minute, and 4.8 when used in warmer climates. This makes it suitable for small homes with low simultaneous water usage. 3.0 GPMs is more average for this unit, which it can attain when being used with a 55 degree rise. The small size and simple design of the FVI-12-LP makes it ideal for point-of-use applications, but it can also be used as a typical tank replacement in warmer climates, or homes that use one water fixture at a time. With a price of under $275, the FVI-12-LP is one of the most affordable you’ll find, while still offering the capabilities of supplying a decent amount of hot water to sinks, showers, tubs, and more. Yes, you’ll still be purchasing propane from time to time, but not as much as you’d think due to the impressive efficiency of the unit. The FVI-12-LP also comes with its own vent kit, and is relatively easy to install, making the process even simpler and more ideal for small homes and vacation cabins. No, it’s not as powerful as larger units, and not as suited for colder climates, but when used within its range, it offers excellent value. Overall, the Eccotemp FVI-12-LP provides as much as it can for the price. The propane-powered nature of the unit gives it more versatility as to where you can use and/or install it, making it a logical choice for warmer locations and smaller homes with less-used water utilities. How a Tankless Hot Water Heater Works? I’m sure most people are familiar with conventional hot water tanks. The concept for these is fairly simple: water is stored in a large metal tank, which is heated on the bottom by gas flames. When the tank is heated to the desired temperature, the water remains in the tank, ready to use. As water is depleted from the tank, more cold water is fed into the tank, where it’s then heated as well before eventually making its way to faucets, showers, dishwashers, etc. With a tankless water heater, the water has no way of being stored, so it needs to be heated as it passes through from the source, and into the home’s various water outlets. So, why would someone even want to mess with a tankless hot water heater in the first place? Don’t water tank versions work well enough? Perhaps, but water boilers without tanks offer some distinct advantages in more ways than one. Think about how a hot water tank works for a moment. In order to keep the gallons upon gallons of hot water hot, the gas has to activate frequently throughout the day whenever it sense the temperature has fallen below the desired heat setting, or if one simply uses a lot of hot water, be it for a bath, laundry, etc. This constant on/off cycle uses up your gas, even when you aren’t actually using the water. Over time, that’s a lot of energy waste going on, and of course money being wasted too. A tankless version only uses heat and energy when it’s activated, and then shuts off right after. There’s no meaningless heating of water throughout the day, simply to keep a giant tank of water hot enough just in case you decide to use hot water at any given moment. Ever run out of hot water in the middle of taking a shower? Your hot water tank was too depleted to keep supplying hot water, probably due to either someone else taking a long shower or bath before you, or doing a few loads of laundry during your bath. When using a tank, you are always operating with a finite amount of water. These heaters heat as the water enters and comes to your fixture or appliance, so you never have to worry about running out. You could leave the shower on all day long, and you’d still never run out. For some households with lots of kids or roommates, this is an invaluable advantage that can certainly help things go smoother in the mornings. Most of us know someone that’s had a hot water tank fail at some point in life. More often than not, this leads to the tank leaking countless gallons of water into the home, ruining hardwood floors carpet, and more. It can be an event that ends up costing a homeowner thousands of dollars. While proper care and maintenance can help avoid this, when you’re dealing with a huge tank of water sitting inside a closet or utility area, it’s always a risk. Tankless hot water heaters don’t store water, so there’s nothing to spill or leak. Tankless systems are environmentally friendly, and have a sort of modern allure that is appealing to many prospective buyers. Installing these water heaters in your home can instantly boost your home’s value, and make it appear more attractive to buyers. A popular type for those going for a replacement that will have little to no drop-off from a hot water tank, natural gas tankless water heaters use the game gas lines your conventional tank heater uses. The unit is installed into the gas line, often in the same hot water closet. The water is then fed into the unit, which triggers the ignition that lights the flame, which then heats the water as it passes through. Natural gas units do require venting, which requires a lot of extra work beyond just installing the unit in the home. Vents can run horizontal or vertical, depending on your home. Natural gas water heaters are usually the most powerful, provide seemingly instant hot water, and offer a higher flow rate of hot water. However, they are not as energy efficient as electric models. Electric tankless hot water heaters are completely gas-less, and rely on electrical heating elements that heat the water as it moves through the unit. Since these don’t require gas, they are easier to install, and also do not require any ventilation. In terms of energy efficiency, electric water heaters are easily the best, and can offer the most savings on your bills. However, they are typically not as powerful as gas models, and may take a little longer to get the hot water flowing. Propane tankless heaters operate just like natural gas models, but have the ability to hook up propane tanks instead of being slaves to gas lines. Some models are compatible with both natural gas lines and propane tanks. Using propane allows the boiler unit to be installed anywhere, rather than where the gas connection is. Many portable models use propane, and also some smaller ones for homes with little water use. One key difference to be aware of with tankless units is whole home and point-of-use versions. Like the name suggests, whole home units operate like a tank heater, installed in a main location that equally serves all water lines in the home simultaneously. Point-of-use units are meant to be installed into the water line of a particular fixture. This most often involves a sink, but can be installed into a shower water line. These units supply hot water directly to that particular fixture, which usually makes them very efficient with a high flow rate. In order to comprehend some of the main words used in describing the features and specs of these tankless water heaters, here are some quick definitions to get familiar with. This refers to the amount of water a hot water boiler can provide, both maximum and minimum. This is measured in gallons per minute (GPM.) The maximum GPM is what the unit can put out in ideal conditions, while the minimum is the amount of water required to trigger the system into turning on and heating the water. Inlet water temperature is the temperature of the water coming into your home and inside the unit, prior to being heated. This has a significant effect on your flow rate, and the temperature range of your water as well. Inlet water temperatures change throughout the year, depending on where you live. When the inlet water is colder, your hot water heater has to work harder to quickly convert the cold water to the desired temperature, which may reduce flow rate. Sometimes when reading about a particular unit, you’ll see the information refer to what’s known as a temperature rise. This figure is the difference between what you have the water heater set at, and what the inlet water temperature is. Larger temperature rises often result in lower flow rates. What to Look For When Choosing a Tankless Hot Water Heater? Thinking about buying a tankless water heater? Make sure you go over these aspects first. The power source of the unit will determine how well it works, and where you can install it in the first place. Natural gas units will need to be patched in to your gas line, which is almost always where your water tank was prior. There are always exceptions to this, but also keep in mind that you’ll need to install ventilation as well. Electric models can be installed practically anywhere, as long as there is a power outlet nearby. Propane models can be installed most anywhere too, but they almost always need a power outlet for the ignitor, and usually require ventilation as well, but not always. This is incredibly important, as this indicates the overall level of performance you have available, which in turn determines how many water fixtures and/or appliances you can use in your home at the same time, without experiencing diminished water pressure or water temperature drops. Some like to discuss GPM in relation to a home’s size, but this isn’t always accurate. The GPM is more in relation to how many water applications you can use at once. So, if you have a larger family, and don’t want to have to worry about running a dishwasher while someone is showering, a GPM of 4+ is where you should be looking. If you live alone, or with one other person, you can often get by with a GPM below 3. *Water-saving shower heads are a great way to get more out of your water heater, as they restrict flow while maximizing water pressure, enabling you to have higher water pressures while using less gallons per minute. I recommend you purchase one of these shower heads for each shower in your home, regardless of your water heater’s GPM. *Keep in mind that those living in colder climates will need a higher GPM to cover the temperature rise gap. Tankless water heaters are always smaller than actual water tanks, but the size is still important if you are trying to get a good fit in the space you’ve chosen to install it. Larger heaters usually it where you previously housed the water tank, such as a closet or laundry room, but point-of-use models can be harder to fit when being placed behind a sink or shower. Make sure you measure the space and compare it to the unit you’re considering before purchase. As you can see, tankless hot water on demand heaters are really not all that complicated, you just need to know what to look for, and what your water needs are going to be. Hopefully you now have confidence with your buying decisions as well. These 10 products all vary from each other in many ways, but the diversity I covered was intentional, making sure to touch on a wide range of different budgets, flow rates, heat sources, and size. Make sure you double check the specs in relation to your home’s needs, and of course the space you’ll be installing the unit in. After ordering best tankless water heater of your choice, and completing the installation, you can immediately get to enjoying an endless supply of hot water on demand, saving on energy costs in the process. Good luck!

2019-04-26T11:37:56Z

https://www.2kreviews.com/home-and-garden/page/2/

Du Cane Range GPS route. Camp sites at Walled (1 + 2), above Lake Helios (3 + 4), Massif (5) and Falling (6). If you don’t have the time, patience and wherewithal to read through what I’m sure is going to be quite an essay, what it says, in short, is that the Du Cane Range is a stunning walk in a beautiful part of Tassie. It doesn’t seem to be as popular or talked about as much as walks like the Arthurs, perhaps because it’s partly untracked, but it’s definitely on par with them, and goes down as a favourite. The uphill to Walled Mountain with 7 day packs on starts to take its toll, and Geryon and the Acropolis are perfect excuses to pause for a breather! Because of this, I didn’t have any close close friends who’d done it, I’d not really seen any photos and had very little idea what to expect. I could have done a bit more research, but given that we’d already decided to go, I figured it didn’t really matter, and concentrated purely on finding a gps route for the part of the walk we thought might be most difficult to navigate in case we had whiteout conditions (thanks for that Dan!). The only other preparation was an email to Parks asking if they might let us go counterclockwise, which goes against their north-south policy on the Overland Track. Our reasoning was that it would allow us to know what the weather would be for the ‘hard’ part (it would also mean we could pop up the Guardians or go out over Gould if we had spare time on the way out). The answer was a no. As it turned out, the day we needed to be clear for that to work was to be the worst day of the week. Rain and snow forecast down to 1300m! Camping on Walled. Would be a lovely spot for sunset if the cloud (and then snow!) had stayed away. It had been a busy time at the bakery and also with translating, and the last three days were even more hectic (250 pizzas for the cricket on the Friday were not what I wanted!). So I was glad to finish at 5am on Saturday morning, duck home, then wait for Graham who had slept in (I don’t know, these people who need their beauty sleep..!). Day 2: With a horrid forecast, we set out for a rock hop and scrub bash up Macs Mountain. It starts off nice, but we’re soon walking in snow! We raced off, got to John’s and transferred cars, leaving a grey and wet Hobart behind. With 5 minutes for Graham to drink his coffee at the Lake St Clair visitors centre, we paid for and walked out to the ferry. There seemed to be quite a few different groups going in, and as we walked a lovely lady who was going in to Pine Valley said excitedly to me, “you must be the rock monkey!”. A brief pause and a hint of sunlight, but it doesn’t last long. We just have to drop down that gully to the saddle, and make it up the other side… then back again ;)! It was very cool to be recognised and to meet someone other than friends and family who had actually read my blog! Her excitement was infectious, and coupled with the excellent weather (it was hard to believe the next day would be foul), I was happy and raring to go. Macs Mountain.. a one photo summit given the conditions! We did a quick turn and headed straight back down. Fingers and toes numb. We chatted (well, Graham did, while I listened and occasionally piped in) to some others, and I thought about how hearing bits of people’s stories is one of the things I like about random encounters while bushwalking. And then we were at Narcissus, and ready to go. With a few more chats along the way, we made good time to the helipad at Pine Valley, where we ate lunch (I think it’s becoming a custom). I savoured the rest, knowing the real work for the day was up next. Day 3: Australia day… what a scene to wake up to! Though it had us dripping in sweat and short of breath, and most relieved to be at the top, lugging 7-day packs up to the start of the Labyrinth was not quite as bad as I’d feared. We passed on the pad to the right that looked like it’d take us to the top of the Parthenon (one day I’ll check it out) in favour of an up and back without packs further along. Both Graham and I had been before, but it was only a short walk, and clag at the end of the Geryon South trip last year had seen the three of us pass on it then, promising John that we would do it one day. Today was the day. We found a suitable spot, dumped out packs, and made the short scramble up, John in the lead. It was definitely worth the views again, and we took our time admiring them. When we did start heading back down, we were surprised by a holler, a comment about putting a hole in Graham’s pack, and a chuckle. Yes.. Geryon did rather steal the limelight. I recognised the chuckle at once, it was none other than Greg’s! I’d known the Labyrinth was one option he and another friend Tim had been considering after their Western Arthur plans had changed, but I hadn’t thought about the timing. We scrambled down the last bit and spent some time catching up. It was really great to see them there, even if they teased me with the fact they’d been up mountains I hadn’t! Refuelled with Tim’s delicious home made jerky and dried kiwi fruit (Tim is probably the best chef I know personally), and even more excited by what lay ahead, we said our goodbyes and good lucks for the following day, and headed off in opposite directions. Time to head back up. There’s plenty of water around as the snow is melting fast. As we walked I pondered Greg’s tale about trying to get up the second, more southern summit of Geryon North, and his nearly quite nasty fall on his return, and wondered how we’d find it. But that would be another day’s challenge. For now we had one last hill to climb, and it was proving to be quite tiring now. But as always, persistence and stops to enjoy the mountains (Geryon South mostly!) got us there, and we were left only with the simple challenge of finding some shelter from the wind. A much warmer and dryer home for the night, with a pretty stunning view too! The bowl just west of the summit of Walled Mountain is rather lovely, but a little exposed. John’s determination that surpassed both mine and Graham’s found us three relatively sheltered spots, and there we made our home for the next two nights. The cloud was coming in and we knew there’d be no sunset, though if there had been, a short walk would have given us excellent views of it. Instead we cooked dinner (Graham first having to fashion himself a spoon out of one of John’s tent pegs as he’d left his at home) and hopped into our tents to warm up. The next morning I expected to wake to full on rain after a wet and windy night (didn’t really believe it would snow – this was the middle of summer!), and though it was drizzly, it didn’t seem too bad. We did, however, put our faith in the weather forecast and allow ourselves the luxury of a late start, given we had the spare time up our sleeves. We estimated it would take us something like 4-5 hrs to get to Macs mountain and back, and we’d decided not to move on to camp at Helios that night given we had the time and weren’t too keen on striking tents in the rain. Really not a bad spot to pitch a tent! You could camp almost anywhere up here, and be there in the same day you leave home. Think I’ll be coming back here quite a bit. We set out just before 11 to partial views, the cloud coming and going. It seemed to be holding off, giving us (or at least me) a false sense of optimism. None of us knew a great deal about the terrain, except that there was a drop (where we could take any gully of our choosing), scrub, then a climb up scree. But before all that, we discovered we had a bit (more than expected) of boulder scrambling to do! The wet made that slow and careful work, but to take things to the next level (yep, you guessed) it started snowing! The clouds were still swirling, revealing glimpses of Hyperion behind us (I was paying particular attention to it, as not only was it reportedly a nice scramble, it was also set to be my 500th point) and Macs in front. Hyperion from the summit of Eros. Love how close they are to camp! Though perhaps we could have dropped off the rock and sidled underneath in light scrub, we chose to stay high, dropping when the boulders became a bit too big to easily negotiate in the wet. And then we found ourselves standing on the lip of the drop down (straight down) to the saddle. The sun came out in a happy moment of warmth, but it wasn’t to stay. That evening the light was rather nice.. We understood what was meant now by several different routes down, all doable. The one we’d arrived at looked steep, but both Graham and I thought it was doable. John, ever the scout, headed to the next gully to the left to check out one he’d thought looked good on Google Earth. Again, as always, it paid off, and we had a much more gentle descent. Geryon dressed for the evening! We followed a few cairns down the scree, then left to more scree, and felt like we were on some kind of a pad/route. It wasn’t as bad as we’d heard here, though we were still intent on following advice to stay to the left (thanks Louise). Someone had been generous to put up some bright orange tapes, which we managed to stick relatively close to despite the fact you couldn’t really see them until you were already next to them, so they only served to provide confirmation rather than direction. We popped out into an open patch in the saddle before the climb, which we’d been aiming for, then found an orange tape on the other side. Great, it might lead us through the scrub! Oh no.. Again, we couldn’t find the next bit of tape so we just plunged in. And yep, it wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t a lot of fun. Graham took over, he had the most energy of us, and long legs to go with it. Don’t believe what I think is Chapman’s description of light scrub. It’s not, and plenty of it was more than head high. Having said that, we did find a better way on the return trip, but there were still a few patches of bashing through scoparia and the like. Day 4: Heading up Hyperion the slightly climby way.. just loved it ;)! We took minimal breaks, because to stop was to get cold. And fast. It was snowing more now, and by the time we hit rock some of it was starting to settle. We pushed on, going at our own paces, occasionally pausing to regroup before continuing onwards. By the time we reached the summit I couldn’t feel fingers or toes despite breathing hard from the climb, so it was a matter of taking one summit shot and turning back around. Not the most enjoyable way to climb a mountain, but I was grateful we hadn’t had to bash through the scrub in heat, and that the weather was such that this would be the only foul day of the week, and as such it couldn’t have been better timed. The summit of Hyperion, with a small addition to celebrate my 500th peak bagging point. :D!! As we headed back down I was cold and tired, and pretty much over the snow and rain. I think it was starting to wear on all of us. But still I knew I felt exactly as Graham did when he let out a laugh, shook his head with incredulity, and made a comment about how crazy we are to enjoy this kind of thing! Because we do, I do. I wouldn’t have been anywhere else if I had the choice. Call me crazy, I don’t really mind :)! Geryon North looking like a fun scramble. But fun only insofar as you stay safe! Though colder, the sun having given up fighting the snow, the trip back seemed easier, but perhaps that was just because the challenge of route finding had been taken out of the equation now, or I was more focused on staying warm. We skipped lunch, preferring to snack and keep moving, for which I was silently most grateful (I feel the cold more than either John or Graham). When we arrived back at the tents in the late afternoon (6 hrs after having started out) it was all about getting dry and warm. Food (lunch, soup and half a dinner) was an after thought. The snow was still falling, though it was forecast to stop that night. I ducked out in between flurries to go to the loo before bed, and on my return was surprised to hear a plop of something landing in the snow to my right. A few moments later, a snowball hit my shoulder. Not a bad shot! It was hard in the dark, because while you can see your target, you have little idea of how poor your aim is. A disapproving ‘awww’ is about the only indication you get that you landed a snowball on target. It was actually a good way to get warm! It took a while to warm up the tent, but I eventually did, and managed to get bits of sleep in between waking up cold. I was surprised it was still snowing at 2am, concerned by 6. The side of my tent had accumulated so much snow I woke up at one point to find it pushing against my face. A push back sorted it for a bit. Not quite as strong as he thought he was, Graham pits himself against the dolerite. It was still snowing in the morning, and there was a decent coating on everything around us. It was an untouched, pristine world. We decided to wait. All we had to do was move to Lake Helios, so we had half a day spare. We could do the mountains either today or tomorrow, it didn’t really matter. I was glad we didn’t have to pack in the wet and cold, as I wasn’t looking forward to putting on wet clothes or pulling tent pegs out of snow (that’s most painful on fingers). I could also use a bit of extra sleep. So that’s what we did. On the way back the sun comes out, and Geryon lights up! I dozed, waking occasionally to a slightly lighter, warmer world, and the hope that maybe the sun was back for good. You never appreciate the sun quite as much as you do when you’re in the snow and half your gear is wet. But each time it turned the tent world a glowing warm orange, it would disappear again. Some pretty impressive dolerite pillars ,near and far. By midday, when the forecast had the chance of rain down to 5%, we make the call to eat a light lunch then pack and move. It drizzled while we packed, and we hastened to start walking. It didn’t matter though, by the time we’d dropped just a little bit of height we were already much warmer, feeling more normal, were out of the cloud, and had started to regain some of our views. It was lovely to watch a snow dusted Gould materialise between wispy white curtains, and the Geryons and the Acropolis be revealed as the cloud gradually lifted. Looking out to the rest of the range. A bit exciting, I’d not seen it in full before now. All that green is one massive stretch of fagus! Soon we were stripping off layers, and with the warmth came a new energy and pleasure. Slowly we dried out. We paused for rain jacket maintenance at the junction with the Labyrinth track, and ran into a group of four (one of whom I knew) who were also doing the traverse (but a bit faster than us). We had a series of chats as we passed one another at various times on the climb up onto the range. The track was excellent, the views continued to astound, and the camping proved to be just perfect. We’d intended to camp at Lake Helios, which sounded beautiful, but the other group had said they were just going to find some flat ground and water and camp higher up. When we saw what was up there, we did exactly the same. It meant we had better views, and would save the climb back up with full packs. The wind wasn’t going to be an issue, but we did shelter a little over the northern side of the highest point of the plateau. It was a stunning spot! And we take a good look at the terrain ahead, wondering excitedly what the next few days will bring! Having started out in snow that morning (well afternoon really – 12.40!), the sun was now shining brightly and the sky was very definitely blue behind fluffy cloud. Not to be wasted, we chose to duck over to Mount Eros that evening, before returning for dinner. It wasn’t exactly the 25mins return as advised (but anyone who knows him knows Jared walks FAST), but it was really rather nice to be sitting on the summit of a mountain, having made something more of the day than just a change of camp sites. It was cold again as soon as the sun went down, and the cloud was back, so it was a little bit easier to say our goodnights and close zips to the world outside. Later that night, coming back from a trip to the loo I startled, and was startled by, a yabbie who had made his home in the small soak closest to my tent. Everything glistened with frost and the stars were bright. I smiled at that very strong feeling of living in, and (almost) with nature. It felt, as always, so free, pure, natural, right and worthy of sharing and celebrating. This is where I belong, who I am. Macs sits on the horizon, as we say our goodnights and retire to our tents. The following morning was cool, but the sun was out and I was excited for the day ahead. We had the time, and the spot was just so lovely that we decided we’d stay another night, taking our time to spend the day climbing Hyperion, Geryon North and Du Cane in that order. Day 5: Down to Big Gun Pass we head (that would be the gun there) and back up the other side.. most of today is on rock :D! We set off shortly after 9.30, Hyperion in our sights. As with all the walking this trip (with the exception of our bash out to Macs), the terrain consisted of low (very low) alpine scrub and scree, which made navigation quite easy, and just a bit fun. We’d already been worded up on the scramble up Hyperion – left for the easier route, right for the slightly more airy one (and a hint that a revised Abels description might make use of a northern route). When we hit the scree on the left shoulder of Hyperion (if looking at it from our campsite – the direction from which we approached, naturally) and started to climb, Graham handed the lead over to me. This one was my mountain :D! That of course meant I got to choose the route, and you can guess which way that meant going! Yep, straight up and to the right. It was a tad airy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely in my element and enjoying every moment. Did I mention rock? Nice to have it dry and grippy.. I do love that stuff! A short bounce across rock and there was the summit, complete with a small but proud cairn. It needed a temporary crown to celebrate my 500th point, and with that taken care of, it was time for some special Lindt balls that I’d been saving for the occasion. Perfect! One last thing – a selfie (I chickened out on this, and got Graham to take a photo of me instead) which I promised to send to a friend who has been on many walks with me (and still does come on walks, but in a different way now), and knows just what it means to get to 500 points. We enjoyed for a little longer, then thought about moving on. John suggested checking out the northern route, and it looked like there was a fairly well walked pad, with the occasional cairn or two. Neither Graham or I were fussed, so the adventure was on. Though it didn’t seem like we were heading north, my GPS route shows we were, and we dropped off quite quickly, but without the airiness of our ascent. We’re amazed with the bowl we find before us.. where shall we camp??! Too many choices. We select tarns on the far ridge to bathe in. So nice to feel clean :)! When we were down, we sidled around to the right, following grassy ledges without losing much, or any, height. It was quite pleasant and different, and we popped out onto the scree we’d headed up on. Lovely route back! Our camp site in the bowl below Massif (from which the photo was taken). Just love those layers of mountain ranges beyond! It was midday when we got back to the tents, so we had an earlish relaxed lunch before setting off once again for Geryon North. It didn’t take us long to walk on to the track (there’s a pretty big cairn that’s hard to miss in good weather), and from there it was easy sailing as we climbed gradually up the flank. The snow fight from the other night continued, as did the teasing and laughter. What a simple world it can be. The beauty about being all of 10 minutes from the summit of Mount Massif, means it’s no big deal to duck up for sunset.. Oh the views! When we hit the ridge it was rather exciting to finally get a view of the rest of the range that we’d be traversing (I’d not had a good look at it before then). It looked good, very good (that means nice and rocky!). The brilliant green carpet of fagus below was massive, and I’m set on a return trip one April to see it as it changes. Not to be outdone, the dolerite was massive in quite another sense – the Acropolis’ pillars were as impressive as you’ll ever see them from any perspective. And if you turn around, even more views..! We took the time to take it all in before continuing south to Geryon North, which looked quite different! The track takes you along the western side. We ignored a few that didn’t look particularly attractive, before heading up a bit that looked climby, but doable. Graham scrambled up. John followed his route, while I climbed up a few metres to the left. Almost over. A short but most enjoyable day! But we were all lucky. He was perhaps a little bruised, but otherwise ok. He didn’t let on if he was at all shaken, instead he checked out the way I’d climbed up, and with a hand that was more for reassurance than necessity he was up, and we were on our way. It was another reminder of the respect the mountains rightly deserve, and of how a walk, and lives, can change in a moment. Day 6: Again we wait for the mist to clear (we have the luxury of time) before taking the grassy green gully down. Instinct says to stay high, but when you round the corner it’s clear why you don’t! We continued on carefully, passing under the summit then climbing up to the ridge and turning back, approaching it from the south. We could see the stack of rocks even further south that Greg had talked about in his attempt to climb to the more southern high point (but not the highest). Graham made mention of it later, but not in the usual suggestive ‘shall we check it out’ manner. We both knew with out really having to talk about it that it wasn’t happening today: there was no need and it wasn’t appropriate. Graham gave John the lead, he’d more than earned the right, and we followed him up. On top we celebrated quietly, took in the views, talked about the mountains, went for a rock on a rocking rock until John and I got a bit carried away (the rock no longer rocks)! A snack for energy, and time to mentally prepare for the descent, then we were heading back down. It was straight forward, and we were quickly down the climby bits. The sun came out from between the clouds and the rock glowed in its light. Graham pitted his strength against it, and you can guess the result. The mood was lighter now, as we wandered the easy walk over (yes, over, more than up) to the Du Cane Range high point. Though it wasn’t much of a summit, fittingly marked by a stick protruding from a cairn, the views were lovely, and I was drawn to the eastern edge. I get to lead the climb up Falling Mountain. I love it, love the rock, love the freedom to choose any path you wish, the feeling you get when a pivot or series of moves propels you up with more ease than you thought possible.. Looking over at the rest of the range as the light stretched long and warm, I wondered what the following day would hold for us, and the one after. I could never have imagined, and I’m glad of that, for it would have lost some of its beauty, its surprise… its gift. Satisfied with an idea of what we would face for the first part of the day, we turned and headed back to camp, more than ready for a good dinner. We drop packs near the saddle, liking the look of a few possible camp spots there, and head on up to the summit of Castle Crag. Graham is sidetracked by two cairns, where he finds a decent source of water! We sat on a rock above our tents, enjoying the view before us, eating and chatting. We returned to our tents to warm up (or in my case, doze off) before reemerging to check out the sunset. For a precious few moments it painted the world orange, and everything basked in its beauty. As soon as it was gone, blue replaced orange, cold replaced warmth, and we were scurrying to our tents, keen to warm back up. John checks out the view east from the summit of Castle Crag, the dolerite was amazing! The next morning was the closest we got to a sunrise, though John wasn’t too convinced. Graham and I tried to make the most of the gaps in the mist that came and went as it pleased (more of the former than the latter), and succeeded in enjoying it for what it was, not what it wasn’t. It was cold though, so when the colour was gone we returned to the warmth of our respective sleeping bags, and each of us cooked breakfast from our tents. There were car, truck, even lorry sized boulders. Those that had been standing straight had rounded tops. Graham looks like he’s been playing dominos. We chose again to opt for a late start, as we waited for the mist to burn off and the sun to dry the dew from our tents. I took the chance to catch up on sleep and find a soak to half wash in (not bad, but it would be out done later that day!). I’m not entirely sure what the guys did, perhaps similarly, with the addition of making repairs to gear. We sit, sipping hot drinks, looking towards Geryon, chatting away, just enjoying. Jokes are made about Graham and John looking like a pair of bums or tramps, but I would, and I do, trust them with my life. They’re two of the finest bushwalking mates you could have. By 11 we were off, over Du Cane (left of the high point), and looking down to Big Gun Pass. I’d been under the impression it was a scramble down, but it’s not really, and there was a cairned pad to follow. We took our time as a result of the scenery, not the level of difficulty. The ‘Big Gun’ was prominent, and certainly commanded attention. Tucked away from the southeasterly. It’s a lovely spot. There’s also room to camp a whole army up near the summit, but it’s slightly less sheltered. We couldn’t find any cairns heading back up the other side, and opted for Graham and Becca default approach of ‘straight up’. John is perhaps a little more cautious in this regard, and perhaps more intelligent in being so! We could have taken a slightly more contoured approach, but then we wouldn’t have had the views off both sides. Tents are up, we have plenty of time, and we want some more definite info on which way to get off Falling mountain, so we go exploring over the saddle and down to a gully. We find cairns, and are relatively happy with the terrain. At the same time, we have a bit of fun in natures own playground. The rock was like a skate park, and it was hard to resist the urge to run, jump and bound a way around it all! Part way up we figured there couldn’t be a better spot for lunch, so we stopped on the rocks and ate. There were more rocks to follow (such fun!), and one or two dips to drop down courtesy of our ‘straight up’ approach. But no matter, in a little bit we were standing on the edge of rocks looking across a beautiful green bowl that was dotted with small tarns, some of which were connected by squiggly little rivers. This wedgie came to say hi twice, and came really low on a number of passes. We were simply mesmerised :D!! “How could it get better than this?” With a bathe in a tarn, we decided. But first the guys decided on the most suitable spot to camp (wind was the first and most important consideration, then flat ground and water), tents were pitched, and (who could forget!) we had a summit to climb. A short 10 minutes later and there we were, on the summit of Mount Massif, which was massive on all accounts, most especially the views!! Words just don’t suffice. Again, we headed for the summit for sunset, it was 5 minutes away. Looking south to the Traveller Range. We wandered around, checked out the views from another point on the northern edge (worth it) and, despite reluctance to leave such a special place, eventually pulled ourselves away in favour of a much anticipated bathe in a tarn. We selected tarns on the far rim, unlikely to be used for drinking water, and took it in turns. John went, returned, and raved. We checked out what looked like a sink hole. Graham went, returned, and raved. I went, and understood. Pure bliss. Though the wind was cold, the sun was deliciously warm on bare skin, and the tarn I chose had been warmed sufficiently to be comfortable, but still refreshing. One small piece of tek towel that I usually used as a camera wipe worked wonderfully as a scrubber, and I laughed at the incredulity and novelty of me having clean knees half way through a 7 day walk. Cathedral and Pelion East. And sun on rock. After drying off I did enjoy a luxurious moment in the sun, but figured I’d better dress and get back, as two other hungry tummies were keen to dig into John’s promise of soft cheese, biscuits and frangelico. YummMMM! I felt a little bad, as in December we’d decided not to bring treats given it was a 7 day walk, but both Graham and John had (Graham had Lindt balls). So I’d saved the last three days worth of mini mars bars I’d brought for me, and offered them as desert to compliment John’s spread. The only other thing I had had to share were two cherries, and I’d given them one each for breakfast the day before. I decided never to trust those kind of agreements in the future ;)! Back at camp we selected a spot, and sat down to enjoy good food, company, and place. It was pretty perfect. Ok, it was perfect. In addition to discussion of food, cameras and routes, we had a very interesting ‘thing’ (aka ‘little guy with strange dress habits’ – in Graham’s words) to keep us entertained. It took a little while to convince the two guys that 30mls of frangelico wasn’t making me tipsy and seeing things, mind you! As it dipped below the horizon, reds turned to pinks, and the show continued. It would last longer than I could keep my eyes open. What looked like a bit of the end of a plant seemed to be moving of its own accord, and not with assistance of the wind. I couldn’t figure it out. Graham didn’t believe me, and he knocked it over with the tip of a finger to see if it would stand back up. After a few minutes of no movement, it must have sensed that danger had passed, and to our surprise a black worm like thing stuck out of the ‘bottom’, bent over until it was touching the ground, then righted the bit of leaf-like matter. It looked like just another bit of growth on a cushion plant! Amazing (and slightly satisfying to prove I was right)! Day 7: Back to reality time :(. We head down the gully selected the day before, and, following Graham’s fine nose, pick a relatively easy path through the scrub, popping out onto the Overland Track at Du Cane Gap. We returned to our tents for some respite before dinner, and I took the chance to jot down some notes and have a lie down. Though we’d not walked far or strenuously at all, I was sufficiently sleepy, perhaps from the sun. But it was dinner time soon enough, and we enjoyed that as we had our biscuits and cheese. For desert we had the sunset, which we chose to enjoy from Mount Massif. It was simply beautiful. I decided that it wasn’t a bad thing for walking to sometimes be about pure indulgence ;). Again, the cold dictated a swift return, and as I lay in bed that night, it was hard not to be grateful for what was and to have hope for and feel excitement over how I might get to live this ‘wild and precious’ life of mine into the future. Being out there, in that place (physical, mental, emotional), seems to have this affect on me. I feel free, encouraged to make change, to be all that I want to and can be, to explore and discover. I drifted off, completely at peace. The following morning we once again woke to mist, and responded in our (by now) typical fashion: back to bed! It’s a tough life!! I didn’t mind.. in fact, I could quite get used to it! There was no sun, but the mist had lifted sufficiently by 11, and we were ready to navigate our way through what we expected to be the toughest part of the walk. We’d been told to ignore Chapman’s route suggestion, and take the obvious grassy gully. It was cairned at both top and bottom, so despite feeling like it was wrong to drop down so much, we didn’t protest. The reason was soon apparent, and dropping down led us out onto the ridge ahead without us needing to scramble over some pretty big and rough looking boulders. Nor did we have to regain any height, the primary reason for instinctively wanting to stay as high as possible. Though the sun still hid behind thick grey clouds, our views weren’t impeded, and we enjoyed them as we wove our way along occasionally cairned pads. We drunk from tarns as we passed them, believing that Falling mountain was pretty dry. I got the pleasure of leading up the final scree climb, which I simply loved. And then we were there, in a grassy little saddle looking back at our range, taking a little bit of pride in the fact that we’d been up pretty much every mountain we could see! Across the other side of the saddle was the route we later decided (after sufficient exploration) that we’d take out. But for now we dumped packs and went to check out the summit. We didn’t get there. As we walked along two cairns appeared on our horizon, close together, and we wondered what they were there for. Graham suspected they might mark water. He was right, they marked a decent sized soak, which made us all breathe a little easier. Water sorted, we turned again to the summit. It wasn’t far, and was pretty speccy too. Flatish, with a nice sized cairn, what struck first was the dolerite rock and the way it had eroded. It’s hard to describe, quite amazing to take in. And then of course there were the views!! We played for a bit, then headed back, via a campsite big enough to fit an army (if a tad exposed)! It was time to put the tents up, but we promptly forgot all that when a wedge tailed eagle came to say hello.. a very personal hello from all of about 10-15 metres. He or she was just magnificent, and we stood and stared, stunned looks of awe and amazement on our open mouthed faces. It was very special, and would be repeated later that evening too! With tents set up and time to spare before dinner, Graham and I decided to check out the gully on the other side of the saddle. The first part struck me as being like a skate park, and it was impossible to resist running and jumping from one rock to another, so I didn’t really try too hard ;)! Further down we found a few cairns, and though there was no really distinct path, we eventually concluded it would work, and looked relatively straight forward. Interpreting route descriptions is always a difficult task, and though Graham was slightly more hesitant, I was pretty happy with what we had, even if it differed from some of the notes we had. We returned to the tents, which seemed to still be in the shade despite much greater expanses of blue sky above! We rejoiced at every bit of sun we did get, though it was not nearly as much as we’d have liked. We sat around drinking hot drinks, chatting about tomorrow’s route, cooking dinner and laughing at Graham’s attempts to take a photo into the sun of his Strive meal in front of Geryon. Our wedgie returned, and came as close again (:D!) before it was time to head back over to the summit for sunset. And what a sunset for our last night (our sixth night at about 1400m!). I think we all forgave the sun for having been absent for most of the day as the sun turned the sky on fire. It lasted forever. It was like it sensed my (our?) reluctance for the evening to end, and stretched time for us. What a special place the Du Cane range is, one that for me is up there with the best of them. There was to be no sleep in on our last day. We had a 3.45pm ferry to catch, and we had to get down and out, regardless of what the mist was doing. It was, as expected, misty when we woke, but we had decided on an 8am start, so we got moving. It wasn’t so bad, and after dropping down only a very short way we were under the cloud. After the usual amount of discussion over routes, we finally settled on following Graham’s nose, which was in top form, and wove us out on a relatively easy route through the scrub! In some ways, the hardest part of the walk was to follow. I found it difficult to get into a rhythm, to not drag my feet, to find motivation to keep walking. The reason was I really didn’t want to be going home. Who would, after a trip like that? Not least of all because I just don’t know how much I’ll be able to walk (to new and exciting places at least) in the next few years – a very scary prospect! All up: a very very cruisy and beautiful 67km, 4089m ascent. A very big thank you to John and Graham for making it all that it was, and for putting up with me again ;)!

2019-04-25T14:12:29Z

https://rockmonkeyadventures.wordpress.com/category/cradle-st-clair/hyperion/

Mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) are a major cause of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), whereby the mutant proteins misfold and aggregate to form intracellular inclusions. We report that both small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) 1 and SUMO2/3 modify ALS-linked SOD1 mutant proteins at lysine 75 in a motoneuronal cell line, the cell type affected in ALS. In these cells, SUMO1 modification occurred on both lysine 75 and lysine 9 of SOD1, and modification of ALS-linked SOD1 mutant proteins by SUMO3, rather than by SUMO1, significantly increased the stability of the proteins and accelerated intracellular aggregate formation. These findings suggest the contribution of sumoylation, particularly by SUMO3, to the protein aggregation process underlying the pathogenesis of ALS. Copyright: © 2014 Niikura et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by grants from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (15590908, http://www.jsps.go.jp) to TN and Keio Gijuku Academic Development funds (no number, http://www.med.keio.ac.jp/research/) to TN. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes the selective loss of motor neurons leading to paralysis and ultimately death within 2–5 years. Although most ALS cases are sporadic, approximately 10% of familial ALS cases are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) are the second most common cause of familial ALS (FALS) after C9ORF72 , . SOD1 mutants have been widely used for in vitro and in vivo models to investigate the pathomechanisms of ALS , . Mice or rats overexpressing FALS-linked SOD1 mutants develop a human ALS-like phenotype that involves motor neuron degeneration. FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins misfold and aggregate into intracellular inclusions both in vitro and in vivo , and it is generally accepted that the propensity for aggregation is associated with the pathobiology of SOD1 mutants –. The aggregation of disease-specific proteins is implicated in the pathogenesis of other neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyloid β in Alzheimer’s disease and α-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, elucidating the process of aggregate formation is important for understanding the pathomechanisms of ALS and other neurodegenerative disorders in which pathological intraneuronal inclusions develop. Sumoylation, a post-translational protein modification, involves the covalent attachment of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) proteins to target proteins. Although SUMO is typically conjugated to a specific lysine (Lys) residue within the consensus motif ψKxE/D (where ψ is an aliphatic amino acid) in the target protein, sumoylation can occur at Lys residues outside of the consensus, and not all the consensus Lys residues are sumoylated . The mechanism of the conjugation of SUMO to its target protein is similar to that of ubiquitination. Sumoylation requires a cascade with three enzymes, E1 activating, E2 conjugating, and E3 ligase enzymes; however, unlike ubiquitin, at least three SUMO family proteins, SUMO1, -2, and -3, exist , . SUMO1 only displays 45% sequence identity with SUMO2 and SUMO3, whereas SUMO2 and SUMO3 are 87% identical . SUMO1 and SUMO2/3 serve distinct functions by targeting different proteins , , though some substrates can be modified by both SUMO1 and SUMO2/3. For instance, RanGAP1, α-synuclein, and tau are predominantly modified by SUMO1 and to a lesser extent by SUMO2/3 , . In addition, SUMO2/3 but not SUMO1 can form polymeric chains , and the de-sumoylating enzymes, sentrin/SUMO-specific proteases (SENPs) 3, 5, 6, and 7, preferentially act on SUMO2/3 versus SUMO1 . It is therefore postulated that SUMO1 and SUMO2/3 can cause different functional consequences on the same substrate. Sumoylated proteins have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative disorders, such as huntingtin in Huntington’s disease, tau and amyloid precursor protein in Alzheimer’s disease, and α-synuclein and DJ-1 in Parkinson’s disease , . In ALS model mice, C-terminal fragment of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) cleaved by caspase 3 is modified by SUMO1 and accumulates in spinal cord astrocytes . The astrocytic expression of sumoylated EAAT2 fragment induces cytotoxicity in NSC34 cells and primary motor neurons . These findings provide evidence for the involvement of sumoylation in ALS pathogenesis. Since SUMOs are expressed in spinal cord neurons , , it is assumed that sumoylation may have a pathological role in motor neurons as well as astrocytes. Fei et al. reported that the human SOD1 protein is sumoylated and stabilized by SUMO1, suggesting that sumoylation is linked to SOD1 aggregation . However, the detailed mechanisms of the relationship to ALS pathogenesis remain unclear. In the present study, we investigated the effect of sumoylation on ALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins in a motor neuron cell line and found that SOD1 is sumoylated not only by SUMO1 but also by SUMO2/3, suggesting a role for SUMO2/3 in the pathogenesis of ALS. To understand the role of sumoylation in the pathobiology of ALS, we used NSC34 cells, a motor neuron cell line that is widely used for studies on the pathomechanisms of ALS. First, we examined whether the SOD1 protein undergoes sumoylation in these cells by cotransfecting FLAG-tagged wild-type (wt) or mutant SOD1 with HA-tagged SUMO1 in the presence of myc-tagged Ubc9, a sumoylation E2 conjugase. The FLAG-SOD1 proteins were immunoprecipitated with an anti-FLAG antibody, and the precipitates were subjected to western blotting using an anti-HA antibody to detect HA-SUMO1. Two dominant bands with molecular masses of approximately 38 and 58 kDa, corresponding to the size of putative mono- and di-sumoylated SOD1, respectively, were detected in cells expressing each SOD1 protein (Fig. 1A, Fig. 2A, lanes 1–4, and Fig. S1A, lanes 1 and 2, arrowheads). Minor bands with a higher molecular mass were also detected but were not derivatives of sumoylated SOD1 because the anti-FLAG antibody did not detect these bands in the anti-FLAG (Fig. S1A and B, lane 5) or anti-HA (Fig. S1A and B, lane 8) antibody precipitates, suggesting that sumoylated proteins other than SOD1 were also coimmunoprecipitated with FLAG-SOD1. These observations indicate that all the SOD1 proteins, including wt, FALS mutants, and N19S mutant, were modified by SUMO1 in the NSC34 cells. The degree of sumoylation was higher for the FALS mutant proteins (Fig. 1A, lanes 3–5, and Fig. 2A, lanes 2 and 3) than the wt (Fig. 1A, lane 2, and Fig. 2A, lane 1) and N19S mutant proteins (Fig. 1A, lane 6, and Fig. 2A, lane 4). The difference in SUMO1-modification between the FALS mutants and wt was not due to a difference in sumoylation E2 conjugase activity because the levels of Ubc9 were almost the same in both the lysates of cells transfected with the FALS mutants and wt SOD1 and because the global sumoylation of cellular proteins occurred similarly in both cells (Fig. S1C). The sumoylation of SOD1 appears to occur for a portion of SOD1 proteins, as a large amount of nonsumoylated monomer SOD1 proteins (Figs. S1A and B, lanes 4–6, indicated with an arrow) and small amount of nonsumoylated dimer proteins (Fig. S1A, lanes 4–6, Fig. S1D, indicated with asterisks) were detected in the anti-FLAG antibody immunoprecipitates. Figure 1. Familial ALS-linked SOD1 mutants are modified by SUMO1 at Lys9 and Lys75. NSC34 (A, B) or HEK293 cells (C) were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged wild-type (wt), mutant SOD1, or empty vector (vec) and HA-tagged SUMO1 and myc-tagged Ubc9. The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG M2 antibody, followed by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibody (upper panel) and anti-FLAG antibody (lower panel). A. SUMO1 modification of SOD1 proteins in NSC34 cells. All SOD1 proteins, wt, familial ALS-linked mutants (A4T, G93R, and G85R), and sporadic ALS mutant (N19S), were modified by SUMO1. A representative immunoblot result from three independent experiments is shown. B. Sumoylation of G93R-SOD1 by SUMO1 was decreased by both K9R and K75R mutations. The presence (+) or absence (−) of mutations at K9 and K75 in each construct is indicated above the lane. A representative immunoblot result from three independent experiments is shown. C. Sumoylation of SOD1 proteins by SUMO1 was decreased by the K9R mutation in HEK293 cells. The presence (+) or absence (−) of mutations at K9 in each construct is indicated above the lane. A representative immunoblot result from three independent experiments is shown. Figure 2. SOD1 proteins are modified by SUMO1, SUMO2, and SUMO3. NSC34 cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged SOD1 (either wild-type or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO 1/2/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9. The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with an anti-FLAG M2 antibody, followed by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibody (upper panels) and anti-FLAG antibody (lower panels). A. SOD1 mutants (G93R, G85R, and N19S) were modified by both SUMO1 and SUMO2/3. A representative immunoblot result from four independent experiments is shown. B. The sumoylation of G93R-SOD1 by SUMO2/3 was markedly decreased by the K75R mutation but not by the K9R mutation. The presence (+) or absence (−) of mutations at K9 and K75 is indicated above the lane. A representative immunoblot result from three independent experiments is shown. There are two potential lysine residues for sumoylation, Lys9 and Lys75, in the SOD1 protein. To identify which lysine residue is important for SOD1 sumoylation, we substituted these lysine residues with an arginine. As shown in Figure 1B, both K9R and K75R mutations reduced the SUMO1 modification of G93R-SOD1 (Fig. 1B, lanes 2 and 3), and the degree of sumoylation was the lowest in G93R-SOD1 carrying two K/R mutations (Fig. 1B, lane 4). These results indicate that G93R-SOD1 can be sumoylated at both Lys9 and Lys75 in a cell line of neuronal origin. We also confirmed the site specificity of sumoylation on the SOD1 protein in HEK293 cells. The K9R mutations significantly reduced the sumoylation of all types of SOD1 proteins (Fig. 1C, lanes 2, 4, 6, and 8), indicating that SOD1 can also be modified by SUMO1 via Lys9 in HEK293 cells. Fei et al. showed that wt SOD1 was not modified by SUMO2 or SUMO3 in HEK293 cells . We therefore examined whether SOD1 is modified by SUMO2 and SUMO3 in neuronal cells by immunoprecipitating FLAG-SOD1 with an anti-FLAG antibody, followed by the detection of HA-SUMO with an anti-HA antibody. Consistent with the finding of Fei et al. , neither SUMO2 nor SUMO3 caused significant modification of wt SOD1 in NSC34 cells (Fig. 2A, lanes 5 and 9). However, the FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins G93R and G85R were clearly modified by SUMO2 and SUMO3 (Fig. 2A, lanes 6, 7, 10, and 11, and Fig. S1A, lane 3, arrowheads). Similar to the cells transfected with SUMO1, two bands with sizes corresponding to sumoylated FLAG-G93R-SOD1 protein were commonly detected in the anti-FLAG antibody (Figure S1A, lane 6, arrowheads) and anti-HA antibody (Fig. S1A, lane 9, arrowheads) immunoprecipitates, suggesting that these bands are mono- and di-sumoylated SOD1 proteins. The sumoylation of mutant SOD1 proteins was marginally detectable in the absence of exogenously transfected Ubc9 but was significantly increased by the overexpression of Ubc9 (Fig. S2A), indicating that the regular sumoylation machinery also functions in the SUMO modification of SOD1 mutants. As is the case with SUMO1, the difference in SUMO3 modification between the FALS mutants and wt was not due to a difference in the sumoylation E2 conjugase activity because the levels of Ubc9 and global sumoylation of cellular proteins were almost the same in the lysates of cells transfected with the FALS mutants and wt SOD1 (Fig. S1C). In addition to the FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins, N19S-SOD1 was also modified by both SUMO2 and SUMO3 but at a lower degree compared to the FALS-linked SOD1 mutants (Fig. 2A, lanes 8 and 12). We next used the K/R mutants to determine the sumoylation sites in G93R-SOD1. The K75R mutation, but not the K9R mutation, significantly reduced G93R-SOD1 sumoylation by SUMO2 and SUMO3 (Fig. 2B, lanes 3 vs. 2, and 7 vs. 6), indicating that the SUMO2/3 modification of the mutant SOD1 proteins mainly occurs at Lys75. We have previously demonstrated that FALS-linked SOD1 mutant proteins aggregate in CHO cells using EGFP-fused SOD1 proteins . Using this system, we then examined the effects of SUMO1 and SUMO3 on the aggregation of FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins. First, we observed the subcellular localization of SUMO1 and SUMO3 cotransfected with wt-SOD1-EGFP by immunofluorescent staining using an anti-HA antibody (Fig. 3). As reported previously, SUMO1 and SUMO3 are mainly localized to the nucleus and cytosol, respectively. Regardless of the localization pattern of each SUMO protein, wt SOD1-EGFP was found to be localized throughout the cell body (Fig. 3 arrows). In contrast, FALS-mutant SOD1-EGFP formed aggregates in the perinuclear area (Fig. 3 arrow heads), and a portion of the SUMO protein colocalized with the aggregates. A quantitative analysis (Fig. 4A) showed that the coexpression of SUMO1 and Ubc9 with A4T/G93R-SOD1 slightly, but not significantly, increased the number of aggregate-positive cells, whereas significant increases in aggregate formation were observed in the cells coexpressing SUMO3, Ubc9, and A4T/G93R-SOD1. These results indicate that SUMO3 has more influence on the aggregate formation of mutant SOD1 than does SUMO1. To examine whether the enhancement of aggregation of G93R-SOD1 by coexpression of SUMO3 is induced by direct SUMO3 modification of the SOD1 protein, we introduced the K/R mutations in the G93R-SOD1-EGFP fusion construct (Fig. 4B). Consistent with Figure 2B, K75R mutant but not K9R mutant significantly reduced the rate of aggregate positive cells, suggesting that SUMO3 modification on Lys75 directly contributes to the aggregate formation of mutant SOD1 proteins. Figure 3. SUMOs colocalize with familial ALS-linked SOD1 mutants in intracellular aggregates. CHO cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing EGFP-fused SOD1 (either wild-type or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO 1/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9. The cells were fixed after 24 h of transfection and immunostained with anti-HA antibody and DyLight594-conjugated anti-mouse IgG antibody, followed by counterstaining with DAPI. Representative images from two independent experiments are shown. The bar in the upper left panel indicates 10 µm. Arrowheads and arrows indicate cells with and without intracellular SOD1 protein aggregates, respectively. In all triple transfections, all GFP-positive cells were DyLight594 (SUMO)-positive (detail in Supporting Information Table S1). Figure 4. SUMO3 modification increases the aggregation of SOD1 proteins. CHO cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing EGFP-fused SOD1 (either wild-type or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO 1/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9 and fixed after 24 h of transfection. Images of randomly selected fields in each well were recorded, and the number of cells with and without aggregates were counted. The total number of GFP-positive cells counted in each sample (mean ± SD) were 185±49 (A) and 338±124 (B). A. SUMO3 increased aggregate formation of mutant SOD1 proteins. The percentages of aggregate-positive cells (mean and SD) were plotted (triplicate sample). Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between with and without SUMO3 were analyzed by t-test and indicated by asterisks. B. K75R mutation significantly reduced the aggregate formation of G93R-SOD1. The percentages of aggregate-positive cells (mean and SD) were plotted (sextuplicate samples). Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) by a one-way ANOVA followed by a post-hoc test is indicated by asterisks. N.S. indicates not significant. We next examined whether sumoylation affects the stability of FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins in NSC34 cells (Fig. 5). NSC34 cells expressing G93R-SOD1, SUMO1/3, and Ubc9 were treated with cycloheximide (CHX), a protein synthesis inhibitor, and the expression levels of the G93R-SOD1 protein were analyzed along a time course. The G93R-SOD1 levels similarly decreased during CHX treatment in a time-dependent manner, with or without coexpresion of SUMO1 (Fig. 5B, C). On the other hand, the coexpression of SUMO3 significantly increased the initial G93R-SOD1 levels (Fig. 5A, lane 7, and 5B) compared to that of SUMO1 and, in contrast to the coexpression of SUMO1, maintained the high level of G93R-SOD1 up to 6 h of CHX treatment (Fig. 5A, lanes 8 and 9, and 5B, C). The cells expressing the A4T-SOD1 protein showed results similar to those expressing G93R-SOD1, i.e., SUMO3 itself significantly increased the level of A4T-SOD1 (Fig. S3A, lane 7, and Fig. S3B), and the level of the protein was maintained during 6 h of CHX treatment (Fig. S3A, lanes 8 and 9, and Fig. S3B, C). These results suggest that SUMO3 plays a pivotal role in stabilizing FALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins. Interestingly, our immunoblotting results with the anti-FLAG antibody exhibited a band with a size of approximately 19 kD (Fig. S1A, lanes 8 and 9, arrow), corresponding to nonsumoylated SOD1, in the anti-HA antibody immunoprecipitate from the lysate of cells expressing HA-SUMO and G93R-SOD1-FLAG. However, this 19-kDa band was not detectable in the precipitates from cells expressing HA-SUMO and wt SOD1-FLAG (Fig. S1B, lanes 8 and 9, arrow). Considering the fact that the majority of the SOD1 protein was not sumoylated (Figs S1A and B, lanes 4–6, indicated with an arrow), these results strongly suggest that the SUMO conjugation of mutant SOD1 accelerates the aggregation of the protein, incorporating the nonsumoylated form. Figure 5. A familial ALS-linked SOD1 mutant is stabilized by SUMO3 modification. NSC34 cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged G93R-SOD1, HA-tagged SUMO1, SUMO3, or the empty vector (vec), and myc-tagged Ubc9. After 16 h of transfection, the cells were treated with 50 µg/ml cycloheximide for 3 or 6 h or left untreated (time 0). The cell lysates were subjected to an immunoblot analysis with anti-FLAG antibody (A upper panel) and anti-β-actin antibody (A lower panel). A. A representative immunoblot result is shown. B. Quantitative analysis of the immunoblot. The intensity of each band was quantified using ImageJ and normalized to the arbitrary units of β-actin, and the means and SD (n = 4) were calculated. # indicates a statistically significant difference (p<0.01) among the three transfection conditions (vec, SUMO1, SUMO3) at time 0. Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between time 0 of each condition are indicated by *. N.S. indicates not significant. C. Quantitative analysis of the immunoblot. The data in B are expressed relative to the 0 h value ( = 1). In this study, we found that Lys75 of mutant SOD1 proteins is modified not only by SUMO1 but also by SUMO2 and SUMO3 (Fig. 2). Fei et al. showed that the SUMO1 modification of SOD1 increases its aggregation and stability , and we observed a similar phenomenon, though the effect was not prominent in motoneuronal NSC34 cells. In contrast, SUMO3 modification significantly accelerated intracellular aggregate formation and stabilized the FALS-linked SOD1 mutant proteins (Figs. 4, 5). Although SUMO1 and SUMO2/3 share the same process for conjugation at Lys residues of target proteins, each SUMO displays a preferential intracellular localization: SUMO1 mainly localizes to the nuclear membrane, and SUMO3 is localized in the cytosol (Fig. 3) , . Because SOD1 is a cytoplasmic protein, SUMO3, rather than SUMO1, should be more readily accessible to SOD1. In addition, SUMO2 and SUMO3 are found in a free, nonconjugated form in vivo, whereas SUMO1 mainly exists in a conjugated form. SUMO2/3 conjugation is induced by cellular stimuli, such as heat-shock and oxidative stress . Therefore, it is more likely that SOD1 is conjugated by SUMO2/3, rather than by SUMO1, under conditions of stress. SUMO3 increased the stability of nonsumoylated SOD1 mutant proteins (Fig. 5). This finding raises the question of how SUMO3 increases the total amount of nonsumoylated SOD1 mutant protein. One possibility is that the elevated SUMO3 level induced the global stabilization of proteins via modification of proteasomal degradation system. We observed that the mutation at Lys75, the major sumoylation site of SUMO3, significantly reduced the aggregate formation of mutant SOD1 proteins (Fig. 4B), suggesting that SUMO3 modification directly affects the aggregate formation. Moreover, the nonsumoylated mutant SOD1 proteins coimmunoprecipitated with SUMOs, whereas the nonsumoylated wt SOD1 proteins, which do not form aggregates, were undetectable in the SUMO immunoprecipitates (Fig. S1). Therefore, it appears unlikely that the SUMO3-induced increase in mutant SOD1 aggregation is merely caused by increased levels of SOD1 proteins, though it cannot completely rule out the possibility that SUMO3-target proteins other than SOD1 are involved in aggregate formation of mutant SOD1 proteins. It is rather more likely that the global augmentation of SUMO3 modification increases the amount of sumoylated SOD1 proteins and causes the recruitment of nonsumoylated SOD1 mutant proteins into the intracellular aggregates formed by sumoylated SOD1 proteins, resulting in accelerated aggregation formation. In addition, it has been reported that mutant SOD1 can form prion-like aggregation and has spreading ability . It is thus speculated that sumoylation may trigger such prion-like characteristics in mutant SOD1. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that SOD1 aggregate formation closely correlates with cytotoxicity in cellular models and decreased survival in model mice , –, . Taken together, it is assumed that the sumoylation-induced acceleration of SOD1 aggregation is linked to neurotoxicity in ALS pathogenesis. We also demonstrated that SOD1 can be modified by SUMO1 at two sites, Lys9 and Lys75, in motoneuronal NSC34 cells (Fig. 1). Both Lys9 and Lys75 are located within a canonical consensus sequence for sumoylation, ψKxE/D (where ψ is an aliphatic amino acid): LKGD and PKDE, respectively. SUMO1 modification at Lys75, but not Lys9, was previously demonstrated by an in vitro assay using purified proteins . However, the additional observed sumoylation at Lys9 is most likely because of the difference between the assay systems, i.e., in vitro versus in vivo. Consistent with our findings, proteomic analyses have demonstrated SOD1 sumoylation at multiple sites in a yeast system , . It should be noted that sumoylated SOD1 was still observed in the lysate of cells transfected with G93R/K9R/K75R-SOD1 triple mutant and SUMO1 (Fig. 1B, lane 4), suggesting the existence of minor sumoylation sites other than Lys9 and Lys75 in human SOD1. Oxidative stress results from an imbalance in the production and removal of reactive oxygen species. Because free radical production increases with aging, oxidative stress is a risk factor for the onset of aging-related neurodegenerative disorders, including ALS . Indeed, elevated oxidative damage in proteins is observed in sporadic ALS patients , and in an ALS model of SOD1 transgenic mice . SUMO2/3 conjugation is a major response to oxidative stress , , , and global protein modification by SUMO2/3 is increased by hydrogen peroxide treatment in yeast and HeLa cells , supporting the link between oxidative damage and SUMO2/3 protein modification. A cellular model of ischemia induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation also increases global protein modification by SUMO2/3. The stress-induced SUMO2/3 modification in this model appears to function as a neuroprotective mechanism because the knockdown of SUMO2/3 increases cellular vulnerability to ischemic stress , . Thus, it is unclear whether oxidative stress-induced sumoylation is neurotoxic or neuroprotective. Nevertheless, we propose that the stress-induced elevation of global sumoylation accelerates the aggregation of mutant SOD1 proteins and consequently activates cytotoxic pathways in motor neurons. DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) has been identified as a major aggregating protein in ALS and frontotemporal lobar degeneration , and TDP-43-positive aggregates are found in most sporadic cases and in familial cases caused by its mutation . TDP-43 has a canonical sumoylation motif at positions 135–138, colocalizes with SUMO2/3 in intracellular inclusions, and is directly sumoylated in insoluble cellular protein fractions . Additionally, heat-shock induces the accumulation of SUMO2-conjugated TDP-43 by 7-fold . These findings suggest that SUMO2/3 is involved in TDP-43 aggregation under stress conditions. Considering our results, we propose that stress-induced SUMO2/3 modification plays an important role in the aggregate formation of ALS-associated proteins, which contributes to the pathogenesis of ALS. Plasmids containing wt, FALS-linked SOD1 mutants (G93R, G85R, and A4T), and N19S-SOD1 cDNA were previously described . K9R and K75R mutations were introduced via site-directed mutagenesis using the primers 5′-GTGTGCGTGCTGAGGGGCGACGGCCCAG-3′ (K9R sense), 5′-CTGGGCCGTCGCCCCTCAGCACGCACAC-3′ (K9R antisense), 5′-CACGGTGGGCCAAGGGATGAAGAGAGGC-3′ (K75R sense), and 5′-GCCTCTCTTCATCCCTTGGCCCACCGTG-3′ (K75R antisense). The pXJ-HA-SUMO1 and pXJ-myc-Ubc9 plasmids were provided by Dr. Victor Yu (National University of Singapore, Singapore). The SUMO2 and SUMO3 cDNAs were cloned by PCR from the human brain cDNA library using the primers 5′-GGATCCATGGCCGACGAAAAGCCCAAG-3′ (SUMO2 sense), 5′-CCCGGGTCAGTAGACACCTCCCGTCTG-3′ (SUMO2 antisense), 5′-GGATCCATGTCCGAGGAGAAGCCCAAG-3′ (SUMO3 sense), and 5′-CCCGGGCTAGAAACTGTGCCCTGCCAG-3′ (SUMO3 antisense); the products were inserted into the pXJ-HA vector. HEK293 and NSC34 cells, the hybrid cells of motor neuron-enriched embryonic mouse spinal cord cell with mouse neuroblastoma N18TG2, were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (D-MEM) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 50 units/ml of penicillin, and 50 µg/ml of streptomycin (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA). HEK293 (7×105 cells/dish) and NSC34 cells (5×105 cells/dish) were seeded into 60-mm dishes and transfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged SOD1 (wt or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO 1/2/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9 by lipofection (Lipofectamine with Plus reagent, Invitrogen). To prepare the transfection mixture, the plasmid DNAs were mixed in a ratio of 2∶1∶1 for SOD1:SUMO:Ubc9. After 24 h, the cells were harvested and lysed in RIPA buffer (10 mM sodium phosphate [pH 7.2], 150 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 0.1% SDS, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 10 mM N-ethylmaleimide, and protease inhibitors [Complete protease inhibitor cocktail, Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, USA]. The cell debris was removed by centrifugation (16,000×g, 20 min, 4°C), and the clarified cell lysates (500 µg of protein) were subjected to immunoprecipitation using anti-FLAG M2 antibody-conjugated beads (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA). Immunoprecipitates were subjected to SDS-PAGE, followed by transfer to polyvinylidene difluoride membranes (Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA). The membranes were blocked with 10% skim milk in TBS-T (20 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.6], 136 mM NaCl, and 0.1% Tween 20) and incubated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated to various primary antibodies in 1% skimmed milk in TBS-T, followed by detection with an enhanced chemiluminescence reagent (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). The primary antibodies used were HRP-conjugated anti-HA (Roche), HRP-conjugated anti-FLAG (Sigma), and HRP-conjugated anti-actin (Sigma) antibodies. NSC34 cells (1.5×105 cells/well) were seeded into 12-well plates and transfected with one of the plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged A4T-SOD1, HA-tagged SUMO 1/3, or the empty vector and myc-tagged Ubc9 using lipofection. After 16 h of transfection, the cells were treated with 50 µg/ml cycloheximide (CHX) for 3 or 6 h and lysed in T-PER lysis buffer (Thermo Scientific) with phosphatase and protease inhibitors (Thermo Scientific). The cell debris was removed by centrifugation, and the clarified cell lysates (20 µg of protein) were subjected to an immunoblot analysis as described above. The band intensity was quantified using ImageJ (NIH), and the arbitrary units of SOD1 were normalized to those of β-actin. CHO cells were cultured in Ham’s F12 supplemented with 10% FBS, 50 units/ml penicillin, and 50 µg/ml streptomycin. The cells (8×104 cells/well) were seeded into 4-well chamber slides (Thermo Scientific) and cotransfected with plasmids expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-fused SOD1 (wt or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO1/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9 by lipofection. To prepare the transfection mixture, the plasmid DNAs were mixed in a ratio of 2∶1∶1 for SOD1:SUMO1/3:Ubc9. After 24 h of transfection, the cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS and incubated with blocking solution (5% bovine serum albumin in PBS), anti-HA antibody (M180-3, MBL, Nagoya, Japan), and DyLight594-conjugated anti-mouse IgG antibody (Jackson Immuno Research, West Grove, PA, USA), followed by counterstaining with 4′, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, AAT Bioquest). CHO cells (4×105 cells/well) were seeded into 6-well plates and cotransfected with plasmids expressing EGFP-fused SOD1 (wt or mutant), HA-tagged SUMO1/3, and myc-tagged Ubc9 by lipofection. After 24 hours, the cells were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS, and EGFP fluorescence was detected using a fluorescence microscope (Olympus). Images of randomly selected fields in each well were recorded. We counted cells containing heterologous accumulation of fluorescence with high intensity as aggregate-positive cells (indicated with arrowheads in Fig. 3), and the percentages of aggregate-positive cells were calculated. All statistical analyses were performed using Prism5 (Graph Pad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA). Two group comparison was analyzed by t-test. Group differences were analyzed by a one-way ANOVA, followed by post-hoc tests (Tukey’s multiple comparison test). The results expressed as mean ± SD. SOD1 proteins are sumoylated by SUMO1 and SUMO3. NSC34 cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged G93R- (A) or wild-type (B) SOD1, HA-tagged SUMO 1/3 or vector, and myc-tagged Ubc9. The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-FLAG M2 antibody or anti-HA antibody (M180-3, MBL). Immunoprecipitates (A, B) and input samples (15 µg protein) (C) were analyzed by immunoblotting with HRP-conjugated anti-HA, anti-FLAG, anti-myc, and anti-β-actin antibodies. In D, immunoprecipitate of anti-FLAG antibody from NSC34 cells expressing G93R-SOD1-FLAG, HA-SUMO3, and myc-Ubc9 (indicated as IP) and the lysate of HEK293 cells (15 µg protein) expressing G93R-SOD1-FLAG, HA-SUMO3, and myc-Ubc9 were analyzed side-by-side. Arrowheads indicate the bands commonly detected in immunoprecipitates of anti-FLAG and anti-HA antibodies, suggesting that these bands are sumoylated SOD1 proteins. Arrows indicate the bands of non-sumoylated SOD1 monomer. Non-sumoylated G93R-SOD1 but not wt SOD1 monomer was detected in immunoprecipitates of anti-HA antibody. Asterisks indicate the bands detected by anti-FLAG antibody in immnoprecipitates of anti-FLAG antibody and HEK293 lysate, but not in immnoprecipitate of anti-HA antibody, suggesting that these bands are nonsumoylated SOD1 dimers. Ubc9 promotes sumoylation of SOD1. NSC34 cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged mutant SOD1, HA-tagged SUMO 1/3, and either myc-tagged Ubc9 or the empty vector. The presence (+) or absence (−) of Ubc9 is indicated above the lane. The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with an anti-FLAG M2 antibody. Input samples (15 µg protein) (A) and immunoprecipitates (B) were analyzed by immunoblot with HRP-conjugated anti-HA, anti-FLAG, anti-myc, and anti-β-actin antibodies. The global sumoylation of cellular proteins was significantly increased in the presence of Ubc9 (A upper panel). Consistently, the amount of sumoylated SOD1 proteins was markedly increased in the presence of Ubc9 (B upper panel). A. Familial ALS-linked SOD1 mutant is stabilized by SUMO3 modification. NSC34 cells were cotransfected with plasmids expressing FLAG-tagged A4T-SOD1, one of the HA-tagged SUMO1, SUMO3, or the empty vector, and myc-tagged Ubc9. After 16 h of transfection, the cells were treated with 50 µg/ml cycloheximide for 3 or 6 h or untreated (time 0). The cell lysates were subjected to an immunoblot analysis with anti-FLAG antibody (A upper panel) and anti-β-actin antibody (A lower panel). A representative immunoblot result is shown. B. Quantitative analysis of the immunoblot. The intensity of each band was quantified by using ImageJ and normalized to the arbitrary units of β-actin, and the means and SD (n = 3) were calculated. C. Quantitative analysis of the immunoblot. The data in B are expressed relative to the 0 h value ( = 1). Statistical analysis between 0 h and 6 h was performed by t-test and the p values are shown. The amount of SOD1 protein decreased over time in the presence of SUMO1. On the other hand, the amount of SOD1 proteins did not show an apparent difference among treatment time in the presence of SUMO3. Coexpression of SOD1 and SUMO in CHO cells. Transfection efficiency of SOD1 and SUMO in CHO cells is summarized (representative data of two independent experiments). 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2019-04-21T05:17:50Z

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101080

Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. 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Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Boasts 21 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70) (DFD), TRADESMAN SXT PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Bright Rear Bumper, Front Fog Lamps, Bright Grille, Bright Front Bumper, Carpet Floor Covering, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats.* This Ram 1500 Classic Features the Following Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 27B TRADESMAN -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70) (DFD), Tradesman Package , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, GVWR: 6,900 LBS, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, CARPET FLOOR COVERING, BRIGHT WHITE CLEARCOAT, BLACK SEATS.* Stop By Today *Stop by JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge located at 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072 for a quick visit and a great vehicle!Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Delivers 21 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic delivers a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70) (DFD), TRADESMAN SXT PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Bright Rear Bumper, Front Fog Lamps, Bright Grille, Bright Front Bumper, Carpet Floor Covering, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 27B TRADESMAN -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70) (DFD), Tradesman Package , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, GVWR: 6,900 LBS, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, CARPET FLOOR COVERING, BRIGHT SILVER METALLIC CLEARCOAT, BLACK SEATS.* Stop By Today *Test drive this must-see, must-drive, must-own beauty today at JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072.Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase.Delivers 25 Highway MPG and 17 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-6 3.6 L/220 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 17 X 7 ALUMINUM (STD), TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (845RE) (STD), TIRES: P265/70R17 BSW AS (STD).*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 22J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 3.6L V6 24V VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (845RE), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SIRIUSXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SiriusXM Radio Service, POPULAR EQUIPMENT GROUP -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, SIRIUSXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SIRIUSXM Radio Service, GVWR: 6,800 LBS (STD), GRANITE CRYSTAL METALLIC CLEARCOAT, ENGINE: 3.6L V6 24V VVT (STD), DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT, BLACK SEATS.* Visit Us Today *Stop by JTs Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram located at 4838 Sunset Blvd, Lexington, SC 29072 for a quick visit and a great vehicle! Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase.Boasts 25 Highway MPG and 17 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic delivers a Regular Unleaded V-6 3.6 L/220 engine powering this Automatic transmission. TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (845RE) (STD), SPRAY IN BEDLINER, RADIO: UCONNECT 4C W/8.4 DISPLAY -inc: USB Host Flip, Google Android Auto, 1-YR SiriusXM Guardian Trial, HD Radio, Media Hub (2 USB, AUX), Air Conditioning ATC w/Dual Zone Control, 8.4 Touchscreen Display, Apple CarPlay, Humidity Sensor.* This Ram 1500 Classic Features the Following Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 22F WARLOCK -inc: Engine: 3.6L V6 24V VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (845RE), Black RAM Head Tailgate Badge, Black Powder Coated Front Bumper, Black Headlamp Filler Panel, Black Grille w/RAM Lettering, Tow Hooks, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, ParkSense Rear Park Assist System, Front Wheel Well Liners, Black Headlamp Bezels, Black Powder Coated Rear Bumper, Black Wheel Flares, Front LED Fog Lamps, Bi-Function Halogen Projector Headlamps, Black Exterior Truck Badging, Semi-Gloss Black Hub, Sport Tail Lamps, Hood Decal , LUXURY GROUP -inc: Cluster 7.0 TFT Color Display, LED Bed Lighting, Overhead Console w/Garage Door Opener, Universal Garage Door Opener, Steering Wheel Mounted Audio Controls, Sun Visors w/Illuminated Vanity Mirrors, Exterior Mirrors Courtesy Lamps, Glove Box Lamp, Auto Dim Exterior Mirrors, Exterior Mirrors w/Supplemental Signals, Rear Dome w/On/Off Switch Lamp, Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel, Power Heated Fold-Away Mirrors, Rear View Auto Dim Mirror, Power-Folding Mirrors, GVWR: 6,800 LBS (STD), ENGINE: 3.6L V6 24V VVT (STD), DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, PREMIUM CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Power Lumbar Adjust, Folding Flat Load Floor Storage, 115V Auxiliary Power Outlet, Front Center Seat Cushion Storage, Rear 60/40 Split Folding Seat, Power 10-Way Driver Seat, DIAMOND BLACK CRYSTAL PEARLCOAT, ANTI-SPIN DIFFERENTIAL REAR AXLE, 3.21 REAR AXLE RATIO (STD), Wheels: 20 x 8 Semi-Gloss Black Aluminum, Vinyl Door Trim Insert.* Visit Us Today *Test drive this must-see, must-drive, must-own beauty today at JTs Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 4838 Sunset Blvd, Lexington, SC 29072. Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase.Scores 22 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic delivers a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70) (DFK), TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 26J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70) (DFK), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats, GVWR: 6,900 lbs, EXPRESS VALUE PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SIRIUSXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI, 1-Yr SiriusXM Radio Service, GVWR: 6,900 LBS, GRANITE CRYSTAL METALLIC CLEARCOAT, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT, ANTI-SPIN DIFFERENTIAL REAR AXLE.* Visit Us Today *Test drive this must-see, must-drive, must-own beauty today at JTs Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 4838 Sunset Blvd, Lexington, SC 29072. Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase.Scores 22 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic delivers a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70), TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 27J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats, EXPRESS VALUE PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, BRIGHT SILVER METALLIC CLEARCOAT, BLACK SEATS, ANTI-SPIN DIFFERENTIAL REAR AXLE.* Stop By Today *Test drive this must-see, must-drive, must-own beauty today at JTs Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, 4838 Sunset Blvd, Lexington, SC 29072. Scores 25 Highway MPG and 17 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-6 3.6 L/220 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (845RE) (STD), TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 22J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 3.6L V6 24V VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (845RE), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats, EXPRESS VALUE PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, ENGINE: 3.6L V6 24V VVT (STD), DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, BRIGHT SILVER METALLIC CLEARCOAT, BLACK SEATS, ADD CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH.* Visit Us Today *Come in for a quick visit at JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072 to claim your Ram 1500 Classic!Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Boasts 22 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70) (DFD), TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 27J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70) (DFD), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats, EXPRESS VALUE PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, BRIGHT WHITE CLEARCOAT, ANTI-SPIN DIFFERENTIAL REAR AXLE, ADD CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH.* Visit Us Today *Stop by JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge located at 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072 for a quick visit and a great vehicle!Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Scores 21 Highway MPG and 15 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-8 5.7 L/345 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRUE BLUE PEARLCOAT, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (8HP70) (DFD).*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *TRADESMAN SXT PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Bright Rear Bumper, Front Fog Lamps, Bright Grille, Bright Front Bumper, Carpet Floor Covering, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats, QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 27B TRADESMAN -inc: Engine: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (8HP70) (DFD), Tradesman Package , TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS, SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, GVWR: 6,900 LBS, ENGINE: 5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT, DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, CARPET FLOOR COVERING.* Stop By Today *For a must-own Ram 1500 Classic come see us at JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072. Just minutes away!Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase. Boasts 25 Highway MPG and 17 City MPG! This Ram 1500 Classic boasts a Regular Unleaded V-6 3.6 L/220 engine powering this Automatic transmission. WHEELS: 20 X 8 ALUMINUM CHROME CLAD -inc: Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, TRANSMISSION: 8-SPEED AUTOMATIC (845RE) (STD), TIRES: P275/60R20 BSW AS.*This Ram 1500 Classic Comes Equipped with These Options *QUICK ORDER PACKAGE 22J EXPRESS -inc: Engine: 3.6L V6 24V VVT, Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic (845RE), Front Fog Lamps, Ram 1500 Express, Body Color Grille, Body Color Rear Bumper w/Step Pads, Rear Floor Mats, Body Color Front Fascia, Front Floor Mats, EXPRESS VALUE PACKAGE -inc: Remote Keyless Entry w/All-Secure, Radio: Uconnect 3 w/5 Display, 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, Wheels: 20 x 8 Aluminum Chrome Clad, Tires: P275/60R20 BSW AS, Full Size Temporary Use Spare Tire, Rear Floor Mats, Front Floor Mats , SIRIUSXM SATELLITE RADIO -inc: For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, REMOTE KEYLESS ENTRY W/ALL-SECURE, RADIO: UCONNECT 3 W/5 DISPLAY -inc: 5.0 Touchscreen Display, Overhead Console, Rear View Day/Night Mirror, GPS Antenna Input, Temperature & Compass Gauge, Integrated Voice Command w/Bluetooth, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, For More Info, Call 800-643-2112, No Satellite Coverage w/AK/HI/PR/VI/GU, 1-Year SiriusXM Radio Service, MAXIMUM STEEL METALLIC CLEARCOAT, ENGINE: 3.6L V6 24V VVT (STD), DIESEL GRAY/BLACK, CLOTH 40/20/40 BENCH SEAT -inc: Manual Adjust Seats, Rear Folding Seat, BLACK SEATS, ADD CLASS IV RECEIVER HITCH.* Stop By Today *Stop by JT's Chrysler Jeep Dodge located at 5215 Sunset Blvd., Lexington, SC 29072 for a quick visit and a great vehicle!Must Mention internet price to receive this price. Pricing does not include tax and tags. Price includes $389 closing fee. Pricing only valid when financing through Ally Financial. Must present Internet Pricing before negotiations to qualify. . MSRP is the suggested retail price set by the manufacturer not the selling price. The sale price may not reflect the MSRP. The selling price includes all incentives including a $500 Chrysler Capital Rebate on certain models, a $1000 Upfitter Rebate on commercial vehicles, and a sub prime rebate up to $1250 on select vehicles. Some vehicles may have dealer installed optional equipment such as custom wheels and tires, step rails, etc. The extra equipment may not be included in the price. Optional equipment may be removed upon customer request. Pricing not valid with special APR programs. Offers not in conjunction. JTs Chrysler is not responsible for typographical errors in pricing. By submitting your information,you consent to receive all forms of communication including but not limited to;phone, text, email, mail, etc. Message and data rates may apply. Consent to these terms is not a condition of purchase.

2019-04-24T00:32:50Z

https://www.jtschryslerdodgejeepram.com/vehicles/2019-ram-1500-classic-big-horn-937175-1c6rr6lt8ks573040-4af02c6b-2d29-417c-86ed-97f6770927f8

TIP! Deep breathing and thought control can also relieve some tension. Visualize yourself taking a hot bath or doing an activity you enjoy. Stress is an issue that deals with ones mental health, and everyone will deal with stress at one point in their life. Many different factors can create stressful situations, from work to relationships. The tips below will help you find a way to manage stress effectively. TIP! Make sure you aren’t carrying tension in your jaw. The physical representation of your stress often shows up first in your jawline. Everyone needs positive thoughts in their life. Create your own by coming up with a positive, short phrase called an affirmation that you can use daily. Use it as a mantra to silence any doubts about yourself that may be making you more stressed. Inform yourself that you’re capable of dealing with it, that you are calm, or whatever affirmations can help you feel better. TIP! You need to understand why you are feeling stressed. It is important to figure out what in life is causing your own stress. One way to reduce stress is to perform repairs. Think of three things in your life that could use repairs, then fix them! By doing so, you are eliminating three potential headaches further down the road. TIP! A professional massage makes a great way to manage and purge your stress. People often carry stress in their bodies in the form of tense muscles. If you have several friends, organize activities such as walks in a park or jogging on hiking trails. You can reduce the amount of toxins by sweating them out. A quick jog is all it takes to get your stress under control. TIP! Remind the people in your life that they are not the direct cause of the stress in your life. If you take your stress out on your family, they will feel as if they are not treating you right. Get to know your stress. One of the most important parts of dealing with stress is identifying where your stress comes from. A person, situation, or even an object can be the cause of your stress. Once you know what has caused your stress, you can start addressing it until your stress is either minimized or eliminated. TIP! Talking with other people can be a great way of relieving stress. This will give you an opportunity to let your anxieties and emotions out. Write your stress away. In life there are often situations which cause a lot of stress, but which are not easier to talk about with others. In these situations, writing can provide a confidential outlet for your worries. Keep a journal containing the things that stressed you out, and how you solved them or relieved your stress, that way you can refer back to it. TIP! Video games are a wonderful form of reducing stress. When playing video games, your focus is on how you can beat the game. Try purchasing some spearmint oil to help reduce stress. Dab a bit on your neck and temples when you feel stressed. Minor luxuries like this can mean a world of difference against your stress, so give it a shot! TIP! Daydreaming is not just for kids! Find the time to close your eyes and relax. Let your mind carry you to a tranquil and enchanting place, free of the stresses of the moment. Put your hands on a wall and push forward while you are pushing downwards with your feet. This forceful stretching will work tension out of your body and take your focus off of whatever is causing you stress. TIP! You can reduce stress significantly with calming deep breathing exercises. Our breathing gets shallow and rapid when we are stressed, so incorporating better breathing techniques into your life will improve your daily stress levels. Every funny event you experience or joke you hear should go into it. Reading this type of log will be extremely enjoyable, but keeping records of this type serves to remind you of all of the entertaining and funny things that regularly happen in your everyday life. TIP! Limit the amount of caffeine that you take in during the day. Caffeine increases the presence of stress hormones in your body. Honesty is always the best policy so make sure you use this to ward off stress and anxiety. Even little white lies can lead to guilt and leave you worried and stressed that the truth will be exposed. TIP! Try mixing up a stress-reducing potion. A variety of homeopathic remedies are available to decrease anxiety and the symptoms of stress. Get a tutor to help you master a difficult subject at school. A tutor can help you to study for upcoming tests in the subject, so that you feel less stressed out when exam time arrives. Being 100% prepared can really make a difference in your mental state. TIP! Listen to light music, close your eyes, and relax. When you sooth your senses you actually take away stress and tension. It is awful to live with stress. It makes you anger faster, frustrate easier and a generally not a fun person to be around. People live with unnecessary stress all the time. The following tips will help you manage your stress and live a more relaxed life. TIP! Make preparations for the day ahead. This will help you start your day feeling less stressed. It is difficult to keep a job in place when most businesses are laying people off. If your workplace is causing stress, it is vital that you address the problem right away. This article contains tips that will help you to manage your stress. TIP! Take whatever is stressing you out and number it from 1-10. Let “1” represent a small problem, and let “10” represent a real catastrophe. Try your hardest to keep the stress in your life under control. High stress can lead to several health problems, such as stroke, hypertension, heart attacks, ulcers, insomnia, depression and muscle aches. Making sure that you have an adequate amount of sleep each night can reduce your stress levels and decrease the chances of you getting sick. TIP! Create your own affirmation; this is an upbeat, brief statement that you can use when you are feeling stressed. Repeat your affirmation when you are feeling overwhelmed, to give yourself the courage and strength you need to forge ahead. There’s nothing like a bit of exercise to help you battle stress. Do not expect your stress to disappear instantly, since this is only a way to deal with your issues. Not only can it relieve a great deal of stress, but it can also gift people with self-esteem and give them back some control over life. TIP! A great way to relieve stress is to exercise and get yourself active. While exercise is not a miracle cure, incorporating regular workouts into your lifestyle can make your life better. Think about what you currently do to manage stress, and determine if there is a better way to go about it. Consider tracking how you react to stressful situations over a couple of weeks. Then, examine your responses and try to decide whether they were helpful or made the situation worse. If not, you can then develop new coping strategies to help you better handle day to day stress. When stressed, you may be relaxed by drinking a cup of hot tea. You may find relief from herbal teas that include botanical ingredients like kava kava or chamomile. To make tea strong and get all of its benefits, let them steep for a full ten minutes. Try drinking a cup every morning or prior to bed to reduce your stress. TIP! One way to lower your stress level may be to spend time with pets. Experts agree that even the simple interaction of petting an animal can go a long way in alleviating stress. Teens and young adults can relieve stress by playing video games. Playing games lets you focus on the act of playing, letting you clear your head of negative thoughts. Either play with a friend or play alone to better your mood. TIP! Let your friends and family members know that your stress has nothing to do with them. Frequently, spouses, and particularly children, feel like they are at fault. A long bath can serve as a great relaxation tool. Scented oils can be used to help someone relax even more and feel as if they are in a luxury spa. You can also listen to soft music or indulge in a book. A relaxing soak is very effective in resting your body and brain, as well was letting go of stress. TIP! Analyze how you deal with stressful situations right now and your results can help establish if there are ways you can improve on handling it better. Try keeping a stress journal for a few weeks. Keep a close watch on your muscles if you’re stressed out, watching to see if any groups become clenched tightly. You may clench your teeth, back, or shoulders during an attack. When you are aware of where you hold your tension, consciously stretch these spots often when you are under stress. This will help to lessen the tension you feel and will help you relax. TIP! Playing video games is an excellent way for young adults to relieve stress. Playing a game forces you to focus on the strategy, thus helping to distract you from other worries. To reduce stress learn some deep breathing exercises. During periods of stress, our breathing can become fast and shallow. Breathing slowly deeply reduces stress and curbs tension. This is a great way to reduce stress in your life. TIP! Listening to music can be a simple, effective stress-reducing technique. It is a well known phenomenon that music therapy will reduce stress as long as the type of music is soothing to you. To help give yourself a less stressful lifestyle, do your best to forgive others. Spending your energy focusing on the ways others have wronged you will increase your stress levels and make you anxious and irritable. TIP! Enjoying a hot bath is a great way to relieve stress. Soaking in a tub is a great way to push all your worries and cares out of your mind. Learning what things in your life are really important to you can help to deal with stress. Prioritizing your “top 10 list” can help you to understand what’s worth stressing about, and what’s trivial. This can lead to a happier day-to-day life. TIP! Try to focus your attention on the quality of your breathing on a regular basis. It may be hard to believe but simply breathing deeply can increase the oxygen in your bloodstream and relax your body rapidly. In conclusion, no one wants to have stress with them in their job. Not only at work, but stress is present everywhere in your life, and can disturb your natural balance and open the door for a lot of unwelcome things. Use the advice in this article to reduce your stress. TIP! When you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, visualize being calm. Visualize yourself taking a hot bath or doing an activity you enjoy. It’s hard to reduce stress from your life; you must learn how to handle it. Like anything else, you need to be educated about the ways to reduce stress if you want to overcome it. These suggestions can help you get rid of stress and have you living healthier. TIP! Take whatever is stressing you out and number it from 1-10. If at one on the scale there means only minor problems, a ten then indictaes major problems. Do your best to control the stress level in your life. Too much stress is the cause of numerous health problems like stroke, heart attacks, hypertension, ulcers, depression, insomnia, obesity, and aches and pains. Get an adequate amount of sleep each night to allow the cells in your body to rejuvenate, and be ready to deal with tomorrow’s stress. It can also reduce your risk of developing any of these illnesses. Make a list of everything that is causing you stress and rank each item from one to ten. Use a rating system to determine how important the stressful things in your life really are. This method can often help you to stop suffering from stress due to minor issues. TIP! Make plans to take a long walk or go jogging with people you enjoy being with. This will let you sweat out all the toxins that are in your body, which is an important thing to do. Some people, when they get stressed out, end up turning to drugs or alcohol. This is a way people choose to temporarily relieve the negative and overwhelming feelings that they don’t have control over. Alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs will not solve your problems. Drugs and alcohol will instead make your life even harder and add to the stress you are already dealing with. TIP! Remember that alcohol is a depressant and is never good for stress relief. Using alcohol responsibly in a social setting with friends is fine; however, downing ten beers a night to knock the edge off your day is lunacy. The best way to start removing stress is to first discover where your stress is coming from and work to reduce or eliminate it. A common source of stress for many people is a friend that is emotionally draining and prone to drama. Limit the time you spend with such a person. By minimizing your exposure to highly stressful people or situations whenever feasible, you are taking great strides in improving the quality of your life and quite possibly, your health. TIP! Being able to listen to your own music at work can help quite a bit. Focus on calmer, low-key music like smooth jazz. Think about your stress, and how you deal with it. There is probably a better way to do things. Track how you respond to stressful situations over a few weeks. Examine how you respond to the stressful situation and find out how you can deal with it. If you aren’t, then try to devise a new coping strategy that will help you to deal with things on a day to day basis. TIP! By being prepared for problems you may encounter, you can reduce your exposure to stressful situations. For example, keep a spare house key in a secure location, always have a spare ready meal in stock at work and arrange backup babysitting options in case your regular sitter is ill. If your work allows it, listening to music of your choice can offer you a great benefit. Choose calm music, as this will reduce your stress level. If you play music with a strong beat, be sure it sends a positive message. TIP! Breathing before you respond can help control a situation that is stressful. Step back, count to ten, and breathe deeply before you act on the situation. Stand parallel to a strong wall, and with your feet planted firmly on the ground, place your hands flat on the wall and push as hard as you possibly can. This forceful stretching will work tension out of your body and take your focus off of whatever is causing you stress. As already noted, stress reduction is accomplished by a combination of education and coping techniques. If you know the right ways to reduce stress, it can seem more manageable. TIP! Engage in preventative healthcare to avoid stressing out. Now knowing about potential medical conditions or health concerns can leave you feeling stressed and anxious. Stress is often just a part of life but, learning to manage it makes it fade away. Gaining a bit of knowledge about how to relieve stress will be necessary in order to eliminate that feeling of being overwhelmed. The following article has advice you can use to lower your stress, while improving your overall life. TIP! Stop clenching your jaw and consciously relax it. Stress can be found in several parts of the body, but it is very common in the jaw. Try your hardest to keep the stress in your life under control. You can cause yourself serious problems like heart disease, insomnia, muscle aches and depression if you are stressed. A good night’s rest can help you in reducing the amount of stress you have in your life and give you a better ability to stay healthy. TIP! Music is a very effective tool for the management of stress. Music has an incredible power over people. You need to make certain your jaw is relaxed, and stop grinding your teeth. Different people allow stress to manifest itself in different areas of the body. For many people, stress affects the jawline. If you begin to feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, put your index finger on your jaw, clench, take a deep breath in, and release both your jaw and your breath at the same time. This is a neat tip that will immediately help you feel less stressed. TIP! Animals are a proven way to decrease stress levels. Studies have shown that the act of stroking an animal’s fur for a short period can help ease stress. A professional massage is a great way to take some of the stress away. It is very common for people to carry their stress as extremely tight muscles in the neck, jaw, shoulders and back. A massage is the best way to relax your muscles and release positive chemicals. TIP! Try writing about your stress to relax. Sometimes stress gets to the point where speaking about it is difficult, but sitting down and putting it to paper can actually have a more calming effect, which can relieve the stressful situation. Writing about your problems can help to reduce stress. There are problems in everyone’s life that causes anxiety. They may not be things you want to share with other people. Writing out these things for yourself can give you some perspective and meaning. Think about keeping a notebook with all your writing in. By doing this, you will have a useful resource to refer back to in the future if you are ever faced with similar problems. TIP! Gardening can be a great stress reducer. If you live in your own house, you have the right to garden as you please and where you please. Identifying the causes of your stress can definitely help to relieve it. If you find that you can remove a stressful thing from your life, try it. Once you remove what is causing you stress, it will feel as if a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. TIP! There are many herbal teas that help individuals to relax. Passionflower, kava kava, and chamomile tea are all famous for their mild sedative effects. In many cases, an enjoyable talk with a close friend is the greatest way to overcome stress. Expressing your emotions is a great way to feel better. Arrange to get together with a family member or friend, or make a telephone call to one. Going out to a candlelit dinner with your loved one is a wonderful way to relieve stress. This will focus your attention on the one you love so that you can enjoy yourself for the moment and not worry about past and future events. TIP! Treat yourself to a hot bath, at the end of a long day, to release tension. Some nice scented soaps or oils can make a bath luxurious. A great technique for reducing stress is daydreaming for short periods. Allow your mind to drift into a place and time of fantasy. Exercises like these will help your brain deal with any negative situation. TIP! If you practice healthy ways of living, you will have less reasons to become stressed. Worrying about your health can be stressful, and not taking preventative health measures may be harmful to your long-term well-being. With the constant movement of a busy life, it’s easy for people to find themselves feeling stressed out. Even searching for stress advice can be a source of stress, given the vast reams of information to pick through. The following information will help you quickly and easily begin getting rid of the stress in your life. When you feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities, it can help to visualize yourself being calm. Visualize yourself taking a hot bath or doing an activity you enjoy. As an alternative, close your eyes and picture yourself at a place that relaxes you most, such as the beach or in a field. Focus on the calmness of your surroundings. TIP! If you have several friends, organize activities such as walks in a park or jogging on hiking trails. Exercise will help rid your body of toxins by letting you sweat them away. Right down all of the things that are stressing you and then give them a number from 1-10. Allow one to be the bottom of the meter, “little to no stress”, while ten is extremely catastrophic situations. While it can be hard, learning how to not allow minor things in your life bother you can be a huge step towards a less stressful life. Develop an affirmation or a positive statement that can bring happiness to your life when you are stressed out. As you repeat your affirmation to yourself, you will be able to stifle that wheedling, pessimistic voice from within. Remind yourself whatever may come, you can handle it. Repeat to yourself that you are in control of your reactions. Choose an affirmation that responds to the voices that are bothering you. TIP! Some people turn to alcohol or other drugs when they are stressed out. They can then just forget about the issues that are plaguing them. The solution to stress is never found in a bottle. Using alcohol responsibly in a social setting with friends is fine; however, downing ten beers a night to knock the edge off your day is lunacy. Many times alcoholism starts with just one drink and then escalates from there. TIP! Since stress can come from so many different sources in our lives, it is important for you to identify the causes of your worst stress. If it is something that you are able to remove from your life, then you should consider doing just that. Try to replace unhealthy habits with healthy, productive ones. Getting some exercise is a better way of dealing with stress than overeating. Your body will be stronger, and better able to deal with everyday stress, if you replace your unhealthy coping habits with healthy ones. Try standing by a stationary wall, place your hands on it and push with all your might, digging your feet into the floor. This exertion process will help you to unleash your pent up stress. TIP! While video games and other hobbies can typically be very relaxing, if you find yourself becoming frustrated then you should put it down. Ideally, you should be clearing your mind and feeling more calm, so replacing your stressful feelings with frustration will undo the work you’ve done. Handcrafts are a very nice way to relax and reduce stress. Your mind just lets go and relaxes when you do something that does not involve a deadline. So try knitting, carving, writing, sculpting, or whatever it is you prefer. TIP! Stand by a solid wall, put your weight in your hands on the wall, and push hard while bracing your feet on the floor. Physical effort can be a really good way to relieve your stress. One natural way you can eliminate stress is by leading a lifestyle that is healthier. Try to get more exercise, improve the foods you eat or get a good night’s sleep to help your body fight anxiety or stress. When you take good care of yourself, your sense of well being increases and stressful events are easier to handle. TIP! Another great trick to relieve stress is to use visual imagery. Research has shown that using positive imagery works very well when trying to rid yourself of stress. In order to reduce stress, try deep breathing exercises. Stress causes quick, shallow breaths which reduce your oxygen intake, so learn how to breath correctly to relieve stress. Try to incorporate breathing exercises into your daily stress relief routine. If life is making you feel overwhelmed, then it is okay to say no. Do not try too hard to please everyone you know. TIP! If you are having to deal with stress, remember to stop and breath deeply occasionally. When you start feeling overwhelmed or anxious, studies have proven that by breathing deeply, you can start to feel better. Long, hot, luxurious baths are great stress relievers. There is almost nothing better at relieving stress than getting in the tub and soaking your muscles in a hot bath. If you don’t have time for a bath, take a few minutes to rinse your hands and face with hot water. If you imagine being in a bath at the same time, you will feel a bit of relief. TIP! Try to listen to relaxing music, and close your eyes to relax. Activities that soothe your senses can help stress or tension melt away. You should strive to remember that while stress is unpleasant, it is also bad for your health. Your body has difficulty running efficiently and effectively when stressed. If you apply the advice provided here, you will be able to relax and feel less overwhelmed. TIP! Practice preventative health care maintenance, and give yourself fewer reasons to stress-out! Health issues can be stressful but you could avoid most conditions by taking preventive measures. Keeping up with the recommended medical check-ups and tests will keep you focused on maintaining your body, resulting in better health and lower stress levels. As we understand more about stress, many people will take it more seriously. Some places of employment even look at is as a medication affliction that warrants time off from work. However, it is not likely that there is anyone who enjoys the concept of taking time off work because their stress is too much to handle. You want to defeat it. Use the information provided her to effectively banish your stress. TIP! Relax your jaw and stop gritting your teeth. The physical representation of your stress often shows up first in your jawline. Try your hardest to maintain a healthy stress level. Stress is a major contributor to aches and pains, depression, insomnia, ulcers, cardiac arrest, high blood pressure, stroke and more. Getting adquate sleep will minimize stress and can even reduce the possibility of getting sick. TIP! Getting a pet can help you with stress management. Even the simple act of petting an animal has been proven to be a stress reliever. For the health of your mouth, stop grinding your teeth. There are different parts of the body that may begin to harbor tension when a person is stressed out, and the jaw is one of the most common. Gently hold your hand around your jaw while your jaw is closed. Then, take a breath. Finally, exhale while releasing your jaw. This should make you feel better. TIP! One way to get rid of excess stress is writing it down. Often times we have difficulty discussing the matters which stress us most, but when it’s just between you and your writing, things have a way of working themselves to the surface and clearing up a great deal of stress. Make an affirmation, or a positive statement to use as a coping mechanism. By running the mantra in your mind, you will be able to control the self-critical thoughts that like to pop up in your head at times, and cause you unnecessary stress. Any affirmation that can make you feel more able to cope with stress is worth using, whether you are telling yourself that you are capable, or commanding yourself to be calm. TIP! Stress can be caused by a wide variety of factors, so you should first try to identify exactly what is causing you to feel stressed. If you find that you can remove a stressful thing from your life, try it. Avoid, overusing the word “stress”. There are many situations where you can convince yourself of something by repeating it to yourself over and over again. When you speak and think the word all the time, you’ll only end up feeling increased levels of stress. TIP! Drinking alcohol is a really bad way to cure a stress filled day. While having a couple beers among friends is fun, drinking beer every single day to calm your nerves is bad. Listening to music is an effective stress reliever. Music has a strong ability to alter our moods and feelings. It has been proven through recent studies that simply listening to music can help calm us. While everyone has various musical tastes, you need to find something that may calm and soothe your stress. Writing about your problems can help to reduce stress. Sitting down and writing all about your problems can lift a stressful weight from your shoulders. It’s particularly effective with those sorts of stresses that you feel uncomfortable sharing with other people. Keep a journal containing the things that stressed you out, and how you solved them or relieved your stress, that way you can refer back to it. One of the best hobbies for dealing with stress is getting down and dirty with gardening. If you own a house, you can garden away happily in your yard. TIP! Managing your time will effectively reduce your stress. If you are constantly rushing around, you will be under stress. Think about your stress, and how you deal with it. There is probably a better way to do things. Write down notes about how you dealt with stress each day. Keep doing this for a few weeks. Looking back at your notes will allow you to judge your responses: were the results helpful and were they healthy in nature? If you aren’t, then try to devise a new coping strategy that will help you to deal with things on a day to day basis. TIP! When you need to purchase lotion or shampoo, buy some that smell really good. The aroma of lavender is believed to have a calming effect, and other scents can make you feel good about yourself when you smell them and can make you feel much better about your day. TIP! Unclench your jaw and try to avoid grinding your teeth together. When we are stressed out, the tension will focus somewhere in our bodies; most commonly in the jaw. How much better would you life be without stress? Of course, nothing can really vanquish stress and it can actually be useful in smaller doses. There’s a problem when stress is chronic or uncontrollable. When stress gets to be too much and is not properly managed, your health will suffer. This article can help you to understand the steps that are important to take if you hope to manage your stress. TIP! Develop a short affirmation that you can use to focus yourself. If you repeat this statement you can overcome your stress. Your stress levels will stay down if you stay up to date on repairs your items may need. Think of how many things need to be repaired and the energy it would take to do them one by one. If you had kept up with these, you could have avoided them all piling up at the same time. TIP! Some hobbies and interests, such as video or word games, can provide a relaxing outlet for stress, but if they begin to cause you frustration, you should try something else. Remember, the goal is to have a clear mind so you can feel calm and relaxed, not more frustrated, which can only add to your stress. Stress can cause some people to cope in a negative way such as alcohol and drugs. They see this as the only way to combat the overwhelming stress they feel in their daily lives. Drugs and alcohol are definitely not a good solution. Far from fixing what’s wrong, drugs and alcohol will just add another layer of complexity to your existing issues. TIP! If you are constantly going somewhere, you could be thinking or moving too quickly. You must, in these circumstances, slow down and put things back into perspective with controlled, deep breaths. Some activities that seem to be harmless can actually increase or cause stress. For example, a few video games can be fun and relaxing. Hours of video games can be distracting from daily life. If you are addicted to video games, you will neglect your real life, and this will surely cause stress. This can be a reason for missing out on much needed sleep, or time spent preparing and eating a healthy meal. TIP! To keep anxiety at a minimum, always conduct yourself and your affairs honestly. Studies show that small lies can create a lot of guilt and make many people anxious about being caught. You should discover your main causes of stress, and find out methods of eliminating or reducing them as much as you can. A common source of stress for many people is a friend that is emotionally draining and prone to drama. Limit the time you spend with such a person. When you eliminate stressful situations, your health and your life will improve. You should never drown your stress in alcohol. While light social drinking is okay, using beer as an answer to tension on a daily basis is a bad idea. Alcohol abuse may actually cause additional stress, or addiction may set in. TIP! Learn to make better use of your time when you need to reduce the stress in your life. If you are constantly in a rush, stress is sure to follow. If your boss isn’t a curmudgeon and allows you to listen to your MP3 player at work, you should take advantage of the opportunity. Playing soft, relaxing music will help ease your tension. If you prefer upbeat music, stick to something that has happy lyrics and a fun tempo. TIP! Try picking up a few lotions, cremes or shampoos that emit strong and pleasing odors. If you enjoy your own scent, you will feel much better about yourself, which will make it harder for stress to ruin your day. Enjoying a cup of hot tea is one more way to reduce stress. Kava kava, passionflower, chamomile, and other teas are excellent stress relievers. Allow the tea to steep for up to 10 minutes; this allows you to get the maximum potency. These teas are excellent for the morning or evening, and can be a wonderful way to unwind from a stressful day. TIP! A great tip on reducing stress is to take a long hot bath. A hot bath relaxes tired and tense muscles like nothing else. Sometimes, just having a good conversation with someone you trust can be the best way to beat stress. Releasing your anxieties and revealing emotions in confidence can help you feel much better, almost instantaneously. Grab a good listener from your stock of friends and family to enjoy a nice long conversation, and vent some stress. TIP! Try to cut back on caffeine consumption during the day. Caffeine increases the presence of stress hormones in your body. Stand next to a solid wall and use your hands to push against it, giving all you have while digging in with your feet. You will be able to feel the stretch of your hamstring and it will take your mind off your problems, thus helping to relieve your stress. TIP! A simple stress reliever is carrying a small notebook and taking notes whenever you have a conversation that involves instructions being given to you. Make sure to pay attention to instructions that you are given. If you have a significant other, spend time with your loved one and go out to a romantic dinner by candle light This can help you focus and enjoy this moment versus thinking about what happened before, or what will happen later, to cause you stress. TIP! One technique you should consider using to lower your stress is shutting your eyes, and turning on relaxing music. Seek out objects that give off soothing or calm effects to help relieve stress. The challenges are finding the ones that work for you and then actually using these techniques when you get stressed out. It can be hard to remember to use a stress management technique when you are actually stressed out. Consider using some of the tips presented above, as they can help you control your daily stress levels.

2019-04-25T23:58:56Z

http://typemigraine.com/tag/reduce-stress/

MS001.02: How Do I Submit a Reporting Change Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a reporting change request for one of your employees. In Manager Self Service, you can initiate a request to have the "reports to" supervisor be changed for one of your employees. Please remember, this is just initiating a request, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Before you get started, it is helpful to have the Position Number of the new reports to supervisor before you get started with your request. From Manager Self Service in OneUSG connect, select the My Team tile. Locate the employee you want to request the reporting change for. Click their action button, which is this green button next to their name. Click Job and Personal Information. And then, click Submit Reporting Change Request. First, you will need to enter or select the transaction date. The date that you select should be the first date of a future pay cycle. For this example, we are going to enter 12/18/17. Now we can look up the new Reports To supervisor. We'll click the look up icon. And we'll input the position number here. If you are unsure of the position number, use the other fields to look for the new supervisor. After entering your search criteria, click the Search button. And select the new supervisor. So now we see the new information for this employee, as well as the old information. To proceed, we'll click Next. Here we'll enter comments explaining our request. And finally, we can click Submit. This page details the pending request along with the next approver in the chain. And that is how you can submit a request in OneUSG Connect to change the Reports To supervisor for one of your employees. MS001.03: How Do I Approve or Deny a Submitted Transaction Request? Welcome to this video on approving or denying a submitted transaction. If a transaction is routed to you for approval, there are multiple ways that you can approve or deny the transaction. Through the email link you receive, through the notifications flag, through the approvals tile, or through Review Transactions tile. In this video, we are going to walk you through using the Review Transactions tile. From Manager Self Service in OneUSG connect, select the Review Transactions tile. In the Approval Status drop down, make sure Pending my review is selected. To see all transactions, click in the Approval Process field and clear everything by clicking the X. Then, we can refresh the page. And here are all of the transactions awaiting our approval. Let's first select this one for a reporting change approval. Select the transaction to review by clicking the Approve/Deny link. Review the information on the request. We can enter our comments in the Approver Comments field. And then we can click Approve. You can add comments on the Approve pop-up box as well. Finally, click Submit. And let's go back to review transactions. Now, we can easily use the Review Transactions page to see transactions we have actually approved. For Approval Status, this time we'll select I have approved. And we'll clear the Approval Process field again and click Refresh. And here's our Reporting Change Approval. We'll click View Details to see the information since it is still pending. Below is the approval chain for this request. Notice that still has additional approval steps to go through. Please note that the workflow approval configuration may be different at your institution. Let's go back to the transactions page. This time, we'll pull up additional transactions we have to approve. Let's look at this request for a transfer. Again, review the information on the request. Notice that some things, such as salary detail need to be expanded. When finished reviewing the information, close the box. Now, we can enter our comments. For this example, we are going to deny this request because we need to wait a few months before we can make it official. To deny a transaction, we'll click Deny. And we'll leave our comments and click Submit. Let's go back and see what a denied transaction looks like. For Approval Status, we'll choose I have denied. And we'll clear the process field and click Refresh. Here, we can see that the transaction has been denied. Towards the bottom, we can see where we denied the transaction. And we can see that all other approval steps have been terminated. And that is how you can approve or deny a submitted transaction request in OneUSG Connect. MS001.05: How Do I Submit a Retirement Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a retirement request for one of your employees. When one of your employees you informs you that they are ready to retire and have a retirement date, you can use Manager Self Service in OneUSG Connect to initiate a request to begin retirement procedures for that employee. Please remember, you are just initiating the request, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request retirement for. And then, click Submit Retirement Request. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Submit Retirement Request page. Then, you need to enter or select the requested retirement date. This date is the first date of retirement for the employee. For this example, we'll select 1/1/2018. For reason, we'll indicate this is a normal retirement. And that is how you can submit a retirement request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.08: How Do I Submit a Termination Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a termination request for one of your employees. If you need to terminate an employee due to either voluntary or involuntary reasons, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating the request, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request termination for. And then, click Submit Termination Request. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Submit Termination Request page. Then, you need to enter or select the requested termination date. This date is the first day the employee is no longer employed at the institution. For our example, this is 12/6/17. Then, we can select the reason. Notice that this drop down has a variety of reasons. You will select the one appropriate to your situation. For our example, this is a voluntary termination by the employee so we'll select Resignation. And that is how you can submit a termination request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.10: How Do I View the Status of a Submitted Transactions Request? Welcome to this video on viewing the status of a transaction request you submitted. When you submit a transaction request for an employee, you can then view the status of that request in Manager Self Service, within OneUSG Connect. Through the Review Transactions tile, you can view transactions awaiting your review, ones that you have approved or denied, or ones that you have submitted, which is what this video shows you. You can then see where a transaction resides in the workflow approval chain. In the Approval Status drop down, change the selection to I have submitted. To see all transaction types, click in the Approval Process field and clear everything by clicking the X. And here are all of the transactions that we have submitted. Anything that is listed as pending is still in the approval chain. Let's look at this reporting change request that we submitted. To review a transaction, we just need to click the view Details link. Here we can see the transaction request we submitted. Towards the bottom, we can see where it is in the approval process. Please note that the workflow approval configuration may be different at your institution. If an approver has inputted comments, the comments bubble icon will have dots in it. Click it to view the comments or expand the comments section below. And we'll pull up transactions we have submitted. Let's look at this one that has been denied. Here we can see that Dwight denied this request. When a transaction has been fully approved or denied, you will be notified via an alert. A number will appear at your notifications flag quickly informing you of an action. And that is how you can review the status of a transaction request that you submitted in OneUSG Connect. MS001.13: How Do I Submit an Ad Hoc Salary Change Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request for an ad hoc salary change for one of your employees. If you want to request an ad hoc salary change for one of your employees due to a temporary or interim assignment or other valid reason, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this ad hoc salary change request, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request the ad hoc salary change for. And then, click Submit Ad Hoc Salary Change. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Submit Ad Hoc Salary Change Request page. Next, we need to update the transaction date. This date should be the first day of a future pay period. We'll select 12/17/17. Next, we can select the reason. For this example, Pam is taking on an additional temporary responsibility, so we'll select begin temporary appointment. And you can update either the change percent or change amount. We are requesting a 10% increase for this situation. After entering either the change percent or the change amount, we can press enter to update the New Salary Amount. And that is how you can submit an ad hoc salary change request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.14: How Do I Submit a Supplemental Pay Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request for supplemental pay for one of your employees. If you want to request supplemental pay for one of your employees due to a temporary assignment or allowance of some sort, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this supplemental pay request, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request the supplemental pay for. And then, click Submit Supplemental Pay Request. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Request Supplemental Pay page. Next, we need to update the effective date of this transaction. This date should be the first day of a future pay period. We'll select 12/17/17. Then we need to enter the end date of this supplemental pay request. This should be the last day of a future pay period. We'll select 5/19/17. Now, we need to select the supplemental pay type. Notice that there are five different choices. What you select as the pay type will drive what you can select in the next field, which is supplement pay code. Notice that you can select from different allowances, a one-time payment, and short term pay for faculty, staff and students. For our example, we are choosing Short Term Payment Staff. And for the supplemental pay code, we need to select temporary assignment. For amount, we'll enter $100. And finally we need to enter the combination code. If you are unsure of which combo code to select, contact your Payroll Department for guidance. We'll click the look up icon. And we'll expand the search criteria. For description, we'll enter library and click Search. And we see our library operations combo code here, so we'll select it. Finally, we need to enter comments supporting the supplemental pay request. If you have supporting documentation for this request, click the Add Attachment button. Select My Device, search for and select your document. For our example, we'll just close this box. And that is how you can submit a supplemental pay request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.20: How Do I Submit a Transfer Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to transfer one of your employees. If you wish to request that an employee be transferred to another work unit, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this transfer request. You are not making a permanent changes for the employee. Locate the employee you want to request the transfer for. And then, click Submit Transfer Request. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on this Questionnaire page. The answers you select here will drive the other choices on the next page. If the employee will be changing work locations, such as going to a different campus, select Yes. If the employee's supervisor will change, select yes. And select yes if you are requesting a change to this employee's salary information. First, we need to enter or select the transaction date. We'll choose 12/17/17. For the reason, you would select either Inter-Institutional Transfer or Reorganization. The other selections are used by Shared Services Center. Next, we need to select the new position title. It's easiest if you know the exact position number this employee will be transferring into. If you indicated that the employee's salary information will be changed, then you will be taken to the compensation detail page. We'll enter 10% as the change. We'll hit enter to update the new amount. Finally, we can enter comments supporting the transfer request. Then, we can click Submit. And that is how you can submit a transfer request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.21: How Do I Submit a Promotion Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to promote one of your employees. If you wish to request that an employee be promoted, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this promotion request. You are not making a permanent changes for the employee. Locate the employee you want to request the promotion for. And then, click Submit Promotion Request. First, we need to enter or select the transaction date. This needs to be the first day in a future pay period. We'll choose 12/17/17. For the reason, we are selecting Job Reclassification. Next, we need to select the new position title. It's easiest if you know the exact position number this employee will be promoted to. We'll expand the Search Criteria. We'll enter our position number for this example and click Search. Here is our position, so we'll select it. Let's proceed to compensation details. Finally, we can enter comments supporting the promotion request. And that is how you can submit a promotion request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.22: How Do I Submit a Location Change Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to change an employee's location. In Manager Self Service, you can initiate a request to change an employee's location. This is only applicable to institutions that have more than one location, such as multiple campuses. Please remember, you are just initiating this request to change locations for the employee, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request the change in location for. And then, click Submit Location Change Request. For the Transaction Date, we'll select 12/1/17. Then, we can click the look up icon for Location. Notice that only locations for your set id are listed. Locate the appropriate location and click it. Enter comments supporting your request. And that is how you can submit a request to change an employee's location in OneUSG Connect. MS001.23: How Do I Submit a Demotion Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to demote an employee. In Manager Self Service, you can initiate a request for an employee demotion. Please remember, you are just initiating this request to demote an employee, not making a permanent change directly in the application. Locate the employee you want to request the demotion for. And then, click Submit Demotion Request. Ensure that the employee you are requesting demotion for is listed at the top of the page. Answer the questions to indicate if the demotion will also come with a change in work location, supervisor and salary. Next, update the transaction Date, we'll select 12/1/17. This needs to be the first day of an upcoming pay period. For reason, select either Involuntary or Voluntary. You will need to know the new position number that you are demoting the employee to. Click the look up icon and search for position 10008449. Now, update the salary information. If you are indicating a reduction in salary, simply put a negative sign before the number. For this example, we'll input -10%. Now we can enter comments supporting the request. And that is how you can submit a request to demote an employee in OneUSG Connect. MS001.25: How Do I Submit a Security Request? Welcome to this video on submitting a security request for one of your employees. If you wish to request additional security be granted to one of your employees for access OneUSG Connect, you can initiate this request from Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this security request. You are not making any permanent changes for the employee. Before you begin, you will need the new security roles, query access, and supporting documentation your institution may require. Locate the employee you want to request the security for. And then, click Submit Security Request. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on this Security Request page. First, we'll enter the effective date of this security request. For our example, we'll enter 1/1/18. Next, we can enter the reason we are requesting additional security. Keep in mind that this field is limited to 30 characters. (Jan needs to monitor absence & tl). For new security roles, we can use the look up icon. For the first role, we are going to select BOR ABS Inquiry. Then, to add additional roles, click the Add a Row icon. Again, we'll use the look up icon and select BOR TL inquiry this time. If you are also requesting this person be granted query access, indicate the level you are requesting. For Jan, we are only requesting review. If you wish the employee to be able to query sensitive data, make this a yes. And if you are requesting the employee have access to personal identifying information, make this a yes. If you wish the employee be granted Correction mode, make this a yes. We are not requesting that Jan have access to be able to query sensitive data, see personal identifying information, be granted correction mode, be made a security administrator or be made a workflow administrator. So we'll leave all of those set to no. We are going to set the HR business unit for this employee to 39000. And we are only questing that Jan see Library Operations so we'll select that for the From Department, as well as the To Department. Finally, we can enter comments supporting the security request. And if you have any supporting paperwork to accompany this request, click Add Attachment button. Then find your document and select it. And click Upload. And then Done. And your documentation is now attached to this request. And that is how you can submit a security request in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS001.30: How Do I Send a Notification to an Employee from MSS? Welcome to this video on sending a notification to one of your employees. In OneUSG Connect, you can send an employee a notification or email directly from Manager Self Service. Locate the employee you want to send a notification to. In the Notify Employee box, select whether you want to notify the employee with an alert or an email, or both. If notifying via an alert, the employee will see their notifications flag enabled when they log into OneUSG Connect. If you wish to send an email, you can indicate if you wish to cc or bcc someone. For this example, we'll just notify via an alert. Leave the category as HR Notification. You can select to send a notification to multiple employees if you wish. And the message you want to send. If you want to add attachments, click the Add Attachment button and following the instructions. And click OK to the confirmation message. Now, let's go and see what the employee we just sent the notification alert to sees. We are now logged in as the employee. And we can see that their flag icon has a number 1. That indicates there is one notification. We can click the flag icon to open the Actions and Alerts box. If we select Alert, we can see the alert that the manager sent to this employee. And that is how you can send notifications to employees from Manager Self Service in OneUSG Connect. MS002.01: How Do I Submit a Request to Add Position and Funding? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to add a position and funding for one of your employees. If you want to request to add a new position and funding, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this additional position and funding request, not making a permanent change for the employee. Locate the employee you want to request the position and funding for. And then, click Submit Request to Add Position and Funding. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Request Add Position and Funding page. Next, we need to update the effective date of this transaction. This date should be the first day of a future pay period. Next, we need to enter the job code for this position. We'll begin entering the job code for this example, and select the appropriate new job code for this position. Once we tab out of the job code field, many of the fields will fill in. We'll leave official title and full time, but we'll complete this field for a regular position. Then, we need to enter work location information. And select our department from the list. Once we tab out, the location field should fill in. We'll leave Reports To blank, since Derek will continue to report to us. It's optional to complete Salary plan and salary grade. These settings are often unused, so we'll leave them blank. Some institutions use the Budget Amount field. This also is optional. We do need to indicate how the position is to be funded. You can add multiple funding codes and allocate a percentage for each one. For this example, we will enter the beginning portion of the combo code and select the appropriate entry in the list. If you are unsure of what combination codes to select, check with your payroll department. This position's funding will be split 50-50 between this first combo code and the second one. We'll enter the beginning portion again, and click the appropriate entry in the list. Tab out of the field to see the description. And we'll enter 50 percent here as well. Finally, we need to enter comments supporting the additional position and funding request. Select My Device, search for and select your document. Click Upload, and then click Done. And that is how you can submit request to add a position and funding in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS002.02: How Do I Submit a Request to Change Position and Funding? Welcome to this video on submitting a request to change position and funding for one of your employees. If you want to request that position and funding be changed for one of your employees, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this changed position request, not making a permanent change for the employee. Locate the employee you want to request to change position and funding for. And then, click Submit Request to Change Position and Funding. Here, make sure that the person you selected is listed on the Request to Change Position and Funding page. Next, we need to update the effective date of this transaction. This date should be the first day of a future pay period. We'll select 1/1/18. Indicate the reason for the change in position and funding. For this example, we'll enter Change in Job Responsibilities. Notice on the page, all of this employee's current information appears. The current information will remain on the right, while the requested changes are made on the left. For this example, we are changing the position from a manager position to a director position. So we'll start entering a new job code and select from the list (300X01). When we tab out, other fields update. Notice that fields with an orange circle require a value. So we'll select this drop down and choose Regular. For this position, we're not changing department, location or reports to. If you do have updates, simply click the look up icon for the appropriate field and select the new value. Next, you can indicate whether you want all incumbents of this position number to be updated. All current incumbents are listed below. And this is often just the one employee you are requesting the change for. If multiple individuals are listed here, select Yes to request to update all employees or No to just request the update be made for the current employee. Now, we can update funding information. We're going to leave Training, but make it 75%. The second funding code is 987110000140 for 25%. Here, enter comments supporting the changed position and funding request. If you have supporting documentation, click the Add Attachment button. Click My Device and search for and select the file. Click Upload and then click Done. And that is how you can submit a request to change a position and funding in OneUSG Connect for one of your employees. MS002.03: How Do I Submit a Request to Inactivate a Position? Welcome to this video on submitting a request inactivate a position. If you want to request that position be inactivated, you can initiate that request within OneUSG Connect's Manager Self Service. Please remember, you are just initiating this inactivate position request, not making a permanent change for the employee. Locate the employee you want to request to inactivate the position and funding for. And then, click Submit Request to Inactivate Position. Next, we need to update the effective date of this transaction. We'll select the current date. Notice that there are current active incumbents in this position. This procedure is most often done on vacant positions that you no longer want to fill. Here, enter comments supporting the inactivate position request. If you have supporting documentation, click the Add Attachment button and follow the directions to upload files. And that is how you can submit a request to inactivate a position in OneUSG Connect. MS005.01: How Do I See Basic Information About My Team? Welcome to this video on viewing basic team information. Within Manager Self Service, you can access and view basic information about your direct employees and perform certain actions for those employees. After launching OneUSG Connect, go to Manager Self Service. From Manager Self Service, select the My Team tile. The My Team page provides a list of your direct reports. The Summary information includes the employee's job title, department and location, and contact information. If one of your direct reports has direct reports of their own, that will also be listed. Click the link to see basic team information for those indirect reports. You can return to your direct reports through the breadcrumbs. Now, let's take a look at the Compensation page. The Compensation page provides the employees' current salary and other compensation details. And finally, there is a leave balances selection. The Leave Balances page provides a summary of each employee's leave balances. You can view additional leave balance details for an employee by selecting the View Details link. And we'll return to the Summary page. If you wish to see your employees in a tiled format instead of list format, select the business card icon. This page provides a business card type summary for each employee. If you click on the bottom right corner of a business card, you can see additional information about that employee. If you need to perform a job related action for an employee, select that employee's green menu button. A list of Action links is then displayed. To navigate to one of the action areas, just click it. To close the menu, just click the close button. And that is how you can review basic information about your team within OneUSG Connect. MS005.06: How Do I Review Compensation History for My Employees? Welcome to this video on reviewing compensation history for your team. Through Manager Self Service, you can quickly view the compensation history of your team members. Click the My Team tile on the Manager Self Service page. Locate the employee that you wish to view the compensation history for and select that employee's action button, which is the green drop down arrow next to their name. From the action menu, select Compensation. And then click View Compensation History. On the Compensation History page, all changes in compensation history for this employee will be listed here. To see the details of a compensation change, click the Date of Change. The Salary Change Details indicate the date of change, annual salary, previous annual salary, if different, and the change amount and percent if applicable. Click Return to go back to Compensation History. To choose another employee, select the My Team back button. And repeat those steps for another employee you wish to view the compensation history for. Return to Manager Self Service by using its back button. And that is how you can review the compensation histories for your employees within OneUSG Connect. MS005.08: How Do I Review My Team's Current Talent Profiles? Welcome to this video on reviewing your employees' current talent profiles. In OneUSG Connect, all employees have the ability to record degrees, licenses, certifications, language skills and honors and awards through Employee Self Service. These additions are recorded to their Talent Profile. As a manager, you have the ability to review your employees' talent profiles. And there are two ways to get there: one through the employee's action button, and the other through Talent: Degrees and Certifications tile. After launching OneUSG Connect, proceed to Manager Self Service. Then, select the Talent - Degrees and Certifications tile. Here, to see an employee's talent profile, choose their Select button. Let's go back to Manager Self service. We can also see their current profiles by selecting the My Team tile. Locate the employee you wish to view and click their action button. And click View Current Team Profiles. or honors and awards, they would be listed here. And that is how you can review the current talent profiles for your employees in OneUSG Connect. MS005.09: How Do I Add Something to the Talent Profile for One of My Employees? Welcome to this video on adding something to your employee's talent profile. In OneUSG Connect, all employees have the ability to record degrees, licenses, certifications, language skills, and honors and awards within Employee Self Service. As a manager, you are able to review what information your team members have added to their talent profile. You also have the ability to edit and add something to their profile. Then select the Talent: Degrees and Certifications tile. Select the employee you wish to add a profile item to (0295614). You can add any profile item. Simply complete the fields. For this example, we are going to add an award for this employee so we'll click the Add New Honors and Awards link. We'll leave the current date as the effective date. Then, we can select the look up icon for Honor or Award. The item you wish to add must be in this look up list. You are unable to enter free text into the field. If you do not see the item you wish to add, you can cancel out of this and submit a request to Shared Services Center to have the item added to the look up list. Our example of the Customer Service Excellence is listed, so we'll select it. And then, we can include who granted this award. In this case, it was the Governor's Office. Follow similar steps when adding other profile items for your employee. When finished adding all items, click the Save button. And that is how you can add items to your employees' talent profiles in OneUSG Connect. MS005.12: How Do I See My Team's Historical Talent Profiles? Welcome to this video on reviewing your team's historical talent profiles. Once you are in Manager self service, to see historical talent profiles for your team, you can go to My Team. And select the action button of the employee you wish to view. And then choose View Team Historical Profiles. You can also go back to Manager Self Service and select the Talent: Degrees and Certifications tile. Here, update the As Of Date and then click Refresh Employees. You will be able to see the talent profiles of anyone you supervised as of that date you entered. Keep in mind that the historical profiles are built from entries made in OneUSG Connect. So it may be a while before any historical profiles appear. We will need to be live on the application for some time before entries begin appearing. And that is how you can review the historical talent profiles for your employees in OneUSG Connect.

2019-04-23T12:19:36Z

https://ung.edu/human-resources/oneusg/video-transcripts/transcript-mss-01.php

If you’re looking for a marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX, certainly the journey that led you here has been tumultuous and demanding. Regardless of whether you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, identified in a bust, or picked up in a road stop, the penalties are steep if you’re convicted. While a good many states have legalized cannabis to some extent, those that have not come down exceedingly hard on those who are accused, in order to curb the spread of drugs into the state. Even a little marijuana, residue, or oil, can result in major repercussions, such as time in jail or prison and fines. In addition, a criminal background may cost you jobs in the future, limit your housing options, and strain your relationships with friends and family. With so much at risk, you can’t just choose any marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX from the Yellow Pages. You’ll want to research conscientiously and talk with several before you make a final choice on which one to hire. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we offer unbiased information and facts to assist you to with your court case, as well as profiles of legal representatives who have the credentials and knowledge necessary to help you defeat your charges and move forward with your life. As you read the profiles listed here, search for the following qualities to help choose which marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX is right for you. Specialty: Look for legal professionals who have dedicated a portion of their practice to defending marijuana charges. Because the laws change rapidly, a person who frequently works in this field will be knowledgeable about the laws, in addition to the latest techniques to overcome accusations. It’s also helpful to work with someone who is very familiar with the variation of cannabis and the charge associated with your matter, as a person fighting a hemp oil charge will be needing a vastly different approach than a person fighting a marijuana trafficking accusation. Resolve: It may be hard to determine a legal professional’s commitment to you during the case evaluation. However, if you ask each marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX that you speak with what defensive strategy he thinks is strongest, and also why he thinks it’s the proper method for you, you’ll have the ability to compare and contrast responses. After you’ve heard from several legal representatives, it will be an easy task to recognize who has your needs under consideration. Remember, the practitioners shown on Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer are all known for their dedication to providing people with a customized and rigorous defense, so as you talk to them, you may wish to concentrate your attention on which methods resonates the most with you instead. Ability: Hire a marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX who has a confirmed record of delivering encouraging outcomes in cases similar to yours. Determining this is as easy as asking each legal practitioner about his background and previous experience during your consultation. It’s important to choose your marijuana drug lawyer in Jarrell TX fairly quickly, as even the greatest representative will require time to review your case and provide you with a thorough defense strategy. After you have looked over profiles and have made a list of attorneys you think are a good fit, book your no-cost case evaluations immediately, to make sure your legal practitioner has the time he requires. Tag's : Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Marijuana Drug Attorney | Marijuana Drug Attorney in Jarrell TX | Marijuana Drug Charges | Marijuana Drug Charges in Jarrell TX | Marijuana Drug Laws | Marijuana Drug Laws Jarrell TX | Marijuana Drug lawyer | Marijuana Drug Lawyer in Jarrell TX | marijuana laws . If you’re seeking a marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX, without a doubt the path that led you here has been turbulent and nerve-racking. Regardless of whether you were targeted in a road stop, identified in a bust, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, the penalties are steep if you’re convicted. Although many states have legalized cannabis at some level, those that have not come down extremely hard on people who are accused, in order to curb the spread of substances into the state. Even a small amount of marijuana, residue, or oil, can result in tremendous repercussions, such as fines and jail time. Additionally, a criminal conviction may cost you job opportunities later in life, limit your housing options, and strain your family relationships. With so much at risk, you can’t just select any marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX from the phone book. You’ll need to research carefully and seek advice from several before you make a final choice on which one to retain. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we present unbiased material to help you with your matter, as well as profiles of legal professionals who have the credentials and knowledge necessary to help you defeat your charges and move forward with your life. As you assess the profiles listed on this site, look for the following traits to help choose which marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX is best for your needs. Focus: Look for professionals who have dedicated a portion of their legal practice to defending cannabis charges. Because the laws change rapidly, an individual who frequently works in this area will be well-versed in the laws, as well as the latest ways to overcome charges. It’s also helpful to work with an individual who is very familiar with the form of cannabis and type of charge associated with your court case, as someone dealing with a hemp oil charge will require a significantly different defensive strategy than a person combating a marijuana trafficking charge. Commitment: It may be hard to assess an attorney’s commitment to you during your consultation. Nonetheless, if you ask each marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX that you meet up with what strategy he thinks is strongest, and also why he believes it’s an excellent method for you, you’ll be able to do a comparison of responses. When you have heard from a handful of professionals, it will be easy to identify who has your interests under consideration. Take into account, the attorneys listed on Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer are all well-known for their commitment to providing those accused with a tailored and strong defense, so as you chat with them, you may wish to focus your attention on which methodology resonates best with you instead. Skill: Select a marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX who has a confirmed record of delivering favorable outcomes in cases similar to yours. Determining this is as easy as asking each attorney about his background and relevant experience during your initial consultation. It’s important to retain your marijuana drug lawyer in Prairie Lea TX fairly quickly, as even the greatest representative will need time to review your case and provide you with a thorough strategy. Once you have reviewed profiles and have a list of practitioners you think are ideal, schedule your no-obligation case evaluations immediately, to make certain your attorney has the time he requires. Tag's : Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Marijuana Drug Attorney | Marijuana Drug Attorney in Prairie Lea TX | Marijuana Drug Charges | Marijuana Drug Charges in Prairie Lea TX | Marijuana Drug Laws | Marijuana Drug Laws Prairie Lea TX | Marijuana Drug lawyer | Marijuana Drug Lawyer in Prairie Lea TX | marijuana laws . Trying to find a Weir TX drug attorney? You have found yourself in the perfect place. Across the pages of Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, you’ll find quite a few profiles of proficient and knowledgeable lawyers who can help you with your matter. All the same, you should also spend time getting to know any lawyer you consider retaining wherever you find him. Despite changes in legislation, drug violations are still treated very seriously by the judicial system. Even a lower charge, such as possession, could lead to incarceration and fines. More severe crimes, such as RICO or illegal drug trafficking, can add years to your sentence, plus could lead to tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Of course, when you pick the right Weir TX drug attorney to oversee your case, you might be able to have your charges thrown out or diminished. Discover what his relationship is like with prosecutors and judges. A well-practiced Weir TX drug attorney will very likely have worked with the men and women who are influential the outcome of your case before. If he has a good working relationship with them, he will be in a position to negotiate better terms for you. Normally, this respect is reciprocal, so you can assess how other people feel about a potential candidate by asking him his opinion about the prosecuting attorney and judge overseeing your case. Keep in mind if he has earned the regard of these influential women and men, he will also be able to win over members of the jury, so having a good rapport is very important. Look closely at how he communicates. Undoubtedly, the way he talks to you and others is very important. He’ll need to be able to explain intricate concepts in a straightforward manner to members of the jury, and also be able to influence. In addition, he must also maintain open communication with you, by responding promptly to your messages or calls, and speaking frankly with you regarding the details of your court case. It’s best if you talk to more than one Weir TX drug attorney, in order to look into the qualities and knowledge each one has. Every legal representative has a completely different policy on the fee for the initial consultation. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, the experts highlighted all offer complimentary consultations, which makes it simple to contact several, so you can have confidence about the selection you make. Take a moment to review the profiles showcased here, while keeping the components discussed above in mind. The Weir TX drug attorney you retain will need time to research your case and put together a solid defense, so it’s best if you move fairly quickly through the decision-making process. Connect with the ones you feel will be ideal for your situation, and arrange your no-obligation initial consultation in a timely manner. Tag's : Criminal Drug Defense Attorney | Criminal Drug Defense Lawyer | Drug attorney | Drug Attorney in Weir TX | Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | drug lawyer | Drug Lawyer in Weir TX | Weir TX Drug Attorney | Weir TX Drug Lawyer . If you’re looking for a marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX, without a doubt the journey that led you here has been tumultuous and nerve-racking. Whether you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, part of a bust, or picked up in a traffic stop, the penalties are great if you’re found guilty. Even though many states have legalized cannabis to some degree, states that have not come down particularly hard on those who are accused, in an attempt to curb the spread of illegal drugs into the state. Even a little marijuana, residue, or oil, can result in tremendous repercussions, such as jail time and fines. Moreover, a criminal history may cost you job opportunities in the future, limit your housing options, and strain your family relationships. With so much in jeopardy, you can’t just select any marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX from the telephone book. You’ll want to research conscientiously and contact several before you make a decision on which one to retain. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we present unbiased info that will help you with your matter, as well as profiles of professionals who have the credentials and expertise necessary to help you combat your charges and get on with your life. As you assess the profiles listed here, look for the following attributes to help choose which marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX is best for your needs. Specialty: Look for legal professionals who have dedicated a portion of their practice to defending cannabis charges. Because legislation change rapidly, a person who regularly works in this area will be familiar with the legislation, plus the latest techniques to overcome accusations. It’s also helpful to work with someone who is very familiar with the variety of cannabis and the charge involved in your case, as a person fighting a hemp oil charge requires a significantly different technique than a person battling a marijuana trafficking charge. Loyalty: It may be difficult to gauge an attorney’s dedication to you during the consultation. However, if you ask each marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX that you meet up with what approach he thinks is best, and also why he is convinced it’s the proper method for you, you’ll have the ability to compare responses. After you have heard from several attorneys, it will be simple to identify who has your best interests in mind. Keep in mind, the professionals detailed on Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer are all known for their commitment to providing those accused with a customized and rigorous defense, so as you talk to them, you may want to focus your attention on which technique resonates best with you instead. Talent: Hire a marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX who has a proven record of delivering positive outcomes in cases similar to yours. Ascertaining this is as simple as asking each legal representative about his background and experiences during your case evaluation. It’s extremely important to select your marijuana drug lawyer in Buda TX fairly quickly, as even the greatest attorney at law will require time to research case and construct a comprehensive strategy. After you’ve looked over profiles and have a list of practitioners you think are an ideal fit, book your no-obligation case evaluations right away, to make sure that your representative has the time he needs. Tag's : Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Marijuana Drug Attorney | Marijuana Drug Attorney in Buda TX | Marijuana Drug Charges | Marijuana Drug Charges in Buda TX | Marijuana Drug Laws | Marijuana Drug Laws Buda TX | Marijuana Drug lawyer | Marijuana Drug Lawyer in Buda TX | marijuana laws . Searching for a Waelder TX drug attorney? You have found yourself in the right place. Across the pages of Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, you’ll find many profiles of capable and knowledgeable practitioners who can help you with your matter. Nonetheless, you should also spend time getting to know any lawyer you consider hiring regardless of where you find him. Despite changes in legislation, drug accusations are still treated very sternly by the judicial system. Even a more minor offense, like possession, can result in time in prison or jail and fines. More severe crimes, such as RICO or trafficking, can add several years to your sentence, plus may lead to much greater fines. Naturally, when you select the right Waelder TX drug attorney to manage your case, you may be able to have your charges dismissed. Learn what his relationship is like with prosecutors and judges. A well-practiced Waelder TX drug attorney will likely have worked with the individuals who are influential in your case before. If he has a good working relationship with them, he will be able to negotiate more favorable terms for you. Usually, this respect is reciprocal, so you can assess how others feel about a potential candidate by asking him how he feels about the prosecution and judge overseeing your case. Bear in mind that if he has earned the admiration of these influential women and men, he will also be able to win over members of the jury, so possessing a good rapport is crucial. Focus on how he communicates. Needless to say, the way he speaks to you and others is important. He’ll need to be able to discuss intricate concepts in a simple manner to a jury, and also be able to influence. At the same time, he must also keep the lines of communication open with you, by replying promptly to your calls or messages, and speaking frankly with you concerning the details of your matter. It’s wise to confer with more than one Waelder TX drug attorney, in order to evaluate the characteristics and expertise each one offers. Every attorney has a unique policy on the rate for the initial consultation. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, the specialists highlighted all offer free case evaluations, which makes it simple to seek the advice of several, so you can be sure about the choice you make. Make time to review the profiles highlighted here, while keeping the things detailed above in mind. The Waelder TX drug attorney you hire will need time to study your case and construct a sound defense, so it’s a good idea to move swiftly through the decision-making process. Touch base with the ones you think will be ideal for your situation, and arrange your free initial consultation in a timely manner. Tag's : Criminal Drug Defense Attorney | Criminal Drug Defense Lawyer | Drug attorney | Drug Attorney in Waelder TX | Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | drug lawyer | Drug Lawyer in Waelder TX | Waelder TX Drug Attorney | Waelder TX Drug Lawyer . If you’re seeking a marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX, without a doubt the path that led you here has been tumultuous and stressful. Whether you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, part of a bust, or picked up in a road stop, the penalties are harsh if you’re convicted. Although many states have legalized cannabis at some level, places that have not come down particularly hard on people who are accused, in an attempt to curb the spread of substances into the state. Even a little bit of marijuana, oil, or residue, can result in tremendous consequences, such as fines and time in prison or jail. Moreover, a criminal history may cost you job opportunities in the future, limit where you can live, and strain your family relationships. With so much in jeopardy, you can’t just pick any marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX from the phone book. You’ll need to research thoroughly and seek advice from a few before you make a final choice on which one to retain. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we present unbiased material to guide you with your case, as well as profiles of legal professionals who have the qualifications and knowledge necessary to help you beat your charges and move on with your life. As you look at the profiles listed on this site, look for the following attributes to help decide which marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX is best for you. Focus: Look for professionals who have devoted a portion of their practice to defending weed charges. Because the laws change rapidly, somebody who frequently works in this area will be knowledgeable about the laws, plus the latest methods to overcome accusations. It’s also useful to work with somebody who is very familiar with the variation of cannabis and the charge involved in your matter, as a person managing a hemp oil charge will be needing a greatly different technique than someone fighting a marijuana trafficking offense. Resolve: It may be hard to assess a legal representative’s commitment to you during the case evaluation. Even so, if you ask each marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX that you consult with what defensive strategy he thinks is strongest, and also why he is convinced it’s the proper method for you, you’ll be able to compare responses. Once you have heard from several lawyers, it will be easy to distinguish who has your interests in mind. Keep in mind, the attorneys highlighted on Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer are all known for their commitment to providing those accused with an individualized and rigorous defense, so as you chat with them, you may want to concentrate your attention on which strategy resonates best with you instead. Skill: Retain a marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX who has a confirmed record of delivering encouraging outcomes in court cases similar to yours. Ascertaining this is as simple as asking each legal representative about his history and experiences during your consultation. It’s crucial to choose your marijuana drug lawyer in Bartlett TX fairly quickly, as even the best attorney will require time to review your case and come up with an intensive strategy. After you have looked over profiles and have a list of legal professionals you think are a good match, arrange your free case evaluations without delay, to make sure that your legal practitioner has the time he needs. Tag's : Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Marijuana Drug Attorney | Marijuana Drug Attorney in Bartlett TX | Marijuana Drug Charges | Marijuana Drug Charges in Bartlett TX | Marijuana Drug Laws | Marijuana Drug Laws Bartlett TX | Marijuana Drug lawyer | Marijuana Drug Lawyer in Bartlett TX | marijuana laws . Looking for a Liberty Hill TX drug crimes lawyer? As you likely know, the consequences for drug crimes are incredibly tough. A guilty verdict will impact your whole future- from job prospects, to housing, and even relationships with your family. However, your present concerns are likely the chance of time in jail or prison and/or fines. A Liberty Hill TX drug crimes lawyer who is proficient and skilled might be able to have your charges decreased or thrown out, though identifying which one is ideal is not always easy. As you speak with potential candidates, use the following attributes as a checklist, to help determine which Liberty Hill TX drug crimes lawyer is best-suited for your circumstance. Knowledge: Legislation is complex and laws are always being modified. It’s difficult for a general-purpose lawyer to keep up with adjustments for each area he works in. For this reason, it’s vital that you select a Liberty Hill TX drug crimes lawyer who has expertise with the type of offense you’re facing, as well as with the substance involved in your matter. Availability: Top law firms book up quickly and they manage many cases at the same time. You should look into availability from two perspectives. First, verify that the legal representative has time to dedicate to your case. Secondly, ensure that he will treat your situation as a priority and that he returns calls and messages promptly. Quality: Ask candidates what their reputation is like regarding cases similar to yours. Even country’s greatest legal professional won’t be able to have charges diminished or thrown out each and every time, but people who can share stories of several favorable outcomes are usually very good choices. Demeanor: It’s often said that “attitude is everything.” Although may not be everything in a court of law, a lawyer’s attitude certainly impacts how others interact with him. The right disposition can help him make friends with the judge, prosecution, jurors, which is necessary during negotiations. You have to be able to detect this trait during your case evaluation, but it can also be beneficial to visit a court to see professionals in action. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we only highlight profiles of legal professionals who have dedicated their practices to taking care of drug crimes. Each one has a distinctive history, and is ideal for tackling even the most complicated trafficking or RICO case. Most importantly, they analyze each case on its own merits, and build a unique strategy based on their previous experience, as well as the factors of your case. While it’s crucial that you be diligent in picking a Liberty Hill TX drug crimes lawyer, you must also act swiftly, as top law offices book their slots quickly, and they require time to put together an effective defense. Take some time to look at the profiles listed here, and schedule a no-obligation initial consultation with the ones you believe will be a good fit for your needs right away. Tag's : Criminal Drug Defense Attorney | Criminal Drug Defense Lawyer | Drug Crimes Attorney | Drug Crimes Attorney Liberty Hill TX | Drug Crimes Lawyer | Drug Crimes Lawyer Liberty Hill TX | Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Liberty Hill TX Drug Crimes Attorney | Liberty Hill TX Drug Crimes Lawyer . Looking for a Round Rock TX drug attorney? You have found yourself in the perfect place. Over the pages of Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, you’ll find several profiles of capable and knowledgeable legal representatives who can help you with your case. All the same, you should also spend time getting to know any lawyer you consider hiring wherever you find him. Despite the ever-changing legislation, drug charges are still treated very seriously by the judiciary system. Even a lower charge, like possession, can lead to time in prison or jail and fines. More severe crimes, such as illegal drug trafficking or RICO cases, can add several years to your sentence, plus may lead to much greater fines. Needless to say, when you pick a qualified Round Rock TX drug attorney to manage your case, you might be able to have your charges reduced or dismissed. Discover what his relationship is like with prosecuting attorneys and judges. A seasoned Round Rock TX drug attorney will very likely have worked with the people who are influential in your case before. If he has a good rapport with them, he will be equipped to negotiate better terms for you. Typically, this respect is two-way, so you can gauge how other individuals feel about a potential candidate by asking him his opinion about the prosecuting attorney and judge overseeing your case. Bear in mind that if he has earned the respect of these influential men and women, he will also be able to conquer a jury, so having a good rapport is crucial. Focus on how he communicates. Undoubtedly, the way he talks to you and others is important. He’ll have to be able to discuss elaborate concepts in a straightforward manner to the jury, and also be able to influence. At the same time, he must also maintain communication with you, by responding promptly to your messages or calls, and speaking frankly with you regarding the details of your court case. It’s wise to seek advice from more than one Round Rock TX drug attorney, in order to look into the qualities and experience each one brings to the table. Every legal professional has a completely different policy on the price for the initial meeting. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, the specialists highlighted all offer totally free initial consultations, which makes it very easy to contact several, so you can be certain about the decision you make. Take time to review the profiles highlighted here, while keeping the components discussed above in mind. The Round Rock TX drug attorney you select will need time to review your case and put together a solid defense, so it’s recommended that you move fairly quickly through the decision-making process. Reach out to the ones you believe will be a good fit for your case, and arrange your free consultation in a timely manner. Tag's : Criminal Drug Defense Attorney | Criminal Drug Defense Lawyer | Drug attorney | Drug Attorney in Round Rock TX | Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | drug lawyer | Drug Lawyer in Round Rock TX | Round Rock TX Drug Attorney | Round Rock TX Drug Lawyer . If you’re looking for a marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX, undoubtedly the journey that led you here has been turbulent and stressful. Whether you were picked up in a traffic stop, identified in a bust, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, the consequences are harsh if you’re convicted. Even though many states have legalized cannabis to some degree, regions that have not come down particularly hard on people who are accused, in an attempt to curb the spread of drugs into the state. Even a small amount of marijuana, residue, or oil, can result in huge repercussions, such as incarceration and fines. Moreover, a criminal record may cost you work opportunities later in life, limit your housing options, and strain your family relationships. With so much at risk, you can’t just select any marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX from the phone book. You’ll want to research mindfully and contact several before you make a decision on which one to hire. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we present unbiased info to help you with your matter, as well as profiles of lawyers who have the credentials and abilities necessary to help you fight your charges and get on with your life. As you assess the profiles listed here, search for the following traits to help decide which marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX is best for your needs. Specialty: Look for lawyers who have devoted a portion of their career to defending pot charges. Because the laws change rapidly, someone who frequently works in this field will be familiar with the laws, along with the latest methods to overcome charges. It’s also helpful to work with a person who is very familiar with the form of cannabis and type of charge involved in your case, as a person fighting a hemp oil charge requires a greatly different strategy than a person fighting a marijuana trafficking offense. Dedication: It may be difficult to measure a legal professional’s commitment to you during your initial consultation. Nevertheless, if you ask each marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX that you meet up with what defensive strategy he thinks is strongest, and also why he thinks it’s the ideal method for you, you’ll be able to measure up responses. After you’ve heard from a few lawyers, it will be easy to distinguish who has your interests at heart. Remember, the attorneys listed on Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer are all well-known for their dedication to providing clients with an individualized and rigorous defense, so as you speak to them, you may wish to focus your attention on which techniques resonates best with you instead. Talent: Choose a marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX who has a proven track record of delivering encouraging outcomes in matters similar to yours. Determining this is as easy as asking each attorney about his history and experiences during your consultation. It’s necessary to retain your marijuana drug lawyer in Dripping Springs TX fairly quickly, as even the greatest legal professional will require time to study your case and construct a comprehensive defense strategy. When you have reviewed profiles and have a list of professionals you think are an ideal fit, schedule your no-obligation initial consultations without delay, to be sure your legal representative has the time he needs. Tag's : Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Marijuana Drug Attorney | Marijuana Drug Attorney in Dripping Springs TX | Marijuana Drug Charges | Marijuana Drug Charges in Dripping Springs TX | Marijuana Drug Laws | Marijuana Drug Laws Dripping Springs TX | Marijuana Drug lawyer | Marijuana Drug Lawyer in Dripping Springs TX | marijuana laws . Looking for a Flatonia TX drug crimes lawyer? As you likely know, the consequences for drug crimes are incredibly tough. A guilty verdict will impact the rest of your life- from your career, to housing, and even relationships. However, your most pressing concerns are likely the prospect of jail time and/or fines. A Flatonia TX drug crimes lawyer who is seasoned and competent can sometimes have your charges reduced or dropped, though identifying which one is the most suitable is not always simple. As you speak to potential candidates, use the following traits as a checklist, to help identify which Flatonia TX drug crimes lawyer is ideal for your case. Expertise: Legislation is complex and laws are always changing. It’s tough for an all-purpose lawyer to keep up with variations for each area he practices in. Because of this, it’s essential to select a Flatonia TX drug crimes lawyer who has knowledge with the type of accusation you’re facing, as well as with the illegal drug involved in your matter. Accessibility: Top legal professionals book up quickly and they watch over many cases at any given time. You should examine availability from two standpoints. First, verify that the attorney has time to commit to your case. Secondly, be certain that he will treat your matter as a priority and that he returns calls and messages promptly. Caliber: Ask candidates what their reputation is like with regard to cases comparable to yours. Even the world’s best attorney won’t be able to have charges dropped or decreased each and every time, but professionals who can share stories of many favorable outcomes are generally very good choices. Demeanor: It’s commonly said “attitude is everything.” While it may not be everything in a court of law, a lawyer’s demeanor certainly impacts how others react to him. The right disposition can help him make friends with the judge, other attorneys, members of the jury, which is very important during negotiations. You ought to be able to see this trait during your initial meeting, but it can also be helpful to visit a court to see professionals in action. At Austin Interstate Drug Lawyer, we only show profiles of legal professionals who have devoted their practices to taking care of drug crimes. Each one has a diverse background, and is proficient at tackling even the toughest drug trafficking or RICO case. Most importantly, they evaluate each case individually, and develop a unique strategy based on their previous experience, as well as the components of your case. While it’s crucial that you be diligent in picking a Flatonia TX drug crimes lawyer, you have to also act fast, as top legal professionals fill their slots quickly, and they need time to build an effective defense. Take some time to look at the profiles listed on this site, and book a free initial consultation with the ones you think will be a good fit for your case today. Tag's : Criminal Drug Defense Attorney | Criminal Drug Defense Lawyer | Drug Crimes Attorney | Drug Crimes Attorney Flatonia TX | Drug Crimes Lawyer | Drug Crimes Lawyer Flatonia TX | Drug Defense Attorney | Drug Defense Lawyer | Flatonia TX Drug Crimes Attorney | Flatonia TX Drug Crimes Lawyer .

2019-04-22T13:22:22Z

http://www.austininterstatedruglawyer.com/blog/

Over recent decades, many experimental studies have focused on the effect of CO2 on phase equilibria and melting behaviour of synthetic eclogites and peridotites as a function of pressure and temperature. These studies have been of fundamental importance to understanding the origin of carbonated magmas varying in composition from carbonatitic to kimberlitic. The occurrence of diamonds in natural rocks is further evidence of the presence of (reduced) carbon in the Earth's interior. The oxygenation of the Earth's interior (i.e. its redox state) through time has strongly influenced the speciation of carbon from the mantle to mantle-derived magmas and, in turn, to the volcanic gases released to the atmosphere. This paper explains how the knowledge of the oxygen fugacity recorded by mantle rocks and determined through the use of appropriate oxy-thermobarometers allows modelling of the speciation of carbon in the mantle, its mobilization in the asthenospheric mantle by redox partial melting, and its sequestration and storage during subduction by redox freezing processes. The effect of a gradual increase of the mantle fO2 on the mobilization of C is here discussed along with the main variables affecting its transport by subduction into the mantle. Carbon in the Earth's mantle is in exchange with the Earth's surface and the atmosphere (Kasting et al. 1993). At subduction zones carbon from sediments and altered oceanic crust is transported into the mantle and recycled to the surface on a short timescale as a result of island arc processes, but some carbon probably persists both as carbonate minerals and as elemental carbon during subduction and can be carried down to the depth of the deep upper and even lower mantle (Kelemen & Manning 2015). In contrast, basaltic magmas at mid-ocean ridges and oceanic islands bring carbon mainly in the form of CO2 to the surface. Some of this carbon shows geochemical evidence of crustal recycling (Hauri et al. 1993) but some might result from oxidation of a reduced primordial source; that is, a source present in the mantle since accretion of the Earth (Palot et al. 2012). Our understanding of the deep carbon cycle through the mantle requires information on the mobility, solubility within mantle rocks and magmas, and knowledge of the forms in which carbon is stable at different pressure, temperature and oxygen fugacity conditions within the Earth. This information is necessary to determine how much carbon is probably stored in the mantle, and the mechanisms by which it may be cycled through the mantle and eventually reach the surface. In this paper, known forms of carbon-bearing phases found in mantle rocks are first described through a selection of classic articles from the literature, followed by discussion of the carbon speciation as a function of the mantle redox state through space and time. Estimates of the abundance of carbon in the Earth's interior are uncertain owing to its low solubility in mantle minerals and the outgassing at shallow depths. The amount of carbon in rock-forming minerals such as olivine, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and garnet has been determined experimentally and found to be in the range of a few ppm (Keppler et al. 2003; Rosenthal et al. 2015). Similarly, the most abundant minerals representative of the transition zone and lower mantle (i.e. wadsleyite, ringwoodite, ferropericlase and bridgmanite) also incorporate negligible (<1 ppm) amounts of carbon (Shcheka et al. 2006; Hayden & Watson 2008). The low concentration of carbon in the abundant silicate minerals implies that it must be stored in the largest geochemical reservoir, the terrestrial mantle (Javoy et al. 1982), as a pure phase in the immobile reduced form of elemental carbon (or carbide), oxidized carbonate and the mobile form of carbonated magma. Because of the low solubility of CO2 in magmas upon decompression with consequent devolatilization, the possibility of tracking its history from the source rock to the surface is limited to a few known undegassed lavas (e.g. Siqueiros and 2πD43 popping rocks; Le Voyer et al. 2017); alternatively, geochemical tracers and noble gases that correlate positively with the abundance of C (e.g. helium, argon, barium, rubidium and niobium; Matthews et al. 2017) are used, the concentrations of which are better constrained because of their high incompatibility in erupted lavas and sampled fumaroles. Using, then, the global average concentration of these trace elements from mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) and assuming typical melt fractions of 10%, such a method provides concentrations of a few tens of ppm (c. 14–50 ppm) as referred to the depleted mantle (i.e. the residual mantle source after extraction of MORB); whereas the carbon content of the bulk silicate Earth (BSE), generally determined from mantle plume-like magmas, has been proposed to vary between 500 and 1000 ppm (Marty et al. 2013). Carbon forms different accessory phases in rocks from the Earth's interior, such as graphite, diamond, iron(–nickel) and silicon carbides and either solid or liquid carbonates. Native carbon in mantle-derived rocks such as eclogites and peridotites occurs both as graphite and diamond. The origin of graphite in mantle-derived rocks is usually explained as a result of the following: (1) transformation from an original diamond-bearing assemblage to graphite owing to a re-emplacement at lower pressures observed, for example, in garnet pyroxenite layers from Beni Bousera, Morocco (Pearson et al. 1989); (2) exsolution from a C-saturated magma at reducing conditions as observed in ultramafic xenoliths from the Algerian Sahara (Kornprobst et al. 1987); or (3) as a relict of metasomatic processes such as found in peridotites from Jagersfontein (South Africa) showing multiple graphite flakes of vein-like form (Field & Haggerty 1990). Some graphite occurrences are thought to originate by assimilation from magma of carbonaceous country rocks (Ripley & Taib 1989; Barrenechea et al. 1997; Luque et al. 1998). In contrast to the processes above, where variation in pressure, temperature and bulk-rock chemistry are invoked to explain the origin of graphite, there is also evidence of crystalline carbon in exhumed blueschist metasedimentary rocks in contact with serpentinite from Alpine Corsica (France) that formed by reduction of carbonate during cold subduction (Galvez et al. 2013). In contrast to what observed for graphite, the occurrence of diamonds is limited to specific rock types, mainly kimberlites but also lamproites and lamprophyres from cratonic areas (Boyd & Gurney 1986; Gurney et al. 2010), regions of the continental crust that have remained tectonically stable for at least 2.5 Gyr and are underlain by a thick lithospheric mantle extending to depths of over 200 km. Rocks considered as host for diamonds have been identified on the basis of inclusions in natural diamonds and are represented by eclogites (E-type inclusions), peridotites and websterites (P-type inclusions; Meyer 1987; Gurney 1989; Stachel & Harris 2008). The occurrence of carbon in the form of diamond has been a major field of research because of its economic value and stimulated some of the very first high-pressure experiments (Bundy 1963; Kennedy & Kennedy 1976; Akaishi et al. 1990; Irifune et al. 2004) that aimed to explore the pressure and temperature conditions for synthesis of gem-like quality diamonds. The results from these studies combined with thermodynamic predictions (Day 2012) have been used as a geothermobarometer to constrain the equilibration pressures and temperatures of diamond-bearing rocks, in particular those rocks showing coexistence between graphite and diamond (e.g. Korsakov et al. 2010; Mikhailenko et al. 2016). Importantly, most attention has been paid to the chemical composition of minerals and fluids trapped in diamonds as a tool to understand their origin. For instance, this is the case for silicate minerals from Juina diamonds (Walter et al. 2008) and daughter minerals in fibrous diamonds (Weiss et al. 2011), both showing geochemical evidence of the passage of CO2-rich melts with important implications for the origin of diamonds by reduction of C–O(–H) mantle fluids. Although rarely found in nature, carbon can be stored also as silicon carbide (Leung et al. 1990; Mathez et al. 1995; Yang et al. 2015) or as an alloying element in Fe(–Ni) metal trapped in diamonds (Jacob 2004; Kaminsky & Wirth 2011; Mikhail et al. 2014; Smith et al. 2016). The stability of Fe(–Ni)–C intermetallic alloys has been the subject of investigation in recent high-pressure experimental studies (Fei & Brosh 2014; Rohrbach et al. 2014; Stagno et al. 2014) and, in the mantle, this appears strongly dependent on the ratio between metallic iron and elemental carbon and, therefore, mostly associated with local heterogeneities in the C/Fe distribution. In fact, assuming that the deep mantle at depth below c. 300 km is saturated with 1 wt% Fe(Ni) alloy (Frost et al. 2004; Rohrbach et al. 2011), most of the elemental carbon is predicted to dissolve with concentrations up to 2 wt% in the alloy. This implies that, where elemental carbon is locally more abundant (>c. 100 ppm) than iron, carbides can be stable in the form of molten Fe7C3 along with coexisting diamonds (Dasgupta & Hirschmann 2010; Rohrbach et al. 2014). Therefore, carbides would form by solid–solid reaction only in portions of the Earth's interior where iron metal and elemental carbon (either graphite of diamonds) or carbonate (Palyanov et al. 2013) are in mutual contact. Thus, one should not be surprised if the best evidence of Fe-carbides in the mantle is probably produced by solid–solid reaction at the boundary between the Fe inclusions and the diamond host at mantle conditions (Kaminsky & Wirth 2011; Smith et al. 2016). The local mantle oxidation state also plays a critical role in determining the conditions for the stability of carbide versus carbonate phases. Carbon occurs in the mantle in its oxidized form (e.g. C4+); for example, as either solid or molten carbonate or fluid where it can be present as both molecular (CO2) and ionic (CO32−) species. Carbonate minerals are usually solid solutions between calcite (CaCO3), magnesite (MgCO3) and siderite (FeCO3) end-members strongly depending on the temperature, pressure and bulk composition (see Hammouda & Keshav 2015, and references therein). A Ca, Mg-rich phase (dolomite) is stable below 4 GPa (c. 120 km) in peridotite assemblages (Falloon & Green 1989, 1990), whereas Ca-rich solid carbonates are shown experimentally to be stable in eclogitic assemblages (Hammouda 2003; Yaxley & Brey 2004). As the pressure increases, magnesite is expected to be the stable carbonate with respect to dolomite and siderite as a consequence of the high affinity of Ca and Fe for lower mantle silicate minerals (see Fig. 1a; Hammouda 2003; Ghosh et al. 2009; Litasov & Ohtani 2009a,b, 2010; Keshav & Gudfinnsson 2010; Stagno et al. 2011; Kiseeva et al. 2013). However, previous experimental studies support the observation of Mg-rich carbonates and aragonite coexisting for Mg# of the initial starting material of ≤0.6 (Fig. 1b). The presence and chemical composition of solid carbonates coexisting with mantle minerals are determining factors for the composition of near-solidus CO2-rich magmas formed by partial melting of carbonated eclogites and peridotites (Gudfinnsson & Presnall 2005; Hammouda & Keshav 2015, and references therein). Carbonatites are defined by the Subcommission on the Systematics of Igneous Rocks of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) as igneous rocks, either effusive or intrusive, containing more than 50% in volume of primary carbonate minerals (Streckeisen 1980); that is, the result of crystallization of a magma with less than 10 wt% of SiO2 (Woolley & Kempe 1989). Carbonatites have been found in several localities within diverse geological settings related to either intraplate continental rifts or compressive systems such as subduction zones (for more details on the worldwide distribution, see Woolley & Kjarsgaard 2008), although a mantle origin for these liquids is not unequivocal (Koster van Groos & Wyllie 1963; Wyllie & Huang 1975; Wallace & Green 1988; Veksler et al. 1998) as they might retain evidence of crustal origin (Liu et al. 2016) and late-stage assimilation processes (Lustrino et al. 2016). Primary carbonatitic melts were shown experimentally to be characterized by extremely low viscosity in the range of 0.003 and 0.01 Pa s (Kono et al. 2014; Stagno et al. 2018), other than being an important constituent of metasomatic fluids interacting with mantle silicates in peridotite xenoliths from Spitsbergen in Norway (Ionov et al. 1993); and their possible origin beneath mid-ocean ridges has been the subject of several experimental studies (Dasgupta & Hirschmann 2006 ; Stagno et al. 2013) aimed at shedding light on the seismic and electrical conductivity anomalies in the upper mantle as detected beneath the East Pacific Rise ocean ridge (Evans et al. 1999; Dunn et al. 2001; Gu et al. 2005; Gaillard et al. 2008). Chemical composition of solid carbonates recovered from multi-anvil experiments at pressures up to 32 GPa expressed as Mg/(Mg + Ca + Fe) molar ratio v. pressure (a) and v. Mg/(Mg + Ca + Fe) of the employed starting material from (sub)solidus synthetic peridotite and eclogite mineral assemblages (b). Data sources: G2009, Ghosh et al. (2009); L&O2009b, Litasov & Ohtani (2009b); L&O2010, Litasov & Ohtani (2010); K&G2010, Keshav & Gudfinnsson (2010); K2013, Kiseeva et al. (2013); H2003, Hammouda (2003). Kimberlitic magmas are thought to form at depths below 150 km by partial melting of a carbonated mantle rock source and are also important carriers of carbon either in the form of a dissolved CO32− component in the melt, or as exsolved CO2 or diamonds. Diamonds found in kimberlites, such as those from Lac de Gras (Canada), are known for showing morphological features typical of surface dissolution that link with the oxidizing nature of these melts (Gurney et al. 2004; Fedortchouk et al. 2005) during their ascent at conditions where diamonds become unstable. The local oxygen fugacity has, therefore, the potential to flux carbon out the Earth's interior, with implications for its residence time. To date, many experimental studies have been performed to investigate the structural stability of pure carbonate minerals (Biellmann et al. 1993; Isshiki et al. 2004; Oganov et al. 2008; Mao et al. 2011; Boulard et al. 2012; Cerantola et al. 2017) and their melting (Tao et al. 2013; Solopova et al. 2014; Shatskiy et al. 2015a,b) as well as melting of CO2-bearing mineral mantle assemblages as a function of pressure and temperature, respectively (for a detailed reference list see Hammouda & Keshav 2015). All these experimental studies, however, assume the stability of carbonate minerals at depth, neglecting the possibility that elemental carbon rather than carbonate can be the stable carbon phase depending on the availability of oxygen in the interior of the Earth. An alternative and more dynamic approach to understanding the state of carbon at depth is to consider the oxygen fugacity required for carbonate (liquid or solid) to be stable versus elemental carbon. The fO2 in the Earth's interior is buffered by the local abundant silicate minerals and is dependent on the pressure and temperature. Only when the fO2 required for the carbon–carbonate equilibrium crosses the local fO2 buffered by the mantle rocks will oxidation of diamonds to solid carbonates occur and, at solidus T, CO2-rich magmas can form. In the next section, we will review some recent studies on the calibration of oxy-thermobarometers that are widely used to determine the oxidation state of mantle peridotites and eclogites and, thus, model the speciation of carbon throughout the Earth's interior. In addition, some redox reactions of interest for the speciation of carbon down to the lower mantle will be discussed. The oxygen fugacity (fO2), or partial pressure of oxygen (Eugster 1957), is the thermodynamic variable that indicates the chemical potential (i.e. availability) of oxygen in those reactions where both reagents and products contain the same element(s) but with different oxidation states. These reactions are termed redox reactions and their graphical representations are univariant curves in log fO2–temperature diagrams. At a given temperature, above this curve the oxidized phase of an assemblage is stable, whereas below it the reduced phase is stable (see Fig. 2). Rock-forming minerals are widely characterized by the presence of heterovalent elements, such as iron, chromium and vanadium. Their occurrence in oxidized or reduced form can be used to infer the redox state at which certain rocks have equilibrated. An important goal in experimental geochemistry is, therefore, to investigate the behaviour of these elements with respect to the fO2 and develop interpretative models to understand the change of redox conditions in the Earth and how this might have influenced the speciation of carbon (Delano 2001; Li & Lee 2004; Aulbach & Stagno 2016). Logarithm of the oxygen fugacity (log fO2) v. temperature (°C) diagram of redox buffers commonly employed in petrology of C phases. Calculations are performed at 3 GPa and temperatures between 950 and 1400°C. Buffer abbreviations: FMQ, fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer (O'Neill 1987); DCDG, dolomite–coesite–diopside–graphite buffer (Luth 1993); EMOG, enstatite–magnesite–olivine–graphite, and EDDOG, enstatite–dolomite–diopside–olivine–graphite buffers (Stagno & Frost 2010); IW, iron–wüstite buffer (O'Neill 1987); C–COH, graphite–COH fluid (Ulmer & Luth 1991); MsOCP, moissanite–olivine–graphite–enstatite (Ulmer et al. 1997). The fO2 in experiments performed at high pressure and temperature is monitored mainly following two techniques: the first is based on the use of solid minerals or metal–metal oxide couples (e.g. Fe–FeO, Re–ReO2, Mo–MoO, Ni–NiO, etc.) that buffer the oxygen fugacity at certain known values calculated using the relative thermodynamic data and equation of states; the second approach employs noble metals as redox sensors to effectively measure the unknown oxygen fugacity of the run products recovered from a given pressure and temperature. In more detail, these techniques can be summarized as follows. Double capsules are used, where an outer capsule (e.g. of Re) contains a metal oxide (e.g. ReO2) buffer and H2O and an inner capsule contains the sample plus H2O. A Pt inner capsule ensures permeability of H2 between the buffering outer and the inner capsules. By buffering the fH2 in the outer capsule the fO2 of the inner capsule is fixed (Eugster & Wones 1962; Ulmer & Luth 1991). Capsules of materials such as Fe, Re and BN have been shown to influence the redox state of samples (Wendlandt et al. 1982; McCammon & Ross 2003), although a fluxing phase (i.e. a circulating fluid) is necessary to ensure homogeneous fO2 conditions inside the whole capsule. Buffering solid assemblages such as a mixture of Re and ReO2 can be added (about 15–20 wt%) to the starting material (Rubie 1999). In this case, the fO2 of the experiment is buffered by the solid assemblage only if both metal and metal oxide phases coexist and are in mutual contact with the surrounding mineral assemblage. The circulation of a fluid phase would also help to buffer the fO2 all over the sample. Obviously, the choice of the metal–metal oxide depends on its potential reactivity with the experimental starting materials, which would limit its applicability. Noble metal alloys (e.g. platinum group elements (PGE), Au and Ag) are used as sliding redox sensors where the fO2 is measured (not buffered), which normally comprise an Fe-bearing metal alloy (Huebner 1971; Taylor et al. 1992). The first three experimental techniques allow investigation of the dependence of a variable (e.g. Fe3+/ΣFe in minerals, element partitioning, C–O–H fluid speciation, melting temperature) with respect to the buffered (imposed) known fO2. In contrast, the application of noble metals (mainly platinum and iridium) employed as redox sensor is more appropriate when the fO2 buffered by a mineral assemblage is quantitatively not known, meaning that its variation as a function of P–T needs to be determined (i.e. the univariant curve in the log fO2 versus T or P diagram), or when the fO2 buffered by a solid mineral assemblage (although it can be calculated using a proper thermodynamic dataset of the mineral end-members (Luth 1993) involved) needs to be verified owing to its use at extrapolated P–T conditions or owing to the disappearance of a phase (e.g. by melting). A practical example is given by the coexistence of graphite (diamond) and carbonate along with mantle silicates in peridotite (known by the acronym EDDOG/D) and eclogite (DCDG/D) mineral assemblages as follows:2Mg2Si2O6+CaMg( CO3)2enstatitedolomite=CaMgSi2O6+2Mg2SiO4+2C+2O2diopsideolivinegraph/diam (1)andCaMg( CO3)2+2SiO2=CaMgSi2O6+2C+2O2.dolomitecoesitediopsidegraph/diam (2)Equilibria (1) and (2) are both chosen to represent the fO2 at which carbon is present either as graphite (or diamond, C0) or carbonate (C4+) along with mantle mineral assemblages. The fO2 buffered by both equilibria was calibrated based on a set of thermodynamic data for each pure phase by Eggler & Baker (1982) and Luth (1993), respectively (Fig. 2). However, the fO2 buffered by equilibria involving solid carbonates is applicable only at temperatures below their melting temperature. Above the melting (solidus) temperature, the fO2 will be buffered by similar equilibria to (1) and (2) where the solid carbonate is replaced by the CO2-rich silicate-bearing melt. Because thermodynamic data are complex to determine and not available for liquid carbonates, the composition of which varies as the temperature increases toward more and more SiO2-rich liquids, accurate measurements of the fO2 at each P and T are necessary. These can be made by adding 3–5 wt% of pure Ir (or Pt) metal as a redox sensor to the starting material. During the high P–T experiment, FeO from the coexisting phases (i.e. equilibria (3) and (4)) is reduced to Fe0 and alloys with the Ir metal. The activity of Fe in the alloy is adjusted to the value buffered by the presence of carbonate melt and graphite (or diamond; equilibria (1) and (2)) at a given P and T. The resulting lowering of the activity of the Ir (Pt) metal component is a consequence of the redox conditions imposed by the carbon–carbonate equilibrium as a function of pressure and temperature and the melt composition. The fO2 at which carbon and carbonate coexist within synthetic peridotite and eclogite assemblages (1) and (2) at high P–T of the experiments is, thus, calculated using the simultaneous mineral equilibriaFe2SiO4=SiO2+2Fe+O2olivinealloy (3)andFe3Al2Si3O12=Al2SiO5+2SiO2+3Fe+1.5O2.garnetkyanitecoesitealloy (4)The fO2 of the above equilibria is then calculated with the formulaelogfO2=−ΔrGP,T∘RTln(10)+logaFe2SiO4olivine−logaSiO2−2logaFealloy (5)andlogfO2=−ΔrGP,T∘1.5RTln⁡(10)−2logaFealloy+23logaFe3Al2Si3O12garnet. (6)A gradual decrease of the measured fO2 buffered by equilibria (1) and (2) is observed as result of the increased SiO2 content of the carbonated melt with temperature in contrast to thermodynamic calculations of the fO2 buffered by the appropriate subsolidus peridotitic and eclogitic assemblage (Stagno & Frost 2010; Stagno et al. 2015). The choice of including kyanite in equilibrium (4) is mainly motivated by the need to balance the excess of Al from the involved almandine component, although also supported by its presence in diamantiferous eclogites (Smyth 1980; Mikhailenko et al. 2016). Because Al2SiO5 and SiO2 are pure phases in natural eclogites (e.g. Mikhailenko et al. 2016), the fO2 in (6) is calculated fixing the activity of these phases at unity, and aFe2SiO4olivine, aFealloy, aSiO2 and aFe3Al2Si3O12garnet are the activities of the Fe2SiO4 component in olivine, Fe in Fe–Ir alloy and the Fe3Al2Si3O12 component of garnet, respectively, calculated using the appropriate activity–composition models (Stagno & Frost 2010; Stagno et al. 2015). ΔrGP,T is the standard state Gibbs free energy change of pure end-member equilibria (3) and (4), determined at the pressure and temperature of interest from the thermodynamic data (i.e. formation enthalpy, entropy, heat capacity, thermal expansivity, molar volume) and the equation of state of each mineral end-member (details have been given by Stagno & Frost 2010; Stagno et al. 2015). A full formulation of the ΔrGP,T has been given by Cemič (2005),ΔrGP,T0=ΔrH298+∫298TΔrCpdT−TΔrS298∫298T(ΔrCp/T)dT+[ΔrV298+Δr(αiVi,298)(T−298)−Δr(βiVi,298)P2(P−P0)=0(7) where ΔrH298, ΔrS298, ΔrCp and Δrα are the enthalpy and entropy of formation, heat capacity and thermal expansivity changes of the reaction (Fei 1995; Fabrchanaya et al. 2004 ); ΔrV is the volume change of a reaction, i is the ambient pressure and temperature volumes times their appropriate thermal expansivity and β is the compressibility. aFemetal is the activity of Fe in the Ir–(Pt–)Fe alloy determined asaFemetal=XFemetalγFemetal (8)where XFemetal is the molar Fe/[Fe + Ir(or Pt)] in the alloy and γFemetal is the activity coefficient of Fe in the alloy determined using symmetric binary Margules terms provided in the literature (Schwerdtfeger & Zwell 1968; Kessel et al. 2003). Many noble metals that form solid solutions with Fe can be employed as a redox sensor. Fe–Ir and Fe–Pt are preferred because Fe is likely to exist in the face-centred cube (FCC) structure over the experimental pressure and temperature range of multi-anvil applications. Further, the solubility of C in Ir and Pt has been shown to be negligible at least in the recovered run products (Stagno et al. 2011, 2015). Importantly, timescales of the order of 12–24 h are required for the equilibrium fO2 to be obtained. Although an important aspect in facilitating equilibrium is to keep the grain size of the initial Ir and Pt metals at c. 5 µm to accelerate the diffusion of Fe from the surrounding silicate minerals, the equilibration becomes sluggish at subsolidus temperatures, with consequent unequilibrated fO2 (Stagno et al. 2015). A further source of uncertainty is represented by the possible overestimation of XFe in the alloy caused by secondary X-ray fluorescence near grain boundaries (Llovet & Galan 2003). For instance, an overestimation of the XFe mole fraction in the alloy by ±0.01 (i.e. ±0.4 wt% Fe) would result in a difference in the calculated fO2 of about ±0.3 log units. The presence of oxides measured in the alloy, such as SiO2 and CaO, probably results from the contribution of nearby silicates, and it can be used to evaluate the quality of the electron microprobe measurements on the redox sensor alloy. The redox state of the upper mantle refers to the oxygen fugacity of unaltered spinel and garnet peridotites and eclogites equilibrated at depths from 45–60 km (e.g. spinel lherzolites from the Vitim Field; Ionov et al. 2005; Goncharov & Ionov 2012) to c. 255–270 km (e.g. garnet peridotite from the Diavik Mine, Slave Craton; Creighton et al. 2009; kyanite-bearing eclogite from the Lace kimberlite, Kaapvaal Craton; Aulbach & Viljoen 2015) and ranging in age from c. 3.8 to c. 2.6 Ga. The knowledge of the fO2 recorded by these rocks is made possible through the use of oxy-thermobarometers; that is, redox equilibria representative of peridotitic and eclogitic mantle mineral assemblages where Fe in the form of Fe2+ and Fe3+ occurs both as reagents and products as follows:6Fe2(2+)SiO4+O2=3Fe2(2+)Si2O6+2Fe(2+)Fe2(3+)O4fayaliteferrosilitemagnetite (9)2Ca3Al2Si3O12+4Fe2(2+)SiO4+6MgSiO3+O2grossularfayaliteenstatite=2Ca3Fe2(3+)Si3O12+2Mg3Al2Si3O12+4Fe(2+)SiO3andraditepyropeferrosilite (10)5CaFe(2+)Si2O6+13Ca3Al2Si3O12+O2hedenbergitegrossular=2Ca3Fe2(3+)Si3O12+13Fe3(2+)Al2Si3O12+4SiO2.andraditealmandinequartz/coesite (11)The Gibbs free energy change of these chemical equilibria was calibrated experimentally at P–T applicable to mantle depths employing the redox sensor technique (O'Neill 1987; Ballhaus et al. 1991; Gudmundsson & Wood 1995; Stagno et al. 2013, 2015). The use of these oxy-thermobarometers requires measurements of the Fe3+ content in natural Cr-bearing spinel (equation (9)), and garnet (equations (10) and (11)) in addition to the chemical composition of the coexisting silicates. Figure 3 shows the Fe3+ content of Cr-spinel and garnet of natural mantle peridotites and eclogites available in the literature plotted as a function of the calculated fO2. The positive correlation between Fe3+/ΣFe of spinel or garnet and the log fO2 is evident and brings into consideration that most of the spinel peridotite xenoliths are more oxidized than garnet peridotite and eclogites. Natural spinels are characterized by averaged Fe3+/ΣFe contents of 22(±8)%, whereas garnets from peridotites and eclogites show much lower averaged contents of c. 8(±5)% and 4(±3)%. Because of the coexistence of many of these xenoliths with graphite and/or diamonds, the correlation between Fe3+/ΣFe and the mantle redox state reflects the chemical potential of these rocks to reduce or oxidize volatile phases such as C through the general net redox reaction4Fe(bulk)3++C0=4Fe(bulk)2++Cvap/melt/solid4+ (12)where Fe3+ and Fe2+ refer to the ferric and ferrous iron of the bulk-rock. Indeed, a similar equilibrium can be written replacing C0 and C4+ with H2 and H+, N3− and N2, and S2− and S6+, respectively, to describe the buffering effect of Fe-bearing silicates on the speciation of (less abundant) volatiles. The redox state of the lithospheric mantle as a function of equilibrated depth is shown in Figure 4, where most of the peridotitic xenoliths plot in the diamond and graphite stability field possibly along with C–O(–H) fluids or melts from carbonatitic to kimberlitic in composition. The fO2 required for carbide phases to coexist along with mantle silicates would be 7–8 log units below the FeNi precipitation curve (Fig. 4) as predicted by Schmidt et al. (2014). In contrast, most of the fibrous diamonds show inclusions of daughter minerals probably crystallized from a CO2-rich melt (the growth medium) suggesting, therefore, an fO2 for their formation near the equilibrium between diamonds and molten carbonate between −1 and −2.5 log units at P–T conditions of the cratonic geotherm (44 mW m−2 is here taken as reference). In addition, the oxidation state of most of the eclogitic rocks is shown to plot in the diamond stability field within a range of fO2 values consistent with those of peridotite xenoliths. A few eclogitic xenoliths from the Lace kimberlites (Aulbach et al. 2017) appear reduced (log fO2 between FMQ −4 and FMQ −5, where FMQ is fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer) and might have coexisted, therefore, with CH4-rich fluids. Such overlap might reflect either Fe3+ depletion of the protolith or the result of metasomatism. A more detailed explanation is given below. Ferric iron content of garnet and spinel from mantle rocks plotted as a function of the calculated log fO2 using equations (9)–(11). Data from garnet- and spinel-bearing peridotites are from Miller et al. (2016) and Stagno et al. (2013). Data on eclogites are from Stagno et al. (2015, and references therein) and Aulbach et al. (2017). Log fO2 (normalized to the FMQ buffer) calculated for mantle xenoliths using oxy-thermobarometers (9), (10) and (11). The blue curve is the oxygen fugacity calculated for equilibrium (1) along a cratonic geotherm of 44 mW m−2 that defines the stability field for diamond (or graphite) and solid (liquid) carbonate. The purple and pink curves indicate equilibrium fO2 between diamonds and a carbonate–silicate and kimberlitic melt, respectively, calculated along a cratonic geotherm. The orange line is the FeNi precipitation curve (Frost & McCammon 2008). References are as in Figure 3. The subduction of carbon back into the mantle is an important natural form of carbon sequestration and recycling (Kelemen & Manning 2015). The residence time, storage and flux in or out of carbon in the eclogitic portions of the slab mainly depend on the redox conditions buffered by the surrounding mineral phases represented by equilibrium (11). Carbonate minerals subducted into the deep mantle can undergo important polymorphic transformations such as that from rhombohedral dolomite-I to triclinic dolomite-II at 17 GPa to dolomite-III at c. 35 GPa, which makes them an important carrier of C down to the lower mantle (Mao et al. 2011). Subducted carbonates are also exposed to melting processes at variable depths depending on the bulk-rock chemistry and P–T path (Hammouda & Keshav 2015). A recent experimental study by Thomson et al. (2016) showed that melting of a carbonated MORB is expected to occur at depth between c. 330 and 580 km with the production of Na-bearing carbonatitic melts representing, therefore, a ‘barrier' to further subduction of carbonate minerals. Although these melts are important metasomatic agents potentially responsible for the refertilization of the asthenospheric mantle (Rosenthal et al. 2014), the interaction with the surrounding Fe metal-saturated mantle can cause their reduction to diamonds by redox freezing (Rohrbach & Schmidt 2011). Inclusions in superdeep diamonds such as majorite and Ca-silicates (Thomson et al. 2016) were claimed to form by interaction of alkali-rich carbonatitic melts and reduced asthenospheric mantle. Importantly, the fate of the subducted carbonates at depth is also strongly linked with the intrinsic redox state of the oceanic slab buffered by Fe-bearing phases such as clinopyroxene and garnet. These minerals can significantly become oxidized and, thus, incorporate a large amount of Fe3+ as a result of increasing depth (i.e. pressure) at the expense of the surrounding available oxygen (Stagno et al. 2015). This form of oxygen sequestration from Fe-bearing minerals can result in reduced portions of the subducted slab with diamond being the stable C form even at an fO2 higher than that required for diamonds to be stable in peridotites (i.e. fO2[DCDG/D] > fO2[EMOG/D]) as in Fig. 2; Luth 1993). A tentative reconstruction of the redox state of the subducted slab as a function of depth is shown in Figure 5a and b. Here, the variation of fO2 is calculated using the equilibrium (equation (11)) for an eclogitic slab with different bulk composition (Fig. 5a; GA1, Yaxley & Green 1994; SLEC, Dasgupta et al. 2005; OTBC, Hammouda 2003), different temperature regime (Fig. 5b; cold and hot subduction, Syracuse et al. 2010) and different Fe3+/ΣFe content to reflect the different oxidation state of the MORB protolith (Fig. 5c; Cottrell & Kelley 2011) along with the fO2 at which C and carbonate can coexist (Stagno et al. 2015). Although the effect of bulk-rock chemistry (Fig. 5a) mainly reflects on the composition of coexisting clinopyroxene and garnet used to calculate the fO2 from equilibrium (11), carbonate minerals (or carbonatitic melts) are predicted to be stable down to the transition zone or lower mantle as a consequence of either the hot regime of the slab or its high ferric iron content inherited by the subducted altered oceanic crust or late-stage oxidizing processes. In both cases, diamonds in eclogites are expected to form at depths of 200–400 km, when the fO2 buffered by the Fe-bearing silicate minerals crosses the appropriate carbon–carbonate equilibrium (dashed black line). (a) The fO2 of subducted eclogitic rocks is calculated along a hot subduction geotherm assuming bulk Fe3+/ΣFe ratios of 12% that describes the ratio determined for modern-day MORB glasses (Cottrell & Kelley 2011) and for different bulk chemical compositions for synthetic eclogites in the literature (GA1, Yaxley & Green 1994; SLEC, Dasgupta et al. 2005; OTBC, Hammouda 2003). The fO2 at which carbonate minerals or melts would reduce to graphite or diamond within eclogitic rock is also shown (bold black dashed line; Luth 1993). In (b) the fO2 is determined for an eclogitic assemblage with a MORB bulk composition along a hot and cold subduction geotherm as for the Andes and Honshu respectively (Syracuse et al. 2010). In (c) the fO2 is determined for an eclogitic assemblage with a MORB bulk compositions with Fe3+/ΣFe ratio of 0.07, 0.12 and 0.17. Ancient subduction in the early Earth was probably inefficient in transporting carbonates to depth owing to the predicted hot regime (Brown 2006), which would have caused decarbonation or melting at shallow conditions (c. 30–70 km; Dasgupta & Hirschmann 2010). Alternatively, the low potential of oxidation of the slab (low Fe3+/ΣFe) might have contributed to near-surface reduction of subducted carbonates to graphite (Fig. 5c), thus preventing CO2 outgassing. Both scenarios would be in contrast to an origin of kimberlitic magmas during the Archean as in case of the Wawa kimberlites (Kopylova et al. 2011), therefore supporting their extreme rarity in the initial stage of Earth's history (Stern et al. 2016). The determination of the oxidation state of the asthenospheric mantle and subducting slab at depth has important implications for the mobilization and sequestration of carbon over time. Carbonate melts in the Earth's interior formed by oxidation of diamonds when the fO2 buffered by the coexisting Fe-bearing silicates represented by the equilibria (10) and (11) intercepts the fO2 at which carbon can coexist with carbonate as in equation (1) and (2). In Figure 4 the fO2 for the stability of carbonate with respect to graphite or diamond in peridotitic rocks is calculated along a representative cratonic geotherm, and Figure 5 shows the fO2 at which carbon and carbonate would coexist along a subducted slab taking into account important variables such as the different MORB chemical composition, P–T path and Fe3+/ΣFe ratio of the protolith. The possibility for C-bearing rocks to melt is, therefore, dependent not only on the local thermal regimes but also, more importantly, on the temporal evolution of the mantle redox state that promotes oxidation of the refractory carbon to carbonate, promoting, therefore, redox melting processes (Stagno et al. 2013). Therefore, it is of fundamental importance to investigate the variation of the mantle redox state through time to better understand the mobilization of deep carbon through the history of the Earth. Geochemical tracers such as the V/Sc ratio of erupted basalts have been widely used to claim the constancy of the mantle redox state over the last 3.8 Gyr (Li & Lee 2004; Scaillet & Gaillard 2011) to conditions where C is stable in the form of C4+. Based on the reconstruction of the mantle oxidation state over time using the V/Sc of Archean eclogites as representative of early metabasalts, Aulbach & Stagno (2016) highlighted the possibility that the mantle underwent a gradual, rather than sudden, oxidation process during which the fO2 was raised by c. 1 log unit to the modern MORB during the last 3.8 Gyr. Despite the large uncertainties in their fO2 determinations, a similar conclusion was reached by Nicklas et al. (2018) through partitioning measurements of V in komatiites. Figure 6 is a schematic illustration that summarizes the redox melting of a diamond-bearing asthenospheric mantle from the Archean (Fig. 6a–d) to the present (Fig. 6e and f). The fO2 of the mantle, which is indicated by straight lines calculated as a function of different Fe3+/ΣFe, is shown to increase toward shallower depths as a result of the decompression on the volume change of equation (10) until the carbon–carbonate equilibrium (i.e. equilibrium (1)) is crossed and carbonatitic melts form by redox melting. This probably happened during the early Archean (3 Ga) when, owing to the hot mantle adiabat and the low Fe3+/ΣFe (assumed to be 2% for a reduced upper mantle), carbonate–silicate melts formed at about FMQ −2 log units at c. 100 km depth. Small amounts of carbonated silicate melts could be produced owing to the limited amount of carbon (c. 10 ppm in the case of reduced Early Earth; Dasgupta 2013), which, once entirely oxidized, led the Archean mantle redox state to further increase to the fO2 indicated by the Archean MORB (FMQ −1.5 log units) represented by the Lace metabasaltic eclogite (Aulbach & Stagno 2016). Figure 6c and d shows that the thickness that undergoes redox melting strictly depends on the initial mantle Fe3+/ΣFe ratio and carbon content according to equilibrium (12). The gradual increase of Fe3+ in the bulk asthenospheric mantle through time owing to subduction of oxidized material (Arculus 1985) resulted in the deepening of the redox melting with consequent decrease in the fraction of carbonatitic melts and their dilution during ascent (Fig. 6e and f). The composition of these magmas remains strictly controlled by the temperature and pressure, varying from carbonatitic to carbonate–silicate to basalts during upwelling with an increase in the melt fraction from less than 0.01 vol% to c. 10 vol%. It is expected, therefore, that the rheological properties of these melts such as viscosity and ascent rate will continuously change upon upwelling as they dilute to the more abundant MORB by about three orders of magnitude (Kono et al. 2014; Stagno et al. 2018). The drawn models have a two-fold implication: (1) that the oxidation state of MORB does not reflect the mantle oxidation state at the source, although it is linked to it (see Sorbadere et al. 2018, after reading Ballhaus 1993); (2) that larger volumes of CO2-rich melts could have formed at shallower conditions during the Archean when the convective mantle was less oxidized and more ‘hot', to then become less and less abundant to the present as a result of dilution at depth. (a–f) Thermodynamic prediction of the variation of the mantle oxidation state upon decompression obtained using equilibrium (10), and consequent depth at which the redox melting would occur. Detailed calculations have been given by Stagno et al. (2013) and Aulbach & Stagno (2016). Previous experimental studies provided evidence of metal saturation at pressures compatible with the transition zone and the lower mantle, which implies that diamond is the most stable form of carbon in the Earth's deep interior (Frost et al. 2004; Rohrbach et al. 2011). The discovery of crystallized carbonated melts (Walter et al. 2008), calcite (Brenker et al. 2007), dolomite (Bulanova et al. 2010) and other carbonate minerals (Kaminsky 2012) all trapped in natural sub-lithospheric diamonds provided an alternative view of the deep mantle as characterized by higher oxygen fugacities where metal iron would not exist. Estimates of the fO2 at which carbonate and diamond can coexist (e.g. the trapped carbonate inclusions in diamonds) can be determined through thermodynamic calculations (see equations (5)–(7)) using similar equilibria to equations (1) and (2) but employing the appropriate high-pressure polymorphs (wadsleyite or ringwoodite, coesite or stishovite, clinoenstatite, etc.). As an example, the equilibriumMgCO3=MgO+C+O2magnesitepericlasediamond (13)is chosen to represent the coexistence of magnesite and diamond in the lower mantle along with periclase intended here as a component of ferropericlase. Unfortunately, thermodynamic calculations of the fO2 can result in contrasting results owing to uncertain available data used to describe the compressibility of mineral end-members as a function of pressure and temperature (i.e. bulk modulus and its pressure derivative). This is the case shown in Figure 7, where two different log fO2 versus pressure trends are obtained depending on the equation of state (EoS) data used for magnesite. For this reason, Stagno et al. (2011) determined experimentally the fO2 at which diamond and magnesite can coexist in mineral assemblages consisting respectively of wadsleyite (or ringwoodite) plus clinoenstatite, and ferropericlase plus bridgmanite synthesized at pressures from 16 to c. 50 GPa using the redox sensor technique described above. These values were found to be about 2 log units above the iron–wüstite (IW) buffer, which implies that diamonds hosting carbonate inclusions are witnesses of more oxidized conditions in the deep interior than previously thought. From Figure 7, it can be noted that by extrapolating these measured values at high pressures of 100 GPa or so, magnesite is expected to be stable along with diamonds and Fe (maybe with some dissolved C), which is in agreement with the observed stability of magnesite (Isshiki et al. 2004) at lower mantle depths. More importantly, the presence of about 9000 ppm of C in the form of magnesite would be required to raise the fO2 in the lower mantle by 2 log units relative to the IW buffer, causing, therefore, oxidation of 1% Fe metal (Rohrbach & Schmidt 2011) and incorporation of about 60% and about 2% of Fe3+/Fetot in bridgmanite and ferropericlase, respectively (Stagno et al. 2011). Experimental measurements of the fO2 (relative to IW) v. pressure for magnesite and diamond to coexist (blue dashed line), along with transition zone and lower mantle mineral phases obtained using the IrFe alloy redox sensor and compared with thermodynamic calculations through (equation (13)) changing EoS data for magnesite (Fiquet et al. 1994; Ross 1997; Litasov et al. 2008). The dark shaded region indicates the fO2 of the mantle after Frost & McCammon (2008) and Stagno & Frost (2010) calculated along a mantle adiabat to 10 GPa. Whether carbonates (solid or liquid) can be stable in the transition zone or lower mantle in subducted MORB-like lithologies strictly links with the role of coexisting Fe-bearing redox-sensitive minerals such as majoritic garnet, tetragonal almandine–pyrope phase (TAPP), new hexagonal aluminous (NAL) phase, calcium-ferrite (CF) and bridgmanite phases. These phases are all possible candidates for incorporating large amounts of Fe3+ at transition zone and lower mantle conditions during subduction, leading to the formation of sub-lithospheric diamonds from the oxidized CO2-bearing fluids. Potential equilibria such as equations (1) and (2) might be written that involve some of these phases plus carbonate and diamond. However, to date no experimental studies have been performed to determine the effect of fO2, pressure and temperature on their Fe3+ content (i.e. their redox buffering capacity). For decades, the experimental investigation of melting processes in the interior of the Earth has relied mostly on the effect of volatile elements in their oxidized state where C has been considered to be stable as CO2 at any depth, playing, therefore, the major role in lowering the melting temperature of mantle rocks and causing the formation of carbonate magmas. However, the redox state of the Earth's interior has played a major role in controlling the oxidation and reduction of C species and its geodynamic cycle over time, and the evolution of the mantle redox state can be investigated through the application of oxy-thermobarometry on dated mantle rocks. Such studies, along with the mineralogical findings in (sub)lithospheric diamonds, have raised several important questions, such as: When does carbon turn into carbonate at mantle conditions? What is the minimum amount of oxygen required to oxidize elemental carbon to CO2 within natural deep mineral assemblages? Has the increase of the mantle redox state been a gradual process or did it occur all at once? Is it possible to link the mantle redox state to the volcanic eruptive style and the migration rate of magmas from the mantle up to the surface? The seismic evidence of low-velocity zones is often referred to the presence of incipient melting processes, but this would imply stagnation of melt rather than fast ascent rate (Stagno et al. 2018). Are Fe-bearing minerals valid indicators of oxidized conditions and melting processes in the hidden deep mantle? Recent studies have provided geochemical evidence of a gradual increase in fO2 (Aulbach & Stagno 2016; Nicklas et al. 2018) in contrast to the general view that the mantle retained a constant fO2 of IW +4(±1) (Scaillet & Gaillard 2011) over the last 4 Gyr (Trail et al. 2011). Figure 8 summarizes the redox state of the Earth's mantle from the fO2 of abyssal peridotites (Frost & McCammon 2008), present-day and Archean MORB (Aulbach & Stagno 2016), and diamonds with (Mg,Fe)O inclusions that are variable in Fe# [Fe/(Fe + Mg)] for which the fO2 is inferred by the presence of carbonate inclusions (Kaminsky 2012) through Figure 7. The fO2 of Earth at the time of equilibration (separation) between mantle and core is also shown in Figure 7 (green circle; Frost et al. 2008). Interestingly, this figure indicates that the mantle redox state is distinct between the lower and the upper mantle, as well as heterogeneous in both C-reservoirs with fO2 values ranging up to c. 5 log units relative to the IW buffer. This implies that the mobilization of carbon over time does not necessarily require a mantle great oxidation event to occur (c. IW +1); in contrast, local chemical heterogeneities, pressure effect on the carbon–carbonate equilibria and kinetics of the redox reactions such as equation (12) might have played a key role over time. Log fO2 v. Fe# (Fe/(Fe + Mg)) of mantle rocks (orange rectangle) and ferropericlase inclusions in superdeep diamonds (blue area) along with that of the Earth at the core–mantle separation (green circle; Frost et al. 2008). The pink shaded area refers to fO2 (between 3 and 5 log units to IW) of present-day MORB. The critical and thoughtful comments by the two reviewers, S. Mikhail and T. Hammouda, are gratefully acknowledged and helped to improve the quality of this paper. Special thanks go to editors M. L. Frezzotti and I. Villa for their patience during the preparation of this paper. I would like to dedicate this manuscript to Professor Mariano Valenza, who suddenly passed away a few months before the final submission. Most of the motivation in my own research exists thanks to what I learnt from him throughout 2006. Much of what is discussed in this paper would not have been possible without the comprehension of my wife Paola Valenti over the last 12 years while travelling around the world to perform new exciting experiments with the support by colleagues at Bayerisches Geoinstitut (Bayreuth), Geophysical Laboratory (Carnegie Institution of Washington), and Geodynamics Research Center (Ehime University). V.S. acknowledges financial support by the DeepCarbon Observatory (DCO), Sloan funds (G2016-7282) and Sapienza University of Rome through ‘Fondi di Ateneo’. 1997. Vein-type graphite mineralization in the Jurassic volcanic rocks of the external zone of the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain). Canadian Mineralogist, 35, 1379–1390. 2005. Thermodynamics in Mineral Sciences: An Introduction. Springer, Berlin. 2013. Ingassing, storage, and outgassing of terrestrial carbon through geologic time. 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(eds) Kimberlites and Related Rocks. Geological Society of Australia, Special Publications, 14, 935–965. 1971. Buffering techniques for hydrostatic systems at elevated pressures. In: Ulmer, G.C. (ed.) Research Techniques for High Pressure and High Temperature. Springer, Berlin. 1987. Inclusions in diamonds. In: Nixon, P.H. (ed.) Mantle Xenoliths. Wiley, Chichester, 501–522. 1987. Quartz–fayalite–iron and quartz–fayalite–magnetite equilibria and the free energies of formation of fayalite (Fe2SiO4) and magnetite (Fe3O4). American Mineralogist, 72, 67–75. 1968. Activities in solid iridium–iron and rhodium–iron alloys at 1200°C. Transactions of the Metallurgical Society of AIME, 242, 631–633. 1980. Cation vacancies and the crystal chemistry of breakdown reactions in kimberlitic omphacites. American Mineralogist, 65, 1257–1264. 2014. Growth kinetics of a reaction rim between iron and graphite/diamond and the carbon diffusion mechanism at high pressure and temperature. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, V13A-4743. 1992. The calibration and application of accurate redox sensors. American Mineralogist, 77, 284–295. 1997. The redox stability of moissanite (SiC) compared with metal–metal oxide buffers at 1773 K and at pressures up to 90 kbar. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Abhandlungen, 172, 279–307. 1982. The redox potential of boron nitride and implications for its use as a crucible material in experimental petrology. American Mineralogist, 67, 170–174. 1989. Carbonatites: Nomenclature, average chemical compositions and element distribution. In: Bell, K. (ed.) Carbonatites: Genesis and Evolution. Unwin Hyman, London, 1–14. 2008. Carbonatite Occurrences of the World: Map and Database. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File, 5796.

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https://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/176/2/375

EE: Today is May 24, 1999. I believe we're moving on. I’m in Richmond, Virginia, today, at the home of Constance "Connie" Phillips. Ms. Phillips, thank you so much for having us here today. This is an interview for the Women Veterans Historical Project of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I’ve got about thirty note cards here. The first question I ask folks—I try not to trip them up right at the beginning—where were you born and where did you grow up? CP: St. Paul, Minnesota, I was born. I grew up in Concord, North Carolina. EE: How did you get from St. Paul to Concord? CP: Well, my father and mother moved, and they came to Salisbury, North Carolina. My father was engaged in a little enterprise with his brother, a slipper factory which went kaput. So then we moved to Concord, at which point he started a new business which went kaput. EE: What years was this, the twenties? CP: Well, jeez, I was born in ’24, so we’re talking late twenties. EE: Before the Crash [of 1929]. CP: Yes, yes, that’s right. in Boston at the Boston Homeopathic Hospital. Her friend moved to St. Paul and asked her to come out and work with her in the operating room. EE: Wonderful. So your mom was a native of Massachusetts? CP: No, she was a Canadian-born and grew up in Keene, New Hampshire. EE: I guess in those days folks finished high school and then went for a couple years’ nurse’s training in a hospital. CP: She was not allowed to go to nurse's training because she was under twenty-one. Her parents would not sign for her, because women did not do that kind of thing in that era. So she taught school one year, which she hated. After that, she was old enough and so she hauled herself off and went to nurse's training, which was remarkable for that era. EE: You told me here before our interview started that your mom was actually in the First World War. CP: She was in World War Number One, and she was at Fort Meade, Maryland, ready to go overseas, and she had a ruptured appendix, which almost killed her. Her unit went on off to wherever they went, France, wherever it was, I don’t even know that. EE: This was what, ’17? EE: And so she was in Minnesota, then joined the service? CP: No, no, she joined the service before she went to Minnesota, somehow or other. I don’t know. EE: But after her stay at Boston Homeopathic. CP: Yes, that’s where she trained, and then she probably went into service then. I don’t know that. But then later in her early thirties is when she went to St. Paul and met my father. They were both in their thirties. This was a late marriage for that era. They were both never been married before, quite mature people. CP: I have one sister who is twenty months younger. I saw her two weeks ago in Hillsborough, North Carolina. EE: Wonderful. What’s her name? EE: And your mom and your dad. Your mom, I think you told me, she later became a [U.S.] Public Health [Service] nurse? CP: She moved to Concord. We lived in one room. This was my father, my mother, and two children, and it was tight. She got mighty sick of living in the house with her mother-in-law, so she said, “Well, what can I do?” So she goes and finds herself a job. And she decides that she and the children are moving, so she rented a house. And she said to my father, "The children and I are moving. We hope you will go with us," and he did. [Laughter] And of course, two weeks later it was his idea, you know. CP: The way things go. But anyway, we rented two houses and then bought a farm outside of Concord which had been in my father’s family and sold to somebody else. But this farm was in our family for two hundred years. EE: So there is way back a North Carolina connection. EE: So y'all were in Concord then, I guess, before the Depression hit. CP: The Depression did not really affect us. We were either living in my grandparents’ house or—and at that point my father was working for my grandfather at Cline and Moose Grocery Store in Concord. We never were hungry, we never saw people that were hungry. We moved to the country. We had a fantastic farm, forty-three acres. My daddy, who had a "nervous breakdown," later died of a brain tumor. Who knows? Anyway, he went to farming at age forty-five. He was very experimental. We had a quarter acre of asparagus. We had raspberries, both red and black. We had peaches of many varieties, including Georgia Bells, which do not ship. [Laughter] So anyway, we had a great childhood on the farm. I loved it. My sister hated it because she was a people person. Me, I was happy to eat peaches and read books. CP: We went to town high school. We lived in the county, went to high school in town, and graduated from Concord High School. EE: And you said you had about a hundred in your graduating class in ’42? EE: If you were eating fruit and reading books on the farm, you must have liked school. CP: Yes, I liked parts of it. EE: What did you like about it? CP: I was in love with my geometry teacher. I took art and band at the end of my junior year. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. It seemed silly to go ahead and graduate, so I thought, well, let me take a year off and do this. So I took art and band two years each and fell in love with art. Not drawing, not painting, but all the crafts. I got very interested in it and did my undergraduate stuff at Woman’s College [WC] in pottery, which was my love—metalwork, weaving, you know, the crafts. EE: Was Seagrove a popular place then? CP: I’ll tell you what was there then that my family had a connection with—Jugtown Pottery. And I have Jugtown Pottery. That is old Jugtown. EE: Was it the Owens family that started that? CP: He was the potter. No, the Busbees started it. And I have in my lockbox a letter from Mrs. Busbee. I wrote her, asking her about art. I had to interview somebody in college. And she wrote me at length what she thought about art, and it's sitting in my lockbox. EE: Wow. I know Chapel Hill published a coffee table book not too long ago about the pottery. CP: They were fine people, and they were good friends of my folks. CP: Yes, I was on a bus coming back from Woman’s College on the weekend. Wasn’t that in December? CP: I was coming back on a bus having gone—what year was that? CP: All right. I must have been up there to visit somebody to see if I liked it, to see if I wanted to go there. I remember hearing about it in connection with that bus trip. Of course, the bus from Greensboro to Concord, I think it was seventy-three miles, as I remember, it took a fair while to stop in all those little towns. CP: Yes. And everybody stopped. EE: Do you remember any conversation about the war, the start of the war that you heard? CP: I am probably the least politically oriented person you will ever run into. It’s just not on my page. EE: Didn’t faze you. When did you graduate from high school, ’42? EE: What did you do after you graduated from high school? Did you go right to WC? CP: I chose that because of the art department, because they had a crackerjack art department there. EE: Did you already know the name of somebody, the professors before you got there? CP: It was really Ocracoke. And I loved every minute of it. What was great about it was we ate when we were hungry, we slept when we were tired. The mail boat came in roughly at four o’clock. That was the only thing that came to that island. Of course, we all went down to get our mail. So that was the only time frame we had. EE: Did they have the Coast Guard station out there then? CP: Yes, they had a Coast Guard station. EE: I went to Ocracoke many summers in my youth. CP: Oh, Ocracoke is a great place. Our jumping-off point on the mainland for the mail boat, I think, was Atlantic, and it took all day on this mail boat to get from Atlantic to get to Ocracoke. EE: Was there anybody in Portsmouth then? CP: I don’t remember Portsmouth at all. EE: So when you got to WC, do you remember what dorm you were in? EE: Did you come with roommates from back home or you just come on your own? CP: I came with my sister’s best friend, Ann Llewellen. Then I had, each following year, different roommates. Ann left to get married. EE: Did she marry a Spencer, by any chance? CP: No, but her middle name was Spencer, Ann Spencer Llewellen. EE: She didn’t have anything to do with Goodie's later on, did she? CP: Got me. I have lost complete track of most everybody down there. See, I’ve been up here fifty years, you know. EE: There’s a woman in my church back home who is Ann Llewellen Spencer. I just was wondering if that was any relation. EE: You told me, before we started the interview, that you started your college career and then you interrupted it. CP: And that’s how I got in the army. EE: That was Christmas of ’44? CP: Probably. Got me, man. I was not particularly patriotic, but I was mad because they had screwed me up. And they did that a lot. You know, they still do it. CP: And they let you go so far before they tell. EE: Before they tell you. CP: And there I was, and I was really trying to get through. Not for any patriot—see, I’m not politically oriented, you know. EE: But you were twenty, so did your mom give you any grief? CP: No, no. No, no. They gave me ultimate freedom. Can you imagine letting a sixteen-year-old go alone for a month to Ocracoke Island? I mean, that’s pretty trusting. Of course, I didn’t get into any trouble. EE: But you also were an independent type from the beginning out there on the farm, it sounded like. CP: Well, we were raised—there was no distinction made between male and female. Women were allowed to do most everything, you know. My father may not have agreed with it, but my mother was all for it. CP: Our art teacher, and I kept in touch with his daughter, Ann somebody or other, long gone. I don’t remember his name. EE: Did you say Ivy? CP: But, anyway, I was extremely impressed by all the teachers. I could not draw and I could not paint, but I had a fine time. And I loved the classes. EE: Great. Dean [Harriet] Elliott, I guess, had gone on and left? CP: She was the dean of women, I think, at that point. EE: I can’t remember when she left to go to Washington to work in the Roosevelt administration. CP: I have no memory of that at all. I’m apolitical. EE: Did you have any fun social-wise? What was the social life like? CP: Social life was rather sparse at Woman’s College because that was the war era. I was never particularly afraid of men, never paid much attention to them, really, but I remember walking out of the dorm one time and all I had seen for weeks was women, and some serviceman said hello to me. Well, it was so startling to hear a male voice that I panicked and ran back to the dorm. You know, I was just so surprised. EE: This was somebody from the ORD [Overseas Replacement Depot]? CP: I had no idea. Somebody walking around campus. You know, there were a lot of young men who, because it was a women’s college, would come over there and roam around. CP: That’s right. Film was film. So that’s how I ended up being an army X-ray technician, much to my amazement. EE: So did they talk about that option with you then before you joined? CP: Oh, I’m sure so. I think I designated that. EE: Did you say you signed up at a recruiter there in Concord or in Greensboro? CP: I think I went to Charlotte. I wouldn’t be surprised. EE: Is that where you reported back? CP: Des Moines, Iowa. In February. And you talk about cold. EE: This was February ’45. CP: It was cold. February the 8th. It was cold out there, and they made us march outside. They made us do our exercises, and I used to run in place with my eyes shut, and they didn’t think much of that. At five o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t interested in seeing a bunch of people running in place. CP: Oh, we were issued clothing. Oh, yes. And I used to always lose gloves. We were issued two pairs of gloves. I promptly lost one pair and had to buy the replacement, and that was the last pair of gloves I lost. We were issued nylons, too. Nylons in that era were pretty big stuff, and they wore like iron. They turned green after a while, but they didn’t get runs in them. The dye came out of them, but they lasted well. They also issued us cotton stockings. EE: Those are the kind I’ve seen pictures of women, and they say, “Don’t look at my ankles,” because they’d always bunch up there. CP: Little ruffles down there, yes. EE: How long was basic [training] for you? CP: Six weeks, as I remember. I remember having KP [kitchen patrol] fourteen times. Now, KP was not a punishment; it was a roster duty, a rotating duty. And I did not care for KP. I did not like big things of potatoes to peel, you know. I could do that on the farm. I had peeled a fair amount of stuff. EE: What was a typical day like for you in basic? CP: Well, they got you up early. They made you do whatever you were going to do that day. You did a fair amount of marching. Of course, it was cold. It was Des Moines, Iowa. It’s cold out there, the wind blows. EE: Were most of your instructors men or women? CP: Women. In fact, I had no male instructors. EE: You weren’t going with anybody you know, were you, from WC? CP: No. I just went. EE: Brave new world, just went, right in the middle of the year, said, "I’m going." CP: Right on the train. It took two days to get from Concord or Charlotte to Des Moines, and you were riding any which way you could. CP: No berths. I remember sleeping on some duffel bags between cars. There was a little spot back there. EE: I don’t know how it is, but most women I’ve talked with about basic, there’s only two Southerners in the whole basic group. Everybody gets picked on with your accent. CP: I do not remember anybody in basic. I just know that I didn’t care for the whole thing. I did clean a grease trap. I do not know that you will talk to too many women who have cleaned a grease trap. They make you do it at five o’clock in the morning before you have your KP duty, because when you upchuck, you don’t have much in your tummy to upchuck with. It was not fun. EE: No, doesn’t sound like it. EE: So are you thinking now, "This is why Dad wanted me to do all this"" CP: No, no, I just did it. I don’t question motivation, I just go do what I do and I do it. EE: Where did you go from Fort Des Moines? CP: From Des Moines I went to Atterbury in Indianapolis. Camp Atterbury, I believe that was, in Indianapolis. That’s where X-ray school was. That was a four-month stint. EE: You came out of basic. What rank were you? EE: Private. And after X-ray school, are you still a private or are you a specialist? CP: Probably. I don’t know when I got to be a corporal, but somewhere in there I became a corporal. Probably after I left X-ray school. I don’t know that. I do know that I became a sergeant in Louisville, only by default, only because everybody else was leaving and they needed for their TO a sergeant. So all of a sudden this kid who was barely out of X-ray school is a sergeant, which was nice pay-wise. And it never happened in the army. You know, I just fluked into it. CP: I just fluked into it. All my life I’ve won by default. EE: Atterbury, Indiana, was that near Indianapolis? CP: Yes, right outside of Indianapolis. EE: Was this is the farthest you’ve ever been away from home? CP: Yes. Well, Des Moines was farther than Atterbury. It was pretty far. EE: For your first big train trip—or how did you get down to Ocracoke? Did you drive? CP: I think I probably rode with my art teacher to school. See, my folks were really quite cosmopolitan, you know, and we had a stream of people, due to my mother’s Public Health job, coming into our home. I was good friends with a Filipino doctor, you know, all sorts of people. So we were not typical. CP: I didn’t pay much attention to it. I just didn’t like being waked up in the middle of the night, and told them so. That got me in hot water. EE: You weren’t the social butterfly. CP: Oh, no, I didn’t pay any attention to a bunch of this stuff. EE: I know some folks, especially WACs [Woman's Auxiliary Corps—Army ], I know I think in ’42 when they first started the WACs, which was WAAC, they later found out it was the army itself that kind of started the smear campaign against the WACs. CP: There was much smearing. I have had young men walk up to me—this happened at Atterbury, I think—walk up to me and ask me to spend the weekend with them. And my rejoinder was, “No, I’m not really interested. But I’m looking for somebody to play tennis with. You want to play some tennis?” So we ended up becoming friends. You know, innocence is a great protection. EE: Sure. That was a good campaign. EE: But this kind of rumor and innuendo didn’t bother your folks back home? EE: Your mom was in Public Health, she can put up with about anything. CP: Listen, I grew up playing with the cards of the people that had VD [venereal diseases] in Concord, North Carolina. You’ve had a similar background. CP: I didn’t hear that one, because they didn’t have it in that era, but I would have, you know. And I knew about homosexuality because one of the neighbors came and talked to my mother at home on the front porch. We’re in the living room, you know. See, our experience in our childhood was so wide-ranged. EE: You weren’t cloistered intellectually, in that sense. CP: No. And I tell you the truth, I didn’t pay any attention to it. And there was a lot of garbage going on around me that I just didn’t get into, wasn't awed by it or disturbed by it, you know. EE: Well, those were the two big smears, was either the wantonness or the lesbian charge, I guess. CP: Yes, I had a girl come sit in my lap one day, and the rest of the girls in the dorm decoyed her off. You know, barracks, not dorm. EE: You were at Atterbury for four months. CP: Right. Then I went back to Des Moines in summer for staging. And that was hot. EE: At Atterbury, textbooks and then you were working in a hospital there or something, is that how you did it? CP: We X-rayed each other. They did not tell us till after. EE: So you glow in the dark. dental X-rays. I’ve restricted chest X-rays. Very few people get the privilege of seeing X-rays on me. I did have bone density recently because I’m of the age. EE: But that does have a lifetime cumulative effect on you, doesn’t it, that radiation? CP: Well, so far as I know, and I will be seventy-five in August, I seem not to have had any particular result from it. Who knows? But we did, we used each other as patients. EE: Were most of these women of your age, early twenties? CP: I think there probably were some older, but most of us were quite young. And I remember very few of those people from that era. EE: You worked this X-ray position. I know that some of the recruiting stuff for getting women into the services talked about freeing a man to fight. Was this the kind of position that you were replacing a man in army hospitals, or was this something a woman had been doing before? CP: I really don’t know enough to know. My bet was that they were freeing up men to go overseas, and they were going to use us in the States, probably. That was my bet, but I don’t know that. In Louisville there were some civilian technicians. EE: That’s what I was going to ask you. After Atterbury, were you working with both men and women in your regular job? CP: There was one male civilian technician. No, there were two male civilian technicians. There was one army male technician. I think there were two of us women, young women technicians. There was a girl, Phyllis, who came out of New York. I think she was in Louisville. I was good friends with a lab tech there. She was my best buddy, and she and I both went on to White Sulfur [Springs] at the same time. EE: We talked a little bit before this interview started, so I sort of know about the places you were. Why don’t we run through for the tape the hospitals that you were stationed at through the end of your service, and then I want to go back and ask you about the kind of work you did in each of those places. EE: You were at Nichols in Louisville through April of ’46? CP: August 24th, I have here as a date, of ’45 through March of ’46. EE: And then you went to White Sulfur Springs for April and May of ’46? CP: Right, April and May of ’46. EE: Ashford General, where is that? CP: Ashford was the army’s name for the Greenbriar at White Sulfur at that time. And then that hospital closed and I went to Valley Forge, and that was from June until August of ’46. EE: Is that when you got your discharge from Valley Forge? CP: Got it from Fort Bragg, August 22, 1946, and, boy, was I happy. Whee! What happened, there were several of us who had not finished college. They didn’t need the personnel and they gave a couple of us the option to get out with eighteen months’ service, which was not what was permitted at that point. But because we were juniors and seniors, you know, they said, “Would you like to go back to school?” And of course I said yes. So it worked out beautifully, got out in August, went back to school in September. EE: Yes, I think you had to serve—I don’t know what the minimum was, but I know basically for every month in you got a certain—it added up that way. CP: Yes. And then, of course, we got the G.I. Bill and that was a great deal. I bought a bunch of art books and had myself a ball, and it didn’t cost my parents. The Woman’s College, the year I went there as a freshman, I think, was six hundred dollars. I don’t know what it went up to in ’46 and ’47. EE: That was for room and board and everything? CP: Oh, yes, that was it. EE: The kinds of patients at these different hospitals, Nichols General— was that all just whatever? CP: Nichols General was a nerve center. They had paraplegics there and probably some quadriplegics. I don’t remember any of those. And they also had a lot of extremity nerve injuries. CP: No, no, no. Man. Miss a whole part of a person. And they were trying to rejoin the nerves and they used tantalum wire, is something I remember X-raying to see how close something was getting to something to rejoining. But I think that was where some of the first paraplegics were kept alive. I don’t believe they understood the technology to be able to do that. So that was very interesting. And, of course, most of our patients were male. Very few females. Which, of course, at twenty I thought was cool. CP: That was big brass. I X-rayed four generals in one morning, and you don’t see that many generals very often. They also had the room that they showed up where Ike [Dwight D. Eisenhower] had slept. And our X-ray department, as I remember, was up on the fourth floor. It was a very interesting hospital. We liberated a number of steaks, because they were trying to get rid of their food. And these were large—what is the finest cut you can get? CP: Yes. And they were delicious. We had them a couple times a weeks. Probably coated our arteries good. EE: Your cholesterol went way up, but you said it was a good steak. CP: Oh, I tell you it was a fine maneuver. And I did buy some jewelry from their PX. I bought a bracelet and some earrings that had moonstones in them because they were on sale. EE: I imagine their PX [post exchange] had a little better merchandise than others. CP: Oh, I’m sure it did very nicely. EE: You were there just for a couple months and then you went to Valley Forge. CP: Sam Snead played an exhibition the day I had a wisdom tooth taken out. It took them four hours. They took it out in pieces, because my teeth are fragile and they break. And I got up from the dentist chair and I said, “Well, I think I’m going out and see Sam Snead.” And the dentist said, “Honey, you go home and go to bed.” Well, I could have seen Sam, and I was mad that I had not gone. But it was very much of a luxury place. It was very rundown because it had not been maintained. It was pretty shabby at that point, but quite interesting. EE: You mentioned that Valley Forge was a burn center. EE: I can’t imagine an X-ray technician having as much to do there. CP: We were still pretty busy. EE: What was a typical day on the job like for you? Did y'all work seven-day shifts, or how was it? CP: We pulled emergency. I remember more of that in Louisville because I was there longer. I can remember we were pretty short staffed there toward the end. So I remember pulling duty at night with emergencies and then working a full day the next day. We had a roster and it rotated, and the two civilians that were there kind of filled in. EE: So some weeks you were first shift, second shift? Did you rotate on shifts, or did you pretty much stay per shift? CP: No, we worked a full daytime and then this night stuff was extra. But the interesting thing in Louisville, we had two German POWs [prisoners of war] that worked our darkroom for us, and one of them was young and very open. The other was in his probably thirties, which looked old at that point, but he was a confirmed Nazi. But they were good. Boy, they ran a good darkroom. And we got together at Christmas. Our captain, who became the head of the X-ray department at the University of Penn later on, Richard Chamberlain, Captain Chamberlain, was away at Christmas. It was my first Christmas away from home, and of course it was pretty sad. So we got together and we sang into his dictating setup Christmas carols, they in German and we in English, which was fun. CP: I was in college at Woman’s College, so I did hear a little of that. EE: We talked a little bit about how there was occasionally the troublesome GI, but on the job since you worked with men, were you treated professionally? CP: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And I tell you, I have always not been bothered by people, you know. They don’t usually tangle with me, and they didn’t even then. I had a few, like the gentleman that out of the blue that asked me to spend the weekend with him, but, you know, that didn’t bother me a bit. I wanted somebody to play tennis with. He was a pretty good tennis player. EE: When you were in Louisville, did they have a nurses' dormitory that y'all stayed in or where did you stay? CP: We had a WACs barracks, and the nurses were in another segregated area. CP: Well, see, we were peons and segregated. EE: Did you get access to a service club? CP: Yes, but, see, I didn’t do that kind of thing. I didn’t pay much attention to it. EE: What was your after-hours like? Did you go see movies? CP: I used to read books, watch movies. I’ll tell you, I remember at Ashford knitting a great deal. I remember in the barracks I was knitting one day, and this little mouse came over looking for crumbs. So I reached over and scratched him with my knitting needle. [Laughter] So we made friends. But if you’ve grown up on a farm, you know, you don’t think anything about it. There’s a little mouse, you know. EE: You did tell me that at some point you must have stopped knitting and met a fellow. CP: I met my husband in Louisville. He was in a unit as a truck driver that was sent back from Germany. They didn’t know what to do with all these people at the end of the war, because they were overstaffed, so they put him on as a ward boy. Well, my husband ended up being a professional football player, among other things. He played one year for the Baltimore Colts. So here came this great big fellow, moving a patient on a stretcher very gingerly. It didn’t bounce him off the walls. EE: I'd better back up. So you saw your husband-to-be wheeling around folks in the ward for you, you thought, "My goodness, what a pussycat. This guy is big and yet tender at the same time." CP: It was an illusion. [Laughter] It was an illusion, like many things are. EE: So you started dated there at Louisville? CP: Very, very, very briefly. But the reason I chose West Virginia in preference to California, which I was given a chance at, was that it was closer to Philadelphia, and Mike was in Philadelphia. CP: No, he got out of the service in Louisville and went back to Philadelphia, and then had jaundice and was in the naval hospital in Philadelphia. So by the time I got back to Valley Forge, I would go from Valley Forge to see him down at the naval hospital. EE: How long was he in there for jaundice? CP: A long time. He damn near died. He had the highest—I think it was called an icterus index, I don’t even know the test, but anyway, it was the highest one. They’d never seen anything quite like it, but he survived. EE: You say his folks were from Philadelphia? EE: You left from Louisville, worked with the same kind of work at The Greenbriar just with better clientele. And at The Greenbriar did y'all have fancier headquarters because you were staying on the grounds? CP: No, we were over in barracks and when we were back there last fall, I looked for those old barracks, but they had been leveled and a parking lot put there. CP: These were temporary brown barracks. I was so hoping to see them to get oriented, and of course they weren’t there. But they were brown. CP: No, they were wooden barracks. This little book, you may want to read before you leave here and see if it would be of value, because it tells about the barracks and other things. I think it might be of real interest to you. EE: Then you went back to Valley Forge and had this similar kind of schedule of work for the day. EE: Did you ever think about making the military a career? CP: He had as much trouble with me and I did with him. We were totally different in our backgrounds, totally different in our interests. He was so sports oriented that there was very little else in the world. Beautiful athlete, fine athlete, good golfer, good—you know, you name it, he could do it. EE: What was the hardest thing that you had to do while in the military, either physically or emotionally? CP: Probably physically, one of the fourteen KP days, probably, because it started very early and went very long, involved lots of potatoes and a few grease traps. But emotionally, there was a boy—who later died in the hospital in Louisville—from Concord and he had a cancer of some sort, a blood cancer of some sort. I saw him get more ill and finally he wasn’t there any longer. So I think that was probably one of the hardest things. And we dealt with some very bad injuries. And probably emotionally Valley Forge. I had this one man that had had a bad injury, brain injury. He said, “You know, I'm a college graduate, and I can neither read nor write.” So that was, you know, pretty rough. And some awful disfiguring things with skin grafts. I mean, a column of flesh going from somebody’s chest up to somewhere on their face to remake something. Grotesque stuff. That was tough. EE: You said that you don’t get steeled for that kind of stuff. CP: I don’t think anybody could. I thought I was pretty tough, and, you know, I could do ordinary stuff, but not that one. I don’t know that anybody can do that when people’s faces are involved. You know, you can do something to a limb or a belly or something like that, but their faces are very personal. EE: When you're losing a limb, it’s traumatic and yet it doesn’t affect the personality like something happens to the face. CP: But to me, something happening to somebody’s brain is the ultimate. You know, the rest of it you can handle. You can lose an eye, you can lose a nose. EE: You seem the kind of person who might remember a story like this. Do you have an embarrassing moment that sticks out in your mind? CP: That wasn’t embarrassing; that was painful. [Laughter] I mean, they had me pegged. No, no, I don’t remember anything particularly embarrassing. EE: In the kind of work you were doing, it doesn’t sound like you were ever in physical danger. Were you ever afraid going to all these new places? CP: I was afraid after I found out what we’d been exposed to in X-ray school. Now, that was fearsome. EE: It’s a good little drive from West Virginia to Philadelphia. CP: No. You didn’t. Nobody had cars, you remember? EE: So there was rationing and everything else? CP: You rode a train, that’s how you got there. EE: He was in the hospital this whole time. CP: We wrote letters. And only when I got to Valley Forge did I probably see him. He certainly did not come out there to see me. He was home and not sick for a while before this thing hit. EE: Had you kept up? You talked about being upset to miss Christmas for the first time, in ’45, I guess it was. Did you keep up with the home folks and let them know this romance was burning? CP: I have a box of letters sitting over there that I never even read that my mother kept, and they sit in the box on the floor, but I’m too busy. EE: But you did keep them posted on what was going on? CP: Oh, of course, of course. We were a very close family. EE: Do you have, when you think about that time, any favorite songs or movies that when you see or hear you think of it? EE: The kind of job that you had, do you think you contributed to the war effort? CP: I would not have thought of it in those terms at all. I was not a particularly patriotic person. My motivation was not always pure. I did what I was supposed to do and didn’t worry about it. EE: It was the job of the moment for you as much as anything else? CP: It was very exciting and I loved X-ray, and I was a pretty good technician. CP: I went in right when it’s over. EE: —right after it’s over. EE: So most of the time you’re moving, they’re decommissioning folks. CP: That’s right. And what we were getting were people that had been wounded, many of them quite a long time before, that there was like rehab stuff, you know. EE: Did that give you any kind of opinion about war? CP: I never thought much about war. I tell you, I have written—I am aggravated at what we are doing now. We have no business in Kosovo. I was married for forty-five years to a Ukrainian. Their thought processes and ours—one of the ladies in here is quite an activist, and she told me to write to my congressman. I never done anything like that in my life. I said, you know, "You folks don’t realize that we don’t even understand these people’s thought processes." What the hell are we doing over there? So I think this kind of war is very stupid and very unwise. And I said in that letter, I said, we are dealing with people who don’t think the same, and we are in a situation where we have no business. EE: Well, you know, we got into World War II because somebody came and attacked us. CP: Well, I think there are justified wars, you know. And if you're defending your territory. I think Vietnam was the first real disastrous thing I can remember so far as war went. And since then, I don’t know we've fought any wars where we had any business. CP: See, World War II was the last war where there was true patriotism across the board in this country, so far as I know. EE: Korea—I was watching this special they had on [Douglas] MacArthur the other night and was reminded, between MacArthur and [Harry S.] Truman, how divisive that made our strategy in Korea. What were we there for? CP: See, all this is past my page. I don’t really understand it, I know I don’t. And I’ve never been really interested in it, and I never really paid that much attention to it. EE: Well, that’s encouraging to hear, because in every generation there’s a whole range of people who do all sorts of things for all different reasons. Many times I hear about the World War II generation, and usually from people who have never been there, that everybody was patriotic, that everybody wanted to do it. CP: Well, most people, I think, truly were. Now, I didn’t suffer hardship from World War II. My mother had a rationing ticket because she was a Public Health nurse, so we had gasoline. Not that we used it foolishly, but we had it. EE: Did your folks fly the little flag in the window with the star on it? CP: Out on the Irish Potato Road in Cabarrus County, who would have seen it? No, they did not. You know, it just wasn’t that big a deal to them. EE: Good enough, good enough. That’s what I want to hear. EE: Didn’t know if it was the farmer’s daughter trying to marry him. CP: So we get them home and my mother realizes what we’ve gotten into, she says, “Now I just want y'all to know I have counted my silver.” [Laughter] But we met some lovely young men and thoroughly enjoyed them, and they kept up with my folks years later. EE: I’ve heard from many folks that just wearing a uniform would get you dinners, seats on a train or in a bus, movie passes. EE: Do you have any memories about where you were or what you did on either VE [Victory in Europe] Day or VJ [Victory in Japan] Day? EE: You left the service in ’46. When did you get married? CP: September the 6th, 1948. EE: In the meantime, did you got back to Cabarrus County, or what in the world did you do with yourself? CP: Well, I worked one summer on a State of North Carolina mobile X-ray unit. I finished school. I taught school in Wilmington, Delaware, one year, and my husband was playing ball in Baltimore, which was very convenient, I thought. EE: So he played professional ball. You told me he went to Western Maryland after getting out of the hospital. CP: He graduated from Western Maryland. He got out of the hospital in time to go back to school, and he was a senior, as was I. We went back and forth some that year. But we each dated other people. EE: You dated afterwards. So y'all really were testing the waters to see if this was going to last. CP: I was leery, because I knew that this was a real stretch. And it was. EE: So you picked a location conveniently far enough away from both families where you could do your own thing. CP: And I went to some of the games in Baltimore and enjoyed that, until I saw my husband get creamed one day. He broke some ribs, broke his cheekbone, just a few little things, you know. EE: It’s nerve-wracking being the spouse of professional athlete, I would imagine. CP: Well, it wasn’t much fun. Well, I wasn’t a spouse at that time, but I did think I had a vested interest. CP: Yes. November the 11th. "Mickey." Constance Michelle. EE: Right. Then you had another daughter. CP: In ’51, Nancy. And then a son in ’53, Barry. EE: Where were y'all living at this time? CP: When Mickey was born, we were in an apartment out west in Richmond. Then my husband, to supplement his ball-playing, worked a couple of different jobs. One was as a materials checker for a big construction thing. Then a fluke again. He was playing ball with a kid that had been a coach at Midlothian High School. As he’s getting ready to leave, he says, “Mike, want to try coaching?” Mike says, “I always thought I’d like that.” So we moved to Midlothian and lived over a grocery store with cockroaches and mice for four years. EE: You weren’t as friendly to those mice, I don’t think, were you? CP: Well, I caught a few. One night we were sitting in the living room, I caught four. Doing right good that night. EE: My wife and I, our first apartment was in Philadelphia, and we didn’t understand what urban life was like until you live in big apartment building and you don’t know what your neighbors have left out in the kitchen and whatever. Oh, we had lots of guests that year. CP: They come up the pipes. EE: They do. In fact, we had a brand-new kitchen installed and they came up through the burners on the gas stove. CP: We had them in the motors in electric clocks, in our refrigerator motor, and would spray and chase them downstairs. They'd stay a week or so and come back up. EE: So your husband came back to coach at Midlothian. CP: And he was also playing professional football. EE: Down here at Richmond? CP: Yes, with the old Richmond Rebels. CP: You know, you don’t play so many more years. EE: Did you come back and raise the kids? EE: Took care of the babies. EE: Well, I’m one of three, so I know you had plenty to do. EE: Do you think your time in the military made you more of an independent person than you would have been otherwise? EE: Has your life been different because of that military experience? You got a husband out of it. CP: Meeting my husband, I think probably that was the greatest thing that made a difference in my life. EE: You were likely not going to meet a Ukrainian in Cabarrus County. CP: Might have. Possibly through my mother’s job, because that job led us to very interesting people. CP: See, that was no big news in our family because of my mother. CP: I’ll tell you, I think that what’s happened since then started then, certainly, but I think women have in the process lost a lot of power as human beings. Because I see these young women going to work, having small children at home, when I really think those children are missing a lot of boats, and I really think that that’s exactly in some measure what’s wrong with our current setup. See, my daughter had two children, they are the only grandchildren we had from my eldest daughter, and she was willing in this day and age to make a sacrifice of material possessions—and her husband was in agreement, in order that she be able to know what was going on at home. So she worked as a cleaning woman for some years. She has a degree in Phys Ed, but she’s too old now to do that. You know, she’s not coaching anymore at fifty, almost. So she’s a teacher’s aide now in an elementary school, having a good time. EE: It’s a great age. It’s fun being a dad when your kids are that age. Did your daughters ever have any interest in the military? EE: Would you have ever encouraged them? Did you encourage them to try the military? CP: No way. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to do anything. I say let them figure it out and do it. CP: No, I’ll tell you. My son was threatened by the draft. I went to the dentist and the only thing I could figure out that was wrong with him was his bottom teeth were pretty crooked. And I talked to the dentist, who was a dear friend, and he said, no, that was not sufficient. So I said, "Oh, hell," because I really didn’t want him to go in. EE: This would have been during Vietnam? CP: Yes. I did not want that. And fortunately, it disappeared right in front of him. He had a low number. I don’t remember what it was, eleven or thirteen or something like that. I mean, they were breathing on him. But it went away, thank heaven. EE: As a country, we’ve sent our first female combat pilot into action just this last December. CP: I don’t like women on boats. Nature is a powerful force. You cannot take people and put them in close quarters without having some results, I don’t think. EE: Human history doesn’t show that to be the case, does it? sure what Hillary [Clinton] is going to do right now, but neither does Hillary, I don’t think. I heard some commentator the other night saying that they thought perhaps she might be spiting her husband a bit. And I giggled to myself. Who knows. But anyway. And Mrs. [Elizabeth] Dole, all the Viagra controversy. This gets to be funny after a while. But anyway, I like to see women have the opportunity, but I do not think it is a smart move to put them on a boat with a bunch of men. EE: What do you think about the time that you were in the service and you saw those folks? Do you have any heroes from that time period, folks that you admired? CP: I think her name was Colonel [Oveta Culp] Hobby. She was in the WACs. And I think if there were a WAC heroine that she—I never had any contact with her, I just knew her by name and her status, you know. But I think if there were a WAC heroine in that era, she would probably have been it, because to be a colonel for a woman at that point was pretty big stuff. Later on, I’m sure they had generals and what have you, but right then that was about as high as you went. Oveta Culp Hobby, that’s the name. I never saw her. EE: The woman I am going to interview the day after tomorrow was Brigadier General Mildred Bailey, who was the next to the last head of the WACs before they were fully integrated into the army in the mid-seventies. She’s a WC grad. CP: Well, I’ll be darned. EE: But you’re right, there are very few line officers ever from the WACs. CP: Oh, yes. And people, when they hear that I was a sergeant, they think I drilled people. Well, with my little pitiful voice, there ain’t no way I could have drilled anybody. I could barely make it in a classroom, you know. EE: That was just a fluke. I’m not sure if we had that on tape how you got to be a sergeant. CP: It was by default, because what was happening is everybody was being sent home. They were trying to get rid of personnel. They had a plethora of people. They didn’t need them all, so they were discharging people right and left. Well, all the TO was gone. I was the only one left there. I didn’t have enough time to get out. So they couldn’t get me out, so they made me a sergeant. And that was within about a year, which is very unusual in that era. And it was not my charm or my wisdom or my what have you; it was just they needed to fill that spot. EE: What did you think of the Roosevelts? Did you have any memories of those folks? CP: See again, if you’re not that politically oriented, you know. Now [Bill] Clinton has kind of got me stirred up. I’ve got to admit that. EE: Everybody, I think, has an opinion on Mr. Clinton. CP: Well, I hear he’s a great charmer. But when he went to Washington, I said, "Son of a gun, the carpetbaggers are back." I have not changed my opinion from the very first time I saw him. Truman I remember as being decent, probably an honorable man. Mrs. Roosevelt I remember as being a far-thinking woman, way before her time, probably. Mr. Roosevelt and politics—you know, just not there. Just never have been there. It doesn’t interest me in the least, but I do think we need a new pPresident. And I don’t mind being on tape for that one. CP: Well, I’d have been very interested in some of the elderly folks around here, because I learned long ago, you don’t deal with religion and you don’t with politics, you just go right on your merry way. But we have some ardent Democrats that are senior citizens around here. This man can do no wrong; he is blameless. All these people have been persecuting this dear little sweet fellow. EE: That’s the way his mama taught him to say, so. CP: Well, I’ll say what. EE: Well, I’ve run through my gamut of questions. CP: Well, I really am not help to you, because I was not a serious member of the armed forces. I happened to be there. EE: Well, you know, I’m not so sure. I think you're an honest reporter of how you felt at that time. I think a lot of people in their imprimatur of history would like to have seen a lot more serious than what they were. But they were only nineteen, twenty, twenty-two or three years old. —lost track of it. What were we saying? CP: I always said that I would not deify my husband if he were to predecease me. I have heard women who had an interesting, challenging marriage, and their husbands became saints when they died. I have not felt the need to do that. EE: It’s interesting to see what my sister, the one who’s a year younger than me, does with hers. She’s had an interesting marriage. CP: Well, I’ve had a challenging one. EE: Did you go back to the work force after your kids grew up, or what did you end up doing? CP: When my husband started selling insurance for Nationwide Insurance and he had his office in our bedroom and he used to type at night, I tried to type for him. He’d looked at this form which I had typed laboriously with many numbers. It was a fire policy. He looks at it and he says, “You know, I gave you the wrong rate.” Rip. Well, that was the end of my career working for him. I said, “I have a degree in art. I have taught elementary art. I don’t know a damn thing about the third grade." I’d been selling World Book on the side because I needed money, you know. We were not flush, as you are not when you are struggling. I had given my husband an ultimatum. He was teaching school and selling insurance, and these were eighteen-hour days. I figured he was going to die pretty shortly from that. So I said, “One or the other, I don’t care which one it is, but just pick one and do it.” So he figured he could make more money selling insurance than he could teaching school, so he chose that, and I think wisely. But we had a hiatus in there. EE: Should we take it off? EE: Well, madam transcriber, thank you so much—or mister transcriber. I don’t know if you are a madam or a mister, but thank you for putting up with our conversation today. We’ve had a good time. CP: I think that would be very interesting. Item description Interview discusses Constance Phillips's early life; education at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina; work as an X-ray technician in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II; and her life after her military service . Phillips describes her childhood and family, including her mother's career as a nurse in World War I and with U.S. Public Health Service; being unaffected by the Depression; and developing an interest in crafts such as weaving and pottery . " Topics related to Phillip's education include choosing the Woman's College because of the art program; taking summer courses at Appalachian State Teachers College; and being informed that she had been taking too many art classes, spurring her to join the army . " Phillips recalls her basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, including the cold weather, uniforms, cramped train rides, open dorms, and female instructors. She mentions the students at X-ray school using each other as patients without realizing the danger of radiation exposure. She remembers the WAC scandal, fending off men's advances, and becoming a sergeant by default. Phillips also discusses each of the hospitals she was stationed at. She recalls meeting her husband at Nichols General Hospital, a nerve center, and working with two German prisoners of war. She describes treating army brass at Ashford General Hospital and the Valley Forge General Hospital, which operated as a burn unit and plastic surgery center . " Postwar topics include Phillips's courtship and marriage with her husband and his professional football carrer; finishing her schooling; and working briefly as a teacher .

2019-04-22T10:40:37Z

http://libcdm1.uncg.edu/cdm/ref/collection/WVHP/id/4247/

Perry Anderson’s books include Lineages of the Absolutist State and American Foreign Policy and Its Thinkers. On New Year’s Day 1994, Europe – the metonym – changed names. The dozen nations of the Community took on the title of Union, though as in a Spanish wedding, the new did not replace but encompassed the old. Was anything of substance altered? So far, very little. The member states have risen to 15, with the entry of three former neutrals. Otherwise things are much as they were before. What is new, however, is that everyone knows this is not going to last. For the first time since the war, Europe is living in anticipation of vast but still imponderable changes to the part that has stood for the whole. Three dominate the horizon. The first is, of course, the Treaty of Maastricht. We can set aside its various rhetorical provisions, for vague consultation on foreign policy and defence, or ineffectual protection of social rights, and even ignore its mild emendations of the institutional relations within the Community. The core of the Treaty is the commitment on the part of all the member states save Britain and Denmark to introduce a single currency, under the authority of a single central bank, by 1999. This step means an irreversible move of the EU towards real federation. With it, national governments will lose the right both to issue money and to alter exchange rates, and will only be able to vary rates of interest and public borrowing within very narrow limits, on pain of heavy fines from the Commission if they break central bank directives. They may still tax at their discretion, but capital mobility in the single market can be expected to ensure more or less common fiscal denominators. European monetary union spells the end of the most important attributes of national economic sovereignty. Secondly, Germany is now reunited. The original Common Market was built on a balance between the two largest countries of the Six, France and Germany – the latter with greater economic weight and slightly larger population, the former with superior military and diplomatic weight. Later, Italy and Britain provided flanking states of roughly equivalent demographic and economic size. This balance started to break down in the Eighties, when the European Monetary System proved to be a zone pivoting on the Deutschmark, as the only currency never to be devalued within it. A decade later, Germany’s position has been qualitatively transformed. With a population of over eighty million, it is now much the largest state in the Union, enjoying not only monetary but increasingly institutional and diplomatic ascendancy. For the first time in its history, the process of European integration is now confronted with the potential emergence of a hegemonic power, with a widely asymmetrical capacity to affect all other member states. The third great change has followed from the end of Communism in the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. The restoration of capitalism east of the Elbe has further transformed the position of Germany, both by reinstating it as the continental Land der Mitte which its conservative theorists always, with reason, insisted it would once again become, and – a less noticed development – by reducing the significance of the nuclear weapons that France or Britain possessed and it lacked. Yet more significant, however, is the currently expressed desire of virtually all the East European countries, and some of the former Soviet lands, to join the EU. As things stand, the total population of these candidates is about 130 million. Their inclusion would make a community of half a billion people, nearly twice the size of the United States. More pointedly still, it would approximately double the membership of the European Union, from 15 to some thirty states. A completely new configuration would be at stake. Historically, these three great changes have been interconnected. In reverse order, it was the collapse of Communism that allowed the reunification of Germany that precipitated the Treaty of Maastricht. The shock-wave moved from the east to the centre to the west of Europe. But causes and consequences remain distinct. The outcomes of these processes obey no single logic. More than this: to a greater extent than in any previous phase of European integration, the impact of each is quite uncertain. We confront a set of fundamental indeterminacies that, adopting a Kantian turn of phrase, might be called the three amphibologies of post-Maastricht politics. They pose much more dramatic dilemmas than is generally imagined. The Treaty itself offers the first. Its origins lie in the dynamism of Delors’s leadership of the Commission. After securing passage of the Single Market Act in 1986, Delors persuaded the European Council two years later to set up a committee largely composed of central bankers, but chaired by himself, to report on a single currency. Its recommendations were formally accepted by the Council in the spring of 1989. But it was the sudden tottering of East Germany that spurred Mitterrand to conclude an agreement with Kohl at the Strasbourg summit in the autumn, which put the decisive weight of the Franco-German axis behind the project. Thatcher, of course, was implacably opposed. he seemed to have a positive aversion to principle, even a conviction that a man of principle was doomed to be a figure of fun. He saw politics as an 18th-century general saw war: a vast and elaborate set of parade-ground manoeuvres by armies that would never actually engage in conflict but instead declare victory, surrender or compromise as their apparent strength dictated in order to collaborate on the real business of sharing the spoils. A talent for striking political deals rather than a conviction of political truths might be required by Italy’s political system and it was certainly regarded as de rigueur in the Community, but I could not help but find something distateful about those who practised it. Andreotti’s judgment of Thatcher was crisper. Emerging from one of the interminable European Councils sessions devoted to the British rebate, he remarked that she reminded him of a landlady berating a tenant for her rent. The increasing role of Italy as a critical third in the affairs of the Community was a significant feature of these years. The Report on Economic and Monetary Union that laid the basis for Maastricht was drafted by an Italian, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, the most trenchant advocate of a single currency, and it was also an Italian initiative – Andreotti again – which at the last minute wrote an automatic deadline of 1999 into the Treaty, to the consternation of the British and of the Bundesbank. Nevertheless, the final shape of the bargain reached at Maastricht was of essentially French and German design. The central aim for Paris was a financial edifice capable of replacing the unilateral power of the Bundesbank as the de facto regulator of the fortunes of its neighbours, with a de jure central authority over the European monetary space in which German interests would no longer be privileged. In exchange Bonn received the security system of ‘convergence criteria’ – in effect draconian conditions for abandonment of the Deutschmark, which Italian theorists of a single currency had always rejected – and the fixtures and fittings of ‘political union’. The diplomatic origins of the Treaty are one thing. Its economic effects, if implemented, are another. What is the social logic of the monetary union scheduled to come into force by the end of the decade? In a system of the kind envisaged at Maastricht, national macro-economic policy becomes a thing of the past: all that remains to member states are distributive options on – necessarily reduced – expenditures within balanced budgets, at competitive levels of taxation. The historic commitments of both social and Christian democracy to full employment and traditional welfare services, already scaled down or cut back, would cease to have any further institutional purchase. This is a revolutionary prospect. The single obligation of the projected European Central Bank, more restrictive even than the charter of the Federal Reserve, is the maintenance of price stability. The protective and regulative functions of existing national states will be dismantled, leaving sound money as the sole regulator, as in the classical liberal model of the epoch before Keynes. It is clear that such agreement will be limited in inverse proportion to the homogeneity and the similarity of outlook possessed by the inhabitants of an area. Although, in the national state, submission to the will of a majority will be facilitated by the myth of nationality, it must be clear that people will be reluctant to submit to any interference in their daily affairs when the majority which directs the government is composed of people of different nationalities and different traditions. It is, after all, only common sense that the central government in a federation composed of many different people will have to be restricted in scope if it is to avoid meeting an increasing resistance on the part of the various groups it includes. But what could interfere more thoroughly with the intimate life of the people than the central direction of economic life, with its inevitable discrimination between groups? There seems to be little possible doubt that the scope for regulation of economic life will be much narrower for the central government than for national states; and since, as we have seen, the power of the states which comprise the federation will be yet more limited, much of the interference with economic life to which we have become accustomed will be altogether impracticable under a federal organisation. On this reading, Maastricht leads to an obliteration of what is left of the Keynesian legacy that Hayek deplored, and most of the distinctive gains of the West European labour movement associated with it. Precisely the extremity of this prospect, however, poses the question of whether in practice it might not unleash the contrary logic. Confronted with the drastic consequences of dismantling previous social controls on economic transactions at the national level, would there not soon – or even beforehand – be overwhelming pressure to reinstitute them at supranational level? That is, to create a European political authority capable of re-regulating what the single currency and single-minded bank have deregulated, to avoid an otherwise seemingly inevitable polarisation of regions and classes within the Union? Could this have been the hidden gamble of Jacques Delors, author of the plan for monetary union, yet a politician whose whole previous career suggests commitment to a Catholic version of social-democratic values, and suspicion of economic liberalism? The incredible lacuna in the Maastricht programme is that while it contains a blueprint for the establishment and modus operandi of an independent central bank, there is no blueprint whatever of the analogue, in Community terms, of a central government. Yet there would simply have to be a system of institutions which fulfils all those functions at a Community level which are at present exercised by the central governments of the individual member countries. Perhaps because he feared just such arguments, Hayek himself had changed his mind by the Seventies. Influenced by German fears of inflation if the Deutschmark was absorbed in a monetary union, he decided that a single European currency was not only a utopian but a dangerous prescription. Certainly, it was more than ever necessary to take the control of money out of the hands of national governments subject to electoral pressure. But the remedy, he now saw, was not to move it upwards to a supranational public authority, it was to displace it downwards to competing private banks, issuing rival currencies in the marketplace. Even on the principled right there have been few takers for this solution, which Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, perhaps with a grain of malice, commends in L’Europa verso l’Unione Monetaria as the only coherent alternative to his own. But misgivings about what the kind of single currency envisaged by the Treaty of Maastricht might mean for socio-economic stability are widely shared, even among central bankers. With nearly twenty million people currently out of work in the Union, what is to prevent huge permanent pools of unemployment in depressed regions? It is the Governor of the Bank of England who now warns that, once devaluations are ruled out, the only mechanisms of adjustment are sharp wage reductions or mass out-migration; while the head of the European Monetary Institute itself, the Belgian-Hungarian banker (and distinguished economist) Alexandre Lamfalussy, in charge of technical preparations for the single currency, pointedly noted – in an appendix to the Report of the Delors Committee, of which he was a member – that if ‘the only global macroeconomic tool available within the EMU would be the common monetary policy implemented by the European central banking system’, the outcome ‘would be an unappealing prospect’. If monetary union was to work, he explained, a common fiscal policy was essential. Given, however, that budgets remain the central battleground of domestic politics, how can there be fiscal co-ordination without electoral determination? The ‘system of institutions’ on whose necessity Godley insists is only conceivable on one foundation: a genuine supranational democracy, embodying for the first time a real popular sovereignty in a truly effective and accountable European Parliament. It is enough to spell out this condition to see how unprepared either official discourse or public opinion in the member states is for the scale of the choices before them. What, secondly, will be the position of Germany in the Europe envisaged at Maastricht? It wasn’t merely the hopes or fears of bankers and economists that accelerated monetary union. Ultimately more important was the political desire of the French Government to fold the newly enlarged German state into a tighter European structure in which interest rates would no longer be regulated solely by the Bundesbank. In Paris the creation of a single currency under supranational control was conceived as a critical safeguard against the reemergence of German national hegemony in Europe. At the same time, even sections of the German political class and public opinion, somewhat in the spirit of Odysseus tying himself to the mast to protect himself from temptation, inclined – at any rate declaratively – to share this view. On both sides, the assumption was that a European monetary authority would mean a reduction in the power of the nation-state that was economically strongest – namely, the Federal Republic. Germany was in favour of the recognition of Croatia and Slovenia. The rest of the Community was against, and the United States strongly so. Faced with such an apparently powerful ‘Western consensus’, on any such matter, the old pre-1990 Bundesrepublik would have respectfully backed away. The united Germany simply ignored the United States and turned the Community around. Germany recognised the independence of Croatia and Slovenia, and the rest of the Community followed within a few days. The reversal of the Community position was particularly humbling for the French ... The new republics are now part of a vast German sphere of influence to the east. German economic hegemony in Europe is now a fact of life, to which the rest of us Europeans must adjust as best we can. To press ahead with federal union in these conditions would not ‘rein in’ the mighty power of united Germany. It would subject the rest of us to German hegemony in its plenitude. Just this fear, of course, was the mobilising theme of the campaign against ratification of Maastricht in the French referendum a few months later. The French electorate split down the middle on the issue of whether a single currency would reduce or enhance the power of the strongest nation-state in the continent. The majority of the political élite, led by Mitterrand and Giscard, in effect argued that the only way to neutralise German predominance was monetary union. Their opponents, led by Séguin and de Villiers, retorted that this was the surest way to bring it about. The dispute was fought out against the background of the first monetary tempest set off by the raising of the German discount rate in June, which ejected the lira and the pound from the ERM in the final week of the campaign. A year later it was the turn of the franc to capsize in waves of speculation whipped to storm-height by the line of the Bundesbank. We now have a vivid inside account of these events in Bernard Connolly’s book The Rotten Heart of Europe. The coarseness of its title and cover are misleading: signs more of self-conscious encanaillement on the part of smart publishing than of authorial quality. The book suffers from an occasional lapse of taste, and a liking for melodrama. But for the most part it is a highly literate and professional study. Indeed, piquantly so. A crypto-Thatcherite at the highest levels of the Community’s financial apparatus in Brussels, Connolly is at the antipodes of Thatcher’s bemusement in the field of European politics. His book displays an unrivalled mastery of the nexus between banking and balloting in virtually every member state of the EC: not just France, Germany, Italy or the UK, but also Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland are covered with dash and detail. (The only significant exception is the Netherlands, whose ambivalence between liberal economics and federal politics is consigned to an exasperated footnote.) Chauvinist convictions have produced a cosmopolitan tour de force. Connolly’s standpoint is based on a principled hostility, not merely to a single currency, but to fixed exchange rates between different currencies: in his eyes, a dangerous and futile attempt to bridle the operation of financial markets, which can only stifle the economic freedom on which the vitality of a disorderly economic system depends. ‘Western capitalism contained is Western capitalism destroyed,’ as he puts it. When he describes the dogfights of 1992-3 inside the ERM, his sympathies are with the most adamant German opponents of concessions to their neighbours’ concerns over interest rates, above all the crusty figure of Helmut Schlesinger, then Chairman of the Bundesbank. But the sympathy is strictly tactical: Schlesinger is applauded for an intransigence whose effect was to undermine any prospect of stability in the ERM, so exposing in advance the unviability of EMU. It involves no idealisation of the Bundesbank, the myth of whose ‘independence’ of political influence Connolly punctures effectively; its policies have corresponded with remarkable regularity to the needs of the CDU/CSU in the electoral arena. Today the German political class, in which nationalist reflexes are no longer dormant, is having second thoughts about monetary union, as the prospect of a single currency has come to look ambiguous on their side of the Rhine too. Could it be that Germany received shadow rather than substance in the bargain at Maastricht? In chorus, Waigel for the ruling coalition and Tietmeyer for the Central Bank have been upping the ante for monetary union, with stentorian demands for ‘strict compliance’ with the convergence criteria appended to the Treaty (public debt no higher than 60 per cent and public deficit 3 per cent of GDP, inflation within 1½ and interest rates within 2 per cent of the three best performers in the Union) and a ‘stability pact’ beyond them. This orchestrated clamour has no legal basis, since in the text signed at Maastricht the convergence criteria are not unconditional targets to be met, but ‘reference values’ to be moved towards; and whether or not sufficient movement has been achieved is for the Commission alone to decide. These provisions were the work of Philippe Maystadt, Foreign Minister of Belgium, a country with good reason to insist on flexibility, and certain memories. In its disregard for legal niceties, or small neighbours, the tone of current German diplomacy has become increasingly Wilhelmine. Nevertheless it is a striking fact that so far this ‘Teutonic tirading’, as Adorno once called it, has met no rebuff. Paris, far from reacting, has been eager to accommodate. For Connolly, this is only to be expected. Since Mitterrand’s capitulation in 1983, the attitude of the French élite has been a Vichy-like subservience to German economic power. In its pursuit of a franc fort requiring punitive interest rates to maintain alignment with the D-mark at the cost of massive unemployment, it has committed treachery against the French people. Noting the widespread alienation from the political class evident in every recent poll, and recalling with relish the country’s long traditions of popular unrest. Connolly – who describes himself as a Tory radical – looks forward with grim satisfaction to another revolutionary explosion in France, when the population realises the price it is paying for monetary union, and rises up to destroy the oligarchy that sought to impose it. Premonitions of this kind are no longer regarded as entirely far-fetched in France itself. For the moment the prospect is less dramatic, but still fraught enough. The Maastricht referendum revealed the depth of the division in French opinion over the likely consequences of a single currency: would it lead, in the stock question, to a Europeanised Germany or to a German Europe? The victory of Jacques Chirac in the subsequent Presidential elections guarantees that the tension between antithetical calculations will continue to haunt the Elysée. For no French politician has so constantly oscillated from one position to the other, or opportunely reflected the divided mind of the electorate itself. Clambering to power on a platform challenging the bipartisan consensus of the Rocard-Balladur years – la pensée unique – that gave higher priority to a strong franc than to job creation, Chirac in office – after a few mis-starts – has frantically reverted to financial orthodoxy. The Juppé Government is now administering even tougher doses of retrenchment to force the deficit down to Maastricht levels. Yet even the tightest budgetary rectitude is no guarantee of a franc fort. The ‘convergence criteria’, as Connolly rightly insists, are completely unrealistic in their exclusion of growth and employment from the indices of a sound economy. Designed to reassure financial markets, they satisfy only central bankers. The markets themselves are not mocked, and will sooner or later mark down any currency where there is widespread unemployment and social tension, no matter how stable the prices or balanced the public accounts – as the French Treasury discovered in the summer of 1993. The current domestic course of the Chirac regime can only tighten already explosive pressures in the big cities at the cost of its electoral credibility, on which that of its exchange rate also depends. The massive street protests of this winter could be a harbinger of worse double to come. The regime’s slump in the opinion polls is without precedent in the Fifth Republic. An image of zealous compliance with directives from the Bundesbank involves high political risks. Chirac’s resumption of nuclear tests can be seen as a clumsy attempt to compensate for economic weakness by military display – demonstratively flexing the one strategic asset the French still possess and the Germans do not. The result has been merely to focus opprobrium on France. Partial or hypocritical though much of this reaction has been (how many pasquinades have been written against the Israeli bomb?), Chirac’s experiments remain pointless. Forcible-feeble in the style of the man, they can scarcely affect the political balance of Europe, where nuclear weapons are no longer of the same importance. At a moment when French diplomacy ought to have been engaged in winning allies to resist German attempts to harden the Treaty of Maastricht, for which its immediate neighbours Italy, Belgium and Spain were more than ready, it was gratuitously incurring a hostile isolation. On present performance, Chirac could prove the most erratic and futile French politician since Boulanger. Nevertheless, contrary to received opinion, in the end it will be France rather than Germany that decides the fate of monetary union. The self-confidence of the political class in the Federal Republic, although swelling, is still quite brittle. A cooler and tougher French regime, capable of public historical reminders, could prick its bluster without difficulty. Germany cannot back out of Maastricht, only try to bend it. France can. There will be no EMU if Paris does not exert itself to cut its deficit. The commitment to monetary union comes from the political calculations of the rulers, and the world of classical statecraft – where a foreign policy designed to uphold French and check German national power goes without saying. The socioeconomic costs of the franc fort have been borne by the population at large. Here there is an absolutely clear-cut conflict between external objectives and domestic aspirations of the kind that the principal historian of the Community, Alan Milward, would banish from the record of earlier integration. How much does it matter to ordinary French voters whether or not Germany is diplomatically master of the continent again? Are not the creation of jobs and growth of incomes issues closer to home? In France the next years are likely to offer an interesting test of the relative weights of consumption and strategy in the process of European integration. Meanwhile the pressures from below, already welling up in strikes and demonstrations, can only increase the quandaries above. On the surface, the French political class is now less divided over Maastricht than at the time of the referendum. But it is no surer that the single currency will deliver what it was intended to. Germany bound – or unbound? In the space of the new Europe, the equivocation of monetary union as an economic project is matched by the ambiguity of its political logic for the latent national rivalries within it. Finally, what of the prospects for extending the European Union to the east? On the principle itself – it is a striking fact – there has been no dissent among the member states. It might be added that there has also been no forethought. For the first time in the history of European integration, a crucial direction has been set, not by politicians or technocrats, but by public opinion. Voters, of course, were not involved. But editorialists and column-writers across the political spectrum – before the consequences were given much consideration – pronounced with rare unanimity any other course unthinkable. Enlargement to the east was approved in something of the same spirit as the independence of the former republics of Yugoslavia. This was not the hard-headed reckoning of costs and benefits on which historians of the early decades of European integration dwell: ideological goodwill – essentially, the need to recompense those who suffered under Communism – was all. Governments have essentially been towed in the wake of a media consensus. The principle was set by the press; politicians have been left to figure out its applications. Here the three leading states of Western Europe have divided. From the outset Germany has given priority to the rapid inclusion of Poland, Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia and, more recently, Slovenia. Within this group, Poland remains the most important in German eyes. Bonn’s conception is straightforward. These countries, already the privileged catchment for German investment, would form a security glacis of Catholic lands around Germany and Austria, with social and political regimes that could – with judicious backing for sympathetic parties – sit comfortably beside the CDU. France, more cautious about the tempo of widening and mindful of former ties to the countries of the Little Entente – Romania, Serbia – has been less inclined to pick regional favourites in this way. Its initial preference, articulated by Mitterrand in Prague, was for a generic association between Western and Eastern Europe as a whole, outside the framework of the Union. Britain, on the other hand, has pressed not only for rapid integration of the Visegrad countries into the EU, but for the most extensive embrace beyond it. Alone of Western leaders, Major has envisaged the ultimate inclusion of Russia. The rationale for the British position is unconcealed: the wider the Union becomes the shallower it must be, for the more national states it contains, the less viable becomes any real supranational authority over them. Once stretched to the Bug and beyond, European union will evolve in practice into the vast free-trade area it should – in the eyes of London – always have been. Widening here means both institutional dilution and social deregulation: the prospect of including vast reserve armies of cheap labour in the East, exerting downward pressure on wage costs in the West, is a further bonus in this British scenario. Which outcome is most likely? At the moment the German design has the most wind in its sails. In so far as the EU has sketched a policy at all, it goes in the CDU’s direction. One of the reasons, of course, is the current convergence between German calculations and Polish, Czech and Hungarian aspirations. There is some historical irony here. Since the late Eighties publicists and politicians in Hungary, the Czech lands, Poland and more recently Slovenia and even Croatia have set out to persuade the world that these countries belong to a Central Europe that has a natural affinity to Western Europe, and is fundamentally distinct from Eastern Europe. The geographical stretching involved in these definitions can be extreme. Vilnius is described by Czeslaw Milosz, for example, as a Central European city. But if Poland – let alone Lithuania – is really in the centre of Europe, what is the east? Logically, one would imagine, the answer must be Russia. But since many of the same writers – Milan Kundera is another example – deny that Russia has ever belonged to European civilisation at all, we are left with the conundrum of a space proclaiming itself centre and border at the same time. Perhaps sensing such difficulties, an American sympathiser, the Spectator’s former deputy editor Anne Applebaum, now of the Standard, has tacitly upgraded Poland to full Occidental status, entitling her – unfailingly disobliging – inspection of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine in Between East and West.[*] Another way out of them is offered by Miklos Haraszti, who argues that while current usage of the idea of Central Europe may make little geographical sense, it does convey the political unity of those – Poles, Czechs, Magyars – who fought against Communism, as distinct from their neighbours who did not. More Romanians, of course, died resisting in 1989 than in all three countries combined over many years. Today, however, the point of the construct is not so much retrospective as stipulative: originally fashioned to repudiate any connection with Russian experience during the Cold War, it now serves to demarcate superior from inferior – i.e. Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian etc – candidates for entry into the EU. It is, however, rare for geopolitical concepts to escape their origins altogether. Mitteleuropa was a German invention, famously theorised by Max Weber’s friend Friedrich Naumann during the first World War. Naumann’s conception remains arrestingly topical. The Central Europe he envisaged was to be organised around a Germanic nucleus, combining Prussian industrial efficiency and Austrian cultural glamour, capable of attracting satellite nations to it in a vast customs community – Zollgemeinschaft – and military compact, extending from ‘the Vistula to the Vosges’. Such a unified Mitteleuropa would be what he called an Oberstaat, a ‘super-state’ able to rival the Anglo-American and Russian empires. A Lutheran pastor himself, he noted regretfully that it would be predominantly Catholic – a necessary price to pay – but a tolerant order, making room for Jews and minority nationalities. The union it created would not be federal – Naumann was an early prophet of today’s doctrine of subsidiarity, too. All forms of sovereignty other than economic and military would be retained by member states preserving their separate political identities, and there would be no one all-purpose capital: different cities – Hamburg, Prague, Vienna – would be the seat of particular executive functions, rather like Strasbourg, Brussels and Frankfurt today. Against the background of a blueprint like this, it is not difficult to see how the ideological demand for a vision of Central Europe in the Visegrad countries could find political supply in the Federal Republic. Given, however, that a widening of some kind to the east is now enshrined as official – if still nebulous – policy in the Union, is it probable that the process could be limited to a select handful of former Communist states? Applications for admission are multiplying, and there is no obvious boundary at which they can be halted. Europe, as J.G.A. Pocock once forcibly observed in these pages, is not a continent but an unenclosed sub-continent on a continuous land-mass stretching to the Bering Straits (LRB, 19 December 1991). Its only natural frontier with Asia is the strip of water once swum by Leander and Lord Byron. To the north, plain and steppe unroll without break into Turkestan. Cultural borders are no more clearly marked than geographical: Muslim Albania or Bosnia lie a thousand miles west of Christian Georgia or Armenia, where the Ancients set the dividing-line between Europe and Asia. No wonder Herodotus himself, the first historian to discuss the question, remarked that ‘the boundaries of Europe are quite unknown, and no man can say where they end – but it is certain that Europa’ – he is referring to the beauty borne away by Zeus – ‘was an Asiatic, and never even set foot on the land the Greeks now call Europe, only sailing’, on her bull, ‘from Phoenicia to Crete’. The irony of Herodotus perhaps still retains a lesson for us. If Slovakia is a candidate for entry into today’s Union, why not Romania? If Romania, why not Moldova? If Moldova, why not the Ukraine? If the Ukraine, why not Turkey? In a couple of years, Istanbul will overtake Paris to become the largest city in what – however you define it – no one will contest is Europe. As for Moscow, it is over two centuries since Catherine the Great declared in a famous ukaz that ‘Russia is a European nation,’ and the history of European culture and politics has enforced her claim ever since. De Gaulle’s vision of a Europe ‘from the Atlantic to the Urals’ will not lightly go away. All the stopping-places in current discussion of the widening of the EU are mere conveniences of the ring of states closest to what was once the Iron Curtain, or of the limits of bureaucratic imagination in Brussels. They will not resist the logic of expansion. Writing here four years ago, Pocock remarked that ‘“Europe” is once again an empire in the sense of a civilised and stabilised zone which must decide whether to extend or refuse its political power over violent cultures along its borders but not yet within its system: Serbs and Croats if one chances to be Austrian, Kurds and Iraqis if Turkey is admitted to be part of “Europe”, These are not decisions to be taken by the market, but decisions of the state.’ But as Europe is not an empire in the more familar sense of the term – a centralised imperial authority – but merely (as he put it) ‘a composite of states’, with no common view of their borderlands, it is not surprising that the limites have yet to be drawn by the various chancelleries. Since he wrote, however, there has been no shortage of expert opinion to fill the gap. For example, Timothy Garton Ash, one of the first and keenest advocates of a fast-track for Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, has recently adjusted his sights. ‘Having spent much of the past fifteen years trying to explain to Western readers that Prague, Budapest and Warsaw belong to Central not Eastern Europe, I am the last person to need reminding of the immense differences between Poland and Albania,’ he writes in the Times Literary Supplement, ‘but to suggest that there is some absolutely clear historical dividing line between the so-called Visegrad group and, say, the Baltic states or Slovenia, would be to service a new myth.’ Instead, the dividing-line must be drawn between a Second Europe numbering some twenty states whom he describes as ‘set on a course’ towards the EU; and a Third Europe that does not share this prospect, comprising Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and – a cartographical nicety – Serbia. A dichotomy so evidently instrumental is unlikely to be more durable than the mythical distinction it has replaced. At the end of his Orchestrating Europe, a capacious and strangely zestful guide through the institutional maze and informal log-rolling of the Union, Keith Middlemas looks out on a somewhat broader scene. Europe, he suggests, is surrounded by an arc of potential threat curving from Murmansk to Casablanca. To hold it at a distance, the Union needs a belt of insulation, comprising a ‘second circle’ of lands capable of integration into the Community, shielding it from the dangers of the ‘third circle’ beyond – Russia, the Middle East and Black Africa. In this conception the respective buffer zones logically become Eastern Europe, Cyprus and Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Maghreb. Middlemas, however, explains that while the first two are ultimately acceptable into the Union, the third is not. ‘The countries of the Maghreb,’ he writes, ‘are irrelevant as a barrier to sub-Saharan Africa, which presents no threat except via small numbers of illegal immigrants.’ On the contrary, ‘the threat comes from North Africa itself.’ If this is a more ecumenical approach than that of Garton Ash, who pointedly excludes Turkey from Europe, it traces the same movement, common to all these tropes – a slide to aporia. Every attempt so far to delimit the future boundaries of the Union deconstructs itself. For the moment, it is enough to register that ‘Europe Agreements’, formally designated as antechambers to entry, have been signed by six countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria; and that four more are impending (Slovenia and the Baltic states). It is only a matter of time before Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and what is left of Bosnia, join the queue. Does this prospect – we might call it an inverted domino effect, in which the pieces fall inwards rather than outwards – mean that the British scenario will come to pass? Harold Macmillan once spoke, with a homely national touch, of his hope that the Community, when exposed to the beneficent pressure of a vast free-trade area, would ‘melt like a lump of sugar in a cup of tea’. Such remains the preferred vision of his successors. Their calculation is that the more member states there are, the less sovereignty can practically be pooled, and the greater is the chance that federal dreams will fold. How realistic is this? There is no doubt at all that enlargement of the Union to some two dozen states would fundamentally alter its nature. The most immediate effect of any extension to the east, even of modest scope, would be a financial crisis of heroic proportions. The cost of integrating the Visegrad quartet alone would mean an increase of 60 per cent in the current Union budget – rising to nearly 75 per cent by the end of the century. There is no chance of the existing member states accepting such a burden, at a time when every domestic pressure is towards tax reduction. That leaves only two other possible ways out: either decimating current support to farming communities and poorer regions within these countries, composed of voters with the power to resist, or abandoning the acquis communautaire altogether to create a second-class membership for new entrants, without benefit of the transfers accorded to first-class members. Perhaps predictably, the result is a loftier castle in the air than any folly of the Commission: in place of economic integration through monetary union in Western Europe, political embrace of the whole of Eastern Europe under the guidance of Nato, with power-sharing from Albania to Ireland, and ‘qualified minority acting’ for the UK and its peers. This, as Garton Ash puts it in another native image, would be to jump off ‘the wrong bus’ and catch the right one. If the leap is not made in time, he adds, Europe will be engulfed in another world war. The euphoric construction needs an apocalyptic conclusion – why otherwise take it seriously? The conviction that EMU and Eastern enlargement are incompatible, on the other hand, is entirely reasonable. It is shared from the opposite standpoint by the unlikely figure of Jacques Attali, who regards the single currency as a valid but now lost cause, and enlargement as a German project that will lead away from a federal Europe, for which most of the national élites, mesmerised by American culture, anyway have no appetite. ‘L’Europene s’aime pas,’ he glumly observed at the end of the Mitterrand Presidency. Maastricht is unlikely to evaporate so easily. But the hazards of enlargement do not just lie in the economic pitfalls it poses for new or old members. Even if derogations of various kinds – from the common agricultural policy, from the structural funds, from the single currency – were to be made for what were once the ‘captive nations’, a still more fundamental difficulty would remain, of a purely political nature. To double its membership would cripple the existing institutions of the Union. Already the original balance of the Six or the Nine has been thrown out of kilter in the Council of Ministers. Today the five largest states – Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Spain – contain 80 per cent of the population of the Union, but command only just over half the votes in the Council. If the ten current ex-Communist applicants were members, the share of these states would fall even further, while the proportion of poor countries in the Union – those now entitled to substantial transfers – would rise from four out of 15 to a majority of 14 out of 25. Adjustment of voting weights could bring the pays légal some way back towards the pays réel. But it would not resolve the most intractable problem posed by enlargement to the east, which lies in the logic of numbers. Ex-satellite Europe contains almost exactly as many states as continuously capitalist Europe (at the latest count, 16 in the ‘East’ to 17 in the ‘West’, if we include Switzerland), with a third of the population. Proliferation of partners on this scale, no matter how the inequalities between them were finessed, threatens institutional gridlock. Rebus sic stantibus, the size of the European Parliament would swell towards eight hundred deputies; the number of Commissioners rise to 40; a ten-minute introductory speech by each minister attending a Council yield a meeting of five hours, before business even started. The legendary complexity of the existing system, with its meticulous rotations of commissarial office, laborious inter-governmental bargains and assorted ministerial and parliamentary vetoes, would be overloaded to the point of paralysis. In such conditions, would not widening inevitably mean loosening? This is the wager in London, expressed more or less openly according to venue, from the FO to the TLS. In the long term, the official line of thinking goes, expansion must mean defederalisation. Yet is this the only logical deduction? Here we encounter the final amphibology. For might not precisely the prospect of institutional deadlock impose as an absolute functional necessity a much more centralised supranational authority than exists today? Co-ordination of 12 to 15 member states can just about operate on a basis of consensus. Multiplication to 30 practically rules this out. The more states enter the Union, the greater the discrepancy between population and representation in the Council of Ministers will tend to be, as large countries are increasingly outnumbered by smaller ones, and the weaker overall decisional capacity will become. The result could paradoxically be the opposite of the British expectation: not a dilution, but a concentration of federal power in a new constitutional settlement, in which national voting weights are redistributed and majority decisions become normal. The problem of scale, in other words, might force just the cutting of the institutional knot the proponents of a loose free-trade area seek to avoid. Widening could check or reverse deepening. It might also precipitate it. Each of the three critical issues now facing the European Union – the single currency, the role of Germany and the multiplication of member states – thus presents a radical indeterminacy. In every case, the distinctive form of the amphibology is the same. One set of meanings is so drastic it appears subject to capsizal into its contrary, giving rise to a peculiar uncertainty. These are the political quicksands on which the Europe to come will be built. [*] Macmillan, 314 pp., £10, 21 April 1995, 0 333 64169 8. In his stimulating though also amphibologous essay on Europe (LRB, 25 January) Perry Anderson several times takes issue with the argument I made in another place (TLS, 5 May 1995). The first of his objections is based on a wilful misunderstanding. Anderson sets me up to be arguing that a clear ‘dividing-line must be drawn’ between what I describe as a second Europe of some twenty states (15 of them post-Communist) more or less set on course for EU-rope, and a third Europe comprising Russia, its adjunct Belarus, Ukraine and (my words) ‘perhaps also’ Serbia. He contrasts this with my previous – but in fact continued – advocacy of rapid extension of EU and Nato membership to the new Central European democracies, starting with Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Anyone who goes back to my TLS essay will see that I am very far from arguing that a ‘dividing-line must be drawn’. In fact, Anderson rightly quotes me as objecting to an instrumentalisation of the notion of ‘Central Europe’ to draw an ‘absolutely clear historical dividing-line between the so-called Visegrad group and, say, the Baltic states or Slovenia’. (Incidentally, it’s another canard to suggest that East Central European ideas of Central Europe all go back to Friedrich Naumann and the Germans. What about Palacky or Masaryk, to name but two non-German progenitors?) I do suggest that there is currently a significant difference between, on the one hand, the large array of mainly small post-Communist states, with a strong desire for membership of the EU among their political élites and a majority of public opinion, varying historical, political and economic qualifications for membership, and acceptance of their theoretical claim to membership by the political leaders of the EU, and, on the other hand, a smaller number of states, two of them large, where those conditions do not apply. Does Anderson really think Russia or Serbia currently wants to join the EU, is set on a course to qualify for membership, or would find a claim to membership accepted, even in principle, by the political leaders of the EU? But identifying real differences (not least, between democracy and dictatorship) is a very different thing from insisting that a clear geographical ‘dividing-line must be drawn’. Indeed, I explicitly go on to envision ‘the longer-term possibility of a democratic Serbia re-oriented towards Europe’. The important point is precisely that one thing will lead to another, and EU-rope therefore has to start thinking now about how to make a functioning community of not just twenty but thirty member states. Here comes his second objection, this time to my central argument for the importance of enlargement – especially at a time when the great gamble of monetary union seems increasingly likely to fail – and for the radical thinking about the structure and priorities of the Community that enlargement necessarily entails. Anderson argues that ‘the cost of integrating the Visegrad quartet alone would mean an increase of 60 per cent in the current Union budget.’ But that is only true if the applicants enter on the current terms of membership. Precisely because this is economically almost impossible for them, and unacceptable to influential constituencies in Western Europe, I argue that we have to give priority to rapid political membership – reverting to the original first purpose of the founding fathers of the European Community – combined with long economic transition periods, while at the same time trying to reform the bad system of the Common Agricultural Policy and structural funds, in which, for the time being, the new members might not participate. To characterise this project as ‘political embrace of the whole of Eastern Europe, under the guidance of Nato’ (‘guidance’ – where on earth does that idea come from?) ‘with power-sharing from Albania to Ireland’ is simply a caricature. Most enjoyably but also most misleadingly, he conflates my views with those of the FO, the TLS, and what he calls ‘the wisdom of London’. The ‘wager in London’, he avers, is that widening will lead to loosening of the Community, and an end to federalism. This then enables him to pull an apparent rabbit out of his rhetorical hat. The ‘final amphibology’, he says, is that enlargement could actually lead to the opposite: a strengthening of Union powers in a new constitutional settlement. But that rabbit has already been skinned. This is exactly what I argued: ‘it would require more sharing of power and sovereignty; both in the form of Qualified Majority Voting, without which an EU of twenty or more member states would simply not work, and in the rather different procedures for what one might call Qualified Minority Acting … which is what is needed in foreign, security and defence policy.’ Others have made the same point. A British advocate of enlargement is not necessarily a Thatcherite. In the house of ‘London’ are many mansions. I freely admit that, to use terms which will be familiar to Perry Anderson, the project I propose is a radical one. By contrast, Anderson’s argument seems curiously conservative. Timothy Garton Ash (Letters, 8 February) protests amiably, but still too much. In the New York Review of Books of 24 October 1991 he published a ringing appeal, under the title ‘Let the East Europeans In!’, co-signed by one of Kohl’s aides, for the speedy admission to the EC of just three countries: Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. This should start, he argued, with their immediate co-option into the foreign policy counsels of the Community, and continue with their participation in elections to the European Parliament in 1994. Economic aid should also, he argued, be concentrated on this trio. ‘To give priority to these countries’, he wrote, was ‘realistic when we consider the available resources of the present EC’. Meanwhile other and poorer candidates, not on the shortlist, would presumably have to fend for themselves. About the same time, the American political scientist Ken Jowitt, a specialist on Romania, was warning of the dangers of dividing Eastern Europe into two zones – an Orange County and Watts. A few months later, fires duly started in the Balkan ghettos. Might a less one-sided distribution of journalistic energy in the Eighties, and diplomatic generosity in the Nineties, have helped to avoid the Yugoslav disaster? The practice of picking favourites does not benefit Eastern Europe, which needs collective rather than selective treatment from Western Europe. Even in the trinity of intended privilege, there are those, like George Konrad, who could see this. Since the war in Bosnia, Garton Ash has extended his attention south of the Danube. But he still wants a shortlist. The new one is composed of states ‘not on course’ for entry into the EU – Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Belarus, Ukraine. These states are excluded because they are too large, or they are ambivalent about Nato, or ‘the political leaders of the EU and Nato’ do not want them, or they are undemocratic. About this it might be said that Turkey is a member of Nato, Serbia a small country, Russia more democratic than Croatia, and the preferences of EU leaders regularly discounted by Garton Ash himself, when they don’t coincide with his own. To round matters off, he gamely concedes that consignment to an excluded Third Europe is ‘probably unfair to Ukraine’. The criteria are a jumble of ad-hockery that unravels itself. For the included Second Europe – i.e. all other former Communist countries – Garton-Ash advocates top-speed entry into an EU that has shed the misguided goal of a single currency, although Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are still to occupy the front row. He argues that this design should not be confused with Conservative policies towards Europe, since it envisages ‘more sharing of power and sovereignty’ in the Union than at present. But since his recipe for a new constitutional settlement on the one hand excludes East European members from the Common Agricultural Policy and structural funds, pending the dissolution of this acquis communautaire, and on the other, reserves to a West European triumvirate (UK, France and Germany) the power to act as they please in ‘foreign, security and defence policy’, its effect must be to weaken rather than strengthen the cohesion of the Union. Decently veiled, it is a formula for dis-integration. A scheme like this for scotching the single currency is music, if not from, certainly to the Foreign Office. From Thatcher’s speech at Bruges to Douglas Hurd’s recent leading article in the Financial Times. Conservative strategy has consistently sought to thrust Eastern Europe as a spoke in the wheels of the ‘ever closer union’ intended by the Treaty of Rome. Garton Ash is, of course, a writer with a mind of his own. It would be surprising if the advice he gave Thatcher back in 1990 chimed exactly with that of Trevor-Roper or Stone, when she conferred with them at Chequers over German unification. So, too, his current design for enlargement to the East, more capacious than any official proposals, is undoubtedly distinctive. After originally describing his scheme as ‘sceptical, empirical and pragmatic’, he now strikes a rather different note, explaining that ‘my project is a radical one.’ The claims are contradictory. There is no doubt the latter is more accurate. But the question remains: how realistic is this kind of radicalism, bent on undoing what the Union has so far done? Lastly, a historical point. Garton Ash complains that it is a canard to trace ideas of Central Europe principally to Friedrich Naumann and his German predecessors. He asks: what about Masaryk? Indeed. The answer is suggestive. Masaryk commented only briefly and weakly – a few lines – on Naumann’s Mitteleuropa in 1916. In his own writing of this period, ‘The Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis’ and The New Europe, composed in 1917, he accepted that there was a ‘striking difference between the East and West of Europe’ and argued that the principal problem of the First World War was ‘the political reconstruction of Eastern Europe on a national basis’. In that battle, ‘the Czech and Slovak nation is the anti-German vanguard of all the nations of Eastern Europe.’ At times Masaryk spoke of a ‘central zone’ stretching from Norway to Greece, but he distinguished it from the ‘vague term’ of Central Europe, which occasionally surfaces but never organises his thinking about the continent. In 1918, in exile in the United States, he could patronise a ‘Mid-European Democratic Union’ embracing even Armenians and Ukrainians, not to speak of Zionists, but he had no illusions about the association, nor the metaphysics of middleness. Masaryk was a much more considerable mind than Naumann. But on this subject there is no comparison between the contributions of the two. The idea of Central Europe could never acquire the salience for a Czech patriot aspiring to national independence that it had for a German contemplating regional dominance. Has the field of force behind that difference so greatly changed today? There is a danger of diminishing intellectual returns from my exchange with Perry Anderson (Letters, 8 February and Letters, 22 February). So let me be unamphibologous. Anderson is now reduced to travesty. Roughly half the October 1991 New York Review of Books article to which he refers was devoted precisely to the consequences for the rest of post-Communist Europe of giving priority to East Central Europe. Michael Mertes, Dominique Moisi and I argued: ‘The politics of inclusion are not necessarily the politics of exclusion. The contrary has been the case in the history of the EC. Including new members has always strengthened the case for including still more new members’ (emphasis added for speed-readers). ‘Might a less one-sided distribution of journalistic energy in the Eighties,’ Anderson asks, ‘and diplomatic generosity in the Nineties, have helped to avoid the Yugoslav disaster?’ Does this mean that I’m partly responsible for the war in Bosnia because I wrote about Poland and Czechoslovakia, or what? My point about German and non-German ideas of Central Europe was simply that there has been much serious and independent non-German thinking about it. In the Eighties, for example, the idea was revived by Czechs, Hungarians and Poles, not by Germans. If in 1917 Masaryk was reacting to Naumann, in 1987 Peter Glotz was reacting to Kundera and Konrad. But rather than continue the list of small points, let me restate the large ones. First and foremost, the major division on this question in Europe today is not between those who favour or exclude particular countries or groups of countries, but between those who are serious about the enlargement of the EU to include post-Communist countries and those who are not. That was the real issue in 1991, and, alas, that is still the real issue in 1996. Our article then was trying to get the EC to do something for post-Communist Europe at the inter-governmental conferences which culminated in Maastricht. It failed. Now we approach another inter-governmental conference, and the danger is still the same: more internal fiddling while post-Communist Europe burns. If you’re serious about enlargement you must have criteria for membership. Some European countries will meet them sooner than others. If you’re serious, you have to make an assessment of which countries are likely to do so, in what time-frame, so as to judge the scale of the task. That – and not drawing any eternal lines of European division – is what I was about. The claim that I am ‘bent on undoing what the Union has so far done’ simply ignores my clear and repeated statements to the contrary. It is also fatuous. Why waste time trying to get new democracies into a Union which is good for nothing? If Perry Anderson thinks there is a contradiction between being pragmatic and being radical, that only tells us something about his notion of radicalism. Anyway, rather than continuing to attack my project of enlargement with a ragtag army of nit-picking, misrepresentation and amphibologies, wouldn’t his time be better spent coming up with a better one? 1. Was it sensible or equitable in 1991 to urge that EC aid be reserved for the three best-off East European countries – Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary – and that they be rapidly inducted, ahead of all others, into the Community? Garton Ash points out that he and his fellow authors did not exclude other countries receiving comparable treatment later on, and defends their proposal on grounds of urgency: ‘Our article was trying to get the EC to do something for post-Communist Europe’ at a time when there was a danger of ‘more internal fiddling’ while ‘post-Communist Europe burnt.’ But why should poorer countries be put to the back of the queue for help – like worse-off citizens under Thatcher and Reagan, promised ultimate benefits from immediate hand-outs to the well-off; and what was the only region of Eastern Europe where the fuse was lit in late 1991? To call for emergency care to be rushed to the Visegrad states within a few months of the conflagration in Yugoslavia, can, without misrepresentation, be described as myopic. 2. What is the effect of Carton Ash’s current proposal that the European Union jettison a single currency and abandon the acquis communautaire, in favour of wide-scale enlargement to the East and differential categories of membership without any uniform rights or obligations? Affinities between this scheme and long-standing Conservative objectives are fairly plain, and it is puzzling that Garton Ash should be reticent about them. On the other hand, the balance of motives behind each is not quite the same. For Conservative leaders, the strategic aim is to dilute integration in Western Europe: the Eastern card, notwithstanding genuine pride in the pupils of privatisation, is a tactical means to that end. For Garton Ash the opposite holds. A passionate champion of countries and causes in East Europe, in the tradition of R.W. Seton-Watson, for him it is rapid enlargement that is the essential goal: disposing of monetary union and unwinding the acquis communautaire are simply seen, with good logic, as conditions of it. Once foreign editor of the Spectator, Garton Ash is unlikely ever to have warmed to European federalism, but concern with Brussels has never been a primary preoccupation. Perhaps this explains why he seems disconcerted that his proposals could be thought inimical to the Union. But he is mistaken if he thinks that the principle of the acquis communautaire, instinctively disliked but little understood in London, was anything other than central to the architects of integration. 3. Still, he asks, what is wrong with his plan for redesigning Europe in the sceptical but radical spirit of the British genius? The answer is straightforward. Garton Ash proposes to scrap the architrave of the institutional unity that the Community, with all its limitations, has historically achieved, in order to extend a status to former Communist states in the East that would, he makes clear, include no share in either CAP or the structural funds, let alone the privilege of ‘qualified minority acting’ reserved for Britain, Germany and France. What they would receive, however, is honorific promotion to the West. The order of priorities here was candidly indicated by Garton Ash in 1991, when he urged that Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia should participate in elections to the European Parliament without even being members of the Community – ‘this would be a powerful symbol,’ he wrote, ‘although the exact status of their Euro-MPs would have to be worked out.’ such blitheness is not pragmatic. It answers to a politics of gesture, in which not institutional reality but symbolic satisfaction is at stake. It would be wrong to hold Garton Ash responsible for this. There is a deep craving in much of Eastern Europe for such solace, to which his new scheme can be seen as a generous reaction. Yet in these societies themselves, local wits can already be heard likening the fixation with quick membership of the EU, no matter how second-class, to a cargo cult. The real needs of the region lie elsewhere. Today, cancellation of the heavy burden of debt left by their former rulers would be of much greater material benefit to the populations of Eastern Europe than any number of native politicians sitting in on the Council of Ministers. So far only Poland, as the enfant doré of German-American goodwill, has been favoured with a serious reduction of its liabilities. Impartial and general relief, to ease fiscal pressures and stimulate employment, would be preferable. A steady job and a square meal are worth more than a mere glimpse of the high table. Much to his credit, Garton Ash has criticised the politics of personal prestige, even in the leaders – Havel and Walesa – he has most admired. Mutatis mutandis, there is a lesson for national welfare, too. It is not speed but solidity of construction that a less spatially and socially divided Europe requires. Perry Anderson (Letters, 21 March) obviously doesn’t want to let this one rest. I think the time has come to do just that. However, I must briefly respond to what remain – however genially expressed – misrepresentations of my position. Taking his numbered points: 1. I certainly never argued the ludicrous proposition that ‘EC aid be reserved’ for Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. 2. I have never argued that the EU ‘jettison a single currency and abandon the acquis communautaire’. 3. I have never argued that what I call ‘qualified minority acting’ in foreign and security policy be ‘reserved for Britain, Germany and France’. On the contrary, other interested and capable European countries should participate in such ‘coalitions of action’ wherever possible. While feeling honoured by the comparison with R.W. Seton-Watson, I don’t accept the implicit disqualification that I’m only seeing this from an East European point of view. Anderson himself argues that I’m also seeing it from a British point of view. Add the German one, and that makes, I think, a pretty good stab at a European view. After all, we all come from somewhere. His final paragraph about the cancellation of debt raises an important point, but what post-Communist Europe needs above all is more access to our markets. Not aid but trade. Perhaps Professor Anderson and I could now continue this discussion personally, in Oxford or Florence, over a plate of lightly braised amphibologies.

2019-04-19T23:08:44Z

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v18/n02/perry-anderson/the-europe-to-come

Sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a developmental process in which a single cell is converted into four haploid spores. GIP1, encoding a developmentally regulated protein phosphatase 1 interacting protein, is required for spore formation. Here we show that GIP1 and the protein phosphatase 1 encoded by GLC7 play essential roles in spore development. The gip1Δ mutant undergoes meiosis and prospore membrane formation normally, but is specifically defective in spore wall synthesis. We demonstrate that in wild-type cells, distinct layers of the spore wall are deposited in a specific temporal order, and that gip1Δ cells display a discrete arrest at the onset of spore wall deposition. Localization studies revealed that Gip1p and Glc7p colocalize with the septins in structures underlying the growing prospore membranes. Interestingly, in the gip1Δ mutant, not only is Glc7p localization altered, but septins are also delocalized. Similar phenotypes were observed in a glc7–136 mutant, which expresses a Glc7p defective in interacting with Gip1p. These results indicate that a Gip1p–Glc7p phosphatase complex is required for proper septin organization and initiation of spore wall formation during sporulation. Sporulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a developmental process in which a single diploid cell is converted into an ascus containing four haploid spores. Diploid cells subjected to nitrogen starvation in the presence of a nonfermentable carbon source undergo two meiotic nuclear divisions, meiosis I and II, and packaging of the four resulting haploid nuclei into spores. Spore formation occurs in a series of well-defined steps (Lynn and Magee, 1970; Moens, 1971; Moens and Rapport, 1971; Neiman, 1998; Kupiec et al., 1997). Late in meiosis I, the spindle pole body (SPB)* undergoes a structural change and its outer plaque becomes enlarged. As cells enter meiosis II, secretory vesicles coalesce on the cytoplasmic surface of each outer plaque to form a novel intracellular membrane, termed the prospore membrane. The prospore membranes extend out as double membranes from the SPBs and engulf the adjacent nuclear lobes. After the completion of meiosis II, nuclear division gives rise to four haploid nuclei. At the same time, the ends of each double membrane meet and fuse with themselves, encapsulating the haploid nuclei to form prospores. Membrane closure triggers the final step of spore morphogenesis, spore wall formation. Spore wall materials are deposited in the luminal space between the two membranes derived from the prospore membrane. The spore wall consists of four layers. The two inner layers are composed of glucan and mannan, components of the vegetative cell wall (Klis, 1994). The third layer is composed largely of chitosan, a glucosamine polymer, produced by the combined action of the chitin synthetase, Chs3p, and chitin deacetylases (Briza et al., 1988; Pammer et al., 1992; Christodoulidou et al., 1996; Mishra et al., 1997). The outermost layer consists largely of cross-linked dityrosine molecules (Briza et al., 1986). Dityrosine precursors are synthesized in the spore cytosol by the enzymes encoded by DIT1 and DIT2 (Briza et al., 1990, 1994). These genes are induced specifically around the time of prospore membrane closure. The chitosan and dityrosine layers are specific to spores, and provide much of the spore's resistance to environmental stress. Several mutants and genes related to spore wall formation have been isolated and characterized. Among these are genes coding for protein kinases, SPS1, SMK1, CAK1, and MPS1, and a gene encoding a nuclear protein, SWM1, raising the possibility that signal transduction pathways might regulate the spore wall formation (Friesen et al., 1994; Krisak et al., 1994; Wagner et al., 1997; Ufano et al., 1999; Straight et al., 2000). Septins are a conserved family of proteins characterized by a central core domain and P-loop nucleotide-binding motif (Longtine et al., 1996; Kartmann and Roth, 2001). Most of them also contain a coiled-coil domain that could be involved in their assembly into filaments. In vegetatively growing yeast cells, septins localize to the bud neck and function as a scaffold interacting with a variety of proteins (DeMarini et al., 1997; Longtine et al., 2000). There are seven septin genes in S. cerevisiae, four of which are transcriptionally upregulated during sporulation: SPR3 and SPR28 are sporulation specific, and CDC3 and CDC10 are induced more than tenfold (Kaback and Feldberg, 1985; Chu et al., 1998; De Virgilio et al., 1996; Fares et al., 1996; Primig et al., 2000). During spore development, septin localization is different than that seen in vegetative cells (Fares et al., 1996). No septin localization to the cell periphery is seen. Rather, the septins appear in early meiosis II as four ring-like structures around each SPB. As the prospore membrane extends, septins disappear from the SPB region and display an extended band-like pattern underlying the prospore membrane. After closure of the prospore membrane, the septins become diffusely localized in the spore periphery (Fares et al., 1996). Surprisingly, disruption studies have revealed only modest sporulation defects in septin mutants; spr3Δ spr28Δ homozygous diploids and cdc10Δ diploids sporulate well (De Virgilio et al., 1996; Fares et al., 1996). Although no strong sporulation phenotype has been observed in septin mutants, their expression profile and specific localization suggest that they have some function in sporulation. Protein phosphatase type 1 (PP1) is a highly conserved phosphoserine-/phosphothreonine-specific protein phosphatase that plays important roles in a variety of cellular processes including cell cycle progression, glycogen metabolism, glucose repression, and sporulation (Mumby and Walter, 1993; Depaoli-Roach et al., 1994; Shenolikar, 1994). In S. cerevisiae, PP1 is encoded by the essential gene GLC7 (Feng et al., 1991). Consistent with the multiple functions of Glc7p, the localization of this protein is dynamic throughout the cell cycle. In addition to a predominant nuclear localization, it is also observed at the SPB, bud neck, and actomyosin ring at distinct times in the cell cycle (Bloecher and Tatchell, 2000). The localization and substrate specificity of Glc7p are thought to be regulated by interaction with different targeting or regulatory subunits. For instance, bud neck localization of Glc7p requires the septin-binding protein Bni4p (unpublished data), and Gac1p is required to localize Glc7p to glycogen particles (Francois et al., 1992; Stuart et al., 1994). As in vegetative cells, there are multiple points at which GLC7 is required during sporulation, including premeiotic DNA synthesis and passage through meiosis I (Ramaswamy et al., 1998; Bailis and Roeder, 2000). GIP1 encodes a potential developmentally regulated targeting subunit of Glc7p. GIP1 was isolated as a GLC7 interacting gene in a two-hybrid screen (Tu et al., 1996). This interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation (Tu et al., 1996). GIP1 is a sporulation-specific gene and diploid strains homozygous for a deletion of this gene are blocked in sporulation and fail to induce SPS100, one of the very late sporulation genes (Tu et al., 1996). Additionally, several glc7 mutant alleles defective in sporulation have been isolated, and in most instances sporulation efficiency correlates with the strength of the two-hybrid interaction between the glc7 mutant protein and Gip1p (Baker et al., 1997; Ramaswamy et al., 1998). These previous reports raise the possibility that GIP1 dependent regulation of Glc7p might be important for sporulation. In this study, we examine the roles of GIP1 and GLC7 in sporulation. Cytological analyses of mutant strains revealed that GIP1 and GLC7 are required for spore wall formation. Both proteins are found to colocalize with septins and are required for septin assembly during sporulation. These results suggest that GIP1 and GLC7, and perhaps the septins, participate in a signal transduction pathway necessary to monitor prospore membrane growth and initiate the synthesis of the spore wall. To investigate the essential role of GIP1 during sporulation, we examined where in the process of sporulation gip1Δ cells are defective. First, a homozygous gip1Δ mutant strain, NY501 (Table I) , was constructed in the rapidly sporulating SK1 background (Kane and Roth, 1974), and the progression of meiosis was monitored using the DNA-binding dye DAPI. In wild-type and gip1Δ mutant cells, the number of nuclei seen in each cell increased from one to two, then to four, with nearly identical kinetics (Fig. 1). This indicates that meiosis I and II proceed normally in the gip1Δ mutant, and suggests that the sporulation defect in gip1Δ mutants must be due to a failure in some aspect of spore packaging. Meiotic progression is normal in the gip1Δ mutant. At each time point, aliquots of strains AN120 (GIP1/GIP1, thin line) and NY501(gip1Δ/gip1Δ, thick line) were removed from sporulation medium, stained with DAPI, and analyzed for meiotic progression. Percentage of mononucleate (▪), binucleate (▴), and tetranucleate (•) cells are shown. At least 200 cells were counted at each time point. To examine this possibility, EM analysis of sporulating wild-type and the gip1Δ mutant cells was performed. In wild-type cells, prospore membranes capturing each nucleus were observed (Fig. 2 A), and at later stages, spore walls were seen between each of the inner and outer membrane surrounding the spore nucleus (Fig. 2 B). In gip1Δ cells, prospore membranes resembling those in wild-type cells were also observed capturing nuclei (Fig. 2, C and D). Yet strikingly, no spore walls were observed in the mutant cells. The inner and outer membranes derived from each prospore membrane remained closely apposed, suggesting that no spore wall material was deposited. The gip1Δ cells also displayed a proliferation of darkly staining material around the ascal surface (*, Fig. 2, C and D). Accumulation of similar material has been observed in some spore wall defective mutants (Christodoulidou et al., 1999; Wagner et al., 1999). These data suggest that GIP1 is required to initiate spore wall formation. Thegip1Δ mutant fails to form spore walls. EM analysis of GIP1 (NH144, A and B) and homozygous gip1Δ mutant (AN103, C and D) cells at a late stage of sporulation. Prospore membranes (PrM); spore walls (SW); and nuclei (N) are indicated. *, Darkly staining material formed in the ascal cytoplasm of gip1 mutants. Bar, 500 nm. Although the EM study indicated a lack of spore wall material in the gip1 mutant, we could not rule out the possibility that there are some components or layers of spore wall deposited that are not clearly visible by EM. Dityrosine-containing macromolecules can be observed by their natural fluorescence (Briza et al., 1990). Thus, to examine whether the dityrosine layer is formed in gip1Δ mutant, we assayed the sporulated gip1Δ mutant for dityrosine fluorescence. Dityrosine fluorescence was absent in the gip1Δ mutant (unpublished data), indicating that no dityrosine is produced in this mutant. The DIT1 gene is required for the synthesis of dityrosine and expression of DIT1 is induced in sporulation before SPS100, but after middle genes such as GIP1 or SPR3 (Briza et al., 1990; Chu et al., 1998; Primig et al., 2000). GIP1 is required for expression of the late gene SPS100 (Tu et al., 1996). This previously described effect of gip1Δ mutation on SPS100 expression, as well as the lack of dityrosine fluorescence, led us to examine DIT1 expression in the gip1Δ mutant. A DIT1–lacZ fusion gene was introduced into wild-type and gip1Δ mutant strains. As a control, a lacZ fusion to SPR3 was used. Whereas SPR3–lacZ was induced with the same kinetics in the isogenic wild-type and gip1Δ diploids, no induction of DIT1–lacZ was observed when GIP1 was absent (Fig. 3). Thus, the absence of dityrosine staining in the gip1Δ mutant can be explained by the failure to transcribe DIT1. DIT1–lacZ is not induced in gip1Δ cells. Sporulating cultures of AN120 (GIP1/GIP1, ▵) and NY501 (gip1Δ/gip1Δ, □) carrying either (A) SPR3–lacZ or (B) DIT1–lacZ were analyzed at various time points for β-galactosidase activity. β-galactosidase activity is given in Miller Units. To examine the formation of spore wall layers other than the dityrosine layer, a series of fluorescent markers was used. The mannan layer was visualized using the mannose-binding lectin concanavalin A coupled to FITC. A monoclonal antibody directed against β1–3Glucan was used to identify the glucan layer, and the chitin-binding dye Calcofluor white was used to visualize the chitosan layer. The use of secondary antibodies conjugated to a red fluor to localize the glucan antibodies allowed all three markers to be used simultaneously. As shown in Fig. 4, the staining patterns of wild-type asci varied according to the stage of spore development. After counting and classifying these asci, we ordered the patterns as follows (Table II) : when cells are in the stage of the prospore membrane formation and extension, those membranes are stained only with FITC-ConA (Class 2). Approximately 30% of cells showed this pattern at the seven hour time point. Subsequently, a population of cells appears that is positive for both FITC-ConA and anti-β1–3Glucan (Class 3). At the 7- and 8-h time points, ∼20% of the cells showed staining with anti-β1–3Glucan in the spore precursors. After a transient period of triply positive staining (Class 4), the ascus loses anti-β1–3Glucan staining (Class 5). At this point, the FITC-conA staining pattern changes to stain only the spore periphery. Finally, Calcofluor white no longer stains the spore wall (Class 6). Therefore, these markers allow all the major spore wall polysaccharides to be visualized during the course of spore wall formation and suggest that these components are deposited in a specific sequence: mannan before glucan before chitosan. Analysis of spore wall formation in wild type and gip1Δ mutant. (A–O) Samples were removed from sporulating culture of AN120 (GIP1/GIP1) at 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-h time points, subjected to the immunofluorescence analysis of spore walls as described in Materials and methods. Classification of the cells are described in Results. (A, D, G, J, and M) FITC-ConA staining; (B, E, H, K, and N) Anti-β-glucan staining; (C, F, I, L, and O) Calcofluor white staining. (P–R) NY501 (gip1Δ / gip1Δ) was sporulated and subjected to the immunofluorescence analysis of spore walls. (P) FITC-ConA staining; (Q) Anti–β-glucan staining; (R) Calcofluor white staining. To examine the spore wall defect of gip1Δ, we applied this method to gip1Δ mutant cells. As in wild-type cells, the developing prospore membranes stained with FITC-ConA (Fig. 4, P–R). However, the gip1Δ mutant cells never progressed to show anti-β1–3Glucan or Calcofluor white staining. Taken together with the lack of the dityrosine layer, these results indicate that the prospore wall in gip1Δ mutants contains only those mannoproteins present during prospore membrane formation. No additional spore wall material is deposited at the completion of prospore membrane synthesis. To examine where in the cell Gip1p functions, the Gip1 protein was localized by immunofluorescence analysis. COOH-terminal–tagged versions of Gip1p were nonfunctional (unpublished data). Therefore, targeted integration was used to fuse the hemagglutinin (HA) epitope to the 5′ end of the GIP1 gene. To preserve the sporulation-specific expression of GIP1, the fusion gene was under the control of SPO20 promoter. SPO20 is a sporulation specific gene (Neiman, 1998) with a similar expression profile to GIP1 (Chu et al., 1998). When NY509 (in which both copies of the genomic GIP1 genes are replaced with the fusion gene) was sporulated, the efficiency of sporulation was similar to wild-type cells (82% asci). However, only 26% of the asci were tetrads, with the remainder predominantly dyads and triads, suggesting that the fusion gene is not completely functional. When the fusion gene was cloned into a multicopy vector and introduced into the homozygous gip1 deletion strain, NY501, NY501 produced tetrads at a comparable level (>60%) to the wild-type strain. This strain carrying multicopy HA-GIP1 was therefore used for examination of Gip1p localization. Gip1p localization during sporulation was examined by immunofluorescence analysis using anti-HA antibodies. HA–Gip1p appears initially in sporulating cells as four rings during meiosis II, and then localizes to the region of extending prospore membranes following the leading edge (Fig. 5). At this stage, parallel bar-like structures were observed. After completion of meiosis II, round structures surrounding the four nuclei were seen. Identical results were obtained when the integrated HA–GIP1 was examined, indicating that the localization is not a consequence of overexpression (unpublished data). This localization pattern of Gip1p resembles the reported localization of septins during sporulation. Therefore, we examined whether Gip1p colocalizes with septins. Gip1p–HA and Spr28p–green fluorescent protein (GFP) were expressed in wild type cells and their localization during sporulation was compared. The distribution of the two proteins overlapped extensively with each other (Fig. 6, A–D). These results indicate that Gip1p colocalizes with septins during spore formation. Localization of HA-Gip1p in sporulating cells. NY501 (gip1Δ / gip1Δ) carrying 2 μ HA-GIP1 was sporulated and analyzed by immunofluorescence. (A–E) Anti-HA antibody staining is shown. (F–J) Staining of the same cells with DAPI. HA-Gip1p colocalizes with septins and GFP-Glc7p. (A to D) AN120 carrying both pCEN-SPR28-GFP and 2μ HA-GIP1 was sporulated for 7 h and analyzed by staining with anti-HA antibodies. (A) GFP fluorescence. (B) Anti-HA staining. (C) Merge of A and B. (D) DAPI staining of the same cell. (E to H) AN120 carrying both GFP-GLC7 and 2 μ HA-GIP1 was sporulated for 7 h and analyzed by staining with anti-HA antibodies. (E) GFP fluorescence; (F) Anti-HA staining; (G) Merge of E and F; (H) DAPI staining of the same cell. To determine if the bar-like pattern of Gip1p represents a section through a more complicated structure, image stacks were collected and three dimensional renderings made. Quicktime movies displaying the resulting images are available at http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/jcb.200107008/DC1. The results indicate that the Gip1p-containing structures are actually pairs of parallel sheets that appear as bars when optically sectioned. Because GIP1 encodes a potential Glc7p targeting protein, we examined Glc7p localization in sporulating cells. GFP–GLC7 was introduced into the wild-type strain and the localization of the fusion protein was observed by GFP fluorescence (Fig. 7). Early in sporulation, cells displayed a predominant nuclear staining with a bright nucleolar dot as observed in vegetative cells (Bloecher and Tatchell, 2000). In early meiosis II, in addition to the nuclear staining, four dots were observed near the nuclear periphery suggesting some Glc7p is localized to the SPB. At later stages of meiosis II, Glc7p clearly displayed a bar-like pattern that resembles those of Spr28p and Gip1p. Finally, in postmeiotic cells, Glc7p was again found predominantly in the spore nucleus. These observations indicate that the localization of Glc7p is dynamic during sporulation, and that Glc7p displays a similar localization pattern to Gip1p and Spr28p during meiosis II. Localization of GFP-Glc7p during sporulation. AN120 carrying GFP-GLC7 was sporulated and GFP fluorescence was observed. (A–F) GFP fluorescence; (G–L) DAPI staining of corresponding cells in A–F. To confirm this last point, colocalization of Gip1p and Glc7p was examined directly. GIP1–HA and GFP-GLC7 were expressed in AN120 and the localization of the proteins was analyzed. The distribution of the two proteins showed extensive overlap (Fig. 6, E–H), indicating that Glc7p colocalizes with Gip1p. Taken together with the immunofluorescence analysis of Gip1p and Spr28p, these results demonstrate that Gip1p and Glc7p colocalize with septins during meiosis II. By analogy to other Glc7p targeting proteins, Gip1p might be a targeting subunit that recruits Glc7p to the septins at the prospore membrane. To test this hypothesis, we examined the localization of Glc7p in the gip1Δ mutant. In this strain, Glc7p did not show a septin-like staining pattern in meiosis II. Instead, it often showed cytosolic staining with four discrete dots, which may indicate SPB localization (Fig. 8 C). Thus, localization of Glc7p to the prospore membrane is dependent on GIP1. Localization pattern of GFP-Glc7p and Spr28p-GFP are altered in the gip1 mutant. AN120 (GIP1/GIP1) and NY501 (gip1Δ / gip1Δ) carrying either GFP-GLC7 or pCEN-SPR28-GFP were sporulated and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. (A) GFP-Glc7p localization in AN120. (B) DAPI staining of cell in A. (C) GFP-Glc7p localization in NY501. (D) DAPI staining of cells in C. (E) Spr28p-GFP localization in AN120. (F) DAPI staining of cells in E. (G and I) Spr28p-GFP localization in NY501 (H and J) DAPI staining of cells in G and I, respectively. Similar to their function at the bud neck of vegetative cells, the septins may serve as a scaffold to which Gip1p recruits Glc7p. Alternatively, recruitment of Glc7p might be important for the organization of the septins themselves. To address these possibilities, we examined Spr28p localization in the gip1Δ mutant. We found that Spr28p is delocalized in many of the mutant cells (Fig. 8, G and I). In postmeiotic cells, ∼20% of the mutant cells showed a ring-like pattern surrounding four nuclei, indicating localization to the periphery of the prospore. The majority of cells showed only a uniform cytosolic staining pattern. Importantly, in cells in meiosis II, a pattern of bars like those in wild-type cells was only rarely observed (<1%). Similar results were obtained using antibodies to a second sporulation-specific septin Spr3p (unpublished data). Thus, Gip1p does not serve simply as a targeting subunit to connect Glc7p to the septins; rather, GIP1 is required for proper septin organization and the failure of Glc7p to localize to the prospore membrane in gip1Δ cells may reflect the absence of septin structures. DON1 encodes a coiled-coil protein that localizes to a ring-like structure at the leading edge of the prospore membrane, and this structure is distinct from the septin bars that underlie the prospore membrane (Knop and Strasser, 2000). To examine whether the effect of gip1 deletion is specific to septins or is perhaps a more general effect on prospore membrane–associated structures, we examined the localization of Don1p in the gip1Δ mutant. DON1-GFP was introduced into wild type and gip1Δ cells, and the localization of the fusion protein was observed using anti-GFP antibodies. In both wild-type and gip1Δ cells, ring-like structures were observed at the lip of the prospore membranes (Fig. 9). Thus, assembly of the Don1p ring is not affected by gip1 deletion, suggesting that the effects of gip1Δ are specific to assembly of the septin complex. Don1p ring is formed normally in the gip1Δ mutant. AN120 (GIP1/GIP1) and NY501 (gip1Δ / gip1Δ) carrying DON1-GFP were sporulated and analyzed by immunofluorescence using anti-GFP antibodies. (A) Don1p-GFP localization in AN120. (B) DAPI staining of cell in A. (C) Don1p-GFP localization in NY501. (D) DAPI staining of cell in C. To determine whether the phenotypes of the gip1Δ mutant are caused by a failure to properly localize Glc7p or a second function of the Gip1 protein, we examined the sporulation phenotype of a strain carrying the glc7–136 allele. The glc7–136 mutant causes a sporulation defect (Baker et al., 1997), and the protein is defective in interaction with Gip1p (unpublished data). Thus, if the sporulation defect of the gip1Δ mutant is due to altered localization of Glc7p, the glc7–136 mutant should display similar phenotypes. EM analysis of SB247, a glc7–136 mutant in the JC482 background (Baker et al., 1997), was performed. The cytological phenotype of glc7–136 was more heterogeneous than gip1Δ, probably due to the leaky sporulation defect of the mutant (2% asci). Nonetheless, a significant fraction of the cells (50%) displayed prospores with no apparent deposition of spore wall material (Fig. 10 A), similar to the gip1Δ mutant (Fig. 2). Thus, glc7–136 mutant cells display a block to spore wall deposition similar to that seen in the gip1 deletion strain. glc7–136 mutants show a similar phenotype to the gip1Δ mutant. (A) SB247 (glc7–136/glc7–136) at a late stage of sporulation was analyzed by transmission EM. Prospore membranes (PrM) and nucleus (N) are indicated. (B–I) NY527 (glc7–136/glc7–136) harboring either pCEN-SPR28-GFP or 2 μ HA-GIP1 was sporulated and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. (B and D) anti-GFP staining; (C and E) DAPI staining of cells in B and D, respectively; (F and H) Anti-HA staining; (G and I) DAPI staining of cells in F and H, respectively. Bar, 500 nm. To examine the localization of Spr28p and Gip1p in the glc7–136 strain, the glc7–136 mutation was introduced into the same SK1 strains used for the gip1 analysis. As in the JC482 background, the glc7–136 mutant is leaky in SK1, giving 5% asci. SPR28-GFP and HA–GIP1 were introduced into NY527, and the proteins were localized by immunofluorescence. Most of the cells expressing SPR28-GFP displayed uniform cytosolic staining. In ∼30% of the cells, staining of the spore periphery was observed, as is the case with septin localization in the gip1Δ mutant (Fig. 10, B and D). HA–Gip1p displayed similar localization defects to Spr28p-GFP in the glc7–136 strain (Fig. 10, F and H). Thus, as with the spore wall, the glc7–136 mutant shows similar septin organization defects to the gip1Δ mutant. Further, Gip1p and Glc7p are interdependent for localization; interaction of the two proteins is required for either to localize to the prospore membrane. Taken together, these data indicate that Gip1p and Glc7p function together to promote both organization of the septins and spore wall formation. Strains deleted for GIP1 display two clear phenotypes, a block to spore wall formation and delocalization of the septins from the forming prospore membrane. The spore wall phenotype of GIP1 mutants is a discrete arrest at the initiation of spore wall formation. In wild-type cells, deposition of spore wall material is never seen until after the closure of the prospore membrane (Lynn and Magee, 1970). Consistent with this cytological observation, expression of the DIT1 gene appears to occur after prospore closure (Briza et al., 1990). These observations suggest that the cell must have some mechanism to trigger spore wall formation in response to prospore membrane closure. Given their colocalization with septins, the Gip1p–Glc7p holoenzyme would be ideally located to participate in this process. Though we favor the idea that this phosphatase complex acts as a monitor to signal the closure of the prospore membrane, we cannot at present rule out the possibility that the Gip1p–Glc7p phosphatase is required for membrane closure itself. A defect in either membrane closure or the ability to sense that the membrane has closed would result in a failure to initiate spore wall formation. CHS3 encodes the chitin synthase responsible for the synthesis of the chitosan layer. In contrast to DIT1, the CHS3 gene is not transcriptionally induced during sporulation (Pammer et al., 1992). Therefore, the failure of gip1Δ mutants to produce chitosan suggests that GIP1 may be required for posttranslational regulation of this enzyme. In vegetative cells, Chs3p activity is controlled in part by regulated recycling through an endosomal compartment (Ziman et al., 1998). It will be of interest to examine the localization of Chs3p in sporulating wild-type and gip1Δ cells. Previous studies have shown that Calcofluor white transiently stains the chitosan layer of the developing spore (Briza et al., 1990). The loss of Calcoflour white staining in mature asci is due to maturation of the overlying dityrosine layer blocking access of the dye to its ligand (Briza et al., 1988, 1990). We interpret the transient staining of spores with the anti–β-glucan antibody in the same way. That is, spores are positive for staining until the overlying chitosan layer forms and obscures access of the antibody to the glucan layer. Surprisingly, staining with FITC-ConA is not lost as spores mature, even though the inner mannan layer should also be obscured as the outer layers form. However, at the same time that β-glucan staining is lost, the appearance of the FITC-ConA staining changes markedly. This change probably reflects a loss of access to the mannan layer of the inner spore wall, but residual staining of mannoproteins present in the outer prospore membrane or ascal cytoplasm condensed around the spores. Thus, our immunofluorescence assay of spore wall formation suggests a definitive order of spore wall assembly. Mannoproteins are deposited as the prospore membrane forms. After prospore membrane closure, the glucan layer forms, followed by the chitosan layer and finally the dityrosine layer. Surprisingly, the layers are deposited from innermost to outermost, with respect to the spore cytoplasm. This suggests that precursors to the chitosan and dityrosine layer must be able to pass through the glucan and mannan layers before assembling. Alternatively, some of the spore wall layers may be constructed from precursors introduced from the ascal cytoplasm rather than the spore cytosol. This possibility has been suggested previously based on specific localization of some sporulation-induced transcripts to the ascal cytoplasm (Kurtz and Lindquist, 1986), and is also consistent with the accumulation of darkly staining vesicles in the region of the ascal cytoplasm surrounding the prospores that is seen in gip1Δ (Fig. 2) and other spore wall–defective mutants (Christodoulidou et al., 1999; Wagner et al., 1999). Relationship of GIP1 to other spore wall synthesis genes. Our data indicate that not only is spore wall deposition coordinated with respect to prospore membrane closure, but also a temporal order of deposition, glucan before chitosan before dityrosine, must be maintained. Previously reported spore wall–defective mutants fall broadly into one of two categories: those such as dit1 or chs3 that remove specific spore wall layers (Briza et al., 1990; Pammer et al., 1992), or those such as smk1 and swm1 in which individual spores within an ascus display heterogeneous wall defects (Krisak et al., 1994; Ufano et al., 1999). The heterogeneous spore wall defects seen in these latter mutants could result from an inability to coordinate the timing of deposition within individual spores. SMK1 is particularly interesting in this regard. Though deletion of SMK1 causes a heterogeneous spore wall phenotype, point mutations produce more homogeneous arrests (Wagner et al., 1999). In the most severe allele, smk1–4, this arrest appears similar to gip1Δ. Further, it has been reported that formation of the glucan, chitosan, and dityrosine layers requires increasing levels of Smk1p activity, respectively (Wagner et al., 1999). As this matches the temporal order of deposition of these layers, SMK1 activity might provide a mechanism to control the timing of synthesis of the different layers. Gip1p–Glc7p phosphatase could control the initiation of spore wall synthesis, at least in part, by regulating the activation of Smk1p. The Gip1p–Glc7p complex colocalizes with the septins during prospore membrane growth and the first evident phenotype of the gip1Δ mutation is not the spore wall defect, but a failure to organize the septins onto the prospore membrane. However, at times after prospore closure, in a fraction of the gip1Δ mutant cells the septins can be found in the spore periphery as in wild-type cells. These results indicate a specific requirement for the Gip1p–Glc7p phosphatase to organize the septins into structures associated with the growing prospore membrane. Whether this effect is mediated by direct dephosphorylation of the septin proteins or some other modifier of septin organization is not yet known. In vegetative cells, mutation of several different protein kinases has effects on organization of the septin ring (Bouquin et al., 2000; Longtine et al., 2000). For instance, mutation of GIN4 leads to the arrangement of the septins as a series of parallel bars (Longtine et al., 1998a). It has not yet been reported whether any of the septin proteins are direct substrates of any of these kinases. Nonetheless, taken together with our results, it seems likely that phosphorylation and dephosphorylation regulate septin architecture. The fact that septins are lost from the prospore membrane in the gip1Δ mutant but that the prospore membrane nonetheless forms, indicates that the septins are not required for membrane assembly or growth. One possibility is that the septins function to keep Gip1p–Glc7p associated with the prospore membrane. In this instance, mutation of the septin genes might cause a similar spore wall phenotype to the gip1Δ mutation. However, no significant sporulation phenotype has been reported in septin mutants (De Virgilio et al., 1996; Fares et al., 1996). Therefore, it remains to be determined whether the spore wall and septin phenotypes of the gip1Δ mutant are linked, or whether they represent two independent aspects of Gip1p–Glc7p function. In higher cells, as in yeast, septins are found at sites of cytokinesis (Neufeld and Rubin, 1994; Kinoshita et al., 1997). However, in contrast to mitotic yeast cells, the septins of higher cells exhibit dynamic localization and are often found in association with regions of active membrane growth (Fares et al., 1995; Kinoshita et al., 1997; Hsu et al., 1998). Thus, the behavior of septins during sporulation is similar to that in higher cells. Our results indicate that the Gip1p–Glc7p complex is required to organize the septins onto the prospore membrane. Given the high degree of conservation of PP1, it will be of interest to learn if septin organization is also regulated by this enzyme in higher cells. Bailis and Roeder (2000) have reported that GLC7-dependent dephosphorylation of the synaptonemal complex component Red1p is required for progression through the meiotic pachytene checkpoint. In contrast to our findings, this study reported that gip1Δ mutants arrest in pachytene. Further, GIP1 was required for the localization of Glc7p to meiotic chromosomes and overexpression of GLC7 suppressed the gip1Δ sporulation defect. From these results it was suggested that the function of Gip1p is to target Glc7p to meiotic chromosomes. We found no evidence of a meiotic arrest in gip1Δ in two different strain backgrounds, SK1 (Fig. 1) and JC482. Additionally, overexpression of GLC7 does not relieve the spore formation defect of gip1Δ mutants in our strains (unpublished data), as was observed in the BR strain background (Bailis and Roeder, 2000). The reason for the differing phenotypes of gip1Δ in different strain backgrounds remains unclear; however, our results clearly demonstrate roles for GIP1 and GLC7 in postmeiotic events. In sum, our data suggest a model in which Gip1p is induced during sporulation, binds to Glc7p, and the Gip1p–Glc7p complex then organizes the septins onto the prospore membrane. The Gip1p–Glc7p complex remains associated with the septins during meiosis II, and this places the phosphatase in a position to act as a monitor of prospore membrane growth. Upon closure of the prospore membrane, we propose that Gip1p and Glc7p initiate a signaling cascade that triggers events leading to the synthesis of the spore wall. This includes the induction of DIT1 as well as the activation of chitin and β-glucan synthases. Further work will be necessary to elucidate the nature of this intracellular signaling pathway. S. cerevisiae strains used in this work are listed in Table I. AN103 was created by selection of 5-fluoroorotic acid–resistant derivatives of MCY3259 (Tu et al., 1996). To construct NY501, AN117–4B and AN117–16D (Neiman et al., 2000) were transformed with PvuII-digested pJT26-HIS3 (Tu et al., 1996) to produce NY1 and NY2, respectively. For this and all other integrations, proper arrangement of the genomic locus was confirmed by PCR. These strains are mated to create diploid NY501. To create a strain carrying NH2 terminally HA-tagged GIP1 under control of the SPO20 promoter, pFA6a-His3MX6-prSPO20-HA was subjected to PCR with HT1 (5′-CTATTTTCTTCCTCCTTGCCTATTCGTTTGGTGGCTTTCTTTATAATTCGGAATTCGAGCTC-GTTTAAAC-3′) and HT2 (5′-CTTTTCAAAGACTCAAATGGTCTAGCCTTTGGCTGCAAAATAGTTTCCATTTTGTATAGTTCATCCATGC-3′), and the product was used to transform AN117–4B and AN117–16D to obtain NY13 and NY14, respectively. These strains were mated to create diploid NY509. To create the DON1–GFP fusion gene in yeast, pFA6a-GFP (S65T)-His3MX6 (Longtine et al., 1998b) was amplified with HT15 (5′-AAGATGAAAAAAAGCAGGTTCATCCATCTAGCAAGAATTAAGTTTTACGCGGATCCCCGGGT-TAATTAA-3′) and HT16 (5′-AAAGGCAAATAAGCGCAGAAGAAGCAATGGTGGTGTCTGTTCATTGCGAGGAATTCGAGCTCGTTTAAAC-3′), and the product was used to transform AN117–4B to create NY17. To construct NY527, the his5+ gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe was amplified from pFA6a-His3MX6 (Longtine et al., 1998b) with HT28 (5′-AACTGGGGAGAGGAAAGCAGATTACCACAATATACATTCAAATTAAAGAACGGAT-CCCCGGGTTAATTAA-3′) and HT29 (5′-TAATAAGTATTTTCCTTTTTAAACTTTGATTTAGGACGTGAATCTATTTAGAATTCGAGCTCGTTTAAAC-3′), and the product was used to transform AN120 to create the glc7 heterozygous deletion strain, NY523. NY523 was then transformed with pSB14 to create NY525, which has glc7–136 integrated at the ura3 locus. NY525 was sporulated and dissected. Progeny that had both the glc7 deletion and the glc7–136 integration were identified and mated to produce NY527. Unless otherwise noted, standard media and growth conditions were used (Rose et al., 1990). To create pFA6a-His3MX6-prSPO20-HA, the promoter sequence of the SPO20 gene was amplified directly from yeast genome using ANO195 (5′-CCTTGAGATCTAAGTCTAGGCGCTTTCAAC-3′) and ANO201 (5′-CCTTGTTAATTAAAGACATTATATATCTAAAAATGGC-3′). The PCR product was then digested with PacI and BglII and used to replace GAL1 promoter region of pFA6a-His3MX6-PGAL1-3HA (Longtine et al., 1998b). To clone the prSPO20-HA-GIP1 fusion gene, genomic DNA from NY13 was subjected to PCR with ANO195 and HT6 (5′-CAGTTGCCTACCAATGTTTC-3′). The product was cloned into SmaI sites of pRS424 and pRS426 (Christianson et al., 1992) to create pSB5 and pSB6, respectively. pNC160-GFP-GLC7 (Bloecher and Tatchell, 2000) was used to express GFP-tagged version of Glc7p. pSB7 was created by excising the SPR28–GFP fusion gene from YEplac181-SPR28-GFP (De Virgilio et al., 1996) with EcoRI and BamHI and cloning it into pRS314 (Sikorski and Hieter, 1989). To clone DON1–GFP into plasmid, genomic DNA prepared from NY17 was subjected to PCR using HT10 (5′-AAACAGATCTATATTACCCTG-3′) and HT19 (5′-GAAGAATTCGATATAGCTCTGAACAATTC-3′). The product was digested with EcoRI and BglII and ligated into similarly digested pRS314 to create pSB8. To integrate glc7–136 at the ura3 locus, the glc7–136 gene was cut out from pSB56 (Baker et al., 1997) with HindIII and SacI, and cloned into pRS306, creating pSB14. pSB14 was linearized with PstI before transformation to target integration to the ura3 locus. The plasmids pHindIII-DIT1-lacZ, a gift of J. Segall (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada), and pGK16 (Holaway et al., 1987) carrying the DIT1–lacZ and SPR3–lacZ reporters, respectively, were used to monitor gene induction. For analysis of meiotic progression, cells were sporulated as described (Neiman, 1998). At intervals, aliquots were removed and fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde at 4°C overnight. Cells were collected and mounted in medium containing DAPI (Molecular Probes). EM was performed as described (Neiman, 1998). Samples were analyzed using a JEOL 1200EX transmission electron microscope at the Stony Brook University Microscopy Imaging Center (Stony Brook, NY). For immunofluorescence analysis, cells were sporulated and fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde for 2 h, collected, resuspended in SHA buffer (1 M Sorbitol, 0.1 M Hepes, pH 7.5, 5 mM NaN3) and stored at 4°C. Immunofluorescence analysis of proteins was performed as described previously (Gao and Dean, 2000). Monoclonal anti-HA antibodies (12CA5) were provided by N. Dean (SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY), and affinity-purified anti-GFP antibodies, a gift of N. Davis (Louisiana State University Medical Center, Shreveport, LA), were used at a 1:10 and 1:200 dilution, respectively. Anti-Spr3p antibodies (Fares et al., 1996) were used at a 1:10 dilution. Alexa Fluor 488 goat anti–mouse IgG conjugate, Alexa Fluor 488 goat anti–rabbit IgG conjugate, Alexa Fluor 546 goat anti–rabbit IgG conjugate, and Texas red goat anti–rabbit IgG conjugate (Molecular Probes) were used as secondary antibodies at a 1:400 dilution. Immunofluorescence analysis of spore walls was performed as follows. Fixed sporulating cells were suspended in Zymolyase solution (27 μg/ml Zymolyase and 0.2% β-mercaptoethanol in SHA buffer) and incubated at 30° for 1 h. Cells were then treated 5 min with SHA buffer containing 0.1% Triton X-100, and 10 min with SHA buffer containing 0.2 mg/ml Calcofluor white (Sigma-Aldrich), washed twice with SHA buffer, and adhered to wells of a polylysine-coated slide. Cells on the slide were treated with methanol for 6 min, followed by acetone for 30 s, and then dried. After blocking with WT buffer (50 mM Hepes, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 1% Milk, 5 mg/ml bovine serum albumin), cells were incubated with a monoclonal anti–β-1,3 glucan antibody (Biosupplies) (Humbel et al., 2001) at a 1:300 dilution in WT buffer overnight. Wells were washed with PBS-BSA (7 mM Na2HPO4, 3 mM NaH2PO4, 130 mM NaCl, 5 mg/ml bovine serum albumin) and incubated with PBS-BSA containing 1:400 diluted Alexa Fluor 546 goat anti–mouse IgG and 0.1 mg/ml FITC-ConA (Sigma-Aldrich) for 2 h. Finally, wells were washed with PBS-BSA and covered with mounting media. For detection of native GFP fluorescence, cells were fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde for 10 min, washed once with PBS, and mounted with mounting media containing DAPI or processed for immunofluorescence. Immunofluorescence images were acquired using a Zeiss Axioskop with attached SPOT camera (Diagnostic Instruments) and Adobe Photoshop 5.0, or on a Zeiss Axioplan 2 microscope with a Zeiss Axiocam and Zeiss Axiovision 3.0.6 software. Figures were prepared using Adobe Photoshop 6.0 and Canvas 5.0 (Deneba Software). Natural fluorescence of the dityrosine molecules was observed as described previously (Briza et al., 1990). DIT1–lacZ and SPR3–lacZ were separately introduced into both AN120 and NY501. The resulting cells were sporulated and aliquots were collected at each time point and subjected to β-galactosidase assay as described (Stern et al., 1984). To create three-dimensional projections of Gip1 immunofluorescence, cells carrying HA–GIP1 were prepared after 7 h in sporulation medium, and stacks of images were collected with a Bio-Rad Radiance 2000 confocal microscroscope (25mW Arlaser, Nikon TE300, 100 X Plan Apo objective 1.4 NA). Images were collected at 0.2-μm intervals in the Z-axis at 1.5% laser power, pinhole aperture at 2.6, Kalman filtration of four images. Three-dimensional projections were created using Bio-Rad Lasersharp2000 software. Projected images were tilted at angles of −45°–45° at 1°-intervals. The authors are grateful to J. Pringle (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC), N. Dean (SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY), and N. David (Louisiana State University Medical Center, Shreveport, LA) for antibodies, and to H. Friesen and J. Segall (University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada) and N. Hollingsworth (SUNY Stony Brook) for reagents. A.M. Neiman is grateful to R. 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There are numerous explanations behind needing to change to increasingly regular corrective and healthy skin items, including the advantages they have for wellbeing, just as constraining our introduction to harmful, man-made synthetic compounds. The change can really be extremely easy to make, as long as the undertaking is drawn nearer deliberately. The primary activity when doing the change to characteristic healthy skin is to choose which items you might want to begin utilizing most importantly. Rather than tossing out the entirety of your old items and putting resources into a scope of new, all-regular ones, it is smarter to adopt a slower strategy for various reasons. One of these reasons is the way that it might take you some time to discover an item that you truly like. Similarly as with your old, synthetic items, you will probably need to test a couple of things – or make a couple of formulas, on the off chance that you are making your very own items – so as to discover one worth utilizing long haul. A second reason is that some regular items carry on uniquely in contrast to man-made ones, and you may require a modification period for working out how to utilize every item best before handling the following thing. For any individual who has attempted tenderly frothing common cleanser or oil rather than face cream can confirm, items may not be very what you expect, and you ought to take into consideration that. In view of that, compose a rundown of regular healthy skin items that you might want to change to, and pick a couple to begin off with. A mainstream decision is changing to an all-normal face healthy skin schedule, as items are regularly essential, and usually easy to get the hang of another item and routine in the event that you are doing it in any event a few times per day. Think about whether you need to make your very own items, or rather purchase instant things. For newcomers to every single common item, it very well may be useful to attempt a couple pre-made items first, so as to figure out the surfaces, textures and application techniques that are related with a specific item formula. This can likewise give you understanding into the characteristic aromas that you like, and you will probably fuse these later into your very own manifestations – on the off chance that you choose to go down the course of making your very own common healthy skin items, that is. Another preferred standpoint of beginning with face or body healthy skin is that items can frequently be significantly more straightforward, implying that figuring out how to utilize them isn’t really so troublesome. Rubbing coconut oil into moist skin after a shower is all that is vital for amazing saturating, while sensitive argan oil or almond oil can be sparingly connected to the face for great skin benefits. Subsequent to acing the utilization of a couple of essential items and working out what you like, you would then be able to wander into other normal healthy skin items, for example, toothpaste, cleanser, conditioner and uncommon answers for issues, for example, skin break out or rosacea. Utilizing just regular fixings, these can be very unique in surface and results created contrasted and man-made concoction equations, so know about this. As you are utilizing items that might be all common however have not been guaranteed by, for instance, a dentistry affiliation or a dermatological society, practice precautionary measure when utilizing once more substance. Receive a methodology that blends the inquisitive with alert, and explore reactions of substances before you place them in or on your body. There are a few endeavors that you can take from home and some that can be treated at a skin facility. Potatoes have the ability to help the skin. This is a simple treatment and should be possible at home without an excessive amount of exertion. You should simply take a potato and cut it. Take a couple of drops of water and apply them on the potato. Rub this potato on the pigmented zone and abandon it there for thirty minutes. You can likewise grind the potatoes and press the juice and afterward apply it. After 30 minutes wash it with warm water. Cucumber has a cooling impact and lemon has skin helping properties. Lemon is a characteristic blanching operator and does some amazing things without anyone else’s input as well. In the event that you apply these consistently, you will see positive outcomes in some time. Ensure that you abandon it on for 20 minutes consistently. Different operators, for example, papaya, guava and banana are additionally amazing skin helping specialists. On the off chance that these cures are utilized with no productive outcomes, you can generally counsel with an expert at a skin center. Different medications for the skin incorporate Laser conditioning, Skin cleaning, oxy facial and so on. Albeit most skin medications are with no symptoms, a few medicines, for example, laser may cause a portion of the accompanying reactions. These impacts die down over some undefined time frame so there is for the most part nothing to stress over. Soporifics are connected to your skin before you experience laser treatment, however there might be some measure of agony later on. You may feel some measure of distress after the technique. Some laser systems leave the skin red and swollen. This can take a very long time to die down and your skin looks pinkish for a considerable length of time until it totally recuperates. A few patients may encounter tingling. This must for the most part be kept away from and will die down inside a couple of days. Laser skin medicines make your skin progressively touchy to the sun. This is the reason it is prescribed that you avoid the sun after the skin treatment to keep any sort of photograph harm to your skin. Laser treatment is definitely not an onetime thing. It takes more than one skin treatment to dispose of the pigmentation. There are chances that the skin conditions will reoccur. In general, skin medications are an incredible method to restore your skin. Regardless of whether you utilize normal methodology or clinical techniques, you will see superb outcomes! Know about the symptoms however! Everybody realizes that coconut oil is essentially a momentum trend, an alleged wellbeing contrivance with a hot name that perhaps plays on pictures of colorful coconut trees influencing in a sultry ocean breeze to the foundation tune of African jazz, while in all actuality it has minimal healthy benefit and no genuine bring home estimation, isn’t that so? Wrong sister. On all records. Truth be told the exact inverse is valid, and as strangely it presently has a logical cousin sitting in it’s corner. A significant enormous cousin so far as that is concerned, who gives off an impression of being becoming more grounded constantly. Coconut oil things being what they are, is in actuality particularly bravo and nutritious undoubtedly, being wealthy in fiber, nutrients, and minerals. Alright yet truly what are the advantages of coconut oil and as vitally have these been demonstrated? · It contains Medium Chain Triglycerides which have demonstrated helpful advantages on cerebrum issue like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, and strikingly, these MCTs have been demonstrated to expand day by day vitality consumption by as much as 5%, possibly prompting huge weight reduction over the long haul. So it is authentic, eating coconut oil enables consume to fat, with proper logical supporting proof to boot. · Coconut fat is useful for your heart. To some degree in comparative design to the secret of why a French populace who devours huge amounts of red wine and cheddar appear to be to some degree safe to coronary illness, South Pacific societies who expend unbalanced substantial volumes of coconut produce, where it is utilized both from a dietary viewpoint and as a basic fixing in conventional medication, have comparably been believed to experience the ill effects of astoundingly low occurrences of coronary illness. It essentially seems to have ground-breaking mending properties path past the fundamental healthy benefit it confers. It isn’t amazing that coconut trees are regularly alluded to as the Tree of Life in South Seas societies. Ongoing exploration has likewise exhibited that the immersed fats in the oil builds HDL (great) cholesterol levels while at the same time acting to decrease Total and LDL (awful) cholesterol levels. · The unsaturated fats normal for coconut oil are Friends with Benefits. They have a huge number of positive turn offs for us, beginning with a critical bactericidal impact on certain pathogenic microscopic organisms and yeast (for instance the gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, the last which causes the normal thrush), conceivably maintaining a strategic distance from and diminish microbial diseases. What’s more these unsaturated fats emphatically impact our feeling of satiety, and as a result the in general diminished hunger in individuals has the affinity to decidedly impact their body weight the board, specifically with regards to lessening stomach fat. A further advantage of the unsaturated fat profile is that examination currently proposes that the unsaturated fats help with assuaging mellow side effects in Alzheimer’s patients. · Apart from fighting heart maladies coconut oil has additionally been appeared to help with checking the side effects of diabetes Type 2 by improving the cells capacity to react to insulin in the circulatory system, along these lines better overseeing insulin obstruction. Furthermore coconut oil has been believed to help sound thyroid capacity. · Coconut oil additionally has genuine restorative advantages and is normally utilized as a lip and skin defender and cream, hair care as far as hair insurance and the administration of dandruff and lice, and as a characteristic type of sunscreen. Everybody commits this error. It’s particularly regular around the New Year and before the Summer Holidays. This is what occurs? You’re super-roused to change your body. Perhaps you will stop eating so much junk food. Possibly you’re going to begin working out. Or on the other hand possibly you’re going to hit it hard and do both! The New Your begins when you rise early, having your oats for breakfast and having a plate of mixed greens for lunch. You go to the exercise center at night and get back home to a super-sound supper for supper. Up until this point, so great! Day two is great and day three? Still on track just! By day four it’s getting harder. Also, day five that is an executioner. You’re enticed with a treat – one won’t hurt – and by day six your inspiration is wavering on the edge! With your calorie admission down, your activity step up and your head harming on account of the additional exertion and determination – you’re beginning to feel the strain. This is the place most society bite the dust. They miss an exercise center session and after that their eating regimen goes to down the container. It won’t be long until a great many people quit. Presently if this sounds like you. Try not to thrash yourself and don’t stress! Proceed onward, gain from your mix-ups and accept this counsel. There is a BETTER method to begin. It will enable you to defeat the executioner blend of a strict eating regimen and exercise while murdering off the old propensities that frequent you. This is what you do? Are you game? You begin gradually with one propensity at any given moment. It may be the case that you improve one feast at any given moment. You may substitute drinking soft drink for water. Whatever it is? Begin with one propensity at any given moment. It might appear to be moderate however tune in, you have around a 80% possibility of transforming one propensity at any given moment. Endeavor to change to propensities and the shot of progress falls flat. Include a third and fourth propensity – it’s simply a question of time before you fall flat. Moderate and steady upgrades will get you to where you need to be speedier than beginning, stopping and beginning once more. It is a lot simpler than “do everything impeccable” approach as well. Begin moderate and begin by adjusting your calories. Eat a similar sustenance – regardless of whether they’re not too solid – simply center around eating a similar number of calories that you consume each day as opposed to eating an overabundance of calories. The outcome? No more weight gain. That is a decent begin. Next you begin adding protein to each supper – breakfast included. It causes you feel more full and (this is cool) it takes more vitality to process so you’re knocking your digestion. So now you’re not putting on weight and you’re eating better. We’re transforming one propensity at any given moment and handling overpower in the meantime. I realize it’s moderate yet recall. A great many people make a decent attempt to do everything and come up short. Furthermore, they do it for a considerable length of time! Some will never achieve their objectives at all since they continue fizzling! Be extraordinary! All in all, what next? Pick a feast – attempt breakfast – and improve it. Make that a propensity. At that point do likewise for lunch and afterward supper. Getting in shape can frequently be befuddling, diligent work and now and again unsafe. I state hazardous in light of the fact that there are a ton of weight control plans out there that individuals do that can harm their bodies. Consequently when abstaining from excessive food intake you ought to dependably be watchful and utilize some presence of mind. In this article I will give you some sound weight reduction tips. 1. Continuously endeavor to eat genuine sustenances. There are numerous weight control plans that advance squeezing your nourishments or just drinking shakes. This is a terrible thought, as drawn out eating fewer carbs thusly can make harm your gums and teeth. Calorie counters who regularly pursue these juice diets will wind up seeping from their gums, because of them not utilizing their teeth to bite. Eating genuine strong nourishment will maintain a strategic distance from this issue all together. It will likewise keep you feeling more full for more. A great deal of weight control plans are low fat or no fat. This is out and out senseless and risky. Our bodies need dietary fat to get by, without fat in our eating regimens we would bite the dust. It is as basic as that. We can get by without sugars and even without protein, yet our body needs fat. Dietary fat directs a considerable lot of our hormones. Not eating enough will cause significant issues and can even reason us our state of mind to feel off. Thus numerous eating regimens regularly make the general population doing them feel terrible, therefor you ought to eat well fats in your eating routine. It makes me so furious when I see individuals who think since they are eating well that they will get more fit. No this isn’t valid. A solid sustenance or an undesirable nourishment, they all contain calories. A sweet potato could contain 300 calories while a bar of chocolate could contain 200. The sweet potato possibly progressively sound, however despite everything it contains more calories. Eating a greater number of calories than your body needs will make you put on weight. It doesn’t make a difference if those calories are from salmon and kale or chocolate and desserts, therefor ensure you are not eating a bigger number of calories than your body needs else you will finish up putting on weight and not losing it. Each health food nut assumes carbs are terrible. They are most certainly not. Carbs give vitality and every gram of a sugar contains indistinguishable measure of calories from protein. I suggest eating starches, for example, oats, entire wheat pastas and sweet potatoes to keep you feeling more full for more. As I would like to think high protein consumes less calories are the best way to eat less carbs in case you’re hoping to get thinner. High protein eats less enable you to make abstaining from excessive food intake simple. Eating a high protein diet will enable you to feel like your not eating less junk food by any stretch of the imagination. Regularly I have ended up eating fewer carbs yet feeling too full to even consider eating my next feast, yet despite everything I get thinner this is on the grounds that the protein takes more time to separate. The most vital motivation to eat a high protein diet anyway is on the grounds that it enables you to keep your bulk while losing fat. This is essential in the event that you need to look great while getting thinner. Maxwell Keto Again and again I see individuals who lose both muscle and fat and are not content with the manner in which they care for eating fewer carbs in light of the fact that they essentially don’t look right. The explanation behind this is muscle gives you the fit athletic look, the more you have the better you will look. Why swear off sustenance when there are nourishments out there that can really help in weight reduction? The thought appears to be outside – eating to get more fit. The accompanying five sustenances, however, aren’t simply old spouses stories. These sustenances are upheld through logical actualities in demonstrating that they help in weight reduction. The majority of the accompanying sustenances are low in calories, to help in your eating routine arrangement, and high in stomach satisfaction. These sustenances will ward off the yearning. Eggs. These are the super-nourishments on the off chance that you are searching for a weight reduction sustenance that the two fills in as high in protein and is advantageous for your general wellbeing also. When known as a reason for heart assaults and higher cholesterol, science has affirmed the actualities that pursue this sustenance and exposed the old fantasies. That, yet the revelation of eggs as an eating regimen sustenance has turned out. This is because of the high measure of protein and solid fats making the eater feel all the more full, prompting lesser eating without the accompanying cravings for food that go with most eating routine designs. Kale isn’t prominent in vain. This verdant green is making its name as an eating routine sustenance and has had colossal prevalence. Kale is low in calories however high in fiber- – this the two deals with the fiber segment of your feast and, because of the low calories, can be eaten in extensive sums. The incorporation of calcium is likewise an or more, as calcium has been appeared to aid the consuming of fat, in a few examinations. Watery sustenances. What does that even mean? It alludes to products of the soil that contain water. One such super veggie is cauliflower. This malignant growth doing combating vegetable is likewise useful for helping you get more fit. That, yet the imagination in cauliflower formulas is boundless. There are interminable of decisions to fluctuate how you eat this super veggie. Pure Primal Keto Yet, you can’t endure just on eggs and vegetables. Shouldn’t something be said about the protein? Salmon can deal with that. What it needs in calories, which is beneficial for you, it makes up with its numerous helpful advantages. Its decrease in irritation keeps the load off, yet additionally helps in the decrease of skin inflammation. The ideal protein. The sustenance of the ages, bubbled potatoes, has continued the appetite of our precursors for a long time. It is additionally scored as the most astounding satisfying sustenance. These terrible young men will keep the yearning under control. In addition to the fact that it is low in calories and high in satisfaction, it is shabby. Potatoes can be purchased in enormous amounts for just a little measure of cash. As individuals move beyond their 30’s it ends up more enthusiastically for some individuals to hold their load down while as yet having the capacity to live it up. Obviously there are things that should be possible to help keep your weight steady or even get in shape if need be. You simply need to take a little consideration and research everything with the goal that you will discover an eating regimen and exercise program that suits you. There are a wide range of ways that you can keep up or get thinner. It bodes well to carry on with a sound life thus pursue a solid eating regimen. A decent assortment of sound, nutritious nourishments and activities that fit into your way of life is the most ideal approach. This will push you to gradually receive the eating routine and make it a perpetual apparatus for what’s to come. Keeping a journal will support you. Keep note of the terrible days just as the great. Scribble down what sustenances and beverages you have expended, total with how you felt and why. Record the advancement that you are making with your activities and investigate them toward the finish of every week. Along these lines you may spot what benefits you or even what does you terrible. This will assist you with furthering change your consuming less calories and practicing till it accommodates your way of life 100%. The sooner you start to receive a more beneficial way of life, the more you remain to profit by it. On the off chance that you pick an eating regimen and exercise program that suits your way of life you will need to keep it and won’t feel constrained into it. Thusly you can look more advantageous, fitter, more youthful and appreciate everything that life brings to the table you to the full! Strolling likely could be sufficient to keep you fit and at a decent weight. On the off chance that you have to get thinner, at that point the exercise center may be the spot to. There are mentors that can help exhort you and with a little cardio and additionally weight lifting you will before long be feeling loaded with vitality. Beginning of with a simple short exercise program and as you become acclimated to it, add to it. Try not to murder yourself in any case, ensure that you do need to propel yourself only a bit. To help keep your inspiration high you could generally motivate a companion to oblige you with the goal that you can support and help one another. Having somebody there that will laud you when you merit it and applaud you on will assist you with working harder and truly put it all on the line. Simply don’t try too hard! Keto Rapid Max Make a point to examine however many eating regimens as would be prudent before picking one. Ideally you will discover an eating regimen that suits you. One that you can embrace for a lifetime, one that you will need to pursue. Getting more fit need not be hard on the off chance that you go the correct path about it. It’s anything but a race and ought to be something that you go for. For whatever length of time that you continue heading the correct way, with extra special care, you will in the end arrive. Digestion is an essential apparatus with regards to fat-consuming and an extremely vital piece of any health improvement plan. Actually, on the off chance that you can’t help your body’s metabolic rate, at that point endeavoring to consume fat may very well be a finished exercise in futility. Digestion is just the procedure through which the body consumes calories and make vitality accessible for the body. At a youthful age, weight gain is restrained in light of the bulk that store up vitality, however as you advance in age, you bit by bit lose those muscles and body fats start to collect. As this proceeds with, your metabolic rate backs off and weight reduction at this stage turns into a delusion. In any case, with an all around point by point 7-day routine on the best way to build your metabolic rate, you can refocus. Your digestion resembles the interior motor of a vehicle and there are things that should be possible to make it work all the more productively and serve you better. You should discover your body’s metabolic rate; this ought to be your first port of call to begin shedding that fat in your body. You should be arm with information, for example, the quantity of calories your body requirements for weight addition to kick in, at that point you’ll realize how to use on that data to really support your metabolic rate to consume that muscle versus fat rapidly and successfully as well. Calories are imperative piece of our reality, for the way that they offer vitality to our cells to do their capacities. One can’t get by without calories since they fill in as the body’s fuel to play out its work. Without calories, our body won’t have the ability to move. In any case, an abundance of calories is unwanted, and therefore, it’s spent and changed over to muscle to fat ratio. Body fats are critical to offer security to the body, yet an overabundance of fat can cause extreme illnesses. Thus, we should simply devour a specific proportion of calories and store enough body fats for us to stay sound. On the off chance that you have an overabundance of body fats, at that point now is the ideal time, to cleave down the extra calories. The inquiry: “How to lose calories?” turns into the essential worry to keep up a physically fit body. The correct activity here is to diminish your calorie admission to 100 regularly, and thusly your body straightens out to make this conceivable. Eat all the more as often as possible, state at regular intervals. Eating like clockwork suggests that you get your calories in huge pieces instead of little packages as the day advanced. To expand your metabolic rate, you need to eat little suppers much of the time amid the day. Exactly when you miss a dinner, your metabolic rate backs off as your body responds to an obvious nonattendance of sustenance. If there is a starvation, the people who process calories bit by bit will be in a perfect circumstance. Guarantee that you gobble inside a hour in the wake of awakening, that way your body won’t slip into a craving mode. You can plan an eating routine for yourself; simply guarantee you eat 3 hours after every dinner. Bites should likewise become an integral factor to enhance the sustenance you eat. Research has it that tidbits can really give very impressive measure of calories – snacks dependent on 250 calories, eaten three time for each day require the admission of less sustenance at standard dinners and triggers ensuing expanded in metabolic rate. Maxwell Keto When you’re full, your body responds because of the way that of leptin (a hormone) start a ready that your body can never again take in more nourishment so you don’t continue ingesting. The nearness of zinc in the body accomplishes this by diminishing craving while at the same time expanding your leptin levels. You can get zinc from your multivitamin or even better, purchase in parcels of 15mg. Is it true that you are exhausted of your equivalent old rec center daily practice and exercises? On the off chance that YES, at that point you may ponder what else you can do to keep your body fit as a fiddle and dispose of that rec center bluntness until the end of time. Why not join move classes rather and get in shape quick and simple. To be reasonable, both practicing at the rec center and moving are viewed as useful for your wellbeing. Allows simply begin with rec center first. Exercise centers have a crucial influence with regards to fortifying your muscles and keeping your tendons fit as a fiddle, helping you shed pounds, bringing down the danger of getting heart ailments or some other issues, accelerating your digestion, enabling your heart to siphon all the more proficiently with less strain, improving your public activity, and making you feel quiet and substance. Aside from these advantages, practicing at the rec center has a few weaknesses as well. One of the greatest disadvantages of joining an exercise center is its expense. When you join an exercise center, you’ll be paying the enrollment expense first. Aside from that, you’ll be paying a customary charge as well. Likewise, on the off chance that you have a craving for contracting a fitness coach, there will be extra charges for that. Another inconvenience is with respect to the area of the exercise center. In the event that your picked wellness focus is situated far from your home or office, achieving the rec center ON time will be a BIG accomplishment for you. Voyaging a ton before setting off to the exercise center can remove all your freshness in light of which you’ll unquestionably encounter bluntness and exhaustion amid your work out at the rec center, so it is imperative that you pick your rec center correctly, remembering all the essential elements. Conversely, moving is viewed as a much better choice than practicing at the rec center as most of individuals consider it a clever and energizing method for getting more fit and remaining fit. Moving gives you satisfaction, yet additionally keeps your body fit and solid. Move as a rule, is a craftsmanship that comprises of conclusively picked arrangement of human developments. It very well may be arranged and outlined dependent on its movement, developments or by its place of starting point. It helps in easing pressure and gloom, enhancing your mind-set, consuming the calories, reinforcing the muscles, diminishing circulatory strain, keeping up your weight, and helping you battle against diabetes and other wellbeing related issues. Keto Ultra Burn Besides, in the event that you don’t possess energy for moving classes, you can just turn on your radio or TV and move in your own room, or you can even go out and move pressure free with your companions at a club or a gathering. Moving without end out in the open hoists your inclination, yet additionally expands your certainty. In light of this, your body will ingest protein very rapidly and will guarantee that all supplements discover their way into the muscles to begin the recuperation and revamping process. This makes the post exercise caffeinated drink essential to ensure that you get the best the extent that supplements are concerned, so you can recuperate and in the meantime hold your hunger in line until it is the ideal opportunity for the following supper. You need to abstain from taking extensive dinners after an exercise and your caffeinated drink will enable you to stay aware of the correct eating plan. With such huge numbers of alternatives accessible in the market, settling on a decision of the correct caffeinated drink is vital and a couple of tips can enable you to settle on a decent choice. A caffeinated drink that guides both execution when working out and recuperation after you are done can settle on a decent decision. Such an item will give you full advantages without the need distinctive enhancements for the two essential occasions. Pick a beverage that enhances the proficient arrival of vitality from your muscle cells and advances stamina and continuance. It ought to likewise permit breath, side-effect evacuation to help legitimate muscle recuperation. A beverage that raises nitric oxide, which thusly advances productive supply of blood to the muscles, helping supplement supply and metabolite leeway in the process is valuable. The constituents making up your recuperation drink are what make it great. Search for beverages that have B nutrients since they are extremely advantageous for muscle building and muscle building happens when your recuperation procedure is in progress. A beverage that has nutrient B12 and B9 can be an incredible decision since it helps protein amalgamation. Caffeine is another useful fixing in your post-exercise caffeinated drink since it advances the recuperation of your muscles by helping sugar admission required for the refueling of the muscles. Consider the fixings your beverage has and how advantageous they are in helping appropriate recuperation of the muscles. Keto Viante Such items give you a simple time since you don’t have to make any estimations or experience a blending procedure before you can make the most of your beverage. The less demanding it is for you to utilize your post-exercise drink the more helpful it is so dependably consider this factor to ensure you are alright with what your beverage requires from you.

2019-04-19T10:33:04Z

http://positivehealthcare.co.in/author/va3azxwwar/page/2/

The role of vitamin D in female reproduction has been intensively examined over the last few decades. A large body of evidence suggests that vitamin D might have beneficial effects on metabolic/hormonal parameters of PCOS and endometriosis, while it appears to be associated with IVF outcomes. However, due to the heterogeneity among observational and interventional studies, no cause-effect relationship has yet been established. The aim of this review is to analyze recent in vitro animal and human studies which examined the association of vitamin D with disease entities affecting female fertility potential. Recent research data strongly imply that vitamin D is implicated in female reproduction and might represent a beneficial and inexpensive therapeutic approach, in combination with first-line medical treatments, to female infertility. The aim of this review is to critically assess current literature data regarding the role of vitamin D in IVF and its association with PCOS and endometriosis. We searched Pubmed for English language publications up to February 2017 under the following terms: “Vitamin D and female infertility” and “Vitamin D and female reproduction” and “Vitamin D and PCOS” and “Vitamin D and endometriosis”, “Vitamin D and granulose cells” and “Vitamin D and IVF”. We also used the terms 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)vitamin D or 1,25-dihydroxyvitaminD or 1,25(OH)2D3 instead of Vitamin D, and the term assisted reproduction technologies (ART) instead of IVF. Additionally, we included references on relevant topics from the reviewed articles in order to widen our search. Because a comprehensive background is a prerequisite for further discussions on vitamin D-induced effects, we provide a brief description of vitamin D metabolism and mechanism of action. VDR is expressed in human ovarian tissue and placenta.15,16 In terms of ovarian steroidogenesis, human ovarian cells stimulated progesterone, estradiol and estrone production in the presence of calcitriol.16 Furthermore, human granulosa cells cultured with vitamin D3 increased 3β-HSD messenger (mRNA) levels and progesterone release.17 In line with animal models, in vitro experiments in human models showed that vitamin D induces dehydroepiandrosterone sulfotranserase (SULT2A1).13 Vitamin D is also associated with markers of ovarian reserve, especially with AMH.18 Interestingly, a subsequent study demonstrated that the human AMH promoter contains a functional VDRE.19 Finally, human granulosa cells treatment with vitamin D3 resulted in a significant decrease in AMHR-II and FSH receptor mRNA.17 Given the inhibitory effects of AMH on the development of human granulosa cells, the decrease of AMH expression after vitamin D treatment may reflect a beneficial effect of vitamin D in the differentiation of these cells. Recent evidence from in vitro studies conducted in human and animal cells points to the functional role of the vitamin D endocrine system in the physiology of female reproduction. However, there are divergent results, possibly attributable to its two forms and several metabolites, the different concentrations of vitamin D used and to species-specific variations. Moreover, since various cell types are involved in the reproductive machinery and a local system mainly driven by 1a-hydroxylase activity is present in almost all of these cells responsible for the concentrations of the active metabolite at the tissue level, any relevant experimental data extracted from in vitro experiments must be interpreted with caution. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endrocrinopathy and the leading cause of infertility among women of reproductive age.41,42 It is a syndrome with clinical and biochemical heterogeneity which affects about 6-10% of women worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that vitamin D is associated with various metabolic and reproductive features of PCOS and thus may be involved in the pathogenesis of the syndrome. It is noteworthy that hyperinsulinemia and IR have a central role in the pathogenesis of PCOS, affecting the severity of clinical features independently of the presence of obesity. The following potential mechanisms linking vitamin D with IR have been proposed: (i) vitamin D improves insulin action by upregulating the expression of the insulin receptor and enhancing insulin responsiveness for glucose transport;43 (ii) 1,25(OH)2D3 activates the transcription of the VDRE of the human insulin gene which it has in its promoter;45 (iii) vitamin D regulates intracellular and extracellular calcium, which is crucial for insulin-mediated actions in insulin-responsive tissues;43 (iv) vitamin D exerts anti-inflammatory actions.2,9 However, most PCOS women are either overweight or obese. Obesity is associated with lower 25(OH)VitD levels, mainly due to the sequestration of the lipophilic vitamin in adipose tissue as well as due to lower sunlight exposure of obese subjects. These data raise the crucial question: Is vitamin D deficiency an additional risk factor aggravating IR in PCOS irrespectively of obesity? The following data attempt to address this issue. The role of VDR in the regulation of the human genome has motivated researchers to examine the contribution of the VDR gene polymorphisms in metabolic and endocrine disturbances of PCOS. The results reflect an influence of VDR gene variants in PCOS features; however, because they are as yet controversial, it is difficult to establish a clear association of VDR polymorphisms with the development of PCOS. Numerous observational studies investigated the association of 25(OH)VitD status with metabolic and endocrine parameters of PCOS (Table 1). In general, PCOS women had lower 25(OH)VitD levels compared to healthy controls. Among the PCOS population, obese women exhibited lower 25(OH)VitD levels than overweight or lean subjects. Interestingly, low 25(OH)VitD levels in PCOS women was associated with higher levels of an antiapoptotic protein, phosphoprotein enriched in diabetes gene product (PED/PEA-15).68 This inverse association could account for the dysregulated ovarian apoptosis seen in PCOS women. The heterogeneity of the studies could be explained by the variety of methodologies used for the assessment of VitD, the heterogeneity of study populations (small study samples, absence of control group) and the lack of adjustement for confounders, such as seasonality of 25(OH)VitD. It could be concluded that the existing data converge towards a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among PCOS women and an inverse association with insulin sensitivity markers. However, the exact interrelationship between vitamin D status, obesity, IR and hyperandrogenism in PCOS still remains unclear and warrants further research. In conclusion, despite the abundance of existing literature data regarding supplementation studies, their results are inconsistent and no clear conclusion can be drawn about the effect of vitamin D administration on metabolic and reproductive parameters of PCOS. The aforementioned intervention studies are subject to several limitations, which partially explain the lack of apparent concordance. Firstly, some of them include a small sample size and/or lack randomization and allocation concealment, hence increasing the risk of selection bias. There is substantial heterogeneity with respect to 25(OH)VitD status of patients at baseline, the methodology used for 25(OH)VitD assessment, dosing regimen and intervention formulations, duration, use of concomitant therapies, all of which could contribute to the discrepancy of the observed results. Furthermore, these studies were conducted in different countries and at different seasons, factors which could also influence the results. In fact, lack of adjustment for confounders such as the seasonality of 25(OH)VitD or even the existence of residual confounders are significant shortcomings in the studies conducted. The use of a single baseline vitamin D measurement which may not reflect longterm vitamin D status could also affect the validity of the interventional studies.96 Moreover, the ultrasound criteria of diagnosis of PCOS and of the definition of ovulatory cycles varies among studies this also conducing to the low quality of many of them. Taken together, these data may indicate a plausible implication of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of endometriosis through exerting an autocrine/paracrine role in the endometrial microenvironment; however, further research is needed to determine whether vitamin D supplementation could have a role as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of endometriosis or is merely a confounding factor. The implication of Vitamin D in the outcome of ART (clinical pregnancy and live birth) has been examined in numerous studies. Nevertheless, the data are inconsistent and a clear role of vitamin D in the success of IVF outcome remains elusive. In the first experimental attempt to link vitamin D status with IVF outcome, vitamin D sufficient women undergoing IVF had higher pregnancy and implantation rates compared with the vitamin D deficient women.110 The beneficial impact of high vitamin D status on IVF outcome could be attributed to the effects of vitamin D on the endometrium, since vitamin D status was not significantly associated with ovarian response parameters. In order to test this hypothesis, a subsequent study investigated the influences of vitamin D status on ART outcomes in donor-recipient cycles.112 Egg-donation recipients with non-replete vitamin D status [25(OH)VitD <30 ng/ml] had reduced clinical pregnancy and live birth rates. Moreover, no correlation between recipient vitamin D status and ovarian stimulation parameters, fertilization rates, embryo quality or the number of embryos transferred was noted, suggesting that vitamin D appears to exert its effects on fertility via the endometrium. However, donor characteristics were not included in the latter study, which could confound these results. Conversely, a prospective observational study found that elevated follicular fluid (FF) 25(OH)VitD levels in combination with decreased FF glucose levels were associated with poorer embryo quality and negative IVF outcome, indicating a potential negative role of vitamin D at the oocyte level.117 However, the above observation is in contrast to the detrimental effects of vitamin D deficiency on the endometrium reported in previous studies.110-112,116 Additionally, two Iranian studies118,119 failed to demonstrate any significant association between serum or FF vitamin D levels and implantation or pregnancy rates. However, the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the examined population limits the strength of their research. Furthermore, vitamin D status was not associated with clinical pregnancy rates of women undergoing euploid embryo transfer,120 frozen-thawed embryo transfer121 and clinical pregnancy rates among oocyte recipients.122 An interventional trial examined potential effects of vitamin D insufficiency treatment on fertility outcomes regarding frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles but did not show any association.123 Finally, a recent meta-analysis failed to document any correlation between vitamin D deficiency and pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF.124 The heterogeneity among the aforementioned studies and their contradictory results highlight the need for further research so as to clarify the exact association of vitamin D status and IVF success. Endocrine Task Force guidelines define vitamin D deficiency as a 25(OH)VitD level of <20 ng/ml, vitamin D insufficiency as a 25(OH)VitD level of 21-29 ng/ml and vitamin D sufficiency as a 25(OH)VitD level of ≥30 ng/ml.125 The Institute of Medicine Committee defines vitamin D deficiency at a level below 20 ng/ml.126 These definitions however are related only to skeletal health and an optimal level of vitamin D levels for its non-skeletal actions has not been established. Of interest, according to the Endocrine Society Task Force, vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 are the suggested treatment options for vitamin D deficiency. On the other hand, literature data indicate that vitamin D3 is more effective in increasing 25(OH)VitD levels than vitamin D2.127-130 Clearly, the optimal level of vitamin D in female fertility and the type of supplements required for the treatment of vitamin D deficiency are two significant issues which merit further research and need to be addressed. There are a large number of in vitro, animal as well as human observational studies which strongly point towards an association between vitamin D and female fertility. Research data indicate that vitamin D might be implicated in the pathogenesis and prevention of endometriosis, while vitamin D status has been linked to IVF outcome. Furthermore, vitamin D supplementation in PCOS women ameliorated some of the metabolic and, mainly, the reproductive disorders. Although promising, these data are not sufficient to establish a cause-effect relationship between vitamin D status and fertility issues. Moreover, there is still no general consensus as to the minimum level of vitamin D optimal for female reproductive health and fertility, while the screening of vitamin D status in women undergoing IVF is still under debate. Vitamin D administration is a well-tolerated and inexpensive treatment. However, whether vitamin D supplementation could be a novel adjunct agent in the treatment of metabolic/hormonal aspects of PCOS and endometriosis is a question still awaiting an answer. Large-scale, high quality dose-response RCTs with longer follow-up are needed 1) to determine the exact role of vitamin D in female IVF outcome, evaluated by indices such as the number of oocytes retrieved, the number and the quality of the embryo formed, the clinical pregnancy rates as well as the live birth rates and 2) to identify threshold effects of vitamin D supplementation on hormonal, metabolic and reproductive outcomes in PCOS. 1. Holick MF, 2007 Vitamin D deficiency. N Engl J Med 357: 266-281. 2. Kassi E, Adamopoulos C, Basdra EK, Papavassiliou AG, 2013 Role of vitamin D in atherosclerosis. Circulation 128: 2517-2531. 3. 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Rahimi-Ardabili H, Pourghassem Gargari B, Farzadi L, 2013 Effects of vitamin D on cardiovascular disease risk factors in polycystic ovary syndrome women with vitamin D deficiency. J Endocrinol Invest 36: 28-32. 81. Raja-Khan N, Shah J, Stetter CM, et al, 2014 High-dose vitamin D supplementation and measures of insulin sensitivity in polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized, controlled pilot trial. Fertil Steril 101: 1740-1746. 82. Ardabili HR, Gargari BP, Farzadi L, 2012 Vitamin D supplementation has no effect on insulin resistance assessment in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and vitamin D deficiency. Nutr Res 32: 195-201. 83. Asemi Z, Foroozanfard F, Hashemi T, Bahmani F, Jamilian M, Esmaillzadeh A, 2015 Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation affects glucose metabolism and lipid concentrations in overweight and obese vitamin D deficient women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Clin Nutr 34: 586-592. 84. Garg G, Kachhawa G, Ramot R, et al, 2015 Effect of vitamin D supplementation on insulin kinetics and cardiovascular risk factors in polycystic ovarian syndrome: a pilot study. Endocr Connect 4: 108-116. 85. He C, Lin Z, Robb SW, Ezeamama AE, 2015 Serum Vitamin D Levels and Polycystic Ovary syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients 7: 4555-4577. 86. Jia XZ, Wang YM, Zhang N, et al, 2015 Effect of vitamin D on clinical and biochemical parameters in polycystic ovary syndrome women: A meta-analysis. J Obstet Gynaecol Res 41: 1791-1802. 87. Fang F, Ni K, Cai Y, Shang J, Zhang X, Xiong C, 2017 Effect of vitamin D supplementation on polycystic ovary syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Complement Ther Clin Pract 26: 53-60. 88. Xue Y, Xu P, Xue K, et al, 2017 Effect of vitamin D on biochemical parameters in polycystic ovary syndrome women: a meta-analysis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 295: 487-496. 89. Diamanti-Kandarakis E, Katsikis I, Piperi C, et al, 2008 Increased serum advanced glycation end-products is a distinct finding in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 69: 634-641. 91. Kalea AZ, Schmidt AM, Hudson BI, 2009 RAGE: a novel biological and genetic marker for vascular disease. Clin Sci (Lond) 116: 621-637. 92. Irani M, Minkoff H, Seifer DB, Merhi Z, 2014 Vitamin D increases serum levels of the soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products in women with PCOS. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 99: E886-890. 93. Irani M, Seifer DB, Grazi RV, et al, 2015 Vitamin D Supplementation decreases TGF-beta1 bioavailability in PCOS: A randomized placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 100: 4307-4314. 94. Raja-Khan N, Kunselman AR, Demers LM, Ewens KG, Spielman RS, Legro RS, 2010 A variant in the fibrillin-3 gene is associated with TGF-beta and inhibin B levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fertil Steril 94: 2916-2919. 95. Tal R, Seifer DB, Shohat-Tal A, Grazi RV, Malter HE, 2013 Transforming growth factor-beta1 and its receptor soluble endoglin are altered in polycystic ovary syndrome during controlled ovarian stimulation. Fertil Steril 100: 538-543. 96. Karras SN, Anagnostis P, Naughton D, Annweiler C, Petroczi A, Goulis DG, 2015 Vitamin D during pregnancy: why observational studies suggest deficiency and interventional studies show no improvement in clinical outcomes? A narrative review. J Endocrinol Invest 38: 1265-1275. 97. Bulun SE, 2009 Endometriosis. N Engl J Med 360: 268-279. 98. Vigano P, Lattuada D, Mangioni S, et al, 2006 Cycling and early pregnant endometrium as a site of regulated expression of the vitamin D system. J Mol Endocrinol 36: 415-424. 99. Hartwell D, Rodbro P, Jensen SB, Thomsen K, Christiansen C, 1990 Vitamin D metabolites--relation to age, menopause and endometriosis. Scand J Clin Lab Invest 50: 115-121. 100. Agic A, Xu H, Altgassen C, et al, 2007 Relative expression of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 receptor, vitamin D 1 alpha-hydroxylase, vitamin D 24-hydroxylase, and vitamin D 25-hydroxylase in endometriosis and gynecologic cancers. Repr Sci 14: 486-497. 101. Harris HR, Chavarro JE, Malspeis S, Willett WC, Missmer SA, 2013 Dairy-food, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D intake and endometriosis: a prospective cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 177: 420-430. 102. Ciavattini A, Serri M, Delli Carpini G, Morini S, Clemente N, 2017 Ovarian endometriosis and vitamin D serum levels. Gynecol Endocrinol 33: 164-167. 103. Somigliana E, Panina-Bordignon P, Murone S, Di Lucia P, Vercellini P, Vigano P, 2007 Vitamin D reserve is higher in women with endometriosis. Hum Reprod 22: 2273-2278. 104. Ferrero S, Gillott DJ, Anserini P, et al, 2005 Vitamin D binding protein in endometriosis. J Soc Gynecol Investig 12: 272-277. 105. Borkowski J, Gmyrek GB, Madej JP, et al, 2008 Serum and peritoneal evaluation of vitamin D-binding protein in women with endometriosis. Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online) 62: 103-109. 106. Cho S, Choi YS, Yim SY, et al, 2012 Urinary vitamin D-binding protein is elevated in patients with endometriosis. Hum Reprod 27: 515-522. 107. Hwang JH, Wang T, Lee KS, Joo JK, Lee HG, 2013 Vitamin D binding protein plays an important role in the progression of endometriosis. Int J Mol Med 32: 1394-1400. 109. Vilarino FL, Bianco B, Lerner TG, et al, 2011 Analysis of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in women with and without endometriosis. Hum Immunol 72: 359-363. 110. Ozkan S, Jindal S, Greenseid K, Shu J, Zeitlian G, Hickmon C, et al, 2010 Replete vitamin D stores predict reproductive success following in vitro fertilization. Fertil Steril 94: 1314-1319. 111. Rudick B, Ingles S, Chung K, Stanczyk F, Paulson R, Bendikson K, 2012 Characterizing the influence of vitamin D levels on IVF outcomes. Hum Reprod 27: 3321-3327. 112. Rudick BJ, Ingles SA, Chung K, Stanczyk FZ, Paulson RJ, Bendikson KA, 2014 Influence of vitamin D levels on in vitro fertilization outcomes in donor-recipient cycles. Fertil Steril 101: 447-452. 113. Garbedian K, Boggild M, Moody J, Liu KE, 2013 Effect of vitamin D status on clinical pregnancy rates following in vitro fertilization. CMAJ open 1: E77-82. 114. Paffoni A, Ferrari S, Vigano P, et al, 2014 Vitamin D deficiency and infertility: insights from in vitro fertilization cycles. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 99: E2372-2376. 115. Farzadi L, Khayatzadeh Bidgoli H, Chojazadeh et al, 2015 Correlation between follicular fluid 25-OH vitamin D and assisted reproductive outcomes. Iran J Reprod Med 13: 361-366. 116. Polyzos NP, Anckaert E, Guzman L, et al, 2014 Vitamin D deficiency and pregnancy rates in women undergoing single embryo, blastocyst stage, transfer (SET) for IVF/ICSI. Hum Reprod 29: 2032-2040. 117. Anifandis GM, Dafopoulos K, Messini CI, et al, 2010 Prognostic value of follicular fluid 25-OH vitamin D and glucose levels in the IVF outcome. Reprod Biol Endocrinol 8: 91. 118. Aleyasin A, Hosseini MA, Mahdavi A, et al, 2011 Predictive value of the level of vitamin D in follicular fluid on the outcome of assisted reproductive technology. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 159: 132-137. 119. Firouzabadi RD, Rahmani E, Rahsepar M, Firouzabadi MM, 2014 Value of follicular fluid vitamin D in predicting the pregnancy rate in an IVF program. Arch Gynecol Obstet 289: 201-206. 120. Franasiak JM, Molinaro TA, Dubell EK, et al, 2015 Vitamin D levels do not affect IVF outcomes following the transfer of euploid blastocysts. Am J Obstet Gynecol 212: 315.e1-6. 121. van de Vijver A, Drakopoulos P, Van Landuyt L, et al, 2016 Vitamin D deficiency and pregnancy rates following frozen-thawed embryo transfer: a prospective cohort study. Hum Reprod 31: 1749-1754. 122. Fabris A, Pacheco A, Cruz M, Puente JM, Fatemi H, Garcia-Velasco JA, 2014 Impact of circulating levels of total and bioavailable serum vitamin D on pregnancy rate in egg donation recipients. Fertil Steril 102: 1608-1612. 123. Aflatoonian A, Arabjahvani F, Eftekhar M, Sayadi M, 2014 Effect of vitamin D insufficiency treatment on fertility outcomes in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles: A randomized clinical trial. Iran J Reprod Med 12: 595-600. 124. Lv SS, Wang JY, Wang XQ, Wang Y, Xu Y, 2016 Serum vitamin D status and in vitro fertilization outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 293: 1339-1345. 125. Holick MF, Binkley NC, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, et al, 2011 Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96: 1911-1930. 126. Rosen CJ, Abrams SA, Aloia JF, et al, 2012 IOM committee members respond to Endocrine Society vitamin D guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 97: 1146-1152. 127. Heaney RP, Recker RR, Grote J, Horst RL, Armas LA, 2011 Vitamin D(3) is more potent than vitamin D(2) in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96: E447-452. 128. Trang HM, Cole DE, Rubin LA, Pierratos A, Siu S, Vieth R, 1998 Evidence that vitamin D3 increases serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D more efficiently than does vitamin D2. Am J Clin Nutr 68: 854-858. 129. Armas LA, Hollis BW, Heaney RP, 2004 Vitamin D2 is much less effective than vitamin D3 in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89: 5387-5391. 130. Binkley N, Gemar D, Engelke J, et al, 2011 Evaluation of ergocalciferol or cholecalciferol dosing, 1,600 IU daily or 50,000 IU monthly in older adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96: 981-988.

2019-04-21T20:35:39Z

http://www.hormones.gr/8671/article/vitamin-d-and-aspects-of-female%E2%80%A6.html

BGates | ¡ABRA EL PORTÓN CON SU TELéFONO! the website www.bgates.it (hereinafter, the “Site”) is owned and operated by BGates S.r.l. with registered office in Via Giuseppe Ripamonti n. 44, 20141 Milan (MI) – Italy, (hereafter “BGates”), P.Iva e C.F. 05759280968. 1.3 “On-line” sales contract means the distance contract, ie the legal transaction concerning movable goods and / or services stipulated between a Supplier, BGates, and a Customer, as part of a remote sales system organized by BGates which, for this contract, uses only the remote communication technology called internet. 2.1 The use of any service of the Site gives the user the status of User. 2.2 Registration is not required for simple navigation. 2.3 For the execution of Orders it is necessary to register. Registration will take place in the form expressly provided on the Site for the specific service. 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This site uses both session and permanent cookies. 1.1 1.1 These General Terms and Conditions of Sale (hereinafter CGV) apply to all Orders issued through the website www.bgates.it (hereinafter the “Site”) by any Business User, as defined in the General Conditions of Use of the Site (hereinafter the “Customer”) in favor of the company Business Gates srl (hereinafter referred to as “BGates” or the “Supplier”) and regulate entirely the current and future supply relationships that exist between the Customer and the Supplier. 1.2 These GCS are published in the “Conditions of sale” section of the Site and are considered in any case known and accepted, even if not signed, with the simple access to the Website and in any case by simply sending the Order through the appropriate functionality of the Website . 1.3 In the event that one or more clauses of these GCS are declared void, invalid, ineffective or illegitimate, in whole or in part, by the judicial authority or by an arbitration body, this will not affect the validity and effectiveness of the other clauses or the remainder of the aforementioned provision. 2.2 The Supplier will accept Orders up to the maximum number of available pieces indicated for each reference, for the standard references present on the Site. 2.3 In no case will the Supplier be obliged to sell its Products to the Customer before having received confirmation of payment of the Online Payment Manager, or received the actual crediting of the consideration, in case of payment by bank transfer. 2.4 All Orders are irrevocable and binding and can not be canceled by the Customer. 2.5 Orders will be confirmed, and will become binding on the Supplier only following the issuance of the Order Confirmation which will take place following the actual receipt of payment, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 4.4. and 4.6. 2.6 In the event that the payment is not actually received within 5 days from the order, or is received for an incorrect amount, the same will be suspended and the goods covered by the Order will be made available for sale to other CUSTOMERS. Consequently, BGates does not guarantee to the Customer the effective availability of the ordered goods in the case of payments made after the deadline of 5 days from placing the Order. The Customer who makes a late payment will have to wait for the actual availability of the originally ordered goods without this leading to non-compliance by BGates. Deliveries are made to the carrier within 7 days of receipt of payment. Following delivery to the carrier, the goods travel at the Customer’s risk. 3.1.2.1 The arrival times of goods depend on the transit times of shipments depending on destinations. 3.1.2.2 The terms indicated for the Delivery and for the arrival of the goods are not binding and constitute only a reference data for the parts. The Supplier will use reasonable endeavors to comply with these terms. Any dates scheduled for delivery are merely indicative and the delivery deadline is not essential. In any case, the Supplier will not be liable in any way for delays in the Delivery of Products caused by (i) force majeure events as defined in Article 10, or (ii) failure to provide adequate instructions for the Delivery of Products of the Customer or any other instruction relating to the sale of Products, (iii) delays in transit of shipments. The Customer can collect the goods only by appointment at the BGates warehouse: Via Giuseppe Ripamonti n. 44, 20141 Milan (Mi). In this case the Delivery will take place with the provision of the goods to the Customer at the BGates Warehouse. (EXW). 3.1.3.2 The collection can be made following the communication of availability of the goods at the warehouse, every day from Monday to Friday by appointment only. 3.1.3.3 The Customer must collect the goods no later than 15 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of the goods in stock. Beyond this deadline, the Delivery will be deemed to have taken place with the consequences envisaged by art. 5.2. 3.1.3.4 In case of delayed collection (within and not later than 30 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of goods in stock), without prejudice to the provisions of art. 3.1.3.2, the customer can collect the goods upon payment of storage costs equal to € 0.50 per day for each day of delay beyond the end of 15 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of the goods in stock. 3.1.3.5 In case of delay in picking up the goods beyond the 30-day period from the date of sending the communication of availability of the goods in stock, without prejudice to the provisions of art. 3.1.3.2, the Customer must book a new collection by sending an email to the address [email protected]. In this case the availability of the goods in stock is not guaranteed and the delivery times foreseen by art. 3.1.3.1. 3.1.3.6 in the event that the withdrawal takes place by means of a carrier sent by the Customer, please note that the goods will be delivered to the carrier with an accompanying invoice, without any further documents being prepared. The preparation of any other travel documents required by the carrier is the full charge of the Customer or of the carrier who will make the withdrawal. 3.2 In any case, if the Supplier fails to deliver the Products, the Supplier’s liability will be limited to the difference between the price originally provided for the Products in the Order, and the cost incurred by the Customer to obtain the lowest price available on the market. same quantity of Substitutive Products having the same characteristics and the same quality. 3.3 Regardless of what is established in Article 3.1, the terms of Delivery will not run until the payment made by the Customer will actually be received by the Supplier. 4.1 The Products are invoiced by the Supplier according to the price indicated on the Website. 4.2 Prices include VAT, but do not include shipping costs (calculable by the Customer through the appropriate functionality of the Site). 4.3 The total price of the supply, including shipping costs, will be indicated in the “shopping cart” section. In case of sale of Products for export to countries outside the EU, the indicated price will be excluded VAT (which the user will have to pay with the modalities and with the specific rate of the country of destination, the delivery of goods), charges and customs duties. The VAT will not be charged to Business Users in the event that the destination of shipment of goods is to a foreign country. In the event that the destination of the shipment of goods is Italy, VAT will still be charged to the customer. 4.6 The payment will be confirmed only after the actual crediting of the sums paid, for an amount corresponding to the amount of the order. 4.7 In case of payment by bank transfer, the Supplier reserves the right to cancel the ORDER in the event that the payment is not actually credited within 5 days from the date of purchase. 4.8 In the event that the payment is not actually received within 5 days from the Order, or is received for incorrect amounts, the same will be suspended and the goods covered by the Order will be made available for sale to other CUSTOMERS. Consequently, BGates does not guarantee to the Customer the effective availability of the ordered goods in the case of payments made after the deadline of 5 days from placing the Order. 5.1 The ownership of the Products supplied will pass to the Customer only after full payment of the price. payment is considered to be made only when the relative sum is available to the Supplier in accordance with the provisions of art. 4.6. The Supplier shall have the right to engage and undertake all actions and legal obligations required or necessary to preserve and secure his or her title in accordance with applicable national law. 5.2 The risk on the Products is transferred to the Customer following the Delivery of the Products as defined in Article 3. From the moment of delivery, the Customer shall bear all risks of loss and damage to the Products. 5.3 The Supplier shall have the right to request payment of the price of the Products (even in judicial proceedings) regardless of the fact that the ownership of the Products has passed to the Customer. 5.4 Any advances paid by the Customer on the price of the Products will be definitively retained by the Supplier. 6.2.2 incorrect use, irregular storage of the Products. 6.2.4 normal deterioration / wear of the Products. 6.3 The Customer undertakes to inform, by adequate means, its customers, suppliers or contractors / contractors of the conditions and limits relating to the conservation, deterioration / wear of the Products. 6.4 In the wider limits granted by the law, any further guarantees with respect to the provisions of these GCS are excluded. 7.1 All Products must be examined and checked by the Customer upon receipt of the shipment, in order to evaluate the integrity of the packaging and of the Products themselves. Should damage be found in the packaging or in the Products, the Customer must immediately inform the carrier and the Supplier. 7.2 The Customer, under penalty of forfeiture, within 5 (five) working days of receipt of a complete shipment (according to the provisions of Article 7.1) must inform the Supplier in writing of any defect or discrepancy of the Products that is recognizable to a reasonable control (obvious defects and faults), without prejudice to any claims against carriers. Failing this, the shipment will be considered accepted by the Customer and the Supplier will no longer be responsible for the defects and discrepancies of the Products delivered. 7.3 In the event that the Products delivered are defective or defective due to causes not attributable to the Customer and such defects and discrepancies are not recognizable to reasonable control pursuant to Article 7.1 (“hidden defects”), the Customer must inform the Supplier, under penalty of forfeiture, within three (3) working days following the discovery of the defect or non-conformity. Failing this, the Supplier will not be liable for hidden defects and faults. 7.4 In no case will the Supplier accept any complaints or be held liable for defects or discrepancies of the Products that become recognizable or are discovered after more than twelve (12) months from the date of Delivery. 7.5 In case the Customer detects a discrepancy or a defect of the Product, it will be required to activate the procedure for the return of goods provided for in the following art. 9. 7.6 It is understood that any variation found in the Products with respect to drawings, brochures, images present on websites, and advertising (which constitute a mere reference) can not be considered as a defect or discrepancy that may be relied on solely with reference to the data contained in the technical data sheets on the Website. 7.7 The Supplier will repair or replace the recognized or proven Product which is defective or not compliant within the terms necessary for the production and delivery of the Products. If the Supplier does not intend or is unable to repair or replace the Product, especially in the case of erroneous Delivery attributable to the Supplier, or if, for any reason, the repair or replacement fails, the Customer may terminate the contract or cancel the order. A Product may be considered unrepaired or replaced only after two failed attempts at repair or replacement. Any right of the Customer to compensation for damage will be subject to the terms set forth in Article 7. The Customer will keep the defective Products that have been replaced or return them to the Supplier with appropriate authorization, in good condition, as possible in the original package. The costs related to the transport of these Products as well as the transport of the Products delivered as a replacement or of the Products repaired will be charged to the Supplier. 7.8 The remedies provided for by Articles 7 and 8.2 constitute the sole and exclusive remedies available to the Customer and the sole and exclusive responsibility of the Supplier for the breach of the guarantee referred to in Article 6.1. 8.2 Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 8.1 and 8.3, and within the limits permitted by law for Article 8.3, the Supplier’s Responsibility (arising from or connected to these GCS and to any Order, whether contractual or non-contractual by law or any other title and for any reason, and / or deriving from the violation, omitted or delayed execution of any obligation on the Supplier under the GCS or the Order and / or any defect of the Products) will be limited to the price of the Products that have given that responsibility. 8.3.7. damage from liability for defective Product, required by consumers, final purchasers. In this case, the Customer will be solely responsible for compliance with current regulations and the marketing of the Finished Products purchased or of the Finished Products that incorporate Products object of purchase. 8.4 The Client agrees to hold harmless and to keep the Supplier harmless from and against all costs, expenses, indemnity, direct, indirect and consequential damages, all of which include emergent damage, loss of profits, impairment of goodwill, damages, claims , questions, legal and procedural costs and convictions in which the Supplier should incur as a result of direct or indirect violations of these GCS. 9.2 Alternatively, it is possible to send the request, always within 5 (five) working days of receipt of a complete shipment (according to the provisions of Article 7.1), in the case of “obvious defects”, or within three (3) days working following the discovery of the defect or non-conformity (“hidden defects”), directly by e-mail to the address [email protected] indicating the Order number (provided in the Order confirmation e-mail), name and surname used to carry out the Order. 9.3 Upon receipt of the return request, a written confirmation will be sent to the Customer, containing the Return Authorization Number (R.A.N.). The return must be made by courier using the waybill attached to the email, in addition must be indicated the Return Authorization Number (R.A.N.) on the outside of the box. 9.4 In the return mode for defective goods or exchange of goods of equivalent or greater value, the return shipping will be FREE (initially charged to the customer, it will then be reimbursed). 9.5 In the return modality made for non-defective exchange of goods and of a lower value than the one purchased, if foreseen, the shipment of returned goods will be charged to the Customer. 9.6 The return of the items must be received at the BGates warehouse in Via G. Ripamonti, 44 20141 Milan, within 10 days of receipt of R.A.N. 10.1 In any hypothesis integrating the unforeseeable event or force majeure, the Supplier will have the right to cancel the Order, suspend its execution or postpone the Delivery date, without the Customer being able to claim any compensation, cancel the Order or entrust the execution of the Order to third parties. In particular, it refers to force majeure events or to all similar events that are all events beyond the control and unrelated to the Supplier’s will, objectively preventing them from delivering the goods. By way of example and not mandatory they are considered force majeure: technical failures, suspension of electricity supply, water, natural gas or other fuels, strikes, at production facilities – even third parties – where the products are actually made , sudden shortages and unavailability of raw materials. Also: strikes in transport, delays in the arrival of ships, airplanes and means of transport of any kind, to any due cause; riots, turmoil wars or revolutions, occurring or in progress in the countries of production of goods subject to order or in the countries that pass through them from the place of production to reach the place of Delivery. 10.2 Following the occurrence of an event integrating the hypothesis of fortuitous event or force majeure, the Supplier will promptly inform the Customer and will try to find a solution by consulting the Customer. In the event that the event of force majeure makes the execution of the order impossible or commercially and economically disadvantageous for a period of more than 6 (six) months, the Supplier will have the right to terminate the contract, without anything being due to any title to the Customer. 11.1 The Customer undertakes, for the entire duration of his / her collaboration with the Supplier and in any case for a period of 5 (five) years from the date of delivery of the last supply, to keep strictly confidential any information supplied verbally , in writing or otherwise, which you have come to know during the negotiation and execution of Product Orders. 11.2 The obligation of confidentiality does not extend to information in the public domain or become such for reasons other than the breach of the obligations of confidentiality by the Customer, which have been legitimately disclosed by third parties, and to the extent that the Customer is required to disclose them by virtue of a provision of law or an administrative or judicial order. Please refer to the terms and conditions of use of the Website. 14.1 The GCS and the contracts stipulated under the GCS will be regulated and interpreted pursuant to Italian law. 14.2 The parties agree that any dispute arising out of or connected to a contract concluded pursuant to these GCS (including, without limitation, disputes relating to non-contractual liability) will be referred to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Milan. 1.1 These General Terms and Conditions of Sale (hereinafter CGV) apply to all Orders issued through the website www.bgates.it (hereinafter the “Site”) by any Consumer User, as defined in the General Conditions of Use of the Website (hereinafter the “Customer”) in favor of the company Business Gates srl (hereinafter referred to as “BGates” or the “Supplier”) and regulate entirely the existing and future supply relationships that exist between the Customer and the Supplier. 1.2 These GCS are published in the “Conditions of sale” section of the Website in favor of the consumer for reproduction and storage pursuant to article 12 of Legislative Decree 70/2003 and are considered in any case known and accepted, even if not signed , with the simple access to the Site and in any case with the simple sending of the Order through the appropriate functionality of the Site. 2.5 Orders will be confirmed, and will become binding on the Supplier only following the issuance of the Order Confirmation which will take place following the actual receipt of payment, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 4.4. and 4.6. CUSTOMERS are informed that once the click on the “ORDER EFFECT” button is sent, a binding Purchase Order is sent that obliges the User to pay for the goods present in the “cart”. 2.6 In the event that payment is not actually received within 5 days from placing the Order, or is received for an incorrect amount, the same will be suspended and the goods covered by the Order will be made available for sale to other CUSTOMERS. Consequently, BGates does not guarantee to the Customer the effective availability of the ordered goods in the case of payments made after the deadline of 5 days from placing the Order. 3.1 Under Article 52 of the Legislative Decree 06.09.2005 No. 206 (Consumer Code) and subsequent amendments, the consumer Customer may exercise the right of withdrawal. 3.2 The consumer who for any reason is not satisfied with the purchase made, has the right to withdraw from the contract, without any penalty and without specifying the reason, within the deadline of 14 working days from the day of receipt of the Products. The right of withdrawal must be exercised through the activation of the RETO procedure referred to in art. 10, within the period referred to in art. 3.2. 3.3 the Customer must send the Products to BGates S.r.l., Via Giuseppe Ripamonti n. 44, 20141 Milan (MI) – Italy within 14 days from the date of activation of the RETURN procedure. 3.4 All costs of returning the Products are charged to the Customer. 3.5 All items must be received in the same conditions of receipt, provided with the original packaging and any manuals and / or instruction booklets that are part of the packaging and the original packaging; the return of the goods by another method is not permitted. 3.6 BGates will accept the returned goods reserving the right to verify that the Products have been returned in their original state and with the original packaging, that they have not been used, allowing only the handling of the same in order to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning ; only in this case will it send the amount paid by the consumer for the purchase of the Products. 3.7 By activating the RESO procedure, the Customer will be reimbursed, after BGates has checked the integrity of the returned goods. 4.1.1 The Customer may choose between delivery by courier or collection of goods at the BGates warehouse. 4.1.2.1 The arrival times of the goods depend on the transit times of the shipments depending on the destinations. 4.1.2.2 The terms indicated for the Delivery and for the arrival of the goods are not binding and constitute only a reference data for the parts. The Supplier will use reasonable endeavors to comply with these terms. Any dates scheduled for delivery are merely indicative and the delivery deadline is not essential. In any case, the Supplier will not be liable in any way for delays in the Delivery of Products caused by (i) force majeure events as defined in Article 10, or (ii) failure to provide adequate instructions for the Delivery of Products of the Customer or any other instruction relating to the sale of the Products, (iii) delays of its own or Customer subcontractors, involved in the manufacturing process of the Products, (iiii) production difficulties in the case of Custom Products for the Customer that have particular production characteristics. 4.2 In any case, if the Supplier fails to deliver the Products, the Supplier’s liability will be limited to the difference between the price originally set for the Products in the Order, and the cost incurred by the Customer to obtain the lowest price available on the market. same quantity of Substitutive Products having the same characteristics and the same quality. 4.3 Irrespective of what is established in Article 4.1, the terms of delivery will not run until the payment made by the Customer will actually be received by the Supplier. The Customer can collect the goods at the BGates warehouse: via Giuseppe Ripamonti 44, 20141 Milano (Mi). In this case the Delivery will take place with the provision of the goods to the Customer at the BGates Warehouse. (EXW). 4.1.3.1 The goods are made available for collection within 7 days of receipt of payment. 4.1.3.2 The collection can be made following the communication of the availability of the goods at the warehouse, every day from Monday to Friday from 3 to 6 pm. Any slips necessary to the courier for collection will be charged to the customer. The warehouse will issue only the accompanying invoice. 4.1.3.3 The Customer must collect the goods no later than 15 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of the goods in stock. Beyond this deadline, the Delivery will be deemed to have taken place with the consequences envisaged by art. 6.2. 4.1.3.4 In case of delay in the collection (within and not later than 30 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of goods in stock), without prejudice to the provisions of art. 4.1.3.2, the customer can collect the goods upon payment of storage costs equal to € 0.50 per day for each day of delay beyond the term of 15 days from the date of sending the notice of availability of the goods in stock. 4.1.3.5 In case of delay in picking up the goods after the deadline of 30 days from the date of sending the communication of availability of the goods in stock, without prejudice to the provisions of art. 4.1.3.2, the Customer must book a new collection by sending an email to the address [email protected]. In this case the availability of the goods in stock is not guaranteed and the delivery times foreseen by art. 4.1.3.1. 5.1 The Products are invoiced by the Supplier according to the price indicated on the Website. 5.3 The total price of the supply, including shipping costs and the costs of preparation and packaging of the goods, will be indicated in the “shopping cart” section, before the customer proceeds to purchase. 5.4 VAT, DUTIES AND CUSTOMS CHARGES In case of sale of Products for export to countries outside the EU, the indicated price will be excluded VAT (which the user will have to pay with the modalities and with the proper rate of the country of destination, to the Delivery of goods) and excluding any customs duties and / or customs charges of the country in which the Products will be shipped. In the event that the destination of the shipment of goods is Italy, VAT will still be charged to the customer. Remember, pursuant to Art. 4.2 and 4.3 of the General Conditions of Use of the Site that in case of incorrect insertion of User data (in particular P. IVA) it will not be possible to follow the order and that Business users who do not have VAT number (some foreign companies) before making the purchase, please contact our customer service. 5.6 The payment will be confirmed only after the actual crediting of the sums paid, for an amount corresponding to the amount of the order. 5.7 In case of payment by bank transfer, the Supplier reserves the right to cancel the ORDER in the event that the payment is not actually credited within 5 days from the date of purchase. 5.8 In the event that payment is not actually received within 5 days from placing the Order, or is received for incorrect amounts, the same will be suspended and the goods covered by the Order will be made available for sale to other CUSTOMERS. Consequently, BGates does not guarantee to the Customer the effective availability of the ordered goods in the case of payments made after the deadline of 5 days from placing the Order. 6.1 The ownership of the Products supplied will pass to the Customer only after full payment of the price. Payment is considered made only when the relative sum is available for the Supplier according to the provisions of the preceding art. 5.7. 6.2 The risk on the Products is transferred to the Customer following the Delivery of Products as defined in Article 4. From the moment of delivery, the Customer shall bear all the risks of loss and damage to the Products. 6.3 The Supplier shall have the right to request payment of the price of the Products (even in judicial proceedings) regardless of the fact that the ownership of the Products has passed to the Customer. 7.2.2 incorrect use, irregular storage of the Products. 7.2.4 normal deterioration / wear of the Products. 7.3 The Customer undertakes to inform, by adequate means, its customers, suppliers or contractors / contractors of the conditions and limits relating to the conservation, deterioration / wear of the Products. 7.4 In the wider limits granted by the law, any further guarantees with respect to the provisions of these GCS are excluded. 8.1 All Products must be examined and checked by the Customer upon receipt of the shipment, in order to evaluate the integrity of the packaging and of the Products themselves. In case any damage is detected in the packaging or in the Products, the Customer must immediately inform the carrier and the Supplier. 8.2 The Customer, under penalty of forfeiture, within 14 (fourteen) working days of receipt of a complete shipment (according to the provisions of Article 8.1) must inform the Supplier in writing of any defect or discrepancy of the Products that is recognizable to a reasonable control (obvious defects and faults), without prejudice to any claims against carriers. Failing this, the shipment will be considered accepted by the Customer and the Supplier will no longer be responsible for the defects and discrepancies of the Products delivered. 8.3 In the event that the Products delivered are non-compliant or defective for reasons not attributable to the Customer and such defects and discrepancies are not recognizable to reasonable control pursuant to Article 8.1 (“hidden defects”), the Customer must inform the Supplier, under penalty of forfeiture, within three (3) working days following the discovery of the defect or non-conformity. Failing this, the Supplier will not be liable for hidden defects and faults. 8.4 In no case will the Supplier accept any complaints or be held liable for defects or non-conformity of the Products which become recognizable or are discovered more than twenty-four (24) months after the date of Delivery. 8.5 If the Customer detects any discrepancy or defect of the Product, he / she will be required to activate the procedure for the RETURN of goods provided for in the following art. 10. 8.6 It is understood that any variation found in the Products with respect to drawings, brochures, images present on websites, and advertising (which constitute a mere reference) can not be considered as a defect or discrepancy that may be relied on solely with reference to the data contained in the technical data sheets on the Website. 8.7 The Supplier will repair or replace the recognized or proven Product which is defective or not compliant within the terms necessary for the production and delivery of the Products. If the Supplier does not intend or is unable to repair or replace the Product, especially in the case of erroneous Delivery attributable to the Supplier, or if, for any reason, the repair or replacement fails, the Customer may terminate the contract or cancel the order. A Product may be considered unrepaired or replaced only after two failed attempts at repair or replacement. Any right of the Customer to compensation for damage will be subject to the terms set forth in Article 7. The Customer will keep the defective Products that have been replaced or return them to the Supplier with appropriate authorization, in good condition, as possible in the original package. The costs related to the transport of these Products as well as the transport of the Products delivered as a replacement or of the Products repaired will be charged to the Supplier. 8.8 The customer can alternatively exercise the withdrawal provided for by art. 3 in accordance with the Consumer Code within 14 days of Delivery of Products. 8.9 The remedies provided for by Articles 8 and 9.2 constitute the sole and exclusive remedies available to the Customer and the sole and exclusive responsibility of the Supplier for the breach of the guarantee referred to in Article 7.1. 9.2 Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 9.1 and 9.3, and within the limits permitted by law for Article 9.3, the Supplier’s Responsibility (arising from or connected to these GCS and to any Order, whether contractual or non-contractual by law or any other title and for any reason, E / o deriving from the violation, omitted or delayed execution of any obligation to be paid by the Supplier according to the GCS or order and / or any defect of the Products) will be limited to the price of the Products that have given that responsibility. 9.3.7. damage from liability for defective Product, required by consumers, final purchasers. In this case, the Customer will be solely responsible for compliance with current regulations and the marketing of the Finished Products purchased or of the Finished Products that incorporate Products object of purchase. 9.4 The Client agrees to indemnify and hold the Supplier harmless from and against all costs, expenses, indemnity, direct, indirect and consequential damages, all of which include emergent damage, loss of profits, impairment of goodwill, damages, claims , questions, legal and procedural costs and convictions in which the Supplier should incur as a result of direct or indirect violations of these GCS. 10.2 Alternatively, it is possible to send the request, always within 14 (fourteen) working days of receipt of a complete shipment (according to the provisions of article 8.1), in the case of “obvious defects”, or within three (3) days working following the discovery of the defect or non-compliance (“hidden defects”), directly by e-mail to the address [email protected] indicating the Order number (provided in the Order confirmation e-mail), name and surname used to carry out the Order. 10.3 Once the return request has been received, a written confirmation will be sent to the Customer, containing the Return Authorization Number (R.A.N.). The return must be made by courier using the waybill attached to the email, in addition must be indicated the Return Authorization Number (R.A.N.) on the outside of the box. 10.4 In the return mode made for defective goods or exchange of goods of equivalent or greater value, the return shipment will be FREE (initially charged to the customer, it will then be reimbursed). 10.5 In the return mode made for non-defective goods exchange and with a lower value than the one purchased or for WITHDRAWAL ex art. 52 ss of the Legislative Decree 06.09.2005 n ° 206 (Consumer Code), the return shipment will be charged to the customer. 10.6 The return of the items must take place at BGates S.r.l .: Via Giuseppe Ripamonti n. 44, 20141 Milan (MI) – Italy within 14 days of receipt of R.A.N. 11.1 In any case integral to the unforeseeable event or force majeure, the Supplier will have the right to cancel the Order, suspend its execution or postpone the delivery date, without the Customer being able to claim any compensation, cancel the order or entrust the execution of the Order to third parties. 11.2 Following the occurrence of an event integrating the case of fortuitous event or force majeure, the Supplier will promptly inform the Customer and will try to find a solution by consulting the Customer. 12.1 The Customer undertakes, for the entire duration of his / her collaboration with the Supplier and in any case for a period of 5 (five) years from the date of delivery of the last supply, to keep strictly confidential the information of any kind supplied verbally , in writing or otherwise, which you have come to know during the negotiation and execution of Product Orders. 12.2 The obligation of confidentiality does not extend to information in the public domain or become such for reasons other than the breach of the obligations of confidentiality by the Customer, which have been legitimately disclosed by third parties, and to the extent that the Customer is required to disclose them by virtue of a provision of law or an administrative or judicial order. Please refer to the provisions of the General Conditions of Use of the Site. 15.2 Any dispute relating to the application, execution, interpretation and violation of purchase contracts stipulated through the Site is subject to the jurisdiction of the Court in whose district has its domicile the consumer, the correct legislation in force. The integral or partial reproduction of any part of the site is forbidden; it is also forbidden the reproduction of texts and or photos for any use and in any form and in any case without prior written authorization of the www.bgates.it. with registered office in Via Ripamonti, Milan, Italy. Este sitio web utiliza cookies, también de terceros. La nota informativa completa permite entender cómo seleccionar las cookies que se desea autorizar o cómo denegar el consentimiento.

2019-04-18T10:53:57Z

http://www.bgates.it/es/politica-de-privacidad/

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2005-10-17 Assigned to QUARANTA, PHILLIP R. reassignment QUARANTA, PHILLIP R. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: WEISS, THOMAS C. 2005-10-17 Assigned to LEVADA, VICTOR reassignment LEVADA, VICTOR ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: QUARANTA, PHILLIP R. A method of managing computer memory pages. The sharing of a program-accessible page between two processes is managed by a predefined mechanism of a memory manager. The sharing of a page table page between the processes is managed by the same predefined mechanism. The data structures used by the mechanism are equally applicable to sharing program-accessible pages or page table pages. The present invention relates to sharing memory among computer processes. A virtual memory system automatically moves a program's data back and forth between slower, lower-cost secondary memory and faster, higher-cost, primary memory, so that the program's more-referenced data tend to reside in the faster memory, and less-referenced data tend to reside in the slower memory. A program's data are divided into fixed-size blocks, called "pages." More-referenced pages are kept in primary storage. As references to the page become less frequent, the less-referenced page is moved to secondary storage. In a computer with a virtual memory system, programs reference data by virtual address. Address translation hardware translates program-visible virtual addresses to physical addresses (a physical address is the address in primary memory at which the data actually reside). The translation from virtual addresses to physical addresses is called the "mapping," and is described by a "page table," a table that associates pages of virtual addresses to pages of physical addresses. The page table is itself divided into pages. The pages of the page table are typically arranged as a tree, with a base pointer forming the root at the top of the tree, higher-level nodes in the tree indicating the mapping at coarser level, and lower-level nodes in the tree indicating the mapping at finer levels. The memory pages actually read, written, and executed by programs form the leaf nodes at the bottom of this tree. Virtual memory systems and multi-level address translation are described in "Structured Computer Organization," second edition, by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Prentice-Hall, 1984, "VAX/VMS Internals and Data Structures," by Lawrence J. Kenah and Simon F. Bate, Digital Press, 1984, "OpenVMS AXP Internals and Data Structures, Version 1.5" by R. Goldenberg ad S. Saravanan, Digital Press, 1994, "Extending OpenVMS for 64-bit Addressable Virtual Memory," Digital Technical Journal vol. 8 no. 2 (1996), and "Alpha AXP Architecture Reference Manual," second edition, by Richard L. Sites and Richard T. Witek, Digital Press, 1995, each incorporated herein by reference. It is known to provide shared memory among multiple processes executing on a computer. In a typical implementation, two processes agree on the physical page number in which the shared data are stored, and the page tables of the two processes are each set to point to that agreed physical page. In general, in a first aspect, the invention provides a method of and a system for sharing memory among processes in a computer. The sharing of a program-accessible page between two processes is managed by a predefined mechanism of a memory manager. The sharing of a page table page between the processes is managed by the same predefined mechanism. The data structures used by the mechanism are equally applicable to sharing program-accessible pages or page table pages. In a second aspect, the invention features a program-accessible page stored in a computer memory, shared among two processes. A translation page is stored in the memory, describing a virtual-to-physical address mapping for memory references, and the translation page is shared among the two processes. A memory manager manages the program-accessible page and the translation page, using common mechanisms for managing the sharing among the processes of the program-accessible page and the translation page. In a third aspect of the invention, a global section and its page table structure are shared among multiple processes. For a global section that uses a multi-level shared page table structure, a single programmatic reference can be used to create and manage both the leaf global section and the global section for the page table structure. Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features. Page tables shared using the predefined mechanism may inhabit several levels of a multi-level address page table tree. The shared page table pages may be pageable between primary and secondary memory, or the page table pages may be locked into primary memory. The shared program-accessible page may be pageable or locked. The memory manager may enforce a discipline in which the highest-level page table page shared among the processes may be locked into the primary level of the memory. The first and second data structures may be created responsive to a single entry in a memory reservation request. The shared page table pages may be mapped into address spaces of the plurality of processes. The sharing processes may use a single name to refer collectively to the first and second data structures in system service requests. The single name may be stored in the first data structure. The first and second data structures may each be instantiated as a pair of corresponding subsidiary data structures, each member of each pair including a reference for locating the other member of the pair. A memory manager may move the contents of the shared page table entries and the shared data pages between primary and secondary memory, for instance a disk drive. The program-accessible page may be allocated by a non-privileged process from a pool of memory reserved out of the system page pool and designated as non-pageable. Memory from the reserved pool may be allocated in groups of contiguous physical pages, or may be allocated page-by-page on page fault. Allocation may enforce an address alignment of the program-accessible page to greater than page alignment, for instance based on a length of an allocation or mapping request. An allocation or mapping request to a shared memory object that violates the alignment constraint may be mapped with process-private page tables. The shared page table page may have encoded in a single entry in the page table page a mapping corresponding to multiple entries of the page. A region of virtual memory may be attributed with a property that that memory objects mapped into the region will be mapped with shared page table pages. An implementation may refuse to map private memory objects using the shared page table page. The size of a page table section embracing the shared page table page may be determined from the size of an allocation request for a group of leaf pages. Specific embodiments of the invention may offer one or more of the following advantages. Performance of Very Large Memory (VLM) systems (computer systems with over 4 GB of main memory, requiring more than 32 bits of addressing) is improved. VLM applications typically consume large amounts of physical memory in an attempt to minimize disk I/O and enhance overall application performance. A VLM system allows large amounts of data to remain resident in main memory, thereby reducing the time required to access that data. For example, database cache designers implement large-scale caches on VLM systems to improve the access times for database records. Similarly, VLM database applications support more server processes. The combination of large in-memory caches and increased number of server processes significantly reduces the overall time database clients wait to receive the data requested. Users of VLM systems can memory map very large shared memory objects (gigabytes in size) that use a multi-level shared page table structure to create and access the shared memory with a single handle. Users are not required to make major changes to their applications to take advantage of the invention. Instead, the original shared memory object handle name encoded in the application can be used to create and access shared memory that will exhibit better physical memory and CPU utilization characteristics. VLM objects exhibit the same basic characteristics (from the programmer's perspective) as other virtual memory objects created with conventional service programming interfaces. Implementations may choose not to charge the shared memory object or its page tables against a users page quota, reducing the risk of unanticipated exhaustion of working set or page file quota. Program start-up times are reduced. The time required for multiple users to map the same object is reduced. The improved management of memory improves performance when multiple VLM applications are run on a single system. Shared memory objects with shared page tables exhibit better physical memory and CPU utilization since the page table structure that maps the shared memory is also shared among the processes that wish to access the shared memory. Significant processor time is saved in creating and deleting virtual address mappings to those shared memory objects. Contention is reduced for the locks serializing access to memory management data structures. There is a savings in physical memory required for the process private page tables that map shared memory object for each process mapping the object. More concurrent users may access each shared memory object, with less risk of exhausting computer memory resources. More processes may be simultaneously resident in memory, reducing process swapping. The physical memory cost of creating and maintaining private page tables for multiple mappers of the same object is reduced. The use of a backing storage file for shared page tables pages is reduced. Working set list accounting for these page table pages is reduced. The design allows upper levels of the page table hierarchy to be shared. By sharing leaf pages and page table pages using common mechanisms, the creation of new privileges or access rights is reduced. There is less impact on users who do not use shared page tables. System management of a VLM system is simplified. A Reserved Memory Registry may support memory reservations for memory-resident global sections and shared page tables. The Reserved Memory Registry provides a physical memory reservation system that : can be exploited by VLM applications. The Registry provides portions of the system's physical memory to non-privileged processes. A non-privileged process can request physical memory to make the most efficient use of system components. This reservation of physical memory may, in turn, improve utilization of the translation buffer. More efficient use of the CPU and its peripheral components leads to increased application performance. Shared memory objects may be created that do not page to disk. The invention may simplify the creation and mapping of a shared memory object that utilizes a shared multi-level page table structure by enabling only a single handle to specify both the shared memory leaf object and the correspondent shared page tables. The system determines whether the shared leaf object can be created with shared page tables, and secondarily, by applying certain mapping criteria, whether the object can be mapped into a user's address space using shared page tables. The user has the option of adhering to or violating the mapping criteria as a means to control whether the shared memory object is mapped using shared page tables or process private page tables. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing data structures and address translation in a computer, showing shared page tables and shared leaf pages. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a prior art implementation of shared page tables and leaf pages. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing 4-level address translation. FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are diagrams showing data structures from an implementation of shared page table pages and leaf pages. FIGS. 8-13 are flow charts showing sharing of page table pages and leaf pages. FIG. 14 is an example of a Reserved Memory Registry data file. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a data structure for memory reservations. Referring to FIG. 1, when multiple processes share data, the virtual memory address translation page tables 100 are also shared. The virtual memory manager manages the page table pages 100 as well as the leaf data/code pages 102, paging them between primary and secondary memory. The page table pages 100 are managed and shared using the memory management and sharing machinery already developed for managing and sharing the leaf pages 102 (with relatively small changes and additions), rather than by a dedicated management and sharing systems developed specifically to manage and share the page table pages. The data structure 400, 500 type used to manage shared leaf pages is the same as the type used to manage shared page table pages 100. Because virtual memory management systems are central to the performance of a modern computer, some implementations have become highly developed and optimized. For instance, a modern virtual memory manager may provide several different management policies tuned to different usage patterns of the leaf data, and may further provide automatic monitoring and policy selection to dynamically optimize the management of the pages. Similarly, these systems have developed advanced systems for sharing data pages 102. By managing and sharing the shared page table pages and the shared leaf pages by common machinery 400, 500, the benefits of the developed machinery can be leveraged to provide benefits in managing the page table pages 100 as well. The invention offers a contrast to known methods of managing and sharing page table pages. As shown in FIG. 2, known systems if they share page tables at all, share them using different machinery. For instance, the sharing of page table pages is managed by data structures 202 of one data type, and sharing of leaf pages is managed by data structures 204 of another. An application may require that a portion of its memory be locked down, that is, that the pages of the locked section not be paged to disk, but rather be kept permanently resident in memory. When a VLM application requests large amounts of locked memory, system tuning can be adversely affected. Once the pages have been locked, the system may no longer have enough free pages to support the number of processes it was configured to support. The operating system supports the idea of reserving memory for use by VLM applications. Reserved memory is removed from consideration by system tuning algorithms so that a VLM application, when it uses reserved memory, does not interfere with the paging dynamics of the running system. Multiple VLM applications may be run within one system. During the operation of the running system, if an application reduces its need for reserved pages, the pages can go to waste unless there is a mechanism to reclaim these pages by the system. System performance is improved if these pages are made available to the system, especially if the system is retuned to take these pages into account. In a modern computer architecture, for instance, the Alpha architecture of Digital Equipment Corporation, allows multiple contiguous pages to be treated as a single huge page--a single page table entry and translation buffer entry are marked as controlling address translation for many pages. This improves the translation buffer hit rate, which improves performance. To use the Alpha "huge page" feature, granularity hint bits are set within page table entries that map contiguous physical pages. To guarantee that contiguous physical pages are available to an application, contiguous pages may be set aside during system startup. These pages are called reserved physical pages. Reserved physical pages are locked down and do not page to disk. A translation buffer (TB) is a CPU component that caches recent virtual-to-physical address translations of valid pages. The TB is a small amount of very fast memory and therefore is only capable of caching a limited number of translations. Each entry in the TB represents a single successful virtual-to-physical address translation. TB entries are purged when either a request is made by software, or when the TB is full and a more recent translation needs to be cached. A computer system can make more effective use of the translation buffer by allowing several contiguous pages (groups of 8, 64, or 512 pages ) to act as a single huge page. This single huge page is called a granularity hint region and is composed of contiguous virtual and physical pages whose respective first pages are aligned according to the number of pages in the region. When the conditions for a granularity hint region exist, the single huge page is translated by a single TB entry instead of several. Minimizing the number of entries consumed for contiguous pages greatly reduces turnover within the TB, leading to higher chances of a TB hit. Increasing the likelihood of a TB hit in turn minimizes the number of virtual-to-physical translations performed by the CPU. Since memory-resident global sections are non-pageable, mappings to memory-resident global sections greatly benefit from exploiting granularity hint regions. The Reserved Memory Registry guarantees that a contiguous set of properly-aligned physical pages, can be located to exploit the granularity hint feature. Reserved physical pages used by an unprivileged application are zeroed prior to allowing the application to access the memory, for security reasons. When a very large amount of reserved physical memory is used, the time taken to zero the memory can degrade application and system performance. The Reserved Memory Registry offers further advantages in controlling a virtual memory system. For instance, the Registry allows large amounts of memory set aside for use within memory-resident sections. The Reserved Memory Registry also allows a system to be properly tuned before system initialization, taking into account the pre-allocated reserved memory. With the Reserved Memory Registry, a system administrator can reserve a large block of contiguous, aligned pages from the fluid demand-paged page pool for use in locked memory object. The reserved pages can either be allocated in large chunks to satisfy alignment constraints, or may be allocated page by page on demand. The Reserved Memory Registry provides the ability to specify that the pre-allocated pages are to be zeroed during the booting of the system. This option reduces the time required to create the memory-resident global demand-zero section. The Reserved Memory Registry also allows the system administrator to specify that shared page tables are to be used for a particular memory object; the Registry may then reserve appropriate memory to allocate to the page tables for the Reserved object. In this disclosure, the word "region" generally means a range of virtual addresses, possibly with no physical memory mapped into it. A "section" is a collection of physical pages managed as a group by the operating system. The word "object" is generally intended to generically embrace "regions" and "sections", and other resources managed by the memory manager. A "global section" is a section that can be simultaneously shared in several processes' address spaces. The features provided by embodiments of the invention are described in section I. The system data structures are described in section II. The operation of the system is described in section III. The Reserved Memory Registry is described in section IV. A computer and operating system with 64-bit addressing, such as OpenVMS Alpha of Digital Equipment Corporation, supports very large address spaces. A conventional computer, with 32 bits of addressing, supports address spaces of 4 GB; OpenVMS supports address spaces of 8 TB (2000 times as large), with the majority of the address space dedicated to process use. Users have the ability to subdivide the address space into manageable chunks called virtual regions. Virtual regions are simply reservations within the address space; they do not represent allocated or created virtual memory. A user creates a section and maps storage to a virtual region before accessing the addresses within the virtual region. Virtual regions are aligned to a page-aligned virtual address and their lengths are always a multiple of the number of bytes in a page. Upon successful creation of a virtual region, the user is returned a handle that is in turn passed to the system service routines that create virtual address space. Shared page tables are implemented as sections. A leaf section mapped by a shared page table section is aligned to a page table page boundary and its lengths are a multiple of the number of bytes in a page. Shared page table sections are used when a process wants to map or attach to a global section that has an associated set of shared page tables. A global section may be defined to be memory-resident, that is, that it will not be paged. Locked global sections are indicated by a flag in the section's global section table entry and global section descriptor when the section is created. This flag tells the system that the section is a memory-resident section and that mapped pages are not charged against any process or the system's pagefile quota and when faulted, are not placed into the process's working set. Memory-resident global sections have no backing pagefile nor are they backed by any other file on disk. Thus, no pagefile quota is charged to any process or charged to the system. When a process maps to a memory-resident global section and references the pages, working set list entries are not created for the pages; thus no working set quota is charged to the process. A user may specify that a memory-resident global section is "demand zero" (DZRO), that it is to be initialized with zero contents. A demand-zero section may have one of two attributes: either ALLOC, that all pages are allocated and mapped when the section is created, or FAULT, that pages will be allocated and mapped on demand as they are touched by a process. It is recommended that the pages within a memory-resident global section be deducted from the system's fluid page count through the Reserved Memory Registry, as discussed in section IV. Using the Reserved Memory Registry ensures that the system is properly tuned to exclude memory-resident global section pages from its calculation of the system's fluid page count. This tuning sizes the system pagefile, number of processes, and working set maximum size based on the system's fluid page count. If memory has been reserved using the Reserved Memory Registry, that memory must be used for the global section under whose name it is reserved. To return the memory to the system, SYSMAN can be run to free the reserved memory, thus returning the pages back into the system's count of fluid pages. To initialize a very large memory-resident global section mapped by several processes, the overhead of hardware faults, allocating zeroed pages, setting process PTE's valid, and setting GPTE's valid is reduced by pre-allocating the physical pages for the memory-resident global section. This pre-allocation is done via the Reserved Memory Registry. A demand-zero memory-resident global section may either be managed under the FAULT policy (in which unaccessed pages within the global section remain fluid within the system, and are only bound to the section when touched), or under the ALLOC policy (in which pages are allocated and zeroed at system initialization or during system idle times). When the FAULT (or fault) option is used, processes or the system can use the physical pages until they are accessed. The pages remain within the system's "fluid" memory until they are needed. When the memory-resident global section is deleted, the pages are returned to the system. When the ALLOC option is used, contiguous pages are set aside during system startup specifically for the memory-resident global section. One routine call to the Reserved Memory Registry is made to determine the range of pages pre-allocated for the memory-resident global section or to determine if the FAULT option can be used. Therefore the decision to use the FAULT or the ALLOC option is not made within the system services routine interface. The system manager can determine which option is used through the Reserved Memory Registry. When a section is created with the ALLOC option, physical memory page frames are pre-allocated during system initialization time. Reserving a large pool of contiguous pages allows a memory allocation request to be satisfied by contiguous pages, properly aligned, to exploit the "granularity hints" feature of address translation hardware. The "map section" (possibly called as a sub-service of the "create and map" service) service will map portions of virtual address space to physical memory, in chunks of 8, 64, or 512 contiguous pages, with preference given to chunks of larger alignment. The size and alignment factor are chosen by examining the number of low-order zeros of the size of the mapping request, and choosing the largest granularity hint available for that alignment of size. The memory-resident global section size must be less than or equal to the size of the reserved memory or an error is returned from the "create section" system service call. The SYSMAN system command is provided to manage the Reserved Memory Registry (RMR). If memory is reserved using the RMR, it is given a name by which programs can access the reserved memory. To return the memory to the system, SYSMAN can be run to free the pre-reserved memory back into the system's fluid page pool. Once the pre-reserved memory has been freed, the allocate option can no longer be used to create the memory-resident global section. Shared page tables enable two or more processes to map to the same physical pages without each process incurring the overhead of page table construction, page file accounting, and working set quota accounting. Internally, shared page tables are treated as a special case of the general management of global sections. A special global section that provides page table sharing is called a shared page table section. In OpenVMS 7.1, shared page table sections themselves are memory-resident, though this is not a requirement of the invention. The shared page tables are implemented using the same data structures and mechanisms used to manage the leaf pages of a process. These data structures and mechanisms will be described in sections II and III, below. The MEM-- RESIDENT-- USER right is required to initially create a memory-resident global section, including a shared-page-table section. Once the section is created, processes that do not have this right can connect to existing memory-resident sections. If the leaf section is memory-resident, then the shared page tables must be memory-resident. Memory for memory-resident shared page tables is obtained from the Reserved Memory Registry, using the name of the leaf section it maps. The operating system provides several services to create new and map to existing global sections and virtual regions. The Create Virtual Region service SYS$CREATE-- REGION reserves virtual address space within a process' address space. Once a virtual region has been created, virtual address space can be created within it using the system services that accept a region identifier argument. Note that the virtual region is simply a reservation of virtual address space. No physical memory is occupied for a virtual region until virtual address space is created within the region. The Create Permanent Demand-Zero Global Section SYS$CREATE-- GDZRO service creates a permanent memory-resident demand-zero global section. Global demand-zero sections contain demand-zero allocation pages that are writable and are memory-resident, without disk backing store. The section is "permanent" in that the section and the data it contains persist even when no process is attached to the section. The global pages are not charged against any pagefile quota. The Create and Map Global Demand-Zero Section SYS$CRMPSC-- GDZRO service creates a section and maps memory-resident global demand-zero pages in a previously-created region. If the "name" specifies a global section that already exists, the service maps to it only if it is a memory-resident global section. All pages in the memory-resident global section are shared by all processes that map to the global section. The Map Global Section SYS$MGBLSC service maps a process' virtual address space to a global section, for instance a memory-resident section, a disk file, page file, or a demand-zero section. If a global section backed by a disk file or page file is being mapped, invalid page table entries are placed in the process page table. If a memory-resident global section is being mapped, and the section was registered in the Reserved Memory Registry and /ALLOCATE was specified when the section was registered, valid page table entries are placed in the process page tables. name--The string name of the global section to be allocated. length--the length of the object to be created. The present implementation requires that the length be an integral number of pages. The system may round this up to the number of bytes mapped by a page table page. prot--the protection to be associated with the created region or section. flags--flags as indicated in table 2, below. start-- va--If specified and non-zero, the starting address for the created region, or the address at which to map the section. The specified virtual address is a CPU-specific page-aligned address, subject to limitations on use of the address space imposed by the operating system. In a region creation call, if the flag SHARED-- PTS is set and this argument is specified, the specified starting address must be aligned to a natural page table page boundary or an error is returned. If /ALLOCATE was specified when the memory-resident global section was registered in the Reserved Memory Registry, and start-- va is sufficiently aligned (8 pages, 64 pages or 512 pages) to take advantage of granularity hint, granularity hints are used to map to the global section. region-- id--for create-section and map-section calls, the region ID returned from a prior call to SYS$CREATE-- REGION, the reserved space into which to create a section. ident--Identification value specifying the version number of the global section. section-- offset--for a mapping call, the offset into the global section to start mapping into the process's virtual address space. The offset specified must be a multiple of (CPU-specific page size, or page table page alignment is the region i.d. specifies a shared page table region. map-- length--in a mapping call, the length of the global section to be mapped. The length specified must be a multiple of CPU-specific pages. return-- region-- id--returned from SYS$CREATE-- REGION: the region ID associated with the created region, to be used as a parameter to future section creation and mapping calls. return-- va--In a region-creation call, the virtual address of the base of the region. If the flag SHARED-- PTS is set, the returned virtual address is aligned to a CPU-specific page table page boundary. If the global section mapped by this shared page table region is large enough that multiple page table pages are required to map the global section, the page tables themselves may be mapped with granularity hints. Therefore, the alignment of the returned virtual address may be even greater than that of a single CPU-specific page table page boundary. return-- length--The length of the region actually created or the section mapped. For SYS$CREATE-- REGION, if the flag SHARED-- PTS is set, the returned length is the input length rounded up to an even multiple of bytes mapped by a single CPU-specific page table page. Both the start virtual address and offset of the region or section must be a multiple of the amount of memory mapped by a page table page, at least in a system that does not allow for sharing part of a page table page. The size of the region must be a multiple of the amount of memory mapped by a page table page. The size of a section must be at least page aligned. Since each page table entry maps 8 KB and there are 1024 page table entries per page table page, this means that base addresses and sizes for objects with shared page tables must be multiples of 8 MB. In one exemplary embodiment, when using shared page tables, the leaf pages will be locked into memory, though this is not necessary in all possible embodiments. If a memory-resident global section with shared page tables is mapped into a virtual region that does not have the shared page table attribute, the global section is mapped with process private page tables. Other address space creation services will not be allowed to create address space into a shared page table region since they have an implicit dependency on process private page tables. On a mapping call, if /ALLOCATE was specified when the global section was registered in the Reserved Memory Registry, contiguous, aligned physical pages are pre-allocated during system initialization for this global section. Valid page table entries are placed in the global page table and valid page table entries are placed in the process page table. If the reserved pre-allocated memory is smaller than the size of the global section, the napping call returns an error status, and the global section is not created. With the proper virtual alignment, granularity hints are used to map to the global pages. A section will be mapped with shared page tables only if both the global section was created with shared page tables, and the region in which the section is mapped also specifies shared page tables. Whenever granularity hints are being used to map a memory-resident global section, if the "length" argument is not an exact multiple of the alignment factor, lower granularity hint factors are used as appropriate at the higher addressed portion of the global section. The two section creation services, SYS$CRMPSC-- GDZRO and SYS$CREATE-- GDZRO, each return a system status indicating that the service completed normally, or that the section was created with shared page tables. Or, the status may indicate an error: for instance, that the request seeks to create an object with a name already in use, that the specified name is too long, that the process does not hold a required access right, that the supplied flags were inconsistent, that an address argument is insufficiently aligned, that one of the return arguments could not be written by the service, that the address space is full or that a quota is exhausted, that one of the system tables is full, that an address requested for allocation is already allocated or otherwise unavailable, that the allocation request would exhaust the system's supply of fluid pages, that the requested size for a section exceeds the size previously allocated for its containing region, or that the properties for a requested section do not match the properties of the region in which allocation is sought. On a mapping call, if a newly-allocated global section is either not registered in the Reserved Memory Registry or /NOALLOCATE was specified when the global section was registered in the Reserved Memory Registry, invalid global page table entries are written to the global page table. In these cases, when the global section is mapped, invalid page table entries are placed in the process page table. Physical memory is not allocated until the pages are referenced. If private page tables are used to map to a memory-resident global section, the working set quota and pagefile quota of the process must be sufficient to accommodate the increased size of the process page tables required by the increase in virtual address space. Other system services allow a process to query for the number of pages mapped by one page table page, and to delete global sections. Referring to FIG. 3, in an alternative embodiment, shared page tables could be extended to pageable global sections. Shared pages 102 mapped by the shared page tables 100 would be paged using the same mechanisms used to page process private pages 312. In a further variation, shared page table pages could be paged, preferably using the same mechanisms used to page unshared page table pages 310. It would be preferable to keep the highest-level shared page table 320 unpaged and memory resident. Each process will have a consistent view of the page tables. For instance, the global pages mapped by these page tables would reside in a common working set list that is shared among all sharers of the page table. The page tables themselves would be present in that same working set. The common working set for the pageable region will be distinct from the system working set, because the pages of the shared object would evict system pages from the system working set. The common working set would be a distinct entity that is subject to the same working set list dynamics as process working sets. An implementation might enforce several constraints, to enforce inter-process security; other embodiments might relax some of these constraints, or substitute others. A shared page table region can only map global sections that use shared page tables. An application can map more than one global section that uses shared page tables into a shared page table region. Attempts to map any other type of section into a shared page table region will fail. The starting virtual address for subsequent sections mapped into a shared page table region will always be rounded up to a page table page boundary. This will prevent two distinct sections from sharing the same page tables. Mappers can specify a non-shared page table region into which to map a section using shared page tables. However, such a mapping will not use shared page tables. Process private page tables will be created to map the section in question when a non-shared page table region is specified. Finally, the shared page tables assigned to a global section are used exclusively by that section. Those page tables will never map pages belonging to another global section (even when there are unused PTE's within those shared page tables). In an operating system using the invention, the modifications necessary to add support for shared page tables are small. Many portions of the memory manager require no modification at all. Referring again to FIG. 3 in an example embodiment, the page table structure is a multi-level structure with 3 levels of page tables. Virtual address translation begins with the Page Table Base Register (PTBR) 330, which contains the physical page denoting the root 332 of a process's page table structure. Each virtual address consists of four major parts. The highest-order bits 340 of the address are used as an index 342 into the level 1 page table 332. The high-middle bits 344 are used as an index 346 into a level 2-page table 320, 362. The low-middle bits 348 are used as an index 350 into a level 3 page table 100, 310, 364. The lowest order bits 352 are used as an index to select a specific byte 354 in a code or data page 102. The four constituents of a virtual address are used to select the appropriate entries and bytes respectively, in the page table structure. In a particular implementation of the invention, the page tables themselves, and the page frame database (the operating system's data structure that elaborates on the page tables, to assist in managing the pages) may require no modification. Other operating systems may require some modification in order to exploit the invention. Shared page table global sections are used to represent shared page tables. As such, the same structures used to manage and share standard global sections are also used to manage and share shared page table global sections. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the management of a global section uses several basic data structures that are stored in system address space. For historical reasons, each global section is managed by two data structures: a Global Section Descriptor (GSD) 400, and an entry in the Global Section Table, a Global Section Table entry (GSTE) 500. For each global section, these two data structures, and their associated PTE's, have fields (either pointers or table index values) that maintain their association with each other. In the invention, the data structures managing global sections were modified, to add fields (or overlay an existing field with a new field) that maintain an association between the data structures for managing the process leaf global section and the structures managing the related shared page table global section. For instance, to the GSD 400 is added a field, named RELATED-- GSTX, an index into the GST 450, indicating the GSTE 500 for the shared page table global section. With the correspondence or link in place, the user can refer to the global section of interest and leave the management of the linked page table global section to the memory management executive. Referring to FIG. 4, the Global Section Descriptor (GSD) 400 describes the global section. GSD 400 includes the name 402 of the global section that is the handle used to manage the section. The GSTX 403 field is an index into the Global Section Table and identifies the associated GSTE. Among other items, the GSD 400 contains security related information and flags 404. Three of the flags are relevant in the invention: a "shared page tables" flag SHARED-- PTS 452, a "memory resident" flag MRES 454, and an "pre-allocate" flag ALLOC 456. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, flags 452 and 552 are shadow copies of each other, with identical meaning. Flags 452, 552 are named SHARED-- PTS, and indicate that the section holds shared page tables. The shared page table flag 452 distinguishes between the section for the leaf pages and the corresponding section for the page table pages. Both global sections have the same name 402; this bit 452 distinguishes the two. The MRES flag 454, 554 indicates that the global section is memory-resident, that is, that once the page is allocated or faulted in, it is never faulted out until the process explicitly releases it. The ALLOC flag 456, 556 when One, indicates that the allocation request was satisfied from reserved memory in a contiguous chunk; when Zero, the flag indicates that memory is to be faulted into existence as each page is touched. Referring to FIG. 5, the second data structure describing a global section is a Global Section Table entry (GSTE) 500. Each GSTE contains, among other things, a pointer 502 to the corresponding GSD 400, a flags field 504 (whose contents are the same as the flags field 404 of the corresponding GSD), a reference counter 508 used for GSTE accounting purposes (the number of process Page Table Entries (PTE's) that map to pages within the global section), a count of the number of pages in the global section and information about the file that is used as the backing storage for the pages within the global section. The GSTE also contains an index 512 into the Global Page Table (GPT) of the first Global Page Table Entry (GPTE) corresponding to this global section. This index is referred to as the GPTX. The Global Page Table is an array of entries. An entry within the GPT is called a Global Page Table Entry (GPTE). Each GPTE describes the state of each global page in the section. The system routines that create global sections allocate one GPTE for each page in the newly-created global section. The Global Page Table Entries (GPTE's) are prototype PTE's used to store information about the individual pages that make up the global section. When a global section is created (not yet mapped), each GPTE is initialized to either a valid or an invalid form. That is, each invalid GPTE contains a pointer to its associated global section. (The invalid GPTE actually contains a GSTX, a GST index. This index is used to locate the corresponding GSTE. The GST is treated as an array of GSTE's.) Each valid GPTE contains a Page Frame Number (PFN) of the physical page assigned to the global section is stored in the GPTE. Otherwise, the GPTE is "invalid" and the backing storage address of the global section page is stored in the GPTE. The GPTE's for memory-resident global sections contain the GSTX when the GPTE is invalid. The DZRO indicator is also set when the GPTE is invalid. Once a GPTE becomes valid, it cannot become invalid while the global section still exists. The PFN that is placed within the GPTE does not change. The physical page is assigned to the global page and remains in memory. At the user interface level, the name 402 (generally a text string) of the global section is its handle. The operating system resolves this user-visible name to a particular Global Section Descriptor (GSD). Within the memory management executive, the address of the GSD becomes the handle to the global section. The PFN database is a array of data structures, one data structure corresponding to each physical page tracking the contents of the physical page. PFN database entry contains a reference count, a pointer to the associated backing store, a pointer to the PTE, an I/O reference count, and page state flags. FIG. 6 illustrates the relationship between the global section data structures. When a global section is created, the operating system creates a GSD 400 for the global section, allocates a GSTE 500 for the global section, and allocates a contiguous array of GPTE's from the Global Page Table to describe the individual pages within the global section. Arrow 602 indicates the pointers that associate the GSD with the GSTE, and vice versa, using the GPTX 406 and the "address of associated GSD 502." Similarly, the GSTE and GPT have pointers back and forth to each other, as indicated by arrow 604. Invalid entries in the Level 3 page table 100 have pointers to the global page table, and the global page table in turn indicates where the backing store for the page is to be found. FIG. 7 illustrates the relationship between data structures for a leaf global section and its shared page table global section. The interrelationships among the data structures for the shared page table section parallel the interrelationships among the data structures for the leaf section. The GSD and GSTE for the leaf section point to each other (arrow 702), and the GSD and GSTE for the page table section point to each other (arrow 704). In addition, the GSD for the leaf section points to the GSTE (and indirectly to the GSD) for the shared page table section (arrow 706), and the GSD for the shared page table section points to the GSTE (and indirectly to the GSD) for the leaf section (arrow 708). Pointers in the two GSTE's point to respective blocks of entries in the GPT. Various fields in the PTE and page frame database function as reference counts, lock counts, a count of working set list entries, and the like. The invention maintains the function of these fields. The operating system has a utility routine that returns the number of PTE's per page table page. The value returned will vary with the size of the PTE and with the page size, and is the quotient of the system page size and the PTE size. This section discusses the operation of a memory management system of the invention. Shared memory is created on a system when a process calls the create and map section system service routines. The routines accept as arguments the name of the global section, its size, virtual page protection, and a number of other arguments. After validating the arguments, the routines create the global section by creating, manipulating, and linking together the GSD 400, GSTE 500, and GPTE's. Once the data structures are initialized, the memory management executive maps the global section into the process's address space by initializing page tables for the section. If criteria are met, the section will be created with shared tables. Other processes, assuming they have the access rights, can also map the global section by specifying its name to a map global section system service routine; the shared page tables will be linked into the address-translation tree of the later-mapping process. III.E discusses faulting of shared page table pages. Section III.F discusses unmapping global sections. Section III.G discusses deleting global sections. Referring to FIG. 8, the create virtual region system service routine, SYS$CREATE-- REGION, allows a user to reserve a block of virtual address space, and assign certain properties that will be inherited by objects mapped into the region in the future. No physical memory is committed to the region until a section is mapped to the region. Upon a successful return from this service, the user is given a handle to the newly created region. This handle or region identifier can then be passed to virtual address space creation system service routines. Among other things, the create virtual region system service accepts a starting virtual address (start-- va) argument and a length (in bytes) argument. The start-- va argument is optional, and, when specified with a non-zero value, informs the service routine to reserve virtual address space at that specified start virtual address. If the start-- va argument is not specified (or is specified as 0), the service locates the first available space within the virtual address space to accommodate the region creation request. Steps 804, 806, 808, 810, and 812 enforce alignment constraints, when creating a standard virtual region (i.e. not a shared page table region), the start-- va argument, if specified, must be page aligned and the length argument must be an even multiple of the system page size (step 806). When creating shared page table region, the start-- va argument, if specified, must be page table page aligned. The length argument, at the minimum, must still be an even multiple of the system page size. For shared page table regions, the service will automatically round-up the size of the region to an even multiple of bytes mapped by a page table page (step 808). The alignment constraints are imposed largely to prohibit process private pages from being mapped by PTE's within shared page tables. The constraints keep page table pages from spanning two different virtual regions. This allows the operating system to restrict process private mappings in shared page table regions and shared page table mappings in other regions by checking the shared page tables attribute of the region before starting the mapping operation. Reserving address space prevents other threads in the process from creating address space in the reserved area, unless they specify the handle of that reserved area to the address space creation routines. 2. An alignment factor is computed based upon the type of region being created (page size for standard regions and multiple of bytes mapped by a page table page for shared page table regions) (steps 806, 808). If the size of the region would cause it to span multiple page table pages, an alignment factor is chosen such that the page table pages (once they are ultimately created) can be mapped with largest possible granularity hint factor. The alignment factor is used in the succeeding steps when the user specifies a non-zero start-- va argument. 3. If a shared page table region is being created, the length argument is rounded up to an even multiple of bytes mapped by a page table page (step 808). 4. If the start-- va argument is not specified, or is zero (step 810), an appropriately aligned virtual address will be selected. In either case, execution proceeds to step 6. 5. If the start-- va argument is non-zero, it is checked for the proper alignment (step 812) using the alignment factor computed in step 2. If the start-- va is not properly aligned, the service returns an error status. If the start-- va is properly aligned, execution proceeds to step 6. 6. The length is rounded up to the next multiple of the alignment factor. 7. The process's address space is searched to verify that the virtual address range specified is available (step 814). (The search for available address space is governed by walking a list of data structures that track the virtual address usage for the process.) If the space is not available, the routine returns an error status (stp 816). 8. For a non-zero start-- va, the virtual address range specified is reserved. For an unspecified or zero start-- va, the first available space that can accommodate the length argument is located and reserved. 9. In addition to returning a successful status code, the routine also returns (in the output arguments), a region identifier, the actual number of bytes reserved, and the starting virtual address of the range (step 818). Referring to FIG. 9, to create a global section with shared page tables, the user calls a global section creation routine, for instance SYS$CREATE-- GDZRO. Overall, the process of creating a global section involves creating several data structures, and materializing pages table page with initialized PTE's. 1. The routine arguments are validated (step 904). 2. The GSD for the leaf section is allocated (step 908) and partially initialized, with the name of the section (the name will become the handle) and the section creation flags. 3. A GSTE is allocated (step 910) and initialized to contain the address of the GSD, the number of pages in the section, and the section creation flags. 4. The reserved memory for the process leaf section is allocated. 5. The Reserved Memory Registry is examined for an entry associated with the global section name specified in the call. If there is a Reserved Memory Descriptor for both the leaf pages and for shared page table pages, or for neither, then a shared page table global section will be created. If there is a Reserved Memory Descriptor for only the leaf pages and not for the shared page table pages, then the section will use process private page tables (step 912). 6. If there are insufficient pages for the shared page tables, GPTE's are allocated and initialized for the global section only (step 914). The create section routine returns indicating that only the global section was created. 7. If this section will use shared page tables, the GPTE's for the shared page table section are allocated and initialized (step 922). If the memory for the shared page tables was not pre-allocated, pages will be allocated from the zeroed page list. Unlike process leaf data page GPTE's that can be created in the global invalid form (see step 13), shared page table GPTE's will always be created in the global valid form. 8. If the section will use shared page tables, a GSD and GSTE are allocated and initialized for the shared table section (steps 916, 918). The initializations parallel those for the global section, with the additional step, for shared page table sections, of setting the "shared page tables" bit in the flags field of the GSD and GSTE for the shared page table global section. 9. The link between the global section's data structures and the shared page table global section's data structures is established (the GSTE RELATED-- GSTX fields are initialized as described in section I) (step 920). 10. The GPTE's for the process leaf section are allocated and initialized. The GPTE's are created as global valid or global invalid based upon whether the reserved memory was pre-allocated (step 922). 11. If the reserved memory for the process leaf section was pre-allocated, the corresponding PFN database entries are initialized. 12. The PFN database entries for the shared page table section are initialized. 13. The physical pages allocated for the shared page table global section are temporarily mapped so that their contents can be initialized to map the pages of the leaf global section. 14. If there was no Reserved Memory Registry entry for the global section, or if the Registry entry describes a global section with the FAULT option, the PTE's within the shared page tables are initialized to the global invalid form (these PTE's will be set to valid as each leaf page is faulted into place). If the Reserved Memory Registry specifies a batch of pre-allocated, zeroed pages, the PFNs are copied into the shared PTE's with the protection, ownership, and valid bits set. If the registry entry for the global section specifies the ALLOC option, the PTE's in the shared page tables are initialized as valid PTE's using the maximum granularity hint factor possible. If the size of the section is not an even multiple of pages mapped by a page table page, the unused PTE's will be zeroed. 15. The create section routine returns indicating that both the global section and its corresponding shared page table global section have been created (step 930). Several of the above steps request physical pages. If there are no free pages available, the process is put in a wait state, and held until the physical pages are available to satisfy the request. The bulk of the code of the memory manager is not affected by the addition of shared page tables. For instance, the code managing the PFN database is unmodified. Referring to FIG. 10, Once a global section has been created, the next step is to map storage to the section through a call to a mapping system service. The process calls the mapping service with the handle of the global section to map, and (for some services) the file to map into the section. (The service SYS$CRMPSC combines the steps of creating and mapping a global section). The section can be mapped to demand-zero storage, a locked memory section, or a file. The system service routine determines whether the global section has a related shared page table global section. If a shared page table global section is found, and certain mapping criteria (discussed below) prevail, the virtual address space is materialized by using the shared page table global section. The operating system enforces certain criteria on the parameters passed to the mapping call. If these criteria are not met, the system service routine uses process private page tables to establish the mapping. These criteria enforce security, for instance by preventing process private data from being mapped through shared page table pages into other processes' address spaces. If the caller does not specify the handle of a shared page table region, any mappings to global sections that have an associated shared page table global section only use process private page tables. If a shared page table region is specified, the map length (number of bytes to map), must be an even multiple of bytes in a page. This ensures that the last byte mapped includes the last byte of the section mapped into the address space. If the length is not page table page aligned, then the section will be mapped with process private page tables. In any event, the length must be a multiple of the page length. The caller has the option of either specifying a starting virtual address at which to map the global section, or allowing the system service routine select a virtual address at which to perform the mapping. If the user specifies both a shared page table region and a starting virtual address, the starting virtual address must be aligned to a page table page aligned value to permit mapping the section with shared page tables. If the user has not specified a virtual address, the system service routine will select the next available virtual address in the shared page table region that is aligned to a page table page boundary. The system service map routine has a global section offset argument to allow the caller to map only a portion of the entire global section. The global section offset argument specifies the first byte in the global section to map. When this argument is specified with a shared page table region, the global section offset argument must be an even multiple of bytes mapped by a page table page, because this example embodiment does not allow a process to map only a portion of a shared page table page into a process's address space. If the service routine is used to memory map a file, the map offset (offset relative to the start of the file) must be page aligned. If mapping shared memory whose backing store is the system page file, the map offset must be page aligned. If the mapping call meets the above constraints, and the region into which the section is mapped was created specifying shared page tables, then the section's mapping will use shared page tables. Note that a user has the flexibility declining to use shared page tables, by intentionally violating any one of the above mapping criteria. The following steps highlight the specifics of mapping a shared page table global section. 1. The arguments specifying the offset into the global section, the number of bytes of the global section to map, and the starting address argument, if specified, are validated to determine if they adhere to the mapping criteria stated above (step 1010). 2. If the specified arguments allow for page table sharing, a starting address within the process's address space is located (either by looking for the next available address to use, or using the user-specified starting address). The virtual address of the L3PT (level 3 page table 100, 364 of FIG. 3) that maps the starting address is then computed (step 1020). This address is then used to calculate the address of the process L2PTE's (level 2 page table entries, the entries in the level 2 page tables, 320, 362 of FIG. 3) that must be written to materialize the shared page table global section and the global section in the process's address space (step 1022). 3. The process L2PTE's are then initialized using the data stored in the shared page table global sections GPTE's and GSTE. 4. If the specified arguments do not allow for page table sharing, a starting address within the process's address space is located (either by looking for the next available address to use, or using the user-specified starting address). The virtual address of the L3PTE that maps the starting address is then computed (step 1030). This L3PTE is used as the starting point to materialize the global section in the process's address space (step 1032). During the above process, the memory manager uses its conventional reference count accounting. Just as reference counts are conventionally incremented and decremented during the mapping and unmapping of process leaf pages, the reference counts are incremented and decremented as shared page table pages are inserted and removed from the address translation tree. An "overmap" condition exists when the mapping request designates a block of virtual addresses that is already mapped. If the mapping call specified the "no overmap" flag, the mapping routine returns an error status. Else, the mapping routine performs the unmapping functions (discussed below at section III.F) to release the current mapping, and then performs the mapping procedure discussed above. If the map request will not overmap existing address space within a region, and the entire map request can be fulfilled, and the process leaf section was created with the ALLOC option, the address space will be created with the most aggressive granularity hint possible. The shared page tables, if possible, will also be mapped with granularity hints. Granularity hints can only be used if both the process leaf section and the shared page table section were created with the ALLOC option. In this case, the shared page tables will contain PTE's with non-zero granularity hint bits. The shared page tables are only mapped with granularity hints if the region contains a properly aligned virtual address. In general, the ability to map shared page tables with granularity hints calls for more stringent alignment requirements. The alignment requirements for mapping shared page tables with granularity hint will not be enforced if the map request will not fit within the region. As part of determining an appropriately aligned virtual address, it's possible that the specified amount of space to map will not fit within the shared page table region. In this case, as much virtual address space as remains within the region will be used. Note that the size of a region mapped by a shared page table is always an even multiple of bytes mapped by a single page table page. Therefore, even if the entire map request does not fit within a given shared page table region, an application is always guaranteed to map an integral number of pages mapped by a shared page table page. A process that maps a global section typically has its process L3PTE's initialized in the global invalid form. That is, the L3PTE maps a page in a global section, but the page has not yet been faulted into memory. The page fault handler, will make the process's virtual page and the global page, valid once the page is accessed. When a global section is mapped, the process has its L3PTE's initialized to point to the GPTE's of the section. (The L3PTE's actually contain a GPTX, a GPT index. This index is used to locate the corresponding GPTE. GPT is treated as an array of GPTE's.) A global page fault occurs when the process accesses a virtual page whose L3PTE is invalid and contains a GPTX. FIG. 11 shows page fault handling in the case where both the process L3PTE and GPTE it references are in the global invalid form. 1. The page fault handler determines that a page fault for a global page occurred by examining the process L3PTE that maps the virtual page just referenced. 2. The page fault handler traverses the virtual address path of the virtual page referenced. Starting at the top of the page table hierarchy, the handler confirms the validity of each page table page in the virtual address translation path for the page just accessed. Assuming that the L1PT, the L2PT, and the L3PT are all valid, the L3PTE mapping the virtual address accessed is examined (step 1104). 3. The handler determines that the L3PTE maps a global page (step 1106). 4. The handler extracts the GPTX from the L3PTE and locates the GPTE and global page mapped by the L3PTE (step 1108). 5. The handler determines that the GPTE referenced is also in the global invalid form, indicating that a physical page has not yet been allocated for this global page (step 1110). 6. The handler allocates a physical page (step 1112) and places its PFN (page frame number) in the GPTE and in the process L3PTE (step 1114). 7. The data structure that describes the state of all physical pages in the system is updated to reflect that a page has been allocated to a global section (step 1116). 8. Accounting related tasks are performed for the global section's GSTE to indicate that another process page is mapping a global page in this global section (step 1120). 9. The GPTE and process L3PTE are then changed to a valid form (step 1122). Making the GPTE valid is an indication that the GPTE now contains an actual PFN or physical page and not a GSTX. Making the process L3PTE valid allows for successful virtual to physical address translation. 10. Finally, the handler dismisses the page fault and the process is allowed to resume execution at the instruction that originally incurred the fault (step 1124). A global valid fault occurs when a process L3PTE (in the global invalid form) references a GPTE that is in the global valid form. A GPTE will be in the global valid form when another process has referenced that global page and caused it to transition from invalid to valid. Copies the PFN from the GPTE to the process L3PTE (steps 1130, 1116). Updates the physical memory data base for that page (to indicate one more process reference) (step 1118). Updates the GSTE for the global section to indicate that another process page is mapping a global page in this global section (step 1120). Finally, the handler dismisses the page fault and the process is allowed to resume execution at the instruction that originally incurred the fault (step 1124). Page faults for shared page table pages are treated in exactly the same manner as a global valid fault. The difference is that the faulting virtual address will not be that of a process data page, but rather the address of the L3PTE that maps the process data page. The computation to locate the process PTE will actually result in obtaining a process L2PTE address. Upon examining the L2PTE, the handler will detect that it is in the global invalid form. Therefore the only difference in the page fault flow of events, is that the faulting VA is the address of the process L3PTE, not a process virtual data page. The rest of the page fault algorithm executes in the same manner as it would if a page fault for a process data page is to be serviced. Referring to FIG. 12, unmapping a shared page table global section from a process address space is similar to unmapping a standard data global section, or unmapping or deleting regular virtual addresses. The DELETE virtual address system service (DELTVA) accepts arguments specifying a region identifier of the region from which the address space should be deleted, a virtual address from which to begin deletion, and the number of bytes to delete (step 1202). The system service routine then executes these steps to unmap the global section, to delete the virtual address from the process. 1. The routine arguments are validated (step 1204). 2. The deletion process blocks if any I/O pending. A secondary check for memory-resident pages is to check the PFN reference count of the corresponding physical pages. A virtual address range mapped by shared page tables will only utilize the preliminary check since checking the memory-resident data page reference counts does not uniquely identify the current process as the process that actually established I/O to that physical page. 3. The number of virtual pages to be deleted is computed (step 1206). 4. For each page, the page type (global page versus process private page) is ascertained in order for the proper accounting to occur (step 1206). Page type information is gleaned from reading the L3PTE for each page in the range to be deleted. (Page deletion is driven by scanning each L3PTE in the range to be deleted.) The result is that virtual address space is deleted one page at a time. The PTE address is computed by applying the PTE-- VA function. This function accepts a virtual address and returns the PTE that maps that specified address. The following highlights the return values from PTE-- VA when VA is process data or code page, a L3PTE address, and L2PTE address, and L1PTE address. PTE-- VA (VA) returns L3PTE address. PTE-- VA (L3PTE) returns L2PTE address. PTE-- VA (L2PTE) returns L1PTE address. PTE-- VA (L1PTE) returns L1PTE address. 5. If the page type is global page (step 1212), a subsequent check is made to determine whether the global page is mapped by shared page tables. 6. If the page is not mapped by shared page tables, the data structures for the global section are obtained and manipulated to indicate one less reference to that global section (step 1220). (Note that the PTE scan uses the process L3PTE's.) The L3PTE is then zeroed to actually delete the virtual page. 7. If the page is mapped by shared page tables, the data structures for the shared page table global section are obtained and manipulated to indicate one less reference to that global section. The associated data global section's data structures are also manipulated to indicate that the number of global pages mapped by the shared page table global section are no longer referenced by this process. Since shared page tables are being removed from the address space, the PTE scan uses process L2PTE's instead of process L3PTE's (step 1222). The L2PTE is then zeroed to remove the shared page table and the pages it maps from the address space (step 1226). For a system with an 8 KB page size, zeroing a L2PTE has the effect of deleting up to 8 MB from the address space. 8. The reference counts for the shared page table and leaf global sections are decremented in one step after the address space has been deleted (step 1224). 9. In addition, if the L2PTE's have a non-zero value in the granularity hint field, all L2PTE's included in the granularity hint region must have their granularity hint bits cleared, and the corresponding L3PT virtual addresses are invalidated from the TB. Virtual pages are deleted through explicit calls to operating system services, or implicitly when a mapping call attempts to overmap an existing mapping. Pages that are mapped by shared page tables and are to be deleted are handled differently from pages mapped by private page tables. The only way to remove a page mapped by a shared page table from a process's virtual address space is to remove the shared page table page from the process's address space. Consequently, if the deleted pages are mapped by shared page tables, the start address must be page table page aligned, and the length must be page table page aligned, or to the end of the section. When a mapping routine detects an attempt to map a region of address space that is already mapped, the mapping routine calls the deletion routine to clear the previous mapping away. In a shared page table case, the effect is to remove the reference to a level 3 page table from a level 2 PTE. Referring to FIG. 13, global sections are deleted when there are no references to the pages in that global section. 1. The global section deletion routine locates the global section data structures for the global section to be deleted. Global sections are identified by a text string (step 1302). 2. The RELATED-- GSTX field of the GSD of the data global section is examined to determine if a shared page table global section is associated with this global section. This GSTX is saved in Data-- GSTX as a means of terminating the loop that deletes a series of related global sections (step 1304). 3. The RELATED-- GSTX will contain either the GSTX of the data global section if there is no associated shared page table global section, or the GSTX of the shared page table global section. In any regard, the contents of the RELATED-- GSTX field is extracted and the global section data structures associated with that GSTX are obtained (step 1308). 4. The data global section's GSD.RELATED-- GSTX field is updated with the contents of the GSD.RELATED-- GSTX field of the GSD (step 1310). 5. The shared page table pages will be returned to the Reserved Memory pool if they originated from there, or to the free page list. 6. The global section data structures (GSD, GSTE, and GPTE's) are deallocated (step 1312). 7. If the GSTX of the structures just deleted is the same as the GSTX saved in Data-- GSTX, the global section was successfully deleted (step 1314). The implication is that this global section had no related shared page table global sections. The routine then returns. 8. If GSTX is not equal to Data-- GSTX, a shared page table global section was just deleted, and execution branches (arrow 1316) back to step 3 so that all of the related global sections can be deleted. Extending shared page tables to pageable global sections would require each process to have a consistent view of the page tables. There can be no process copy of the page table. In addition, the global pages mapped by these page tables must reside in a working set list that is available to all sharers of the page table. The page tables themselves will be managed as part of that same working set. All sharers of pageable global sections mapped by shared page tables have access to a common working set list. The notion of a common working set list is similar to the system working set list which tracks the residency of pageable system pages. That is, if one process faults a system page into the system working set, that page becomes valid for all processes on the system. The same will be true of the common working set. An actual implementation of a common working set will not use the system working set for shared page table pages and the global pages they map. One reason is that the system working set is not subject to trimming. Pages are added to the system working set until it is full. Once the system working set is full, replacement paging is necessary. Placing large numbers of global pages mapped by shared page tables into the system working set can cause system pages to be ejected from the working set. If the corresponding global section is extremely large, a high rate of system paging can occur, which can, in turn, adversely affect system performance. As a result, the common working set would be a distinct entity that is subject to the same working set list dynamics as process working sets. The Reserved Memory Registry reserves memory out of the fluid page pool managed by the virtual memory manager, and allows users to allocate physical memory to unprivileged processes. For instance, this allows user programs to have access to locked, unpaged memory, and large contiguous chunks of memory that can exploit the "granularity hints" feature. The Reserved Memory Registry includes the following components. A Reserved Memory Registry (RMR) data file stores information about what memory is to be reserved. The SYSMAN (system manager) utility provides a convenient interface to edit the RMR data file. AUTOGEN is a software component that tunes parameters of the operating system, for example, to retune the virtual memory control parameters to improve paging performance. A component of the system startup creates a linked list of Reserved Memory Descriptors (RMD) and sets aside the reserved memory so that it is not used by the operating system for other purposes. Each RMD structure describes a piece of reserved memory. The RMD list is used by the operating system to manage the reserved memory in the running system. The system idle loop is enhanced to zero reserved pages. The operating system provides services by which application programs allocate and deallocate memory from the reserved pool. The Reserved Memory registry divides physical memory into a number of pools. Each pool created by the Registry has a name, and application programs can allocate memory from a given pool by specifying its name. Memory not allocated to one of the Reserved Memory pools is left in the residual system fluid page pool. Each Reserved memory pool has one of two allocation disciplines--ALLOC or FAULT. A process obtains contiguous blocks of non-paged memory from an ALLOC pool; the storage is checked out of the pool immediately when the allocation service is called. ALLOC storage is tailored for use with the "granularity hints" feature. From a FAULT pool, a process obtains "allocate on use" storage, storage that is not allocated until touched by the process. When the process is finished, it can return the storage back to the pool. If contiguous pages were pre-allocated for a locked shared memory object, a VLM application that uses the shared memory object can realize a performance increase for the initialization of the shared memory object. Initialization includes the creation of the shared memory object, all processes mapping to the shared memory object and each process starting to access the memory. 1. The creation time for the shared memory object is improved due to the simple mechanism used to allocate the physical pages. One call is made to the Reserved Memory Registry to obtain the entire set of pages. These pages have also already been zeroed during system idle time as well so that creation is not slowed down waiting for the pages to be zeroed. 2. The mapping time for the shared memory object is improved because the page table entries that map to the shared pages are marked valid at this time. The mapping algorithm simply sets up a prototype PTE with the lowest PFN, the valid bit set and the appropriate protection bits set. To map the next PTE, PFN in the prototype PTE and the PTE address are simply incremented and the PTE written. 2.a If shared page tables were created for the shared memory object, an order of magnitude fewer PTE's are written to map to the shared memory object. This decreases mapping time as well. 2.b Mapping time is further decreased because only one system resource lock is acquired and released during the mapping algorithm to add reference information to shared memory object data structures. Thus, there is minimal contention for this system resource lock if many processes are mapping to the same shared memory object simultaneously. No system resource lock acquire/release is required because the reference accounting can be performed with interlocked instruction sequences. 3. The access time to touch the pages mapped to the locked shared memory object decreases because the PTE's were set to the valid state when they were mapped into the processes address space. No time is spent handling page faults as each process initially accesses each page. Page fault handling also acquires and releases a system resource lock. Therefore, not incurring these faults reduces the contention for this lock, thus improving application performance. The system manager also has the flexibility to specify that a pool of reserved memory be used collectively by applications that require locked memory. This allows the system manager to have finer control over the system's memory usage based on the expected use of the VLM applications. The use of locked memory is guaranteed to not cause the system to become starved for free pages. Therefore, VLM applications that use locked memory do not require system privileges. The Reserved Memory Registry allows applications to take advantage of the huge page feature by supporting reserved memory that is allocated in contiguous chunks during system initialization. Pre-allocated contiguous memory can be zeroed during system idle time so that unprivileged applications do not have to wait for memory to be zeroed. Memory freed from the Reserved Memory Registry becomes available to the system without a system reboot. The system can benefit from the freed memory by allowing additional pages to be locked by other applications. Also, if the pages were pre-allocated at system initialization, the freed pages are deallocated onto the system's free page list. The following sections describe the design of the Reserved Memory Registry. The systems administrator tells the computer about desired memory reservations by making entries in a data file. A utility, SYSMAN, is provided, to edit the file. The file is read during system initialization (boot time), to establish the memory reservations. Referring to FIG. 14, the size 1402 of the memory reservation is specified in megabytes. The name 1404 of the Reserved Memory data file entry is specified as an ASCII string. The ALLOC flag 1406 indicates that the Reserved Memory is to be preallocated as one contiguous chunk of physical memory at system initialization time. The ZERO flag 1408 indicates that the memory is to be zeroed during system idle time. This flag can be set only if the ALLOC flag is set for the same entry. The PAGE-- TABLE flag 1410 indicates that shared page tables are to be reserved and used to map the reserved memory. The SYSMAN utility supports the RESERVED-- MEMORY command for manipulating entries in the Reserved Memory Registry. The gs-- name field is the name of the memory-resident global section associated with this reserved memory. A name must be specified. If the /ALLOCATE qualifier is specified, contiguous, aligned pages are allocated during the next reboot of the system. If the /NOALLOC qualifier is specified, or left to default, the physical pages will be allocated only as they are touched by a process. The /ZERO qualifier specifies that the storage is to be zeroed during system initialization; the /NOZERO (or default) qualifier specifies that storage is zeroed when the page is faulted into existence, immediately before being tendered to a user process. The /ZERO qualifier is only allowed if the /ALLOCATE qualifier is specified. If the /PAGE-- TABLES qualifier is not specified or if /NOPAGE-- TABLES is specified, additional memory is not reserved for shared page tables. When the memory-resident global section is created, shared page tables are not created for the global section. If the /PAGE-- TABLES qualifier is specified, additional memory is reserved for shared page tables. When the memory-resident global section is created, shared page tables are created for the global section. If the /ALLOCATE qualifier is not specified or if /NOALLOCATE is specified, the additional reserved memory is only deducted from the system's fluid page count. If the /ALLOCATE qualifier is specified, additional contiguous, aligned pages are allocated during the next reboot of the system for the shared page tables and the additional reserved memory is deducted from the system's fluid page count. The SYSMAN RESERVE MEMORY ADD command operates as follows. First, the arguments are validated for consistency: for instance, if /ZERO is specified, it is an error to specify /NOALLOC. The existing RMR data file is opened, or a new one created. If an entry already exists with the specified name, an error is reported and the command terminates. Else, a new entry is added to the file, with the specified size, name, ALLOC, ZERO, and PAGE-- TABLES flags. The entry is added to the file such that the entries are kept in descending size order. This allows for contiguous pages to be allocated in an optimal way during system initialization. The SYSMAN command also has a MODIFY subcommand, that allows for changing entries in the RMR data file. The data file may be sorted to maintain the entries in size order. The SYSMAN command has a REMOVE subcommand to delete lines from the RMR data file. The SYSMAN ADD, MODIFY, and REMOVE commands only edit Reserved Memory Registry data file; they do not affect memory reservations in the running system. Reserved Memory Descriptors (RMD's) are used to describe Reserved Memory in the running system. The RMD's are organized in a linked list managed by the operating system in the non-paged pool. The list is built during system initialization, when the RMR data file is read and translated from ASCII form to an internal data structure form. The entries in the list are kept in descending size order, to facilitate optimal page frame allocation, and reduce fragmentation. Entries in the RMR data file that call for shared page tables create two RMD's 1500--one for the leaf section, and one for the shared page table section. The RMD describing a page table section is of the same form, and has the same name, as the memory resident section's RMD, with three exceptions. The PAGE-- TABLES flag is set in the FLAGS field 1504. The ZERO flag 1508 is always clear regardless of whether this bit is set in the memory resident section's RMD. This bit is only set for the page table RMD if the ALLOC bit 1506 is also set. PFN-- COUNT 1510 is the count of the number of physical pages in the section, equal to the quotient of the size of the leaf memory resident section and the number of bytes mapped by a page table page (rounded up as necessary). Memory is allocated and deallocated from the Reserved Memory pool using a set of system routines. For an application to create a memory-resident global section out of Reserved Memory, the global section name must exactly match the name of the Reserved Memory Registry entry. If the global object creation call specifies a name that does not match an entry in the Reserved Memory registry, then the call will attempt to allocate pages from the system's fluid page pool. If this succeeds, the system service routine creates the memory-resident global section with the FAULT option. After the system service routine has obtained the Reserved Memory for the memory-resident global section, it may call a Reserved Memory Registry routine to allocate the associated shared page table global section. If page tables were not specified for the entry, this indicates to the system service routine to not create a shared page table global section. A side benefit of using the ALLOC option for the shared page table global section is that the page tables can be mapped into page table space using granularity hint regions. AUTOGEN is a software component that examines the system to determine what physical resources are present, and examines the RMR data file and other configuration parameters to determine what resources are dedicated to specific purposes. AUTOGEN then determines certain tuning parameters that will be used during system execution. AUTOGEN stores these values where the operating system can find them during system initialization. The operating system then manages the system according to the determinations made by AUTOGEN. Typically, the system administrator runs AUTOGEN after running SYSMAN to update the RMR data file, and before the next reboot. Among the data computed by AUTOGEN are FLUID-- PAGES, MIN-- FLUID-- PAGES, and SLOT-- COUNT, WORKING-- SET-- MAX and other parameters. 1. Determine PHYS-- PAGE-- COUNT, the total number of physical pages in the system. 2. Read the Reserved Memory Registry data file, and compute the amount of memory registered in all Reserved Memory Registry entries and convert to pages, RESERVED-- PAGES. 3. Subtract RESERVED-- PAGES from PHYS-- PAGE-- COUNT and do some error checking to make sure there is still a minimal amount of memory for the operating system. 4. Based on the new PHYS-- PAGE-- COUNT and other parameters, calculate SLOT-- COUNT and WORKING-- SET-- MAX as well as other parameters. 5. Write new parameters to the system parameters data file. System initialization uses the system parameter data file and the RMR data file to build a linked list of Reserved Memory Descriptors 1500, and to reserve memory out of the system fluid page pool. To ensure that the contiguous pages can be allocated and that runtime physical memory allocation routines can be used, memory reservations are made soon after the operating system's physical memory data structures have been initialized, but before physical memory can become fragmented. Once all descriptors are linked into the RMD list, the list is traversed, allocating contiguous aligned chunks of pages. The size request for each entry is converted to pages. The RMD's are processed in descending size order to minimize fragmentation. As each reserved block is allocated, pages are deducted from the system's fluid page count. If the system's fluid page count reaches MIN_FLUID-- PAGES, the reservation's pages are added back to the system's fluid page count and an error is displayed on the console. The descriptor is removed from the list and the RMD is deallocated. This error is not fatal and the initialization routine continues with the next entry in the data file. This allows subsequent smaller allocation requests to succeed if possible. For entries with the ALLOC characteristic an attempt is made to locate pages that will satisfy the largest granularity hint region that will fit within the request. For example, reservation requests that are larger than 4 MB will result in the first page allocated aligned to meet the requirements of a 512-page granularity hint region. The system's fluid page counter is reduced to account for the amount of Reserved Memory specified in each entry. This counter tracks the number of physical pages that can be reclaimed from processes or the system through paging and swapping activities. Another system defined value, minimum fluid page count, is calculated during system initialization and represents the absolute minimum number of fluid pages the system requires before overall performance is compromised. Deductions from the fluid page count are always checked against the minimum fluid page count to prevent the system from becoming starved for pages. During system idle time, the system idle process zero's idle ALLOC pages, so that they can be given to processes that demand zeroed storage. The idle processes traverses the RMD's in the RMD list. If there is an RMD that calls for ALLOC, ZERO storage, and the ZERO-- PFN counter indicates that there are non-zeroed pages waiting to be zeroed, the process creates a window mapping to the appropriate physical page, and zeroes the contents of the page. The process of mapping the page requires acquiring the memory lock spinlock, and flushing the TB at completion. The system services SYS$CREATE-- GDZRO and SYS$CRMPSC-- GDZRO call internal kernel mode allocation routines to "use" the Reserved Memory registered in the Reserved Memory Registry. Routine mmg-- std$use-- res-- mem allocates Reserved Memory from a Reserved pool. To allocate Reserved Memory for a leaf global section and its shared page tables, mmg-- std$use-- res-- mem is called twice: once to allocate pages for the leaf section and once to allocate the shared page table section. pfn-- count: number of pages to allocate from the Reserved Memory Registry. char-- count: number of characters in global section name. name: pointer to the global section name. If this "name" matches an entry in an RMD, the memory will be allocated from the named Reserved Memory pool. If the name does not match, then pages will be allocated from the system fluid memory pool. Bit 0: if set, zeroed pages are required if contiguous, aligned pages were pre-allocated. Bit 1: if set, the allocation is for a shared page table section. If the allocation is for a shared page table section, the search of the RMD's must consider this bit, and not match the initial entry for the leaf section, but continue to search the list for the shared page table section. The routine will only provide memory for the page tables if (1) RMD's exist for both the memory resident section and its page tables, or (2) RMD's exist for neither the memory resident section nor its page tables. return-- pfn: Upon successful return from this routine, the return-- pfn field indicates whether to use the FAULT option for the global section or the ALLOC option. A return-- pfn set to zero indicates that no pages were pre-allocated for the global section. A non-zero return-- pfn indicates the first PFN in the contiguous, aligned chunk of pages pre-allocated for this global section. The global section creation code sets the internal section flag MRES-- ALLOC to indicate that the ALLOC option is used. reserved-- pages: the routine returns the total number of pages included in the Reserved Memory block. If the request does not match an entry within the Reserved Memory Registry, a zero is returned for this argument. A caller that tries to ascertain whether a Reserved Memory entry exists can check for a non-zero return value for the reserved-- pages argument. 1. Search through the list of RMD's for an entry whose name matches NAME. 2. If the size specified is zero, and an RMD is found, use the size specified in the RMD. 3. If the section name does not match any RMD, the number of pages specified is compared to the system's fluid page count. If insufficient pages remain in the fluid page pool (determined by a comparison to MIN-- FLUID-- PAGES), an error status is returned to the caller. If the number of pages specified is less than the system's fluid page count, the pages are allocated from the system's fluid page pool. 4. If an RMD is found and the ALLOC flag in the specified RMD is clear, and sufficient pages remain in the RMD's pool, fluid pages are allocated, and the IN-- USE bit is set in the RMD. If insufficient pages remain, use-- res-- mem attempts to allocate the available pages of the RMD's pool, and to satisfy the balance from the system page pool. If there are still insufficient pages, an error status is returned and the allocation fails. 5. If the ALLOC flag in the Reserved Memory descriptor is set, the request must be satisfied out of the specified Reserved memory pool, and will fail if insufficient pages remain. "Returning" Reserved Memory releases the memory from its current use to the pool from which it was allocated. Memory that was allocated from the system fluid page pool is returned there for use by other processes. For memory that is released to a Reserved Memory pool, the RMD is updated to reflect that the memory is no longer allocated. Flag bits in the RMD are reset so that the memory will be re-zeroed. Memory returned to a Reserved Memory pool becomes available for allocation to other processes that need unpaged memory, or for use with "huge page" granularity hints. When a leaf section is deleted, its corresponding shared page table section is also deleted. The "return reserved memory" routine is thus called twice, once for the leaf section and once for the shared page table section. "Freeing" Reserved Memory releases reserved memory from the Reserved Memory pool to the fluid pool free list in the executing computer, but leaves the data file alone. "Freeing" is the appropriate action when the initial allocation in the RMR data file is over-generous, and the actual application determines that it requires less memory than was previously allocated. Entries are relinked in the system free list, and the FLUID-- PAGES count is increased by the number of pages freed. When all pages from a Reserved Memory pool are freed, the RMD is deleted from the RMD list. Once an RMD's Reserved Memory has been freed, subsequent allocations from the Reserved Memory pool may only be satisfied by FAULT pages. If the system's fluid page count is large enough to accommodate the request, it will be honored. The system administrator may invoke the "free" operation if the system becomes starved for physical memory, using the SYSMAN RESERVED-- MEMORY FREE command. Several commands are provided for displaying the status of the Reserved Memory Registry. SHOW and LIST subcommands of the SYSMAN RESERVED-- MEMORY command show the current contents of the RMD in system memory and the RMR data file, respectively. The data are somewhat elaborated: for instance the commands will show the amount of memory consumed by shared page tables, rather than the simple yes/no stored in the data file. Assume there is a VLM application, VLM-- APP, that would like to use some locked memory. An input to the application is the amount of locked memory the user would like it to use, LOCKED-- PAGES. The name that the application chose for its locked memory is VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM. 1. Read LOCKED-- PAGES input from the user. 2. Call a system function--CREATE-- LOCKED passing in the name "VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM" and the value of LOCKED-- PAGES. 4. If USE-- RES-- MEM returns an error, CREATE-- LOCKED returns an error. 5. If USE-- RES-- MEM returns successfully with a non-zero PFN, CREATE-- LOCKED can map the memory with granularity hints. 6. If USE-- RES-- MEM returns successfully with a zero PFN, CREATE-- LOCKED allocates pages from the system free page list and zeroes each page without adjusting FLUID-- PAGES. 7. If USE-- RES-- MEM returns successfully, the number of pages actually reserved in the RMD can be returned to the caller. This information can be used to inform the user that additional memory should be reserved or that more memory is reserved than is being used and that possibly some should be freed. The user of VLM-- APP can tune the application's use of locked memory by specifying different sizes for LOCKED-- PAGES. The user is limited to a size that will not cause the system to become starved for physical pages. If the system manager would like to allow VLM-- APP to use granularity hints, the system manager can register VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM in the Reserved Memory registry and set the ALLOC flag. The ZERO flag should also be set so that system idle time can be used to zero pages. The system manager can decide the maximum amount of system memory can be dedicated to VLM-- APP. After the user tunes VLM-- APP, SYSMAN RESERVED-- MEMORY FREE VMS-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM can be issued while VLM-- APP is running to free the memory not in use by VLM-- APP. The system manager then uses SYSMAN RESERVED-- MEMORY MODIFY to reduce the size of the Reserved Memory Registry entry for VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM to match the optimal size. The next time AUTOGEN is used, the system will be retuned to this new size. If VLM-- APP is no longer needed on the system, the SYSMAN command RESERVED-- MEMORY FREE VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM can be issued while VLM APP is not running. All Reserved Memory for VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM is freed to the running system to be used by other applications. The SYSMAN command RESERVED-- MEMORY REMOVE VLM-- APP$LOCKED-- MEM would also be issued to remove the Reserved Memory Registry entry for VLM-- APP. 1. If all VLM applications are going to be running continuously and at the same time, the system manager can reserve pre-allocated memory for each VLM application so each performs optimally with locked memory mapped with granularity hints. 2. If all VLM applications can run at the same time, but may not run continuously, the system manager can reserve memory for each VLM application but not specify the ALLOC flag. This will allow memory that is not currently in use by a VLM application to be used by the system for other purposes. In this case, granularity hints are not used in the mapping of the locked memory. 3. If each VLM application has different usage characteristics and different levels of importance relative to each other, the system manager can reserve memory for each VLM application specifying different amounts of memory and different flags. 4. If one particular VLM application is privileged and does not require zeroed memory, its Reserved Memory Registry entry can have the ALLOC flag set and the ZERO flag clear. When the locked memory is created for this application, its contents will not be zeroed. 5. If all VLM applications will not be running continuously and at the same time, the system manager can decide how much memory to tune out of the system for all VLM applications. The system manager can add an entry in the Reserved Memory Registry called, for example VMS$RESERVED-- POOL, then run AUTOGEN to tune the system without this memory. 5.a In the system startup command file that runs after the Reserved Memory Registry file has been processed, the command SYSMAN RESERVED-- MEMORY FREE VMS$RESERVED-- POOL can be executed. The FLUID-- PAGES global cell is then incremented by the number of the pages freed. The system is therefore tuned without the memory, but no RMD's are in the RMD list. 5.b. When USE-- RES-- MEM is called and no RMD is found, the cells FLUID-- PAGES and MIN-- FLUID-- PAGES are consulted to see whether the specified amount of locked memory can be used. Several of the VLM application can successfully use this pool of additional fluid pages at the same time. The invention is further described in the "OpenVMS System Services Reference Manual" from Digital Equipment Corporation, incorporated herein by reference. wherein each of said first and second data structures comprises a respective global section descriptor (GSD) and global section table entry (GSTE), the respective GSD describing a global section and including a handle name for managing the section, a first field containing an index into a global section table and identifying the respective GSTE, and security-related information, the respective GSTE containing a pointer to the respective GSD, and a count of a number of pages in the global section. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said page table pages are hierarchically arranged in a multi-level tree, and further comprising a third data structure describing a set of shared page table pages at a level of said tree different than the level of the page table pages described by said second data structure. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared page table pages are mapped into address spaces of said plurality of processes. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein a process from among said plurality uses a single name to refer collectively to said first and second data structures in a system service request. 5. The system of claim 4, wherein said single name is stored in said first data structure. 6. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second data structures are instantiated as a pair of corresponding subsidiary data structures, each member of each pair including a reference for locating the other member of the pair. 7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory management process for moving the contents of said shared page table entries and the contents of said shared data pages between memory and secondary memory. 8. The system of claim 7 wherein said secondary memory is a disk drive. a memory manager for managing the program-accessible page and the translation page, and for managing the sharing among the processes of the program-accessible page and the translation page, the memory manager comprising a global section descriptor (GSD) and a global section table entry (GSTE), the GSD describing a global section and including a handle name for managing the section, a first field containing an index into a global section table and identifying the GSTE, and security-related information, the GSTE containing a pointer to the GSD, and a count of a number of pages in the global section. a second translation page stored in the memory, describing an address translation for a part of a virtual address, an entry in the second translation page pointing to the first translation page, the second translation page being shared among the two processes, the sharing being managed by the memory manager. the memory manager pages the first translation page between a primary and secondary level of the memory. the memory manager locks the first translation page into the primary level of the memory. 13. The computer memory of claim 9, wherein the memory manager keeps the program-accessible page locked into a primary level of the memory. 14. The computer memory of claim 9, wherein the memory manager pages the program-accessible page between a primary and a secondary level of the memory. the memory manager enforces a discipline in which the highest-level translation page shared among the processes is locked into the primary level of the memory. wherein the memory manager uses a global section descriptor (GSD) and a global section table entry (GSTE), the GSD describing a global section and including a handle name for managing the section, a first field containing an index into a global section table and identifying the GSTE, and security-related information, the GSTE containing a pointer to the GSD, and a count of a number of pages in the global section. the program-accessible page is allocated by a non-privileged process from a pool of memory reserved out of the system page pool and designated as non-pageable. the program-accessible page is a page from among a pool reserved for allocation as a contiguous group of physical pages. the program-accessible page is a page from among a pool reserved for allocation on page fault. enforcing an address alignment of the program-accessible page. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the enforced alignment is determined based on a requested length of the program-accessible page. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the requested length is rounded up to a multiple of a length of a memory structure larger than a page. encoding in a single entry in the translation page a mapping corresponding to multiple entries of the page. allocating a process-private translation page for the program-accessible page if the process violates the enforced address alignment. attributing to a region of virtual memory a property that memory objects mapped into the region will be mapped with shared translation pages. enforcing a security constraint on the region, in which private memory objects are excluded from being mapped using the shared translation page. enforcing the security constraint based on a range of virtual addresses with a start address and a length determined by the amount of address space mapped by a translation page. wherein said first and second data structures comprise a global section descriptor (GSD) and a global section table entry (GSTE), the GSD describing a global section and including a handle name for managing the section, a first field containing an index into a global section table and identifying the GSTE, and security-related information, the GSTE containing a pointer to the GSD, and a count of a number of pages in the global section. 29. The computer of claim 28, wherein said plurality of processes use a single name to request system services involving said first and second data structures. the first and second data structures are created responsive to a single entry in a memory reservation request. a size of a page table section embracing the page table page is determined from a requested size for an allocation embracing the leaf page. 32. The computer of claim 29, wherein the single name is stored in said first data structure. 36. The computer of claim 28, wherein the memory manager pages the program-accessible page between a primary and a secondary level of the memory. a process-private translation page for the program-accessible page is allocated if the process violates an enforced address alignment. a decision to map the leaf page with the shared page table page was determined according to an attribute of a region of virtual memory. a security constraint on the region is enforced, in which private memory objects cannot be mapped using the shared translation page. the security constraint is enforced based on a range of virtual addresses with a start address and a length determined by the amount of address space mapped by a translation page. Bonwick 1994 The slab allocator: An object-caching kernel memory allocator.

2019-04-25T18:00:33Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6085296A/en

Here is a recording of Hymn No. 22 from the “Hymns of Dawn” to aid God’s people in singing and making melody in their hearts unto God. For this choicest gift from heav’n. Still some new, rich gem appears. “(9) Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. (11) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (17) Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. (25) My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. (28) My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word. (38) Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. (41) Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. (42) So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. (49) Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. (50) This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. (58) I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word. (81) My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word. (103) How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (104) Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (105) Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (107) I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word. (114) Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. (115) Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God. (116) Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. (130) The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. (140) Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. (154) Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word. (158) I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word. (160) Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. (161) Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. (162) I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. (163) I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love. (164) Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. (165) Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (169) Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word. (170) Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word. “(12) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (20) for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (21) Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. (22) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. (24) For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. (25) But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. (26) If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. No other book which the world has ever known has such a history as the Bible. Its origin and authorship, its antiquity, its wonderful preservation in the midst of the unparalleled and continuous opposition which sought to destroy it, as well as its diversity and teaching, make the Bible the most wonderful book in existence. Those who will make a study of the Bible plan will be fully convinced of the conclusive evidence of the credibility of the Sacred Scriptures, which is furnished in the purity, harmony and grandeur of its teachings. Our first definite information with reference to the Sacred Writings is afforded by the direction given to Moses to write the law and history in a book, and put it in the side of the ark for preservation. (See Exod. 17:14; 34:27; Deut. 31:9-26.) This book was left for the guidance of the people. Additions were made to it from time to time by subsequent writers, and in the days of the kings, scribes appear to have been appointed whose business it was to keep a careful record of the important events occurring in Jewish history, which records—Samuel, Kings, Chronicles—were preserved and subsequently incorporated with the Law. The Jewish copyists regarded these documents with great veneration. A very slight error in copying often led them to destroy it and begin anew. Josephus says that through all the ages that had passed none had ventured to add to, take away from, or transpose, aught of the Sacred Writings. One of the strongest evidences of the authenticity of the O.T. Scriptures is found in the fact that the law and the prophets were continually referred to by our Lord and the apostles as authority, and that while the Lord denounced the corruptions of the Jewish Church, and their traditions, by which they made void the Word of God, he did not even intimate any corruption in these Sacred Writings, but commends them, and refers to and quotes them in proof of his claims. In fact, the various parts of the entire book are bound together by the mutual endorsement of the various writers, so that to reject one is to mar the completeness of the whole. Each book bears its own witness and stands on its own evidence of credibility, and yet each book is linked with all the rest, both by their common spirit and harmony and by their mutual endorsement. Mark, for instance, the endorsement of the account of creation in the commandment of the law concerning the Sabbath day.—Exod. 20:11. Also compare Deut. 23:4,5; Joshua 24:9; Micah. 6:5; 2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11-13; Isa. 28:21; Hab. 3:11; Matt. 12:40. And even at that early date it contained the same books as at present with the exception of the Second Epistle of Peter, the Third Epistle of John, Jude and the Book of Revelation. And these omitted books we know were written about the close of the first century, and probably had not been widely circulated among the Christian congregations at that time. The first five books of the N.T. are historical, and present a clear and connected account of the life, character, circumstances, teachings and doings of Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the Messiah promised in the O.T. Scriptures, and who fully substantiated his claim. The four accounts of the Evangelists, though they differ in phraseology, are in harmony in their statements, some important items being recorded by each which seem to have been overlooked by the others. These Evangelists testified to that of which they had positive knowledge. The Apostle John says: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you—”that which was from the beginning (the beginning of the Lord’s ministry), which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness.” (1 John 1:1-3.) They testify also that they saw Christ after his resurrection. The fifth book [the Book of Acts] presents a valuable account of the doings of the Apostles after their anointing with the Holy Spirit, of the establishment of the Christian Church, and of the first preaching of the good news to the Gentiles. The original copies of both the Old and New Testaments have, of course, long since disappeared, and the oldest manuscript (the Sinaitic) is reckoned to have been written about three centuries after the death of Christ. Those of earlier date were either destroyed in the persecutions under which the church suffered, or were worn out by use. These oldest manuscripts are preserved with great care in the Museums and Libraries of Europe. During the Middle Ages, when ignorance and corruption prevailed and the Bible was hidden in monasteries away from the people, God was still carrying on his work, preserving the Scriptures from destruction even in the midst of Satan’s stronghold, the apostate [R1146] Church of Rome. A favorite occupation of the monks during the Middle Ages was the copying of the manuscripts of the N.T. … Of these manuscripts there are said to be now more than two thousand, of various dates from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. The quiet seclusion of those monks gave them special opportunities for careful copying, and years were sometimes spent in the copying of a single manuscript. Very early in the Christian Era translations of the New Testament Scriptures were made into several languages, and the different factions that early developed and continued to exist, though they might have been desirous of adding to or taking from the original text in order to give their claims a show of Scriptural support, were watched by each other to see that they did not do so, and had they succeeded in corrupting the text in one language, another translation would make it manifest. Even the Douay translation, in use in the Romish church, is in most respects substantially the same as the King James translation. The fact that during the “dark ages” the Scriptures were practically cast aside, being supplanted by the decrees of popes and councils, so that its teachings had no influence upon the masses of the people who did not have copies in their possession—nor could they have read them if they had them—doubtless made unnecessary the serious alteration of the text, at a time when bold, bad men had abundant power to do so. For men who would plot treason, incite to wars and commit murders for the advancement of the papal hierarchy, as we know was done, would have been bold enough for anything. Thus the depth of ignorance in the dark ages served to protect and keep pure God’s Word, so that its clear light has shone specially at the two ends of the Gospel age. (1 Cor. 10:11.) The few interpolations which were dared, in support of the false claims of Papacy, were made just as the gloom of the “dark ages” was closing in upon mankind, and are now made glaringly manifest, from their lack of harmony with the context, their antagonism with other scriptures and from their absence in the oldest and most complete and reliable manuscripts. As to the relative values of ancient manuscripts, we quote the following comments from the pen of that eminent German scholar, Constantine Tischendorf, who spent many years of his life in diligently searching out and comparing the various ancient manuscripts and translations of the Scriptures in many languages, and who has furnished to the church the results of his investigation in a careful exhibit of the various departures of the English Authorized Version of the New Testament from the three oldest and most important manuscripts. “As early as the reign of Elizabeth the English nation possessed an authorized translation, executed by the Bishops under the guidance of Archbishop Parker; and this, half a century later, in the year 1611, was revised at the command of James the First by a body of learned divines, and became the present ‘Authorized Version.’ Founded as it was on the Greek text at that time accepted by Protestant theologians, and translated with scholarship and conscientious care, this version of the New Testament has deservedly become an object of great reverence, and a truly national treasure to the English Church. The German Church alone possesses in Luther’s New Testament a treasure of similar value…. “The Authorized Version, like Luther’s, was made from a Greek text which Erasmus in 1516, and Robert Stephens in 1550, had formed from manuscripts of later date than the tenth century. Whether those manuscripts were thoroughly trustworthy—in other words, whether they exhibited the Apostolic original as perfectly as possible—has long been matter of diligent and learned investigation. Since the sixteenth century Greek manuscripts have been discovered of far greater antiquity than those of Erasmus and Stephens; as well as others in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Gothic, into which languages the sacred text was translated between the second and fourth centuries; while in the works of the Fathers, from the second century downwards, many quotations from the New Testament have been found and compared….One thing is agreed upon by the majority of those who understand the subject, namely, that the oldest copies approach the original text more nearly than the later ones. “Providence has ordained for the New Testament more sources of the greatest antiquity than are possessed by all the old Greek literature put together. And of these, two manuscripts have for long been especially esteemed by Christian scholars, since, in addition to their great antiquity, they contain very nearly the whole of both the Old and New Testaments. Of these two, one is deposited in the Vatican, and the other in the British Museum. Within the last ten years a third has been added to the number, which was found at Mount Sinai, and is now at St. Petersburg. These three manuscripts undoubtedly stand at the head of all the ancient copies of the New Testament, and it is by their standard that both the early editions of the Greek text and the modern versions are to be compared and corrected. “The effect of comparing the common English text with the most ancient authorities will be as often to disclose agreement as disagreement. True, the three great manuscripts alluded to differ from each other both in age and authority, and no one of them can be said to stand so high that its sole verdict is sufficient to silence all contradiction. But to treat such ancient authorities with neglect would be either unwarrantable arrogance or culpable negligence; and it would be indeed a misunderstanding of the dealings of Providence, if after these documents had [R1147] been preserved through all the dangers of fourteen or fifteen centuries, and delivered safe into our hands, we were not to receive them with thankfulness as the most valuable instruments for the elucidation of truth. “… To us the most reverential course appears to be, to accept nothing as the Word of God which is not proved to be so by the evidence of the oldest, and therefore most certain, witnesses that he has put into our hands. With this in view, and with this intention, the writer has occupied himself for thirty years past, in searching not only the Libraries of Europe, but the obscurest convents of the East, both in Africa and Asia, for the most ancient manuscript, of the Bible; and has done all in his power to collect the most important of such documents, to arrange them and to publish them for the benefit both of the present age and of posterity, so as to settle the original text of the sacred writers on the basis of the most careful investigation. “The first of these great manuscripts already referred to which came into possession of Europe was the Vatican Codex. Whence it was acquired by the Vatican Library is not known; but it appears in the first catalogue of that collection which dates from the year 1475. The manuscript embraces both the Old and New Testaments. Of the later it contains the four Gospels, the Acts, the seven Catholic Epistles, nine of the Pauline Epistles, and the Epistle to the Hebrews as far as 9:14, from which verse to the end of the New Testament it is deficient; so that not only the last chapters of Hebrews, but the Epistle to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, as well as the Revelation, are missing. The peculiarities of the writing, the arrangement of the manuscript, and the character of the text—especially certain very remarkable readings—all combine to place the execution of the Codex in the fourth century, possibly about the middle of it. “The Alexandrine Codex was presented to King Charles the First in 1628 by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had himself brought it from Alexandria, of which place he was formerly Patriarch, and whence it derives its name. It contains both the Old and New Testaments. Of the New the following passages are wanting:—Matt. 1:1 to 25:6; John 6:50 to 8:52; 2 Cor. 4:13 to 12:6. …It would appear to have been written about the middle of the fifth century. “The Sinaitic Codex I was myself so happy as to discover in 1844 and 1859, at the convent of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, in the later of which years I brought it to Russia to the Emperor Alexander the Second, at whose instance my second journey to the East was undertaken. It contains both Old and New Testaments—the latter perfect without the loss of a single leaf….All the considerations which tend to fix the date of manuscripts lead to the conclusion that the Sinaitic Codex belongs to the middle of the fourth century. Indeed, the evidence is clearer in this case than in that of the Vatican Codex; and it is not improbable (which cannot be the case with the Vatican MS.) that it is one of the fifty copies which the Emperor Constantine in the year 331 directed to be made for Byzantium, under the care of Eusebius of Caesarea. In this case it is a natural inference that it was sent from Byzantium to the monks of St. Catherine by the Emperor Justinian, the founder of the convent. The entire Codex was published by its discoverer, under the orders of the Emperor of Russia, in 1862, with the most scrupulous exactness, and in a truly magnificent shape, and the New Testament portion was issued in a portable form in 1863 and 1865. “These considerations seem to show that the first place among the three great manuscripts, both for age and extent, is held by the Sinaitic Codex, the second by the Vatican, and the third by the Alexandrine. And this order is completely confirmed by the text they exhibit, which is not merely that which was accepted in the East at the time they were copied; but, having been written by Alexandrine copyists who knew but little of Greek, and therefore had no temptation to make alterations, they remain in a high degree faithful to the text which was accepted through a large portion of Christendom in the third and second centuries. The proof of this is their agreement with the most ancient translations—namely, the so-called Italic, made in the second century in proconsular Africa; the Syriac Gospels of the same date, now transferred from the convents of the Nitrian desert to the British Museum; and the Coptic version of the third century. It is confirmed also by their agreement with the oldest of the Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement and Origen. St. Catherine’s Monastry, Mount Sinai – Here Constantine Tischendorf discovered the Sinaitic Codex (one of the original New and Old Testament manuscripts) in 1844 and 1859. “These remarks apply to the Sinaitic Codex—which is remarkably close in its agreement to the ‘Italic’ version—more than they do to the Vatican MS., and still more so than the Alexandrine, which, however, is of far more value in the Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse than it is in the Gospels [R1147]…. Another remarkable means for preserving and verifying the New Testament writings is their copious quotation in other writings. Origen — who wrote in the early part of the third century, quotes 5745 passages from all the books in the New Testament; Tertullian — (A.D. 200), makes more than 3000 quotations from the N.T. books; Clement — (A.D. 194), quotes 380 passages; Irenaeus — (A.D. 178), quotes 767 passages; Polycarp — who was martyred A.D. 165, after serving Christ 86 years, quoted 36 passages in a single epistle; Justin Martyr — (A.D. 140), also quotes from the N.T. These were all Christian writers; and in addition to these, the Scriptures were largely quoted by heathen and infidel writers, among them Celsus (A.D. 150) and Porphyry (A.D. 304). Indeed the entire New Testament, with the exception of about a dozen verses, has been found scattered as quotations through various writings that are still extant. And if every copy of the N.T. had been destroyed by its enemies, the book could have been reproduced from these quotations contained in the writings of the early Christians and their enemies. While the means for the preservation of the Scriptures have been thus remarkably complete, and in view of the unparalleled opposition with which they have met give evidence of Divine care in their preservation, the means for their verification, and for arriving at an understanding of them in God’s due time, are found to be none the less remarkable. No other book in the world has ever had such attention as this book. The labor that has been spent in the preparation of complete concordances, indexes, various translations, etc., has been enormous; and the results to students of the Bible are of incalculable value. And while we recognize the providence of God in all this, we should and do appreciate these labors of his children and their great service to us, though we utterly repudiate, as useless, the labor that has been spent on many so-called theological writings, which are nothing more than miserable efforts to support the vain traditions of men, the accumulated monstrous volumes of which would indeed form a monument of human folly. Just in “The Time of the End,” when the prophet (Dan. 12:9,10) declares that “the wise (the meek and faithful children of God) shall understand,” we find these wonderful aids coming forward to our assistance. And parallel with these has happened the general spread of intelligence and education and the placing of the Bible in the hands of the people, thus enabling them to use the helps provided. The Bible claims to be a book written under divine inspiration. The word inspire signifies to breathe in, to infuse, to fill, to inhale—as to inspire the lungs with air. (See Webster’s Dictionary.) Hence, when it is said that certain scriptures, or writings of godly men, were given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16), it signifies that those men were in some way, whether through miraculous or natural means, inspired by, or brought under the influence of God; so as to be used by him in speaking or writing such words as he wished to have expressed. The prophets and apostles all claimed such inspiration. Peter says, “The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Spirit.”—2 Pet. 1:21. Through Moses we have the law of God and the only existing credible history of mankind from the creation of Adam down to his own time, covering a period of about 2500 years. While Moses and the other Bible writers were holy men, inspired with pure motives and holy zeal, and while personal pride, ambition, etc., were no part of their spirit, we learn that Moses was inspired with the knowledge of God’s law, both in its great principles and also in the minutiae of its typical ceremonials, by direct revelation from God at Mount Sinai, and of some points of duty at the burning bush at Horeb, etc. As for his historical writings, Moses was evidently guided of God in the collation and presentation in its present complete and connected form of the history of the world down to his day, which was really in great part the history of his own family back to Adam with an account of the creation doubtless given by God to Adam while he was yet in fellowship in Eden. Nor does a correct handing down of family information, covering a period of over 2300 years, seem impossible, or liable, as it would now be, to have become polluted; for, aside from the fact that it was handed down through the God-fearing family line of Seth, it should be remembered that at that time the bodies, brains and memories of men were not so weak as they are now, and as they have been since the flood; and finally, because the long lives of two men link Adam with the family of Abraham, the family of covenant favor,—with Isaac, the typical seed of promise. These two men were Methuselah and Shem. Methuselah was over 200 years old when Adam died, and had abundant opportunity, therefore, for information at first hands; and Shem, the son of Noah, lived contemporaneously with Methuselah for 98 years, and with Isaac for 50 years. Thus, these two living, God-fearing men acted as God’s historians to communicate his revelations and dealings to the family in whom centered the promises, of which Moses was one of the prospective heirs. In addition to these facts, we have the statement of Josephus that Methuselah, Noah and Shem, the year before the flood, inscribed the history and discoveries of the world on two monuments of stone and brick which were still standing in Moses’ time. The Apostle Peter tells us that the prophets of old time often did not understand their own utterances, as they themselves also acknowledge (1 Pet. 1:12; Dan. 12:4,8-10); and we should remember that the twelve apostles (Paul taking the place of Judas—Gal. 1:17; 1 Tim. 2:7) not only filled the office of apostles… they also, especially Peter and Paul and John, filled the office of prophets, and were not only given the spirit of wisdom and understanding by which they were enabled to understand and explain the previously dark prophecies, but in addition to this we believe that they were under the guidance and supervision of the Lord to such an extent that their references to things future from their day, things therefore not then due to be fully understood, were guided, so as to be true to an extent far beyond their comprehension, and such consequently were as really prophetic as the utterances of the old-time prophets. Illustrations of this are to be found in the Revelations of the Apostle John, in Peter’s symbolic description of the Day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:10-13), and in numerous references to the same period by Paul also, among which were some things hard to be understood even by Peter (2 Pet. 3:16) and only partially then by Paul himself. The latter, however, was permitted to see future things more clearly than others of his time, and to that end he was given special visions and revelations which he was not allowed to make known to others (2 Cor. 12:1-4), but which, nevertheless, influenced and colored his subsequent teachings and his epistles. And these very items which Peter thought strange of, and called “hard to be understood,” are the very items which now, in God’s due time, for which they were intended, so grandly illuminate not only Peter’s prophecies and John’s Revelation, but the entire word and plan of God,—that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished.—2 Tim. 3:16,17. … There were, even in the days of the apostles, ambitious men who taught another gospel and claimed for themselves the honors of special revelations and authority as apostles and teachers of no less authority than the twelve apostles. And ambitious men of the same sort have from time to time since arisen—Emanuel Swedenborg and many less able and less notable—whose claims, if conceded, would not only place them in rank far above Paul, the prince of the apostles, but whose teachings would tend to discredit entirely, as “old wives’ fables,” the whole story of redemption and remission of sins through the blood of the cross. These would-be apostles, boastful, heady, high-minded, have “another gospel,” a perversion of the gospel of Christ; and above all they despise and seek to cast discredit upon the words of Paul who so clearly, forcibly and logically lifts up the standard of faith and points to the cross—the ransom—as the sure foundation, and who so clearly showed that pseudo -apostles, false apostles, would arise and deceive many. It not only required an inspiration to write God’s plan, but it also requires an inspiration of the Almighty to give an understanding of that revelation; yet this inspiration is of a different sort. When any one has realized himself a sinner, weak, imperfect and condemned, and has accepted of Christ as his Redeemer, and full of love and appreciation has consecrated his heart (his mind, his will) to the Lord, to henceforth please not himself but his Redeemer,—God has arranged that such a consecration of the natural mind brings a new mind. The spirit of the truth inspires and controls to a greater or lesser extent … their words and thoughts, and even their very looks. Yet such an inspiration, common to all the saints, in proportion to their development, should be critically distinguished from the special and peculiarly guided and guarded inspiration of the twelve apostles, whom God specially appointed to be the teachers of the church, and who have no successors in this office. Only twelve were “chosen,” and when one of these, Judas, fell from his honorable office, the Lord in due time appointed Paul to the place; and he not only has never recognized others, but clearly indicates that he never will recognize others in that office.—Rev. 21:14. With the death of the Apostles the canon of Scripture closed, because God had there given a full and complete revelation of his plan for man’s salvation; though some of it was in a condensed form which has since expanded and is expanding and unfolding and will continue to expand and shine more and more until the perfect day—the Millennial Day—has been fully ushered in. Paul expresses this thought clearly when he declares that the Holy Scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, and that they are sufficient. As we consider, then, the completeness, harmony, purity and grandeur of the Bible, its age and wonderful preservation through the wreck and storms of [nearly] six thousand years, it must be admitted to be a most wonderful book; and those who have learned to read it understandingly, who see in it the great plan of the ages, cannot doubt that God was its inspiring Author, as well as its Preserver. Its only parallel is the book of nature by the same great Author. Posted on July 31, 2018 August 24, 2018 by Bible Students DailyPosted in Hymns of DawnTagged 1 Chron. 27"32, 1 Kings 14:21, 1 Kings 18, 1 Sam. 10:25, 100 ad, 100ad, 1475, 1611, 1628, 1844, 1859, 2 Chron. 33, 2 Cor. 12:6, 2 Cor. 4:13, 2 tim, 2 Tim. 3:15, 2043, 331ad, a beautiful temple, accept Christ, Adam, alexandrian, Aramaic, Authorized version, Bible, bible authenticity, bible credibility, bible translations, blessed bible, Br. David Rice, Br. George Tabac, Byzantium, Celsus, Charles Taze Russell, codex sinaticus, condemned, consecrated, Constantine Tischendorf, Cyril Lucar, dark ages, dawn bible students association, Deut. 31, earliest bible, earliest copy of the bible, earliest copy of the new testament, earliest new testament, Emanuel Swedenborg, Emperor Alexander the second, Emperor Justinian, Erasmus, Eusebius of Caesarea, exod 17, Exod. 14, Ezra, from God's standpoint, how can your eyes of understanding be opened, how did the bible survive, how many new testament original mauscripts exist, hymn 22, Hymns of Dawn, imperfect, Irenaeus, Isa. 30:8, Isaiah 30:8, James the first, Jer. 30, Jer. 45, Jeremiah 36, Jerm. 51, John 6:50, Josephus, Josh. 1:8, Justin Martyr, King Charles the first, language, Mat . 1:1, Methuselah, Mount Sinai, Nehemiah 8, new mind in christ, opens the eyes of the understanding, Origen, original Bible manuscripts, original watchtower, papal hierarchy, Polycarp, Porphyry, R60, reliability of present bible translations, reprint 60, reprint no. 60, Robert Stephens, Shem, sinner, St. Catherine monastry, Syria, Syriac language, temple, Tertullian, the Alexandrian Codex, the Apostles, the authorship and credibility of the Bible, the bible during the dark ages, the prophets of old, Tischendorf, Vatican Codex, vaticanus, Watch Tower, Watch Tower and Tract Society, Watchtower, weak, when was the sinaitic codex discovered, who has a new mind in christ, who wrote the Bible, Zion Watch Tower. Dear brethren, more grace and peace. Thank you very much for sharing. Warmest greetings and good wishes for your good health. Courage! Keep up the good fight. Dear Brother Alex – Greetings IN our BELOVED – Christ Jesus, through whom we can BE HIDDEN IN where inside the Holy of Holies we can, by FAITH, sit down with him in, and his banner of love is over us! Thank you for your unceasing words of edification IN CHRIST. “(20) May the GOD OF PEACE who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, (21) equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21, ESV). Greet all GOD’s people. We send you and our Brethren in Christ there greetings. “Grace be with you all” (Hebrews 13:25).

2019-04-21T04:53:27Z

https://biblestudentsdaily.com/2018/07/31/blessed-bible-hymns-of-dawn-no-22/

AS the Islamist-in-Chief awaits with bated breath to sign off on “peace in our time” – duly backed up by a recent Iranian defector, a top aide to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani – it must be understood, in relation to Obama Inc. and Iran, the “negotiations” have been little more than theatrical spectacles. Window dressing. Don’t ever forget this. NOT only that, but guess who is one of his chief adviser’s via said “negotiations”? A highly connected mouthpiece for the Iranian regime! Say what? As is said, the fix is in! BY the way, Sec Kerry has gone native, and not least of which because his son-in-law is Iranian. Secretary of State John Kerry exposed a secret that journalists and academics have been agonizing over for the past six weeks: the fact that his daughter has married an Iranian-American who has extensive family ties to Iran. “I am proud of the Iranian-Americans in my own family, and grateful for how they have enriched my life,” Kerry said in the official statement. NOT only that, since this site’s inception, mega alarm bells (seek, and you shall find) rang, and all indicators pointed towards this moment in time. But let’s use the following one (Dec. 2013) as an exemplar, in so far as one of the world’s most authoritative experts on nuclear doctrine, Professor Louis Rene Beres, gave this investigative journalist a special shout out (among many) to said effect, and this one was especially high on his register: “Iran, A (De Facto) Nuclear State: Israel’s Former AMAN Chief Concurs With Former CIA Head.” Them’s fighting words. FOLKS, who’s still shocked…shocked. After all, how many alarms bells had to be rung here and there? STILL, let’s dare not overlook the historical parallels to the run up to Hitler’s genocidal swathe, if any sense of history still counts among non-blinded and rational thinkers. “Peace for Our Time,” announced a proud Neville Chamberlain after placing the Czechoslovaks in Hitler’s foaming bite, one he relaxed only to spit threats of European war and anti-Jewish genocide. “Peace in our time” promised Barack Obama in his inaugural speech of 2013. History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Obama prepares already the signature that will normalize the nuclear program of terrorist Ali Khamenei, ‘Supreme Leader’ (official title) of Iran, and would-be emulator of Hitler’s crime against the Jews. Santayana was right: lest we understand history we are doomed to repeat it. So let us interrogate this history and find the rhymes to grasp our moment: How could Chamberlain vault over public opinion to commit his diplomatic barbarities? Historians have answered this already. It wasn’t just the Times. Neville Chamberlain’s Conservative Party created, in the late 1920s, “ ‘a little intelligence service of our own’ ” that jerked the conservative press around with a clandestine bridle every bit as short as that employed in the totalitarian states. It was led by Sir Joseph Ball, Chamberlain’s most intimate friend, as documented in research published by R.B. Cockett in The Historical Journal. Ball began extending his control over the rest of the British press when the Great Depression called forth the so-called ‘national’ government, in truth conservative to the hilt.. Historian Frederick Marks points out in The Historical Journal that Franklin Delano Roosevelt projected in public positions quite at variance with his backstage dealings, producing a “gap between appearance and reality” that was “very wide indeed.” To British ambassador Ronald Lindsay, Roosevelt confessed that he would be the first to celebrate the success of British and French pressure on Czechoslovakia, but that he would be impeached if the US public came to know his opinion. Support for the ‘appeasement’ (is that what it was?) of Hitler was an Anglo-American, and not merely a British phenomenon. In our time US and British leaders invade Afghanistan and Iraq creating voids that Iran is quick to fill. Now they rush to negotiate with Iran that country’s development of nuclear weapons. In charge is Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state, author of the deal that allowed North Korea her nuclear bombs and possessor of quite some gall for scolding the South Koreans who insist those bombs are unacceptable. And to all this, the respected press of our day, what does it say? On November 2014 the Economist confessed that “Iran is hard to fathom,” and that “journalists who have been able to obtain a precious visa still leave with a sense of uncertainty as few Iranians feel free to speak their mind.” Despite these limitations the British magazine, the most prestigious in the world, the most influential with ‘intelligent’ and ‘educated’ people, stated confidently that “The [Iranian] Revolution is over” and that “the country has unmistakably changed,” flooding its readers with statistics and anecdotes that speak to the supposed liberalism, modernity, and education of the Iranian population. However, the nuclear agreement will not be signed with the Iranian population but with the tyrants who rule it. In November 2014, when the Economist published said piece, those rulers were energetically financing, as they still do, terrorist groups with a genocidal and antisemitic ideology; prosecutor Alberto Nissman was still around to denounce with his own voice the Argentinian government’s cover up of the Iranian officials responsible for the terrorist attack against the Jewish community of Buenos Aires (85 dead and 300 wounded); and one could still hear echoes of Iranian ‘Supreme Leader’ Ali Khamenei’s July threat of “annihilation” against the Jewish State. Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, orated eloquently some days ago before the US Congress on the intentions of the ayatollahs and the dangers of signing with them. The Economist replied with firm support for Obama. As did the New York Times. Thus were we spoken to right before Czechoslovakia was thrown to Hitler. But that wasn’t (not exactly…) a free press. Have things changed? What does recent historical research reveal on the influence of the Western power elite over the media? These same intelligence agencies were granted explicit permission, in the National Security Act of 1947, to use ‘covert actions’ to corrupt foreign media. There is more than enough here for whoever sees in the press nothing less than Power’s megaphone. It was Chamberlain who celebrated Chamberlain’s policies; now Obama sells Obama. History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. We should take heed, because antisemites are dangerous to us all. In World War II more than 54 million non-Jews lost their lives. For Hitler we were ‘subhumans’; for Khamenei, ‘infidels.’ Will the outcome be very different? IN the same manner in which the geo-political stage was pre-set for World War 2, make no mistake, so too this go around is heading towards World War 3. In fact, whatever doubts one had re his intentions – as to what HUSSEIN Obama has been up to – there should no longer even be a scintilla. For when one factors in the requirements – the geo-political fault lines – for Iranian hegemony (and this is the mullahs and HUSSEIN Obama’s end goal, aside from everything else), it became necessary to alight the entire Mid East (and parts of Africa) to effectuate their plans. None of the fires were happenstance. BASICALLY, a Sunni-Shia showdown had to take place, and the hyper-muscle of the Islamist-in-Chief was pressed into action to stir the ever-brewing cauldron of inter-Islamic/Arab struggle for regional (then global) hegemony. This was precisely what the so-called “Arab Spring” was about, followed up by the illegal thrust into Libya, Benghazigate. Precursors. NOW, for the newly initiated it becomes confusing because HUSSEIN Obama is Sunni and in deep sympathy with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. However, overriding factors are in play, and allowing Iran’s regime to gain nuclear weapons surpasses certain inherent fealty. REGARDLESS, Valerie Jarrett’s Iranian roots pave his way forward, and she is his absolute right hand…left too. Therefore, rest assured, the west will soon be living under the shadowy threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. MIND you, PM Netanyahu bears partial responsibility for this nightmare, as repeatedly stated at several forums. Most recently, his onus can be found here. Indeed, he has been in power for years, and did little more than order certain counter measures to push back against Iran’s genocidal march, many of which will never (rightfully so) be known. NEVERTHELESS, when re-elected in 2009, had he brought to bear (knowing full well that HUSSEIN Obama would never stop Iran’s mullahs) Israel’s FORMIDABLE and multi-layered strike forces, that would have been 6 years less time for Iran’s centrifuges to spin, and said determinate action would have cut the wind out of both their sails, Iran’s and the Islamist-in-Chief’s. Adina Kutnicki: Wolff, before we review the dangers associated with the newly-formed Muslim-American party, it must be reiterated: traditional American allies are caught up in a horrifying spider’s web through their association with the Obama administration. Poisonous. Illustrative of said entangling, one has to internalize when it is in a nation’s best interests to align with a “best friend” and when prudence demands a “trial” separation, at least for the time being. Basically, PM Netanyahu, MIT smartie that he is, hasn’t figured out this seemingly simple calculus. Along this trajectory, through his joined-at-the-hip actions with Barack HUSSEIN Obama (don’t be distracted by their public tussles – as media grabbing as they are – that’s not where the action/collusion is) Israel now finds herself “involved” with Sunni jihadists, the likes of which include Al Qaeda, Al Nusra and ISIS! Yup. Trenchantly, there is a “quiet” war being fought on the Syrian side of Israel’s northern Golan border to capture key sites. It may very well blow up Israel’s Golan front. Currently, the struggle is between Assad’s henchmen and the aforementioned Sunni jihadists. These are the same “rebels” whom Obama Inc. has “surreptitiously” armed, ever since the administration entered into an absolutely illegal war in Libya. Its (hidden) basis was to arm Sunni terrorists to take over the region for the Muslim Brotherhood! Full circle. Resultant, instead of PM Netanyahu opting out of choosing between one Islamic devil over another (Assad’s forces are inseparable from Iran’s proxy pawns), thereby, reacting to whichever side illegally fires from Syria into Israel with resolute IDF firepower, Israel is now – like it or not – aiding those who abet Hamas. Ditto, Assad/Iran have been doing likewise. Assuredly, there are times when NOT choosing sides makes the most strategic sense. However, this is definitely not the case with the Kurdish issue. Alas, it was a relief that PM Netanyahu publicly stated his support for Kurdish independence from Iraq. As is said, even a broken clock can be right once in a while. Stipulated, sans a scintilla of a doubt, under PM Netanyahu’s missteps, the dangers to Israel have never been greater…. IN this regard, this week’s Israeli airstrike into Syria wielded a two-edge sword; a dual track. Yes, as critical as this investigative journalist is of PM Netanyahu’s penchant for spinelessness, this go around he exerted proper hyper-muscle and secured Israel’s national interests – finally. The advanced weapons were sent over, as DEBKAfile reported exclusively Sunday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin learned that the Obama administration and the Erdogan government were close to a final draft on a joint effort to activate a no-fly zone that would bar Syrian air force traffic over northern Syria. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned – of late in strong messages through back channels – that the establishment of a no-fly or buffer zone in any part of Syria would be treated as direct American intervention in the Syria war and result in Russian military intervention for defending the Assad regime. According to the US-Turkish draft, American warplanes would be allowed to take off from the Turkish airbase of Incirlik in the south for operations against Syrian warplanes, assault helicopters or drones entering the no-go zone. Thus far, Ankara has only permitted US surveillance aircraft and drones the use of Incirlik for tracking the movements of Islamic State fighters in northern Syria. The Obama administration was long deterred from implementing a no-fly zone plan by the wish to avoid riling Moscow or facing the hazards of Syria’s world-class air defense system. But Washington was recently won over to the plan by a tacit deal with Damascus for American jets to be allowed entry to help Kurdish fighters defend their northern Syrian enclave of Kobani against capture by al Qaeda’s IS invaders. However, the US administration turned down a Turkish demand to extend the no-fly zone from their border as far as Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, over which Syrian army forces are battling rebels and advancing slowly into the town. The no-fly zone planned by US strategists would be narrow – between a kilometer and half a kilometer deep inside Syria. However Moscow is standing fast against any such plan and objects to US planes making free of Syrian airspace, a freedom they are now afforded over Kobani. To drive this point home, the Russians delivered a supply of advanced anti-air missiles and radar, whose use by the Syrian army and transfer to Hizballah in Lebanon were thwarted by the Israeli air strikes Sunday. EXTRAPOLATING further – and despite the warning that Syria’s response would be clandestine and cause Israel “unimaginable harm” – the fact of the matter is that they never cease plotting to exert “unimaginable harm”. Israel is, as is said, damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t. But never mind. Its PRIMARY vested interest (by striking Syria, the transit route to Lebanon’s Hezbollah) is to ALWAYS keep advanced anti-missile hardware out of Hezbollah’s hands. In essence, these air strikes (and other clandestine operations) frustrate Iran’s proxy arm from causing grave damage to Israel. Significantly, said pre-emptive actions should be a no-brainer, even for Israel’s appeasement-oriented political leaders. Not only that, they are manifestly legal under international law, despite Russia’s (and Syria’s) shrill pronouncements before the U.N.’s anti-Israel gaggle of kleptocrats. Nonetheless, we live in very different times. Grotius, Vattel and those later jurists who were focused on the Caroline could never have anticipated the genuinely existential risks soon to be posed by a nuclear Iran. Understandably, the permissibility of anticipatory self-defense is far greater in the nuclear age than in prior centuries. Today, after all, it is easy to imagine, simply waiting impotently to suffer an enemy nuclear attack could be entirely irrational. Even suicidal. NOT to be lost in the discussion, this week’s strike assisted the U.S. military in its quest to block Russia from imposing a “no-fly” zone over Syrian airspace, and all that it entails. Resultant, it became a win-win to strike. CONCOMITANTLY, Israel’s leaders must steer clear of Obama Inc.’s “relationship” with ISIS and its attendant terror arms, thus, knowing when to “part company”! Sentient and rational folks can no longer deny the obvious: the Iranian regime, when they exhort Death to Israel and Death to America, is indeed gunning for both nations. Their genocidal war inexorably twins the “Big Satan” and the “Little Satan”. Factual. Indisputable. Take them at their exact words. This past Monday marked the 34th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Iran, leading to 52 Americans being held hostage for several months. Contrary to what many analysts thought, and despite the recent “thaw” and optimism considering rapprochement between Iranian authorities and American leaders, tens of thousands of Iranian demonstrators packed the streets outside of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran this year. Hundreds of thousands also demonstrated against Israel and the U.S. in other cities across the country. The protests were unprecedented in their scale and scope, reported as the biggest anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in years. According to Iran’s official media, millions of people participated in these protests and demonstrations around the country, the largest turnout in years. Additionally, the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran have designated Nov. 4 as a “National Day against Global Arrogance.” While this week, tens of thousands of Iranians shouted “death to America” and “death to Israel.” The burning of American and Israeli flags permeated throughout the cities. Furthermore, effigies of American President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were held up high by protesters…. SIMILARLY, when self-coined PA Arabs (in tandem with Hamas, their “bad cop” partners, and officially part of their terror entity) slaughter Jews, an imperative to destroy Israel, know that their hatred towards America is equally annihilatory. In fact, who recalls PA Arabs dancing and handing out sweets after 9/11/01 jihadists incinerated over 3,000 Americans under the banner of Islam? Their jihad has only gotten worse after years of perfecting their “art”. Think about it. SO the urgent questions before Israelis and Americans – and the west at large – are: what exactly does Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s backroom deal with Iran’s mullahs portend? and, at the same time, how is PA (jihadi) “statehood” fitting into this same impending prism, both jointly and separately? IN this regard, aside from Professor Louis Rene Beres, no one is more qualified to address these two synergistic global menaces. This too is a fact. And said qualifier is irrespective of his cornerstone at this site. Ominously, especially for Israel, Iranian nuclearization and Palestinian statehood are progressing at roughly the same pace. Although this simultaneous emergence is proceeding without any conscious intent or coordinated design, the cumulative security impact upon Israel will still be substantial. Plausibly, and in contrast to more usual geometric orthodoxy, the “whole” of this impact will be considerably greater than the sum of its “parts.” Expressed more precisely, the appearance of Iranian nuclear weapons and “Palestine” will be synergistic. For Israeli planners, of course, this unique and unprecedented threat should be treated with appropriate intellectual respect. In essence, and contrary to a long-prevailing conventional wisdom, Iran and Palestine do not represent separate or unrelated hazards to Israel. Rather, they delineate intersecting, mutually reinforcing, and potentially existential perils. It follows, unambiguously, that Jerusalem must do whatever possible to remove or diminish expected dangers on both fronts, and also at the same time. Facing Iranian nuclear missiles, Israel’s “Arrow” ballistic missile defense system would reasonably require a fully 100% reliability of interception. To achieve any such level of reliability, of course, would simply not be possible. Now, assuming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already abandoned any residual hopes for a cost-effective eleventh-hour preemption against pertinent Iranian nuclear assets – an altogether credible assumption, at this late time – this means that Israeli defense planners must look instead to deterrence. Because of the expectedly corrosive interactive effects involving Iranian nuclear weapons and Palestinian statehood, Israel will soon need to update and further refine its existing strategies of deterrence. In this connection, Israel’s leaders will have to accept that certain more-or-less identifiable leaders of these prospectively overlapping enemies might not always satisfy the complex criteria of rational behavior in world politics. In such improbable but still conceivable circumstances, assorted Jihadist adversaries in Palestine, Iran, Lebanon or elsewhere might sometime refuse to back away from contemplated aggressions against Israel. By definition, moreover, these irrational enemies could exhibit such refusals in thoroughly considered anticipations of a fully devastating Israeli reprisal. Sooner rather than later, and facing a new and incalculable synergy from Iranian and Palestinian aggressions, Israel will need to take appropriate steps to assure that: (1) it does not become the object of any non-conventional attacks from these enemies; and (2) it can successfully deter all possible forms of non-conventional conflict. To meet this ambitious goal, Jerusalem, inter alia, must retain its recognizably far-reaching conventional superiority in pertinent weapons and capable manpower, including effective tactical control over the Jordan Valley. In principle, such retentions could reduce the overall likelihood of ever actually having to enter into any chemical, biological, or nuclear exchange with regional adversaries. Correspondingly, Israel should plan to begin to move incrementally beyond its increasingly perilous posture of “deliberate nuclear ambiguity.” By preparing to shift toward prudently selective and partial kinds of “nuclear disclosure” – in other words, by getting ready to take its “bomb” out of the “basement,” and in carefully controlled phases – Israel could better ensure that its relevant enemies will remain sufficiently subject to Israeli nuclear deterrence. In matters of strategy, operational truth may sometimes emerge through apparent paradox. Israeli planners may soon have to understand that the efficacy or credibility of their country’s nuclear deterrence posture could sometime vary inversely with enemy views of Israeli nuclear destructiveness. However ironic or counter-intuitive, therefore, enemy perceptions of a too-large or too-destructive Israeli nuclear deterrent force, or of an Israeli force that is not sufficiently invulnerable to first-strike attacks, could sometime undermine this deterrence posture. Also critical, of course, is that Israel’s current and prospective adversaries will see the Jewish State’s nuclear retaliatory forces as “penetration capable.” This means forces that seem assuredly capable of penetrating any Arab or Iranian aggressor’s active defenses. Naturally, a new state of Palestine would be non-nuclear itself, but it could still present a new “nuclear danger” to Israel by its impact upon the more generally regional “correlation of forces.” Thereby, Palestine could represent an indirect but nonetheless markedly serious nuclear threat to Israel. Overall, the success of Israel’s national deterrence strategies will be contingent upon an informed prior awareness of enemy preferences, and of specific enemy hierarchies of preferences. In this connection, altogether new and open-minded attention will need to be focused on the seeming emergence of “Cold War II” between Russia and the United States. This time around, for example, the relationship between Jerusalem and Moscow could prove helpful rather than adversarial. For Jerusalem, it may even be reasonable to explore whether this once hostile relationship could turn out to be more strategically gainful for Israel, than its traditionally historic ties to the United States. Credo quia absurdum. At this transitional moment in geostrategic time, when Washington may need to align itself with Tehran and Damascus against Islamic State, virtually anything is possible. Louis René Beres (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971) is Professor of Political Science and International Law at Purdue. He is the author of ten major books, and several hundred journal articles, in the field. Professor Beres’ shorter opinion articles appear in many leading US and Israeli newspapers and magazines, including The Atlantic, US News & World Report, The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Times, and Oxford University Press. In Israel, where his current writings are published by the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, the Institute for Policy and Strategy, and the Institute for National Security Studies, he was Chair of Project Daniel (2003). Dr. Beres’ most recent strategy-centered publications were published in The Harvard National Security Journal (Harvard Law School), The International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, and the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. FROM the onset, let’s be very clear: no stone was left unturned at this site to highlight the genocidal goals of Iran’s mullahs, to the point of collaborating with a world-class resource to said effect. IN this regard, this investigative journalist has kept in close contact, for more than a decade, with Professor Louis Rene Beres. His contributions to all aspects of this global threat are duly noted – and gratefully appreciated – at this site’s “About” tab. My “go to” expert on all matters pertaining to international law, and a country’s right to anticipatory self defense – via preemptive strikes – is none other than Professor Louis Rene Beres of ‘Project Daniel.’ The working group’s original policy paper is found herein. He was Chair of the above strategic nuclear policy paper given to PM Ariel Sharon in 2003 – and subsequently briefed the report to President George W. Bush and to current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – in relation to Israel’s nuclear strategy in the face of Iran’s pursuit of WMD’s. He is a man of great integrity and humility. Lou, a heartfelt thank you for being my mentor. SO when this issue crops up at these pages, rest assured, it is with a deep understanding of the subject matter. But before we get to the latest “booms”, as well as the (inevitable/eventual détente) relationship between ISIS and Iran, let’s perform a recap. COME what may, the Jihadi-in-Chief is leading Iran to the WMD finish line. Yes, he is. The reasons are manifest and may appear convoluted, but they are no less true. WITHIN this quest belies his Iranian point woman, communist aligned Valerie Jarrett. One can be an Islamist AND a communist. Back in 2003, the most comprehensive report/analysis – in relation to the corresponding global menace – surrounding Iran’s race to nuclear arms status was hand delivered to both President Bush and PM Ariel Sharon. Six years later, with the genocidal program still in place, the report’s essence was requisite updated. These are facts. It was a commissioned report by the most acknowledged apolitical nuclear expert team, bar none. Therein lies its inherent value. In the often-unpredictable theater of modern world politics, a drama that so often bristles with apparent meaninglessness, decisions that rest upon ordinary logic may quickly crumble before madness. Here, dangers can reach even the most utterly portentous level. This is the aptly-dreaded point of convergence, when madness and nuclear weapons capability would coincide, fuse, or otherwise come together. Enter Israel and Iran. Soon, because not a single responsible member of the “international community” has ever demonstrated a determinable willingness to undertake appropriately preemptive action (“anticipatory self-defense,” in the formal language of law), the Jewish State may have to face an expressly genocidal Iranian nuclear adversary. Although improbable, a potentially “suicidal” enemy state in Iran, one animated by graphically precise visions of a Shiite apocalypse, cannot be wished away, or, capriciously, dismissed out of hand. Iran’s current leadership, and possibly even a successor “reformist” government in Tehran, could, at some point, choose to value Israel’s physical destruction more highly than even its own physical survival. Should this happen, the “play” would almost certainly end badly for all “actors.” In recognizably theatrical terms, the “director’s” command would be both unambiguous and immobilizing. Nonetheless, despite U.S. President Barack Obama’s disingenuous hope for “a world free of nuclear weapons,” Israel’s ultimate source of national security must inevitably lie in sustained nuclear deterrence. Although still implicit or ambiguous, and not yet open, or disclosed, this Israeli “bomb in the basement” could readily “crumble before madness.” In certain easily-imaginable instances, circumstances involving enemy “madness,” the results of failed Israeli retaliatory threats could ultimately be existential….. IN tandem, do take the time to read Prof Beres’s special Iran report featured at the U.S. Army’s Strategic Institute Publication, Parameters. BUT let us now turn our attention to Israel’s PM Netanyahu. FOR over five and a half years, since March 31, 2009, “Bibi” has been in charge of Israel’s ship of state. Within any rational discourse this is a monumental burden, unlike none other. He is, at this critical juncture in history, the guardian of the Jewish people’s thousands yr old – one and only – homeland. Patrimony. And as an American-Israeli (a nationalist Zionist, now living in Israel) there is little more important on this end. THAT being said, to remonstrate Israel’s PM before a world audience has always been a personal burden. An absolute shame and stain. Nevertheless, it is what it is. As such, let’s first recount his latest operational failure, and it will reveal why he has been incapable of ordering the complete pre-emption of Iran’s explicitly genocidal program, instead of piecemeal (delaying) actions here and there. Burying another brave son of Israel who died to protect his people and his homeland. Wolff Bachner: Much to our sorrow, the world is in even worse shape than the last time we spoke. Since your previous visit, Hamas managed to provoke another war with Israel, which gave all the Israel bashing bigots of the European Union the excuse they needed to rampage and riot with a truly disgusting display of virulent Jew hate. Adding to the misery, ISIS commenced their campaign of butchering and bloodshed, beheading thousands of helpless human beings as they tore through the Levant in the name of the new Caliphate. Certainly, we are witnessing what may be the beginning of the next clash of civilizations, but let’s narrow our focus just a bit and start our discussion with Israel, Hamas, and much maligned Operation Protective Edge. Once again, we see Israel’s so-called leaders caving in to pressure from foreign governments and ending the campaign to demilitarize Gaza and disarm Hamas before the job is done. What effect will this have on the people of Israel, and what will this ill-advised strategy allow Hamas to do to Israel in the future? Why would Netanyahu call off Operation Protective Edge while rockets are still raining down on Israel. Is this a sane military strategy? MOREOVER, how many toothless (and cartoonish) “red lines” can a leader use as credible threats, after which they mean less than the paper they are drawn on? Exactly. ON the other hand, what appears to be the case – as demonstrated with Stuxnet – he is signing off on temporary “setbacks”, in the vain hope Iran won’t go nuclear under his watch and regroup after the latest rubble is cleared. In a nutshell, he will pass the buck. The explosion that destroyed the Parchin site was massive. Various reports reveal that windows shattered up to 15 kilometers away. Satellite photographs backed up claims that the explosion was the result of an attack, and showed almost total devastation to the facility. Israel’s government declined to issue an official statement on the incident, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks had renewed his firm warnings that Israel would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran. A spectacular explosion on Sunday night outside Tehran took place deep inside the Parchin military base, where Iran produces crucial elements of its missiles and other munitions, raising new questions about whether the blast was an accident or sabotage. The explosion and resulting fire, which Iranian news organizations have described in only the most general terms, could be seen from apartments in Tehran and appeared to have destroyed several buildings. But it was distant from a part of the base to which the International Atomic Energy Agency has been seeking access for years, to investigate reports of experiments on high explosives that could have been used in nuclear weapons. The agency’s evidence about that activity dates back more than a decade, and that part of the base has been so bulldozed and reconfigured in recent years that inspectors concede it is doubtful there is much left to see or test if they ever get access. The explosion, according to satellite photographs from Airbus that were analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security, took place in a densely built region toward the southern end of the base, in an area that appeared from past photographs to be littered with bunkers. The damage was reminiscent of pictures of a missile-development site 30 miles west of Tehran that was virtually destroyed during a test in November 2011 that killed 17 people, including Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the leading force behind Iran’s advanced missile efforts. REGARDLESS, those of sound mind don’t really believe that Israel’s current crop of leaders have the balls to FULLY thwart the Islamist-in-Chief’s push for a “deal” with Iran’s mullahs, whatever the costs to Israel and the west. Resultant, an all out strike on an admitted existential threat would entail going up against Washington’s dictates. And if past is prologue, as detailed within the above linked interview, a PM who couldn’t stand up to Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s demands to leave Hamas’s leaders alive (and their underground command and control structures intact), is certainly not likely to lay to waste, once and for all, Iran’s death program, even though we all know Israel has a multiplicity of strike forces to perform the hits in rapid sequence. ASK yourselves: does anyone believe that whatever blows up in one part of Iran doesn’t have a mirror site, a redundancy, somewhere else in that vast country? On the other hand, if SEVERAL key sites are laid to waste then it will be (perhaps) decades before Iran’s mullahs catch up to speed. In effect, the open question is: will all the KEY facilities meet similar fates? MOST significantly, even though Iran’s Shia mullahs are battling ISIS (Sunni) jihadists for Islamic hegemony, the fact of the matter is that either will aid the other when it comes to wiping out Israel. So if ISIS gets its hands on dirty bombs, well, they will unleash them without hesitation. But if Iran requires assistance from ISIS to smuggle in a nuclear bomb into Israel, rest assured, they will more than eagerly cooperate in concert with one another. AND with the CIA backed operational/intelligence expertise of Clare Lopez, now an integral part of Washington’s Center For Security Policy – a top tier intelligence shop – connecting the regional and global dots, The Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL takes on a crystal clear focus, as does the apocalyptic visions of Iran’s mullahs. Hence, “A Lesson On The Islamic State” is a MUST view! WITHIN this scope of looming dangers and tribal grudge matches going on between the Shia mullahs and the Sunni ISIS, the reality is that Iran – as it stands -comes out the winner, even though there are booms going off here and there. CONCLUSIVELY, celebrating Parchin’s dust up for long-term effects is premature, but still very welcome news! An Israeli army officer on Friday shows journalists a Palestinian tunnel that runs from the Gaza. AS a native New Yorker – now living in Israel – the following thought experiment is highly germane. Apropo. IMAGINE, if you will, living nearby the border between the east and west sides of NYC, somewhere in mid-Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue range, but your actual address is west of Fifth. Then, picture heavy-duty missiles flying out of the eastern demarcation into your western sphere, and for well over a decade. Hmm. Yet, in your mind’s eye, go a step further. Situate yourselves in another scenario: “wild west” east siders have upped the ante; digging tunnels into west side buildings, ever ready to cause more explosive terror! Which leader(s) in their rational mind would allow their citizens to “live” under such terrorizing conditions, ever fearful of becoming cannon fodder? Rhetorical. NOW, as previously demonstrated, Israel’s top leadership – the buck stops with “Bibi” – commit double crimes. The first tier deals with an absolute ILLEGALITY; negotiating – thus legitimizing – with Hamas, a designated terror group, even within Washington’s listing of terror groups! This is beyond dispute. Beyond the pale, even if masking such negotiations under political/diplo cover. Whom are they fooling? NOT the majority Zionist public, that’s for sure. A demonstration in support of the war in Gaza in Tel Aviv. SIGNIFICANTLY, time and again, Israel’s leaders negotiate “ceasefires/deathfires” with terror groups, be they Hamas, Fatah or Hezbollah. It makes no diff. And while said “ceasefires” aren’t worth the price of bupkes, the fact of the matter is not only are they worthless and exponentially dangerous – whetting their appetites for more of the same – they are ILLEGAL. Plain and simple…. Moreover, no proper system of law can ever permit any sort of compromise or accommodation by a government with criminal organizations, even, in the case of Israel and Hamas, one that might involve a somewhat less formal arrangement than the currently proposed cease-fire. It follows that Israel ought never to unwittingly prop up its criminal adversary in Gaza by agreeing to a cease-fire or similar “armistice”; instead, it should proceed immediately to do whatever is needed operationally, while simultaneously reminding the world that the pertinent conflict is between a fully legitimate sovereign state (one that meets all criteria of the Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, 1934) and an inherently illegal insurgent organization that meets none of these criteria, and that routinely violates all vital precepts of the law of armed conflict…. IN contravention of said illegality, Israel’s mentally besieged leadership charges forward; one “cease-fire” after another, in fact, feeding, fueling and supplying the enemy! NEVER ENDING, like drunken sailors on a sinking ship they lumber hither and on, attempting to find a life raft to latch themselves onto, instead of executing what must be done – SMASHING Hamas’s top leadership and command centers!! Alas, here they go again, even as Netanyahu yanks Jerusalem’s negotiating team – like yo-yos – back and forth from Cairo. BUT never mind…Hamasnicks have measured the mettle (tragically, quite correctly) of Israel’s leaders, as they barrage Israel with more missiles, even before the last “cease-fire” is due to expire at midnight on 8/19…and the next “cease-fire” is surely not far behind. G-d have mercy…save us from our derelict leaders! You may rightfully inquire: are Israel’s leaders irrational? have they truly lost their minds? DEBKAfile’s sources report an attempt by some Israeli officials to present the draft as incorporating a process which separates the humanitarian and security issues. However, it may be that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ya’alon are looking for a pretext to explain the concessions that were made for the sake of a ceasefire for an indefinite period – or else they are trying to ward off Egyptian-Palestinian browbeating for a deal. — Waiving demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and disarmament of Hamas’s rockets and terror tunnels at this point. — Lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip – economically and by the establishment of ports. — Reversal of a government decision to abstain from negotiating the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists from jail, which the Israeli public will never accept. — Rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip before any steps are taken towards disarming Hamas. The danger of this waiver is already apparent in the announcement by the radical Popular Committees faction that it is not bound by any Hamas commitment to suspend rocket attacks. In any case, according to a Egyptian foreign ministry statement late Monday: Israel and the Palestinians have only agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire extension – i.e., until Tuesday midnight, for further negotiations. SO, now that the legalities are squared away, as well as their Pavlovian responses to “cease-fires”, Israelis (this blogger included) and onlookers are left in a dizzying state of suspension, incessantly wondering: when will their madness end?and where are they leading the nation of Israel? To PROLONGED war, that’s where! Most Israelis were stunned Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 19, when rocket fire suddenly erupted from the Gaza Strip against Beersheba and Netivot, after they had been lulled into a sense of false security by the suspension of Hamas attacks for 135 hours. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon sent the air force straight back into action to bomb “terror targets’ across the Gaza Strip, and recalled Israel’s negotiators from the indirect talks taking place with Hamas in Cairo through Egyptian intermediaries. After a month of tough fighting and painful losses, Israelis were aghast to find themselves dumped back in the same old routine, which their leaders had vowed Operation Defensive Edge would end once and for all. By midnight Hamas had fired around 50 rockets in a steady stream across most of Israel, including Greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. DEBKAfile reports that, as recently as Monday, Aug. 18, a senior intelligence source asserted that Netanyahu and Ya’alon were satisfied with the Cairo talks, because their outcome would refute their critics, ministers and security chiefs alike, by bringing Hamas to its knees. Asked how this would come about, the source repeated the mantra heard day after day during the fighting: Hamas is looking for a way out of the conflict and wants to end hostilities, he explained. That is what we are banking on. AMAN chief Maj.Gen. Aviv Kochavi is believed by some cabinet sources to be the author of this prescription, to which the prime minister and defense minister have stubbornly adhered, against all the evidence to the contrary. They therefore held back from inflicting a final defeat on the Palestinian fundamentalists. ON this investigative journalist’s worst day, the above outcome could have been predicted. Clear as a bell. STILL yet, it is not as if a certain segment of Israelis residing on the southern border – particularly within the “Gazan belt” – don’t possess special standing in this life and death struggle to “cease”, or not, Israel’s “firepower”. Why? Well, having been terrorized with missiles for over a decade, for the most part, they relied upon the political leadership to do the right thing, whatever that meant. How did THAT work out? Truth be told, an unfathomable patient response. BE that as it may, that was then and this is now. Now that tunnels are under some of their bedrooms, kindergartens and what not…hmm…their patience has worn thin, to say the least. In this regard, over 60% of said residents FLED the area, declaring that they won’t return, unless the leaders SMASH Hamas’s terror apparatus for good! DEAR readers, juxtapose the spectacle of many thousands of Jewish residents of Israel’s southern belt fleeing for their lives – within the Jewish homeland, no less! – to the return of the scourge of anti-semitism throughout Europe (Islamic-Nazis gaining the aid of radical leftists and far-right fascists…video linked), as Europe’s Jews flee for their lives! Is this American-Israeli the only one who sees the craziness, the irony, of said dual flights? IN other words, while France’s Jews (and others) are running for their lives into the arms of the Jewish homeland – a land this blogger would give her life for – Israel’s leaders not only fail to protect Jews already living here, but, by dint of odds, will fail those who are fleeing into her arms! Orwellian. For the record, some of these French Jews (and other new immigrants) are encouraged by Israel’s Absorption Ministry to move to areas not far from Gaza! Manuel Valls, France’s prime minister said: “What happened in Sarcelles is intolerable. An attack on a synagogue and on a kosher shop is simply anti-Semitism. Nothing in France can justify this violence.”……. “I came because of anti-Semitism,” said teary-eyed Veronique Rivka Buzaglo, one of 430 immigrants who arrived from France the day before. “You see it in the eyes of people. I see it in everything,” she told HuffPost. Buzaglo says nothing would have stopped her from becoming an Israeli citizen this week – not even the rocket sirens frequently blaring in the south of the country, where she plans to live. BASICALLY, one has to peer into ones heart of hearts and decide: are the words of Israel’s leaders meaningful, or just over-bloated hot air? Moreover, it must be recognized that not all bullsh-t is equal. Life and death. IN this regard, listen carefully to their words and see if they match their actions! Then, decide for yourself: what order of manure are they shoveling? UPDATE: Let’s just assert that public pressure helps…Zionists, the majority public, are getting restless…and this is one such indicator…may their heads roll…faster…faster…but it won’t happen without blowing up SHIFA…and Deif is just one of MANY top level targets still to blow up!! Hammering Hamas Chiefs With Pinpointed Intelligence New War Effort. AS always, pretending what is isn’t becomes the proverbial elephant in the room…the 600 lb gorilla…monkey on the back too. And as onerous as it can be within family confines – yes, “it be” – imagine how much more so it is when embedded within a nation’s belly, especially one as endangered as Israel. IN light of this week’s BELATED operation to deal with Hamas – strangely coined “Operation Protective Edge”…this American-Israeli prefers “Operation Pulverizer…Smackdown”…no matter…after hundreds of rockets/missiles have rained down in recent weeks, let alone over many years – little is more pressing than the oft misunderstood subject of “ceasefires”. They are the death of us. SIGNIFICANTLY, time and again, Israel’s leaders negotiate “ceasefires/deathfires” with terror groups, be they Hamas, Fatah or Hezbollah. It makes no diff. And while said “ceasefires” aren’t worth the price of bupkes, the fact of the matter is not only are they worthless and exponentially dangerous – whetting their appetites for more of the same – they are ILLEGAL. Plain and simple. The relentless war waged against Israel has absolutely nothing to do with land per se, and this is precisely why every insane concession, gesture and withdrawal offered by Israel’s (peace-obsessed) leaders has not elicited an expected reciprocal peace gesture, but paradoxically incites to additional jihadist behavior. And in a tangible realm it makes sense for Arabs/Muslims to become hyper-aggressive, particularly after each Israeli capitulation counter intuitively whets their insatiable appetites for more of the same. So as a result of the leadership’s desperate attempt to allay international pressure, thus abating another dangling sword, they have become wedded to peace delusions. A double whammy. Never mind the fact that murderous jihad hasn’t ceased within Israel from time immemorial. But logic escapes many of Israel’s “leading lights”, except for a handful. At the top of the list heralding Israel’s “intellectual warriors” stand Dr. Martin Sherman and Professor Paul Eidelberg. My “go to” expert on all matters pertaining to international law, and a country’s right to anticipatory self defense – via preemptive strikes – is none other than Professor Louis Rene Beres of ‘Project Daniel.’ The working group’s original policy paper is found herein. He was Chair of the above strategic nuclear policy paper given to PM Ariel Sharon in 2003 – and subsequently briefed the report to President George W. Bush and to current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – in relation to Israel’s nuclear strategy in the face of Iran’s pursuit of WMD’s. He is a man of great integrity and humility. Lou, a heartfelt thank you for being my mentor. It follows that Israel ought never to unwittingly prop up its criminal adversary in Gaza by agreeing to a cease fire or similar “armistice”; instead, it should proceed immediately to do whatever is needed operationally, while simultaneously reminding the world that the pertinent conflict is between a fully legitimate sovereign state (one that meets all criteria of the Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, 1934) and an inherently illegal insurgent organization that meets none of these criteria, and that routinely violates all vital precepts of the law of armed conflict. In any conflict, the means that can be used to injure an enemy are not unlimited. It follows that no matter how hard they may try to institute certain self-serving manipulations of language, those who would identify the willful maiming and execution of noncombatants in the name of some abstract ideal – any ideal – are always misrepresenting international law. Whenever Palestinian insurgents (Hamas; Fatah; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Islamic Jihad, it makes no difference) claim a legal right to use “any means necessary,” they are attempting to deceive. Even if their corollary claims for “national self-determination” were in some fashion legally supportable, there would remain fully authoritative limits on permissible targets and weapons. While it is true that certain insurgencies can be judged lawful, any such permissible resorts to force must nonetheless conform to the laws of war. Even if incessant Palestinian cries of “occupation” were reasonable rather than contrived, any corresponding claims of entitlement to oppose Israel “by any means necessary” would remain unsupportable. Earlier, on November 29, 2012, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had been upgraded by the U.N. General Assembly to the status of a “nonmember observer state,” but significantly, the PA has since declared itself nonexistent. On January 3, 2013, Mahmoud Abbas formally “decreed” the absorption of the “former “PA into the “State of Palestine.” While this administrative action did effectively and jurisprudentially eliminate the PA, it assuredly did not succeed in creating a new state by simple fiat. Leaving aside Abbas’ illegal refusal to follow the Palestinian Arabs’ binding obligation to negotiate full sovereignty directly with Israel, the evident criteria of “nonmember observer state” also fell far short of expectations of the only authoritative international treaty on statehood. This governing document is the Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (the “Montevideo Convention”) of 1934. This expectation is explicitly and emphatically true for the United States, which already incorporates all international law as the “supreme law of the land” at Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution (the “Supremacy Clause”), and which was intentionally formed according to the principles of Natural Law. For the Founding Fathers of the United States, of course, these principles had already been “born” at Sinai. IN furtherance of the above legal application, Israel’s leaders, by negotiating with terrorists (and releasing them from jail!), commit treason, as evinced within Israel’s internal laws! Yes, they do. Impairment of sovereignty or integrity of the State. 97. (a) If a person commits an act liable to impair the sovereignty of the state with the intention to impair that sovereignty, then he is liable to the death penalty or to life imprisonment. (b) if a person commits an act liable to remove any area from the sovereignty of the state or place it under the sovereignty of a foreign state with the intention to bring that about, then he is liable to the death penalty or to life imprisonment. A year after my report of June 2, 2008 – on June 14, 2009 to be exact – PM Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech at Bar-Ilan University, endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, and did so without Knesset or public debate. If (former) MK Arieh Eldad could say “[PM Ehud] Olmert’s offer to yield the Golan Heights to Syria is nothing less than treason,” what shall we say of PM Netanyahu’s offer to yield Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority? Is it any wonder that Israel today is verging on a state of anarchy? CONSEQUENTIALLY, in light of continuous rocket/missile barrages – more accurately, blitzkriegs – on southern Israel, one has to stand up and shout unequivocally: today’s incessant barrages – responsible for over a million of Israel’s citizens running into bomb shelters – are the poisonous fruits of the absolutely illegal “ceasefire” from 2012! Then, as always, PM Netanyahu “ceased” Israel’s firepower during “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008 (and in 2012 during operation עַמּוּד עָנָן, ʿAmúd ʿAnán, literally: “Pillar of Cloud”…as derived from the Bible…aka Operation Pillar of Defense…this is NOT for nothing…know your Bible well…), pulling the troops back both times, as they closed in on victory!

2019-04-24T09:55:24Z

https://adinakutnicki.com/tag/professor-louis-rene-beres/

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These types of permanent makeup tattoos are suggested by experts for people who desire the most effective technique of eyebrow tattooing. 3D tattoos are intended by Lisa Wang, a Californian aesthetician in 1996 and may be found in permanent and semi-permanent makeup locations inside london. 3D tattoos is going to take about an hour or so to apply and a few days to your week to heal. Experts warn the patient might undergo a tiny swelling near the eyes when the procedure has become completed but promise that when your eye area have healed, the 3D eyebrow tattoos will look one hundred percent natural. Author adminPosted on January 24, 2019 Categories netLeave a comment on Microblading Over Tattooed Eyebrows – View Our Business Now To Track Down More Resources.. Renting out a dumpster, appears pretty basic? Well, prior to you put your dumpster order there are a couple of points you need to understand. For starters, take into consideration the size. 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Similar to its sister sites, Nisnass will even offer two hour delivery within Dubai, next day for the UAE and three to six days for your GCC. Author adminPosted on January 23, 2019 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on Nisnass Coupon Code – Browse Further To Help With Making A Well Informed Choice.. Black Yoga Shorts – Drop By Our Business Today To Uncover Extra Specifics.. From layering to stand alone pieces, yoga shorts have become an important must-have in practicing yoga. Their appeal has blossomed through the entire yoga community. They are a means either to stay cool during the summertime or to look fashionable during the cooler seasons. Some individuals even use them as cover over tight yoga pants, to aid their confidence during yoga sessions. Whichever reason you select, shorts or cropped pants really are a staple in almost any fitness wardrobe. Like so many other yoga apparel staples, shorts come in a large variety. 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Well, if you have been examining your dream football team as well as making changes, ideally, you get on the right track. Yet, if you are not, understand that now in the period numerous dream football owners have actually stepped down. They are tired of adjusting their line-ups and also checking out fantasy football rankings. This will allow you to be able to maximize their late-season negligence. Merely inspecting your fantasy football group and making the appropriate modifications (e.g., benching players that are injured, etc.) will enable you to perhaps get one or two wins that you otherwise may not obtain late in the season. 2. Look in advance at the NFL timetable as well as get play-off bound players out of your fantasy football group line-up. Every year, I see a fantastic group in among my leagues obtain damaged due to an absence of preparation. And also, for a severe fantasy football player, an absence of prep work is untenable as well as tragic. Lots of dream football proprietors assume that they can simply operate with Yahoo fantasy football positions, ESPN dream football rankings, CBS SportsLine fantasy football rankings, Athlon dream football rankings, or the fantasy football positions from one more publication. Yet, at this point in the season, you need to begin looking at the timetable. This period, it is fairly clear that the Colts will certainly win the AFC South. You require to be taking a look at your fantasy football schedule-at week’s 14, 15, 16, as well as 17. You require to look at your fantasy football playoff schedule and also contrast it to the NFL schedule. Analyze who you have at running back. Analyze who you have at wide receiver. Are these gamers on groups that are outright shoe-ins for the playoffs? I will certainly give you an example to show my factor. A couple of years ago, when the Philly Eagles locked up their residence area benefit early on and Donovan McNabb was having such an exceptional fantasy football period, a buddy of mine in a league that I remain in had his fantasy football group implode due to the fact that the Eagles benched McNabb. You do not desire this to occur to you. Consider the NFL standings, see who will certainly be benched, and also strategy in advance to obtain them out of your fantasy football team’s lineup. You had every Football Highlights dream football cheat sheet and fantasy football rankings sheet. Prior to you get to the storage, I ask that you take a min to review this post, reviewed a couple of mid-season dream football tips, and probably, you can get your dream football team on the ideal track to success. Just examining your dream football team as well as making the appropriate modifications (e.g., benching players that are wounded, and so on) will certainly enable you to potentially pick up one or 2 victories that you or else may not get late in the period. Numerous fantasy football Match of the day owners believe that they can just operate with Yahoo dream football rankings, ESPN fantasy football positions, CBS SportsLine fantasy football rankings, Athlon fantasy football rankings, or the dream football rankings from an additional publication. A few years Watch match of the day back, when the Philadelphia Eagles secured up their residence area advantage early on as well as Donovan McNabb was having such an outstanding fantasy football season, a pal of mine in an organization that I’m in had his dream football group implode due to the fact that the Eagles benched McNabb. How To Get Rid Of Hemorrhoids Fast – Surf To Us Now To Obtain Extra Specifics.. People suffering from hemorrhoids only know for themselves how intense its distress is. The itching and irritation caused in internal and external hemorrhoids is actually unexplainable. Most of the medicated therapy for how to get rid of hemorrhoids fast do not last long and suffering keep coming back after every day or two. Many doctors suggest surgery since the only remedy for hemorrhoids. But as with most surgeries, hemorrhoids surgery also comes with several risks and side effects. In case you are fed up with trying all options and searching for some natural remedy, please read this article full. You will find some extremely useful information and resource here with which you may remove your hemorrhoids within 6 days. Should you suffer with severe itching attempt to apply ice cubes on the rectal area. Ice cube serve as natural local anesthesia with which you may get immediate relieve from itching and irritation. You can also use some soft bit of cloth dumped in cold water. Placing it on the affected region provides you immediate relief from pain and itching. he bad news about hemorrhoids is because they itch, they burn, they hurt and there are many people suffering together when you look at this. The good thing is that there are numerous of ways to achieve hemorrhoid relief, and how to eliminate hemorrhoids has stopped being an issue without an answer. Finally you can find options that you could take advantage of in the home. The simplest way to eliminate hemorrhoids is to modify your diet. Add more green leafy vegetables for your diet, and fresh fruits. Most importantly, drink far more water. Hydration is vital to passing softer stools. Constipation is the leading cause of hemorrhoids and you want to avoid this at all costs. The simplest way in order to avoid constipation is to minimize on junk foods and junk foods. Very easy to do when you increase the amount of fresh veggies! A basic ice pack can be used to combat the discomfort and burn of hemorrhoids. Hemorrhoid relief is a couple of minutes away – just make sure to not apply the ice directly to the area. Use a cloth or cover in a towel. Hot tip: soak the covering in crbgsd hazel for twice the soothing power. Peanut butter is considered to alleviate hemorrhoids naturally, having said that i find so that it is messy and hard to remove. A better option from your refrigerator is yogurt, whose active cultures will attack the bacteria in hemorrhoids symptoms and carry instant hemorrhoid relief. The most effective news is the fact now there is a natural cure that many have got benefit of to regain their lives and stay without any hemorrhoids. It is a far better option than treatments that only help symptoms while not doing anything for your underlying cause. Try to avoid excess standing and relaxing in wrong posture. Maintain your feet up usually. Avoid doing anything that increases pressure on your own rectal muscles. Lifting weights and stretching exercises must be avoided by hemorrhoid patients under all circumstances. Hemorrhoids are directly linked to your daily diet. The truth is an instant reaction on your condition by eating something which aggravates hemorrhoids. Eating chicken, steak etc needs to be avoided strictly. Try to drink plenty of juices and foods fiber rich and flavonoids. They ensure that your bowels remain soft and you also require the least effort while passing them. Author adminPosted on January 23, 2019 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on How To Get Rid Of Hemorrhoids Fast – Surf To Us Now To Obtain Extra Specifics.. Laundry Chute Closer – Precisely What Other Companies Are Saying.. Garbage chutes. They are disgusting. Most individuals who have worked in a tall building or lived in an apartment within the city know what it’s like to have a garbage chute. 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Apart from the terrible smell, all of the aforementioned harmful organisms are receiving inhaled by the tenants, which is actually a major risk with their health. Getting a proper cleaning is easy. There’s a lot of companies on the market which can be making large strides on a daily basis, offering such services as cleaning with environmentally safe solvent and carcinogen free products. They strive to ensure that anyone counting on you, multiple families or just a single person, can live healthy and breathe healthy in their own individual homes. The majority of these cleaning services offer garbage chute cleaning. In a nutshell, they are going to seal all of the chutes, and through the highest chute, fill all of them with extremely warm water. This dislodges food, grime, and any other develop. Mixed along with this water is a safe and biodegradable detergent which will continue to dissolve this grime or food. Next comes a rinse. They then send more water with the chutes, at a lower pressure, and fully removes any dislodged build-up which was hit from the detergent but still remains. The last step of the procedure is a deodorant and sanitizer that prnsel go through the future to safeguard the walls from further smell or grime. The green company has turned into a very successful cleaning company just through this specialized process. They keep both people as well as their environment in mind while formulating revolutionary new products and cleaning systems that reduce anyone and everyone’s indoor air pollution exposure. The green company chooses to destroy the grease, grime, food, bacteria, and dirt that is the source, as opposed to throwing a bunch of harsh chemicals with harsher smells along with what’s already there. You need trash chute cleaning. It’s no challenge to know that many businesses and people have gone to green companies for their cleaning needs. 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Oils and serums can sit around the pores and skin additional correctly than product for the reason that a cream’s major component is drinking water (creating rapid evaporation of the solution). Fractional lasers release controlled electrical power in the pores and skin and encourage it to respond and create much more collagen and elastin, hence improving upon skin integrity. You’ll find extreme laser tactics which may acquire as many as ten days to completely get well and see the benefits and there are gentler laser approaches which involve much less down time. Allergic response is another possible complication of plastic surgery. Not a soul can forecast how one’s human body will respond to your anesthesia or the medical procedures, so this chance is usually there. An unlikely, but possible complication of beauty surgery is loss of life. A possibility with all surgical treatment this could certainly potentially happen in the handful of means. Essentially the most prevalent is that if a patient is offered an excessive amount of anesthesia and subsequently slips into a coma and dies. How do you determine what choices are available for your visual appeal considerations? Lots of beauty physicians gives you a session at no cost, and many have aestheticians who will assistance you develop the simplest at-home system for the skin. Do your investigation and decide on a medical doctor with expertise who presents an assortment of non-surgical processes, who listens to what you are hoping to achieve, and who won’t try out to speak you into signing up for just about anything just before you’ve got experienced an opportunity to consider it. Even with just one cosmetic procedure, you could possibly obtain the form of enhancement with your physical appearance to provide you with that more self esteem which makes each of the distinction in the career. It really is crucial during this day and age that we continue on to tell ourselves of all of the options offered prior to making any conclusions that affect our wellbeing or visual appearance. In which after “anti aging” intended that a affected individual would need to go under the knife or inject harsh poisons into their overall body to get the preferred anti ageing influence, now we have been employing way more non-surgical selections than ever before before for individuals wishing to begin their very own anti getting old regime. Author adminPosted on January 23, 2019 Categories binTags australia, cosmetic physicians, cosmetic surgery, melbourne, plastic surgeryLeave a comment on Top Cosmetic Surgery Guide! Renting out a dumpster, seems pretty easy right? Well, prior to you place your dumpster order there are a couple of things you need to understand. For starters, take into consideration the dimension. Normally, short-lived dumpster leasings will certainly be available in 4 or 5 dimensions … 10 cubic backyard, 15 cubic yard, 20 cubic lawn, 30 cubic yard and 40 cubic lawn containers. While to 10, 20, 30 and 40 lawn dumpsters prevail, the 15 cubic lawn containers may be difficult to locate in some cases. Measurements (may differ a little):. 10 backyard dumpsters – approx. 12-14 ft long x 8 feet large x 3-3.5 feet high. 20 lawn dumpsters – approx. 22 feet long x 8 ft broad x 4 ft high. 30 yard dumpsters – approx. 22 ft long x 8 ft wide x 4 ft high. 40 lawn dumpsters – approx. 22 ft long x 8 feet wide x 4 ft high. Almost every dumpster will certainly have a weight limitation. Indicating the “things” you put in the dumpster will eventually be considered as well as if the weight limit for your dumpster surpasses your rental contract you will more than likely face a service charge. Make sure you ask what your weight restriction gets on your dumpster leasing prior to you order. The weight limit can vary anywhere from 2 to 12 tons! For how long do you get to keep your dumpster? A lot of companies will allow you to keep your dumpster for between 5-7 days. You could locate a business that will certainly let you maintain your dumpster for up to 2 weeks if you’re fortunate. What takes place if you want to keep it longer than your agreed timespan? Extra costs. Usually, you will certainly incur a daily price charge from anywhere from $5 to $15 per day, after the initial rental period. FEES, CHARGES, COST = ASK, ASK, ASK! Some people may state that the dumpster rental solutions sector is recognized for all sorts of add-on or additional charges. Be a smart customer as well as ask the following concerns. Is there a delivery fee? A great deal of dumpster rental business will certainly bill a delivery charge on top of the price they quote you, so be sure to ask. Distribution fees can vary anywhere from $25 to $50 or even more. Is there a day-to-day rental charge? Some firms will certainly bill an everyday rental cost so be sure to ask if the rental charge is included or otherwise. Is tax obligation consisted of? Once more, ask if tax is included in the priced quote price. What can’t go in the dumpster? Depending upon the business and/or city guidelines as well as regulations there will certainly most definitely be some things you can not position in the container. Some typical prohibited products consist of: paint, oil, gasoline, any contaminated materials, any flammable fluids, as well as hazardous materials, car tires, car batteries, asbestos, etc. Once again, always ask about a forbidden things list. Placing any of these things in the dumpster will certainly more than likely result in an additional charge. Ask a whole lot questions and make sure you obtain an all inclusive, level price on your dumpster order. Make use of the concerns and also guidelines over to help browse with the dumpster rental procedure and you ought to come out a educated and pleased customer! Usually, Dumpster Rental Raynham, MA short-term dumpster rentals will come in 4 or five sizes … 10 cubic lawn, 15 cubic yard, 20 cubic lawn, 30 cubic yard and 40 cubic backyard containers. Implying the “stuff” you put in the dumpster will eventually be evaluated and also if the weight restriction for your dumpster exceeds your rental agreement you will extra than most likely face an additional charge. Make certain you ask what your weight restriction is on your dumpster rental prior to you order. A lot of dumpster rental business will certainly charge a shipment cost on top of the price they estimate you, so be sure to ask. Use the questions and guidelines above to aid browse via the dumpster rental process as well as you must come out a delighted and also educated customer!

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Author Michael Affenzeller … [et al.]. Genetic algorithms and genetics programming are known to achieve robust, high-quality solutions to difficult problems. Due to increasing computing power, these methods have been successfully applied to problems in logistics, data mining, and various other fields with complex data. “Genetic Algorithms and Genetic Programming: Modern Concepts and Practical Applications” introduces basic concepts in an intuitive way. Designed as both a reference and self-study guide for readers from different backgrounds, the book includes theoretical material as well as practical applications. It also provides a supplementary web page with software and source code for heuristic laboratory work, along with illustrative examples. This book presents full coverage of the cutting-edge technology that can find anyone or anything anywhere. With the powerful force of VoIP in the telephony industry, the demand for location determination in IP networks is developing rapidly. “IP Location” tackles this new technology head on, covering all aspects of location management, delivery, and conveyance within IP networks. Providing a guided tour of location determination, this book gives you the information you need to support this breakthrough technology. Author Zhigang Deng, Ulrich Neumann, editors. “Data-Driven 3D Facial Animation” systematically describes the important techniques developed over the last ten years or so. Although 3D facial animation is used more and more in the entertainment industries, to date there have been very few books that address the techniques involved. Comprehensive in scope, the book covers not only traditional lip-sync (speech animation), but also expressive facial motion, facial gestures, facial modeling, editing and sketching, and facial animation transferring. It provides an up-to-date reference source for academic research and for professionals working in the facial animation field. An edited volume, the book brings together contributions from leading researchers and practitioners working in both academia and in the leading animation studios. Author [edited by] Liang-Jie Zhang. “Web services is rapidly becoming one of the most valued aspects of information technology services, as Web-based technological advancements continue to grow at an exponential rate. “Web Services Research and Practices” provides researchers, scholars, and practitioners in a variety of settings essential up-to-date research in this demanding field, addressing issues such as: communication applications using Web services; Semantic services computing; discovery, modeling, performance, and enhancements of Web services; and Web services architecture, frameworks, and security. Author Klaus Engel … [et al.]. Place of Publication Wellesley, Mass. Publisher A K Peters, Ltd. In traditional computer graphics, 3D objects are created using high-level surface representations such as polygonal meshes, NURBS patches, or subdivision surfaces. However, these methods often do not account for light interaction that is taking place in the atmosphere or in the interior of an object. Contrary to surface rendering, volume rendering describes a wide range of techniques for generating images from 3D scalar data. These techniques generate high-quality images of volumetric objects in real time, including local and global illumination effects. This book provides the basic theory and practical examples needed to work with volume graphics by taking advantage of today’s graphics hardware to produce stunning results in real time. The authors provide: a practical introduction to texture-based volume rendering; methods for integrating different aspects of light/matter interaction; global illumination techniques; optimization strategies; code samples – and more! Author Svetlana N. Yanushkevich, Vlad P. Shmerko. New design techniques are constantly being developed to meet the needs of advancing technology. Placing an emphasis on emerging contemporary design techniques, “Introduction to Logic Design” presents the fundamental theory and practice of logic design. This comprehensive book reviews important data structures and explains various techniques for manipulating them. In addition to providing suggestions for further study, each chapter features numerous design examples to illustrate methods along with concise summaries to highlight key concepts. Ideal for students, the text also includes over 300 homework problems and offers a solutions manual as well as lecture transparencies for instructors. Place of Publication Oxford, U.K. Electronics is written as a monolog between teacher and student in an attempt to make the language as simple as possible. The various diagrams and oscilloscope plots will help students correlate the theory they learn in the class room with observations they make in their lab experiments. Thumb rules of circuital designing have been included where-ever possible and various laws of physics behind various devices have been discussed. The chapters in the book can be divided into sections explaining modeling, test equipments and circuital elements which are building blocks of a power supply. Designed as a Textbook for undergraduate students of electronics in physics and engineering, the book hopes to demystify electronics as a subject and encourage beginners to take the next step in circuital designing. Author Pedro M. Figueiredo, João C. Vital. “Offset Reduction Techniques in High-Speed Analog-to-Digital Converters” analyzes, describes the design, and presents test results of Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) employing the three main high-speed architectures: flash, two-step flash and folding and interpolation. The advantages and limitations of each one are reviewed, and the techniques employed to improve their performance are discussed. Author Hermann Merz, Thomas Hansemann, Christof Hubner. Modern buildings are increasingly equipped with actuators and sensors, communication visualization and control systems. This textbook provides an overview of industrial communication systems and stimulates a basic understanding of network and bus systems for the automation of buildings. After an introduction to EIB/KNX, LON and BACnet technologies, the authors illustrate how these systems can be utilized for specific applications, like air conditioning or illumination. This book assumes only a basic knowledge of mathematics and thanks to its simple explanations and many examples is ideal for students and professional engineers who require practical solutions. Author Miguel A. Labrador, Pedro M. Wightman. “Topology Control in Wireless Sensor Networks” addresses the need for a text that combines the background material needed to understand wireless sensor networks with in-depth material about topology control, which is a very important topic related to this technology; and a companion simulation tool of great value for instructors and researchers. Digital signal processing and applications with the TMS320C6713 and TMS320C6416 DSK, 2nd ed. Author Rulph Chassaing, Donald Reay. “With the first edition widely accepted as the most extensive teaching text available, this valuable second edition has been fully updated to be compatible with the latest version (3.1) of Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio (CCS) development environment. Maintaining the original’s comprehensive, hands-on approach that has made it an instructor’s favorite, this new edition also features added program examples; expanded coverage of analog input and output; new material on frame-based processing; a revised chapter on IIR; and, more extensive coverage of DSP/BIOS. Business data networks and telecommunications, 7th ed. For undergraduate/graduate/MBA-level courses in Business Data Communications, Introduction to Data Communications, Telecommunications, and Introduction to Networking. Using a unique modular approach, this cutting-edge introduction to data communications features 11 core chapters of essential material, 6 advanced modules, and a Companion Website to provide the widest possible range of topics around which to customize courses with specific goals. This approach allows selective emphasis without requiring instructors to assemble their own additional material. Plus, 9 mini-chapters for hands-on material and case studies give students a feel for what they will encounter on the job. Author Sukhan Lee, Hanseok Ko, Hernsoo Hahn, editors. This volume aims at providing engineers, researchers, educators, and advanced students in the field of Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems with the recent progress in theory and applications. This was done by selecting high quality papers with appropriate themes from the IEEE International Conference on of Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems (MFI 2008) held in Seoul, Korea, August 20-22, 2008, and by editing them for a consistent flow of the chosen theme. The book has the following distinct features: the book addresses the growing interest in our society regarding the field of Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems and the book contains an introduction for each selected theme and included the editorial process to collect final manuscripts in major revision. The following topics are covered by the book: Sensor Network, Information Fusion, Robotics, Surveillance, Vision, HCI, SLAM, and, Applications (Underwater, ITS, etc). Circuit analysis : theory and practice, 4th ed. Written for electronics engineering technology students taking their first course in circuit theory, this exceptional book has been hailed by users and reviewers alike as one of the best on the market. The 4th Edition provides updated coverage of standard circuit analysis topics in a remarkably easy-to-understand fashion, including fundamentals of DC and AC, methods of analysis, capacitance, inductance, magnetism, simple transients, transformers, Fourier series, and more. Essential concepts are complemented with hundreds of worked out examples designed to lead readers through the critical thinking processes required to solve problems, preparing them to reason their way through life-like situations expected to be encountered on the job. Complete wireless design, 2nd ed. This book gives you a solid grounding in designing some of today’s important wireless systems. “Complete Wireless Design” shows you how to analyze and design – down to the circuit level – the complex wireless receivers and transmitters of modern digital communications systems. Updated to cover the latest systems and equipment, this bestseller retains its highly practical, algebra-based approach and includes a CD-ROM with wireless simulation and design software. “This book presents methods for the optimized design of analog CMOS circuits through the design choices of Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor device drain current, inversion level, and channel length. This text starts with a full introduction to why a book on this subject is needed, before giving an overview of circuit design in all regions of Metal Oxide Semiconductor operation, emphasizing the importance of methods that freely permit design in all regions of MOS. Two appendices contain CMOS test devices used to validate methods contained in the book, and an analog MOS design optimization spreadsheet describing user inputs, mapping of device operation, and equations. This book uses MATLAB as a computing tool to explore traditional DSP topics and solve problems. This greatly expands the range and complexity of problems that students can effectively study in signal processing courses. A large number of worked examples, computer simulations and applications are provided, along with theoretical aspects that are essential in order to gain a good understanding of the main topics. Practicing engineers may also find it useful as an introductory text on the subject. Security awareness : applying practical security in your world, 2nd ed. ‘Building on the success of the first edition, this new text provides a non-technical approach to practical computer security for all users, from business professionals to students to home users. This book provides an introduction to Bluetooth programming, with a specific focus on developing real code. The authors discuss the major concepts and techniques involved in Bluetooth programming, with special emphasis on how they relate to other networking technologies. They provide specific descriptions and examples for creating applications in a number of programming languages and environments including Python, C, Java, GNU/Linux, Windows XP, Symbian Series 60, and Mac OS X. No previous experience with Bluetooth is assumed, and the material is suitable for anyone with some programming background. The authors place special emphasis on the essential concepts and techniques of Bluetooth programming, starting simply and allowing the reader to quickly master the basic concepts before addressing advanced features. Author edited by Jonathan Lazar. “Universal Usability” is the concept of designing computer interfaces that are easy for all users to utilize. It is a concept which many decry as elusive, impossible, or impractical, but this book, which addresses usability issues for a number of diverse user groups, proves that there is no problem in interface design that cannot be solved, or at least improved upon. Individuals with cognitive, motor, and perceptual impairments, as well as older, younger, and economically disadvantaged users, face a variety of complex challenges when interacting with computers. However, with user involvement, good design practice, and thorough testing, computer interfaces can be successfully developed for any user population. This book, featuring key chapters by Human Computer Interaction luminaries such as Jonathan Lazar, Ron Baecker, Allison Druin, Ben Shneiderman, Brad Myers and Jenny Preece, examines innovative and groundbreaking research and practice, and provides a practical overview of a number of successful projects which have addressed a need for these specific user populations.Chapters in this book address topics including age diversity, economic diversity, language diversity, visual impairment, and spinal cord injuries.Several of these trailblazing projects in the book are amongst the first to examine usability issues for users with Down Syndrome, users with Amnesia, users with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and users with Alzheimer’s Disease, and coverage extends to projects where multiple categories of needs are addressed. These chapters represent real world projects, being carried out on different continents. The authors of the chapters also represent diversity interface researchers and software developers in university, industrial, and government settings.In the practical spirit of the book, chapter authors provide guidelines and suggestions for those attempting similar projects, as well as implications for different stakeholders such as policymakers, researchers, and designers. Ideal for students of HCI and User Interface Design, and essential reading for usability practitioners, this fascinating collection of real world projects demonstrates that computer interfaces can truly be designed to meet the needs of any category of user. You can find them in your wristwatch or MP3 player; they perform specific functions in washing machines, traffic lights, and even pacemakers. Embedded systems are pervasive, ubiquitous, and widespread throughout our daily lives. Developing these real-time embedded products requires an understanding of the interactions between different disciplines, such as circuit design, power, cooling, packaging, software, and human interface. This volume provides the knowledge and insight engineers need to make critical design decisions and offers a clear guide for preparing and developing projects in different markets. The book begins by laying the basic groundwork for effective processes, covering smaller, self-contained devices and subsystems, ranging from handheld devices to appliances.Highly detailed case studies, which include designing instruments for space flight, implanted medical devices, and military support equipment, illustrate industry best practices and managerial issues. Each case study is detailed in terms of concept, market, standards, integration, manufacturing, and phases.With schedule and estimation templates, this highly functional text presents numerous examples of design tradeoffs critical to successful project development. Offering even coverage and clarification of the entire development process, “What Every Engineer Should Know about Developing Real-Time Embedded Products” provides engineers and industrial designers with practical tools to make important decisions, from deciding whether to buy or build subsystems to determining the appropriate kinds of field testing. PSpice for Circuit Theory and Electronic Devices is one of a series of five PSpice books and introduces the latest Cadence Orcad PSpice version 10.5 by simulating a range of DC and AC exercises. It is aimed primarily at those wishing to get up to speed with this version but will be of use to high school students, undergraduate students, and of course, lecturers. Circuit theorems are applied to a range of circuits and the calculations by hand after analysis are then compared to the simulated results. The Laplace transform and the s-plane are used to analyze CR and LR circuits where transient signals are involved. Here, the Probe output graphs demonstrate what a great learning tool PSpice is by providing the reader with a visual verification of any theoretical calculations. Series and parallel-tuned resonant circuits are investigated where the difficult concepts of dynamic impedance and selectivity are best understood by sweeping different circuit parameters through a range of values. Obtaining semiconductor device characteristics as a laboratory exercise has fallen out of favour of late, but nevertheless, is still a useful exercise for understanding or modelling semiconductor devices. Inverting and non-inverting operational amplifiers characteristics such as gain-bandwidth are investigated and we will see the dependency of bandwidth on the gain using the performance analysis facility. Power amplifiers are examined where PSpice/Probe demonstrates very nicely the problems of cross-over distortion and other problems associated with power transistors. We examine power supplies and the problems of regulation, ground bounce, and power factor correction. Lastly, we look at MOSFET devicecharacteristics and show how these devices are used to form basic CMOS logic gates such as NAND and NOR gates. In this book, PSpice for Filters and Transmission Lines, we examine a range of active and passive filters where each design is simulated using the latest Cadence Orcad V10.5 PSpice capture software. These filters cannot match the very high order digital signal processing (DSP) filters considered in PSpice for Digital Signal Processing, but nevertheless these filters have many uses. The active filters considered were designed using Butterworth and Chebychev approximation loss functions rather than using the cookbook approach so that the final design will meet a given specification in an exacting manner. Switched-capacitor filter circuits are examined and here we see how useful PSpice/Probe is in demonstrating how these filters, filter, as it were. Two-port networks are discussed as an introduction to transmission lines and, using a series of problems, we demonstrate quarter-wave and single-stub matching. The concept of time domain reflectrometry as a fault location tool on transmission lines is then examined. In the last chapter we discuss the technique of importing and exporting speech signals into a PSpice schematic using a tailored-made program Wav2ascii. This is a novel technique that greatly extends the simulation boundaries of PSpice. Various digital circuits are also examined at the end of this chapter to demonstrate the use of the bus structure and other techniques. This lecture explores the emerging area of reconfigurable antennas from basic concepts that provide insight into fundamental design approaches to advanced techniques and examples that offer important new capabilities for next-generation applications. Antennas are necessary and critical components of communication and radar systems, but sometimes their inability to adjust to new operating scenarios can limit system performance. Making antennas reconfigurable so that their behavior can adapt with changing system requirements or environmental conditions can ameliorate or eliminate these restrictions and provide additional levels of functionality for any system. For example, reconfigurable antennas on portable wireless devices can help to improve a noisy connection or redirect transmitted power to conserve battery life. In large phased arrays, reconfigurable antennas could be used to provide additional capabilities that may result in wider instantaneous frequency bandwidths, more extensive scan volumes, and radiation patterns with more desirable side lobe distributions. Written for individuals with a range of experience, from those with only limited prior knowledge of antennas to those working in the field today, this lecture provides both theoretical foundations and practical considerations for those who want to learn more about this exciting subject. Pragmatic Circuits: Signals and Filters is built around the processing of signals. Topics include spectra, a short introduction to the Fourier series, design of filters, and the properties of the Fourier transform. The focus is on signals rather than power. But the treatment is still pragmatic. For example, the author accepts the work of Butterworth and uses his results to design filters in a fairly methodical fashion. This third of three volumes finishes with a look at spectra by showing how to get a spectrum even if a signal is not periodic. The Fourier transform provides a way of dealing with such non-periodic signals. The two other volumes in the Pragmatic Circuits series include titles on DC and Time Domain and Frequency Domain. These short lecture books will be of use to students at any level of electrical engineering and for practicing engineers, or scientists, in any field looking for a practical and applied introduction to circuits and signals. The author’s pragmatic and applied style gives a unique and helpful non-idealistic, practical, opinionated introduction to circuits. Pragmatic Circuits: Frequency Domain goes through the Laplace transform to get from the time domain to topics that include the s-plane, Bode diagrams, and the sinusoidal steady state. This second of three volumes ends with a-c power, which, although it is just a special case of the sinusoidal steady state, is an important topic with unique techniques and terminology. Pragmatic Circuits: Frequency Domain is focused on the frequency domain. In other words, time will no longer be the independent variable in our analysis. The two other volumes in the Pragmatic Circuits series include titles on DC and Time Domain and Signals and Filters. These short lecture books will be of use to students at any level of electrical engineering and for practicing engineers, or scientists, in any field looking for a practical and applied introduction to circuits and signals. The author’s pragmatic and applied style gives a unique and helpful non-idealistic, practical, opinionated introduction to circuits. PSpice for Digital Communications Engineering shows how to simulate digital communication systems and modulation methods using the very powerful Cadence Orcad PSpice version 10.5 suite of software programs. Fourier series and Fourier transform are applied to signals to set the ground work for the modulation techniques introduced in later chapters. Various baseband signals, including duo-binary baseband signaling, are generated and the spectra are examined to detail the unsuitability of these signals for accessing the public switched network. Pulse code modulation and time-division multiplexing circuits are examined and simulated where sampling and quantization noise topics are discussed. We construct a single-channel PCM system from transmission to receiver i.e. end-to-end, and import real speech signals to examine the problems associated with aliasing, sample and hold. Companding is addressed here and we look at the A and mu law characteristics for achieving better signal to quantization noise ratios. Several types of delta modulators are examined and also the concept of time divisionmultiplexing is considered. Multi-level signaling techniques such as QPSK andQAMare analyzed and simulated and home-made meters, such as scatter and eye meters, are used to assess the performance of these modulation systems in the presence of noise. The raised-cosine family of filters for shaping data before transmission is examined in depth where bandwidth efficiency and channel capacity is discussed. We plot several graphs in Probe to compare the efficiency of these systems. Direct spread spectrum is the last topic to be examined and simulated to show the advantages of spreading the signal over a widebandwidth and giving good signal security at the same time. “PSpice for Digital Signal Processing is the last in a series of five books using Cadence Orcad PSpice version 10.5 and introduces a very novel approach to learning digital signal processing (DSP). DSP is traditionally taught using Matlab/Simulink software but has some inherent weaknesses for students particularly at the introductory level. The plug in variables and play nature of these software packages can lure the student into thinking they possesses an understanding they dont actually have because these systems produce results quicklywithout revealing what is going on.However, it must be said that, for advanced level workMatlab/Simulink really excel. In this book we start by examining basic signals starting with sampled signals and dealing with the concept of digital frequency. The delay part, which is the heart of DSP, is explained and applied initially to simple FIR and IIR filters. We examine linear time invariant systems starting with the difference equation and applying the z-transform to produce a range of filter type i.e. low-pass, high-pass and bandpass. The important concept of convolution is examined and here we demonstrate the usefulness of the log command in Probe for giving the correct display to demonstrate the flip n slip method. Digital oscillators, including quadrature carrier generation, are then examined. Several filter design methods are considered and include the bilinear transform, impulse invariant, and window techniques. Included also is a treatment of the raised-cosine family of filters. Learn the essentials of developing secure software in accordance with the most current industry standards, in this comprehensive instructional guide. “Secure Software Development: A Programmer’s Guide” leads readers through the tasks and activities that successful computer programmers navigate on a daily basis, from reading and analyzing requirements to choosing development tools, to guarding against software vulnerabilities and attacks. Additional coverage includes coding with built-in quality and security measures, and follow-up testing once a project is completed. With clear, straightforward examples and actual code snippets, readers can feel confident that they will gain the skills needed to develop software with all the critical components that ensure quality and security. Place of Publication Cambridge, Mass. This is a textbook with a hands-on approach that leads students through the gradual construction of a complete and working computer system including the hardware platform and the software hierarchy.In the early days of computer science, the interactions of hardware, software, compilers, and operating system were simple enough to allow students to see an overall picture of how computers worked. With the increasing complexity of computer technology and the resulting specialization of knowledge, such clarity is often lost. Unlike other texts that cover only one aspect of the field, “The Elements of Computing Systems” gives students an integrated and rigorous picture of applied computer science, as it comes to play in the construction of a simple yet powerful computer system.Indeed, the best way to understand how computers work is to build one from scratch, and this textbook leads students through twelve chapters and projects that gradually build a basic hardware platform and a modern software hierarchy from the ground up.In the process, the students gain hands-on knowledge of hardware architecture, operating systems, programming languages, compilers, data structures, algorithms, and software engineering. Using this constructive approach, the book exposes a significant body of computer science knowledge and demonstrates how theoretical and applied techniques taught in other courses fit into the overall picture. The first volume in the “Adaptation in Wireless Communications Series”, this resource is devoted to adaptation in the physical layer. It surveys adaptive signal processing techniques used in current and future wireless communication systems. Featuring the work of international experts, it covers adaptive channel modeling, identification and equalization, adaptive modulation and coding, adaptive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and cooperative diversity. It also addresses hardware implementation, reconfigurable processing, and cognitive radio. This is a practical, concise and complete reference for the basics of modern antenna design. “Antennas: From Theory to Practice” discusses the basics of modern antenna design and theory. Developed specifically for engineers and designers who work with radio communications, radar and RF engineering, this book offers practical and hands-on treatment of antenna theory and techniques, and provides its readers the skills to analyse, design and measure various antennas.This book provides thorough coverage on the basics of transmission lines, radio waves and propagation, and antenna analysis and design. It discusses industrial standard design software tools, and antenna measurement equipment, facilities and techniques. It covers electrically small antennas, mobile antennas, UWB antennas and new materials for antennas. It also discusses reconfigurable antennas, RFID antennas, Wide-band and multi-band antennas, radar antennas, and MIMO antennas. Design examples of various antennas are provided.Written in a practical and concise manner by authors who are experts in antenna design, with experience from both academia and industry, this book will be an invaluable resource for engineers and designers working in RF engineering, radar and radio communications, seeking a comprehensive and practical introduction to the basics of antenna design. The book can also be used as a textbook for advanced students entering a profession in this field. The real world awaits you. This book prepares you. From rockets to robots, control systems play a major role in today’s technology. You’ll find them in applications in nearly every field – electrical, mechanical, aerospace, biomedical, and chemical engineering. Control systems engineering is a real-world discipline, and you need a text that prepares you to design for that real world. “Control Systems Engineering”, now in its Fifth Edition, takes a practical approach to control systems engineering. Presenting clear and complete explanations, the text shows you how to analyze and design feedback control systems that support today’s modern technology. By working with the same physical system in each chapter, the book’s progressive case studies give you a realistic view of each stage of the control design process while a combination of qualitative and quantitative explanations provide insight into the design of parameters and system configurations.Best of all, you’ll get extensive practice in using MATLAB, Simulink, and the SISO Design Tool – industry standards that you will use in your future career.You’ll find this Fifth Edition especially valuable for these features: case studies that use the same system progressively, chapter after chapter, to show the analysis and design process with clarity are presented; helpful skill-assessment exercises, numerous in-chapter examples, review questions, and problems; tutorials on the latest versions of MATLAB, the Control System Toolbox, Simulink[registered], the Symbolic Math Toolbox, and MATLAB’s graphical user interface (GUI) tools; “What if” experiments that expand your knowledge and skills; and, a companion web site with computer programs for use with MATLAB, additional appendices, and complete solutions to skill-assessment exercises. This is the fast and easy way to learn signals and systems. This easy-to-use guide will help students taking this difficult subject, as well as professionals who want to brush up on their knowledge. You will get straightforward information on signal processing, linear systems, and discrete systems. Advanced topics covered include Fourier analysis, filtering, spectral density, AM and FM systems, and the z-Transform. Don’t get your circuits crossed – get “Circuit Analysis Demystified”. This new addition to the “Demystified” series is a sure cure for “circuit paralysis” – the anxiety that often comes with trying to learn this difficult electrical engineering subject. “Circuit Analysis Demystified” clarifies such topics as capacitance, inductance, steady-state analysis, transformers, and much more. Packed with hundreds of worked equations and examples, concise explanations, quizzes, and a final exam, this book is the perfect classroom supplement and self-study tool. This manual focuses exclusively on helping readers become intelligent end-users of computers. It features 700 colour photographs and is available either with or without the accompanying CD-ROM containing interactive multimedia modules for each chapter. Are you an aspiring game developer with a great idea, but no practical knowledge for turning that idea into reality? 3D Game Programming All in One is the comprehensive guide you need! This new edition updates the original coverage with the latest version of Torque from GarageGames, and provides the very best tools available to the Indie game maker. This hands-on book not only teaches the technical skills behind 3D game programming, but also provides you with the practical experience you need to create your own games. As you create a first-person shooter, you’ll cover the techniques behind the programming, textures, and models that go into successful game creation. You’ll also cover the Torque Engine and will learn how to integrate sound and music into your game. 3D Game Programming All in One provides you with the training, experience, and tools you need to turn your dreams of game creation into reality! This is a practical, in-depth technical guide to understanding and deploying Carrier Ethernet technologies. This is the only book on the market to address how Carrier Ethernet – the emerging high-speed access solution – is fast becoming the de facto technology in Service Provider networks. “Delivering Ethernet in Access Networks” provides engineers and telecom professionals with an in-depth technical guide to understanding and deploying Carrier Ethernet technologies. Each chapter includes deployment and implementation strategies and examples written by global experts. Tanja Schultz and Katrin Kirchhoff have compiled a comprehensive overview of speech processing from a multilingual perspective. By taking this all-inclusive approach to speech processing, the editors have included theories, algorithms, and techniques that are required to support spoken input and output in a large variety of languages. This book presents a comprehensive introduction to research problems and solutions, both from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective, and highlights technology that incorporates the increasing necessity for multilingual applications in our global community. Current challenges of speech processing and the feasibility of sharing data and system components across different languages guide contributors in their discussions of trends, prognoses and open research issues. This includes automatic speech recognition and speech synthesis, but also speech-to-speech translation, dialogue systems, automatic language identification, and handling non-native speech.The book is complemented by an overview of multilingual resources, important research trends, and actual speech processing systems that are being deployed in multilingual human-human and human-machine interfaces. Researchers and developers in industry and academia with different backgrounds but a common interest in multilingual speech processing will find an excellent overview of research problems and solutions detailed from theoretical and practical perspectives. It includes state-of-the-art research with a global perspective by authors from the USA, Asia, Europe, and South Africa. It is the only comprehensive introduction to multilingual speech processing currently available. It contains detailed presentation of technological advances integral to security, financial, cellular and commercial applications. Foundations of electronics : circuits and devices (electron flow version), 5th ed. From principles of basic circuits through analysis of passive and active circuit components, this text should be useful as an introduction to the world of electronics technology. Provides research into the advancement, productivity, and performance of the end user computing domain. For courses in Microprocessor/Microcontroller Interfacing. This textbook provides a comprehensive look into the architecture, programming, and interfacing of the microcontroller. Using the Microchip PIC18 family as a reference, it explains the architecture of the computer and the PIC18 microcontroller, discusses how to program in both assembly and in C-language, and then provides a solid discussion of interfacing, complete with a diverse set of examples. All programs from the text are included on the accompanying CD-ROM and problems and examples further one’s proficiency in microcontroller interfacing, programming, and system design. 3. ebrary – one content platform. many ways to use it. 4. ACS Journals. High quality. High Impact. Subject coverage : Cutting edge articles across a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines-agricultural science, biotechnology, analytical chemistry, applied chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, chemical biology, chemical engineering, computer science, inorganic and nuclear chemistry, material science, medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, pharmacology, physical chemistry, plant sciences, polymer science, and toxicology. The breadth and scope of ACS is unparalled. 5. American Institute of Physics. Information that matters. 10. Sage Reference Online hosts more than one 80 authoritative and award-winning encyclopedias. ***The links are IP authenticated it can be accessed within UP campus premises only. An introduction to mathematical statistics and its applications, 4th ed. Noted for its integration of real-world data and case studies, this text offers sound coverage of the theoretical aspects of mathematical statistics. It demonstrates how and when to use statistical methods, while reinforcing the calculus that students have mastered in previous courses. This best selling, easy to read book offers the most complete discussion on the theories and principles behind today s most advanced communications systems. Throughout, Haykin emphasizes the statistical underpinnings of communication theory in a complete and detailed manner. Readers are guided though topics ranging from pulse modulation and passband digital transmission to random processes and error control coding. The fifth edition has also been revised to include an extensive treatment of digital communications. This book explains how to build Natural Language Generation (NLG) systems – computer software systems which use techniques from artificial intelligence and computational linguistics to automatically generate understandable texts in English or other human languages, either in isolation or as part of multimedia documents, Web pages, and speech output systems. Typically starting from some non-linguistic representation of information as input, NLG systems use knowledge about language and the application domain to automatically produce documents, reports, explanations, help messages, and other kinds of texts. The book covers the algorithms and representations needed to perform the core tasks of document planning, microplanning, and surface realization, using a case study to show how these components fit together. It also discusses engineering issues such as system architecture, requirements analysis, and the integration of text generation into multimedia and speech output systems. Digital electronics : principles & applications, 7th ed. “Digital Electronics: Principles and Applications” is a practical, field-tested text that prepares students for entry-level electronics jobs. This introductory text is designed for use as an introduction text for students who are new to the field of electronics. Prerequisites are general mathematics and basic dc circuits. “Digital Electronics” can be studied before or concurrently with a course in basic electronics, since knowledge of active discrete components is not a prerequisite. Changes in this edition reflect input from reviewers and instructors. PLDs (Programmable Logical Devices) are introduced in chapter 4. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology constitutes a breakthrough in the design of wireless communications systems, and is already at the core of several wireless standards. Exploiting mutlipath scattering, MIMO techniques deliver significant performance enhancements in terms of data transmission rate and interference reduction. This book is a detailed introduction to the analysis and design of MIMO wireless systems. Beginning with an overview of MIMO technology, the authors then examine the fundamental capacity limits of MIMO systems. Transmitter design, including precoding and space-time coding, is then treated in depth, and the book closes with two chapters devoted to receiver design. Written by a team of leading experts, the book blends theoretical analysis with physical insights, and highlights a range of key design challenges. It can be used as a textbook for advanced courses on wireless communications, and will also appeal to researchers and practitioners working on MIMO wireless systems. Fundamentals of electric circuits, 3rd ed. Author Charles K. Alexander, Matthew N.O. Sadiku. The renowned communications theorist Robert Gallager brings his lucid writing style to the study of the fundamental system aspects of digital communication for a one-semester course for graduate students. With the clarity and insight that have characterized his teaching and earlier textbooks, he develops a simple framework and then combines this with careful proofs to help the reader understand modern systems and simplified models in an intuitive yet precise way. A strong narrative and links between theory and practice reinforce this concise, practical presentation. The book begins with data compression for arbitrary sources. Gallager then describes how to modulate the resulting binary data for transmission over wires, cables, optical fibers, and wireless channels. Analysis and intuitive interpretations are developed for channel noise models, followed by coverage of the principles of detection, coding, and decoding. The various concepts covered are brought together in a description of wireless communication, using CDMA as a case study. Author Soren Bech, Nick Zacharov. As audio and telecommunication technologies develop, there is an increasing need to evaluate the technical and perceptual performance of these innovations. A growing number of new technologies (e.g. low bit-rate coding) are based on specific properties of the auditory system, which are often highly non-linear. This means that the auditory quality of such systems cannot be measured by traditional physical measures (such as distortion, frequency response etc.), but only by perceptual evaluations in the form of listening tests. “Perceptual Audio Evaluation” provides a comprehensive guide to the many variables that need to be considered before, during and after experiments. It includes the selection of the content of the programme material to be reproduced, technical aspects of the production of the programme material, the experimental set-up including calibration, and the statistical planning of the experiment and subsequent analysis of the data.”Perceptual Audio Evaluation” provides a complete and accessible guide to the motives, theory and practical application of perceptual evaluation of reproduced sound.It discusses all the variables of perceptual evaluation, their control and their possible influence on the results. It covers in detail all international standards on the topic. It is illustrated throughout with tables, figures and worked solutions. “Perceptual Audio Evaluation” will appeal to audio and speech engineers as well as researchers in audio and speech laboratories. Postgraduate students in engineering or acoustics and undergraduate students studying psychoacoustics, speech audio processing and signal processing will also find this an essential reference. High-voltage test techniques, 2nd revised and enlarged edition. Author Dieter Kind, Kurt Feser translated from the German by Y. Narayana Rao. The second edition of “High Voltage Test Techniques” has been completely revised. The present revision takes into account the latest international developments in High Voltage and Measurement technology, making it an essential reference for engineers in the testing field. High Voltage Technology belongs to the traditional area of Electrical Engineering. However, this is not to say that the area has stood still. New insulating materials, computing methods and voltage levels repeatedly pose new problems or open up methods of solution; electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) or components and systems also demand increased attention. The authors hope that their experience will be of use to students of Electrical Engineering confronted with High Voltage problems in their studies, in research and development and also in the testing field. It helps you to benefit from a completely revised edition. It brings you up-to-date with th latest international developments in High Voltage and Measurement technology. It is an essential reference for engineers in the testing field. The current rate of deployment of wireless networks – whether cellular, LAN, Bluetooth, or sensor – is remarkable. Wireless systems are vulnerable to many kinds of attack, and the security features of fixed-line systems are not always applicable in the wireless arena. With ever-increasing amounts of data being carried on wireless netwrorks, security has become a major concern and an area of great commerical importance. This book presents the key features of wireless networks and discusses various techniques for ensuring secure communication. In particular, techniques for dealing with hacking and other forms of attack will be dealt with, as will cooperation in mulit-hop and ad hoc networks. Suitable for senior undergraduates and graduate students of electrical engineering and computer science. Given the breadth of coverage, it will also appeal to researchers and practitioners in the wireless industry. Groundbreaking Patterns for Building Simpler, More Powerful Networks In Patterns in Network Architecture, pioneer John Day takes a unique approach to solving the problem of network architecture. Piercing the fog of history, he bridges the gap between our experience from the original ARPANET and today’s Internet to a new perspective on networking. Along the way, he shows how socioeconomic forces derailed progress and led to the current crisis. Beginning with the seven fundamental, and still unanswered, questions identified during the ARPANET’s development, Patterns in Network Architecture returns to bedrock and traces our experience both good and bad. Along the way, he uncovers overlooked patterns in protocols that simplify design and implementation and resolves the classic conflict between connection and connectionless while retaining the best of both. He finds deep new insights into the core challenges of naming and addressing, along with results from upper-layer architecture.All of this in Day’s deft hands comes together in a tour de force of elegance and simplicity with the annoying turn of events that the answer has been staring us in the face: Operating systems tell us even more about networking than we thought. The result is, in essence, the first “unified theory of networking,” and leads to a simpler, more powerful–and above all–more scalable network infrastructure. The book then lays the groundwork for how to exploit the result in the design, development, and management as we move beyond the limitations of the Internet. Using this new model, Day shows how many complex mechanisms in the Internet today (multihoming, mobility, and multicast) are, with this collapse in complexity, now simply a consequence of the structure. The problems of router table growth of such concern today disappear. The inescapable conclusion is that the Internet is an unfinished demo, more in the tradition of DOS than Unix, that has been living on Moore’s Law and 30 years of band-aids. It is long past time to get networking back on track./ Patterns in network protocols that synthesize “contradictory” approaches and simplify design and implementation / “Deriving” that networking is interprocess communication (IPC) yielding / A distributed IPC model that repeats with different scope and range of operation / Making network addresses topological makes routing purely a local matter / That in fact, private addresses are the norm–not the exception–with the consequence that the global public addresses required today are unnecessary / That mobility is dynamic multihoming and unicast is a subset of multicast, but multicast devolves into unicast and facilitates mobility / That the Internet today is more like DOS, but what we need should be more like Unix / For networking researchers, architects, designers, engineers Provocative, elegant, and profound, Patterns in Network Architecture transforms the way you envision, architect, and implement networks.Preface: The Seven Unanswered Questions xiii Chapter 1: Foundations for Network Architecture 1 Chapter 2: Protocol Elements 23 Chapter 3: Patterns in Protocols 57 Chapter 4: Stalking the Upper-Layer Architecture 97 Chapter 5: Naming and Addressing 141 Chapter 6: Divining Layers 185 Chapter 7: The Network IPC Model 235 Chapter 8: Making Addresses Topological 283 Chapter 9: Multihoming, Multicast, and Mobility 317 Chapter 10: Backing Out of a Blind Alley 351 Appendix A: Outline for Gedanken Experiment on Separating Mechanism and Policy 385 Bibliography 389 Index 399. Author Balbir Kumar and Shail B. Jain. Designed as a text for the students of various engineering streams such as electronics/electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, computer science and engineering, IT, instrumentation and control and mechanical engineering, this well-written text provides an introduction to electronic devices and circuits. It introduces to the readers electronic circuit analysis and design techniques with emphasis on the operation and use of semiconductor devices. It covers principles of operation, the characteristics and applications of fundamental electronic devices such as p-n junction diodes, bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), and field effect transistors (FETs).What distinguishes this text is that it explains the concepts and applications of the subject in such a way that even an average student will be able to understand working of electronic devices, analyze, design and simulate electronic circuits. This comprehensive book provides: a large number of solved examples; summary highlighting the important points in the chapter; a number of Review Questions at the end of each chapter; and, a fairly large number of unsolved problems with answers. Linear prediction theory has had a profound impact in the field of digital signal processing. Although the theory dates back to the early 1940s, its influence can still be seen in applications today. The theory is based on very elegant mathematics and leads to many beautiful insights into statistical signal processing. Although prediction is only a part of the more general topics of linear estimation, filtering, and smoothing, this book focuses on linear prediction. This has enabled detailed discussion of a number of issues that are normally not found in texts. For example, the theory of vector linear prediction is explained in considerable detail and so is the theory of line spectral processes. This focus and its small size make the book different from many excellent texts which cover the topic, including a few that are actually dedicated to linear prediction. There are several examples and computer-based demonstrations of the theory. Applications are mentioned wherever appropriate, but the focus is not on the detailed development of these applications. The writing style is meant to be suitable for self-study as well as for classroom use at the senior and first-year graduate levels. The text is self-contained for readers with introductory exposure to signal processing, random processes, and the theory of matrices, and a historical perspective and detailed outline are given in the first chapter. Simulating physics helps cutting-edge games distinguish themselves by making virtual objects behave as we expect them to in the real world. Physics engines are the software programs that run these simulations. Building an engine is difficult, however. There are a large number of new developers (and hobbyists) coming into this market who need help through this complex process. Current introductory books are inadequate; they don’t bring enough real-world programming experience to the task. There is a need for an introductory book on game physics with solid coding guidance but which limits the math content. Ian Millington brings his extensive professional programming experience to this problem. He has developed games since 1987, has studied AI and mathematics at the PhD level, and founded Mindlathe Ltd., a company that designed and built commercial physics engines. “Physics Engine Development” carefully describes each step in the creation of a robust, usable physics engine. It introduces the mathematical concepts in a clear and simple manner, keeping to high school level topics and building a physics code library as it goes.Each new concept is explained in diagrams and code to make sure that even the most novice of game programmers understands. The companion CD-ROM includes the source code for a complete physics engine of commercial quality. This book will serve as a introduction to more mathematically advanced books on game physics, such as “Dave Eberly’s Game Physics”. It uses only high school algebra and shows how to build a complete system based on professional principles. It accompanies a CD-ROM with C++ source code for a full commercial-quality physics engine. “Uniquely, this book proposes robust space-time code designs for real-world wireless channels. Through a unified framework, it emphasizes how propagation mechanisms such as space-time frequency correlations and coherent components impact the MIMO system performance under realistic power constraints. Combining a solid mathematical analysis with a physical and intuitive approach to space-time coding, the book progressively derives innovative designs, taking into consideration that MIMO channels are often far from ideal. The various chapters of this book provide an essential, complete and refreshing insight into the performance behaviour of space-time codes in realistic scenarios and constitute an ideal source of the latest developments in MIMO propagation and space-time coding for researchers, R&D engineers and graduate students.Features of this title include: physical models and analytical representations of MIMO propagation channels, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of various models; overview of space-time coding techniques, covering both classical and more recent schemes under information theory and error probability perspectives; in-depth presentation of how real-world propagation affects the capacity and the error performance of MIMO transmission schemes; and, innovative and practical designs of robust space-time coding, precoding and antenna selection techniques for realistic propagation (including single-carrier and MIMO-OFDM transmissions). ‘This book offers important insights into how space-time coding can be tailored for real-world MIMO channels. The discussion of MIMO propagation models is also intuitive and well-developed’ – Arogyaswami J. Paulraj, Professor, Stanford University, CA. ‘Finally a book devoted to MIMO from a new perspective that bridges the boundaries between propagation, channel modeling, signal processing and space-time coding.It is of high reference value, combining intuitive and conceptual explanations with detailed, stringent derivations of basic facts of MIMO’ – Ernst Bonek, Emeritus Professor, Technische Universitat Wien, Austria. This title presents space-time coding techniques for real-world MIMO channels. It contains new design methodologies and criteria that guarantee the robustness of space-time coding in real life wireless communications applications. It evaluates the performance of space-time coding in real world conditions. ‘This title offers a unique system focus that presents specific solutions for specific appliances. This publication presents state-of-the-art power management techniques for modern electronic appliances that rely on such very large-scale integration (VLSI) chips as CPUs and DSPs. The author thoroughly covers all aspects of the field, including semiconductor manufacturing processes, packages, circuits, functions, and systems. A unique and significant contribution to the field, the publication adopts a ‘system focus’ by first presenting the appliance and then delving into the power management architecture and topologies that best serve each appliance. In addition to specific techniques and applications, the publication discusses fundamental physical and socioeconomic issues.For example, the author examines Moore’s law and its effect on power management and heat dissipation, which points to a future breakthrough needed to continue the fast pace of advancement in the high-tech industry.The author provides a solid technical foundation and an analysis of popular electronic appliances, including: An overview of the semiconductor industry; plain-English discussion of semiconductor processes and packages; step-by-step guide to analog design building from the transistor to higher-level functions, leading to the implementation of a complete voltage regulator; popular DC-DC voltage regulation architectures; AC-DC architectures for power conversion; and, ultra-portable devices, such as cellular phones, PDAs, and digital still cameras, Desktop and notebook PCs.The publication concludes with a chapter on special power management topics and an expert forecast of future directions for the field. This is essential reading for researchers, engineers, and designers in the semiconductor and integrated circuits industries. With its extensive use of cross-section drawings as well as transistor circuit schematics, this is also a recommended textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science and electrical engineering. Author Charles Lessard, Joseph Lessard. This lecture book is an introduction to project management. It will be of use for engineering students working on project design in all engineering disciplines and will also be of high value to practicing engineers in the work force. Few engineering programs prepare students in methods of project design and configuration management used within industry and government. This book emphasizes teams throughout and includes coverage of an introduction to projectmanagement, project definition, researching intellectual property (patent search), project scope, idealizing and conceptualizing a design, converting product requirements to engineering specifications, project integration, project communicationsmanagement, and conducting design reviews. The overall objectives of the book are for the readers to understand and manage their project by employing the good engineering practice used by medical and other industries in design and development of medical devices, engineered products and systems. The goal is for the engineer and student to work well on large projects requiring a team environment, and to effectively communicate technical matters in both written documents and oral presentations. Author John L. Volakis, and Kubilay Sertel, Brian C. Usner. This book provides a brief overview of the popular Finite Element Method (FEM) and its hybrid versions for electromagnetics with applications to radar scattering, antennas and arrays, guided structures, microwave components, frequency selective surfaces, periodic media, and RF materials characterizations and related topics. It starts by presenting concepts based on Hilbert and Sobolev spaces as well as Curl and Divergence spaces for generating matrices, useful in all engineering simulation methods. It then proceeds to present applications of the finite element and finite element-boundary integral methods for scattering and radiation. Applications to periodic media, metamaterials and bandgap structures are also included. The hybrid volume integral equation method for high contrast dielectrics and is presented for the first time. Another unique feature of the book is the inclusion of design optimization techniques and their integration within commercial numerical analysis packages for shape and material design. To aid the reader with the method’s utility, an entire chapter is devoted to two-dimensional problems. The book can be considered as an update on the latest developments since the publication of our earlier book (Finite Element Method for Electromagnetics, IEEE Press, 1998). The latter is certainly complementary companion to this one. Place of Publication Amsterdam Boston, Mass. Whether you are a professional new to the user-centered design field, or an experienced designer who needs to learn the fundamentals of user interface design and evaluation, this book can lead the way. What will you get from this book? Based on a course from the Open University, UK which has been taught to over a thousand professionals and students, this book presents an overview of the field. It illustrates the benefits of a user-centered approach to the design of software, computer systems, and web sites, and provides a clear and practical discussion of requirements gathering; developing interaction design from user requirements; and, user interface evaluation. The book’s coverage includes established HCI topics – for example, visibility, affordance, feedback, metaphors, mental models, and the like – combined with practical guidelines for contemporary designs and current trends, which makes for a winning combination. You get a clear presentation of ideas, illustrations of concepts, using real-world applications.This book will help you develop all the skills necessary for iterative user-centered design, and provides a firm foundation for user interface design and evaluation on which to build. This work covers the design of graphical user interfaces, web sites, and interfaces for embedded systems. It covers full color production, with activities, projects, hundreds of illustrations, and industrial applications. A supporting web site includes sample exam paper, numerous activities to practice the concepts learned, and a set of review questions to test your own learning – plus web resources. Written for students and managers who do not have a technical background, “Data Communications and Network Security” comprehensively introduces students to the technology and management of data communications. This includes both wired and wireless technology as well as comprehensive coverage of network security, helping both the organization and the individual create and maintain a data-safe environment. The book’s unique organization allows the material to be presented in a variety of ways, making the book a strong match to any teaching approach. Covering the breadth of a large topic, this book provides a thorough grounding in object-oriented concepts, the software development process, UML and multi-tier technologies. After covering some basic ground work underpinning OO software projects, the book follows the steps of a typical development project (Requirements Capture – Design – Specification & Test), showing how an abstract problem is taken through to a concrete solution. The book is programming language agnostic – so code is kept to a minimum to avoid detail and deviation into implementation minutiae. A single case study running through the text provides a realistic example showing development from an initial proposal through to a finished system. Key artifacts such as the requirements document and detailed designs are included. For each aspect of the case study, there is an exercise for the reader to produce similar documents for a different system. Do you need to know how to write systems, services, and applications using the TinyOS operating system? Learn how to write nesC code and efficient applications with this indispensable guide to TinyOS programming. Detailed examples show you how to write TinyOS code in full, from basic applications right up to new low-level systems and high performance applications. Two leading figures in the development of TinyOS also explain the reasons behind many of the design decisions made and, for the first time, how nesC relates to and differs from other C dialects. Handy features such as a library of software design patterns, programming hints and tips, end-of-chapter exercises, and an appendix summarizing the basic application-level TinyOS APIs make this the ultimate guide to TinyOS for embedded systems programmers, developers, designers, and graduate students. The scaling of semiconductor devices from sub-micron to nanometer dimensions is driving the need for understanding the design of electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuits, and the response of these integrated circuits (IC) to ESD phenomena. “ESD Circuits and Devices” provides a clear insight into the layout and design of circuitry for protection against electrical overstress (EOS) and ESD. With an emphasis on examples, this text: explains ESD buffering, ballasting, current distribution, design segmentation, feedback, coupling, and de-coupling ESD design methods; outlines the fundamental analytical models and experimental results for the ESD design of MOSFETs and diode semiconductor device elements, with a focus on CMOS, silicon on insulator (SOI), and Silicon Germanium (SiGe) technology; focuses on the ESD design, optimization, integration and synthesis of these elements and concepts into ESD networks, as well as applying within the off-chip driver networks, and on-chip receivers; and highlights state-of-the-art ESD input circuits, as well as ESD power clamps networks.Continuing the author’s series of books on ESD, this book will be an invaluable reference for the professional semiconductor chip and system ESD engineer. Semiconductor device and process development, quality, reliability and failure analysis engineers will also find it an essential tool. In addition, both senior undergraduate and graduate students in microelectronics and IC design will find its numerous examples useful. Author Shaharuddin Salleh, Albert Y. Zomaya, Sakhinah Abu Bakar. “Computing for Numerical Methods Using Visual C++” fills the need for a complete, authoritative book on the visual solutions to problems in numerical methods using C++. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject and demonstrates how solving problems in numerical methods using C++ is dominant and practical for implementation due to its flexible language format, object-oriented methodology, and support for high numerical precisions. Author R.C. Bansal, T.S. Bhatti. Publisher Alpha Science International Ltd.

2019-04-25T23:44:45Z

http://blog.engglib.upd.edu.ph/?m=200909

Now the above Scripture is all the more remarkable when you consider that Jesus had taught these men for three and a half years. No preacher ever got as good seminary training as these apostles got under the personal teaching of Jesus. Remember also that Jesus had already risen from the dead, and for forty days had been teaching them concerning the kingdom of God. Being filled with the Holy Spirit was a very important thing throughout the New Testament; yet it is much minimized in the modern pulpit. Let me call your attention to Luke, chapter 1. In verses 15 and 16 the Lord said about John the Baptist, "He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God." John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Ghost, would have great revivals, and many of the children of Israel would he turn to the Lord their God. In Luke 11:13 Jesus, teaching His disciples, had said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" We find an emphasis there on the Holy Spirit as a soul-winning power about which we do not hear very much these days. I have read to you Luke 24:49 where Jesus said, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Now turn with me, please, to the first chapter of Acts. Beginning with verse 1 we read, "The former treatise have I made, 0 Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem." 'Do not start out to hold any revivals. Do not start out to take the gospel to all the world yet. You are not ready yet,' Jesus said. "But wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Now I do not wish to make an issue of the word "baptized" here as if it had some special meaning. If you will allow me, without any controversy, I will say Jesus said, 'You are going to be overwhelmed, you are going to be covered, you are going to be surrounded, you are going to be filled, you are going to be taken charge of by the Holy Spirit not many days hence.' "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." Now Jesus is not talking here about the second coming of Christ and His reign on earth, when He speaks of being "baptized with the Holy Ghost." 'It is not for you to know when. That is not the thing I am talking about,' He said. And that is not what they were waiting for then. No, He said in verse 8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." But I follow on. I want you to see how important in the Scripture is this term, is this matter of the Holy Spirit on people who are already saved, on people who are already converted, on people who already have the indwelling of the Spirit. There is great emphasis on a special enduement of power, a baptism of the Spirit, a filling of the Spirit, a gift of the Spirit, a pouring out .of the Spirit. All these are Bible terms, and are emphasized throughout the New Testament. In Acts, chapter 2, again we read, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind." Now the disciples were not told to wait for a miraculous sound of a rushing cyclonic wind. That was an incidental miracle, and not that for which they were told to wait. "And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and sat upon each of them." That was an incidental miracle, and not that for which they waited. That was not what God promised. Listen: "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." The fullness, the baptism, the power, the gift, the enduement of power of the Holy Spirit, is what was promised. Now in this case they began to speak in several languages. In the Bible the Greek word glossa is translated tongue, and it is translated language. It is here "language" and ought to be so regarded. The next verse says that there were Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven in Jerusalem. There were fifteen different nationalities, and every man in his own language wherein he was born heard these men preaching the gospel. Now if you read further, you will find that three thousand souls were saved. Let us not be thinking about the incidentals. No one has any right to make anything special of the fact that there was a cyclonic wind. That is not what Jesus promised and it was not repeated again, as far as we know; certainly not always, and certainly not promised. No one has any right to make anything special of the cloven tongues of fire sitting on the people. I do not care if people do have them. They are not promised, and were not repeated in Bible times, as far as we know. Certainly they are not to be expected. No one has a right to make an issue of the fact that in this case people talked in several languages to those who understood the gospel in their own language. That is not the point of the story. That is not what Jesus talked about. That is a special miracle. Someone says, "Here is a Chinaman. He understands only his own language. He cannot understand English." All right, as far as I am concerned, if God gives you the power to speak to him in Chinese and if he hears it and is converted, then that is Biblical; that is Scriptural; that is all right. That would be a miracle. It would be of God. I am not against that. But I say that is not the part God is talking about here. The important thing is that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, that they preached the gospel to everybody they saw, that they had multitudes saved. About three thousand were saved. I am just going through some Scriptures, and showing you how important in Bible language is this matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts, chapter 2, the people said, "What shall we do?" Peter answered them in verses 38 and 39, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Notice now that "repent" is for salvation, and "be baptized" is pointing to, or with reference to that salvation. A study of the Greek shows that the word "for" there is really a translation of the little Greek word eis which means "with reference to." So it is not a matter of being baptized to get remission of sins. It is being baptized because of, or pointing to, or with reference to the remission of sins you got when you repented. Baptism does not save anybody. It is a good testimony you have been saved, if you have. Then read the rest of the verse. "And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Notice, one repents and is saved. Then the baptism means a laying of one's self on the altar, a heart obedience to the commands of God, a setting out to live the surrendered and crucified life. And then, "ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:38-39). Now every one who is ever called to be saved is called to have the gift of the Holy Spirit, too, if he will, the Scripture says. Read on further in the fourth chapter of Acts. Again the disciples met together. Again they needed blessing and power. Again they prayed. Acts 4:31 says, "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness." "Filled with the Holy Ghost." "Filled with the Holy Ghost." How often repeated! Turn to Acts, chapter 6. Now the apostles said, 'We cannot continue always helping the widows with groceries and such matters. Look you out seven men, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, that we may appoint over this matter.' And the Scripture says, "And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost . . ." (Acts 6:5). Verse 8 reads, "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." Stephen was "full of the Holy Ghost." In the seventh chapter of Acts, verse 55, we see Stephen just before he is stoned: "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven," gave his testimony, and Saul of Tarsus was convicted and later converted. Let us turn further in Acts to chapter 11. There is another man, Barnabas. Do you know what kind of a man he is? Acts 11:24 says, "For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord." "Full of the Holy Ghost." Now you see the point. The Bible makes much of that term "full of the Holy Ghost," or a synonym, "full of the Holy Spirit," which is used again and again and again in the New Testament. Now turn with me to the nineteenth chapter of Acts. "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples [notice, these people were disciples], He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Now these had trusted in Christ. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). These were converted people. These were saved people. These were disciples who had trusted in Christ. "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" Now Christians ought to, along with, or following conversion, have another experience. At conversion one receives an indwelling of the Spirit, but a baptism or filling with the Holy Spirit for soul-winning power and witnessing was needed. Paul referred to this filling. I am not talking about sanctification now. I am not talking about sinless perfection. I am not talking now about speaking in tongues. I am talking about what God is talking about now. Listen carefully: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" Is not that a strange question? "And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." They must have been going to churches whose pastors were afraid to mention the matter, as many of our pastors are afraid to mention it today! 'We have not so much as heard about that,' they said. 'We do not know about it.' "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?" I think Paul means this, 'Do you not remember that when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came on Him, and He started His public ministry and went around filled with the Holy Ghost? Do you not remember when John the Baptist baptized people, that he told them, "I baptize you with water, but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost"? Do you not remember at Pentecost that Peter told the people, "Repent! and then you will be saved, but if you want to get the power of the Holy Ghost, then you must be baptized, you must lay yourself on the altar, you must set out to live the crucified life, to follow Jesus even unto death"? Why were you baptized if you did not mean to lay everything on the altar and have the power of God to carry out the Great Commission? You know the Great Commission is that you are to get others converted, get them baptized, teach them to observe everything Jesus taught the disciples, the apostles, to observe. What about that? When they heard Paul say this, they were baptized again. You know, baptism is a picture of a transaction that has taken place. It means the counting of serf dead, the reckoning of self to be dead, and the starting out to live a new life. And if that did not happen, if you did not mean that when you were baptized, you ought to be baptized again and mean it. Now this is the thing I lay on your heart. Here in the New Testament there is an emphasis on a certain experience, if you can call it an experience; an emphasis on a certain blessing, if you can call it a blessing; an emphasis on what the Bible calls being filled with the Holy Ghost. Again and again the Scripture says, "They were full of the Holy Ghost," or "They were filled with the Holy Ghost." There are other cases in the Bible which I did not mention. In Acts 4:8 Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost. I did not mention Zacharias in the first chapter of Luke where the Scripture says, "Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied .... " and "Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake..." I say, here is a term often used in the Bible. Why don't we preach on it? Why don't we preachers, we Christians, seek this blessing that other Christians had? There has been much quarreling, lots of fanatical, and I think, unscriptural teaching on this matter. Suppose someone went wrong on the blood of Christ. Does that mean I can never again preach on the blood? Certainly not! Suppose someone goes wrong on paying his honest debts. Does that mean I must never again preach on paying your debts? Must I never preach "thou shalt not steal" if somebody happens to misinterpret that Scripture? Does that mean I must leave it alone? Don't you see how wicked it is to ignore a plain and repeated emphasis throughout the New Testament just because there has been some fanaticism or some misunderstanding on the subject? Don't you see how wicked it is to ignore the plain teaching of the Bible that New Testament Christians again and again were filled with the Holy Ghost when they set out to win souls? Now I am going to ask you the question in a moment, as Paul did, but first I want to give you the promise and command. In Acts 2:39 remember this promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost is to you and to your children: "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Now that says the gift of the Holy Ghost is a promise to everybody who will ever be saved. There is a promise for you. It is the same thing that Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 24:49, "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you" -- 'the promise,' 'the promise'! And Peter says at Pentecost, 'The promise is to you, too. It was promised to us apostles. The same promise is to you.' "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem," Jesus said, "until ye be endued with power from on high." That promise of power from on high, the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost, is to you, to your children, and to everybody whom God ever calls. In Ephesians 1:13, Paul says, "In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise"- the Holy Ghost that God promised you might have, whose power you might have, whose fullness you might have for soul-winning effort. And in Ephesians 5:18 is the plain command, "Be not drunk with wine." Now the Bible ought to be taken at face value. Here the Word of God commands, "Be not drunk with wine." Then getting drunk is a sin. Let us just take that part of the verse alone. How many believe that getting drunk is a sin? To be drunk with wine is a sin. How many believe that? Let me see your hands. All right. I wonder if you are the kind of a modernist that takes half of a verse and throws the rest of it away? Are you? Well, all of that verse reads, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit". Now I ask you, if violating the first half of that verse and getting drunk is a sin, then is not the failure to be filled with the Spirit the same kind of a sin? Do you think you can say you are a good Christian and take only one-half of that verse? No you cannot. You are not a good Christian until you take all of it. I did not say you were not converted. I did not say that a Christian never gets drunk. It would certainly be wrong to get drunk. It was wrong for Lot. It was wrong for Noah. And it is wrong for anybody else. But I am saying that just because you keep half of that and do not get drunk, that does not make you a good Christian. You are not a very good Christian until you keep all of the verse, including the part that says, "Be filled with the Spirit." You are not given any latitude. You are not left any choice in the matter. You are to be filled. There is the plain command of Jesus Christ, written down by Paul the apostle in the book of Ephesians. "Be filled with the Spirit." I will tell you now, you had better hear me. God's people in this town of Seattle need to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, do you want to have revival? All right, I will tell you how we can have it just as they did at Pentecost, just as they did in other Bible times. I say, we can have a revival when God's people pay the price and are filled with the Holy Ghost. Now do not misunderstand me, we can have a marvelous revival if God's people are filled with the Holy Ghost. I want you to think about this a little bit. I want you to first see what was the secret and principle of Pentecost. What was the meaning of Pentecost? The meaning of Pentecost is simply this: it was an old-fashioned, specimen revival when God's people got power to win souls and won them. Many have misunderstood the meaning of Pentecost. When you talk about Pentecost, there are many people who think, "Well, that is the time the Holy Spirit came into the world." Oh, no! The Holy Spirit had come on Christians all down through the ages. Every sinner that was ever convicted and saved was done so by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who regenerates. And people were filled with the Spirit and witnessed for Jesus before Pentecost. No! No! The Holy Spirit did not just come into the world at Pentecost. Sometimes people talk about the descent of the Holy Spirit as if He had been in Heaven all the time. That is not the point. Somebody says, "Well, Brother Rice, the Holy Spirit began dwelling in the bodies of Christians at Pentecost." I am sorry to tell you, my friend, but you are mistaken. That is not the time at all. That dispensation began at the resurrection of Christ, the day Jesus was glorified, the day Jesus was raised from the dead. That is when that dispensation began. We read in John 7:37-39, "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" At the time of that feast Jesus was not glorified, was not raised up in His glorified body. So the Holy Spirit had not been given to dwell in the bodies of Christians. Now turn to John, chapter 20, and you will read in verses 19 and 20 that Jesus came and showed them His hands and His side, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, and He said, "Peace be unto you." That is the peace of the blood; that is the peace of the assurance of salvation. "Then said Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you... And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (Vss. 21-22). Now the disciples, from the day Jesus rose from the dead, from the day He was glorified, received the Holy Spirit; and from that time on every Christian already has the Holy Spirit living in his body. Don't any of you pray tonight for the Holy Spirit to come into your body. If you are converted, He is already there. Listen to I Corinthians 6:19-20: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." You see, every Christian has the Holy Spirit in his body. And the disciples had that before Pentecost. They had already had that for forty days. The Holy Spirit had been dwelling in them since the day Jesus rose from the dead. And now the Holy Spirit comes in when one is converted and lives in that body. Now that had already happened to the disciples before Pentecost. Pentecost did not mean the beginning of the indwelling of the Spirit. They already had that. I am not trying to get anybody here to ask the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in you. When you receive Christ by faith as your Saviour, then automatically the Holy Spirit comes in and makes you a Christian, regenerates you, and you are put into, baptized into, or buried into the body of Christ, and you drink in the Holy Spirit. He lives in your body. You become a part of Christ's mystical body, the church. I say, every saved person already has the Holy Spirit. That is not what Pentecost means. That is not what Pentecost meant to the apostles. Somebody else says, "Brother Rice, I think that Pentecost means the rounding, the origin, the beginning of the church." Now I would not care to argue with you about it. I think if I had time I could show you that it does not mean that at all. I think if I had time I could show you that that is not when the church began. But I will not argue; you cannot show me a verse in the Bible that says anything about the church's beginning at Pentecost. All right; but suppose it did begin at Pentecost, then let us say nothing about it because that is not what God says, and God is not talking about that. I do not care especially when the church began; I am just anxious that you do not miss the meaning for Christians that God has in Pentecost. Now what does Pentecost mean? "Power from on high," an enduement of power to do the work God tells you to do. That is what the disciples had. They were given the power to win souls. They were filled with the Holy Ghost to win souls. They had three thousand souls saved then, and they went on wonderfully winning souls day after day. Now do you see the meaning of Pentecost? The meaning of Pentecost is power for soul-winning testimony! Again, what is the meaning of Pentecost? "Ye shall receive power." Power! I am not talking about the cyclonic wind. That happened, but it was not what was promised. It is not the proof that the Lord is talking about. It is not the thing they are to get on their minds. And we ought not get our minds on it. It was not the tongues of fire sitting on their heads. That happened, but it was an incidental, outward miracle. I say, those outward signs may differ as they did then, but that is not the point. The point is that they are to receive power, to have witnessing power and to get people converted. That is the meaning of Pentecost. It isn't that they were talking in other languages. It happens that some of them did talk in known languages that people understood, and these people heard the gospel in their own tongues in which they were born. That is all right, but that is an incident. It was not promised that it would be specially in these certain particular languages. That is not the point. The point is that they got power to witness for Jesus and to get people saved. They had power. The meaning of Pentecost is power on your witnessing, power on your testimony, power on your soul-winning effort, power for the pulpit and the pew to take the gospel to sinners; in other words, revival power. That is it. D. L. Moody said, "Pentecost was simply a specimen day." Yes, Pentecost was simply a specimen revival. If we want a revival, let us go back and have it as they did then. How is that? Let us get the power of God on us. Let us get the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us be filled with the Holy Spirit, or have the gift of the Holy Spirit, or be endued with power from on high. As Joel prophesied, and as Peter said, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:16-17). Do you see the point of that? I do not care what term you may use. I prefer the term more often used in the Bible which is "filled with the Spirit," but I do not mind the term "baptized with the Holy Spirit," which was used by R. A. Torrey, D. L. Moody, Charles G. Finney, and some of the greatest evangelists who ever lived. The term "baptized with the Holy Ghost" is in some disrepute, however, because it has sometimes been misused. Nevertheless, I do not mind your using that just so you mean what the Bible means, that Christians can have an enduement from Heaven, can have the breath of God upon us, can have a miracle-working power upon us and in us, and we can be filled with the Holy Spirit and can do what God said to do. The meaning of Pentecost is simply the power of the Holy Ghost on Christians, the power of God in and through us to do what He said to do, that is, to carry the gospel to every creature. Remember Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Oh God, give us that grace! The power of the Holy Spirit is the only way to have a revival and the only way to win souls. Someone says, "Brother Rice, how am I going to know whether or not I am filled with the Holy Spirit? How am I going to know whether or not I am baptized with the Holy Spirit?" Well, I will tell you how. It is not going to be very difficult to tell you. In the first place, what are you looking for? What do you want ? You say, "Oh, I want to feel as light as a feather. I want to hear angels' wings flapping. I want to see a great light shining around. I want to feel electricity come in my head and run out my fingers and toes." Well, you are talking about something entirely different from what the Bible is talking about. I am not interested in that. If everybody here today were to hear angels' wings flapping, were to see a great light shining, were to feel electric shocks running through their bodies, I would not give the snap of my finger for all that. If God wants to do that, all right. But that is not what He is talking about here at all. If everybody here were to fall under a spell and fall down, I would not be interested in that. That is not what the Bible is talking about. Let God do whatever He wants to do; I will make no complaint. But that is not what the Bible here is talking about. It is talking about being endued with power from on high. Do you see? What do you want? Do you want to know what it takes? Do you want to know what the sign is? What do you want? You say, "Well, I want to be better than everybody else." That is not the point here. I say this, whatever there is in sanctification -- and there is a Bible doctrine of sanctification on which we might not agree as to all the details--but whatever it is, that is not what happened to these people here at Pentecost. Whatever it is, that is not what God is talking about. God is talking about power to win souls. Now wouldn't you know if you had power to win souls? You say, "What signs? What signs?" Well, listen to this: I tell you, my friend, you can know as I knew last Saturday night when I preached in Portland and sixteen people came to Christ. I knew Sunday night when I came in great weariness after having missed two nights of sleep, after having slept what I could with my clothes on on a bench and on the plane, and then on the straight seats coming up on the train from Portland another night. I came with a good deal of fear and trembling and burden, but God was here and we had a great number of grown men and women saved Sunday night. I knew God's breath was on me. I am not making any boast, for I am not worthy of anything. But I needed no other sign but that. If we have Seattle broken down and the power of God comes; if Sunday night, or Sunday afternoon or Saturday night, or if tomorrow night, or if any other time the power of God is on me to win souls, I will know. That is what I am talking about. That is what I am praying for. That is its own sign. If you win souls, that is what you want, isn't it? That is the sign itself. What is the sign of the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Acts 1:8 gives it: "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." What is the sign? The power! Power to do what? "And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." That is the point. Do you see that? This is the only way to have revival. I have sometimes thought, Wouldn't Paul the apostle feel good if he had the chance I have to be on the radio so many times! (I have preached so many times on the Christian Business Men's program in Chicago. I have preached, I suppose, on a hundred or maybe more different radio stations. For years I carried on a daily program. And in my revival campaigns I preach somewhere nearly every day of the year on the radio.) My, wouldn't Paul the apostle envy my getting to preach to all those people! Paul, you know, had to walk. And he did not have even a church house in which to preach. He usually preached in the synagogue in a city until he got kicked out of there. He preached on the temple porch. He preached out on the street. He preached in a loft. My, I am so much ahead of Paul! He just did not have opportunities to compare with what I have! Then there is Peter. I am satisfied that if Simon Peter could have been editor of a paper such as The Sword of the Lord and have 45,000 families read it very week, and have the gospel go out that way with the principal preachers in America as contributors, he would have felt proud. But in his time, he could not do it. Wouldn't Peter have been glad if he could have printed one tract such as my little booklet, "What Must I Do to Be Saved?" If he could have gotten out three million copies of that booklet alone and heard from about 2,400 people who had been saved through that little twenty-four page pamphlet alone, wouldn't Peter have been proud? I am sure ahead of him in opportunity, am I not? I came to preach here with all of these preachers backing me. Why, I am so much ahead of Bible Christians! Yes, I am -- in the way I am talking about. We have good church buildings, the apostles did not. We have organized Sunday Schools. We have literature. We have degrees and seminary training and help. We are in good standing in the community. Why, preacher brethren, we have everything, don't we? We have so much more than the apostles had. Yes, we have everything but the one thing that counts. We have everything these days except the power of God. We have everything except the power of the Holy Ghost. We have everything except the only thing that matters! Do you see what I am talking about? Our trouble is not whether we have physical equipment. We have that, but it never did bring revival, and it will not bring it now! I would like to have had a larger neutral auditorium for this meeting, but if we had had it, that would not have brought a revival. No! No! We lack the one essential, and that is the power of the Holy Ghost on His people. I do not care what you call it, but you had better have it. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost? You say, "Brother Rice, I talked to some about coming to the meetings, but I just could not get them here." How many of you have tried to get somebody to the meetings, but they would not come? Let me see your hands. All right. Now what was the matter? You must not have had the power of God on you. How many of you have children, or a husband, or a brother, or a sister, or a mother, or a father, or someone you love whom you have tried to get converted, but you could not do it? Let me see your hands. Now, what is the matter? Is the gospel no good? Is there anything wrong with the gospel? Is that it? Is God dead? Is the gospel out of date? Is the Bible now passe' and not for this age? What is the matter? Or is it simply that you do not have the power of God on you? Now what do you say? Do you see where the trouble lies? Oh, I wish God would help us to believe it and to understand it. D. L. Moody said, "How wicked and how foolish it is to do the work of God without the power of God!" Oh, in Bible times people had the power! I wish I could preach as John the Baptist did! Do you know why John the Baptist won so many souls? Jesus said, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." He preached in the spirit and power of Elias. Do you how why? He was filled with the Holy Ghost, so that many of the people of Israel did he turn to the Lord their God, the Scripture says (Luke 1:16). That is the only way anybody could ever have a revival. Do you know how the Lord Jesus won souls? I remind you that you cannot find a word about Jesus' winning souls until He was thirty years of age. He lived a perfect, sinless life. But from the time Jesus was baptized and prayed and the Holy Ghost came upon Him, He went with the Spirit of God on Him, with the power on Him. And oh, the marvel of His gracious words! He was endued with power from God. Jesus is, of course, the Son of God; but He emptied Himself of His glory as the Second Person of the Trinity, and then came in the power of the Holy Spirit to preach. He loved to call Himself the Son of man. He made Himself a model for us. Jesus did His miracles and His wonders in the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you know how it was at Pentecost? They waited. They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren. They waited and prayed until they were all filled with the Holy Ghost; then they won three thousand souls in one day. A ten days' prayer meeting! We preach ten days and try to pray an hour; then we wonder why we do not have a revival. If we would pray ten days and then have one good day of preaching, we would have something happen here. Don't you see that? What is the trouble these days? Listen to me. Lay aside your talk about fanaticism. Lay aside your talk about signs and wonders. Let me ask you a solemn question. Do you believe you are filled with the Holy Spirit? Listen to what the Bible says: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? If you are not what excuse do you have? Jesus commanded that. The Bible commands that. Christians ought to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a joke to you about coming to the choir; it is a light matter to you about bringing somebody with you to church because you are not filled with the Holy Ghost. You have not the burden and passion He would give you. That is why your loved ones do not come. When you talk with them, nothing happens. That is why your own children do not believe in your religion. That is why you do not have boldness and fire and power in your witnessing. What we need is for the Holy Spirit of God to have His way with us. Revivals, I say, come through the power of the Holy Spirit and no other way. In 1936 I drove, with my family, through New York City. We saw many of the interesting sights. We went down to the Battery and saw the Statue of Liberty. We saw the aquarium. We saw Fifth Avenue. We saw Brooklyn Bridge. We went over the George Washington Bridge. We went through the Holland Tunnel. We saw Riverside Drive, Riverside Church, Grant's Tomb, the Little Church Around the Comer, the lower east side -- we saw all those things. Then we drove down Wall Street. As I sat looking down that little narrow canyon of a street only two or three blocks long, I choked up, and team filled my eyes. I said to my children, "There is the financial center of the world." But that was not what I was thinking about. There was the stock market. There were J. P. Morgan's headquarters. The financial center of the world was down that little short block and that little narrow street, but that was not what I was thinking about. I remembered that D. L. Moody came once to seek some gifts for one of his schools. As he visited from office to office, he said, "Oh, my heart was not in the begging for money. I was thirsty for something else!" Down there in that little narrow street the Spirit of God came on him in power, and he was overwhelmed. Somebody with him said, "Are you sick, Mr. Moody? Shall I call a doctor?" "No! No! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" "Well, what shall I do?" "Don't do anything. Leave me alone!" "Well, how can I help?" "Get me in a room, and get everybody' out and leave me by myself!" They put him in a room and he said there the waves of God's power seemed to overwhelm him and overflow him and run over him. Finally Moody said, "Lord, You will have to stop or I will die! I've got all I can hold! God, it is about to kill me!" Later he said, "I would rather lose everything in the world than to lose what I got then!" When he went to preach he said he used the same outlines, he used the same Scripture; the preaching wasn't any different. But where there had been seven or eight saved, now there were hundreds! The difference was in the power! Do you know D. L. Moody's secret? It was not personality. It certainly was not education. He said "ain't." He mispronounced many of his words. He had gone to about the fifth grade in school. What was the secret of his power? He was filled with the Holy Ghost. That was it! That is the Bible term "filled with the Holy Ghost." Oh, how God's power came on Charles G. Finney! Soon after he was converted, he would go to meetings and take time off to pray all night, and the power of God would come on him. One time he walked into a mill, and a girl there saw him. She suddenly began to tremble and could not do her work. Then she began to sob and fell down on her knees and began to cry. Other workers felt the power of God so that they could not go on with their work. The unconverted mill owner said, "Everybody stop the machinery. Better have the power of God on us than to have the mill running. Mr. Finney, preach to us." He did, and many were saved. Why? Because the power of God was on him. That is it; the miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit. That is what we need. That is what R. A. Torrey had. That is what made great soul winners. The power of God is what we need. You cannot explain Billy Sunday with education. You cannot explain Billy Sunday with brains. His sermons were good sermons. Most of them he did not write himself but hired a man to work with him getting material. Then this man helped write out the sermons and Billy Sunday memorized most of them. But even at that, they were not profound. It was not Billy Sunday's brains. It was not education. He had a good personality, but it was not personality. The truth of the matter is, there came a time that when Billy Sunday preached he did not have the crowds, he did not have the power, he did not have people saved. I knew him in those days. What I am saying is that the secret of the great revivals always has been one thing, a supernatural enduement of the power of God on His people. God's people had the power of the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Ghost. That is the point. I say, that is God's secret for revival. Now I come to the last point, and that is this: how to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to give two or three preliminary things before I tell you how. In the first place, I want to remind you again that this is commanded. This is not to be left up to your judgment. Anyone who is not filled with the Holy Spirit just is not in the will of God. Anyone who is not filled with the Holy Spirit is living a life of disobedience, a life more or less of fruitlessness. The reason you are not winning souls is that you are disobedient, is that you are not seeking and not having upon you the fullness of the Spirit of God. I remember back in World War I when I was acting corporal, we were out on the parade ground. The squads broke up and I had my squad out there with the close order drill. "Forward, march! One, two, three, four"; and, "Squad, right! March!" We marched back and forth. I would drill my little squad. After awhile the captain, the commanding officer, came up. I was embarrassed, and so I said, "Halt!" My squad halted awkwardly, shifted around, tried to line up and come to right attention. The captain looked them over and said to one fellow, "Button that button on your blouse." To another he said, "Hold your chin up." Then he told me a thing or two. When he got ready to go, he said, "Say, what was that command you gave as I came up ?" I said, "Sir, I said 'Halt!'" "Was that correct?" he asked. I replied, "No, Sir, it was not." "What should you have said?" "I should have said it in two counts, 'Squad, halt!'" "Why didn't you?" "Sir, I was scared." "Well," he said, "the next time do it right." As he started to leave, I saluted and said, "Thank you, Sir!" He turned to me sternly, looked me through, then said, "Don't thank me. I'm not giving advice; I'm giving orders!" So in this matter I am not just giving you good advice: "It would be nice to be filled with the Holy Spirit." I mean to say the shame of God's people is that you are living in sinful disobedience as long as you do not have the power of God on you. I mean the shame, the sin that is damning your hundreds of thousands, your nearly 600,000 in the greater Seattle area, is that you have churches that are filled with everything else but the Holy Ghost. That is the trouble. Your children are going to Hell because you are not filled with the Holy Ghost. You talk to people; it does not do any good. Why? Because you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Year in and year out Sunday School teachers have unsaved children in their classes but never get them saved. Why? Because they are not filled with the Holy Ghost. Your own children grow up to the years of accountability, and year in and year out you never win them. Why? Because you are not filled with the Holy Ghost. We preachers, God forgive us preachers — I am for the preachers; I do not mean to be critical of them — do you know what is wrong with us preachers? We have nearly everything in the world; we have good training; we have degrees; we have good organization; we have good literature; we have good equipment; we have everything except the important thing, that is, the power of God, the power of God! "Well," you say, "I wish I were filled— " Wait a minute. Do you really want to be filled with the Spirit? I warn you now, it will cost you something. Do not say that unless you mean you are willing to die. Do not say that unless you are willing to be scorned, hated, thought a fanatic and a fool. Do not say that unless you mean to pay a price for it. Remember in Isaiah 44:3 the Lord says, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Once I was reading a book by D. L. Moody. Moody didn't do what I do in my books: he didn't give the Scripture references. In one of his books he said, "God says, 'I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.' "I said, "Oh, my! That is sweet to my heart! I wonder where that is." I got my concordance and looked until I found over in Isaiah 44:3, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Are you really thirsty? Oh, unless you are thirsty, unless your heart cries out, you are not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If you do not mean business you will not pay the price. You will not pray long enough. You will not be content to give up the favor of man to have the power of God. You do not mean it unless your heart thirsts for God and thirsts for His power with a deep desire for souls. Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? If you really want to, two conditions must be met. One of them is obedience. I do not mean just to set out to go through a certain rigmarole. I mean obedience such as Jesus showed when He came to die, when He was baptized, when He prayed in the garden. The two things are in there. Peter said in Acts 5:32, "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." Obey Him? "You mean as the apostles did?" you ask. Yes. They were slain one way or another. Peter was crucified head downward, we are told. And another, I think, was boiled in oil. And another was dragged behind a horse and killed. John, an old, old man, past ninety, was exiled on the Isle of Patmos for his faith. "Do you mean like that? Do you mean follow Jesus if it kills you? Do you mean give up your own plans and dreams and count self dead, and live a new life?" That is exactly what God means. Are you ready to lay self on the altar, count self dead, crucified? And when self is crucified, will you come and follow Jesus, do what He says about soul winning? That is the kind of obedience the Bible is talking about. If you are not setting out to win souls with a holy passion, you do not mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You may want some ecstasy, but you do not want what God wants to give you. You are not going to have it unless you are after what God is after, and that is the conversion of sinners and the power of God to witness to them. The thing that God said He wanted you to have He will give to you if you will use it for what He wants you to do. He commanded you to go and preach the gospel, to go carry the gospel to sinners, to get people saved. "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me." If you do not plan to witness for Jesus with the power, if that is not your point, if you do not mean it, if you are not obedient, then you will not have it. You do not have the first requirement. Obedience even to death; even a self-crucifixion. Are you ready for that? That is why it takes so long sometimes. Why did it take ten days of waiting before Pentecost? It is an over-simplification merely to say that the day of Pentecost had not come. Jesus had not promised that the power would come on the day of Pentecost. No, the real truth is that they needed plenty of time to confess their sins and judge their hearts and make things right with one another, and to wait on God. And. what is the second requirement? To ask God, to keep on waiting on God. That is what Jesus meant in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" If you will give yourself wholly to the Lord and wait on Him, you may have His power. "Ye have not, because ye ask not." We have not the power of God because we ask not. We have not a Pentecost because we do not seek it, because we do not believe it, because we do not want it, because we do not pay the price for it. We can have it. "Ask?" you say. Yes. "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." That is the way they got Pentecostal power. That is the way they got the baptism or the fullness of the Spirit. That is the way they had the enduement from Heaven. That is the way they received the pouring out of the Holy Ghost, or the gift of the Holy Ghost. They waited with pleading, burden, confession, begging God, prayer, supplication, and in due time the power of God came. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost? I wonder how many here are contented with the life you are now living. Are you contented to go through life and never win a soul? God have pity on these seat-warming church members, these good-paying church members, these choir-singing church members, these official-board church members, these Sunday-School-teaching church members! Is that all there is to being a Christian? Why, no! What God wants is for you to be a Spirit-filled soul winner with the power of God on you. What does it matter, all the "do," "do," "do," "do"? Why, that is an abomination to God; just machinery within machinery, and wheels and wheels; just clanking, sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. What does God care about that? God does not care how much machinery you have in your church, how many ladies' meetings, how large a Sunday School, how much money you raise. That is not of interest to Him. If it does not result in one main thing, that you really have the power of God on you and get people converted, God is not concerned about it. You say, "I gave some money to missions." Yes, I know. But do you think God is broke? Do you really think that the God who made the universe wants a little silver or some paper with the United States stamp on it? Do you think that is what God wants from you? That ought to be given as a type, as a token, as a picture, as a reminder of your love, certainly. You need to give of your means. But God does not need to receive your money. That is not what He wants. Primarily God wants your life, your hands, your feet. God wants your heart. God wants self on the altar. He wants self made over and anointed and endued so that you can be a soul winner. Let me ask you this question, again. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost in the Bible sense? Do you really believe you have what Bible Christians had? Do you have what John the Baptist had when he was filled with the Holy Ghost so that much people of Israel turned to the Lord their God? Do you have what Barnabas had? He was a good man, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and people were added to the Lord as a result of Barnabas' ministry. Do you have that? Do you have what dying Stephen had? He was full of the Holy Ghost and faith. Multitudes of men and women believed. Do you have, I ask, what these Bible preachers and Bible laymen and Bible women had? Do you have the fullness of the Holy Ghost? "Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" (Acts 5:42). And the power; why, it spread like wildfire. And Jerusalem was turned "upside down." That is what they said, "Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine" and that Paul "turned the world upside down." I wonder, do you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine and turn the world upside down as they did? We would not need to do so much advertising if we had a little more to advertise. We would not have to work so hard to get a crowd if we had anything to give the crowd when they came. Do you believe that? Our trouble primarily is with the people of God; our sinful carelessness, our powerlessness. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" Jesus said (Matt. 5:13). Do you have saving power in you? Then what good are you as salt? "Ye are the light of the world." But if your light does not shine to sinners, what good is it? Do you see that? I wonder whether or not you are satisfied to go on never filled with the Holy Ghost? Are you? How many can say, "Brother Rice, in the month of October," -- that is just one month past now -- "within the last thirty days I thank God I have won at least one soul"? Let me see your hand. I want to help you now. We are not bragging. All right. Now how many can say, "Brother Rice, sometime in the year 1945, I have won a soul"? Let me see your hand. Some of you have. But some of you have not had power to win one soul this year. How many can say, "I haven't won souls this year, but sometime in my life I have won at least one soul"? How many here have at least some time in your life taken the Bible and shown somebody how to be saved, and gotten them saved? How many have walked with someone down the aisle, have gotten them to trust the Saviour and confess Him? How many have led someone to Jesus? How many in your life ever did that? Hold your hand high just a minute. Thank you. Now I want you to see several things. The first thing is that there are probably more than half of this crowd who never were filled enough with the Holy Spirit in the Bible sense to win even one soul by their own testimonies. And here is another thing. Many of you who did win a soul one time have not won one in a year's time. Now that means that you have lost some freshness, some power, some blessing that you once had. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit anew, don't you? Some of you have won souls in the year, but you have not done it in thirty days. God help you! What is wrong when a Christian cannot win one soul in a month's time? It must be you are not filled with the Holy Ghost! How many preachers are present? God bless you, you are my friends. I will not make it embarrassing for you. Now let me ask you something: Preachers, haven't you felt this -- I have some time or another -- haven't you sometimes felt a holy breath of God on you? These are evangelical preachers. These are men who believe the Bible. These are soul-winning preachers. You preachers know what it is to have the breath of God upon you. You knew when you had it. You knew when the power was there, when souls were converted, when there was fruit to your ministry. You have known that, haven't you? How many of you can say, "Brother Rice, bless God, I do know I have had that sometime or another"? I say humbly, I know I have. Let me say this now for all of us. How many will say, "Brother Rice, I want to confess that now I do not have the fullness of blessing I ought to have. I am not filled with the Holy Ghost as Bible Christians were. I do not have the power I ought to have, that God could give me if I paid the price"? Will you say, "I want to confess that"? Most of us here ought to. Would you say, "I want to confess that though I have had God's blessing and great power sometimes, I feel I ought to confess I do not have now the fullness of God's power on me as I ought to have, and I need to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit"? Lot me see your hand. I am holding mine. God bless you. Now how are you going to get it? I would go home and I would say, "Lord, I am going to search my heart and have a house cleaning. First, I am going to set out to do the will of God about soul winning." That is the main thing Jesus died for. That is the main thing the Great Commission is for. After you are saved, that is the thing God wants you to do more than He wants anything else in the world. I would say, "I will give myself to do the will of God, I will get ready for it, I will clean house, and I will be surrendered to it. I will!" I would do that and set out to be what He wanted me to be in soul winning and I would say, "By God's grace, I am going to wait on God until I am filled with the Holy Spirit's power." My people, if you do not listen to me now, we have two of the saddest weeks before us we have ever spent. We have heartsickness and failure and shame to face if we do not have the power of God on us. Now you hear me. Don't anybody here believe that is a thing for one preacher to have and that everybody else may be seat warmers and hangers-on. Don't believe the cup may overflow and you may get a little splashed on you. At Pentecost "they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost." That is the Bible pattern. It is not just for one preacher, not just for one man. "And they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost" -- that is the pattern in Acts 4:31. Do you see that? God has commanded that for you as much as He commanded it for me. It took as much of the blood of Christ to keep you out of Hell as it did for me. God commands you to be filled with the Holy Spirit just as He does me. If we do not have the power of God, we are going into that big auditorium Sunday with small crowds, with mediocre services, and with few results. If we do not have the power of God, an anointment from Heaven, we will come here with a crowd that dwindles and wanes, with boredom in the air, and defeat upon us. Do you see what I mean? We ought to wait on God, then. Do you want the power of God enough to wait on Him, to clean house, to surrender to His perfect will, to get things out of the way, and then wait and plead with God until His anointing comes upon you, until His breath comes upon you, until you get power for soul winning? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could go to that boy of yours and talk to him and he would be all broken and would come when you say come? If you could go to your brother, or your business partner, or somebody you know, and they would be broken up and the Spirit of God would cut them to the heart as it did in Bible times when Spirit-filled Christians talked to sinners, wouldn't that be wonderful? Do you want a Bible revival? You cannot have it without Bible power, the power of the Holy Ghost? That is what we need. God forgive me that I have not preached more about it. God forgive me that I have not sought more of His power and fullness. God forgive me that I have not put the emphasis all the time where the Bible puts it; that the people who had revivals were filled with the Holy Ghost. People who won souls were filled with the Holy Ghost. We can have this power too. But we will have to come the same way, with the same wholehearted obedience, with the dying of self day by day, and then waiting on God for His power as much as is necessary. "Tarry until . . ." "Tarry until" what? Ten days ? No! No! "Tarry until ye be endued." That is it. "Tarry until ye be endued with power."

2019-04-26T04:12:18Z

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Sermons/Dr%20John%20Rice/fullness_of_spirit.htm

Continuous monitoring of a person’s health data, such as heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure, would assist medical health care providers in early prediction and diagnosis of adverse conditions or diseases, allowing patients to be treated more quickly and effectively, thereby decreasing patient numbers and medical costs in the long term. To enable this, health monitoring sensors should be worn by people throughout the day (including during sleep), allowing a continuous collation of health data. In this regard, comfort is a key consideration in the device design. Mechanically flexible devices are ideal candidates for wearable health care sensors and have been widely studied. Various material platforms and structures have been reported for health care monitoring devices (1), such as temperature sensors (2, 3), electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors (4, 5), heartbeat sensors (6, 7), chemical sensors (8, 9), and drug delivery systems (10, 11), and multifunctional sensing has been used not only for health care monitoring but also for diverse applications (10, 12, 13). Although monitoring health conditions is valuable, simultaneous monitoring of physical activity would provide some much-needed context to the data, considering that vital signs, such as skin temperature and ECG, strongly depend on activity and that real-time health information alone is not completely sufficient for a full analysis of the wearer’s condition or for the prediction or diagnosis of disease. Although there have been several reports of sensors and actuators for this type of application (2–11, 14–16), neither printed nor flexible acceleration (motion) sensors have been demonstrated to date. Note that strain sensors have been used to monitor human motion through attachment to joints (17, 18). However, these can only monitor the motion of the joints, which is not always representative of the full range of human motion and activity. Accurate motion data collection from these devices presents a challenge because inflexible acceleration sensors, like those currently used in conventional (that is, nonflexible) wearable devices, need to be integrated onto flexible substrates with other health monitoring sensors. Another challenge is to design low-cost devices, allowing widespread usage and availability to the general public. Hence, it is important to strike a balance between device cost and functionality. To address these challenges, we report a proof-of-concept, flexible, wearable health care monitoring device, which features a detachable multilayered design, a printed three-axis acceleration sensor for motion detection, and three separate sensors for monitoring vital signs. Notably, we have designed the devices to use carbon nanotube (CNT)–based sensors and transistors, which exploit the unique and high-performance properties of these materials, such as high mobility. Three printed health monitoring components are used: a skin temperature sensor, an ECG sensor, and an environmental sensor for detecting environmental ultraviolet (UV) light. Note that UV sensing cannot be used effectively in tandem with ECG monitoring because the device must be worn underneath clothes for effective monitoring of the latter. Hence, the purpose of the UV sensor in this study is to demonstrate the possibility of multifunctional sensor integration. Moreover, the monitoring of sunlight exposure may be applicable to other wearable devices, such as tracking devices, which are typically worn on the arm or wrist. Flexible transistors are also integrated for the switching of the sensors. The device features two detachable components (19, 20) that address cost and hygiene concerns. A nondisposable sensor sheet carries higher-cost components, whereas a disposable sensor sheet designed to be worn in contact with the skin is designed and fabricated with low cost in mind. The two sheets are attached via a flexible, stable, eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) liquid metal contact (21). Finally, to demonstrate the suitability of these devices for health care monitoring, we monitored simultaneous skin temperature, ECG, and UV exposure in tandem with real-time motion sensing under different states of physical activity, including walking, running, and sleeping. The device consists of two sheets, as shown in Fig. 1 (A to C) and fig. S1. The fabrication process is explained in detail in Materials and Methods. The disposable sensing component for direct contact with the skin features a three-axis acceleration sensor, an ECG sensor, and a temperature sensor with a silver (Ag) interconnection, all of which were printed on a disposable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet with a kirigami structure (22), allowing it to stretch comfortably on the human body. The multilayer plastic sheets of the kirigami structure suppress its mechanical rigidity, rendering it unable to fully stretch after the device is attached to skin. However, when the wearer is active, the device can stretch slightly due to the dynamic between the kirigami structure and skin in motion. Although the device is not entirely stretchable, the kirigami structure improves the comfort for wearers. We also note that the kirigami structure was made to prevent the mechanical and electrical failures based on the stress caused by mechanical stretching, particularly where the device includes sensors and thin-film transistors (TFTs). In the future, electrodes will likely need to be formed over the structure. To confirm this possibility, we measured the electrical resistance change of printed Ag electrodes over the structure as a function of stretchability. Figure S2 shows that the resistance was increased slightly up to 2.6% when the substrate was stretched to 100%. Because the electrode resistance is ~6.12 ohms, a few percent resistance change is negligible for sensor integration, where sensor resistance is much higher than this value. The second component is a reusable sheet based on a polyimide substrate consisting of a UV sensor, CNT-TFT–mediated switching circuits for the sensors on both sheets, and a fixed EGaIn electrical connection. The electrical interface between the two sheets connects the temperature sensor on the disposable component to the CNT-TFT circuit on the reusable sheet. This was made using EGaIn contacts, which have previously been reported to be stable under mechanical bending (19). The EGaIn was placed on the reusable sheet in small chambers made of a silicone rubber and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), as described in Fig. 1B and fig. S3. All sensors were fabricated by solution-based techniques, such as a screen printing. The sensors operate through resistance changes induced in response to the respective stimuli. The acceleration sensor has three strain sensors, which respond to changes in structural strain. These strain sensors were fabricated from a mixture of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and single-walled CNT inks. The temperature sensor was printed from a mixture of CNT ink and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) solution. Last, the UV sensor was fabricated through the deposition of ZnO nanowire networks. Images of the entire device and its individual components are presented in Fig. 1D and fig. S4. Fig. 1 Multifunctional, flexible, wearable health monitoring patch. Schematics of (A) the whole device structure, including both disposable and reusable components, (B) EGaIn and Ag contact region between the sheets, (C) and three-axis acceleration sensor. (D) Image of the fabricated device. Optical microscopy images showing the CNT-TFT architectures used for (E) the UV sensor and (F) the temperature sensor. (G) Atomic force microscopy image of the CNT network film used for the TFT semiconductor channel. (H) Image of the device, particularly focused on the EGaIn-Ag contact region between the sheets. IDS-VGS (I) and IDS-VDS (J) characteristics of a CNT-TFT representative of the devices used in this study. (K) Plot of electrical resistance as a function of temperature for the EGaIn-Ag contact. The inset compares I-V characteristics at 25.3°C and 55.6°C. The channel width (W) and length (L) of CNT-TFTs were chosen such that their resistance characteristics match those of the UV and temperature sensors. These values (W/L) are 1 mm/100 μm and 10mm/50 μm, respectively (Fig. 1, E and F). The morphology of a typical CNT network used for these TFTs is shown in the atomic force microscopy image in Fig. 1G. The measurement indicates that the CNT layer has a relatively high-density, uniform network, which is required for reliable, high-performance TFTs. The representative electrical properties of the CNT-TFTs are shown in Fig. 1 (I and J), with a measured field-effect mobility and Ion/Ioff ratio of ~5.8 cm2/Vs and ~105, respectively. The mobility fabricated in this study is low compared to other reports (23) because the density of the CNT network is low, as shown in Fig. 1G. However, by sacrificing the mobility, Ion/Ioff ratio is high, which is appropriate for the switching functions that are used in this study. The relationship between mobility and Ion/Ioff ratio agrees with previous reports. The flexible EGaIn-Ag electrical contact between the disposable and reusable sheets is a unique design feature of this device and is shown pictorially in Fig. 1H and fig. S3. The electrical resistance of the EGaIn-Ag contact and Ag electrode is ~5.2 ohms at 25.3°C, which increases at a rate of ~0.05 ohm/°C, as shown in Fig. 1K. Despite this increased resistance with temperature, the overall resistance of the EGaIn-Ag interconnection is low enough to enable precise measurement of the sensor output, considering that the resistance of the sensing components is much higher: ~3.36 kilohms per square for the temperature sensor and ~17.1 megohms per square for the UV sensor under illumination. Even under human motion, electrical resistance change between the EGaIn-Ag electrodes was less than 0.1 ohm, suggesting that this contact is electrically stable for wearable device application (fig. S5). As previously mentioned, physical activity data provide important context for vital sign data recorded by wearable monitoring devices, considering that different degrees of activity strongly affect conditions, such as ECG and body temperature. The printed three-axis acceleration sensor used to measure this activity consists of four beams integrated with three resistive strain sensors and an Ag electrode, as shown in Fig. 2 (A and B), and operates by measuring the deformation of the beams in response to external acceleration. By attaching an acrylic plate (weight = 38 mg) as a mass, as illustrated in Fig. 2C, a strain distribution is induced in the sensor, which is dependent on the acceleration force and direction (for further structural detail, see fig. S6 and the Supplementary Materials). Figure 2 (D and E) depicts the stress distributions calculated by finite element method (FEM) simulations when accelerations of 20 m/s2 are applied in the z and y axes. These data suggest that the changes in stress value in the strain sensor (for example, sensors #1 and #2 in Fig. 2) depend on the direction of acceleration. By reading the distributions of stress/strain and their magnitude, the corresponding direction and magnitude of acceleration can be readily determined. Fig. 2 Printed three-axis acceleration sensor. Circuit diagram (A), image (B), and cross-sectional schematic (C) of the acceleration sensor. GND, ground line. Stress distributions extracted from FEM simulations on application of (D) z-axis and (E) y-axis accelerations (20 m/s2). (F) Resistance change of strain sensor #1 under z-axis acceleration of 1 and 2 Hz. (G) Compiled resistance change of sensor #1 under x-, y-, and z-axis accelerations as a function of acceleration frequency. Resistance change of sensor #1 under y- and z-axis positive and negative accelerations (H) and their compiled results, with maximum stress extracted from the FEM simulations (I). (J) Three-axis acceleration detection by measuring the three strain sensors simultaneously when x-, y-, and z-axis accelerations are applied. First, the frequency dependence of sensor #1 (as shown in Fig. 2B) was evaluated at ~25 m/s2 z-axis acceleration. The results are presented in Fig. 2F and fig. S7. Considering that the device is designed to monitor human motion, an acceleration frequency range of 1 to 6 Hz was chosen to test the sensor. On acceleration, vibration was observed with a duration of around 0.3 s. Because of this vibration, the precise acceleration measurement should be less than 4 Hz. However, by observing the peak value of the resistance change, it is possible to extract the measurement of motion at around 6 Hz, as shown in fig. S7. Note that positive and negative accelerations (~±25 m/s2) were applied in about 50 ms because of the measurement setup for frequency dependence measurements. Although these positive and negative accelerations were applied, because of much faster duration of acceleration than the vibration of the sensor (~0.3 s), the effect of the negative acceleration is almost negligible in terms of the maximum resistance change confirmed by comparing this to results at only positive acceleration applied to the acceleration sensor. As the simulation in Fig. 2E shows, when y-axis acceleration is applied, almost no strain is detected by the sensor #2 beam. Correspondingly, there is almost no strain in the sensor #1 beam when x-axis acceleration is applied because of the symmetric structure. The experimental results presented in fig. S7 agree with the strain distribution and magnitude extracted from the FEM simulation. Although there are some variations in the resistance change, the change in output resistance displays sufficient independence from the acceleration frequency for frequencies up to 6 Hz (Fig. 2G). Second, the sensitivity of acceleration sensing was evaluated by applying different acceleration amplitudes to each axis of sensor #1 (these measurements were conducted on this sensor only). As shown in Fig. 2 (H and I), the threshold acceleration was observed to be around 5 to 12 m/s2, depending on the direction of acceleration, except for the x axis. After this point, the change in resistance increased in a near-linear fashion with increasing acceleration. The post-threshold sensitivities extracted from the linear fitting of z, y, and x axes are 0.064, 0.057, and 0.00% m−1 s2, respectively. When acceleration in the opposite direction (that is, negative acceleration shown in Fig. 2, H and I) was applied, maximum resistance change (R − R0, where R0 and R are resistances before and after acceleration, respectively) was negative, corresponding to the fact that the resistance at certain negative acceleration was decreased, whereas it was positive change at the positive acceleration for z-axis acceleration. For x and y axes, because of high noise and small resistance change below 25 m/s2 used in this study, no significant change was observed when the negative acceleration was applied (Fig. 2H). On the basis of the FEM simulation, the maximum stress on the beam changes linearly as a function of acceleration, as plotted in Fig. 2I. Based on both experimental and FEM results, the lower limit of stress detection by the sensor should be ~0.6 ± 0.1 N/mm2. Although this sensitivity is sufficient for monitoring higher-intensity activity, such as walking and running, further improvements should be made to detect lower-intensity activities, for example, movement of an elderly person. These could be achieved by optimizing the sensor materials and device structure. Finally, to demonstrate the operational capability of the sensor, an acceleration of ~20 m/s2 in x, y, and z directions was applied, and the device response was evaluated by measuring the resistance change of three individual strain sensors simultaneously (sensors #1 to #3, Fig. 2B). The data in Fig. 2J show that the direction of acceleration and strength can be distinguished by reading the difference in output between sensor #1 (or sensor #3) and sensor #2. These results are the first demonstration of a functional, printed acceleration sensor on a flexible substrate. Because only three-axis acceleration can be measured, it can only detect human motions of moving, standing, and lying down. To observe the detailed motions, such as directions of moving and twisting of the body, further axis acceleration sensor to measure rotation and high sensitivity is required. Although the sensor has a low sensitivity and a large size, including thickness, compared to the conventional Si-based acceleration sensor, this demonstration is an important step in realizing a printed sensor network, which allows it to integrate all sensors using printing methods, including assembly and packaging processes with a low-cost manufacture. For health monitoring functionality, sensors for the detection of skin temperature, heartbeat, and sunlight exposure were integrated into the device—the first two were fabricated on the disposable sensing sheet, and the last one was fabricated on the reusable component. The temperature and UV sensors were integrated in series with CNT-TFTs, enabling switching of the components, as shown in Fig. 3A. This could be used to reduce power consumption and could be enabled by integrating a shift register and other circuits. The ECG sensor makes contact with the skin through a set of three Ag electrodes printed on the disposable PET sheet, and the ECG signal was monitored using commercially available discrete circuits, which consist of amplifiers and filters (Fig. 3B). To make a good contact between the electrodes and skin, we applied a conductive medical grease. Images of the sensors are presented in Fig. 3 (C to E). Fig. 3 Multifunction sensors integrated with CNT-TFTs. Circuit diagrams of (A) temperature and UV sensors with the intersheet EGaIn-Ag contact and CNT-TFTs and (B) ECG sensor. Amp, amplifier. Images of (C) temperature sensor, (D) UV sensor (with inset magnified scanning electron microscopy image showing the surface of the ZnO nanowire network), and (E) ECG sensor. (F) IDS-VGS characteristics at VDS = −5 V as a function of temperature for CNT-TFT integrated with the temperature sensor. (G) Normalized resistance change (ΔR/R0, ΔR = R − R0) of on-current at VGS = −5 V for CNT-TFTs with and without a temperature sensor, where R and R0 are the resistances at the measured and room temperatures, respectively. (H) Real-time resistance measurement of UV sensor under 365-nm UV exposure. (I) Compiled resistance of UV sensor and applied UV irradiation power as a function of wavelength. (J) IDS-VGS characteristics at VDS = −5 V as a function of UV exposure power for CNT-TFTs integrated with a UV sensor. Inset: Log current of IDS-VGS plot. (K) Normalized resistance change (R/R0) of on-current at VGS = −5 V for CNT-TFTs with and without a UV sensor, where and R and R0 are the resistances with and without UV exposure, respectively. (L) Recorded ECG signal after exercise and at rest condition. a.u., arbitrary unit. Monitoring of skin temperature was achieved by measuring the characteristics of the CNT-TFT, which controls switching of the temperature sensor. The temperature output was extracted from the IDS-VGS properties (as shown in Fig. 3F), using the on-current values measured at VGS = −5 V. The results indicate that the on-current changes as a function of temperature, arising from the resistance change of the temperature sensor. To determine the origins of the on-current change, we analyzed the resistance change ratio, ΔR/R0 (ΔR = R − R0), as a function of temperature for TFTs with and without a temperature sensor (Fig. 3G). Here, R is the resistance measured at a given temperature, and R0 is the resistance value at room temperature. The results indicate that the resistance decreases linearly with increasing temperature, whereas the resistance of the stand-alone CNT-TFT (without the sensor) is almost constant, exhibiting only a very slight resistance increase with temperature. This finding suggests that the resistance change observed in the data in Fig. 3F arises predominantly from the temperature sensor. From these data, the sensitivity of the sensor was calculated to be ~0.89%/°C, a relatively high value, which is attributed to electron hopping at the interface between the CNT and PEDOT:PSS in the temperature sensor (11). In addition to the sensor function, reliability of electrical contact through EGaIn was also tested by repeating attachments and detachments between layers. Figure S8 indicates that electrical resistance measured at VGS = −5 V and VDS = −1 V is electrically stable up to at least 70 cycles. Next, the UV sensor response was characterized by exposure to UV light, with an irradiating power of 689 μW/cm2 at a wavelength of 365 nm. Figure 3H shows that the resistance drastically decreases by around three orders of magnitude on illumination. The relatively slow response time observed for the device is attributed to the mechanism of oxygen absorption and desorption from ZnO surfaces on exposure to UV light (24, 25). Because multilayered ZnO network film (as shown in Fig. 3D) is used, oxygen absorption and desorption take a long time. Although this is speculation, this phenomenon is confirmed by changing the thickness of ZnO network film between ~3.5 and ~15 μm, as shown in fig. S9, indicating that the response time is slower for thicker ZnO layers. On UV exposure, the resistance decreased to ~1/100 of the original value over the course of 1.3 s, with saturation achieved ~150 s at a resistance of ~1/1000. On removal of the UV light source, the sensor resistance returned to the original value after a period of ~730 s. From the results in Fig. 3I, it was also confirmed that the ZnO nanowire UV sensor is sensitive to wavelengths below 390 nm, corresponding to an electronic excitation energy of ~3.2 eV, which is close to the known electronic band gap of ZnO. As with the temperature sensor, the UV sensor was also integrated in series with a CNT-TFT to enable switching. Because of the large resistance change in the sensor on exposure to UV light, the on-current of the connected CNT-TFT changes substantially with different illumination intensity, as shown by the data in Fig. 3J. A comparison between the R/R0 resistance ratios of the stand-alone CNT-TFT and the UV sensor–integrated TFT shows that the observed sharp resistance change can be attributed almost exclusively to the output from the sensor and that illumination does not significantly alter the characteristics of the stand-alone transistor for short- and long-time exposures (Fig. 3K and fig. S10). Therefore, it may be concluded that the incident UV intensity can be readily derived by measuring the on-current value of the CNT-TFT. For UV detection, it is required to measure the dose amount by monitoring the resistance change by integrating memory functions in the future. The ECG sensor makes contact directly on the skin via three Ag electrodes, as described in Fig. 3E and fig. S4C. Because of the small magnitude of the ECG signal (a few millivolts) recorded from the skin, several amplifiers and filters were connected to the circuit to amplify the signal and remove high-frequency noise. This circuit is illustrated in Fig. 3B and fig. S11. After the sensor was attached to the body, the ECG signal was monitored, extracting a heart rate value of 82 beats per minute (BPM) at rest and 172 BPM after exercise from the measured output signal, as displayed in the results in Fig. 3L. Finally, as a first proof of concept of the device’s full functionality (that is, flexible attachment to the body, acquisition of multiple sets of health information, and the simultaneous monitoring of physical movement), the device was attached directly onto the skin on the chest of a 23-year-old male. The placement of the device is shown in Fig. 4A. This experiment was carried out indoors, and the output of each sensor was measured simultaneously (fig. S12). Because of limitations in the measurement setup, only one beam, sensor #1, of the acceleration sensor was used to detect movement (that is, detection in the y axis; Fig. 2B). During the test, skin temperature, ECG, and UV exposure were monitored in real time under the following states of physical activity: rest, fast steps (simulating running), walking-pace steps, and lying down (simulating sleeping). The temperature and UV sensors were controlled by switching the CNT-TFTs. For the on-state, a square wave with an amplitude of −3 V and a frequency of 6 Hz was applied to the gate electrodes; for the off-state, the same wave with an amplitude of +3 V was applied. The full set of measurements is shown in Fig. 4B. The skin temperature was around 32°C, whereas the average heart rate derived from the ECG signal was measured to vary between 76.8 BPM at rest and 89.9 BPM, depending on the degree of physical activity, respectively (Fig. 4, C and D). The skin temperature was almost constant because of short measurement time and exercise, which was also confirmed by a commercially available infrared (IR) sensor (fig. S13). As expected, the results show that the measured heart rate strongly depends on the person’s motion, emphasizing the importance of monitoring health conditions simultaneously with physical activity. Because the experiments were conducted in a room, the UV exposure was measured to be ~1 μW/cm2. However, under sunlight, the UV power was increased to around 170 μW/cm2 (fig. S14). Finally, the acceleration sensor could successfully distinguish between each physical activity, and differentiation between running simulation and walking steps was possible by monitoring the frequency and amplitude of the acceleration peaks. Furthermore, a comparison between the acceleration sensor outputs from lie-down to sit-up states, as shown in Fig. 4B, reveals that the sensor output generates an increase in resistance and no peaks are observed; this is in stark contrast with the output signature obtained for all the states involving movement. This finding suggests that the acceleration sensor can monitor human movements and differentiate between active conditions and passive ones (that is, standing and lying down), and that different states can be identified from the output signature, with the exception of eating/drinking. Fig. 4 Proof-of-concept health care monitoring demonstration. (A) Image of the multifunctional device attached directly onto the skin. FETs, field-effect transistors. (B) Real-time acceleration (motion), ECG, skin temperature, and UV monitoring results. (C) R-R intervals at rest and during stepping (activity) measured by the device. Inset: ECG time plot showing method for measuring the R-R interval of the ECG signal. (D) R-R intervals at the lie-down state and right after the sitting-up state from the lie-down state. Power consumption is also an important factor for the practical application of the device as a total system. The device discussed here has not been integrated with a signal processing system, so we have not measured the power consumption or source; these factors require further study. In conclusion, this study successfully demonstrates the operation of a multifunctional, flexible, wearable health care monitoring device equipped with a movement sensor. This device also demonstrates the effectiveness of using a flexible and stable, low-resistance EGaIn liquid metal contact for the attachment of different device components. Here, the design of a disposable sensing sheet for direct contact with the skin alongside the nondisposable sheet with higher-cost devices demonstrates that this type of architecture offers a wide range of design possibilities. Hence, this concept provides a solid development platform for low-cost flexible electronics in the health care monitoring sector. For an initial proof of concept, we successfully demonstrated simultaneous monitoring of skin temperature, heart rate, and UV light exposure while also monitoring physical activity through an acceleration sensor. Although the device used in this demonstration was not wearable (that is, while the sensing components were mounted on the body, the signal processing circuits and battery were not integrated into the device, which would be required for commercially viable health care monitors), the successful real-time operation of this all-printed device is an important step in the development of flexible electronics not only for health care monitoring but also for macroscale sensor sheets in alternative applications. Furthermore, by combining this technology with flexible chemical sensing functionality reported recently by other groups (8), wearable and flexible smart health care devices could become generally available, useful for a number of purposes, and helpful to a wide range of people. First, an Ag electrode (Asahi Chemical) was screen-printed on a 38-μm-thick PET film. After the Ag ink was cured at 70°C, four beam structures were formed by using a laser cutter tool. Second, strain sensors were printed on the beam structures using CNT ink (SouthWest NanoTechnologies) and AgNP ink (Paru) with a weight ratio of 5:3, followed by curing at 70°C (26). The sensor film was sandwiched between one 1-mm-thick and one 2-mm-thick silicone rubber film with a hole (Fig. 2C). Finally, 38-μm-thick PET films were applied to the silicone rubber films on both sides of the sensor, rendering the structure mechanically inflexible. Ag electrodes for the ECG sensor and interconnection with the temperature sensor were printed on a 38-μm-thick PET film. This component was designed to be used as a disposable sheet. After the electrode was cured at 70°C, a mixture of PEDOT:PSS solution (Sigma-Aldrich) and CNT ink (3:1 weight ratio) was printed and cured at 70°C (3). ZnO nanowires (~90 nm in diameter and ~1 μm in length; Sigma-Aldrich) were dispersed in deionized (DI) water with a weight ratio of 100:1 (DI/ZnO) using a homogenizer for 10 min. The solution was then dropped on the polyimide substrate with CNT-TFTs over a patterned film, followed by curing at 200°C and removing the film. This component was designed to be a nondisposable sensor sheet because it is not intended to be used in contact with the skin. For the substrate, an ~10-μm polyimide film was spin-coated onto a Si/SiO2 handling wafer. Subsequently, a 10-nm-thick SiOx was deposited onto the substrate to act as an adhesion layer between the polymer and the metal layers. The gate electrodes consisted of patterned ~100-nm-thick Al films deposited by sputtering. Then, Cr/Au (5/30 nm) layers were deposited onto the pads of the gate electrode to protect it from an etching process of the dielectric layer. Next, 50-nm-thick Al2O3 and 10-nm-thick SiOx layers were deposited as the gate dielectric layer by atomic layer deposition (Arradiance) and electron beam evaporation, respectively. For the semiconductor channels, CNT network films were formed using a 99% semiconductor-enriched solution (NanoIntegris) mixed with a sodium cholate surfactant (27) and patterned to form TFT channels using oxygen plasma. Other Cr/Au (5/30 nm) layers were then lifted off to form the source and drain electrodes. The dielectric layer was etched using a buffered hydrogen fluoride solution to open up the contact pads of the gate electrodes. To remove solvent residue from the CNT network, vacuum annealing was conducted at 200°C for 90 min. Polymer resist and PET films were then coated and laminated over the TFTs to protect the devices from scratches and stress caused by bending. Finally, the polyimide film was peeled off from the Si/SiO2 handling wafer. To create the contact for the reusable polyimide substrate sheet using a laser cutting tool, a 2-mm-diameter hole was made in a 0.5-mm-thick silicone rubber sheet, and a 1-mm-diameter hole was made in a 0.25-mm-thick PDMS sheet, forming the chamber and ejection holes, respectively. These two sheets were then laminated using an adhesive tape. After alignment between the holes and the electrodes on the polyimide film, these sheets were also laminated. Finally, these holes in the silicone rubber/PDMS sheet were filled with the EGaIn liquid metal (fig. S3). After the components were fabricated, they were assembled for the multifunctional health care device. The final device structure is shown in fig. S1. First, the acceleration sensor was attached on a PET film using a double-sided tape, where temperature and ECG sensors were integrated. Second, for reusable sheets integrated with CNT-TFTs, UV sensor, and EGaIn electrode, because of good adhesion between PDMS and PET films, the reusable sheets can be attached onto the PET film without using any glue or tape. Finally, to place the device on skin, we used a double-sided tape. The double-sided tape was not confirmed as a biocompatible material because this study focuses on the demonstration of a proof of concept of health condition sensing. This adhesion needs to be explored further in the future for the practical use of wearable devices. fig. S1. Cross-sectional device schematic image. fig. S2. Electrical resistance change of Ag electrodes over the kirigami structure. fig. S3. Schematic image of reusable and disposable sensor sheets. fig. S4. Images of disposable and reusable sensor sheets. fig. S5. Electrical stability of EGaIn and Ag contact under motion. fig. S7. Frequency dependence of three-axis acceleration sensor. fig. S8. Cycle test of electrical contacts between EGaIn and Ag electrodes. fig. S9. Thickness dependence of UV sensors. fig. S10. TFT characteristics under UV exposure. fig. S11. Circuit diagram of ECG recording. fig. S13. Skin temperature measurements using the printed temperature sensor and an IR sensor. fig. S14. UV detection under simulated sunlight. , Toward flexible and wearable human-interactive health-monitoring devices. Adv. Healthcare Mater. 4, 487–500 (2015). , Ultraflexible, large-area, physiological temperature sensors for multipoint measurements. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112, 14533–14538 (2015). , Highly selective flexible tactile strain and temperature sensors against substrate bending for an artificial skin. RSC Adv. 5, 30170–30174 (2015). , Bioinspired, highly stretchable, and conductive dry adhesives based on 1D–2D hybrid carbon nanocomposites for all-in-one ECG electrodes. ACS Nano 10, 4770–4778 (2016). , Capacitive epidermal electronics for electrically safe, long-term electrophysiological measurements. Adv. Healthcare Mater. 3, 642–648 (2014). , Flexible suspended gate organic thin-film transistors for ultra-sensitive pressure detection. Nat. Commun. 6, 6269 (2015). , Wearable, human-interactive, health-monitoring, wireless devices fabricated by macroscale printing techniques. Adv. Funct. Mater. 24, 3299–3304 (2014). , Fingertip skin–inspired microstructured ferroelectric skins discriminate static/dynamic pressure and temperature stimuli. Sci. Adv. 1, e1500661 (2015). , Materials for multifunctional balloon catheters with capabilities in cardiac electrophysiological mapping and ablation therapy. Nat. Mater. 10, 316–323 (2011). , Rugged and breathable forms of stretchable electronics with adherent composite substrates for transcutaneous monitoring. Nat. Commun. 5, 4779 (2014). , High-performance, mechanically flexible, and vertically integrated 3D carbon nanotube and InGaZnO complementary circuits with a temperature sensor. Adv. Mater. 27, 4674–4680 (2015). , A stretchable carbon nanotube strain sensor for human-motion detection. Nat. Nanotechnol. 6, 296–301 (2011). , Large-scale assembly of highly sensitive Si-based flexible strain sensors for human motion monitoring. Nanoscale 8, 2123–2128 (2016). , Highly stable liquid–solid metal contact toward multilayered detachable flexible devices. Adv. Electron. Mater. 1, 1500080 (2015). , LEGO-like assembly of peelable, deformable components for integrated devices. NPG Asia Mater. 5, e66 (2013). , Eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn): A liquid metal alloy for the formation of stable structures in microchannels at room temperature. Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1097–1104 (2008). , Carbon nanotube active-matrix backplanes for conformal electronics and sensors. Nano Lett. 11, 5408–5413 (2011). , ZnO nanowire UV photodetectors with high internal gain. Nano Lett. 7, 1003–1009 (2007). , Gigantic enhancement in response and reset time of ZnO UV nanosensor by utilizing Schottky contact and surface functionalization. Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 191103 (2009). , Fully printed, highly sensitive multifunctional artificial electronic whisker arrays integrated with strain and temperature sensors. ACS Nano 8, 3921–3927 (2014). , Design of surfactant–substrate interactions for roll-to-roll assembly of carbon nanotubes for thin-film transistors. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 11188–11194 (2014). Funding: This work was partially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (26630164 and 26709026) and the Murata Science Foundation. Author contributions: S.H. and K.T. conceived the idea and designed the project. Y.Y. and S.H. conducted all device fabrication and characterization, W.H. carried out the development and optimization of flexible transistor, and D.Y. conducted fabrication and characterization of the acceleration sensor. All authors contributed to analyzing the data and discussed the results. Y.Y., S.H., and K.T. wrote the paper, and all authors provided feedback. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.

2019-04-20T16:33:05Z

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/11/e1601473

Synopsis: An innocent conversation from five years before leads to devastating consequences in the present. “There’s an art to decorating a tree,” Adam replied as he continued to study the large Ponderosa pine in front of him. “The best ornaments should be in front, and there should be a balanced look.” He frowned a bit, then took a step forward to place a red ball of glass on a low branch to his right. “Let’s just get this done,” suggested Hoss. Holding two glass bulbs in his hand, Hoss took a step forward and hung the ornaments on the tree branch in front of him. Adam grimaced at his brother’s haphazard placement of the decorations and quickly moved one of the ornaments to a lower branch. “And pretty girls willing to be kissed under the mistletoe?” Adam said, arching his eyebrows a bit. “I’ll bet you are,” observed Adam dryly. At that moment, the front door opened and Ben Cartwright walked into the warmth of the Ponderosa ranch house. His tan coat was dotted with specks of liquid, indicating the light snow that had begun earlier in the day was still falling. Placing a large bundle of envelopes on the bureau by the door, Ben began removing his hat and coat. The half-decorated Christmas tree was forgotten as the three Cartwright brothers moved toward their father. Ben felt like a postmaster as he pulled each envelope from the bundle and handed it to the son to whom it was addressed. The house grew quiet as Adam, Hoss, and Joe began opening envelopes and reading the notes each one contained. For a moment, Ben just stood and smiled indulgently at his sons, enjoying the look of pleasure on each of their faces as they read. Then he began opening the envelopes addressed to him. “Looks like you’re a mite late for that party,” commented Hoss with a laugh. “I’ve heard of mail getting delayed, but five years seems ridiculous,” Adam added. “Why would someone do that?” asked Hoss. “Well, if it’s a joke, it’s a pretty subtle one,” Adam commented. The Virginia City Christmas Dance was one of the holiday festivities Joe looked forward to each year. Held annually on the Saturday before Christmas, the dance was a chance for everyone in the area to get together to exchange holiday greetings and celebrate the season before traveling to visit family or hosting guests for Christmas. People had been known to trek through snowstorms and frigid temperatures to attend the Christmas Dance. This year, however, the temperature was mild for December – a little above freezing — and the attendance at the Christmas Dance was expected to be large, especially since the day of the dance was four days before Christmas this year. As Joe entered the old warehouse that had been converted into a dance hall for the night, he wasn’t surprised to see the floor was already crowded with people. Everyone he knew had been talking about coming to the Christmas Dance, and it appeared all of them – and more – had already arrived. While the hard-working people of the West didn’t have fancy dress suits and silk ball gowns to wear, everyone had donned their best clothes. Men wearing jackets and suits brushed clean were mingling with women clad in brightly colored cloth dresses. Joe knew he looked good in his dark blue suit, crisp white shirt and string tie; he had spent over an hour in front of the mirror at home to insure he looked his best. “They did a nice job of sprucing up the place,” commented Adam as he stood at Joe’s right. Looking around the old warehouse, Joe had to agree with his brother. Strings of green garland were draped along the walls, interspersed with bright red ribbons. A large green wreath hung on the back wall behind the stage which had been constructed for the musicians. Lanterns were hung everywhere, illuminating the large building with their bright glow. Two small stoves near the stage gave off enough heat to take the chill out of the room, but the crush of bodies on the floor generated more than enough warmth to keep the warehouse comfortable. To the left were long tables covered by bright red cloth on which numerous punch bowls, cookies and cakes had been placed. To the right were rows of chairs – currently empty – for people to rest between dances. Joe noted that someone had thoughtfully hung sprigs of mistletoe high on the wall, mostly in the darker corners of the building. “Looks like pert near everyone in the county is here,” Hoss observed from Joe’s left. “You shouldn’t have much trouble finding someone to dance with tonight, Joe,” Adam agreed. “So many girls, so little time,” murmured Joe in reply. The musicians were still assembling on the make-shift stage, so people were socializing in the middle of the large floor. Once the music started, the crowd would separate – some moving to the side to watch and wait, others hurrying on to the floor to dance with their spouses or selected partners. “I think I’ll go over and sample some of them goodies at the food table,” Hoss announced, and he ambled toward the left of the building. As his father and brothers disappeared into the crowd, Joe moved slowly around the edges of the floor. He was making note of who was in attendance, as well as compiling a mental list of dancing partners. So absorbed was he in planning his evening that Joe didn’t notice the raven-haired girl in the green dress until she lightly grabbed his arm. “Well, I did miss you…a little,” Beth admitted with a twinkle in her eye. “But that’s not why I was looking for you. Someone asked me to give this to you.” She handed Joe a small white envelope. Knitting her brows, Beth thought a minute before answering. “He was about thirty, had dark hair, a little taller than you. Nothing special about him…except…” Beth hesitated. “Except what?” Joe encouraged the girl. “You don’t know them?” asked Beth skeptically. “Never heard of them,” Joe reiterated. “Why on earth would someone send you a four-year-old wedding announcement for two people you don’t know?” Beth inquired. “There’s more than one Joe Cartwright in the world? Oh, my! I’m not sure the girls of Virginia City will be able to stand the thought of that,” Beth teased. It was almost midnight before the Christmas Dance began winding down and people started drifting toward the door. Joe was standing near the food table, refreshing himself with the last of the sweet liquid from a punch bowl. He had enjoyed himself during the evening, dancing several times with Beth Matthews and squiring a number of other girls around the floor. He had even managed to steal a kiss or two underneath the mistletoe. But the pleasure of the dance had been a bit damped for Joe by the envelope Beth had given him. He had found himself watching the men around him from time to time, trying to spot a stranger with cold eyes. Periodically, the thought of wedding notice as well as the party invitation crossed Joe’s mind, and he wondered why he had been sent these old announcements. “Joe, you ready to go home?” Hoss asked as he threw his arm around his brother’s shoulder. As he strolled toward the entrance with Hoss, Joe’s mind turned again to the envelope Beth had given him. He wondered briefly if he should tell his father and brothers about the wedding announcement, but quickly decided against it. Joe knew they wouldn’t understand why someone had sent it to him any more than he did, and showing the old clipping to them would be pointless. Besides, it wasn’t like the messages had a threatening tone. For some unknown reason, he was being reminded of events from Christmases in the past. Whoever was sending the notices must have thought Joe would understand why, but the fact was, he had no idea what the old announcements meant. “Did you fellows have a good time?” Ben asked with a smile as Joe and Hoss approached him. “It was a great party,” Hoss answered enthusiastically. “Them cakes were the best I’ve ever eaten.” Joe merely smiled and nodded. The four men headed toward a small room off to the side of the entrance. Once an office, the room had been converted into coat closet, with pegs on the wall and a number of coat racks on which people could hang their capes, heavy jackets and other outer garments. Adam walked to a rack in the far left corner and began pulling coats off, handing a tan jacket to his father and brown coat to Hoss. He stopped suddenly, though, and looked around. “Joe, you hung your coat on the same rack as ours, didn’t you?” asked Adam. “I don’t see it,” Adam said, as he began pushing through the garments on the rack. “Oh, brother,” muttered Adam, rolling his eyes. As Ben walked out of the converted cloak room with Adam and Hoss, Joe took another look around, searching in vain for the missing coat. Finally, he just stood in the middle of the room and shook his head. “There are a lot of strange things going on,” Joe muttered, looking perplexed. As he raised his head from his pillow, Joe peered toward the window with eyes still half closed with sleep. The pale light of a winter morning was visible through the glass, so Joe knew the time must be after 8 am. The sun didn’t rise until almost 8 in Nevada this time of year. Normally, Joe’s still being in bed so late in the morning would have been cause for loud raps on the door and shouts for him to get up. But Ben had told his sons to sleep in this morning. The dance and the late hour at which they had gotten home had made them all tired. Ben and the boys had made sure the horses had plenty of hay and water in their stalls when the animals were stabled in the barn last night, so having to wait a bit to get their morning feed wouldn’t hurt the horses. Throwing back the covers, Joe sat up in bed and stretched his arms, then reluctantly climbed from the soft mattress to the floor. The feel of the cool wood on his feet reminded Joe of his chilly ride home last night. As Hoss had predicted, Joe hadn’t frozen to death, but the ride was still uncomfortable. He had kept his horse moving at a brisk walk the whole time, trying to shorten the time it took to reach the Ponderosa ranch house. Nevertheless, he had felt like an icicle by the time he had reached the yard in front of the house. Remembering the cold ride home, Joe once more silently cursed whoever had taken his coat. It didn’t take Joe long to wash, shave and dress, and he emerged from the bedroom less that twenty minutes after he had awakened. As Joe started down the stairs, he wasn’t surprised to see his father and brothers were already seated at the dining room table eating breakfast. Their idea of “sleeping in” was a whole lot different than Joe’s. He guessed that they had been up for an hour or more and he hoped they had finished the morning chores by now. The retort Joe was going to throw back at his brother died on his lips as Joe reached the bottom of the stairs. From the corner of his eye, he saw something blue hanging on the pegs by the door which held the Cartwrights’ coats and hats. Joe turned his head and stared at the coats by the door, then slowly turned to face his father and brothers. “My coat is here. Where did it come from?” asked Joe in astonished voice. “Hop Sing, do you know how Joe’s coat got here?” Ben asked. “Hop Sing find coat on porch this morning,” the cook answered, his irritation not abated. “It good coat. Youngest son just leave by door. Not deserve warm coat if not take care of it.” Hop Sing turned his fiercest look on Joe, then sniffed and walked out of the room. “Whoever took the coat must have brought it back early this morning,” Ben suggested after the cook had left. “But why just leave it on the porch like that?” asked Joe. “Maybe,” Joe said doubtfully. As he turned to hand the coat back on the peg by the door, Joe noticed a bit of white paper sticking out of one of its pockets. When he pulled the paper out, Joe somehow wasn’t surprised to see it was another envelope. He opened it quickly and looked at the contents. “It’s another newspaper clipping!” Joe exclaimed. “What’s this one about, little brother?” Hoss inquired curiously. Edwin Frye, who was convicted of embezzling almost $8,000 from the Carson City Merchants Bank, will be released from prison on Christmas day. Readers will recall Frye was sentenced to three years in prison when an audit of the bank’s book uncovered Frye had stolen money over a six month period by issuing false loans and taking the money for himself. Frye, who was the assistant manager of the bank at the time of his arrest, admitted the theft and made full restitution. He has served thirty-three months of his sentence and is being released early as part of the governor’s Christmas pardon for prisoners who have shown good behavior. It is not known whether Mr. Frye plans to return to Carson City after his release. “Do you know this Edwin Frye?” Ben asked his youngest son. “All right, all right,” Ben agreed in a voice obviously meant to mollify the cook. He turned to his sons. “Hop Sing is right. Our breakfast is getting cold. We can talk about this while we’re eating.” He walked back toward the dining room, followed by Hoss and Adam. Joe took a moment to read the article again, then put the envelope and clipping on the bureau by the door. Shrugging a bit, he headed to the dinning room. Standing near the table with his arms crossed, Hop Sing watched with a scowl on his face until all four men sat down and began filling their plates with food from the serving platters. When he was satisfied the Cartwrights were bowing to his insistence that they eat breakfast, the cook gave a quick nod and padded back to his kitchen. “Did you meet any of these people – Susan Pennington, William Johnson or Edwin Frye – at the Austin’s party?” Ben asked. Knitting his brows, Joe tried to remember the Austins’ Christmas party. He recalled the large house on the edge of Carson City decorated both inside and out for the holidays. Inside the house, a large room had been filled with people. A single violinist provided the music, and there had been a little dancing. Mostly, though, people simply chatted with each other, exchanging news, gossip and opinions. Joe had found it to be a rather dull gathering. The mental picture of a small room – quiet, empty, dimly lit from a single fireplace – flashed across Joe’s mind, but in an instant the picture vanished. “Yes sir,” said Joe glumly. “I’m sure you can count on us to take as much time as necessary in Virginia City to make sure everything is done properly,” added Adam. He tried to sound solemn but the twinkle in his eye and the smile tugging at his face belied his serious tone. “Yeah, it could take hours and hours,” Joe agreed, trying to match his oldest brother’s serious demeanor. But Joe’s natural enthusiasm couldn’t be contained, and his face broke into a wide grin. With a bundle of envelopes in his hand and a discouraged look on his face, Joe trudged down the main street of Virginia City toward the general store. Adam’s prediction had proven all too accurate. After spending almost an hour asking questions of various people in town, Joe was no closer to finding who had been sending the strange messages than he had been at the breakfast table the day before. The weather was unseasonable mild – so warm, in fact, that Joe was wearing only his light green jacket – so he didn’t mind traipsing all over town. What bothered Joe was that all of his questions had yielded no answers. When he had picked up the mail, Joe had leafed through the envelopes carefully. But the only mail addressed to him had been a few cards with familiar return addresses. Joe had opened his mail right there in the post office, just to be sure, but the envelopes contained nothing but traditional Christmas greetings from friends. He had asked Tom, the postmaster, about the envelope his father had picked up a few days before – the one with only his name on the outside – but wasn’t surprised when Tom remembered neither the envelope nor who had put it in the mail basket. This time of year the postmaster was extremely busy sorting all the Christmas greetings both coming and going from Virginia City. One somewhat oddly addressed envelope wouldn’t stick in the man’s mind. Joe doubted he had done anything more than glance at it before placing it in the box reserved for the Cartwright’s mail. Without much hope of success, Joe had spent the rest of his time questioning people about a stranger with cold eyes who might have been asking questions about him. He talked with Sheriff Roy Coffee, the clerk at the hotel, and the bartender at the Silver Dollar Saloon. No one had any recollection of a stranger asking questions about Joe. As he neared the general store, Joe saw Hoss carrying a box from the store toward the buckboard parked in front of the building. He slowed his step a bit, as a small smile tugged at his face. There was no sense arriving at the store until he was sure Hoss had all the heavy items loaded into the wagon. “Well, let’s get the supplies loaded and then head over to the Silver Dollar for some Christmas cheer,” Joe suggested as he put the envelopes into a box of supplies in the back of the buckboard. “I done finished loading the supplies, as if you didn’t know,” retorted Hoss with a scowl. The two brothers started walking down the street, but Joe stopped when he heard his name being called. He turned to see a boy about 10 years old running toward him, shouting his name. “Hey, Tommy, what’s all the ruckus?” asked Joe when the boy skidded to a stop in front of him. “I don’t know. He just said I had to find you right away,” Tommy answered. “Did he say why he needed to see me?” Joe asked with a puzzled expression on his face. “Who was the fellow, button?” Hoss asked. “What did he look like?” Joe asked the boy. Grinning, Tommy snatched the quarter from Joe’s hand and ran off. “What do you think that’s all about?” Hoss asked. Looking around cautiously, Joe entered the old warehouse. The decorations from the dance still hung on the walls, but they no longer looked festive and bright. The garland appeared wilted, and the floor with littered with the dried pine needles which had fallen from the roping. The large wreath, also looking a bit withered, had been taken down and propped against at the front of the stage. Without the bright cloths that had covered them, the long tables were merely dark pieces of wood shoved against the wall. The lanterns were no longer lit, and the only illumination was from the weak winter sunlight streaming through the small windows high on the walls. The empty floor seemed cavernous in the dim light. “Mr. Cartwright?” The voice echoed a bit from Joe’s right. Joe spun around and saw a figure emerging from the shadows. For a moment, Joe said nothing but rather studied the man standing in front of him. Wearing brown pants, a cream-colored shirt and string tie, Frye looked like a clerk or shopkeeper. Joe noted he wasn’t wearing a gun. Frye had a long thin face, and while not ugly, no one would have called him handsome – ordinary was the word that best described his features. But it was the man’s eyes that drew Joe’s attention. As Beth had described, Frye’s eyes seem cold and hard, showing no emotion. They seemed to suggest a man who felt nothing, who cared about nothing. “Does my name mean anything to you?” Frye asked. “A letter might have been ignored, and it certainly wouldn’t have had the impact,” replied Frye. As Frye moved toward the chairs, Joe hesitated. There was something about the man that made him feel uneasy, yet Joe was curious about what was behind the strange messages. Finally, Joe decided there was no harm in listening to what the man had to say. He walked over to a chair near where Frye was sitting, laying his hand reassuringly on the pistol strapped to his hip as he moved forward. In an instant, the image that had been a vague memory for Joe the day before became a clear picture. He remembered now. Bored by watching the games at the party, Joe had wandered around the Austins’ house. He had entered a small room – a study or library, perhaps – down the hall from the large room in which the guests were being entertained. The room had been dimly lit, with only the light from a small blaze in the fireplace providing any illumination. At first, Joe thought the room was empty, but then he heard the sound of crying. He had seen a girl sitting on a chair in the far corner of the room with her face in her hands. Joe approached her, offering help and comfort. The two had talked for awhile, and then the girl had left. Joe never saw her again. “And that’s when you advised her not to marry me,” said Frye with a touch of bitterness in his voice. “I did love her!” shouted Frye angrily. “Am I?” Joe shrugged and got to his feet. “Well, you can believe whatever you want. I’m leaving. Thanks for any interesting trip down memory lane.” Joe brushed past the dark-haired man and headed for the entrance to the warehouse. Ignoring the shouts, Joe continued toward the door until he felt a hand grab his shoulder and tug on it. Spinning around, Joe started to say something but was abruptly silenced by a fist which smashed into his jaw. Immediately, he balled his own hand and pulled it back in order to throw a counterpunch. But his thrust stopped in mid-air and Joe took a step back. “I thought you might,” Frye admitted. “There’s a third choice,” said Joe, pulling his gun from his holster. Whatever emotion had manifested itself in Frye’s eyes disappeared, and the cold, dead look once more reappeared. Frye stared at Joe for a moment, and then his shoulders sagged in resignation. “It was worth the try,” he muttered. Suddenly, Frye spun around and grabbed a chair. With incredible quickness, he swung the chair off the ground and smashed it into Joe’s side, knocking the youngest Cartwright to the ground. The gun slipped from Joe’s hand and skidded a few feet away from him. “I’m not going back to jail,” cried Frye as he made a move toward Joe’s gun. Surprised and stunned more than hurt, it took Joe only a moment to realize Frye’s intentions. He reached up and grabbed the man’s leg, pulling him away from the gun and onto the floor. Joe scrambled to his feet just as Frye was getting up. Joe threw a fist into the other man’s stomach, causing Frye to double over and stagger back a step or two. But Frye quickly straightened and charged straight at Joe, knocking him back to the floor. He jumped on top of Joe and belted the man below him with a quick jab to the face. Joe reached up and threw an upper cut which caught Frye just under the chin. Frye fell back and Joe kicked the man off of him. The two combatants got to their feet, both breathing hard. They watched each other warily for a moment, then Frye charged forward. This time, Joe was ready for him and side-stepped the charge, hitting Frye on the back as the man went past him. Frye fell to the floor, then rolled quickly to his left. He threw his legs at Joe’s shins, causing Joe to loose his balance and fall. Once more, the two men scrambled to their feet and faced each other. They began circling slowly, each man crouched and fists ready, as both waited for the other to make the next move. Frye took a step forward, and this time, it was Joe who charged. Joe’s shoulder hit Frye in the chest, causing the man to tumble into the row of chairs behind him. The chairs skidded into one another, the last one hitting the wall with a resounding thump. The vibration from the impact caused a lantern to fall from the wall to the floor. The lamp’s glass shattered, and the oil spilled out from the lantern onto the dry pine needles scattered on the floor. Frye got to his feet quickly, and shoved aside the chairs in which he had become entangled. The legs of one chair scratched noisily across the wooden floor, creating a spark. Almost instantly, a small tongue of fire popped up from the oil-laden needles on the floor. A roar of anger escaped from Frye’s lips as he charged at Joe again. Joe tried to side-step the man as he had done before, but Frye altered direction at the last minute so that his body slammed directly into Joe’s. Both men crashed to the floor, and their arms began flailing as each tried to pound their fists into the other. Joe pushed Frye to the right, and the man slid off of him. But Frye grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled his opponent toward him. Joe flipped himself over the man on the floor, landing on his back next to Frye. He quickly got to his feet and joined his hands together. As Frye began to rise from the floor, Joe threw his entwined hands into the man’s stomach, then jerked them upwards to hammer Frye just under the chin. Frye’s head snapped back and his body went limp. He collapsed to the ground in a heap and laid still. Breathing hard and coughing a bit, Joe stood over the fallen man for a moment, making sure his opponent was down for good. Suddenly, Joe realized the air around him was becoming thick with smoke, and he heard an ominous crackle behind him. He whirled around and his eyes opened wide with both fear and astonishment as he saw the fire burning behind him. The dried-out pine needles scattered on the floor gave the fire the fuel it needed to spread quickly. With almost morbid fascination, Joe watched as the flames raced along the wall toward the back of the building and then turned toward the make-shift stage that had been erected. The fire paused long enough to set the wreath leaning against the stage ablaze, and then continued its sprint around the edge of the floor. The fiery wreath ignited the wooden stage and soon flames were shooting from the platform. Moving his head from side to side, Frye looked at Joe with glazed eyes. Then, Frye’s eyes suddenly cleared. Without warning, he jerked his arm upward, hammering the side of Joe’s head with his fist. Joe wasn’t expecting the blow, and the punch seemed to rattle his brain. He released his hold on Frye’s shirt and crumpled to the floor, hitting the hard wood with his head as he landed. Stunned by both the blow and the fall, Joe laid unmoving on the floor. He heard a roaring in his ears and sparks of light exploded in front of his eyes. His arms and legs felt heavy, useless. A small part of Joe’s brain was urging him to move, but the rest of his body refused to obey. Joe knew he was on the floor and wondered dully how he had gotten there. For several moments, he simply laid still and watched the black smoke that was beginning to curl and thicken above him. At last, the part of his brain that was urging Joe to move got a response. He blinked twice and tilted his head until it was almost resting on his shoulder. Expending what felt like an extraordinary amount of effort, Joe pushed himself up from the floor. He winced and gritted his teeth as head throbbed, but Joe continued to push against the floor until he was in a sitting position. Joe sat for a moment with his head hanging forwarded as he waited for the pain inside his skull to abate. When the throbbing finally eased, Joe raised his head slowly and looked around. The flames that had been licking the walls had found new fuel in the wooden tables and the row of chairs on either side of Joe. He could feel the heat as the fire burned its way from the perimeter of the building toward its center. Dark smoke swirled around him and Joe coughed as the smoke found its way into his mouth and nose. He could see nothing but flames and smoke all around him. “Frye!” Joe called loudly. “Frye! Where are you?” He coughed the smoke out of his lungs and tried again. “Frye! Answer me! We have to get out of here!” Joe listened hard but heard nothing except the crackle of burning wood. Frye either couldn’t answer or had left, abandoning Joe to whatever fate the fire had for him. Joe knew it was too late to worry about Frye. He had to concentrate on saving himself. Dazed and disoriented, Joe peered through the smoke, trying to figure out which way he was facing. He knew he had only one chance to find the front of the building and the doorway that led to safety. If he moved in the wrong direction, he wouldn’t have time to correct his mistake. Joe could see a sea of flames to his left, but wasn’t sure what was fueling the fire. If it was the stage, then the entrance was to his right. But if the chairs were fueling the blaze to his left, then the pathway to safety was in front of him. Turning his body, Joe began crawling to toward the flames, hoping he could tell what was burning and which way to go in order to escape. He stopped and reached out his hand, but felt nothing, then began crawling forward again. Once more he stopped and reached forward but his outstretched hand felt only heat and air. He was beginning to think he was facing the stage, but Joe knew it was worth his life to be sure. Forcing himself to continue toward the flames, Joe crawled a few more feet before stopping. Yet again, he stretched his arm forward and this time his hand bumped into something hard. He touched the smoke-obscured object, moving his hand around until he felt the thin, rounded leg of a chair. A small smile of satisfaction broke out on Joe’s face as he backed away from the flames. The row of chairs was in front of him, which meant the entrance to the warehouse was now to his right. Joe crawled rapidly backward until he was a good distance from the fire, then turned his body to the right. For a moment, Joe considered getting to his feet and trying to run out of the burning building. But he knew the smoke would be thinner closer to the floor and he could breathe what little air was left in the warehouse. Besides, his head was still throbbing and he felt a bit dizzy. Joe decided he was better off using four limbs to balance himself than just two. Joe heard a loud crash behind him as some piece of burning material fell to the floor. He didn’t bother to look to see what it was. He could feel the heat of the flames intensifying and see the smoke thickening. Joe knew he had no time to lose. He began crawling forward, praying that the entrance to the warehouse wasn’t too far away. As he moved on all fours across the floor, Joe came across pieces of debris, some smoldering and others bright with flames. Joe pushed these aside, even though the fragments singed his hands. He didn’t want to crawl around the burning pieces and take a chance on getting disoriented again. He knew his only hope was to keep moving in as straight a line as possible toward the door. The smoke near the floor was getting thicker and Joe began to cough. His head was spinning, and the roaring had resumed in his ears. His arms and legs began to tremble as his strength started to ebb away. Joe wasn’t sure if the fire or the blow to head – or both – were the cause of his difficulties, but he knew it didn’t matter. He had to keep moving forward; he had to continue crawling and pushing himself toward the front of the building. After crawling for what seemed a mile, Joe’s right arm gave way and he fell forward. He tried to push himself up again, but his arm felt as if it was made out of putty. Joe reached out with his left arm, trying to pull himself across the floor with that one limb, but his left arm didn’t seem to work properly either. The thick smoke enveloped him and the heat from the flames seemed closer than ever. His thinking confused by the fumes from the smoke, Joe decided it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a minute before continuing toward the door. He laid his head on the floor and closed his eyes. And then, without warning, Joe felt a pair of hands taking a firm grasp on his left upper arm, followed by a second pair of hands grasping his right arm. He felt himself being dragged for a short distance and then pulled to his feet. His right arm was flung across a neck and shoulders, and then the action was repeated with his left arm. Joe felt two arms – one from the right and one from the left – wrapping themselves around his body. He was propelled forward, being pushed and dragged at the same time. In less than a minute, Joe felt a rush of cool, fresh air against his face. He breathed in deeply, sucking the clean air into his lungs, as he continued to be pulled forward. Pulling his horse to a rather abrupt stop, Ben Cartwright jumped out of the saddle and hurried toward the door of the brick building in which Dr. Martin’s office was housed. The man who had ridden out to the Ponderosa from Virginia City to advise Ben to come to town right away had offered him little in the way of hard facts. He had only known that the warehouse in which the Christmas Dance had been held had somehow caught on fire, and Joe had been trapped inside. Adam and Hoss had pulled their brother from the burning building only minutes before it had begun to collapse. The last thing the man had seen was Adam and Hoss carrying Joe toward the doctor’s office. The fear and anxiety Ben felt was evident on his face as he pushed open the door and walked into the doctor’s office. In the waiting room, Ben hesitated, looking around for someone from whom he could demand information. Then the door to the examining room in front of him opened, and Dr. Paul Martin emerged. Ben’s body sagged a bit as he let out a sigh of relief. “How bad is he hurt?” he asked, his voice trembling a bit. “Of course,” replied Dr. Martin. He moved aside and motioned Ben toward the room behind him. Walking rapidly, Ben entered the examining room and saw his three sons. Adam was sprawled in a chair, and Hoss leaned against the edge of the examining table. Their relaxed poses confirmed to Ben that Joe was all right. Nevertheless, he walked straight toward his youngest son. He gave Joe a quick hug and then stepped back to examine the young man himself. Sitting on the edge of the examining table with his feet dangling a few inches above the floor, Joe waited patiently as his father looked him over. If the doctor hadn’t told him so, Ben wouldn’t have believed that Joe had escaped from the fire with only minor injuries. Joe’s pants were streaked with soot and smoke, as was the front of his shirt – the part of the shirt not protected by stained green jacket which lay in a heap on the floor by the table. A large white bandage circled Joe’s head, holding in place a small squared white cloth positioned toward the back and left of his skull. Even though Joe’s face had been cleaned, Ben could see the dark bruises on his son’s chin and cheekbone. White bandages were wrapped around the palms of Joe’s hands. Ben pursed his lips a bit as his eyes raked over Joe from head to toe. “How are you feeling, son?” he asked in a quiet voice. After taking a deep breath, Joe related the story of his extraordinary meeting with Edwin Frye to his father. It was a story Joe had told twice already, once to his brothers and a second time to Sheriff Roy Coffee. Joe fervently hoped this was the last time he was going to have to tell it. “What happened to Frye?” asked Ben after Joe had finished. “But will he come back?” persisted Ben. “You mean Tiny Tim?” asked Hoss.

2019-04-22T08:00:49Z

https://womenwritersblock.net/2018/04/04/the-ghost-of-christmas-past-by-susan/

Blood is thicker than water… and for the Klingons, it flows just as freely. Tall grasses swayed in the warm wind as the man stood atop his hill and observed the plains. Fat seeds pulled the grain low to the earth, but this bounty was not for a Klingon, but for the lesser animals that would feed the sacred targ. He stood tall and upright, like his ancestors since the beginning of their recorded history, as he searched the air for the scent of prey. The sunset shifted to blood red as it passed the horizon and signaled feeding time on the plains. A rumbling began, almost below the threshold of his senses, and far off in the distance a cloud of dust rose, in spite of the muggy air—a testament to the power of the approaching storm. Turning to the grasses, he saw three hunters lying in wait. They crouched low and allowed the plants to hide them; positioning their crude spears at the ready, they waited. Every night, Kalan journeyed to this place in history, triggered by something buried in his blood. The sea of grass rippled one way, then the other on the plains, just as they did on thousands of fields on hundreds of planets that his people had visited and conquered since long before his time. Back and forth with the wind, this was an eternal rhythm never broken by a single man, no matter how powerful. The timelessness reassured him. The targ drew near and the men, acting as one unified being, turned to each other and displayed faces of fierceness rarely seen in the modern age. They were wary, but not afraid of the goring tusks and trampling hooves that approached from the horizon. The three waited, motionless, until the throng of angry beasts was almost upon them. Bolting upright and shrieking they instantly diverted the stampede. He knew this tactic well. The targ would only redirect if the hunters appeared threatening enough to frighten the thoughtless beasts. Then the hunters would be able to spear them as they passed, each jab bringing down one after another. This time, it seemed, one of the hunters did not survive. With regret, Kalan looked upon him and reflected on his selfless act. It did happen sometimes, but as a strong and healthy targ could feed a family for a week, they took the chance—this time, one paid with his life. He began his silent prayer of homage for the fallen, but then spied the other two arguing, with no slain animals at their feet. This juvenile conduct did not befit the role of a hunter, so Kalan moved towards them, to understand the nature of their quarrel. His sense of unease grew as he closed the distance, so he increased his pace, first to a gait, then to a sprint. He was fit and graceful as he swiftly closed the distance and his silent footfalls did not attract their attention. Only when he was nearly upon them did they react by looking at him with horror and, Kalan thought, shame. They said nothing, so Kalan crouched to perform the death ritual and as he did, he came to an awful realization. While neither of the two remaining had a spear in his hands, the dead hunter had one in his hand and one in his back. Kalan awoke with a start to the sound of his captain summoning him to the bridge. "Kalan here," he called out to the intercom. "Sorry to disturb you, XO," came the voice of Harry Kim from the darkness. "We’re receiving a hail from the Victorious. She’ll be arriving in-system shortly." "I’ll be on my way," he acknowledged and prepared himself for duty. The arrival of the Victorious weighed heavily on his mind, but the dream tore at him even more. After several weeks, our efforts here in the Delta Quadrant are finally beginning to pay off. The treaty between the Talaxians and the Haakonians has been successfully negotiated and both sides are earnestly trying to make it work. Delta One is now up and running and the hyperlink node appears to be working flawlessly. We’ve managed several clear transmissions to Delta Fleet Command and Commander Vorik assures me that we’ll have full holographic communications capability by end of day today. After being out of touch with their loved ones for so many weeks, I’m sure the crew will be pleased with that. Even more welcome is the upcoming arrival of our sister ship, the Victorious. Just knowing that the rest of the fleet will soon be joining us out here makes us all feel a little less lonely in this distant part of space. And as gracious as the Talaxians have been as hosts, I think we’re all eager for the Victorious to relieve us so that Enterprise can finally begin the active phase of our mission and start exploring the Delta Quadrant. Captain Harry Kim nodded slightly at the turbolift entrance as Kalan emerged and took his customary seat to the right of his commanding officer. His terminal displayed miniature holograms of the Victorious as she came on approach to the Talaxian system, but only the viewscreen on long-range scan displayed her true majesty. It was easy to forget, while on the bridge, how large the Enterprise really was, but seeing the other vessel gave them an idea of the scale and importance of their mission. "Sorry to wake you, Commander," said Harry gently. "I thought you’d want to be here when Victorious pulled in. I know you were on with Gamma shift last night." "It’s of no consequence," said Kalan proudly. "Some nights one is better off without sleep." "Captain," Lieutenant Wildman said from Ops, "we’re receiving a hail from the Victorious," "Put it onscreen," Kim directed. The image from the bridge of the Victorious flashed onto the large screen, showing a confident middle-aged Ferengi wearing a Starfleet captain’s uniform. Even after so many years, Kalan was still uncomfortable with a Ferengi in charge of a starship—and even commanding Klingons. Yet, Captain Nog had a certain dignified presence, one he had seen in the leaders from his past that he respected. "Captain Kim!" Nog greeted him. "It’s been far too long." "For both of us, Captain Nog," Harry replied joyfully. "Being this far from home it means a lot to see another familiar face. Welcome to the Delta Quadrant, and to Talax." "Thank you, Captain," the Ferengi chuckled. "I hope our dropping in like this hasn’t given the Talaxians a fright." Kalan was also struck by how youthful Nog acted, despite stories he had heard of his past, such as the grave injuries he suffered during the Dominion War. "Not at all," said Harry. "I think they’re getting used to Discovery-sized starships dropping in on them. In any event, the People’s Assembly asked me to convey their respects to you and your crew. I’ll be happy to provide all the necessary introductions." "I’m just pleased you arrived to find the political climate so welcoming," Nog answered. "It makes our job a lot easier." "Not to mention mine," said a familiar light-hearted voice from off screen, the speaker of which then leaned into view. "Neelix!" Harry exclaimed joyfully. "Or should I say, Mr. Ambassador?" "Oh, just plain old Neelix will do fine from you, Captain," the elder Talaxian answered with a chuckle. "It’s always a pleasure to see you again." His attention then glanced over to the rear of the bridge, the where Naomi stood at her station. "And that goes double for you too, Lieutenant." "Hello, Neelix," Naomi answered with a flush and a wide smile. "I should say ‘welcome,’ but I think ‘welcome home’ might be more appropriate." "I suppose it does," he said with greater thought and less levity. The designated Federation ambassador to Talax had always had his misgivings about one day returning to the world that he had left behind so many decades ago. Now he was back, and in an official capacity, no less. Captain Nog then coughed, indicating to the gregarious diplomat that he was requested a turn to speak. Only this time, the Ferengi shifted his attention to Harry’s side. "Commander Kalan," he said, "your cousin Mokar has been a fine addition to our Gamma shift, so much so that I invited him to join us here for the rendezvous." Nog then gestured to an auxiliary bridge station. A Klingon officer wearing a lieutenant’s golden shirt was seen at his station. He had a more youthful face than Kalan’s, narrower with a more pointed beard. But the familiar resemblance was unmistakable. "Mokar," Kalan acknowledged him neutrally, not displaying any hint of affection or resentment. "Cousin," Mokar answered, equally dispassionate. Perplexed, the two captains looked at each other. Harry had know that his first officer had a relative aboard the Victorious, but somehow he had expected a reunion between two Klingon relatives to be somewhat more…Klingon. Looking to move on from the uncomfortable silence that had been left hanging in the air, Kim spoke: "Well, Captain, why don’t you bring your command team over to the Enterprise for dinner as soon as you arrive?" "Thank you for the invitation," said Nog. "We should up at Talax shortly. Say at 1900 hours?" "I’ll have our chefs prepare something special," said Harry. "Excellent," Nog answered. "We’ll see you then. Victorious out." Harry then looked over his shoulder at his Ops officer. "Lieutenant, I’ll trust you to see to the arrangements for our guests?" "I’m right on it, sir," Naomi answered proudly. Harry grinned warmly at his young officer. "Knowing Neelix, I’m sure he’ll want to spend some time with you and Sabrina before dinner. Feel free to take the rest of your shift off as soon as you have our reception taken care of." "Thank you, sir," she answered with a blush. Before Kalan could say anything, Kim turned to him, "Commander, why don’t we take a tour of engineering in the meantime?" The pair stepped into the turbolift and when the door closed, Kim said, "Tell me about your cousin." "Sir?" Kalan did not like the way this conversation was heading, as family matters were not something he thought should be aired with a superior. Unfortunately, a captain’s question was not easily avoided. "I sensed some tension in that conversation," said Harry. "Normally I don’t like to pry into anyone’s personal affairs, but if there’s something between you two that might affect our mission…" "There is nothing," said Kalan, a bit too quickly. "Mokar is merely…unexceptional. He has not yet distinguished himself in battle, and my rank and appearance by your side is a reminder to him of that fact. However, he is of the House of Kritis and will not falter if called upon." "Well, are you two close? Did the two of you grow up together?" The Klingon replied, "Of course. As is our custom, all of the household’s children are raised together." Captain Kim looked directly at him and asked, "I get the sense you’re being deliberately evasive, XO. Are you sure there isn’t something between you two that I should know about?" "Respectfully, sir, I prefer to keep my family life… within the family. Be assured that my relations with Lieutenant Mokar do not in any way affect Enterprise or our mission." "Okay, then," said Harry warily, still not quite convinced, but willing to let the matter drop. They rode the rest of the way in silence. When the doors opened, they turned to the usual work-related discourse. However, while the captain was absorbed by the duties of command, Kalan couldn’t help but feel if somehow his dream of the hunt had something to do with Mokar. And if it did, what would that mean for him. Katrina Kim carefully made her way towards the closed door of Science Lab 2. They quietly swished open for her the moment she moved in front of them. The young raven-haired Romulan slowly glanced around the spacious room before she stepped inside. Earlier in the day, Katrina was in the school library trying to study when she suddenly came up with a great idea. She called up an HPADD to cross-reference the words "observation within a natural environment" and "Anthropology, famous scientists." The first result that appeared before her was an image of a human woman and a chimpanzee. Katrina brushed the other pictures away as she concentrated on the text that surrounded the two holographic figures. She then spent the next half an hour reading all she could about Dr. Jane Goodall. And now, the zealous teenager had decided to test out her own hypothesis. She was going to spy on a pair of Romulan scientists as they performed their regular series of assignments. Katrina knew that Dr. T’Villet and his assistant, Lt. Rinh’tva, would be the only people on duty tonight. She’d seen the daily roster floating in front her mother’s place during breakfast. It only took a few seconds for her to read the twin Romulan names placed at the bottom of the list and figure out what time they’d be arriving. She was lucky that no one else, including her mother, would be coming into the Lab this night. Technically speaking, Katrina was not supposed to be in here at all. But regardless of the break in protocol, the young girl felt that it was worth the risk. Her experiment was going to be the same type of endeavor that Dr. Goodall had gone through, and it made her pretty nervous as she examined the room while trying to find a good place to hide. Most of the extraneous scientific equipment was pushed against the wall and arranged into tall stacks. But after a few minutes of searching, Katrina saw that there was a tiny amount of space hidden behind a pile of metal boxes. She had to duck under a table and crawl a few feet before settling down onto the cold, hard floor. She pushed two of the heavy containers apart and stared at the main workstation in the center of the room. Katrina was insatiably curious about all of the other Romulans she’d seen on board the Enterprise. So far, she’d only been able to have a few conversations with the ship’s CMO, but Dr. Saldeed wasn’t very helpful to her at all. Her final decision was to venture out on her own and see what she could discover. All she really wanted to do was listen to what Romulans say to each other and watch how they act amongst themselves. She tucked her knees under her chin and tried to get comfortable. There wasn’t anything to worry about now. No one knew that she was there, and none of Krell’s "Yellows" were on patrol. The only thing she could do was sit there, and wait. By 1750 hours, the Victorious had arrived in orbit around Talax and pulled up alongside her sister ship. The sight of a second Discovery-class vessel just outside of Enterprise’s viewports excited many of the crew, eager for anything that reminded them of home. But for Lieutenant Naomi Wildman, the only timetables that mattered were those of the last minute preparations with the Mess staff via the intercom, and waiting for the babysitter to arrive. "No, Crewman," she called out to the ether as she struggled with the collar of her formal dress uniform in front of the full length mirror in her bedroom. "You’ll be serving dinner for a party of at least four humans, three Klingons, an Andorian, a Vulcan, a Romulan, a Talaxian, and a Ferengi. Under the circumstances, I’d be very conservative with the choice of liqueurs." She then broke away from the conversation to glance downward, where her daughter stood patiently at her side. "What do you think, sweetie?" she said to Sabrina with a smirk. "Does my collar look okay?" "Ma’am?" came the nervous voice of the mess officer. "I was talking to my daughter!" Naomi called out with a groan. "Just…just don’t serve anything too sweet for after dinner drinks. Wildman out." "Very nice," Sabrina beamed up at her mother, giving the formal uniform an approving nod. "You look like an admiral, Mommy." "Maybe that’s not such a good idea," Naomi chuckled. "I wouldn’t want the captain to think I’m bucking for a promotion." The door chime then rang out, and Naomi exited the bedroom into the main living room to answer it. "Neelix!" Naomi shouted with glee as she answered the door to see her Talaxian godfather standing with bearing and dignity in his understated diplomatic attire. She immediately bent down to embrace him with affection, seeing as she now stood a head taller than him. "I requested to beam over early," said Neelix. "We had so little time to speak before Enterprise left Beta Antares, I wanted the chance to spend some time with you and Sabrina before dinner." "I know, and I’m sorry," she said regretfully as she led him inside to the sofa. "Launching a new ship, getting everything ready, you deserved more than just a com call." "Oh, that’s not it at all," he gushed. "In fact, I’m very proud of you. Lieutenant Naomi Wildman. Look at you, all dressed up. You’ve come a long way, sweetie." "Not as long a route as you, Mr. Ambassador," she answered with a smile of her own. "Only because I was the only Talaxian available," he replied modestly. "I was…" "Uncle Neelix!" came an angelic explosion from behind them as Sabrina burst into the room and ran up to the Talaxian. "I knew it was you!" "Well, bless my heart," said Neelix as he hugged the little girl warmly. "I didn’t think you’d be up so late, little one. And here I thought I wouldn’t have time to read you a bedtime story." "I don’t have to sleep this early," Sabrina chuckled. "I’m waiting up for Professor Mahat and Quozl!" "Quozl?" Neelix asked as he looked curiously at Naomi. "Is he one of her new friends?" "Quozl takes a little explaining," Naomi chuckled back, before leaning over to her daughter. "Honey, do you think you can change into your jammies now? Uncle Neelix and I have a lot to talk about before dinner." "Okay, Mommy," said Sabrina, as she gave Neelix one last hug and kiss before darting into her own bedroom. "She’s so precious," said Neelix. "Have you taken her down to Talax yet?" "Three times," said Naomi. "She was a little disappointed to find out that there really weren’t any Ice Demons living in the Norax Mountains like in the Summer Queen stories. But other than that she found everything enchanting." "Is that so?" he said with a giggle. "And how did you find Talax?" "I think you’ll be very pleased by what you’ll find down there. It’s all very beautiful, and very hopeful." The Talaxian ambassador sighed. "It was always beautiful. Just not always hopeful." "Oh, Neelix," said Naomi sadly. "Are you sure about this? You’ve been away for so long, is this really what you want? When they offered you this position, you didn’t have to accept." "I know," said Neelix. "Believe me, Naomi, this is what I want to do. Even if they hadn’t offered me a formal position, I’d have asked to come as a passenger sooner or later. As happy as I’ve been living in the Federation, I know that it’s time for me to come home. I’m getting old, you know." "Oh don’t talk like that," said Naomi. "You’ve got decades ahead of you. You’re sounding like you’re going home to die or something." Then a look of panic came across the young woman’s face. "Neelix, you’re not…" "What? Oh, goodness no!" Neelix laughed. "That’s not it at all. Its just…" he continued, his tone becoming more serious. "Well, I’m getting nostalgic in my old age, that’s all. When I left Talax behind to take up with Voyager, all I could think about was everything I had lost. But so much time has passed since then. Now when I think of Talax, I don’t think about the war or Rinax. I think about the Talax of my childhood. I want to hear Talaxian children singing Prixin hymns around the Guilding Trees again. Or see the glow of flixot swarms just before they leave for migration. Or maybe, just to taste a freshly baked piece of spiced mixi pie when its fresh out of the over and the temperature is just right!" "Then I guess your mind is made up," she said sadly. "You know, you’ll be giving up a lot, everything you built up back in the Alpha Quadrant, and all your friends." "Who says I’m giving anything up?" he replied jovially. "With hyperlink, everyone’s practically next door. And I’m sure that you, Harry, and Annika will be by to visit Talax any number of times." "I suppose," she said with resignation, feeling the finality of his decision, wondering how often they’d have to speak once the Enterprise’s exploration mission went underway. After her mother’s death and her father’s emotional withdrawal, when she had found herself pregnant and alone, it was Neelix who had stood by her, her only real family left. "Is there anything I can do?" "There is one thing," he said, his face crunched seriously, before melting into a buoyant grin. "You can take me into Sabrina’s bedroom so I can tell her the story of the Winter Princess and her rescue from the tower of the Ice Demons while waiting for your sitter to arrive." Naomi giggled as though she were a little girl again. "You know, Neelix. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that story. Maybe I can sit in for this one?" "Why of course," he said warmly. "You’re never too old for a story from your Uncle Neelix." Kalan swiftly marched down the hallway and slipped inside the conference room doors, tugging at the dress uniform hastily adorned. He disapproved of lateness, but he was unavoidably detained by officiating over an honor challenge when he had to drag the loser to the infirmary. By the time he arrived, the dinner had begun. Captain Kim glanced at his XO with silent disapproval, but did not elaborate on his tardiness, allowing his first officer to take the empty seat to his right without comment. He saw the command staff of the two starships seated along opposite sides of the dining table. From the Enterprise, there was the captain and his wife, Commanders Bartok and Vorik, and Dr. Saldeed. Seated next to the ambassador was Lieutenant Wildman, eagerly listening as the Ambassador regaled the two crews with a tale from his past. All were in their formal dress whites except for Dr. Kim, who was wearing a conservative green civilian gown, the only one present other than Ambassador Neelix in civilian attire. Directly across from them were the senior crew of the Victorious, including Captain Nog and his executive officer Thirishar ch’Thane, an Andorian with whom he had served for many years. Kalan recognized a burly Klingon seated near Captain Nog, Lt. Commander Toloth, the Victorious’ Chief Engineer. He knew of Toloth and his House and their many honorable deeds during the Dominion War. And a few seats down from Toloth was Mokar, who looked across the room at his cousin with a uneasy stare. "You were right about Talaxian hospitality, Captain Kim," said Nog jovially to Harry. "I’ve received invitations from the People’s Assembly for three different receptions already." "I think they just want to size you up," Harry said with a laugh. "After all, Victorious will be here for a while until more of the Fleet arrives." "Quite true," said Commander ch’Thane. "The Odyssey and the Klothos should be coming out of slipstream in the next two weeks, with the Prosperity and the Majestic not long after." Kalan listened as he moved to his seat, clapped a hand on the back of one of the Klingon lieutenants from the Victorious. The man looked up at him and offered a half-eaten haunch of pig. Kalan shook his head and moved on to the other officers that he had not seen since their departure from the Alpha Quadrant. Just as he took his seat, Toloth from the Victorious hailed him with a hearty call. "You honor us with your presence, ZhantaI Kalan. Come, tell us of your tales of battle against the Kazon. Surely there are songs to be sung about these new foes, after so many years of peace back home." Kalan bristled at the use of the title ZhantaI, especially this far away from the Empire. But he did not wish to delve into matters of Klingon politics in front of his new crewmates. "The battle was not worthy of song, Commander Toloth. The Kazon have yet to prove themselves an opponent equal to the Enterprise." "And let’s hope they never do," Bartok interjected jovially. Toloth’s eyes glanced over to where Mokar was seated, and then back again towards Kalan. "Two of the powerful House of Kritus are here before us, yet they do not sit together." Kalan had not consciously considered that he should sit anywhere other than to the right of his Captain. It was already a habit for him, from his time on the bridge and in the conference room. In fact, it was his right to sit in that place of honor. He wasn’t trying to slight his cousin—or was he? He did not feel compelled to defend Mokar, even though the insult would be obvious had they been on Qo’noS. However, when he noticed the look of shock on Captain Nog’s face, Kalan said, "Toloth, you have had too much blood wine. You would do best to keep your mouth closed until you are sober, lest you provoke a challenge you are unable to defend against." Toloth looked at him, confused, but did not speak. Across the table, Mokar sported a look of satisfaction upon his round and unblemished face. The evening went on with much idle chitchat and pleasantries. By the time desert and after-dinner drinks were served, the two crews were mingling about the room. It was while Kalan was idly staring out the observation window that he heard his cousin approach him. "I would speak with you, Kalan," said Mokar. Kalan studied him through narrowed eyes and gestured towards the door. What they most likely had to say to each other was not for anyone else to hear, and so they both walked out. In the outer hall, Mokar began, "It is good to see you again, cousin." "Yes," said Kalan quietly, his discomfort barely hidden. "I assume your service aboard Victorious has gone well?" "It has," said Mokar. "I feel at peace with this crew, more so than I ever did with the Imperial Forces." Kalan said nothing, but just nodded his head in quiet agreement. "You seemed troubled by Toloth’s words at dinner," said Mokar, his voice rising in timber. "Were you not glorious in battle against the Kazon? You have always fought fiercely and honorably in the past." Ignoring Mokar’s comments, he stated, "I had another dream. I need your interpretation. I presume that you still study naj laD’taH," using the Klingon term for the ‘science’ of reading visions. Mokar scowled at his cousin. "You barely acknowledge my presence since coming aboard your ship and now you snap your fingers at me as a ZhantaI." Seeing his words having the desired effect, he smiled and continued, "On the plains again?" "Yes," Kalan growled, before calming himself and going on. "It is feeding time and I see the three hunters. One of them murders another in a most dishonorable way—by spearing him in the back." Mokar nods. "That means they cannot be the Three Hunters of Qu’Inlat from the Book of To’Mar. They could be from the opera qorDu’ jagh if the third hunter avenged the death." Kalan was growing frustrated. "No, I could not even tell which one did the killing, as they just stood there, bickering like children." Mokar began to look uncomfortable. "Like children? Do you think they were related?" "Perhaps," said Kalan wearily. "In fact, I am certain they were." Mokar’s eyes then narrowed furiously at Kalan as realization of the dream’s meaning became clear to him. "Morath," he hissed. "The betrayal on the Plains of Takta, the dishonor which led brother to fight brother. Tell me, Kalan, have so many come to bow and scrape at your feet these many years that you’ve come to believe yourself as like Kahless himself?" "I never asked for anyone to grovel before me," Kalan snarled in reply. "I have no use for such nonsense." "Indeed?" Mokar shot back. "No use for being Kalan, son of Kritus, heir to the House of Kritus? No use for the future my father planned out for you? The rising star of the Empire, they call you. Even aboard the Victorious they speak your name. No matter how far I travel I can’t get away from ZhantaI Kalan. Even the Delta Quadrant isn’t far enough, so it would seem." Kalan glared at his cousin with a look that would freeze hydrogen. "If I seem so high upon a pedestal to you, Mokar, it only looks that way from where you stand. I should never have bothered reaching out to you." His cousin then roared back. "Don’t you mean ‘reaching down,’ cousin? If you are going to insult me, at least be more original than likening me to Morath in your visions. It’s not as though you’d be the first." At that, Mokar walked away. Kalan was left with the feeling that he had not just been insulted, but smugly dismissed as well. Only a moment later, Captain Kim stepped out of the conference room. He looked one way down the hallway, then the other and smiled. "Kalan," he said, "there you are. I was wondering if you were ever going to join us. I guess I should have known that social gatherings were not your cup of tea. I know the feeling. At this point, even I needed to get some air." Kalan said, "On the contrary, Captain, I have had all the air that I care to stand." He looked uncomfortable as he went on. "How much did you hear?" "Just the insults at the end, I’m sorry to say," said Harry regretfully. "I don’t mean to be privy to family difficulties." "It is…of no consequence," said the first officer with a brooding sigh. "It didn’t sound like it was of no consequence from where I stood," said the captain. "Commander, as much as I hate to meddle, I think I need to know what’s going on here. You’re both officers of the Fleet, and I can’t have any family grudges clouding your judgment. What’s this all about?" Kalan just shook his head, not looking his captain in the eye as he turned to look down the long corridor, in the direction to where his cousin had departed. "This has been brewing between us for a long time, Captain. It will not be solved today, I assure you of that." Harry walked over to close the gap with his first officer. In retrospect, Kalan realized that a moment before the event, the hairs stood up on the back of his neck in anticipation of the coming danger. But it happened so quickly that there was nothing he could have done. There was simply a blinding flash of light where the HPADD projector panel had been along the wall, a great sudden force of wind, and then nothingness. After she’d spent more than an entire hour conducting her "experimental observations," Katrina was able to deduce only one thing about the Romulan scientists: they were boring. She tried to make the situation more interesting by deactivating her combadge while listening to the two men. She hoped to gain a better understanding of the Rihannsu culture by hearing them speak in their own language. Unfortunately, Dr. T’villet was proving himself to be a rather difficult subject for her to examine. He was intent on maintaining the same droll conversation that he’d been having with his assistant ever since they both walked into the room. If she had wanted to hear a detailed lecture regarding the wide variety of Talaxian geological compositions, Katrina would have simply asked her mom about it. But instead, she was stuck sitting on the uncomfortable metallic floor of this Science Lab, hiding behind some of the ship’s surplus material. She could hear the foreign voices echoing throughout the vast room, but the young teenager had stopped paying attention to them. She’d fallen into a sullen mood, and was now concentrating on a way to escape without being detected. Suddenly, the doors to the Lab opened as if a great force had thrown them apart. Katrina flinched when she heard the staccato rhythm from a pair of heavy boots as they stomped past her. The new arrival was now standing directly in front of the two scientists, and before she heard the sound of the woman’s voice, Kat already knew whom it was. She began to worry about what kind of strict punishment her mother was going to enforce upon her. She’d been looking forward to spending some time with her friends before curfew, but she doubted that would still be the case now. Her mom was probably going to confine her quarters for the rest of the night, and that would be if she got off lucky. Something was wrong though. Annika Kim’s voice normally sounded very stern, but it was quivering now as she spoke to the Romulans. Katrina heard one of them gasp and saw another rise to console her, but they were both pushed away as her mother quickly turned to face the area where her daughter was hiding. "Katrina Kim," she called out, "I have detected your life signs within this room. There is no longer any need for you to hide. You will reveal yourself to me – now!" Katrina swallowed hard and slid all the way out from behind the boxes that had concealed her. She meekly stood but couldn’t bring herself to raise her chin in order to look up at her mother. She waited for what seemed like forever, but just as she was about to open her mouth and speak, her mother made a quiet announcement that instantly silenced her. "Why were you not wearing your combadge?!" Annika demanded frantically. "Unacceptable!" her mother shouted, her breathing ragged, her normal composure becoming undone as she spoke. "There was… an explosion. We must go to Sickbay and see your father, immediately." A million thoughts flew through her head at once. An explosion – where? Her father? Was he hurt? Of course he was! Why else would he be in Sickbay? But how badly… and why did this happen? She raised her eyes to see her mother looking directly at her. Both of them were clearly shaken by what had just happened, but now it was time to go. Katrina watched as her mother spun on her heel and left the room. Before her mind could run any further astray, she swiftly scurried after her. It was sunset on the plains. Kalan once again stood on his hilltop and watched the landscape. This was his place of peace, where he could simply be, without the worries of being a son of the House of Kritus or even the expectations of being a first officer. "There are the times of battles and the times in between, and each fills the heart for the other," the old line went. It was from the warrior-philosopher Takas, in a book that Mokar had given him, years ago, before…well, before. He had not read it until embarking on this trip, unfortunately, but until now he just had not had the time. It seemed that every moment of his life was filled with study and training for the day when he would lead his household. In his heart, though, he yearned for a few moments of peace. In the distance, he could see three children playing in the tall grasses. They bounded and wrestled like hearty children should. They seemed so happy, but for some reason, he felt uneasy. He was so absorbed in his observations of the children, he almost didn’t notice until the last moment that the evening stampede of the targ was well underway. This would not be a cause for worry among adults, but these youngsters looked up and were suddenly very afraid. He awoke to the calm and even voice of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Saldeed. "Glad to see you’re awake, Commander," said the Romulan physician. "Of course, I was confident that nothing could penetrate the Klingon skull." Kalan glared at Saldeed as his vision came into focus and the herd faded into the recesses of his unconscious mind. "Your bedside manner is not appreciated, Doctor," he scowled at her. Looking past the attentive doctor, he could see that he was in Sickbay, laying on his back on a biobed. Standing just past him were two other familiar faces, Lieutenant Commander Vorik and Lieutenant Krell. "I am pleased to see that you have awakened, Commander," said Vorik crisply. "Mr. Krell and I had hoped you might provide some clue as to what transpired in the corridor." "The corridor…" he said, trying to remember. There had been a flash of bright light, and a loud thundering sound. "There was an explosion! The Captain! He is…" "He’s recovering," said Saldeed. "He took more of the blast than you did, it would seem. He had some serious burns and a concussion, but he responded very well to dermal regeneration and he’s resting. The ship has been in the capable hands of Commander Vorik for the past twelve hours." "Twelve hours!" Kalan sat up in alarm. "I have been unconscious for half a day! The ship…" "Enterprise appears to be in no immediate danger," said Vorik calmly, "other than the fact that her two most senior officers have been assaulted." Kalan looked past the Vulcan officer to see the small gathering around another biobed further across the room. The captain was lying there, weak and hurt, but alive, his family surrounding him with their affection. And standing silently at his side, was…one of the Jem’Hadar. Obviously the captain had learned to make use of his new bodyguards quickly enough. Krell stepped forward and looked uncomfortably at Kalan. "The explosion came from an access panel in the corridor where you and the captain were standing." "Who…who was responsible?" asked the Klingon, his blood at a continuous boil. "Was there anything on the security logs?" "That’s just it," said Krell. "There’s a fifteen minute gap in the logs for that section of the ship, from 1920 to 1935 hours, just after the crew from the Victorious beamed over. At first I thought because it was so close to the dinner reception that it might have been some kind of terrorist strike, maybe retaliation by some Talaxians for our involvement in the peace talks. But my people managed to identify the explosive. It’s sorium argine." "What?" said Kalan with confusion, his head still ringing as he slid off of the biobed. "Sorium argine is a demolition explosive used by the Klingon Defense Forces. No race encountered by Voyager in the Delta Quadrant was known to employ it." "Right," said Krell. "It’s difficult to detect on sensors unless you know what to look for, and the security lock on all shipboard replicators would never allow it to be made on board. I’m certain this wasn’t the work of Talaxian agitators or Kazon agents. The problem seems a lot closer to home to me." "Precisely what are you saying, Lieutenant?" said Kalan sharply. "Commander," said Krell reluctantly. "I don’t want to be making any accusations at this point of the investigation, but…there were several witnesses at the reception who saw you leaving with your cousin. A short while later, the captain steps out into the hall. A minute after that, the explosion goes off. Do you see where I’m heading, sir? I need to know if you think Lieutenant Mokar was action oddly last night." Kalan’s thoughts were as black as night, as he pieced together more of Krell’s logic. Mokar acting oddly? He had been odd and out-of-step as a Klingon from the day the two cousins had come to be raised together. True, he was a sullen and unaccomplished warrior, one who held no regard for the honor of his House. But to settle his differences in such a manner, to attempt an assassination using explosives rather than challenging him to his face in honorable combat, it was almost unthinkable…except for one such as Mokar. "Commander," said Krell, "I don’t want to suspect your cousin, but the evidence is beginning to look that way, especially since all the Klingons I questioned said Mokar was untrustworthy, though they wouldn’t say why." Suddenly, Kalan grew furious, but not at Lieutenant Krell. "Why he is untrustworthy should be apparent to all!" he shouted. "Mokar is a weak and traitorous dog, who could not be bothered to look me in the eye if he wanted me dead!" "Commander," said Vorik cautiously, "perhaps such a conclusion is premature at this time. Lieutenant Krell is still conducting his investigation, and…" "Does Lieutenant Krell have an opinion?" Kalan retorted facetiously as he turned to the security officer. Krell stood his ground, not showing any intimidation in the face of everyone’s attention. "Begging the Commander’s pardon, but I usually don’t like to rush my investigations until I’ve dotted and crossed everything. But speaking from where the evidence is headed, then I’d say yeah, it looks like Lieutenant Mokar is our man." "Then that is all that I need," said Kalan to Krell, but also for Vorik’s benefit as well. "Mr. Krell, you will accompany me to find my cousin and place him under arrest." He then turned sharply towards Doctor Saldeed. "May I presume that I’ll be allowed to leave Sickbay and resume my duties?" "Limited duty schedule," said Saldeed. "Just until I’m certain your skull is still in one piece. Besides, I doubt I could keep you here." "Commander," said Vorik, evidently perturbed by this passionate rush to judgment, "what precisely do you expect to accomplish by having Mr. Krell accompany you to arrest Lt. Mokar?" Logic clearly showed that the facts of this matter were still incomplete, and that Commander Kalan was making accusations in the face of only circumstantial evidence and a questionable motive as to the accused’s character. "What I expect, Commander," said Kalan angrily, "is that Mr. Krell will be there to keep me from killing my cousin on the spot, should I be so inclined when I next lay eyes upon him." Harry Kim awakened, and he knew right away that he was lying flat on his back. He groaned while trying to flex his muscles, and then he slowly peeled his eyes open. His sight wandered around aimlessly for a few moments before it settled upon something familiar. An incredibly beautiful woman was sitting next to him, and the long strands of her golden hair dipped onto his face as she leaned over to gently embrace him. When his wife eventually let go and sat down by his side, Harry saw that there was another well-known person in the room with him. He felt two small hands pressed tightly against one of his. Very softly, he raised his head and gazed lovingly at his daughter. Katrina leapt up to throw her arms around his neck, but she remembered to restrain herself and gave him a light hug instead. Dr. Saldeed had been kind enough to put a partition around the Captain’s bed in order to ensure some privacy for him and his family. Harry stared at the ceiling and noticed that the lights within it were significantly darker compared to the rest of Sickbay. Nurse Baker casually strolled by, and he watched as the holographic woman continued to walk right past him directly into the CMO’s office. When he realized that none of the medical staff was going to come out and disturb him, Harry returned his attention back to his family. He could plainly see that Annika and Katrina were both deeply upset, but he also sensed that there was something else beneath the surface of their despair. The two women were acting very cold to each other, and Harry felt as if an invisible barrier had been placed in between them. He tried to speak but found that he could only whisper a few weak-sounding words before struggling to catch his breath. The captain looked at his wife and asked her, "What’s… wrong?" "Please, do not try to speak." Annika reached out and laid her hand on the side of his face before continuing. "Dr. Saldeed says your body absorbed a majority of the blast from the explosion, but she’s confident that you and Commander Kalan will both make a full recovery." "He’s already left, dad." Katrina said as she pointed behind her. "He was laying on top that biobed for hours, but he woke up before you did." "He and Lt. Krell have gone to look for some answers behind the cause of the explosion." Annika calmly told him. Harry was able to make out the indented shape of a large body within the cushions of the bed that his daughter had indicated. He thought about contacting the XO for a moment, but he quickly erased the idea from his mind. If Kalan was well enough to walk out of Sickbay, then he could definitely handle things without any interference from a superior officer. Kim suddenly detected an abnormal shadow along the wall next to him. He twisted his body to get a better look at it, and received an incredible shock that almost put him back into a coma. Jor’Marak was standing there with his back against the wall. The enormous Jem’Hadar was quite menacing to behold. He didn’t make a single move to give away his presence, and Harry couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not. "Annika…" he exhaled, "How long… has he…?" "The Jem’Hadar First has been standing there ever since the Doctor brought your body out of its stasis." His wife gave the hefty alien an unpleasant look before continuing. "You have been slowly recovering in Sickbay for several hours and were allowed no visitors except for family and… him." The Captain struggled to face the reptilian creature next to him. The imposing Jem’Hadar looked like a menacing statue, and Harry merely stared at him for a while before speaking. "Jor’Marak?" The Jem’Hadar turned and acknowledged Harry once he had directly spoken to him. "Yes, Captain?" "I don’t suppose… you feel like… taking a break." Jor’Marak merely looked at him as if he didn’t understand. When he eventually spoke, his deep voice remained completely neutral as he phrased his words. "We live to serve. I shall not abandon your side." "That’s what… I thought… you’d say." Harry muttered. He watched as Jor’Marak shifted back into place against the wall, and then he tried to carefully slide his body into a prone position. He decided to ignore the body guard at his side and focus on his family again. Katrina gave him a tiny smile, but he could still see a great amount of tension between her and Annika. It caused him even more pain internally when he saw the troubled look on the teenager’s face every time she glanced at her mother. Harry repeated his original question. "What’s… wrong…?" Katrina knew that her father was speaking to her exclusively, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him what had happened. She was still shaking at the memory of her mother finding her in the Science Lab. It would have been bad enough for her to be in trouble for spying on the Romulans, but things got even worse when Annika also delivered the horrible news. She had a million questions for her father, and she also wanted to tell him how thrilled she was to see him – even if he couldn’t talk well or sit up without wincing in pain. But just as Katrina was about to say something, her mother invasively cut her off. "It is a juvenile matter that you should not be worried about. We will discuss Katrina’s troublesome activities another time." She leaned over him and laid her hand flat on his chest. "You must rest now." "Never mind… about me," Harry said. His voice sounded very tired and his words began to fade at the end of each statement. Katrina’s emotions flared and she hissed at her mother. "Why do you always have to make things worse, mom? Isn’t it bad enough that dad’s been hurt?" She couldn’t help herself, and her seething words immediately brought wet tears to her eyes. Kat began to cry but quickly covered her face and turned her head away from where her father could see. Harry felt remarkably frail in his present condition. He wanted to reach out to his daughter and try to console her, but he knew that the effort would’ve caused him to loose consciousness. To the surprise of both her parents, Katrina pushed herself off her father’s bed and darted away from them. Before Annika could even cry out to prevent her from leaving, the agile Romulan had flown through the opening in the sheet that surrounded them. Less than a second later, she stepped out the doors of Sickbay and was running through the ship. Annika was completely stupefied; she never expected her daughter to run away from her. She wanted to chase after her but felt more compelled to remain with her injured husband. The former Borg slowly shook her head in bewilderment. She couldn’t understand why Katrina would act in such a way when she saw how vulnerable her father was. Harry didn’t have it in his heart to be mad. All he really wanted to do right now was reassure Annika. They’d all have to sit down and talk about what had happened in their personal quarters later. He reached out and grabbed her sleeve, forcing her to face him. "Just… let her go…" He could still see a small amount of doubt flickering on his wife’s face. The captain was too tired to say any more, but he managed to mumble one last sentence before he fell asleep. "We’ll talk to her… later." Annika watched her husband as he rested. She bowed her head over his and listened to him breath, and then she moved her mouth next to his ear and silently mouthed the words, "Very well." Nurse Baker came back out of the CMO’s office, quietly humming an upbeat song to herself while tending to her duties throughout the entire ward. After the explosion, a security lockdown had been put in place, preventing anyone, even the crew of the Victorious, from beaming off the ship. According to the ship’s computer, Mokar was still aboard, which was to be expected. What was unexpected was the location where he was to be found. "The Delta Café?" said Krell as he walked with Kalan and two of his deputies along the walkway of the Galleria. "I didn’t think bistros were part of the Klingon scene." "Mokar is not a Klingon of distinction," said Kalan frostily, his eyes riveted forward as he walked with haste towards the ‘outdoor’ deck of the café. All around, shopkeepers and civilian passers-by were looking on with bewilderment at the security detail as they marched forcefully to carry out their duties, quickly getting out from underfoot. News of the explosion and the captain’s injury had spread throughout the ship, and people were understandably unnerved. The sight of a security team in action led by the ship’s first officer did nothing to relieve that anxiety. "Mokar!" Kalan shouted furiously, his face twisted in rage. "Look at me, if you dare!" The other Klingon looked up at his cousin calmly, not returning any of Kalan’s intensity. "I see that you are well, cousin. I knew that you were far too stubborn to make the passing to Sto’Vo’Kor just yet." "Do not speak of Sto’Vo’Kor, petaQ!" swore Kalan, his posture coiled as though he were ready to strike. "It is a place you will never reach! What was it, Mokar? Was it your envy that drove you to attempt murder, or was your cowardice even stronger so you could not bring yourself to challenge me directly?" Mokar glared back at Kalan, standing up from his seat, his body equally poised for a fight. "You are full of insults this day, aren’t you, Kalan? Are you accusing me of what happened to you and your captain?" "Do not deny it, bIHnuch!" "I do deny it," Mokar seethed. "Take heed, cousin. Despite what you might think, I am Klingon enough to take offense at your calling me a coward and challenge you right here!" "Just what the hell is going on here?" came a harried voice as Vic Fontaine rushed out onto the café deck from the establishment’s interior. "This is a peaceable establishment here, boys. You two want to fight, you take it somewhere else." "This is not your concern, Mr. Fontaine," Kalan growled at the holographic proprietor. "This is a matter of honor." "Now hold on there, Commander," said Vic. "What goes on in my place is my business. If my customers want a floor show, they can wait till after hours with a two drink minimum." "Commander," Krell spoke up from behind as he and his team approached the scene. "I can take it from here, sir." Turning to Mokar, the security officer spoke in a tone of voice that was all business. "Lieutenant Mokar, your name has come up in our investigation in the attack on your cousin. Can you account for your whereabouts prior to your arrival at the dinner reception?" "Am I to consider myself an official suspect, Lieutenant Krell?" asked Mokar, his eyes never leaving Kalan’s angry stare. "Not officially at this time, Lieutenant," said Krell. "But I would like to ask you some questions about your activities the other day. All very routine." "Very well," said Mokar. "I’ll cooperate fully with your investigation, Lieutenant. You will inform my commanding officer about your questioning me?" "By the book, Lieutenant," said Krell. "If you’ll come with me and my people," he said as he gestured broadly with his arm towards the stairs leading down from the dining deck. Mokar left ahead with his two security escorts, leaving Cyrus, Kalan and Vic behind. "Always good to have the local cop on the beat," said Vic, looking at Krell appreciatively. "Did that guy really do it? Set off that bomb and hurt poor Harry?" "We’re not sure," said Krell. "Some of us have fewer doubts than others," Kalan interjected harshly. The hologram looked Kalan over sourly. "Well, next time you wanna bust someone in my place, take him somewhere else before you make with the rubber hose treatment." And with that, Vic turned and retreated to the interior of his establishment. Krell looked askance at his commanding officer, his golden irises dimmed through narrow eyelids. "I suppose you were right, Commander. It was a good idea for me to be here." He then glanced down at Kalan’s right hand, and saw a steak knife that he had absent-mindedly picked up from the nearby table. "It was not my intention to kill him, Lieutenant," said Kalan, "unless he offered resistance and refused to come quietly." Krell’s face was impassive, not revealing any indication if he believed the first officer or not. "Not to worry, sir. This won’t be going into my report." Looking around to see his people leading Mokar off down the main walkway of the Galleria, Krell motioned to leave. "I suppose we call his captain and let him know what’s going on." "I’ll have my people question Mokar about his activities. I plan to beam over to Victorious and look for any incriminating evidence there." "Perhaps," said Kalan as he took in a deep breath, "it would be best if I were to accompany you there." "Versus sitting in on your cousin’s interrogation?" quipped Krell. "Yes, I think that would be a very good idea, Commander." On the Victorious, Kalan and Krell stood outside of Mokar’s quarters, while the ship’s security chief, Lieutenant Nyssa Lang, a firm, muscular woman in her mid-thirties, accessed the door’s security code. "I’m telling you, you’re both wrong about Mokar," said Lang, as she overrode the door panel and let it slide open. "I think of myself as a pretty good judge of character, and there’s no way he could have done this." "Your captain voiced similar feelings when we came aboard," said Kalan coolly. "Mokar has admitted that he wandered from the group prior to the reception, with ample time for him to set the explosive. And he is certified in the use of explosives from his tactical training." "Look, Commander," said Lang, "even if I believed that Mokar wanted to kill you, why not just issue a challenge? That is the Klingon way, isn’t it? I mean, killing someone by hiding behind an explosive? That’s not very honorable, is it?" "It is not," said Kalan. "I am the better fighter, and Mokar knows it. Were he to challenge me, I would easily defeat him." "Well, I’m still not buying it," said the female security officer as the three stepped into the room. "He doesn’t seem like he’s got that much hate in him to stoop to that level. He’s moody, no question about that. But he’s got too much honor to violate his uniform like that." "Then you apparently don’t know him at all, Lieutenant," said the Klingon first officer. "I have known him most of my life, and he has disgraced his station before." Krell wanted to ask what he meant by that, but was busy taking in the surrounding of Mokar’s quarters, which appeared much different than what he expected. There were no ceremonial weapons on display, no tributes of battles fought or trophies of military prowess. Instead it was remarkably Spartan, even by Klingon standards. The walls were completely bare, and the regulation sofa, chairs, coffee and end tables were gone. The only furnishings were a pair of synthetic flame stands, and a large circular mat in the center of the room. It looked more like the residence of a Zen mystic than that of a Klingon warrior. "There’s no furniture," said Krell in subdued bewilderment. "What the hell happened in here?" "He requested everything be removed when he was assigned here," said Lang. "He said that the comforts of the body are meaningless, that a true Klingon resides only within the spirit, or something. He’s always spouting mystical quotes like that." "Indeed," said Kalan with a heavy sigh, not showing the least bit of surprise. "My family has heard more than their share of mystical quotes over the years." Krell went over to the room’s wall replicator and accessed the internal log. "He didn’t replicate any explosives with this unit. In fact," he said, viewing the readout with disbelief, "he hasn’t replicated any food since coming on board. The only thing he’s ever ordered is…water." "Yeah, that sounds like him," said Lang with a chuckle. "He only eats in the mess hall, and even then, he eats sparingly, never anything rich like gach or roc-egg blood pie. It has to do with spiritual purity, or something." "He regards his quarters as a nIt’lulIgh," Kalan observed, "a sanctuary of the spirit. Not to be sullied with temptations of the flesh, so that he may freely receive visions from Kahless and Sto’Vo’Kor." "Yeah," Lang chuckled. "About the only vice I’ve seen him indulge in is an occasional drink of root beer." "Root beer?" Krell said with bemusement. "A Klingon drinking root beer? Was that what he was drinking at the café?" Kalan only shook his head and grumbled in response. After a few sweeps with his tricorder, Cyrus scratched his head. "Well, there’s no sign of any sorium argine in here. Not that there’s anywhere he could have hid it. The man doesn’t even have a bed." Kalan then turned to Lang with urgency. "Were there any Klingons with whom Lieutenant Mokar associated frequently? Any who showed him deference or authority?" He then looked over at a confused Cyrus Krell. "It is possible that he may have employed agents to carry out his bidding for him." "That’s a bit of a reach, sir," said Krell. "Not to mention it doesn’t square with Mokar’s activities," said Lang. "He never associated with any of the Klingon crew outside of work. He didn’t really associate much with anyone really. He did his job and was respected for it. He’d come to a shipboard event once in a while or sit with the Tactical staff in the Officer’s Mess. But that was it. If anything, some of the Klingons have given him a lot of attitude. Even Commander Toloth had to get a talking-to from the captain to get him to lighten up on Mokar." "Don’t ask me," Lang replied. "I figure its some Klingon honor thing. Mokar won’t talk about it, and neither will any of the other Klingons. They all say it’s a personal matter and that they won’t let it get in the way of ship’s business." "I would like to question some of them myself," Kalan announced. "Lieutenant Lang, have the senior Klingon crewmembers meet with me. Perhaps they may shed some light as to Mokar’s activities aboard this ship." "I think I’d like to tag along, sir," Krell said sourly. "There are questions I’d like to have answered also." The Enterprise contained a wide variety of places for people to congregate, but at night, the teenage population on board the ship always wound up dominating the area within the Botanical Garden. There were only a few scattered adults prowling about tonight, and all of the Yellows, were still busy looking for the mysterious bomber that had attacked the Captain. Whenever the evening time rolled around, all of the artificial heat lamps and environmental regulatory systems were turned off. The natural insulation of the large forest kept the entire area slightly warm, yet still very brisk. On the other side of the tiny indoor lake, a steady wind was generated by a series of fans that ran within the flat metal wall. Katrina and her three girlfriends had decided to meet by the edge of the water, but each had their own private reason for choosing this particular spot. Breeshal liked to study in the garden during the day. She also preferred to come there late at night by herself whenever she couldn’t sleep. Sometimes, the young Betazed would merely sit and meditate within the darkened corners made by the trees, or else she’d stare at the lake for hours, peering into the distorted reflection of the surrounding foliage as it swirled along the smooth liquid surface. Tiffany Limos had first found this place when her parents dragged her out of their quarters to go with them on a picnic. This was during the first weeks of the ship’s slipstream flight and everyone was still trying to settle in and become familiar with the Enterprise. She had rarely gone back to the beautiful lush area since then, except to occasionally hang out with her friends. Pana was often very restless and she tended to constantly fidget whenever they chose to come to the lake. However, she knew that a giant Parises Squares field was within fifty meters of the water, and this always meant that there would be a group of meddlesome boys nearby. The agitated Andorian paced the area repeatedly, cracking her knuckles and hopping around on the tips of her feet as she practiced kicking an imaginary ball across the grass. Katrina sat alone on top of a large smooth boulder. She was spending her time quietly skipping stones, picking them up from a small pile down by her feet and then flinging them as hard as she could. If this had been a normal evening, she would’ve been interacting with her friends and enjoying their company like she’d always done before. But tonight, she had her back to them, and all of her attention was focused on the tiny rock she currently held in the palm of her hand. Kat had never felt so torn in all of her life. She wanted to go back to Sickbay and see her father; badly. But she couldn’t bring herself to face him, not after running away like she did. And then there was her mother, the most callous witch on board the entire ship. Just thinking about that woman made her so furious, but all she could do was throw another rock and watch it bounce. Pana and Bree climbed up to join her after watching their friend for a few minutes. Tiff decided to act as a lookout and alert them as soon as she saw any Joes approaching. Kat noticed their arrival, but she didn’t speak to them just yet. She had stopped crying a while ago, but the young Romulan still felt very queasy and wretched. She absently brushed back a lock of her dark black hair as it fell over her eyes and turned to look up at the two girls as they drew closer. "Is this seat taken?" Pana asked, smirking as she immediately sat down without waiting for an answer. She couldn’t help but notice the sad expression that remained on her best friend’s face, and it made her cringe with guilt at her inability to console her. Bree was busy trying to shuffle her way over to where Katrina kept the miniature rock pile. Her balance was very flimsy, and it took her a while to get settled. The overly cautious girl held up the edge of her long skirt, staring at each spot below her feet before she touched it. Her limited telepathic skills had been increasing recently, and the Betazed was able to sense the torturous array of emotions that boiled around inside of her friend. She decided to say something and attempt to sooth her friend’s mental state. "Kat," she lightly said, "try to be a little more optimistic. I know it isn’t easy, but you can’t stay here and be miserable all night." Bree put her hand over Kat’s and plucked the stone out of it. "We were all upset when we heard the news, but there’s a new rumor floating throughout the ship that’s certainly going to cheer you up." Katrina sighed heavily before speaking. "What are you all gossiping about now?" "It’s about your dad," Bree announced, "Doctor Saldeed says he’s doing well, and she’ll probably let him out in another day or two." Kat perked up a bit and turned to face her. "Who told you this?" Bree smiled and pointed to Katrina’s other side. "Pana’s mom did," she said. "One of them, anyway. She was working in Sickbay earlier and Dr. Saldeed spoke to her." "Oh yeah?" Katrina felt a small smile spread across her face. It felt odd and a little painful, but she left it there as she shifted over to Pana, pestering her for more details. "So, what’d your mother say to you?" "Well," Pana began, "my zhavey’ti heard it first from Nurse Baker, and double checked with Dr. Saldeed. Your dad will be stuck in Sickbay for a few more days, but he’ll be jingo plus in less than a week." Pana’s antennae twitched sporadically as she spoke. She was obviously glad to see that her friend had started to brighten up. Bree tenderly patted Katrina. "Yeah," she said, "So don’t be so tocky tonight, ok? Pana snorted loudly. "That’s a first!" she yelled, "I never thought I’d see the mouse calling the lion a lame beast." She nudged Katrina in the ribs with her elbow and asked, "Are you going to let her get a way with that?" Kat glared at Pana, silently telling her to calm down, and she gave Breel a gentle hug right before all three of them stood up. They clambered off the large rock and gathered around Tiffany who instantly became annoyed at their presence. She began complaining that they were distracting her from looking out for any boys. "Back up, will you? Give me some room to see!" Katrina and Bree laughed as Pana danced mischievously and made "kissy" faces in front of Tiff. "Will you stop that?" she squealed, puffing out her cheeks. "They’ll be here any second. Oh, no – how do I look? Kat, do I need to get prepped?" "Never mind that now," Bree told her, "here they come." Two guys walked out of a nearby grove, Curtis Obadae and Jason Lowe. Both humans waved and picked up their pace as they saw the four girls down by the water. Curtis ran the last few steps and scooped up Tiffany into his arms, embracing her lavishly. Jason threw a quick glance at this over his shoulder, but he soon ignored his friend’s romantic activities and moved directly in front of Katrina. "Hi," he said to her, briefly nodding to the other two other girls. "I’m glad to see you here." Katrina steadied herself as she looked up at Jason. "Yeah, I had wanted to be with my friends for a while." She tried to calm the fierce beating of her heart as it thumped against the left side of her chest. She had developed such a major crush on him that her pulse suddenly flared whenever he was near. He nodded while staring at her, but then he stopped himself and became serious. "How’re you feeling?" he asked, and she could see that he was generally concerned. "A little bit better, thanks." Another thick piece of hair fell in front of her face, and she nervously reached up to push it behind her pointed ear. "Good, I’m glad to hear that." He gave her a broad grin, curling up the sides of his face while holding her gaze. "You know, I was thinking about you today." "Oh yeah?" she asked him, feeling her inner level of excitement threaten to rise even further. She regained control and calmly said, "I mean – you were? How come?" "I was worried… about the explosion." He stammered over his words, but soon found his voice again and continued. "I’ve been hearing nothing else the whole day, it’s practically everywhere I go on the whole ship." "Well, I just found some very good news. I know for certain that my dad is going to be okay." Katrina flashed him a genuine smile, and felt truly better for the first time all day. "Oh yeah?" he said, laughing out loud as he imitated her. She immediately giggled at him and enjoyed the amusement he had created. She totally forgot about her dreary state of mind and resolved to simply revel in his presence. Something else caught Katrina’s attention, and she looked past Jason to see Pana impishly covering her mouth. The Andorian was blatantly pointing at her and Jason, and Kat watched in shock as she pursed her lips and made the same smooching motion that she’d been teasing Tiffany with earlier. Kat merely glared at her, burning daggers of ice into the other girl’s blue tinted face. Before Jason turned around and picked up on what was happened, the feisty Romulan took his arm and led him over to her "skipping" boulder. At least a dozen Klingon officers were gathered in the briefing room of the Victorious, with Kalan and Cyrus eyeing them each over. Standing at the back of the room was Lieutenant Lang, along with Captain Nog and Commander ch’Thane. Both commanding officers were looking on with frayed patience, watching the entire proceedings from a detached distance. Kalan was parading before the assembled group, acting very much in charge of things an in a manner well beyond the role of a senior officer. What was even more dismaying to Krell was the fact that the other Klingons seemed to be perfectly fine with this. "He is a…capable officer," said Lieutenant Batath hesitantly, a Klingon female from Engineering. "I have always been satisfied with his performance." "This is not a performance evaluation, Lieutenant," Kalan barked. "This is an investigation into an attempted assassination, a cowardly attempt on my life, and it will not stand!" "But surely Lieutenant Mokar has reason to do harm to you, sir," said Batath. "What makes you so certain of that, Lieutenant?" Cyrus asked. "It…it is obvious," she struggled to say. "It is…who he is. Surely you know of what I speak, ZhantaI Kalan. I need not say it aloud." Kalan simply grunted in response. "Is it not true that Mokar has already been taken into custody for this crime aboard Enterprise?" said Lieutenant Tovask, a young-looking Klingon wearing another uniform of an engineering officer. "He’s being questioned," said Cyrus. "That’s all." "Well," said Tovask, as he looked up at Kalan with a conspiratorial grin, "if the evidence does not meet the standard of Federation justice, then perhaps we in this room are better equipped to deal with those who would dishonor the House of Kritus!" At those words, Commander ch’Thane’s antennae perked up and twitched in fury, and his blue skin darkened to a deep pitch of violet with the rush of blood. "What was that, Lieutenant? Tell me I didn’t hear what I just heard! That’s one of your fellow officers you’re talking about, mister!" "Sir!" Tovask stammered. "I…I only meant…" "Be silent, you intemperate fool!" Toloth berated his junior officer. Turning to Nog and ch’Thane, Toloth looked at them imploringly. "Sirs, pay Tovask no mind. He is young and impetuous and does not speak for us. We would never dishonor our posts by acting in defiance of you." "I should hope not, Mr. Toloth," Nog spoke coolly, before turning to Kalan and Cyrus, "especially considering how circumstantial the evidence against Lieutenant Mokar appears to be. I won’t hold a court martial against one of my officers based on what little you’ve shown me so far, despite what you and every Klingon on my ship seems to think." "We are all appalled and disgusted by what has happened, ZhantaI Kalan," said Toloth, the senior-most Klingon present among the crew of the Victorious. "Do not address me by that term, Commander!" Kalan shouted, surprising everyone with his tone. "It is…a sign of respect, Commander," said Toloth, sounding almost apologetic. "I…I have not proven myself worthy of such an accolade," he replied. Cyrus looked on at the undercurrent among the Klingons in the room. Obviously they all knew something about Mokar, something they were all reluctant to speak aloud amongst outsiders. Even Kalan was holding back from him. But whatever it was they knew about Mokar, it had convinced them all that he was guilty of the crime, regardless of whatever lack of evidence there was. "Commander," said Krell to Kalan quietly, "I’d like to speak with you out in the hall. Privately." Kalan nodded his assent and the two officers stepped out of the room. Once he was certain of their privacy, Cyrus addressed his commanding officer. "Sir, what does ZhantaI mean?" Kalan sighed. "It is a term of respect, one given to those who have displayed acts of great honor to the Empire or those of high office." "And you don’t feel you’re worthy of such respect? If I may say so, sir, you are a decorated and accomplished officer." "It is…inappropriate!" Kalan blurted out. "ZhantaI is a title reserved for great generals or those who sit upon the High Council. For me to be called such a thing, simply because of my birth…it’s not right. I’ve yet to earn such a mark of honor. But too many have been led to believe otherwise by my uncle. He’s sold my image to the people like Ferengi gold." Looking over at Krell with annoyance, he continued. "What has this to do with anything?" "Sir, what exactly is going on here?" Krell asked impassively. "We are conducting an investigation into an attempt on my life, Lieutenant. I would think that was obvious." "No, sir. I’m talking about this secret about Mokar that every Klingon on both Enterprise and Victorious seems to be in on. Now, if it’s something related to this investigation, then I should know about it." "It is…not relevant to outsiders." "If it provides a possible motive for the crime, sir, then I’d say it’s very relevant. Commander, I take my work very seriously. If I’m going to end a man’s career, and quite possibly his life if your government has a say in the matter, then I have to know all the facts involved. That’s part of my job, sir. Believe me, secrets…" he said, before strangely going silent, as if he were collecting himself before going on, "secrets can get people killed." After a moment of consideration, Kalan spoke to him. "When we were younger, when his father married my mother, Mokar and I were raised together as brothers. But as the elder, and the son of the original head of my father’s House, I was designated the heir to the House of Kritus, as well as my father’s legacy. I excelled in all areas whereas Mokar…did not." "And this is why everyone is so down on him?" "No," said Kalan solemnly. "Do you know the tale of Kahless and Morath, Lieutenant?" "I think so," said Krell. "Morath was Kahless’s brother, wasn’t he? Kahless fought him because he had dishonored the family, or something to that effect." "Indeed," said Kalan. "He killed a friend in a cowardly fashion while on a hunt, and then lied afterwards to his family to conceal his crime. Kahless fought his brother for twelve days straight in order to assuage that dishonor. According to the legend, Morath was marked by shame from his very birth. He was the younger child. His birth killed his mother, and thus showed dishonor to the very woman who gave him life." "But that’s just a legend, Commander. What does it have to do with Mokar?" "Mokar…his mother died in childbirth as well," said Kalan with finality. "I know such things are unknown today in the Federation, but in the Empire it happens on occasion. From that moment, many of the more superstitious regarded him as marked with dishonor, just as Morath was." "And this is why everyone is convinced he’s guilty?" said Krell incredulously. "Because of an old legend? I can’t believe that. We’re talking about officers here. Educated people. There has to be more than that." "There is," Kalan continued with great difficulty. "When Mokar came of his Age of Ascension, he resented the favor shown to me. But there was no excuse for what he did then. He openly defied my uncle and refused a commission to serve with the Klingon Defense Forces, choosing instead to study with the Guardians of Boreth." Cyrus almost did a double take. "He became a monk?" "Yes," said Kalan. "It was a particular insult given the animosity that exists between the Order of Boreth and the Great Houses. If Mokar had wanted to find a way to publicly shame his father, he couldn’t have found a better way. Eventually he left the Order and returned to his obligation of military service, but I cannot forgive his snubbing of my father’s House." "To Hirak, my cousin was lost to him a long time ago. His joining the Order only made public what was already a fact." "What I don’t understand," said Krell, "is that if Mokar was so dishonored, then how the hell did he get placed for a slot in the Delta Fleet?" "My uncle’s doing," said Kalan bitterly, "a final act of acknowledgement. He wanted Mokar sent as far away from the Empire as possible, so as not to further cause him shame. He probably believed him to be a detriment to his political ambitions. And with me as first officer of the flagship of the fleet, my accomplishments would eclipse any notice of him." "It’s a damn shame," said Krell shaking his head. "Sounds like the guy never had a chance from day one." "I never wanted him to fail or fall by the wayside in his father’s eyes," Kalan fumed. "As children, I defended him against the taunts of others. But there is still no excuse for him to act like…a sullen human teenager! Other Klingons have been born into greater adversity than he, yet they have risen above their circumstances and achieved glory and honor. Instead he runs away from his sorrows and feels the universe owes him recognition! Is it any wonder that Mokar would seethe with resentment towards me and want me dead?" "That isn’t the picture that I’m getting, sir," said Cyrus. "From what I see from his crewmates, this isn’t a guy burning for revenge. This is someone who’s simply trying to find a place for himself, someone trying to find peace, not create more trouble." "What are you saying, Lieutenant?" inquired Kalan with a skeptical eye. "What I’m saying is that even though all our circumstantial evidence is pointing to Mokar, I don’t believe he did it." The holo-chronometer hovering along the wall told Katrina exactly how late she was. She walked passed the stationary digits and dragged herself around the corner to reach the door to her family’s quarters. The exhausted adolescent simply stood there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. It had been an exceedingly stressful day, and all she really wanted to do now was crawl on top of her soft bed and turn her brain and body off. She felt totally phased, and didn’t even want to take of her skins before falling down to achieve blissful slumber. Kat couldn’t believe that on top of the major calamity with her parents, she now had to deal with all these overpowering feelings she had for Jason. He had asker her to call him Jay, saying how he preferred that nickname to the one his parent’s had given him. Too many different things were floating through her mind as she entered the main living room. She took about four steps, and then froze in her tracks. Her mother was standing there, hands clasped behind her back, directly within the entrance to her room. Katrina wished she could shrink out of sight, or maybe spontaneously disappear, but she knew that these ideas were pure fantasy. The witch had caught her again, adding another credit to the reputation of Borg efficiency. The most unsettling thing was the way she was just staring at her. The elder woman’s eyes were as unflinching as the Jem’Hadar down in Sickbay with her father. Kat felt severely drained enough as it was, but her mother’s fierce glare seemed to drill straight through her. It was almost as bad as the look she’d given to Pana a few hours ago. Annika eventually stepped forward and confronted her daughter. She tried to maintain a dispassionate attitude while talking to the young girl, but the severity of the situation plainly called for her to enforce a more disciplined position when dealing with Katrina. "Why did you behave so drastically?" her mother demanded. "Explain your actions." "I…" Katrina stammered. "I don’t know why. I just didn’t want…" What she wanted to tell her was that she didn’t want to be around her at that moment, but given the stress of what happened to her father, she knew it would be a cruel thing to say to her. She could see the hurt in her eyes, and for all of her mother’s icy toughness, Katrina knew that she had a vulnerable side, especially where her dad was concerned. "I just didn’t want to be there, okay?" she said with finality. Annika stood there silently, not speaking a word, as though she didn’t trust herself to control what she might say next. "Wildman to Dr. Kim," came Naomi’s voice over the intercom. Katrina watched as her mother slowly raised her eyes away from her. "Hey, Annika, have you got a moment?" "Kim here," the former drone replied, calling out to the air, her voice easing from its earlier frosty tone. "What can I do for you?" "Sorry if I’m disturbing you," said the Ops officer. "I know this is last minute. Neelix and I just came back from visiting the captain. The Talaxian government is eager to meet with their new ambassador and I’m going to beam down with him. You know, just to see him off." "A commendable gesture," said Annika. "Were the circumstances different with Harry…" "Hey, Neelix says he understands. Anyhow, I was wondering if Katrina was available tonight to babysit for Sabrina. I was going to ask Professor Mahat again, but I feel I’ve imposed on her too much already. Like I said, I know that this is short notice…" "I am afraid that Katrina will not be available tonight," said Annika sternly as she glared in her daughter’s direction. "She is grounded until further notice." Grounded?! Katrina wanted to scream out in protest, but a harsh stare of warning from her mother told her that there would be no debate on the subject. The Queen Bee had decided the matter for her. So Katrina dealt with the situation in the way any girl her age would have. She stormed off to her room and immediately commanded the door to shut behind her, shutting out the rest of the world as well. As soon as Lt. Wildman entered Transporter Room Two, she caught the attention of the Ops officer on duty and signaled for him to remain at his station. Naomi wanted him to understand that she wasn’t there on any official assignment. She didn’t need to perform a surprise inspection or evaluate any of the system’s logs. Everyone on the senior staff already knew that Comm. Kalan and Lt. Krell were the only people taking care of the investigation behind the blast that had injured the Captain. Vorik was currently in command of the Enterprise, and the half-K’Tarian woman had a lone task of her own to deal with. She merely had to take the newly instated Federation Ambassador down to his home world. But this was easier said than done because Neelix had been acting very eccentric for most of the time she’d spent with him. Naomi initially thought that he was upset by the attack against their old friend, but she now believed that the severe change in his behavior was due to something else. He was still reluctant to return to his native soil. Earlier in the day, the energetic Talaxian had tried to drag the overworked officer *all* around the Enterprise, asking her to show him everything on board that was different when compared to the internal structure of the Victorious. There wasn’t much to see, the two ships were nearly identical. And now that he was finally inside the transporter room, Neelix realized that it was time to go. Naomi directed him over to the far side of the room as she headed towards the duty station. Neelix stepped within the large white circle that was sunken into the floor. He began to brush some imaginary lint off his clothes, and then he cleared his throat – loudly. Wildman leered at him out of the corner of her eye, but she soon ignored him and peered over the holographic display of the landing coordinates. Everything appeared to be in perfect order; the picture matched the designated area that the Talaxian authorities had assigned to them. She gave the crewman a light nod and moved away from him to go and join Neelix. Just as she placed her foot onto the platform, Naomi heard a quiet voice permeate the air through the comm system. "Annika Kim to Naomi." "This is Naomi speaking," she automatically replied, but she instantly felt that something was wrong. Her ears distinctly heard a tiny amount of sadness and pain hidden within the other woman’s words. "Annika, what is it? How can I help you?" "This is… not an easy topic to discuss. It concerns Katrina, and I would prefer to speak privately with you about this." "One moment," Wildman said as she slid off the transporter. She called out, "Take a break crewman," and jerked her head towards the door, signaling for the technician to leave. Once she was alone, except for Neelix who quietly waited for her to finish, Naomi freely spoke to her old friend. Every time the content of their conversation became too painful for her to continue, Naomi would tell her to stop and take a deep breath. She instructed Annika to proceed only after she felt calm and capable to discuss her problems without choking over the words. They talked for a very long time, with the younger parent listening to the worried voice of the elder. The problems that Annika faced were quite severe; not only had Katrina run out of Sickbay, but her mother had also found her eavesdropping on a pair of Romulans. In addition to that, her husband was extremely weakened as a result of the explosion. Harry could do only two things during his recovery; sleep, and then mutter a few soft words to her once he was awake. Through the details they shared during their intimate conversation, Naomi soon managed to soothe away most of the tension that Annika had been experiencing. She also figured out a way deal with the current dilemma that was bothering her. The K’Tarian took her own advice and inhaled deeply before ending the com link she had been sharing with Annika. Less than a second later, she initiated a new one. "Lt. Wildman to Yola Mahat." The Cardassian woman answered right away. "Mahat here." "I need to speak to you for a moment," she clearly stated. "And also, I have a favor to ask you." "Of course, please proceed." The scientist had a neutral tone in her voice, but she sounded willing enough to offer some help. Naomi went back over to where Neelix had been waiting and held up her hand. She spread the fingers apart to indicate that she wanted him to wait five more minutes. He silently acknowledged her with a shrug of his shoulders and she returned her attention to the latest problem that had been dropped into her lap. Kalan had been walking steadily throughout the corridors upon his return to Enterprise, but he promptly slowed down his pace as Yola Mahat approached him. The sleek Cardassian woman glided over to his side and matched his steps. She casually turned to him and whispered, "I must speak to you. It’s about the explosion." The gruff Klingon slowly nodded, and then he waved at the closed doors of a nearby turbolift. Once they were inside, Yola called out, "Deck Nine," in order to go to the level where the Kim family lived. She moved all the way to the back and relaxed against the wall. A moment later, Kalan ordered the Lift to halt. He merely stared at the female scientist, patiently waiting for her to speak. Mahat could clearly see the stress and aggravation building up within the XO, so she wisely decided not to waste anymore of his time. "I know that this is none of my business," she began, "but I’ve done some personal investigation into the cause of the explosion." Kalan clenched his hands into fists as his posture stiffened. Yola heard a low growl escape from somewhere deep inside of his throat. "You do not have the authorization to go anywhere *near* that area," he said, barking his words at her. "Do you think that you’ve suddenly become one of Krell’s detectives?" "Please allow me to finish, Commander, and you shall see the reason why." Mahat was completely unfazed by Kalan’s overly aggressive attitude. She continued with her explanation as if he hadn’t even interrupted her. "I have an abundant amount of information to give you. All of it concerns the nature of the material that was used in the explosion." Yola turned to the wall and called out for an HPADD. A variety of chemical equations were immediately displayed, along with several paragraphs of statistical information. The text scrolled down the edges of the square-shaped image as the remaining pictures floated before him. "This will help you with your search," she said. "It contains an analytical comparison of the molecular residue that I found at the site of the incident." She brushed her hand through the hologram and watched as it evaporated. "The proof is incontrovertible. It states that the explosive material was synthesized from two unique elements. One was a highly complex chemical, and the other was a specific type of plant. Both of these are available to any of the engineers on board our ship. "Also," she continued, "I compared my results with the security team investigation. They both show that the detonator was the type which is triggered by an outside signal, probably done at extremely short range." "Our sensor logs of the scene were unable to find any transmissions in the area," said Kalan shortly. "There were no anomalous signals that we could identify." "Then perhaps the signal in question was not an anomaly at all," she said, "but rather something that should have been there from the very beginning." "I don’t suppose you were able to identify the signal in question?" "I’m sorry, Commander," she said regretfully. "There was too little left over from the explosion to determine that." Kalan considered her words, and shook his head in puzzlement. She spoke in the same kind of mystic riddles that the monks of Boreth tended to favor. "Thank you, Professor Mahat," he reluctantly grumbled, "this data shall be added to the rest of the evidence." The Cardassian woman smiled lightly as she tipped her head towards him. "You are welcome, Commander. It is both an honor and a privilege to be able to help you find out what happened." The two strangers held each other’s gaze for a few seconds before Kalan ordered the Lift to resume its course. Less than a minute later, Yola stepped out into the corridor and went towards the front of the ship. Kalan called out to her, "I will continue with the rest of this investigation on my own." She paused and delicately spun around to face him. "But of course, Commander. You already have." And before he could respond, the doors swished shut in his face. Kalan sat at the workstation in his office, more confused that ever. He kept the lights dim, helping him to concentrate his thoughts. He had hoped that a search aboard Victorious would find conclusive evidence to prove Mokar’s guilt, but instead there were only more doubts. On top of that, he thought, Professor Mahat discovers that perhaps the sorium argine could have been manufactured from more basic components, thus evading the replicator security lockout, another trick that only someone familiar with the compound would know. The base compounds could have easily been replicated here on Enterprise. But he considered Mahat’s observation about the triggering mechanism. Could there have been a signal that the security teams hadn’t noticed? "Computer," he called out, "access security logs for Deck 5, Section 3 at 1920 hours, Stardate 76449.8." "Unable to comply," said the computer. "Security logs are unavailable from 1920 to 1935 hours." It was as he expected from Lt. Krell’s initial report. "View logs from 1935 hours onward," he said. A viewpanel hologram was generated above his uncluttered desk, showing the scene of the corridor outside the reception, before the explosion. He identified the access panel where the explosive had been set. For a long time, there was nothing. Then he saw the image of himself exiting the dining room with Mokar, the two of them in silent discussion as he muted the sound. He didn’t care to hear that same foolish argument all over again. There he was on the screen with Mokar, just standing there. What possible signal could have been used to trigger the device, he thought as he studied the scene, one that could have ensured that he would have been killed? Then it occurred to him. The combadges! It made perfect sense. Each combadge relayed information to the ship’s computer network as to the wearer’s identity, location and physical health. The data stream was so ubiquitous that it was considered a part of the standard background noise of shipboard life. If the detonator had been designed to read a combadge signal of a specific individual, it would make an ideal tool for assassination. Only there was one problem with the theory, Kalan realized. The holographic image of the security log showed him and Mokar standing right next to the rigged panel, yet there was no explosion at that point. Perhaps the trigger was intended to detonate on a timer, giving Mokar time to get clear, but it would have been a risky gamble for him to take, as there was no way he could guarantee that Kalan would remain behind long enough. Kalan almost hoped that it had been Mokar’s intention to die with him in the explosion, and that something had simply gone wrong. It would have revealed at least a semblance of honor in his cowardly plan. But then something else happened. Captain Kim came out into the hallway. He watched as the captain spoke to him, and then approached him, walking right past the access panel. And then there was the explosion, knocking Kalan down and sending the captain across the corridor and slamming against the opposite wall. Unless there had been some kind of glitch with the detonation program, the truth was now obvious to Kalan. He had never been the intended target at all. The explosion was meant for the captain. But what possible reason could Mokar have for killing Harry Kim? It was with great shame that Kalan realized that there was no reason. Mokar was not the assassin. Someone else was, someone who could still be aboard Enterprise and make another attempt. But first Kalan called up a list of the crew. If someone with knowledge of sorium argine explosives was aboard Enterprise, then he had to consider what the motive for the assassination was. And that would start to narrow down the suspects. Harry Kim rested quietly in Sickbay, the only patient in a quiet room. He felt so helpless lying here, while someone was out there posing a threat to his ship. But he had to trust his people to take care of the job and see things through. Unfortunately, he couldn’t delegate to anyone the responsibility of easing the tensions between his wife and daughter. Dr. Saldeed walked by on her way to her office. She noticed the young Klingon security guard standing on duty, along with Jor’Marak. She tried to recall his name. Durok, she believed it was. He had come on duty only a few hours ago, but she knew that the Jem’Hadar has been there all day without relief. "Feeling any better, Captain?" she inquired. "I’d feel better if I could get out of here, Doctor," said Harry. "Be patient, Captain," she said with a crooked smile. "You need a few more days of rest before you’re ready to sit in the big chair. Be grateful that someone else is handling the load for you." She then glanced over at the Jem’Hadar. "What about you? You’ve been standing there for almost a day straight. Don’t you need to be relieved at all?" "I require no rest," said Jor’Marak flatly. "But there is something I must research. I dare not leave my watch." "It’s all right, Jor’Marak," said Harry. "Ensign Durok will be here to keep an eye on things. Won’t you, Ensign?" "Um, yes sir," said the young Klingon. He looked on as the CMO went to her office, while Jor’Marak stepped out of the room. After several minutes, Durok looked over to the captain. "Sir?" "I…I just wanted to tell you that it has been an honor to serve under you on this mission." Harry considered the odd comment graciously, "Uh, well, thank you, Ensign. You’ve done a fine job." Durok nodded, almost looking sad and forlorn. "I just wanted you to know that, so that you would know…it was not personal." At that point Durok pulled out a long blade from his uniform tunic and grabbed Harry by the neck. It all happened so quickly, Harry wanted to cry out, to make sense of what was going on. "Do not call for help, Captain," said Durok, as he gestured over to Saldeed’s office, where she sat poring over her medical files. "I wouldn’t want to have to kill the good doctor as well." Through the shock and his weakened state, Harry could mutter only one word softly. "Why?" "For the glory of the House of Kritus," said Durok with a wild, faraway look. "As I said, Captain, it is nothing personal. But it must be done. So that ZhantaI Kalan may ascend." Harry tried to resist against Durok’s tight grip, but his body was weak and tired. He could not fight, nor did he want to risk the lives of anyone else, if the only thing this lunatic wanted was to eliminate him. "I heard the words of ZhantaI Kalan before," Durok continued. "He was right. My earlier attempt on your life was dishonorable. I should have come for you directly rather than hiding behind an explosive. But I was selfish. I didn’t want to be caught or killed. I wanted to see ZhantaI Kalan achieve his full destiny, to return to Qu’Onos in glory. But know this, Captain, that with your death, a greater good to the Klingon people will have been achieved." Harry wanted to say something in response, but was cut short by the sound of the Sickbay doors sliding open. He hoped that it was a contingent of security guards, or even Jor’Marak returning. But his hope turned to horror when he saw it was Katrina, coming to visit him. As soon as she saw the large Klingon hovering over her father with a knife, she instinctively screamed. Durok turned with a panic, feeling as though everything was falling apart. He lunged at the entrance, his knife raised threateningly at the young girl. "No!" Harry cried out, helpless to do anything to stop him as Katrina stared in terror at the oncoming attacker. But then, Durok seemed to slam into something invisible, causing him to fall back to the floor with a heavy thump. At that moment, Jor’Marak ‘unshrouded’ right between the Klingon and Katrina, and knocked him to the ground again, taking his phaser and breaking his arm in a single motion. His heavy foot stomped onto Durok’s outstretched arm, where he was desperately reaching for his fallen knife. He looked ready to kill the attacker, but Harry called out in time. "Jor’Marak," he said with authority. "Stand down." The Jem’Hadar complied, and stood his ground, his boot firmly in place. Katrina rushed to her father and hugged him while sobbing. "Daddy," she cried, "I was…I thought…" "It’s okay, princess," he said, finding the strength to hold his little girl. "I’m just grateful that you’re okay." Harry then looked over to the Jem’Hadar bodyguard. "You were here all the time. You knew?" "I suspected," said Jor’Marak. "Ensign Durok’s behavior since coming on duty was suspicious. He would constantly watch you and look about for others whenever Sickbay was empty. I sensed fear from him. So I provided an opportunity to test him." Looking stone-faced at the captain, he continued. "You were in no danger, Captain. I was prepared to strike the moment he tried to hurt you." Saldeed came out of her office just as the Sickbay doors opened again, with Kalan, Cyrus Krell, and three security officers in tow. As soon as he saw the scene before him, Kalan looked at his captain with relief, and then down at the fallen Durok with furious contempt. "How many?" he demanded. "How many of you did my uncle send here?" "ZhantaI Kalan…" Durok tried to speak. "I acted alone. I sought only to honor you…" "Honor me?!" Kalan exploded. "You have shamed me, Ha’DIbaH! For such a cowardly act to be perpetrated in my name, you have dishonored the House of Kritus and yourself!" And with that, he backhanded the young officer across the face, knocking him back to the floor. Harry could see the look on Durok’s face, one of utter deflation and emptiness. He also saw after a moment of reflection that he tried to get up and reach for his knife. "Stop!" he called out, but it was too late for anyone to do anything. Jor’Marak’s reflexes were too fast as he reached out and smashed his hand into the Klingon’s forehead, crushing the front of his skull. Kalan grabbed the dying Klingon, seeing the blood trickle down from his mouth, looking into his eyes. "For the honor…" said Durok weakly and then fell still. Saldeed rushed over to run her tricorder over Durok, but her results showed only what Kalan already knew, that he was dead. "What could he have been thinking?" said Krell with astonishment. "Four security officers and a Jem’Hadar? Going for the knife was suicide." "That was what he wanted," said Kalan solemnly, "to die in battle." Looking down at the dead Klingon, he let out a regretful sigh. "What a selfish attitude," said Kalan to the fallen corpse. "You think there are shortcuts on the way to Sto’vo’kor, but there are none." "Well, I guess this is it," said Naomi Wildman, as she stood on the transporter pad in the Paxau Administrative District of the city of Talax’ul’Rhee. The pad was situated on an outdoor platform among the thick trees of the central city, with multicolored awnings draped overhead. "I suppose it is," said Ambassador Neelix, as he looked around, trying to take in his new surroundings, letting his memory take him back to his youth. "The city has changed since I was here last. I don’t remember so many colors." "I guess they have a lot more to be proud of," she said, choking on her words, not able to say any more. "I guess so," he said back as he wandered over to the railing to look out upon the city proper. Neelix smiled as he saw the bustle of activity below and off into the distance. The city, the entire planet, seemed vibrant and alive in a way that it hadn’t been during those dark days after the war. Naomi had been right. There was hope here once again. "Excuse me, Mr. Ambassador?" came a feminine voice from across the platform. A mature Talaxian woman was approaching them with two younger assistants. "I apologize for the delay. I was supposed to meet you upon arrival." "Oh, that’s quite all right, Minister…" "Dexa," she said as she came up to him and Naomi. "A pleasure to meet you in person at last. Captain Kim already showed me and my colleagues your pre-recorded message." "Oh, that," he said humbly. "I’m surprised you even recognized me. The camera always adds on a few kilos with me." "Not at all," she answered. "I thought you made quite a distinguished presentation." "Why, thank you, Madame Minister," he said graciously. "It certainly feels…well, different to be on Talax again." "I hope you don’t find the changes too bewildering, Mr. Ambassador," she said amiably. "Please," he said with a chuckle. "When we’re not at any official functions, I’d rather just be called Neelix. I’m still getting used to the title." "Of course…Neelix," she said, returning his grin with one of her own. "If you’ll come with me, I’ve been asked to introduce you to the rest of the People’s Assembly." "I’ll be along in just a minute," he said, before turning back to Naomi, who had stood silently by the wayside, watching him and Dexa interact. "I…I guess I have to be going now." "Yeah, me too," she said. Despite her best intentions, a tear formed at the corner of her eye, which she wiped away quickly. "God, I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry." "Me too," he said, just as Naomi reached over and the two of them hugged each other goodbye. "You know," she said, "I remember what you told me all those years ago, when Voyager first came back to the Alpha Quadrant. You said you had to find your own path in the Alpha Quadrant, just like my path involved learning to live my life there." "Yes," he said as the two parted, "I remember that." "Will you still be my Uncle Neelix?" said Naomi as she echoed her words of so many years past, feeling like a child once again with the man who had been family to her for so long. He gave her a smile as wide as his embrace, as he wiped away a tear from her cheek. "I’ll always be your Uncle Neelix," he said as he let her go, and went to leave with Dexa. Naomi wiped her tear away as she returned to the transporter pad to beam back to Enterprise. She knew that her Uncle Neelix had finally come home, just as it was now time for her to do the same. After another day of rest, Dr. Saldeed reluctantly agree to allow Harry Kim’s release from Sickbay and a limited returned to duty. He sat up in his chair in his ready room, listening to Lieutenant Krell give his final report on the incident with Durok. Finn Bartok and Kalan sat quietly to the side listening, Kalan being especially subdued. "We know that Durok was from the House of Garon, which is related by blood to the House of Kritus," Krell reported. "We think it was Durok’s intention to kill you, sir, so that Commander Kalan could, well…" "So I would assume command of Enterprise, and thus return home as the captain of the flagship of the fleet," Kalan finished, his tone dark and somber. "That seems to be the case," said Krell, showing discomfort at having to be the bearer of uncomfortable news. "We did some checking and found out that Councilor Hirak pushed hard to have Durok placed aboard Enterprise, but no one took any notice. They figured it was just some political back scratching. In any case, we haven’t found any evidence that any other Klingons were working with Durok, but we’ll keep a close watch on some of his friends aboard ship, just to make certain." "Thank you, Lieutenant," said Kim. "That will be all." "Yes, Lieutenant," said Kalan with a confident nod. "Thank you." For a moment, the two nodded at each other, silent, yet speaking volumes. Krell then turned and left the three officers to their own counsel. "Sir," said Kalan with uncharacteristic humbleness as he got up from his seat and stood before Harry’s desk, "I will understand if you wish for me to transfer off of Enterprise." "Why would I want you to do that?" asked Harry. The Klingon looked at his captain curiously. "I would think that after what has happened, you would no longer trust me. How can you ever be certain that I was not a part of the plot to eliminate you? If you cannot trust your first officer, than I cannot be effective to you." "Relax, Commander," said Harry lightheartedly. "I have complete confidence that you were in no way a part of any plot. We may have only served together for a short time, but I think I’ve come to understand a few things about you. You’re a man of honor, XO. You wouldn’t have done anything like this just for power or political advancement. And even if you had wanted to kill me, you never would have hidden behind underlings and bombs in the hallway. You’d look me in the eye and face me; the way Durok finally did in the end. "I also remember you telling me once that whatever differences we might face, you’d always serve me honorably. Now, I know that a warrior never goes back on his word." "Indeed," said Kalan, a feral smile curling at the corner of his mouth, "he does not." "Do you think that Durok could have come up with this plan by himself?" asked Bartok. "Unlikely," said Kalan, the bitterness in his voice obvious to all. "This is my uncle’s doing. Hirak fought hard to have me elevated to a command position, and was not pleased that I was only made executive officer to the Enterprise. This was his work, I’m sure of it. All to raise my political stature upon my return." "Unfortunately," said Harry, "there’s no proof connecting your uncle to the crime. Any hard evidence we had died with Durok." "So what do we do?" asked Bartok. "Do we inform Fleet Command?" "That would create problems," said Harry. "We don’t know if any of the Klingons on the Command Staff are tight with Councilor Hirak or not. As much as I’d like to nail him for the crime, if it gets out we’re accusing a Councilor of murder without evidence, it could create a huge political firestorm. I’ve sent a private communiqué to Admiral Janeway letting her know what’s happened here. If there’s any dirt to be found, it’s in the hands of Starfleet Intelligence now." "Doesn’t sound very satisfying," said the counselor, "does it?" "Do not be concerned with Hirak," said Kalan as he stood at attention. "I will handle him in my own way." Kalan stood fiercely at the center of the holocom chamber, waiting for the computer to finish making the connection. The room was somewhat smaller than a standard holodeck, circular-shaped, its dark walls crisscrossed with diagonal silver gridlines. But with the hyperlink system now operational, this would not be the kind of entertaining diversion that humans were so fond of. "Qo’noS hyperlink connection established," the computer announced. "Stand by for holographic interface." The air around him shimmered as the gridlines were replaced by red and gray marble and stone. The Great Seal of the Empire hung proudly at the back of the room, with a large desk dominating the center. Standing before the desk was an older Klingon male, his hair and beard tinged with gray, his broad chest and plump midsection draped with a heavy sash bedecked with medals and icon in an ostentatious display. "Kalan, my boy," the man said heartily, bordering on obsequiousness. "This is truly amazing. This dogh holoprojector they installed in my office actually works. It’s hard to believe we’re actually talking across seventy thousand light-years. It looks like you’re right here in the room with me. I hear you ran into a bit of trouble out there…" "Pah!" Kalan shouted as he spat at the feet of his uncle. The fury and contempt on his face were unmistakable. Hirak’s jaw hung open in shock. "Have you lost your mind, boy? Are you challenging me? Me?" "I know what you did, uncle," said Kalan frostily. "You had Durok placed aboard Enterprise to kill my captain." "Kalan, I haven’t the slightest idea…" "Do not lie to me, old man! Your man practically confessed your patronage before he died! I tell you this now, uncle. If you placed any more minions on my ship, they had best hope I never learn their identities. I promise they will not be dispatched as quickly or as cleanly as Durok." "You call me a liar?" Hirak sputtered. "You ungrateful tIch! After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me? I practically raised you as my son and you…" "You have a son! Mokar! Have you forgotten? Or is simply that he has nothing to offer you to elevate you into power?" "Mokar?" Hirak almost laughed. "He’s useless! He’s been nothing but a disgrace to me from the day of his birth! You, you were my hope, the son I truly wanted. I did everything for you…" "You are not my father!" Kalan fumed. "You were never my father. My father was Kritus, son of Talankar, of the House of Kritus! He was a hero of the Empire and a man of honor. Everything that you have, everything you are, you took from him." "A hero of the Empire," Hirak sneered. "He was always the lucky one, Kritus was. He had every opportunity, every chance. Even in death, he was luckier than any man deserved to be. But after he was gone, who was the one who raised you? I took you and your mother in…" "You let yourself in!" Kalan snarled. "What you did, you didn’t do out of love or affection. You did it for yourself. You let everyone know that you were the brother of a hero and built career around that, just as you have tried to do with me. You are a parasite, uncle; a parasite who uses others to further the dreams of ambition that you could never hope to achieve on your own. And you are not fit to lead my father’s house!" Hirak’s entire demeanor changed at that point. The defensive, wounded expression he wore before was now gone, replaced by a cold and confident posture. Any doubt that Kalan might have had regarding his uncle’s guilt was gone now. "What are you saying, boy? Are you challenging me for leadership of the House of Kritus?" Kalan did not waver at all, but returned his icy glare with one of equal intensity. "I will be away from the Empire for some time, uncle. So you have that long to ensure your position. But upon my return, there will be changes in how things are done." Hirak responded with a cruel laughter, showing no fear. "You must truly have been seduced by the mindless praise the masses are heaping on you if you think you can unseat me, nephew. A warrior is no substitute for a politician. They fight on different battlefields, ones that you haven’t begun to map out yet. I may not have created much on my own, but if you try to challenge me, I think you’ll find that there’s no one who is better at holding on to what he has." The son of Kritus showed no fear in his reply. "I will be here in the Delta Quadrant for a good number of years. I have ample time to learn. And I’ve always been a quick study. Isn’t that what you’ve always told me?" The elder Klingon simply growled something unintelligible and ended the transmission. The Great Seal and the marble were gone. There was nothing left to say. As the humans liked to say, the gloves were off now. Katrina lay out on her stomach on her bed, sounds of FreeFusion vibes wafting through the air. Her eyes were focused on the HPADD hovering before her face. Instead of a translucent scroll of data, it was configured into the unique image of a printed book bound in old leather. Since the manuscript was so old, she selected an appropriate format to read by. With each wave of her hand, the false pages would dissolve and reformat to the next page. There wasn’t much else for her to do except listen to music and read, as she was still grounded. No time outside her family’s quarters for two weeks, except for school and visiting her father in Sickbay. Of course, after the last visit, she doubted her mother would ever let her out of her sight again. The bedroom door chimed, and Katrina answered it with great reluctance. It was her mother, looking…well, not quite so witch-like this time. In fact, she seemed almost, well, like a mother. "May I come in?" Annika asked. "Sure," Katrina replied. Her mother came into the room and, instead of glaring from a distance, sat down gently next to her on the bed. "I’m…I’m fine, Mom," said Katrina, sitting up from her reading, more puzzled than before. "When I heard about what happened in Sickbay, I…" "Mom, really, I’m okay," the Romulan girl said reassuringly. "I was scared for a little while, but Jor’Marak really slammed that rimrule down. After that, I was mostly worried for Dad." "Yes," she said, her hand touching her daughter’s shoulder. "Just as I was worried for both of you." "I know," said Katrina sheepishly. "Katrina," her mother said, more seriously, "I realize that you feel I am too strict at times. Perhaps, I am. I only want what is best for you and for you to reach your full potential. When you are a mother, you will understand." "Look, mom," Katrina sighed, "I know all this. I just…well, I wish you’d just trust me more. I’m not trying to get into trouble." "Then why did you spy on Doctor T’Villet in Science Lab 2 the other day?" asked Annika. "I…I just wanted to see Romulans at work, that’s all," she answered, trying to look too embarrassed. "I was just curious, Mom, that’s all. I didn’t mean to break any rules." Annika leaned over, casting an eye upon the holographic book her daughter was reading. "This is written in Romulan script." "Yeah," said Katrina. "It’s something that Dr. Saldeed recommended. I switched off the universal translator system in the room. I wanted to try and decipher the language myself." "Have you been successful?" asked her mother. "Well," her daughter answered with a blush, "I get maybe one out of every five words. Rihannsu can be a pretty dense lingo. Three different noun cases and a spelling system that makes English look like, well, Binary. Lucky this is just a children’s story." "Indeed?" said Annika, showing more interest. "What is the tale about?" "It’s a kind of historical adventure," said Katrina, perking up at her mother’s expressed involvement in what interested her. "A big saga about the earliest Romulan pioneers and their first visit to Remus." "Does the story have a happy ending?" "Not for the Remans," Katrina answered wryly. "Of course, I doubt I’ll ever get through to the ending. Reading Rihannsu is a lot tougher than trying to speak it, and I still haven’t had any luck there." "Do not belittle yourself, Katrina," said her mother reassuringly. "You are capable of anything you set your mind to. I have always believed so." "Really," said Annika with a confident smile. "As long as you show the proper focus." Katrina held back a wry laughter. Some things just don’t change overnight, she supposed. It wasn’t quite peace, but it was a start. Kalan and Mokar walked silently down the corridor towards the transporter room, their faces revealing nothing. There was so much that had to be said between them, but neither knew where to begin. So they each did what came easiest. They said nothing. As they entered Transporter Room One, Kalan glanced over at the officer on duty and requested that he leave. Mokar glanced over at him with concern. "Do not be alarmed, Mokar," said Kalan. "I have no intention of challenging you. I simply wished to speak with you…privately. I…wish to apologize for my assumption of your guilt. I have always prided myself on being clear of mind and rational, but with you…" Mokar nodded stoically with acknowledgement. "You would not be the first to have done so, cousin. I understand your anger with me. What I did, fleeing to join with the Order of Boreth, I did to hurt my father. I did not intend to disrespect the House of Kritus. Or you, Kalan." "I know that, now," he said. "Perhaps it took your coming here for me to realize who is really standing with me, and who is standing against me." "You refer to Hirak," said Mokar. "I intend no disrespect against your father," said Kalan. "Of course you do," said Mokar, "nor should you apologize for it. I know that it’s no coincidence that my father’s agent made his move against your captain the moment I came aboard Enterprise. It was no secret that Victorious would be the first ship of the fleet to rendezvous with you. It was his intention to cast suspicion against me all along." "How could you know this?" "I know my father," said Mokar sadly. "There is little love in Hirak’s heart for anyone other than Hirak. I know that he has no use for me, just as I learned long ago that I have no use for him. If my time with the Order taught me anything is that honor and ambition are not one and the same. Kahless did not choose the path he did out of a desire for power or wealth. It was his faith in the Klingon people that drove him, his belief that a life lived honorably and gloriously would bring its own rewards." "I remember the lessons well," said Kalan with a smile. "Every Klingon must search for honor along his own path. Do not envy me for the path I have taken, Mokar. It may lead me to an early passing to Sto’vo’Kor." "Or to the office of Chancellor," Mokar replied. "I admit I was once envious of your accomplishments, Kalan, and the fact that you and your mother supplanted me from my father’s life. It was part of the reason I fled to Boreth. I learned to meditate to cast aside such useless feelings. I still struggle with them. Perhaps I am still seeking my path to honor." "Perhaps you have already found it," said Kalan generously. "Many of the crew of the Victorious think well of you." "That may change," he said. "Hirak’s actions will be known to all one day. Perhaps as his estimation goes down, yours will rise." "Perhaps," said Mokar, as he strode up to the transporter pad, noticing Kalan’s proximity to the control panel. "You realize that this could be your last opportunity to kill me, Kalan." "Another time, cousin," Kalan answered with a grudging smile. "I must have something to look forward to the next time we meet, eh?" The two laughed heartily. Maybe it wasn’t peace, but at least it was acceptance. "Qapla’, Kalan, son of Kritus," said Mokar. "Qapla’, Mokar," he said back, as the transporter cycle initiated, beaming him back to his ship. Yes, it was Mokar, not Mokar, son of Hirak. He was his own man now. Kalan stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge, where his seat by his captain’s side awaited him. The Counselor Bartok occupied the chair opposite to his, while the captain’s wife sat at one of the observation chairs along the rim of the bridge. All eyes were upon Kalan as he arrived. Their tasks in establishing the bridgehead at Talax now complete, it was time for Enterprise to move on to the next phase of her mission and resume the exploration of the quadrant. "Did you take care of what needed doing, XO?" asked Harry as his first officer took his sear. "Mokar has returned to the Victorious," answered Kalan. "And I have had my conversation with my uncle." Bartok leaned over with a look of concern. "I hope that didn’t create too much trouble for you back home." "It was something that should have been said a long time ago," answered the Klingon. "Sir," Naomi Wildman called over from Ops. "We’re getting clearance from Talax Orbital Traffic Control. We’re clear to leave on your mark. We’ve also received farewells from the First Chair, the People’s Assembly, and…" she paused as she briefly collected herself, "from Ambassador Neelix." Kim smiled as he turned to Ops. "Please return my complements to them all. I’m sure we’ll be back this way soon enough." Harry them turned to the console on his right, opening a channel to the Victorious. "Captain Nog, we’re ready to depart. I leave Talax and Delta One in your capable hands." "Good luck to you, Enterprise," came Nog’s reply over the intercom. "Victorious will be out there with you soon enough. Let’s hope when our ships meet again, there will be less drama and more of a chance to swap stories." "Amen to that," Harry responded, before turning to his XO and giving him the word. "Commander?" Kalan smiled and glanced forward towards the helm station. "Ensign Paris," he said to Miral. "Take us out of orbit." "Aye, sir," said the young officer. "Heading?" The Klingon stood and scratched his bearded chin with a wry expression. "Set course for the Rectilia Cluster. It’s time for Enterprise to begin its own saga of glory."

2019-04-26T05:51:21Z

https://fanfiction.trekipedia.com/df-103/

Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC), a Canadian subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC) defense contractor, pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act by crafting false statements, and illegally exported U.S.-origin military software used for the development of China‘s Z-10 military attack helicopter to the Peoples Republic. In addition, United and its U.S.-based subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (HSC) agreed to pay more than $75 million collectively as part of a global settlement with the Justice Department and State Department. Roughly $20.7 million will be paid to the Justice Department and $55 million is payable to the State Department as part of a separate consent export agreement issues, including those related to the Z-10. The DOJ said up to $20 million could be suspended if applied by UTC to remedial compliance measures. The intensive investigation was led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). During the development phases of China’s Z-10 program, PWC supplied the engines. PWC delivered 10 of the development engines to China in 2001 and 2002. Even though the Z-10 helicopter is identified as military equipment, PWC determined on its own that the Z-10 engines did not represent “defense articles,” requiring a U.S. export license. Court documents also show that PWC’s illegal action was driven by profit. The DOJ contends that PWC anticipated its work on the Z-10 military attack helicopter would open the door to highly lucrative civilian helicopter contracts with China, which PWC estimates could be worth $2 billion. Today, the Z-10 helicopter is in production and initial batches were delivered to the People’s Liberation Army of China in 2009 and 2010. The Z-10 mission is to provide anti-armor and battlefield interdiction by using weapons like 30 mm cannons, anti-tank guided missiles, air-to-air missiles and unguided rockets. The Chinese arms trafficking plea also highlights the increasing reach of ICE as an international investigative agency. ashington DC-In a stunning turn of events today, the President’s signature Obamacarelegislation was ruled Constitutional in a 5-4 decision with Chief Justice, John Roberts joining the liberal side of the Court. Politico watchers inside the beltway said this was a much-needed victory, and Obama’s healthcare reform act will now put the Republicans on defense in the neck-and-neck 2012 presidential race. A stunned Republican party vowed to mount an aggressive fight to repeal the law. GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, responded briefly to the Supreme Court ruling: “I will repeal and replace Obamacare.” He also conceded that health care does need to be reformed and mentioned pre-existing conditions, affordability for all and removing limits as areas the Congress needed to address. At the heart of the legislation, the mandate, five Justices ruled to let it stand, not under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause as the government originally sought, but as a tax, a power the Congress can regulate. An example of the taxes Americans’ can expect to pay if they don’t have insurance look like this. Beginning in 2014, those earning $50,000 will pay approximately $500 or 1 percent, in 2015 it doubles to 2 percent and finally in 2016 the penalty tax reaches 2.5 percent. To enforce the new law the government will turn to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Additionally, Obamacare counts on approximately $500 billion in new taxes as a funding mechanism, as well as a $500 billion cut in Medicare spending by the government. Currently, nearly 50 million Americans rely on Medicare, more than 40 million of those are senior citizens. Critics have argued that drastically cutting Medicare isn’t the way to reform health care, but haven’t revealed the best way to fix a broken health care system. Nevertheless, the ruling was not a complete victory for Democrats, as Chief Justice Roberts protected the states through the Commerce Clause. The ruling now gives states more control to limit the reach of the federal government, according to the majority dissent. Here, the liberal Justices described their skepticism and said under the Commerce Clause Obamacare remains unconstitutional, explaining a states’ refusal to expand the federal-state Medicaid program could not threatened states’ existing funding. In essence, the Court said the federal government couldn’t penalize states if they forgo Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. While the issue reclaims 2012 political implications, attendees in front of the Supreme Court were either fans of Obamacare or fans of repeal and replace. San Diego Border Patrol took more than one million in illegal drugs off the streets. The two thwarted drug smuggling attempts netted methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) and cocaine with a street value of $1,093,000. Border Patrol spotted a suspicious Black GMC Envoy driving along Interstate 8 just east of San Diego near the Pine Valley checkpoint. Once the SUV stopped agents approached and questioned the female driver. Agents said, the U.S. citizen was clearly nervous and they called in the K-9 team to inspect the SUV for illicit drugs. The K-9 team alerted agents to a positive scent and brought the vehicle to the checkpoint for a thorough inspection. The suspected smugglers and illegal narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for further investigation. The U.S. Border Patrol seized both the vehicles. Ardent Middle East War critic, Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) voiced his displeasure with the Obama Administration’s latest Afghanistan deal that calls for U.S. personnel and resources to be used to protect Chinese interests’ inside the war ravaged tribal nation. The discovery and confirmation of huge natural resources in Afghanistan has suddenly cast a new light on Obama’s Right War. Last year it was discovered that Afghanistan was much more useful to western countries than previously thought. After a decade of war, the Department of Defense commissioned an examination for rare earth resources that could be used to support the tribal nation. The U.S. Geological Survey uncovered $1 trillion of potential wealth in the form of minerals, copper, iron, gold, cobalt and most importantly, lithium. The Chinese recognized the mineral bonanza and immediately negotiated with the Afghan government to claim rights for precious resources that Americans use on a daily basis. The research to uncover Afghanistan’s potential natural resources came from a 2009-2011 USGS study that was funded by the DOD Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO). According to the surveys, Afghanistan’s lithium reserves may be the largest in the world. In fact, most U.S. citizens use lithium powered products everyday in the form of cell phones and laptop computers. The New York Times, uncovered a Pentagon memo that said Afghanistan could be the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” rivaling Bolivia who currently holds the world’s largest lithium resources. According to a story in the UK paper the Independent, American and European companies have complained about improprieties from the Afghanistan government allegedly evoking underhanded methods to ensure Beijing gets contracts. Alas, corruption is nothing new in Afghanistan in fact the United States Congress commissioned a study, and the results concluded American troops pay warlords billions a year for protection money. Even Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was a known heroin kingpin. Moving forward diplomats warn the newly discovered mineral jackpot will only lead to more unsavory activities between tribes in the war torn region. Nevertheless American leadership will most likely take advice from Jawad Omar, a senior official at the ministry, who said, “The natural resources of Afghanistan will play a magnificent role in Afghanistan’s economic growth. The past five decades have shown that every time new research takes place, it shows our natural reserves are far more than what was previously found. This is a cause for rejoicing, nothing to worry about.” This of course is fantastic news for the corrupt government; unfortunately it’s just another lie in a long list of falsehoods about the tribal nation. Which brings us back to Congressman Jones’ outrage that came after the Afghan government settled a deal with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) allowing China to be the first foreign country to access Afghanistan’s oil and natural gas reserves. In a letter to President Obama, Rep. Jones demanded an explanation of U.S. military operations in the Chinese economic zones. “It is completely unacceptable to send our young men and women to protect China’s interest in Afghanistan’s natural resources,” said Jones. “How many more of them have to die for a corrupt leader and a corrupt government? So it was particularly disturbing to learn that the Afghan government had entered into its first oil contract, not with Americans, but rather with China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). This is on top of ongoing reports of US military personnel effectively providing security for Chinese mining activities already ongoing in that county’s mineral-rich provinces. The United States is effectively borrowing money from the Chinese, and then spending that borrowed money to provide security to money making Chinese operations in Afghanistan. This is unacceptable. I would like to request that you provide an accounting of dollars spent directly and indirectly providing security to Chinese mineral extraction activities in Afghanistan, as well as an accounting of Americans killed and wounded providing security to those same operations. American lives are being lost, bodies wounded, and children’s futures mortgaged in order to prop up a profoundly corrupt and dysfunctional regime half a world away. Given that the Karzai government continues to make deals with the Taliban and to demonstrate a preference for our economic rivals, I would urge you to dramatically accelerate your projected time table for withdrawing our forces from that country. The projected 2014 withdrawal date means several more years of lives lost, and several hundred billion more borrowed dollars enabling interests that are at odds with the interests of American taxpayers,” the letter to President Obama said. Rep Jones isn’t the only one who thinks the administration is lying to the American taxpayer. Army LTC Anthony Shaffer (ret), author of NYT bestseller “Operation Dark Heart,” says the Afghanistan War has been off-track for sometime. Shaffer spent a number of years in the Middle East and penned “Dark Heart” after his frustrations were not taken seriously. More misguided U.S. priorities come from Global Times reporter Gao Lei, who recently talked to Jeffrey Reeves, a research fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute in Brisbane about the possibility that China presents a competing prospect for America in Afghanistan. According to a newspaper report in The Telegraph, headquartered in Calcutta, India, China is trying to open its narrow border with Afghanistan building roads or possibly a tunnel under the Pamir mountain range. This development poses significant strategic implications for India, says General V.K. Singh, India’s former Chief of Army staff who retired a week ago. The new passage between China and Afghanistan would mark the first border crossing since Mao Tse Tung’s communist forces took over China in 1949 and permanently closed inter-country travel. It’s important to note the 16,000-foot Wakhji mountain pass remains closed half the year due to inclement weather. Singh contends the most reliable border crossing would be a tunnel, but admits designing a tunnel under the mountains would take a true engineering wherewithal. The Chinese certainly know something about building technically challenging infrastructure, they demonstrated that ability where they built its all-weather access railway line to Tibet. Singh’s inkling that China is building a tunnel advances the “garland of pearls” strategy that surrounds India with military bases and logistics centers – stretching from naval outposts in countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to ports in Pakistan and Myanmar completing the circle in the High Himalayas north of Kashmir. This strategy should alert American leaders to China’s true intentions of exploiting resources to gain the wealth required to become a super-power. It’s also been reported that President Karzai had discussed a project with China’s President Hu Jinatao, however Outlook Afghanistan says the proposal has not moved forward. “A direct road connection between China and Afghanistan is important for the increasing Chinese investment and Afghanistan needs land access to Chinese goods. It would also allow us quick access to South East Asia through Chinese ports. There were also talks about construction of an electric plant and a railway system from Tajikistan to Pakistan as part of a $500 million investment from China. Another point American’s may remember is that in December 2009, U.S. diplomats requested Beijing’s authorization to allow U.S. military supply lines to enter Afghanistan through the Wakhan Corridor. Apparently the U.S. wanted the route as an alternative supply line for NATO, however, China refused to grant permission. American retaliation against Afghanistan’s Taliban for harboring Al Qaeda came full circle last year when the 9-11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden was killed. The issue for Americans, its allies, and American voters is what are our objectives now? Have we reduced our role to providing security for our major competitor (China) so it can prosper on American blood and ideals? While the economy may be driving the 2012 election cycle, a couple of Congressmen have hit the campaign trail to raise the awareness about the impending half-a-trillion dollar cuts that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said would hinder America’s national security. Congressmen Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA) and Randy Forbes (R-VA) both serve on the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee that is tackling the enormous defense spending cuts set for January 1, 2013. “Defending Our Defenders,” town hall-style events embarked on a seven-city tour to military rich communities hoping residents will acknowledge the regional impact that $500,000 billion in cuts would bring to their cities. In fact, Hunter stressed the U.S. will be forced to control the international waters with a much smaller Navy. And a smaller Navy adversely affects the Naval shipyards in San Diego that employs countless civilian workers. Local San Diego statistics show there are approximately 300,000 jobs directly or indirectly tied to defense industry. “If these cuts go through, we are going to be dangerously close to where we cannot guarantee our national security. An economic tidal wave will hit San Diego and the rest of the country and we could lose as many as one million jobs nationwide,” according to Rep. Forbes. As for the Golden State, the massive military cuts are estimated to end 125,789 jobs and remove $10.79 billion in state revenues California desperately relies on to cover its bills. “This is something that ought to be in every Congressional debate, as we go into the November election. I think it’s a fair thing to say, ‘Where do you stand on defense cuts, and what’s your proposal to stop them?’” said Rep. Forbes regarding the consequences from scaling back America’s national defense. Hunter also lambasted local media for leaving early, and voiced his disappointment that neither San Diego mayoral candidates bothered to show up and learn more about the impending financial set back the city will face next year. One candidate Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) has served on numerous veteran committees in DC during his tenure as a Democrat. Forbes told the roughly 100 attendees that he didn’t understand why Americans don’t care about the Middle East Wars and encouraged the audience to begin a dialog in their neighborhoods. However, critics point to the size and scope of U.S. military compared to the rest of the world and told the Congressmen that America’s constant need to rule the world needs to come to an end. • Outnumbered 2 to 1: By 2020 the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) will have 75 submarines, while our Pacific submarine force will number less than half that at 32. • Outgunned by 50 percent: China’s anti-ship cruise missiles out-range us by nearly 50 percent, 185km to 124km. Meanwhile the PRC is developing an anti-ship ballistic missile that can strike our carriers far from the coast. • Cuts set to take effect next January would force a reduction in the fleet to just 230 ships, according to Congressional testimony and public statements from Navy leadership. • Last year, “the Navy was only able to source an average of 59 percent of the Combatant Commanders’ requirements. Without question, the Fleet is operating now at an unsustainable level,” according to Nov 2011 HASC Testimony of VADM Clingan, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy. The Navy has proposed scrapping seven cruisers well before the end of their service lives. The battle force missile capacity of these ships is more than double that of the entire United Kingdom Royal Navy surface fleet. Given its current commitments in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps would be unable to meet combatant commander timelines necessary for success in a second major contingency operation, according to 2011 testimony from the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps GEN Dunford. Roughly 200,000 active duty service members will have to leave service. This would be the equivalent of eliminating the entire Marine Corps. 80-100,000 of these cuts could come from the Army National Guard. This would cripple states’ ability to respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack, and severely limit the Army and Marine Corps’ flexibility to respond to a major contingency overseas. In just ten years, the United States has gone from a position of dominant air superiority over the Chinese in a conflict over the Taiwan Strait, according to a study by the RAND Corporation, to a place where the same organization says the United States ‘can no longer be confident in winning’ an air war against China. Over that same period, the Air Force cancelled the F-22, retired 235 legacy fighters early, and is now proposing retiring another 123 combat aircraft. Today the President unleashed a fiery platform pitting unemployed Americans against a critically important voting block Mr. Obama needs to ensure reelection, Hispanics. With the swipe of his Presidential pen, Obama announced that “younger illegal immigrants” are eligible for deferment on deportation and will get work visas. However, the defacto “amnesty” orders bypassed Congress, is effective immediately and will set up key immigration promises for the hotly contested presidential race. Essentially, those who demonstrate they meet set criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years. The application will be subject to renewal every two years, and will allow applicants to apply for work authorization. * Are not above the age of thirty. While the Obama Administration plays the “fairness” card, those who can’t find a job are cringing at the prospect of competing with an additional 800,000 Hispanics under the age of 30. “Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.8 percent) and Hispanics (11.0 percent) edged up in May, while the rates for adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and blacks (13.6 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in May, down from 7.0 percent a year earlier. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose from 5.1 to 5.4 million in May. These individuals accounted for 42.8 percent of the unemployed,” the federal government reported. The Executive Order takes effect immediately, and USCIS and ICE said they expect to begin implementation of the application processes within sixty days. For more information on the new policy www.uscis.gov, ICE www.ice.gov or DHS www.dhs.gov. Beginning Monday, individuals can also call USCIS’ hotline at 1-800-375-5283 or ICE’s hotline at 1-888-351-4024 during business hours. Law enforcement officials disrupted three drug smuggling efforts in San Diego and Ventura Counties the past few days. Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 22 suspects and confiscated approximately $2.4 million in marijuana and crystal methamphetamine. The California National Guardsmen working with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) alerted area Border Patrol agents assigned along the state’s coastline to a suspicious panga-style boat coming ashore near Deer Creek beach in Ventura County. Working with several law enforcement agencies, U.S. Coast Guard, California National Guard, California State Parks and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, agents captured 20 suspected drug smugglers and seized marijuana with a reported street value of $2 million. “Border Patrol agents responded to the scene and, through the collaborative efforts of several agencies, arrested 20 suspected smugglers and confiscated 4,087 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $2,048,095,”according to the CBP. All the suspects, narcotics, and the panga-boat were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) for further investigation. In another incident Border Patrol agents assigned to the Interstate 5 checkpoint encountered two male American citizens driving a Mazda 626. The men’s nervous demeanor alerted agents who sent the vehicle to the secondary inspection area. After Border Patrol K-9 performed a cursory inspection, the dogs warned agents to a positive scent for illegal drugs. “Agents searched the vehicle and discovered four bundles of methamphetamine inside the trunk in plastic grocery bags,” according to Michael Jimenez, a CBP supervisor in San Diego. “The methamphetamine weighed 12.02 pounds and had an estimated street value of $240,400.” Both the suspected smugglers and the illegal narcotics were taken into custody and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for further investigation. Border Patrol encourages citizens to contact the San Diego U.S. Coast Guard Joint Harbor Operations Center at 800-854-9834 to report any suspicious maritime activity along Southern California’s coastline. Afghan operative tied to Taliban gets life for heroin sales in U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that an Afghanistan national that has ties to the Taliban will spend the rest of his life in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin in the U.S. and using the drug proceeds to purchase arms and supplies for a known terrorist organization. Haji Bagcho, a large scale drug trafficker, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in the District of Columbia, according to Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the (DEA). In addition to prison, Bagcho’s will forfeit the $254,203,032 in drug proceeds as well as his property in Afghanistan. Heroin is one of Afghanistan’s most profitable crops and it’s a point of contention with American military forces that are not allowed to rid the tribal nation of the profits from poppies that are used to kill soldiers. The Afghan national was convicted after a three-week trial. Bagcho was found guilty of “one count of conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; one count of distribution of one kilogram or more of heroin knowing and intending that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States; and one count of narco-terrorism,” the DEA said. In 2006, the U.S. implemented the narco-terrorism statute in an effort to crack down on international drug trafficking. Bagcho was charged in 2010, after he was arrested and extradited to the United States from Afghanistan in May 2009. The DEA worked with their Afghan counterparts to conduct the investigation that uncovered Bagcho as one of the largest heroin traffickers in the world who manufactured the drug in clandestine laboratories along Afghanistan’s border region with Pakistan. “With the help of cooperating witnesses, evidence showed that the DEA purchased heroin directly from Bagcho’s organization on two occasions, which Bagcho understood was destined for the United States,” a DEA statement read. The DEA also conducted several searches of Bagcho’s residences and his known associates that retrieved evidence consistent with drug trafficking. During the trial, prosecutors presented ledgers recovered from Bagcho that catalogued his drug trafficking activities during 2006 alone. The ledger reflected heroin sales totaling more than 123,000 kilograms, with a street value of more than $250 million. Based on heroin production statistics compiled by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime for 2006, Bagcho’s heroin trafficking business accounted for 20 percent of the world’s heroin supply. “Over several years, evidence at trial established that Bagcho used a portion of his drug proceeds to provide cash, weapons and other supplies to the former Taliban governor of Nangarhar Province and two Taliban commanders responsible for insurgent activity in eastern Afghanistan, so that they could continue their ‘jihad’ against western troops and the Afghan government,” court papers showed. A bipartisan effort is currently underway to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the “war on drugs.” Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), co-chairs of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, released a bipartisan report entitled “Reducing the U.S. Demand for Illegal Drugs” that highlights education as a way to curtail drug use by Americans. The report openly admits America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs (the U.S. is the largest consumer) is destroying our youth and directly responsible for the Mexican drug cartel violence that has claimed more than 50,000 lives in the past few years. According to the new report, drug abuse in the U.S. presents a major public health challenge and it also costs the country roughly $193 billion a year in health care, law enforcement and addiction expenses. Even with more drug enforcement resources along the U.S. southern border, approximately 22.6 million Americans over 12 were known illegal drug users. These numbers have consistently edged up during the last decade. The bipartisan report discloses a number of causes for drug use and explores several different solutions to slow addict rates and prevent minors from experimenting with drugs. Texas has already implemented one such program. “Operation Detour” offers insight into the entire cartel process currently in place to move drugs north of the border. The educational DVD takes the flashback approach to show the life of drugs. It’s not pretty, but children get a birds eye view of the death and destruction associated with illegal drugs. “We appreciate the willingness of the schools to provide this opportunity and we certainly couldn’t get the message out without the assistance of our partners from the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies,” he said. “For six years, I’ve been investigating the cartels. I went inside one of the cartels for about a year back in 2006-2007. I have worked around the border, particularly in Texas, for these six years, doing nothing but working border security issues and the cartels,” according to Rusty Fleming, Operation Detour filmmaker. Once Fleming finished his narco-documentary, “Drug Wars; Silver or Lead,” Border Patrol agents sought his help. “Shortly after I released ‘Drug Wars,’ the documentary, I got a phone call from the Border Patrol in Del Rio,” he said. Operation Detour, as it was named, is different from past anti-drug abuse campaigns, Fleming said. “Historically we’ve always warned kids about getting involved in drugs and using drugs,” he said. But Border Patrol has first hand knowledge of young people getting “busted” for drugs. The first part of the Operation Detour program includes 12 minutes of excerpts from his graphic drug cartel documentary. Fleming says Border Patrol agents are very serious about its effort to keep young people from the drug trade. “Once Border Patrol put (Operation Detour) together, I have to tell you, I’ve never seen so many resources put together and thrown at a prevention program, an awareness program as I have in the Rio Grande Valley. Some of the new tactics Mexican drug cartels practice is to lure local street gangs and other, gangs like the Latin Kings, Mexican Mafia or Texas Syndicate to distribute drugs in their Texas communities. Eventually, some American kids will move drugs to major markets, Fleming said. However, the profits will go back to major trafficking organizations not the kids moving the drugs. Border Patrol Agent Jose G. Treviño said Operation Detour is effective and finds a receptive school audience. On the flip side, there are other experts who believe America may be better served by decriminalizing drugs and ramp up rehabilitation centers to treat the real addiction problem. Ryan Hoskins wrote a paper for George Mason University regarding this very issue (Mexico Drug Violence: Why the Merida Initiative, gun bans and border controls will fail and drug reform is the solution). “It would be great if President Obama would reallocate the money currently set aside for drug interdiction and make an effort to fix the drug addiction problems American’s face each day,” Hoskins proposed. Hoskins contends that drug usage didn’t increase in Portugal as many expected and police actually handed out more “fix-it” type tickets if you will. “By de-stigmatizing drugs, users were more likely to get treatment,” Hoskins explains. While America may be a long way from decriminalizing drugs, states like New York, are moving forward by adding small amounts of marijuana to the “okay” list. Last year, the Golden State’s voters said “no” on proposition 19, a ballot initiative that would have legalized the Mexican drug cartel’s biggest money maker- pot. However, many say it’s only a matter of time before medical marijuana users gain acceptance and convince the voters the state can gain valuable tax revenues. The latter, legalizing drugs would certainly bring an end to most black-market sales, but the notion drugs would be legalized in a country in which excess is the norm, may take a little getting used to. If American’s saw the dramatic escalation of violence and the consequences in drug supplying countries, like Mexico, the senators think it could give some potential U.S. drug users some pause. Another unsuspecting form of illegal drug use stems from the medicine cabinet located in most homes. “We have to reduce the demand fueled by easy access to drugs, such as the dramatic increase in the abuse of prescription pain killers that are readily available in medicine cabinets across the country,” Grassley said. • Improved collection of data on U.S. drug use and treatment. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and John Cornyn (R-TX) endorse the illegal drug report. The entire report can be found here. In April, President Obama released the 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, it is the Administration’s primary blueprint for drug policy in America. “The new Strategy supports a ‘third way’ approach to drug policy, proposing alternatives to a law enforcement centric ‘war on drugs.’ The new drug policy strategy outlines 113 specific actions to be undertaken throughout the Federal government to reform U.S. drug policy through innovative and evidence-based public health and safety approaches including reviewing laws and regulations that impede recovery from addiction, expanding access to drug treatment, and expanding community-based recovery support programs,” said Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). For more information about the Office of National Drug Control Policy, visit: www.WhiteHouse.gov/ONDCP. But for now, law enforcement will continue to enforce the country’s drug laws and hope parents and schools are successful at keeping kids off drugs.

2019-04-22T06:15:24Z

https://thekdreport.me/2012/06/

The Examination of Benjamin Franklin before the House of Commons occurred on February 13, 1765. The purpose of the examination was for Franklin to help Parliament understand the colonists' resistance to the Stamp Act. Franklin was invited to the House at the invitation of Prime Minister Rockingham. Franklin was interviewed by several prominent members including Lord Grenville, the creator of the Stamp Act, Lord North, Charles Townshend, creator of the Townshend Acts and Edmund Burke. The questioning focused on matters of trade, manufacturing in the colonies, quantities of goods traded with England, taxes paid in America, etc., in order to understand the colonists' obstinate reluctance in paying the new taxes of the Stamp Act. Edmund Burke said Franklin's response was like "an examination of a master, by a parcel of schoolboys." Franklin's responses are considered partly responsible for persuading Parliament that enforcing the Stamp Act was futile, leading to its repeal in March. Read the Examination of Benjamin Franklin before the House of Commons below. --A. Certainly many, and very heavy taxes. Q. What are the present taxes in Pennsylvania, laid by the laws of the colony? --A. There are taxes on all estates real and personal, a poll-tax, a tax on all offices, professions, trades, and businesses, according to their profits; an excise on all wine, rum, and other spirit; and a duty of ten pounds per head on all negroes imported, with some other duties. --A. For the support of the civil and military establishments of the country, and to discharge the heavy debt contracted in the last war. Q. How long are those taxes to continue? --A. Those for discharging the debt are to continue till 1772, and longer, if the debt should not be then all discharged. The others must always continue. Q. Was it not expected that the debt would have been sooner discharged? --A. It was, when the peace was made with France and Spain; but a fresh war breaking out with the Indians, a fresh load of debt was incurred, and the taxes, of course, continued longer by a new law. --A. No. The frontier counties, all along the continent, having been frequently ravaged by the enemy, and greatly impoverished, are able to pay very little tax. And therefore, in consideration of their distresses, our late tax laws do expressly favour those counties, excusing the sufferers; and I suppose the same is done in other governments. Q. Are you not concerned in the management of the post office in America? --A. Yes; I am deputy post-master general of North America. Q. Don't you think the distribution of stamps, by post, to all the inhabitants, very practicable, if there was no opposition? --A. The posts only go along the sea coasts; they do not, except in a few instances, go back into the country; and if they did, sending for stamps by post would occasion an expence of postage, amounting, in many cases, to much more than that of the stamps themselves. Q. Are you acquainted with Newfoundland? --A. I never was there. Q. Do you know whether there are any post-roads on that island? --A. I have heard that there are no roads at all; but that the communication between one settlement and another is by sea only. Q. Can you disperse the stamps by post in Canada? --A. There is only a post between Montreal and Quebec. The inhabitants live so scattered and remote from each other, in that vast country, that posts cannot be supported among them, and therefore they cannot get stamps per post. The English colonies too, along the frontiers, are very thinly settled. Q. From the thinness of the back settlements, would not the Stamp Act be extremely inconvenient to the inhabitants if executed? --A. To be sure, it would; as many of the inhabitants could not get stamps when they had occasion for them, without taking long journeys, and spending, perhaps, three or four pounds, that the crown might get sixpence. --A. In my opinion, there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year. Q. Don't you know that the money arising from the stamps was all to be laid out in America? --A. I know it is appropriated by the act to the American service; but it will be spent in the conquered colonies, where the soldiers are, not in the colonies that pay it. Q. Is there not a balance of trade due from the colonies where the troops are posted, that will bring back the money to the old colonies? --A. I think not. I believe very little would come back. I know of no trade likely to bring it back. I think it would come from the colonies where it was spent directly to England; for I have always observed, that in every colony the more plenty of means of remittance to England, the more goods are sent for, and the more trade with England carried on. Q. What number of white inhabitants do you think there are in Pennsylvania? --A. I suppose there may be about 160,000. Q. What number of them are Quakers? Q. What number of Germans? --A. Perhaps another third; but I cannot speak with certainty. Q. Have any number of the Germans seen service, as soldiers, in Europe? --A. Yes, many of them, both in Europe and America. Q. Are they as much dissatisfied with the stamp duty as the English? --A. Yes, and more; and with reason, as their stamps are, in many cases, to be double. Q. How many white men do you suppose there are in North America? --A. About 300,000, from 16 to 60 years of age. Q. What may be the amount of one year's imports into Pennsylvania from Britain? --A. I have been informed that our merchants compute the imports from Britain to be above 500,000 pounds. Q. What may be the amount of the produce of your province exported to Britain? --A. It must be small, as we produce little that is wanted in Britain. I suppose it cannot exceed 40,000 pounds. Q. How then do you pay the balance? --A. The balance is paid by our produce carried to the West Indies, and sold in our own islands, or to the French, Spaniards, Danes, and Dutch; by the same carried to other colonies in North America, as to New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Carolina, and Georgia; by the same carried to different parts of Europe, as Spain, Portugal and Italy. In all of which places we receive either money, bills of exchange, or commodities that suit for remittance to Britain; which, together with all the profits on the industry of our merchants and mariners, arising in those circuitous voyages, and the freights made by their ships, centre finally in Britain to discharge the balance, and pay for British manufactures continually used in the province, or sold to foreigners by our traders. Q. Have you heard of any difficulties lately laid on the Spanish trade? --A. Yes, I have heard that it has been greatly obstructed by some new regulations, and by the English men of war and cutters stationed all along the coast in America. Q. Do you think it right, that America should be protected by this country, and pay no part of the expence? --A. That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed and paid, during the last war, near 25,000 men, and spent many millions. Q. Were you not reimbursed by parliament? --A. We were only reimbursed what in your opinion, we had advanced beyond our proportion, or beyond what might reasonably be expected from us; and it was a very small part of what we spent. Pennsylvania, in particular, disbursed about 500,000 pounds, and the reimbursement, in the whole, did not exceed 60,000 pounds. Q. You have said that you pay heavy taxes in Pennsylvania; what do they amount, in the pound? --A. The tax on all estates, real and personal, is eighteen pence in the pound, fully rated; and the tax on the profits of trades and professions, with other taxes, do, I suppose, make full half a crown in the pound. Q. Do you know anything of the rate of exchange in Pennsylvania, and whether it has fallen lately? --A. It is commonly from 170 to 175. I have heard that it has fallen lately from 175 to 162 and a half, owing, I suppose, to their lessening their orders for goods; and when their debts to this country are paid, I think the exchange will probably be at par. Q. Do not you think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty, if it was moderated? --A. No, never, unless compelled by force of arms. Q. Are not the taxes in Pennsylvania laid on unequally, in order to burden the English trade, particularly the tax on professions and business? --A. It is not more burdensome in proportion than the tax on lands. It is intended, and supposed to take an equal proportion of profits. Q. How is the assembly composed? Of what kinds of people are the members, landholders or traders? --A. It is composed of landholders, merchants, and artificers. Q. Are not the majority landholders? --A. I believe they are. Q. Do not they, as much as possible, shift the tax off from the land, to ease that, and lay the burthen heavier on trade? --A. I have never understood it so. I never heard such a thing suggested. And indeed an attempt of that kind could answer no purpose. The merchant or trader is always skilled in figures, and ready with his pen and ink. If unequal burdens are laid on his trade, he puts an additional price on his goods; and the consumers, who are chiefly landowners, finally pay the greatest part, if not the whole. Q. What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before the year 1763? --A. The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the crown, and paid, in all their courts, obedience to acts of parliament. Numerous as the people are in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons or armies, to keep them in subjection. They were governed by this country at the expence only of a little pen, ink, and paper. They were led by a thread. They had not only a respect, but an affection for Great Britain, for its laws, its customs and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated with particular regard; to be an Old-England man was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us. Q. And what is their temper now? --A. O, very much altered. Q. Did you ever hear the authority of parliament to make laws for America questioned till lately? --A. The authority of parliament was allowed to be valid in all laws, except such as should lay internal taxes. It was never disputed in laying duties to regulate commerce. Q. In what proportion hath population increased in America? --A. I think the inhabitants of all the provinces together, taken at a medium, double in about 25 years. But their demand for British manufactures increases much faster, as the consumption is not merely in proportion to their numbers, but grows with the growing abilities of the same numbers to pay for them. In 1723, the whole importation from Britain to Pennsylvania, was but about 15,000 pounds sterling; it is now near half a million. Q. In what light did the people of America use to consider the parliament of Great Britain? --A. They considered the parliament as the great bulwark and security of their liberties and privileges, and always spoke of it with the utmost respect and veneration. Arbitrary ministers, they thought, might possibly, at times, attempt to oppress them; but they relied on it, that the parliament, on application, would always give redress. They remembered, with gratitude, a strong instance of this, when a bill was brought into parliament, with a clause to make royal instructions laws in the colonies, which the House of Commons would not pass, and it was thrown out. Q. And have they not still the same respect for parliament? --A. No; it is greatly lessened. Q. To what cause is that owing? --A. To a concurrence of causes; the restraints lately laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and silver into the colonies was prevented; the prohibition of making paper money among themselves; and then demand a new and heavy tax by stamps; taking away at the same, trials by juries, and refusing to receive and hear their humble petitions. Q. Don't you think they would submit to the Stamp Act, if it was modified, the obnoxious parts taken out, and the duty reduced to some particulars, of small moment? --A. No; they will never submit to it. Q. What do you think is the reason that the people of America increase faster than in England? --A. Because they marry younger, and more generally. --A. Because any young couple that are industrious, may easily obtain land of their own, on which they can raise a family. Q. Are not the lower rank of people more at their ease in America than in England? --A. They may be so, if they are sober and diligent, as they are better paid for their labour. Q. What is your opinion of a future tax, imposed on the same principle with that of the Stamp Act, how would the Americans receive it? --A. Just as they do this. They would not pay it. Q. Have not you heard of the resolution of this House, and of the House of Lords, asserting the right of parliament relating to America, including a power to tax the people there? --A. Yes, I have heard of such resolutions. Q. What will be the opinion of the Americans on those resolutions? --A. They will think them unconstitutional and unjust. --A. I had never heard any objection to the right of laying duties to regulate commerce; but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in parliament, as we are not represented there. --A. I know that whenever the subject has occurred in conversation where I have been present, it has appeared to be the opinion of every one, that we could not be taxed in a parliament where we were not represented. But the payment of duties laid by act of parliament, as regulations of commerce, was never disputed. --A. I do not know that there was any; I think there was never an occasion to make any such act, till now that you have attempted to tax us; that has occasioned resolutions of assembly, declaring the distinction, in which I think every assembly on the continent, and every member in every assembly, have been unanimous. Q. What then could occasion conversation on that subject before that time? --A. There was, in 1754, a proposition made (I think it came from hence) that in case of a war, which was then apprehended, the governors of the colonies should meet, and order the levying of troops, building of forts, and taking every other necessary measure for the general defence; and should draw on the treasury here, for the sums expended, which were afterwards to be raised in the colonies by a general tax, to be laid on them by act of parliament. This occasioned a good deal of conversation on the subject, and the general opinion was, that the parliament neither would, nor could lay any tax on us, till we were duly represented in parliament, because it was not just, nor agreeable to the nature of an English constitution. Q. Don't you know there was a time in New York, when it was under consideration to make an application to parliament, to lay taxes on that colony, upon a deficiency arising from the assembly's refusing or neglecting to raise the necessary supplies for the support of the civil government? --A. I never heard of it. Q. There was such an application under consideration in New York; and do you apprehend that they could suppose the right of parliament to lay a tax in America was only local, and confined to the case of a deficiency in a particular colony, by a refusal of its assembly to raise the necessary supplies? --A. They could not suppose such a case, as that the assembly would not raise the necessary supplies to support its own government. An assembly that would refuse it, must want common sense, which cannot be supposed. I think there was never any such case at New York, and that it must be a misrepresentation, or the fact must be misunderstood. I know there have been some attempts, by ministerial instructions from hence, to oblige the assemblies to settle permanent salaries on governors, which they wisely refused to do; but I believe no assembly of New York, or any other colony, ever refused duly to support government, by proper allowances, from time to time, to public officers. Q. But in case a governor, acting by instruction, should call on an assembly to raise the necessary supplies, and the assembly should refuse to do it, do you not think it would then be for the good of the people of the colony, as well as necessary to government, that the parliament should tax them? --A. I do not think it would be necessary. If an assembly could possibly be so absurd as to refuse raising the supplies requisite for the maintenance of government among them, they could not long remain in such a situation; the disorders and confusion occasioned by it must soon bring them to reason. Q. If it should not, ought not the right to be in Great Britain of applying a remedy? --A. A right only to be used in such a case, I should have no objection to, supposing it to be used merely for the good of the people of the colony. Q. But who is to judge of that, Britain or the colony? --A. Those that feel can best judge. Q. You say the colonies have always submitted to external taxes, and object to the right of parliament only in laying internal taxes; now can you show that there is any kind of difference between the two taxes to the colony on which they may be laid? --A. I think the difference is very great. An external tax is a duty laid on commodities imported; that duty is added to the first cost, and other charges on the commodity, and when it is offered to sale, makes a part of the price. If the people do not like it at that price, they refuse it; they are not obliged to pay it. But an internal tax is forced from the people without their consent, if not laid by their own representatives. The Stamp Act says, we shall have no commerce, make no exchange of property with each other, neither purchase nor grant, nor recover debts; we shall neither marry nor make our wills, unless we pay such sums, and thus it is intended to extort our money from us, or ruin us by the consequences of refusing to pay for it. Q. But supposing the internal tax or duty to be laid on the necessities of life imported into your colony, will not that be the same thing in its effects as an internal tax? --A. I do not know a single article imported into the northern colonies, but what they can either do without or make themselves. Q. Don't you think cloth from England, absolutely necessary to them? --A. No, by no means absolutely necessary; with industry and good management, they may very well supply themselves with all they want. Q. Will it not take a long time to establish that manufacture among them; and must they not in the mean while suffer greatly? --A. I think not. They have made a surprising progress already. And I am of opinion, that before their old clothes are worn out, they will have new ones of their own making. Q. Can they possibly find wool enough in North America? --A. They have taken steps to increase the wool. They entered into general combination to eat no more lamb, and very few lambs were killed last year. This course persisted in, will soon make a prodigious difference in the quantity of wool. And the establishing of great manufactories, like those in the clothing towns here, is not necessary, as it is where the business is to be carried on for the purposes of trade. The people will all spin and work for themselves, in their own houses. Q. Can there be wool and manufacture enough in one or two years? --A. In three years, I think, there may. Q. Does not the severity of the winter, in the northern colonies, occasion the wool to be of bad quality? --A. No, the wool is very fine and good. Q. In the more southern colonies, as in Virginia, don't you know that the wool is coarse, and only a kind of hair? --A. I don't know it. I never heard it. Yet I have been sometimes in Virginia. I cannot say I ever took particular notice of the wool there, but I believe it is good, though I cannot speak positively of it; but Virginia, and the colonies south of it, have less occasion for wool; their winters are short, and not very severe, and they can very well clothe themselves with linen and cotton of their own raising for the rest of the year. Q. Are not the people in the more northern colonies obliged to fodder their sheep all the winter? --A. In some of the most northern colonies they may be obliged to do it some part of the winter. Q. Considering the resolution of parliament as to the right, do you think, if the Stamp Act is repealed, that the North Americans will be satisfied? --A. I believe they will. Q. Why do you think so? --A. I think the resolutions of right will give them very little concern, if they are never attempted to be carried into practice. The colonies will probably consider themselves in the same situation, in that respect, with Ireland; they know you claim the same right with regard to Ireland, but you never exercise it. And they may believe you never will exercise it in the colonies, any more than in Ireland, unless on some very extraordinary occasion. Q. But who are to be the judges of that extraordinary occasion? --A. Though the parliament may judge of the occasion, the people will think it can never exercise such right, till representatives from the colonies are admitted into parliament, and that whenever the occasion arises, representatives will be ordered. Q. Did you never hear that Maryland, during the last war, had refused to furnish a quota towards the common defence? --A. Maryland has been much misrepresented in that matter. Maryland, to my knowledge, never refused to contribute, or grant aids to the crown. The assemblies every year, during the war, voted considerable sums, and formed bills to raise them. The bills were, according to the constitution of that province, sent up to the council, or upper house, for concurrence, that they might be presented to the governor, in order to be enacted into laws. Unhappy disputes between the two houses, arising from the defects of that constitution principally, rendered all the bills but one or two abortive. The proprietary's council rejected them. It is true, Maryland did not contribute in proportion, but it was, in my opinion, the fault of the government, not of the people. Q. Was it not talked of in the other provinces as a proper measure to apply to parliament to compel them? --A. I have heard such discourse: but as it was well known that the people were not to blame, no such application was ever made, or any step taken towards it. Q. Was it not proposed at a public meeting? --A. Not that I know of. Q. Do you remember the abolishing of the paper currency in New England, by act of assembly? --A. I do remember its being abolished in the Massachusett's Bay. Q. Was not lieutenant governor Hutchinson principally concerned in that transaction? --A. I have heard so. Q. Was it not at that time a very unpopular law? --A. I believe it might, though I can say little about it, as I lived at a distance from that province. Q. Was not the scarcity of gold and silver an argument used against abolishing the paper? --A. I suppose it was. Q. What is the present opinion there of that law? Is it as unpopular as it was at first? --A. I think it is not. Q. Have not instructions from hence been sometimes sent over to governors, highly oppressive and unpolitical? Q. Have not some governors dispensed with them for that reason? --A. Yes, I have heard so. Q. Did the Americans ever dispute the controuling power of parliament to regulate the commerce? Q. Can any thing less than a military force carry the Stamp Act into execution? --A. I do not see how a military force can be applied to that purpose. --A. Suppose a military force sent into America, they will find nobody in arms; what are they then to do? They cannot force a man to take stamps who chuses to do without them. They will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one. --A. A total loss of the respect and affection the people of America bear to this country, and of all the commerce that depends upon that respect and affection. Q. How can the commerce be affected? --A. You will find, that if the act is not repealed, they will take very little of your manufactures in a short time. Q. Is it in their power to do without them? --A. I think they may very well do without them. Q. Is it their interest not to take them? --A. The goods they take from Britain are either necessaries, mere conveniences, or superfluities. The first, as cloth, &c. with a little industry they can make at home: the second they can do without, till they are able to provide them among themselves; and the last, which are much the greatest part, they will strike off immediately. They are mere articles of fashion, purchased and consumed, because the fashion in a respected country, but will now be detested and rejected. The people have already struck off, by general agreement, the use of all goods fashionable in mournings, and many thousand pounds worth are sent back as unsaleable. Q. Is it their interest to make cloth at home? --A. I think they may at present get it cheaper from Britain, I mean of the same fineness and neatness of workmanship; but when one considers other circumstances, the restraints on their trade, and the difficulty of making remittances, it is their interest to make every thing. Q. Suppose an act of internal regulations connected with a tax, how would they receive it? --A. I think it would be objected to. Q. Then no regulation with a tax would be submitted to? --A. Their opinion is, that when aids to the crown are wanted, they are to be asked of the several assemblies according to the old established usage, who will, as they have always done, grant them freely. And that their money ought not to be given away, without their consent, by persons at a distance, unacquainted with their circumstances and abilities. The granting aids to the crown, is the only means they have of recommending themselves to their sovereign, and they think it extremely hard and unjust, that a body of men, in which they have no representatives, should make a merit to itself of giving and granting what is not its own, but theirs, and deprives them of a right they esteem of the utmost value and importance, as it is the security of all their other rights. Q. But is not the post office, which they have long received, a tax as well as a regulation? --A. No; the money paid for the postage of a letter is not of the nature of a tax; it is merely a quantum merit for a service done; no person is compellable to pay the money, if he does not chuse to receive the service. A man may still, as before the act, send his letter by a servant, a special messenger, or a friend, if he thinks it cheaper or safer. Q. But do they not consider the regulations of the post-office, by the act of last year, as a tax? --A. By the regulations of last year the rate of postage was generally abated near thirty per cent. through all America; they certainly cannot consider such an abatement as a tax. Q. If an excise was laid by parliament, which they might likewise avoid paying, by not consuming the articles excised, would they then not object to it? --A. They would certainly object to it, as an excise is unconnected with any service done, and is merely an aid which they think ought to be asked of them, and granted by them if they are to pay it, and can be granted for them, by no others whatsoever, whom they have not impowered for that purpose. Q. You say they do not object to the right of parliament, in laying duties on goods to be paid on their importation; now, is there any kind of difference between a duty on the importation of goods and an excise on their consumption? --A. Yes; a very material one; an excise, for the reasons I just mentioned, they think you can have no right to lay within their country. But the sea is yours; you maintain, by your fleets, the safety of navigation in it, and keep it clear of pirates; you may have therefore a natural and equitable right to some toll or duty on merchandizes carried through that part of your dominions, towards defraying the expence you are at in ships to maintain the safety of that carriage. Q. Does this reasoning hold in the case of a duty laid on the produce of their lands exported? And would they not then object to such a duty? --A. If it tended to make the produce so much dearer abroad as to lessen the demand for it, to be sure they would object to such a duty; not to your right of laying it, but they would complain of it as a burden, and petition you to lighten it. Q. Is not the duty paid on the tobacco exported a duty of that kind? --A. That, I think, is only on tobacco carried coastwise from one colony to another, and appropriated as a fund for supporting the college at Williamsburgh, in Virginia. Q. Have not the assemblies in the West Indies the same natural rights with those in North America? Q. And is there not a tax laid there on their sugars exported? --A. I am not much acquainted with the West Indies, but the duty of four and a half per cent., on sugars exported, was, I believe, granted by their own assemblies. Q. How much is the poll tax in your province laid on unmarried men? --A. It is, I think, fifteen shillings, to be paid by every single freeman, upwards of twenty one years old. Q. What is the annual amount of all the taxes in Pennsylvania? --A. I suppose about 20,000 pounds sterling. Q. Supposing the Stamp Act continued, and enforced, do you imagine that ill humour will induce the Americans to give as much for worse manufactures of their own and use them, preferably to better of ours? --A. Yes, I think so. People will pay as freely to gratify one passion as another, their resentment as their pride. Q. Would the people at Boston discontinue their trade? --A. The merchants are a very small number compared with the body of the people, and must discontinue their trade if nobody will buy their goods. Q. What are the body of the people in the colonies? --A. They are farmers, husbandmen or planters. Q. Would they suffer the produce of their lands to rot? --A. No; but they would not raise so much. They would manufacture more, and plough less. Q. Would they live without the administration of justice in civil matters, and suffer all the inconveniencies of such a situation for any considerable time, rather than take the stamps, supposing the stamps were protected by a sufficient force, where every one might have them? --A. I think the supposition impracticable, that the stamps should be so protected as that every one might have them. The Act requires sub-distributors to be appointed in every county town, district, and village, and they would be necessary. But the principal distributors, who were to have had a considerable profit on the whole, have not thought it worth while to continue in the office, and I think it impossible to find sub-distributors fit to be trusted, who, for the trifling profit that must come to their share, would incur the odium, and run the hazard that would attend it; and if they could be found, I think it impracticable to protect the stamps in so many distant and remote places. Q. But in places where they would be protected, would not the people use them rather than remain in such a situation, unable to obtain any right, or recover, by law, any debt? --A. It is hard to say what they would do. I can only judge what other people will think, and how they will act, by what I feel within myself. I have a great many debts due to me in America, and I had rather they should remain unrecoverable by any law than submit to the Stamp Act. They will be debts of honour. It is my opinion the people will either continue in that situation, or find some way to extricate themselves, perhaps by generally agreeing to proceed in the courts without stamps. Q. What do you think a sufficient military force to protect the distribution of the stamps in every part of America? --A. A very great force; I cannot say what, if the disposition of America is for a general resistance. Q. What is the number of men in America able to bear arms, or of disciplined militia? Q. Is the American Stamp Act an equal tax on that country? --A. The greatest part of the money must arise from lawsuits for the recovery of debts, and be paid by the lower sort of people, who were too poor easily to pay their debts. It is therefore a heavy tax on the poor, and a tax upon them for being poor. Q. But will not this increase of expence be a means of lessening the number of lawsuits? --A. I think not; for as the costs all fall upon the debtor, and are to be paid by him, they would be no discouragement to the creditor to bring his action. --A. Yes, as an oppression of the debtor. Q. How many ships are there laden annually in North America with flax seed for Ireland? --A. I cannot speak to the number of ships, but I know that in 1752, 10,000 hogsheads of flax seed, each containing seven bushels, were exported from Philadelphia to Ireland. I suppose the quantity is greatly increased since that time; and it is understood that the exportation from New York is equal to that from Philadelphia. Q. What becomes of the flax that grows with that flax seed? --A. They manufacture some into coarse, and some into a middling kind of linen. Q. Are there any slitting mills in America? --A. I think there are three, but I believe only one at present employed. I suppose they will all be set to work, if the interruption of the trade continues. Q. Are there any fulling mills there? Q. Did you never hear that a great quantity of stockings were contracted for, for the army, during the war, and manufactured in Philadelphia? Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would not the Americans think they could oblige the parliament to repeal every external tax law now in force? --A. It is hard to answer questions what people at such a distance will think. Q. But what do you imagine they will think were the motives of repealing the Act? --A. I suppose they will think that it was repealed from a conviction of its inexpediency; and they will rely upon it, that while the same inexpediency subsists, you will never attempt to make such another. Q. What do you mean by its inexpediency? --A. I mean its inexpediency on several accounts; the poverty and inability of those who were to pay the tax; the general discontent it has occasioned; and the impracticability of enforcing it. Q. If the Act should be repealed, and the legislature should shew its resentment of the opposers of the Stamp Act, would the colonies acquiesce in the authority of the legislature? What is your opinion they would do? --A. I don't doubt at all, that if the legislature repeal the Stamp Act, the colonies will acquiesce in the authority. Q. But if the legislature should think fit to ascertain its right to lay taxes, by any act laying a small tax, contrary to their opinion, would they submit to pay the tax? --A. The proceedings of the people in America have been considered too much together. The proceedings of the assemblies have been very different from those of the mobs, and should be distinguished, as having no connection with each other. The assemblies have only peaceably resolved what they take to be their rights; they have not built a fort, raised a man, or provided a grain of ammunition, in order to such opposition. The ringleaders of riots they think ought to be punished; they would punish them themselves, if they could. Every sober, sensible man would wish to see rioters punished, as otherwise peaceable people have no security of person or estate. But as to an internal tax, how small soever, laid by the legislature here on the people there, while they have no representatives in this legislature, I think it will never be submitted to. -- They will oppose it to the last. -- They do not consider it as at all necessary for you to raise money on them by your taxes, because they are, and always have been, ready to raise money by taxes among themselves and to grant large sums, equal to their abilities, upon requisition from the crown. --A. They have not only granted equal to their abilities, but, during the last war, they granted far beyond their abilities, and beyond their proportion with this country, you yourselves being judges, to the amount of many hundred thousand pounds, and this they did freely and readily, only on a sort of promise from the secretary of state, that it should be recommended to parliament to make them compensation. It was accordingly recommended to parliament, in the most honourable manner, for them. America has been greatly misrepresented and abused here, in paper, and pamphlets, and speeches, as ungrateful, and unreasonable, and unjust, in having put this nation to great expence for their defence, and refusing to bear any part of that expence. The colonies raised, paid, and clothed, near 25,000 men during the last war, a number equal to those sent from Britain, and far beyond their proportion; they went deeply into debt in doing this, and all their taxes and estates are mortgaged, for many years to come, for discharging that debt. Government here was at that time very sensible of this. The colonies were recommended to parliament. Every year the King sent down to the House a written message to this purpose, That his Majesty, being highly sensible of the zeal and vigour with which his faithful subjects in North America had exerted themselves, in defence of his Majesty's just rights and possessions, recommended it to the House to take the same into consideration, and enable him to give them a proper compensation. You will find those messages on your own journals every year of the war to the very last, and you did accordingly give 200,000 pounds annually to the crown, to be distributed in such compensation to the colonies. This is the strongest of all proofs that the colonies, far from being unwilling to bear a share of the burden, did exceed their proportion; but they never murmured at that; they esteemed their sovereign's approbation of their zeal and fidelity, and the approbation of this House, far beyond any other kind of compensation; therefore there was no occasion for this act, to force money from a willing people; they had not refused giving money for the purposes of the act; no requisition had been made: they were always willing and ready to do what could reasonably be expected from them, and in this light they wish to be considered. Q. But suppose Great Britain should be engaged in a war in Europe, would North America contribute to the support of it? --A. I do think they would, as far as their circumstances would permit. They consider themselves as a part of the British empire, and as having one common interest with it; they may be looked on here as foreigners, but they do not consider themselves as such. They are zealous for the honour and prosperity of this nation, and while they are well used, will always be ready to support it, as far as their little power goes. In 1739 they were called upon to assist in the expedition against Carthegena, and they sent 3,000 men to join your army. It is true Carthegena is in America, but as remote from the northern colonies as if it had been in Europe. They make no distinction of wars, as to their duty of assisting in them. I know the last war is commonly spoke of here as entered into for the defence, or for the sake of the people of America. I think it is quite misunderstood. It began about the limits between Canada and Nova Scotia, about territories to which the crown indeed laid claim, but were not claimed by any British colony; none of the lands had been granted to any colonist; we had therefore no particular concern or interest in that dispute. As to the Ohio, the contest there began about your right of trading in the Indian country, a right you had by the treaty of Utrecht, which the French infringed; they seized the traders and their goods, which were your manufactures; they took a fort which a company of your merchants, and their factors and correspondents, had erected there to secure that trade. Braddock was sent with an army to re-take that fort (which was looked on here as another incroachment on the King's territory) and to protect your trade. It was not till after his defeat that the colonies were attacked. They were before in perfect peace with both French and Indians; the troops were not therefore sent for their defence. The trade with the Indians, though carried on in America, is not an American interest. The people of America are chiefly farmers and planters; scarce any thing that they raise or produce is an article of commerce with the Indians. The Indian trade is a British interest; it is carried on with British manufactures, for the profit of British merchants and manufactures; therefore the war, as it commenced for the defence of territories of the crown, the property of no American, and for the defence of a trade purely British, was really a British war -- and yet the people of America made no scruple of contributing their utmost towards carrying it on, and bringing it to a happy conclusion. Q. Do you think then that the taking possession of the King's territorial rights, and strengthening the frontiers, is not an American interest? --A. Not particularly, but conjointly a British and an American interest. Q. You will not deny that the preceding war, the war with Spain, was entered into for the sake of America; was it not occasioned by captures made in the American seas? --A. Yes; captures of ships carrying on the British trade there, with British manufactures. Q. Was not the late war with the Indians, since the peace with France, a war for America only? --A. Yes: it was more particularly for America than the former, but it was rather a consequence or remains of the former war, the Indians not having been thoroughly pacified, and the Americans bore by much the greatest share of the expence. It was put an end to by the army under general Bouquet; there were not above 300 regulars in that army, and above 1000 Pennsylvanians. Q. Is it not necessary to send troops to America, to defend the Americans against the Indians? --A. No, by no means; it never was necessary. They defended themselves when they were but a handful, and the Indians much more numerous. They continually gained ground, and have driven the Indians over the mountains, without any troops sent to their assistance from this country. And can it be thought necessary now to send troops for their defence from those diminished Indian tribes, when the colonies are become so populous, and so strong? There is not the least occasion for it; they are very able to defend themselves. Q. Do you say there were no more than 500 regular troops employed in the late Indian war? --A. Not on the Ohio, or on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, which was the chief part of the war that affected the colonies. There were garrisons at Niagara, Fort Detroit, and those remote posts kept for the sake of your trade; I did not reckon them, but I believe that on the whole the number of Americans, or provincial troops, employed in the war, was greater than that of the regulars. I am not certain, but I think so. Q. Do you think the assemblies have a right to levy money on the subject there, to grant to the crown? --A. I certainly think so; they have always done it. Q. Are they acquainted with the Declaration of Rights; and do they know that by that statute, money is not to be raised on the subject but by consent of parliament? --A. They are very well acquainted with it. Q. How then can they think they have a right to levy money for the crown, or for any other than local purposes? --A. They understand that clause to relate to subjects only within the realm; that no money can be levied on them for the crown, but by consent of parliament. The colonies are not supposed to be within the realm; they have assemblies of their own, which are their parliaments, and they are, in that respect, in the same situation with Ireland. When money is to be raised for the crown upon the subject in Ireland, or in the colonies, the consent is given in the parliament of Ireland, or in the assemblies of the colonies. They think the parliament of Great Britain cannot properly give that consent till it has representatives from America; for the Petition of Rights expressly says, it is to be by common consent in parliament, and the people of America have no representatives in parliament, to make a part of that common consent. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, and an act should pass, ordering the assemblies of the colonies to indemnify the sufferers by the riots, would they obey it? --A. That is a question I cannot answer. Q. Suppose the King should require the colonies to grant a revenue, and the parliament should be against their doing it, do they think they can grant a revenue to the King, without the consent of the parliament of Great Britain? --A. That is a deep question. As to my own opinion, I should think myself at liberty to do it, and should do it, if I liked the occasion. Q. When money has been raised in the colonies, upon requisitions, has it not been granted to the King? --A. Yes, always; but the requisitions have generally been for some service expressed, as to raise, clothe, and pay troops, and not for money only. Q. If the act should pass, requiring the American assemblies to make compensation to the sufferers, and they should disobey it, and then the parliament should, by another act, lay an internal tax, would they then obey it? --A. The people will pay no internal tax: and I think an act to oblige the assemblies to make compensation is unnecessary, for I am of opinion, that as soon as the present heats are abated, they will take the matter into consideration, and if it is right to be done, they will do it of themselves. Q. Do not letters often come into the post offices in America, directed into some inland town where no post goes? Q. Can any private person take up those letters, and carry them as directed? --A. Yes; any friend of the person may do it, paying the postage that has accrued. Q. But must not he pay an additional postage for the distance to such an inland town? Q. Can the post-master answer delivering the letter, without being paid such additional postage? --A. Certainly he can demand nothing, where he does no service. Q. Suppose a person, being far from home, finds a letter in a post office directed to him, and he lives in a place to which the post generally goes, and the letter is directed to that place, will the post-master deliver him the letter, without his paying the postage received at the place to which the letter is directed? --A. Yes; the office cannot demand postage for a letter that it does not carry, or farther than it does carry it. Q. Are not ferrymen in America obliged, by act of parliament, to carry over the post without pay? Q. Is not this a tax on the ferrymen? --A. They do not consider it as such, as they have an advantage from persons travelling with the post. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, and the crown should make a requisition to the colonies for a sum of money, would they grant it? --A. I believe they would. --A. I can speak for the colony I live in; I had it in instruction from the assembly to assure the ministry, that as they always had done, so they should always think it their duty to grant such aids to the crown as were suitable to their circumstances and abilities, whenever called upon for the purpose, in the usual constitutional manner; and I had the honour of communicating this instruction to that hon. gentleman then minister. Q. Would they do this for a British concern; as suppose a war in some part of Europe, that did not affect them? --A. Yes, for anything that concerned the general interest. They consider themselves as a part of the whole. Q. What is the usual constitutional manner of calling on the colonies for aids? --A. A letter from the secretary of state. Q. Is this all you mean, a letter from the secretary of state? --A. I mean the usual way of requisition, in a circular letter from the secretary of state, by his Majesty's command, reciting the occasion, and recommending it to the colonies to grant such aids as became their loyalty, and were suitable to their abilities. Q. Did the secretary of state ever write for money for the crown? --A. The requisitions have been to raise, clothe, and pay men, which cannot be done without money. Q. Would they grant money alone, if called on? --A. In my opinion they would, money as well as men, when they have money, or can procure it. Q. If the parliament should repeal the Stamp Act, will the assembly of Pennsylvania rescind their resolutions? Q. Before there was any thought of the Stamp Act, did they wish for a representation in parliament? Q. Don't you know that there is, in the Pennsylvania charter, an express reservation of the right of parliament to lay taxes there? --A. I know there is a clause in the charter, by which the King grants that he will levy no taxes on the inhabitants, unless it be with the consent of the assembly, or by an act of parliament. Q. How then could the assembly of Pennsylvania assert, that laying a tax on them by the Stamp Act was an infringement of their rights? --A. They understand it thus: by the same charter, and otherwise, they are entitled to all the privileges and liberties of Englishmen; they find in the Great Charters, and the Petition and Declaration of Rights, that one of the privileges of English subjects is, that they are not to be taxed but by their common consent; they have therefore relied upon it, from the first settlement of the province, that the parliament never would, nor could, by colour of that clause in the charter, assume a right of taxing them, till it had qualified itself to exercise such a right, by admitting representatives from the people to be taxed, who ought to make a part of that common consent. Q. Are there any words in the charter that justify that construction? --A. The common rights of Englishmen, as declared by Magna Charta, and the Petition of Right, all justify it. Q. Does the distinction between internal and external taxes exist in the words of the charter? --A. No, I believe not. Q. Then may they not, by the same interpretation, object to the parliament's right of external taxation? --A. They never have hitherto. Many arguments have been lately used here to shew them that there is no difference, and that if you have no right to tax them internally, you have no right to tax them externally, or make any other law to bind them. At present they do not reason so, but in time they may possibly be convinced by these arguments. Q. Do not the resolutions of the Pennsylvania assemblies say, all taxes? --A. If they do, they mean only internal taxes; the same words have not always the same meaning here and in the colonies. By taxes they mean internal taxes; by duties they mean customs; these are the ideas of the language. Q. Have you not seen the resolutions of the Massachusett's Bay assembly? Q. Do they now say, that neither external nor internal taxes can be laid on them by parliament? --A. I don't know that they do; I believe not. Q. If the same tax should say neither tax nor imposition could be laid, does not that province hold the power of parliament can lay neither? --A. I suppose that by the word imposition, they do not intend to express duties to be laid on goods imported, as regulations of commerce. Q. What can the colonies mean then by imposition as distinct from taxes? --A. They may mean many things, as impressing of men, or of carriages, quartering troops on private houses, and the like; there may be great impositions that are not properly taxes. Q. Is not the post-office rate an internal tax laid by act of parliament? --A. I have answered that. Q. Are all parts of the colonies equally able to pay taxes? --A. No, certainly; the frontier parts, which have been ravaged by the enemy, are greatly disabled by that means, and therefore, in such cases, are usually favoured in our tax laws. Q. Can we, at this distance, be competent judges of what favours are necessary? --A. The parliament have supposed it, by claiming a right to make tax laws for America; I think it impossible. Q. Would the repeal of the Stamp Act be any discouragement of your manufactures? Will the people that have begun to manufacture decline it? --A. Yes, I think they will; especially if, at the same time, the trade is opened again, so that remittances can be easily made. I have known several instances that make it probable. In the war before last, tobacco being low, and making little remittance, the people of Virginia went generally into family manufactures. Afterwards, when tobacco a better price, they returned to the usual British manufactures. So fulling mills were very much disused in the last war in Pennsylvania, because bills were plenty, and remittances could easily be made to Britain for English cloth and other goods. Q. If the Stamp Act should be repealed, would it induce the assemblies of America to acknowledge the right of parliament to tax them, and would they erase their resolutions? --A. None, that I know of; they will never do it, unless compelled by force of arms. --A. No power, how great soever, can force men to change their opinions. Q. Do they consider the post office as a tax, or as a regulation? --A. Not as a tax, but as a regulation and conveniency; every assembly encouraged it, and supported its infancy, by grants of money, which they would not otherwise have done; and the people have always paid the postage. Q. When did you receive the instruction you mentioned? --A. I brought them with me, when I came to England, about months since. Q. When did you communicate that instruction to the minister? --A. Soon after my arrival, while the stamping of America was under consideration, and before the Bill was brought in. Q. Would it be most for the interest of Great Britain, to employ the hands of Virginia in tobacco, or in manufactures? --A. In tobacco, to be sure. --A. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great Britain. --A. To wear their old clothes over again, till they can make new ones. -- Withdrew. Read the text of the Stamp Act here. Read the Act Repealing the Stamp Act here. You may also like to check out our Benjamin Franklin Facts page.

2019-04-18T16:28:04Z

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/examination-of-benjamin-franklin-before-the-house-of-commons-february-13-1766.html

The perinatal period precipitates significant intra- and inter- personal changes. How heterosexual couples understand and account for such changes, however, has received relatively little attention. Semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken as part of a longitudinal study on planned first-time parenthood. This article reports on an inductive thematic analysis of a data corpus focused on six interview questions (three from interviews conducted during pregnancy, and three from interviews conducted six months after the birth of the child), derived from interviews with eight individuals (4 women and 4 men) comprising four couples. In antenatal interviews, the theme of intrapersonal changes differentiated participants by two sub-themes that were then linked to postpartum experiences. Those who ‘prepared for the worst’ reported positive experiences after the arrival of a child, whilst participants who during pregnancy viewed life after the arrival of a child as ‘an unknown’ experienced challenges. Similarly in terms of the theme of interpersonal change, antenatal interviews were linked to postpartum experiences by two sub-themes, such that participants who approached the impending arrival of a child as a team effort reported that the arrival of a child cemented their relationship, whilst participants who expected that the couple relationship would buffer child-related stressors experienced challenges. Findings highlight the importance of a focus in antenatal education on the psychological effects of new parenthood, and support for the couple relationship during the perinatal period. Pregnancy and the transition to parenthood are major adjustment periods within the lives of many adults, with important implications for new parents, couple relationships, and infant development . Research has consistently demonstrated that the perinatal period is often stressful, and can result in both intra and inter personal changes. In terms of negative intrapersonal changes, previous research has identified a relationship between expectations of parenthood and adjustment to the new role [2–6], such that negative prenatal expectations of parenthood are known to predict postnatal difficulties in both mother-infant and marital relationships [4, 6]. At the same time, however, researchers have hypothesised that negative prenatal expectations may be employed by parents as an adaptive cognitive strategy to ‘prepare for the worst’ and thus protect themselves against a negative postnatal experience . In contrast to research on negative expectations, the evidence regarding positive expectations at the intrapersonal level is inconsistent. High prenatal expectations have been associated with improved mood and affective states, adaptive behaviour and marital satisfaction . However, unmet expectations – which tend to be unrealistic or overly positive – have been found to influence women’s evaluations of their experience and are associated with difficulties in the transition to parenthood, including postnatal distress amongst mothers [9, 10]. Conversely, research by Delmore-Ko et al. found that expectations incorporating positive aspects of parenting that were present in conjunction with expectations of being able to cope with challenges were associated with better adjustment to parenthood. Collectively, these results support the proposition of Churchill and Davis that a ‘Realistic Orientation’ – giving frequent thought to both positive and negative possibilities – better prepares women for the transition to motherhood, and promotes resilience in the face of adversity. In terms of changes to interpersonal relationships accompanying the transition to parenthood, the literature also suggests that there is a link between prenatal expectations and postnatal outcomes [5, 12, 13]. Previous research has demonstrated that when partners’ expectations are not met, there is an increase in marital conflict, and decline in marital satisfaction – and that this association is more evident in women than men . Delmore-Ko and colleagues found both similarities and differences in women’s and men’s expectations about parenthood, and concluded that discrepancies in partners’ prenatal expectations may put extra stress on partner relationships in the postnatal period. Furthermore, research has demonstrated that any potential decline in relationship satisfaction can be mitigated by greater paternal involvement in infant care and household labour , and that the provision of emotional and practical partner support is a strong protective factor against postnatal depression in women [16, 17]. Yet despite the mitigating role that paternal involvement can play in terms of relationship satisfaction amongst heterosexual couples negotiating the transition to parenthood, the transition to parenthood literature has predominantly focused on the role of mothers, with fathers and couples receiving less attention. It has also been noted that much of the literature is dated, and may not accurately reflect the transition to parenthood in a contemporary social context . Additionally, much of the existing literature focuses on the postnatal rather than the antenatal period, leaving this initial period of adjustment relatively understudied, particularly with regard to men undergoing the transition to fatherhood. Furthermore, many studies have asked new parents retrospectively about their expectations and experiences during their pregnancy and the early postnatal period, rather than prospectively. The current paper seeks to address the aforementioned limitations by undertaking an analysis of in-depth, qualitative longitudinal interview data exploring the antenatal expectations and postnatal experiences of a sample of heterosexual couples living in Australia. The findings presented emphasise experiences that may indicate a positive adjustment to parenthood in both individuals and couples, as well as those experiences that may indicate challenges for individuals and couples, and highlight the importance of support for the couple relationship during the perinatal period. The findings presented in this paper draw on an ongoing qualitative longitudinal study examining the experiences of ten heterosexual couples through their journey to conception, pregnancy, and birth. The study is focused on the desire to have children, decision-making and expectations related to planning for a first child, and subsequent experiences during pregnancy and after the child is born. (For detailed information about the broader study and sample, see .) Ethics approval was granted by the Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee. Potential participants contacted the researchers via email and were emailed an information sheet, consent form, and list of supports. Participants returned their signed consent forms prior to the start of the first interview, by email or in person at the interview. Key selection criteria for inclusion in the study were that people were (1) in a heterosexual relationship (married or de facto), (2) planning for a first child, (3) Australian citizens living in Adelaide, South Australia, and (4) not aware of any significant fertility concerns. Participants were recruited during February–May 2015 by advertising in local media, and on Facebook, Twitter, and a range of internet forums that focus on parenting. These purposive recruitment strategies generated a normative sample of 20 white, middle-class participants, comprising 10 couples. The current study draws on two rounds of interviews with four couples: Deb and Sam, Cate and Simon, Lucy and Jon, and Mary and Max (all pseudonyms), yielding a total of 16 interviews. All women participating had a bachelor degree or higher, whereas the highest qualification obtained by four of the men was either secondary school or trade certificate. All couples were married and working fulltime in paid employment at the second interview. At the third interview, three of the men were in fulltime paid work and two part-time. Two of the women were in part-time paid employment, two were fulltime carers, and one was studying part-time. Individual semi-structured interviews occurred (or will occur) over four waves: 1) when the couple was planning a pregnancy via reproductive heterosex, 2) when the couple is six months pregnant, 3) six months after the birth of the child, and 4) 18 months after the birth of the child. The findings reported in the present paper focus on interview data collected at waves 2 and 3. The second interviews conducted focused on the experience of pregnancy, preparation to become a parent, and plans for the birth and early postnatal period. The third interviews focused on experiences at the end of pregnancy, the birth, the first few weeks of parenting, and current experiences now their baby is six months old. Men and women were interviewed separately. Participants selected the method of interview they preferred, with most interviews conducted in person for the first and second rounds, with others conducted via Skype or telephone. All interviews were audio-recorded, with the average length of each interview recording for the five couples discussed in this article being just over 60 min. Recordings were transcribed verbatim by a professional transcription service and participants were allocated pseudonyms by the authors following transcription. Drawing on the literature summarized in the introduction of this paper, an inductive thematic analysis was undertaken, focusing on participants’ accounts of the expectations and reality of new parenthood in terms of change both in intra and interpersonal contexts. Braun and Clarke refer to such an inductive theoretical approach as ‘contextualist’, in that it seeks to understand how people create meaning in their lives, and how this meaning reflects broader social constructs. Given that the focus in this paper is on men’s and women’s experiences, gender as a social construct was a likely contextualising factor shaping how participants viewed the transition to parenthood. For the purposes of the analysis, responses to the following questions from waves two and three of the interviews were examined: “What are your plans for post-birth?”, “What changes do you think will happen in your household?”, and “How do you feel about your relationship with your partner now you are having a child?” (Interview 2) and “Tell me about bringing your baby home from hospital”, “Is having a child like what you expected?”, and “What is your relationship like with your partner now you have a child together?” (Interview 3). For the purposes of the analysis, these two waves were treated as distinct data sets, though connected via the couples contained within each. Data analysis followed the six phase thematic analysis process outlined by Braun and Clarke : (1) becoming familiar with the data, (2) generating codes, (3) identifying themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) refining specifics of the themes, and (6) selecting extracts that best illustrate the themes identified. Following repeated readings of the two data sets (wave 2 and 3 interviews), each was coded by the second author. These codes were then used to identify key themes within each data set. In outlining their approach to thematic analysis, Braun and Clarke eschew the need for inter-rater checks of coding, arguing that all analyses of data are subjective, and that two or more researchers cannot be expected to arrive at exactly the same interpretation of the data. Nonetheless, the themes generated by the second author were reviewed and confirmed by the first author. Given the longitudinal nature of the data, they are presented in three intersecting ways. First, they are presented as themes according to whether they focus on intra or interpersonal change. Second, they are presented by time (i.e., second or third wave interviews). Third, subthemes are presented within each theme differentiated by time. Couples are matched across subthemes, differentiated by time. Due to space constraints, each couple appears under both interview waves of either inter or interpersonal change. The couples that appear under each are those that best illustrate the subthemes. Participants engaged in detailed discussion regarding their experience of the transition to parenthood. Their accounts referenced two clear overarching themes: Intrapersonal change, in which they oriented to issues of individual hopes and fears, and Interpersonal change, where participants reflected on the changing nature of their relationship in the context of pregnancy and new parenthood. Within each of these overarching themes, four subthemes were identified (two for each of the waves of data collection included in this paper). These eight subthemes are presented below, with a focus on how couples reported experiencing the transition to parenthood in terms of intra and inter personal change. Participants indicated that intrapersonal change captures aspects of the transition to parenthood such as the acquisition of new roles and identities as mothers and fathers, individual expectations, and references to emotions, including notions of ‘coping’ with changes associated with parenthood. In their accounts of intrapersonal change, women discussed their emotions and the challenges of parenting an infant more frequently than men, who accounted for the transition to parenthood in the context of increased responsibility, and broad references to family. Within this overarching theme, subthemes based on second wave interviews were: (1) Preparing for the worst, and (2) Future as unknowable. Subthemes for the third wave interviews were: (1) Better than expected, and (2) Unexpected worries and challenges. The data collected during pregnancy contained a prevalent ‘future focus’ with regard to intrapersonal change. Participants provided detailed accounts of their thoughts about impending parenthood, often drawing on the parenting experiences of others. Deb: That’s the period I’m scared of. I just truly imagine that I won’t be doing anything except feeding and trying to get the baby to sleep and me trying to sleep. Remember to go to the toilet and shower every now and again and eat every now and again. So I’m expecting it to be fairly chaotic and completely baby focused at least in those first two weeks and the household and everything else will just fall to disarray. Sam: Very difficult and very tough just from what the guys have told me, they don’t shy away from it. It’s the lack of sleep and trying to support the partner through it all. So very tough and a lot of hard work. Slightly different to Deb, who appeared focused primarily on the baby and if possible remembering to care for herself, Sam appeared focused on supporting Deb through the early weeks following birth. Lucy: I think it might be a little bit stressful because we might be like ‘oh, is this normal?’ We won’t know for this first child, though with the second child we might be like yeah, yeah, we know what to do. Jon: First couple of weeks I’ve got no idea and don’t want to plan too much there that’s for sure, I’ve no idea, no idea… It’s going to be weird, the first few months, I mean holding the baby and being like this is my kid, all that kind of stuff. On the one hand, Jon has potentially positive expectations related to holding the baby, yet on the other hand he does not report an awareness of any potential challenges, instead indicating no intentions to plan ahead. In contrast to the future orientation that was evident during pregnancy, data collected six months after birth related to the experience of making sense of the significant intrapersonal changes associated with the postnatal period. Whilst some participants provided accounts of processing, embracing, and accepting change, it was clear that others were still negotiating and coming to terms with the reality of parenthood. Deb: I truly think I was expecting it to be the hardest time of my entire life and I don’t necessarily think it was because I think I was quite blessed in that I knew what to expect to some degree. Like I’d seen some people struggle so much with it and I’d seen really difficult breastfeeding experiences, but he slept well and he fed well and I realise that because of those two things it was a lot easier than I was expecting. It wasn’t easy but it was certainly not as challenging as I was expecting. So I think I did feel prepared. Sam: you feel surprised that you know this is a bit better than I thought. You know I thought he’d be crying 24/7 but he was rather sleepy. And we had a few visitors come by so that was special as well because it was Deb’s side, like for her parents it’s their first grandchild. So it was a very special moment when her family and that came over and visited. Despite preparing for the worst in terms of crying and lack of sleep, Sam was pleasantly surprised that things had gone well following the birth of the child. Having family visit during this early period following the birth appeared to further engender a sense of positivity in the face of having prepared for the worst. Jon: Lucy has been, obviously, the one in control of that. [….] She really had a hard time with that. “What’s wrong with me?” kind of thing. “I want to be the perfect mum.” I think that’s why a lot of mums don’t talk about mastitis, because they feel like they’ve failed or something like that. There were a couple of weeks there where Lucy was quite depressed, quite distraught about it. Lucy: I remember feeling so lost, like, “What’s wrong with me?” If I knew that it’s fine, then maybe I wouldn’t have come across as so stressed out with it. Interviewer: Did you look for information to help you with that or with anything else? Lucy: I was just asking Jon what should I do? What should we do? He suggested that maybe we can buy a pump and I can express from that breast [....] So, it was good to have Jon there to talk about it. He said, “Look, I’m just going to get you a pump”, and then he just went and did that. That was really good for me. Not being aware of potential challenges left Lucy feeling stressed, however Jon was able to identify a solution to the challenges. Interpersonal change captures aspects of the transition to parenthood pertinent to the couple relationship, such as the changing dynamic, relationship intimacy and stress, and descriptions of the source of increased commitment or challenges. Within this overarching theme, subthemes identified during pregnancy were: (1) Pregnancy demonstrates commitment, and (2) Confident that the relationship will mitigate potential stressors. Subthemes identified in the postnatal period were (1) Arrival of baby cements commitment, and (2) Relationship challenges due to stressors. With regard to interpersonal change, the data collected during pregnancy again contained an overarching ‘future focus’. However, in contrast to their accounts of intrapersonal change during the transition to parenthood – which contained both positive and negative expectations – participants’ descriptions of potential negative interpersonal change appeared to have been reflected on in less depth. Mary: It’s nice and reassuring that he is what I think he is, he is the guy that I thought he was, and we do work like I thought we would. We are the team that I thought we were. So, I think it’s just reaffirmed lots of those things. He’s beautiful. I always saw him as a dad, anyway. It’s really sweet to see him – most nights he goes to sleep with his hand on my belly because he likes feeling the kicks and that kind of stuff. Interviewer: How do you feel about your relationship with Mary now you’re having a child? Max: Really good. Really happy. It has brought us together heaps. There’s just a shared goal or project to do well at, I think, and we’re both pretty excited to see bits and pieces of each other in it. Whilst different to a degree in nature to Mary’s account, Max nonetheless appeared emotionally driven by the pending arrival of their first child, indicating that he was ‘excited’ about how the baby would reflect them both as parents. Cate: Because everyone seems to have those moments where they almost go nuts, I’m thinking, okay, that will happen I just have to prepare myself that will happen, we will have those nights where she will not stop crying or not settle and we’re just so exhausted we’re both about to burst out crying. But we are both extremely excited about being parents and we both feel that the other person will be an amazing parent. Simon: I’m not sure how it will affect Cate, like Cate and me as far as our relationship, we’ve gone through quite a lot of stuff already I’d say and so I think we’re fairly well suited to stress and stuff like that. I think we’ll get there it’ll just be a case of trying to function with not a lot of sleep. Again, Simon acknowledges that he is prepared for the worst, however feels that ‘we’ll get there’, because as a couple he and Cate have managed to navigate challenges in the past. At the six-month postnatal interview, participants reported both heightened connection and challenges in their interpersonal relationship. The postnatal data offered richer and more reflective accounts of interpersonal change than those given during pregnancy, reflecting the significant changes to the couple relationship between the two interviews. Interviewer: What’s your relationship with Max like now that you have a child together? Mary: I would say, if anything, better, but it still feels the same to me in most ways. I think because we’ve approached it like as a team, as we always have done for everything else, it…I wouldn’t even say it has bonded us closer because I think we were impossibly closely bonded before. I don’t think there’s ever any closer we could get. And so, yeah, I feel like we’re as close as we’ve ever been and I’m probably more proud of him that I’ve ever been because of the way he interacts with her. Max: Still - yeah, like really close. Like we pretty much spend like I guess the whole time we’re together with [baby] as well and it doesn’t seem to take anything away from what we had before she was born. So, yeah, still really good. It’s really good to share [baby] growing up with each other and learn about her together. Here Max is explicit that sharing time together with the baby doesn’t subtract from the happiness they shared as a couple prior to the birth. Indeed, if anything it adds an extra dimension, as he expected it would in his second interview. Interviewer: What’s your relationship like with Cate now you have a child together? Simon: We, I suppose – I wouldn’t say argue – but when we’re tired and you get a bit snarky at one another, that happens more than it ever did before [….] We certainly have a lot less time for us. That’s one thing that we’ve definitely come across. It is a lot harder to have time for us as a couple, not as individuals. Cate: The long-term effects of tiredness have meant that I’m a lot more irritable generally. And so, yeah, our relationship has definitely changed and I think we’ve definitely had more conflict. It’s not easy because there’s the feeling of resentment that I have that whenever there’s a problem it will come down to me… And I get this jealousy about the fact that he gets to go to work and leave it all behind, which is stupid because I don’t want to go to work, but there’s a sense of resentment I think that he has the freedom that I don’t have anymore because that’s it, it’s all taken away and I’ll never have that again. Expecting that the strength of the relationship would mitigate challenges appeared in reality not to be the case for Cate. Feelings of primary responsibility for the baby and that “it’s all taken away and I’ll never have that again” may have exacerbated any conflict that was present prior to the arrival of the baby. Through an examination of accounts of new parents’ expectations, experiences, and relationships during the transition to first time parenthood, this study has explored important aspects of intrapersonal and interpersonal change during the perinatal period. In terms of intrapersonal change, whilst previous studies have reported that negative prenatal expectations of parenthood predict postnatal difficulties for mothers [4, 6], the participants in our sample who ‘expected the worst’ reported an easier adjustment to the early postnatal period. These findings are consistent with those of Muscat, Thorpe and Obst , whose work suggests that some new parents may employ an adaptive cognitive strategy to protect themselves against the possible disappointment associated with a potentially negative parenting experience. Also in contrast to previous research, which has suggested that the ability to embrace the unknown enables women to successfully renegotiate and adjust their expectations according to reality [10, 21], the findings reported in this paper with regard to some couples treating the impending arrival of a baby as ‘unknowable’ (and hence able to be planned for) appeared to lead to challenges in adjusting to the baby when it arrived. With regard to interpersonal change, participants experienced pregnancy as a time of happiness and connection. Having a child together was central to descriptions of greater commitment, and both men and women expressed positivity with regard to their future relationship. Consistent with previous research , and in keeping with their own prenatal expectations, some participants did indeed report experiencing increased connection and relationship satisfaction following the birth of their baby, and this appeared to contribute to a relatively smooth and positive transition to parenthood. By contrast, for participants who reported relationship challenges that pre-existed the pregnancy, it would appear that the relationship was unable to buffer the additional challenges that arose following the birth of a baby. The findings would suggest that key to these differential outcomes was paternal involvement, reflecting previous research demonstrating that decline in relationship satisfaction can be moderated by greater paternal involvement in infant care . Taken together, the findings reported in this paper suggest that at the intrapersonal level, the development of ‘realistic’ expectations allowed some of couples in the sample to experience the early postnatal period as having met or exceeded their expectations of new parenthood. By contrast, for participants who did not have a clear perception of what might lie ahead, this appeared to be related to poorer outcomes after the birth of the child, though these participants were nonetheless able to identify solutions to challenges as they arose. At the interpersonal level, the assumption that the couple relationship would mitigate child-related stressors appeared for some participants to be unfounded, whilst for other couples seeing the pregnancy as a joint project that would cement their commitment to one another appeared to be related to more positive outcomes. These findings suggest potential implications for practice. The majority of antenatal education programs focus on the physical processes of pregnancy, birth and infant care , and new mothers report feeling well educated yet psychologically unprepared for parenting . In keeping with recommendations arising from previous research [5, 9, 13, 24], the findings of the present study suggest the need for a greater educational focus on the social and emotional changes associated with parenthood. Specifically, this may include the importance of psychological preparedness (rather than viewing the birth of a child as psychologically unknowable), and recognising that for some people preparing for the worst may be a useful psychological strategy. For couples, the findings suggest that whilst for some the challenges that may come with a new baby cannot be predicted or avoided, presuming that the couple relationship will mitigate challenges may leave some unprepared. This may be especially so if relationship challenges are already present prior to conception and birth. Access to services that encourage couples to explore existing challenges prior to pregnancy and the birth of a child may thus be beneficial. We acknowledge that when considering the implications and relevance of these findings explored in this paper, there are limitations to the research that should be considered. We particularly note the limitations of the small sample size. However, the depth of the interviews allowed for a detailed exploration of the experiences of participants, and the inclusion of both male and female participants makes this a useful contribution to the literature. It is also possible that the findings may have been influenced by a degree of social desirability. As noted elsewhere , the social ideology of motherhood restricts women from speaking negatively about their babies, which may explain the tendency of women in our sample to attribute negative postnatal emotions to the experience of conflict with their partners, rather than to negative thoughts and feelings towards the infant. In conclusion, the transition to parenthood precipitates an array of intra and inter personal changes that underscore the need for programmes that help facilitate the transition to first time parenthood. Targeting the couple relationship prenatally is an inclusive approach that positions perinatal mental health as a family issue, rather than something specific to women [25–27]. Given the consistent finding of previous research that relationship functioning predicts postnatal distress in both women and men, it is critical that the couple relationship is supported during this time. Such support is vital for the psychological wellbeing of mothers, fathers and infants. The authors acknowledge the involvement of all of the longitudinal study participants. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under a Future Fellowship (FT130100087) awarded to DR. The datasets generated during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical concerns. Participants did not consent to having their anonymised transcripts made available to others and privacy may be compromised due to the qualitative nature of the study. DR conceptualised the study and secured funding. DR and CB wrote the ethics application and refined the study. CB conducted all the interviews and provided data excerpts and context of the interview data. AW conducted the thematic analysis and wrote the introduction. DW and CB wrote the method. DW and AW wrote the findings. AW and DW wrote the discussion. CB proofread and edited the manuscript and prepared the manuscript for each submission. DR and CB undertook all revisions. All authors approved the final manuscript. DR is an Associate Professor in social work at Flinders University, and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He is the author of over 200 publications including the book (with Clemence Due) A Critical Approach to Surrogacy: Reproductive Desires and Demands (Routledge, 2018). AW recently completed a Master of Psychology (Clinical) at the University of Adelaide. Her research interests include perinatal and infant mental health, gender, and sexism. CB is a Research Associate in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work at Flinders University. Her research interests include gender, diversity, children/young people, and families. The research was approved by the Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (project no. 6694). Participants were emailed an information sheet, consent form, and list of supports. Participants returned their signed consent forms prior to the start of the first interview, by email or in person at the interview. The research was performed in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council’s National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/e72). The World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/) is not applicable to the research as it is not medical research. Consent for publication was obtained from each participant via a signed consent form. An information sheet also provided to participants noted that whilst every effort would be made to protect their confidentiality with regard to the general public, certain aspects of the experiences they shared may make them identifiable to family members or close friends.

2019-04-20T22:14:01Z

https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com.preview-live.oscarjournals.springer.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-018-1985-9

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Seller’s quotation, including (1) these terms and conditions, and (2) any documents (such as drawings or other specifications) expressly and to the extent incorporated by reference therein, are referred to herein as the “Agreement.” The Agreement also includes any amendments made from time to time by the parties – but these terms and conditions of sale shall not be amended, modified or rescinded, and no amendment, modification or rescission of the terms and conditions set forth herein will be binding upon Seller, unless such amendment, modification or rescission is agreed to in writing, makes express reference to amending these terms and conditions, and is signed by an Authorized Representative of Seller (see Section 27 below). Buyer’s acceptance of the Agreement is limited to acceptance of the terms and conditions set forth herein. Any proposal for additional or different terms or any attempt by Buyer to vary in any degree any of the terms of this Agreement in Buyer’s acceptance are hereby objected to and rejected by Seller (see Section 27 below). The terms of this agreement are exclusive. Seller’s published prices, if any, are subject to change without notice. Prices contained in individual written quotations or proposals are firm for thirty (30) days from the date of the quotation or proposal; thereafter, they are subject to change, and Buyer should inquire as to their validity and request written confirmation or revision. Prices apply only to Products that are purchased for use in the United States. Quotations for non-United States use will be subject to export approval by the United States government. All prices are in United States dollars. Unless otherwise expressly provided by Seller in the Agreement, prices do not include sales, excise, privilege, use, value-added or other similar taxes now in effect or hereafter levied, transportation charges (such as freight, insurance, shipping, storage, handling, demurrage or similar charges), engineering documentation, special packaging, marketing or testing, and Buyer shall pay all such charges, including applicable sales or other taxes levied with respect to Products and the Agreement (unless exempt there from), as well as any government fees levied on the inspection and/or installation of the Products, upon receipt of the related invoice from Seller and in accordance with this Agreement. In the event that the Agreement expressly provides that any of the foregoing charges are specifically included in the price, any charges attributable to increases in applicable rates after the date such price is quoted to Buyer shall be added to the price. Such charges or taxes imposed on Seller or which Seller has a duty to collect in connection with the sale or delivery of the Products in accordance with this Agreement shall be paid by Buyer and will appear as separate items on Seller’s invoice. In the event Buyer requests changes to Products after the date of quotation, Seller may unilaterally increase prices to cover increased costs (plus reasonable overhead and profit) associated with such changes, including without limitation increased costs of design, materials, and/or manufacturing. Seller shall be under no obligation to honor such requested changes. Where applicable, Seller may add to the price, and Buyer agrees to pay, for the price of additional Products or portions or Products made necessary by incomplete or inaccurate information supplied by the Buyer. Invoices may be rendered separately for each shipment (including any early shipment) made by Seller, and payment will be due net thirty (30) days after the date of shipment, unless a different period is stated elsewhere in the Agreement. Buyer shall be liable for the price of all Products substantially conforming to the Agreement, notwithstanding that Buyer may not have accepted or may have revoked acceptance of same. Buyer shall not be entitled to deduct, counterclaim or set off against the price of Products, or against any other amount owing under the Agreement including under any invoice, any claim or alleged claim arising out of the Agreement or any other transaction with Seller. If payment is not received by the due date, a service charge will be added at the rate of 2% per month (or the maximum legal amount, if less) to the unpaid invoices from the due date thereof. Any remittances received by a bank or other depository of Seller in connection with the Agreement will be received by such bank or other depository solely as a clearing agency. Such receiving bank or depository has no authority to determine whether or not the amount remitted constitutes payment in full. Remittances marked to indicate “payment in full” or other similar expressions may be deposited by such bank or depository notwithstanding such markings and such deposit shall not indicate Seller’s acceptance of the remittance as payment in full and shall not otherwise be treated as an election by, or an impairment of any of the rights of, Seller unless expressly agreed in writing by Seller. Seller may elect to deliver the Products in installments, with each installment being considered a separate sale and invoiced as such, and Buyer shall timely pay each invoice. Any Products indicated at any time as back-ordered shall be considered an installment delivery. Seller shall have the right to stop delivery if Buyer is in arrears with payment. A failure to pay for an installment within the time for payment is an anticipatory material breach of other installments by Buyer. All amounts due on installation or other event which requires the action or cooperation of Buyer which Buyer fails to perform or supply timely shall become due upon such failure. make shipment under reservation of a security interest and demand payment against tender of documents of title. Buyer hereby represents to Seller that Buyer is solvent, that it has all requisite power and authority to enter into the Agreement, that the execution, delivery and performance of the Agreement does and will not conflict with or result in a breach of any contract to which it is a party or by which its assets may be bound, and that no other person other than Seller has or will have a security interest in the Products covered by this Agreement until performance in full by Buyer of its obligations under the Agreement. Buyer further agrees that each acceptance of delivery of the Products sold under the Agreement shall constitute the remaking of each of these representations at such time. If this Agreement permits or requires the use of a letter of credit, the letter of credit shall be assignable, irrevocable, confirmed by a United States bank acceptable to Seller, payable in installments, and require payment to Seller on submission of Seller’s invoice and a bill of lading. The Agreement shall be a shipment contract, and the Products shall be delivered F.O.B. Seller’s shipping dock, Ann Arbor, Michigan, unless otherwise provided in the Agreement. Whether or not Seller prepays shipping charges, title to each shipment of the Products sold hereunder and risk of loss thereon shall pass to Buyer when Seller or its agent delivers such shipment to a common carrier or licensed trucker consigned to Buyer or his agent, but such shipment shall remain subject to Seller’s rights of stoppage in transit, rights of reclamation and other legal rights of Seller. Seller’s breach of the Agreement shall not affect the passing of the risk of loss to Buyer notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary. If this Agreement involves a blanket order or an order where Buyer does not state a quantity at the time of the Agreement, Seller shall not be obligated to sell the quantity estimated by Buyer or ordered by Buyer in any subsequent order or release specifying quantity, unless otherwise set forth in the Agreement. Any subsequent order or release specifying quantity issued by Buyer with respect to the Products shall constitute a separate and independent offer to purchase that certain quantity of the Products on the terms of the contract and shall not obligate Seller to sell the quantity of the Products specified in such order or release unless and until Seller accepts such order. If and when Seller accepts such order, a separate or independent contract shall be deemed to have been formed on the terms and conditions of the Agreement. Where a shipping/delivery date is specified by Seller, that date reflects Seller’s best estimate for the probable time required for completion of Buyer’s order, based on Seller’s then-current engineering and manufacturing capacity and scheduling. All shipping dates are approximate and shall be computed from the date of entry of the order on Seller’s books. All shipping/delivery dates are further subject to Seller’s prompt receipt from Buyer of all drawings, information and approvals necessary to provide the Products and satisfaction of any other conditions under the Agreement. Seller will use reasonable and diligent efforts to effect shipment on or before the date indicated. Buyer may request a specific shipping date or shipping schedule; however, unless otherwise indicated herein, Buyer may not request that a shipment be scheduled beyond one year from the issuance of its purchase order. Seller shall put the Products in the possession of a carrier and, without liability, make such contract for their transportation as Seller decides having regard for the nature of the Products and other circumstances. On Buyer’s request, Seller shall obtain and deliver to Buyer documents necessary to enable the Buyer to obtain insurance. The Seller is not responsible to prepay transportation or insurance costs. The Buyer shall pay all handling and other charges incidental to transportation. Seller will generally follow the Buyer’s shipping instructions, but may make reasonable changes thereto without liability and at Buyer’s cost. Products shall be packaged and labeled in accordance with standard labeling of Seller. Identification of all packages shall be with the standard labels of Seller. Identification of all packages shall be with the Seller’s part number. Special packaging or labeling shall be an additional charge to Buyer. Buyer assumes responsibility for compliance with all U.S. federal, state and local laws governing exports from the United States in connection with the sale and use of the Products covered by the Agreement, and/or any subsequent re-export of such Products. All export and import duties, fees, permits, licenses, etc. for Products to be delivered outside of the United States shall be the responsibility of the Buyer. If shipment of any Products or other performance by Seller is delayed at the request of or due to the fault of the Buyer, the Seller may at its option hold the Products at the place of manufacture at the risk and expense of the Buyer from the time the Products are ready for shipment. In the event of any such delay to shipment, full and final payment for an item shall be due and payable thirty (30) days after the Buyer is notified that the item is ready for shipment and an invoice issued for such Products. If the Seller is unwilling to accommodate the Buyer by holding such item, then Buyer agrees to accept shipment immediately. Delivery rescheduled at Buyer’s request, if agreed to by Seller, is subject to an additional charge of 2% of the selling price if rescheduled within ten (10) days immediately preceding the then-current scheduled delivery date, which will be invoiced at the time of shipment. delays by Buyer in inspecting and acceptance, in furnishing requested specifications, materials, tooling or information, in making payments, or otherwise. In the event of any such delay or failure in performance, Seller shall have such additional time within which to perform its obligations under the Agreement as may reasonably be necessary under the circumstances; and Seller shall also have the right, to the extent necessary in Seller’s reasonable judgment, to apportion fairly, among itself and its various customers in such manner as Seller may consider equitable, Products then available for delivery. If, as a result of any such contingency, Seller is unable to perform under the Agreement in whole or in part, then, to the extent that it is unable to perform, the Agreement shall be deemed terminated without liability to either party, but shall remain in effect as to the unaffected portion of the Agreement, if any. This section shall be effective even as to circumstances which exist at the time of quotation or as of the date of the Agreement. in the case of defects not discoverable through inspection, within 30 days or other reasonable time established by Seller after receipt of the item. Failure to so act shall constitute an irrevocable acceptance by the Buyer of the item. All defects and non-conformities which are not specified are waived. If the Buyer rejects any tender of the Products or other items and if requested by Seller, Buyer shall return them to the Seller, pursuant to Seller’s direction. In the case of Buyer acceptance of non-conforming Products, Buyer shall immediately notify Seller whether or not Buyer will continue to accept similarly non-conforming Products and failure to do so shall constitute a waiver by Buyer of specification requirements for said Products. In any event, when any Products shall have been altered from their original state, Buyer shall be deemed to have accepted such Products. Buyer’s acceptance of Products tendered under this Agreement shall be final and irrevocable. No attempted revocation of acceptance shall be effective, and Buyer shall be limited to the remedies specifically provided in the Agreement. If the Agreement requires inspection or testing, the Buyer shall provide at the place of manufacturer at its own expense, one or more qualified and authorized employees to inspect and/or test the Products, check them for general compliance with the Agreement, and authorize shipment. If Buyer fails to do so within seven (7) days, then the Seller may, at its own discretion, determine that Buyer has waived the right of inspection, testing and/or acceptance prior to shipment of the Products. Correction of defects or non-conformities, which would likely have been discovered by Buyer’s inspection and/or testing and otherwise covered by Seller’s warranty, will be at the Buyer’s expense. Buyer shall also provide, at its cost and risk of loss, all materials, fixtures, tooling and other items necessary for any inspection and/or testing required by the Agreement or requested by Seller. If the Buyer fails to supply such items within the time required, Seller may supply them at Buyer’s expense. Equipment, parts and materials furnished by Buyer for Seller’s testing and/or inspection will be returned to Buyer at Buyer’s cost, unless Buyer authorizes their disposal. If the Products include the necessary fixtures and tooling, the inspection and/or testing at the place of manufacturer may be performed on equipment similar to but other than that identified to the Agreement. Any expense incurred by Buyer in the inspection or testing of Products shall be paid by the Buyer, whether or not the Products have been rejected as defective or non-confirming or the Products have been accepted and a warranty claim has been made for correction of a defect or non-conformity. Any claim by the Buyer for shortages in any delivery must be in writing with satisfactory evidence delivered to the Seller within 30 days of receipt. Carriers are responsible for Products lost or damaged in transit. In the case of loss or damage to Products in transit, Buyer shall immediately notify the carrier or its agent in writing of such loss or damage and shall do all things necessary to assert and prosecute a claim against the carrier for such loss or damage. Seller may charge Buyer a restocking charge equal to twenty-five percent (25%) of the invoice price of returned Products. Returned Products must be returned to Seller in the original packaging and Buyer must first obtain a written consent from Seller to return the Products. Seller may offset the restocking charge against any amounts Seller owes to Buyer. the Products will be free and clear of all liens, encumbrances, and other claims except for Seller’s reservation of a security interest in the Products prior to receipt of payment in full. The warranty period for Products is twelve months from the date of shipment or if only services, is ninety days from the last date of the service. Products which are supplied by other vendors and which are resold by Seller hereunder without alteration or change shall only have the warranty furnished by said vendor, which, to the extent possible, Seller passes on to the Buyer. Seller retains the right to change the dimensions, composition, design, performance, color and appearance of the Products without liability if, in its judgment, the change is non-material. Products which are manufactured by Seller may include new parts or serviceable used parts that are functionally equivalent to new parts. IMRA does not return to the customer failed components removed whenever replacement components are installed, whether the components are replaced under warranty or not. Seller may, in its discretion, also rely on any generally accepted industry standards. the Products not having been subjected to misuse, neglect, or accident, or to alteration, improper installation, repair or improper testing in any respect which, in the judgment of Seller, adversely affects the condition or operation of the Products. Seller will indemnify Buyer against and defend all suits and pay all damages and costs finally adjudicated against Buyer for infringement of United States patents by Products purchased under the Agreement; provided that Buyer will promptly notify Seller in writing of any claim asserted and suit or action brought against Buyer alleging that the Products purchased under this Agreement infringe one or more United States patents, and provide Seller with assistance and information requested by Seller for its defense, and provided that the indemnity of Seller under this Agreement shall not extend to claims, suits or actions for infringement based upon the use of any Products in combination with apparatuses, circuits or devices not furnished by Seller or upon the use of any such combination, or based upon the application or use to which such Products are put, including any application or process performed or facilitated by such Products (“Excluded Claims”). Seller shall defend with its counsel or other counsel of its choice and shall have the sole right, without consultation with Buyer, to take all action Seller deems appropriate to prosecute or settle such claims. Buyer shall not be entitled to indemnification or contribution from Seller with respect to any Excluded Claims, and Buyer will indemnify Seller against and defend all suits and pay all damages and costs awarded against Seller arising out of any such Excluded Claims. In addition, Buyer will indemnify Seller against and defend all suits and pay all damages and costs awarded against Buyer with respect to claims of infringement for Products manufactured wholly or partially to Buyer’s design or specifications. request the return of such Products and refund the purchase price less an allowance for depreciation and shipping costs thereof. The foregoing expresses the entire obligation and liability of Seller with respect to infringement of patents by said products. The limited express warranties in this agreement are in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied, and Seller disclaims all implied warranties including but not limited to any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non-infringement. All descriptions, shipping specifications and illustrations of the Products in catalogues, brochures and price lists otherwise provided by the Seller and not expressly and specifically incorporated in the Agreement were and are for general guidance only, and the Seller is not responsible for any errors or omissions therein or for any loss or damage resulting from reliance thereon. Seller does not warrant that it or the Products are in compliance with any industry standards, guidelines, or procedures, or with the requirements of any safety or environmental code or regulation of any federal, state, municipality or other jurisdiction unless otherwise specifically provided in the Agreement. Buyer affirms that it has not relied upon the Seller’s skill or judgment to select or furnish Products for any particular purpose beyond the specific express warranties in this Agreement. Seller’s examination of such Products shall disclose to Seller’s satisfaction that such Products are defective or nonconforming under the Agreement. Buyer’s remedies shall be limited (even in the event of Seller’s default of its warranty obligations) exclusively to those provided for in this Section. Notwithstanding anything set forth in this agreement (including its attachments), and to the extent permitted by law, in no event shall Seller by responsible or liable to Buyer for any loss of use, revenue, or anticipated profits, or for any incidental, consequential, indirect, special, contingent or punitive damages in connection with any breach of warranty of other breach of seller’s obligations under this agreement (including any attachment hereto). Seller’s aggregate liability for any damages or claims arising out of or relating to any Products hereunder shall in no event exceed the amount Buyer paid for the Products giving rise to the claim or damages. Buyer waives any causes of action or theories of liability including, but not limited to, those arising under contract, tort, strict liability, product liability, statutes, or otherwise, except as specifically provided by the UCC as modified and limited herein. The replacement or repair of Products by the Seller does not give rise to any new warranty except the warranty period provided for herein shall be extended by the length of any period in which defective or non-conforming Products are in possession of the Seller. The Agreement is only for the benefit of the parties, except all disclaimers and limitations applicable to Seller and all indemnification to which Seller is entitled shall be also for the benefit of Seller’s parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies (and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, and suppliers). If any other provision of the Agreement is determined to apply to other parties, all other provisions including limitations, waivers and disclaimers shall also apply. if the claim asserted is inconsistent with the limitation of warranties, limitation of liability and/or limitation of remedies set forth in this Agreement. After the shipments have been scheduled, Buyer may not cancel or postpone a scheduled shipment unless Buyer submits a request in writing, and Seller consents by issuing a new formal acknowledgement. Any request by Buyer to cancel or to reschedule the shipment of any product may be rejected as untimely or, at Seller’s option, may be accepted upon payment of the appropriate cancellation charge or rescheduling charge. Alternatively, in Seller’s sole discretion, Buyer may cancel its order for the Products prior to their shipment by immediate payment to Seller of liquidated damages in the amount of Thirty-Five percent (35%) of the invoice price of the Products. The parties acknowledge the great difficulty of proving damages for the cancellation of products such as the Products and the reasonableness of this liquidated damages provision. may cease performance of its obligations and defer shipment under the Agreement and/or any other agreement between Buyer and Seller until such default, breach or repudiation is removed, (3) may cancel any undelivered portions of the Products and/or any other agreement with Buyer in whole or in part and/or (4) may recover Products in transit or delivered, retrieve delivered Products, repossess all Products which may be stored by Seller for Buyer’s account and otherwise enforce its remedies for Buyer’s default. Buyer shall remain liable for all damages suffered or incurred by Seller in any such circumstances. Seller shall be awarded incidental damages including, without limitation, reasonable profits and costs such as actual reasonable attorney fees in any proceeding to enforce its remedies in which it obtains relief for damages or injunctive relief. All rights granted to Seller in the Agreement and by law are cumulative, provided Seller shall be entitled to only a single full recovery. Seller shall not be liable for any action taken pursuant to a good faith exercise of any of its rights under the Agreement or law. In addition to any security interest granted by the UCC, the Buyer hereby grants a security interest to the Seller in all Products and documents related thereto and proceeds and products there from to secure all obligations of the Buyer to the Seller, whether or not arising under the Agreement. Buyer shall sign financing statements evidencing the security interest as reasonably requested by Seller, or Seller may file a copy of the Agreement or portion thereof as a financing statement. Buyer grants Seller an irrevocable power of attorney to sign Buyer’s name to a financing statement if necessary or convenient to perfect Seller’s security interest. Buyer shall provide a landlord’s waiver of any lien rights at the premises to which the Products are to be installed. In case of a default by Buyer, Seller may peaceably enter the premises of the Buyer and others to repossess or render inoperable all Products in which it has a security interest. In case of a default by Buyer, Buyer hereby irrevocably appoints the Seller as its agent to obtain possession of the Products and documents related thereto. Buyer shall not sell, exchange, transfer, convey, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate, or grant a security interest in any Products or the proceeds thereof (including cash, accounts, contract rights, instruments and chattel paper) which are the subject to this Agreement if payment therefore shall not have been made in full to Seller. Buyer shall insure all materials, fixtures, tooling, and other property delivered to Seller against all risks and waives subrogation in the event of loss of or damage to such property. Unless otherwise agreed, Buyer acknowledges that any information disclosed to Seller is subject only to Buyer’s patent rights, without any other restrictions on Seller’s use, including reproduction, modification, disclosure or distribution of the information. Buyer agrees not to label any such information with a notice asserting that the information is proprietary or confidential to Buyer. In addition, Buyer agrees not to assert any claim (other than a claim for patent infringement) against Seller, Seller’s customers, or their respective suppliers, with respect to any information that Buyer has disclosed or may disclose to Seller in connection with the Products. All proposals, plans, specifications, models, tools, patterns, processes, fixtures, designs and other information furnished by the Seller or Seller’s parent, subsidiary or affiliate companies in bidding, negotiating and performing the Agreement, are proprietary to Seller and shall not be shown or disclosed to any other bidder, and shall not be shown or disclosed to any third party or used by Buyer except as may be necessary for the selection or use of the Products. Seller is not obligated to furnish detailed or shop working drawings, engineering calculations, computer programs, or other information for any Products or part thereof unless specifically required by the Agreement. Any invention or other information, whether patentable or not, developed by Seller in the performance of the Agreement shall remain the property of Seller. Seller shall be under no obligation to refrain from using in its business any of Seller’s proprietary information disclosed to Buyer under this Agreement. The Buyer shall not engage in any transaction with respect to the Products, by way of resale, lease, shipment or otherwise which violates any statute or regulation of the United States of America. Among other matters, Buyer shall neither export nor re-export, directly or indirectly, any Product purchased from Seller to any country to which such export or re-export is restricted by United States law or regulation without the prior written consent, if required, of the Office of Export Administration, Department of Commerce, or Office of Munitions Control, Department of State, Washington, D.C. If the Products purchased under this Agreement are to be used in fulfilling a contract or subcontract with the United States Government, Seller agrees to accept only those U.S. Government contract provisions listed on the attached supplement, if any. Seller will review with Buyer its ability to accept other Federal Acquisition provisions upon request. Seller certifies that any Products produced in the United States shall be produced in compliance with all applicable requirements of Sections 6, 7 and 12 of the United States Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, and of the regulations and orders of the United States Department of Labor issued under Section 14 thereof. No other certifications or waivers regarding payments to Seller’s suppliers or laborers are required. Buyer deposits any unpaid portion of the purchase price for Products with the tribunal pending final adjudication. An action shall accrue no later than shipment of the Products. support or sustain life and whose failure to perform when properly used in accordance with instructions for use provided in the labeling, can be reasonably expected to result in a significant injury to the user. A critical component is any component in a life support device or system whose failure to perform can be reasonably expected to cause failure of the life support device or system or to affect its safety or effectiveness. Seller’s Products have not been tested of approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other United States of foreign agency for use as a device or a component of a device for the diagnosis of disease or other condition of the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in man or animal (“Medical Use”). Any Medical Use of Seller’s Products is done at the user’s sole risk and liability. The party to this Agreement and the user of Seller’s Products assume all risk of injury to the user or third parties resulting from Medical Use of Seller’s Products. either party may seek injunctive relief from a state court located in Washtenaw County, Michigan, or federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan, to enforce provisions of the Agreement relating to confidential information. Judgment upon any arbitration award may be entered and enforced in any court having proper jurisdiction. No demand for arbitration hereunder may be filed by Buyer as a claim or counterclaim if Buyer has not given timely written notice of its claim to Seller or if more than one year has expired from the date of the cause of action accrued, as provided in the Agreement. The arbitrator(s) may enter an interim award that the Products be returned to Seller for appropriate disposition and the application of any proceeds to amounts owed to Seller. Upon the filing of a demand for arbitration by Seller or Buyer, the Buyer shall deposit with the arbitrator(s) any unpaid balance of the purchase price for any Products and any other unpaid amount under the Agreement to be held in an interest bearing account. If such deposit is not made, the arbitrator(s) shall enter a final award against the Buyer in the amount of the unpaid purchase price and other amounts owed by Buyer to Seller under the Agreement. The arbitrator(s) shall be bound by the terms of the Agreement, shall not apply principles of equity or allow any claims not permitted by the Agreement, may only award or grant to the parties such remedies as a court of competent jurisdiction could award or grant within the locality where the arbitration takes place and which are authorized (and not excluded or otherwise limited under the Agreement), and may not award consequential or punitive damages. The arbitrator(s) may include the arbitration fees in an award. This agreement shall be governed, construed and enforced under the law of the State of Michigan including the uniform commercial code in force on the initial date of the agreement (“UCC”), without regard to its conflict of law rules and except as provided herein. The U.N. Convention on the International Sale of Products shall not apply. Any services to be provided hereunder, whether or not they are otherwise ancillary to and part of a sale of Products (whether as separate units or included in a construction project), shall be considered ancillary to a sale of Products and the UCC shall apply to all Products and services to be provided hereunder (“Products”). State courts in Washtenaw County, Michigan and federal courts in the Eastern District of Michigan shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the parties and the claims arising under the Agreement, subject to the provisions of Section 18 above regarding arbitration. Neither party shall assert any objection to such jurisdiction, or that any such court is inconvenient or otherwise improper. Buyer and Seller consent to service of process by personal delivery or by postage prepaid, certified U.S. mail, mailed to the address of such party set forth in this Agreement. The Agreement and Buyer’s rights and obligations hereunder may not be assigned, pledged, hypothecated or otherwise transferred by Buyer except with the prior written approval of Seller, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Any assignment attempted by Buyer shall be void and ineffective for all purposes unless made in conformity with this section. Seller may freely assign all rights and obligations it has under this agreement and may subcontract performance of any aspect of this Agreement. The relationship between Buyer and Seller is solely that of a vendor and vendee. Buyer is not an agent of Seller and has no authority to act on behalf of Seller, accept service or process, to create obligations of any kind or bind Seller in any respect. To the extent any express terms set forth in Seller’s quotation to which these Terms and Conditions are attached or in which they are incorporated by reference are inconsistent with these Terms and Conditions, the express terms set forth in Seller’s quotation shall control (to the extent, and only to the extent, of such inconsistency). Waiver by Seller of any provision of the Agreement or of a breach by Buyer of any provision of the Agreement shall not be deemed a waiver of future compliance with the Agreement and such provision, as well as all other provisions of this Agreement, shall remain in full force and effect. The Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the Agreement of the parties and supersedes any and all previous quotations and/or agreements relating to the Products. The Seller is willing to consider negotiating written changes to the Agreement, including these terms and conditions, but reserves the right to make an adjustment in the price of the Products. No amendments, modifications, supplements, limitations, waivers or discharges of this Agreement or any of its terms shall bind Seller unless in writing and signed by an authorized representative of Seller, making express reference to amending the Agreement. No agent, employee, or representative of the Seller has any authority to sign and bind the Seller with respect to any of the foregoing (including without limitation any representation or warranty concerning Products not contained in the Agreement), except Takashi Omitsu, President [Seller’s authorized employee at Seller’s Ann Arbor, Michigan office] (“Authorized Representative of Seller”). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, no modifications, limitations, waiver or discharge of any provision of the Agreement shall affect the Buyer’s liabilities to Seller accrued prior thereto. Orders submitted in any Buyer’s purchase order or other writing (whether or not it contains terms or conditions modifying, adding to, repugnant to, or inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the Agreement), may be accepted, approved, or filled by Seller, but any resulting contract and the liabilities or obligations of Seller shall be determined solely by the Agreement, and (unless Seller otherwise advises Buyer in writing signed by an Authorized Representative of Seller) notice is hereby given that Seller objects to any such terms or conditions in Buyer’s purchase order or other writing. Seller shall not be deemed to have in any way enlarged or modified its liabilities or obligations under the Agreement by filling such purchase orders or by failing to further object to Buyer’s terms or conditions. Obvious stenographic and clerical errors contained in the Agreement are subject to correction by Seller. The heading and definitions in the Agreement are inserted for convenience only and shall not constitute a part hereof. If any provision of the Agreement shall be held to be unenforceable or invalid, such provision shall be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, and the balance of the Agreement shall be interpreted as if such provision were so excluded. Any declaration of unenforceability of a provision shall be as narrow as possible. Any interpretation of the Agreement shall be construed consistently by and against both parties, and shall not be construed against the draftsperson hereof. Buyer and Seller acknowledge that they are merchants in respect to the Products, they have had an opportunity to review the Agreement, and the previsions of the Agreement are reasonable when considered as a whole.

2019-04-18T22:45:32Z

https://www.imra.com/terms-and-conditions-of-sale/

Chapter 282. Cordelia and Loyal's Agreement. Cordelia glared fiercely at Loyal who was trembling and making small whimpering noises. Cordelia: Loyal, spit that out and hand it over! Loyal obeyed Cordelia but never gave her the stone. Loyal: No, I will not. Cordelia: I will do away with Death if you are too scared, Loyal. Loyal: I'll do it, Cordelia. If Death is a murderer, then so am I. Cordelia: You? You haven't done anything. Loyal: Not yet I haven't. Loyal: I'm just as bad as a murderer, Cordelia. Cordelia: Why do you have your brothers knife? Loyal: Did you know that if my brother and I put our powers together, we can kill each other? Cordelia: No, I didn't know that. Loyal: Death's power surges through his weapons. Loyal: All it takes is one crack in my stone to stick Death's knife in it. Furious, Cordelia stomped over to Loyal but stopped when Loyal cried out as if he was in pain. Cordelia: Stop this nonsense, Loyal. Loyal: If Death dies, so will I. Cordelia: What about your other deities? Are you going to leave them alone like this? Loyal: If I kill Death, my beautiful deities do not deserve a murderer for their God! Cordelia: So you are going to leave them all?! Loyal: They can't live with a heartless murderer, Cordelia! Cordelia: All of this just for your brother!? Would you do this for anyone else?! Loyal: YES!! If I had to kill you, I would die along with you!! For you and everyone!!! Quickly, Loyal shoved the stone in his mouth and bit down on it. Cordelia yelped hearing the noise, Loyal spat out his stone looking at it. The glowing stone had a deep crack on the side. Large enough to stick a finger in it the crack. Loyal: I'm sure Sun would do a great job. Standing up, Loyal raised his arm to stab his stone. The black and red knife shone brightly as the white rays of light from the stone struck it. Loyal fell down with a yelp. Cordelia stood there breathing hard. Beside Loyal was Death's stone. Cordelia: Damn it! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN TO STOP!!! Loyal said nothing but smile at Death's stone. While Cordelia scolded Loyal, Loyal touched Death's stone with his fingertips. Loyal glanced at Cordelia with large eyes. Cordelia shut her eyes and counted to ten deliberately. Cordelia: I can see how much you love and want your brother, Loyal. Cordelia: And you are not a liar. If you say you would do this for the others, then you are speaking the truth. Loyal: I would, I really would! Cordelia: I'm not a heartless Goddess, Loyal. If you want this to be so, then I'll... spare Death's life. Cordelia crossed her arms frowning at Loyal who was sitting up now. Cordelia: I want something in advance, alright? Now get out. Cordelia nodded sharply at Loyal and turned away. Taking only one step, Cordelia felt Loyal jump on her hugging her tightly. Loyal: Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won't regret this!! Gagging, Cordelia tried to pry Loyal off. Laughing with joy, Loyal held onto Cordelia like a barnacle. Cordelia: Off! I don't like hugs! Loyal: I'll be back soon, Cordelia! Bye-bye! Loyal kissed Cordelia on the cheek before running out the door. Growling, Cordelia wiped her face with her sleeves. The things Cordelia has to deal with. Chapter 283. Death the Exiled. Death sat on his bed holding onto his stuffed octopus tightly. "Loyal" was silent now; his harsh voice still rang in Death's ears. Death never felt so alone at this moment. First, he lost Himitsu. Then his new family and Moon. How can Death be so blind? "I never knew all of this, Loyal." "Yeah, well, that's my truth. I can't keep up with this lie forever." "I'm sorry. Why were you keeping me here?" "I thought I could handle this, but I can't." "Oh, Loyal... how could I've been so stupid?" "How could I think I could handle all of this?" "Now that I know this, what must will you do?" "Death, you do know what happens to murderers, right?" "No, I don't... Is it the death penalty?" "No, it's worse than that." "What can be worse than-" Why? Why such a harsh punishment as this? The death penalty was frightening, but it will soon be over. To live the life as a criminal, vagabond, outcast. Each day knowing you have no place to call home, no one to call family. Yes, exile indeed is the worst punishment any human or deity can receive. "Kill me, please! Anything but this!!!" "Why should I give you the blessing of death? What makes you think you deserve it?" "I don't want to live a life alone!!" "And Himitsu didn't want to die." "My deities and I don't want to suffer like this anymore." "I'm sorry! I didn't- I'm-" "I'm scared! I don't want to go like this! I don't want to leave knowing you are angry with me!! Are you!?" "Why the hell do you think I am banishing you?" "It's not going to make up for the death of our father, Death!!" "Stop calling me that! You're not a child anymore, damn it!" Death balked when "Loyal" screamed at him. Was Loyal really this upset about Himitsu. Even though their father hated Loyal, Loyal still loved him. And Death took Himitsu away. "Alright, Loyal. If you want this. I'll leave." "Then go. Why are still here?" "That I would change my mind? -Scoffs-" Trembling, Death got up from his bed and headed to the door. The clock ticked loudly. "Will we ever see each other again, Loyal?" "I pray that we won't, Death." Death nodded his head and covered his face with his right hand so "Loyal" wouldn't see the tears. "Buck up, Death. It's not the end of the world." "It is for me, Loy-loy..." Death shut the door and locked it with "Loyal" inside. Everyone in the house was asleep. No one saw Death going down the stairs and out the door. The cold wind blew harshly at Death as if his friend, Wind was mad at him. Pulling his jacket on, Death went down the trail, opened the gate, and left. It was so dark, that Death worried that he would get lost. It didn't matter anymore. Death was an outcast, vagabond, nothing. Inside the house, Amagna Okubi laughed softly into his closed fist watching Death leave. Chapter 284. The Perfect Birthday Gift. Practically dancing, Loyal paraded around the town looking at each stall full of colorful clothing and unique gadgets to buy. The people smiled at Loyal who was ogling a fairy light. The fairy light spun around slowly making Loyal grin with delight; it was perfect for his mother. After paying for it, Loyal moved onto the next stall looking for a gift for his father and brothers. Smiling, Loyal sat on the steps thinking about what he should get Death. A kitten? He has plenty of those. Loyal sat up in surprise. Yelp? Looking up, Loyal saw a man with a large cage full of yelping puppies. Quickly, Loyal jumped up and hurried over to the cage. Six loud puppies ran around chasing each other or just wagging their tails at Loyal. Petting each one, Loyal begin to check which one he should buy. They were all so adorable, that it was hard to choose. The man smiled at Loyal when he asked him what kind of breed they were. Great ducks, those dogs grow up to be huge! Would his parents like such a large animal? Eh, Loyal will deal with them later. Reaching down and closing his eyes, Loyal picked up one of the puppies. This one was coming home with Loyal. After paying the man and saying goodbye to the puppies, Loyal set off to go home. Loyal: Okay, puppy! You are mine for now. The puppy cocked her head at Loyal as he cradled her in his arms. The lantern bobbed gently lighting the way for Loyal. Chuckling, Loyal placed the puppy on the ground and knelt next to her. Loyal: Soon you will belong to my brother. Today is his birthday. The puppy whined at Loyal as he pulled out a glossy paper. Loyal: This is him. This is Death, isn't he handsome? The puppy bit down on the picture thinking it was a treat. Loyal watched in horror as the puppy tore up the picture. The puppy wagged her tail at Loyal as he rubbed her head. The wind was so cold tonight. Slightly nervous, Loyal got up, picked up the squirming puppy and walked on. Loyal: You need a name. As Loyal walked home, he couldn't think of any names for the new puppy. Death's cats puffed up at the puppy when she bounced into the living room. Loyal didn't have enough time to escape to his room, that and Rayon was already at the door with Faisceau. Faisceau: What are you doing with that dog!? Loyal: It's for Death, mama. Faisceau: Good heavens, why!? He has smelly cats already! Loyal: It's my birthday gift for him. Rayon: Aw, how cute. Please, Faisceau? Let's keep her? Faisceau was interrupted when the puppy yelped in pain after being scratched on floppy ear One of the cats hissed at her, Faisceau grabbed her broom and slapped the naughty cat outside. The puppy whined mournfully and hid her face in Faisceau's nightgown. Loyal and Rayon held their breath watching Faisceau nurse the puppy's bleeding ear. The puppy licked at Faisceau's hand whining softly. Faisceau: -Sigh- Why do puppies do this? Loyal: Can we keep her? Faisceau: If it's Death's birthday gift, then alright. Faisceau silenced her husband and son as they begin to cheer out loud. Faisceau: What is her name? Rayon: You don't know? Pfft. Name her anything. Faisceau: Baby Waffles is her name. Don't wear it out. Rayon: What kind of a name is that?! Faisceau: Her name. Now be quiet! Chapter 285. Where is Death? "Ssh! Be still, you three. Death might wake up." "I did not, the puppy nipped me and pulled away from her." "Ow! She nipped my arm, Loyal!" Loyal cried out quietly when Sun slapped him on the forehead. Rayon turned around quickly and slapped Sun on the head making him yelp. Fire was in the back with Faisceau who reached over and took the puppy from Loyal. "Rayon, they are cursing at each other again." "I have ears, Faisceau. If you don't shaddap and stop cursing at you brother, Sun, I'll whip you with the strap." "See? This is why they curse like this." Ha-ha, dad yelled at you." "Dad didn't yell at me, He whispered harshly at me. There is a difference, you idiot." "Why are you getting mad at me? Fire-" Faisceau begin to scold her sons as Sun held Fire in a headlock. Loyal pulled on Sun telling him to stop. "Ow, he bit me. Ma, the savage bit me." Rayon led his bickering family up the stairs leading to Death's room. A few cats hurried down the stairs making Baby Waffles whine. "Just wait, let me pull my hair back." "Don't forget to freshen your makeup, Sun." As Sun pulled his hair back, he kicked Fire hard in the knee. Rayon opened the door slowly so he wouldn't wake Death up. Sun, Fire, Loyal, and Faisceau tiptoed behind him. Death's bed was empty except for one cat that was resting there. Faisceau turned on the light making her sons screech out Happy Birthday thinking it was the signal. Sun: Eh? Where's Death, Loyal? Loyal: I thought he was asleep in here. Rayon went over to the bed and looked under it. All was there were a few books, a plate, a cat toy, and shoes. Rayon: He might have gone out to see Moon. Rayon: They are friends, right? She probably had a present for him. Fire was too worried to make a joke about it to Sun. Baby Waffles jumped out of Faisceau's arms and went over to Cricket who blinked sleepily at her. Faisceau: How strange... Come on, everyone. I have to make breakfast. Rayon, Sun, and Loyal went after Faisceau while Fire stayed behind staring at Death's empty bed. Where was he? He should've been here. Rayon, Faisceau, Sun, and Loyal sat at the table talking about the party they planned in the temples. Fire came thumping down the stairs with Baby Waffles and Cricket at his heels. Rayon: It's hard to believe that Death is twelve already, Faisceau. Faisceau: I know. I still remember wrapping him up in a blanket and giving him to Seikatsu. Faisceau: Ah, Loyal, your brother was so tiny and weightless. It frightened everyone! Faisceau: No, that made matters worse, Death wouldn't come to even after we slapped him. Fire: What made him start breathing? Rayon: We don't know. Death just begin to breathe. Loyal looked around remembering when he had to breathe for his brother after hearing his mother and father panicking. He never told anyone though. The front door opened making Faisceau jump up excitedly. It wasn't Death. Wind and Moon peeked in. Wind: Hi, sorry to bother you, the door was open. Fire leaned over and muttered 'rude' to Loyal. Faisceau: We thought he went to see you? Moon didn't have enough to answer when Cloud and Rain shoved her aside. Rayon: Okay, what's going on? Cloud: You tell me. Where's Death? Now, everyone was confused or scared. Death was nowhere to be seen. Fire felt Loyal squeeze his hand tightly. Loyal was trembling. Faisceau: Now, now, Death might have gone off to be alone for a few minutes. He'll be back soon. Wind: Who wants to be alone on their birthday? Wind: Whatever- I mean, yes, ma'am. Fire: He'll be here, right? Rayon: Of course. Death wouldn't leave. Wind shrugged and left saying bye. Moon came up and glared at Rain who stuck out her tongue. Cloud's mouth made a tight line as she pulled her sister along. The morning went on with everyone thinking Death would come back soon. *one sec later* THEY KNOW! Chapter 286. The Unfinished Birthday Song. Tired and falling to his knees, Death stopped to catch his breath. The freezing wind blew severely making Death's feet feel numb even in his boots. Heavy storm clouds gathered in the sky covering the winter moon. Shielding his eyes from the now falling snow, Death wondered if Moon was upset with him as well. Like his brother said, they all are. Even his best friend. No deity saw the freezing young God trudging through the snow. Death longed for Himitsu to be with him in his now perilous life. It would have been better if he and Himitsu were both exiled in the beginning. Why did Death think he could stop his father from hurting his brother? Loyal was no longer his brother. He cut ties off with him in just one night. Death had no one now. The cold feeling of abandonment began to sink within Death's warm heart causing him to wince from the cutting cold pain. Death never knew it would hurt this much. Is this how Loyal felt? All these years of Himitsu's hate, is this how Loyal felt each passing day? Death bit down on his bottom lip berating himself for not thinking of asking how Loyal felt. Death was too busy basking in Himitsu's love for him. Loyal had every right to hate him. It was only fair and just. The stinging snow pierced Death's skin cutting him as it hit him. Thin trails of blood seeped from the tiny openings. Death had nothing. The only thing Death remembered is that it's his birthday. He is now twelve years old. If only the deities had started their search party, they would have found Death. Wringing a napkin, Loyal puttered back and forth complaining to Sun and Fire about Death's absence. Sun and Fire sat on the table listening to Loyal while the others fussed over the party streamers to keep their mind that Death is gone. "Calm yourself, Loyal. Death will come to the temple." "He never showed up like you said, Sun. I need him here now!" "Loyal, it's alright. Death will show up." "No, Fire, this has gone long enough. Death never leaves without telling me." The clock struck eleven and Sun told his friends and deities to go home to rest already. Loyal stood by a pillar hanging onto it. Wordlessly, Sun walked over to Loyal and pulled him away. "It's getting late. We should be in bed now." Fire came up and patted Sun's arm motioning for him to let go of Loyal. The snow continued to fall making huge drifts outside. "Ssh. We'll wait with you." Loyal smiled weakly at Fire who pulled on his scarf on tighter. Sun, Fire, and Loyal huddled close together to keep warm in the freezing temple. A lone candle flickered in front of them. Together, the young Gods whispered happy birthday to Death. "Happy birthday, dear Death... happy birthday to you." The beautiful song Death never finished. Fire awoke in his bed next to one of Death's cats. Sun and Loyal were nowhere to be seen. Getting up quickly, Fire rushed downstairs calling for his parents who were talking in the living room. Faisceau's eyes were red from crying. Fire: Where's Sun and Loyal? Faisceau: Sun is with Ocean and Loyal is sleeping in his room. Rayon: We did. We worried that you and your brothers ran away. Rayon: Fire, your brother ran away. Fire sucked in his breath and reached for a chair to support him as his knees weakened. Ran away? Why? Faisceau begin to weep again hanging onto her husband as he smoothed her hair down telling her it will be alright. Rayon: What is it, Fire? Fire: Are you sure he ran away? Fire: Did Cosmic's and Galactic's parents find any trace? Rayon: No, they found nothing. Even though it was snowing, there were no footprints. Fire: No feather? No scent!? Rayon: Hush, Fire. You'll wake up your brother. Fire: How are we going to tell Loyal? Rayon: I'll think of something. I'll try to break it down to him. Rayon and Faisceau looked up quickly and stared. Fire gulped down the hard lump forming in his throat afraid to turn around. That noise wasn't the cats or dog. Fire turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Loyal stood there on the steps gripping the wooden railing with one hand. Rayon and Faisceau looked at each other and back at Loyal. Loyal: Is this a sick joke? No one answered Loyal as he slowly came down the stairs. Loyal stared directly at his father who stuttered and swallowed loudly. Loyal: Where did I go wrong? Loyal: How could I've failed so terribly? Faisceau didn't get to finish her sentence. Loyal ran past her and headed to the front door. The front door lew open and Loyal ran out into the cold morning air. Rayon bolted after Loyal and ordering Fire to stay inside. Faisceau and Fire stood in the living room hearing Rayon yell Loyal's name. Faintly, they heard Loyal screaming for his brother. Faisceau cried quietly into her tissue holding onto Fire. Faisceau: Oh, Fire, what will become of your brother? Faisceau: We looked everywhere, but Death never showed up! Faisceau: Everywhere, Fire! I should've been listening to my son! Fire: It will be alright, mama. Faisceau: Pray that there is some sort of miracle, Fire. Gently, Fire hugged his mother patting her on the back. Faisceau gripped Fire still weeping sorrowfully. Faisceau feared that it would be Fire who would run away. Some deities talked so negatively about him. But it was Death who ran away. Fire was still here. Faisceau: I lost one son... Don't leave me, baby. Fire: I won't. Not now, not ever. Despite her misfortune, Faisceau smiled weakly through her tears. A few days passed and still no sign of Death. Each deity searched in packs looking for him, but they returned with nothing. It came to a point where some of them begin to question each other. Loyal hated to do it, but he had to. Loyal had each deity see him for questioning. Even his friends. In the temple, Liberty told Loyal he might have to be strict with the questions so they would be afraid and tell him the truth. Loyal sighed and obeyed Liberty. Each deity begin to worry when Loyal begin to question them, and one burst into tears. Nothing. No one, not even Cordelia knew where Death was or how he ran off. It was a mystery Loyal could not solve. The words that replayed over and over in Loyal's head. One sunny afternoon, Loyal flew up high in the sky with Cloud who molded her clouds into words begging Death to come back. Fire and Sun stood with Doragon looking at the cloud message. Fire held Death's scarf. A week passed, and Rayon and Faisceau begin to worry about Loyal. Loyal went on with his work but barely slept. Each day, after school and his work, Loyal searched for Death. Sometimes, Faisceau would force Loyal to go to bed. Loyal just sat on the bed calling Death's over and over. The deities and Loyal went down into the world asking the people if they had seen Death. "Have you seen the God?" "Have you seen this God?" "Well, if you see him, light this candle." "Have you seen this God? His name is Death." Even after it was time to go home, Loyal still went around pleading to the people if they find Death, please to keep him safe until he arrives. The people nodded their heads sadly at Loyal. Loyal refused to stop his search, a few weeks later, Loyal turned twelve. Loyal was becoming desperate, he searched high and low looking for his lost brother. Each day, Loyal put up signs all over the worlds that had information about Death and what to do they see him. No one ever lit a candle to let Loyal they found Death. One night after hearing Loyal rant upstairs, everything was quiet. Rayon and Faisceau peeked in the room to find Fire who holding back his tears and hugging Loyal as he cried in his neck. Loyal put up signs, Fire was next to him shivering and holding the extras. "Fire, where do you think he is?" "I don't know, Loyal. Death will come back soon." "Now, Fire, I need Death now." "I know, Loy-loy. If I could find Death, I would bring him back." "Why did he leave, Fire?" Faisceau and Rayon stood inside the house watching Loyal and Fire trudge off. "Faisceau, how I failed my son so bad?" "It's not your fault, Rayon." "Death lost his father, I should have been listening to him." "If I did, why did Death leave? I'm the worst father in the kingdom! "It's true! I failed Himitsu by losing his son!!" "I failed Death, Faisceau! Why did I think I could take care of him? I should've just butted out." "If you had kept silent, Loyal would still be alone." "I don't deserve him anymore... I couldn't protect his brother." Rayon sat on his chair and hid his face in his hands. Faisceau knelt down next to him rubbing his knee. "I wish I could go back, Faisceau." "You were there in Loyal's darkest hour. After Himitsu died, they had no one. Right now, Loyal needs you and us. We are his parents he never had." "Are you going to leave Loyal now?" Rayon looked into Faisceau's golden eyes. Even though Loyal was their God, he did need him and Faisceau. "No, I won't leave him..." "It looks bad, Rayon, but families stick together. I need you to help me as well with our remaining sons and the life we must live now. Will you help me?" "Why do you think I married you?" Smiling, Faisceau kissed her husband on the mouth before getting up to help Fire and Loyal as they walked in with Sun. While Faisceau and Rayon put the signs away, Loyal glanced at Sun who only shook his head sadly. Still no sign of Death. Loyal clapped his hands together to warm them and to keep from crying. Sorrowfully, Fire took Loyal's cold hands into his to warm them. Loyal winched as Fire rubbed them until the color came back. As soon as Loyal's hands were warm, Fire didn't let go. Instead, he took Sun's hands as well. "It will be alright, Sun and Loyal... Be strong. No matter how long it takes, Death will come home." Faisceau and Rayon came up and hugged their sons. "I promise Death will come home." The search for Death went on, but each night Rayon and Faisceau made sure they spent a little extra time with their sons. Families never give up in each other. Chapter 290. Doragon's World. Part One. Sighing loudly, Sand sat on the porch steps listening to Cloud and Rain talk about what they should do for their fathers birthday as they made clay jars. Cloud: Make a clay jar. Rain: Then you're not bored. Sand: I wish I wasn't bored. Cloud rolled her eyes and went back to Rain who looked at Sand through half-lidded eyes. Rain: Wanna wish for something else? Sand perked up when she saw Fire walking by with Loyal. Cosmic and Galactic were leading them. Sand: This better than pudding. Sand: Oh, Loooyaal~ Where are you going? Loyal: We are going to check out Doragon's world. Sand hurried over to where Loyal was standing with Cosmic who stopped walking and glared at her. Fire's the reason why Sand wanted to tag along. Sand: How long will this take? Sand patted Loyal's arm and turned back to Fire who smiled stiffly at her. Sand: You? How are you holding up? Fire: One day at a time, Sand. Galactic: Wanna come along, Rain and Cloud. Cloud: No thanks, we'll stay here. Sand smiled and waved goodbye at her friends. Cloud winked at Sand who grinned at her. Confused, Loyal glanced over to Galactic who shrugged. Before Sand could start talking to Fire, Wind got in between them grinning madly. Wind: Heeeey! What's going on? Wind: Sounds awesome! Can I come? Cosmic: Can we get going? Nodding at Cosmic, Wind shoved Sand aside and turned to Fire and started talking about Baby Waffles. With fierce determination, Sand tried to get Fire's attention, but Wind kept pushing her aside. Wind:How's that smelly mutt of yours? Fire: She's good, Wind. We taught her how to use the bathroom outside. Wind: Yuk, Fire. You should get a bird instead. Fire: Birds are stinky things. Wind: Birds are okay, Fire. Fire: Oh, please, Wind. Birds smell up the cage and once they fly out the window, you can kiss your pet goodbye. Wind: Sand, please. You are bothering Fire. Wind: So, Fire, were are heading to Cosmic's house, yes? Wind: Cosmic, Me and Fire are going to race ahead! Fire: Loser eats a stinkbug! Sand opened her mouth to object, but Wind and Fire zoomed off hurling insults at one another. Cosmic turned around and smirked at Sand. Cosmic: Looks like you're the loser, Sand. Still wanna come along? Sand glared at the ground as she trudged after the group. Cosmic: Let's hurry and get to Blessing. Loyal: Pick up the pace, Sand. Sand grumbled about how she wished she had pudding to throw at Wind. Chapter 291. Dragon's World Part Two. Doragon nibbled at her claws waiting impatiently for Cosmic to show up with his friends. Nova peeked out the window to check on her daughter and to see if Cosmic was here. Nova rolled her but didn't turn around to see who it was. Wind and Fire were sprawled out on the floor looking up at her. Wind: Did not. You fell down the hill and knocked me down. Wind: You bet! Sadly, we came in at the same time, so there is no loser. Fire: Good. Who wants to eat a stinkbug? Nova: Where are the others? Wind: They should be coming up. Doragon peeked in staring at her mother. Wind booted Fire off and stood up smoothing his hair down. Wind: We have plenty of time to murder, can we help with anything? Nova kept Fire and Wind busy until Cosmic strolled up with his friends in tow. Sand went over to Fire and winded up slipping because of Wind who "accidentally" left a wet rag on the floor. Doragon perked up when Loyal walked in. Smiling, Loyal waved at her. Cosmic: God! We came here to find the world, not to have dates! Cosmic: Nothing, let's get going. Wind: Sand, if you keep tripping like that, you're going to break your head wide open! Loyal: Hello, Nova! How are you? Nova: Fine, fine. Going to see Blessing's world, yeah? Loyal: Yep! I'm so excited, Nova! Cosmic: You like getting in the way? Nova: I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did, Loyal. Loyal: Is it beautiful? How beautiful? Nova: It's very beautiful, Loyal. Loyal: I wish Death was here to see it with me. Everyone in the kitchen became quiet thinking about Death. Nova: Death will see it when he comes back, Loyal. Loyal nodded his head solemnly which made Doragon's heart ache terribly. Cosmic slapped her head. Cosmic: We have to go now, Mommy. I'll be back soon. Cosmic kissed his mother on the cheek before leading everyone outside. Cosmic: It shouldn't take long if we get moving. Wind: How do we get there? Cosmic: Climb onto Blessing's back. Everyone except Loyal scurried onto Doragon's back. Standing up Cosmic stared at Loyal with half closed eyes. Cosmic: Aren't you climbing on? Loyal: I'll fly beside Doragon. "Because you're getting mad over nothing." Loyal: Just because, is it alright if I do? Cosmic: Alright. Wear yourself out. Loyal made a face at Cosmic when he turned his head to explain a few rules to his friends. Seriously, why was Cosmic so irritated whenever he showed up? He wasn't like this when Doragon isn't around, but as soon as Doragon shows up, Cosmic is angry. Doragon turned her head and winked at Loyal. Cosmic: Okay, everyone? Obey the rules, alright? Fire: Gotcha, can we get going now? Doragon begin to trot to the grassy area and jumped high into the air. Loyal flew after her listening to his friends laugh with glee. As Doragon flew near the beach, Fire waved to Sun who was waving back at him and running after Baby Waffles who was loose and was running after them barking loudly. As they flew farther and farther away from their home, Loyal scanned the area hoping to see Death. Sighing sadly, Loyal flew up next to Doragon's head failing to notice that Doragon was getting nervous seeing him next to her. Loyal: Tell me, do you know why your land was hidden for so many years? Loyal: Will I get to see your parents? Loyal: You haven't found them yet? I hope you find them soon. Doragon turned her head to look at Loyal who was smiling at her. Cosmic peeked over Doragon's horns and saw them. Cosmic: Blessing, are we almost there!? Quickly and embarrassed, Doragon nodded at Cosmic. Sand and Galactic laughed as they told each other jokes while Fire and Wind looked up at the sky in awe. Wind: I've never been this high up before... Look how close we are to the sky, Fire. Wind: That's silly, Fire. You can't touch the sky. Fire: We haven't tried it yet, have we? Wind: You do it. The thought of it is terrifying me. Fire smiled at Wind and reached up to see if he can touch the sky. Galactic: Look, Fire! We're here! Fire pulled his hand back and glanced over Doragon's head. Just clouds. Galactic: Blessy is going to land soon! Look!! Galactic pointed frantically at red and gold dragon that was flying next to them looking at them curiously. The dragon nodded at Galactic and flew past them. Galactic: Wasnt that cool!? Look! There is more flying by! Sure enough, there were more dragons flying next to Doragon. Loyal became nervous when a massive dark blue dragon flew next to Loyal eyeing him suspiciously. Loyal could see himself in its angry red and orange eyes, Loyal smiled and waved, but the dragon just snarled at him. Doragon growled menacingly at the angry dragon warning him to leave. The dragon bared its teeth at Loyal before flying off. Fire: I saw it, Loyal. Loyal: What did I do? Galactic: You know, Loyal. A male dragon will fight to win its mate or it will fight if it is jealous. Cosmic: Just ignore that dragon, Loyal. This wasn't fun anymore. Loyal was slightly hurt and wished for Death. Death would've done something. Seeing Loyal's face, Fire called him over. Loyal perched on top of Doragon's back and snuggled close Fire. Fire smoothed down Loyal's hair as Doragon flew a bit farther before landing. At least Fire was here. Chapter 292. Doragon's World. Part Three. Ever so carefully, Doragon landed on a cobblestone trail and waited for Cosmic and his friends to climb off her back. Wind stood with his hands on his hips scanning the area, trees, birds, grass, not very exciting. Loyal walked around with his hand on his heart drinking in the beauty. Wind: Soooo. I came along only to see what we have back at home? Wind: What do you think, Fire? Fire: I'm pretty dang sure if we look around we'll find it more interesting. Fire smiled weakly at Wind and walked down the trail. Loyal was still walking around slowly looking at each plant and stone. Cosmic: What's the matter with you guys? It's beautiful here! Sand tackled her cousin. While Sand and Wind fought on the floor, Cosmic headed over to Loyal. Loyal: I can see why my grandmothers hid this place. Poor Loyal. They never hid it because of the beauty. Galactic: Blessy, Wind and Sand are fighting. Growling at them, Doragon bit down on Sand's dress and pulled her off of Wind. Wind: I'm already bored, Cosmic. Wind: Doragon, where are the other creatures? All we saw were dragons and a hard*** dragon who got mad at Loyal. Loyal was too busy looking at a rainbow colored flower to notice Wind who was ranting. Cosmic: Blessy, where are they? Cosmic: Poop. We'll find a pixy soon. Wind: -Sigh- Whatever, Cosmic. I'm starved. Spying a pear tree, Wind looked back at Sand smiling rudely. Wind: Look, Sand. Not even the fruit here is exotic or strange looking. Sand flipped Wind off. Wind hurried down the trail, grabbed a pear, and bit down into it. Wind: The pears taste like the ones back home. Galactic glared at Wind who continued to eat the large pear and judging everything he saw. Fire hated to admit that he was bored. Wind stopped talking when a small winged creature flew right into his face. It's high pitch irritated voice made Doragon's head hurt. Terrified, Wind gaped at the winged creature as it scolded him. "Who do you think you are?! Eating my lunch!! This is my pear!!" Cosmic and Doragon snickered watching Wind get berated by a pixy. Pixy: Who are you?! What do you have to say for yourself?! Wind passed out. The pixy grabbed his pear, kicked Wind's finger, and flew back into the tree. Fire grabbed Doragon's leg and pointed at the pear tree. Fire: Doragon, a pixy yelled at Wind!!! Loyal: I can't beileve it!! Everyone was so excited that they forgot about Wind who was still on the ground. Sand: Doragon! Where did that pixy go!? Galactic: I'll go get him. Bravely, Galactic marched over to the pear tree, reached into the leaves, and pulled out the angry pixy by his legs. Galactic: Ssh. My friends want to see you. Sand, Fire, and Loyal yelped as Galactic got closer with the pixy who quieted down seeing Cosmic and Doragon. Galactic held out her dark hand to her friends. Just like in the book, a small pixy stood in Galactic's hand staring at each deity. Fire: I'm Fire. This is Sand and Loyal. Fire: Over there on the floor is Wind. Wind groaned as he sat up rubbing his head. Tiny pixies flew off him. Fire: You fainted. Look, Wind. Wind: That's what it was? I thought it was a fairy. Wind: I just passed out, do I look like I know what a damn pixy looks like? Wind stood up and brushed the dirt off his robes. Loyal turned back to Wormberry. Loyal: I apologize for this mishap, Wormberry. Wormberry: It's alright. Can I go now? Wormberry flew off into the sky with a few more pixies carrying pears and other fruits. Wind looked around hoping to see something or someone else. Loyal glanced over at Doragon. Loyal: Can we go exploring? Cosmic: Why are you asking her? Loyal: She's an Imperial dragon, right? That kinda means she is the daughter of an emperor or empress. Cosmic: So, we take orders from her? Heck, should they? Doragon is the daughter of an emperor and empress, Loyal was a God of Life. Galactic: Blessy said we could go look around. Everyone whooped with joy and ran off together leaving Doagon hurrying after them. Chapter 293. Doragon's World. Part Four. Doragon sat next to Cosmic watching over her friends as they examined each little thing they saw. Of course, Wind had to be stupid and get too close to a singing siren that pulled into the water for fun. Hiding his smile, Loyal pulled Wind from the water and led him to a sunny spot to dry. The sirens giggled at Wind who glared at them. Fire wandered off a bit too far and found a large red and orange, fiery bird. Carefully, Fire walked over to the bird who blinked at him. Sand warned Fire not to get too close, but Cosmic reassured her that Fire will be alright. The bird flapped her wings at Fire warning him to stay away, but Fire only walked closer. Talking quietly, Fire reached out and petted the surprised bird on the beak. Fire later learned that the bird he touched was a Pheonix. Sand adored the fairies, as she played around with them, she noticed a small wilting rosebud. Galactic knelt next to Sand watching her as she poked at a wilting rosebud with a stick. The rosebud opened, and a tiny fairy came out looking at Sand with wide eyes. Galactic and Sand looked at each other squealing quietly seeing a new friend. "Can't you talk? What's your name?" "You know, Sand. Fairies are born from flowers." "Nope. And fairies stay with anyone who helps them." "Sand, you just helped that fairy come out of her flower." "That wee fairy is now yours." "I can't, Sand. Looks like you have a new friend." The fairy flew onto Sand's knee and smiled. "Oh, I can't take her home." "But, Sand, she likes you." The fairy flew up, landed on Sand's soft hair, and went to sleep using Sand's hair as a bed. Sand felt a small buzz go through her body thinking about the fairy. She was cute, but she can't come home with her. She belonged here in this beautiful world. While everyone watched Sand and the fairy, Loyal made his way over to the berry bushes by a lake. The small dark berries tempted Loyal to eat one. Eating a few and not paying attention, Loyal reached to get another one. Pulling back, Loyal saw a girl with long blond hair looking at him. The girl spoke in a very hushed tone. "I'm- I'm sorry. I shouldn't be eating these." "It's alright. We share everything around here." The girl stared at Loyal who clapped his hands together. "Hello, Riverheart. What are you doing here?" "I was playing and I saw you eating my berries." "Yours?? Ow, I made more than a mistake." "I told you it's alright, Loyal." "-Gulps- Mind if I ask?" "Are you a human? You don't look like the others around here." "You look a little like me, but you can't be a deity." "I've heard about deities. Are you one?" Riverheart scowled at Loyal who bowed his head. "You don't look like one." Riverheart and Loyal both turned a bright red. "I'm sorry, Loyal. That came out wrong." "Oh, it's alright. My mother- never mind." "Are you positive you are a deity?" "Sorry for interrupting, can we get back to my question?" "What's that? Sorry. That was rude." "How many times am I going to be sorry?" Riverheart and Loyal begin to laugh softly. Fire raised an eyebrow seeing them. "Look at that, Sand. Not even a week here and Loyal is chasing after a weird thing. Jeez, Sun has a girlfriend and now Loyal is getting one? Damn. I don't see any females chasing me like that." Sand opened her mouth but then shut it when Wind pinched her. Loyal stood up and said goodbye to Riverheart. Fire tapped his foot as Loyal came walking up. "Fire, did you see that?" Nasty Undine. Charming Loyal like that. Blessing and Riverheart were both after Loyal. Galactic told the others it was time to go look somewhere else. Riverheart watched Loyal leave.

2019-04-24T18:59:50Z

http://www.flipline.com/forum/index.php?topic=18600.675

That this House has considered broadband speeds and advertising. This House has considered broadband many times before and will, I am sure, do so again. It is only fair for me to begin by saying that this Government, like the previous coalition Government, have made real efforts to roll out broadband across the country. With their track record, they genuinely lead the class in Europe, and we should all welcome the additional money in today’s Budget for yet more broadband. But this debate is not about the provision of broadband itself; it is about a rather simpler fact—the price that people pay for the speed they think they are buying when they sign up to a service. I shall draw a brief analogy. If you went to a supermarket to buy a bunch of organic grapes, Mr Owen, and you paid for those organic grapes at the checkout but found out afterwards that, in fact, you had only a tenth of the grapes that you thought you had bought and they were not actually organic, you might be rather grumpy. That is analogous to the situation with broadband advertising. I congratulate my hon. Friend on obtaining this debate. Is it not the case that, in effect, those who advertise in that way obtain by false pretences? They use statistics selectively and in a misleading way to obtain business. Elsewhere, I have called that practice a fraud on the consumer, and I agree with my right hon. Friend that current practices are simply not fair, reasonable or easily understandable to consumers. Presumably, hon. Members are here because they know that, according to the regulations, just 10% of people who sign up for a service have to receive the advertised speed, so 90% of people do not receive that speed. I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Is this debate not also about the need to educate people about their broadband service? It is no use saying that it will be 20% or 30% faster; we need to be specific and ask for specific things to be detailed. I agree, and I will come on to what those things might be. I think we can all agree that is a pretty well attended Westminster Hall debate. That is because we all agree that things are not working. That is a good place to start. I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. In many places where broadband is delivered, people ring up BT or another provider, which says, “You will get x speed,” but when they actually get the service in their home, they find that it is a lot slower. That is one issue. There is also a general issue of areas getting broadband but not enough people signing up for it. The problem is a combination of all those things. I think that if people actually got what they thought they were going to get, they would sign up. I agree. There is a genuine issue with consumer confidence in headline speeds actually being delivered. My hon. Friend is being most generous in allowing so many interventions. He mentioned that only 10% of people get the broadband speed they want. Will he reflect on the fact that, if that happened in any other sphere of consumer interaction—financial services, for example—there would be major investigations and fines? I agree. That is why you would be so angry about the bunch of grapes that I imagined you buying, Mr Owen. We need new guidelines from the Advertising Standards Authority. To be fair to the Government, they are keen on such new guidelines emerging, but we should bear in mind that someone, at some point, thought that 10% of people being able to get the advertised speed was a perfectly decent guideline. We need to move on from that mentality. It is only fair that I do. I am grateful. One of my constituents, who does not receive the advertised broadband speed, consulted a telephone engineer, who said that the cable that carries the signal is incapable of carrying the advertised speed. That cable is provided by BT, which knows that it is not capable of carrying the advertised speed. Surely that is fraud. I agree. That is the second of the two issues that I hope to be able to raise. The first is that I think we can all agree that 10% is not enough, and we should have different rules for the number of people who are able to receive a certain speed. We should also be clear about whether the technology is able to deliver what people are sold. I would like there to be a more accurate way of describing the number of people who are able to receive a service and much tighter and more accurate descriptions of the kind of technology that is used to deliver that service. That comes back to the right hon. Lady’s point. My hon. Friend is making a powerful argument. On that point, is it not the case that a community may get fibre to the cabinet, but speed is lost when the signal goes on to copper, so there can be different speeds right across a rural community? Houses in such communities get completely different speeds right across the board. Is that not an issue that we must tackle? Exactly. The right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) is right to mention that this is not just a rural issue but an urban one too. My hon. Friend is being generous; he has given way to 100% of the official Opposition’s Back Benchers who are here and nearly 100% of the Government Back Benchers. This is not just a rural and urban issue; it affects semi-rural areas, too. Will he reflect on the fact that in individual postcodes, speeds differ vastly from those that are advertised, possibly because of different exchanges? Absolutely. We need to end up in a position where at least half the people to whom a service is advertised—the distribution of advertising, particularly postal advertising, is often based on postcodes—should be able to receive the service that they are invited to pay for. I should have said no at the beginning, but since I have been so consistent, I shall give way. I thank my hon. Friend—I am trying to make it up to 100% on the Government Benches. Does he agree that this whole thing is a minefield? We have just had more money for connecting Devon and Somerset. We all thought that everything would be fine and everyone would get the right broadband speed, but a minefield of confusion has transpired. Should not we have much clearer labelling, adverts—everything, really? Yes. As I understand it, we could have a separate debate about the broadband roll-out in Devon and Somerset, so let us park that. We need to end up in a situation where at least half of the people who are offered a service can receive it. On the one hand, that would be a fivefold increase on what is currently offered; on the other, the half of people who, by implication, could not receive that service would still be let down. So a starting point for the ASA to consider would be not only that 50% of people can receive the advertised speed but that a certain amount either side of the average can also receive within a certain percentage of that speed. Let us say that 50% receive the advertised speed and 20% either side can receive within 10% of that. That way, customers would basically know what they were getting. That would be a revolution compared with the shambles we have at the moment. It would restore consumers’ confidence that the service they were paying for was what they were getting. I hope it would also encourage some businesses to adopt the good practice that, to be fair, BT has adopted of trying to provide each individual customer at the point of signing up with a personalised suggestion of what their speed will be. We should not pretend that the industry has not tried to make progress, but we should certainly acknowledge that the ASA guidelines do not compel it to do so, and that is a position that we would like all to get to. The hon. Gentleman has outlined clearly the difficulties for domestic properties. In my constituency, a large number of people who have become self-employed and work from home were misled by advertising that they would get broadband at the speed they needed—the fact of the matter is that they do not. Does he agree—perhaps the Minister will respond to this—that there is a need for people who were misled by advertising and have not had delivery of what they need to get compensation? The hon. Gentleman pre-empts my next sentence. Business or consumer, if a person does not fall within the prescribed bounds of the new guidelines, which I hope will be much more stringent, they should be entitled to get out of the contract immediately, whatever terms they signed up to. Getting into the realms of compensation would probably open up a can of worms and not solve the issue for that consumer or business, but people should certainly be able to escape immediately and try to find another solution. The second part of the discussion is to say that where a service is advertised as fibre, it should be entirely a fibre service. If a service is compromised by the use of copper as it enters a person’s premises, at the very least they should know that when they sign up to that service. If they do not, my fear is that we will encourage the continuation of a network that is not a full-fibre network across the country. That is what our constituents would all like to see, and it is what we and they all know is essential to planning for a new world, whether it is the internet of things or simply keeping up with our cousins abroad who are rolling broadband out even faster than we are. I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend and neighbour for giving way. May I say that I am delighted to see so many Lincolnshire MPs in the debate? And other counties—sorry. As my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) knows, I held a broadband summit in my constituency, and many constituents in rural areas made the point that they get so far and then the copper lets them down. Is it not critical that advertising for services is straight with the consumer and tells it like it is? Exactly. A fibre service should be fibre from beginning to end. If it is not, providers should not be ashamed of telling the consumer that it is not. At the moment, part of the fraud being perpetrated on consumers is that not only can just one in 10 sometimes get the service they are paying, for but many of them are signing up for a service that is simply not in the ground full stop. Those are two simple issues that I hope the Advertising Standards Authority, in a process that it has already begun, will be able to resolve relatively swiftly. There are not many things on which we come to the House asking for simple and attainable solutions that do not cost anyone any money. However, I would submit—not only to you, Mr Owen, but even to the Minister—that we could solve this problem relatively quickly if the ASA is listening, which I hope it is. My two requests are simple. They are that at least half of all consumers should be able to receive the service they are paying for, with 20% either side being able to receive within a certain range of that service, and that a service that is fibre should be fibre from beginning to end. May I suggest that the hon. Gentleman’s ambition is too low? I cannot think of anywhere else I buy something and am guaranteed to get only 50% of what I buy—I expect 100%. It seems to me that, from the beginning of the contract, we have been satisfied with less than 100%, and the consequences are that not just rural areas but urban areas such as Slough—big business areas—are not being treated properly. I am surprised that it has taken 15 minutes for someone to raise that point, but perhaps I should not have taken so many interventions. I agree with the right hon. Lady that the accusation could be made that I am not being ambitious enough. The fact remains that a large number of our constituents will be signing up to part-fibre services. The only practical way to have large-scale advertising of those services is to stick with an “up to” model, and 50% with a range either side is a heck of a lot more stringent than we have had thus far, but it is attainable. I would like the ASA to come back and say, “Actually, we could be tougher, and we think that is perfectly reasonable,” but I suspect the pressure is on it to stay closer to 10% than 50%. I therefore accept the principle of her point, but given that an awful lot of people will still require copper connections in the near future at the very least, we are lumbered with a situation where we have to try to make a nod towards the problems they will face. I accept that there is a sort of third way of saying, “If you have a full-fibre connection, you can demand that it is within 90% of the advertised speed,” or something like that. It is important that we preserve the sense of such advertising, which can be clear and relatively straightforward. I think it might be too complicated to say, “If you are on a full-fibre connection you are guaranteed to get within 90%, if you on a part-fibre connection you are guaranteed to get within 50%, and if you are on a satellite connection, it will be a rather different ball game altogether.” We have to be pragmatic when we seek to influence the deliberations of the ASA, but, as I said, the Government and many Members are on the same page in seeking to get the guidelines amended. We all acknowledge that the way broadband is currently advertised to consumers is fundamentally broken. If we do not fix it, we risk compromising consumer faith in the service offered. More fundamentally, if we do not force advertisers to be open about when their services are full-fibre, as our constituents deserve, we risk not just bad advertising but the roll-out of broadband in the country being further delayed and even less perfect than it already is. This debate is not purely about advertising. If we get the rules on advertising right, that will foster the improved roll-out of broadband across the country and greater take-up of services already available to consumers, and that enhanced take-up will result in further money going back into the system and further roll-out of the broadband service. I hope that we can all support my relatively modest—perhaps too modest—proposals, that the Government can support them and that, further, the ASA will listen to them. With that, I will hand over to all my colleagues who have intervened already. Before calling Patricia Gibson to speak, I remind hon. Members that I will call the Scottish National party Front-Bench spokesperson at 5.10 pm. The SNP and Labour spokespeople will have five minutes and the Minister will have 10, of which he may want to give some time for a brief conclusion from the sponsor of the debate. I thank the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for bringing the debate to the House. Another day, another debate on broadband—the subject never gets old. Even though we seem to debate broadband every day, it still pulls a big crowd. Our postbags are bulging with quite justifiable complaints about broadband; every Member here will be well versed in their constituents’ problems with broadband. As we have heard, the issue for consumers is that when they purchase a broadband service, they deserve transparent, accurate information on their broadband speeds. I am sure that is why so many of us welcome the review of how broadband speed is advertised and why there really needs to be a change in the advertising guidance. Most broadband packages are advertised with their headline speeds—for example, 20 Mbps—but as many constituents tell us, it is unlikely that a customer will be able to receive that headline speed all of the time, and some customers will not receive it any of the time. That may be because of where that customer lives, electrical interference or the demand on the network at peak times. There is a problem with how headline broadband speeds are advertised and presented to consumers. The broadband speed claims advertising guidance explains that headline speed claims are permitted to be advertised if they are achievable by at least 10% of the relevant customer base where the qualification “up to” is used when presenting the headline broadband speed. That is not good enough. Hon. Members have asked today what other consumer group for another product would be happy with that level of service and advertising. In November, the Advertising Standards Authority published independent research into consumers’ understanding of broadband speed claims made in advertisements and found—not surprisingly—that speed is an important factor for a significant proportion of consumers when deciding between providers. While levels of knowledge and understanding of broadband speeds vary, overall knowledge, as hon. Members probably expect, is quite low, with many consumers not knowing what speed they require to carry out daily online tasks. As hon. Members may also expect, most consumers believe that they are likely to receive a speed at or close to the headline speed claim, when in most cases that is not likely. What does that tell us? It tells us that, in the interests of transparency and accuracy, there simply has to be a change in the way broadband speed claims are advertised to ensure that consumers are not misled, as they clearly are currently. The Advertising Standards Authority has now called for that, and the Committee of Advertising Practice has announced it will review its guidance to advertisers and is expected to report publicly soon. Further to that, Ofcom has asked internet service providers to sign up to a voluntary code of practice for residential broadband speeds that would require internet service providers to provide consumers with clear, accurate information on broadband speeds, including the maximum speeds they can achieve, the estimated speed on their line and factors that may slow down the speed, with a route of redress when speed performance is poor. The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech. She mentioned speeds of 100 Mbps; in parts of my constituency, speeds of between 1 and 2 Mbps are not unusual. Will she join the call from my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for accuracy in advertising about 100% fibre—not just the part-fibre, part-copper solution? I will absolutely join him in that. The important thing we all agree on is that consumers need to be given all of the information. As somebody said, it does not matter how bad that information might be; if customers are not given all of it, how on earth are they supposed to make an informed choice about their service provider? I will finish by pointing out that many consumers are bamboozled by the technicalities of broadband speeds, but every consumer wants and deserves the clearest, most accurate and transparent information and experience possible from internet providers. That is expected—indeed, it is not even debated—in other areas in the marketplace, so why should it not apply to internet service providers? Only then can consumers freely and knowingly enter into a contract with an internet service provider and understand what expectations they should have. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Owen. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for bringing this important debate on broadband speeds to the House. Broadband speeds and broadband in general are probably the biggest issue we deal with in my constituency office in North Cornwall. Broadband is increasingly becoming a necessity, and I am pleased with the Government’s announcements around new builds and some of the changes to building regulations that will help many of my constituents to get speeds of 10 Mbps by 2020. That will go down well in some of the villages in my constituency. Cornwall is one of the most superfast-connected areas in Europe, with around 95% of people having access to it, but that does not help the 5% of people who do not have access. I assure hon. Members that they write to me regularly. A number of villages—Treven near Launceston, Stoke Climsland, Blisland, Tintagel, St Minver—currently receive an inadequate service. Either there is no service at all, or there is a copper-fibre solution that really does not work for them. There are many households that do not have access to a decent broadband speed, and the fibre-to-the-cabinet but copper-to-the-door solution is not beneficial to anyone. I am pleased that Ofcom is looking at how to check speeds on the doorstep, rather than from the cabinet. That will mean customers have much better access to the speed that they have been offered. My office is compiling a “notspot” map for North Cornwall to plot constituents with poor broadband access and who want access to superfast—or to any connection at all that is faster than they currently have. Unfortunately, many people have been turned down for superfast because they are deemed to be in an area that is not viable. We have a local solution: Cornwall Broadband is filling in the gaps and maintaining speeds where superfast is not being provided by the current provider. Our notspot map is proving to be very useful, because we can plot whole communities and areas that do not have access to superfast—even for some of our small villages and hamlets. Everyone now relies on broadband as they go about their day-to-day lives. Small businesses in the countryside and some of our farmers who submit returns online have to have access to that information. It is not an effective use of an architect’s time to wait for six hours to download his plans, and the productivity of some of our rural businesses is affected. Reaching a target of 99% superfast connectivity is therefore very important to rural communities. More generally, we need access to mobile connectivity across Devon and Cornwall. I am pleased to see some of the changes to the electronics code in the Digital Economy Bill that will provide better access to sites and masts. Hon. Members present, including my hon. Friends the Members for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow) and for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish), will know that there are problems with accessing broadband on trains to the south-west. It is frustrating when trying to work through a journey and be productive and broadband is not available. I am pleased with the Government’s announcement on 10 Mbps. We need greater transparency on upload and download speeds, and we need Ofcom to ensure that connections can be checked on the doorstep so that people get exactly what they have paid for and what is on the tin. I welcome what the Government have done so far and I look forward to further announcements. from Slough. That is the situation. I am very glad that the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) raised the advertising issue, because many people are being conned, but I want us not to add to the confusion by implying that this is only an issue in rural areas. It is horrifying that in such an important industrial centre as Slough, our businesses cannot get the speeds that they need in order to compete. It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Owen. I wish to add to the cacophony of congratulations for my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) on securing this important debate. In many respects, my speech will mirror that of the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart). According to the latest figures we have, Solihull enjoyed an economic growth rate of 7.2% in 2015, which is akin to the growth seen in China. It is a go-ahead town. It has many of the modern industries and a trade surplus with the EU. It is a centre of the country and is leading with the combined authority. However, we are hobbled and hamstrung by poor broadband provision and misleading advertising. My constituents have had enough, to such an extent that there is a petition with many hundreds of names on it calling for better broadband provision and honest advertising. The figure of 10% of customers achieving the advertised speeds is absolute nonsense. A point that other hon. Members have made and I will repeat is that fibre should refer only to actual fibre broadband, not to part-fibre, part-copper or aluminium solutions. I hope the Advertising Standards Authority understands that fundamental point and that that message rings loud and clear today. Among the cases I have come across in my constituency are businesses telling me that, despite the fact they have a superfast cabinet right outside their building, they are still suffering slow broadband speeds because the cabinet is routed to many miles away. Some constituents tell me they have given up. We try to have a flexible labour market and a flexible economy. They have heard that and so have stayed at home to look after others and have what we call a portfolio career and lifestyle, yet they are finding when they turn on their computer that they cannot perform the tasks they need to in order to put bread on the table and make that commitment work. That is a great let-down. I have heard a litany of complaints from a brand-new estate in my constituency, the Berry Maud estate, about its broadband connection. Young professionals cannot work from home because they cannot connect to the internet and therefore cannot stream videos. We ask children now to have iPads and use the internet for their vital schoolwork; they are at a disadvantage because they are so poorly served by their broadband. We need to consider that. I know that other hon. Members want to speak, so I will finish. It is time for honesty, openness and transparency. It is time we looked at a nationwide solution. I understand the particular concerns about rural broadband, which my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall (Scott Mann) spoke about, but as the right hon. Member for Slough said, this is a nationwide problem. It is hampering our economy and hurting people’s lives. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for bringing this subject to the House for discussion. The importance of having access to reliable and fast broadband should not be underestimated. It increases every day, as more and more of our lives and work rely on access to the internet. As such, empowering consumers and businesses with greater knowledge about the services being offered to them so that they can make better informed choices about which provider suits their needs best is vital. While I accept the point made by the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) about this being a national issue, it is particularly prevalent in rural areas, such as my constituency. I will take this opportunity to talk about the importance of broadband to rural areas and lend my voice to the call for greater transparency in advertising regarding broadband speeds. Access to broadband is vital to both individuals and businesses in rural areas, yet they are all too often receiving an inadequate service. Before Christmas, I campaigned for election on a platform of increasing broadband access to 100% in Sleaford and North Hykeham from the current level of 89%. Access to broadband is not a luxury but a necessity. I have had productive conversations with the Minister for Digital and Culture and am confident that that aim will be realised, but it is not enough to have connectivity. Consumers must also have a suitably fast broadband speed and clear information about which providers can achieve that. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall (Scott Mann) said, areas of low population density need access to broadband more, to order grocery shopping and manage bank accounts. A local barrister wrote to me to say he is not able to work from home any more because it takes so long to download his court papers that he cannot get them done in time. As local government goes digital by default, many who lack broadband will take twice as long to complete online tax forms and suchlike, with rural businesses suffering unfair economic losses as a result. The importance of the internet cannot be overstated, and it is wrong that some people are being left behind, creating a situation of haves and have-nots. It is wrong that people who are excited to at last receive a better broadband connection find they are not getting what they think they have paid for. The key issue is the advertising of not only potential maximum speeds and fibre-optic or fibre-copper combinations but the realistic minimum speed that people are likely to achieve. There have been important steps forward, such as the Government’s plan to build a world-class digital infrastructure as outlined in the UK digital strategy, which is welcome. The Ofcom voluntary code of practice for broadband speeds has been adopted by many of our largest internet service providers, but that code is voluntary and only two thirds of internet service providers used by small and medium-sized enterprises have signed up to it. I hope that the review currently being undertaken by the Committee of Advertising Practice will result in guidelines that create more honesty and transparency, as all hon. Members have said, for consumers and businesses. That is what our constituents need and deserve to keep pace with the digital world. We will now begin the Front-Bench speeches. Calum Kerr has an extra minute, as does Ms Haigh. Fantastic. Thank you very much, Mr Owen; you are now my favourite Chair. I thought I was going to have to write to the ASA about the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman), who was supposed to lead this debate, but only about 10% of the content was him; the other 90% was his colleagues. I am sure he will not be lacking people buying him a beer at the bar. I congratulate him on securing the debate and on having a good evening. This is a welcome debate, and I am sure the hon. Gentleman is destined for great things. The focus on broadband is appropriate. Today we are homing in on a particular aspect, so this debate has not been the usual venting of frustration about poor broadband speeds. He made some interesting suggestions. It is important to recognise that in a world where the majority of our broadband is delivered through fibre to the cabinet, broadband speeds will, by definition, vary because of the delivery mechanism. It is hard to nail down a top-line speed that everyone will always receive. Granted, the Minister is leading us on a crusade towards fibre, which we endorse and encourage to happen faster. That will make things simpler, because if everyone is fibre-connected it is much easier to say that people can get a certain level of speed. The hurdle is normally in the last mile. Going forward, with fibre everywhere, the potential bottleneck is in the backhaul, but things will at least become much easier. I thought that the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness gave an excellent introduction, despite his colleagues’ “help”. On the point that fibre means fibre, that was actually said in proceedings on the Digital Economy Bill. The Minister, who I am sure will remind us of this, was very pleased with himself, because it came shortly after “Brexit means Brexit”. When asked what fibre meant, the Minister said that “fibre means fibre”, and we all thought, “Actually, that’s pretty good.” He should tell the ASA that, because if we look on its website, we find that when challenged on this issue, it has repeatedly said that it is acceptable to call FTTC “fibre broadband”. The problem is that we have given advertising agencies far too much scope over the years. It is a fact that life does not go better with Coca-Cola and a Mars bar does not help you work, rest and play, and if companies are not giving fibre to the house—that is not the same as giving copper to the house— they should say so. That is what the adverts should be telling us. I completely agree. I saw a bizarre exchange on Twitter, in which a very senior individual in BT, when challenged on its claims about fibre delivery, said, “Well, we deliver fibre broadband by a different route.” The reply was, “You mean copper, in other words, so it’s not really fibre, is it?” That is something that should be flushed out. The point that the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness made, and others reinforced, was that there needs to be integrity in the offer. I would like to touch on a couple of aspects of the problem. The issue is not just the speed, but how broadband is packaged. If people go on BT’s site or Virgin’s site, they will find an “up to” package. Part of the frustration is that those buckets are very large. Whether I get 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps or 10 Mbps, if I have signed up to an up to 17 Mbps package, that really rankles. I am paying the same as someone with 17 times the speed that I have. There is not actually an answer to that. Ofcom will tell us that the market has to deliver more choice, but in rural areas more than urban areas, the market does not function. There are challenges there. I will make a few other quick points, but by the way, the idea of grapes was genius. That was the sort of thing we used to bring the teacher. I do not know whether that was what the hon. Gentleman was hinting at. He will be turning up with seedless grapes for you next time, Mr Owen. Compensation, which the Digital Economy Bill empowered being put in place, is a welcome addition. At the moment, Ofcom is minded to make it possible only in a loss of service situation, and I accept that that is a reasonable starting point, but our direction of travel should be to say that broadband is far more than just a headline download speed. It is about download, upload and potentially latency, although not if we go with fibre. We should be able to expect a maximum and an average. The idea of a broadband package doing what it says on the tin should be considered, and ultimately compensation should go far further. I repeat the congratulations to the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness on bringing this debate forward. We clearly need to improve clarity about what broadband packages involve. I am sure that the Minister is keen to ensure that fibre means fibre and that people get broadband that does what it says on the tin. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Owen—you have always been my favourite Chair. As the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) outlined excellently, with the Committee of Advertising Practice due to report imminently, this is a good moment for the House to influence the debate about advertising speeds—I am sure the committee will have been taking note of the debate. As all hon. Members who have spoken have outlined, businesses and people in homes up and down this country are sick and tired of being sold broadband only to realise that the advertised speed was only a headline and that, in many cases, consumers will never be likely to receive it. In part, that is a reflection of the fact that for more than 400,000 small businesses, the market has failed to deliver superfast broadband fit for the future. Many people in business parks in places such as Slough have been badly let down, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) mentioned. However, it is also because of the utterly absurd existing advertising standards, which allow providers to claim speeds that are achievable by only 10% of the relevant consumer base. That undoubtedly leaves people duped or, as the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness said, perpetrates a fraud on the consumer. Research by independent testing groups has found that up to three quarters of households are paying for advertised broadband speeds that they have never received. Obviously, that is completely unacceptable. It is incomparable to the situation with similar advertising claims across industries, which reveals just how desperately weak those advertising standards are. The hon. Gentleman mentioned grapes, but if a consumer is sold a burger that is advertised as 80% to 90% meat, the producer is legally bound to ensure that that meat is of the advertised quality. There is absolutely no leeway. Thanks to the strict regulation that governs that industry, consumers can be confident in what they are buying. That is why the Opposition support the calls from hon. Members for much more stringent guidelines based on what a majority—figures of 50% and 100% have been mentioned—can receive. We need to ensure that advertised broadband speeds are upheld. That would be a good start, but the upcoming report and recommendations are also an opportunity to insist that broadband providers be honest with their consumers—honest about the technology that connects them, as well as about the speed that they are actually receiving. I therefore hope that consideration is given to another way of measuring speed—measuring the average for each individual user. That would reflect recommendations made by the National Infrastructure Commission on mobile coverage. It raised concerns, which I share, about the need to develop a meaningful set of metrics that represent the coverage that people actually receive. As we have heard, the FTTC roll-out means that once the connection has made its way along the copper from the cabinet to the home, speeds are highly unlikely to be at superfast level and are much more likely to be in the region of 17 Mbps. Advertising an average speed for each user is clearly far preferable. That would put power back in the hands of the consumer and small businesses and demonstrate to them the reality of the claims made by providers. That in turn might induce a certain amount of consumer activism, with consumers pushing for a much more ambitious roll-out of fibre-to-the-premises and viewing superfast broadband as the bare minimum as they come to recognise that the speeds they receive are simply not fast enough. It would potentially give consumers the tools to encourage the Government and industry to get them up to speed. It might even be the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s plan to deliver only a 10 Mbps universal service obligation. As the other House has now found, that is simply not fit for purpose. I urge the Government once again to accept a superfast designation. The industry itself is potentially coming round to that. I want to give the Minister time to respond, so I will finish by saying that the recommendations by the Committee of Advertising Practice mark a significant moment, and I hope that the Government will take this opportunity to ensure that consumers can have the confidence they deserve. Mr Owen, you are also my favourite Chair. Responding to the debate is a great opportunity, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman) for securing it. It is an unusual debate, because on the broad principles that have been set out, everyone—across parties and across rural and urban areas; the Government, the Opposition and Back Benchers—is in agreement. Hon. Members have spoken passionately today. In some cases, they gave precise details of problems with broadband roll-out. We are making progress there, but clearly there is more to do. In fact, thinkbroadband, which measures these things independently, announced today that the figure for superfast broadband availability is now up to 92.5% of UK premises. We are on track for our target of 95% by the end of this year. That is good news on the roll-out. That is superfast broadband measured at 24 Mbps, which brings us to the meat of the debate—the clarity with which these things are recorded and measured. I stand by that, not least because we launched the strategy last week. I hope that Members will forgive me for the length of that direct quotation, but it is important. I also hope that I can accurately put some advertising in place myself; for those who have not read the digital strategy, it is well worth a full read. On the mechanics of this, as many Members have said, the broadband speed claims that can be made in adverts are regulated by the independent Advertising Standards Authority. It is a good thing that the Government do not directly regulate advertising. However, I am sure the ASA will want to listen to the strength of feeling that has been expressed unanimously during this debate by Members representing hundreds of thousands of people and many businesses. Will the Minister commit to writing to the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure that it follows through on this issue? Yes—I might include a copy of the Hansard, although I know that the Advertising Standards Authority will be listening because I spoke to its chief exec yesterday to explain that this debate was going to take place. I explained that it is not only the Government’s view that we need to have more accurate advertising, but a widely held view in Parliament. To give the ASA credit, it has made serious progress in one area. Last year it changed the rules on prices for landlines and line rental being advertised separately from the price for just the broadband element. Previously, an advert might have had the broadband cost and then said in the small print at the bottom, “You also need line rental of £19.99 a month.” Now it has changed those rules, so the costs are amalgamated. That has been a success and, in a way, shows what an effective body the ASA is when it insists on accurate advertising. That is a really important point, because we have seen that there is real competition in the line rental part of the sector. It is a bit like the case of low-cost airlines—once the whole price is considered, competitors compete across every part of it. By making that change the ASA has driven far greater competition, and it should be encouraged by that. Yes, it should. Its sister body, the Committee of Advertising Practice, which is responsible for writing the UK advertising codes, is now in the midst of reviewing its guidance on broadband speed claims and is on course to publish the findings of that review this spring—I am sure that it will listen carefully to this debate. “A higher proportion of UK premises can access fibre broadband than in any of the other four major European economies (Germany, France, Spain, and Italy)”. That is not true. It is true only if “fibre” is defined as being part fibre and part something else, whether copper or aluminium. If fibre is defined as being fibre—I believe that fibre means fibre—in fact we are not the best of the five major European economies, but the worst. Accuracy would help BT to provide more accurate briefing notes, and its use of the term “fibre” should be updated. I am sure that the ASA will be able to take that forward in due course. I want to touch on a couple of the other comments that were made. My hon. Friend the Member for Solihull (Julian Knight) and the right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), in a commendably crisp speech, made points about business connections. If anything, this issue is more important for business customers, because businesses of different sizes may need services of different scales. Whereas a superfast connection is more than most households would need at the moment, if businesses have several people working on data-heavy projects they might need a highly scalable product, and for that, the technology really matters. I am sure that everyone is delighted that in the Budget this afternoon, the Chancellor announced significant progress on having a full-fibre business voucher. I am delighted that that will now be rolled out. We proposed it first in the autumn statement and consulted on it in the last couple of months. I am delighted that it was part of the Budget; it will be an important step forward. However, we have had to describe that as “full fibre” to get away from the completely unnecessary ambiguity over the term “fibre”. I am confident that that will change soon. The second point I want to touch on—again, this was raised by the right hon. Member for Slough—is the appropriate proportion of customers who should be able to get a particular speed. That is technically difficult, especially because speeds vary when more people get on to the network, so it is important to ensure that we get the technical specifications right. I have full confidence that the ASA, in listening to this debate and to customers around the country, and in considering the technical challenges, will come to a reasonable conclusion. I look forward to working with it to get there and to engaging with Members on both sides of the House to make sure that we have a fully functioning, competitive, well-informed and accurate broadband market, and that people no longer feel the frustration of being misled by thinking that they are buying one service when, in fact, they are delivered another. I thank the Minister for that response and echo what he said. We are clearly all on the same side of this argument, and it would be good if the ASA took note of that. I would be surprised if the ASA was not looking at a majority rule of some sort. I am sure we would all agree not only that that is the right thing to do but that implementing an improved standard of advertising cannot come soon enough. As we have discussed, it should ensure that more than 50% of people receive the speed that they pay for and that fibre means fibre. I thank all Members who have taken part in this debate. Mr Owen, you are, of course, my favourite Chair as well—I look forward to serving under your chairmanship in the next broadband debate.

2019-04-20T22:38:50Z

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2017-03-08/debates/ADC938E7-C174-4C41-A67E-DBAFF0011AFD/Broadband

The Director Quality and Safety Improvement serves as a highly visible energetic leader and champion for patient safety and team member safety throughout the organization and is responsible for design and implementation of change management and safety improvement methods, tools, strategies and projects. The Director promotes high reliability for recommended evidence based safety behaviors and practices assuring a focus on people process and technology to improve performance. The Director creates a continuous learning environment focused on patient and team member safety where just culture principles are applied and evident throughout the organization. The Director is a content expert on change management and quality performance and process improvement methods tools and strategies. The Director plans develops and implements improvement projects focused on short and long term improvement is able to scale improvement to impact the health system. Improvement projects and processes include the safety culture survey and action planning the safety event reporting system and improvement priorities identified through safety risk assessments safety event (rCare) data accreditation audits and reports as well as identified organizational priorities. The Director coaches and mentors leaders clinical and non-clinical team members throughout the health system providing direction guidance and leadership for effective change management teamwork and achievement of established goals and objectives. The Director works closely and collaboratively with medical nursing and clinical leadership to implement improvement strategies to continually improve safety; and provides input into the annual safety plan and year end summary report of progress toward goals and related achievements. This position works under the direct supervision of the Facility Services Director. The Coordinator manages the facility service center operation department regulatory compliance and contractor/ vendor coordination. Service center operation includes the work order system facility key control and facility phone system operation. Regulatory compliance includes managing the facility life safety program work permitting and managing the compliance document preparation program. Contract coordination includes identifying the contract service need and aligning to the correct contract source. The Coordinator also maintains facility service department employee work time through Kronos. Maintains and generates facility service department call schedule. Serves as the point of contact for facility staff/ customers and is liaison to facility service department vendors and the department customers. This position may perform other duties as assigned. Riverside Walter Reed Hospital is a 67-bed acute care facility located in Gloucester, Virginia. With 24-hour emergency services, a 12,000 square foot Intensive Care Unit, a complete range of outpatient services, a highly professional, caring staff and more than 50 outstanding area physicians, Riverside Walter Reed provides comprehensive health care services to the communities of the Middle Peninsula. The Middle Peninsula is bordered on the south by the York River and the lower Chesapeake Bay on the east. Gloucester is a growing and increasingly changing county that is an integral part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Growth in the Peninsula area has encouraged development in the Gloucester Point and the Courthouse regions of Gloucester. The Licensed Practical Nurse works under the supervision of the Registered Nurse to assist the Physicians/Registered Nurses in the care of terminal patients in their homes by provision of comprehensive skilled nursing services directed toward end of life care. Assists the RN in carrying out the plan of care. Uses appropriate aseptic technique when preparing equipment and materials for treatment. Assists the patient in learning appropriate self-care technique and is able to assess the patient/family response to care. He/She will keep fully cognizant of Medicare/Medicaid/Commercial insurance requirements Agency Policies and Procedures. In addition this position must be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient served by his/her team. He/she must possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patient's status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to his/her age specific needs. He/She must be able to prepare clinical/progress notes documenting outcomes of interventions. He/She must be able to provide the care needed as describe in the departmental policy and procedure guides and regulations that define scope of practice. The LPN may be required to work every other weekend depending on patient census and acuity. He/She supplements the nursing care needs of the patient as provided by the RN. Participates as a member of the IDT. Supports the Hospice Philosophy. Riverside Home Care provides the trained staff and complete array of specialized services to help you maintain your safety and independence, and we do it in the comfort of your very own home. Riverside Home Care offers home health, usually provided to individuals recovering from an illness, surgery or hospital stay, and short- or long-term in-home private care for assistance with everyday tasks like cooking and cleaning. It’s a great time to be part of the Riverside Family!! We are seeking a talented Registered Nurse who is committed to nursing practice that aligns with our mission—to care for others as we care for those we love. This opportunity is for a Palliative Care Registered Nurse for our Newport News Home Health team. This department provides outstanding care to patients with excellent patient quality of care outcomes. The selected Registered Nurse will be part of a team that works in a supportive and collaborative culture that with others, provides competent and compassionate care to all patients and their families. There are many opportunities for growth for a Riverside Nurse with a Clinical Ladder that was developed collaboratively with both staff and leadership, Shared Governance, membership on facility as well as system wide committees where your voice can make a difference. Across our Health System, the Riverside Nurse provides competent clinical practice and care coordination through her/his understanding of patient, family and the healthcare delivery team. Consistently provides safe, therapeutic care in a holistic and systematic way. All patient care and interactions are patient and family centered. She/he will integrate knowledge, skills, and experiences to meet the needs of patients and families throughout the continuum to include patient and family education. Communicates effectively and works cooperatively with others. Uses an integrated approach toward patient outcomes. Nursing serves as an empowering body to influence patient empowerment as well as successful outcomes of financial and clinical quality through relationships and access based knowledge. Utilizes standards, guidelines, and pathways for care delivery. Ensures improvements in practice settings by assuming responsibility for self-development in life-long learning. Provides direction and guidance to others regarding practice; serves as a resource, preceptor, and mentor. Leadership skills demonstrated in decision making and problem solving. Works under the supervision of the Nurse manager and the Director and is responsible for the assessment planning implementing and evaluating the total nursing care of assigned patients on an intermittent visiting basis. The RN may work in a variety of settings (typically in a home care type setting) and roles within Riverside Health System. The focus of this position will be in the Palliative Care setting. The RN utilizes communication critical thinking problem solving and decision making to create a care plan for each patient based on physiological psychosocial and cultural diversity. Responsible for supervising and delegating non-professional personnel working directly with him/her to ensure optimum patient care. Must demonstrate competence in dealing with age related needs of specific patient populations served in their assigned area. Works under the direction of leadership and a multi-disciplinary team (physical speech or occupational therapy; medical social services and Home Health Aide services) to provide a comprehensive range of services or clinical care associated with and in accordance with standards of excellence established by Riverside Health system and facility goals and strategic plans. Riverside Home Care provides the trained staff and complete array of specialized services to help you maintain your safety and independence, and we do it in the comfort of your very own home. Riverside Home Care offers home health, usually provided to individuals recovering from an illness, surgery or hospital stay, and short- or long-term in-home private care for assistance with everyday tasks like cooking and cleaning. Works under the supervision of the Protection Manager/Supervisor and or Director of Facilities. Functions to protect facility and personnel from property loss and criminal activity. Provides services and assistance as outlined by policies and procedures and directed by Management to make the facility safe for employees patients and visitors and to meet the expectations of Riverside Health System. Patriots Colony, located in historic Williamsburg, Virginia, is a distinguished LifeCare Retirement Community offering Active Residential Living to former officers of the uniformed services and federal civil government retirees. Independent and active, these residents enjoy an unparalleled lifestyle in spacious villas, apartments or freestanding homes. Patriots Colony has assisted living apartments, with special apartments to accommodate those with Alzheimer's and other dementia and a nursing home for 24-hour nursing and rehabilitation care. Williamsburg, Virginia is best known for tourist and historical point of interest. Colonial Williamsburg has many historical sites and the College of William and Mary is the second oldest institution for higher education in the United States. Work under the direct supervision of the Office Manager. Responsible for supervising front office team members to ensure optimum patient care and customer service. Office supervisor will maintain working knowledge of all front office positions so appropriate leadership and expertise can be give to team members. Maintain working knowledge of software and reports utilized in front office. Coordinate with office manager and physicians to maintain smooth office function. Works under the supervision of a qualified physician, Imaging Service System Director and/or the management staff. Works within their defined skill sets and utilizes established policies and protocols to perform a variety of imaging procedures at a technical level not requiring constant supervision of technical detail. Routinely responsible for all aspects of medical imaging in two or more identified modalities Functioning as a team member, the technologist is flexible in the work assignments, rotates to support all aligned imaging facilities when needed and assists with training. Responsible for the preparation and maintenance of equipment, instrumentation and departmental supplies required to support quality patient care. Requires utilization of simple to complex equipment. Requires independent judgment, with ingenuity and initiative to apply safety and ALARA standards as applicable. Assume responsibility for designated areas or procedures as required. Responsible for necessary quality control performance and documentation that supports accreditation initiatives. Maintains medical imaging credentials as defined by the “Qualification requirements” policy of Imaging services. Complies with National Patient Safety Goals, HIPAA guidelines, and Corporate Compliance polices. Participates in quality and customer service programs and meets all CBL,CME requirements. This employee must demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient serviced by his or her assigned department. The individual must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the human life span and possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patients status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient’s requirements relative to his or her age-specific needs, and to provide the care needed as described in the departmental policy and procedure guide. Assists with the coordination of patient care for all patient types and functions as a team member. Shore Memorial Hospital is located in Onancock, Virginia on the beautiful Eastern Shore! Onancock is a rural area with beaches and wildlife to include the 9,000 acre Chincoteague wildlife refuge. This brand new, state of the art facility is a 52-bed hospital with private rooms, a Surgical Suite with three operating rooms, a ten bed Intensive Care Unit, and an advanced Emergency Department with all private treatment rooms. The hospitalA has expandedA the outpatient services to include a diagnostic center with advanced imaging services including MRI and CT scanner, on-campus Cancer Care Center and a freestanding medical office building housing our specialty physician offices. The Virginia Delmarva Peninsula is nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean and offers that rare treasure - peace. Northampton County has the distinction of being one of the earliest settlements in our nation's history and this rural County retains its pastoral beauty and leisurely pace to this day. With its numerous saltwater bays, marshes and creeks, the county is one of the few unspoiled coastal areas on the Eastern Seaboard. Works under the supervision of a qualified physician Imaging Service System Director and/or the management staff. Works within their defined skill sets and utilizes established policies and protocols to perform a variety of imaging procedures at a technical level not requiring constant supervision of technical detail. Functioning as a team member the technologist is flexible in the work assignments rotates to support all aligned imaging facilities when needed and assists with training. Responsible for the preparation and maintenance of equipment instrumentation and departmental supplies required to support quality patient care. Requires utilization of simple to complex equipment. Requires independent judgment with ingenuity and initiative to apply safety and ALARA standards as applicable. Assume responsibility for designated areas or procedures as required. Responsible for necessary quality control performance and documentation that supports accreditation initiatives. Maintains medical imaging credentials as defined by the Qualification requirements? policy of Imaging services. Complies with National Patient Safety Goals HIPAA guidelines and Corporate Compliance polices. Participates in quality and customer service programs and meets all CBLCME requirements. This employee must demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient serviced by his or her assigned department. The individual must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the human life span and possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patients status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to his or her age-specific needs and to provide the care needed as described in the departmental policy and procedure guide. Assists with the coordination of patient care for all patient types and functions as a team member Shore Memorial Hospital is located in Onancock, Virginia on the beautiful Eastern Shore! Onancock is a rural area with beaches and wildlife to include the 9,000 acre Chincoteague wildlife refuge. This brand new, state of the art facility is a 52-bed hospital with private rooms, a Surgical Suite with three operating rooms, a ten bed Intensive Care Unit, and an advanced Emergency Department with all private treatment rooms. The hospital has expanded the outpatient services to include a diagnostic center with advanced imaging services including MRI and CT scanner, on-campus Cancer Care Center and a freestanding medical office building housing our specialty physician offices. The Virginia Delmarva Peninsula is nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean and offers that rare treasure - peace. Northampton County has the distinction of being one of the earliest settlements in our nation's history and this rural County retains its pastoral beauty and leisurely pace to this day. With its numerous saltwater bays, marshes and creeks, the county is one of the few unspoiled coastal areas on the Eastern Seaboard. Works under the supervision of a qualified physician Imaging Service System Director and/or the management staff Works within their defined skill sets and utilizes established policies and protocols to perform a variety of imaging procedures at a technical level not requiring constant supervision of technical detail. Functioning as a team member the technologist is flexible in the work assignments rotates to support all aligned imaging facilities when needed and assists with training. Responsible for the preparation and maintenance of equipment instrumentation and departmental supplies required to support quality patient care. Requires utilization of simple to complex equipment. Requires independent judgment with ingenuity and initiative to apply safety and ALARA standards as applicable. Assume responsibility for designated areas or procedures as required. Responsible for necessary quality control performance and documentation that supports accreditation initiatives. Maintains medical imaging credentials as defined by the Qualification requirements? policy of Imaging services. Complies with National Patient Safety Goals HIPAA guidelines and Corporate Compliance polices. Participates in quality and customer service programs and meets all CBLCME requirements. This employee must demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient serviced by his or her assigned department. The individual must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the human life span and possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patients status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to his or her age-specific needs and to provide the care needed as described in the departmental policy and procedure guide. Assists with the coordination of patient care for all patient types and functions as a team member Shore Memorial Hospital is located in Onancock, Virginia on the beautiful Eastern Shore! Onancock is a rural area with beaches and wildlife to include the 9,000 acre Chincoteague wildlife refuge. This brand new, state of the art facility is a 52-bed hospital with private rooms, a Surgical Suite with three operating rooms, a ten bed Intensive Care Unit, and an advanced Emergency Department with all private treatment rooms. The hospital has expanded the outpatient services to include a diagnostic center with advanced imaging services including MRI and CT scanner, on-campus Cancer Care Center and a freestanding medical office building housing our specialty physician offices. The Virginia Delmarva Peninsula is nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean and offers that rare treasure - peace. Northampton County has the distinction of being one of the earliest settlements in our nation's history and this rural County retains its pastoral beauty and leisurely pace to this day. With its numerous saltwater bays, marshes and creeks, the county is one of the few unspoiled coastal areas on the Eastern Seaboard. Riverside Doctor's Hospital, located in Williamsburg, VA is looking for an experienced RN to join their ICU team! Works under the supervision of the Nurse manager and the Director and is responsible for the assessment planning, implementing and evaluating the total nursing care of assigned patients The RN may work in a variety of settings in the Critical Care/Telemetry Complex and roles within Riverside Health System. The RN utilizes communication critical thinking problem solving and decision making to create a care plan for each patient based on physiological psychosocial and cultural diversity. Responsible for supervising and delegating non-professional personnel working directly with him/her to ensure optimum patient care. Must demonstrate competence in dealing with age related needs of the specific patient populations served in the Critical Care/Telemetry units/departments. Works under the direction of leadership and a multi-disciplinary team to provide a comprehensive range of services or clinical care associated with and in accordance with standards of excellence established by Riverside Health system and facility goals and strategic plans. Designed and built with a focus on patient-centered care, Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg is the pinnacle of Riverside's commitment to the residents of the Williamsburg region. Set on over 25 beautiful acres, the hospital offers state-of-the-art care, comfort and convenience. Riverside Doctors' Hospital opened in May 2013 and is licensed for 40 private rooms - 33 Medical/Surgical rooms and 7 Intensive Care rooms. Surgical Services features 2 operating rooms and 8 private patient preparation and recovery rooms dedicated to patients undergoing surgical procedures. Williamsburg, Virginia is best known for tourist and historical point of interest. Colonial Williamsburg has many historical sites and the College of William and Mary is the second oldest institution for higher education in the United States. Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg- ED is seeking an energetic Registered Nurse to join their team! Works under the supervision of the Director and is responsible for the assessment, planning, implementing, and evaluating the total nursing care of assigned patients. The RN utilizes communication, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making to create a care plan for each patient based on physiological, psychosocial and cultural diversity. Responsible for supervising and delegating non-professional personnel working directly with him/her to ensure optimum patient care. Must demonstrate competence in dealing with age related needs of the specific patient populations served in the Emergency Services units/departments. Works under the direction of leadership and a multi-disciplinary team to provide a comprehensive range of services or clinical care associated with and in accordance with standards of excellence established by Riverside Health system and facility goals and strategic plans. Riverside Doctors' Hospital, located in Williamsburg, VA is looking for an energetic RN to join their Med/Surg team! Works under the supervision of the Nurse manager and the Director and is responsible for the assessment planning, implementing and evaluating the total nursing care of assigned patients The RN may work in a variety of settings in the Medical/Surgical Complex and roles within Riverside Health System. The RN utilizes communication critical thinking problem solving and decision making to create a care plan for each patient based on physiological psychosocial and cultural diversity. Responsible for supervising and delegating non-professional personnel working directly with him/her to ensure optimum patient care. Must demonstrate competence in dealing with age related needs of the specific patient populations served in the Medical/Surgical units/departments. Works under the direction of leadership and a multi-disciplinary team to provide a comprehensive range of services or clinical care associated with and in accordance with standards of excellence established by Riverside Health system and facility goals and strategic plans. Designed and built with a focus on patient-centered care, Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg is the pinnacle of Riverside's commitment to the residents of the Williamsburg region. Set on over 25 beautiful acres, the hospital offers state-of-the-art care, comfort and convenience. Riverside Doctors' Hospital opened in May 2013 and is licensed for 40 private rooms- 33 Medical/Surgical rooms and 7 Intensive Care rooms. Surgical Services features 2 operating rooms and 8 private patient preparation and recovery rooms dedicated to patients undergoing surgical procedures. Williamsburg, Virginia is best known for tourist and historical point of interest. Colonial Williamsburg has many historical sites and the College of William and Mary is the second oldest institution for higher education in the United States. It's a great time to be part of the Riverside Family!! We are seeking a talented Registered Nurse who is committed to nursing practice that aligns with our mission- to care for others as we care for those we love. This opportunity is for a Certified Nursing Assistant for our Med Surg Team team. This Department of Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg provides outstanding care to patients with excellent patient quality of care outcomes. The selected Certified Nursing Assistant will be part of a team that works in a supportive and collaborative culture that with others, provides competent and compassionate care to all patients and their families. Works under the supervision of Registered Nurse/LPN and Nurse Manager/Director in personal care of the patients and their environment (including those needing special precautions) and performs specified treatments. In addition this position must be able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patient served in assigned unit. The individual must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the life span and provide the care needed as described according to the departmental policy and procedure. Promotes and maintains safe work environment for staff as well as our customers incorporating national patient safety initiatives. Designed and built with a focus on patient-centered care, Riverside Doctors' Hospital Williamsburg is the pinnacle of Riverside's commitment to the residents of the Williamsburg region. Set on over 25 beautiful acres, the hospital offers state-of-the-art care, comfort and convenience. Riverside Doctors' Hospital opened in May 2013 and is licensed for 40 private rooms - 33 Medical/Surgical rooms and 7 Intensive Care rooms. Surgical Services features 2 operating rooms and 8 private patient preparation and recovery rooms dedicated to patients undergoing surgical procedures. Williamsburg, Virginia is best known for tourist and historical point of interest. Colonial Williamsburg has many historical sites and the College of William and Mary is the second oldest institution for higher education in the United States. Riverside Regional Medical Center is currently seeking a full-time Social Worker Care Coordinator. Job Summary: Works under the supervision of the Manager and the Director and is responsible for working in collaboration with the healthcare team to coordinate the care and service to patients across the continuum of care promotes effective utilization and monitoring of healthcare resources and assumes a leadership role with the interdisciplinary team to achieve optimal quality clinical and resource outcomes. Works under the direction of the leadership team to provide a comprehensive range of services or clinical care associated with and in accordance with standards of excellence established by Riverside Health system and facility goals and strategic plans. Riverside began serving the Virginia Peninsula community in 1916. In 1963, Riverside moved to the present 72-acre location in Newport News on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard. A 450-bed facility, Riverside Regional Medical Center is the Virginia Peninsulas most comprehensive medical facility combining the most recent computerized medical technology with a healing environment. The Pavilion is a 250,000 sq. ft., $107 million, 3-story addition to Riverside Regional Medical Center, which opened in 2013. This acute care facility provides a regional cancer care center, the Peninsula regions only comprehensive stroke center, the areas only open-heart surgery program, the regions only Level II Trauma Center, and a cornerstone neurosciences program that includes the Chesapeake, Riverside and University of Virginia Radiosurgery Center. It's a great time to be part of the Riverside Family!! We are seeking a talented Registered Nurse who is committed to nursing practice that aligns with our mission- to care for others as we care for those we love. This opportunity is for a Registered Nurse for our Hampton Rds Urology-Nn Ops team. This Department of Riverside Medical Group provides outstanding care to patients with excellent patient quality of care outcomes. The selected Registered Nurse will be part of a team that works in a supportive and collaborative culture that with others, provides competent and compassionate care to all patients and their families. There are many opportunities for growth for a Riverside Nurse with a Clinical Ladder that was developed collaboratively with both staff and leadership, Shared Governance, membership on facility as well as system wide committees where your voice can make a difference. Across our Health System, the Riverside Nurse provides competent clinical practice and care coordination through her/his understanding of patient, family and the healthcare delivery team. Consistently provides safe, therapeutic care in a holistic and systematic way. All patient care and interactions are patient and family centered. She/he will integrate knowledge, skills, and experiences to meet the needs of patients and families throughout the continuum to include patient and family education. Communicates effectively and works cooperatively with others. Uses an integrated approach toward patient outcomes. Nursing serves as an empowering body to influence patient empowerment as well as successful outcomes of financial and clinical quality through relationships and access based knowledge. Utilizes standards, guidelines, and pathways for care delivery. Ensures improvements in practice settings by assuming responsibility for self-development in life-long learning. Provides direction and guidance to others regarding practice; serves as a resource, preceptor, and mentor. Leadership skills demonstrated in decision making and problem solving. Riverside Medical Group has over 500 providers and we are continuing to grow! One of the largest and most diverse multi-specialty group practices in the state of Virginia, our physicians are linked by an electronic medical record system that is leading the nation, now able to provide fast access to quality medical care for our 485,000 patients by interconnecting 500+ providers in 132 locations across all of the Riverside regions. The Peninsula has over 30 specialty practices and 14 primary care practices. The peninsula in southeast Virginia is bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is sometimes known as the Lower Peninsula to distinguish it from two other peninsulas to the north (Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck). With a population of 1.8 million people, it is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast and the 32nd largest in the United States. The Virginia Peninsula is a diverse area made up of many neighboring cities with unique character and opportunities. The area is very unique with a large number of military bases and several large colleges and universities as well as other large healthcare systems. The attractions are endless with so many historical sites to visit and a long list of museums and theaters. Completes administrative functions for new hire processing accurately and timely. Follows established organization and department policies and procedures to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Provides support to the Talent Recruitment Center team. Exhibits exceptional customer service and professionalism to both internal and external customers. Responsible for acquiring exceptional talent through attracting and sourcing viable candidates to fill vacancies throughout the Health System. Must build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external customers. Develop execute and update recruitment strategies to include pro actively sourcing and identifying active and passive candidates through a strong focus on networking relationship building and the use of the most up-to-date recruiting technology techniques and social media. Evaluates current RHS job postings and makes recommendations to maximize candidate activity. Participates in job fairs recruitment and various networking events. Follows established organization and department policies and procedures to ensure compliance with regulatory federal and local employment law requirements. Exhibits exceptional customer service and professionalism to both internal and external customers at all times. Performs other duties as assigned. Works under the supervision and leadership of the RRMC Valet/Protection Manager. Functions to provide excellent customer service to those who select the RRMC Valet service to assist in their healthcare needs. Provides services and assistance to guest utilizing the Valet service to include assistant to/from vehicle locating wheelchairs Provides exceptional service to all guests and potential guests by assisting them in a friendly efficient courteous and professional manner. Provides valet parking services to safely and efficiently move guest automobiles to a designated parking location while following Company policies and procedures. This function may include assisting with loading and unloading of personal items providing information in regard to the hotel's facilities and events and directions to local attractions campus beautification. Riverside began serving the Virginia Peninsula community in 1916. In 1963, Riverside moved to the present 72-acre location in Newport News on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard. A 450-bed facility, Riverside Regional Medical Center is the Virginia Peninsulas most comprehensive medical facility combining the most recent computerized medical technology with a healing environment. The Pavilion is a 250,000 sq. ft., $107 million, 3-story addition to Riverside Regional Medical Center, which opened in 2013. This acute care facility provides a regional cancer care center, the Peninsula regions only comprehensive stroke center, the areas only open-heart surgery program, the regions only Level II Trauma Center, and a cornerstone neurosciences program that includes the Chesapeake, Riverside and University of Virginia Radiosurgery Center. It's a great time to be part of the Riverside Family!! We are seeking a talented Registered Nurse who is committed to nursing practice that aligns with our mission- to care for others as we care for those we love. This opportunity is for a Registered Nurse for our Home Health Nursing team. This Department of Shore Healthcare At Home provides outstanding care to patients with excellent patient quality of care outcomes. The selected Registered Nurse will be part of a team that works in a supportive and collaborative culture that with others, provides competent and compassionate care to all patients and their families. There are many opportunities for growth for a Riverside Nurse with a Clinical Ladder that was developed collaboratively with both staff and leadership, Shared Governance, membership on facility as well as system wide committees where your voice can make a difference. Across our Health System, the Riverside Nurse provides competent clinical practice and care coordination through her/his understanding of patient, family and the healthcare delivery team. Consistently provides safe, therapeutic care in a holistic and systematic way. All patient care and interactions are patient and family centered. She/he will integrate knowledge, skills, and experiences to meet the needs of patients and families throughout the continuum to include patient and family education. Communicates effectively and works cooperatively with others. Uses an integrated approach toward patient outcomes. Nursing serves as an empowering body to influence patient empowerment as well as successful outcomes of financial and clinical quality through relationships and access based knowledge. Utilizes standards, guidelines, and pathways for care delivery. Ensures improvements in practice settings by assuming responsibility for self-development in life-long learning. Provides direction and guidance to others regarding practice; serves as a resource, preceptor, and mentor. Leadership skills demonstrated in decision making and problem solving. Riverside Home Care provides the trained staff and complete array of specialized services to help you maintain your safety and independence, and we do it in the comfort of your very own home. Riverside Home Care offers home health, usually provided to individuals recovering from an illness, surgery or hospital stay, and short- or long-term in-home private care for assistance with everyday tasks like cooking and cleaning.

2019-04-21T05:06:32Z

https://careers-rivhs.icims.com/jobs/search?pr=0&schemaId=&o=

Favorite question asked on tours: What's it like to be pre-med at a small, liberal arts college? Hi! My name is James Flatow, and I’m a senior from New York City (yes, the city itself – unsettling peace and quiet have replaced the horns and sirens to which I fell asleep growing up). I’m a pre-med psychology major at Amherst, but the open curriculum has allowed me to take classes in nine departments and counting. In addition to giving tours, I’m an EMT with and board member of ACEMS (Amherst College Emergency Medical Services), our round-the-clock, student-run EMS. Though schoolwork and extracurriculars claim most of my time, I’m rarely too busy to watch the Yankees, jam with friends in a music practice room, or run on the scenic bike path alongside campus. Please feel free to send me questions at [email protected]. Hello! My name is Kathleen, and I am a junior studying Political Science and Environmental Studies. I grew up in San Pedro, a port community in the City of Los Angeles, and moved across the country in 2016 to attend Amherst College. Along with my position as one of the Head Tour Guides, I also work as a Resident Counselor on campus, and have spent my time over the past few years writing for our student-led newspaper, serving as an Eco-Rep to encourage sustainability within our dorms, and coordinating events as an Office Assistant for Amherst's Conferences and Special Events team. While I tend to stay busy on campus, I also enjoy checking out coffee shops and restaurants in Downtown Amherst and hiking with friends in the nearby Holyoke Range. I absolutely love speaking about our college, my majors, and my personal experience as an Amherst student, so please reach out to me at [email protected] if you have any questions! Favorite question asked on tours: Do you have really good calves from walking backwards? Hey! My name is Jana Barber and I’m a junior from Oak Park, IL, which is right outside of Chicago. I am a French and Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought double major. When I’m not hanging on the quad or studying with my friends in my favorite place, Frost library, you can find me at one of the practices for the crew team or rehearsals for Step Team in DASAC. So far my Amherst experience has been incredible; I love how the open curriculum has allowed me to take advantage of the humanities courses while avoiding the math and sciences, at least for now! I look forward to meeting you all on my tours and showing you the amazing experience Amherst can be! Favorite question asked on tours: How did we end up with the best tour guide? Hi everyone! I’m Aahnix, and I’m not in Kansas anymore! Actually, I just got back from studying abroad in Göttingen, Germany, where I took Biology, Linguistics, and history classes! Of course, I also traveled around Europe a bit, and walked across an entire country. At Amherst, although I’m majoring in German, I’m taking advantage of the Open Curriculum by taking a neuroscience course and a Statistics course in addition to my German courses this fall, and I have taken 5 linguistics courses at Umass Amherst, via the 5-College Consortium. When It comes to extracurriculars, I’ve been the Glee Club Librarian and later Co-president, Outing Club Gear Master and later Secretary, Christian Fellowship Bible study leader, and I’ve lived in the German Theme house. When I’m not performing in concerts or talking to the Pioneer Valley through the airwaves, you can find me playing basketball with my friends, Val-sitting, or taking apart my bike. Favorite question asked on tours: Where should we get lunch after this? When I came to Amherst College, I was 100% prepared to be the kid who couldn’t stop sobbing after their parents pulled out of the parking lot. I certainly would never have expected that, on my first night here, I would hug my parents goodbye and then end up happily busting out my sweetest dance moves on the Val Quad with people who are still some of my closest friends to this day. I came to Amherst because I loved the idea of being able to craft my own education through the Open Curriculum, because the view at Memorial Hill never gets old, and because I wanted to be a member of the Five College community (the fact that purple is my favorite color was just an added bonus). While I was right about all of that, I realized that I would be happy staying at Amherst for other reasons: the professors and staff who go out of their way to get to know us, the students who never cease to amaze me, the infinite supply of roasted sweet potatoes at Val. I was truly surprised by how quickly I grew to love Amherst College, and as a tour guide, I want to share this with you! This may all seem a little cheesy, but it’s true (speaking of cheese, check out Grilled Cheese Day at Val and thank me later). Please feel free to send any questions to [email protected]. And, just for the record, I haven’t cried once since I’ve been here – except that one time when I was watching the end of Forrest Gump. Favorite question asked on tours: Where is your favorite place to read on campus? Hi! I'm Mikayla Gordon Wexler, and I am a current senior from West Hartford, Connecticut (about an hour directly south of Amherst). I cannot believe how quickly three years have flown by, but I am excited to spend my final year enjoying the beautiful Western Mass landscape and writing a Senior Anthropology thesis. Here at Amherst, I am a pre-med anthropology major, which perfectly combines my interests in the sciences and humanities -- part of the reason I love the open curriculum at Amherst so much. My biggest commitment on campus outside of academics is working with other amazing Amherst students as an EMT and board member for the Amherst College Emergency Medical Service. When I am not busy working on a paper or lab report, you can find me reading poetry on a bench overlooking Memorial Hill, running on the bike path, or Val-sitting (an Amherst term for hanging out in Valentine Dining Hall for an embarrassing amount of time) with friends. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] with any questions about studying abroad ( I was in Hungary the Fall of last year), being premed with a humanities major, or any other concern! Favorite question asked on tours: Is the dining hall food good? Favorite question asked on tours: What’s the longest amount of time one could spend at Val? Hi! My name is Mariana, and I’m a senior from Greensboro, NC. On campus, I am involved mainly in Choral Society, Project Salud, and the Roosevelt Institute. I've also worked for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and locally-based non-profit Reader to Reader, Inc. Some of my favorite parts of Amherst are getting to explore various interests due to the open curriculum, being able to run into friends at any time in Val, and enjoying the “small school” sense of community while still having access to the tremendous amount of resources offered on campus, within the Five Colleges, and beyond! I am back on campus after a wonderful semester in Stockholm, Sweden and am excited to reunite with friends and take on my senior thesis in sociology! If you have any questions about life at Amherst, think we may share a common interest, or would like a senior's perspective on college, feel free to reach out to [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Why do you give tours? I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: honestly, the hour allotted for a tour is not enough. Throughout my time at Amherst, the school's student body, academics, and resources have created a culture that has offered so much to me; there is just no easy way to condense my experience into sixty minutes. From the strong student-faculty relationships (I've sat a house, a dog, and children for various faculty members!) to going "abroad" to Taiwan, my family's home country, Amherst has made numerous unimaginable experiences not only imaginable, but attainable. Send over any of your Amherst-related inquiries to [email protected]! Hope to meet you on campus sometime! Favorite question asked on tours: How'd you end up at Amherst? Originally from Greensboro, NC, I actually found out about this school by accidentally applying to a fly-in program in my senior year of high school. Ever since I first set foot on campus, I've been in love. Since coming here, I'm constantly amazed at the sense of community I feel here. One of the best elements of the school itself is the freedom to know people outside of your major, and the ability to take courses outside of your major as well! One of my favorite things to do on campus is to go to the ice rink and practice skating in between classes, which is surprisingly empty and fun! As a senior, I've had the opportunity to study abroad in France and in South Africa, as well as network with amazing people, and cannot wait to see what my final year holds! Favorite question asked on tours: Do you ever get tired of the hills? Coming to Amherst has been a big change for me: colder weather, more diverse community, and the coolest people I've ever met make this place a far cry from Dallas, TX. Sure, it's hard to be away from my sisters (splitting up triplets is never easy), but I have quickly learned to love this place and it's become another "home." Right now I am working on figuring out what I want to do here at Amherst, but the current plan is to double major in Political Science and Asian Languages and Civilizations, but I have some Math credits under my belt so who knows what is going to happen? One of my favorite things about this place is I can change my mind a million times and they’ll still let me stay. When I am not doing coursework, I enjoy Mock Trial and attending Mr. Gads Improv Comedy shows. If you want to know more about Amherst from my perspective, hit me up at [email protected] or in the Admissions Office. Favorite question asked on tours: Where should we get lunch? Hi there! I’m a senior here at Amherst College and I’m in love with it. I’m happy to be a part of such a close knit community, and get to know people from all walks of life. There are so many opportunities to get involved in and around campus so I’m always wishing I could do more. Already Amherst has really opened me up to a ton of new interests like West African Dance and farming. My email is [email protected] if you want to ask me about Amherst or send me some sick puns. I hope to see or hear from you soon! Hobbies: Art! I actually have a small quasi business called Vans by Grace in which I customize blank white sneakers. I paint the shoes according to whatever college, theme, or personalized design my customers ask for! Favorite question asked on tours: What do you do for fun? Hi! My name is Grace and I’m a senior from outside of New York City. I love Amherst for so many reasons, but two in particular stick out in my mind. For one, I had no idea what I wanted to study before going to college. I thought maybe I’d study chemistry and be pre-med, but as I explored the open curriculum, I found that actually architecture was so much cooler! Plus, the freedom to choose my own academic path has allowed me to major in psychology as well, while also taking Spanish classes on the side. The other (more important) reason I love Amherst is that I remember visiting for the first time and leaving with the impression that everyone I met was so friendly. And it’s true! Every individual person you meet here is outgoing, unique, and incredibly talented in his or her own way, so that you will learn something new or interesting or fun with every conversation and friendship that you have. As a junior now I'd like to say I've learned a thing or two over the past couple of years here, and I’d love to share whatever sparse knowledge I may have with any and every prospective student to help make your college decision easier! Favorite question asked on tours: Why did you choose Amherst? Hi! My name is Julia Pike, and I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I'm a senior English major. Here on campus, I'm one of the captains of the Women's Ultimate Frisbee Team, Sparkle Motion, I write for one of our school publications, the Indicator, and I intern with The Common, a literary magazine based out of Amherst. In my free time, I like to run on the beautiful Amherst trails, draw, and watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. My sophomore year I lived in Marsh, the Arts theme house, and I studied abroad in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fall of my junior year. I'm currently working on a creative writing thesis with the English Department. I can't wait to meet you all and show you around Amherst! Favorite question asked on tours: What is there to do in Amherst, Massachusetts?!? Hi, I’m Molly Pines! I'm a senior from a small suburb of San Francisco (and I will always be a West Coaster at heart, no matter how much I love Amherst). At school when I’m not eating, sleeping, or studying English and Spanish, I swim breaststroke for our Varsity Swim & Dive Team and participate in Amherst Dance beginner pieces (think Justin Bieber medleys and the like). If you have any questions about Amherst in general or about my specific interests, don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. I’m happy to talk about anything and everything Amherst! Favorite question asked on tours: How does town life at Amherst compare to life in New York City? Hi! My name is Ethan Rosenthal, and I am a senior from New York City, New York. I am a history major focusing on modern nationalist movements. Outside of the classroom, I have been able to be a part of some amazing groups like Amherst College Hillel and the Amherst Political Union among others. Both my studies and extra-curricular activities have been typical of the Amherst experience: engaging and intimate. If you have any questions or concerns about academics, student life, or anything else that might be on your mind, feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]. Looking forward to seeing you on campus! Favorite question asked on tours: Does Amherst ever feel TOO small? Hi there! I'm Dorit, a senior from North Potomac, Maryland. Coming from a high school of 1200 students, I knew I wanted to attend a small school that would allow me to make meaningful connections with my peers and professors. When I took a tour of Amherst my junior year of high school, I was amazed by how easily I could see myself sitting on the first-year quad and staring off at the amazing view from Memorial Hill. I was also drawn to the Amherst students I interacted with during my visit; everyone was so genuine and welcoming - just my kind of people! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Amherst so far, largely thanks to the wonderful residents of North 4th floor last year (shout-out to my fellow nuns), and can't wait to share more about the wonderful things this community has to offer with you on a tour! In the meantime, you are more than welcome to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions about anything I've mentioned above or really anything for that matter, and I'll do my best to give you a timely and meaningful response! Can't wait to see you on campus! Favorite question asked on tours: What's your favorite place to eat in town? Hello! My name is Allison and I’m a senior spending the year writing an Environmental Studies thesis on community forestry management in Madagascar. I come from a small town so I really appreciate the charm of Amherst and all the amazing restaurants in town! Thanks to Amherst, I was able to spend not only last fall semester, but also a month this past summer studying in Madagascar and falling in love with the island culture. Catch me on campus tossing around a frisbee on the freshmen quad, working to make the College more sustainable, or fully utilizing the open curriculum to try and figure what I want to do with my life. Feel free to reach out to [email protected] if you’d like to talk more! Favorite question asked on tours: What's your favorite restaurant in town? Hi everyone! I'm a senior from Northern California interested in the intersection between healthcare and business. I've been incredibly happy with the experience that I've had at Amherst so far, from the way I felt at home on campus almost immediately to the relationships I've formed with my peers, professors, and alumni. Some of the best aspects about Amherst are definitely the friendly college town vibe and the open curriculum. I now can't imagine being at a school where I'd have general requirements! I love talking about Amherst, so if you have any questions about what it's like to actually have weather, track, or anything else, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I came here on a scholarship from Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, so the school chose me more than the other way around. The culture and academics here are different than what I've known and it's a lot to get used to. But being at Amherst as an international student, a transfer student, and an older student has been a worthwhile experience. Don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] for any lingering questions! I chose to come to Amherst because I was excited to immerse myself in a close-knit, diverse community where I knew I would be challenged to grow and learn. With my first two years at Amherst behind me, I am amazed by the connections I have formed with my peers and professors, and feel enriched by the environment that Amherst has provided for me. I'm excited for my next two years here, as I know they will bring new friendships, stimulating courses, and important moments of personal growth. I would love to talk more with anyone about Amherst, so please don't hesitate to reach out! [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: Why did you decide to move to the East Coast? My name is Julia, and I am from Los Angeles, California. Coming from such a large and cosmopolitan city I was a little nervous to switch to a smaller setting so far away from home. But I can happily say that Amherst has truly become my second home. The diverse community here with ready access to the other colleges in the consortium truly lends itself to being a little big world. Although I would like to major in art history, I'm happy that I can take advantage of our unique open curriculum and take as many classes as I can in various subjects. Outside of taking classes and going to practice, I enjoy spending time on the third floor of Frost, doing long Val sits, and hanging out with friends. I look forward to meeting as many prospective Amherst students and their families as I can! Feel free to reach out with any questions at [email protected]. Hobbies: Running, watching Chef's Table, watching the Great British Baking Show while actually baking in real life, babysitting, and making friends! Favorite question asked on tours: "How did you get in here?!" Hello! My name is Rachel, I am a dessert-loving, friendship-seeking Northern Californian, and have been told that I am a real life version/combination of Jessica Day and Leslie Knope, which should give you a sense of the level of energy and extroversion I operate at on a daily basis. I am in my third year at Amherst, and I am studying Psychology and French (although you'll also find me in English, History, Film & Media Studies, or Black Studies courses each semester). A lot of people have asked me why I chose Amherst, and my answer has pretty much always been the same. When I first visited Amherst, I was expecting to be most impressed by the facts I already knew and loved about it: the small student-to-faculty ratio, the open curriculum, the intimate and idyllic campus, the Pioneer Valley itself. I did love all of those things, but what really drew me to Amherst College ultimately was the people. I was amazed by the positive, welcoming, diverse student body on campus, and perhaps even more amazed by the attention and care that professors give students at Amherst. Two years later, I've found that that first impression was spot-on, and even on the days that I miss California or slip on ice (not a rarity), I have remained confident and secure in my decision to come to Amherst primarily because of the people here. Students visiting Amherst are also often curious about what my favorite class has been at Amherst so far! I've honestly loved all of my classes at Amherst, but I especially loved every single discussion and assignment in Reading the Novel with Professor Sanborn, and learned a whole new way of writing from Professor Grobe's patient, honest comments in Engaging the Arts. I hope that gives you a good sense of what my own experience of Amherst has been like, but please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any specific questions! Hope to see you on campus soon. Hi! My name is McLean, and I was born and raised in the City of Lakes: Minneapolis, Minnesota. Winters here are a little shorter and much less cold than those I grew up with, so at Amherst I'm basically living in my tropical paradise! This paradise would be incomplete, though, without the good company I have found here, and these personal connections are the true highlight of my time at Amherst. Between students, staff, and professors, I am constantly around people who encourage me and support me, while challenging me to grow and learn. From seminar discussions on John Locke and free speech to late night common room discussions on high school slang, I encounter and engage new ideas every day here at Amherst. I find this to be a beautiful and exciting place to live and learn, and I hope to help you feel the same. Favorite question asked on tours: Why would you ever leave California? My name is Claire and I am a junior from the San Francisco Bay Area. It's hard to believe that I'm already halfway done with my time at Amherst, but I'm loving every minute of it. Although I'm majoring in Political Science, I've enjoyed exploring other departments with the open curriculum such as Math, Computer Science, Spanish, Economics and History. Outside of the classroom, I love competing on the volleyball court (Go Firedogs!) and hanging out with friends. You can find me in the classroom, at the gym, hanging out in my floor’s common room, or getting boba at Lime Red. I chose Amherst for the close community that is fostered here, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. The small classes and intimacy of a residential campus have helped me form lasting bonds with both faculty and other students. I would love to talk with you about what makes Amherst so special (or literally anything else!) so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: Why did the school change the mascot? Haitian born, NYC raised junior coming at you from Amherst College. When I first came to Amherst, I expected to be challenged academically, form deep friendships, and finally go camping. Even though I haven't gone camping (yet), I have already done so much on and off campus. Between my wonderful SWAGS classes and frequent visits to Northampton, I'm always busy and having fun. My passion lies in health education and I'm able to channel it through my work as a Student Health Educator. If you want to know anything else about the college, please email me at [email protected]! Hobbies: Exploring Western Mass, Reading, Crafting, and Eating! Hey all! My name's Will, and I'm a junior from Oak Park, Illinois. On my first visit to Amherst a couple of years ago, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of community that I felt on campus. Today, the diverse, empathetic, and intellectual community that is Amherst College still continues to amaze me. The people here at Amherst - from the students, to the professors, to the individuals who work around campus - are truly awesome. If you happen to visit campus, there’s a good chance you might find me in Frost Library trying to figure out some Organic Chemistry homework, down at Hitchcock Field kicking some balls around, or in Val trying to make mac n’ cheese at the stir fry station. If you have any questions about Amherst (even if you’re just curious to how one goes about making mac n’ cheese in a wok) please feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]. I’m happy to answer any of your questions! Favorite question asked on tours: Did Zephaniah Swift Moore (Amherst's Founder) just really like purple? Hi Everyone! My name is Max Fox-Jurkowitz, and I am a junior from Arlington, MA. The warm, inclusive Amherst community and the always accessible professors are just a few of the things that make me feel at home here. The open curriculum at Amherst has allowed me to explore many disciplines, and I’ve even been able to take four history classes already, despite majoring in Math and Stats! Also, I’ve enjoyed my Math and Stats classes so much that I’ll be studying Math in Budapest this Fall. Outside of the classroom, I am on the Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team. I am also a Statistics and Data Science Fellow and a member of Project Sunshine, a community volunteer group. In addition to these activities, I enjoy watching sports, reading historical fiction, and running. Email me with questions about Amherst at [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Why did you apply to Amherst? Yooo my name is Daniel Lee. I am a junior at Amherst thinking about pursuing a Psychology and LJST double major. I love learning about theories of people's behaviors, and Amherst's open curriculum allows me to pursue multiple historical and philosophical perspectives on the subject. Dancing and music are welcome breaks from academic life, and I have made great friends doing what I love. Learning new perspectives every day is wonderful, and I love attending this school. If you have any question you can email me at [email protected]! Hello! My name is Jiwoo, and I'm a junior from the suburbs outside of Denver, Colorado. At Amherst, I am a pre-med Neuroscience major and also pursuing the 5-College Culture, Health, and Science certificate. Ever since I visited campus during the Diversity Open House I knew that it would be home. The people make Amherst the place that it is--I'm constantly inspired and supported by the incredible students, professors, and staff members here. It's been an absolutely wild and amazing experience so far, and I'd love to share it with you. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions about the best place to grab coffee in town (Share), best Val meal (Chicken Tikka Masala), or anything else about Amherst! Activities on campus: Here on campus I'm on the board of the radio station, WAMH and the board of Jazz at Amherst. I also play guitar in a jazz combo. I am involved with theater in many ways, including working in the scene shop, and am the RC of the Arts House. Hobbies: I play guitar, read, whittle (poorly) and watch standup comedy. Favorite question asked on tours: You say there's no Greek life here, does that mean that if you're from Greece you're not allowed to apply? Hello! My name is Theo Pérez and I very much so like it here at Amherst. Between the open curriculum and the wide range of student activities, I feel that I have complete control over the structure of my day and am really able to personalize and adapt my experience to be whatever I want it to be. Amherst is a really special place because of the amazing individuals who make up our community. One piece of advice I was given upon arrival to campus was to genuinely make an effort to get to know the faculty and staff members who work at the college. After living on campus for two years I can say that following this advice has given me the chance to connect with and learn from some of the most interesting people I've met in my life. My fellow students constantly amaze me with their ambition, curiosity, and hobbies. If you have any questions about LGBT life on campus, the non-athlete experience at Amherst, or anything else please feel free to reach out to me via email at [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: Why did you pick Amherst? I chose Amherst because of the people I met when I first visited. It was clear that this was a community that loved where they were and were determined to make Amherst, and the world, a better place. I love being apart of this community now and I know that it has made me a more well-rounded person. Not only do I appreciate the Amherst community, but the campus is so picturesque it now seems impossible for me to imagine myself anywhere else. Favorite question asked on tours: How tall are you? My name is Audrey Stromberg, and I'm a junior at Amherst. I chose Amherst for all of the obvious reasons, such as the open curriculum, student-to-faculty ratio, and the diverse community of friendly Amherst dogs. Thanks to Amherst, I've been able to fully explore all of my academic interests, finally and happily landing on a psychology major. Along the way, I've taken classes with and gotten to know some of the most intellectually curious minds in the country. As a result, I have grown not only as a student, but also as a person. Amherst is truly a unique experience, and I hope to show you that too! Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions or just to talk Amherst! I love being at Amherst and engaging in incredible conversations with people from such diverse backgrounds! People here--students, faculty, and staff--are all so passionate about a range of things. The conversations with my peers and with adults in the community extend far beyond the classroom, ranging from talking about current events and politics to discussions about family traditions back home or new books that we've read. Every single day, these interactions solidify my decision of choosing Amherst! Hi there, I'm Hana! I am a junior from New York City, born in Ethiopia. I will soon be majoring in Political Science but have a variety of interests that range from English to Religion. I love to learn both from my amazing professors and my classmates. One of my favorite things about a liberal arts education like that at Amherst is the small sized classes which allow for great conversations that challenge the ways I think as well as what I think. Outside of the classroom you can find me bothering my friends or taking a Buzzfeed quiz about which country I should visit based on how I style my non-existent mansion. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions at [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: What's your favorite meal at Val? My name is Sarah Weintraub and I am a junior from Scarsdale, New York. As soon as I started looking at colleges, I immediately fell in love with Amherst College because of its size, open curriculum, and sense of community. I am currently a member of the women’s crew team on campus and I am the president of the Ski and Snowboard Club. I have been able to explore so many different interests in a variety of classes here because of the open curriculum. Amherst is an amazing place because students, professors and faculty are able to come together to learn from each other every single day. The students here are diverse and interesting and it's great to continue to meet new people all the time on campus. I am excited to be a tour guide to share my knowledge about and love for Amherst with potential students. Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions about anything Amherst! Amherst College has been the perfect school for me, and I believe it can be the perfect college for many prospective students. My professors are all at the top of their respective fields, but still put in the time to make sure each student reaches their full potential (by asking challenging questions, leading discussions, and having accessible office hours). Similarly, Amherst students are cooperative, hard-working, and talented, which expedites learning and significantly reduces the stress of schoolwork. Amherst's small size allows you to become close with some of these incredible people, which you will especially appreciate when you always find a friend to sit with at Val or Frost. If you have a question about student life at Amherst College, please feel free to email me at [email protected]! Go Mammoths! Hi! My name is Morgan Yurosek and I am a junior from sunny Southern California. Calling the East Coast home has been an amazing experience and I have enjoyed the fall foliage, snow, and change of scenery. At Amherst I am a member of the Women's Golf Team and am an Economics major. Since coming to Amherst I have met a ton of people from diverse backgrounds and have taken classes that have introduced me to new and interesting subjects like Russian. I was drawn to Amherst because of the small size of the student body and have enjoyed its perks including small class sizes and the ability to form relationships with the professors. I can't wait to share my wonderful experience here with prospective students. If you have any questions about the school feel free to email me at [email protected]! Hi! I’m Maggie and I’m a sophomore from Oxford, Massachusetts. When applying to colleges, I was drawn to Amherst by the open curriculum, the diverse community, the amazing students and faculty I met, and the level of comfort I felt while being on campus. Ever since I arrived on campus last fall for orientation, I’ve felt very much at home and have come to love Amherst even more, as well as the people I have gotten to know here. I plan on majoring in psychology, although I have not declared yet. Outside of the time I spend in classes and studying in Frost, you can find me singing with Resurrect (the Amherst College Gospel Choir), lounging in the hammocks by the Greenway dorms, enjoying some fries from Keefe Cafe, or just walking around and admiring the beautiful campus! I look forward to meeting you and sharing more about my experience at Amherst with you! Feel free to send me an email at [email protected] if you have any questions! Hi, my name is Armando and I'm originally from Caracas, Venezuela but lived most of my life in Miami. It was during move in day at a Spanish speaking families reception that I knew Amherst and I were meant to be. I was told "esto es tu casa" (this is your home), and it has been so much more. From having an inspiring seminar professor who encouraged me to take advantage of the open curriculum and pursue a second major, to friends who want to have picnics on the quad, and crying from laughter with teammates over movies, I know Amherst has been the place for me to grow academically and personally. Amherst to me means the smell of fresh air at the end of a hiking trail, the changing colors of the leaves, talking to really excited alumni, the cheers you yell with friends at homecoming, and the passion in the teacher’s eyes that’s mirrored by the students. If you have any questions about the school feel free to email me at [email protected]! Favororite question asked on tours: "How'd you manage to get a dog on Campus? Buon giorno! I'm Bridget and I'm currently a sophomore at Amherst College. I am a Psychology major with a strong academic interest in Italian Language and Cultural Studies which I am able to pursue through the Five College Consortium here. But what I am most passionate about? My fur baby, Capri. Named after the beautiful island in Italy, Capri is a 9 month old Cavapoo puppy who lives with me here on campus. She's a big hit on campus and loves all the pets and treats she receives from students when we go on walks around campus. You can find Capri and I on the first year quad doing some homework or walking around Pratt field for football games! Feel free to reach out with questions, or just to say hi at [email protected]. Ciao! Favorite question asked on tours: Is it always this cold? Hi! My name is Joshua Choi and I am from Los Angeles, California. I applied to Amherst because I was looking for a tight-knit community that provided excellent academic opportunities. Amherst has not left me disappointed. Taking advantage of Amherst’s location, I could enjoy breaks from the schoolwork with walks through the woods while also organizing trips to cities like Boston or New York. Amherst College’s open curriculum gave me the chance to take classes that I would have never had the opportunity to otherwise and explore different fields of study that I was completely unfamiliar with. Small class sizes have let me connect with my professors on levels not possible at other schools. From trying out the East Coast lifestyle with new friends to receiving individualized attention from professors, my time at Amherst has been an unforgettable experience so far. Hi! My name is Vivian Cordon, and I'm sophomore. Although Amherst is way more quiet than my home in New York City (hearing crickets instead of traffic is so strange!), over the course of my first semester, I've truly been able to call Amherst home. Since coming to Amherst, I've become friends with people from all over the country and the world. My favorite thing about Amherst is the diversity of experience that its students have. I never thought I would meet so many diverse people, coming from New York, so the variety experiences of Amherst students was a big surprise. These students bring their experiences to the classroom (or to a meal at Val) and really change the shape of the conversation. I would be more than happy to answer any questions about my experience or Amherst College itself! Feel free to email me at [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Did you have to train to walk backwards? Hey all! I'm Thomas, a sophomore and ardent supporter of all things Chicago. After graduating from a school that fed from all parts of the city, I knew I would need a college that was equally diverse. Here in such a close-knit community, we all celebrate and cherish each other's differences. Amherst students know that together, not apart, we change the world. In my studies I take advantage of our open curriculum daily. As I study the hard sciences for pre-med and legal systems I realize that logic and creativity overlap. Otherwise, on campus you may find me arranging music at a table in Beneski, jamming on a piano in the basement of Jearns, or putting some strange variety of spices on Val's lighter-side catfish. One of my favorite activities running among fall's changing leaves on the bike trail. I am so grateful to Amherst Select, our school's internship program, for exposing me to HIV-related health disparities in my hometown. I can't wait for three more years of learning, goofing-off, and East-coasters saying "word" to everything. Please shoot me an email at [email protected] with any questions – I love to chat! Hi! My name is Rafi and I am a sophomore from the southern paradise of Northern Louisiana. Already within my first year I have been welcomed into so many accepting communities like the crew team, Blue Sox, and even the floor I live on (South fourth floor represent!). I absolutely love that there is no limit to the communities you can continuously make here at Amherst. Being far away from home is easy with such a supportive group of people always there for me. I can't wait for the next three years here and all the memories I'll get to make here at Amherst! I would love to answer any questions you may have, you can reach me at [email protected]. Hey everyone! My name is Eve De Muheto and I am from New York City. I am a sophomore intending to major in Political Science. Although I have only been here a short time, I have loved my experience at Amherst because despite its size I still feel like I belong in so many different communities within the student body. Between my classmates, professors, and peers from clubs I always feel supported, which I attribute to the tight-knit nature of the school. I am incredibly excited to see what my next two years here bring and share with you all how special Amherst is to me. Favorite question asked on tours: Why would you leave Florida weather and move to Massachusetts? Hi everyone! My name is Hayley, and I'm a sophomore from the wonderful paradise of Tampa, Florida. I came to Amherst intending to study Political Science, but thanks to the open curriculum and a twist of fate, I'm now double majoring in music. My favorite things to do at Amherst are sitting in boats with the sailing team (ask me about how much I love Lake Arcadia), talking politics with AC Democrats, and Val Sitting to hide from the cold weather. I've also gotten really involved in off-campus activities by becoming the leader of a local Girl Scout Troop and getting involved in College Democrats of Massachusetts. For me, the best parts of going to Amherst are taking advantage of the 5 College Consortium and enjoying the amazing scenery from campus--coming from Florida, I still feel a little alarmed whenever I wake up and see the mountains outside of my dorm room window! Feel free to email me with questions about Amherst at [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: Why did you decide to come to Amherst? Hi, I'm Sarah, and I'm a sophomore from the San Francisco Bay Area of California! I really wanted to try something new when I came to college, so I decided to travel across the country to Amherst. Everyday I am grateful that I chose this school. The professors are always very helpful, the campus is beautiful, the community is close, and the people are great! The open curriculum is one of my favorite aspects of the classes here, and I am enjoying using it to its fullest potential. When I'm not studying, you can catch me running cross country and track! I also participate in Amherst Dance and Amherst Connects. I hope you enjoy Amherst as much as I do, please feel free to email me with any questions at [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Why do you go here if you live here? Hey guys! My name’s Elly and I’m a sophomore from Los Angeles, California (Pasadena specifically for any fellow Angelenos out there). I'm still not 100% certain on my major, but I'm very passionate about the arts and humanities. I chose Amherst for the breadth offered by the open curriculum, its reputation for academic rigor, and the diversity of its student body. I’ve been able to take classes as diverse as theater, Chinese, and psychology as early as the first semester of freshman year while making friends from all over the country and world. But my favorite thing about Amherst is its strong sense of community. One of the blessings of a small college is that you see your friends constantly, and as soon as the first few weeks Amherst started feeling like home. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions! I’m happy to chat anytime, and I hope to see you at Amherst! Hi! My name is Lauren Lamb, and I am a sophomore from Connecticut. I spent four years at boarding school in New England, so in many ways Amherst is quite similar, but in other ways, Amherst is very different, but I love both. On campus, I run on the Varsity track and field team and help promote environmental sustainability as an Eco Rep. When I’m not running or explaining the importance of bee conservation and downsizing, I like to walk to town for a donut at Glazed or the bike trail with my friends. I love the open curriculum at Amherst, so I can focus on classes in areas I’m passionate about, while feeling free to explore other disciplines. The people at Amherst are what really make the college special. Everyone is driven and passionate, while also quirky and caring. I find myself spending way too long in the dining hall talking to my friends about everything and anything. I’m looking forward to studying abroad my junior year and meeting a lot more people on campus. I’m excited to share my experiences at Amherst with you, so if you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected]. Favorite question asked on tours: THIS is a lecture hall? Hello! My name is Hunter, and I’m from Portland, Oregon. At Amherst, I serve on the Amherst College Senate and the executive board of the Amherst College Pride Alliance. As a sophomore, I have enjoyed taking many courses in differing departments and have come to love the ways in which my classes in seemingly disparate disciplines connect with one another. Each morning I wake up I am excited to be at Amherst, and I hope to be able to convey my love for the college as a tour guide. Amherst is a special place, created and sustained by the special people who are part of it. If you have any questions feel free to reach me at [email protected]. Happy touring! Favorite question asked on tours: What distinguishes Amherst from its peers, particularly other small liberal arts colleges? Dear all, My name is Jeremy and I am a sophomore from New York City. I picked Amherst because I believed the school best provided the tools and academic environment to allow me to explore my academic interest. I am very passionate about cities, architecture, and art, which led me to a our architectural studies program which is unlike any other architecture program given the interdisciplinary nature of Amherst. Our courses and open curriculum have allowed be to really dig deep and explore my interests and achieve my goal of having a better understanding of myself. Furthermore, I also have a deep interest in history and being able to take classes in both departments has allowed me to have a better understanding of each other. I am a die heart Yankee's fan, who loves to watch the game on while I do homework. I also enjoy sneakers and streetwear probably a bit too much for my (or my bank account's) own good. Favorite question asked on tours: Where is your favorite place to study in town? Hi! My name is Margot, and I’m a sophomore from Denver, Colorado. From the moment I stepped on the Amherst campus as a prospective student, I felt at home. I had a sense that it was the right place for me both academically and socially, and so far it has exceeded my expectations. As someone with a wide variety of academic interests, I believe the opportunities for exploration afforded by the open curriculum are invaluable. I didn’t enter the college with a clear major in mind, and I love the freedom to explore many departments, knowing that I could never take all of the classes that interest me. I couldn’t have anticipated how incredible my professors would be; they are not only great educators but also caring and generous with their time. My academic experience has been enhanced by the kind, interesting group of students I get to live and learn with. If you have any questions about Amherst please feel free to email me at [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Where is your favourite place to study on campus? Hello! My name is Jake Montes-Adams and I am a sophomore here at Amherst College from San Diego County, California. I am a declared political science major, but I have also had the opportunity to take classes in diverse areas of interest from architectural studies to sexuality, women's, and gender studies. I also took a geography class at UMass last semester, which was a fantastic way to spend some time off campus and to explore in a classroom setting a niche interest of mine that I'd previously never had the opportunity to formally study. After I graduate, I hope to work abroad as a policy researcher and advocate for human rights and/or labour rights, but I am also interested in investigative journalism. When I'm not studying or at work, I like to listen to selections from my record collection, watch YouTube videos, and listen to podcasts. I love to travel (I've been to 26 states plus DC!), I'm a huge baseball and soccer fan, and I visit every art museum I can find. This year I'm be living in Marsh Arts House and hope to develop my prose writing and photography skills while continuing to explore across the curriculum and around the Five Colleges. Hello! My name is Lea Morin and I am a second year at Amherst College. I was born and raised in the Lone Star State and could not be prouder. Yet I decided to attend college thousands of miles away from Texas because I could not resist the allure of Amherst. I participated in DIVOH and fell head over heels for the campus and the people brought together by the college. Amherst offers an exceptional academic atmosphere as well as a diverse community which proves conducive for intellectual and personal growth. Amherst’s community was its greatest attractive force for me as well as my favorite aspect of the college because my undergraduate experience is about far more than just acquiring a degree. I have the incredible opportunity of learning and growing with a diverse array of people I would not have encountered elsewhere which has broadened my personal horizons. I love discussing Amherst and I would like the opportunity to do so with prospective students or their parents and may be contacted at [email protected]. I am excited to share my experiences with you! Favorite question asked on tours: Is everyone on campus as lovely as you? Hey! My name is Abigail Offei-Addo, and I am a sophomore here at Amherst. I first learned of Amherst when two of my older brothers decided to attend Amherst and its rival school (which shall not be named). As I learned about the opportunities that Amherst offered academically, I decided to apply. Now that I'm here, I can't imagine being anywhere else; the friends that I've made, the professors I've interacted with, and the classes that I’ve taken make being here on campus truly worth it. I can genuinely say that I’ve found a family here, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. Normally, I try to focus more on the academic side of life, but when I need to procrastinate (which is often), YouTube, Spotify, anime, and K-dramas are my go-to’s. I also enjoy playing volleyball, hanging out with friends, talking about the latest video game developments, and debating random topics. I was a part of Women’s Club Soccer for a hot second, but I am more than willing to talk about anything from football to water polo. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions about Amherst. Hi! My name is Lorelle Sang and I’m a sophomore from Brooklyn, New York. I’m planning on double majoring in Neuroscience and Music. I was immediately attracted to Amherst because of the open curriculum. I really liked having lot’s of control over what I studied, and since coming to Amherst have met so many encouraging people who have helped me continue to pursue my interests and passions to the best of my ability. If you have any questions about my experience at Amherst send me an email at [email protected]! Favorite question asked on tours: Where is your favorite place to study? When I was in high school, I never imagined that I would end up at a liberal arts school on the opposite side of the country. In fact, I seriously considered just going to my local community college. I had no idea what I wanted to study, let alone how I could afford college; thus, I thought it would be safer to transfer later. But Amherst gave me the freedom to pursue bigger opportunities. Amherst has certainly strengthened my academic mind and eased my worries about affording college, but I have also been encouraged to cultivate a broader perspective of my place in the world and in relation to other people. As a tour guide, I hope to express how much I've been able to grow here. Feel free to reach out with any questions at [email protected]! Howdy! I'm a second-year from Houston, Texas double majoring in English & Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought. I love it here and I'm sure you will, too! I have a strong interest in domestic and international human rights--grounded in American carceral practices. With the open curriculum, I've had the studied subjects I have legitimate interest in--without worrying about fulfilling tedious general education requirements. Although it's a far cry from Houston, Amherst is my home away from home--thanks to all the genuine, kind people here. If you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected]. I'm more than happy to talk about anything from Toni Morrison to what Kim's entrepreneurial spirit. Hi guys! My name is Jack Vasquez, and I am a sophomore at Amherst College. I came to Amherst because I wanted a small liberal arts college that would both support me in my academic and career endeavors and challenge me to grow intellectually. In these respects, Amherst has far exceeded my expectations. My favorite part of the college is its professors. They always seem to go out of their way to help students who ask for it, but at the same time will challenge students to see the world in a different way. I have also found the career center at Amherst extremely helpful, especially coming into college not really knowing what I wanted to do after college. If you decide to come to Amherst College, I'm confident you'll find the students and professors at the college will provide you a top-notch experience. If you have any questions about life at Amherst or the application process, don't hesitate to email me at [email protected]. Best of luck! Hello! My name is Javier and I'm from Minneapolis, Minnesota. My favorite thing about college so far is that Amherst makes it easy to pursue what I enjoy. In my first year it was exceptionally straightforward to join student clubs and other on-campus activities that I liked. Academics at Amherst are also very accessible; teachers are always ready to meet one on one and, thanks to the open curriculum, I will be able to double major despite starting one of my majors in my second year. If you think of any questions related to what I do on campus or about being an Amherst student in general please send them my way and I'll send a detailed and honest response. My email is [email protected]. Hi! My name is Ben and from the moment I visited Amherst I fell in love with the college. Back home in Michigan, however, very few people have heard of this “little” school. Despite that, I’m so happy I came to Amherst, as it has been everything I’d hoped for and more. There is a unique and strong sense of community that makes the Amherst experience very enriching. The entire student body is so friendly, and the professors genuinely care about their students, even outside the classroom. The open curriculum is allowing me to easily pursue a double major while still taking many other fascinating classes outside my majors. The college also provides so many non-academic opportunities for all students to get involved in every aspect of college life. Amherst is a place where you can truly come to grow and discover what you’re passionate about. I love to talk about Amherst, so if you’d like to talk about academics, student life, sports, political activity or anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me! My email is [email protected]. Hi! My name is Marina and I am from the northern suburbs of Chicago. I am a Sophomore at Amherst and am double majoring in Chemistry & Spanish. I spend most of my time on campus in the new science center or hanging out at Marsh House (the arts house on campus). I am a member of the Women's Club Soccer team and am enjoying every second of it! Club sports are a big part of my life here on campus and I have found some of my best friends through being on the team. I grew up on the lake, so I love to swim, kayak, and sail. My favorite thing to eat on campus are the mac & cheese bites at Schwemm's. I first learned about Amherst through DIVOH (Amherst's Diversity Open House). If you are considering applying or have any questions about the program, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I'd be happy to share a little bit about my experience. I hope you enjoy getting to know Amherst a bit better and I hope you'll consider joining our community. Roll Mammos! Favorite question asked on tours: How's the winter? Hi! I’m Lisa, a sophomore from Florida (yes, I am adjusting to the weather here!). As you saw above, I am interested in many subjects so I’m not sure what I am going to major in yet, but the open curriculum here is helping me figure that out! It’s super easy to get involved in extracurriculars at Amherst. I’m passionate about intersectional feminism so I’m in the Reproductive Justice Alliance, and I love writing so I am a writer for the Amherst Student (our newspaper) and an editor for The Indicator (our magazine). Also, I had never done improv comedy before coming to college but now I'm a part of our improv group on campus called Mr. Gad's. Besides those fun tidbits, I pride myself in being a lava cake enthusiast and you’ll probably see me around campus in colorful, funky outfits. My favorite parts about Amherst are the quad, the size, the people, the professors, and the sense of community here. I want you to love Amherst too, so feel free to email me if you have any questions at [email protected]. Being not even a year removed, I remember how scary, yet exciting of a time it is venturing out and exploring where you'll potentially spend 4+ super important years of your life. And so, hopefully I can bring that human element to discovering Amherst more than just the website or admissions brochures to help everyone who visits this campus feel welcome and free to determine how well of a fit it is for them the same way that I would have wanted for myself not too long ago. And so, ask away, I love questions and I love communicating with people and can't wait to meet you guys! Hey! I'm Mattea, and I'm a first-year student from Utah (there's only a couple of Utahns here at Amherst!) I'm very excited to be able to share my love of Amherst with you. Amherst is a remarkably special place, and I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to be a student here. The student body is absolutely incredible. I am continually blown away by the amazing life stories each student has to tell. Everyone here has a different background and something to offer to the school as a whole, and that makes Amherst a very inspiring place to be. Another thing I love about Amherst is the open-curriculum. It has allowed me to follow both of my passions by double-majoring, along with providing the opportunity to explore subjects outside of my majors. Amherst truly is a place where you can grow, explore possibilities, and broaden your horizons. I'm excited to be able to share all the wonderful things this school has to offer with you! Please feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions you may have, or if you just want to talk about Amherst! Hey! My name is Luyao Fu, and I go by Mimi. I grew up in China, but moved to Boston 8 years ago. My prospective majors are economics and Japanese (even though I am in Japanese 101 right now). In my free time, I like to dance, sing, and draw with friends, but I am by no means a professional at any of these skills. Amherst stood out among other small liberal arts colleges because of its diverse community and non-toxic competition. In this atmosphere, I truly feel that I receive an education for its inherent fulfillment, not for an end goal. Contrary to my high school experience, receiving a good grade became an affirmation of my hard work, rather than a letter that looks good on my transcript (Of course grades still matter). I can't imagine myself going to any other school. I've met so many amazing and unique people, and I've learned a lot from them. But if you have any questions about my experience, please feel free to email [email protected]! Hey! My name is Shikha, and I'm from just outside Detroit, Michigan. I'm only a first-year and a lot of my plans are subject to change, but I'm currently thinking of studying psychology on the pre-med track (we'll see if the Open Curriculum says otherwise). The few months I've spent at Amherst have already been some of the most enjoyable to date, and I wake up every morning excited for the new people I'll meet and the new experiences I'll have. I'm always happy to share my thoughts and stories from this first year at Amherst, especially if it can help make your college application process easier - feel free to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions! Hello! My name is James Kwak and I'm a first-year from Tampa, Florida. I expected the transition to Amherst to be difficult, but I was surprised to find that engaging with Amherst's passionate and diverse student body as well as building intimate relationships with my professors immediately made me feel at home! My favorite thing about Amherst is that you're given so many opportunities to explore things outside your normal realm of interests. For example, despite being in rural Western Massachusetts, I was able to attend several unique musical concerts funded entirely by the college. One of these concerts, which featured esteemed saxophonist Darius Jones, helped expand my definition of music and challenged my preexisting outlook on performative art. I believe that college is a place for growth and exploration, and Amherst encourages me to do exactly that every single day! If you have any questions or would like to reach out to me, please do so at [email protected]! Hey y'all! My name is Alexi Lee, and I am a first-year from TN. I love Amherst with my whole heart, and I am so excited to get to show others around this wonderful second home of mine! I am currently planning on double-majoring in LJST and Psychology; outside of class, you can catch me on the Connecticut rowing for the women's crew team, Val sitting with my friends, being way too loud on A Level in Frost, or dancing with the lovely dancers of DASAC! I hope you have an amazing time exploring Amherst; feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions you might have! Hi! My name is Andrea Mirow and I’m originally from Miami, Florida. I first visited Amherst through the Diversity Open House (DIVOH) program at the beginning of my senior year of high school. I was really curious to see what made Amherst special, and I instantly realized it is the beautiful, vibrant community on campus. After meeting so many amazing people, I decided this was the place for me. Already a semester in, I feel like I’ve found a second home. Amherst also offers a ton of really cool opportunities for students to get out there and explore their interests. The open curriculum has allowed me to take classes in history of science and art while also testing out physics and chemistry. My professors genuinely care about how I’m doing, not only in class but outside as well, and they continue to guide and help me figure out what I want to do. I am so proud to be a student at Amherst (and a mammoth!), and I can’t wait to share that with you! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected]. Hi! My name is Diego and I’m a first year student from Boston, Massachusetts. The main thing that drew me to Amherst was the open curriculum, but what I’ve found since then has been a world of possibilities. I got involved and fell in love with things I had never tried before like rugby, archery, and giving tours. I fell in love with the College because of how authentic and passionate everyone is. Everyone is happy to be who they are, and are excited to find out who you are. The best part of the open curriculum is that everyone in class – including the professors – is there because they want to be, and everyone feeds off that energy together. The same goes for extracurricular activities and even just hanging out with friends: everyone puts their heart into what they do. If you have any questions about applying to Amherst or what life is like here, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]. Favorite Question Asked on Tours: How are you fitting into Amherst? Hola mis amigos! My name is Ramses Rubio and I'm a first year from Northern Virginia (basically DC). My mom is from Panama and my dad is from Peru. I love Amherst for the beautiful surroundings and tranquility that it provides while still not feeling that I'm in the middle of nowhere. I really love the Amherst Community for all the friends that I've made and being part of multiple clubs. The most amazing thing has been all the ski trips I've been able to take this year which are all paid for by the school. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] and I look forward to seeing you on campus! Hi! My name is Virginia and I'm a first year here at Amherst College. Ever since I first stepped foot on campus, I knew that Amherst was a special place. Through my time here, that has only become more true. I find new things I love about this school nearly every day I am here, whether it is discovering a new study nook, a caring facilities worker, a relaxing run on the bike trail, or a positive and informative one-on-one experience with a professor. I love walking around campus at a small school like Amherst because there’s a very high chance that I'll see people I know, and it's always encouraging to see friendly faces. One of my favorite parts about Amherst is its open curriculum because I can create my own unique academic experience that would reflect my interests and ensure that I can learn things I feel passionately about. From the exceptional character of the student body to the passionate, brilliant, and caring professors and gorgeous campus, I believe that Amherst really is the ideal place to study and spend four years. During my college search I realized I needed both academic rigor and a strong sense of community. The moment I stepped onto the Amherst campus, I found both in spades. As expected, my favorite part of my Amherst experience has been the community. Fellow students act in collaboration rather than competition because we know this is the best way for all of us to learn and enjoy our time here. Professors take the time to understand how each student can be successful. Students get to know one another regardless of club or sport affiliation. We also get to know the staff at Val and in our dorms, too. I’ve made fast-friends here, and already have a tradition of hosting movie and game nights with my new friends on weekends. Amherst is a great place to learn, and I’m excited to share that with you! Hi there! My name is David Xu and I'm a first year student here at Amherst College. Like many students on campus, I am undecided on my major and am taking a variety of classes in Economics, Music, Math, Physics, etc. I've actually found that I'm even more undecided and sometimes wish I could just major in everything, but I'm certain I'll come to a decision (eventually). Outside of classes I love taking naps, playing in the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, being dramatic during opening statements in Mock Trial, and checking out the variety of activities on campus. If you want some insight into the first year experience, want tips on the quietest study spots on campus, or have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

2019-04-23T18:15:19Z

https://www.amherst.edu/admission/meet/tour-guides

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have published their response to the European Commission on the amendments the Commission proposes to make to the draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on key information documents (KIDs) for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPS). The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Report on cyclicality of banks’ capital requirements aiming at clarifying whether risk-sensitive bank capital requirements as laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) create unintended pro-cyclical effects by reinforcing the endogenous relationships between the financial system and the real economy. This report, which has been drafted in close cooperation with the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and the European Central Bank (ECB) is in response to a request by the European Commission to understand whether CRDIV/CRR requirements exert significant effects on the economic cycle and, if so, whether any remedial measures are justified. In addition, this Report may inform the European Commission’s currently ongoing reviews of the EU micro- and macro-prudential frameworks and could serve as a valuable complementary contribution to the global discussions about the bank capital regulatory framework. In its meeting on 6 December 2016, the Board of Supervisors of the European Banking Authority (EBA) decided to carry out its next EU-wide stress test in 2018, in line with its previous decision to aim for a biennial exercise. The EBA will start immediately to prepare the methodology for the 2018 stress test exercise, which will also include an assessment of the impact of IFRS 9, which will be implemented on 1 January 2018. This decision has been communicated to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. In 2017, the EBA will perform its regular annual transparency exercise. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its third impact assessment Report for the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR), together with a review of its phasing-in period. The Report shows a constant improvement of the average LCR across EU banks since 2011. At the reporting date of 31 December 2015, EU banks’ average LCR was significantly above the 100% minimum requirement, which will have to be fully implemented by January 2018, and no strong evidence was found suggesting that the EBA should recommend an extension of the phasing-in period of the LCR. The Report, which is based on liquidity data from 194 EU banks across 17 Member States, is the first publication after the implementation of the minimum binding standards in 2015 and accounts for the provisions of the Commission’s Delegated Regulation on the LCR. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the supervision of significant branches. Prompted by the increasing demand to establish branches across the European Union, these Guidelines are designed to facilitate cooperation and coordination between the Competent Authorities (CAs). They will assist them in supervising the largest systemically important branches, the so-called “significant-plus” branches, which require intensified supervision. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report including recommendations on how to harmonise covered bond framework in the EU. This Report represents an unparalleled attempt to further strengthen the covered bonds across the EU and seeks to ensure that only those financial instruments that comply with the harmonised structural, credit risk and prudential standards can be branded as ‘covered bonds’ and have access to special regulatory and capital treatment as provided in the current EU financial regulation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a data collection for commodity derivatives firms that will support the European Commission in the calibration of the new prudential regime for investment firms. This exercise follows up on the consultation the EBA launched on 4 November 2016 in response to the European Commission's call for technical advice on the design of a new prudential regime for investment firms, including the extent to which the new regime would also be suitable for or adaptable to specialised commodity derivatives firms. The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) launched today a public consultation about the potential benefits and risks of Big Data for consumers and financial firms to determine whether any further regulatory or supervisory actions may be needed. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a qualitative survey on internal ratings-based (IRB) models to analyse the impact of the EBA draft Guidelines on the estimation of risk parameters for non-defaulted exposures, namely of the probability of default (PD) and the loss given default (LGD), and on the treatment of defaulted assets, which are currently under consultation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the framework for cooperation and exchange of information between Competent Authorities for passport notifications under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The technical standards will ensure that information about payment institutions and e-money institutions that carry out business in one or more EU Member States is exchanged consistently between the national authorities of the home and host Member States. The EBA published today its final Report on the implementation and design of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The Report quantifies the current MREL stack and estimates potential financing needs of European Union (EU) banks under various scenarios. It also assesses the possible macroeconomic costs and benefits of introducing MREL in the EU. Finally, the Report recommends a number of changes to reinforce the MREL framework and integrate the international standards on total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) in the EU’s MREL. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines developed in close cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB) under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The draft Guidelines specify (i) the criteria for classifying operational or security incidents as major, (ii) the template to be used by payment service providers when notifying them to the Competent Authorities (CAs,) and (iii) the indicators CAs need to use when assessing the relevance of such incidents. These Guidelines are in support of the objectives of the PSD2 of strengthening the integrated payments market across the European Union (EU), ensuring a consistent application of the legislative framework, promoting equal conditions for competition, providing a secure framework on the payments environment and protecting consumers. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its ninth report on risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector. The report is accompanied by the EBA's 2016 transparency exercise, which provides essential data, in a comparable and accessible format, for 131 banks across the EU. Overall, banks have further strengthened their capital position, allowing them to continue the process of repair. The report identifies as the key challenges in that process the remaining high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) and sustained low profitability. Operational risks also appear to be on the rise and volatility in funding markets remains high. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fourth updated list of capital instruments that Competent Supervisory Authorities (CAs) across the European Union (EU) have classified as Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1). Since the publication of the previous update in September 2016, some new CET1 instruments have been assessed and evaluated as compliant with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The list will be maintained and updated on a regular basis. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its amended final draft implementing technical standards (ITS) on the reporting of financial information. The amended ITS follow the finalisation of IFRS 9 in July 2014 by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and its endorsement into EU law on 22 November 2016 and aim at aligning the reporting framework with the new IFRS 9 requirements while ensuring reporting institutions have adequate implementation time. The EBA announced today that its annual risk assessment report accompanied by detailed individual data for the banks participating in the 2016 EU-wide transparency exercise will be published on Friday 2 December 2016 at 22:00 Central European Summer Time (21:00 GMT). The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a second impact assessment of IFRS 9, which builds on the results of its first exercise published on 10 November 2016. The EBA expects that institutions will be able to provide more detailed and accurate insights into their implementation of IFRS 9 as the information provided by the respondents in the first exercise reflected the early stage of implementation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) that specify the conditions under which Competent Authorities assess the significance of positions included in the scope of market risk internal models, as well as the methodology they shall apply when assessing an institution’s compliance with the requirements to use an Internal Model Approach (IMA) for market risk. These draft RTS are a key component of the EBA's work to ensure consistency in models’ outputs and comparability of risk-weighted exposures and will contribute to harmonise the supervisory assessment methodology across all EU Member States and, ultimately, to restore confidence in the use of such models for regulatory purposes. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today additional information on the application of the proportionality principle to the remuneration provisions laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive in response to a request for advice from the European Commission. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the list of public sector entities (PSEs) that may be treated as regional governments, local authorities or central governments in the area of credit risk, in accordance with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). This list will assist EU institutions in determining their capital requirements for credit risk. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today for consultation a proposal to review its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on additional monitoring metrics for liquidity, which mainly consists of reintroducing a maturity ladder in line with the reporting requirements laid down in the Commission’s Delegated Act on the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR). These revised ITS aim at providing Competent Authorities with harmonised information on institutions’ liquidity risk profile, taking into account the nature, scale and complexity of their activities. The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) published today its final Guidelines on the characteristics of a risk-based approach to anti-money laundering and terrorist financing supervision and the steps to be taken when conducting supervision on a risk-sensitive basis. These guidelines form part of the Joint Committee's work to establish consistent, effective and risk-based supervisory practices across the European Union and contribute to a more robust European anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. They are consistent with international AML/CFT standards. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the estimation of risk parameters for non-defaulted exposures, namely of the probability of default (PD) and the loss given default (LGD), and on the treatment of defaulted assets. These draft Guidelines are part of the EBA’s broader work on the review of the IRB approach aimed at reducing the unjustified variability in the outcomes of internal models, while preserving the risk sensitivity of capital requirements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today for consultation revised Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting. The proposed amendments concern new requirements for the reporting of information on sovereign exposures and changed requirements for the reporting of operational risk data. The standards on supervisory reporting aim at collecting information on institutions’ compliance with prudential requirements in a consistent way and need to be updated whenever prudential or supervisory requirements change. This consultation runs until 7 January 2017. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report including some qualitative and quantitative observations of its first impact assessment of IFRS 9. This exercise, which helped the EBA understand the way in which institutions are preparing for the application of IFRS 9, also contains some recommendations relevant to the observations as well as some future actions, including the interaction of IFRS 9 with existing prudential requirements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on (i) regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the information to be provided to Competent Authorities for the authorisation of credit institutions and (ii) implementing technical standards (ITS) on the templates and procedures for the provision of such information. These standards aim at harmonising the information requirements in the authorisation process across the EU, thus facilitating the application process and ensuring a level playing field. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report in response to two calls for advice to assist the European Commission in the adoption into European legislation of two new international frameworks proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS): (i) a new standardised framework for counterparty risk (CCR), i.e. the so-called SA-CCR, and (ii) a new market risk (MKR) framework - the so-called fundamental review of the trading book (FRTB). In the Report, the EBA focuses on the envisaged impact of these two frameworks, for both large and small firms, and issues recommendations on their implementation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation in response to the European Commission's call for technical advice on the design of a new prudential regime for investment firms, which is specifically tailored to the needs of investment firms’ different business models and inherent risks. The aim of this work is to develop a single, harmonised set of requirements that are reasonably simple, proportionate, and more relevant to the nature of investment business. The consultation runs until 2 February 2017. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines specifying the information to be provided by applicants intending to obtain authorisation as payment and electronic money institutions as well as to register as account information service providers under the revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2).These Guidelines are in support of the objective of PSD2 of strengthening an integrated payments market across the European Union, ensuring a consistent application of the legislative framework, and promoting equal conditions for competition. The consultation runs until 3 February 2017. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on the collection of information related to the internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP) and the internal liquidity adequacy assessment process (ILAAP). These Guidelines aim at facilitating a consistent approach to the supervisory assessment of ICAAP and ILAAP frameworks across the EU as part of the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP). The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final report on the reference point for the target level of national resolution financing arrangements. In the report, the EBA recommends changing the basis from covered deposits to a total liabilities-based measure and, in particular, total liabilities (excluding own funds) less covered deposits. The proposed methodology would align the target level basis with the reference base used for the calculation of individual contributions to national resolution financing arrangements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its revised Guidelines on internal governance. These draft Guidelines aim at further harmonising institutions’ internal governance arrangements, processes and mechanisms across the EU, in line with the new requirements in this area introduced in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and also taking into account the proportionality principle. The consultation runs until 28 January 2017. The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched today a consultation on Guidelines on the Assessment of the Suitability of the Members of Management Body and Key Function Holders (the Guidelines). The draft Guidelines aim at further improving and harmonising suitability assessments within the EU financial sectors and so ensure sound governance arrangements in financial institutions. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the procedures and templates which Resolution Authorities should use when informing the EBA of the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) that have been set for each institution under their jurisdiction. These standards will enable the EBA to monitor on a consistent basis the implementation of MREL across the Union. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its response to the European Commission’s call for advice of 26 April 2016 on the review of the large exposures framework laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The EBA’s response has been provided in the form of a report divided in three different sections and including also recommendations to entrust the EBA with additional mandates to further simplify and harmonise the large exposures regime. This report will support the Commission in its review of the large exposures framework as part of the overall CRR review. On 18 November 2016, from 13.00 to 16.00 UK time, the European Banking Authority (EBA) will be holding a public hearing to outline its draft proposals on the European covered bond framework. The hearing comes as a follow-up to the recommendation by the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and ahead of the expected publication of the final report by end of 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) responded today to the European Commission’s call for technical advice on the criteria to identify the class of investment firms for which the prudential regime laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) is applicable. In general, the EBA recommends that only those investment firms that are currently identified as Other Systemically Important Institutions (OSIIs) remain subject to the full CRD/CRR regime. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its detailed annual work programme for 2017, describing the specific activities and tasks of the Authority for the coming year, as well as a multiannual work programme, highlighting the key strategic areas of work in the coming years (from 2017 to 2020). The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a reminder to competent authorities of the key dates for the submission of data for the 2017 benchmarking exercise for internal approaches for credit and market risk. This would ensure a smooth and timely start of the exercise although the Commission’s endorsement of the amended version of the Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on benchmarking of internal approaches for running the 2017 exercise is still pending. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on corrections to modified duration for debt instruments. The objective of these Guidelines is to establish what type of adjustments to the modified duration (MD) - as defined according to the formulas in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) - have to be performed in order to appropriately reflect the effect of the prepayment risk. The Guidelines will contribute towards the successful implementation of the Commission's securitisation package under the Capital Markets Union reform, giving clarity on the matter to credit institutions. The European Banking Authority (EBA) updated today the list of closely correlated currencies that was originally published in December 2013 and updated in May 2015. The list is part of the implementing technical standards (ITS) that were drafted for the purposes of calculating the capital requirements for foreign-exchange risk according to the standardised rules. The list was updated according to the procedure and methodology laid down in the ITS. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its updated Report on the monitoring of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) instruments and proposed standardised templates for AT1 instruments. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the assessment of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) risk in the context of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). These draft Guidelines are addressed to competent authorities and aim at promoting common procedures and methodologies for the assessment of ICT risk. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on implicit support for securitisation transactions. The objective of these Guidelines is to clarify what constitutes arm’s length conditions and to specify when a transaction is not structured to provide support for securitisations. The Guidelines will contribute towards the successful implementation of the Commission’s securitisation package under the Capital Markets Union reform, giving clarity on the matter to credit institutions. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the periodic update of its Risk Dashboard. This report summarises the main risks and vulnerabilities in the banking sector by the evolution of a set of Risk Indicators (RI) across the EU in Q2 2016. The update shows an increase in EU banks’ capital ratios, while the low profitability and the high level of NPLs remain a concern. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines specifying the application of the definition of default across the EU and its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the materiality threshold of past due credit obligations. The EBA also released the results of a quantitative and qualitative impact study (QIS) aimed at assessing the impact on the regulatory capital requirements of selected policy options to harmonise the definition of default used by EU institutions. Both the Guidelines and the final draft RTS will harmonise the definition of default across the EU, thus contributing to improving consistency and comparability of capital requirements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on remuneration policies and practices related to the provision and sale of retail banking products and services. The EBA had previously identified poor remuneration policies and practices as a key driver of miss-selling of financial products and services. The Guidelines aim, therefore, to protect consumers from related risks and to reduce conduct costs for financial institutions. They will apply from 18 January 2018. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the procedures, forms and templates that Competent Authorities in the EU should use when consulting each other on qualifying holdings. The objective of these ITS is to streamline information exchanges and ensure effective communications between concerned authorities, both on a cross-border basis and across sectors. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a consultation paper on draft technical standards setting out the standardised terminology for services linked to a payment account, the standardised format and common symbol of both the fee information document (FID) and the statement of fees (SoF). The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the criteria Competent Authorities should consider when stipulating the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) or comparable guarantee for payment initiation and account information service providers under the revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2). The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) today hosts its 4th “Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day” in Paris. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its tenth report of the CRDIV-CRR/Basel III monitoring exercise on the European banking system. This exercise, run in parallel with the one conducted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) at a global level, presents aggregate data on capital ratios – risk-based and non-risk-based (leverage) – and liquidity ratios – the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and net stable funding ratio (NSFR) – for banks across the European Union (EU). It summarises the results using data as of 31 December 2015. The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA - ESAs), published today their Opinion addressed to the European Commission expressing disagreement with its proposed amendments to the final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on risk mitigation techniques for OTC derivatives not cleared by a central counterparty, which were originally submitted for endorsement on 8 March 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report analysing the core funding ratio across the EU. The Report is in response to a request from the European Commission to explore the possibilities of the core stable funding ratio (CFR) as a potential alternative metrics for the assessment of EU banks’ funding risk, taking into account proportionality. The Report concludes that, overall, it would be misleading to rely only on the CFR to assess banks’ funding needs because, unlike the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), the CFR does not look at the whole balance sheet of a bank and, therefore, cannot fully assess a potential funding gap. This Report is based on the same QIS data used for the NSFR Report published in December 2015. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its third updated list of capital instruments that Competent Supervisory Authorities (CAs) across the European Union (EU) have classified as Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1). Since the publication of the previous update in October 2015, some new CET1 instruments have been assessed and evaluated as compliant with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The list will be maintained and updated on a regular basis. In an Opinion issued today, the EBA welcomed the Commission’s proposal to bring virtual currency exchange platforms and custodian wallet providers within the scope of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The Authority also makes several recommendations aimed at supporting the consistent pan-EU implementation and supervision of the proposals that the Commission had published on 5 July 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the outcome of a review of its Single Rulebook Q&As, which provides an overview of possible errors, inconsistencies as well as fundamental issues in relation to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) observed via the Single Rulebook Q&A tool managed by the ЕВА. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today indicators from 36 large institutions in the EU, as provided for in the Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) and Guidelines on disclosure rules applicable to institutions whose leverage ratio exposure measure exceeds 200 billion Euro. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an amended version, submitted to the EU Commission, of its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on benchmarking of internal approaches, for running the 2017 exercise . The amended ITS will assist Competent Authorities in their 2017 assessment of internal approaches both for credit risk, and for market risk. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its report on the impact assessment and calibration of the Leverage Ratio (LR), recommending the introduction of a LR minimum requirement in the EU to mitigate the risk of excessive leverage. The analysis suggests that the potential impact of introducing a LR requirement of 3% on the provision of financing by credit institutions would be relatively moderate, while, overall, it should lead to more stable credit institutions. The report will inform the work of the European Commission on potential legislative proposals on LR. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a list of designated Resolution Authorities. Under the EU framework, each Member State has to designate one or, exceptionally, more Resolution Authorities that are empowered to apply the resolution tools and the resolution powers. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the requirements with which payment card schemes and processing entities must comply to ensure the independence of their accounting, organisation, and decision-making processes. These final draft RTS aim at facilitating greater competition among processing services providers, supporting the general objective of the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) to create a Single Market for card payments across the EU. The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on criteria for the application of a preferential treatment in cross-border intragroup credit or liquidity lines, or within an IPS. These RTS further specify the additional criteria listed in the in the context of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) Delegated Act for the application of the preferential treatment. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an example of the transparency templates, which will be used to disclose the results of the upcoming 2016 EU-wide stress test. These templates are provided for information and to facilitate understanding of the format and type of data that can be expected on Friday 29 July. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on draft Guidelines on credit institutions’ credit risk management practices and accounting for expected credit losses; it follows the publication of Guidance by the Basel Committee in December 2015 on the same matter. These Guidelines aim at ensuring sound credit risk management practices associated with the implementation and on-going application of the accounting for expected credit losses. The consultation will run until 26 October 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the treatment of connected clients for large exposures. These draft Guidelines review and update the ‘Guidelines on the implementation of the revised large exposures regime’ issued by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) on 11 December 2009. Their focus is exclusively on the issue of connected clients as defined in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and they reflect the developments in the area of shadow banking and large exposures both at EU and international level. The consultation runs until 26 October 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on the communication between competent authorities supervising credit institutions and statutory auditors of those institutions. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a consultation on its report on the reference point for the target level of national resolution financing arrangements. The appropriateness of the basis for the target level is assessed on the basis of a number of qualitative criteria and historical data. The draft report recommends changing the basis from covered deposits to a total liabilities based measure. The consultation will run until 2 September 2016. The EBA today issued a report on recent trends in asset quality in the EU banking sector. The analysis is based on supervisory data on non-performing loans (NPLs) and forbearance (FBL) for over 160 EU banks. The report shows that despite improvements NPLs remain high, with associated implications for the economy and bank’s profitability. The report identifies various structural impediments to addressing NPLs and sets out three key areas for improvement. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the assessment methodology competent authorities shall follow in assessing the compliance of an institution with the requirements for the use of the Internal Ratings Based Approach (IRB Approach). The purpose of these RTS is to harmonise the supervisory assessment methodology with respect to the IRB Approach across all Member States in the European Union (EU). The European Banking Authority (EBA) has launched today a public consultation on its interim report on the implementation and design of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The interim report is addressed to the European Commission, and it will inform a future legislative proposal on the implementation of the Financial Stability Board’s “total loss-absorbing capacity” (TLAC) standard in the EU and the review of MREL. Further elements will be covered in the EBA’s final report which will be provided to the European Commission by 31 October 2016. The EBA announced today that detailed individual results for the banks participating in the 2016 EU-wide stress test, along with detailed balance sheets and exposure data as of end 2015, will be published on Friday 29 July 2016 at 22:00 Central European Summer Time (21:00 British Summer Time). The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a data collection aimed at supporting the response to the European Commission's Call for Advice on a new prudential framework for MifiD (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) investment firms, which should be less complex, more risk sensitive and more proportionate than the current regime. The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a benchmarking analysis of diversity practices at EU level showing that only a limited number of institutions have already adopted a diversity policy. In particular, the report highlights that the actual level of diversity in the composition of the management body in institutions differs significantly between Member States, namely regarding the gender diversity. The Authority calls on institutions and Member States to consider additional measures for promoting a more balanced representation of both genders. The report is based on data from 873 institutions from 29 EU and EEA Member States, and covers credit institutions of different sizes as well as investment firms. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the periodical update of its Risk Dashboard summarising the main risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector on the basis of a set of Risk Indicators in Q1 2016. Together with the Risk Dashboard, the EBA published, for the first time, the results of a Risk Assessment Questionnaire, which it conducted with banks and market analysts in April and May this year. The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced today that it will be conducting a transparency exercise in December 2016 on a wide sample of over 100 banks, which will provide actual information on banks’ balance sheet based on supervisory reporting data. Transparency exercises are an annual feature of the EBA’s work but this year’s exercise will be independent from, whilst complementary to, the 2016 EU-wide stress test. This will ensure appropriate coverage of banks across all countries in the EU. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a comparative Report on governance arrangements and indicators in recovery plans. Such a benchmarking exercise is aimed at supporting supervisors and institutions in identifying the crucial elements that should be considered when designing credible governance arrangements and effective indicator frameworks. This is the third thematic comparative analysis the EBA has conducted in the area of recovery planning. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its second analysis of the level of asset encumbrance across EU banking institutions. The report, which is part of a regular annual monitoring of asset encumbrance, aims to provide important elements for EU supervisors to assess the sustainability of banks’ funding sources and their ability to withstand funding stress. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today additional information on how the results of the EU-wide stress test will inform the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). The focus of today’s update is to explain how additional “capital guidance” can be used as a tool to address the quantitative outcomes of the stress test. Such guidance will not be relevant for the Maximum Distributable Amount (MDA), but will ensure banks’ ability to meet applicable capital requirements under stressed conditions. While serving the purpose of helping supervisors manage expectations towards banks and market participants, the information released today does not establish restrictions or constraints on existing supervisory powers. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on a set of Guidelines on regulatory disclosure requirements following an update of the Pillar 3 requirements by the Basel Committee in January 2015. These Guidelines are part of the EBA’s work to improve and enhance the consistency and comparability of institutions’ disclosures and aim to ensure market discipline. The consultation runs until 29 September 2016. At its meeting held on 22 June 2016, the Banking Stakeholder Group of the European Banking Authority elected Santiago Fernandez de Lis, representing the credit and investment institutions, as Chairperson and Alin Eugen Iacob, representing the users of banking services, as Vice-Chairperson. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fifth annual Consumer Trends Report, which provides an overview of the trends observed in 2016, the issues that will or could have an impact on consumers and other market participants and the areas where the EBA may take any action, if needed. The report covers all the products that fall into the EBA’s consumer protection mandate, such as mortgages, personal loans, deposits, payment accounts, payment services and electronic money. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying how institutions should take into account and treat several factors when assigning risk weights to specialised lending exposures. The purpose of these RTS is to harmonise the assignment of risk weights to specialised lending exposures for institutions that apply the so called ‘supervisory slotting criteria’ approach. These final draft RTS will be part of the Single Rulebook aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation in the banking sector in Europe. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Decision on data for supervisory benchmarking. This Decision comes after the publication of the amended technical standards on benchmarking of internal approaches and requires Competent Authorities to submit data for the 2016 benchmarking exercise, focusing on High Default Portfolios and with reference to end-2015 data. On 31 May 2016, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Investment Bank Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) hosted a seminar to discuss opportunities and challenges on the role and potential use of credit guarantees and synthetic securitisation in the banking sector. The European Banking Authority (EBA) welcomes the enhancement of the FX Global Code (the Code) and the publication of its May 2016 update. The objective of the Code is to promote the integrity and effective functioning of the wholesale FX market. The Code’s guidelines for responsible participation in the FX market are in line with the EBA’s work fostering financial institutions’ effective governance and enhanced consumer protection in all areas of financial products and services. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on stress tests for deposit guarantee schemes (DGSs). The Guidelines provide a systematic methodology for planning, running and reporting on stress tests conducted by DGSs to assess their resilience to various types of scenarios in times of banking stress. In line with the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD), these Guidelines will promote the quality and the consistency of these stress tests. The resulting data will also facilitate future peer reviews by the EBA, contributing to a safe and sound EU framework for the benefit of depositors and financial stability. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Decision confirming the use of unsolicited credit assessments assigned by certain External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAIs) for calculating institutions’ capital requirements. The Decision is part of the Single Rulebook in banking and will ensure regulatory harmonisation across the European Union (EU) regarding the use of unsolicited credit ratings for determining institutions’ own funds requirements. The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA - ESAs) published today its Opinion on the European Commission’s (EC) intention to amend the draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the mapping of External Credit Assessment Institutions’ (ECAIs) credit assessments under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and Solvency II Directive. The Opinion was produced in response to the EC’s proposed amendments to these draft ITS. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) disclosure. These Guidelines harmonise and specify both the qualitative and quantitative information that institutions are required to disclose on liquidity and namely on the LCR. The consultation will run until 11 August 2016. EBA acknowledges another notification from the Central Bank of Hungary on the ongoing resolution of MKB Bank Zrt. The EBA has received another notification from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the Central Bank of Hungary) related to the application of the sale of business tool in the ongoing resolution process of MKB Bank Zrt. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a guidance document to assist competent authorities in compiling IMF Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI) for deposit takers using statistical input derived from the EBA Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting. Authorities are encouraged to use this guidance and the comprehensive mapping between the FSI forms and the EBA ITS templates to foster harmonised FSI reporting by the EEA authorities. In addition, it provides transparency to FSI users on how they have been computed for EEA countries. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Discussion Paper on innovative uses of consumer data by financial institutions, in line with its mandate to monitor financial innovation. The paper identifies risks and benefits for consumers and financial institutions, as well as for financial integrity in general. Feedback received on this Discussion Paper will inform the EBA’s decision on which, if any, further actions may be required to mitigate the risks arising from this innovation, while also allowing market participants to harness its benefits. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today corrective updates to two versions of its XBRL taxonomies for supervisory reporting, correcting technical errors in the implementation of some validation rules. The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today an Opinion to the European Commission supporting its proposed amendment to the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on additional collateral outflows with regard to the historical look-back approach (HLBA) calculation method. The amendment follows the European Commission’s request to amend the draft RTS using the specifications provided by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the disclosure of encumbered and unencumbered assets for the provision of transparent and harmonised information on the topic, as laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). These draft RTS, which build on the EBA Guidelines on the same topic, detail the disclosure requirements and provide additional information. The consultation will run until 25 July 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the first list of Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) in the EU. O-SIIs are those institutions which are deemed systemically relevant in addition to Global Systemically Important Institutions (G-SIIs), already identified. The institutions have been identified by relevant authorities across the Union according to harmonised criteria provided by the EBA. This list reflects also the additional capital buffers that the relevant authorities have set for the O-SIIs they have identified. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines defining how confidential information collected under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) should be disclosed in summary or collective form without identifying individual institutions or relevant entities. The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued its Banking Stakeholder Group (BSG) end of term of office report. The document covers the outputs of the BSG for the second term of the Membership whose appointment fell between October 2013 and 15 April 2016, as well as information on its working methodology and its interaction with the EBA. EBA acknowledges additional notification from the Central Bank of Hungary on the ongoing resolution of MKB Bank Zrt. The EBA has received an additional notification from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the Central Bank of Hungary) related to the application of the sale of business tool in the ongoing resolution process of MKB Bank Zrt. Following an open selection process, the Board of Supervisors of the European Banking Authority (EBA) appointed 23 new members to its Banking Stakeholder Group (BSG), as the mandate for the majority of them expired on 14 April 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Opinion setting out measures credit and financial institutions can take to comply with EU Anti- Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) requirements when providing asylum seekers from higher-risk jurisdictions with access to basic financial products and services. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report analysing measures taken by Competent Authorities in 2014 to ensure compliance by institutions with securitisation risk retention, due diligence and disclosure requirements. Based on the EBA findings, the EBA has identified best practices, which will help Competent Authorities in their supervisory assessments of compliance of these requirements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launches today a call for research papers in view of its fifth policy research workshop taking place on 28-29 November 2016 in London on the topic ‘Competition in banking: implications for financial regulation and supervision’. On 31 May 2016, the European Banking Authority (EBA), jointly with the European Investment Bank Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund), will host a seminar at the EBA premises to discuss opportunities and challenges on the role and potential use of credit guarantees and synthetic securitisation in the banking sector. The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA - ESAs) published today its Spring 2016 Report on Risks and Vulnerabilities in the EU Financial System. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the periodical update of its Risk Dashboard summarising the main risks and vulnerabilities in the banking sector on the basis of the evolution of a set of Risk Indicators (RI) across the EU in Q4 2015. The update shows a further increase in EU banks’ capital ratios. Profitability remains low and NPL ratios are still high. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft amending Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on credit valuation adjustment (CVA) proxy spread. These RTS propose limited amendments to Commission’s Delegated Regulation (EU) No 526/2014 based on two policy recommendations contained in the EBA’s CVA report published on 25 February 2015. Through the proposed amendments the EBA expects to ensure a more adequate calculation of own funds requirements for CVA risk. The consultation runs until 06 July 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) report on remuneration practices published today shows that the number of high earners in EU banks increased significantly in 2014, while the average ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration dropped significantly for high earners, as well as for all other identified staff. The report, which is part of the regular activities of the Authority, focuses on the identification of staff, the application of deferral arrangements, the pay-out in instruments and the impact of the bonus cap on institutions financial stability and cost flexibility, which was found to have no significant effect. The report differentiates between data on the remuneration of “high-earners” and benchmarking data for “identified staff”. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on reporting financial information using Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP) across EU jurisdictions. This is a decentralised public consultation, which takes place through National Competent Authorities across the EU and not through the EBA, so as to allow for a better informed discussion on questions that may be specific to the individual jurisdictions across the EU. All interested stakeholders can provide feedback directly to their National Competent Authorities (NCAs) by 15 April 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which analyses (i) the evolution of lending trends and conditions for SMEs, (ii) the effective riskiness of EU SMEs over a full economic cycle and (iii) the consistency of own funds requirements laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) for credit risk on exposures to SMEs. Overall, the results of the EBA analysis show limited effectiveness of the SME Supporting Factor (SF). However, more data is needed before drawing firm conclusions and, therefore, the EBA recommends continued monitoring of the application of the SF. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft Guidelines on corrections to modified duration for debt instruments. These Guidelines aim to establish what type of adjustments to the modified duration (MD) - as defined according to the formulas in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) - have to be performed in order to appropriately reflect the effect of the prepayment risk. The consultation runs until 22 June 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Decision specifying the formula to be used by creditors when calculating the benchmark rate under the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD). The MCD requires creditors to use, under certain circumstances, a benchmark rate specified by the EBA for the illustrative examples in the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) for variable rate mortgages. The EBA formula will apply 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Journal but can also be used by creditors prior to its formal publication. The EBA submitted on Friday its response to the European Commission’s Green Paper on Retail Financial Services. In the response, the EBA conveys the views of its member authorities on a subset of the questions asked in the Green Paper, with a particular focus on the risks and opportunities of digital services in the banking sector and the enforcement of consumer protection regulation in the EU. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will hold a public hearing on its draft report on the calibration of the leverage ratio on Friday 15 April 2016 from 9.00 to 11.30 UK time. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) amending the Commission's Implementing Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 on supervisory reporting. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a corrective update (2.4.1) to the XBRL taxonomy that Competent Authorities shall use for the remittance of data under the EBA Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting. The revised taxonomy will be used for the first reports under the revised Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and Leverage Ratio (LR) requirements resulting from Delegated Acts of the European Commission. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on the inclusion of prudent valuation into COREP, the reporting framework through which EU banking institutions report supervisory information. The amendments proposed by the EBA reflect the prudent valuation requirements in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2016/101. This public consultation will run until 30 March 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its ninth report of the CRDIV-CRR/Basel III monitoring exercise on the European banking system. This exercise, run in parallel with the one conducted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) at a global level, allows the gathering of aggregate results on capital – risk-based and non-risk-based (leverage) ratios – and liquidity ratios – the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and net stable funding ratio (NSFR) – for banks in the European Union (EU). It summarises the results using data as of 30 June 2015. The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its annual assessment of EU colleges of supervisors, the forum within which joint decisions on capital and liquidity and recovery plans are organised for EU cross border banking groups. The report assesses how colleges have functioned during 2015 and identifies key activities for the effective oversight of EU cross border banking groups in 2016. In addition, it draws the attention of supervisors to some specific items for 2016, including non-performing loans (NPLs) and balance sheet cleaning, business model sustainability, conduct risk and IT risk. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion following the notification by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) of its intention to extend a measure introduced by the NBB in 2014 to modify capital requirements in order to address an increase in macroprudential or systemic risk. Based on the evidence submitted by the NBB, the EBA does not object the deployment of the macroprudential measures to address this issue. The European Banking Authority (EBA) released today the methodology and macroeconomic scenarios for the 2016 EU-wide stress test. The stress test is designed to provide supervisors, banks and other market participants with a common analytical framework to consistently compare and assess the resilience of EU banks to economic shocks. For this exercise, no single capital thresholds have been defined as the results will inform the 2016 round of Supervisory Review and Evaluation Processes (SREP) under which decisions are made on appropriate capital resources. The EBA expects to publish the results of the exercise in early Q3 2016. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the periodical update to its Risk Dashboard summarising the main risks and vulnerabilities in the banking sector on the basis of the evolution of a set of Risk Indicators (RI) across the EU. The dashboard is based on a larger sample of banks (154 institutions on a consolidated basis ) and the “Statistical Annex” provides further data on EU banks. The ratios published in the Dashboard are computed according to the “Methodological guide on risk indicators and detailed risk analysis tools”, also published today. The EBA has received a notification from the Bank of Italia, in its capacity as the Resolution Authority, in relation to the application of resolution measures to the Banca delle Marche, Banca Popolare dell’Etruria e del Lazio, Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara and Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia di Chieti. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will formally launch the 2016 EU-wide stress test on Wednesday 24 February 2016 at 5pm. Along with the announcement, the EBA will publish the common methodology and macroeconomic scenarios for this exercise. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on cooperation agreements between deposit guarantee schemes (DGSs). These Guidelines include a multilateral cooperation framework agreement and minimum prescriptions to promote the rapid and consistent conclusion of cooperation agreements between DGSs, as provided under the new Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD). The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the mapping of External Credit Assessment Institutions’ (ECAIs) credit assessments for securitisation positions. These ITS will be part of the Single Rulebook in banking aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation across the European Union (EU) and will allow the credit ratings on securitisations assigned by registered credit rating agencies to be used for the purposes of calculating institutions’ capital requirements. The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today an Opinion to the European Commission expressing its dissent over some of its proposed amendments to the EBA final draft Regulatory Technical Standard (RTS) on the criteria for setting the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) and encouraging the prompt adoption of the standard. Andrea Enria, Chairperson of the EBA, in his opening remarks at the EBA’s 5th Anniversary Conference, touched on the EBA’s achievements in the last five years and the challenges that still lie ahead for the Authority. As the European Banking Authority (EBA) gets ready to mark its first five years of activities with its conference in London this Friday, Chairperson Andrea Enria explains the conference will be about dialogue with banking stakeholders on achievements and remaining challenges in strengthening the EU banking sector. In the context of the forthcoming implementation of the IFRS 9 Financial instruments standard (IFRS 9) in the EU, the European Banking Authority (EBA) is launching an impact assessment of the standard on a sample of approximately 50 institutions across the EU. The Chairpersons of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – sent a joint letter on cross-selling of financial products to Jonathan Hill, the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. The Joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs – European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and European Securities and Markets Authority) published today its decision in an appeal brought by four appellants, Andrus Kluge, Boris Belyaev, Radio Elektroniks OÜ and Timur Dyakov, against a decision of the European Banking Authority (EBA). The Board of Appeal decided it does not have any jurisdiction with respect to the party’s appeal to challenge a decision by the EBA not to commence an investigation. The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft Guidelines on implicit support for securitisation transactions. The objective of the Guidelines is to provide clarity on what constitutes arm’s length conditions and when a transaction is not structured to provide support for securitisations. The consultation runs until 20 April 2016. On 19 February 2016 from 14:00 to 16:00, the European Banking Authority (EBA) will hold a public hearing on the consultation launched on its draft technical standards on the separation of payment card schemes and processing entities under the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR). The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today revised final draft technical standards and Guidelines on the further specification of the indicators of global systemic importance and their disclosure. The need for this revision was prompted by the new data template and some minor changes introduced by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in January 2015 for the identification of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The full data template with the detailed specification of the indicator values will now only be incorporated in the EBA Guidelines and will be updated on an annual basis. The EBA has received a notification from the Bank of Greece, in its capacity as the Resolution Authority, in relation to the application of resolution measures to the Cooperative Bank of Peloponnese Coop Ltd, following the withdrawal of its license. The EBA acknowledges updated notification from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the Central Bank of Hungary) with respect to its decisions on the application of the asset separation tool and related resolution measures in the ongoing resolution process of MKB Bank Zrt.

2019-04-20T06:12:27Z

https://eba.europa.eu/news-press/news/2016

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Explore one of the best-preserved public baths of Ancient Rome at your own pace on an audio guide tour of the Baths of Caracalla. See the remains of notable buildings, such as the natatio open-air swimming pool. Descend into the chill of Rome’s mysterious underworld on the city’s longest running crypts and catacombs tour. Travelling in an air-conditioned coach, you’ll skip the line into three of the city’s strangest discoveries. Travel back to the days of the Roman Empire and enter a former retreat of the Emperor Hadrian with a ticket to the Villa Adriana in Tivoli. Marvel at the remains of Hadrian’s country estate, and see monuments such as the Maritime Theater. Marvel at the opulence of Hadrian's Villa and the gardens of Villa D'Este in Tivoli on a 7-hour tour from Rome. Stroll the gardens of the Borgias, and see the imperial palaces of Emperor Hadrian to discover 2 of the finest Renaissance residences in Italy. Get exclusive after-hours access to the underground burial chambers of Rome. Discover Rome’s most important cities of the dead. Spend more time inside when you skip the line at the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel through an official, priority entrance. On this comprehensive guided tour, you’ll experience the best of the Vatican in just 3 hours. Go on a fun and informative 3.5-hour Segway tour through the 7 hills of Rome. Glide your way through a fascinating story about the creation of the city, and hear fascinating historical facts and quirks to keep you entertained. See a new side of Rome and discover the Eternal City at night, all aboard a Segway! Watch as Rome's streets come to life and its famous landmarks are transformed, as you glide through the city with stops at its most famous pizzerias and gelaterias. Visit the summer residence of the Pope, known as the Second Vatican, the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo and Barberini Gardens. You can choose to combine this unique experience with a visit to the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel by train. Explore the Baroque fountains and squares of Rome on a 2-hour walking tour, and marvel at architecture that dates from the Roman Empire, through the Renaissance and beyond. See the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, tomb of Raphael, and more. Skip the lines at the Vatican Museums and see masterpieces of painting, sculpture and other works of art collected by the popes over the centuries. Visit the world's oldest museum with an entrance ticket to Rome's Capitoline Museums, and admire classical sculptures, mosaics and artifacts from Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. See the famous sculpture of Romulus and Remus under a she-wolf. Skip the long lines to 3 of the symbols of Ancient Rome on a guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill. See the cages where the gladiators were kept, the altar where Julius Caesar was cremated and much more. Explore Rome independently on a shore excursion from Civitavecchia port. Benefit from round-trip transportation from the cruise terminal to access all the attractions of the "Eternal City." Marvel at the monuments of Ancient Rome, such as the Colosseum. Optimize your time with the Vatican at your Pace! Visit the Vatican Museums with this exclusive skip-the-line access! Explore the Renaissance paintings and classical sculptures of the papal art collection at leisure. Marvel at frescoes and much more! Visit the Borghese Gallery and discover masterpieces of art inside the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. Marvel at some of the most important paintings by Caravaggio and more. Skip the long lines and enjoy a 3-hour small group tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Discover highlights of the papal collection with a licensed guide. Discover Rome at your own pace with a 24-hour or 48-hour pass to the hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus. See all the main monuments of the Eternal City from the open-top upper deck, and jump off as often as you like to explore further. See more of the Eternal City and save money with a Roma Pass for 48 or 72 hours. This city card offers free skip-the-line admission to 1 or 2 attractions, free use of the city’s public transport system, and discounts on services and activities. Take a tour through the hidden passages of Rome's Catacombs and visit one of the most important cathedrals of Rome, the Holy Stairs and the Sancta Sanctorum, the private chapel of the Pope until the Renaissance period. Experience the highlights of Rome through the centuries and admire masterpieces of art and architecture on this full-day tour from Civitavecchia. Lean about the significant periods of the city’s history and culture from your professional licensed guide. Save precious time with an access pass to the main monuments of Rome and benefit from fast track reserved entry at popular landmarks such as the Vatican Museums and Colosseum. Head out with a professional guide on this 1-hour tour to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum to learn about their important influence on Rome's archeological history. Explore one of the best-preserved public baths of Ancient Rome at your own pace. See the remains of notable buildings, such as the natatio open-air swimming pool. Take a 35-minute audio guide tour of the Pantheon to learn about its fascinating history and how it converted from a pagan temple to a Christian church. See the Colosseum and Ancient Rome by night, when you can beat the crowds and experience the breathtaking views from the third tier with this exclusive access! Be amazed by the various piazzas, statues, museums, and more! Take the worry out of your transfer between Fiumicino Airport and hotels within the Aurelian Walls of Rome. Skip the lines for taxis and take the shared shuttle transfer for complete peace of mind. Numbers are limited to a maximum of 8 people. Escape the hustle and bustle of Rome and spend the day at the lovely town of Tivoli in the Sabine hills. Visit the historical Villa D'Este and the archaeological complex of Hadrian's Villa. Step back in time and get exclusive access to areas of the Colosseum not available on a regular ticket. Learn more about everyday life in Ancient Rome at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Witness a unique spectacle combining the art of Michaelangelo with the most sophisticated live entertainment technology. Watch the art of the Sistine Chapel come to life in a spectacle of music and light. Access the Colosseum on a 2-hour skip-the-line guided tour. Head straight to the fast-track access point then enjoy a hassle-free experience with your access tickets to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill included. Skip the line to access one of the world’s most-visited and ancient monuments. With this guided tour get into the must-see sites of Roman history: the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum. Access all areas of St. Peter's Basilica and immerse yourself in the history and architecture of one of the most important religious monuments in the world. Climb up 231 steps to the top of the dome for panoramic views of Rome. See the vast collection of art on a guided tour with a choice of language options. Explore the Vatican Museums, visit the Sistine Chapel and discover St. Peter's Basilica. Have privileged entrance from the Porta Libitinaria and avoid the crowds. Enter the Colosseum directly into the arena where gladiators gave their performances, hear fascinating stories of combat, and visit the first and second ring. Skip the long lines to the Borghese Gallery in Rome, and see masterpieces by Bernini, Caravaggio and more from the museum’s collection of paintings and sculptures. Discover the villa and gardens of Cardinal Scipione Borghese on a 3-hour guided tour. Skip the long lines to the Colosseum and journey back to the days of Ancient Rome on a guided tour of the arena and underground areas. See the ruins of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Enjoy an intimate small group tour of the Borghese Gallery with pre-reserved tickets and an art expert guide. You’ll skip the lines, marvel at works by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Bernini, and hear the story behind each of the works from an art historian. Walk through the Gladiator's entrance into the Colosseum, and directly onto the partially reconstructed Arena floor. Skip the line and marvel at ancient Rome's most iconic monument. Visit the Colosseum early, when the crowds are still away. Skip the line to get inside the Colosseum with your priority entrance ticket. Expert tour guides will reveal, with detailed stories, the secrets of the Colosseum and gladiators. Walk in the footsteps of the gladiators on this unique tour of the Colosseum and its arena floor. Explore the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with an expert guide. Explore Ancient Rome on a walking tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill, and skip the lines to enter the popular attractions with an expert guide. Learn about the Roman Empire, and watch it come to life during a 3D movie presentation. Explore the crypts and catacombs of Ancient Rome on a half-day small group bus tour. See a chapel adorned with the human bones of early Christian, and go to the unusual church of San Nicola in Carcere, where Rome's story is revealed across unique layers. Enjoy fast track entrance into the Colosseum, avoiding the long lines. Once inside, you can learn from a professional guide and embrace ancient Roman history on this guided 1-hour tour. Create your own off-the-beaten-path tour of Rome with 24-hour access to the purple line hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus. Take a guided tour through the hidden passages of Rome's Catacombs then enjoy a 1-hour bike rental in Caffarella Park. Take a guided tour of the best preserved Ancient Roman monument, admire the largest unsupported dome in the world and explore the famous Raphael's tomb. Visit one of the most important archeological masterpieces in the world. On this special 2.5-hour small-group walking tour, you'll discover the Colosseum from the inside, where gladiators fought to the death in front of senators and scavengers. Take the worry out of your transfer needs from your Rome city center hotel to Fiumicino Airport with a pre-booked, shared shuttle transfer by small minivan (maximum 8 passengers). Sit back and relax as your driver takes you direct to the airport. Walk in a gladiator's footsteps, discovering the Impressive Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the gladiators' school of the Ludus Magnus. Train to be a gladiator at a school in Rome. Suitable for adults and children alike, the fun 2-hour lesson will teach you how to fight like a warrior of Ancient Rome, while learning about life in the imperial city, Roman weapons, and more. Save money on expensive taxis with a direct coach transfer between Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and Naples city center. Sit back and relax in comfort on the 2.5-hour journey and arrive faster than the train. Benefit from a generous luggage allowance. Enjoy a walking tour of the Colosseum's underground chambers. Discover where the Romans caged wild animals, walk on the arena floor where the gladiators fought and visit the Roman Forum to see the center of ancient Roman life. Enjoy a full-day panoramic tour of Rome and learn about its history from ancient Rome to the Baroque period. Travel with a professional tour leader in a comfortable air-conditioned coach from Civitavecchia port. Choose optional tours of major attractions. Skip the Colosseum entrance line and take a 1.5-hour tour of this iconic Roman landmark. Access the usually off-limits arena floor, and see where the gladiators once stood. Book your transfer between Fiumicino Airport and Rome city center (Termini Station) online and save. Enjoy direct transfer service in the comfortable, air-conditioned coaches and bring your luggage on board free of charge. Skip the ticket lines and enjoy a tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel with an official guide, followed by a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica at your own pace. See the top sights of South Cappadocia on a full-day tour. Visit Turkey's largest excavated underground city, trek in the Ihlara valley and more. Play a city exploration game as the main character in the 'Angels & Demons' movie and novel. Solve clues to unlock stories and get directions to locations seen in the movie. All happening with the help of your smartphone, without a map, GPS or a guide. Skip the line and pass through the ‘stage door’ of the Colosseum, the Gladiator’s Gate, directly onto the partially reconstructed, exclusive Arena Floor, before ascending to the arena’s second tier, where fans once sat. Explore Rome at leisure with a 24-hour ticket to a river boat cruise along the Tiber. Soak up the sights from the boat deck, hopping on and off-on hop-off at stops close to sites such as Piazza Venezia, Piazza Di Spagna, the Castel S. Angelo and more. See the highlights of Rome by Segway on a 1-hour guided tour. Explore the heart of the “Eternal City” as you glide past the Colosseum, Forum, and Capitoline Hill. Discover the ruins of 4 Roman temples, go to a piazza designed by Michelangelo, and more. Appreciate all the best of the Pantheon in less than an hour, saving your time and your money with our digital self-guided tour. An exciting multimedia journey that will allow you to discover the history and development of the Eternal City throughout its 2700 years of history. An immersive and emotional way to discover the secrets of the city, its development, and its monuments. Gain priority access into one of the most famous and impressive monuments of ancient times. This special entrance allows you to skip the line and lets you experience the grandeur of walking directly on the Colosseum arena floor. Pre-book a convenient and comfortable, 1-way shared shuttle service between Ciampino Airport and hotels located within the Walls of Rome and avoid the stress of trying to find a taxi at the last minute. Be met by a professional driver. Save time and money with a comfortable round-trip transfer from Civitavecchia cruise terminal to Rome city center, and then climb aboard the hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus to discover the best of the "Eternal City" in a day. Take an amazing journey to discover the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, who was an artist, engineer, sculptor, architect and scientist. Admire a full-sized reproduction of The Last Supper, the controversial painting in Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code. Coming to a city as (wonderfully) chaotic as Rome can be daunting. Your guide will give you a warm, Italian welcome and get you set up for the rest of your visit. Depart Rome for a 3-hour bike tour from the city center to the rich landscape of the Appian Way. Follow in the footsteps of ancient armies, stopping at sites such as the Circus of Maxentius and the catacombs of San Callisto. Skip the long lines to the Colosseum and enter the arena of the monumental amphitheater through the same entrance that the gladiators used. Learn more about the Roman Empire and life in Ancient Rome from an expert guide. Embark on a small group tour with an expert guide of the most impressive ancient sites in Rome. Learn about the bloody history of the Colosseum before exploring the Roman Forum. Marvel at the views over the city from atop the Palatine Hill. Take the load off your shoulders and store your bags is a safe luggage storage unit in Rome city center. Located in the Campo de Fiori area, within walking distance of Piazza Navona, the unit features free Wi-Fi and printing facilities, and a restroom. Do not miss the opportunity to visit the Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre ever built, with an expert guide. Return to the time of Imperial Rome while walking throught the ruins of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Experience the majestic St. Peter's Basilica and climb the Dome with an expert guide. Walk in the footsteps of Roman emperors and citizens on a skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Then, marvel at the Baroque and Renaissance monuments of Rome city center, such as the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. Skip the Line at the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Then, get privileged access to St. Peter's Basilica. Take the stress out of your arrival in Rome and pre-book a superior transfer service from Ciampino or Fiumicino Airport to the city center. Travel by well maintained vehicle and arrive refreshed. The service is also available for airport departures. Take the worry out of your arrival at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and pre-book a comfortable shared transfer to your hotel inside the Aurelian Wall by small minivan (no more than 8 people). Sit back and relax as your driver takes you direct to your hotel. Enjoy a glass of Prosecco with snacks before learning how to make fresh pasta with a professional Italian chef. Sit down with your small group after the class to enjoy the fruits of your labor, on a balcony overlooking Rome’s historic center. Explore Saint Peter's Basilica from top to bottom! Wander at the majestic interior of the Basilica, climb all the way to the top of its magnificent Dome designed by Michelangelo, and descend deep down into the Papal Tombs. This 3-hour guided tour of the Borghese Gallery combines the beauty of art with the beauty of nature! Admire the magnificent works of art in the Museum and the charming estate as well, taking a pleasant stroll to admire the stunning gardens. Get ready to have your assumptions about Rome turned upside down on this incredibly unique journey of discovery. The itinerary includes some of the most uncommon, mysterious, and outlandish sites the Eternal City has to offer. Escape Italy's busy capital for one day on this trip to Assisi and the Umbrian hill town Orvieto. You will see the famous Cathedral of Orvieto and discover the wines and local products of Tuscany. Skip the lines on a 2-hour small-group tour through the Colosseum and the brilliant days of ancient Rome. Visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Discover what lies beneath the historic streets of Rome on a guided tour of the Capuchin Crypt with an English-speaking guide. Discover a macabre art collection completely made of human bones! Enjoy a cooking class in the heart of Rome to learn how to make pasta from scratch, and the famous Tiramisù dessert from simple and fresh ingredients. Relax after your class as you enjoy the meal you have prepared. Head out on your bike to the Roman countryside for a look at ancient monuments, breathtaking natural beauty, and fascinating ruins. Your guide will tell you about the sights as you appreciate the area’s unspoiled beauty on a half-day tour. Arrive at Civitavecchia Port and save time with a pre-booked ticket for the shuttle bus service to or from Rome Termini railway station. Enjoy a guided tour of the unique museum founded by Pope Sixtus IV and admire the stunning bronze sculptures of the emperors of Rome. Explore the entire Capitoline Hill complex, designed by Michelangelo, as your guide brings the past back to life. Travel back to the days of the Roman Empire and feel like an emperor as you skip the long lines to some of Ancient Rome’s most important monuments. Take a 3-hour guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill for panoramic views. Explore the ancient Via Appia of Rome on a relaxed 4-hour electric bike tour, and discover the old ruins and pristine beauty of the Appian Way Regional Park. Marvel at the monuments of the Imperial City such as the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. Discover the highlights of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica on this incredible 3-hour tour with a professional guide. Experience the magnificence of Rome’s Colosseum on a 80-minute night tour. Skip the long lines to the mighty arena, and enjoy access to levels above and beneath the ground. Learn the Colosseum’s glorious history, and hear stories about emperors. Travel back in time and experience a unique blend of art, history, folklore, and archaeology in Naples and Pompeii. Relax as you head to the Gulf of Naples, where Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago, destroying the Roman settlement of Pompeii. Discover the secrets of traditional, Italian cuisine with the help of an expert chef. Prepare your own meal for the night and top it all off with local wine. Explore the historic Catacombs of St. Callixtus on a 2-hour excursion from Rome. See where dozens of martyrs and 16 Catholic popes were buried. Experience this fantastic combination pasta and pizza making cooking class starting from scratch with a chef. Enjoy a 4-hour kid-friendly lesson and learn more than ten different pasta shapes and Neapolitan pizza making in a real pizza oven. Take a break from the crowds in Rome and head to Tivoli on this full-day excursion. Visit the ruins of Hadrian's Villa with it temples, theaters, and statues. Admire the romantic Villa d'Este and its garden’s waterfalls, pools, and fountains. Book a stress-free transfer between Fiumicino Airport and anywhere in Rome. Get help with your luggage and have more free time to spend on your trip. Immerse yourself in Roman history with a walking guided tour into Ancient Rome with VIP entrance to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Watch the sunset across the romantic squares of Rome on a 3-hour small group tour of the city’s historic piazzas. Marvel at baroque fountains and statues, and learn the story of some of the city’s most important meeting points, such as Piazza Navona. Journey back in time and explore the Roman town of Pompeii, situated under the shadows of the Vesuvius volcano. Explore the dramatic site with a guide in your language, and then go to Naples for a 1.5-hour panoramic bus tour. Join a tour to see the most important sites of Ancient Rome brought to life. Visit the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill with an expert guide and learn all about a day in the life of Ancient Rome. Get VIP priority seating at the Hard Rock Cafe Rome and feel like a rock star! Dine on great American classics in a fun-filled environment, and pick up some unique, and authentic merchandise to commemorate your visit. Take a break from the hustle and bustle of Rome with a trip to picturesque Tuscany. With travel and sightseeing all arranged, you can enjoy the region’s famed wine, food, and scenery all in one day. Skip the long lines to the Colosseum and learn more about Ancient Rome with the help of a guide. Discover the heart of the city during the days of the Roman Empire at the Roman Forum and get panoramic views from Palatine Hill. Pick-up service is available from Fiumicino Airport or from your hotel in the interior of the Aurelian Walls. Your driver will collect you from your hotel 3 hours before the return flight and in sufficient time for you to check in. Save precious time on a 1-hour skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum and look inside one of the greatest monuments of the Roman Empire. Follow in the footsteps of emperors and gladiators, and then get some free time to explore on your own. Explore 2 historic sites of Rome on a 3-hour walking tour of the Castel Sant’ Angelo and St. Peter’s Square. Learn the history of an ancient fortress, commissioned by Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum. Marvel at Bernini’s colonnades in the Vatican City. Enjoy the best of Trastevere, one of Rome's most picturesque districts. On this 3-hour tour, taste samples of traditional street food including fresh pizza, biscuits, cheese, salami and other delicacies, enriched by the history of the quarter. Skip the lines to the main monuments of Ancient Rome on a small group guided tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Get exclusive access to restricted areas and investigate the workings of the Colosseum beneath the arena floor! Treat yourself to this practical transfer service from Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport to Rome and enjoy a relaxing journey to your onward destination. Your friendly driver will help you carry your luggage and chauffeur you safely to your hotel. Visit Capri, the “Pearl of the Mediterranean,” on a day trip from Rome. You’ll see the renowned Blue Grotto, stop in scenic Anacapri, and enjoy lunch in a local restaurant. At the end of the tour you’ll have time to explore the island on your own. Rome: so much to see, so little time. With this Sistine Chapel express tour, you will focus on what everyone really comes to see: the Sistine Chapel. Get skip-the-line access plus a full background on Michelangelo's masterpiece. Enter the Colosseum without the wait by the Gladiator's Gate. Tour the amphitheater with your guide before visiting the Forum and Palatine Hill. Catch the train from Rome to the former harbor town of the imperial city on a 4-hour tour of Ostia Antica. Learn what life was like for ordinary Roman citizens as you see the main monuments of the commercial and military seaport of the Roman Republic. Walking the same streets as the Roman Emperors did, an expert guide will accompany you across the vast archeological site where, in 753 BC, Ancient Rome was born. The tour will finish on a terrace with breathtaking views of the city. Get a unique gladiator’s-eye view of the Colosseum during this Skip-the-Line tour. Your expert guide will take you backstage into areas that are normally off-limits. Plus, visit the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. Travel between Vatican City and Civitavecchia Port with a hassle-free shuttle bus transfer. On this 3-hour VIP semiprivate tour with skip-the-line entrance, visit one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, avoiding queues and crowded groups. A cycling tour to the gardens that surround the world famous "Borghese Gallery". This historical place (turned into a public park) will let you discover the art and history of the famous Borghese family, all the while breathing in some fresh air! Skip the long lines to the iconic monuments of Ancient Rome on a 3-hour walking tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. Learn more about the imperial city from an expert English or Spanish-speaking guide. Visit the relics of Christ's Passion and Crucifixion that were brought to Rome from the Holy Land by St Helena and around which magnificent Basilicas were constructed. This is the perfect tour for Christians & pilgrims to Rome. Join a small-group Colosseum tour and skip the long lines. Hear about its bloody history and explore the first and second tiers for great views. Enjoy priority access to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Dive into the past and walk in the footsteps of Roman emperors and gladiators, which your passionate guide will bring back to life. Enjoy spectacular views from the Emperor's Palace. Visit the Vatican Museums early, before the crowds arrive. Marvel at the artistic masterpieces and Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Explore 2000 years of art through the lens of the greatest masterpieces. Hop on a cruiser for a bike ride around Rome, discovering the timeless beauty of the city on a 3-hour tour. The Italian capital is full of monuments, culture, and history, and on this tour you will see its many famous landmarks and historical locations. This 3.5-hour walking tour includes all the must-see works in the Vatican Museums, such as Raphael's Rooms, the Gallery of the Maps, the Gallery of the Tapestry, Pine Courtyard, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Reviewed in the prestigious guide Gambero Rosso in 2017, learn how to make many types of homemade fresh pasta inside a real professional laboratory of Italian pasta. You will be able to do this home without any difficulty. See the armor, masks, helmets, and weapons used by the Colosseum entertainers. Hear about how these ancient crafts of battle were made and used with your audio guide. See the monuments and Baroque architecture of Rome on a 3-hour Segway tour that covers more of the city than is possible on a walking tour, and leaves a kinder footprint than motorized tours. Marvel at the ruins of the imperial city, and more. See the sights of Rome from a fresh perspective on a 3-hour private tour by Vespa with optional driver. Benefit from a fully interactive and customizable itinerary, and learn more about life in the city on this family-friendly activity. Explore Ancient Rome's most intriguing and best preserved monument in a 40-minute informative tour with a professional guide. Discover the history and building secrets of the largest dome in the ancient world and visit Raphael's tomb. Skip the lines at the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with exclusive no-wait access. Experience the highlights of the Vatican City on this group tour, as you admire masterpieces by Michelangelo and Raffaello and visit the Sistine Chapel. Skip the lines at the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel! See all the highlights of Vatican City on this popular guided tour and benefit from special access to the Papal Tombs underneath St. Peter’s Basilica. Explore Rome like a Roman by 125cc Vespa scooter, and access more of the city than you can by car or bus. Nip around historic monuments such as the Forum and Spanish Steps. Rent a scooter from 12 hours to 1 week. See the famous sites in Vatican City on a small group, personalized 3-hour tour. Your expert guide will take you through the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica on an informative journey focusing on art, history and archaeology. Take a guided tour of the Vatican state and discover the Vatican Museums, walk inside the Sistine Chapel, see the glorious work of Michelangelo and take a trip to St Peter's Basilica. Discover a secret world beneath the streets of Rome on a 3-hour coach tour of the Catacombs of St. Sebastian. Travel along the Appian Way, one of the most historic roads of Ancient Rome, and see the stunning aqueducts of the Appian Park. Skip the long lines to the Vatican and Colosseum on a combined tour. See miraculous art from the papal collections in the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. Follow in the footsteps of Roman emperors at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Save precious time with skip-the-line access on your guided tour of the Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Let your guide take you back in time to ancient Rome and let the unforgettable architecture take your breath away on this 3-hour tour. Discover the Castle and its changes throughout the centuries, admiring paintings, ancient fortified walls, statues, the treasure room and even a breathtaking view over the city, in a one and a half hour tour with a local guide. Discover one of the most important private art collections in the world on this visit to the Borghese Gallery. Skip the lines and enjoy an extraordinary tour of masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Bernini, and Caravaggio, and explore the gardens as well. Take the worry out of your arrival or departure from Rome Ciampino Airport and pre-book a private transfer with an English-speaking driver. Skip the long lines for taxis and travel in air-conditioned comfort. Visit the city of Naples and the stunning ruins of Pompeii on a full-day excursion from Rome by private motor coach. An onboard assistant and a personal guide will ensure that you see the top highlights of Naples and of the Pompeii excavations. Follow in the footsteps of Roman emperors and fearless gladiators on a small group skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Learn about the main monuments of Ancient Rome and more. Marvel at masterpieces of arts, history, and culture present in the most incredible museum in the world. With priority access, skip the lines to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Relax in air-conditioned comfort on a private 1-way transfer between Fiumicino Airport and your hotel in Rome. This sedan or mini-can service is available for 1 person or a small group of up to 8, with the vehicle depending on the number of passengers. See the sights of Rome at night in all their majesty. On this 3-hour guided walking tour you’ll have a chance to learn about the history and architecture of this magnificent city, without the hustle and bustle of the tourist crowds of the daytime hours. Ever dreamed of gazing up at the Sistine Chapel in peace & quiet? This exclusive Vatican Partner tour allows you to be one of the select few to enter the chapel first in the morning & includes no-wait entry to St. Peter’s Basilica. Experience a once-in-a-lifetime event at St. Peter's Square. Attend the weekly audience held by Pope Francis at the Vatican with this ticket. Discover the taste of authentic Roman and Jewish cuisine with a cozy 6-course meal in the old town of Rome. Visit the Jewish Quarter with its archaeological sites and a very special atmosphere. Enjoy the full Ancient Rome guided experience. Explore the beautiful Roman Forum and the scenic Palatine Hill. Finally, visit the mighty Colosseum avoiding the busiest hours. Skip the regular queue and enjoy a tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with an official guide, followed by a tour of St Peter’s Basilica at your own pace. See the sights of Rome on a 3-hour electric bike tour, and explore the historic neighborhoods of the “Eternal City” without breaking into a sweat! Make easy work of some of the city’s legendary hills, and marvel at monuments in baroque piazzas. Discover the real dark heart of Rome on this combination tour. Visit the ancient part of the city that’s buried beneath the busy streets and join in a nighttime adventure that leaves no stone unturned and unveils the Eternal City’s unseen history. Explore the marvelous Lazio region on a food and wine tour to a medieval cellar, to learn the secrets of wine making. Enjoy a meal where each course is paired with an elegant local wine. Beat the crowds and admire Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel masterpiece in peace. Enjoy a full buffet breakfast in the Pinecone Courtyard, visit the museums, and get special access to St. Peter's Basilica. Discover Rome with a local on an electric bike. Visit the Eternal City in environmentally friendly way and experience an easy, panoramic tour of Rome's highlights. Enjoy the best of Rome by taking this relaxing private service with a luxury vehicle accompanied by a knowledgeable local driver eager to make your experience in Rome enjoyable and memorable! Transform the way you travel and make it as much about the people you meet as the places you see. Get a welcome to Rome by a local guide on a fully customized private walking tour. See some of the lesser-known but culturally significant sites of the Vatican on an informative walking tour that gives you insight into the city's complex history and thrilling lore. Start your stay in Rome the stress free way and book your transfer into the city in advance. Enjoy a comfortable ride through Rome and arrive at your destination via a direct route. Discover a different side to Rome on the city’s only night-time walking tour in English. Explore the hidden side of the Eternal City on a mysterious 1.5-hour night tour, and learn about Rome's supernatural side as you check out Campo de Fiori and more. Travel back to the days of the Roman Empire and take a 3-hour guided tour of the main monuments of ancient Rome. Skip the long lines to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill as you follow in the footsteps of Roman emperors and gladiators. Join this exclusive small group (max 6 people) tour and plunge into the wonders of ancient Rome and let your guide narrate stories of gladiators and Roman Emperors letting the ruins of the amphitheater come to life again. Get skip the line access to the icons of the Roman Empire on this 3-hour tour. See the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine as you learn the history of Imperial Rome and its golden Emperors. Descend 100 feet underground in the Basilica of San Clemente and discover 2,000 years of history. Then, visit the Church of St. Peter in Chains. See the sights of Rome illuminated for the night on a 2-hour Segway tour, and experience “La Dolce Vita” of the “Eternal City” after dark. Glide down historic streets to iconic monuments, such as the Pantheon, Castel Sant’ Angelo, and more. Taste the foods of Rome on a private 3-hour tour, and indulge your taste buds at 10 different tastings. Sample fresh fruit from the market at Campo de’ Fiori, visit an amazing Sicilian delicatessen, try some of the best chocolate in town, and much more. Escape the hustle and bustle of Rome and spend the day at the amazing archaeological site of Pompeii. Take the shuttle bus direct to Pompeii, where you can wander the grounds independently or add on a tour with an expert guide. Learn the history of one of Ancient Rome's most magnificent buildings on an English-speaking tour of the Colosseum. Access exclusive areas and experience the monument like a Roman emperor! Walk with an expert guide to see far-flung sights scattered around Rome. Visit some incredible places rarely seen by visitors. Learn about the influence of the old Jewish Ghetto on Rome’s culture, stop at the Mouth of Truth, and walk along the Appian Way. 'Best of the Colosseum: arena floor and Gladiator Gate' is the see all Colosseum tour in 90 minutes for busy tourists! Walk in the footsteps of emperors, slaves, gladiators and perhaps even the Gods which ruled Rome and the Roman Empire in antiquity. See the most famous sights of Rome in a half day! Discover brilliant attractions throughout the centuries and walk along picturesque squares and monuments. See the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Colonna Square, church San Luigi dei Francesi and many more. Explore the ruins of ancient Pompeii on a daily group excursion from Rome. Discover many of the well-preserved buildings at the incredible archaeological site that was covered by volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Tour Rome’s historical district by street legal golf cart and see more sights than you would see on a walking tour. Discover hidden gems, such as the Aventine and Celio hills, and pass famous sites such as the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Venezia. Go to historic Tivoli in Roman Campagna on a 4-hour coach tour from Rome, and explore Hadrian’s imperial villa. Continue to the Renaissance Villa d’Este, where you can stroll around the lovely grounds and marvel at the abundant fountains. Explore the villas of a summer retreat for the Romans and Renaissance on a 5-hour tour of Tivoli from Rome. Discover the breathtaking gardens of the Villa d'Este, and the Roman ruins of the Villa Adriana, and travel back to the days of the Roman Empire. Enjoy skip-the-line access to the treasures of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Avoid the crowds and spend more time admiring the masterpieces of art on this 2.5-hour tour with a professional art historian guide. Take this guided tour to explore the fascinating archaeological monuments of Rome and journey into the history of the Roman Empire. Marvel at the splendid Colosseum, walk the Via Sacra, visit the arch of Constantine, and stand on the sacred Palatine Hill. Visit the most important attractions in Rome on the same day with a half-day skip-the-line guided tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica in the morning and a half-day guided tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum in the afternoon. Skip the lines to the Vatican and enjoy a 4.5-hour tour of the Gardens, Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. The access-all-areas tour is a magical journey through centuries of art, with sneak peaks at areas normally closed to the public. See the sights of Rome on a relaxing evening panoramic tour by motor coach. Discover the magic charm of the city’s iconic monuments illuminated at night. Dine on traditional Roman cuisine at a restaurant in the lively and popular Trevi area. Follow the footsteps of Tom Hanks’ character Robert Langdon from the film “Angels & Demons” with visits to the original sites in Rome and the Vatican. This 3.5-hour tour is a must for all fans of the film or the novel. Skip the long lines to the main monuments of the Vatican City and see the most interesting highlights of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. See the main monuments of Ancient Rome on a 3-hour, small group tour. Travel back to the days of the Roman Republic as you explore the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Pantheon. Walk in the footsteps of Roman emperors and fearless gladiators. Enjoy a private tour of the Colosseum and the ancient Roman Forum archeological area, skipping the long lines at the entrance with your fast-track tickets. An expert guide leads this informative tour as you visit the most important sites of ancient Rome. Go on a romantic night tour and enjoy access to the Colosseum Underground and Arena to experience the wonderful achievements of Roman civilization, under the golden moonlight. Experience the romance of Rome on a 2.5-hour cruise along the River Tiber. In a stylish atmosphere of flowers, fine china and linen-draped tables, enjoy superb views, tasty cuisine and Italian wines to the background of the city in its evening lights. Explore the Colosseum arena and underground area, where gladiators and beasts prepared for battle. Visit the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill as well. Explore ancient Rome with an immersive tour that will take you into the heart of gladiator combat and into the archaeological sights of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Areas rich with roads, temples, basilicas, and villas brought to life. Taste the typical food and wines of Rome on a guided walking tour of the Campo de’Fiori and Trastevere. Experience the city like a local with a classic aperitivo of meat, cheese and wine, sample homemade dishes at secret locations and more. Go on a quest around the haunted parts of the city by solving clues that will unlock stories. Use a mobile app which works as your personal guide to discover the captive souls, spirits and mysterious skeletons of Rome during an interactive game. Take the convenient shuttle bus transfer from Rome to Pompeii and spend the day exploring the archaeological site on your own. Book a guide on arrival to upgrade your experience and learn more about life in the Roman Republic. This short introduction to the Colosseum and Roman Forum reveals a lost civilization to you via the stories of one of the local guides with a background in archeology. Use your precious time in Rome effectively with an express tour of the Colosseum. Benefit from skip-the-line tickets then receive the most important information about this important historical site during a 1-hour tour. Get an exclusive tour of the Colosseum that very few tourists have the chance to. With your friendly and informative guide, visit the Colosseum and its ominous underground labyrinth and get an in-depth look at one of Italy's most popular sites. Maximize your time in Rome with this convenient combo ticket. Explore the city on a panoramic hop-on-hop-off bus tour with 24 or 48-hour access. Discover the Colosseum during a guided group tour lead by an expert professional guide. Receive privileged entrance to the Colosseum directly onto the Arena floor, where gladiators gave their performances. You will hear fascinating stories of combat throughout the first and second ring, before then exploring the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill. Cycle past the main sights of Rome on a 3.5-hour bike tour. Marvel at monuments from the Roman Empire, such as the Colosseum and Pantheon, temple to all gods. Discover the baroque and renaissance buildings of legendary piazzas, and much more. Enter the Sistine Chapel before it opens to the general public and enjoy Michelangelo’s masterpieces in peace before embarking on a thorough guided tour of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. Take the worry out of your travel and save money with a pre-booked, two-way shuttle transfer between Ciampino Airport and Vatican City. Enjoy exclusive access to the restricted areas of the Colosseum on this small-group tour for up to 24 people. Travel back in time and re-live centuries of Roman history on a small-group Segway tour. Glide effortlessly from the Pantheon to the Coliseum, and take in some of the top landmarks and monuments of the Eternal City along the way. Ride through the beautiful grounds of the Villa Borghese and discover its magnificent monuments on a 2-hour Segway tour. Discover the landmarks of the city center, such as the Pantheon and Spanish Steps. Skip the lines on a visit to Rome's most iconic monuments. Enjoy a small-group guided tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. Take a three-hour guided tour of the magnificent Borghese Gallery that houses works by famous Italian artists. Then visit the spectacular gardens with your specialist local guide. Take the high-speed train from Rome to Venice and spend the day touring the Byzantine architecture and canals of the famous “Serenissima”. Relax on board of the train during the 3.5-hour journey, use your free ferry pass to visit the best parts of Venice. Experience three of Rome's ancient highlights on this private tour. Together with your guide, you will encounter the Colosseum (including the Arena Floor), Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum, each with skip-the-line access. Impress your friends with a set of amazing Italian cooking skills! On this unique small-group cooking experience, learn how to hand-make pasta, ravioli and tomato sauce from scratch in a professional kitchen. Take the worry out of your transportation arrangements at the end of your cruise to Rome and pre-book a private transfer from Civitavecchia Port to Rome Fiumicino Airport. Save time and money, and avoid the hassle of taxi touts or shared shuttle buses. Enjoy this Vatican Museums small group tour on Friday nights - access the museums outside of regular hours to admire these masterpieces, including the Sistine Chapel. Skip the line and enter the Colosseum through a special access gate directly onto the restricted area of the Gladiator's Arena. Enjoy spectacular views of the Colosseum's underground chambers and learn about the gruesome history of the Gladiator games. Take a guided tour of the first papal residency and marvel at the interior of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Your guide will take you to see the Chiostro, the Holy Stairs, and the fantastic Baptistery of the Lateran complex as well. A morning tour with an expert guide at the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Later, enjoy a DIY tour of the magnificent Vatican Museums. This combo tour & skip-the-line Vatican Museums ticket delivers it all. See the highlights of the Vatican and Ancient Rome on this 6.5-hour guided walking tour. This combination of 2 popular offerings takes you on a morning visit to the Vatican followed by an afternoon spent admiring Rome’s architectural gems. Make your stay in Rome special by joining a tour of the Coliseum Arena, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Explore with your guide for 3 hours the most important sites in the history of Rome without waiting in any lines. Take the worry out of your arrival or departure from Rome city and pre-book a private transfer from or to Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport or Ciampino Airport. Skip the long line for taxis and relax in the comfort of executive class vehicles. This Early Morning Private Vatican Tour will take you on a lucrative journey through the artistically opulent Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Combine two of the best spectacles in Rome with a unique package deal. Visit the Last Judgment theatre show and enjoy skip-the-line entrance to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Travel back to the days of the Roman Empire and take a 3-hour guided tour of the main monuments of Ancient Rome. Skip the long lines to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Follow in the footsteps of Roman emperors and gladiators. The tour is tailored to meet your specific needs and interests with maximum freedom to discover Ancient Rome's landmarks. You will have your own custom-made itinerary and a dedicated native speaking guide providing you with the best experience possible. Enjoy a romantic 90-minute evening cruise in Rome along the Tiber River. Sip a glass of wine and savor delightful appetizers as you take in the sunset. Admire some of the Eternal City’s top landmarks and monuments along the way. Explore Rome's Colosseum and Ancient Roman sights on this two-hour express Segway tour. Enjoy views over the Roman Forum from the city's oldest hills as you have fun with your expert tour leader. Skip the lines at the Colosseum on this 1-hour Gladiator Arena Tour. Explore the restricted-access area with a professional guide. Experience the magical lights of Rome in the evening on this small group golf cart tour. Enjoy drinks and an appetizer along the way as you explore the streets of the Eternal City with a dedicated local guide. Rent a quality bike and see the sights of Rome you want to see. Explore more than 2000 years of history at sites like the ruins of the Roman Forum and Pantheon, marvel at Romanesque squares, travel up the “7 Hills of Rome,” and more. Treat yourself to the Visit Rome Gold Pass and gain fast-track access to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo. All that with the benefit of an audio guide and an interactive CityPass map full of handy tips. Explore the “Eternal City” of Rome at your own pace with a combined 1-day ticket to the open top hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus, and a cruise along the River Tiber. Marvel at the monuments of Ancient Rome, and the Baroque fountains of the historic center. Discover the secret history of Rome buried beneath the streets of Trastevere. Go 7m below street level to see preserved underground churches, Roman houses, frescoes, and crypts. Explore hidden locations with an expert archaeologist guide. Experience the "Sounds and Visions of Caravaggio" in the heart of the Eternal City. Let yourself be inspired by an innovative blend of art and music, and watch as historical instruments help recreate Baroque and Renaissance music. Take home a unique souvenir of your time in Rome with a 1-hour photo shoot by professional camera. Your photographer guide will arrange a shoot at any location in the city that takes your fancy, and send the best results by email to download. Enjoy a spiritual experience in the Pope's Wednesday audience after learning about Rome's history from your Spanish-speaking guide. Explore Imperial Rome in all its glory on a unique mode of transport. Ride a Segway in the footsteps of ancient Roman rulers. Learn about their influence on the Eternal City, while visiting majestic monuments. Enjoy a relaxing private transfer service in a luxury Mercedes vehicle on your Rome arrival or departure. A knowledgeable local driver will ensure that your experience is an enjoyable one. Choose a 1-way transfer either from or to Rome Ciampino Airport. Travel back to the days of the Roman Empire on a 3-hour skip-the-line tour of the Colosseum, Imperial Forum and Palatine Hill. See the ruins of the temples and the mighty arena of the Flavian Amphitheatre and ascend one of the legendary 7 Hills of Rome. Enjoy a 3-hour golf cart tour that stops at Rome's top attractions, such as the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, and more. This audio tour is a great way to visit St. Peter's Basilica and avoid the crowds. Enjoy the self-guided tour with a city pass and a visit to Vatican City. Leave your luggage in a safe place, available at various location around Rome, including the Termini Station, close to the airport bus terminal, the local public bus terminal and metro lines A/B. Save precious time with a skip-the-line entrance ticket to the Vatican Museums, and discover the papal collections with an English-speaking guide. Pause to reflect in the Sistine Chapel, and get fast-track entry to St. Peter's Basilica. Enjoy the spectacular attractions of Vatican City with an expert guide on a 3-hour small group tour. Skip the lines waiting to enter the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, and have more time to marvel at the treasures within. Skip the long lines to the main monuments of Ancient Rome on a guided tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Get exclusive access to the newly opened Belvedere area and enjoy panoramic views from the 5th tier. Explore one of the most important monuments in the history of the Christian faith with a smartphone app audio guide to St. Peter's Basilica. Continue to the former mausoleum of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Explore the most important sacred Christian sites in Rome on a 3-hour sightseeing tour by air-conditioned coach. The tour stops at the well-known Basilicas of Santa Maria Maggiore and Saint John in Lateran. Then, travel along the ancient Appian Way. Enjoy a comfortable, convenient, and affordable shared shuttle service from Civitavecchia cruise port to Rome city center accommodations, or Fiumicino Airport. With door-to ship services available every day, relax at the start or end of your vacation. Explore a secret, subterranean world beneath the streets of Rome on a 3-hour, small group walking tour. Experience the city from the days of the Roman Empire at sites such as the Pantheon, Vicus Caprarius and the Stadium of Domitian beneath Piazza Navona. Skip the lines on this private tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. Learn about life in ancient Rome from an expert guide. A unique early morning e-bike tour of Rome. Explore Rome at your own pace with a digital tour guide, and an audio guide of the Pantheon. Enjoy a huge high-quality gelato from GROM. See Rome’s top sights by Segway on this 2-hour panoramic tour. Visit the Aventine Hill and glide to the Eternal City’s landmarks, including the Colosseum, Circus Maximus, and Roman Forum. Discover Capitoline Hill and the ancient Jewish Quarter. Watch an amazing 1.5-hour gladiator show at the Museum of the Roman Legionary in Rome and recreate the days of the Roman Empire. Touch real weapons and armor. A 1.5 hour pizza making class on the banks of the Tiber River, in the heart of Rome, next to Castel Sant'Angelo and San Pietro Basilica. Head out from Rome on a day visit to Florence and Pisa, 2 of Tuscany’s most popular cities. Learn about the ancient traditions of Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and other monuments in the Square of Miracles. Our street food tour is a delicious walk through the heart of the eternal city. Discover the street food delicacies loved by today’s Romans and visit historical boutiques and contemporary eateries. Welcome to the world’s first museum! At the Empire Roman Museum, you will discover a fascinating collection of art and artifacts, all telling the fascinating history of Rome. When in Rome do as the Romans do and ride around the ancient city streets on an iconic Vespa moped. Rent a Vespa 125 LX for 24 hours and see sights, such as the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia, from the saddle of a typical Italian mode of transport. Discover Rome at your own pace with a high-quality electric bicycle. You’ll be able to explore a lot more of the city and do so effortlessly. In addition to the electric bike you’ll receive a map along with some recommended routes for your excursion. Discover the early, underground Basilica of San Clemente in Rome on a 1.5-hour guided tour, and admire the 13th-century mosaics and Arabesque motifs in the Apse. Get access to hidden rooms, including the Altar of Mithras and Mithraic Schoolroom. Experience Rome like a local on a 2-hour private tour and get a personalized itinerary created just for you. Decide where you want to go and what you want to see and benefit from the insights of a local guide. Segway is the best way to visit the city. See Rome's top sights with ease and hear about the history from your local guide. Drive through small alleyways and get tips on the best places to eat and drink in the eternal city. Uncover the mysteries of the unknown Catacombs of San Callisto, also referred to as the Cemetery of Callixtus. This walking tour of Rome takes you around the intriguing grounds containing the tombs of several different popes from the 2nd to 4th centuries. Enjoy a fun and instructive guided tour with a Dutch-speaking guide through the Colosseum, the ruins of the Roman Forum with a view of the Palatine. Take a trip from Rome on a high speed train and discover the heart of Florence and the one and only Accademia Gallery. With all your travel taken of, enjoy a day exploring with a knowledgeable guide. Combine your love for coffee and gelato with your passion for Rome on this 2.5-hour walking tour of the Eternal City and see, smell, and taste delicious Italian coffees, cakes, and ice-creams under the shade of some of the city’s most historic monuments. Taste some of the finest traditional Italian foods on offer in Rome on a guided walking tour of the city’s historic center. Sample pizza and pasta, and Italian hams, wines, and cheeses, and finish off with some refreshing Sicilian gelato. Leave the crowds behind with a skip-the-line Colosseum ticket, and visit one of the ancient world’s most spectacular monuments. Discover the Roman Forum, heart of the roman Empire, with its copious amounts of temples, basilicas, and vibrant public spaces. Enjoy a 3-hour walking tour through the vast art collections inside one of the most beautiful museums in the world with an expert guide. Gain privileged access to the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica during an exclusive skip-the-line Vatican tour. Discover the main monuments of the Roman Empire in Rome on a 3-hour small group tour of the imperial city. Bring history to life at landmark sights, such as the Roman Forum and Colosseum. Enjoy panoramic views from one of the 7 hills of Rome. Discover masterpieces of art at one of Rome’s most impressive museums on a 3-hour tour of the Borghese Gallery. Admire sculptures, paintings, and floor mosaics by artists such as Canova, Bernini and Caravaggio. See one of the Rome’s most exquisite villas. Get outside the walls of Rome and into the ancient tunnels of its catacombs. Enjoy a 3-hour tour that gives you a unique perspective on ancient Rome that you won't experience in the city center. Travel with this comfortable and air-conditioned shuttle service from Rome to discover the buried city of Pompeii. Create your own itinerary and explore Pompeii at your own pace on this independent full-day tour with round-trip transportation. Take in the very essence of Roman history, culture, art, and architecture. Enjoy skip-the-line access to monuments including the Colosseum and Vatican Museums. Experience the enchanting city of Rome by night on a comfortable E-bike tour. Ride to the top of Aventino hill and soak up the colorful sunset panorama over the city. Make a wish by throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain. You control your Vatican experience on this private tour. With only your small group, a dedicated guide, and No-Wait Access through a special Partner Entrance, there’s plenty of time to uncover the stories behind the Vatican’s hidden treasures. See the sights of Rome floodlit for the night on a 3-hour, private tour by golf cart. Marvel at Borromino’s beautiful church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, go to Piazza Barberini, see Piazza di Spagna in all its glory, and much more. Begin your Vatican City experience with a rich breakfast buffet followed by a ride through the hidden parts of the Vatican that have just been opened to the public. Visit the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica as well. Enjoy an exclusive small group tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel at night when most of the tourists have left. You'll be guided by a professional English-speaking guide, who will share the history and most important stories of the museums. Choose your opera experience in Rome with an open ticket. Enjoy a wonderful evening listening to the masterpieces of Vivaldi, La Traviata, or Rigoletto whilst seated in fantastic and innovative locations such as cathedrals, museums, or Roman ruins. Partnered with a guide, you will receive an overview of the history and the art of Rome before entering the Vatican Museums. You can admire the many ancient treasures, before visiting the Sistine Chapel and its famous frescos. Discover the wonders of the Colosseum during a 1-hour guided tour with skip-the-line tickets. Learn about the history of the impressive amphitheater partnered with your knowledgable guide. Experience the sacred atmosphere of the Vatican City with a guaranteed entrance ticket to the Papal Audience on St. Peter's Square. Listen to Pope Francis address an adoring crowd during his weekly public prayer service. The Imperial Rome tour perfectly combines walking with relaxed sightseeing by coach and gives you a comprehensive overview of the remains of the impressive Roman Empire! Immerse yourself in the art and culture of Vatican City on this early morning tour that gives you VIP access to the Vatican Museums and skip-the-line entry to St. Peter’s Basilica. Marvel at the spectacular frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Learn how to prepare and cook homemade pasta like an Italian Mamma at an amazing cooking class in Rome. Visit a food market, learn the secrets of local chefs and enjoy a leisurely lunch of the fruits of your labor. Save precious time with a skip-the-line entrance ticket to the Vatican Museums and discover the vast papal collection on your own. Enjoy an Italian lunch of dishes prepared by the pope's chefs in one of the nicest courtyards in the museum. See a slice of Roman history that is hiding in plain sight, which reveals the persecution of Rome’s Jewish population as well as their eventual triumph over adversity. Start or end your cruise to Rome stress free with a pre-booked private transfer to or from Fiumicino Airport, from or to Civitavecchia Port. Enjoy a professional service by luxury Mercedes or similar as you travel to your destination. Enjoy a fascinating 3 hour tour of the massive museums of the Vatican and then stand beneath some of Michelangelo's masterpieces in the Sistine Chapel, all by night. No trip to Italy is complete without a visit to Pompeii. This luxury van tour from Rome will show you a city immortalised by a volcanic eruption, followed by lunch and a visit to the crater of Mt. Vesuvius! Experience the stunning Amalfi Coast from both land and sea as you spend a day exploring various towns along this storied stretch of coastline. Visit a little cozy Gelateria to explore the delicious world of Gelato. Take a 1-hour workshop led by an instructor the discover the secrets to producing the best ice-cream. Visit the Vatican Museums, avoiding the long wait with your skip-the-line ticket. Admire the ancient sculptures, stunning frescoes, medieval maps, and priceless paintings with your expert guide during this 3-hour after-hours tour. Discover Rome in a completely new way, tasting the best typical products and getting to know the incredible culture and heritage of Rome, for a multi-sensorial experience. Feel the real spirit of Rome. The Vatican is the smallest worldwide state and also the richest. Enjoy early entrance with a skip-the-line ticket for a guided tour of this magnificent site. Experience one of Europe's most exciting aviation museums in complete convenience with this ticket and transfer package. Travel from the Civitavecchia harbour to the Italian Airforce Museum with a professional, English speaking driver. Enjoy an exclusive experience of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Visit the Sistine Chapel with no crowds at 7:30 AM, a full hour and a half before the general public. Take an afternoon walking tour of Rome’s famous monuments and piazzas. Visit sites that date back to Roman times, such as the column of Piazza Colonna and the Pantheon, to Renaissance and Baroque squares, palaces and fountains. Discover masterpieces of art and classical antiquities on a 3.5-hour tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. Admire Michelangelo’s sacred frescoes inside a chapel of the most important Catholic church in the world and much more. Walk in the footsteps of Roman emperors on this tour of Ancient Rome with skip-the-line tickets to the Colosseum & Roman Forum. Complete your tour with a walk along the Sacred Way as you immerse yourself in the vivid Roman history that surrounds you. An amazing tailor-made private tour for kids and families through the heart of Ancient Rome. You will be captured by the magic of this special itinerary designed to catch the attention of your children. Enjoy a private guided tour of the Vatican City State with skip-the-line tickets. Discover the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's Basilica. A 3-hour tour for those who wish to visit the Vatican as part of group, away from the daily crowds. You will enter the museums before opening to the general public and visit highlights of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. Enjoy an exclusive open–air concert, with a terrace aperitif of Italian food and wine served on the best rooftop of Piazza Navona! Explore southern Italy in style on this day tour for those between 18 and 39 years old. Travel to Naples and Pompeii on the high-speed train from Rome. Join this invigorating tour of the Colosseum and Ancient Rome to get to the heart of Rome’s ancient empire. Learn about the trials and traumas of the gladiators who battled in the Colosseum and continue to the beautiful Roman Forum. See masterpieces of art from the papal collections on a 2.5-hour small group guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Skip the long lines to the popular monuments to get a complete Vatican City experience. Explore the astonishing Roman Colosseum without having to wait in line. There’s so much to explore, and with this special ticket, you’ll have more time. Afterwards, see St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and many other sights, all at your own pace. Enjoy the highlights of one of the world’s great museums and Rome's best art collection on this specially designed 2-hour Vatican Museums tour designed exclusively for families with children aged between 7 to 12-years-old. A local, multi-course food tour through the Roman district of Trastevere that offers an excellent introduction to one of the best local food districts in Rome. Start your unique tour in the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Have a short break and the descend into Nero’s buried “Golden House”. Visit the underground rooms and corridors of Rome’s Domus Aurea on a virtual reality tour using 3D glasses. Tour in the ancient city of Ostia with skip-the-line tickets included. Experience romance with love songs and music by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini on the most exclusive terrace of Piazza Navona. There's a new way to feel at home in Rome. Combine public transportation and walking tours with high-quality audio narration, rich visuals, and offline navigable mapping to transform your smartphone into a smart assistant. Save precious time with a skip-the-line entrance ticket to the Vatican Museums before they open to the public, and discover the papal collections before the crowds. Look inside the Sistine Chapel, and get fast-track entry to St. Peter's Basilica. See the most visited archeological monument in the world on this special 1 hour tour. Explore the Colosseum from the floor where the Gladiators fought while listening to the incredible history of Ancient Rome life. Take part in a mystical cultural experience during a special visit to the Vatican Necropolis and St Peter's Basilica. Take advantage of reserved entrance to visit the Necropolis. On this 2-hour private guided tour, discover the main treasures of Castel Sant'Angelo staying away from the crowded group tours. Admire the impressive architecture of the castle and admire the incredible masterpieces hosted inside. Discover Rome at your own pace aboard of an innovative and eco-friendly electric car. Freely reach all of the most important monuments of the Eternal City and take pictures to save these moments forever. Take an easy and relaxing ride through a Roman night on an electric bike! With your guide, pass by all the most important monuments of the city and see the sun go down! Take an unusual and evocative tour that will get you in contact with nature and take you to discover the beauties of the Ancient Appian Way and its Roman aqueducts. Get your baggage transported from the airport to your accommodation with a convenient same-day luggage delivery service. Explore Rome with more freedom without having to worry about carrying your heavy luggage around. Enjoy some of the sights around central Rome made famous by classic movies on this short walking tour. Visit the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, as your guide explains both the ancient history and the Hollywood significance of each landmark. Enjoy an audience with Pope Francis for a once-in-a-lifetime encounter at the Vatican City. Share a religious and multi-cultural experience with the Pope, while listening to the papal audience together with people from all over the world. Experience the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and more on this special Segway tour. Get a chance to admire the architectural and artistic wonders of this Renaissance city in a small group alongside an informative, local guide. Get behind the wheel of a vintage Fiat 500 and follow a tour leader's car along a 3-hour panoramic route of Rome. Feel like a celebrity as tourists take pictures of your candy-colored vehicles, and Romans gaze wistfully at their own Fiat 500 memories. This tour will bring you to the famous "Bones Church" of Rome, famous for the decorations made out of bones of deceased Capuchin monks. See the early Christian catacombs on the Appian Way. Admission to all sites & transportation between them are included. Discover the Vatican Museums on this 4-hour evening tour of the key sites, led by an expert guide. This is a rare opportunity to visit these world-famous at night and see the magical sight of them illuminated in the twilight. Skip the lines at the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on this 3-hour Vatican walking tour. You’ll be picked up at your hotel in Rome and enjoy a drive that takes in the city’s most important sights on the way to the Vatican. Why wait in line and then waste time wandering aimlessly through the world's greatest collection of classical and Renaissance art? Book a guided tour and your whole visit will be as unforgettable as the Sistine Chapel. This semi-private small-group Vatican tour provides early access to the Vatican Museums, before the general public arrives. With an expert guide at your side you’ll take in highlights of the Museums, Raphael Room, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Appreciate the real taste of Rome with this special walking food tour. Walk the city to discover local cuisine and popular culture. Live the city streets and appreciate Roman’s food like a local. Visit the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica with a Dutch-speaking guide. With your guide in Rome, you will enjoy a 3-hour tour without standing in line. Enjoy an English-speaking driver at your leisure in Rome for any activity: shopping, business meetings, sightseeing or a comfortable transportation within the city. Get special access to a restricted area of the Colosseum and see a partially reconstructed section of the arena floor. Enter the impressive amphitheater via the Gladiator’s Gate, explore the Roman Forum, and more. Maximize your time and explore Rome at your leisure with this hop-on-hop-off ticket valid for 24 or 48-hours. Enjoy skip-the-line access to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica. Listen to audioguide commentary in 9 languages onboard the bus. If you want to experience the sights of Rome illuminated at night, and avoid the city’s crowded attractions by day, sit back and take in Rome's night-time magic from the comfort of an air-conditioned coach. Stop at the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. Take the stress out of your arrival at Civitavecchia Port, and pre-book a private one-way transfer at the end of your cruise to Rome. Relax in comfortable executive class vehicles, and enjoy door-to-door service from your personal chauffeur. When the sun sets, an older and more mysterious Rome comes to life. You are invited to discover this mysterious side on this romantic evening walking tour. On this half-day tour, see the main features of the Eternal City. Enjoy a skip-the-line tour to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Live an unforgettable tour in a comfortable short limousine for an amazing sightseeing experience. Plunge into the wonders of ancient Rome on this skip-the-line Colosseum and Roman Forum tour, and let your guide narrate stories of gladiators and Roman Emperors, letting the ruins of the amphitheater come to life again. A walking tour of the highlights of Civita di Bagnoregio, the "dying city", before heading onward to explore the "Monster Park" in Bomarzo. Taste the simplicity of ingredients and the surprising flavours of Roman cuisine. Roman people reflect authenticity of their culture and when it comes to food they are very proud of their food and wine tradition. Taste the city from locals' point of view. Get straight to business instead of spending hours digging on review sites looking for the authentic places. A passionate local guide will teach you all about Italy’s slow food movement as well as share traditions and anecdotes about every tasting. Enjoy a catch-all 2-day tour package with a professional guide in Rome. See all of the most important landmarks and still have both afternoons free to explore, eat, drink, and people watch on your own. Visit the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, and more. Enjoy a special Tour of the Colosseum. Discover the third, fourth and fifth tiers of this ancient structure. Arrive at the rooftop terrace to witness spectacular views of the Colosseum and the surrounding areas. Enjoy an audience with the Pope and get a once-in-a-lifetime experience with guaranteed reservation. The half-day tour also includes sightseeing of Rome’s major attractions before heading to St. Peter’s Square. Indulge your taste buds and enjoy an evening of gourmet dining in Rome. Savor the foods and wines of Italy at a fine dining establishment, guided by an expert food and wine connoisseur. Try a typical Italian aperitif, local cheeses, and much more. Despite its being just a ruin, the Colosseum manages to impress its every visitor… If you crave to find out more about the stage of gladiator battles in a personalized manner, book this private Colosseum tour today. Discover the highlights of Florence on a self-guided day trip from Rome. Save precious time with a high-speed train transfer with on-board assistance. Enjoy an enchanting tour through the heart of the Eternal City, discovering Rome's most intriguing sights and highlights, with a stop for traditional gelato! This tour invites you to a tasting in a traditional Italian wine bar. Taste different wines with cheese in the 18th-century Palazzetto Giangiacomo. Enjoy the Italian way of life in the heart of Rome. Discover the magic and mystery of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel at night on a 3-hour tour in Rome. Skip the lines and enjoy the galleries when the large crowds have departed. See masterpieces by Raphael, Michelangelo, and more. Take the stress out of your arrival at Civitavecchia Port and pre-book a private 1-way transfer at the end of your cruise to Rome. Relax in comfortable executive class vehicles, and enjoy a door-to-door service from your personal chauffeur. Travel back in time and skip the long lines to the most important monuments of imperial Rome, and learn about the great dynasties from Augustus to Commodus at the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Enjoy exclusive entrance to Navona Square Underground and see the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum and Roman Forum. Relax on a bus journey to Castel Gandolfo, just 25km from Rome, and visit the exclusive Papal Palace and Barberini Gardens with an audio-guided tour. Experience all levels of the world’s most famous amphitheater on this Colosseum tour. Go underground to learn about the lives of the gladiators, and ascend to the 5th floor for views over Rome. Later, see the Roman Forum for a different perspective. Get away from the hustle and bustle of the city on a Segway tour through Rome’s stunning Villa Borghese. Enjoy the park’s natural beauty and architectural delights on this convenient three hour tour. See the highlights of Rome under the magic of their evening illuminations on a 2.5-hour Segway tour. Marvel at the ruins of the former empire from Capitoline Hill, experience the evening buzz of Piazza Navona, throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, and more. Discover an oasis of art on an 11-hour private tour of Assisi from Rome, and explore the birthplace of one of Italy's best-loved saints. Marvel at the historic buildings of the city center, such as Piazza del Comune and the Basilica of San Francesco. Enjoy a 3-hour guided walking tour to take in the highlights of the historical center of Rome. An expert guide will be your storyteller as you visit the spectacular fountains, monuments, and piazzas of the Eternal City. See the highlights of Rome and other great places off-the-beaten-track, including the breathtaking Colosseum and other must-sees, with a local private guide. Take a comprehensive guided walking tour of the most famous and breathtaking sites of ancient Rome -- the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Experience Rome like a resident on a flexible walking tour with a local host. Choose what you want to see or do and avail of the expert insights of your new friend to create a bespoke itinerary exclusive to you. A special tour that lets you explore hidden parts of the Colosseum on a shared tour of up to 25 people. Go back in time with this 1-hour skip-the-line special tour of the Colosseum. Bypass the queue at the Colosseum to avoid long waits. Explore one of Rome’s most historic districts on this 3-hour tour of Trastevere, which includes a typical Italian aperitif. Good morning sunshine! Join this Early-Bird Rome City Tour to enjoy your Roman holiday in style. Beat the crowds and see the highlights of Rome’s historic center – like the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps – before the city wakes up! Discover the history and legends behind the most famous pieces of art in western civilization, on a small group tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's Basilica. Gain special access to a secret room called the Cabinet of the Masks. Travel to Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in comfort from your accommodation in Rome with a private, 1-way transfer. Pre-book this service and relax knowing that a professional driver will ensure your timely arrival. Transfers for 1-16 people are available. Relive the days of Ancient Rome on a small group 3-hour tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Skip the long lines to enjoy fast track entry, and explore the main monuments of imperial Rome, such as the Temple of Jupiter, Arch of Titus and more. Discover the beauty of Rome by night on this unique guided Segway tour through the ancient city. Zip through Rome's illuminated ancient streets and visit some of its most famous sites, including the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Learn about Rome’s cuisine and its history while tasting some of the best food in the city on a tour of trendy Trastevere. Discover open markets, family run pizzerias, famous restaurants, and more at many of the city’s most well-known food stops. Experience the magic of Rome at night and marvel at landmark monuments illuminated after dark on a guided Segway tour. Glide past icons such as the Colosseum and Piazza di Spagna at the foot of the Spanish Steps. This day out gives you complete freedom to enjoy the best that Rome has to offer. Rent a scooter for a day, and enjoy skip-the-line guided tours of some of the city's most iconic sights. This pre-cruise tour of Rome includes a meet and greet service upon arrival at the airport, luggage handling, city tour of Rome and the transfer to the Civitavecchia cruise dock. If you are already in Rome pick-up will be from your hotel. Explore the ancient Appian Way by bike. Visit the San Callisto Catacombs and see the ruins such as the Tomb of Cecilia Metella, Villa of the Quintilii through Caffarella Park and then skip-the-line with small group official Colosseum guided tour. See how ancient Roman traditions have influenced the lives of the local people. See Rome through the antiquated eyes of emperors, slaves, gladiators and even the Gods which ruled Rome and its Empire. Book this door-to-door transfer, a comfortable and hassle-free service that will allow you to enjoy your journey from the moment you arrive in Rome. Discover the enchanting Villa Farnesina with an art historian. See a magnificent example of a Roman Renaissance villa, enriched by unique frescoes by Raphael. Enjoy a unique guided tour through the Jewish quarter of Rome with a local guide who was born and bred in the heart of the Jewish-Roman community. Visit the Jewish Museum and The Great Synagogue. Get the day started early at the Vatican Museums, with an exclusive 4-hour banquet breakfast and tour of the Vatican City. Enter before opening time and enjoy no-wait access to explore the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica at leisure. See the sights of Rome on a full-day private shore excursion from Civtavecchia. With a personal driver at your disposal for the day, relax as you marvel at sites such as the Colosseum, Imperial Forum, Circus Maximus, Capitoline Hill, and more. Follow the final hours of Christ’s life through the relics preserved in several Roman churches. Discover the religious heart of Rome, on a 3-hour private tour that takes you to see relics from the Passion of Jesus brought to Rome from the Holy Land. Discover one of the world’s finest art collections on a 3-hour semi-private tour of the Vatican City in Rome. Skip the long lines to the Vatican Museums. Then, marvel at Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. End in St. Peter’s Basilica. Enjoy a small group Segway tour designed for those looking to take in some of Rome’s top attractions in a convenient and effortless way. Begin at the impressive Castel Sant’Angelo and ride through the oldest quarter of Rome en route to the Villa Borghese. Tour the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill and see one of the world's greatest historical sites . Then leave the crowds behind in the Roman Forum and explore the Case Romane, a third century Roman villa composed of 20 rooms lined with opulent frescoes. See the best places to visit in Rome with this 6.5-hour special package. This walking tour includes the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, the Roman Forum and Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Experience the top level seating areas of the 4th and 5th tiers of the Colosseum for the first time in 40 years. Climb to the final tier and receive breathtaking views of the Eternal City and learn about the social hierarchies of the ancient world. Join this amazing three hour journey through famous Roman squares and streets with an informative, friendly, and engaging guide. Join a small-group or private tour, no larger than 12, and enjoy exclusive access to The Vatican Museums an hour before they open to the public. Experience the perfectly peaceful Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, without any of the midday crowds. Explore some of the highlights of the historical center of Rome, while visiting five locally loved spots to taste some of the finest food and wine Italy has to offer. Try handmade pasta, gourmet cheeses, 25-year aged balsamic vinegar, tiramisu, and more. Become an Italian for the day as you learn how to cook a classic Italian meal. The tour takes you to a rustic farm one hour from Rome, where you will learn to prepare all 3 courses of a typical Italian meal. Explore the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, and get a unique understanding of the history and world-class art collection of the Vatican. Enjoy priority access to St. Peter's Basilica as well. Explore Rome like a true Roman from the seat of a 125cc Vespa scooter. Enjoy 24-hour rental to access more of the city, and scoot around the historic monuments and neighborhoods, such as the Colosseum, Vatican City and Trastevere. Enjoy a relaxing private to or from the airport in Rome. Enjoy a stress-free arrival or departure with exclusive service, a ride in a comfortable limousine and a professional chauffeur. Explore the most famous sites of Ancient Rome away from the crowds on this guided tour with skip-the-line access. With a group of no more than 20, discover the incredible amphitheater, learn about the ruins of the Roman Forum, and visit Palatine Hill. In this fantastic tour, enjoy the highlights of the museum and the remarkable Sistine Chapel in its entirety. You can experience the highlights of the Vatican City through the convenience of a private group tour. Decode the riddles of Rome in the heart of the Eternal City on a half-day tour of the locations from the “Angels and Demons” novel and movie. Discover a secret passage unused for many centuries, who the Illuminati were, and much more. Leave your luggage and enjoy Rome until your departure or until your room is ready. You will also have the opportunity to rent a bike and explore the city. Discover Rome's greatest highlights in the most unique setting, at night time with a professional guide. This evening tour will allow you to explore the Eternal City's secrets and learn about its history, while visiting its incredible attractions. Discover the most awe-inspiring and remarkable buildings in the world on a combo tour through Vatican City and the Colosseum. Enjoy Skip-the-Line entry at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, and the Colosseum. Enjoy the Vatican Museums in a small group of 10 people. An expert guide will show you the apartment of Pope Julius II, Sistine Chapel, Last Judgement, Creation of the World, and Bernini’s Baldachin in the Basilica.

2019-04-24T22:43:19Z

https://www.taxidio.com/searched-attraction/rome-attraction-tickets

UNICEF will host the second gathering of the GPcwd. The GPcwd is a network of more than 240 organizations, including Governments, UN agencies, international NGOs, national/local NGOs, Disabled People?s Organizations (DPOs), academia and the private sector, working to advance the rights of children with disabilities at the global, regional and country levels. With a rights-based approach, the Partnership provides a platform for advocacy and collective action to ensure the rights of children with disabilities are included and prioritized by both the Disability and Child Rights Movement.(www.unicef.org/disabilities/index_65319.html;[email protected]). A former professor of philosophy at the California State University, Long Beach, and current head of the Lovevolution Foundation and a Maui, Hawaii, resident was forced to crawl in his nicest suit hand over hand through the main cabin floor of the Delta aircraft, down a narrow flight of stairs and across the tarmac to his wheelchair. There were a great number of people watching, but not helping. Flight attendants gave no assistance. Delta Airlines was served with a legal complaint number CV13-00365KSC filed on July 23, 2013 in the US District court in Hawaii by D. Baraka Kanaan. Mr. Kanaan, who suffers from paraparesis, a partial paralysis of his legs, which renders him unable to walk, was subject to this appallingly outrageous treatment by Delta Airlines agents. It was alleged Mr. Kanaan suffered intense physical and extreme emotional suffering as a result of the defendant's action and omissions. Mr. Kanaan was involved in an accident in 2000 and his condition has deteriorated. Mr. Kanaan had called Delta Airlines several weeks in advance of his flight and spoke to a customer service representative to confirm that he is disabled, that he would be traveling with his own wheelchair, and that he required the use of an aisle seat and lift to access the aircraft, because he cannot walk. The Delta representative assured him that all was noted in the company's computer and his PNR, and that he would be received and given reasonable accommodation for his disability. The Delta flight that he was scheduled on (DL4245) was cancelled on July 26, 2012 for weather-related conditions. Mr. Kanaan was then rescheduled on a flight on a connecting flight on July 27 from Maui to Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA, on DL 4110. Upon his arrival at Nantucket Airport, Mr. Kanaan was informed by one of the flight attendants that the airline did not have the required safety equipment to bring him from his seat to the airplane door, nor did they have a lift to go down the stairs from the aircraft to the tarmac to retrieve his wheelchair. The Airline Carrier Access Act (ACAA) and applicable federal regulations require airlines to have such equipment available in order to accommodate disabled passengers such as Mr. Kaanan. When Mr. Kanaan asked what his options were, the flight attended said, they could not get him off the plane. Despite a clearly visible lift at an adjacent gate, Mr. Kanaan was forced to crawl down the aisle of the airplane, down the stairs of the aircraft and across the tarmac to his wheelchair without any assistance from the crew or the use of any mandated safety equipment. During this entire incident, no efforts were made by Delta Airlines to secure the lift of an aisle chair from Jet Blue or any other airline operating in the airport. Purportedly fearful of liability, the flight crew refused to assist Mr. Kanaan, instead serving as spectators themselves. Once Mr. Kanaan was in his wheelchair and made it to the airport terminal without assistance, he filed a complaint and spoke with Dough Dole of Delta's Salt Lake City disability desk. He was given a reference number and was offered a US$100 voucher. During this call Mr. Kanaan specifically and adamantly informed Mr. Dole that he would be flying out from Nantucket to return to Maui in 2 days and that he would need the proper equipment for his return trip. Mr. Dole assured Mr. Kanaan that the proper equipment was available at Nantucket airport and would be made available to Mr. Kanaan for his return trip. Two days later Mr. Kanaan's return flight, DL4245, was again delayed. When boarding finally began, Mr. Kanaan was again informed that the necessary equipment, an aisle chair and a lift, were unavailable, but that they could provide a piece of cardboard to put down so that his clothes wouldn't get dirty. Again, Mr. Kanaan was forced to crawl across the tarmac, up the stairs of the Delta aircraft, down the aisle, and hoist himself into his seat on the aircraft, which was physically painful. Again many passengers watched this transpire, causing grave embarrassment and a feeling of dehumanization. It appears such complaints are nothing new to Delta. Just a year before, Delta received no less than 5,000 complaints against it and was ordered to pay record-breaking fines for this egregious mistreatment of disabled passengers. - Delta left a blind woman alone in a wheelchair on a moving walkway. - Delta failed to bring an 81-year-old man to a hotel after canceling his flight. The man had to sleep in a wheelchair. - An elderly couple in wheelchairs missed an international flight because Delta failed to board them. - A woman who needs a ventilator to breathe was removed from a Delta flight, which was a return flight, because the Delta flight crew inexplicably determined that her ventilator and medical equipment could not be brought to the plane. This time Delta offered Mr. Kanaan 25,000 Skymiles as a compensation. Mr. Kanaan found this offer insulting and refused to accept it. Mr. Kanaan was then connected with Delta's corporate headquarters. There, Mr. Kanaan was told he was speaking to the highest person available, a women named Rachel, who provided Mr. Kanaan with a corporate case number. To literally add insult to injury, Rachel offered an even smaller amount of Skymiles. When Mr. Kanaan declined, Rachel terminated the phone call, hanging up on him, saying there was nothing more Delta could or would do. ETN today called the same number (404-773-0305) and finally was connected to a recording saying due to many complaints, Delta was unable to answer the call and to try again later. This week, people with disabilities across the country are celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This was the first comprehensive federal civil rights statute protecting the rights of people with disabilities. The ADA established that people with disabilities have equal opportunity in employment, state and local government, places of public accommodation, and telecommunications. Despite the ADA's promise of equal opportunity for people with disabilities, it is clear that more work must be done so that people with disabilities are to be valued as equal citizens and welcomed in all aspects of American life. Today, far too many people with disabilities are forced to live in institutions, forced to receive unwanted treatment, denied programs and services, or to be paid less than minimum wage. On a regular basis, our civil, constitutional, and parental rights are disregarded or stripped away. Our lives and expertise are not valued equally - with dire consequences. Healthcare professionals refuse to communicate with us, overrule the decisions we make or those made by our authorized surrogates; law enforcement and the courts too often fail to treat those who kill people with disabilities the same as those who kill nondisabled people, particularly when an individual has been killed by a family member. Our very freedom of movement can be deprived and our rights stripped from us on the basis of arbitrary and capricious decisions about our capacity. Furthermore, the voices of people with disabilities are frequently ignored in favor of parent and provider organizations that speak about us, without us. Policymakers have ignored our expertise about our own lives, issues and desires, instead of allowing providers, academics and family members to speak for us even though we may have very different priorities and interests. For those in the disability community from diverse communities, the discrimination that they face as people with disabilities is compounded by issues of race, gender, religious affiliation and sexual orientation. We must assure that America's 57 million people with disabilities are able to participate fully in society by updating accessibility standards, including those related to nonvisual access by people who are blind and non-auditory access by people who are deaf or hard of hearing, to address newly developing technologies and assuring that people with disabilities have access to the modern assistive devices necessary to fully participate in American life, from hearing aids to screen readers to complex rehab technology. We must assure that people with disabilities have real economic opportunities by eliminating the discriminatory employment laws and rules that allow people with disabilities to be paid less than minimum wage, by creating incentives for employers for hiring and promotion of people with disabilities, by expanding customized, supported work opportunities including self-employment, paid community service, job restructuring and other flex arrangements and by fostering new opportunities for youth with disabilities transitioning from school that promote competitive integrated employment. We must strengthen the ADA's integration mandate so that people with disabilities have the services and supports they need to live in their own homes and apartments in the communities of their choosing. We must end the institutional bias in the Medicaid program by requiring that every state participating in Medicaid pay for home and community based services so that every individual who is eligible for Long Term Services and Supports under Medicaid is guaranteed their federally protected right to a real choice in how they receive services and supports. We must reform the services and support systems that are now based on arbitrary medical or governmental labels to remove conflicts with the principles laid out in the ADA and assure that people with disabilities have the opportunity for full integration by developing and funding service and support approaches that promote the cross-disability and "most integrated setting" concepts that underpin the ADA. We must assure that people with disabilities - including those with chemical or electrical sensitivities - are able to access the full range of affordable, accessible and integrated housing options in the communities of their choosing. We must assure that all newly constructed, federally assisted single family homes and townhouses include basic accessibility so that these homes are not being built to exclude people with mobility disabilities. We must end our broken and arbitrary system of guardianship and substituted decision making, in accordance with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. For too long, the legal capacity of people with disabilities who require assistance with their finances and/or healthcare or who have expressed desires inconsistent with those possessed by their family members have been permanently stripped and denied to them. By putting in place a stronger infrastructure for supported decision-making, our community can facilitate the provision of support where people require it while not requiring a loss of legal capacity as a pre-condition for receiving such support. Additionally, we must work to restore the legal capacity and rights of the many people with disabilities who currently suffer under a system of guardianship with no acknowledgement of, or recognition for, the preferences of people with disabilities independent of their guardians. We must assure that the lives of people with disabilities of all ages are equally valued, protected, cared for and preserved as the lives of nondisabled people. Healthcare providers must always communicate with persons with disabilities including through interpreters and other auxiliary aids and services to ensure equivalent healthcare services. Healthcare providers must never use perceived quality of life judgments, the cost of care, or other factors to overrule the decision to receive life-sustaining healthcare made by a person with a disability or their authorized surrogate. Healthcare providers must also zealously provide suicide prevention services for people with disabilities of all ages that are equivalent to the suicide prevention services they provide for nondisabled people. As such, we should never encourage or provide the means for any individual to commit suicide. We must assure that violence in any form against people with disabilities is not tolerated, and the prosecution and sentencing for homicides of people with disabilities must be treated in the same manner as homicides of people without disabilities. With the recent addition of disability as a protected class under the federal hate crimes statute, federal investigators and prosecutors must work to bring cases against those who take the lives of people with disabilities because of their disability, particularly when the perpetrators are a member of the victim's own family. We must assure that adequate funding is provided to support programs that assist people with disabilities who are victims of crime, including training for first responders, the creation of accessible shelters, and victim rights programs. We must ensure that the justice system is accessible to people with disabilities, using the ADA as a tool to support restorative justice. We must develop strong working relationships between the disability community and the justice system to address violence against people with disabilities. We must assure that the constitutional and civil rights of people with disabilities of all ages are safeguarded, particularly with respect to self-determination and direct communication. It is critical that these safeguards are in place regardless of the individual's actual or perceived capacity to make and communicate their own decisions. People with disabilities should not be subjected to forced treatment - including forced medication and hospitalization, and disability should never be used as a reason to diminish or remove our rights as parents. We must protect children with disabilities from the use of aversives (painful stimulation used as negative reinforcement), as well as seclusion and restraints in schools by establishing strong, comprehensive national standards, an effective enforcement mechanism and the involvement of the disability community on effective alternatives for positive behavior change. We must protect and vigorously enforce accessibility requirements in the Help America Vote Act so that every American can vote privately and independently and so that poll workers have the training they need. We must create a bipartisan Congressional Task Force on human genetic technologies and disability rights to ensure that research and the results of research on these technologies include the voice of people with disabilities. We must confront and condemn organizations that speak about people with disabilities without us. Too often, organizations run without the voices of the people they purport to serve lobby policymakers to deprive the rights of people with disabilities, silence the voices of organizations run by people with disabilities and place their own ideologies and financial self-interests before the real needs and preferences of our community. Policymakers must acknowledge the necessity of hearing the voices of organizations run by and for people with disabilities as the primary stakeholder in policy discussions about disability, and people with disabilities must have substantive involvement in making the policy decisions that impact our lives. Finally, we must expand and support with funding the disability-led peer support and advocacy organizations that truly empower people with disabilities instead of channeling funds into outdated medical model organizations. Since 2008, leaders from the organizations that make up the National Disability Leadership Alliance have developed strong working relationships with each other. We understand the power our community has by working together more effectively on a common agenda. We are preparing detailed recommendations that propose administrative and legislative approaches to achieve the goals we describe above. We are also expanding our national community by organizing teleconference calls to use them to promote greater understanding of these issues, to explain how we are all impacted by them, and to explore strategies to work together to achieve the necessary changes. As we celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the ADA, excitement is already building and planning has already begun for the quarter century anniversary. Today, we call on policymakers to work with us to achieve this vision so that - on the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act - we will not just be celebrating disability rights victories from a quarter century earlier, but heralding a new day in our movement. National Disability Leadership Alliance (NDLA) is a national cross-disability coalition that represents the authentic voice of people with disabilities. NDLA is led by 14 national organizations run by people with disabilities with identifiable grassroots constituencies around the country. The Disability Matters Awards annually honors companies in the areas of: Marketplace, Workforce and Workplace that through innovative programs result in the successful outreach, recruitment, support and retention of candidates, employees and/or customers who have a disability. This year's winners will be honored at the inaugural 2013 ASIAPAC Region DISABILITY MATTERS Conference, on September 19, at Cisco's Globalization Centre in Bangalore, India. The honorees represent the best of the best when it comes to the commitment required and actions necessary to successfully mainstream disability. These forward-thinking companies achieve their diversity vision through implementing cutting edge disability initiatives which improve performance, employee development, retention, and build market share. "I am proud of in which ways companies are proactively seeking innovative approaches to include persons with disabilities weather they are customers, stake holders and/or employees. We are pleased and honored that Cisco is hosting this most important corporate event, along with this year's partner, Community Business and sponsors to include ABB, Accenture, as well as Intuit. Global sponsor is Ingersoll Rand", said Nadine Vogel, CEO of Springboard Consulting LLC. The Inaugural ASIA-PAC Region DISABILITY MATTERS Conference will feature executive presenters from best practice corporations along with thought leaders, experts from academia and the non-profit sectors. Companies interested in becoming a sponsor, or purchasing tickets, will find details by visiting: Trang web cá cược trực tuyếnhttp://www.consultspringboard.com/category/disability-matters/disability-matters-2013-ap/. When booking your trip, always tell the airline, cruise company or train company that you are a wheelchair user (or have any other mobility needs). Let them know if you require assistance and if you do, what kind. If you are blind or deaf, make sure they are aware of this then they know you may not see or hear important information. If going overseas, insure your wheelchair or other mobility aid. Although companies like Air New Zealand do their best to be careful with your equipment, things do happen during travel. If going on a cruise, their accessible cabins are first in, first served unless you are willing to pay more and get a mini suite or a more expensive one. When booking restaurants, always prebook early and alert them if you are a wheelchair user, this allows them to seat you appropriately. I recommend you arrive at the shows early too as there are only a number of wheelchair accessible spaces and they usually on one floor. I recommend you attend at least one show, they are well done and will have you in stitches. Be prepared that on cruise boats, the ships going to the shore for day visits are not wheelchair accessible unless you can walk a little and the chair can be folded up. The Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation is dedicated to increasing the self-reliance and dignity of blind and visually impaired persons. The foundation has issued a Request for Proposals for initiatives that align with its mission to assist the visually impaired and blind in leading independent and productive lives. Through the RFP, the foundation seeks to fund sustainable projects with broad, practical applications and measurable outcomes. Priority will be given to new initiatives, but projects currently in development and requiring additional funding in order to be implemented will be considered as well. In the first year of funding, grants of up to $300,000 will be awarded to qualified projects. Based on proven results, additional grants of up to $200,000 each will be awarded for up to two additional years. To be eligible, organizations should be tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, although other options will be considered. The foundation does not award grants to individuals, lobbying organizations, medical research institutions, endowments, or charities operating outside the United States, or organizations or entities whose primary function is fundraising. Brief pre-proposals must be received no later than September 30, 2013. Upon review, selected organizations will be invited to submit full proposals -- including a more detailed grant request, project narrative, and proposed budget -- which will be due by the end of January. For complete program information and application guidelines, see the Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation Web site. Thursday, July 25, at 12:45PM on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool. More details are below. Please reserve 12:45PM-1:15PM on your calendars and gather as many colleagues as you can to be present for the press conference. Kéroul will participate in the 6th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at UN Headquarters, New York, July 17-19 2013. c) To establish a world partnership and a common international strategy to develop universal accessibility for infrastructure and tourism services, transport services, and to increase the availability of information on different destinations' accessibility. Keroul's presentations at the Conference of States Parties will demonstrate how theWorld Summit Destinations for All will support the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and how the Summit will contribute to determine what the targets will be after 2015. Kéroul and its partners view tourism as a means of integration. Assessing whether a destination is accessible can mean verifying the accessibility of tourist services, accommodations, restaurants, transportation, urban infrastructures, attractions and shops. The first market segment to benefit from a destination's increased accessibility is the local population. Developing accessible destinations is also an investment that can be profitable in terms of hosting travellers with disabilities, an important and growing part of the world's population, currently estimated at 15%. Few businesses have the luxury of ignoring this significant market segment, which will only increase in the coming years with an aging population. Tourism permits an international integration: those with disabilities want to know if they can find lodging and have accessible restaurants when they reach their destination. The accuracy of such information vis-à-vis internationally recognized standards becomes thus an essential consideration in their decision to travel or not. The World Summit will prompt international organizations to join in an effort to make accessibility benchmarks and standards uniform across tourist establishments, attractions and transportation services. Keroul and JPdL International are the official organizers of the Summit. The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the International Social Tourism Organisation (ISTO), and the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT), are some of the international organizations involved in the guidance of this Summit. The Trang web cá cược trực tuyếnUnited Nations programme is encouraging the adoption of accessibility and universal designstandards by a wide variety of actors within society - from municipalities to private sector companies. trusts need to know how to sustainably build hiking trails that provide access for everyone. This conference will help you understand the guidelines and will provide an overview of the techniques and handson skills needed to build sustainable hiking trails that provide enjoyment for all. Whether you work with n existing trail or are contemplating a new trail, this conference is for you! Are you a traveller with particular access requirements? Do you have a disability, or do you regularly travel with young children? The European Commission is conducting an online survey in order to better understand the demand for accessible tourism, undertaken by GfK, theUniversity of Surrey, ProAsolutions andNeumannConsult. The aim of this survey is to research the travel patterns and behaviour of people with specific access requirements. The topics covered in the questionnaire are designed to gain an understanding of your personal situation, your travel experiences and your thoughts about travelling in future, so that we can build up a picture of the demand for accessible tourism. The survey results will be used for a report identifying options for improving the range of accessible tourism services, which will be widely disseminated among and evaluated by stakeholders in the sector, and your responses will ultimately help inform future policy. To participate, register atwww.accessibletourismsurvey.com and enter your email address to receive a link to the questionnaire. The survey will be open until 22 August 2013. We would also be very grateful if you could circulate this email to anyone who may be interested in participating. Universal Access in Airports, hosted biennially by ODO since 2006, will return to the organization's home town of Chicago in October 2014. This 2-day conference, which brings together various stakeholders in aviation, offers an open exchange of ideas and best practice solutions on customer service and accessibility for travelers with disabilities and seniors. Exact dates and conference hotel to be announced shortly. DESA, as the global focal point on disability issues of the UN system, organized its inaugural global forum to promote a dialogue on the post-2015 development framework and disability. The Forum held at UN Headquarters from 19 to 20 July, immediately following the closing of the sixth session of the Conference of States Parties, worked to contribute to on-going discussions toward a post-2015 UN development framework through exchange of experiences and ideas for disability-inclusive development. Discussions covered the post-2015 development frameworks and specifically focused on: disaster risk reduction and disability inclusion; and accessibility for sustainable and equitable development for all: transportation, infrastructure and access to basic public services. The Forum consisted of two interactive panels and a dialogue presided by H.E. Ambassador Dejan Sahovic, Deputy Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the President of the General Assembly. The Forum contributed to an energetic and robust exchange of experiences and ideas on inclusion of the disability perspective in development. The Forum worked to expand networks of Member States, experts and civil society and academic organizations, as well as informal networks of practitioners on specific development issues. DESA will be working to strengthen partnerships with and among participants to continue dialogue and action towards a disability-inclusive post-2015 international development agenda. The Forum was sponsored by the Governments of Brazil, Kenya, Philippines and Thailand, and the World Bank, Disabled People's International (DPI), the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD), Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD) and Rehabilitation International (RI). Further details and presentations are available at:www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1611. We have made a customer survey to gather visitors' views about the accessibility of tourism services and find out where improvements may be needed. The survey has just 14 questions and will probably take you less than 10 minutes to complete. Data collected in this survey will be treated anonymously and we do not ask for any information which can identify individual persons. We will not identify individual businesses that may be mentioned in answers, unless we have their permission, in advance, to do so. If you live and travel in one of the European Union Member States or have visited an EU country in the last two years (that is, since June 2011), we would like to hear about yourexperiences and impressions of accessible tourism services in Europe. (You will need to copy it exactly like this, as once you put it in the browser the URL changes). You may forward this email to any friends, family members or consumer / advocacy associations who may be interested, so they may also fill in the survey form. The survey is open until 30 September 2013 but we would like to analyse the "first wave" of results already in August, so please answer early if you can. The results of the survey will be published online and disseminated at a European seminar hosted by the European Commission, scheduled for early 2014. (A parallel study will take an in-depth look at the economics and market demand for accessible tourism, with a more detailed questionnaire survey). If you are a tourism supplier in Europe or serving Europe-inbound markets, please answer the Suppliers' Survey! Accessible Tourism refers to tourism services that are suitable for people with disabilities or others who have specific access requirements when travelling or in destinations, accommodation, attractions, restaurants or other tourist facilities and activities. A growing number of tourism suppliers in European countries, cities and regions are making adjustments to their offers and services to cater for this large and growing market. We are now seeking the experience and advice of visitors to learn how accessible offers, facilities, transport and other tourism services are working in practice and how they could be even better. Over the next half year ENAT and partners will map out the supply of accessible tourism services in all 28 Member States and carry out a "performance" check of what is on offer. The study has been requested by the European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry, Tourism and Cultural Instruments Unit, in order to assess the need for possible policy support for this area. You can find more information about the accessible tourism supply study here. Australians with disability will be supported to attend conferences across the country, thanks to $350,000 from the Gillard Government under the National Disability Conference Initiative. Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers Amanda Rishworth, today announced 34 conference organisers will receive grants of up to $12,000 to assist people with disability and their carers to attend a range of disability-focused conferences in 2013-2014. "Conferences are a wonderful opportunity for people from all walks of life, including disability advocates and leading academics, to come together to learn and share experiences," Ms Rishworth said. "Conferences support professional development and provide an opportunity for people with disability to further develop their leadership skills. Sadly, people with disability can still face barriers in accessing them. It is through initiatives like this that the Gillard Government is helping ensure that people with disability have the same opportunities as other Australians to fulfill their potential and participate fully in community life. The High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Disability and Development (HLMDD) will take place at UN Headquarters on 23 September, the day before the opening of the General Debate of the 68th session of the General Assembly. The meeting is expected to adopt an action-oriented outcome document in support of the aims of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals for persons with disabilities. Currently, the draft outcome document is in its final phase of the negotiation process. The document is a result of an extensive preparatory process that began in 2012 and consisted of informal consultations, online and regional consultations to ensure that concerns of all stakeholders were taken into account. The co-facilitators of the meeting, Philippines and Spain, will be taking necessary steps for the final phase of the negotiation of the outcome document. The sixth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COP) was held from 17 to 19 July 2013 under the theme ?Ensuring adequate standards of living: empowerment and participation of persons with disabilities within the framework of the CRPD.? The Conference is a unique global mechanism that allows for exchange of experience, ideas and best practices for implementation of the Convention, as well as for the building of multi-stakeholder partnerships for practical action. The Conference serves as a catalyst to realize the human rights and development of persons with disabilities, as well as to advance a disability-inclusive society for all. While the number of States Parties to the Convention continues to grow, other stakeholders, including organizations of persons with disabilities, are increasingly becoming important partners in the implementation of the Convention, particularly in the common endeavor toward an international disability-inclusive development framework. More than 650 participants attended this session with almost 300 representatives from civil society organizations. A record number of 75 statements were delivered during the general debate, including 12 statements at the Ministerial level. A total of 26 side-events were organized, including the multi-stakeholder Civil Society CRPD Forum, coordinated by the International Disability Alliance with the support of Disabled People?s International (DPI), Disability Rights Fund (DRF), the Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and Rehabilitation International (RI), co-sponsored by the Governments of Australia, Bulgaria, Mexico and New Zealand, and DESA. With a view to enabling the broadest possible participation, the live webcast from the Conference, for the first time, included sign language interpretation and closed-captioning. During the course of the two formal and one informal roundtable discussions, participants set out concrete ideas to improve and implement policies and programmes concerning social protection and poverty reduction; disability-inclusive development in national, regional and international processes; as well as community-based rehabilitation. The last segment on the implementation of the Convention by the UN system included presentations by OHCHR, UNISDR, UNICEF, UNDP, UNWTO, World Bank and DESA. DESA also reported on the progress of the Inter-Departmental Task Force on Accessibility of the United Nations Secretariat and made an announcement concerning on-going work to establish an Accessibility Centre at UN Headquarters. The Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for Social Development also reported on their respective mandates. In his closing statement, the President of the Conference H.E. Ambassador Macharia Kamau, stated that the Conference was best positioned to spearhead the mainstreaming of disability in all aspects of the work of the United Nations. He also proposed that the Conference consider strengthening its financial and institutional foundation to carry out its important work. The European Commission has launched two surveys to gather information about the accessibility of tourism facilities. The surveys are part of a study which aims to map "accessible tourism services" across Europe and find out tourists or business people with disabilities specific needs when travelling. Tourism businesses and travellers with a disability or special accessibility needs can share their experiences in accommodation, travel, attractions and restaurants or in other tourist facilities and their satisfaction of travelling, reporting the barriers they might face. The completely anonymous surveys are running between June and September 2013. The results will converge in a report aiming to identify options for improving accessible tourism services. BRANZ is an independent research, testing, consulting and information company that provides resources and advice for the building industry. "Human behaviour isn't the only factor behind injuries in the home - structural aspects can play their part, which is why ACC is supporting BRANZ's new resource on universal design," says ACC Programme Manager Megan Nagel. "Universal design describes buildings that are safe, aesthetic, and accessible to all people. Examples of universal design features include level access ways, non-slip surfaces, and wider doorways and passageways. Ms Nagel says that approximately 40% of the roughly 1.7 million claims Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) receives each year are for injuries that happen in or around the home. "It makes sense to incorporate universal design ideas when planning your home. They will make your house safer by reducing the risks of trips and slips, while also ensuring it can accommodate your physical needs as they change over time, for example because of age or injury. "It costs very little to incorporate universal design features at the blueprint stage, especially compared with the cost of modifying an existing home. It is also a smart investment for the future. As New Zealand's population ages, there will be a growing demand for safer homes with better access," says Ms Nagel. - Remove moss from paths, especially during winter. The Advocate's Guide to California's Coordinated Care Initiative helps advocates understand the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), a new state program that is changing the way people who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal (referred to as dual eligible beneficiaries) and other seniors and people with disabilities get their health care in eight California counties. The Guide includes a description of the CCI, information on who will be included, how they will be affected, why California is implementing the CCI, and when and where the new program will be taking place. The Guide, which will be updated as program rules are developed, also includes a pull-out table that advocates can use to determine which beneficiaries the CCI includes and how it affects them. Just as the "green" movement focuses on environmental sustainability, "universal design" focuses on social sustainability. While environmental concerns are at the heart of the green movement, universal design recognizes that all people exist somewhere on a wide continuum of human ability - we all pass through childhood, periods of temporary illness or injury and old age. If you design for all the abilities on the continuum, you create environments, products and services that will be easier for all people to use, regardless of their abilities, age or current state of health. Ronald L. Mace, Founder and former Program Director of The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, collaborated with a group of architects, product designers, engineers and environmental designers to develop the "Seven Principles of Universal Design" in 1997.

2019-04-21T10:49:09Z

http://www.themiracleofkangaroomothercare.com/a2c/2013/07/

Joubert, A. J., Chimphango, A. F. A., and Görgens, J. F. (2016). "Effect of integrating xylan extraction from E. grandis into the kraft pulping process on pulp yield and chemical balance," BioRes. 11(1), 2417-2437. Kraft mills have the potential to pre-extract hemicellulose from wood as another value added product. The impacts of pre-extracting xylan on pulp and handsheet properties, sodium and sulfur balances, and chemical make-ups in the kraft pulping process of Eucalyptus grandis were assessed. Xylan extractions using white liquor, green liquor, and NaOH were done under varying extraction times, temperatures, and alkaline concentrations; residues were subsequently pulped at 170 °C for 45 min. The highest xylan yield (15.15% w/w) was obtained with 2 M NaOH, at 120 °C for 90 min followed by white liquor (13.27% w/w), utilizing 20% AA at 140 °C for 90 min. Green liquor extraction with 2% total titratable alkali (TTA), at 160 °C and an H-factor of 800 produced the lowest yield (7.83% w/w). However, the green liquor extractions were the most practical for integration into the kraft process due to their limited effect on pulp yield and properties of handsheets produced from the pre-extracted woodchips and the sulfur and sodium make-up increase. White liquor extractions would favour high pulp yield with low kappa number and reduced chemical charge and cooking time. These results are important for technical-economic assessment of integrated kraft pulp biorefineries. Pulp mills are facing increased environmental and economic pressures. Consequently, it is important that mills maximize the economic value derived from woody biomass that they process. Establishing integrated biorefineries (IFBRs) where additional value added products can be produced instead of pulp alone, entails important economic benefits (Ragauskas et al. 2006). Kraft pulp mills are especially well suited for conversion into IFBRs as they already have the required infrastructure, support networks, and specialized manpower (van Heiningen 2006; Mateos-Espejel et al. 2011). A promising concept towards establishing IFBRs is the extraction of hemicelluloses prior to the pulping process (van Heiningen 2006; Tunc et al. 2010). Hemicelluloses have a wide variety of potential industrial uses, including not only the pulp and paper industry itself, but also the food and pharmaceutical industries. In the standard kraft pulping process, half of the hemicellulose, equivalent to about 15% of the wood weight, and almost all of the lignin present in woodchips raw material, is dissolved into the black liquor (Christopher 2013). The fairly high heating value of lignin, 26.9 MJ/kg, makes it cost-effective to recycle it back to the reboiler for combustion. The heating value of hemicellulose, on the other hand, is about 13.6 MJ/kg, thus causing it to be underutilized when it is incinerated in the reboiler, as it provides only about a quarter of the energy recovery (Christopher 2013). It is more valuable to extract hemicellulose prior to the pulping process to generate an additional stream of high value products (Um and van Walsum 2010). Any hemicellulose pre-extraction method needs to be compatible with the existing kraft mill processes, while ensuring that the pulp and resulting paper qualities, obtained after hemicellulose pre-extraction, are still within the required industry standard. Importantly, the quantity of xylan extracted also needs to be sufficient to ensure that the pre-extraction process is viable, but without compromising subsequent pulp production. A number of hemicellulose pre-extraction methods have been investigated by researchers, ranging from hot water extraction, to more “mild” extraction methods using alkaline chemicals. The recovery of the hemicellulose, in particular xylan, can vary considerably during alkali extraction (Al-Dajani and Tschirner 2008; Jun et al. 2012). Relatively higher xylan yields of approximately 25% of the original xylan fraction in the aspen hardwood chips were reported by Al-Dajani and Tschirner (2008) and Jun et al. (2012) when using white liquor and NaOH, respectively. Although water and acid methods for hemicellulose extraction may achieve high hemicellulose yields, the severity of such extraction methods reduces the final pulp yield and paper quality obtained by pulping of solid residues from hemicellulose extraction (Mendes et al. 2010; Vena et al. 2013). These are key concerns of pulp and paper manufacturers (Jun et al. 2012). Alkaline extraction methods alleviate some of these concerns, as they have minimal effect on pulp yield reduction when compared to other extraction methods, such as acid and water extraction methods (Vena et al. 2013). Moreover, acid-based methods for hemicellulose pre-extraction will neutralize pulping chemicals in subsequent process steps, resulting in inefficient use of these chemicals. The water and acidic extraction methods are also more prone to degradation of extracted xylan biopolymers to oligosaccharides and monomers when compared to that of alkaline extraction methods, thus impeding the potential to produce high value biopolymers (Fiserova and Opalena 2012). The qualities of paper produced from solid residues of woods from xylan pre-extraction using alkaline methods such as NaOH, green liquor as well as white liquor, have been comparable with those obtained by pulping of non-extracted woodchips. In some instances, the qualities have improved properties (Helmerius et al. 2010; Walton et al. 2010; Jun et al. 2012; Vena et al. 2013). In striving for commercial feasibility, increased attention is being directed towards using pre-existing alkaline chemicals within kraft mills for hemicellulose pre-extraction (Johakim and Andrew 2013). Eucalyptus grandis species is one of the most important sources of fiber in the pulp and paper industry (Magaton et al. 2009) and is widely used by South African mills due to its high pulping yield and low production costs. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the xylan pre-extraction by green liquor, white liquor, and NaOH on pulp yields and paper properties from kraft process of E. grandis at a South African pulp mill. Furthermore, the study assessed the impact on the sodium and sulfur balances of the kraft mills, and the requirement for make-up chemicals to the kraft pulping cycle. Green liquor, white liquor, and NaOH were used to extract xylan from E. grandis woodchips prior to kraft pulping. Pre-extracted woodchips from selected extraction conditions were subjected to varying pulping conditions, to compare pulp yields and properties with those obtained from untreated E. grandis chips with conventional pulping. Handsheets were also made from the pulps produced under the highest pulp yield conditions, and these were tested for pulp quality properties. Furthermore, mass balances were performed to gauge the impact that hemicellulose pre-extraction would have using green liquor, white liquor, and NaOH on the sodium and sulfur balances of the mill. The most feasible method for hemicellulose (xylan) pre-extraction in an existing kraft process could thus be identified. Experiments were performed using wood chips obtained from an 11-year-old E. grandis plantation grown in Tzaneen in South Africa. The wood was chipped and the resulting wood chips were screened for size fractions ranging between 4 to 8 mm. The screening was done by a six-component chip screen driven by an electric motor. Before use, the wood chips were conditioned in a conditioning room allowing for constant temperature of 23 °C coupled with 55% relative humidity. The E. grandis chips were sub-sampled as prescribed by British Standards DD CEN/TS 14780 (2005).E. grandis chips were milled to a particle size below 625 μm with the use of a Condux-Werk mill (Netzsch, Germany) as well as in a Retsch ZM 200 mill (Retsch GmbH, Germany). The particles produced were then sieved using a Retsch AS200 vibratory shaker (Retsch GmbH, Germany), with the 425 μm and 625 μm size fractions being utilized for further analysis. Moisture content was determined using the NREL-TP 510-42621 (Sluiter et al. 2008a) method, with the extractives content being determined by a two-step extraction process, where both water and ethanol/cyclohexane extractives were quantified as described by the NREL-TP 510-42619 method. Klason lignin as well as carbohydrate composition of both the feedstock and the residue from alkaline pre-extraction were determined using NREL-TP 510-42618 (Sluiter et al. 2007), whereas the ash contents were determined via NREL-TP 510-42622 (Sluiter et al. 2008b). where WIO = the oven dry weight of the initial sample subjected to pre-extraction; WEO = the oven dry weight of the remaining residue after pre-extraction; and AshE = the ash fraction of the remaining residue after pre-extraction. The liquor fractions from NaOH and white liquor extractions (pH > 13), were neutralized using 37% HCl to pH 7. Subsequently, the samples were frozen at -4 °C until they were prepared for HPLC analyses. Liquid fractions obtained from green liquor extractions, with pH between pH 5 and pH 7, depending on the initial alkali charge, were frozen at -4 °C without neutralization, before high performance liquid performance (HPLC) analysis. The sugars (glucose, xylose, galactose, and arabinose) and acetate composition were analyzed using HPLC according to the method described by the NREL-TP 510-42623 (Sluiter et al. 2008c). The HPLC system used consisted of a Thermo Separations Spectra P 2000, which was equipped with both an Aminex HPX-87H column, operating at 65 °C, and an IG cation H guard column, with a Shodex RI-101 refractive index detector. The mobile phase was 5 mM H2SO4 at a flow rate of 0.6 mL min-1, with the IG cation H guard column.Furthermore, the liquor samples were subjected to FT-IR analysis using a Thermo Nicolet Nexus 870 Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) system via the attenuated total reflection (ATR) Golden Gate measurement device. The data analysis was done with the use of Omnic 7 software which was subsequently exported to Microsoft Excel. White liquor xylan extractions were performed at both mild as well as more severe extraction conditions. The mild extraction experiments were performed via a face centered central composite design with temperatures from 50 °C to 90 °C coupled with active alkali (AA) charges ranging from 16% to 20%. Extractions were performed by mixing 50 g (over dry weight, O.D.W.) E. grandis chips with white liquor (4:1 liquor to wood ratio) in 500 mL Schott bottles and subsequently placing them in a shaking hot water bath. Xylan content in the liquor fraction was considered a response of the central composite design with data interpreted using Stat Soft® Statistica 9.0. Table 1 shows both the extraction conditions as well as the corresponding results. E. grandis chips were also subjected to green liquor, white liquor, and NaOH at liquor to wood ratio of 4:1 at extractions exceeding 100 °C, through the use of a pressurized oscillating digester. Extractions were carried out using batches of 50 g (O.D.W.) of E. grandis. During the extraction cycles the digester oscillated through 45° in order to ensure sufficient liquid contact with the wood chips. The temperature and pressure of the digester were monitored with a thermocouple and pressure gauge fitted to the lid of the digester. A programmable logic computer (PLC) was used to control the entire extraction cycle. Pressure in the digester was liberated through the use of a blow valve, with operating pressure during pulping being around 8 bar and that of the extractions varying between 2 and 7 bar. The white liquor extractions were carried out at a temperature range from 100 °C to 140 °C using AA charges of 16% and 20% for a period of 90 min at each given temperature interval. The NaOH extractions were performed at temperatures of 100 °C, 110 °C, 120 °C, and 130 °C and at molar concentrations of 1 M and 2 M for 90 min. The green liquor extractions were carried out at 160 °C with H-factors between 200 and 800. The total titratable alkali (TTA) charges that were investigated included 2% and 6% for extractions performed using green liquor. For the green liquor extractions that were performed, a charge of 0.05% of anthraquinone (based on oven dry weight of wood chips) was added (Walton et al. 2010). The extraction conditions that were used are summarized in Table 1. As a benchmark, non xylan–extracted E. grandis was subjected to pulping by simulating batch cooking conditions. Pulping conditions included a liquor to wood ratio of 4.5:1, 170 °C pulping temperature, 18% AA coupled with 25% sulfidity. Cooking conditions were based on suggested pulping conditions of South African E. grandis (Myburgh 1967). Pulping time at 170 °C was set to 45 min to achieve a kappa number of 20. After pre-extraction, the wood chips residues were removed from the micro-bombs and the resulting liquor was drained from the chips through a 100 mesh screen. The solid residue (unwashed) from the extractions was placed in micro-bombs for further pulping. Pulp fibers were separated from the pulping black liquor by washing it through a 10 mesh screen with running water until all the pulp had passed through with the uncooked fibers (rejects) retained on the screen. Thereafter, the pulp was screened with a packer slotted laboratory screen. Excess water from the pulp was removed through spin drying, to a moisture content of approximately 70%. The pulp yield was determined as the percentage of the original oven dry mass of the E. grandis chips using Eq. 2 (Vena et al. 2013). The kappa number of the pulps was determined using the method that is outlined by ISO 302:2004. The unbeaten pulps, which were comparable in pulp yields to that of non-extracted chips, were subsequently formed into handsheets according to TAPPI T 205 om-88 method. The physical properties of handsheets formed from the pulps that were produced were also analyzed. These properties included the burst, tear, as well as the tensile indices of the handsheets produced. Methods used for the determination of the physical properties of the handsheets are presented in Table 2. Table 2. Analytical Standard Methods Used to Determine Physical Properties of Handsheets Formed. To investigate the effect the pre-extraction conditions would have on the make-up of chemicals required in the kraft mill, sodium and sulfur mass balances were calculated for the modified kraft processes. The sodium and sulfur mass balances were done using extraction conditions selected for pulping of wood chips to form handsheets. The estimated kraft chemical recovery cycle in the conventional process was assumed to be 97% (Tran and Vakkilainannen 2012). The amount of sodium and sulfur (kg) used for each specific hemicellulose extraction condition, per ton of air dried pulp produced, was calculated with Eqs. 3 to 6. NaNa2S, NaNaOH, and NaNa2CO3 represent the mass (kg) of sodium, if one ton of air dried pulp is to be produced, from Na2S, NaOH, and Na2CO3 respectively. SNa2S represents the mass (kg) of sulfur used during hemicellulose extraction, if a ton of air dried pulp is to be produced, from Na2S. In order to calculate the total amount of sodium used during white liquor extraction, the sodium used from Na2S and NaOH was added together, while, as green liquor consists of all three Na2S, NaOH, and Na2CO3, the Na from all these components were added together. With NaOH extraction, only the Na from the NaOH was used for the calculation. The only component containing sulfur was Na2S, which is found only in white and green liquor. The values 23, 32, 78.1, 40, and 106 are the molecular weights (g/mole) of sodium, sulfur, Na2S, NaOH, and Na2CO3, respectively. The value 0.085 is the oven dry mass (kg) of the wood chips used during extraction, while Y represents the pulp yield as a fraction. PMis the moisture fraction for air dried pulp which was assumed to be 10%. The chemical composition of the E. grandis feedstock for combined hemicellulose extraction and pulping is shown in Table 3. The cellulose fraction is expressed in terms of the glucose content, while the hemicellulose content is expressed as monomeric xylose and arabinose contents. The contents of xylan and cellulose, which were polymers of particular interest in this study, were typical for E. grandis. Previous reports show xylan contents between 11.5% and 21%, and cellulose contents between 43% and 53% (Magaton et al. 2009; Vena et al. 2013). The lignin content for the species was typical of E. grandis with reported values between 21% and 30% (Cotteril and Macrae et al. 1997; Vena et al. 2013). Low lignin content is especially desirable for pulping purposes due to easier delignification. Moreover, lignin can also hinder the release of sugars during hemicellulose pre-extraction (Studer et al. 2011). The extractives content was higher than those reported in previous reports of 2.9% to 4.2% for E. grandis (Emmel et al. 2003; Magaton et al. 2009). The xylan yield was influenced more by level of alkalinity than temperature. Higher xylan yields were obtained with alkaline extraction from E. grandis at temperatures above 100 °C. The highest yield of 15.5% was obtained with NaOH (2M) extraction at 120 °C for 90 min, followed by white liquor, 13.27% obtained at 20% AA, 140 °C for the same duration (Fig. 1). The green liquor extraction, which had lowest alkalinity (Table 1), yielded the lowest xylan (7.83%), despite using higher extraction temperatures of 160 °C than the other two methods. This indicated that the higher alkali charges used during the white liquor and NaOH extractions had a more significant impact on xylan yield than the higher extraction temperature utilized by the green liquor extraction. The specific E. grandis used in this study showed recalcitrance in releasing xylan at lower temperatures. At temperatures ranging from 50 to 90 °C, the maximum recovery of xylose was 5.63% (5.41% predicted by the model) from white liquor extractions (Table 4), which was lower than that ofnearly 25% from aspen under similar conditions (Jun et al. 2012). Table 4. Central Composite Design Output of White Liquor Xylan Extraction from E. Grandis at Temperatures Lower than 100 °C. Under mild alkali conditions of 1 M NaOH at 90 °C, Vena et al. (2013) extracted 12.4% of the xylan present in E. grandis feedstock that had lower lignin content (21.1%). The low yield may be attributed to the high extractives content (4.3%) and lignin in the E. grandis (Table 3). Some of the extractives are hydrophobic and can aggregate on the surface of the fiber, blocking both the penetration of chemicals and the diffusion of lignin from the fiber wall (Dai et al. 2004), thus affecting the xylan yield. Feedstock with low lignin is particularly amenable to xylan release, during alkali extraction (Studer et al. 2011). The E. grandis in the present study had a higher lignin (Table 3) than one Vena et al. (2013) used. The decrease with increasing lignin content is possibly due to the presence of lignin-carbohydrate complexes (Jeffries 1990). White liquor pre-extraction performed at temperatures below 100 °C had a significant effect (p<0.5) on xylose recovery. However, alkaline charge in the range of 16% and 20% for the same temperature range (< 100 °C), had no significant effect (p>0.5) on the xylose recovery. Therefore, the effect alkali charge on xylan extraction is temperature dependent (Liu et al. 2011). The R-squared value of 0.78 of the model itself implies reasonable predictability of xylose recovery. Fig. 1. Mass of solubilized sugars recovered in extraction liquor per 100 grams of E. grandisfeedstock. Temperature on the bottom x-axis is for white liquor and NaOH extractions, while H-factor on the top x-axis is for the green liquor extractions that were performed. The lower quantities of xylan recovered from the green liquor liquid phase, compared to white liquor and NaOH, reflect the lower xylan solubilisation and release from the residue (Fig. 1), which corresponded to the maximum wood weight losses of 7.67% for green liquor extractions compared to 20.67% and 16.44% for white liquor and NaOH, respectively (Fig. 2). The xylan was extracted by green liquor with relatively higher purity than when utilizing white liquor and NaOH, as reflected by the presence of lower content of lignin derivatives than those extracted by the latter two methods (Fig. 3). The FTIR spectra for xylan from white liquor and NaOH extractions displayed peaks at 1193/1192 cm-1, associated with Caryl-O (Collier et al. 1992) as well as at 1052 cm-1, which depicts the deformation of C-O coupled with the deformation of aromatic C-H associated with lignin (Collier et al. 1992; Akerholm et al. 2005). In contrast, peaks at the aforementioned bands were absent in the spectra for green liquor extracted xylan (Fig. 3). Notably, the green liquor extraction conditions were less severe (lower alkalinity) than those of white liquor and NaOH, which may have limited the co-release of lignin and xylan. Depending on the application, a purer xylan may offset cost of purification and lower yield, thus making green liquor pre-extraction more practical for integration in the kraft process. Fig. 2. Wood weight losses obtained using three different extraction methods. (a) White liquor extraction for 16% and 20% Active Alkali. (b) Green liquor extraction using 2% and 6% TTA. (c) NaOH extraction for 1M and 2M. The final selection of the most feasible extraction method, for integrating with kraft pulp production would have to be based on the subsequent properties such as tensile, tear, burst indices of the pulp, and paper products as well as the make-up chemicals required. Green liquor had a pulp yield of 43.19%, which corresponded to a kappa number of 18.70 (Table 5). The pulp yield of the non-extracted chips was 41.67% with a corresponding kappa number of 20.3, indicating that green liquor pre-extraction benefited the subsequent pulping processes in yield and kappa number. The average pulp yield of 41.67% from the non-extracted chips (Table 5) was on the lower side when compared to industrial process yields of above 50% (Vena et al. 2013). Significant variations in wood properties between E. grandis trees, even with trees that grow within the same location, are known to occur (Malan 1988), making the deviation of pulp yield of this particular feedstock not particularly exceptional. The higher extractives content than normal (Table 3) for this E. grandis species might have lowered the pulp yield by preventing chemical penetration during pulping. Therefore, it is desirable that the extractives content should be as low as possible for efficient pulping (Macleod 2007). The unbeaten handsheets from pulps obtained from green liquor extracted chips, had tensile, tear, and burst indices of 18.2 N.m-1.g-1, 3.2 mN.m2.g-1, and 0.924 kPa.m2.g-1, respectively. These values were almost identical to that of the reference pulp (Fig. 5). The inherent high alkalinity of the white liquor extractions allowed for a greater reduction in chemical charge during the subsequent pulping of the pre-extracted residue when compared to that of green liquor extraction. The resulting pulp yield of 41.60% was comparable with that of the reference pulp of 41.67% (Table 5) but with a lower kappa number of 12.86 compared to kappa number of 20.3 of pulp produced from non-extracted E. grandis(Table 5). Maintaining the pulp yield with a lower kappa number indicates that the white liquor extractions reduced both the cooking time and chemical charge and had selective dissolution of lignin, thus increasing pulping efficiency. There was no statistical significance observed in terms of burst, tear, and tensile indices of handsheets produced from white liquor pre-extracted residues when compared to those of the non-extracted E. grandis (Fig. 4). However, beating could potentially result in more significant deviations being exhibited in the properties of handsheets produced from pulps of non-extracted E. grandis chips. The E. grandis chips that were subjected to NaOH pre-extraction had a pulp yield of 40% (Table 5) with a corresponding kappa number of 18.85. The resulting yield was lower than the yields of 43.19% and 41.67% (Fig. 4) for pulps resulting from green liquor and white liquor pre-extraction, respectively. Furthermore, disparities were observed in terms of both the tear and burst indices of pulps resulting from NaOH pre-extracted chips when compared to that of the non-extracted chips (Fig. 4). An increase of 28% was observed for the tear index of pulps derived from NaOH extracted chips; however, a reduced burst index of 9.6% was also observed (Fig. 4). This indicates that the quantity of xylan removed from the NaOH pre-extracted chips was significant enough to start impacting the pulp fibers and subsequently the paper properties. The increase in tear strength becomes apparent when there is significant reduction in flexible inter-fibre bonding that is enhanced by presence of hemicelluloses (Wan et al. 2010). The effects of decreased flexibility of inter-fibre bonding on the tear strength properties of the paper have been discussed before (Helmerius et al. 2010) and are attributable to the contribution of hemicelluloses to the electrostatic character of pulp fibres. As hemicellulose content of pulp is reduced there is reduction in accessible fibril surfaces for water molecules, which results in dried pulps being less conducive to swelling when soaked in water as a result of fiber separation. The effect becomes more challenging for fibre bonding because it provides less contact area with water (Wan et al. 2010; Reyes et al. 2015). Pre-extraction of E. grandis with the green liquor reduced the chemicals requirement for subsequent pulping of the solid residues, without compromising the pulp yield or quality. A reduced chemical charge of 35% was obtained with improvements in both the yield and kappa numbers of pulps, which indicates that extraction of hemicellulose preserved the cellulose fiber quality, which in turn is an indicator of how the integration process economics would be affected (Walton et al. 2010). The reduction in chemicals obtained is much higher than the 20% reduction in pulping chemicals for a kappa number of 20 (Johakim and Andrew 2013). A pulp yield of 41.67% obtained from pulping of pre-extracted residues from xylan extraction by white liquor at 120 °C and 20% AA for 90 min, resulted in a 50% reduction in chemical charge and 15 min reduction in cooking time, relative to the standard cooking conditions of non-extracted chips (Table 5). a No additional chemicals were added to chips after extraction. b Only half the amount of Na2S required for 85 g (O.D.W.) of non-extracted chips was added. No NaOH added. c Same amount of Na2S as is required for 85 g (O.D.W.) of non-extracted chips was added. No NaOH added. d Same amount of Na2S and 25% of NaOH as is required for 85 g (O.D.W.) of non-extracted chips added. e Extraction and pulping combinations selected for handsheet formation. *Represents percentage reduction of Na2S and NaOH relative to Na2S and NaOH required for 85 g (O.D.W.) of non-extracted chips. **Wood chips after pulping were not in pulp form as they weren’t sufficiently pulped. Such an effect was reported earlier by Johakim and Andrew (2013). The E. grandis chips that were subjected to NaOH pre-extraction produced the best pulp properties with a 25% reduction in the quantity of NaOH requirement relative to that of the standard pulping conditions when the residues were pulped with the same amount of Na2S as that of the non-extracted chips for 45 min (Table 5). The practicality of hemicellulose extraction integrated in the kraft pulp process lies both in the extraction technology and the chemical recovery technologies. About half of all the technical equipment in the kraft process is physically used for pulping, with the remaining used for chemical recovery from the spent liquor. About 97% of the alkaline chemicals are recovered (Blechschmidt et al. 2013) to reduce operating costs. In hemicellulose extraction streams the recovery was 90%. The chemical balance assessments to evaluate the losses of sodium and sulfur during hemicellulose pre-extraction against the amount of Na2SO4 and NaOH needed to compensate for the lost sodium and sulfur per ton of pulp produced are depicted in vector diagrams for white liquor (Fig. 5b), and for NaOH and green liquor extractions (Figs 6,a and b, respectively) . When compared with a kraft process without hemicellulose extraction (Fig. 5 a), the sodium and sulfur exiting with the hemicellulose stream in white liquor extraction represented 4.46 and 5.08 times increase in make-up of sodium and sulfur (Fig.5 b). In NaOH extraction the increase in chemical make-up, thus sodium make up was found to be increased 4.96 times (Fig. 6 a). On the other hand, the loss of sodium and sulfur from the green liquor extraction for the same chemical recovery led to 1.73 and 1.29 times increases in the make-up for sodium and sulfur, respectively (Fig. 6 b), which is attributed to the low alkali concentration used during the initial extraction process. The results imply that sodium and sulfur balances in NaOH and white liquor xylan extractions can be closer to those of standard pulping if there is close to 100% recovery of chemicals used in the-extraction-of-the-hemicellulose. This information is important for techno-economic assessment of establishing integrated forest biorefineries. Green liquor was found to be the most feasible pre-extraction method to be integrated into the kraft pulp cycle compared to the white liquor and NaOH extraction methods. The green liquor extraction demonstrated a better sodium and sulfur balance as reflected in the reduced increase in the make-up chemicals of the kraft process. Green liquor was selective for xylan release and preserved the pulp fibers, thus giving xylan with greater purity and increased pulp yield relative to the pulps obtained from xylan non-extracted wood chips. Green liquor xylan pre-extraction maintained the burst, tear, and tensile properties of handsheets derived from unbeaten pulp. About 100% recovery of chemicals from the hemicellulose extract is necessary in white liquor and NaOH xylan pre-extraction to minimize the impact of hemicellulose pre-extraction on the kraft cycle chemical balance. The white liquor extractions allowed for a greater reduction in chemical charge during the subsequent pulping of the pre-extracted residue and can be used to obtain high pulp yield and low kappa number with reduced cooking time. Chemical balance and effect of xylan pre-extraction were demonstrated to be important parameters for techno-economic assessment of integrated forest biorefineries based on kraft mills. The authors are grateful for the financial support of The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), The Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) of the National Research Foundation (NRF), and the support by the technical staff at the Departments of Wood Science and Forestry and Process Engineering, Stellenbosch University. The study would not have been possible without the technical and material support from The Mondi Group, Richards Bay. Al-Dajani, W. W., and Tschirner, U. W. (2008). “Pre-extraction of hemicelluloses and subsequent kraft pulping, Part I: Alkaline extraction,” Tappi Journal 7(6), 3-8. Blechschmidt, J., Heinemann, S., Putz, H.-J., and Duffy, G. G. (2013). “Fibrous materials for paper and board manufacture,” in: Handbook of Paper and Board, Holik, H. (ed.), Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany. Christopher, L. P. (2013). “Integrated forest biorefineries: Current state and development potential,” in: Integrated Forest Biorefineries: Challenges and Opportunities, Christopher, L. P. (ed.), The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge. Fiserova, M., and Opalena, E. (2012). “Hemicelluloses extraction from beech wood with water and alkaline solutions,” Wood Research 57(4), 505-514. Magaton, A. D. S., Colodette, J. L., Gomes Gouvea, A. D. F., Gomide, J. L., dos Santos Muguet, M. C., and Pedrazzi, C. (2009). “Eucalyptus wood quality and its impact on kraft pulp production and use,” Tappi Journal 8(8), 32-39. Macleod, M. (2007). “The top ten factors in kraft pulp yield,” Paper and Timber 89(4), 1- 7. Malan, F. S. (1988). “Genetic variation in some growth and wood properties among 18 full-sib families of South African grown Eucalyptus grandis: (Hill ex Maiden): A preliminary investigation,” South African Forestry Journal 146(1), 38-43. Mateos-Espejel, E. Moshkelani, M., Keshtkar, and Jaris, P. (2011). “Sustainability of the green integrated forest biorefinery: A question of energy,” Journal of Science and Technology for Forest Products and Processes 1(1), 55-61. Mendes, C. V. T., Rocha, J. M. S., Sousa, G. D. A., and Carvalho, G. V. S. (2011). “Extraction of hemicelluloses prior to kraft cooking: A step for an integrated biorefinery in the pulp mill,” O Papel72(9), 79-83. Myburgh, H. H. (1967). “Kraft pulping of eucalyptus in South Africa,” Appita 21(2), 49-53. Ragauskas, A. J., Nagy, M., Kim, D. H., Eckert, C. A., Hallett, J. P., and Liotta, C. L. (2006). “From wood to fuels: Integrating biofuels and pulp production,” Industrial Biotechnology 2(1), 55-65. DOI:10.1089/ind.2006.2.55. Reyes, P., Pereira, M., and Mendonça, R. T. (2015). “Effect of partial pre-extraction of hemicelluloses on the properties of Pinus radiata chemimechanical pulps,” BioResources 10(4), 7442-7454. DOI: 10.15376/biores.10.4.7442-7454. Sluiter, A., Hames, B., Hyman, D., Payne, C., Ruiz, R., Scarlata, C., Sluiter, J., Templeton, D., and Wolfe, J. (2008a). “Determination of total solids in biomass and total dissolved solids in liquid process samples,” National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado. NREL Technical Report No. NREL/TP-510-42621. Sluiter, A., Hames, B., Ruiz, R., Scarlata, C., Sluiter, J., Templeton, D., and Crocker, D. (2007). “Determination of structural carbohydrates and lignin in biomass,” National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Laboratory Analytical Procedures (LAP) for Standard Biomass Analysis. Sluiter, A., Ruiz, R., Scarlata, C., Sluiter, J., and Templeton, D. (2008c). “Determination of extractives in biomass,” Technical Report NREL/TP-510-42619. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado. Studer, M. H., DeMartini, J. D., Davis, M. F., Sykes, R. W., Davison, B., Keller, M., Tuskan, G. E., and Wyman, C. E. (2011). “Lignin content in natural Populus variants affects sugar release,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(15), 6300-6305. TAPPI Test Methods, T 403 om-08. (2008). “Bursting strength of paper,” in: TAPPI Standard Methods for Pulp and Paper, Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry, TAPPI Press, Atlanta. TAPPI Test Methods, T410 om-08 (2008), “Grammage of Paper and Paperboard (Weight per Unit Area),” TAPPI Press, Atlanta. TAPPI Test Methods, T414 om-98. (1998). “Internal tearing resistance of paper (Elmendorf-type method),” TAPPI Press, Atlanta. TAPPI Test Methods T494 om-96. (1996). “Tensile properties of paper and paperboard (using constant rate of elongation apparatus),” TAPPI Press, Atlanta. TAPPI Test Methods, T220 om-88. (1992). “Physical testing of pulp handsheets,” TAPPI Press, Atlanta. Um, B. H., and van Walsum, G. P. (2010). “Mass balance on green liquor pre-pulping extraction of northeast mixed hardwood,” Bioresource Technology 101(15), 5978-5987. Article submitted: May 5, 2015; Peer review completed: October 13, 2015; Revised version received and accepted; January 5, 2016; Published: January 26, 2016.

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https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/effect-of-integrating-xylan-extraction-from-e-grandis-into-the-kraft-pulping-process-on-pulp-yield-and-chemical-balance/

Criminal Appeals Nos. 274 of 1984. J.S. Verma, G.N. Ray, N.P. Singh, Faizanuddin and G.T. Nanavati, JJ. For Appearing Parties: K.T.S. Tulsi, B.S. Malik, K.N. Shukla, M.K. Banerjee and Soli J. Sorabjee, Advs. Encyclopaedia of Crime and Justice, Vol. IV, 1983 Edn.; Webster's Dictionary. From the Judgment and Order dated 20.2.84 of the Punjab and Hrayana High Court in Crl. A. No. 629-SB of 1982. Constitution - constitutional validity - Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India, Sections 107, 306 and 309 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 360 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 - appellants convicted for offence under Section 306 - on appeal High Court maintained conviction - appellants challenged constitutional validity of Section 306 - genesis of acts cannot be traced to or be included within protection of right to life under Article 21 - Article 21 guaranteeing protection of life and personal liberty - extinction of life cannot be included in protection of life - Article 21 cannot be construed to include within it right to die as part of fundamental right - suicide is unnatural termination or extinction of life and inconsistent with concept of right to life - held, law relating to Section 306 constitutionally invalid. Criminal - Conviction - Offence committed punishable under Sections 107, 306 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (I.P.C.). Whether the order of conviction sustainable ? Section 306 of the I.P.C. to be unconstitutional had been cited. Section 309 of the I.P.C. was not violative of either Article 14 or Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Questions of constitutional validity of Sections 306 and 309 of the I.P.C. were decided accordingly, by holding that neither of the two provisions was constitutionally invalid. Appeals would be listed before the appropriate Division Bench for their decision on merits in accordance with law treating Sections 306 and 309 of the I.P.C. to be constitutionally valid. 2. The appellants Gian Kaur and her husband Harbans Singh were convicted by the Trial Court under Section 306, Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short "IPC") and each sentenced to six years R.I. and fine of Rs. 2,000, or, in default, further R.I for nine months, for abetting the commission of suicide by Kulwant Kaur. On appeal to the High Court, the conviction of both has been maintained but the sentence of Gian Kaur alone has been reduced to R.I. for three years. These appeals by special leave are against their conviction and sentence under Section 306, IPC. 3. The conviction of the appellants has been assailed, inter alia, on the ground that Section 306, IPC is unconstitutional. The first argument advanced to challenge the constitutional validity of Section 306, IPC rests on the decision in P. Rathinam v. Union of India and Anr. MANU/SC/0433/1994 : 1994CriLJ1605 , by a Bench of two learned Judges of this Court wherein Section 309, IPC has been held to be unconstitutional as violative of Article 21 of the Constitution. It is urged that 'right to die' being included in Article 21 of the Constitution as held in P. Rathinam declaring Section 309, IPC to be unconstitutional, any person abetting the commission of suicide by another is merely assisting in the enforcement of the fundamental right under Article 21; and, therefore, Section 306, IPC penalising assisted suicide is equally violative of Article 21. This argument, it is urged, is alone sufficient to declare that Section 306, IPC also is unconstitutional being violative of Article 21 of the Constitution. 4. One of the points directly raised is the inclusion of the 'right to die' within the ambit of Article 21 of the Constitution, to contend that any person assisting the enforcement of the 'right to die' is merely assisting in the enforcement of the fundamental right under Article 21 which cannot be penal; and Section 306, IPC making that act punishable, therefore, violates Article 21. In view of this argument based on the decision in P. Rathinam, a reconsideration of that decision is inescapable. 5. In view of the significance of this contention involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of Article 21 relating to the constitutional validity of Section 306, I.P.C. which requires reconsideration of the decision in P. Rathinam, the Division Bench before which these appeals came up for hearing has referred the matter to a Constitution Bench for deciding the same. This is how the matter comes before the Constitution Bench. 6. In addition to the learned Counsel for the parties and the learned Attorney General of India who appeared in response to the notice, we also requested Shri Fali S. Nariman and Shri Soli J. Sorabajee, Senior Advocates to appear as amicus Curiae in this matter. All the learned Counsel appearing before us have rendered great assistance to enable us to decide q this ticklish and sensitive issue. 7. We may now refer to the submissions of the several learned Counsel who ably projected the different points of view. 8. Shri Ujagar Singh and Shri B.S. Malik appeared in these matters for the appellants to support the challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 306 and 309, IPC. Both the learned Counsel contended that Section 306 as well as Section 309 are unconstitutional. Both of them relied on the decision in P. Rathinam. However, Shri Ujagar Singh supported the conclusion in P. Rathinam of the constitutional invalidity of Section 309, IPC only on the ground of violation of Article 14 and not Article 21. Shri B.S. Malik contended that Section 309 is violative of Articles 14 and 21. He strongly relied on the ground based on Article 21 in P. Rathinam for holding Section 309 to be invalid. He urged that 'right to die' being included within the ambit of Article 21, assistance in commission of suicide cannot be an offence and, therefore, Section 306, IPC also is violative of Article 21. He contended that Section 306 is unconstitutional for this reason alone. Shri S.K. Gambhir appearing in one of the connected matters did not advance any additional argument. 9. The learned Attorney General contended that Section 306 IPC constitutes a distinct offence and can exist independently of Section 309, IPC. The learned Attorney General did not support the decision in P. Rathinam and the construction made of Article 21 therein to include the 'right to die'. Shri F.S. Nariman submitted that Sections 306 and 309 constitute independent substantive offences and Section 306 can exist independently of Section 309. Shri Nariman then contended that the desirability of deleting Section 309 from the IPC is different from saying that it is unconstitutional. He also submitted that the debate on euthanasia is not relevant for deciding the question of constitutional validity of Section 309. He submitted that Article 21 cannot be construed to include within it the so called 'right to die' since Article 21 guarantees protection of life and liberty and not its extinction. He submitted that Section 309 does not violate even Article 14 since the provision of sentence therein gives ample discretion to apply that provision with compassion to an unfortunate victim of circumstances attempting to commit suicide. Shri Nariman referred to the reported decisions to indicate that the enforcement of this provision by the courts has been with compassion to ensure that it is not harsh in operation. Shri Nariman submitted that the decision in P. Rathinam requires reconsideration as it is incorrect. Shri Soli J. Sorabjee submitted that Section 306 can survive independently of Section 309, IPC as it does not violate either Article 14 or Article 21. Shri Sorabjee did not support the construction made of Article 21 in P. Rathinam to include therein the 'right to die' but he supported the conclusion that Section 309 is unconstitutional on the ground that it violates Article 14 of the Constitution. Shri Sorabjee submitted that it has been universally acknowledged that a provision to punish attempted suicide is monstrous and barbaric and, therefore, it must be held to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Shri Sorabjee's argument, therefore, is that Section 306, IPC must be upheld as constitutional but Section 309 should be held as unconstitutional, not as violative of Article 21 as held in P. Rathinam but being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. He also sought assistance from Article 21 to support the argument based on Article 14. 10. At this stage, it would be appropriate to refer to the decisions wherein the question of constitutional validity of Section 309, IPC was considered. 11. Maruti Shripati Dubai v. State of Maharashtra MANU/MH/0022/1986 : Crl. L.J. 743, is the decision by a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court. In that decision, P.B. Sawant, J., as he then was, speaking for the Division Bench held that Section 309 IPC is violative of Article 14 as well as Article 21 of the Constitution. The provision was held to be discriminatory in nature and also arbitrary so as to violate the equality guaranteed by Article 14. Article 21 was construed to include the 'right to die', or to terminate one's own life- For this reason it was held to violate Article 21 also. 12. State v. Sanjay Kumar Bhatia MANU/DE/0253/1985 : Crl. L.J. 931, is the decision of the Delhi High Court. Sachar, J., as he then was, speaking for the Division Bench said that the continuance of Section 309 IPC is an anachronism unworthy of human society like ours. However, the question of its constitutional validity with reference to any provision of the Constitution was not considered. Further consideration of this decision is, therefore, not necessary. 13. Chenna Jagadeeswar and Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh MANU/DE/0253/1985 : 1988 Crl. L.J. 549, is the decision by a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 309 IPC was rejected therein. The argument that Article 21 includes the 'right to die' was rejected. It was also pointed out by Amareshwari, J. speaking for the Division Bench that the Courts have sufficient power power to see that unwarranted harsh treatment or prejudice is not meted out to those who need care and attention. This negatived the suggested violation of Article 14. Keeping in view all the above, we state that right to live of which Article 21 speaks of can be said to bring in its trail the right not to live a forced life. On the basis of what has been held and noted above, we state that Section 309 of the Penal Code deserves to be effaced from the statute book to humanise our penal laws. It is a cruel and irrational provision, and it may result in punishing a person again (doubly) who has suffered agony and would be undergoing ignominy because of his failure to commit suicide. Then an act of suicide cannot be said to be against religion, morality or public policy, and an act of attempted suicide has no baneful effect on society. Further, suicide or attempt to commit it causes no harm to others, because of which State's interference with the personal liberty of the persons concerned is not called for. We, therefore, hold that Section 309 violates Article 21, and so, it is void. May it be said that the view taken by us would advance not only the cause of humanisation, which is a need of the day, but of globalisation also, as by effacing Section 309, we would be attuning this part of our criminal law to the global wavelength. 31. Or let him walk, fully determined and going straight on, in a north-easterly direction, subsisting on water and air, until his body sinks to rest. 32. A Brahmana having got rid of his body by one of those modes (i.e. drowning, precipitating burning or starving) practiced by the great sages, is exalted in the world of Brahamana, free from sorrow and fear. From the parallel passage of Apas tambha II, 23, 2, it is, however, evident that a voluntary death by starvation was considered the befitting conclusion of a hermit's life. The antiquity and general prevalence of the practice may be inferred from the fact that the Jaina ascetics, too, consider it particularly meritorious. 16.32 Looking at the offence of attempting to commit suicide, it has been observed by an English writer: (See : H. Romilly Fedden: Suicide (London, 1938), page 42). It seems a monstrous procedure to inflict further suffering on even a single individual who has already found life so unbearable, his chances of happiness so slender, that he has been willing to face pain and death in order to cease living. That those for whom life is altogether bitter should be subjected to further bitterness and degradation seems perverse legislation. Acting on the view that such persons deserve the active sympathy of society and not condemnation or punishment, the British Parliament enacted the Suicide Act in 1961 whereby attempt to commit suicide ceased to be an offence. 16.33 We included in our questionnaire the question whether attempt to commit suicide should be punishable at all. Opinion was more or less equally divided. We are, however, definitely of the view that the penal provision is harsh and unjustifiable and it should be repealed. A Bill was introduced in 1972 to amend the Indian Penal Code by deleting Section 309. However, the Bill lapsed and no attempt has been made as yet to implement that recommendation of the Law Commission. 16. The desirability of retaining Section 309 in the Statute is a different matter and non-sepulture in the context of constitutional validity of that provision which has to be tested with reference to some provision in the Constitution of India. Assuming for this purpose that it may be desirable to delete Section 309 from the Indian Penal Code for the reasons which led to the recommendation of the Law Commission and the formation of that opinion by persons opposed to the continuance of such a provision, that cannot be a reason by itself to declare Section 309 unconstitutional unless it is held to be violative of any specific provision in the Constitution. For this reason, challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 309 has been made and is also required to be considered only with reference to Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. We, therefore, proceed now to consider the question of constitutional validity with reference to Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Any further reference to the Global debate on the desirability of retaining a penal provision to punish attempted suicide is unnecessary for the purpose of this decision. Undue emphasis on that aspect and particularly the reference to euthanasia cases tends to befog the real issue of the constitutionality of the provision and the crux of the matter which is determinative of the issue. 17. In P. Rathinam it was held that the scope of Article 21 includes the 'right to die'. P. Rathinam held that Article 21 has also a positive content and is not merely negative in its reach. Reliance was placed on certain decisions to indicate the wide ambit of Article 21 wherein the term 'life' does not mean 'mere animal existence' but 'right to live with human dignity' embracing quality of life. Drawing analogy from the interpretation of 'freedom of speech and expression' to include freedom not to speak, 'freedom of association and movement' to include the freedom not to join any association or to move anywhere, 'freedom of business' to include freedom not to do business, it was held in P. Rathanam that logically it must follow that right to live would include right not to live, i.e., right to die or to terminate one's life. Having concluded that Article 21 includes also the right to die, it was held that Section 309, IPC was violative of Article 21. This is the only basis in P. Rathinam to hold that Section 309, IPC is unconstitutional. 'Right to die' - Is it included in Article 21? 21. Protection of life and personal liberty - No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. If a person has a right to live, question is whether he has right not to live. The Bombay High Court stated in paragraph 10 of its judgment that as all the fundamental rights are to be read together, as held in R.C. Cooper v. Union of India what is true on one fundamental right is also true of another fundamental right. It was then stated that is not, and cannot be, seriously disputed that fundamental rights have their positive as well as negative aspects. For example, freedom of speech and expression includes freedom not to speak. Similarly, the freedom of association and movement includes freedom not to join any association or move anywhere. So too, freedom of business includes freedom not to do business. It was therefore, stated that logically it must follow that the right to live will include right not to live i.e., right to die or to terminate one's life. Two of the above named critics of the Bombay judgment have stated that the aforesaid analogy is "misplaced", which could have arisen on account of superficial comparison between the freedoms, ignoring the inherent difference between one fundamental right and the other. It has been argued that the negative aspect of the right to live would mean the end or extinction of the positive aspect, and so, it is not the suspension as such of the right as is in the case of 'silence' or 'non-association' and 'no movement'. It has also been stated that the right to life stands on different footing from other rights as all other rights are derivable from the right to live. The aforesaid criticism is only partially correct inasmuch as though the negative aspect may not be inferable on the analogy of the rights conferred by different clauses of Article 19, one may refuse to live, if his life be not according to the person concerned worth living or if the richness and fullness of life were not to demand living further. One may rightly think that having achieved all worldly pleasures or happiness he has something to achieve beyond this life. This desire for communion with God may very rightly lead even a very healthy mind to think that he would forego his right to live and would rather choose not to live. In any case, a person cannot be forced to enjoy right to life to his detriment, disadvantage or disliking. In this context, reference may be made to what Alan A. Stone, while serving as Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Harvard University stated in his 1987 Jonas Robitscher Memorial Lecture in Law and Psychiatry, under the caption "The Right to Die : New Problems for Law and Medicine and Psychiatry.(This lecture has been printed at pp. 627 to 643 of Emory Law Journal, Vol. 37, 1988). One of the basic theories of the lecture of Professor Stone was that right to die inevitably leads to the right to commit suicide. 18. From the above extract, it is clear that in substance the reason for that view is, that if a person has right to live, he also has a right not to live. The decisions relied on for taking that view relate to other fundamental rights which deal with different situations and different kind of rights. In those cases the fundamental right is of a positive kind, for example, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement, freedom of business etc. which were held to include the negative aspect of their being no compulsion to exercise that right by doing the guaranteed positive act. Those decisions merely held that the right to do an act includes also the right not to do an act in that manner. It does not flow from those decisions that if the right is for protection from any intrusion thereof by others or in other words the right has the negative aspect of not being deprived by others of its continued exercise e.g. the right to life or personal liberty, then the converse positive act also flows there from to permit expressly its discontinuance or extinction by the holder of such right. In those decisions it is the negative aspect of the right that was invoked for which no positive or overt act was required to be done by implication. This difference in the nature of rights has to be borne in mind when making the comparison for the application of this principle. 19. When a man commits suicide he has to undertake certain positive overt acts and the genesis of those acts cannot be traced to, or be included within the protection of the 'right to life' under Article 21. The significant aspect of 'sanctity of life' is also not to be overlooked. Article 21 is a provision guaranteeing protection of life and personal liberty and by no stretch of imagination can 'extinction of life' be read to be included in 'protection of life'. Whatever may be the philosophy of permitting a person to extinguish his life by committing suicide, we find it difficult to construe Article 21 to include within it the 'right to die' as a part of the fundamental right guaranteed therein. 'Right to life' is a natural right embodied in Article 21 but suicide is an unnatural termination or extinction of life, and therefore, incompatible and inconsistent with the concept of 'right to life'. With respect and in all humility, we find no similarity in the nature of the other rights, such as the right to 'freedom of speech' etc. to provide a comparable basis to hold that the 'right to life' also includes the 'right to die'. With respect, the comparison is inapposite, for the reason indicated in the context of Article 21. The decisions relating to other fundamental rights wherein the absence of compulsion to exercise a right was held to be included within the exercise of that right, are not available to support the view taken in P. Rathinam qua Article 21. 20. To give meaning and content to the word 'life' in Article 21, it has been construed as life with human dignity. Any aspect of life which makes it dignified may be read into it but not that which extinguishes it and is, therefore, inconsistent with the continued existence of life resulting in effacing the right itself. The 'right to die', if any, is inherently inconsistent with the 'right to life' as is 'death' with 'life'. 21. Protagonism of euthanasia on the view that existence in persistent vegetative state (PVS) is not a benefit to the patient of a terminal illness being unrelated to the principle of Sanctity of life' or the 'right to live with dignity' is of no assistance to determine the scope of Article 21 for deciding whether the guarantee of 'right to life' therein includes the 'right to die'. The 'right to life' including the right to live with human dignity would mean the existence of such a right up to the end of natural life. This also includes the right to a dignified life up to the point of death including a dignified procedure of death. In other words, this may include the right of a dying man to also die with dignity when his life is ebbing out. But the 'right to die' with dignity at the end of life is not to be confused or equated with the 'right to die' an unnatural death curtailing the natural span of life. 22. A question may arise, in the context of a dying man, who is, terminally ill or in a persistent vegetative state that he may be permitted to terminate it by a premature extinction of his life in those circumstances. This category of cases may fall within the ambit of the 'right to die' with dignity as a part of right to live with dignity, when death due to termination of natural life is certain and imminent and the process of natural death has commenced. These are not cases of extinguishing life but only of accelerating conclusion of the process of natural death which has already commenced. The debate even in such cases to permit physician assisted termination of life is inconclusive. It is sufficient to reiterate that the argument to support the view of permitting termination of life in such cases to reduce the period of suffering during the process of certain natural death is not available to interpret Article 21 to include therein the right to curtail the natural span of life. 23. We are, therefore, unable to concur with the interpretation of Article 21 made in P. Rathinam. The only reason for which Section 309 is held to be violative of Article 21 in P. Rathinam does not withstand legal scrutiny. We are unable to hold that Section 309 I.P.C. is violative of Article 21. 24. The only surviving question for consideration now is whether Section 309 IPC is violative of Article 14, to support the conclusion reached in P. Rathinam. 25. The basis of the decision in P. Rathinam, discussed above, was not supported by any of the learned Counsel except Shri B.S. Malik. On the basis of the decision in P. Rathinam it was urged that Section 306 also is " violative of Article 21, as mentioned earlier. On the view we have taken that Article 21 does not include the 'right to die' as held in P. Rathinam, the first argument to challenge the constitutional validity of Section 306, IPC also on that basis fails, and is rejected. Article 14 Is it violated by Section 309, I.P.C.? 26. We would now consider the constitutional validity of Section 309 with reference to Article 14 of the Constitution. In substance, the argument of Shri Ujagar Singh, Shri B.S. Malik and Shri Soli J. Sobrajee on this point is that it is a monstrous and barbaric provision which violates the equality clause being discriminatory and arbitrary. It was contended that attempted suicide is not punishable in any other civilized society and there is a strong opinion against the retention of such a penal provision which led the Law Commission of India also to recommend its deletion. Shri Sorabjee contended that the wide amplitude of Article 14 together with the right to live with dignity included in Article 21, renders Section 309 unconstitutional. It is in this manner, invoking Article 21 limited to life with dignity (not including therein the 'right to die') that Shri Sorabjee refers to Article 21 along with Article 14 to assail the validity of Section 309, IPC. The conclusion reached in P. Rathinam is supported on this ground. The Bombay High Court held Section 309 as violation of Article 14 also mainly because of two reasons. First, which act or acts in series of acts will constitute attempt to suicide, where to draw the line, is not known some attempts may be serious while others non-serious. It was stated that in fact philosophers, moralists and sociologists were not agreed upon what constituted suicide. The want of plausible definition or even guidelines, made Section 309 arbitrary as per the learned Judges. Another reason given was that Section 309 treats all attempts to commit suicide by the same measure without referring to the circumstances in which attempts are made. The first of the aforesaid reasons is not sound, according to us, because whatever differences there may be as to what constitutes suicide, there is no doubt that suicide is intentional taking of one's life, as stated at p. 1521 of Encyclopaedia of Crime and Justice, Vol. IV, 1983 Edn. Of course, there still exists difference among suicide researchers as to what constitutes suicidal behavior, for example, whether narcotic addiction, chronic alcoholism, heavy cigarette smoking, reckless driving, other risk-taking behaviors, are suicidal or not. It may also be that different methods are adopted for committing suicide, for example, use of firearm, poisoning especially by drugs, overdoses, hanging, inhalation of gas. Even so, suicide is capable of a broad definition, as has been given in the aforesaid Webster's Dictionary. Further, on a prosecution being launched it is always open to an accused to take the plea that his act did not constitute suicide whereupon the court would decide this aspect also. Insofar as treating of different attempts to commit suicide by the same measure is concerned, the same also cannot be regarded as violative of Article 14, inasmuch as the nature, gravity and extent of attempt may be taken care of by tailoring the sentence appropriately. It is worth pointing out that Section 309 has only provided the maximum sentence which is up to one year. It provides for imposition of fine only as a punishment. It is this aspect which weighed with the Division Bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court in its aforesaid decision to disagree with the Bombay view by stating that in certain cases even Probation of Offenders Act can be pressed into service, whose Section 12 enables the court to ensure that no stigma or disqualification is attached to such a person. We agree with the view taken by the Andhra Pradesh High Court as regards Section 309 qua Article 14. With respect, we are in agreement with the view so taken qua Article 14, in P. Rathinam. 28. We have already stated that the debate on the desirability of retaining such a penal provision of punishing attempted suicide, including the recommendation for its deletion by the Law Commission are not sufficient to indicate that the provision is unconstitutional being violative of Article 14. Even if those facts are to weigh, the severity of the provision is mitigated by the wide discretion in the matter of sentencing since there is no requirement of awarding any minimum sentence and the sentence of imprisonment is not even compulsory. There is also no minimum fine prescribed as sentence, which alone may be the punishment awarded on conviction under Section 309, IPC. This aspect is noticed in P. Rathinam for holding that Article 14 is not violated. 29. The reported decisions show that even on conviction under Section 309, IPC, in practice the accused has been dealt with compassion by giving benefit under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 or Section 562 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1908 corresponding to Section 360 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 : Mt. Bamkat v. Emperor MANU/MH/0002/1912 : AIR (1934) Lah. 514; Emperor v. Dwarka Pooja MANU/MH/0002/1912 : 14 Bom. L.R. 146; Emperor v. Mt. Dhirajia ; Ram Sunder v. State of Uttar Pradesh MANU/UP/0072/1962 : AIR1962All262 ; Valentino v. State AIR 1967 Goa 138; Phulbai v. State of Maharashtra (1976) Crl. L.J. 1519; Radharani v. State of M.P. MANU/DE/0253/1985 : AIR (1981) SC 1776 and Rukhmina Devi v. State of U.P. MANU/DE/0253/1985 : (1988) Crl. L.J. 548. The above quoted discussion in P. Rathinam qua Article 14 is sufficient to reject the challenge based on Article 14. 30. We may briefly refer to the aid of Article 21 sought by Shri Sorabjee to buttress the challenge based on Article 14. We have earlier held that 'right to die' is not included in the 'right to life' under Article 21. For the same reason, 'right to live with human dignity' cannot be construed to include within its ambit the right to terminate natural life, at least before commencement of the natural process of certain death. We do not see how Article 21 can be pressed into service to support the challenge based on Article 14. It cannot, therefore, be accepted that Section 309 is violative either of Article 14 or Article 21 of the Constitution. 31. It follows that there is no ground to hold that Section 309, IPC is constitutionally invalid. The contrary view taken in P. Rathinam on the basis of the construction made of Article 21 to include therein the 'right to die' cannot be accepted by us to be correct. That decision cannot be supported even on the basis of Article 14. It follows that Section 309, IPC is not to be treated as unconstitutional for any reason. Validity of Section 306, I.P.C. 32. The question now is whether Section 306, IPC is unconstitutional for any other reason. In our opinion, the challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 309, IPC having been rejected, no serious challenge to the constitutional validity of Section 306 survives. We have already rejected the main challenge based on P. Rathinam on the ground that 'right to die' is included in Article 21. 306. Abetment of suicide - If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. 34. Section 306 prescribes punishment for 'abetment of suicide' while Section 309 punishes 'attempt to commit suicide'. Abetment of attempt to commit suicide is outside the purview of Section 306 and it is punishable only under Section 309 read with Section 107, IPC. In certain other jurisdictions, even though attempt to commit suicide is not a penal offence yet the abettor is made punishable. The provision there, provides for the punishment of abetment of suicide as well as abetment of attempt to commit suicide. Thus, even where the punishment for attempt to commit suicide is not considered desirable, its abetment is made a penal offence. In other words assisted suicide and assisted attempt to commit suicide are made punishable for cogent reasons in the interest of society. Such a provision is considered desirable to also prevent the danger inherent in the absence of such a penal provision. The arguments which are advanced to support the plea for not punishing the person who attempts to commit suicide do not avail for the benefit of another person assisting in the commission of suicide or in its attempt. This plea was strongly advanced by the learned Attorney General as well as the amicus curiae Shri Nariman and Shri Sorabjee. We find great force in the submission. Suicide : "Felo de se or suicide is, where a man of the age of discretion, and compos mentis voluntarily kills himself by stabbing, poison or any other way" and was a felony' at common law : see 1 Hale PC 411-419. This section abrogates that rule of law,but, by virtue of' Section 2(1) post, a person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide or attempted suicide of another is guilty of a statutory offence. The requirement that satisfactory evidence of suicidal intent is always necessary to establish suicide as a cause of death is not altered by the passing of this Act: See R. v. Cardiff Coroner, ex p Thomas 3 All ER 469 , 1 WLR 1475. 2. Criminal liability for complicity in another's suicide. (1) A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another, or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years. Sanctity of life, as we will see, has been understood historically as excluding freedom of choice in the self-infliction of death and certainly in the involvement of others in carrying out that choice. At the very least, no new consensus has emerged in society opposing the right of the state to regulate the involvement of others in exercising power over individuals ending their lives. 38. The desirability of bringing about a change was considered to be the function of the legislature by enacting a suitable law providing therein adequate safeguards to prevent any possible abuse. 39. The decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Compassion in Dying v. State of Washington MANU/DE/0253/1985 : 49 F. 3d 586, which reversed the decision of United States District Court, W.D. Washington reported in 850 Federal Supplement 1454, has also relevance. The constitutional validity of the State statute that banned physician assisted suicide by mentally competent, terminally ill adults was in question. The District Court held unconstitutional the provision punishing for promoting a suicide attempt. On appeal, that judgment was reversed and the constitutional validity of the provision was upheld. 40. This caution even in cases of physician assisted suicide is sufficient to indicate that assisted suicides outside that category have no rational basis to claim exclusion of the fundamental principle of sanctity of life. The reasons assigned for attacking a provision which penalises attempted suicide are not available to, the abettor of suicide or attempted suicide. Abetment of suicide or attempted suicide is a distinct offence which is found enacted even in the law of the countries where attempted suicide is not made punishable. Section 306 1.P.C I.P.C . enacts a distinct offence which can survive independent of Section 309 in the I.P.C. The learned Attorney General as well as both the learned amicus curiae rightly supported the constitutional validity of Section 306 I.P.C. 41. The Bombay High Court in Naresh Marotrao Sakhre and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. (1995) Crl. L.J. 96, considered the question of validity of Section 306 I.P.C. and upheld the same. No decision holding Section 306 I.P.C. to be unconstitutional has been cited before us. We find no reason to hold either Section 309 or Section 306 I.P.C. to be unconstitutional. 42. For the reasons we have given, the decisions of the Bombay High Court in Maruti Shripati Dubai v. State of Maharashtra MANU/MH/0022/1986 : (1987) Crl. L.J 743, and of a Division Bench of this Court in P. Rathinam v. Union of India and Am. MANU/SC/0433/1994 : 1994CriLJ1605 , wherein Section 309 I.P.C. has been held to be unconstitutional, are not correct. The conclusion of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Chenna Jagadeeswar and Anr. v. State of Andhra Pradesh MANU/DE/0253/1985 : (1988) Crl. L.J. 549, that Section 309 I.P.C. is not violative of either Article 14 or Article 21 of the Constitution is approved for the reasons given herein. The questions of constitutional validity of Sections 306 and 309 I.P.C. are decided accordingly, by holding that neither of the two provisions is constitutionally invalid. 43. These appeals would now be listed before the appropriate Division Bench for their decision on merits in accordance with law treating Sections 306 and 309 I.P.C. to be constitutionally valid.

2019-04-19T11:46:13Z

http://www.lawskills.in/FreeRes/judgments/MANUSC03351996.htm

The Seton Hall Prep Wrestling Team closed out their season sending six wrestlers (Larry Melchionda, Conner Decker, Cole Carroll, Jack Wilt, Mike Massa and Niko Diakides) to one of the top state tournaments in the country: The NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships. Boardwalk Hall is a very unforgiving place as elite New Jersey wrestlers compete for a spot on the podium. All season long, The SHP Wrestling Team came through with big rounds in every tournament to get them to AC. Jack Wilt came up with a big 1st round win to let everyone know he is the real deal; Junior Mike Massa continue to step up his game going 2-2 and finishing top 16 in NJ. Then one of the all time great 285 lb wrestlers in SHP history closed out his career. Niko Diakides was a 4-year starter for the Pirates and someone we could always count on. Niko finished his career with many accolades: 3x District Finalist 2x Champ, 3x County Finalist 1x Champ. Niko is also a 2x region medalist and finished top 12 in NJ as a junior. The coaching staff is excited for next season as Niko is the only graduating member of the team, but filling the void will be a monumental task. The Seton Hall Prep Swim Team ended their season with some big performances as two school records were broken at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on Sunday, March 3, at Gloucester Institute of Technology. The 200 Freestyle Relay Team of Sophomore Jaeden Yburan (22.08), Junior Matt Prior (22.19), Senior Luke Shea (22.13) and Senior Roo Fenton (20.32) set a new school record in a time of 1:26.72, which also secured them a 4th place finish. The same four swimmers had set the previous record earlier this season vs. Livingston. Jaeden Yburan would get right back into the water in the next event to break the school record in the 100 backstroke in 51.85, as he finished in 6th place. Jaeden had set the previous record at this year's county championship meet. Roo Fenton was the Prep's top finisher at the meet as he was runner-up in the 50 freestyle in 20.80, missing the state title by an agonizing .09 seconds. Fenton also finished in 8th place in the 100 Freestyle. The 200 Medley Relay team of Yburan (24.79 backstroke), junior Mike Pietrucha (27.66 breaststroke), Shea (23.92 butterfly) and Fenton (20.25 freestyle) also had an outstanding performance as they finished 4th in a time of 1:36.62. Fenton's anchor leg was the fastest 50 freestyle relay split in school history. Congratulations on The Prep's outstanding 2018-2019 season! The Seton Hall Prep Swim team placed a finalist in five events thanks to a solid performance in today's preliminary round at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology. The top qualifier is Senior Roo Fenton, seeded third for tomorrow's final in the 50 Freestyle, after a 21.28. Fenton is also seeded 7th in the 100 free after a 47.03 in the prelims. Sophomore Jaeden Yburan tied his own school record in the 100 Backstroke at 51.93, which gives him the #6 seed in the final round. The 200 Free Relay Team of Yburan, Matt Prior, Luke Shea and Fenton swam 1:27.38 and are seeded fourth in the finals. Yburan, Mike Pietrucha, Shea and Fenton have the #6 seed in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:37.60. Also swimming today were Yburan in the 200 IM (157.63 for 24th place) and Shea in the 50 Freestyle (22.60 for 50th place). The finals begin at 10 am tomorrow (March 2) at GCIT. The Seton Hall Prep Basketball season ended at St. Joe's Regional School as they lost 77-67 in the NJSIAA Quarterfinals on Thursday, Feb. 28. The Pirates got out to a slow start and couldn't quite recover from a 22-8 deficit to start the game. They cut it to five in the fourth quarter, but that was the closest they came to taking a lead in the second half. The Pirates end the season 19-8, having won 10 of their last 12 games. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Pingry 65-36 on Tuesday, Feb. 26, behind Senior Ashton Miller's career-high 31 points. The Pirates advance to the NJSIAA Non-Public "A" Second Round, and currently hold a 19-7 record. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling set a new school record under Head Coach Jack Decker, sending six wrestlers to Atlantic City to qualify for a State Title. At 120 junior Larry Melchionda went 4-1 to finish 3rd for his second trip to AC. Sophomores Conner Decker 132 and Cole Carroll both finished 4th to punch their first ticket to AC. Junior 170 Mike Massa went 4-1 to finish 3rd to secure his trip to AC. Senior Niko Diakides fought threw a stacked bracket to finish 3rd and his second trip to AC. Junior Zach Merlino finished one match shy of AC, going 3-2 and finishing 5th. Then the surprise of the Region 4 Tournament (not to the SHP staff), Sophomore Jack Wilt stormed into the finals. Jack won his opening bout and then avenged his loss last season to a round of 12 wrestler from Cranford 10-7 for a trip to the finals. In the finals, Wilt was in a seesaw battle with the defending 4th place finisher in NJ. The match came down to the last 20 seconds and we fell just short of the gold, but everyone took notice of Jack’s performance. Heading to AC Wednesday, The Prep sends six wrestlers to one of the toughest tournaments in the country. Five of them are returning next year for SHP. Great Season, Great Region Tournament and great things to come! Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey defeated No. 6 St. John Vianney 3-0 in the opening round of the NJSIAA Playoffs on Friday night, Feb. 22. The Pirates will play Don Bosco Prep Monday at 6pm. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated West Orange 86-66 on Senior Night on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The Pirates, who started all five seniors on their roster, bounced back from a tough loss to East Side in the ECT Semifinals on Tuesday. The Seton Hall Prep Basketball team's 10-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday, Feb. 19, as No. 1 seed East Side defeated the No. 4 Pirates in the ECT Semifinals 73-67 in double overtime at West Orange High School. The Pirates climbed back from down 10 in the fourth quarter to send it to overtime. Senior Ashton Miller, who led The Pirates with 25 points, sent the game into double OT with a buzzer beater from the top of the key. In double OT, The Pirates had three players foul out and couldn't keep up with East Side, who pulled away with free throws to get the win. The Pirates next play Thursday, Feb. 21, at home against West Orange for Senior Night. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated American History 68-50 in the ECT Quarterfinal round on Saturday, Feb. 16. With the win, The Pirates advance to play #1 seed Newark East Side at West Orange High School in the Semi-final round on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The Pirates also cracked NJ.com's top 20 poll for the first time in over a month, coming in at #15. Seton Hall Prep Basketball won their ninth game in a row Thursday night, defeating #12 West Side 84-71 in Newark, NJ. The Prep was led by Seniors Ashton Miller and Geordan Walker, who scored 23 and 16 points respectively. The Seton Hall Prep Swim Team lost their first meet of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 13, losing 87-83 to St. Joe's (Metuchen) in the quarterfinal of the NJSIAA Non-Public "A" Tournament. The Prep swam their fastest meet of the season, and captured eight of 11 first-place finishes. But the superior depth of an inspired Joe's team proved too much in the end. The Prep opened with a win in the 200 Medley Relay from Jaeden Yburan, Mike Pietrucha, Luke Shea and Roo Fenton in their fastest time of the season at 1:37.01, but St. Joe's took 2-3 to keep the score at 8-6. Matt Prior won the 200 Freestyle in a personal best 1:46.30, but the Falcons went 2-3-4 to tie the score at 15. Yburan won the 200 IM for the Prep in 1:57.18, but the squads split the event to keep the score tied at 23. Fenton paced a 1-3-5 finish for SHP in the 50 free in 21.70, which gave SHP a 4 point lead at 33-29. Shea then pulled off a great upset win in the 100 butterfly in 53.58, but another 2-3-4 finish from St. Joes' tightened the score to 40-38. SHP would get those two points back in the 100 Freestyle thanks to a 1-3 finish from Fenton (47.96) and Pietrucha for a 49-45 lead. St. Joe's, however, would go 1-3-5 in the next event, the 500 Freestyle, and the score was once again tied at 55. Jose Rodriguez, Shea, Prior and Fenton would then win the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:32.01, but again the St. Joe's depth gave them a 2-3 finish, and the Pirates led 63-61 with three events to go. The 100 Backstroke would swing things in SHP's direction with Yburan winning in 53.17, and the overall SHP 1-3-5 finish gave them their biggest lead of the day at 73-67. A 2-3-5 finish for the Prep in the 100 Breaststroke kept the lead at 6, 81-75, with only the 400 Freestyle Relay remaining. But the St. Joe's depth would prevail here with a devastating 1-2 finish, enabling them to win the meet at 87-83. This was the only time that St. Joe's had the lead in the entire meet. The Pirates end the season at 12-1. The last meet on the schedule is the NJSIAA Individual Event Championships (the "Meet of Champions") on March 2-3. Seton Hall Prep won their eighth straight game, defeating Barringer 75-58 in the first round of the Essex County Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 9. The Pirates play West Orange on Tuesday, Feb. 12, before playing in the next round of the ECT next Saturday, Feb. 16. Seton Hall Prep hosted Candidate's Day for the eighth graders that have been accepted for the Class of 2023. Families of students were invited to become members of the Thomas Farley Seton Scholars Program and gathered with program advisors, current Scholars and department chairs for breakfast and to hear the story of the highly regarded academic program. Seton Scholars Brian Axelsen and Anthony Petruzziello spoke about how their decision to accept the invitation to join the Seton Scholars has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on their careers at Seton Hall. Later in the day, the largest-ever gathering of candidates and their families came together in the Bayley Seton Auditorium for a welcome and introudction to the school's presentation offered to help them make the decision to attend The Prep. Director of Admission Michael Zinsmeister and Headmaster Msgr. Robert Harahan introduced seniors Nick Diaz, Eric Camacho and Anthony Petruzziello, along with Mothers Auxiliary President Danielle Batanjany, who presented their own Prep stories. Then the several hundred guests headed to the Dining Hall and gymnasium for individual conversations with teachers, school counselors, coaches, activities advisors and members of the parents organizations. Enjoy some highlights from a wonderful day. Seton Hall Prep Basketball extended their winning streak to seven games with a 49-40 win over St. Peter's Prep at the Dan Finn Classic on Feb. 7, 2019. Ashton Miller led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey's Thomas Colucci scored his 100th point this season, but he has bigger goals in mind. Check out the interview with Colucci and hear him reflect on his four-year career as he gets ready for the postseason. Seton Hall Prep Swimming finished the regular season undefeated after defeating West Orange 107-62 on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at NJIT in Newark. The 200 Medley Relay Team of Joe Labrador, Mike Pietrucha, Joaquin Quezada and Jaeden Yburan got the ball rolling by winning in 1:49.05. Senior Jack McGovern followed by winning the 200 Freestyle in a personal best 1:57.62. Other event winners for SHP included Matt Prior in the 50 Free (23.04), Quezada in the 100 Butterfly (59.38), and Pietrucha in the 100 Breaststroke (1:05.40). The Prep would also win both Freestyle Relays, with Dylan Negron, Connor Townson, Jack Devilbiss and Roo Fenton winning the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:39.16, and Yburan, Prior, Luke Shea and Fenton taking the 400 Free Relay in 3:22.02. The Pirates have a first round bye in the State Tournament, and will host a Non-Public "A" Quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at NJIT at 4pm against the winner of St. Joseph's Metuchen and Don Bosco. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated East Side 49-45 on Tuesday, Feb. 5. It was The Pirates sixth straight win and perhaps the biggest, as East Side was ranked in NJ.com's top 20 poll at #4 last week before dropping to #14 this week. Seton Hall Prep's Jack Wilt, sophomore wrestler, won January's Athlete of the Month! Wilt went 14-2 in January, including a second place finish in the Sam Cali invitational and first place in the Essex County Tournament! Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey defeated Glocuester Catholic 2-1 on Saturday, Feb. 2, behind two goals from Freshman Patrick Zincone. The Pirates were ranked at #10 in NJ.com's top 20 poll earlier this week, while Glocuester was #6. The Pirates are next in action on Monday, Feb. 4, against Bergen Catholic. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Lawrenceville 58-53 Saturday night at The Battle of the Bay in Atlantic City. It was The Pirates fifth straight win to improve their record to 12-6 on the year. Senior Guard Ashton Miller led the way with 19 points, including his 1,000th career point for The Prep. Check out the top 10 plays from the month of January! Seton Hall Prep Swimming remains undefeated after a 124-34 win over Glen Ridge on Thursday, Jan. 31. The Pirates also made the NJSIAA Non-Public A Quarterfinal on February 12 at 4 pm at NJIT. Their opponent is yet to be determined. The Pirates captured 9 of 11 first place finishes today against Glen Ridge. Freshman Dylan Negron won 2 events - the 200 IM in 2:14.92 and the 100 Breaststroke in 1:09.14. Other winners included Junior Matthew Prior in the 200 Freestyle (1:49.26); Sophomore Jack Devilbiss in the 50 Freestyle (24.36); Sophomore Joaquin Quezada in the 100 Butterfly (1:03.44); and Senior Jack McGovern in the 100 Free in a personal best 54.21. Prior was joined by fellow Junior Mike Pietrucha and Seniors Luke Shea and Roo Fenton in winning the 400 Freestyle Relay in 3:21.91; Pietrucha, Shea and Fenton joined with Freshman Dom Ancey in winning the 200 Medley Relay in 1:49.72; and Quezada, McGovern, Junior Joe Labrador and Freshman Connor Townson won the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:42.55. Next up for the Pirates is the final regular season meet vs. West Orange on February 5. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated West Side Newark, #8 in NJ.com's top 20 poll, by a score of 68-66 on Thursday night. The Prep was in solid command of the game for most of the second half before a late push from West Side to tie the game at 66-66. Then, Senior Geordan Walker hit two clutch free throws before a big stop at the other end to seal the win. Seton Hall Prep Bowling came from behind to defeat Livingston 5-2 Thursday at Hanover Lanes, earning the Conference Championship. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling defeated Verona High School 63-12 on Wednesday night, as Senior Niko Diakides was honored for his outstanding career on Senior Night. The Prep is next in action Friday, Feb. 1, against Cedar Grove at home. Seton Hall Prep Basketball won their third straight game, defeating Newark Central 62-47 on Tuesday, Jan. 29. The Prep jumped out to a 16-2 start and never looked back. Ashton Miller led the way with 27 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter. The Pirates are next in action at home tomorrow, Thursday Jan. 31, against West Side at home (Tracey Gym) at 7pm. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey defeated Millburn High School 4-0 on Sunday, then tied Pope John 2-2 on Monday, Jan. 30. The Pirates are now 11-6-3 and next play Princeton Day on Jan. 31, away. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling split their last two matches, defeating James Caldwell 48-25 on Jan. 25, and losing to Pope John 52-15 Monday, Jan. 29. The Pirates are now 10-3 in regular season competition and 6-0 in Conference play. Their next match is tomorrow, Jan. 30, against Verona at home (Tracey Gym) at 7pm. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Payne Tech 55-43 on Saturday, Jan. 26, to improve to 9-6 on the season. Senior Geordan Walker led the way with 14 points for The Pirates, who led the entire game. Seton Hall Prep Swimming improved to 10-0 with a 98-72 win over Columbia on Thursday, Jan. 24, at NJIT in Newark. The 200 Medley Relay Team of Freshman Dom Ancey, Junior Mike Pietrucha, Senior Roo Fenton and Sophomore Joaquin Quezada led off the meet by winning in 1:46.38. Individual event winners for SHP included Junior Joe Labrador in the 200 Individual Medley (2:16.67), Sophomore Jaeden Yburan in the 100 Butterfly (58.39), Senior Luke Shea in the 100 Freestyle (50.79), Fenton in the 500 Free (5:29.47), Pietrucha in the 100 Backstroke (58.31) and Freshman Connor Townson in the 100 Breaststroke (1:04.42). The 200 Freestyle Relay Team of Labrador, Senior Jack McGovern, Shea and Yburan also captured a first place in 1:40.42. Next up for the Pirates is a meet vs. West Orange at Rutgers-Newark on January 29. The Seton Hall Prep Basketball team bounced back from a tough loss to Immaculate Conception on Tuesday with a big-time win over #15 Union Catholic 64-51 Thursday night at Tracey Gym in West Orange. Ashton Miller led the way with 25 points (15 in the second quarter), as Geordan Walker added 13 points and nine rebounds to help The Pirates get back on track and improve to 8-6. Their next game is tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 26, at 1 pm at home against Payne Tech. Seton Hall Prep Basketball lost to Immaculate Conception 67-64 Tuesday night in a thriller at Tracey Gym. The Pirates were led by Senior Ashton Miller's 25 points, six assists and five rebounds. Sophomore Michael Curran scored a career-high 22 points. The Pirates are back in action Thursday night at home at 7 pm. The Seton Hall Prep Swimming Team won the Essex County Championship for the 22nd consecutive season on Monday, Jan. 21, at NJIT in Newark, NJ. The meet also determined the Super Essex Conference Champion, which The Prep has now won in each of the ten years of the conference's history. Senior Roo Fenton led the way in a performance that earned him the Cullen Jones Award as Most Outstanding Swimmer for the third consecutive season. Fenton won both the 50 and 100 Freestyles in 20.97 and 47.17 respectively, both times being the fastest he has swum for The Prep. He also anchored the winning 200 Medley Relay and 200 Freestyle Relay Teams. The Medley Relay Team consisted of Sophomore Jaeden Yburan, Freshman Connor Townson, Senior Luke Shea and Fenton, winning in a time of 1:39.52. The 200 Freestyle Relay was the most exciting race of the day. Junior Matt Prior (22.98), Sophomore Jack Devilbiss (22.70) and Junior Mike Pietrucha (22.77) all swam SHP best times, but still found themselves trailing Millburn going into the last leg. Fenton would then come from behind to win with a 20.55 split that wowed the crowd. The total time of 1:29.00 set a new county meet record, previously held by the 2014 SHP team of Justin Dunn, Phillip Jones, Tom Curivan, and Kyle Patterson. Yburan would also break a record, this time a school record, as he won the 100 Backstroke in 51.93. The previous record of 52.04 was set by Kyle Madley in 2011. Prior was also an event winner, taking the 200 free in 1:47.20. The 400 Free Relay would give the Prep its 7th win out of the 11 events as Shea, Pietrucha, Prior and Yburan would win in 3:22.26. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling used a strong semi-final round to propel them to their 4th straight Essex County Tournament championship at South Mountain Codey Arena on Jan. 17-18. The Pirates came away with 13 medals, 8 finalist, 3 gold and 2 bronze. The Prep finished with 256 points to West Essex' 238, with Nutley finishing third with 124. One of the best stories of the tournament came from The Prep's AJ Hinton; Hinton entered the tournament as a 14th-seed and knocked off the three-seed in his first match to put him in the quarter-finals. Hinton then pinned the sixth-seed, propelling him into the semifinals; he finished third place, scoring 16 team points for The Prep to give them a comfortable margin of victory. "The great thing about his story is that he told us in practice Wednesday, he was going to do this," said Seton Hall Prep coach Jack Decker in a story with NJ.com. "He was not going to be denied. He's a quiet kid so when he says something like that, you know he's mentally prepared to do that. I'm proud of him." Cpt. Larry Melchionda won his second ECT title, with Mike Massa and Jack Wilt also taking first place. Conner Decker, Cole Carroll, Zach Merlino, Drew Mitzak and Niko Diakides all lost close final matches to finish second, while Gabe Jimenez and AJ Hinton came in third. Freshman Joe Sciarrone finished a strong fourth, with Dean Musialowicz and Aidan Cunningham finishing sixth. The Pirates are back in action on 1/25 in Caldwell. Seton Hall Prep Swimming improved to 9-0 on the season with a 121-49 win over James Caldwell High School at The Caldwell Community Center on Wednesday. The Seton Hall Prep Lacrosse program held their 11th anuual Men's Beefsteak Thursday, Jan. 10, at McLoone's Boathouse in West Orange, NJ. A sold out crowd of 85 SHP Lacrosse Alumni, fathers and friends came together to break bread and enjoy good fellowship. Rutgers University Lacrosse Head Coach Brian Brecht was the key note speaker and gave an excellent account of the college lacrosse experience. He was followed by SHP Alumni father Gus Heningburg, who read a speach written by his son Jules (SHP '14, Rutgers '18). Jules relocated to San Diego, CA, where he plays for the National Lacrosse League team The Sand Diego Seals. He wrote about the attitude and sacrifices it takes to be a High School and College All-American and play at the professional level. Seton Hall Prep Swimming came out victorious in a swim meet between the top two teams in the Super Essex Conference on Monday, Jan. 14, at the Clifton Boys and Girls Club. Both teams came in unbeaten, and each swam their fastest meet of the season. Seton Hall Prep came out on top 103-67. The SHP 200 Medley Relay of Jaeden Yburan, Mike Pietrucha, Luke Shea and Roo Fenton led off taking first in a season best 1:38.37 to set the fast paced tone; Matt Prior would follow by winning the 200 free in 1:50.02, but Montclair would finish 2-3-4, giving the Prep a 17-13 lead. The Pirates would go 1-2 in the next two events, featuring Yburan (in 2:01.38) and Connor Townson in the 200 IM and Fenton (in a blistering 21.24) and Shea in the 50 Free, but Montlcair would stirke back with a 1-3-4 finish in the 100 butterfly to pull within 8 at 43-35. Fenton (47.56) and Pietrucha would get it back for the Pirates with a 1-2 in the 100 Free, and with Prior winning the 500 Free in 4:55.38, SHP led 63-47. At that point the Pirates began to pull away; Fenton, Jack Devilbiss, Shea and Prior won the 200 Free Relay in 1:31.45; Yburan would win the backstroke in 54.83; Townson (1:02.80) and Pietrucha would 1-2 the 100 Breaststroke, ad Joaquin Quezada, Devilbiss, Prior and Yburan would win the 400 Free Relay in 3:22.13. It was an outstanding win for The Pirates in the most exciting meet of the season thus far. Next up for the 8-0 Pirates is Caldwell on January 16. Seton Hall Prep defeated West Orange 52-51 behind Colin Flaherty's go-ahead three pointer with under 20 seconds remaining in the game. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey lost to Portledge (NY) 7-5 on Monday, Jan. 14, but Senior Thomas Colucci scored his 100th career point as a Pirate. Aidan D'Urso had a goal and two assists for The Prep, while Alex Kuhtik scored a goal as well. Seton Hall Prep Bowling dropped their first match of the season, losing 5-2 to Livingston High School on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. The Prep narrowly took the first game against The Lancers before dropping the final two, both of which came down to the wire. Seton Hall Prep's Baseball Program runs an Annual Winter Carnival that provides developmentally challenged friends a fun-filled day. The Prep's goal is to create many smiles, much laughter and develop friendships. Check out the video with interviews from Head Coach Mike Sheppard and Seniors Nick Diaz and Nick Maldonado. Seton Hall Prep Football Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald presented at The American Football Coaches Association Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 8. Every year, the AFCA provides college and high school coaches an opportunity for professional development and networking. This year, our own Coach Fitzgerald was chosen to speak and spread his knowledge and wisdom in front of a crowd of attendees. Members of The Prep Soccer team were honored at the 50th anniversary Soccer Coaches Association of New Jersey (SCANJ) banquet held last Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Pines Manor in Metuchen, NJ. Pictured from left to right: Jason Pereira '20, Aidan Dunphy '20, Lucas Ross '21, Liam Bertrand '19 and Head Coach Marty Berman. Bertrand made Honorable Mention North Jersey Non-Public A (along with Joe Kearns '19 and Brian Zimmermann '19 who were not pictured). Pereira made Second Team and Dunphy and Ross made the First Team North Jersey Non-Public A. The Prep was ranked third in the Soccer Coaches' State Private and Non-Public Schools Poll. Seton Hall Prep's Wrestling coaching staff was very proud of the effort displayed by The Pirates over the weekend. Coming off an emotional win over West Essex, The Pirates took on a tough Irvington squad on Friday, Jan. 11, beating them 61-15 before Saturday's showdown with St. Peter's and St. Anthony's (LI) in Jersey City. The Prep won the first match with a 39-30 victory over a very solid St. Anthony's team. Then, The Pirates went back and forth with a great Peter's club before falling one match short of topping SPP in a rugged dual meet. The coaching staff wants to extend their thanks to the wrestling faithful for the large showing in Jersey City over the weekend, as The Pirates resume action Thursday at Codey Arena for the start of the Essex County Tournament. Seton Hall Prep Swimming improved to 7-0 with a 114-56 victory over Montclair Kimberley Academy on Friday, Jan. 11. The 200 Medley Relay Team of Sophomore Jaeden Yburan, Freshman Connor Townson, Sophomore Joaquin Quezada and Senior Roo Fenton got things rolling with a winning time of 1:48.99. Several different Prep swimmers then stepped up to win individual races, with Sophmore Jack Devilbiss winning the 200 IM in 2:13.00, Senior Luke Shea capturing the 50 Free in 22.97, and Senior Mike Ippolito taking the 100 Freestyle in 55.74. Juniors Mike Pietrucha and Matt Prior joined Yburan and Shea to win the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:35.11, while Freshman Dylan Negron (59.65 in the 100 backstroke) and Quezada (1:12.74 in the 100 Breaststroke) captured the last individual races of the day. The 400 Freestyle Relay of Devilbiss, Junior Gage Derr, Freshman Dom Ancey and Junior Joseph Labrador would close the meet by winning their event in 3:40.32. Next up for the swim team is a meet with Montclair on Monday, Jan. 14, in what should be the most exciting meet of the regular season. The meet gets underway with a warmup at 8pm at the Clifton Boys and Girls Club. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey beat HUN 7-2 on Senior Night on Friday night, Jan. 11, 2019. Seton Hall Prep Basketball lost to Newark East Side 58-46 on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. The Pirates next play Tuesday, Jan. 15, at West Orange High School at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Bowling took care of business Thursday night, beating West Caldwell Tech comfortably at Hanover Lanes in East Hanover. The Prep will match up against Livingston High School on Monday, Jan. 14, for a big conference match. Seton Hall Prep Swimming defeated Morristown 124-46 on Wednesday, Jan. 9, to improve to 6-0 on the season. The Prep broke two school records in the metric distances during the meet. Senior Roo Fenton set the new record in the 50 meter freestyle, winning the race in a time of 23.90. The previous record had been set in 1994 by Mike Przywozny (24.17). Fenton also won the 100 freestyle in 54.68. Also setting a new record was Sophomore Jaeden Yburan in a time of 2:09.38, breaking the previous mark of 2:10.09 set by Brandon Wang in 2016. Yburan would also double by winning the 100 Backstroke in 59.82. Other winners for the Prep on the day included Junior Matt Prior in the 200 Freestyle (2:02.90), Senior Luke Shea in the 100 Butterfly (59.90), Freshman Dylan Negron in the 400 Freestyle (4:46.61) and Senior Mike Ippolito in the 100 Breaststroke (1:13.39). The Prep would also capture all three relays. Freshman Connor Townson, Shea, Sophomore Joaquin Quezada and Junior Mike Pietrucha won the 200 Medley Relay in 1:58.89; Yburan, Prior, Shea and Fenton took the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:40.95; and Pietrucha, Negron, Sophomore Jack Devilbiss and Prior finshed up the day by winning the 400 Free Relay in 4:05.42. The Prep's next meet is at MKA Friday at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling came back to defeat West Essex 30-22 on Wednesday, Jan. 9, in an intense atmosphere at West Essex High School. West Essex jumped out to an early 15-6 lead, winning four out of the first six matches. The Pirates bounced back with back-to-back major decisions from Larry Melchionda and Conner Decker to tighten the score to 15-14. After West Essex bounced back with a major decision of their own, The Prep's Cole Carol stopped state qualifier Darren Jones 2-0. Going into the last three matches, trailing 22-17, Jack Wilt brought The Prep within one, then AJ Hinton put The Pirates in the lead 24-22. Mike Massa put an exclamation point on a big comeback with a 40-second pin to secure the win. The Pirates are back in action Friday night at home. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Central HS tonight 52-47. Seton Hall Prep Swimming won their first meet of 2019, defeating Verona High School 123-43 on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at NJIT in Newark. Freshman Dylan Negron took two first place finishes for The Prep: the 100 Freestyle (54.01) and the 100 Backstroke (59.84). Other race winners for The Prep included Sophomore Jaeden Yburan in the 200 Freestyle (200.57), Junior Joseph Labrador in the 50 Freestyle (24.64), Junior Matt Prior in the 100 Butterfly (59.35), and Senior Luke Shea in the 100 Breaststroke (1:04.58). The Prep also won all three relays: the 200 Medley Relay (Labrador, Sophomore Jack Amoreno, Sophomore Jack Devilbiss and Senior Jack McGovern) in a time of 1:53.48; the 200 Freestyle Relay (Senior Mike Ippolito, McGovern, Devilbiss, and Senior Roo Fenton) in 1:36.96; and the 400 Freestyle Relay (Junior Gage Derr, Junior Asad Holmes, McGovern and Sophomore Alexis Mollet) in 4:00.26. The next meet for The Pirates is tomorrow, Jan. 9, at Morristown. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey scored six goals in the opening period of a 10-0 win over Bishop Eustace on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. After a dominate win at Livingston High School Thursday night, the Seton Hall Prep Wrestling team performed well in the 2nd annual Sam Cali Tournament at West Orange High School on Saturday, Jan. 5. The tournament featured wrestlers from 36 schools including Blair Academy, Delbarton, Don Bosco, and schools from NY, PA and New England. Seton Hall Prep finished third in the team scoring. Sophomore Jack Wilt made the finals as a sophomore, finishing 2nd. Juniors Mike Massa and Zak Merlino finished a strong third, and Senior Niko Diakides finished fourth in a loaded 285 weight class. Next up is an SEC showdown at West Essex Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 7pm. The team hopes for a strong SHP crowd. Seton Hall Prep Hockey tied Bergen Catholic 2-2 on Friday night, Jan. 4, 2019. Thomas Colucci scored both goals, one from Ryan Kemp and one from Phil Feinberg. The Pirates next play on Monday, Jan. 7, vs. Bishop Eustace at home at 4:15pm. Seton Hall Prep bounced back from their loss to Rutgers Prep with a 48-29 win over Montclair Friday night. Seton Hall Prep Lacrosse kicked off their Christmas vacation last week with a Team Service Project. The Prep came together on Saturday, Dec. 22, to bring some Christmas spirit to the men living at the Market Street Mission in Morristown. The Market Street Mission is a nonprofit organization that has been providing meals, shelter and care for homeless and drug/alcohol addicted men for over 125 years. You can learn more about this incredible organization at www.marketstreet.org. SHP teammates Ryan Quinn and Matt Douglas headed The Team Service Project by working with the Mission to identify a list of their most needed items and then organizing their teammates in a fun Scavenger Hunt Style Competition through Walmart. The players were broken up into four-man teams and given customized shopping lists ranging from cereal and ski jackets to denture paste and dress pants. The players brought a fun, festive spirit to their shopping and a healthy dose of competition since Chipotle Gift cards were donated for the winning team. Congratulations to Senior Louis Magliaro, Juniors Connell Kumar and Ryan Webber, and Sophomore Miles Nippes for being the first team to find their items and successfully navigate the very busy checkout lines! With their shopping complete, the team headed over to the Market Street Mission, where they took a tour and learned more about the Mission’s life-saving work. Without a doubt, the most impactful part of the day was interacting with a past graduate of the program and several of the men currently living at the Mission. Their determination, strength, gratitude and hope despite the challenges they face were truly inspiring. Thanks to the generosity of Coach Giarrusso and his team, their families and the Pirate Lacrosse Club, the boys were able to donate over $750 in cash and goods to the Market Street Mission. Despite the impressive donation, it’s safe to say the boys got at least as much as they gave. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling defeated Livingston 47-12 on Thursday, Jan. 3. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling rebounded from a tough loss to South Plainfield last week, winning all three matches this past Saturday, Dec. 29. Leading the Pirates with three pins was State Ranked Senior Niko Diakides, Captain Larry Melchionda, Joe Sciarrone, Conner Decker and Mike Massa also went undefeated for the day. The Pirates are back in action tonight, Jan. 3, at 7pm against Livingston. Seton Hall Prep defeated St. Joe's (Met.) 6-1 on Dec. 30, 2018, in the Ice Vault Classic in Wayne. Thomas Colucci scored two goals and recorded an assist to help lead The Prep. Alex Kuhtik had a goal and an assist in the win. Phil Feinberg, Brendan Waivada and Christopher Kelly also scored. Ryan Kemp and James Gabriel had an assist and Jake Schunke made 22 stops. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Tower Hill (DE) 54-36 on Sunday night to win the Dave Lewis Memorial Bracket of the Boardwalk Classic at the Wildwood Convention Center in Wildwood. The Prep was led by Ashton Miller, who finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Senior Geordan Walker added eight points and six rebounds, and Josh Hopson matched his career high with nine points and five rebounds. Seton Hall Prep Basketball defeated Brandywine High School 77-30 on Saturday, Dec. 29 at The Crest Savings Battle of the Boards at the Wildwood Convention Center. It was the semifinal round of the Dave Lewis Memorial Bracket at the Boardwalk Classic at the Wildwood Conventional Center. Geordan Walker led the team with 13 points, while Ashton Miller finished with 12. Seton Hall Prep Hockey, No. 8 in NJ.com top 20, defeated No. 9 Summit High School 4-2 on Friday, Dec. 28 to improve to 7-3 on the season. The Prep took scored in each period. Tyler Fogu started it off with a goal in the first, Ryan Kemp scored in the second, and both Harrison Rocheville and Chase Gaudioso scored in the third period. Summit scored both of their goals with under two minutes to play in regulation. Seton Hall Prep Hockey, No. 8 in NJ.com's Top 20, improved to 6-3 on the season after back-to-back wins against Indian Hills and Randolph High School. The Prep defeated Indian Hills 5-2 on Sunday, Dec. 23, behind goals from Thomas Colucci, Tyler Fogu, Anthony Martine and two from Ryan Kemp. Then, on Thursday, Dec. 27, The Prep defeated Randolph High School, No. 9 in NJ.com's Top 20, 2-1 behind goals from Phil Feinberg and Ryan Rodrigues. The score was tied heading into the final period, where Rodrigues scored the tie-breaking goal on a rebound of Timothy O'Connell's shot early in the period. Jake Schunke tallied 25 saves in goal to earn the win. The Prep will look to improve their winning streak to three games with a game tonight, Dec. 28, against Summit High School at 6:30pm at The Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ. Seton Hall Prep held their National Letter of Intent & Commitment Ceremony last Wednesday, Dec. 19, as student-athletes from The Prep's Baseball, Lacrosse and Football teams prepare for the next stage of their athletic and academic careers. Everyone contributed in Seton Hall Prep's big win against St. Joe's (Met.) on Saturday, Dec. 22, as The Prep won 51-48 in overtime. Seton Hall Prep Swimming improved to 4-0 on the season with a 109-61 win over Livingston High School on Thursday, Dec. 20. The win over Livingston featured a new school record in the 200 Freestyle Relay. Congratulations to Jaeden Yburan (22.20), Matt Prior (22.19), Luke Shea (21.82) and Roo Fenton (20.97), who set the new record of 1:27.18. The previous record of 1:27.31 was set in 1991. The full stat sheet and story from nj.com is here. Seton Hall Prep Wrestling defeated West Orange 58-15 on Wednesday, Dec. 19, in their home opener of the 2018-2019 season. The Prep is off to another hot start to the season, finishing second at the Morris Knolls Tournament and defeating Nutley 61-9 on Monday. The Prep travels to Delaware for The Beast of The East Tournament starting tomorrow, Dec. 21, and going through the weekend. Seton Hall Prep Swimming won their third straight game to begin the 2018-2019 season, improving to 3-0 on the young season. The results are linked here. The Pirates beat Sparta 71-45 in their home opener Monday night, as Pirate Nation enjoyed "Silent Night," waiting until The Pirates scored 10 points to celebrate. The Pirates next game is Thursday @ Payne Tech. Seton Hall Prep opened up the 2018-2019 Wrestling season with a strong second place finish at the Morris Knolls Tournament this past weekend, finishing second only to perennial powerhouse South Plainfield. Leading the way for SHP was Junior Zach Merlino, who took Gold at 182. Larry Melchionda, Connor Decker, Jack Wilt and Niko Diakides (Niko lost to the defending State Champ) came away with Silver. Drew Mitzak had a great tournament, taking Bronze. Cole Carroll and Mike Massa both finished fourth, with Joe Sciarrone, Aiden Cunningham and Alex Giannagelou going 1-1. The Pirates will host their first match of the season at home Wednesday vs. West Orange at 7 pm. Go Pirates will have full coverage. Seton Hall Prep Indoor Track opened it's season Friday, Dec. 14, at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in New York City. Caseem Ankuli DeWitt, Shot Put winner, 51'11" Tim O'Connor, 5th place, 39'11" The Pirates are back in action on Dec. 22 at Ocean Breeze for the SEC Championship meet. Seton Hall Prep lost 56-47 to Immaculate Conception in their season opener Friday, Dec. 14. Senior Ashton Miller led all scorers with 25 points. Seton Hall Prep is 4-1 after defeating Mo-Beard Wednesday, Dec. 12, their best start since opening 5-1 in the 2009-2010 season. Check out the highlights courtesy of Jersey Sports Zone. The Seton Hall Prep Soccer Program held their end-of-season Banquet on Monday, Dec. 10, where they retired the #4 jersey worn by Billy ('11), Shawn ('16) and Brian ('19) Zimmerman. Seton Hall Prep Bowling is off to a hot start. Check out the season outlook video featuring interviews from Coach Seann Farrell and a few of the senior bowlers! Seton Hall Prep's Track & Field team is preparing for another season under Head Coach John Finnegan. Hear from him and some seniors heading into the year. The First meet is Friday, Dec. 14, as The Pirates will compete in the Essex Invitational @ OBA at 4pm. The Prep scrimmaged Roselle Catholic on Thursday, Dec. 6, the defending Tournament of Champions. Seton Hall Prep defeated Millburn High School 121-49 in their season opener on Monday, Dec. 4. Three freshman swam varsity for the first time: Dylan Negron (200 Free), Connor Townson (200 IM, 500 Free) and Dominic Ancey (100 Back). The Prep had 3706 Power Points. The Prep Hockey defeated St. Augustine Prep 3-0 on Monday behind two goals from Thomas Colucci and one from Chris Kelly. It was the first time SHP defeated St. Augustine Prep since the 2011-2012 season, ending a seven-game losing streak. Check out some of the highlights, including the first of two goal's from Colucci. Joe Alexander enters his first season as the Seton Hall Prep's Head Coach of the Swimming team. But he's no stranger of the program. Alexander's been on the staff for 30 years as an assistant. He knows this program and knows how to win, as he's been a big part of their very successful journey. Hear what he and Senior Swimmers Andrew "Roo" Fenton and Luke Shea have to say heading into the year. Seton Hall Prep is getting ready for another season of Wrestling! Hear from Head Coach Jack Decker and a couple Prep Wrestlers ahead of opening day. Seton Hall Prep Basketball is gearing up for another season. Hear what Head Coach Kevin Williams and Seniors Ashton Miller and Geordan Walker have to say as they prepare for a big year. Seton Hall Prep Ice Hockey defeated Bergen Catholic 6-2 on Sunday, Nov. 25, at Codey Arena in West Orange in The Pirates opening game of the season. The Pirates, a young team that graduated 14 seniors last year, got out to a hot start, leading 3-0 after the first period of play. Senior Thomas Colucci scored twice to lead the way for The Prep, and Freshman Goalie Jake Schunke blocked 21 shots in his Varsity debut. The Pirates next game is Wednesday, Nov. 28, @ Don Bosco Prep at 7:15 pm. Seton Hall Prep's Football season ended in Oradell today as they lost to #1 in the state Bergen Catholic in the NJSIAA Quarterfinals. The Prep got their first playoff win since 2011 and first playoff shutout (17-0) since 1997 against Paramus Catholic last week, but couldn't overcome the #1 team in the state today. Quarterback Aidan Gilman completed 17-of-28 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown in his final game as a Pirate. Matt Colantuono caught six passes for 59 yards, while Tim Macko caught seven for 47 yards and the team's only touchdown. Seton Hall Prep's Soccer season ended Thursday after 100 minutes of play and penalty kicks against #1 ranked Delbarton in the North Jersey, Non-Public A Championship game at Millburn High School. SHP tied the game at 1-1 before halftime when Joe Kearns found fellow senior Nate Dean for a header with a long throw in in the 39th minute. The Prep found themselves down again, this time 2-1 late in the second period, when senior defender Jon Ned scored in the 70th minute to score and force overtime. Ned had missed most of the season after suffering an injury on Sept. 15, but came back for this game and played a pivotal role. The Pirates went on to lose in Penalty Kicks 4-3 against the undefeated Green Wave. It was their first game allowing more than one goal. Seton Hall Prep Alumni Nick Kriak (class of 2018) earned postseason honors from the Liberty League this week. The first-year midfielder was named the conference's Rookie of the Year. "A starter in 11 of the 16 games he played in, Kriak played an important role in the midfield for Hobart. An extremely hard working player, he covered a tremendous amount of ground on both sides of the ball. Kriak's athletic ability and work ethic impacted every game he played in. He is the sixth Statesman to be named the Liberty League Rookie of the Year." Seton Hall Prep Soccer beat Don Bosco Prep after 100 scoreless minutes and penalty kicks on Monday as Sophomore Goal Keeper Tomas Hut made a key save. The Prep, #2 seed, advances to the North A State Sectional Final against top-seeded Delbarton on Thursday at 3pm at Millburn High School after beating Don Bosco 5-3 on PKs. Senior GK Liam Bertrand held Bosco scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods before Hut came in relief to save one of four shots in PKs. Brian Zimmermann, Joe Kearns, Skyler Storms, Rafael de la Torre and Bobby Smallman (game-sealing PK) all made their penalty shots. Seton Hall Prep Football had a lot of turnover in the offseason. It didn't break this group. The Pirates won their first playoff game since 2011, beating Paramus Catholic yesterday, Nov. 3, 17-0 in the opening round of the NJSIAA Playoffs. First-year Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald has delivered five wins in his first season at the helm, as The Pirates will now prepare for the biggest test of the season against Bergen Catholic in the second round next weekend. Seton Hall Prep Soccer lost to Montclair in the Essex County Tournament Final in Penalty Kicks after a scoreless game through regulation and two overtime periods. The Pirates lost the Penalty Kicks 5-4 to fall just short in their quest to win back-to-back Essex County Championships. The season isn't over for The Pirates, who will continue play in the NJSIAA Playoffs tomorrow, Monday, against Don Bosco Prep at home (BPT Field, The KAC) in the Semi-Final round at 2pm. Seton Hall Prep Football will play Paramus Catholic in the NJSIAA Playoffs tomorrow, Nov. 3, at 1pm at BPT Field (The KAC). Hear from Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald and some key members of The Pirates team before the matchup! Seton Hall Prep Soccer defeated St. Joe's Regional High School 1-0 on Thursday, Nov. 1, behind Senior Skyler Storms goal in the second half. The Pirates advance in the NJSIAA Playoffs, but will first concentrate on Saturday's ECT Championship matchup against Montclair at Millburn High School against Montclair at 3pm (Nov. 3). Senior Quarterback of the SHP Football team Aidan Gilman won Athlete of the Month of October for The Pirates. Just a little over a decade ago, Rick Porcello was the face of Seton Hall Prep's very successful baseball program. Fast forward 11 years, and he's a World Series Champion. Porcello started game three of the World Series and played a pivotal role in their postseason run, stepping up as both a starting pitcher and even a reliever along the way. The coverage for Porcello and the Red Sox has been excellent. Below, I'll link the articles and videos I've found surfacing the web for you to enjoy and share with friends, family and fans. If you find something you want to see added, contact Sports Media Director PJ Candido and [email protected]. The Seton Hall Prep Soccer team is ready for the postseason. Currently 17-2-2, The Pirates are officially done with regular season competition and are preparing to achieve the goals they set out at the beginning of the year. The Pirates face St. Joe's Regional HS this Thursday, Nov. 1, in the NJSIAA Non-Public "A" Quarters at 2 pm at BPT Field (The KAC). They then go on to play in the Essex County Tournament Championship Saturday, Nov. 3, at 3 pm vs. Montclair at Millburn High School. It's The Prep's second consecutive ECT Championship game. Check out the postseason preview with interviews from Coach Marty Berman, players Aidan Dunphy, Billy Zimmermann, Lucas Ross, Liam Bertrand and more. Check out the top 10 plays of October in Seton Hall Prep Sports! Seton Hall Prep Cross Country placed sixth among 19 county competitors in the Essex County Championship on Friday, Oct. 26 at Brookdale Park. A young and gritty Prep squad led by Junior Colin Schweitzer (6th Place, 16:07- PR) and Sophomore Kevin Harvey (8th Place, 16:14- PR) placed sixth as a team among their 19 county competitors. With Junior Nolan Orr sidelined with an injury, the Pirates went to the line with six runners focused on taking on their county rivals. Through the first mile, Schweitzer and Harvey came through in 5:01 and 5:02 and were comfortably in the top twenty. With an eye on the competition, both moved up with each mile, nearly breaking into the top ten by the second mile. The scoring for the varsity team was rounded out by Junior Brian Phillips (17:33- PR), Sophomore Chris Gizzo (17:38) and Senior Louie Constable (17:59). For their efforts, Schweitzer and Harvey will both be named First Team All-County. In other action, the JV team placed a strong third among 14 teams. Scoring for the JV were Sophomore Luke Incardona (4th Place- 17:56- PR), Junior TJ Martynowicz (18:23- PR), Senior Pat Nolan (18:25- PR), Junior Will Spies (18:29- PR) and Junior Will Robinson (18:31- PR). The Prep's Freshman team ran away with First Place and were led by Anthony Bottino (3rd Place, 18:22- PR), Danny Collum (4th Place, 18:31-PR), Ben Ferrara (5th Place, 18:38-PR), Brady Sheaffer (9th Place, 19:12- PR) and Anthony Urciuoli (10th Place, 19:16- PR). Pope John used a big second half to defeat Seton Hall Prep 30-20 in the regular season finale, outscoring them 22-3. Quarterback Aidan Gilman scored two touchdowns, the first being a receiving touchdown from Matt Colantuono, and the second a one-yard rush in the second quarter. Gilman completed 17 passes for 147 yards. Giye Jenkins had six catches for 61 yards, while Dominic Busby and Colantuono caught a combined eight passes for 67 yards. Zach Hoban kicked a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter for the team's only points in the second half. The Pirates end the regular season with a 4-5 record as they prepare for the first round of the playoffs against Paramus Catholic next Saturday, Nov. 3. Seton Hall Prep Soccer defeated Millburn High School 2-0 on Thursday, Oct. 25, to advance to their second straight Essex County Tournament Championship. Sophomore Lucas Ross scored in the 63rd minute off a beautiful assist from Junior Aidan Dunphy to give The Pirates a 1-0 lead. Dunphy then scored with 12 seconds left to close out the game. SHP, No. 6 on NJ.com's top 20 poll, will face No. 2 Montclair on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 3 p.m. at Millburn in the ECT Final. Seton Hall Prep's Cross Country team hasn't competed in a meet since Oct. 6, when they raced in the Brett Taylor Invitational in Mahwah. The long break was used by The Prep's runners to heal, rest, and prepare mentally and physically for the Essex County Championship meet taking place tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 26, at Brookdale Park. Head Coach Chris Barnitt said he's really pleased with how The Prep has performed this season, and they should be well prepared for the meet tomorrow. "I really wanted to lock down a good 2-3 weeks to be able to train," Barnitt said. "We've been able to do some more race-specific training, and we had a lot of tough workouts that really stretched them, but also prepared them for what's to come on Friday at the county championship... I think it was a good couple of weeks to train, focus on conditioning and get us ready to be in race-ready shape." Junior Colin Schweitzer said they used the break to improve their diets, catch up on sleep, and stay in race-ready shape. "Going into the meet, I feel confident that our team overall could perform really well," Schweitzer said. "I feel like our squad has shown really strong improvement over the season and I think we could go out there and really compete." Sophomore Kevin Harvey said the break really helped The Pirates improve their stanima and speed heading into the big meet. "My goal for the meet is to break 16:30," Harvey said. "Our goal as a team is to finish top 3, and I think the Freshman, JV and Varsity squads all should be able to do it." Junior Nolan Orr said he also feels confident going into the meet. He said he took advantage of the break by improving his diet, strengething his core, and healing his body from the season. "I would love to get top 3," Orr said. "But I think we could get first if we all put together a top performance. We're just excited to get out there, compete, and have fun." Barnitt said The Pirates have a young team, featuring over 20 juniors and over 20 sophomores. He said while the program has a bright future to be excited about, he's even more excited for what's to come tomorrow. "I'm looking forward to see how they stack up against the competition," he said. "They always show up for the big race... We're hoping for good things." Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved to 16-2-2 on the season after defeating Kearny 5-1 on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. Skyler Storms scored twice, Aidan Dunphy scored and tallied an assist, and Lucas Ross had three assists all in the first 20 minutes of the game. Dunphy and Brian Zimmermann finished with two assists on the afternoon while Will Monroy and Rafael de la Torre scoreed a goal each. Liam Bertrand and Tomas Hut had 6 saves each. The Pirates next play Thursday, Oct. 25, in the ECT Semis against Millburn at Livingston HS. Seton Hall Prep Soccer defeated Livingston HS 2-0 on Saturday, Oct. 20, in the Qtr. Final Round of the Essex County Tournament. Sophomore Lucas Ross scored both goals for The Pirates, who next play tomorrow, Monday, against Kearny High School at Harvey Field at 4 pm. The Prep will continue ECT play Thursday, Oct. 25, at Livingston HS against Millburn. Seton Hall Prep Football lost to St. Joe's 45-10 on Saturday, Oct. 20, to drop to 4-4 on the season. Quarterback Aidan Gilman completed 12 of 18 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown. Dominic Busby caught five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, while Matt Colantuono caught five for 43 yards. The Pirates wrap up the regular season at home next week against Pope John at 2 pm. Seton Hall Prep Soccer defeated Science Park 7-0 Thursday, Oct. 18, in the first round of the Essex County Tournament. Senior Skyler Storms opened it up with two goals for The Prep, followed by a goal from Junior Aidan Dunphy and one from Sophomore Lucas Ross to close out the half up 4-0. The scoring continued in the second half with goals from Eddie Neas, Will Monroy and Dylan Perez. Goalkeepers Liam Bertrand and Tomas Hut had a save each. The Pirates continue ECT play tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 20, at 2pm against Livingston HS at BPT Field. Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved to 13-2-2 with a 2-1 win over Monroe on Saturday, Oct. 13. The Prep took a 1-0 lead in the first half off an own goal. After Monroe tied it at 1-1 in the 2nd half, Sophomore Lucas Ross scored the game-winning goal with just a few minutes to play. GK Liam Bertrand had 6 saves, and Aidan Dunphy recorded an assist on the Ross goal. The Prep next plays Tuesday, Oct. 16, against James Caldwell HS at home. Seton Hall Prep Football's four-game winning streak was snapped yesterday, Oct. 13, as Delbarton's big second half proved to be enough for a 34-17 win over The Pirates. The Prep held a 17-14 lead in the early stages of the third quarter, but Delbarton responded with 20 unanswered points. Quarterback Aidan Gilman threw for 130 yards and ran for 79 and two scores. Matt Colantuono had three receptions for 56 yards, while Nicholas Gullace had two catches for 48. On the defensive side of the ball, Caseem Akinruli Dewitt had four tackles and one sack. Niko Diakides had seven tackles and two sacks. The Prep next plays Saturday, Oct. 20, at St. Joes at 1pm. Seton Hall Prep Football won their fourth game in a row, improving their record to 4-2 on the year, with a thrilling 29-28 win over Montclair. The Prep could have played for overtime by kicking an extra point with under a minute to go in a 28-27 game, but decided to roll the dice and go for two. It proved to be the right call as QB Aidan Gilman ran it in from the 2-yard line to convert on the two-point play, just moments after throwing the go-ahead 28-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Gullace. Gilman completed 18-of-30 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown and added 46 yards and a score on the ground. Sophomore RB Nazeer Elias carried 32 times for a career-high 152 yards and two touchdowns. Seton Hall Prep Soccer took their first loss since Sept. 7, losing to Millburn High School 1-0 on Monday. The Pirates had a chance to tie the game with just over three minutes remaining on a penalty kick, but Millburn GK Zach Barr made his best save of the day to save the game. Millburn scored in the 16th minute off a header from Alex Marx. That would be the only goal of the game as SHP GK Liam Bertrand finished with 4 saves, and Barr with 6. Seton Hall Prep Soccer bounced back with a dominate 6-0 win over Belleville at BPT Field on Wednesday. The Prep filled up the box score. First it was Rafael de la Torre with a goal from Lucas Ross to take a 1-0 lead, then it was Will Monroy scoring off a pass from Brian Zimmermann. That gave The Prep a 2-0 lead heading into halftime. In the 2nd half, Aidan Dunphy, Lucas Ross, Brian Zimmermann and Ben Chambeau each scored to give The Prep a 6-0 win. Nate Dean and Dylan Perez each finished with an assist as well. Liam Bertrand, Nick Hiel, Tomas Hut and Anthony Petruzziello each finished with saves for The Prep, who didn't allow a goal. Seton Hall Prep next plays tomorrow night, Oct. 13, at Monroe at 7pm. Seton Hall Prep Soccer bounced back with a dominate 6-0 win over Belleville at BPT Field on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Seton Hall Prep next plays Saturday night, Oct. 13, at Monroe at 7pm. Seton Hall Prep Soccer took their first loss since Sept. 7, losing to Millburn High School 1-0 on Monday, Oct. 8 at BPT Field. The Prep, No. 4 in NJ.com's top 20 poll, went 10-0-2 in their 12-game unbeaten streak. They will look to bounce back against Belleville at home Wednesday, Oct. 10, at BPT Field at 4 pm. Seton Hall Prep could have played for overtime by kicking an extra point with under a minute to go in a 28-27 game on Saturday, Oct. 5, against Montclair. First-year Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald decided to roll the dice and go for two, and it proved to be the right call in a 29-28 win over Montclair. Quarterback Aidan Gilman ran it in from the 2-yard line to convert on the two-point play, just moments after throwing the go-ahead 28-yard touchdown pass to Nicholas Gullace. Montclair took their first lead of the game, 28-21, with 1:29 to play. The Pirates then went on a 5-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in under a minute to reclaim the lead. The Pirates' defense then finished the job. The Pirates improved to 4-2 on the season and have now won four games in a row for the first time since 2013. They play Delbarton next Saturday, Oct. 13, at Delbarton's home fied. Another great week for The Prep sports as we headed into the month of October. Let's recap it. Soccer and Football both had impressive road performances on Saturday. Soccer traveled to CT to play one of the best high school soccer programs in the nation, South Kent, and played a very competitive 90 minutes. They drawed 0-0. Football defeated East Orange in East Orange by the score of 20-14. It was another collective effort from The Pirates to earn their third straight win, blocking a punt for a touchdown, forcing three turnovers, and scoring on offense twice. The Pirates are now 3-2 headed into their homecoming game against Montclair tomorrow, Oct. 6, at BPT Field at 2 pm. Soccer took care of business in Verona, winning 3-0 off two goals from Senior Skyler Storms and one from Sophomore Lucas Ross. Cross Country played second in the SEC Championship meet on Wednesday as three runners placed in the top 10. They compete tomorrow, Oct. 6, at the Brett Taylor Inivitational. Soccer defeated West Orange 3-0 to improve to 11-1-2 on the season. Skyler Storms, Brian Zimmermann, and Lucas Ross each scored in the second half. Soccer nexts plays against Millburn Monday, Oct. 8, at BPT Field at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved to 11-1-2 on the season with a 3-1 win over West Orange on Friday, Oct. 5. After a scoreless first half, The Pirates scored three goals in the final 40 minutes. Brian Zimmermann, Skyler Storms and Lucas Ross each scored a goal, while GK Liam Bertrand had 5 saves. The Pirates next game is Monday against Millburn at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Cross Country took on an evenly matched field of competitors and placed second behind Montclair in the Conference Championship at Branch Brook Park Wednesday, Oct. 3. Junior Nolan Orr was among the leaders who clocked a 5:05 first mile, while the other runners ran aggressively and battled a sea of blue from Montclair and Millburn. At the finish, The Prep placed three runners in the top ten. Orr (4th in 16:57), Sophomore Kevin Harvey (7th in 17:09, Branch Brook PR) and Junior Colin Schweitzer (8th in 17:18, Branch Brook PR). All three runners will receive All-Conference recognition for their efforts. Sophomore Chris Gizzo (18:20 - PR) and Senior Louie Constable (18:32) rounded out the scoring for the afternoon. Cross Country will compete next this Saturday, Oct. 6, in the Brett Taylor Invitational at 9am at Darlington County Park in Mahwah. Seton Hall Prep is 10-1-2 on the season. Check out their midseason highlight video! Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved to 10-1-2 on Tuesday, Oct. 2, when they beat Verona High School 3-0. Senior Skyler Storms had the first two goals for SHP, and Sophomore Lucas Ross had the other off a penalty shot. Soccer's next game is Friday at West Orange High School, 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Football is 3-2 heading into their homecoming game against Montclair Saturday, Oct. 6, at 2pm. Check out some highlights from the first five games! Seton Hall Prep beat East Orange High School on Saturday, Sept. 29, 20-14 to win their third straight game. They're now 3-2 on the season. The Prep's special teams got their second touchdown of the season, and it was a big one. Vin Henrich blocked a punt and Andrew Mitzak picked it up and returned it for a touchdown to give The Pirates a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Aidan Gilman got it done on the ground and through the air, rushing for 57 yards and a touchdown and throwing for 85 yards and a score to Giye Jenkins. Ryan Monteleone had seven tackles and two interceptions, while Foster Bryant finished with 12 tackles and a fumble recovery. The Prep hosts Montclair this Saturday, Oct. 6, at 2pm. South Kent is one of the best high school soccer programs in the entire nation, but Seton Hall Prep was ready for the challenge on Saturday, Sept. 29, when they traveled to Connecticut and played a very competitive 90 minutes of soccer. South Kent, 2015 and 2016 Top Drawer Soccer HS National Champions, have athletes from Guatemala, Bermuda, Argentina, Ghana and Czech Republic, to name a few. The Prep didn't back down from the top-level competition. The match was played by college and professional standards -- two 45-minute halves (No Overtime periods). Both teams had multiple scoring chances, but both defenses stepped up and didn't allow a goal in the full 90 played. The game finished with a 0-0 draw. Liam Bertrand finished with five saves for The Pirates, who are now 8-0-2 in their last 10 matches. South Kent Goalkeeper Hunter Kochiss had six stops. The Pirates, no. 6 in NJ's top 20, next game is against Verona Tuesday, Oct. 2, in Verona at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep had another big week in sports. Let's recap it. Seton Hall Prep Football got their second win in a row in a thrilling game against Paramus Catholic. Quarterback Aidan Gilman totaled over 180 yards and 3 touchdowns as The Pirates won 37-29, scoring over 35 in back-to-back wins. Matt Colantuono had two touchdowns, one that came in the fourth quarter with The Prep up 30-29. He finished with 60 yards rushing, 77 receiving yards and one touchdown on the ground and one in the air. RB Luca D'Emilio added 70 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Junior Dominic Busby was everywhere on the field, tallying 5 catches for 46 yards, an interception and a tackle-for-loss. Soccer had it's first draw of the season against West Essex in a game that went a full 100 minutes of play. Although the Pirates controlled the ball and out-shot West Essex by a large margin, the game ended in a tie after two 10-minute overtime periods. Goalkeeper Liam Bertrand had four saves. Cross Country competed in their final regular season conference race against Newark Academy and Bloomfield in a torrential downpour at Branch Brook Park, in Newark. The Prep runners trudged through many flooded portions of the course. They held strong through the second mile but Newark Academy was able to insert extra bodies before The Prep's top five to pull off a 25-30 victory. The Prep defeated Bloomfield 21-38 to finish their regular season competition with seven (7) wins and two (2) losses, and in second place behind Millburn. The team was led by Junior Nolan Orr (17:24) who ran comfortably and uncontested up front. Additional scorers for The Pirates were Sophomore Kevin Harvey (18:26), Junior Colin Schweitzer (18:52), Junior Brian Phillips (19:16) and Senior Louie Constable (19:23). Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved their record to 9-1-1 with a 3-0 win over James Caldwell High School. Aidan Dunphy, Owen Stahl and Lucas Ross each had a goal as Liam Bertrand finished with five saves and 0 goals allowed. The Pirates face South Kent (CT) Saturday, Sept. 29, in a huge game between two of the nation's best. Soccer Forward Lucas Ross won Athlete of the Month after a tremendous September. He's accounted for 19 goals (11 goals, 8 assists) as The Pirates still have one more game to play this month. The full story is linked here with video interviews from Ross himself and Head Coach Marty Berman, in addition to quotes from Asst. Coaches David Snyder, Matt Berman and Director of Athletics Larry Baggitt. Lucas Ross' month was one to remember. The sophomore Forward for Head Coach Marty Berman's Soccer team has been lights out in his first full month playing on the varsity level. As of Friday, Sept. 28, Ross has 11 goals and eight assists with one game still left to play (South Kent, Saturday, Sept. 29). The Pirates are 9-1-1. Ross said his teammates have helped bring him success, and he's enjoying the brotherhood that's blossomed along with it. "Everyone's really determined and motivated to win," Ross said. "Everyday I look forward to practice or a game because everyone helps out and wants to play as a team." Berman, who's in his 33rd year as Head Coach at SHP, said Ross has been everything they expected and more. "We knew from last year when he had such an explosive season on the freshman level that he would definitely be a starter and a factor in our offense this year," Berman said. Ross had 37 goals as a freshman, a school record. Berman said he has the ability to do something spectacular everytime he touches the ball. "You never know when you'll see him get off a shot or do something that makes you say 'wow,'" he said. Assistant coaches David Snyder and Matt Berman echo the praise given from Coach Berman. Snyder said Ross has two incredibly powerful feet, is good in the air, and never quits, in addition to being completely sportsmanlike and respectful to coaches and referees. "We really admire and respect how much Lucas wants to improve," Snyder said. "The kid just has a passion to learn and improve all the time. As well as he's been playing, we haven't seen the end of his dominance." Matt Berman said what's most impressive to him is how much Ross is willing to soak up information from coaches and adapt to play on a varsity level at such a young age. He also pointed out Ross' ability to thrive in big moments. "He has a clutch gene that's honeslty impossible to coach," Berman said. "When someone has it, you have to cherish it and enjoy watching it come to fruition. His talent level is phenomenal and he's had tremendous success contributing to the team." Director of Athletics Larry Baggitt said he's not surprised by Ross' success on the varsity level after watching him play as a freshman. "His presence on the field is immediately noticable," Baggitt said. "Everybody around him, because of his actions on and off the field, believes he belongs there. And he does." Ross still has lots of soccer to play and more goals to score. But winning with his team is his number one priority. "I want to get more wins, win a state championship and grow closer to the team," he said. "I understand the brotherhood here; everyone's determined to win." Seton Hall Prep Soccer improved their record to 9-1-1 on Thursday, Sept. 27, with a 3-0 win over James Caldwell High School. The Pirates face one of their toughest competitors of the season Saturday, Sept. 29, when they travel to South Kent for a 2:30 pm matchup. The Seton Hall Prep Cross Country team competed in their final regular season conference race against Newark Academy and Bloomfield on Tuesday, Sept. 25, in a torrential downpour at Branch Brook Park. A convival and playful spirit at the starting line turned into a heated competition on the trails as The Prep runners trudged through many flooded portions of the course in Newark, Head Coach Chris Barnitt said. The Prep held strong through the second mile, but Newark Academy was able to insert extra bodies before The Prep's top five to pull off a 25-30 victory. The Pirates will travel to Carlisle, PA, this weekend to participate in the Carlisle Invitational and look forward to a competitive Conference Championship next Tuesday, Oct. 2, at Branch Brook Park. Seton Hall Prep soccer faced West Essex Monday, Sept. 24, in a game that went a full 100 minutes of play. The game ended in a 0-0 draw after two 10-minute overtime periods despite The Prep controlling the ball and taking many more shots than their opponent. West Essex Goalkeeper Ryan Leach finished with 13 saves, as SHP GK Liam Bertrand had four. The Prep will play Caldwell HS at home (BPT Field) Thursday, Sept. 27, at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Football defeated Paramus Catholic 37-29 on Saturday, Sept. 22, for their second win in a row. Quarterback Aidan Gilman totaled over 180 yards and 3 touchdowns as The Pirates scored over 35 points for the second straight week. Matt Colantuono had two touchdowns, one that came in the fourth quarter with The Pirates up 30-29. He finished with 60 yards rushing and 77 receiving yards. Luca D'Emilio added 15 carries for 70 yards and a score. Junior Dominic Busby had five catches for 46 yards, and added an interception and tackle-for-loss on the defensive side of the ball. The Pirates will play at East Orange HS next Saturday, Sept. 29, at 1pm. Sept. 21: Friday, the Soccer team picked up their 7th straight win as they defeated Columbia 2-0 behind goals from Aidan Dunphy and Nate Dean. The Pirates Soccer team has now won seven straight games after defeated Columbia on Friday, Sept. 21, 2-0. After a scoreless first half, The Pirates got on the board with an Aidan Dunphy goal off an assist from Lucas Ross. Nate Dean scored shortly thereafter to make it 2-0. The Pirates are now 8-1 and prepare for a home game against West Essex on Monday, Sept. 24, at BPT Field (the KAC). The Seton Hall Prep Cross Country team ran with confidence as they swept yesterday's conference competition at Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey. They were victorious over Livingston (19-42) and over Columbia, who did not field a team. The Prep showed promise as they head into a busy schedule later this month and heading into October, as The Carlisle Invitational is set for Sept. 29 and the Conference Championship on Oct. 2. Junior Nolan Orr (16:40) continued a three-week string of time drops, winning the race after an early challenge from Livingston's top runner Philmon Mehari. Rounding out the scoring were solid performances from Junior Colin Schweitzer (17:56), Sophomore Kevin Harvey (18:17), Sophomore Chris Gizzo (18:23) and Junior Brian Phillips (18:33). Sophomore Luke Incardona (19:10), Senior Gus Kern (19:11), Senior Louie Constable (19:17), Sophomore Mike Lazzari (20:10-PR) and Sophomore Rhys Williams (20:17-PR) completed the varsity line-up. Cross Country will race tomorrow, Sept. 22, at the Bernie Magee Class Meet at Greystone Park at 9am. Seton Hall Prep Soccer won their sixth game in a row on Tuesday, Sept. 18, as they defeated East Side (Newark) 3-1 behind two goals from Lucas Ross and one from Nate Dean. The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first half off a goal from Senior Nate Dean. Lucas Ross put them ahead 2-0 with a goal in the second half, then East Side cut the score to 2-1 with a goal of their own. Ross put the game away with a Penalty Kick goal late in the second half to make the score 3-1. The Pirates have now won six straight games and look to continue their winning streak Friday at Columbia at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep Soccer took care of business this past weekend as they improved their record to 6-1 after winning three games in four days. The Pirates, winners of five straight, faced a tough four-day stretch that included away games at Livingston, MKA and Delran (PA). They scored eight goals and let up only one as they sweeped all three opponents. Against Livingston, Nate Dean, Aidan Dunphy and Brian Zimmermann all scored a goal each in a 3-1 win. At MKA, in a 2-0 win, Jason Pereira and Lucas Ross scored a goal each. To cap it off against Delran at the Mainline HS Jamboree at the United Sports training Center in Downington, PA, Brian Zimmermann, Brandon Real and Lucas Ross each scored in the 2nd half to lead the Pirates to a 3-0 victory. Seton Hall Prep now prepares for East Side (Newark) today, Sept. 18, at 4pm at BPT Field. They then play Columbia HS at Underhill Field Friday, Sept. 21, at 4pm. Seton Hall Prep hit on all three phases of the game Friday night in a 42-20 win over Passaic County Tech Institue (PCTI) in Wayne, New Jersey. First-year Head Coach Bill Fitzgerald got his first win as The Pirates' saw offensive, defensive and special teams touchdowns. Quarterback Aidan Gilman had two rushing touchdowns and Running Back Luca D'Emilio added one as The Pirates' offense moved the ball successfully pretty much all night. The Pirates' defense racked up 5 sacks, an interception returned for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery. Dominic Busby blocked a punt that landed in Nick Eliades' hands for a touchdown as The Pirates clicked on all three phases of the game. The Prep's next game is Saturday, Sept. 22, against Paramus Catholic at home (BPT Field). Seton Hall Prep scored three unanswered goals to defeat Livingston High School 3-1 on Thursday, Sept. 13, as Head Coach Marty Berman recorded his 450th career win in his 33rd year. Livingston took an early 1-0 lead on an own goal in the first two minutes of the game, but it was all Pirates after that. Nate Dean scored with 10 minutes remaining in the first half to tie it up going into halftime. After the break, The Pirates scored two more goals to put the game away. Brian Zimmerman gave The Prep the lead off a rebound from a Jason Pereira shot, then Aidan Dunphy scored The Prep's third and final goal with just over 17 minutes left in the game. The Pirates have now won three straight games as they head into a busy weekend that includes traveling out of state. They play Montclair Kimberly Academy on Saturday, then travel to Pennsylvania for a match against Delran on Sunday. Seton Hall Prep Cross Country defeated West Orange (26-30) and Verona (19-38), but fell to Millburn (32-27) on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ. The Prep was led by a strong three-person front headed by Junior Nolan Orr (2nd - 16:51), Sophomore Kevin Harvery (3rd - 17:48) and Junior Colin Schweitzer (4th - 17:49). Scoring was rounded out by Sophomores Luke Incardona (19:17) and Chris Gizzo (19:29). The Cross Country team is now 4-1 in conference competition and will resume regular season competition next Thursday, Sept. 20, when they meet against Livingston and Columbia at Branch Brook Park at 4pm. A great man close to the hearts of many has passed away. Corey Felton, 47, a former Seton Hall Prep (SHP) football coach and a great friend of many current staff members, passed away on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018. Felton attended Columbia High School and Delaware State before serving as a defensive line coach for Columbia in the late 1990s and then Seton Hall Prep in the early 2000s. Mark Smith, Dean of Men at SHP, had the pleasure of coaching Felton at Columbia before coaching with him at both Columbia and The Prep. Smith said Felton was a loving man who made everyone he came in contact with smile. Larry Baggitt, The Prep’s Director of Athletics, was the Athletic Trainer when Felton came on SHP’s football staff. He said it was an easy transition for Felton, who the players absolutely loved playing for. Felton coached at The Prep for five years, but his love, passion and intensity for life and football has remained strong in the hearts of those he came in contact with at SHP over the years. Services for Felton will be held at Imani Baptist Church on 113 Elmwood Ave in East Orange, NJ. The viewing is Friday, Sept. 14 from 4-8pm and going home services are Saturday, Sept. 15 from 9-11am. For more info, call Perry’s Funeral Home at 973-824-9201. Seton Hall Prep Soccer bounced back from their overtime loss to Montclair with two straight wins over Westfield and Trenton (Sept. 10, 5-1). The Prep defeated No. 18 Westfield 4-3 on Saturday, Sept. 8, after trailing 2-0 early in the first half. The Prep scored four of the last five goals to win the game, three of which came off the foot of Sophomore Lucas Ross. The Prep then defeated Trenton 5-1 on Monday, Sept. 10, thanks in large part to a dominating four-goal first half. Lucas Ross, Aidan Dunphy, Skyler Storms, Dylan Perez and Nate Dean all scored a goal. The Prep sits at 3-1 heading into a busy weekend in which they'll play three games in four days starting Thursday at Livingston. The Prep then plays at Montclair Kimberly Academy on Saturday before traveling to Pennsylvania on Sunday to play Delran High School at The United Sports Training Center. Seton Hall Prep Football lost their home opener to DePaul Catholic 49-3 on Saturday, Sept. 8, in West Orange. The Spartans, no. 3 in NJ.com's top 20 poll, were too much for The Prep to handle. Highlighted by Penn State commit Ta'Quan Roberson (QB) and Ohio State commit Ronnie Hickman (WR), DePaul's offense is simply one of the best in the state. They showed why on Saturday. The Prep's three points came from Senior Kicker Zach Hoban, who hit a school-record 52-yard field goal (shown in above highlights). Quarterback Aidan Gilman was 10-for-16 throwing with 63 yards, while Matt Colantuono caught six passes for 36 yards. The Prep travels to Wayne on Friday night for a matchup against Passaic Co Tech Institute at 6 p.m. The Seton Hall Prep Cross Country team opened up their season with a strong showing against Montclair and Montclair Kimberly Academy (MKA) Friday, Sept. 7 at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ. The Prep came out on top with a 25-31 win over Montclair and a 18-40 win over MKA. The Prep was led by Junior Nolan Orr, who comfortably won the race in a time of 17:01. The strong team effort was secured by Junior Colin Schweitzer in 17:30 (4th overall), Sophomore Kevin Harvey in 17:35 (6th overall), Sophomore Chris Gizzo in 18:30 (8th overall), and Senior Gus Kern whose 18:39 9th Place finish was critical to the team’s success. Luke Incardona, Brian Phillips and Louie Constable rounded out the Varsity squad. The team average of 17:51 was the fastest team average on the day. The team’s next conference competition will be on Wednesday, Sept 12, against West Orange, Verona and Millburn. Seton Hall Prep’s Cross Country program is growing every single year, and Head Coach Chris Barnitt is excited about the youth he has on his roster this season. Barnitt said there are 70 runners on the team, most in school history. He said he’s excited to see what they can do this season with a group of guys that will be lead by mostly sophomores and juniors. The Pirates two fastest runners going into the season are Nolan Orr (junior) and Kevin Harvey (sophomore). Orr said he’s excited to get out there and start winning races. Harvey said he expects The Pirates to have a great season despite having a young team. The Prep runs in the American Division of The Super Essex Conference and competes on the conference, County and state levels. Barnitt said they are going to cut back on weekend invitational races early in the season so that they’re ready for Conference and County Championship play in late September and October. The Pirates finished in third place in last year’s conference championship race, behind Montclair and Columbia. They finished third in the county championship behind Benedict’s and Montclair. Barnitt is confident despite a young team that leaves behind two graduates that are competing at the collegiate level. It all starts on Thursday, Sept. 6, when The Prep opens up their season at Brand Brook Park at 4 p.m. Seton Hall Prep Soccer survived a scare in their season opener Tuesday, Sept. 4, at BPT field. The Prep, ranked no. 2 in NJ.com's top 20 poll, scored two late unanswered goals against Nutley; one to even the score before the end of regulation, and one to win the game in overtime with three minutes remaining in the first of two 10-minute extra halves. The game-winning goal came off the foot of Sophomore Lucas Ross on an assist from Christopher Angermund. Aidan Dunphy evened the score at 3-3 with his goal in the 31st minute of the second half of regulation. Ross and Dunphy finished with two goals each. The Pirates will face Montclair Thursday, Sept. 6, at BTP Field in West Orange. Make no mistake about it: Seton Hall Prep Soccer is one of the best programs in the nation, and their goals are set high for the 2018 season kicking off today, Sept. 4, 2018. Head Coach Marty Berman knows they have to take it game-by-game before The Pirates can achieve their final goal. He thinks his team is ready for the tough schedule this season presents. "Our depth is going to be key, because it's a brutal schedule," Berman said. "I think we're going to have a lot of speed up front... I think that's going to help us have a varied attack."The Pirates are coming off a 2017 season many would call successful, finishing with a 21-3 record that included SEC and ECT Championships. But to them, and especially their senior leaders, they aren't satisfied without a Non-Public A State Title. The Pirates are lead by seniors Jon Ned, Liam Bertrand, Brian Zimmerman and Joe Kearns. While they're all aware of the brutal schedule and long season ahead, they all share the same common goal. "We have to stay focused, because every team is going to be a challenge for us," Bertrand, the team's Goal Keeper, said. "If we take it game-by-game, get better every week, and we should be alright." "A nice ring would be awesome," Ned said. "We want to go all the way this year," Kearns said. "No matter who we play, we have to focus on the game in front of us," Zimmerman said. The Pirates will have tough matchups throughout the year playing in Essex County, but they also play some extremely difficult out-of-conference opponents, such as Delran, South Kent (Conn.), and Westfield. Assistant Coach David Snyder acknowledges these new opponents, and he thinks The Pirates are well-equipped to handle the challenge. "It's a pretty loaded schedule," Snyder said. "The good thing is, we can go well into our bench this year... We can still come at you and bring some guys off the bench to give us the energy our team needs in critical spots without suffering a massive dropoff." Assistant Coach Matt Berman said the team will need to stay consistent throughout the year, and he believes they have the right type of leaders to do so. "The guys have seen the correct way to do things through a strong culture of a program," Matt Berman said. "They're excited and ready to lead and pass those traditions down by being an extension of the coaching staff." The Pirates have a long way to go before reaching their goal, and it starts today, Sept. 4, against Nutley High School. The Seton Hall Prep Pirates traveled to Springfield, Pennsylvania for their first out-of-state football game since 1999. Senior Captain and Quarterback Aidan Gilman threw three touchdown passes for The Pirates, who lost 54-28 in the Philadelphia-North Jersey Challenge played at Cardinal O'Hara High School. The Pirates quickly found themselves down 7-0 after giving up a 75-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game. They responded back with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Gilman to Nicholas Gullace on their first offensive play of the season to even the score. Archbishop Carroll scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 28-7 lead into the halftime break before The Pirates cut the score to 28-14 on Luca D'Emilio's 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. With just over eight minutes remaining in the game, The Pirates cut the deficit to 13 after Junior Dominic Busby reeled in a 22-yard touchdown pass from Gilman to make the score 41-28. Archbishop Carroll scored on their following two possessions, which put The Pirates away. Gilman finished completing 17-of-37 passes for 260 yards and three touchdowns; one to Tim Macko, one to Busby and another to Gullace. The Pirates will face DePaul Catholic at home Saturday, Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. at BPT Field. Seton Hall Prep Football is set to kickoff the 2018 season against Archbishop John Carroll High on Friday, Aug. 31, in Radnor, Pennsylvania. The Pirates look to rebound from a 2-8 campaign in 2017, but it won’t come easy against a very challenging schedule in the Super Football Conference. The Pirates are lead by first-year Head Coach, Bill Fitzgerald, who spent the last 10 seasons in Jersey City with St. Peter’s Prep. Fitzgerald is ready for the challenge ahead, but knows he has work to do to get this program where he wants it to be. With Fitzgerald comes new assistant coaches Ed Stinson, Scott Shepherd, Tony Woods, Tom Falato, and John Peluso, a deep and highly respected staff that joins Chuck Granatell, Max Ruiz and John Merklinger. Senior Captain and Quarterback Aidan Gilman, who’s committed to Brown University, likes what he’s seen from the new staff. The Pirates will face familiar foes in DePaul Catholic (home opener Sept. 8), Paramus Catholic, Montclair, Delbarton and Pope John XXII this season. Added to this year’s schedule are teams like Passaic County Tech, East Orange and Archbishop Carroll. Fitzgerald said they’re up for the challenge. “Keeping the team ready every week goes back to what we’ve done since January through August, including in the weight room with Coach (Max) Ruiz, who’s just phenomenal,” he said. “The staff has done a great job in the summer and in training camp to prepare the guys." Tony Woods was the first New Jersey football player to ever be selected in the first round of an NFL draft. The former linebacker/defensive end was selected with the 18th overall pick of the 1987 draft by the Seattle Seahawks, where he played six seasons. He then played one season for the Los Angeles Rams before ending his 10-year career with the Washington Redskins for three seasons. Woods attended The University of Pittsburgh, where he earned All-American honors his senior season. He attended Seton Hall Prep from 1979-1983 and was a key component of The Pirates' 1981-1982 state championship team (11-0). Woods was born in Newark, New Jersey. He has two sisters and one brother, Darrell, who also attended Seton Hall Prep. After retiring from football, Woods helped coach at West Side High School and then William Paterson University. He's now apart of the coaching staff at Seton Hall Prep, where it all started. 1. After a very successful career, how did you end back up at Seton Hall Prep? 2. How did Seton Hall Prep, on and off the field, help prepare you for your future? “It was a great opportunity…Once I got here, I found out about the tradition, Coach Verducci, and the program that we had here. It was tough, hard-nosed football, very successful, #1 in the state with a lot of state champions, so I was able to help add to that. Plus just being here, an all-boys school, taught me to come from a boy to a man; it taught me a lot of things that are helping me out right now." 3. What’s the defining moment of your career? "The defining moment is probably the state championship that we won. We lost my sophomore year at the meadowlands, and then my junior year we had the chance to play Bergen Catholic again (in the championship). We had the opportunity to play at the meadowlands or play at home, and we decided to play at home. We went undefeated, we were 11-0, and beat them for a state championship… that was the defining moment." 4. Do you have a “funniest moment” of your four years at Seton Hall Prep? 5. Any advice for future Seton Hall Prep students? After 30 very successful years, Randy Schweitzer has decided to resign as Head Coach of the Seton Hall Prep swim team. Coach Schweitzer first took the helm for the 1988-89 season after a 5 year run as Assistant Coach. During his tenure, the team had a 370-40 dual meet record, won the last 21 consecutive Essex County Championships, and also won 16 Iron Hills Conference and 9 Super Essex Conference Championships during his tenure. All in all, SHP won 46 of 48 county or conference championships for which a team champion was recognized. The team also qualified for the state tournament in all 30 seasons, making the group final in 2003, 2008, 2009, 2013 and 2016. Coach Schweitzer also coached 4 individual event champions – the 1991 200 Freestyle Relay Team of John Mitzak, Josh Bischoff, Scott DiGiacomo and Derek Fogg; 100 Freestyle Champion Mike Przywozny in 1994, and double state champion Kevin Wilson in 2009 in the 100 Freestyle and the 100 Breaststroke. Randy will be succeeded by longtime Assistant Coach, Joe Alexander. Seton Hall Prep has over 35 student-athletes who have committed to continuing their careers in college. See the table below for a full alphabetized list graduating Pirates and where they are headed. Click on the cover image above or visit the media gallery for each student-athletes graphic. SHP Track secured a big win at the East Stroudsburg University Invitational in a field of 30 teams. The leading Pirate's scorers were Nick Parisi with wins in the 100 ,200, and 400 for 30 team points. Caseem Dewitt had a first place finish in the shot and third in disc for 16 points. Anthony Algieri and Ross Johnson each added 8pts in the meet. Nick Parisi currently has the leading time in state in all three events- 100, 200 and 400 as of April 22. Jules Heningburg, SHP Class of 2014, was named to the USILA National Player of the Year Watch List and selected in the first round (seventh overall) of the MLL Draft by the Florida Launch. Heningburg is a senior attackman on the Rutgers University Lacrosse team. The senior from Maplewood leads the Scarlet Knights with 32 goals, 29 assists and 61 total points on the season. He leads the Big Ten in both assists and points this year as well. Prior to starring 'On the Banks', Heningburg was a US Lacrosse All-American at Seton Hall Prep, the first in school history. Seton Hall Prep senior Griffin Westlin has been named to the Under Armour All-America Game roster. Westlin, a Notre-Dame commit, already has 24 goals and 16 assists this season for the 6-1 Pirates. The Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Game has been held for 13 years and is set to take place on June 30 at Johns Hopkins University's historic Homewood Field at 8 pm. For more on the event and this wave of players selected, click here. Seton Hall Prep had 18 students participate in National Letter of Intent Signing Day ceremonies this year across four different dates set by the NCAA. Of the 18 senior student-athletes who participated, 13 are committed to Division 1 colleges and universities. In the coming weeks a full list of committed senior student-athletes will be published. See below for information on our 17 student-athletes who participated in a signing day this school year, listed in alphabetical order by last name. Anthony Algieri – Worcester Polytechnic Institute – Football: Anthony Algieri heads to WPI after a senior season in which he recorded 88 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 blocked kick. The defensive back from Nutley was named Essex County Scholar Athlete of the Year and has earned First Honors designation at Seton Hall Prep in the classroom all four years. John Ariza – Tulane University – Baseball: John Ariza signed for Tulane following a junior season in which he allowed just 3 runs all year with a 1.46 ERA. The Belleville native is a Knight of Setonia at The Prep, along with a four-year volunteer for the SHP Baseball Special Friends Carnival. Rocco Capozza – Fordham University – Men’s Soccer: Rocco Capozza was a defender at SHP who won two Essex County Titles, two SEC Titles, and a Non-Public A North Championship. Over his career, the Parsippany native notched two goals and six assists. Capozza was recently honored by the West Orange UNICO chapter with the Brian Piccolo Award after earning All-SEC Second Team and the SHP Soccer Dr. Richard Grady Award. Cameron Carti – Tufts University – Football: Cameron Carti captained and quarterbacked The Prep’s football team and earned First Team All North Jersey Super Conference and Second Team All-County. The Tufts commit from Franklin Lakes passed for 2,742 yards and threw 23 touchdown passes, and earned weekly honors from both Jersey Sports Zone and NJ.com. Cameron, who has a 4.36 GPA, has earned First Honors every trimester and is a National Honors Society member. Cameron Fiore – Brown University – Men’s Lacrosse: Cameron Fiore heads to Brown University an Academic All-American following his junior season in 2017. The Long Valley native also earned Second Team All-State in 2017 after recording 136 saves, including a game-high 18 against Hingham (MA). Cameron is a Commended National Merit Scholar, National Honors Society Member, Seton Scholar, Ambassador, and First Honors student. Jason Gomes – Fordham University – Men’s Soccer: In just one season with The Prep Jason earned First Team All-Conference, First Team All-County, First Team All Non-Public, and Second Team All-State. The defender scored seven goals and tallied three assists in 25 games played. Gomes, an Elizabeth native, has been named to First Honors at SHP, The Spanish National Honors Society, and is a Knight of Setonia, along with participating in over 10 other clubs and extracurricular activities around school. Alex Imegwu – University of Pennsylvania – Men’s Basketball: Alex averaged 16.4 points-per-game as a senior for the Pirates in his senior basketball season in which the Pirates went 24-3. For his efforts, Imegwu, a small forward from Short Hills, earned First Team All-Conference honors. Alex, a four-year First Honors student and National Honors Society member, will be coached by Steve Donahue and SHP alumnus Ira Bowman next year at UPenn. Cole Kirst – Lehigh University – Men’s Lacrosse: Cole Kirst’s attacking prowess for The Prep has earned the Bernardsville native a commitment to play Division 1 lacrosse at Lehigh University. Kirst was a key contributor on the 2017 team that won the Essex County Tournament and finished as Non-Public A Finalists. Kirst, a First Honors student, also writes for the school newspaper, The Pirate. Nick Kriak – Hobart College – Men’s Soccer: The tireless midfielder from West Orange heads to Hobart College next season after pacing the Pirates to both the SEC and Essex County Titles in 2017 with three goals and 26 assists. For his efforts, Kriak was named SCANJ First Team All-State, First Team All-SEC and Essex County, and First Team All Non-Public. Off the field, Kriak has been an Honor Roll member and Kairos retreat team leader. Matthew Michaels – Providence College – East Hanover: Matt Michaels has starred for SHP in the pool for three years. The East Hanover native heads to Providence after earning First Team All-County in the 200 M Relay, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay, and 100 Fly. In the 100 Fly, Michaels held the third best time in school history after his junior season and attended the Meet of Champions multiple times. In his time at SHP Michaels has been a Knight of Setonia, Ambassador, Wounded Warrior Project Club member, and Future Lawyers Club member. Quinn Nilan – Bentley University – Football: Quinn Nilan, a defensive end from Berkeley Heights, will continue his career in college at Bentley University next fall. In 2017 Nilan recorded 38 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. For his efforts he was named NJSFC First Team Defense All-Division. In the classroom Quinn has been an Honor Roll member and was a Kairos retreat leader this past winter. Michael Pavick – Bucknell University – Men’s Soccer: Michael Pavick has donned the SHP varsity soccer kit for three years as a starter. The striker from Clifton had his senior campaign cut short due to injury, however was a key contributor his junior season when the Pirates won the Non-Public A North Title. Michael heads to Bucknell a perennial First Honors student, boasting a 4.1 cumulative GPA. Andrew Perez – Villanova University – Football: Andrew Perez holds single game records at The Prep for most catches, most yards, and most touchdowns, and graduates 2nd all-time in career catches (98). The receiver from North Caldwell earned 939 yards on 56 receptions and scored 12 touchdowns in 2017. For his efforts he was named First Team All-Conference and Second Team All Non-Public. Perez is a member of the Wounded Warrior Project Club, Italian Club, and has also lettered in Lacrosse at The Prep. James Petrovcik – Villanova University – Football: James Petrovcik heads to Villanova ranked in the Top 50 players in NJ for the Class of 2018. The left tackle from Westfield earned First Team All Super Conference in both his junior and senior seasons, and First Team All-Area as a senior. The future Wildcat also played freshman lacrosse and hockey at The Prep, and was a member of Knights of Setonia, Band, and Ski Club. Frank Spano – Holy Cross – Baseball: Frank Spano features for The Prep as a left-handed pitcher and first baseman. The Holy Cross commit won the Essex County Title with SHP in 2017. Spano, a Bloomingdale native, impresses in the classroom as well earning Commended National Merit Scholar designation. He is also a Seton Scholar, First Honors student, and National Honors Society member. Frank is involved in Peer Leadership, Knights of Setonia, and Math Honors Society as well. Griffin Westlin - Notre Dame - Men's Lacrosse - Griffin Westlin heads to Notre Dame an Under Armour All-American. In his senior season the attacker has tallied a team best 24 goals and 16 assists through the first seven games. Griffin, a native of Leabanon (NJ), has helped lead the Pirates to county titles in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and finish as finalists in Non-Public A in 2017. In the classroom Westlin has been a perrenial Honor Roll student. Daniel Zarillo – United States Coast Guard Academy – Long Valley: Daniel Zarillo, a midfielder and attacker from Long Valley, has been a three-year varsity letter winner at The Prep. The Coast Guard commit notched 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 2016 and 28 points (22 goals, 6 assists, 6 ground balls) in 2017. A National Honors Society member, Zarillo has featured on the Honor Roll all four years, and is a recipient of the Headmaster’s Honors Scholarship. Outside of the classroom Zarillo has participated in Knights of Setonia, a Kairos retreat, and the 2014 Fall Drama, while also earning varsity letters in winter track in 2016 and 2017. Jack Zyska – University of Notre Dame – Baseball: Jack Zyska heads to Notre Dame a decorated student-athlete. The senior outfielder earned First Team All-State as early as sophomore year following The Prep’s Non-Public A State Title. For his efforts in that historic run, Jack was also named a Perfect Game Underclass All American. In that 2016 season, Jack boasted a .500 batting average with 19 RBI, 3 HR, 8 2B, 8 SB, and 37 runs scored. In 2017 he hit .329 with 24 RBI, 2 HR, 5 2B, 1 3B, 10 SB, and 22 runs. Zyska, who hails for Berkeley Heights, is also a Peer Leader and Knight of Setonia. Seton Hall Prep Baseball, No. 11 in the NJ.com Top 20 poll, came out on top against No. 10 Millburn in a tight 6-5 contest on Porcello Field. The Pirates staged a comeback after trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Jack Zyska led off with a home run. Senior Brian Kelly eventually punched in the winning runner, Jack Eichler in the bottom of the sixth inning. Click here for the full story. Seton Hall Prep senior Nick Parisi took the gold in his specialty, the 400m dash, at the Eastern States Championships held at the venerable 168th Street Armory in Manhattan on February 20. His time of 49.56 was the fastest in New Jersey at the time, equaling his gold medal time at the Super Essex Conference Meet in December. He followed up his Easterns win a week later with a bronze medal performance at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions (49.66) and a personal record 49.16 the first week of March at the New Balance Indoor National Championships. The swim team put forth a magnificent performance in the NJSIAA Non-Public A semifinal, but it proved not to be enough as an even stronger CBA team defeated the Pirates 96.5-73.5 at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA in Perth Amboy on Presidents’ Day. Races were competitive and intense throughout, and the NJSIAA Meet Director took the unusual step of praising both squads over the loudspeaker after the meet was ended. The Pirates took the lead after the first event as Alex Wang, Saverio Kaufman, Matt Michaels and Roo Fenton won the 200 Medley Relay in 1:37.44, with CBA taking second and third, giving SHP an 8-6 lead. CBA would finish 1-2-4 in the 200 Freestyle to take an 18-12 lead. This event exemplified the competitiveness of the meet, as Matt Prior (1:48.67), Lenny Brown (1:49.76) and Ryan Martynowicz (1:50.64) swam times that would have swept the top three at the Essex County meet, but they could only finish 3-5-6 at this meet. The Pirates bounced back in the next two events; Alex Wang won the 200 IM in 1:57.30, and with Saverio Kaufman tying for third (2:02.22) and Dom Palumbo taking 5th (2:05.01), SHP was within three. The 50 Freestyle would be the Prep’s best event with Fenton (21.64), Michaels (22.36) and Luke Shea (22.62) finishing 1-2-5, enabling the Pirates to retake the lead at 32.5-29.5. Matt Michaels (52.73) and Jaeden Yburan (54.02) finished 2-3 in the 100 butterfly, but CBA’s 1-4-5 finish got them to within 1 point. The teams would split the 100 Free, with Fenton winning in 48.73 and Luke Shea taking 4th in 50.09. After 6 of the 11 events, SHP led 47.5-46.5. CBA would then take 1-3-4 in the 500 Free, with Matt Prior taking second for the Prep in 453.20. Lenny Brown would break 5 minutes for the first time for SHP in 457.60, finishing 5th. CBA lead at this point by 5, 57.5-52.5, but the SHP foursome of Michaels, Prior, Shea and Fenton would win the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:30.68; CBA finished 2-3 and the Pirates trailed by only 3, 63.5-60.5. In the next two races, 4 of the 6 Pirate swimmers would swim SHP career bests, only to find that it was not enough to stand up to CBA, who pulled away at this point. Jaeden Yburan would swim a lifetime best 53.41 to finish 2nd in the 100 backstroke, with Dom Palumbo 5th in an SHP best 57.11; Alex Wang would swim an SHP best 1:01.20 and Saverio Kaufman a lifetime best 1:01.52 in the 100 breaststroke, but this was only enough for a 3-5 finish. CBA would take 1-3 in the 400 Freestyle relay to make the final score 96.5-73.5. The 13-1 Pirates totaled 4519 power points in the meet, the second highest total in school history. Currently ranked 9th in nj.com, the team is hopeful to move up in the final rankings based on this performance. Lenny Brown – 200 Freestyle; 500 Freestyle, 200 Free Relay, 400 Free Relay. Brendan Flood – 200 Medley Relay Freestyle; 200 Free Relay 400 Free Relay. Joe Gigantino – 200 Medley Relay Breast; 100 Butterfly; 100 Breaststroke. Saverio Kaufman – 200 Medley Relay Breast; 200 IM; 100 Breaststroke. Ryan Martynowicz – 200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle; 200 Free Relay; 400 Free Relay. Matt Michaels – 200 Medley Relay Butterfly; 50 Freestyle; 100 Butterfly; 200 Freestyle Relay. Dom Palumbo – 200 Medley Relay Breast; 200 IM; 100 Backstroke. Alex Wang – 200 Medley Relay Backstroke; 200 IM; 100 Breaststroke; 400 Freestyle Relay. 8 Swimmers (Brown, Fenton, Kaufman, Michaels, Prior, Shea, Wang, Yburan) will represent SHP at the Meet of Champions Individual Event Championships on March 3-4. Seton Hall Prep Athletic Director Larry Baggitt has announced that the school’s new head football coach is William Fitzgerald. Coach Fitzgerald will come to The Prep with a long and proven track record of cultivating excellence in student-athletes, while instilling a commitment to both winning and good sportsmanship. Since 2008 he has been the Quarterback Coach/Offensive Coordinator at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, bringing with him to Seton Hall Prep a history of developing highly regarded quarterbacks and offenses. Coach Fitzgerald has been recognized with appointments to a number of prominent high school All-Star coaching teams. Prior to his post at St. Peters, he held coaching posts at Dumont High School and Utica College. William Fitzgerald is a graduate of and former football player at Union College, where he graduated in 2003 with a degree in Psychology and his Masters Degree in Special Education from New Jersey State University. For the last 10 years he has been employed as a teacher in the Union City school system. He will also assume a position at Seton Hall in the Learning Assistance Program. Coach Fitzgerald takes the reins at Seton Hall Prep following the departure of Coach Vito Campanile. The school has one of the longest athletic traditions in New Jersey, with the football team playing its first game in the late 1800s. He is the 15th football coach since 1930. Coach Tony Verducci held the longest tenure, from 1955 to 1987, when his teams captured 11 Parochial A titles and posted 104 shutouts. Quarterback on his 1956 team was the school’s current President, Msgr. Michael E. Kelly ’57. The Seton Hall Prep swim team started its post-season with a big victory over St. Augustine Prep, 94-76 in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA Non-Public A tournament on Monday February 12 at Seton Hall University. St. Augustine came out blazing fast in the 200 Medley Relay, and led the Pirates after 3 legs in spite of the SHP relay (Alex Wang, Saverio Kaufman and Matt Michaels) being ahead of its season best pace. However, junior Roo Fenton come from behind in a blistering 20.89 anchor leg to win it for the Pirates in season best 1:37.39, which when combined with the SHP B relay taking 3rd gave the Pirates the early 10-4 lead. St. Augustine would win the 200 Freestyle and close within 4, but in the next two events Seton Hall would finish 1-3-4, with the senior trio of Wang, Dom Palumbo and Kaufman grabbed the places in the 200 IM, and Fenton, junior Luke Shea and Michaels doing the job in the 50 Free to give SHP the lead 39-23 at the break. The Hermits showed strength in the next three events, cutting the lead in half to 59-51 with four events to go. However, event 8, the 200 Freestyle Relay, would turn the tide back in SHP's favor as a 1-3 finish extended the lead back to 14, with the A relay of Michaels, senior Ryan Martynowicz, Shea, and Fenton posting a season best 130.88. The 100 Backstroke would then put SHP in the driver's seat, with freshman sensation Jaeden Yburan coming out of the B position to win the race in a personal best 53.67, and Wang and sophomore Joe Labrador taking 3rd and 5th to extend the Pirate lead to 18 at 79-61 with 2 events to go. The 100 breaststroke was next, and as they have so often done in their careers, seniors Palumbo, Kaufman and Joe Gigantino would win the event by going 2-3-4 to give SHP their largest lead at 20 and clinch the meet. St. Augustine would take 1st in the 400 Free Relay to close the meet, with the Pirates taking 2-3 to yield the final 94-76 score. Kennith Washington High Jump 5'8" Anthony Algieri, High Hurdles (8.7). At the NJCTC Relays, Justice Sims finished first in the long jump (19.6), Kennith Washington took first in the Triple Jump (44.2), and Caseem DeWitt threw to 2nd place in the Shot Put (48.2). The Mile Relay Team comprised of Nick Parisi, Aidan Gaul, Chris Parisi, and Anthony Algieri, qualified for the Milrose Race with a 3:32 mark. Nick Parisi also holds the leading time in NJ in the 400M with a 49.5. The team competes in the NJSIAA State Relays on Thursday, Jan. 18. The Swim Team captured eight first places out of 11 events and won every event on points in soaring to victory in the Super Essex Conference/Essex County Swimming Championships on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA in Perth Amboy. The Pirates scored 382 points, nearly 200 more than runner-up Montclair which had 187. The Pirates were led by junior Roo Fenton who would win the Cullen Jones Award as Most Valuable Swimmer for the second consecutive year. Fenton won 2 individual events: the 50 freestyle in 21.38, and the 100 freestyle in 47.72. He would also be a part of two winning relays: the 200 Medley Relay, along with seniors Alex Wang, Dom Palumbo and Matt Michaels in a winning time of 1:38.79; and the 400 Free Relay, teaming with Wang, junior Luke Shea and sophomore Matt Prior in a winning time of 3:17.63. Michaels, Shea, Prior and freshman Jaeden Yburan would capture the third relay, the 200 Freestyle Relay, in 1:30.91. Michaels, Wang and Prior would also win individual events, Michaels taking the 100 butterfly in 53.59; Wang the 100 backstroke in 54.50; and Prior the 200 Freestyle in 1:49.69. Second Place - Lenny Brown (12), 200 Freestyle; Alex Wang (12), 200 IM; Luke Shea (11), 100 Butterfly; Jaeden Yburan (9), 100 Backstroke; Saverio Kaufman (12), 100 Breaststroke. Third Place - Saverio Kaufman (12), 200 IM; Luke Shea (11), 50 Freestyle; Jaeden Yburan (9), 100 Butterfly; Matt Prior (10), 500 Freestyle; Dominic Palumbo (12), 100 Breaststroke. Fourth Place - Ryan Martynowicz (12), 200 Freestyle; Dominic Palumbo (12), 200 IM; Ryan Martynowicz (12), 100 Freestyle. Fifth Place - Lenny Brown (12), 500 Freestyle; Joe Gigantino (12), 100 Breaststroke. Sixth Place - Matt Michaels (12), 50 Freestyle. The swim team produced their best performance of the season to date with a decisive 112-58 win over previously unbeaten Morristown on January 3 at the Morristown high school pool. Superior depth would carry the day for SHP, as the Prep would win 10 of 11 events, but the meet featured a number of exciting races for first place between each schools' top swimmers. The first event would see a typical result as Alex Wang, Saverio Kaufman, Matt Michaels and Roo Fenton edged Morristown's top foursome to win the 200 Medley Relay by .77 in 1:49.71 (all times are in meters). This would be the first of 7 first place finishes for the Prep, several by close margins. Morristown would take first in the next two events, but the SHP depth was evident as the Pirates took 2nd, 3rd and 4th in both races to win the events on points. The 50 Freestyle would be next, and it would be the event that gave the Pirates a solid lead that they would not relinquish, as Roo Fenton (24.77), Luke Shea and Matt Michaels would sweep the top three places, giving SHP a 41-21 lead heading into the break. Morristown would win the next event, the 100 butterfly, and looked as if they might be looking to fight there way back into the meet as their Dennis DeLargy led the 100 freestyle going into the last lap. But Fenton (54.55) would pass him with about 10 meters to go and Shea would catch him on the last stroke to finish 1-2 for SHP, giving the Pirates a 60-34 lead. Morristown would take first in the next event, the 400 freestyle, but another 2-3-4 by the Pirates increased the lead further. SHP would pull away with victories in the last four events. The 200 Free Relay was won by Michaels, Matt Prior, Ryan Martynowicz and Shea in 1:45.61; Alex Wang would win the 100 Backstroke in 1:02.07; and Dominic Palumbo would win the 100 breaststroke in front of his hometown crowd in 1:10.06. In the last event, the 400 Freestyle Relay, SHP's foursome of Shea, Prior, Wang and Fenton were stroke for stroke with Morristown for more than half of the race, but Morristown began to pull away in the third leg, and it seemed that Morristown would win as they had the lead entering the last length, but once again Fenton found a late surge and made up the ground, and the finish was so close that the crowd had to turn to the scoreboard to see who won. A gasp went out from the crowd as the Pirates won by .04 in 3:45.09 to close out the meet. Seton Hall Prep (2-0) staged an impressive come-back win over West Side on Tuesday night, defeating the Newark school 72-65. The Pirates, No. 13 in NJ, were led by Alex Imegwu's 22 points. Jabri Abdur-Rahim contriubted 21 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks, followed by Ashton Miller's 13 points, and Geordan Walker's 11 point effort. Despite finishing the first quarter down 27-6, The Prep stormed back for a 19-6 second quarter followed by a 18-11 third quarter. For the full story and box score, click here. The swim team set themselves up for a Happy Christmas Break by cruising to a 132-31 victory over Glen Ridge on December 19 at Rutgers-Newark. Seven different Pirates would win races as SHP took 10 of 11 first places overall. Race winners included seniors Matt Michaels (200 IM in 2:08.22), Saverio Kaufman (100 Butterfly in 57.67), Alex Wang (500 Freestyle in 5:17.93), and Dominic Palumbo (100 Backstroke in 59.88); junior Luke Shea (100 Breaststroke in 1:05.76); and sophomores Mike McGoldrick (200 Freestyle in 2:07.66) and Matt Prior (50 Freestyle in 23.56). The Prep also took all three relays. The 200 Medley Relay was won by Palumbo, junior Roo Fenton, Shea, and senior Ryan Martynowicz in 1:47.53. Fenton and Kaufman were joined by senior Brendan Flood and freshman Jaeden Yburan in winning the 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:37.98. The 400 Freestyle relay team of seniors Joe Gigantino and Lenny Brown, McGoldrick, and junior Jack McGovern closed out the meet, winning in 3:45.32. The 5-0 Pirates will come out of the break with what will likely be their toughest foe of the regular season, facing defending Morris County champions Morristown at the Morristown High School pool at 4pm on January 3. The Swim Team captured 10 of 11 first place finishes in route to a decisive 121-49 victory over Millburn on December 5 at Newark Academy. The Millers have been conference runners up for several years running, but could not stay with the Pirates in this meet. The 200 Medley Relay would get the ball rolling, as the foursome of Alex Wang, Saverio Kaufman, Matt Michaels and Roo Fenton posted a season best 1:39.60 to take the victory. Wang, Fenton and Matt Prior would win two races apiece, with Wang taking the 200 IM (2:00.89) and the 100 Backstroke (55.27), Fenton the 50 Freestyle (22.26) and 100 Freestyle (49.94), and Prior the 200 Freestyle (1:50.67) and 500 Freestyle (4:57.29). Matt Michaels would also earn a victory, in the 100 Butterfly in 53.31. The only race that SHP would lose was the 100 Breaststroke to Millburn's Eric Wang, but the Prep's senior trio of Kaufman, Joe Gigantino and Dom Palumbo would go 2-3-4 to win the event 9-7. The Pirates would also win both freestyle relays, with Michaels and Prior being joined by Luke Shea and Ryan Martynowicz to take the 200 Free Relay in 1:34.77, and Martynowicz, Lenny Brown, Prior and Fenton taking the 400 Free Relay in 3:30.89. The race of the meet was the 500 Free, which proved to be a fabulous duel between Matt Prior and Millburn standout Evan Ng. Prior held the lead at the 100, but Ng came on strong and looked like he might cruise to victory as he had a body length lead at the halfway point. But Prior found another gear and began to regain ground, and by the 400 nearly pulled even as the crowd began to get into it. The place was rocking as Prior took a slight lead off the last turn, but Ng found a little life and it was stroke for stroke coming down the stretch. Prior would prevail by less than a tenth in a bang bang finish. SHP will next face Verona on Friday December 8 at 4 PM at Seton Hall University. Seton Hall Prep has hired Rich Baird to be the Head Coach of the Crew team. Coach Rich Baird started rowing in college as a member of the Ohio State Crew Club where he rowed for four years. After college, he served a short term as an assistant coach for Raleigh Charter High School in North Carolina in 2006. Following several years away from the sport, Coach Baird joined the Montclair High School Crew team for a season before moving to Ridgewood Crew and Nereid Boat Club for the 2012-2013 seasons. As an assistant coach at Ridgewood, Coach Baird helped lead the team to great success in state, regional, and national competitions. Ridgewood won multiple Garden State Championship events and City Championship events. The crowning achievements during the years at Ridgewood include winning 5 Stotesbury Cup Trophies and 3 SRAA National Championship events. The SHP swim team extended their record to 2-0 with a 121-48 victory over West Orange on November 30 at the Clifton Boys Club. The Pirates would capture first place in all eleven events. The most impressive swim of the meet belonged to junior Roo Fenton with a sizzling 21.57 in the 50 Freestyle, a time which places him among the top sprinters in the state. Fenton would also be a part of the winning 200 Medley Relay team (1:43.62), along with freshman Joaquin Quezada, and seniors Saverio Kaufman and Alex Wang. Freshman Jaeden Yburan continued his early season excellence as a double winner, taking the 200 IM in 2:07.06 and the 100 Backstroke in 57.01. Members of the Prep's outstanding senior class would win the other 5 individual events: Lenny Brown, 200 Freestyle (1:53.79); Matt Michaels, 100 Butterfly (53.46); Ryan Martynowicz, 100 Freestyle (52.23); Joe Gigantino, 500 Freestyle (5:43.11) and Saverio Kaufman, 100 Breaststroke (1:04.88). Martynowicz was also part of the winning 200 Freestyle Relay team, along with fellow senior Brendan Flood and sophomores Mike Pietrucha and Joe Labrador (1:38.94). Brown and Flood were part of the foursome that would take the 400 Freestyle Relay, along with freshmen Jack Devilbiss and Brian Mullen (3:40.87). Next up for the Pirates is Millburn on Tuesday, December 5, which is a match between the top two teams in the conference last season. The 2017-18 Seton Hall Prep Swim Team kicked off their season with a 127-40 victory over West Essex on November 28 at the Caldwell Community Center. The victory featured winning contributions from both returning veterans and exciting newcomers. The 200 Medley Relay team ,consisting of seniors Alex Wang, Dom Palumbo, Matt Michaels and junior Roo Fenton, got the ball rolling with a win in a fine time of 1:41.97. Wang would also win the 100 Breaststroke in 1:01.57, while Michaels took first in the 500 Freestyle in 5:12.11. Their classmate Ryan Martynowicz won the 200 Freestyle in 2:00.01. Fenton captured his first individual victory of the season, taking the 50 Free in 22.57. The sophomore class featured two event winners in Matt Prior (51.43 in the 100 Free) and Joe Labrador (1:02.43 in the 100 backstroke). Freshman Jaeden Yburan had an outstanding SHP debut by winning the 100 butterfly in 54.86, and also joining in the winning 200 Freestyle Relay Team along with fellow freshmen Joaquin Quezada and Jack Devilbiss and sophomore Mike Pietrucha (1:37.31). A “veteran-newcomer” combo would cap off the night, as freshmen RJ Kelly and Brian Mullen joined seniors Brendan Flood and Lenny Brown to win the 400 Freestyle Relay in 3:42.14. Seton Hall Prep Hockey (1-0) opened the 2017-18 season with a dominant 8-1 victory over Bishop Eustace at Codey Arena last Sunday. The Pirates were led by Thomas Colucci who recorded a hat-trick and two assists, followed by Stephen Buck who scored a pair of goals himself. For full coverage via NJ.com, click here. This past Sunday the USLacrosse New Jersey Chapter held its third annual Kyle Kirst Coaches Clinic in honor of former Summit HS coach and Seton Hall Prep father, Kyle Kirst. Seton Hall Prep lacrosse Coach Dave Giarrusso was selected as one of the presenters. The Pirates finished the 2017 season ranked #2 in the state and competed in the lacrosse state final, Coach Giarrusso was named the Non Public coach of the year. He was assisted in the clinic by the Rutgers University Mens lacrosse team, led by Sr, Jules Heningburg, SHP ’14, who was named Honorable Mention All American in the 2017 season. The Kyle Kirst Coaches Clinic was developed by the NJ Lacrosse chapter to honor a Hall of Fame coach who has left an impact on so many. All proceeds from the clinic benefit the Kirst Family Educational Fund. The clinic helped over 80 attendees to become better coaches, role models, mentors and teachers to all of their student athletes. Seton Hall Prep sophomore Aidan Dunphy led SHP past West Orange in the ECT Seminfinal by scoring two of The Prep's goals in the 3-0 shutout of cross-town rival Mountaineers. Senior Adam Silva also scored off of a blast into the upper-90. The Pirates are set to face Millburn in the Essex County Tournament Final this Saturday at 5:30 pm at Caldwell HS. Read the full story on the West Orange game here. On a rainy Saturday at Goddard Memorial State Park in Rhode Island at the the Brown Northeast Cross Country Championship, the Seton Hall Prep Cross Country team raced to one of the finest finishes in school history, winning both the Varsity and JV races in a crowded and competitive field of teams from Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Passing the mile and two mile mark in 4:52 and 9:52, senior co-captain Dan Gizzo blazed his way to a 15:36 (PR) 2nd place finish, and one of the fastest 5K times ever run by a SHP harrier. He was closely followed by determined and stellar performances by senior co-captain Mike DiDonato (3rd Place- 15:57-PR) and sophomore Nolan Orr (4th Place- 15:57-PR) who came through the two mile mark in 10:02 and 10:01 respectively. With three runners under 16:00, this was the most impressive performance by any top three SHP runners in school history. They were joined in scoring by gutsy efforts from sophomore Colin Schweitzer (17:00- PR) and senior Matt Martins (17:27). Freshman Chris Gizzo (17:31-PR) and sophomore Cristiano Ribeiro (17:40-PR) rounded out the varsity seven. In a field of 25 teams, their 80 point first place finish edged out runner-up North Shore (87). SHP's team average of 16:23 is one of the fastest in SHP history. The start of the day was equally electrifying in the JV race with the Prep scorers placing 1, 2, 4, 11 and 26. In one of the fastest 5K performances by a freshman in Seton Hall history, Kevin Harvey broke away for a solo 16:40 effort. He was followed in scoring by junior Louis Constable (17:25-PR), senior Diego Gonzalez (17:52-PR), sophomore Brian Phillips (18:25-PR) and senior Rob Lynch (19:05-PR). The JV squad was rounded out by strong efforts from senior Matt Williams (19:47), senior Dwight Thomas (21:28)and senior Hunter Hagan (21:46-PR). In a field of 18 teams, SHP's JV finished first with 44 points, ahead of The Hackley School with 78 points. They raced to an impressive 17:53 team average. On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at Branch Brook Park, the Cross Country team competed in the Conference Championship. Despite some setbacks due to illness, the Pirates turned in impressive performances in the Freshman, Novice and Varsity races. Of the 43 runners that competed, 35 runners turned in personal bests. Beginning the day, the freshman turned in a strong 2nd place finish. They were led by Kevin Harvey’s dominant solo effort of 10:42 which broke the 2 mile course record that was set by Nolan Orr last year. The other freshman scorers were Brian Mullen (12:30-PR), Eric Puhala (12:37-PR), Mike Lazzari (12:43-PR), and Luke Incardona (13:12-PR). The Prep’s Novice team turned in a strong 4th place finish and were led by sophomore Brian Phillips (18:49- PR), senior Rob Lynch (19:33-PR), senior Matt Williams (19:37-PR), sophomore Chris Puente-Duany (19:39-PR), and sophomore Matt Guarnuccio (20:00-PR). In the final race of the day, the gritty varsity squad turned in stunning performances with the team’s top three runners coming in the top four of the race. After the first mile, Dan Gizzo broke the race open pulling away from the front pack finishing first in a Branch Brook personal best of 16:02 (a top-ten mark on the all-time performance list). He was followed by an aggressive sophomore Nolan Orr (16:18- 3rd place- PR) and a charging senior Mike DiDonato (16:24- 4th place- PR). The varsity efforts were impressively rounded out with big PR’s by sophomore Colin Schweitzer (17:48), junior Louis Constable (18:04) and senior Diego Gonzalez (18:45). In this hotly contested race and by a thin margin, the Varsity came in 3rd place (76 points) behind Montclair (1st-67 points) and Columbia (2nd- 75 points). No. 2 in NJ SHP Soccer most recently defeated both Newark Central and Columbia. Click above for photos. Seton Hall Prep Football battled a physical Pope John team on Saturday aternoon at the KAC. Seton Hall Prep Soccer, No. 2 in NJ, posted back-to-back 4-0 shut-out wins over Caldwell and Livingston this week. Taking on a jam-packed schedule consisting of three games a week, The Prep now sits at 9-1 on the season, with their only loss coming in a showcase tournament at the hands of the Hill School. Click for full details on the Monday's win over Caldwell and Wednesday's victory over Livingston. In an impressive display of herd running, SHP Cross Country was victorious over Columbia (15-50) and MKA (22-39) on Thursday at Branch Brook Park in Newark. The Pirates finished their regular season conference races with a record of 7-2. The team was led by senior Dan Gizzo (2nd place- 16:55), sophomore Nolan Orr (3rd place- 16:57), senior Mike DiDonato (4th place- 17:04), sophomore Colin Schweitzer(18:40), sophomore Cristiano Ribeiro (18:45). The top seven was rounded out by freshmen Chris Gizzo (18:47) and Kevin Harvey (18:51). Top five finishers in the Novice 5K were sophomore Brian Phillips (4th place- 19:59), senior Matt Williams (20:47), junior Kevin Wong (20:53), sophomore Chris Puente-Duany (20:59) and sophomore Matt Guarnuccio (21:25). The top five finishers in the Novice 2 miler were freshmen Luke Incardona (13:19), Mike Lazzari (13:31), Eric Puhala (13:36), Leder Joseph (13:44) and sophomore Patrick Blaesser (13:47). The Pirates will be competing in the Conference Championship next Tuesday, 10/3, at Branch Brook Park. SHP Football fell to St. Peter's Prep in the NJ.com game of the week - the second time this season SHP competed in such an event. Despite putting up 20 points on the Jersey City power and cutting the Maruaders lead to 25-20 shortly after halftime, SHP was defeated by a final score of 43-20. Click for full coverage via NJ.com. If you missed the live pregame, halftime, or postgame show on Seton Hall Prep's Facebook page, catch the archived videos! No. 2 in NJ Seton Hall Prep Soccer took down a strong fellow SEC and Essex County Montclair HS side 1-0 on Friday afternoon at the KAC. The Pirates and Mounties battled to a scoreless regulation, however The Prep found an answer in extra time as sophomore Aidan Dunphy picked off a pass in midfield and slotted junior Jon Ned through the right side for a perfectly tucked finish. Click for full coverage via NJ.com. Seton Hall Prep defeated Montclair Kimberley Academy 2-0 in Montclair on Monday afternoon. Seniors Nick Kriak and Paul Silva recorded goals for the Pirates, who are currently ranked No. 2 in NJ. For full coverage via NJ.com, click here. This Saturday, at the historic VanCortlandt Park in the Bronx, the Cross Country team competed in the Regis Invitational against a predominantly New York field. This was the Prep's first time on the challenging and hilly 2.5 mile course in many years. Despite its unfamiliarity and ruggedness and the heat and humidity, the Prep raced to an impressive 4th Place finish in a field of 14 teams behind two New York schools and Pope John XXIII. Leading the charge for the Pirates was senior Dan Gizzo who came in an impressive 2nd Place in a time of 13:17. Prep scoring was rounded out by senior Mike DiDonato in 9th (14:07), sophomore Nolan Orr in 22nd(14:34), sophomore Colin Schweitzer in 31st(14:48) and senior Brandon Hicks in 33rd(14:53). Rounding out the Varsity squad was senior Matt Martins (15:09) and sophomore Cristiano Ribeiro (15:58). Other impressive efforts were gutted out by freshmen Chris Gizzo and Kevin Harvey who came in 2nd (8:50) and 4th (8:58) respectively in the freshman 2.5K race. Rounding out the day of gritty efforts on the 2.5 mile course were TJ Martynowicz (16:22) and Brian Phillips (17:18) in the Sophomore race and Louis Constable (15:45) and Evin Connolly (16:17) in the Junior race. Seton Hall Prep Soccer had a busy week going 3-1. The Pirates earned wins against West Essex, East Orange, and Dickinson and fell to The Hill School (PA) in the Mid-Atlantic Jamboree, a special showcase played in front of dozens of college coaches. SHP Soccer, currently No. 2 in NJ, has no time to rest as they face MKA on Monday in Montclair. Seton Hall Prep Soccer (2-0) exploded for four goals in the second half to put away West Essex at home on Monday afternoon, 5-1. John Ned (2), Mike Pavick, Aidan Dunphy, and Joe Cubero all recorded goals on the day. Adam Silva and Frank DeLuca both contributed two assists, followed by Nick Kriak and Paul Silva who recorded assists as well. Gabe Ferreira made three saves in net for the Pirates, including a full extension dive to end the first half. Seton Hall Prep Football were tied at halftime with the No. 6 ranked Don Bosco, however a late surge by the Ironmen saw SHP fall in its opening game of the season, 21-13. Senior quarterback, Cameron Carti, threw for 281 yards on 17 of 22 passing, including a 83-yard pass to Andrew Perez in the first half. WATCH - Pregame and halftime live stream rewind via SHP Facebook page. Seton Hall Prep Soccer defeated Summit HS 4-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Pirates were led by senior, Michael Pavick, who scored two goals on the day. Fellow senior Jason Gomes and junior Jon Ned also scored for SHP. Recording two assists each were Adam Silva, Nick Kriak, and Aidan Dunphy. Paul Silva added an assist as well. The Pirates take on West Essex on Monday afternoon in the programs first ever regular season game on Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field. Seton Hall Prep Cross Country opened up the season with wins over Nutley and Newark Academy, followed by a fourth place finish at the Randolph Invitational. The Cross Country program got off to a strong start Thursday afternoon at Branch Brook Park with 51 runners competing. Our Varsity won over Newark Academy and Nutley and dropped to Montclair to start their season with a 2 & 1 record. Scorers for Varsity were senior Dan Gizzo (16:55), senior Mike DiDonato (17:02), sophomore Nolan Orr (17:09), sophomore Colin Schweitzer (18:28) and senior Brandon Hicks (18:50). In the Novice 5K, sophomore Cristiano Ribeiro (19:11) confidently won the race and junior Louis Constable (19:30), junior Evin Connolly (20:16), sophomore Brian Phillips (20:23) and sophomore Dylan Coffin (20:28) rounded out our top five. The freshman race was the most dominant 1-2 freshman start since the Super Essex Conference began in 2009, with Chris Gizzo (11:13) and Kevin Harvey (11:43) running impressive times on the 2 mile course. The freshman top five was rounded out by Jaeden Yburan(13:09), Eric Puhala(13:14), and Brian Mullen(13:17). The Seton Hall Prep Cross Country team got off to a promising start under the lights on Saturday night at the Randolph Invitational. In a loaded Varsity A race that included some of the top teams in the State, the Pirates came in 4th place out of 10 teams. Scoring was led by an impressive 16:08 4th place finish from senior Dan Gizzo (the 4th fastest time run in the State on opening day) and was rounded out by sophomore Nolan Orr (16:42-PR), seniors Mike DiDonato (16:57), Brandon Hicks (17:40-PR) and Matt Martins (17:47). Sophomores Colin Schweitzer (18:21) and Cristiano Ribeiro (18:22) both set PR’s as well. Our JV squad came in 5th place with scoring from junior Louis Constable (18:45), sophomore TJ Martynowicz (19:15), junior Evin Connolly (19:46), senior Diego Gonzalez (19:52) and sophomore Brian Phillips (20:07-PR). The SHP freshman squad put in a thrilling performance finishing 5th in a field of 14 teams. Chris Gizzo (9:11) and Kevin Harvey (9:19) blazed to an amazing 1-3 finish. Scoring was wrapped up by solid efforts from Jaeben Yburan(10:25), Brian Mullen(10:27) and Michael Lazzari (10:39). Next Invitational up will be the Regis Invitational on Saturday, September 16th at the historic Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Seton Hall Prep is proud to announce that 35 members of the Class of 2017 have committed to a college or university to continue their academic and athletic careers at the NCAA level. This group not only excelled in their athletic endeavors here at The Prep, they also worked diligently in the classroom and in the community, which is reflected by their choice of colleges- many of which are ranked amongst the most competitive in the country. "Once again I am proud of our student-athletes that choose to play at the next level," stated Athletic Director, Mr. Larry Baggitt. "The committment that it takes to balance academic and athletic performance should be commended, and I am confident in how our school has prepared them in every way to take the next step to the college level." The full list of committed athletes is below organized alphabetically by "Sport." See the media gallery for a personalized graphic for each of our prospective NCAA student-athletes.

2019-04-21T17:05:01Z

https://gopirates.shp.org/news

Working with both the University and Vendor communities to ensure that the best strategic partnerships are established for the delivery of high quality goods and services for all end users. For more detailed information on the topics below, or any Procurement related issue, you may contact the Strategic Sourcing directly at the emails or phone numbers on the main page. What is a Request For Proposal (RFP) or Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and why do I have to go through this process? These processes are dictated by State of Texas statutes such as Texas Government Code 2155 and multiple other House Bills, Board of Regents Rules and Regulations and University of Texas at Arlington Policy. These process are used by all State agencies, not just University of Texas at Arlington. The purpose is to ensure the best overall value to the University, considering both price and non-price criteria, when securing goods and services. A Request For Proposal, or RFP, is generally used for larger and more complicated projects where the exact scope or product specifications may not be known in the beginning and the University wants to solicit proposed solutions from a variety of companies. A good example would be when an end-user knows they need a solution to provide “x” (some desired outcome), but there may be multiple products or systems that can achieve the outcome. A scope of work and/or desired results and requirements are developed in conjunction with the key stakeholders and included in the Request For Proposal document. The key stakeholders also use weighted evaluation criteria to then score the proposals once they are received. The criteria are composed of both price and no-price criteria, weighted in order of importance to the key stakeholders with the objective to obtain the best overall value to the university, not necessarily the lowest priced solution. A Request For Qualifications, or RFQ, is used only for a very specific set of statute-defined services. These are generally licensed professions such as architects, engineers, surveyors, medical professionals, veterinarians, etc…for which the State has dictated that the selection should be based on qualifications rather than price. A general scope of work or services, and the key minimum requirements and desired experience and qualifications are included in the RFQ documents. An evaluation team of key stakeholders then ranks the qualification proposals received and the Strategic Sourcing facilitates a negotiation of rate(s) for the services. If an acceptable rate is achieved, then an agreement is executed with the most highly qualified provider. If an acceptable rate cannot be negotiated, then the team moves to the next most highly qualified provider and this process continues until an acceptable rate is negotiated and an agreement executed. How long does the Request For Proposal (RFP) or Request For Qualification (RFQ) process take? There is no set time table and it generally depends on the scope, complexity and value of the project. These drive the duration of each phase of the process. The only legally-mandated time frame is that the University must publically advertise any solicitation exceeding $50,000 for a minimum of two weeks on the State Electronic Business Daily website. The primary steps in the processes are: initial scope/requirement development, advertising of the solicitation, evaluation of the proposals received, negotiations, and contract finalization. The process can take from as little as 8 weeks to as much as 9-12 months depending on the size of the project and the timely involvement of the key stakeholders. Why are some things now being put on "contracts" versus the standard "Purchase Orders" we used to use? Purchase Orders (PO’s) will continue to be the most widely used procurement tool for most standard, well-defined procurements. However, anything that now runs through the Strategic Sourcing will be formalized in a contractual agreement. Payments may be made against the contract (per the terms of the contract) using a non-PO voucher referencing the agreement number. The Contract Specialist assigned to the contract will review the invoice to ensure compliance with the terms of the contract and approve for AP. The department must still review and approve to confirm that the goods or services have been received and accepted, or that the payment milestone has been met. Items on PO’s are still paid with a voucher that links to the PO in UT Share. The Strategic Sourcing is not involved in the PO process and you should contact your Buyer with any PO-related issues. A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a type of formal solicitation in which the University announces that funding is available for a particular project or program, and requests that companies submit proposals for the project. The RFP document outlines the proposal process and timeline, scope of work and project requirements, contract terms, and provides guidance on how the proposal should be formatted and submitted. An RFP is typically open to a wide range of proposers, creating open competition between companies and ensuring the best overall value is achieved for the University. Each potential respondent in the RFP process is provided with the same information and is subject to the same requirements and deadlines in order to provide the same opportunity to all. To preserve the integrity of this highly controlled process, all who are involved, either directly or indirectly, must keep all aspects of the process and the proposals confidential. In all cases, only the Contract Specialist may communicate with potential respondents and vice versa. On the RFP due date, only the names of the Respondents will be made public. Proposals are not available for review by anyone, other than the evaluation team, until after the award is made. Prior to starting the process steps outlined below, end using departments should contact the Strategic Sourcing (CMO) if they need help in determining whether their product, project or service is appropriate for the RFP process or could be accomplished with a traditional Invitation For Bid (IFB). On the “Initiation Form” department should provide any known or suggested vendors that may be able to fulfill the project requirements, including contact name, address, phone number and e-mail addresses. Department and CMO identify Key Stakeholder(s) and Subject Matter Experts (SME’s). Once the key team members have been identified, the CMO will arrange a proposal “kick off meeting” to help establish key roles, responsibilities and timelines to complete the remaining steps in the process. The evaluation criteria used to score proposals should consist of the criteria that reflect the areas of importance to the University in its selection decision. Through the evaluation and scoring of the criteria, the University is able to assess the similarities and differences and the strengths and weaknesses of competing proposals. A well-integrated evaluation scheme provides consistency, discipline, and rationality to the source selection process, as well as a solid set of backup documentation in the event a non-winning vendor requests a de-briefing or protests the award decision. Any other relevant factor that a private business entity would consider in selecting a vendor. The Contract Specialist assigned to the RFP will work with the department to finalize the RFP content. The Contract Specialist will send the RFP to vendors identified by the department, those vendors identified through research, potential “Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs)” from the State’s “Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL)” and, will publically advertise the RFP on the “Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD)” website for a minimum of 14 calendar days. A pre-proposal meeting is suggested if the SOW is complicated or if it is necessary for potential proposers to physically see or examine the facilities or any activities related to the goods and/or services in the solicitation. There may be times when, due to the nature of the project, attendance by proposers will be mandatory. In those instances, only proposals from firms who attend the pre-proposal conference will be accepted. Once proposals have been received, the HUB Program Coordinator will review the HSP’s submitted. Only proposals accompanied by an acceptable HSP will be evaluated and eligible for award. When the Non-Conflict and the Non-Disclosure forms have been signed and returned to the Contract Specialist, the compliant proposals will be distributed to the Evaluation Team Members, along with a scoring and comment sheet. NOTE: The pricing will be removed from the proposals before distribution to the Evaluation Team. The evaluation team is to evaluate and score solely based on the technical/operational merits of each proposal. This evaluation cannot be biased by cost/price information. The Strategic Sourcing will evaluate the Cost/Price information and assign scoring points accordingly based on the percentage variation in pricing, with the lowest priced solution that meets the technical/operational requirements receiving 100% of the points in the pricing category. All others will receive a pro-rated amount of points based on their percentage variance from the lowest price acceptable solution. In other words, if there are 30 points weighted for pricing then the lowest priced acceptable solution would receive all 30 points. If the next lowest priced acceptable solution is 10% higher, they would receive 90% of the 30 points or 27 points, and so on for the rest of the proposals. When the proposal evaluation is complete, the Team will identify finalists and may request the Contract Specialist to invite them to do presentations. If, during the presentations, additional information is gathered that would affect the scoring against the evaluation criteria, the Evaluation Team may revise their scoring. An explanation for the scoring changes must accompany the revised score sheet. At this time, one or multiple proposers may be invited to submit a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) in an attempt to improve pricing or achieve additional concessions and/or considerations. This is an optional step and does not have to be performed if the Team believes the best overall value and contract position has already been achieved. Once the Evaluation Team completes their evaluation, the Contract Specialist will review the documentation to ensure appropriate processes have been followed in consideration of all evaluation criteria and the justification for vendor selection. The Contract Specialist may request additional information, or clarification from the Team if needed. The Vendor whose Proposal has the highest final score becomes the potential awardee for the contract and the University notifies all vendors (including those not selected) of its decision. The Contract Specialist will prepare a draft version of the Agreement, including any exceptions requested by the Proposer for review by both the Key Stakeholder and Legal. The Key Stakeholder should review to ensure correctness and completeness of scope, requirements, schedule, deliverables and any other technical/operational/business aspect of the Agreement. Legal will review the entire Agreement, paying particular attention to any exceptions taken to the terms, conditions, and legal aspects. Once all University parties are in Agreement, the draft Agreement is sent to the proposer for review and input. At this point, it may be necessary to arrange a meeting to negotiate and finalize certain points of the Agreement. Some issues can be resolved easily and quickly, others may take more time and input from multiple parties. Regardless, once all parties are in agreement the University’s Legal representative will stamp the Agreement showing approval and it can then be signed by the appropriate University representative. It is then forwarded to the Proposing firm for their signature (“contract execution”). The Contract Specialist will then schedule a project kickoff meeting with the end-user/department/key stakeholders to distribute key documents, including checklist which will serve as a guide for the department’s day-to-day administration and monitoring of the contract. It is not unusual for it to take from three (3) to six (6) months to achieve contract award and execution. Some projects have been known to take a year or more. If the contract exceeds $1,000,000 over the life of the contract, the awarded vendor must complete and return a “Form 1295: Disclosure of Interested Parties” prior to contract execution. In conjunction to Form 1295, “Nepotism Disclosure Forms” must be completed by all Evaluation Team Members for contracts exceeding $1,000,000 over the life of the contract. Once the Contract Agreement has been executed, vendor must submit “Proof of Insurance” meeting or exceeding the requirements that were identified in the RFP. If workers will be on campus, the vendor must provide a letter, signed by an authorized representative, certifying compliance with the “Criminal Background Checks” requirements detailed in the RFP. Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) - A for-profit entity that has not exceeded the size standards prescribed by 34 TAC §20.23, and has its principal place of business in Texas, and is at least 51% owned by an Asian Pacific American, Black American, Hispanic American, Native American, American woman and/or Service Disabled Veteran, who reside in Texas and actively participate in the control, operations and management of the entity's affairs. A minority or women-owned business as defined by Gov’t Code, Chapter 2161. HUB Subcontracting Plan (HSP) - A Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Subcontracting Plan is a requirement placed on vendors to encourage their utilization of historically underutilized businesses where subcontracting is practical. Applies to all delegated purchases with an estimated total cost of $100,000 or more where there are subcontracting opportunities for the procurement. Key Stakeholder – The person who is responsible for the content of the proposal, establishment of the evaluation criteria and evaluation team, and who is ultimately responsible for the successful completion of the project. Pre-Proposal Meeting - The purpose is to clarify any concerns bidders may have with the solicitation documents, scope of work and other details of the requirement. May also serve as an opportunity to conduct a walk-through of specific facilities or job sites if needed. Specifications and Scope of Work – a) A detailed description of the requirements for a material, product, or service that includes performance or design criteria necessary to satisfy customer need. b) An accurate, detailed, and concise description of the work to be performed by the contractor. University Contact Information (Section 4.10 Notices) – Generally, an address for a Director or above position for notices, consents, approvals, requests or other communications provided for or permitted to be given under any of the provisions of the Contract Agreement. This must be in writing. This overview is intended to provide end-users and key stakeholders with a high level guide to the key aspects of contract administration and monitoring for the projects they are responsible for. A more detailed resource can be found in the University’s Contract Management Handbook – Chapter 7. Also, please contact the Strategic Sourcing at either 817-272-6148 / [email protected] (Joe White) or 817-272-2140 / [email protected] (Charlie Brooks) for more information or post-contract award assistance. The goal of contract administration is to ensure the contract is satisfactorily performed and the responsibilities of both parties are properly executed. Effective contract administration minimizes or eliminates problems and potential claims and disputes. In the UT Arlington model, the end-using department or key stakeholder is the day-to-day administrator (monitor) of the contract. The Strategic Sourcing is available for assistance as needed and can also serve as an interface to Legal Counsel should serious contractual issues arise. Verify contractor performance for purposes of payment. Identify potential material breaches of the contract by assessing the difference between contract performance and material non-performance. Determine if corrective action is necessary and take such action if required with the assistance of the Strategic Sourcing. The contract’s statement of work should be the roadmap for contract administration. Therefore, planning for contract administration actually occurs prior to issuance of the solicitation. A good contract administrator ensures that the contract requirements are satisfied, that the goods and services are delivered in a timely manner, and that the financial interests of the agency are protected. It is the contractor’s responsibility to perform and meet the requirements of the contract. To do so, contractors sometimes need technical direction and approval from agency personnel. Agency personnel must provide this technical direction and approval in a timely and effective manner. All guidance provided to a contractor must be within the scope of the contract. Agencies must be careful to not impose additional requirements upon the contractor or manage the contractor’s operations to the extent that the contractor is relieved of their responsibility to perform. The extent of contract administration will not be the same for all contracts. The level of contract administration necessary should be consistent with the complexity and level of risk of the contract, its’ term, and dollar value. Participating, as necessary, in developing the solicitation and writing the draft documents. Contract administration must be considered during this process. Managing the contractor's progress and performance to ensure goods and services conform to the contract requirements. When the department submits a voucher for payment, this is their confirmation that the goods or services have been received, conform to contract requirements, and can be paid for. The Strategic Sourcing will also review the invoice to ensure the pricing is consistent with the contract rates or milestones, and any discount terms if applicable. Exercising state remedies, as appropriate, where a contractor’s performance is deficient (in conjunction with the Strategic Sourcing). Resolving disputes in a timely manner (in conjunction with the Strategic Sourcing and/or Legal). Documenting significant events (in conjunction with the Strategic Sourcing). Maintaining appropriate records (in conjunction with the Strategic Sourcing). Determining the sequence of activities, dependencies, required or desired outcomes, and acceptable performance levels. Developing a timetable and start and end date for each performance component. Include milestones with accompanying timeframes, and monitoring and reporting requirements. Monitoring contractor activity on a specified frequency to identify problem areas. Meeting with the contractor on a regular basis to review progress, discuss problems and consider necessary changes. Providing access to state facilities, equipment, data, staff, materials and information. Contacting other staff as necessary to provide equipment and data. Establishing scope of authority, clear lines of communication and reporting and specific individuals who will interact directly with the contractor. Establishing control of correspondence, data and reports. Being aware of the terms or conditions of default (will be specified in the contract). Establishing a procedure, identifying a responsible person and establishing a timeframe for handling non-compliance issues (by either party). Establishing a procedure, identifying a responsible person and establishing a timeline for making necessary contract decisions or modifications. Expected outcome measures – includes staging of deliverables, if applicable. Significant deliverables should be tied to the payment schedule. Costs – The total cost, including any indirect cost allocation of the goods and services to be performed. Contract Performance - When, where, and how the goods and services are to be delivered. Acceptance/Rejection Terms – The agency’s right to inspect and accept or reject the goods and services and the conditions of acceptance or rejection. Contract Dates: The effective date, completion date, renewal terms, and any additional dates necessary to monitor contract performance. Complete addresses – Where correspondence is to be sent, where payments are to made, etc. A post award conference is a meeting with the contractor and includes all key personnel responsible for administering the contract. The conference is typically held soon after the contract is awarded. It is an orientation for the contractor to ensure a clear and mutual understanding of all contract terms and conditions, and the respective responsibilities of all parties. The conference also serves as an excellent opportunity to clarify and resolve any potential misunderstandings up front so they do not cause a delay mid-project. Although both the contractor and the agency personnel should already be fully aware of the contract requirements, the post award conference ensures that those involved directly in the contract administration process understand all requirements of contract performance. Not every contract requires a formal post award conference, but generally there should be some form of discussion between the contracting parties after award to ensure that all parties agree on the performance requirements and the administrative procedures applicable under the terms of the contract. The post award conference should NOT be used to change the terms of the contract. Any change to the contractual requirements must be handled by the Strategic Sourcing in the form of a written Amendment to the contract. Monitoring the performance of the contractor is a key function of proper contract administration. The purpose is to ensure that the contractor is performing all duties in accordance with the contract and for the agency to be aware of and address any developing problems or issues. How will you know that the agency is receiving what it paid for? How will you know that the contractor is complying with the terms of the contract? Review the statement of work and other contract terms, including contractor compliance requirements. All of these requirements are deliverables that the contractor agreed to when the contract was executed or the purchase order was issued. Design the monitoring program to focus on items that are most important. Generally, this means to focus the monitoring on the outcomes that result from the contract. The number of units billed is the same as the number of units received. The quantity and price agree with the contract amounts. The units meet or exceed the contract specifications. If an agency receives grant money to pay for a contract, the agency must consider the nature of the relationship with the contractor. Is the relationship a vendor relationship or a sub-recipient relationship? See OMB Circular A-133, Section 210 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a133/a133.html) for guidance on relationship determination. If the relationship is that of a sub-recipient, then federal guidelines and cost principles must be followed. The Uniform Grant Management Standards published by the Governor’s Office (http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/stategrants/guidelines/view) will provide guidance as well. Was the item billed really purchased by the contractor? Was the item billed used for the purpose of the contract? Was the item necessary and reasonable for the purpose of the contract? Was the item of the quality and quantity specified in the contract? Was the item duplicated in either overhead or profit? Was the item listed in the contractor’s budget and approved by the agency? The agency must review the contract to see how the costs are reimbursed. Many contracts require that all costs must be included in the original budget provided by the contractor and approved by the agency. In some cases, the contract may specify that certain costs such as the purchase of a vehicle or use of a subcontractor require approval by the agency prior to purchase. End user should design a monitoring system that includes criteria and defined follow up actions in the event of any failures or issues on the part of the contractor. The goal of follow up should be to bring the contractor back into compliance with the contract requirements and successfully complete the project. Follow up is essential as the problem will not correct itself simply by identifying it and including it in the monitoring report. Status Reports – Describe the progress of the work. The content of the status report should be consistent with and track the organizational structure of the statement of work, i.e. phases, segments, deliverables and products. A status report should describe what work is complete and what work is pending and that status should be contrasted against the contract schedule. Only work that has been verified as completed or accepted should be categorized as complete. If there are any unresolved issues that the agency is contractually obligated to resolve, those issues should be included in the status report and a resolution should be requested. If the scope of work has changed during the contract (by written contract amendment), insist that status reports track the original contract schedule, not a revised contract schedule, unless the amendments provides for a revised contract schedule. If status is tracked against a revised schedule, there is a risk that the schedule will continually change and the status report will be rendered meaningless. If the contract does not provide for periodic status reports, the agency should ensure that sufficient progress is being made by the contractor. This may be accomplished by requesting a status update from the contractor or a site visit to view the progress. Activity Reports - Describe any activity on the project; project activity is not the same as a status report. A project may have a great deal of activity without making substantive progress. On the other hand, activity reporting can be a core feature of contract management. For example, a contractor payment in an outsourcing contract may be based on the number of completed transactions. In this example, activity reporting is critical to contract administration. The costs incurred by the contractor should be in accordance with the contract rate schedule. Invoices should be reviewed to ensure that the contractor’s billing coincides with the contract’s progress and/or goods received. This requires that the contractor’s progress be measurable. Cost incurred or invoices submitted, in and of themselves, are insufficient indicators of the contractor’s progress. If the agency believes that the requested payment exceeds the contractor’s progress, an explanation should be requested from the contractor prior to approval of the invoice. Payment should be withheld pending agency satisfaction with the contractor’s progress. The contractor is billing only for goods or services received by the agency. The goods or services have been accepted with no damage or missing components (not just “received”). The invoice is correct and complies with the terms and conditions of the contract. The total payments do not exceed the contract limits. Client services contracts are unique in that acceptance of a good or service is not an indicator that an invoice should be paid. Problems with client services contracts generally surface after invoices are paid. Contract administrators dealing with client services contracts should ensure mechanisms exist to penalize contractors for poor performance and that future payments may be withheld until performance improves. For any change to the contractual requirements, the modification(s) must be documented in writing and follow the proper review and approval process as dictated by State statute and or University policy. In no situation should an end-user give verbal approval to add/change/modify the contractual requirements. The contract administrator should involve the Strategic Sourcing (or the appropriate Buyer if the work is related to a Purchase Order) as soon as it is known that a change to any contractual element is needed. • Formal, written approval of all changes prior to the change taking place. Do not verbally authorize the vendor to begin working on a change before formal process is fully analyzed, documented and approved in writing. Failure to do so puts both the contractor and the person making such verbal authorizations at risk. • Evaluation of the impact of each change to the contracting objective, the corresponding deliverable and/or products, the schedule, cost, and increase in agency overhead resulting from the change, impact to work in progress/completed work, standards, and acceptance criteria. • Documentation of all changes, no matter how small and avoids any informal undocumented change process. Establish a single point of contact to recommend or authorize any change. Document the change as approved or disapproved. If a change is approved, document the change and the impact to the scope of work through a contract amendment or purchase order change notice, whichever is applicable. Whether or not a contract may be changed, depends upon certain principles. State law requires a competitive process in most situations. The specific method of competition depends upon the type of goods or services needed. If competed, the resulting contract must be consistent with what was asked for during the competition, usually contained in the solicitation document. Not being consistent can violate the competitive process requirements. If a change is needed to a contract, the change has to be within the scope, or range, of what was provided in the solicitation. A significant difference would be a material or substantial change in the scope of services, and would not be allowed because it had not been originally subject to fair competition. To permit such a change would go against the ideas of competition and a fair playing field for all of the vendors. For example, if a contract to buy 10 desks is amended to include 300 file cabinets, the change is outside the scope of the contract because vendors did not have the opportunity to compete for the sale of 300 file cabinets. Additional vendors may have competed had they known that file cabinets were being solicited. Such a large quantity of file cabinets could also have had an impact upon which vendors competed. Other vendors may have been interested in bidding on file cabinets that were not interested in bidding on desks. In order to determine what constitutes scope changes to advertised specifications, the significant question is whether the changes are material or substantial. Material or substantial changes are not measured by the number of changes made to the original specifications. Rather, they are measured by whether the extent of the changes would so substantially alter the original specifications that not re-advertising the revised specifications would deny a procurement opportunity to someone who would have been able to respond to the revised specifications. If much is revised, then those changes will be treated as a new proposal. A new solicitation is needed to ensure compliance with the bidding statutes. Changes as permitted by the specific contract language. Change of any terms and conditions. Interfere with or hiProper dispute resolution is a core skill of successful contract administration. Identification of problems early in the performance period, effectively communicating the issue to the contractor as well as the Strategic Sourcing, and formalizing the process in writing via a cure notice procedure or less formal written procedure is essential. A contract termination is a failure by BOTH parties to a contract. Termination is the last resort and should be avoided if at all possible. Identify the problem - many times what may appear to be a problem can be resolved by providing the contractor with information or clarification. Research facts – the agency should obtain all the information regarding the potential problem from all relevant sources, including the project manager and the contractor. Evaluation – the agency should review all of the facts in conjunction with the requirements and terms and conditions of the contract. The agency should then determine the appropriate course of action. Proper dispute resolution is a core skill of successful contract administration. Identification of problems early in the performance period, effectively communicating the issue to the contractor as well as the Strategic Sourcing, and formalizing the process in writing via a cure notice procedure or less formal written procedure is essential. A contract termination is a failure by BOTH parties to a contract. Termination is the last resort and should be avoided if at all possible. When a contract is terminated, the parties are relieved from further unperformed obligations in accordance with the agreed terms and conditions. A contract may be terminated under two distinct processes: Termination for Convenience or Termination for Default. A termination for convenience, also known as no-fault termination, allows the agency to terminate any contract, in whole or in part, at any time in its sole discretion (generally with a thirty (30) day notice to the contractor), if it is determined that such termination is in the best interest of the agency. The agency shall provide the contractor with written notice specifying whether the agency is terminating all or part of the contract. The notice of termination shall give the date of termination. If the contract is being selectively terminated, the agency should specify which part(s) of the contract are being terminated. The contractor will generally be paid for allowable costs incurred up to the date of termination. The agency will not be liable for payment to the contractor related to the terminated portion of the work or any work performed or costs incurred after the effective date of termination. Upon receipt of any invoice from the contractor for work performed prior to the Notice of Termination, the agency should thoroughly review the invoice to ensure that no excessive costs are included. Has the agency done everything within reason to assist the contractor in curing any default? The provisions of the contract and applicable regulations. The specific contractual failure(s) and the explanation provided for the failures. The urgency of the need for the contracted supplies or services. The agency may need to weigh the respective benefits and/or disadvantages of allowing a delinquent contractor to continue performance or re-soliciting a new contractor. The availability of the supplies or services from other sources and the time required to obtain them (compared to the additional time the current contractor needs to complete the work). Availability of funds and/or resources to re-purchase in the event such costs cannot be recovered from the delinquent contractor. Under a termination for default, the agency is within its rights to demand re- procurement costs from the defaulting contractor. Nevertheless, the contractor may not be financially capable to finance the re-purchase, or such demand may result in protracted legal action. If a vendor is terminated for default, the contractor is liable for actual damages and costs incurred by the state unless the contract states otherwise. Severe weather, although beyond the contractor’s control, will not generally constitute an excusable delay if it is not considered “unusually severe weather”. For example, a snow storm in Amarillo in February would not be considered unusual, while it would be considered unusual in Austin. On the other hand, a snow storm in Amarillo in June would indeed be unusual. If the contractor’s failure to perform is due to the default of a subcontractor, in order to qualify as an excusable cause, the default must arise out of causes beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of both the contractor and the subcontractor. Even if this requirement is met, the cause will not be excusable if the supplies or services to be provided by the subcontractor could have been obtained from other sources in time to meet the contract delivery schedule. A copy of all backup documentation for contractor payment or progress payment; and copies of any audits. The University's Contract Management Handbook is a comprehensive guide for contract management processes and practices in connection with the procurement of goods and services.

2019-04-22T15:17:53Z

https://www.uta.edu/business-affairs/procurement/contract-management-office.php

NC State’s 2017-2022 Sustainability Strategic Plan is a five-year roadmap that builds upon the university’s strengths, momentum, and decades of sustainability progress. The campus-wide Sustainability Council and its working groups – with extensive involvement from the university community – developed the Sustainability Strategic Plan. The plan has been endorsed at the highest levels of university leadership and is in effect from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2022. NC State develops leaders and innovations that create a more sustainable world. Engaging campus and community in creating a more sustainable future. Student Leadership: Engage students in initiatives that promote leadership and service in sustainability. Academics: Integrate sustainability into education, experiences, and research. Operations, Planning and Design: Model sustainability through efficient, innovative facilities and operations that educate the campus community and improve the quality of life. Community and Culture: Accelerate a culture of sustainability, inclusivity, and well-being on campus and in the community. Communications: Propel awareness and sustainability at and beyond NC State. Our communities, state, nation, and world face increasingly complex challenges that impact our environment, our economy, and our society. Successful sustainability pursues balanced, ethical solutions that are economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially just so that current and future generations may thrive. The environment was the primary focus of NC State’s early sustainability efforts. In the development of this strategic plan, the university community expressed a desire to broaden NC State’s scope of sustainability to include economic and social dimensions that address complex challenges such as human health and well-being, poverty, equity, and justice. Implementing the strategic plan provides opportunities to demonstrate the tradeoffs inherent with making sustainable decisions. With this multidimensional approach, NC State will engage campus and community in creating a more sustainable future. There are unprecedented challenges facing our increasingly connected world, and sustainability leaders and innovations have never been more vital. Institutions of higher education are crucial to preparing graduates equipped to lead, to serve, and to solve complex social, environmental, and economic problems. Through implementation of the Sustainability Strategic Plan, sustainability will be integrated into NC State’s education, experiences, and research. More NC State students will be engaged in initiatives that promote leadership and service in sustainability. Campus will model sustainability through efficient, innovative facilities and operations that educate the campus community and improve quality of life. A culture of sustainability, inclusivity, and well-being will be accelerated on campus and in the community. These initiatives, plus active communication efforts, will propel sustainability at and beyond NC State. NC State will emerge by 2022 as one the nation’s leading universities for sustainability education, operations, and engagement. This plan builds on decades of progress that has established NC State as a sustainability leader. The university is a frequent recipient of local, regional, and national sustainability honors, including the 2016 achievement of a Gold rating in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) offered through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Much of this progress was catalyzed by the university’s inaugural Sustainability Strategic Plan (2011-2016) led by the university-wide Campus Environmental Sustainability Team (CEST). Innovations in energy, water, transportation, purchasing, waste reduction, land use, and buildings created ongoing opportunities for campus to become a living classroom, where NC State students learn and conduct research. These advances solidified the university’s sustainability commitment, leading to the adoption of a University Sustainability Policy in 2014. NC State began developing the 2017-2022 Sustainability Strategic Plan in 2015 under the leadership of the Sustainability Council. September 2015: The Provost and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration established the Sustainability Council to lead development and implementation of NC State’s second Sustainability Strategic Plan. September – December 2016: Campus and community members provided feedback on the draft plan. The Sustainability Council steering committee evaluated all comments and incorporated common themes. Spring 2017: The plan was finalized and approved by university administration. July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2022: Implementation of the plan. 1. Enhance the success of our students through educational innovation. 2. Enhance scholarship and research by investing in faculty and infrastructure. 3. Enhance interdisciplinary scholarship to address the grand challenges of society. 4. Enhance organizational excellence by creating a culture of constant improvement. 5. Enhance local and global engagement through focused strategic partnerships. Each fiscal year, the Sustainability Council’s five working groups will create and implement annual tactics to drive progress toward the plan’s goals, strategies, and objectives. Tactics will be created based on feasibility, cost and potential impact to ensure sound stewardship of the university’s resources. Working groups meet regularly and welcome participation from anyone on campus or in the community. Each working group has a chairperson(s) who leads the group and is part of the Sustainability Council’s steering committee. Each working group has been assigned a specific goal, and collaboration across working groups is vital as the plan’s five major goals are interdependent. Success in one area can springboard success in another, and the Sustainability Council’s steering committee will create mechanisms for regular communication among working groups. In some cases, multiple working groups are pursuing similar strategies, making collaboration even more crucial. Working groups will track both quantitative and qualitative measures of progress, which will be monitored through the university’s Annual Sustainability Report, published during the fall semester. Engage students in initiatives that promote leadership and service in sustainability. Enhancing student success is one of NC State’s foundational goals, and that success extends beyond the classroom. Sustainability provides an ideal backdrop for creation of high-impact educational experiences that reinforce academic excellence, while equipping students to serve and to lead. These efforts help develop successful NC State graduates who are well prepared for impactful careers and lives. Sustainability strategies in Student Leadership contribute to fulfilling the university’s strategic goal of enhancing the success of our students through educational innovation. Help advance these goals by joining the Sustainability Council's Student Leadership Working Group. The following strategies and objectives support the Student Leadership goal. Specific tactics that are being implemented during fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018) are also listed. Strategy 1: Increase student involvement with high-impact, co-curricular experiences in sustainability. A. Increase student engagement in sustainability-focused student trips. Tactic: Define what qualifies as sustainability-focused student trip. Tactic: Create an inventory of existing university-related trips that are sustainability-focused. Tactic: Perform a needs assessment of existing sustainability-focused student trips. B. Expand sustainability-related competitions for students. Tactic: Continue offering Make-A-Thon as an annual student sustainability competition on campus. C. Increase the diversity and number of student organizations engaged in sustainability initiatives, events, and programming. Tactic: Define incentives that will encourage additional student organizations to become more sustainable. Tactic: Work with Student Involvement to add “sustainability” as a category for student organizations to self-select. Tactic: Utilize Student Government’s Sustainability Department to distribute information to student body. D. Engage more students in sustainability-related service learning and community service. E. Increase the resources and support available for sustainability-related student organizations. Tactic: Establish connection with Union Activities Board (UAB) to encourage sustainable event planning. Tactic: Create sustainability resources to be distributed to student organizations and staff/faculty advisors. Tactic: Train students to support organizations pursuing sustainable events certification. F. Develop a sustainability co-curriculum. Tactic: Create a committee to design Student Sustainability Co-curricular Leadership recognition. Strategy 2: Expand sustainability training and outreach for students. A. Create a sustainability workshop series that contributes toward student leadership development. Tactic: Student Sustainability Co-Curricular Leadership Award Committee will evaluate current leadership workshops that are available and decide on the topics that need to be created for workshops. B. Include sustainability education in New Student Programs, University Housing, University and college ambassadors, and Fraternity and Sorority Life. Tactic: Provide sustainability training to New Student Orientation Leaders. Tactic: Encourage new students to continue using the reusable bags and bottles they receive at New Student Orientation. Tactic: Promote programs/events that connect sustainability to the Common Reading Program. Tactic: Certify Convocation events as sustainable. Tactic: Provide sustainability information for RA’s to include in their hall meeting in August. Tactic: Present sustainability information focused on residence halls to Inter-Residence Hall Council. Tactic: Recognize the Most Sustainable Chapter award winner at Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Order of Omega Awards. Tactic: Add sustainable event certification to Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Event Management Page. Tactic: Include Sustainable Event Certification link on Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Event Management website. Tactic: Increase sustainability efforts during Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Panhellenic and IFC recruitment. Tactic: Provide sustainability training to Fraternity and Sorority Life’s tailgating committee/IFC. Tactic: Edit Fraternity and Sorority Life’s Standards evaluation sheet to include a sustainability section. Integrate sustainability into education, experiences, and research. Society’s grand challenges require leaders who can recognize complexities and create innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainability experiences inside and outside the classroom contribute to NC State’s first priority: enhancing student success and equipping students for impactful careers and lives. Sustainability bridges academic disciplines and transcends their boundaries, bringing together the varied skills and diverse perspectives required to tackle complex challenges. Sustainability is a fundamental perspective for enhancing the critical and creative thinking that NC State fosters in students. Sustainability is already present in many academic programs and co-curricular activities. There is opportunity for more robust integration of sustainability so that NC State becomes the first choice for incoming students who seek to create a more sustainable future. Campus-wide coordination of sustainability programs will ensure that every student has access to sustainability-related learning experiences. A multidisciplinary emphasis will lead to more sustainability-related research breakthroughs at NC State. Academic sustainability goals contribute to the university’s first strategic goal of enhancing the success of our students through educational innovation, the second strategic goal of enhancing scholarship and research by investing in faculty and infrastructure, and the third strategic goal of enhancing interdisciplinary scholarship to address the grand challenges of society. Sustainability research discoveries, real-world learning, and extension also contribute toward additional university goals to enhance organizational excellence and community engagement. Help advance these goals by joining the Sustainability Council's Academics Working Group. The following strategies and objectives support the Academics goal. Specific tactics that are being implemented during fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018) are also listed. Strategy 1: Enhance cohesion among academic programs that address sustainability. A. Establish and support an administrative framework that coordinates academic sustainability programs. Tactic: Establish the position of an academic sustainability coordinator to provide the needed leadership and coordination. Tactic: Understand how the University Sustainability Office best supports progress in academic sustainability collaboration. Strategy 2: Ensure that every NC State undergraduate student engages in coursework with critical and creative thinking and substantive learning outcomes focused on sustainability. A. Develop a sustainability general education program (GEP) category or group of classes. B. Develop a coordinated NC State annual sustainability theme to be incorporated into the curriculum. Tactic: Coordinate with Housing and Living and Learning Villages to include sustainability-related academic activities into their schedule of events as well as connect with faculty engaged in sustainability-related scholarship. Strategy 3: Facilitate opportunities for NC State students to participate in high-impact academic experiences in sustainability. A. Provide students with sustainability-related professional development opportunities. B. Better coordinate and communicate high-impact academic opportunities focused on sustainability. Tactic: Identify and promote existing programs where there are sustainability engagement opportunities beyond the typical classroom experience. C. Create team-taught courses or seminars focused on current sustainability issues. Tactic: Develop criteria for identifying existing courses that would qualify as team-taught courses or seminars focused on current sustainability issues. Tactic: Establish a process outline for co-teaching sustainability-related courses across colleges. Tactic: Advocate for funding of team-taught, sustainability-related courses. Strategy 4: Increase the demographic and disciplinary diversity of the NC State community engaged in sustainability academics. A. Create diversity through high school recruiting into sustainability-oriented academic programs, with a focus on attracting students from groups traditionally underrepresented in such programs. B. Continue to develop courses and course modules in environmental justice and equity. C. Partner with regional minority-serving institutions in student service and action research projects. D. Foster the development of multidisciplinary scholarship and research by faculty focused on sustainability. E. Support and reward faculty in developing and teaching multidisciplinary courses that address sustainability across departments and colleges. Strategy 5: Establish NC State as an institution that develops sustainability stewards and leaders. A. Engage faculty and students from across the university with real-world, community-identified projects to meet the partnering community’s sustainability priorities. B. Develop a sustainability leadership certificate. Strategy 6: Establish NC State as the first choice for prospective students committed to sustainability. A. Engage with high school faculty/administration and students about sustainability education and programming at NC State. Strategy 7: Engage external stakeholders in supporting NC State’s academics sustainability initiatives. A. Bring external stakeholders to campus for sustainability activities and programs, such as presenting lectures and seminars, advising students and faculty engaged in sustainability projects, judging student presentations and posters in classes, and campus research events. Strategy 8: Establish new sustainability student scholarships and fellowships. A. Create a funding program to which student teams can apply for support for sustainability research. Strategy 9: Increase the university’s profile in sustainability-related research. A. Solicit external funds for research seed funding in sustainability. Tactic: Solicit undergraduate student research funds focused on sustainability. Tactic: Coordinate with the Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development on corporate, crowd-sourced or foundation development of sustainability-related research. Tactic: Explore with Poole College of Management whether there is an opportunity for coordination across campus to engage with the Business Sustainability Collaborative. Model sustainability through efficient, innovative facilities and operations that educate the campus community and improve the quality of life. A university campus has more value than ever as a place for real-world learning in today’s technology-rich world. The university’s role is to teach, showcase, and challenge our community’s understanding of the complex cost and benefit tradeoffs associated with decisions. When NC State minimizes environmental impacts in our community, state, and world and models best practices in areas including energy, water, air quality, waste reduction, purchasing, computing, and food, it improves the sustainable quality of life on campus. NC State practices what it teaches, creating a campus community that values stewardship, embodies excellence, and enhances quality of life. The university’s simultaneous pursuit of environmental, economic, and social sustainability demonstrates the leadership required to address society’s grand challenges. Operations, Planning, and Design sustainability strategies contribute toward the university’s fourth strategic goal of enhancing organizational excellence by creating a culture of constant improvement. Help advance these goals by joining the Sustainability Council's Operations, Planning and Design Working Group. Strategy 1: Reduce NC State’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from the 2008 baseline. Tactic: Complete the next Greenhouse Gas Inventory based on the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Tactic: Implement Combined Heat and Power project on Centennial Campus to produce electricity and steam on campus from natural gas. Strategy 2: Reduce existing building annual energy use per square foot by 40 percent from the 2002 baseline. Tactic: Revise the Energy Management Action Plan to prioritize activities toward this goal over the next five years. A. Optimize building energy usage through retro-commissioning, continuous commissioning, and occupant education. Tactic: Set Energy Use Intensity (EUI) target for all new capital projects in Project Scope Statement. Tactic: Require Building Envelope Commissioning in new capital projects (should be budgeted during planning and prior to request for funds). Tactic: Implement predictive maintenance program for research buildings (oil analysis, vibration analysis, laser alignment for pumps, motors, etc. for critical equipment). Tactic: Use a phased approach to switching air handler unit (AHU) filter media to new technology to reduce energy, labor and filter media waste. B. Explore and develop best practices for intelligent infrastructure and energy generation use in campus buildings. C. Reduce energy use within the five Central Utility Plants by 5 percent from the 2015 baseline. Strategy 3: Expand the amount of renewable energy used to meet NC State’s needs. Tactic: Research large scale renewable energy options available within NC utility regulations. Strategy 4: Reduce campus water consumption by 65 percent from the 2001 baseline. A. Expand the use of reuse (reclaimed or non-potable) water on campus. B. Reduce water use in campus buildings. C. Implement landscaping that reduces potable water consumption. Strategy 5: Enhance and coordinate stormwater efforts to ensure water quality for the university’s growing campus. A. Develop a master plan for providing watershed-based regional stormwater treatment for new and future development and retrofits. B. Improve the stormwater control measure program by providing feedback on devices under construction and involving students in ongoing water quality monitoring. Tactic: Implement a Grounds staff inspection for construction of Stormwater Control Measures (evaluate if this could be added to Capital Project Management procedures). Tactic: Evaluate implementing a student volunteer monitoring program within the Stormwater Program. Strategy 6: Reduce single-occupancy vehicles on campus by 5 percent for employees and 7 percent for students from the 2015 baseline. A. Renew NC State’s designation as a Bicycle Friendly University. B. Enhance Wolfline bus system service delivery in order to build annual ridership to 3.5 million by 2022. Tactic: Implement reverse route for Wolfline route 7. Tactic: Construct Wolf Village transit hub to increase bus rider safety and convenience. Tactic: Reroute Wolfline route 3 to have a more direct and frequent service to Engineering and Oval Buildings. C. Increase and enhance campus walkability by realizing a 2.5 percent increase in intra-campus walking travelers from the 2015 baseline. Tactic: Implement pedestrian infrastructure improvement along Morril Dr. D. Increase student and employee use of carpooling by 3 percent over the 2015 baseline. Tactic: Implement a more aggressive and widespread carpool advertising campaign. E. Promote alternative fuel usage for commuting by aiming for 0.5 percent of permitted vehicles to hold an electric vehicle (EV) permit by 2022. Tactic: Replace remaining old PEP electric vehicle charging stations with new Charge Point stations to enable better performance metric reporting capabilities. Tactic: Implement updates to the Transportation Master Plan. F. Work with community partners to make data-driven decisions about alternate transportation modes. Strategy 7: Reduce the consumption of and demand for petroleum products in the university fleet. A. Create a baseline for university-wide fleet metrics. Tactic: Gain support/authority for administrative consolidation of university fleet. Strategy 8: Achieve a 70 percent landfill diversion rate from the 2006 baseline toward zero waste. A. Complete and communicate a Zero Waste Management Plan that will guide the vision for zero waste management practices, define meaningful targets, and address education and research needs. Tactic: Identify key campus and industry partners that have direct impact on Zero Waste Management strategies. Tactic: Finalize plan, publish, communicate, and get support for a Zero Waste Plan. Tactic: Update and streamline Reuse, Recycling, and Hazardous Waste section of Design & Construction Guidelines. B. Utilize the 2015 Waste Characterization Study to develop focused educational and training plans that will reduce the amount of recyclable material from entering the campus waste stream. Tactic: Develop a Zero Waste Training Module for each department that handles waste that is introduced to all operational staff. C. Develop a robust campus-wide, on-site composting program that creates a closed-loop system for food waste generated on campus. Tactic: Expand paper towel composting as a simple and effective way to introduce people to composting. Tactic: Expand Zero Waste Workplace program. D. Develop a comprehensive reuse program to capture constuction, office, departmental supplies, and donations from the campus. Tactic: Work with NC State Surplus and State Surplus to identify materials currently being sent to the landfill that can be diverted through either of these Surplus entities. Tactic: Develop a legal agreement between the University and multiple non-profit organizations to allow the disposition of University material that is bound for the landfill. Strategy 9: Implement source reduction and environmentally-preferable purchasing initiatives to decrease waste before it occurs. A. Create a sustainable purchasing initiative with experts to guide waste diversion and sustainable sourcing. B. Instill the values of total cost of ownership and total life cycle cost in purchasing and decision-making. C. Develop a system to track and quantify sustainable purchases from MarketPlace, the university’s material management and purchasing system and in large bids and contracts. Tactic: Highlight sustainable items on the Marketplace purchasing system. D. Develop incentives for making environmentally sound purchases for externally-funded research projects. Strategy 10: Exemplify a sustainable food system from origin to plate by adding capacity to grow food on campus land for campus dining facilities. A. Increase production to more than 7,000 pounds per year at the Agroecology Education Farm in year one and a 10 percent increase in each subsequent year. Tactic: Utilize the currently constructed Agroecology Farm high tunnel to promote season extension and create additional poundage of produce. B. Introduce culinary gardens accessible to campus chefs for incorporating ingredients into meals. C. Increase NC State’s use of North Carolina produce by 20 percent from the 2013 baseline. Tactic: Work with US Foods to bring in produce from local farms in the month of June through September. D. Further promote the availability and benefits of healthy food. E. Increase NC State’s Dining use of North Carolina local food from 27% to 30%. Tactic: Define what NC State designates as local to a 300-mile radius to include most of South Carolina and Virginia. Tactic: Identify local companies from which NC State can purchase that meet our local food perimeters. Strategy 11: Continue to raise awareness for Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing. A. Expand investment strategies as NC State’s SRI Fund assets continue to grow. Tactic: Proactively research the due diligence on fund managers for the remaining Park Foundation donation. Tactic: Identify the steps to achieve offering another option for philanthropic/impact fund to the university’s donors and constituent institution. Tactic: Explore options to further fund sustainability through purchases made at NC State Bookstores. B. Offer another option for philanthropic funds to the university’s alumni and for other donors. Strategy 12: Utilize information technology to reduce resource use across campus. A. Increase on-campus partnerships to help students, faculty, and staff reduce use of paper by increasing digitization. Tactic: Extend OnBase Document Management System implementations for document retention, efficiency (workflow), storage savings and ease of document search/retrieval to: Human Resources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Advancement Office and Dean’s Office, College of Management Dean’s Office, College of Psychology Dean’s Office, Foundations Accounting. Tactic: Implement two PCard enhancements by integrating with the OnBase Document Management System to allow cardholders to directly upload receipts and monthly statements to reduce printing across campus. Tactic: Implement Absence Management within the Human Resources System to eliminate the signed paper copies of leave records. Tactic: Expand the required training system, REPORTER, to all units providing required training to minimize paper records and reduce record keeping duplication. Tactic: Integrate the new electronic Research Administration (eRA) system with existing Financial and Human Resource Systems to eliminate paper used to support dual entry. B. Increase use of virtual meetings to reduce travel and costs and increase efficiency. C. Evaluate additional energy efficiency efforts with data centers, equipment purchases, and data storage options. Accelerate a culture of sustainability, inclusivity and well-being on campus and in the community. Sustainability becomes part of NC State’s culture as more people champion sustainability efforts at every level of the university. The greater the involvement, the greater the impact -- both on campus and in the community. NC State’s integration of sustainability into university planning, decision-making, and operations exemplifies sustainability leadership and contributes toward continued economic, environmental, and societal prosperity. This goal contributes toward the university’s fifth strategic goal of enhancing local and global engagement through focused strategic partnerships while also contributing toward enhanced student success, which is the university’s first strategic goal. Help advance these goals by joining the Sustainability Council's Community and Culture Working Group. The following strategies and objectives support the Community and Culture goal. Specific tactics that are being implemented during fiscal year 2018 (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018) are also listed. Strategy 1: University leadership will actively promote, encourage, and celebrate a culture of sustainability. A. Encourage division and departmental ownership and action to make sustainability accessible to the entire campus community with the expectation that all programs and events incorporate sustainability. Tactic: Certify Chancellor events as sustainable to set the example and create the baseline for future years. Tactic: Certify signature Wolfpack Welcome Week events as sustainable. Tactic: Certify campus departments as sustainable workplaces to create the baseline for future years. B. Establish a coordinated NC State annual sustainability theme to promote awareness and action across all campus units and to be incorporated into the curriculum to brand the university as a sustainability champion. C. Infuse an institutional commitment to sustainability in all aspects of campus and community life such as programming, event planning, transportation to meetings, everyday language, and orientation and hiring processes. Tactic: Design and pilot training that encourages the campus community to lead by example in sustainable actions. Tactic: Determine an instrument for measuring sustainability significance to faculty and alumni as counterparts to the incoming student and staff wellbeing surveys. Tactic: Determine strategies to include sustainability into employee onboarding such as through a leadership video (coordinate with Communications). D. Create incentives for all campus stakeholders to embrace and celebrate sustainability and to establish clear accountability methods and standards across departments and programs in order to ensure compliance. Tactic: Establish the annual Celebration of NC State to include university leadership participation and expand the Green Brick Awards. Tactic: Evaluate a sustainability award category for exsisting campus award programs. E. Enhance and/or create campus traditions that encourage sustainable change through personal or team challenges. Tactic: Certify Student Government traditions events as sustainable to create the baseline for future years. F. Include sustainability as part of university campaign and top-level fundraising priorities and strategies so that funding is secured for student high-impact experiences, undergraduate research, awards, curriculum development, scholarships and grants, programming, immersion experiences, residence life, and research seed funding. Tactic: Create relationship between the Sustainability Council and University Development. G. Explore how to scale and replicate our work and lead across the University of North Carolina system and the state. Tactic: Create relationships among Raleigh higher education institutions. Tactic: Present best practices at sustainability conferences. Strategy 2: Embrace and demonstrate an expanded definition/ vision of sustainability that pursues improvement of the human condition, respect for all members of the community, social justice, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, workplace and campus safety, and wellness. A. Develop and implement a social and environmental justice narrative for NC State so that as, a campus community, we acknowledge and embrace a culture of inclusion. Tactic: Research and document current campuswide efforts that include environmental and social justice. Tactic: Include sustainability programming in Diversity Education Week. Tactic: Provide programming for campus that illustrates a broader vision of sustainability. B. Integrate concepts of entrepreneurship and social innovation into our understanding of sustainability and encourage areas of related research and practice. Tactic: Integrate social/sustainability category into major entrepreneurship competitions. Tactic: Align Well Wolfpack certified organizations and sustainable workplace certifications. C. Collaborate with and support the efforts of the University Wellness Task Force to create and maintain a culture that supports and promotes the overall wellness of NC State students, faculty, and staff. Strategy 3: Develop the connective tissue with our campus and Triangle community in order to bridge our collective vision to “think and do” as we address society’s grand challenges. A. Develop a thriving network/community of external partners committed to advancing the university’s sustainability goals and vision. Tactic: Expand NC State’s annual Earth Fair event by inviting new community partners. Tactic: Increase sustainability awareness and education to alumni and community through sporting events. Tactic: Collaborate on projects with the City of Raleigh and cross-promote sustainability events. B. Facilitate communication and engagement with external stakeholders to leverage sustainability efforts for larger collective impact, such as intentionally sharing knowledge and resources. Tactic: Create relationships with NC State Outreach and Engagement to provide sustainability knowledge and resources to communities. Propel awareness and sustainability at and beyond NC State. Effective communication is foundational for the success of NC State’s Sustainability Strategic Plan. Communication about the plan and its progress will help raise the profile of sustainability, prompting more people to consider their individual and collective impact. Help advance these goals by joining the Sustainability Council's Communications Working Group. Strategy 1: Raise awareness of sustainability at NC State among internal and external stakeholders. A. Incorporate sustainability into the NC State brand. Tactic: Review NC State brand platform and propose to NC State Executive Brand Committee ways to add sustainability into the university brand. B. Gain national recognition for NC State’s sustainability successes. Tactic: Identify sustainability-related award opportunities and ranking systems and strategize ways to boost NC State’s scores. C. Promote awareness of NC State’s Sustainability Strategic Plan. Tactic: Develop roll-out plan for Sustainability Strategic Plan to the university. Strategy 2: Better integrate sustainability communications across campus to improve frequency and consistency of sustainability communications. A. Develop a network of communications professionals across campus to encourage two-way communications about sustainability issues. Strategy 3: Provide communications resources and tools to promote and support sustainability at NC State. A. Develop a messaging strategy and framework for how to communicate about sustainability. Tactic: Define sustainability concepts and messaging. Tactic: Define target audiences. Analyze audiences to develop effective messaging strategies. Tactic: Position and promote NC State’s sustainability website and e-newsletter as the centralized resource featuring all sustainability-related news content created university-wide. Execute a subscription campaign to boost subscribers to NC State’s sustainability e-newsletter. B. Develop a toolkit for incorporating sustainability into communications. Tactic: Develop a collection of downloadable sustainability icons specific to NC State. Tactic: Develop billboard graphics/templates for recognizing sustainability contributions on campus. Tactic: Integrate information visualization into communication about sustainability concepts and accomplishments. Tactic: Create a repository and promote social media hashtags/handles/trending topics for NC State sustainability-related information and communications. C. Develop a set of sustainable communications best practices for communicators. Strategy 4: Make communications a key part of sustainability planning and execution. A. Identify sustainability programs, projects, or progress that require outreach efforts and/or meet institutional qualifications for promotion to internal or external audiences. Tactic: Embed a communicator on each Sustainability Council working group.

2019-04-26T06:25:03Z

https://sustainability.ncsu.edu/sustainability-strategic-plan/

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Social Security number 184-03-6887 was issued to ELI MUMMA, who was born 01 June 1898 and, Death Master File says, died March 1980. Search Archives for ELI MUMMA. Social Security number 184-03-6888 was issued to H RAYMOND CHARLES, who was born 19 August 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 05 December 1988. Search Archives for H RAYMOND CHARLES. Social Security number 184-03-6889 was issued to WILLIS LANDIS, who was born 04 September 1917 and, Death Master File says, died June 1967. Search Archives for WILLIS LANDIS. Social Security number 184-03-6893 was issued to HENRY GABEL, who was born 07 November 1906 and, Death Master File says, died December 1980. Search Archives for HENRY GABEL. Social Security number 184-03-6895 was issued to ERNEST SCHAEFFER, who was born 02 November 1908 and, Death Master File says, died May 1980. Search Archives for ERNEST SCHAEFFER. Social Security number 184-03-6897 was issued to HOMER F ERB, who was born 12 August 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 30 April 1993. Search Archives for HOMER ERB. Social Security number 184-03-6898 was issued to ANNA ALBITZ, who was born 29 March 1913 and, Death Master File says, died November 1986. Search Archives for ANNA ALBITZ. Social Security number 184-03-6899 was issued to MELVIN SCHAEFFER, who was born 13 April 1878 and, Death Master File says, died July 1966. Search Archives for MELVIN SCHAEFFER. Social Security number 184-03-6900 was issued to QUINTON MURRAY, who was born 31 October 1896 and, Death Master File says, died January 1981. Search Archives for QUINTON MURRAY. Social Security number 184-03-6902 was issued to WILLIAM KERL, who was born 16 January 1902 and, Death Master File says, died October 1975. Search Archives for WILLIAM KERL. Social Security number 184-03-6903 was issued to BLANCHE T HECTOR, who was born 15 October 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 17 August 2005. Search Archives for BLANCHE HECTOR. Social Security number 184-03-6906 was issued to VERA PEPPER, who was born 06 December 1918 and, Death Master File says, died August 1960. Search Archives for VERA PEPPER. Social Security number 184-03-6907 was issued to MURRELL W CHAMPION, who was born 05 November 1903 and, Death Master File says, died 01 April 1992. Search Archives for MURRELL CHAMPION. Social Security number 184-03-6908 was issued to PAUL FRENCH, who was born 30 April 1917 and, Death Master File says, died May 1977. Search Archives for PAUL FRENCH. Social Security number 184-03-6911 was issued to FRITZ SCHMIDT, who was born 07 November 1896 and, Death Master File says, died January 1980. Search Archives for FRITZ SCHMIDT. Social Security number 184-03-6916 was issued to HARRY A HENNING, who was born 18 April 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 14 July 1998. Search Archives for HARRY HENNING. Social Security number 184-03-6917 was issued to ALLAN MARCHANT, who was born 02 July 1904 and, Death Master File says, died April 1965. Search Archives for ALLAN MARCHANT. Social Security number 184-03-6918 was issued to CHESTER LUKENS, who was born 31 July 1897 and, Death Master File says, died October 1984. Search Archives for CHESTER LUKENS. Social Security number 184-03-6919 was issued to MARION KENNEDY, who was born 06 February 1892 and, Death Master File says, died December 1983. Social Security number 184-03-6920 was issued to ELMER BALTHASER, who was born 01 May 1902 and, Death Master File says, died March 1967. Search Archives for ELMER BALTHASER. Social Security number 184-03-6921 was issued to JESSIE SINER, who was born 29 May 1895 and, Death Master File says, died December 1985. Search Archives for JESSIE SINER. Social Security number 184-03-6922 was issued to STANLEY W RAPP, who was born 12 November 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 24 July 1997. Search Archives for STANLEY RAPP. Social Security number 184-03-6925 was issued to HARRY KISSINGER, who was born 10 April 1888 and, Death Master File says, died April 1970. Search Archives for HARRY KISSINGER. Social Security number 184-03-6927 was issued to HOMER BESECKER, who was born 22 November 1895 and, Death Master File says, died January 1967. Search Archives for HOMER BESECKER. Social Security number 184-03-6928 was issued to CHARLES LEWIS, who was born 26 May 1902 and, Death Master File says, died November 1969. Social Security number 184-03-6929 was issued to MARION M PICKERING, who was born 03 October 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 16 October 2008. Search Archives for MARION PICKERING. Social Security number 184-03-6930 was issued to GEORGE HAMILTON, who was born 24 January 1914 and, Death Master File says, died October 1977. Social Security number 184-03-6932 was issued to SADIE SMICKLEY, who was born 28 August 1891 and, Death Master File says, died November 1977. Search Archives for SADIE SMICKLEY. Social Security number 184-03-6933 was issued to RUSSELL BAUER, who was born 15 November 1908 and, Death Master File says, died February 1975. Search Archives for RUSSELL BAUER. Social Security number 184-03-6934 was issued to HERBERT BAUER, who was born 27 February 1897 and, Death Master File says, died May 1971. Search Archives for HERBERT BAUER. Social Security number 184-03-6935 was issued to CLARENCE A HELLER, who was born 16 August 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 12 October 2002. Search Archives for CLARENCE HELLER. Social Security number 184-03-6936 was issued to ALBERT J THOMAS, who was born 09 November 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 16 February 2001. Search Archives for ALBERT THOMAS. Social Security number 184-03-6937 was issued to ELWOOD WILSON, who was born 19 September 1907 and, Death Master File says, died May 1971. Social Security number 184-03-6938 was issued to ADELE TORQUATI, who was born 27 April 1919 and, Death Master File says, died 24 August 2007. Search Archives for ADELE TORQUATI. Social Security number 184-03-6939 was issued to CLARA S BALTZ, who was born 10 March 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 27 September 2003. Search Archives for CLARA BALTZ. Social Security number 184-03-6941 was issued to LLOYD S HOLLINGER, who was born 03 February 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 28 October 2000. Search Archives for LLOYD HOLLINGER. Social Security number 184-03-6942 was issued to LEVI G STEHMAN, who was born 22 April 1905 and, Death Master File says, died 25 February 1994. Search Archives for LEVI STEHMAN. Social Security number 184-03-6943 was issued to JOHN WASKIEWICZ, who was born 23 December 1892 and, Death Master File says, died October 1968. Search Archives for JOHN WASKIEWICZ. Social Security number 184-03-6944 was issued to GEORGE KUCIK, who was born 28 November 1908 and, Death Master File says, died November 1964. Search Archives for GEORGE KUCIK. Social Security number 184-03-6950 was issued to FLORENCE KLIMACHEFSKY, who was born 18 April 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 25 October 1996. Search Archives for FLORENCE KLIMACHEFSKY. Social Security number 184-03-6951 was issued to EDWARD YASULAVAGE, who was born 12 June 1886 and, Death Master File says, died February 1972. Search Archives for EDWARD YASULAVAGE. Social Security number 184-03-6953 was issued to PAUL CARTER, who was born 22 January 1891 and, Death Master File says, died June 1986. Social Security number 184-03-6954 was issued to ANNA SEASHOLTZ, who was born 19 August 1910 and, Death Master File says, died June 1993. Search Archives for ANNA SEASHOLTZ. Social Security number 184-03-6955 was issued to EDWARD VAUGHAN, who was born 07 June 1903 and, Death Master File says, died February 1965. Search Archives for EDWARD VAUGHAN. Social Security number 184-03-6956 was issued to SYLVESTER LEIGHT, who was born 09 October 1901 and, Death Master File says, died September 1974. Search Archives for SYLVESTER LEIGHT. Social Security number 184-03-6958 was issued to PEARL FREDERICK, who was born 24 September 1913 and, Death Master File says, died November 1982. Search Archives for PEARL FREDERICK. Social Security number 184-03-6959 was issued to JOSEPH JOWDER, who was born 05 May 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 03 October 1991. Search Archives for JOSEPH JOWDER. Social Security number 184-03-6960 was issued to MARY MATTIS, who was born 15 October 1903 and, Death Master File says, died 22 April 1990. Search Archives for MARY MATTIS. Social Security number 184-03-6961 was issued to MARY MACBREARTY, who was born 26 February 1907 and, Death Master File says, died January 1987. Search Archives for MARY MACBREARTY. Social Security number 184-03-6964 was issued to LORETTA CARSCADDEN, who was born 27 February 1911 and, Death Master File says, died October 1975. Search Archives for LORETTA CARSCADDEN. Social Security number 184-03-6965 was issued to ALFRED SOSNOSKI, who was born 28 October 1915 and, Death Master File says, died September 1972. Search Archives for ALFRED SOSNOSKI. Social Security number 184-03-6966 was issued to JOHN MULHEARN, who was born 16 August 1907 and, Death Master File says, died January 1974. Search Archives for JOHN MULHEARN. Social Security number 184-03-6967 was issued to GEORGE CHONKO, who was born 02 May 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 03 March 1996. Search Archives for GEORGE CHONKO. Social Security number 184-03-6968 was issued to JOHN TURRI, who was born 18 December 1913 and, Death Master File says, died November 1979. Search Archives for JOHN TURRI. Social Security number 184-03-6970 was issued to LEROY RENNINGER, who was born 05 March 1907 and, Death Master File says, died December 1975. Search Archives for LEROY RENNINGER. Social Security number 184-03-6972 was issued to JOSEPH BOWMAN, who was born 12 March 1909 and, Death Master File says, died February 1986. Search Archives for JOSEPH BOWMAN. Social Security number 184-03-6973 was issued to NICK MASTROCOLA, who was born 02 September 1892 and, Death Master File says, died August 1966. Search Archives for NICK MASTROCOLA. Social Security number 184-03-6975 was issued to JOSEPH YANULAITIS, who was born 03 July 1887 and, Death Master File says, died January 1964. Search Archives for JOSEPH YANULAITIS. Social Security number 184-03-6976 was issued to BOLEY RAZMIN, who was born 18 April 1894 and, Death Master File says, died March 1967. Search Archives for BOLEY RAZMIN. Social Security number 184-03-6978 was issued to JOHN SHATTS, who was born 01 March 1884 and, Death Master File says, died July 1965. Search Archives for JOHN SHATTS. Social Security number 184-03-6980 was issued to ROBERT WAGNER, who was born 06 March 1897 and, Death Master File says, died March 1977. Social Security number 184-03-6981 was issued to ALBERT EDELMAN, who was born 22 June 1911 and, Death Master File says, died January 1978. Search Archives for ALBERT EDELMAN. Social Security number 184-03-6982 was issued to KERMIT AMIG, who was born 19 October 1914 and, Death Master File says, died August 1970. Search Archives for KERMIT AMIG. Social Security number 184-03-6984 was issued to EVA C WALTER, who was born 26 June 1893 and, Death Master File says, died 08 October 1991. Social Security number 184-03-6985 was issued to ELLA ECK, who was born 23 July 1889 and, Death Master File says, died September 1972. Search Archives for ELLA ECK. Social Security number 184-03-6986 was issued to HARVEY LESHER, who was born 20 August 1898 and, Death Master File says, died March 1976. Search Archives for HARVEY LESHER. Social Security number 184-03-6987 was issued to NORMAN DERR, who was born 25 June 1901 and, Death Master File says, died May 1958. Search Archives for NORMAN DERR. Social Security number 184-03-6988 was issued to MAHLON RHODE, who was born 25 December 1900 and, Death Master File says, died 11 December 1996. Search Archives for MAHLON RHODE. Social Security number 184-03-6992 was issued to ANGELO PIERUCCI, who was born 21 April 1902 and, Death Master File says, died 01 April 1975. Search Archives for ANGELO PIERUCCI. Social Security number 184-03-6993 was issued to BERNARD CHRISTY, who was born 29 June 1902 and, Death Master File says, died December 1973. Search Archives for BERNARD CHRISTY. Social Security number 184-03-6994 was issued to WILBUR STAIR, who was born 15 April 1904 and, Death Master File says, died January 1976. Search Archives for WILBUR STAIR. Social Security number 184-03-6995 was issued to ELEANOR Y GABUZDA, who was born 05 July 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 01 August 1994. Search Archives for ELEANOR GABUZDA. Social Security number 184-03-6996 was issued to JOSEPH E BOYLE, who was born 04 June 1910 and, Death Master File says, died 13 February 1997. Social Security number 184-03-6997 was issued to MARY POTZGO, who was born 10 January 1909 and, Death Master File says, died October 1985. Search Archives for MARY POTZGO. Social Security number 184-03-6998 was issued to MIKE KALANEVICH, who was born 16 September 1898 and, Death Master File says, died September 1987. Search Archives for MIKE KALANEVICH. Social Security number 184-03-7001 was issued to GUSTAV SCHIGGEL, who was born 08 November 1889 and, Death Master File says, died September 1980. Search Archives for GUSTAV SCHIGGEL. Social Security number 184-03-7002 was issued to ROBERT MORRIS, who was born 18 November 1893 and, Death Master File says, died November 1972. Social Security number 184-03-7004 was issued to MAE WEIDENBACKER, who was born 24 May 1891 and, Death Master File says, died September 1968. Search Archives for MAE WEIDENBACKER. Social Security number 184-03-7005 was issued to ROBERT P DILL, who was born 27 September 1901 and, Death Master File says, died May 1989. Search Archives for ROBERT DILL. Social Security number 184-03-7008 was issued to DOROTHY MCGLASHEN, who was born 06 August 1916 and, Death Master File says, died May 1980. Search Archives for DOROTHY MCGLASHEN. Social Security number 184-03-7009 was issued to GLADYS M BOYLAN, who was born 09 January 1916 and, Death Master File says, died December 1995. Search Archives for GLADYS BOYLAN. Social Security number 184-03-7010 was issued to PAUL MEMMO, who was born 18 June 1898 and, Death Master File says, died September 1971. Search Archives for PAUL MEMMO. Social Security number 184-03-7011 was issued to LUIGI GIACINTO, who was born 12 October 1899 and, Death Master File says, died June 1983. Search Archives for LUIGI GIACINTO. Social Security number 184-03-7012 was issued to ROSALIE GALLACCIO, who was born 11 March 1907 and, Death Master File says, died 08 January 2001. Search Archives for ROSALIE GALLACCIO. Social Security number 184-03-7013 was issued to CHARLES HERR, who was born 11 February 1887 and, Death Master File says, died March 1977. Social Security number 184-03-7014 was issued to MORRIS KATZ, who was born 15 May 1888 and, Death Master File says, died December 1966. Social Security number 184-03-7017 was issued to PHILIP G SOLOMON, who was born 02 July 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 24 June 1999. Search Archives for PHILIP SOLOMON. Social Security number 184-03-7018 was issued to DAVID GREENBERG, who was born 10 March 1891 and, Death Master File says, died September 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7019 was issued to THOMAS WOOD, who was born 08 April 1916 and, Death Master File says, died November 1986. Search Archives for THOMAS WOOD. Social Security number 184-03-7020 was issued to WILLIAM HAMILTON, who was born 16 October 1889 and, Death Master File says, died September 1970. Social Security number 184-03-7021 was issued to EDWARD KOSLOSKY, who was born 21 August 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 15 September 1988. Search Archives for EDWARD KOSLOSKY. Social Security number 184-03-7022 was issued to CHARLES RICHARDSON, who was born 21 January 1915 and, Death Master File says, died December 1964. Social Security number 184-03-7024 was issued to MELVIN MARPLE, who was born 28 February 1912 and, Death Master File says, died August 1980. Search Archives for MELVIN MARPLE. Social Security number 184-03-7025 was issued to CHARLES GILSON, who was born 14 May 1909 and, Death Master File says, died November 1986. Search Archives for CHARLES GILSON. Social Security number 184-03-7029 was issued to MAURICE FELLIN, who was born 26 May 1893 and, Death Master File says, died February 1970. Search Archives for MAURICE FELLIN. Social Security number 184-03-7030 was issued to EARL VANATTA, who was born 19 December 1891 and, Death Master File says, died October 1971. Search Archives for EARL VANATTA. Social Security number 184-03-7031 was issued to AGNES A SHERMAN, who was born 03 November 1911 and, Death Master File says, died September 1990. Search Archives for AGNES SHERMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7032 was issued to STEWART I MOORE, who was born 11 October 1904 and, Death Master File says, died 18 May 1989. Social Security number 184-03-7034 was issued to VIVIENNE L SALL, who was born 01 July 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 16 May 2000. Search Archives for VIVIENNE SALL. Social Security number 184-03-7035 was issued to MARY B OBRIEN, who was born 10 May 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 29 July 2002. Social Security number 184-03-7036 was issued to ELLWOOD ROGERS, who was born 04 September 1904 and, Death Master File says, died December 1969. Search Archives for ELLWOOD ROGERS. Social Security number 184-03-7037 was issued to CHARLES HARRISON, who was born 04 April 1919 and, Death Master File says, died August 1987. Social Security number 184-03-7039 was issued to JOSEPH COLLINSON, who was born 11 June 1895 and, Death Master File says, died January 1975. Search Archives for JOSEPH COLLINSON. Social Security number 184-03-7041 was issued to EDNA THARAN, who was born 16 April 1910 and, Death Master File says, died September 1984. Search Archives for EDNA THARAN. Social Security number 184-03-7042 was issued to JOHN THARAN, who was born 21 March 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 28 January 1996. Search Archives for JOHN THARAN. Social Security number 184-03-7043 was issued to STANLEY SIEROCINSKI, who was born 16 December 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 08 May 2008. Search Archives for STANLEY SIEROCINSKI. Social Security number 184-03-7044 was issued to CRAIG E HAMMES, who was born 03 December 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 09 August 1998. Search Archives for CRAIG HAMMES. Social Security number 184-03-7045 was issued to ABEL X STRIFFLING, who was born 17 January 1908 and, Death Master File says, died 09 November 1997. Search Archives for ABEL STRIFFLING. Social Security number 184-03-7049 was issued to MARY M SWANSON, who was born 27 November 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 29 August 1991. Search Archives for MARY SWANSON. Social Security number 184-03-7050 was issued to AUGUSTUS AVERY, who was born 20 May 1882 and, Death Master File says, died February 1965. Search Archives for AUGUSTUS AVERY. Social Security number 184-03-7051 was issued to LEONARD BOGLE, who was born 29 October 1910 and, Death Master File says, died September 1985. Search Archives for LEONARD BOGLE. Social Security number 184-03-7052 was issued to FRANCIS LEADER, who was born 20 August 1912 and, Death Master File says, died November 1974. Social Security number 184-03-7055 was issued to LEROY AVERY, who was born 14 July 1909 and, Death Master File says, died November 1959. Search Archives for LEROY AVERY. Social Security number 184-03-7056 was issued to WILLIAM H HEYWOOD, who was born 30 June 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 09 December 1993. Search Archives for WILLIAM HEYWOOD. Social Security number 184-03-7057 was issued to CARL GULDIN, who was born 16 March 1914 and, Death Master File says, died May 1974. Search Archives for CARL GULDIN. Social Security number 184-03-7059 was issued to JOSEPH MCHALE, who was born 01 October 1906 and, Death Master File says, died February 1978. Search Archives for JOSEPH MCHALE. Social Security number 184-03-7060 was issued to WILLIAM MANN, who was born 20 March 1879 and, Death Master File says, died September 1968. Social Security number 184-03-7065 was issued to C ROBERT MAUTE, who was born 08 November 1919 and, Death Master File says, died November 1986. Search Archives for C ROBERT MAUTE. Social Security number 184-03-7067 was issued to GILDA GEROME, who was born 29 March 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 01 November 2002. Search Archives for GILDA GEROME. Social Security number 184-03-7073 was issued to KAY M EGNER, who was born 01 September 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 11 December 2000. Search Archives for KAY EGNER. Social Security number 184-03-7074 was issued to EVELYN M GOLDEN, who was born 12 June 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 25 November 2002. Search Archives for EVELYN GOLDEN. Social Security number 184-03-7075 was issued to EVA A FUNK, who was born 09 November 1907 and, Death Master File says, died 24 February 2001. Search Archives for EVA FUNK. Social Security number 184-03-7077 was issued to HENRY HUNSBERGER, who was born 30 September 1905 and, Death Master File says, died December 1984. Search Archives for HENRY HUNSBERGER. Social Security number 184-03-7078 was issued to THOMAS E FLUCK, who was born 04 December 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 24 January 2007. Search Archives for THOMAS FLUCK. Social Security number 184-03-7079 was issued to ANNA PAULSON, who was born 02 May 1919 and, Death Master File says, died 05 October 2009. Search Archives for ANNA PAULSON. Social Security number 184-03-7080 was issued to CHARLES T SCHULER, who was born 10 February 1910 and, Death Master File says, died 24 January 1990. Search Archives for CHARLES SCHULER. Social Security number 184-03-7081 was issued to HORACE NEIMAN, who was born 27 March 1902 and, Death Master File says, died June 1981. Search Archives for HORACE NEIMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7083 was issued to CARLTON J LOFLAND, who was born 22 August 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 10 January 1989. Search Archives for CARLTON LOFLAND. Social Security number 184-03-7084 was issued to PELLMAN B SHOEMAKER, who was born 27 December 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 05 February 1999. Search Archives for PELLMAN SHOEMAKER. Social Security number 184-03-7085 was issued to HYMAN KANTER, who was born 28 September 1902 and, Death Master File says, died April 1975. Search Archives for HYMAN KANTER. Social Security number 184-03-7086 was issued to JOSEPH WARD, who was born 05 May 1913 and, Death Master File says, died September 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7088 was issued to JOSEPH SHANNON, who was born 13 September 1900 and, Death Master File says, died January 1967. Search Archives for JOSEPH SHANNON. Social Security number 184-03-7094 was issued to NATHANIEL SELDON, who was born 09 January 1901 and, Death Master File says, died October 1982. Search Archives for NATHANIEL SELDON. Social Security number 184-03-7096 was issued to CHARLES DELLINGER, who was born 03 January 1883 and, Death Master File says, died June 1963. Search Archives for CHARLES DELLINGER. Social Security number 184-03-7097 was issued to WILLIAM MOODY, who was born 17 September 1897 and, Death Master File says, died March 1967. Social Security number 184-03-7098 was issued to WILEY GENTRY, who was born 20 February 1905 and, Death Master File says, died September 1967. Search Archives for WILEY GENTRY. Social Security number 184-03-7100 was issued to ESTHER C BRYAN, who was born 30 March 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 15 July 1997. Search Archives for ESTHER BRYAN. Social Security number 184-03-7101 was issued to M LOIS BRYAN, who was born 25 November 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 24 December 1989. Search Archives for M LOIS BRYAN. Social Security number 184-03-7104 was issued to MARY JANE RAPP, who was born 31 December 1919 and, Death Master File says, died 22 August 1996. Search Archives for MARY JANE RAPP. Social Security number 184-03-7106 was issued to ANNE BRANCA, who was born 27 December 1895 and, Death Master File says, died January 1978. Search Archives for ANNE BRANCA. Social Security number 184-03-7107 was issued to VICTOR ZANGARA, who was born 28 January 1909 and, Death Master File says, died December 1983. Search Archives for VICTOR ZANGARA. Social Security number 184-03-7110 was issued to OSMOND LYNN, who was born 20 November 1897 and, Death Master File says, died May 1979. Search Archives for OSMOND LYNN. Social Security number 184-03-7111 was issued to WILLIAM RILLING, who was born 22 February 1895 and, Death Master File says, died October 1966. Search Archives for WILLIAM RILLING. Social Security number 184-03-7112 was issued to GERTRUDE S EVANS, who was born 25 June 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 14 December 1996. Search Archives for GERTRUDE EVANS. Social Security number 184-03-7113 was issued to FRANK PUAL, who was born 30 January 1908 and, Death Master File says, died August 1952. Search Archives for FRANK PUAL. Social Security number 184-03-7114 was issued to BERTHA M RAINIER, who was born 13 February 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 05 March 2005. Search Archives for BERTHA RAINIER. Social Security number 184-03-7115 was issued to GEORGE SMITH, who was born 13 April 1894 and, Death Master File says, died June 1983. Social Security number 184-03-7119 was issued to WILLIAM BAIN, who was born 23 August 1917 and, Death Master File says, died April 1986. Search Archives for WILLIAM BAIN. Social Security number 184-03-7121 was issued to RICHARD WILHELM, who was born 04 November 1896 and, Death Master File says, died December 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7122 was issued to JENNIE G SMITH, who was born 25 December 1896 and, Death Master File says, died 01 July 1990. Social Security number 184-03-7123 was issued to FRANK WHEELIN, who was born 14 February 1898 and, Death Master File says, died June 1986. Search Archives for FRANK WHEELIN. Social Security number 184-03-7124 was issued to EDWARD BOYLE, who was born 20 July 1913 and, Death Master File says, died May 1976. Social Security number 184-03-7125 was issued to MARY MULLIN, who was born 02 September 1917 and, Death Master File says, died March 1979. Social Security number 184-03-7126 was issued to GERALD F STAHLECKER, who was born 09 October 1915 and, Death Master File says, died April 1995. Search Archives for GERALD STAHLECKER. Social Security number 184-03-7127 was issued to MILTON MOSKOWITZ, who was born 20 March 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 02 February 1997. Search Archives for MILTON MOSKOWITZ. Social Security number 184-03-7128 was issued to THOMAS CASSIDY, who was born 13 March 1913 and, Death Master File says, died December 1956. Social Security number 184-03-7129 was issued to NORMAN FINLAYSON, who was born 22 August 1905 and, Death Master File says, died January 1978. Search Archives for NORMAN FINLAYSON. Social Security number 184-03-7130 was issued to SAMUEL MUCHNICK, who was born 10 November 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 20 August 1992. Search Archives for SAMUEL MUCHNICK. Social Security number 184-03-7131 was issued to JAMES JONES, who was born 13 August 1898 and, Death Master File says, died October 1979. Social Security number 184-03-7132 was issued to ALICE MOFFETT, who was born 09 March 1915 and, Death Master File says, died September 1979. Search Archives for ALICE MOFFETT. Social Security number 184-03-7139 was issued to JENNIE A MERRICK, who was born 16 May 1896 and, Death Master File says, died 11 November 1994. Search Archives for JENNIE MERRICK. Social Security number 184-03-7140 was issued to OSCAR MULFORD, who was born 12 August 1898 and, Death Master File says, died June 1980. Search Archives for OSCAR MULFORD. Social Security number 184-03-7141 was issued to FRANK P DUFFY, who was born 16 December 1908 and, Death Master File says, died 01 August 1989. Search Archives for FRANK DUFFY. Social Security number 184-03-7142 was issued to M AARONSON, who was born 0000 and, Death Master File says, died April 1968. Search Archives for M AARONSON. Social Security number 184-03-7145 was issued to STASIA G GORDON, who was born 19 December 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 02 May 1999. Search Archives for STASIA GORDON. Social Security number 184-03-7148 was issued to JOHN MURPHY, who was born 11 March 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 02 January 1995. Social Security number 184-03-7149 was issued to WILLIAM SPILKA, who was born 15 June 1895 and, Death Master File says, died October 1963. Search Archives for WILLIAM SPILKA. Social Security number 184-03-7154 was issued to WILLIAM P BATES, who was born 23 November 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 28 June 2000. Social Security number 184-03-7155 was issued to JOHN BREXA, who was born 04 February 1898 and, Death Master File says, died February 1966. Search Archives for JOHN BREXA. Social Security number 184-03-7158 was issued to LAWRENCE AYRES, who was born 12 December 1908 and, Death Master File says, died August 1971. Search Archives for LAWRENCE AYRES. Social Security number 184-03-7160 was issued to GEORGE BAYNUM, who was born 25 October 1907 and, Death Master File says, died January 1969. Search Archives for GEORGE BAYNUM. Social Security number 184-03-7162 was issued to RAY MANWARING, who was born 01 September 1879 and, Death Master File says, died February 1967. Search Archives for RAY MANWARING. Social Security number 184-03-7165 was issued to ALBERT G HARRIS, who was born 24 July 1908 and, Death Master File says, died 15 October 1999. Social Security number 184-03-7167 was issued to LAURA SERRONI, who was born 20 June 1898 and, Death Master File says, died April 1977. Search Archives for LAURA SERRONI. Social Security number 184-03-7168 was issued to HELEN C BOYLAN, who was born 26 September 1903 and, Death Master File says, died 31 January 2002. Search Archives for HELEN BOYLAN. Social Security number 184-03-7170 was issued to EMMA KEEN, who was born 16 November 1882 and, Death Master File says, died January 1963. Search Archives for EMMA KEEN. Social Security number 184-03-7171 was issued to MARGARET H OWENS, who was born 29 June 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 31 October 1988. Social Security number 184-03-7172 was issued to IDA SILVERMAN, who was born 17 July 1902 and, Death Master File says, died March 1982. Search Archives for IDA SILVERMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7174 was issued to ROBERT PATTERSON, who was born 08 February 1906 and, Death Master File says, died August 1981. Social Security number 184-03-7176 was issued to CLIFFORD DONAHOWER, who was born 12 April 1889 and, Death Master File says, died February 1974. Search Archives for CLIFFORD DONAHOWER. Social Security number 184-03-7178 was issued to JAMES GOODYEAR, who was born 08 July 1909 and, Death Master File says, died September 1982. Social Security number 184-03-7180 was issued to JAMES BROADBENT, who was born 20 June 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 01 May 1999. Search Archives for JAMES BROADBENT. Social Security number 184-03-7181 was issued to GEORGE ROBERTS, who was born 08 February 1909 and, Death Master File says, died January 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7183 was issued to MARGARET COSTELLO, who was born 09 July 1904 and, Death Master File says, died August 1985. Social Security number 184-03-7185 was issued to ANDREW J KEATING, who was born 27 July 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 10 October 2000. Search Archives for ANDREW KEATING. Social Security number 184-03-7186 was issued to MARIE HEADLEY, who was born 09 August 1899 and, Death Master File says, died November 1986. Search Archives for MARIE HEADLEY. Social Security number 184-03-7187 was issued to JOHN TRUMAN, who was born 22 July 1899 and, Death Master File says, died March 1975. Search Archives for JOHN TRUMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7188 was issued to JACOB SILLINGER, who was born 25 December 1897 and, Death Master File says, died November 1978. Search Archives for JACOB SILLINGER. Social Security number 184-03-7189 was issued to ROBERT G SWIFT, who was born 05 August 1904 and, Death Master File says, died 01 November 1992. Search Archives for ROBERT SWIFT. Social Security number 184-03-7190 was issued to ALBERT A BLUESTEIN, who was born 27 January 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 15 December 1989. Search Archives for ALBERT BLUESTEIN. Social Security number 184-03-7191 was issued to LEAH BLUESTEIN, who was born 02 February 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 23 July 1999. Search Archives for LEAH BLUESTEIN. Social Security number 184-03-7192 was issued to WILLIAM DONAHUE, who was born 31 August 1897 and, Death Master File says, died June 1963. Search Archives for WILLIAM DONAHUE. Social Security number 184-03-7194 was issued to CHARLES ANTON, who was born 07 May 1900 and, Death Master File says, died May 1944. Social Security number 184-03-7195 was issued to HARRY WALKER, who was born 11 June 1900 and, Death Master File says, died December 1979. Social Security number 184-03-7198 was issued to MARY BLACKBURN, who was born 30 August 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 30 June 2000. Search Archives for MARY BLACKBURN. Social Security number 184-03-7199 was issued to LOUIS SIGMAN, who was born 15 December 1891 and, Death Master File says, died October 1962. Search Archives for LOUIS SIGMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7201 was issued to GERTRUDE BAKER, who was born 04 June 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 24 December 1998. Search Archives for GERTRUDE BAKER. Social Security number 184-03-7202 was issued to CATHERINE BAKER, who was born 28 June 1910 and, Death Master File says, died 04 February 1999. Social Security number 184-03-7203 was issued to ELMER G KATES, who was born 27 July 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 22 June 1993. Search Archives for ELMER KATES. Social Security number 184-03-7204 was issued to HENRY HUNSBERGER, who was born 06 March 1899 and, Death Master File says, died January 1966. Social Security number 184-03-7205 was issued to JENNIE CHATTO, who was born 30 July 1900 and, Death Master File says, died October 1977. Search Archives for JENNIE CHATTO. Social Security number 184-03-7208 was issued to ANTONIO GIANGIULIO, who was born 02 April 1892 and, Death Master File says, died November 1969. Search Archives for ANTONIO GIANGIULIO. Social Security number 184-03-7209 was issued to MARY CLEMMER, who was born 28 May 1914 and, Death Master File says, died December 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7210 was issued to E M LORENZ, who was born 01 April 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 22 March 2009. Search Archives for E LORENZ. Social Security number 184-03-7215 was issued to GRACE MAYS, who was born 24 March 1891 and, Death Master File says, died September 1967. Search Archives for GRACE MAYS. Social Security number 184-03-7216 was issued to THOMAS F SMITH, who was born 09 March 1904 and, Death Master File says, died 16 September 1992. Social Security number 184-03-7217 was issued to HARRY STANKO, who was born 20 July 1893 and, Death Master File says, died July 1972. Search Archives for HARRY STANKO. Social Security number 184-03-7219 was issued to EMMETT GEORGE, who was born 03 May 1873 and, Death Master File says, died January 1964. Search Archives for EMMETT GEORGE. Social Security number 184-03-7221 was issued to EDITH HATTON, who was born 22 September 1907 and, Death Master File says, died December 1975. Search Archives for EDITH HATTON. Social Security number 184-03-7223 was issued to JAMES E WALKER, who was born 05 September 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 08 February 2005. Social Security number 184-03-7225 was issued to ALEXANDER SALERNO, who was born 28 January 1908 and, Death Master File says, died December 1983. Search Archives for ALEXANDER SALERNO. Social Security number 184-03-7227 was issued to MARGARET B LICHTY, who was born 18 August 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 22 February 1998. Search Archives for MARGARET LICHTY. Social Security number 184-03-7228 was issued to ELIZABETH CIARROCCHI, who was born 09 November 1911 and, Death Master File says, died January 1968. Search Archives for ELIZABETH CIARROCCHI. Social Security number 184-03-7229 was issued to GEORGE W HINCKEN, who was born 22 May 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 03 January 1989. Social Security number 184-03-7230 was issued to THOMAS MEEHAN, who was born 23 December 1903 and, Death Master File says, died September 1981. Social Security number 184-03-7231 was issued to GAETANO BOZZA, who was born 04 August 1892 and, Death Master File says, died July 1966. Search Archives for GAETANO BOZZA. Social Security number 184-03-7232 was issued to EDWARD HILL, who was born 03 September 1887 and, Death Master File says, died November 1967. Social Security number 184-03-7233 was issued to SAMUEL GREENBERG, who was born 28 December 1903 and, Death Master File says, died August 1973. Social Security number 184-03-7234 was issued to MARY BAINES, who was born 27 June 1902 and, Death Master File says, died January 1989. Search Archives for MARY BAINES. Social Security number 184-03-7235 was issued to RUTH A NELSON, who was born 23 March 1919 and, Death Master File says, died 04 April 2009. Social Security number 184-03-7237 was issued to THOMAS LEWIS, who was born 12 October 1907 and, Death Master File says, died April 1979. Social Security number 184-03-7238 was issued to FRED BOARDMAN, who was born 03 February 1890 and, Death Master File says, died June 1968. Search Archives for FRED BOARDMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7239 was issued to CARRIE BATTAGLINI, who was born 27 May 1887 and, Death Master File says, died October 1975. Search Archives for CARRIE BATTAGLINI. Social Security number 184-03-7242 was issued to CHARLES WALRAVEN, who was born 10 April 1906 and, Death Master File says, died July 1971. Search Archives for CHARLES WALRAVEN. Social Security number 184-03-7243 was issued to GEORGE TIPTON, who was born 17 February 1900 and, Death Master File says, died October 1966. Search Archives for GEORGE TIPTON. Social Security number 184-03-7245 was issued to EDNA M HARPER, who was born 30 July 1910 and, Death Master File says, died 14 January 2000. Search Archives for EDNA HARPER. Social Security number 184-03-7246 was issued to GENEVIEVE T GUSHUE, who was born 22 August 1916 and, Death Master File says, died 07 August 1998. Search Archives for GENEVIEVE GUSHUE. Social Security number 184-03-7248 was issued to JOSEPH KALINOWSKI, who was born 30 May 1891 and, Death Master File says, died September 1983. Social Security number 184-03-7251 was issued to CHARLIE RISHER, who was born 07 October 1895 and, Death Master File says, died July 1969. Search Archives for CHARLIE RISHER. Social Security number 184-03-7254 was issued to ELLIE TOIVONEN, who was born 19 June 1888 and, Death Master File says, died November 1974. Search Archives for ELLIE TOIVONEN. Social Security number 184-03-7258 was issued to PAULINE V LAWLER, who was born 05 April 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 26 December 1998. Search Archives for PAULINE LAWLER. Social Security number 184-03-7259 was issued to CHARLES MULLEN, who was born 07 June 1910 and, Death Master File says, died December 1985. Search Archives for CHARLES MULLEN. Social Security number 184-03-7260 was issued to JOSEPH S WHITE, who was born 21 February 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 08 June 2003. Social Security number 184-03-7261 was issued to NORVILLE J GENOVESI, who was born 22 August 1900 and, Death Master File says, died 28 November 1989. Search Archives for NORVILLE GENOVESI. Social Security number 184-03-7262 was issued to LEON FRIEDMAN, who was born 13 August 1885 and, Death Master File says, died December 1974. Search Archives for LEON FRIEDMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7267 was issued to MARJORIE ENGLAND, who was born 25 January 1905 and, Death Master File says, died 29 January 1995. Search Archives for MARJORIE ENGLAND. Social Security number 184-03-7269 was issued to ELMER CALHOUN, who was born 09 March 1904 and, Death Master File says, died November 1985. Search Archives for ELMER CALHOUN. Social Security number 184-03-7270 was issued to JOHN T KURTZ, who was born 28 March 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 03 March 1992. Search Archives for JOHN KURTZ. Social Security number 184-03-7271 was issued to JOSEPH DALY, who was born 19 October 1886 and, Death Master File says, died August 1965. Social Security number 184-03-7272 was issued to CATHERINE M BROOK, who was born 04 July 1919 and, Death Master File says, died 10 October 1990. Search Archives for CATHERINE BROOK. Social Security number 184-03-7273 was issued to WILLIAM SCHMIDT, who was born 24 October 1917 and, Death Master File says, died January 1977. Social Security number 184-03-7274 was issued to THOMAS CARR, who was born 01 October 1901 and, Death Master File says, died October 1976. Social Security number 184-03-7275 was issued to FRED BRIGGS, who was born 14 July 1887 and, Death Master File says, died February 1965. Search Archives for FRED BRIGGS. Social Security number 184-03-7276 was issued to GEORGE TOMLINSON, who was born 22 February 1901 and, Death Master File says, died July 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7277 was issued to JAMES P NOLAN, who was born 24 June 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 24 January 1999. Social Security number 184-03-7278 was issued to HARRY SANDLER, who was born 05 December 1915 and, Death Master File says, died April 1967. Social Security number 184-03-7279 was issued to ELIZABETH KEHOE, who was born 23 June 1910 and, Death Master File says, died February 1984. Search Archives for ELIZABETH KEHOE. Social Security number 184-03-7282 was issued to JOHN GIBSON, who was born 29 November 1895 and, Death Master File says, died August 1986. Social Security number 184-03-7285 was issued to ABRAHAM SAVRIN, who was born 17 September 1903 and, Death Master File says, died November 1969. Search Archives for ABRAHAM SAVRIN. Social Security number 184-03-7286 was issued to ABRAHAM GOLDSMAN, who was born 03 February 1907 and, Death Master File says, died April 1978. Search Archives for ABRAHAM GOLDSMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7288 was issued to GEORGE TAYLOR, who was born 02 November 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 17 March 1994. Social Security number 184-03-7293 was issued to HUGH CALLAN, who was born 09 November 1904 and, Death Master File says, died December 1970. Search Archives for HUGH CALLAN. Social Security number 184-03-7294 was issued to EUGENE WEILLER, who was born 14 November 1890 and, Death Master File says, died January 1974. Search Archives for EUGENE WEILLER. Social Security number 184-03-7297 was issued to HERBERT POPP, who was born 06 February 1909 and, Death Master File says, died July 1977. Search Archives for HERBERT POPP. Social Security number 184-03-7298 was issued to BERNARD BURNSIDE, who was born 23 January 1882 and, Death Master File says, died August 1963. Search Archives for BERNARD BURNSIDE. Social Security number 184-03-7299 was issued to EDWARD MACALLISTER, who was born 25 September 1912 and, Death Master File says, died October 1980. Search Archives for EDWARD MACALLISTER. Social Security number 184-03-7300 was issued to GEORGE HEBBARD, who was born 06 March 1901 and, Death Master File says, died December 1964. Search Archives for GEORGE HEBBARD. Social Security number 184-03-7303 was issued to ANNA BISBING, who was born 28 November 1890 and, Death Master File says, died February 1973. Search Archives for ANNA BISBING. Social Security number 184-03-7306 was issued to MARGARET GORMAN, who was born 19 December 1910 and, Death Master File says, died March 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7311 was issued to GEORGE HELFRICH, who was born 15 April 1893 and, Death Master File says, died July 1980. Search Archives for GEORGE HELFRICH. Social Security number 184-03-7312 was issued to THOMAS GILMORE, who was born 09 December 1881 and, Death Master File says, died February 1973. Search Archives for THOMAS GILMORE. Social Security number 184-03-7313 was issued to LOUISE B FISCHER, who was born 27 April 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 04 October 1995. Search Archives for LOUISE FISCHER. Social Security number 184-03-7314 was issued to PHILIP DIONISIO, who was born 21 May 1910 and, Death Master File says, died April 1954. Search Archives for PHILIP DIONISIO. Social Security number 184-03-7316 was issued to JOSEPH GUMPPER, who was born 30 May 1896 and, Death Master File says, died March 1964. Social Security number 184-03-7317 was issued to JOSEPH NORRIS, who was born 24 November 1901 and, Death Master File says, died April 1978. Search Archives for JOSEPH NORRIS. Social Security number 184-03-7321 was issued to JULIA QUINN, who was born 26 November 1894 and, Death Master File says, died August 1985. Search Archives for JULIA QUINN. Social Security number 184-03-7322 was issued to JOHN P MCCLOSKEY, who was born 18 August 1920 and, Death Master File says, died 10 March 1991. Social Security number 184-03-7323 was issued to HARRY COHEN, who was born 17 March 1893 and, Death Master File says, died January 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7324 was issued to CLARENCE CHANDLER, who was born 12 January 1882 and, Death Master File says, died June 1963. Search Archives for CLARENCE CHANDLER. Social Security number 184-03-7325 was issued to FRANCIS KAPPER, who was born 20 July 1912 and, Death Master File says, died June 1969. Search Archives for FRANCIS KAPPER. Social Security number 184-03-7328 was issued to BEATRICE B LIPPINCOTT, who was born 16 October 1910 and, Death Master File says, died 09 July 1997. Search Archives for BEATRICE LIPPINCOTT. Social Security number 184-03-7329 was issued to RALPH KRAMER, who was born 06 August 1919 and, Death Master File says, died August 1971. Search Archives for RALPH KRAMER. Social Security number 184-03-7331 was issued to NATHANIEL SHAPIRO, who was born 27 November 1909 and, Death Master File says, died November 1967. Search Archives for NATHANIEL SHAPIRO. Social Security number 184-03-7332 was issued to ISAAC REIFF, who was born 20 March 1892 and, Death Master File says, died April 1941. Search Archives for ISAAC REIFF. Social Security number 184-03-7333 was issued to HENRY MANIN, who was born 24 December 1914 and, Death Master File says, died March 1977. Search Archives for HENRY MANIN. Social Security number 184-03-7336 was issued to HOWARD HARRINGTON, who was born 24 March 1907 and, Death Master File says, died October 1967. Search Archives for HOWARD HARRINGTON. Social Security number 184-03-7337 was issued to AUGUST FOX, who was born 12 August 1879 and, Death Master File says, died May 1963. Search Archives for AUGUST FOX. Social Security number 184-03-7338 was issued to JOHN WEIGLEIN, who was born 29 May 1892 and, Death Master File says, died June 1968. Search Archives for JOHN WEIGLEIN. Social Security number 184-03-7339 was issued to BERTHA M ZECOSKI, who was born 29 September 1904 and, Death Master File says, died 23 November 1995. Search Archives for BERTHA ZECOSKI. Social Security number 184-03-7340 was issued to ISRAEL KAPLAN, who was born 21 February 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 07 September 1988. Search Archives for ISRAEL KAPLAN. Social Security number 184-03-7341 was issued to ALEXANDER HOWIE, who was born 13 March 1894 and, Death Master File says, died July 1969. Search Archives for ALEXANDER HOWIE. Social Security number 184-03-7342 was issued to ROCCO FABIANO, who was born 11 October 1907 and, Death Master File says, died April 1986. Search Archives for ROCCO FABIANO. Social Security number 184-03-7347 was issued to HAROLD DAFFERN, who was born 12 February 1902 and, Death Master File says, died April 1983. Search Archives for HAROLD DAFFERN. Social Security number 184-03-7349 was issued to LOUIS ITKISS, who was born 20 September 1889 and, Death Master File says, died May 1971. Search Archives for LOUIS ITKISS. Social Security number 184-03-7350 was issued to FRANCES FINKELSTEIN, who was born 20 February 1912 and, Death Master File says, died September 1984. Search Archives for FRANCES FINKELSTEIN. Social Security number 184-03-7353 was issued to WILLIAM MADALION, who was born 19 August 1906 and, Death Master File says, died August 1961. Search Archives for WILLIAM MADALION. Social Security number 184-03-7354 was issued to ROBERT BLACKMORE, who was born 26 May 1900 and, Death Master File says, died December 1982. Search Archives for ROBERT BLACKMORE. Social Security number 184-03-7356 was issued to ANNA FLYNN, who was born May 1901 and, Death Master File says, died November 1984. Social Security number 184-03-7357 was issued to ISADORA ROBERTS, who was born 20 December 1893 and, Death Master File says, died August 1991. Search Archives for ISADORA ROBERTS. Social Security number 184-03-7359 was issued to STEVE PRZYBYLENSKI, who was born 12 December 1891 and, Death Master File says, died January 1969. Search Archives for STEVE PRZYBYLENSKI. Social Security number 184-03-7360 was issued to WALTER BLEY, who was born 02 November 1919 and, Death Master File says, died November 1983. Search Archives for WALTER BLEY. Social Security number 184-03-7366 was issued to JOSEPH MINNICHBACH, who was born 28 February 1905 and, Death Master File says, died July 1981. Search Archives for JOSEPH MINNICHBACH. Social Security number 184-03-7367 was issued to MARGARET M JOYCE, who was born 26 September 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 29 August 2007. Search Archives for MARGARET JOYCE. Social Security number 184-03-7368 was issued to JOSEPH MCGOVERN, who was born 11 March 1890 and, Death Master File says, died December 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7369 was issued to IRENE FRIEL, who was born 20 November 1884 and, Death Master File says, died December 1975. Search Archives for IRENE FRIEL. Social Security number 184-03-7370 was issued to EARL WATKINS, who was born 28 June 1902 and, Death Master File says, died December 1979. Search Archives for EARL WATKINS. Social Security number 184-03-7375 was issued to CLAIRE L RUSSELL, who was born 16 September 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 12 November 1996. Search Archives for CLAIRE RUSSELL. Social Security number 184-03-7379 was issued to SOPHIE M FOLEY, who was born 18 October 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 13 October 1994. Search Archives for SOPHIE FOLEY. Social Security number 184-03-7381 was issued to SALLIE EHRLICK, who was born 20 November 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 29 April 1997. Search Archives for SALLIE EHRLICK. Social Security number 184-03-7382 was issued to HENRY COHEN, who was born 04 October 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 04 January 1991. Social Security number 184-03-7384 was issued to ANNA PETRASKA, who was born 05 January 1890 and, Death Master File says, died July 1973. Search Archives for ANNA PETRASKA. Social Security number 184-03-7385 was issued to SAMUEL ZATUCHNI, who was born 18 July 1884 and, Death Master File says, died February 1969. Search Archives for SAMUEL ZATUCHNI. Social Security number 184-03-7387 was issued to JAMES P HENRY, who was born 12 January 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 23 March 1997. Social Security number 184-03-7388 was issued to THELMA KLEIN, who was born 21 June 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 19 February 2008. Search Archives for THELMA KLEIN. Social Security number 184-03-7391 was issued to ABE KEISER, who was born 20 October 1918 and, Death Master File says, died January 1973. Search Archives for ABE KEISER. Social Security number 184-03-7393 was issued to WALTER JOHNSTON, who was born 22 August 1919 and, Death Master File says, died April 1977. Social Security number 184-03-7398 was issued to JAMES LAWLER, who was born 21 October 1919 and, Death Master File says, died September 1980. Search Archives for JAMES LAWLER. Social Security number 184-03-7400 was issued to TONY ZANDIK, who was born 13 June 1888 and, Death Master File says, died September 1968. Search Archives for TONY ZANDIK. Social Security number 184-03-7403 was issued to JOHN OCONNOR, who was born 30 November 1907 and, Death Master File says, died January 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7404 was issued to BUENA ELIAS, who was born 28 November 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 18 March 2005. Search Archives for BUENA ELIAS. Social Security number 184-03-7407 was issued to MARY E CAMPBELL, who was born 18 December 1906 and, Death Master File says, died 14 August 1988. Social Security number 184-03-7408 was issued to JAMES J ODONNELL, who was born 27 March 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 10 November 2006. Social Security number 184-03-7410 was issued to GRACE MUSSELMAN, who was born 25 October 1901 and, Death Master File says, died May 1974. Social Security number 184-03-7411 was issued to HENRY FABIAN, who was born 28 August 1896 and, Death Master File says, died January 1982. Search Archives for HENRY FABIAN. Social Security number 184-03-7412 was issued to ROBERT R BANKS, who was born 03 November 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 03 October 2001. Social Security number 184-03-7413 was issued to AUGUSTUS BROWN, who was born 07 August 1890 and, Death Master File says, died October 1973. Search Archives for AUGUSTUS BROWN. Social Security number 184-03-7414 was issued to HOWARD FORD, who was born 09 July 1916 and, Death Master File says, died August 1974. Social Security number 184-03-7415 was issued to WILLIAM FENIMORE, who was born 26 August 1892 and, Death Master File says, died January 1964. Search Archives for WILLIAM FENIMORE. Social Security number 184-03-7416 was issued to LOUIS MILLER, who was born 12 May 1898 and, Death Master File says, died November 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7417 was issued to JAMES ALLEN, who was born 19 August 1896 and, Death Master File says, died December 1972. Social Security number 184-03-7419 was issued to HERMAN GOZENKER, who was born 18 November 1895 and, Death Master File says, died July 1966. Search Archives for HERMAN GOZENKER. Social Security number 184-03-7420 was issued to HAROLD QUINN, who was born 01 June 1898 and, Death Master File says, died November 1969. Search Archives for HAROLD QUINN. Social Security number 184-03-7421 was issued to ROSALYN BOOKFORD, who was born 23 December 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 29 August 2006. Search Archives for ROSALYN BOOKFORD. Social Security number 184-03-7424 was issued to WILLIAM BIESTER, who was born 05 August 1891 and, Death Master File says, died January 1966. Search Archives for WILLIAM BIESTER. Social Security number 184-03-7425 was issued to HARRY ORTLIP, who was born 20 February 1900 and, Death Master File says, died May 1980. Search Archives for HARRY ORTLIP. Social Security number 184-03-7427 was issued to STELLA M FABITORE, who was born 01 December 1902 and, Death Master File says, died April 1992. Search Archives for STELLA FABITORE. Social Security number 184-03-7428 was issued to VINCENZA BOMBARA, who was born 13 February 1893 and, Death Master File says, died October 1971. Search Archives for VINCENZA BOMBARA. Social Security number 184-03-7429 was issued to PAUL DOYLE, who was born 29 January 1906 and, Death Master File says, died April 1982. Social Security number 184-03-7430 was issued to JOHN H GLASS, who was born 12 November 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 05 November 1991. Search Archives for JOHN GLASS. Social Security number 184-03-7436 was issued to LOUISE MAYS, who was born 22 February 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 25 December 1994. Search Archives for LOUISE MAYS. Social Security number 184-03-7437 was issued to JAMES MONTGOMERY, who was born 12 July 1905 and, Death Master File says, died February 1981. Social Security number 184-03-7438 was issued to ETHEL MICHAEL, who was born 05 March 1889 and, Death Master File says, died March 1979. Search Archives for ETHEL MICHAEL. Social Security number 184-03-7439 was issued to FLORENCE WILLIAMS, who was born 13 December 1898 and, Death Master File says, died April 1983. Social Security number 184-03-7440 was issued to JAMES ASHER, who was born 10 August 1903 and, Death Master File says, died December 1976. Search Archives for JAMES ASHER. Social Security number 184-03-7441 was issued to IRA BEUERLE, who was born 22 December 1903 and, Death Master File says, died November 1976. Search Archives for IRA BEUERLE. Social Security number 184-03-7442 was issued to JULIA P HOPKINS, who was born 26 May 1902 and, Death Master File says, died 24 January 1993. Search Archives for JULIA HOPKINS. Social Security number 184-03-7443 was issued to CORNELIUS MCGILLICUDDY, who was born 02 November 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 17 April 1996. Search Archives for CORNELIUS MCGILLICUDDY. Social Security number 184-03-7445 was issued to JAMES TOWEY, who was born 04 September 1910 and, Death Master File says, died December 1979. Search Archives for JAMES TOWEY. Social Security number 184-03-7446 was issued to JULIA TOOHEY, who was born 06 October 1887 and, Death Master File says, died December 1965. Search Archives for JULIA TOOHEY. Social Security number 184-03-7447 was issued to AUGUSTUS C WINTER, who was born 06 August 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 11 June 1988. Search Archives for AUGUSTUS WINTER. Social Security number 184-03-7448 was issued to MAY OSKINS, who was born 25 July 1905 and, Death Master File says, died June 1983. Search Archives for MAY OSKINS. Social Security number 184-03-7450 was issued to FRANK ONCAY, who was born 22 November 1892 and, Death Master File says, died March 1974. Search Archives for FRANK ONCAY. Social Security number 184-03-7451 was issued to EMMA W MCCUE, who was born 18 May 1903 and, Death Master File says, died 19 March 1998. Social Security number 184-03-7457 was issued to SAMUEL J NEWMAN, who was born 25 April 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 13 April 1992. Social Security number 184-03-7458 was issued to JOSEPH SPRINGEL, who was born 23 March 1901 and, Death Master File says, died May 1967. Search Archives for JOSEPH SPRINGEL. Social Security number 184-03-7460 was issued to MARION V PRY, who was born 21 October 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 10 August 1988. Search Archives for MARION PRY. Social Security number 184-03-7461 was issued to MAURICE SCHNELLER, who was born 17 November 1905 and, Death Master File says, died 21 November 1990. Search Archives for MAURICE SCHNELLER. Social Security number 184-03-7463 was issued to AUGUSTUS SHINER, who was born 27 February 1906 and, Death Master File says, died July 1972. Search Archives for AUGUSTUS SHINER. Social Security number 184-03-7465 was issued to EDWARD HANAS, who was born 19 April 1893 and, Death Master File says, died June 1966. Search Archives for EDWARD HANAS. Social Security number 184-03-7467 was issued to LILLIAN A KRETSCHMER, who was born 19 June 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 26 January 2000. Search Archives for LILLIAN KRETSCHMER. Social Security number 184-03-7468 was issued to LEO SHEPPARD, who was born 04 April 1902 and, Death Master File says, died September 1974. Search Archives for LEO SHEPPARD. Social Security number 184-03-7469 was issued to EDWARD WERNER, who was born 20 July 1918 and, Death Master File says, died 08 October 1990. Search Archives for EDWARD WERNER. Social Security number 184-03-7470 was issued to BERT L JOHNSON, who was born 17 June 1915 and, Death Master File says, died 14 February 1995. Search Archives for BERT JOHNSON. Social Security number 184-03-7476 was issued to SARKIS HAGOPIAN, who was born 15 February 1905 and, Death Master File says, died January 1966. Search Archives for SARKIS HAGOPIAN. Social Security number 184-03-7478 was issued to WILLIAM TAZEWELL, who was born 21 December 1918 and, Death Master File says, died February 1971. Search Archives for WILLIAM TAZEWELL. Social Security number 184-03-7481 was issued to ABRAHAM LIEBERMAN, who was born 23 April 1909 and, Death Master File says, died April 1962. Search Archives for ABRAHAM LIEBERMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7487 was issued to EVELYN K GREENLEAF, who was born 09 June 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 26 September 2004. Search Archives for EVELYN GREENLEAF. Social Security number 184-03-7488 was issued to ALBERT ALBRIGHT, who was born 16 December 1915 and, Death Master File says, died April 1984. Search Archives for ALBERT ALBRIGHT. Social Security number 184-03-7489 was issued to GEORGE ALBRIGHT, who was born 06 December 1913 and, Death Master File says, died July 1978. Social Security number 184-03-7490 was issued to ALMA H WHIGHAM, who was born 10 May 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 25 December 2001. Search Archives for ALMA WHIGHAM. Social Security number 184-03-7491 was issued to ARTHUR H ROLAND, who was born 16 June 1902 and, Death Master File says, died 18 April 1988. Social Security number 184-03-7493 was issued to JOSEPH FARRELL, who was born 03 July 1913 and, Death Master File says, died February 1977. Social Security number 184-03-7494 was issued to FRANCES YOUNG, who was born 26 July 1891 and, Death Master File says, died April 1970. Social Security number 184-03-7495 was issued to NORMAN PEACE, who was born 14 January 1893 and, Death Master File says, died 01 February 1968. Search Archives for NORMAN PEACE. Social Security number 184-03-7496 was issued to EDWARD ELAM, who was born 13 November 1901 and, Death Master File says, died August 1948. Search Archives for EDWARD ELAM. Social Security number 184-03-7497 was issued to THOMAS GAHAGAN, who was born 07 August 1915 and, Death Master File says, died August 1975. Search Archives for THOMAS GAHAGAN. Social Security number 184-03-7498 was issued to ANTHONY BABINSKY, who was born 21 April 1915 and, Death Master File says, died June 1972. Search Archives for ANTHONY BABINSKY. Social Security number 184-03-7501 was issued to JOSEPH DIGIOVANNI, who was born 05 September 1907 and, Death Master File says, died 16 March 1990. Social Security number 184-03-7502 was issued to ANNA G GRING, who was born 18 February 1908 and, Death Master File says, died 08 December 1987. Search Archives for ANNA GRING. Social Security number 184-03-7504 was issued to HARRY HOLLOWAY, who was born 26 March 1906 and, Death Master File says, died April 1978. Search Archives for HARRY HOLLOWAY. Social Security number 184-03-7505 was issued to CHARLES CARTER, who was born 06 January 1902 and, Death Master File says, died August 1964. Social Security number 184-03-7509 was issued to OTTO WEISS, who was born 22 October 1905 and, Death Master File says, died July 1979. Search Archives for OTTO WEISS. Social Security number 184-03-7510 was issued to RITA A BARRENTINE, who was born 17 March 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 02 August 2002. Search Archives for RITA BARRENTINE. Social Security number 184-03-7512 was issued to PEARL JEFFERSON, who was born 15 February 1896 and, Death Master File says, died February 1974. Search Archives for PEARL JEFFERSON. Social Security number 184-03-7515 was issued to HARRY JEFFERSON, who was born 10 September 1898 and, Death Master File says, died May 1982. Search Archives for HARRY JEFFERSON. Social Security number 184-03-7516 was issued to ROBERT ROBBINS, who was born 19 September 1910 and, Death Master File says, died November 1958. Search Archives for ROBERT ROBBINS. Social Security number 184-03-7519 was issued to MAGGIE MALONE, who was born 30 August 1896 and, Death Master File says, died September 1982. Search Archives for MAGGIE MALONE. Social Security number 184-03-7524 was issued to JOHN HEINLY, who was born 17 January 1897 and, Death Master File says, died June 1983. Search Archives for JOHN HEINLY. Social Security number 184-03-7526 was issued to HELEN B CONNELLY, who was born 12 August 1918 and, Death Master File says, died August 1995. Search Archives for HELEN CONNELLY. Social Security number 184-03-7527 was issued to CATHERINE HARRIS, who was born 19 April 1907 and, Death Master File says, died January 1983. Social Security number 184-03-7530 was issued to BEATRICE SMITH, who was born 12 June 1891 and, Death Master File says, died March 1974. Social Security number 184-03-7531 was issued to TERESA MCALEER, who was born 05 September 1895 and, Death Master File says, died December 1970. Search Archives for TERESA MCALEER. Social Security number 184-03-7532 was issued to DANIEL MCCONVILLE, who was born 23 May 1909 and, Death Master File says, died January 1973. Search Archives for DANIEL MCCONVILLE. Social Security number 184-03-7533 was issued to FRAWLEN ROBINSON, who was born 31 August 1901 and, Death Master File says, died March 1971. Search Archives for FRAWLEN ROBINSON. Social Security number 184-03-7534 was issued to ONOFRIO VOLPE, who was born 14 May 1899 and, Death Master File says, died June 1964. Search Archives for ONOFRIO VOLPE. Social Security number 184-03-7535 was issued to MARIE T TAYLOR, who was born 21 May 1911 and, Death Master File says, died 02 September 2000. Social Security number 184-03-7536 was issued to PETER MCFARLAND, who was born 13 December 1893 and, Death Master File says, died November 1973. Social Security number 184-03-7538 was issued to THOMAS P MCFARLAND, who was born 01 December 1891 and, Death Master File says, died 20 February 1990. Search Archives for THOMAS MCFARLAND. Social Security number 184-03-7539 was issued to LIT GRAVES, who was born 08 December 1879 and, Death Master File says, died March 1965. Search Archives for LIT GRAVES. Social Security number 184-03-7541 was issued to MARY K MCCORMICK, who was born 08 December 1902 and, Death Master File says, died 20 February 1989. Social Security number 184-03-7542 was issued to JAMES KELLY, who was born 29 May 1885 and, Death Master File says, died August 1966. Social Security number 184-03-7544 was issued to KITTY GRACE, who was born 21 March 1905 and, Death Master File says, died March 1978. Search Archives for KITTY GRACE. Social Security number 184-03-7546 was issued to MARGARET WERNER, who was born 13 July 1910 and, Death Master File says, died October 1974. Search Archives for MARGARET WERNER. Social Security number 184-03-7550 was issued to JOHN MAGUIRE, who was born 14 February 1913 and, Death Master File says, died January 1980. Social Security number 184-03-7551 was issued to MARY LABIAK, who was born 26 October 1904 and, Death Master File says, died 07 October 1996. Search Archives for MARY LABIAK. Social Security number 184-03-7557 was issued to CHARLES BURKE, who was born 04 March 1893 and, Death Master File says, died September 1981. Social Security number 184-03-7558 was issued to JULES KATZ, who was born 02 March 1896 and, Death Master File says, died June 1971. Search Archives for JULES KATZ. Social Security number 184-03-7560 was issued to GEORGE JENSEN, who was born 31 August 1909 and, Death Master File says, died March 1961. Social Security number 184-03-7562 was issued to JOSEPHINE A LAWRENCE, who was born 23 May 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 02 October 1993. Search Archives for JOSEPHINE LAWRENCE. Social Security number 184-03-7563 was issued to MABEL H HERMAN, who was born 30 March 1900 and, Death Master File says, died 15 September 1992. Search Archives for MABEL HERMAN. Social Security number 184-03-7564 was issued to LEO WLODARCZYK, who was born 02 February 1913 and, Death Master File says, died December 1975. Search Archives for LEO WLODARCZYK. Social Security number 184-03-7565 was issued to WALTER KOWALEWSKI, who was born 22 June 1917 and, Death Master File says, died September 1986. Search Archives for WALTER KOWALEWSKI. Social Security number 184-03-7566 was issued to FRANK CARNEY, who was born 03 December 1906 and, Death Master File says, died November 1970. Search Archives for FRANK CARNEY. Social Security number 184-03-7567 was issued to RAYMOND GRADY, who was born 02 December 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 23 November 1992. Search Archives for RAYMOND GRADY. Social Security number 184-03-7568 was issued to MARGARET KNOBLOCH, who was born 01 March 1891 and, Death Master File says, died October 1983. Search Archives for MARGARET KNOBLOCH. Social Security number 184-03-7569 was issued to JAMES MCMONIGLE, who was born 10 December 1908 and, Death Master File says, died October 1972. Search Archives for JAMES MCMONIGLE. Social Security number 184-03-7573 was issued to JEAN BALIN, who was born 31 July 1917 and, Death Master File says, died 29 June 2004. Search Archives for JEAN BALIN. Social Security number 184-03-7575 was issued to HENRY A JANIK, who was born 02 November 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 02 October 1989. Search Archives for HENRY JANIK. Social Security number 184-03-7576 was issued to LESTER BEAL, who was born 03 February 1917 and, Death Master File says, died June 1978. Search Archives for LESTER BEAL. Social Security number 184-03-7577 was issued to HARRY ELLISON, who was born 06 September 1909 and, Death Master File says, died December 1972. Search Archives for HARRY ELLISON. Social Security number 184-03-7578 was issued to MORRIS A ABRAHAM, who was born 31 March 1913 and, Death Master File says, died 05 June 1993. Search Archives for MORRIS ABRAHAM. Social Security number 184-03-7579 was issued to ELSIE K ELLISON, who was born 12 October 1912 and, Death Master File says, died 15 July 1998. Search Archives for ELSIE ELLISON. Social Security number 184-03-7580 was issued to MEREDITH JACK, who was born 07 January 1897 and, Death Master File says, died March 1986. Search Archives for MEREDITH JACK. Social Security number 184-03-7581 was issued to JEANNETTA B JAFFE, who was born 25 December 1895 and, Death Master File says, died 06 January 1991. Search Archives for JEANNETTA JAFFE. Social Security number 184-03-7582 was issued to HARRY NOGGLE, who was born 21 December 1885 and, Death Master File says, died July 1967. Search Archives for HARRY NOGGLE. Social Security number 184-03-7583 was issued to PAUL MILLER, who was born 11 January 1899 and, Death Master File says, died September 1979. Social Security number 184-03-7584 was issued to MAX BACHOVE, who was born 15 October 1889 and, Death Master File says, died November 1977. Search Archives for MAX BACHOVE. Social Security number 184-03-7585 was issued to ROBERT TOOMEY, who was born 08 February 1891 and, Death Master File says, died February 1968. Search Archives for ROBERT TOOMEY. Social Security number 184-03-7587 was issued to JOSEPH SWITKEN, who was born 15 February 1902 and, Death Master File says, died 20 September 1998. Search Archives for JOSEPH SWITKEN. Social Security number 184-03-7588 was issued to MILDRED A MAGRO, who was born 12 February 1914 and, Death Master File says, died 10 April 1989. Search Archives for MILDRED MAGRO. Social Security number 184-03-7589 was issued to MURIEL KRALL, who was born 25 October 1898 and, Death Master File says, died September 1981. Search Archives for MURIEL KRALL. Social Security number 184-03-7590 was issued to PAUL F CARLSON, who was born 23 March 1909 and, Death Master File says, died 09 February 1988. Social Security number 184-03-7591 was issued to ROBERT J FIDDES, who was born 01 October 1900 and, Death Master File says, died 09 May 2000. Search Archives for ROBERT FIDDES.

2019-04-26T13:20:08Z

http://ssdmf.info/by_number/pages/044942.html

This statistical information is estimated using postcode data provided in the current registered office addresses of community interest companies on the public register of companies. We have completed some of our key initiatives recently including installing Voltage reduction technology at our main ministerial building, 1-19 Victoria Street, adjusted building temperature set points and are engaging with staff to help us achieve the target. Mr Davey: A recruitment freeze is currently in place, which affects all external recruitment into the Civil Service, with exemptions allowed for business critical and frontline posts. The Fast Stream graduate programme is also exempt. If Departments decide they need to recruit staff to one of the Top 200 Civil Service posts (the most senior posts in the Civil Service) there is a protocol drawn up by the Senior Leadership Committee and the Civil Service Commissioners. It outlines the process in which appointments to and within the Top 200 are handled. Within BIS, the only Senior Civil Service recruitment we have undertaken since the introduction of the recruitment freeze is for a Director General level Economist. As a major economic department of state the Senior Leadership Committee agreed that this was a business critical post and could be filled by an open competition to ensure that the department had the best field of candidates to consider for the role. Following the spending review, BIS is reviewing its organisational design, and is considering the need for senior recruitment as part of that process. Mr Davey: Having a strong, robust and transparent minerals sector is vitally important for the prosperity of many countries. We welcome measures to bring an end to illegal activities in mining and the trade of minerals, and to make the sector more productive and accountable. We encourage British companies trading in natural resources from countries which are in a state of internal conflict to do so in a way which is socially, economically and environmentally responsible, and to adhere to the voluntary guidelines set out by the OECD. There is considerable international work currently in progress at the moment and we remain of the view that voluntary initiatives such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) are effective tools. The Government consider international approaches are likely to work better than any national approach. Mr Prisk: We are committed to working with the private sector to establish a Green Investment Bank that is effective in mobilising additional private sector investment into green infrastructure projects. The precise nature of the Green Investment Bank is subject to further design and testing work. Mr Prisk: I refer the hon. Member to the Chancellor's spending review statement of 20 October 2010. As the Chancellor had announced, we will be funding the Green Investment Bank from £1 billion of departmental budgets, as well as from additional significant proceeds from Government's asset sales. While it would not be appropriate to speculate on the timing of asset sales, the use of these proceeds should provide opportunities for additional funding to be available over the next five years. Mr Prisk: Ministers are currently examining the proposals in detail, looking at how they will support economic growth, before providing feedback to partnerships shortly. Discussions have also been had with partners from the North East on their proposals. Mr Prisk: This Department is responsible for supporting enterprise though Community Development Finance Intuitions and we work closely across Government on this agenda. CDFIs are independent financial institutions, serving a specific disadvantaged geographic area or disadvantaged groups. CDFIs provide loans to start-up companies, individuals and established enterprises from within that area or community who are unable to access finance from more traditional sources ie banks. Accredited CDFIs are able to raise lending capital through the Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR). Some CDFIs are also accredited Enterprise Finance Guarantee lenders and CDFIs are able to borrow money through EFG. Government also support the EU PROGRESS Microfinance Facility which in turn supports microfinance across Europe. The Government have announced a New Enterprise Allowance which will support start-ups among the unemployed. Mr Prisk [holding answer 25 October 2010]: HM ambassador in Mongolia provides support to UK business with interests in Mongolia, including in respect of specific contracts and investments. The British Government are aware of some specific UK business engagements in Mongolia, such as a Rio Tinto deal to mine copper and gold at the Oyu Tolgoi development. Mr Davey: The Government have made no recent assessment of the current Summer Time arrangements but we continue to listen to representations we receive and consider any evidence presented to us. Mr Prisk [holding answer 25 October 2010]: The previous Government announced the provision of £5 million of training support to Tata Steel (then Corus) in June 2009. £2.5 million of that funding was delivered by the Regional Development Agencies (Yorkshire Forward and One North East) in December 2009. A further £2.5 million was also earmarked to be provided to the company in those regions through Train to Gain. The offer of assistance was intended to contribute to training the work force, retain capacity in the UK and to help the company through the downturn and to recover more strongly as economic conditions improved. Almost 100 learners at Corus TCP undertook training in Business Improvement Techniques, using Train to Gain funding, with learning delivered by Gateshead College in 09/10. The Skills Funding Agency continues to work constructively with Tata Steel across a number of its sites in different regions to identify training opportunities that are eligible within the current Train to Gain rules and within future funding arrangements, and which are consistent with state aid requirements. (1) From 12 October 2007 to 31 March 2008. (2 )From 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010. The top 20 bonus payments are shown as follows divided into ranges. The table gives the range value of the top 20 payments. Lynne Featherstone: For the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available-September 2009 to August 2010-the Government Equalities Office spent £14,255 on overseas visits by its senior officials. Mr Gauke: HMRC currently provides advice to small businesses through the HMRC website, 'Taxhelp' and other pages of businesslink.gov.uk, a range of dedicated and general telephone help lines, and face to face appointments in HMRC Enquiry Centres. Around 70% of small and medium sized businesses engage professional help to manage some or all of their financial requirements including tax matters. Both small businesses and tax agents can also access information and advice through face to face advice events, published bulletins for employers and CD ROMs. HMRC supports small businesses in temporary financial difficulties by providing time to pay arrangements allowing tax debts to be budgeted for in instalments. In addition to this, HMRC continues to reduce administrative burdens and remains committed to simplifying the tax system to reduce the costs for small businesses in complying with their tax obligations. HMRC are increasingly working through third parties to offer necessary support where they know that businesses are more likely to respond to messages from these sources. This information is based on a snapshot as at August 2009 of all child benefit claims. Take-up rates for child benefit are not available by constituency. It is estimated that approximately 97% of families in the UK claim child benefit. future changes may be considered appropriate and the UK will be closely involved in any European initiative affecting the foreign exchange market. As regards the regulation of retail foreign exchange services, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) on 19 October 2010, Official Report, column 677W. A recognition bonus scheme for delegated grades which recognises exceptional in year performance. HMRC does not hold any bonus data by role. A two-year pay freeze applies to HMRC staff for grades below senior civil service (SCS) in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This affects everyone earning more than the full-time equivalent of £21,000 a year. As part of the freeze, the bonus pot for staff in delegated grades has been frozen as a percentage of paybill at the previous year's level. A pay freeze is in place for the SCS in 2010-11. Mr Gauke: Under and overpayments have been a feature of the PAYE system since it was introduced in 1944. They are mainly caused by a change of circumstances in year and are not usually the result of an error. Treasury Ministers were advised in July 2010 that HMRC intended to commence automated end of year reconciliation processing using the new National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS). Mr Gauke: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as HMRC does not hold those data in relation to MPs' constituencies. A two-year pay freeze applies to HMRC staff for grades below Senior Civil Service (SCS) in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This affects everyone earning more than the full-time equivalent of £21,000 a year. A pay freeze is already in place for the SCS in 2010-11. Mr Gauke: The following table provides information on the total number of disciplinary cases dealt by HMRC, as HMRC's systems do not disaggregate disciplinary cases by the term "error". HMRC does not handle poor performance as a disciplinary matter. It is dealt with under separate Managing Poor Performance procedures. However, the following table includes figures for the numbers of dismissals as a result of poor performance or poor attendance. The expenses paid to staff in management grades in the month to 30 September 2010 was £597,208.90; a breakdown by management grade is available only at disproportionate cost. Gregory Barker: The European Commission is expected to launch its NER process by the end of October and our aim is to publish guidance for UK projects in relation to the NER once the NER call is launched and we have more detailed information regarding that process. In parallel we are developing the scope and selection process of the UK CCS programme and will set out proposals on how further demonstration projects will be taken forward by the end of the year. Gregory Barker: The Government remain committed to the Coalition programme for government policy of providing public sector investment for four CCS demonstration plants. The October 2010 Spending Review announced that up to £1 billion will be invested in the first of these projects. We are now developing our approach to the additional three demonstration projects and will set out proposals on how these projects will be taken forward by the end of the year. NER 300 but it is not possible to say how many will meet the requirements of that process until more details are available from the European Commission. The Commission is expected to launch its NER process later this month and our aim is to publish guidance for UK projects in relation to the NER once the NER call is launched and we have more detailed information regarding that process. Gregory Barker: The Department encourages a culture where good attendance is expected and valued. However, it recognises from time to time absences for medical reasons may be unavoidable. The Department aims to treat its staff who are ill with sympathy and fairness and where possible provide them with support which will enable them to recover their health and return to work. Gregory Barker: The information requested could be provided only by incurring disproportionate costs. Gregory Barker: The Government are keen to encourage a wide range of innovative approaches to buying and selling energy, particularly those which maximise local opportunities and meet the demands of local people. That is why for example local authorities were recently given the power to sell electricity from renewable sources. will be launched in November and will provide advice and support for these groups, and include information on co-operative business models. Gregory Barker: DECC Ministers regularly meet with stakeholders from the heating industry. During the past few months, the Green Deal has been included in these discussions. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders as the Green Deal develops, including the heating industry. Gregory Barker: Green Deal will support energy efficiency measures which constitute a fabric change to the property and pay for themselves through real reductions in household fuel bills. One of the most cost effective ways to do this is through insulating homes and this will be a focus of Green Deal. The types of energy efficiency improvement that will fit within the Green Deal framework will be the subject consultation ahead of secondary legislation on the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill. Gregory Barker: The energy security and green economy Bill will be introduced at the end of the year and will confirm our precise approach to improve the energy efficiency of the Private Rented Sector under the Green Deal. The Green Deal will offer Private Rented Sector landlords a real opportunity to invest in their property at no up-front cost. It will remove the spilt incentive that has previously hampered progress in the sector and allow tenants to repay the cost of energy efficiency measures through their energy bill savings. Gregory Barker: It is the Government's intention that no changes will be made to tariffs for those already receiving feed-in tariffs. Any change to tariffs resulting from a review of the FITs scheme will be directed solely on new entrants joining the scheme. Gregory Barker: The renewable status of heat pumps is set out in Directive 2009/28/EC, dated 23 April 2009. The criteria for determining the renewable energy contribution from a heat pump is described in Annex VII of that Directive. This indicates that the Commission will establish, by 1 January 2013, guidelines on how member states are to estimate the renewable energy contribution. The Directive does not require the energy, and associated CO2 emissions, used in the manufacture of heat pumps and fluorocarbon gases to be taken into account when assessing the renewable energy contribution. Directive 2005/32/EC, the framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products, requires the Commission to consider the life cycle and environmental aspects of energy using products. The Commission has yet to agree the ecodesign criterion for heating technologies, including heat pumps, though consultation documents have not included these wider energy aspects. The magnitude of manufacturing energy use is small compared with the 'in-use' energy consumption. Gregory Barker: A DECC/DEFRA recent review of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) consumption and emissions forecasting estimated that 0.05 kilo tonnes of HFC was emitted from ground source heat pumps in the UK in 2008, based on 3,500 installed heat pumps. The review emphasises that these estimates are highly uncertain, although very small in relation to HFC emissions from other sectors. The review did not locate sufficient information to make an estimate of HFC emissions from air source heat pumps. Gregory Barker: There are a range of programmes that promote energy efficiency measures including CERT, CESP and Warm Front. The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) is an obligation on energy suppliers to reduce domestic carbon emissions. Suppliers meet their obligation by promoting the uptake of energy efficiency measures in households. (1) Data are collected based on the number of measures installed. It is assumed that each household treated receives 1.3 measures as some homes will receive both loft and cavity wall insulation. These estimates are made from the Energy Savings Trust's Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED). The most complete national data available for CERT are from Ofgem. At national level HEED has under recorded the number of measures by 3% in 2008-09 and 19% in 2009-10 compared to the OFGEM totals. (2) No information currently available. The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) targets designated low income areas across Great Britain with whole house energy efficiency retrofits. Warm Front provides heating and energy efficiency measures and energy efficiency advice to vulnerable households. These figures include households receiving measures that have been traded with CERT. The number of households assisted in the CERT and Warm Front tables above may have in some cases been double counted. The number of people employed directly in energy efficiency products and services in the UK has been estimated by the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes as 50,000. The effect on the number of new jobs of commissioning the work to undertake the energy efficiency measures is not known for CERT, CESP or Warm Front. Gregory Barker: To pave the way for the Green Deal, to ensure supply chains grow to meet future challenges and so that consumers have opportunities now, we announced this summer a restructured and extended Carbon Emissions Reduction Target on energy suppliers to December 2012. The revised scheme has a renewed focus on insulation, which we estimate will deliver insulation to some 3.5 million households by December 2012. Charles Hendry: Due to the complexity of the sites, storage cost of spent fuel and intermediate level waste cannot be easily apportioned because each stream shares common resources, management arrangements and facilities. The total expenditure on Magnox reactor sites (for the year ended 31 March 2009) was £590 million. This included the operational cost for the two generating sites, Wylfa and Oldbury, of £164 million and power generating revenue of £324 million. The cost to maintain safe compliant condition on non operational sites is approximately £159 million. DECC, through NDA, continually drive cost efficiency into the decommissioning and waste management programme through stringent oversight and developing appropriate commercial arrangements. Cost reduction is ultimately driven through by reducing hazards at the sites by retrieving and packaging waste so that it can be stored passively and safely. Early remediation, within funding constraints, is the key to reducing ongoing liability. DECC are currently considering, as part of the current spending review, a programme that will not only meet funding constraints and accelerate hazard remediation, but also reduce the long term Nuclear Liability Estimate (NLE) at Magnox Sites by between £l billion and £1.2 billion. Charles Hendry: As part of the spending review process, the Government announced they will not be taking forward the previous Administration's plans of funding the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme through an overly complex renewable heat levy. The forthcoming RHI will not, therefore, impact directly on domestic or non-domestic gas bills. The outcome of the feasibility study does not preclude a privately financed scheme coming forward. My officials are talking to private sector consortia about their ideas. Gregory Barker: Funding for the Warm Front scheme was announced in the spending review through to 2012-13. Government will work to improve the cost-effectiveness of Warm Front by ensuring that the scheme is best targeted to help the most vulnerable receive free or subsidised heating and insulation measures, through a more focused programme. We will be consulting to ensure that the eligibility criteria support this objective. At the same time, we are working towards a further package of measures that will help support more of the most vulnerable and fuel poor households to keep their homes warm at an affordable cost. Through the CERT extension, from April 2011, we have introduced a greater focus on targeting energy efficiency measures at the most vulnerable households by introducing a Super Priority Group. And we intend to introduce mandated Social Price Support in April 2011, to replace the existing Voluntary Agreement in order to provide direct energy bill support to a large number of vulnerable households. people against price rises through greater energy saving, with special support for the most vulnerable. The new Energy Company Obligation, which will take over from current schemes from the end of 2012, will run in parallel with and serve to underpin parts of the Green Deal programme. It is intended to focus particularly on households who cannot achieve financial savings without additional support, including the poorest and most vulnerable and those in hard to treat homes. We expect energy companies to play an even greater role than they do through the current obligations in ensuring the poorest and most vulnerable can afford to heat their homes adequately. This includes offering a wider range of measures which improve energy performance, such as heating systems. Mr Gibb: The Fifth Annual Independent Academies Evaluation Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that there is evidence of academies increasing collaboration with neighbouring primary schools and secondary schools. It also found that neighbouring schools have increasingly realised the benefits they can derive from academies with some adopting policies introduced by academies-the report found that this had a positive impact on other local schools. More recently, the National Audit Office report on Academies did "identify effective examples of partnership working with other schools, particularly 'feeder' primary schools". All outstanding schools that convert will be expected to partner and provide support to weak schools to help improve standards. Currently, the former and existing city technology colleges are sponsoring over 20 academies or are supporting weaker schools. We will continue to monitor the progress and performance of academies and ensure that they remain accountable against the results and outcomes they are expected to deliver. Mr Gibb [holding answer 19 October 2010]: Wade Deacon school has been allocated £28.6 million of conventional capital funding, and The Grange school has been allocated £35.3 million of PFI credits for the secondary school phase. As the Grange school will be an all-through school, Halton borough council is also planning to convert around £6.5 million of its primary capital grant into PFI credits. Mr Gibb [holding answer 27 July 2010]: On 5 July the Secretary of State announced a review of the Department's capital programmes. The review will make recommendations to help shape the decision of future capital investment in schools including those in Warrington North constituency. The aim is to ensure that investment represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government's ambitions to reduce the deficit, raise standards and tackle disadvantage. The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with or representations from Warrington borough council about Building Schools for the Future (BSF). On 26 July my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools met with the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) to discuss the impact of the BSF cancellations on schools in Warrington. Tim Loughton: It is clearly important to collect information about the number of children who have gone missing from care. This is a key indicator of whether looked after children are being appropriately safeguarded. The Department collects information on the number of looked after children absent for more than 24 hours from their agreed placement. However it is the responsibility of local authorities to safeguard and promote the well-being of children in care and they will hold more detailed information on each child who has gone missing from their care. They are expected to use this to inform their processes and procedures, and the training of staff and carers, to minimise the risk of children going missing from local placements. Anne Milton: I have been asked to reply. No such estimate has been made. It is currently for individual primary care trusts within the national health service to commission services for their resident population, including services for children with a chronic condition requiring medical treatment. Tim Loughton: The property at Butts Street, Coventry is occupied wholly by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). It is intended that following the abolition of the QCDA in 2012 the lease for the building will be transferred to the Department for Education. The Department is presently reviewing options for the future use of the building and a decision has not yet been taken. Tim Loughton: The average cost to the Department for Education, in August 2010, for processing payment of invoices was £1.60 for invoices processed electronically and £3.41 for invoices processed manually. Based on August 2010 figures, 98.61% of the Department's invoices were processed electronically and 1.39% processed by cheque. Tim Loughton: For the period from May to September 2010 the Department estimates it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 9%. also a communications campaign to encourage staff and building users to reduce their energy use as far as possible. Tim Loughton: The Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010. Information for 2009-10 relates to its predecessor, the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The tables on the website break the data down by grade, as well as by age, gender and geographical location. Tim Loughton: The Department for Education (DFE) was formed on 12 May 2010. The information covers its predecessors, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Education and Skills. No data are available for the period prior to 1 April 2003 as they were not routinely collected centrally or by Departments. Due to the wide range of posts and salary points in the Department, the actual costs of absences could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Estimate costs of absence for the Civil Service between 2003 and 2007 are set out in the reports on the Cabinet Office website. The latest published information shows the average number of working days lost (AWDL) for staff for the rolling period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 at 6.6 days. The tables on the DFE website break the figures down according to grade, age, gender and geographical location. No data are available for the period prior to 1 April 2003 as it was not routinely collected centrally or by departments. The data, broken down as requested, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. responsibilities to undertake work previously carried out by our NDPBs, at this stage of the reform programme. The Secretary of State announced the closure of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) earlier this year. Some activity formerly undertaken by BECTA will return to the Department and will result in staff transferring into the Department under TUPE/COSOP arrangements. No decisions have been made about transferring activity undertaken by QCDA. The number of staff to be made redundant due to the closure of these NDPBs is not known. There are consultations under way or about to commence with staff which could result in some staff retiring or leaving under voluntary severance terms. The current cross-Government recruitment freeze also means that staff who leave are not replaced unless they are considered critical to continuous effective delivery until closure. On 14 October 2010 the Cabinet Office announced the initial findings of the coalition Government's pledge to increase the transparency and accountability of public bodies. The announcement gave an update on Government-wide plans to abolish, merge, reform or review 901 NDPBs. The work to review and reform public bodies continues in the Department and its outcome will inform decisions about the future of its other NDPBs. This, combined with the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, is likely to mean further staff reductions across the Department and its NDPBs, but it is not possible to give an indication of the numbers at this time. Tim Loughton [holding answer 13 October 2010]: The Secretary of State has not received any recent representations on the effect of family debt on the educational attainment of children in deprived areas. been stopped at present while we await the outcome of the capital review which will report at the end of this calendar year. Mr Gibb: From 2008-09 section 251 budget and outturn statements we estimate that 93.8% of funding for maintained schools in 2008-09 came from central Government, 0.2% from the local authority, and 6% from other sources. Tim Loughton: The Government have committed to reviewing the criminal records regime in order to scale it back to common sense levels; meanwhile, previous statutory guidance remains in force. To meet inspection standards, a school must follow statutory guidance unless there is a compelling reason not to. The guidance states that visitors or contractors who come on site only to carry out emergency repairs or service equipment will not require a CRB check. However, the guidance makes clear that contractors do need to undergo a CRB check if they are going to be left unsupervised on school premises or if they are going to come into contact with children. Of course, the vast majority of contractors will not come into contact with children because, for health and safety reasons, children should not be allowed in areas where builders are working. The scope of the review will be announced shortly. The Government recognise the costs and other difficulties for applicants and employers which can arise, and will be looking at a more cost-efficient and effective way of doing things, balancing the need for people to have the freedom to go about their daily lives while safeguarding children. Tim Loughton: The Government are committed to reforming social work and took early steps in June 2010 to confirm its support for the Social Work Reform Board which is taking forward the recommendations of the Social Work Task Force; to confirm funding for social work reform in 2010-11; and to announce the Munro Review of Child Protection which will make final recommendations in April 2011 for improving frontline child protection services. including options for a new Assessed Year in Employment, building on the existing Newly Qualified Social Worker programmes in the adult and children's sectors. The Social Work Reform Board will advise Government on options for the Assessed Year in Employment over the course of the coming year and the Government will consider very carefully how to take this forward. Mr Gibb: The School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document already provides maintained schools in England and Wales with the option of making additional payments or providing other financial assistance, support or benefits to a teacher in order to retain their service. The Government will keep under review the impact that the pay freeze has on teacher recruitment and retention. Teachers and other education professionals will be at the heart of the Schools White Paper, to be launched later this year, because everything else the Government want to achieve in education flows naturally from the quality and professional status of the work force. Tim Loughton [holding answer 18 October 2010]: Ofsted published the results of their full inspection of Nottinghamshire's safeguarding and looked after children services on 21 May 2010. This report judged the council's safeguarding services to be 'inadequate', highlighting deficiencies in quality and timeliness of frontline practice, work force capacity and application of thresholds. The Department issued the council with an Improvement Notice on 29 June, containing a range of targets for the council to meet within a prescribed timescale. As set out in the Improvement Notice, officials from the Department routinely attend the council's monthly Improvement Board, which supports and challenges the council's ongoing plans for improvement. Officials also met the council recently to review progress against the requirements of the Improvement Notice, and a final review will take place when performance data relating to June 2011 are available. At that stage, Ministers will take a view as to whether any further action is necessary to secure the safety of Nottinghamshire's at-risk children and young people. Mr Duncan: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) policy is to ensure that all contracts represent value for money, by maximising efficiency savings and quality from every contract we have with consultants. All work for DFID is paid for in arrears, if we are satisfied with the product. In certain markets, we can often obtain services for less than £300 per day. Sometimes, however, complex market conditions affect fee rates, and require us to pay more, for example in specialised markets or difficult operating environments such as fragile states. In these circumstances a universal fee rate cap is not feasible. Mr O'Brien: Quality management statements are provided by suppliers at the Pre Qualification Questionnaire stage of a competitive process. This provides assurances that suppliers the Department for international Development (DFID) does business with comply with the Quality and Health and Safety standards provided by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). This is an integral part of our assessment of a supplier. Suppliers are asked to provide either an accreditation certificate or, as an alternative, details of their quality management systems. Therefore we do not anticipate this requirement to have an impact on small and medium size enterprises winning DFID business. Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not formally distinguish between the categories of (a) "fragile" and (b) "conflict-affected" states. DFID uses a range of criteria drawn from internationally recognised indices, including the World Bank's Country Policy Institutional Assessment Index, the Failed State Index of the Fund for Peace, and the Uppsala datasets of Armed Conflict to determine which states are "fragile and conflict-affected". conflict resources which is managed jointly by the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence. Mr Andrew Mitchell: The increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to fragile and conflict-affected states will be drawn from the departmental budgets of the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, together with the separate Conflict Pool settlement. Mr Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) is reviewing all bilateral and multilateral programmes to ensure resources are focused where they will achieve most impact. The outcome of the reviews will determine final allocations across the Department, including to fragile and conflict-affected states. Funding for conflict and fragile affected states will also be provided from the separate settlement on conflict resources. The Conflict Pool does not draw its resources from departmental budgets; it is part of a separate HM Treasury settlement on conflict resources which is managed jointly by the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence. Mr Hoban: I have been asked to reply. Treasury Ministers regularly meet with multilateral institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, on a wide range of policy issues. Anne Milton: The Department has not carried out any formal assessment of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), which was established in January 2008. However, the chair of SaBTO carries out periodic appraisals for each of the SaBTO members, which include a review of members' performance. Appointments are reviewed regularly. Officials regularly meet with the chair to discuss the work of SaBTO. However, as part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), we will be implementing a periodic review process, of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Anne Milton: No formal assessments have been made of these committees themselves. The Chairmen and Health Protection Agency secretariats review members' contributions on an annual basis. The Department is satisfied with the advice they have provided over many years. As part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), we will be implementing a periodic review process (three yearly), of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Wherever possible this will be conducted by an independent expert. Members' attendance and performance are assessed by committee chairs and secretariat when reappointments are considered. Anne Milton: The Department does not maintain an annual record of the cost to the national health service of treating people with such illnesses. There has been no recent estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of treating alcohol-related illnesses; however, a review into the total cost of alcohol harms was carried out by the Department in 2008. The cost of alcohol harm to the NHS in England estimates that the total cost of alcohol harms to the NHS is around £2.7 billion a year. A copy of this review has already been placed in the Library. Earlier this year, Policy Exchange estimated that the wider cost to society of tobacco use is almost £14 billion per annum. In their report, 'Cough up', they looked at the cost of early death or retirement due to sickness, payment of benefits to support widows and families, the costs of sickness at work to employers, the human and financial costs of smoking-related fires, smoking breaks at work and cleaning up cigarette butts. A copy of this report has been placed in the Library. Department statistics show that, in England in 2007-08, there were estimated to be 945,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions, which is 7% of all hospital admissions. It is estimated that up to 35% of all Accident and Emergency attendance and ambulance costs may be alcohol-related. The National Audit Office has carried out an audit of NHS spend on alcohol treatment. Its report, Reducing Alcohol Harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse, was published in November 2008 and found, that where primary care trust expenditure on alcohol services was known, an average of £600,000 was spent on commissioning alcohol services in 2006-07. Paul Burstow: The White Paper 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS' set out our proposals to devolve power and responsibility for commissioning services to local consortiums of general practitioner (GP) practices. GPs play a crucial role in co-ordinating patient care and committing national health service resources through daily clinical decisions. Our proposals for this new model of commissioning draw on the regular contact that GPs have with patients and their more detailed understanding of patients' wider health care needs. We propose that GP consortiums will be responsible for commissioning the great majority of NHS services. In doing this, they would also play a crucial role in ensuring that patients have an opportunity to exercise greater choice and control over their care and treatment, including choice of any willing provider of services. will provide a framework to support GP consortiums in commissioning services, including setting commissioning guidelines on the basis of clinically approved quality standards developed with advice from National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, in a way that promotes joint working across health, public health and social care. We also propose that the NHS Commissioning Board would take the lead on promoting and extending patient involvement and choice. 'Liberating the NHS: Commissioning for Patients' invited views on a number of areas of the commissioning agenda. The engagement exercise closed on 11 October and the Department is now analysing all of the contributions received. 'Liberating the NHS: Greater choice and control', published on 18 October, seeks views on how we implement the choice commitments in the White Paper, including what can be done to encourage GP consortiums to offer appropriate choices to their populations. The consultation closes on 14 January 2011. Paul Burstow: The Care Quality Commission undertakes assessment of hospital and social care services to ensure they meet essential standards of quality and safety. These standards include the delivery of care, treatment and support for all individuals. The Autism Strategy consultations provided some personal experiences of hospital services for people and children with autism, which will inform the planned statutory guidance for health and social care bodies to support delivery of the strategy. The statutory guidance is to be published by the end of December 2010. Paul Burstow: The Cancer Reform Strategy (CRS) included the commitment that the NHS Breast Screening Programme would be extended to women aged 47 to 73. In June this year, we confirmed in the Revision to the NHS Operating Framework 2010-11 that all local breast screening units should begin the extension in 2010-11. To date, 14 breast screening units have expanded. A copy of the framework has already been placed in the Library. The Department has issued guiding principles to SHAs, specifying that the funding is intended to pay for the purchase of drugs, and primary care trusts are expected to meet the associated service costs related to provision of these medicines. and a copy has been placed in the Library. Paul Burstow: The ban on blood donations from those living with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), to be introduced from 1 November 2010, is a precautionary measure. At the moment there is no clear evidence for the cause of CFS/ME, and health professionals should continue to use their clinical judgment to provide health and social care based on existing guidelines. Mr Simon Burns: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on 18 October 2010, Official Report, column 567W.

2019-04-24T08:48:06Z

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm101026/text/101026w0005.htm

This Agreement applies to you, and you are 18 or older. By purchasing the Services, you agree that you are over the age of eighteen, authorized to use the Services, and are responsible for paying for the Services per these Terms and Conditions. By purchasing the Services, you agree that you are over the age of eighteen, authorized to use the Services, and are responsible for paying for the Services per these Terms and Conditions. Our Services are month to month until one of us decides to turn the Services off. This Agreement will begin, and a binding contract will exist between Tresta and you when you subscribe to the Services. It will continue on a month to month basis until terminated as set forth herein. We work in the US and Canada. Test your numbers and let us know if they don't work or if you suspect fraud. If you want to take a phone number with you to another carrier, let us know before you cancel services or else you might lose your number. Don't record calls without telling the other person! Tresta provides a cloud-based phone system with features such as call forwarding, call routing, auto attendant, and more (the "Services"). The Services may not be available in all areas, and are subject to the terms and conditions outlined below. Geographic Scope. The Services only support calls to and from the U.S. and Canada (U.S. and Canadian phone numbers). We reserve the right, in our sole and exclusive discretion, to block access to and from specific phone numbers or geographic locations that that we deem to be fraudulent. Fraudulent Calls. We cannot control the calls that are placed to phone numbers you provision from or port into Tresta. If you become aware of or suspect that fraudulent activity is occurring on phone numbers you have provisioned from Tresta, it is your responsibility to notify us in writing immediately so that appropriate action can be taken to minimize costs. You are solely responsible for all charges incurred on your Account whether or not they are incurred by you personally, except those incurred after a suspension of your Account due to your written notification to us of unauthorized access. Service Interruptions. You acknowledge and agree that the Services may not be available 100% of the time. Credit allowances for interruptions of service may be provided on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of Tresta and shall be your sole remedy for any service interruptions or problems with the Services. Ownership of Phone Numbers. Tresta provides toll-free and local phone numbers. You own any phone number provisioned through Tresta, or ported in to Tresta from a third-party provider. Porting In and Out. You may port (transfer) phone numbers to another carrier at no charge. You must, however, notify us of the transfer of the number so that we can assure it is added or removed from your Account accordingly. You are responsible for all charges that accrue on your Account regardless of whether a phone number was transferred to another carrier if you don't notify us of the transfer. If you transfer numbers to another carrier and intend to cancel your Tresta Account, you must notify us by calling +1 (844) 2-TRESTA so that all charges can be terminated. Tresta will use reasonable efforts to help you port numbers in or out of our Services. You understand, however, that the number porting process depends on third parties outside of Tresta's control. Tresta will not be liable for any failure or delay of a third party to cooperate in the porting of a phone number, or for the allegedly unauthorized porting of a telephone number by a third party. Termination of Account/Reassignment of Phone Numbers. After an Account is terminated for any reason, Tresta may reassign phone numbers on your Account to other customers or to a reserve inventory. The number will then be unavailable for you to transfer to another carrier, and Tresta will not be responsible for any costs which result due to the loss of a phone number. It is your responsibility to transfer numbers to other carriers prior to terminating the Tresta Account if you wish to retain those phone numbers. Phone Number Testing. Tresta makes every effort to ensure that phone numbers provisioned to you are working immediately after purchase. There are some technical considerations, however, which are beyond Tresta's control. Therefore, you must test any phone number provisioned by Tresta immediately after purchase to ensure it is working properly. Tresta will not be responsible for any advertising expenses or other costs which could have been avoided had you tested the phone number immediately after purchase. Disputes over Phone Numbers. Tresta will not adjudicate disputes over ownership of an Account or phone numbers. In the event a dispute is not resolved independent of Tresta, Tresta reserves the right to terminate an Account to avoid further charges from accruing. Availability. You have the option to have all calls placed through the Tresta platform recorded. Copies of recordings can be accessed by logging into your Account at www.tresta.com. Call recordings can also be downloaded or emailed to you via your Account or by contacting customer service. Legal Requirements. Significant laws govern the recording of telephone calls, and these laws vary by State. You are required to obtain consent from all participants of the call to record a conversation. You are solely responsible for complying with all federal, state and local laws in any relevant jurisdiction when using this feature. Tresta expressly disclaims all liability with respect to the recording of telephone conversations. You agree to fully, finally and forever release, discharge, hold harmless and fully indemnify Tresta from and against any damages or liabilities of any kind related to your recording of conversations using the Services. Keep your contact information with us up to date, and let us know if you need to transfer the ownership of an Account to someone else. Customer Information. You agree to provide Tresta with true, accurate, current and complete contact information and to maintain this information accordingly. You are responsible for updating us as soon as reasonably possible of any changes to your contact details. Account Set-up. You shall be responsible for setting up and maintaining an Account with Tresta, pursuant to the terms and conditions of this Agreement and any directives from us. A credit card is required to set up an Account, and for billing purposes. Account Ownership. Account ownership may be transferred to another individual or business upon the written request of an existing Account owner, our written approval, and the written approval of the recipient. Individuals who create an Account on behalf of a business represent and warrant that they possess the legal right, capacity and ability to enter into this Agreement with Tresta on behalf of the business. If the individual lacked the legal right, capacity and ability to enter into this Agreement on behalf of the business, the individual will be held liable for all charges on the Account. Make sure you stay current on your System and Billing Administrators, and don’t trust people with your password unless you agree to let them make changes on your Account. Administrators. You may designate specific Users to make changes to the Account by adding the User to either the "System Admin" or "Billing Admin" User Group. A User who is a member of the System Admin User Group will have permission to, and access to, modify all configurations on the Account (such as adding/removing phone numbers, adding/removing Users and configuring call routing options), but cannot view or modify information related to billing. A User who is a member of the Billing Admin User Group will have permission to, and access to, view and modify all billing-related activities (such as adding/deleting/removing credit cards, viewing statements, and cancelling the Account) but cannot modify how the Services are configured. A User may be a member of both the System Admin and Billing Admin User Group. Users must establish a verification question and answer before Tresta will permit them to access or change the Account. It is the responsibility of the System Administrators to update and maintain Users on the Account. Tresta will not be responsible for changes made on an Account pursuant to a request by a System Admin or Billing Admin. Access to Customer's Account. Tresta will assume that any individual that creates an Account has the legal right to set up the Account, transfer Account ownership, terminate the Account, setup or transfer phone numbers to another provider, and otherwise manage the Account. With respect to any Business Account, Tresta will make this assumption unless Tresta is otherwise notified in writing by a representative of the business who can demonstrate this legal right (typically an officer or director). Password Protection. You are responsible for maintaining a password. Tresta is not responsible for activities that happen on the Account by the sharing of the password or the granting of access to your Account. Transmission of Content. You are solely responsible for the content you transmit via the Services. We will not be responsible for any content sent or received by you. You have to pay us for the services. This section explains how and when you will pay us. Billing Subject to Change. Tresta reserves the right to change its billing methods in its sole discretion at any time without notice. Billing Increments. Minutes are billed in six-second increments, with a 6-second billing minimum for calls to all available destinations. Tresta Changes to Plans and Pricing. All available price plans are published on the Website, which will be regularly updated with price changes and special offers. We can change the applicable usage charges and plan pricing at any time by posting the changes on the Website. You can contact Customer Service and request details of our prices or any price change at any time at +1 (844) 2-TRESTA. Customer Changes to Purchased Plans. You can make changes to plans or features at any time by contacting Customer Service at +1 (844) 2-TRESTA or by logging into your Account online and modifying your selections. Billing Credits and Adjustments. Any credits or adjustments for mid-month changes to Services will be reflected on your next statement. Monthly Billing. You will be billed once per month. You must have a valid credit card on file to maintain the Services. Credit cards will be automatically charged five (5) calendar days after a statement is generated on each Customer Account. Credit Card on File. It is your sole responsibility to update credit cards on file in the event a credit card is closed or expires. Time is of the essence for payment. Billing Cycle. Your billing cycle will be on the same day each month and is determined by the date of sign-up or re-activation on your Account. For example, if you sign up on the 3rd of the month, your bill cycle will run from the 3rd to the 2nd of each month. If you sign up after the 28th of any given month, your billing cycle will begin on the 28th day of the month and end on the 27th day of the following month. Invoice Delivery. By default, billing related communications will be sent to the email addresses associated with any User who is a member of the Billing Admin User Group. You may also request that billing related communications be copied to additional addresses by configuring this in your Account or by contacting Customer Service. It is your responsibility to update the email addresses associated with any Tresta Account as needed. Termination of Account for Non-payment. We reserve the right to terminate your Account due to failure to pay an invoice when due. You will be notified by email if your Account has been terminated. Tresta will not be responsible for any missed calls, advertising costs or other damages that result from the termination of any Account due to non-payment. Fees for Non-payment. If an Account balance remains unpaid, an Account may be turned over to an outside, third-party collections agency. The collection agency imposes charges of 14% on business Accounts, and this fee is passed on to any non-paying Customer. This fee amount is subject to change without notice. Declined Credit Card. If a credit card payment is declined, we will attempt to recharge it on several occasions without advance notice. If we do not receive payment, either through an automated recharge or by a payment initiated by Customer, within twenty-one (21) calendar days from the statement date, the Account will be closed for non-payment. You can re-activate the Account by paying the balance due in full. New Account Balance. Customers with a past due balance will be charged the full balance due upon opening a new Account or re-activating a closed Account. Credits and Refunds. Tresta plans and bundled allowances may only be used for our Services, and you will not be entitled to receive any cash refund for any remaining credit or allowance unless expressly stated otherwise in this Agreement. Credits and allowances are not transferable, and no interest will be payable on credit balances or allowances. Credits issued on an Account will be applied toward future charges and balances and will not be refunded to a credit card except (a) in unusual circumstances as approved by a Customer Service Manager; or (b) after the termination of an Account, in which case negative balances will be refunded to a credit card five (5) calendar days after the final statement is generated. Disputed Charges. You must notify us by e-mail to [email protected] of any disputed charges/debits within thirty (30) days of the statement date reflecting the disputed charge. To the extent we determine that a billing adjustment is warranted, we will credit your Account accordingly. If you fail to notify us of a billing dispute as noted above, you hereby waive all rights to bring any claim regarding the particular charge/debit. We may offer a free trial of our Services so that you can see how great our Services are without spending any money. We ask, however, that you use it fairly or else we can cancel your trial at any time. Also, your trial will automatically convert to a paid account, so let us know before that happens if you don’t want to keep the Services. Eligibility. To be eligible for this Free Trial Offer, you must (i) not be a current subscriber of Tresta, (ii) not be a previous subscriber of Tresta, (iii) have never redeemed a Tresta Free Trial Offer in the past, and (iv) be over the age of eighteen and authorized to use the Services. A limited number of Free Trial Offers are available, while supplies last. Tresta reserves the right to terminate this Free Trial Offer at any time and for any reason without notice and with no liability. Tresta further reserves the right to terminate a specific subscriber’s Free Trial Offer prior to the end of that user’s Free Trial Period at any time, for any reason, including but not limited to a violation of this Agreement, including Tresta’s Reasonable Use Policy, without notice and with no liability. After such time of termination, Tresta shall not be obligated to redeem any further Free Trial Offers. Activating Your Free Trial Period. To redeem a valid Free Trial offer, sign up online at www.tresta.com or contact Customer Support at the phone number contained herein. Your Subscription. If you decide that you do not want to remain a paying user of the Tresta Service, you have to cancel your subscription by logging into your Tresta Account and following the prompts on the Account page, or by contacting Customer Support, prior to the end of your Free Trial Period. If you fail to cancel as directed, at the end of your Free Trial Period, you will automatically become a paying user of the Tresta Service at the regular Tresta monthly price, and the payment method you provided will automatically be charged the Tresta monthly subscription fee, usage, and applicable taxes, fees and surcharges each month, until you cancel your subscription as provided in this Agreement. No refunds, adjustments or price protection will be applied to your invoice in the event that a new/subsequent discount or promotional offering becomes available after the conclusion of your Free Trial Period. You have to pay your taxes and fees. Thank a politician! Taxes and Fees. All prices are exclusive of taxes and fees. You must pay all taxes, fees, surcharges and other charges that we bill you for the Services unless you can show documentation satisfactory to us that you are exempt. We will not provide advance notice of changes to taxes, fees, surcharges and other charges, except as required by applicable law. For more information on taxes and fees, please visit www.tresta.com/taxes-and-fees. Estimates. Taxes, fees and surcharges shown during the signup process or on Bill Cycle To Date summaries represent estimated taxes only. Final taxes, fees and surcharges will be calculated when an invoice is processed and may vary due to changes in usage, tax rates or other factors. Universal Service Charges. You will be responsible for applicable universal service charges unless you submit a valid resale exemption certificate on an annual basis on a form prescribed by Tresta. Absent a valid resale exemption certificate, Tresta will assess applicable federal universal service fund charges ("FUSF Fees") on your Account. 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2019-04-20T14:16:34Z

https://www.tresta.com/terms

We introduce rapid replica molding of ordered, high-aspect-ratio, thiol-ene micropillar arrays for implementation of microfluidic immobilized enzyme reactors (IMERs). By exploiting the abundance of free surface thiols of off-stoichiometric thiol-ene compositions, we were able to functionalize the native thiol-ene micropillars with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and these with proteolytic α-chymotrypsin (CHT) via thiol-gold interaction. The micropillar arrays were replicated via PDMS soft lithography, which facilitated thiol-ene curing without the photoinitiators, and thus straightforward bonding and good control over the surface chemistry (number of free surface thiols). The specificity of thiol-gold interaction was demonstrated over allyl-rich thiol-ene surfaces and the robustness of the CHT-IMERs at different flow rates and reaction temperatures using bradykinin hydrolysis as the model reaction. The product conversion rate was shown to increase as a function of decreasing flow rate (increasing residence time) and upon heating of the IMER to physiological temperature. Owing to the effective enzyme immobilization onto the micropillar array by GNPs, no further purification of the reaction solution was required prior to mass spectrometric detection of the bradykinin hydrolysis products and no clogging problems, commonly associated with conventional capillary packings, were observed. The activity of the IMER remained stable for at least 1.5 h (continuous use), suggesting that the developed protocol may provide a robust, new approach to implementation of IMER technology for proteomics research. The online version of this article ( https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01674-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Immobilization of proteolytic enzymes (e.g., trypsin, pepsin, and chymotrypsin) on solid support structures packed in capillary channels has gained considerable interest owing to its many benefits over soluble enzyme reactions [1, 2]. Enzyme immobilization on solid support structures omits the need for separation of the enzymes from the reaction solution, which not only simplifies the purification of the reaction products but also allows, for instance, online mass spectrometric (MS) analysis of the proteolytic digest and the reuse of the enzymes, which both result in significant savings in time and costs [3, 4]. Most importantly, enzyme immobilization effectively suppresses autoproteolysis even at high enzyme-to-substrate ratios. In some cases, immobilization also enhances the enzyme stability and activity, which leads to increased conversion rates [5, 6]. However, the enzyme immobilization strategy plays a key role in achieving the high conversion rates with a view to maximizing the amount of bound enzymes and maintaining them active on solid supports . The most common strategies make use of porous polymer monoliths [3, 4] or magnetic beads , which are functionalized with covalently bound enzymes and packed in a capillary channel to increase the surface area. Apart from classical esterification, covalent binding may however require harsh conditions that increase the risk of denaturation and loss of enzyme activity. The ester bond, on the other hand, is relatively unstable in aqueous conditions, which may result in leaching of the immobilized enzymes. Alternatively to covalent binding, enzymes have also been physically entrapped inside porous matrixes, but depending on the pore size, these are also prone to enzyme leaching (too large pores) or restricted diffusion of the substrate to the enzyme (small pores) . Any kinds of capillary packing (whether porous matrices or magnetic beads) may also suffer from clogging and reproducibility issues. Modern microfabrication techniques provide appealing opportunities for the implementation of immobilized enzyme reactors (IMERs). Wafer-scale fabrication processes enable not only parallelism and high degree of system integration, but also customization of the solid support structures with respect to both architecture and the surface chemistry. For instance, dense micropillar arrays have been implemented on silicon in order to increase the surface-to-volume ratio for on-chip chromatographic separations [8, 9, 10]. Owing to the possibility to pattern well-ordered micropillar arrays simultaneous to the microchannel network in a reproducible manner, no post-processing (channel packing) is needed and the problems related to clogging can be avoided. Although oxidized silicon readily provides a variety of surface functionalization reactions via silanol groups, which are mostly suitable for covalent coupling reactions, silicon microfabrication as such requires special facilities, including cleanroom instrumentation. In this work, we introduce rapid replica molding of ordered, high-aspect-ratio micropillar arrays from off-stoichiometric thiol-ene polymers. By mixing the thiol and allyl (“ene”) monomers in off-stoichiometric ratios, the surface chemistry and the mechanical properties of thiol-ene microdevices can be tailored toward a variety of applications [11, 12, 13]. In the past, thiol-enes have been used in several applications, including microchip electrophoresis [13, 14] and biosensing [15, 16] devices, protein and DNA arrays , and on-chip electrospray ion sources for mass spectrometric detection [18, 19]. The off-stoichiometric thiol-enes (OSTEs) have also been exploited to fabricate porous monoliths inside thiol-ene microchannels followed by covalent coupling of proteolytic enzymes onto both thiol- and allyl-rich surfaces [4, 20]. Here, we make use of the native thiol-ene surface chemistry by preparing thiol-rich micropillar arrays and functionalizing them with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) via the well-characterized and strong thiol-gold interaction [21, 22]. Finally, we demonstrate the immobilization of α-chymotrypsin (CHT) onto GNP-coated thiol-ene micropillars via the enzyme’s free thiol groups (reduced disulfide bridges). The specificity of the thiol-gold interaction between both thiol-rich surface and GNP as well GNP and CHT is also examined, and the robustness of the developed CHT-IMER setup (with respect to flow rate and reaction temperature) is demonstrated by MS analysis of bradykinin hydrolysis products. Methanol, dimethyl sulfoxide, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, acetic acid, ammonium acetate, ammonium hydroxide, 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), α-chymotrypsin from bovine pancreas (CHT, type II, 40 units/mg protein), bradykinin acetate (fragment 1–9), and DL-dithiothreitol were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Steinheim, Germany). All reagents and solvents used were HPLC or MS grade (≥ 98.0%). Suspensions of bare GNPs (10 nm, stabilized in 0.1 mM PBS) and dodecanethiol functionalized gold nanoparticles (d-GNPs, 3–6 nm, 0.6–0.9% solid material, 0.01% HAuCl4 in toluene) were also from Sigma-Aldrich. Irgacure® TPO-L photoinitiator (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphenyl phosphinate) was donated by BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany). Water was purified with a Milli-Q water purification system (Merck Millipore, Molsheim, France). SU-8 100 negative photoresist (Microchem Corporation, Newton, MA) used for master fabrication was purchased from Micro Resist Technologies GmbH (Darmstadt, Germany). Poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) used for fabrication of the replication mold was prepared from Sylgard 184 base elastomer and curing agent (Down Corning Corporation, Midland, MI). Trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (“trithiol”) (≥ 95.0%), pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (“tetrathiol”) (≥ 95.0%), and 1,3,5-triallyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione (“triallyl”) (≥ 98.0%) were used for microchip fabrication and purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Saint Louis, MO). The activity of immobilized CHT was determined by bradykinin hydrolysis. The stock solution of bradykinin (1 mM in Milli-Q water) was diluted to appropriate concentrations with 20 mM ammonium acetate (pH 8.2) before measurements. The 20 mM ammonium acetate solution used was prepared in deionized Milli-Q water and filtered (0.2 μm) before use in MS analyses. The pH of the ammonium acetate solution was adjusted using 10% (v/v) ammonium hydroxide. For determination of the specificity of the GNP interactions, phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) was used as the buffer. The microchip design used in this study comprised of a 30-mm long, 4-mm wide, and 200-μm high microchannel incorporating 14,400 micropillars (average diameter 50.4 ± 0.6 μm, n = 10) arranged in a hexagonal geometry. The micropillar array was connected to an inlet and an outlet (both ∅ 2 mm) via tapered, triangular heads not containing micropillars and 3-mm long and 100-μm wide connecting channels (Fig. 1a). The total volume of the IMER was ca. 25 μL. The chip fabrication comprised of four steps: (a) cleanroom fabrication of the SU-8 master, (b) casting of the PDMS mold (soft lithography), (c) replication of the thiol-ene micropillar array under UV light, and (d) bonding of the thiol-ene micropillar array with another thiol-ene (cover) layer (Fig. 1). Apart from the fabrication of the initial SU-8 master (see Electronic Supplementary Material, ESM), all further fabrication steps were carried out in a regular chemistry laboratory (under non-cleanroom conditions). The PDMS molds for thiol-ene replication were prepared by mixing the base elastomer and the curing agent at a ratio of 10:1 (w/w). After degassing in vacuum for 30 min, the PDMS mixture was cast onto the SU-8 master and cured at 80 °C for 3 h. The final IMER was fabricated by mixing the “tetrathiol” and “triallyl” monomers in a ratio that yielded 50 mol-% excess of thiol functional groups. This composition was chosen in order to maximize the number of free surface thiols, which is known to increase as a function of increasing excess of the thiol monomer . No photoinitiators were added to the composition to facilitate straightforward bonding of two alike surfaces as described in . However, in the absence of photoinitiators, the curing of thiol-ene compositions with very large excess of the thiol monomer becomes slow and thus the 50 mol-% excess of thiols was the practical upper limit for in this study. For the specificity tests, also stoichiometric and allyl-rich (50 mol-% excess of allyl functional groups) compositions of “trithiol” and “triallyl” were used. No photoinitiators or other additives were added to any of the compositions. After mixing, the thiol-ene solution was poured onto the PDMS mold, featuring the negative replica of the micropillar array as microwells, and the mold was placed in vacuum for 2–5 min to effectively remove residual air bubbles trapped in the deep microwells (see ESM Fig. S1). Next, the thiol-ene monomer mixture was cured (without cover) under UV light for 5 min by using a Dymax 5000-EC Series UV flood exposure lamp (Dymax Corporation, Torrington, CT, USA, nominal intensity 225 mW/cm2). The planar cover layer incorporating only the inlet and outlet holes was prepared in a similar manner. The fully cured cover and bottom (micropillar) layers were then preheated to allow uniform sealing (here, ca. 70 °C was used) and laminated against each other. The bonding was finalized with additional UV exposure through the cover layer for 2 min. The bonding strength was determined by air-pressure tests using an in-house built gas delivery system consisting of an electronic regulator and solenoid valves (SMC Pneumatics Finland Oy, Espoo, Finland). The cured and bonded IMERs were stored at room temperature (RT) in the dark and under atmospheric pressure until use. Characterization of the microstructures was performed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM, FEI Quanta™ FEG, Hillsboro, OR) by attaching the samples onto the sample stage with a carbon-coated double-sided tape and sputtering (Quorum Q150TS, turbomolecular-pumped high-resolution coater, Quorum Technologies, UK) with platinum for 25 s (30 mA) to yield a ca. 5-nm-thick coating. The immobilization of CHT on the thiol-rich (50 mol-% excess) micropillar array included two steps, both exploiting the thiol-gold interaction. First, the micropillar array was filled with the gold nanoparticle suspension and incubated at 4 °C overnight. Next, the micropillar array was thoroughly rinsed with fresh buffer (20 mM ammonium acetate, pH 8.2) solution followed by another overnight incubation with CHT (1 mg/mL) at 4 °C. Before enzyme incubation, the disulfide bridges of CHT were reduced using 5 mM dithiothreitol (in buffer). Finally, the micropillar-based CHT-IMER was rinsed with 20 mM ammonium acetate (pH 8.2) before determination of the enzyme activity by MS. The amount of free thiol groups on micropillar surfaces were quantitated by titration using Ellman’s reagent . Briefly, a concentrated solution of 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) in PBS buffer was pumped through the micropillar array at a flow rate of 5 μL/min followed by quantitation of the reaction product, 2-nitro-5-thiobenzoate (TNB), by UV absorbance (412 nm) using Varioskan LUX Multimode Microplate Reader (ThermoScientific, Vantaa, Finland). Alternatively, the number of free surface thiols on planar surfaces was determined by submerging thiol-ene slabs (approx. 10 mm × 10 mm × 0.5 mm) into 1 mL of 200 μM DTNB in PBS for 30 min with stirring every 10 min. After 30 min, the thiol-ene slabs were removed and the reaction product TNB was quantitated by UV absorbance as described above. The number of free (reacted) thiols was determined using a molar extinction coefficient for the reaction product of ε = 14,150 M−1 cm−1 . The wetting properties of native thiol-ene and GNP-functionalized surfaces were characterized using a contact angle goniometer (Theta, Biolin Scientific, Espoo, Finland). Advancing and receding water contact angles were determined by the sessile droplet needle method using Young-Laplace fitting. The advancing contact angle was measured by increasing the droplet volume from 2 to 8 μL at a rate of 0.1 μL/s, and the receding angle by decreasing the volume from 8 to 0 μL at a rate of 0.1 μL/s. An NTEGRA Prima (NT-MDT, Russia) atomic force microscope (AFM) was used for topographical analysis of the native and GNP-functionalized surfaces. The images (1024 × 1024 pixels) were captured in intermittent-contact mode at ambient conditions using gold-coated silicon cantilevers with a nominal tip radius of 10 nm (model: NSG 10, NT-MDT). The scanning rate and damping ratio were 0.2–0.3 Hz and 0.6–0.7, respectively. Image analysis was performed using the SPIPTM image analysis software (Image Metrology). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra were captured with a PHI Quantum 2000 scanning spectrometer, using monochromatic Al Kα x-ray source (1486.6 eV) excitation and charge neutralization by using electron filament and an electron gun. The photoelectrons were collected at an angle of 45° in relation to the sample surface with a hemispherical analyzer. The average depth of the XPS analysis was in the range of 5–10 nm. The pass energies of 187.85 eV and 29.35 eV were used for collecting survey and high-resolution spectra, respectively. The measurements were done on two different spots for each sample. The atomic concentration (%) of the different elements was derived by calculating the area of the peaks and correcting for the sensitivity factors using a MultiPak v6.1A software (Physical Electronics). The binding energies acquired in the XPS spectra were corrected using the C1s photoelectron peak at 284.8 eV as a reference. The hydrolysis of bradykinin (Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe-Arg, MW 1060) on the C-terminal side(s) of phenylalanine(s) was used as the model reaction to monitor the activity of immobilized CHT by electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS. The sample solutions (20 μM bradykinin in 20 mM ammonium acetate, pH 8.2) were infused with a syringe pump at a constant flow rate of 2.5, 5, 10, 15, or 20 μL/min and the reactants were collected for MS analysis in appropriate volumes (typically 100–150 μL per fraction). The effect of reaction temperature (RT vs. physiological temperature 37 °C) was examined by heating the CHT-IMER with a 0.5-Ω resistive heater block (Digi-Key, Thief River Falls, MN) attached to the bottom of the IMER with double-sided tape. The heating temperature was controlled with a DC power supply (Iso-Tech IPS-603, RS Components Ltd., Northants, UK) equipped with a PID temperature controller (type CN743, OMEGA Engineering, Manchester, UK). ESI-MS detection was performed on an Agilent 6330 iontrap mass spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA) using direct infusion (5 μL/min). Before ESI-MS analysis, the collected sample fractions were diluted 1:1 with methanol-water 90:10 containing 0.2% (v/v) acetic acid. The ion trap was operated in positive ion mode with a capillary voltage set at − 3500 V and end plate offset at − 500 V. Nitrogen produced from compressed air by a Parker nitrogen generator (Cleveland, OH) was used as the drying gas (4.0 L/min, 325 °C). The MS data was acquired over a mass range of m/z 100–2000 with a maximum accumulation time of 300 ms using Data Analysis 3.4. In this work, we examined the possibilities of exploiting the inherent high thiol density of the crosslinked off-stoichiometric (thiol-rich) thiol-enes for efficient functionalization of the micropillar arrays with GNPs. The efficiency of GNP adhesion to native thiol-rich surfaces was first examined by preparing planar GNP-functionalized substrates in two different ways, i.e., via immersion and drop deposition (control method), as illustrated in Fig. 2. The drop deposition method has been shown to result in self-assembly of GNP monolayers upon controlled evaporation (dewetting) achieved by the addition of nonvolatile dodecanethiol ligand . In the drop of the solvent (toluene), the dodecanethiol gold nanoparticles (d-GNPs) form a close-packed monolayer film of floating nanoparticles, which deposits onto the underlying surface upon solvent evaporation. As such, the evaporation approach is not feasible for deposition of GNPs onto enclosed 3D compartments, such as the micropillar arrays, and incubating the pillar arrays with d-GNPs would only result in a nonuniform GNP layer due to nonspecific adsorption of the dodecanethiol on polymer surfaces. Nevertheless, drop deposition was a robust method for preparing GNP monolayers on planar surfaces and thus, a good point of comparison for the preliminary surface characterizations. Since the drop deposition method necessitates the use of organic solvents (such as toluene), we first carried out a solvent compatibility test with two different thiol-rich compositions prepared from either a trithiol or tetrathiol monomer and a triallyl monomer. As a result, thiol-rich compositions prepared using an excess (+ 50 mol-%) of the tetrathiol monomer showed somewhat better stability toward selected organic solvents, particularly toluene, than thiol-rich compositions prepared using the same molar excess of the trithiol monomer (see ESM Table S1). The better solvent tolerance of the tetrathiol-rich compositions was associated with their greater crosslinking degree, which is manifested, e.g., as a decreased oxygen permeability , over trithiol-rich compositions. Here, the greater crosslinking degree of the tetrathiol-rich composition likely prevented solvent penetration into the cured (bulk) thiol-ene network, better than trithiol-rich composition, similar to earlier observations [27, 28]. Therefore, the tetrathiol monomer was selected for fabrication of the thiol-ene substrates used in this study. After incubation with the GNPs (immersion) or d-GNPs (droplet deposition), the surfaces were carefully rinsed with PBS prior to analysis with AFM, XPS, and contact angle goniometry. In all cases, 50 mol-% excess of either the thiol or allyl functional groups was used in the bulk to achieve thiol- or allyl-rich surfaces, respectively. While thiol-rich surfaces were considered ideal for maximizing the amount of thiol-gold interactions, the allyl-rich surfaces provided a good point of comparison with negligible amount of free surface thiols but otherwise very similar surface properties (e.g., in terms of wetting/hydrophobicity ). While the immersion approach better resembles the adhesion mechanism in a microchannel and necessitates the thiol-gold interaction, the toluene drop deposition approach facilitates the deposition of d-GNPs on any surface chemistry. Based on topographical analysis by AFM, the deposition of GNPs using the immersion approach (1-h incubation) provided a significant increase in the surface roughness (Sq) from 0.77 to 5.8 nm on thiol-rich surfaces (Fig. 2a vs. b), while their impact on the surface roughness of allyl-rich surfaces was negligible (Sq = 1.6–1.7 nm, Fig. 2c vs. d). In addition to roughness, the differently treated surfaces were examined in terms of the surface area ratio (Sdr) which expresses in percent how much larger the interfacial (real) surface area is compared with the area of the projected (flat) x,y plane. As illustrated in Fig. 2a–d, the effective surface area (Sdr) was also substantially greater for GNP incubated thiol-rich surfaces (Sdr = 6.1%, Fig. 2a) than for any of the controls (Sdr = 0.9…1.8%, Fig. 2b–d). These results suggest that the surface thiols were in a key role in facilitating GNP adhesion. Instead, the drop deposition resulted in much greater overall surface roughness independent of the surface chemistry, although the change was somewhat larger in case of thiol-rich surfaces. Compared with the aqueous PBS treatment (Fig. 2b and d), toluene treatment alone was shown to increase the surface roughness (Sq) and the effective surface area (Sdr) of both thiol- and allyl-rich surfaces (Fig. 2f and h). However, when d-GNPs were included in the toluene incubation, the surface roughnesses of both thiol- and allyl-rich surfaces were further increased from Sq = 5.4 nm to Sq = 11.5 nm and from Sq = 3.6 nm to 6.4 nm, respectively, compared to those of mere toluene-treated surfaces (Fig. 2e and g). Thus, the AFM data clearly evidenced deposition of d-GNPs and formation of the dodecanethiol layer on both thiol- and allyl-rich surfaces when drop deposition method was used, as expected. Generally, the drop deposition method (Fig. 2e vs. g) resulted in somewhat nonuniformly distributed summits and larger, aggregated objects on the surface, which was likely due to nonspecific adsorption of dodecanethiol onto the polymer surfaces preventing proper self-assembly of d-GNPs. Instead, the GNP deposition by the immersion method clearly favored thiol-rich surface (Fig. 2a vs. c) and resulted in a distinct granular morphology, which laid solid grounds for GNP adhesion onto microchannel surfaces. The elemental composition (the presence of gold) of the GNP-functionalized surfaces was further characterized by XPS. The XPS data further confirmed an atomic concentration of ca. 0.6% of gold on thiol-rich surfaces immersed in colloidal GNP suspension in PBS (Fig. 3), while the amount of elemental gold on allyl-rich surfaces was negligible. Surprisingly, the atomic concentration of gold on d-GNP modified surfaces (droplet deposition method) was also significantly small, ca. 0.2% only. Therefore, the d-GNP adhesion on thiol-ene surfaces was further confirmed by water contact angle goniometry. As a result, clear changes in the receding contact angle of both thiol- and allyl-rich surfaces were observed (see ESM Fig. S2), suggesting clear adsorption of d-GNPs based on hydrophobic interactions between the alkanethiol tails and the surface. As also confirmed by AFM, these interactions resulted in very heterogeneous surface topographies and aggregation, which was likely the main reason for the low observed atomic concentration of gold in the XPS experiments. Instead, the GNP deposition via the immersion approach was concluded to provide good grounds for functionalization of through-flow micropillar arrays with a view to enzyme immobilization via thiol-gold interaction. This was further confirmed by contact angle analysis of GNP-treated thiol-rich surfaces following CHT immobilization. A clear change in the surface wettability was observed for CHT-functionalized surfaces with advancing contact angles shifting from the initial values of ca. 80° (native) and 60° (GNP-treated) to clearly below 20°. After CHT incubation, the water droplets formed non-axisymmetric droplets from which exact contact angles could not be measured. This is however typical for hydrophilic and heterogeneous surfaces, such as the CHT-coated surface. Previous studies have shown that the crosslinking degree, and thus, the rigidity and the bonding strength, of thiol-ene polymer networks can be greatly altered by varying both the monomer type (e.g., trithiol vs. tetrathiol) and the (off-)stoichiometric ratio of the thiol and allyl monomers [11, 12, 18]. Upon addition of a photoinitiator to the monomer mixture, the crosslinking occurs faster and typically in a quantitative yield compared to thiol-ene curing without the photoinitiators . As a result, only surfaces with opposite excess of thiols and allyls can be effectively bond to each other . However, by omitting the photoinitiator, also two alike thiol-ene surfaces can be bond together with fairly high bonding strength , which indicates that the structure rigidity, for its part, also plays a role. These previous findings further supported the use of the tetrathiol monomer with the triallyl monomer for the fabrication of the micropillar arrays to ensure sufficient rigidity of the replicated, high-aspect ratio (here h/w ~ 4) micropillar arrays. To maximize the number of free surface thiols toward efficient binding of GNPs, a 50 mol-% excess of thiol functional groups was used in the bulk, which resulted in 162 ± 16 nmol of free thiols per device (n = 3 titrations), corresponding to ca. 131 free thiols per nm2. The theoretical (calculated) increase in the total surface area and the surface-to-volume ratio, provided by the dense micropillar array incorporating total of 14,400 pillars (each ∅ 50.4 ± 0.6 μm, height 200 μm), was ca. 3-fold and 4-fold, respectively, over a hollow microchannel with identical dimensions (width 3 mm, length 40 mm, height 200 μm). Consequently, straightforward and good quality sealing of the micropillar arrays with another identical surface was facilitated by omitting the photoinitiator. In this manner, the reverse sides (in contact with PDMS during UV curing) of both layers could be bond together with bonding strengths exceeding 2 bar (the upper limit of our pressure controlled test system). For comparison, micropillar arrays fabricated out of “trithiol” and “triallyl” monomers with equal excess (50 mol-%) of free thiols constantly broke already at 1.5 ± 0.4 bar (n = 4 IMERs). The bonding strengths remained unchanged even after delamination (upon heating) and re-bonding of the micropillar arrays, further suggesting that the rigidity of the chosen composition greatly affects the achievable bonding strength. Before this work, high-aspect thiol-ene micropillar arrays have been achieved via direct photolithographic patterning only [30, 31]. Although the lithography approach allows high feature resolution, it necessitates the use of photoinitiators (and inhibitors), which often complicates adhesive bonding and results in a higher crosslinking degree, and thus lower thiol density on the surface. To examine the effect of the crosslinking degree on the free thiol density, the number of free surface thiols was determined for tetrathiol-rich (50 mol-%) thiol-enes cured (5 min) in the absence and in the presence of the photoinitiator (0.1% TPO-L). As a result, the amount of free thiols dropped dramatically from the initial 190 ± 43 thiols to only 12 ± 1 thiols per nm2 (ESM Fig. S3a). Similar decrease in the amount of free surface thiols (15 ± 1 thiols per nm2, ESM Fig. S3a) was also achieved by re-exposing the reverse “PDMS side” of the thiol-ene layer for another 5 min (in the absence of the photoinitiator). The impact of curing time was also confirmed by determining the amount of free thiols as a function of UV exposure dose (ESM Fig. S3b). On the average, these thiol densities correspond to ca. 14–18 nmol thiols per device, which is an order of magnitude lower amount than that on a tetrathiol-rich device cured in the absence of the photoinitiator and about an order of magnitude higher amount compared with stoichiometric (2.2 ± 0.3 nmol/device, n = 3) and allyl-rich (2.1 ± 0.05 nmol/device, n = 2) devices. Since the high density of free surface thiols was found crucial for the efficient coupling of GNPs (as shown in the previous chapter), the replication approach developed herein is likely the only way to achieve sufficiently high coverage of free surface thiols, and thus of GNPs, as it allows fabrication of thiol-ene micropillars without the photoinitiators. The sole critical step in the micropillar replication protocol developed in this study was to remove the air trapped in the deep wells of the PDMS negative mold, as illustrated in ESM Fig. S1, suggesting that the method is robust and feasible for low-cost fabrication of highly ordered micropillar arrays. The thiol-gold interaction was eventually utilized for functionalization of the thiol-rich (50 mol-% excess) micropillar arrays sequentially with GNPs (to the free surface thiols) and reduced CHT (to the GNP-coated surface via cysteine residues). Previous studies have shown that the size of the nanoparticles has a great impact on the structure and stability of the immobilized enzyme. Although larger nanoparticles (100 nm) may provide better enzyme coverage , smaller particles are reported to better preserve the native protein structure . A small particle is also less influenced by gravity effects, which may become relevant when functionalizing 3D topographies, such as the micropillar arrays. Because of these reasons, the 10 nm particles were concluded most feasible for the present study. After functionalization of the micropillar arrays, the activities of the CHT-IMERs were examined by monitoring the intensity ratio of the model substrate, bradykinin (Bk1–9, Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe-Arg), and its main hydrolysis product (Bk1–8, Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe), which were both detected as double charged ions [M + 2H]2+ at m/z 530.8 and 452.8, respectively (Fig. 4a–c). Although CHT hydrolyzes bradykinin on the C-terminal side of both phenylalanines, the Phe8-Arg9 bond is the favored cleavage site . The stability of the enzyme activity was shown to be good over a period of at least 100 min (Fig. 4b). After the first fraction (representing the system void volume), the variation of the bradykinin hydrolysis product (m/z 452.8) intensity between collected fractions was within 9% RSD (n = 6 fractions, each 150 μL). The specificity of the enzyme immobilization protocol was examined with the help of two different negative controls, i.e., micropillar arrays functionalized with only GNPs (no CHT) or only CHT (no GNPs), using a flow rate of 5 μL/min (ca. 5-min residence time). As expected, no hydrolysis product was produced in the absence of CHT (ESM Fig. S4a), but some nonspecific binding of CHT was observed in the absence of GNPs resulting in a relatively abundant product peak (Bk1–8) (ESM Fig. S4b). However, the catalytic activity of nonspecifically bound CHT (control without GNPs) varied largely across replicates (n = 3 IMERs). On the average, the intensity of the product Bk1–8 ion (3.4 ± 4.1 × 107 cps, n = 3) was just slightly above that of the bradykinin substrate ion (2.8 ± 1.3 × 107 cps, n = 3) evidencing insufficient enzymatic conversion. Instead, the more specific CHT immobilization via GNPs was shown to provide substantially higher catalytic activity compared to nonspecifically adsorbed CHT, as expected. On the average, the intensity of the product Bk1–8 ion (11.3 ± 3.5 × 107 cps, n = 3) was clearly greater than that of the bradykinin substrate ion (2.4 ± 2.3 × 107 cps, n = 3). The variation in the catalytic conversion rates (normalized product vs. substrate ion intensities) of the GNP-CHT-IMERs and the CHT-IMERs (negative control) are illustrated in Fig. 4d and ESM Fig. S4c, respectively. The average conversion rates (product/substrate ratio 7.3 vs. 1.1, respectively) were also statistically different (p = 0.049) between the different types of IMERs. Next, the impact of the reaction temperature and flow rate (residence time) on the conversion rate (product/substrate ratio) was examined. As expected, increasing the reaction temperature from RT to physiological temperature (37 °C) increased the product conversion rate by about 2-fold (n = 2 IMERs) (see ESM Fig. S5), but was typically associated with simultaneous increase in the MS background, which favored the use of RT. However, a greater increase in the product conversion rate was obtained by increasing the residence time (i.e., decreasing the flow rate). Although some variation between IMERs were observed, the same trend was confirmed by two replicate IMERs (Fig. 4e). At the lowest flow rates tested (2.5 μL/min), almost complete bradykinin hydrolysis was observed as illustrated in Fig. 4c. In all, these results evidence that the developed enzyme immobilization strategy combined with the facile microdevice fabrication under non-cleanroom conditions provides a robust approach to implementation of proteolytic IMERs for proteomics research. Owing to the good feature resolution achieved via microfabrication, the well-ordered micropillar arrays provide a convenient approach to microchannel packing by facilitating substantial increase in the surface area for maximum enzyme binding, while avoiding the risk of clogging often associated with porous polymer packing. In this work, we introduce rapid replica molding of ordered, high-aspect-ratio, thiol-ene micropillar arrays for implementation of microfluidic immobilized enzyme reactors (IMERs) by exploiting thiol-gold interaction. The replica-molding method developed herein provides a straightforward approach for the fabrication of ordered micropillar arrays in non-cleanroom conditions. The possibilities to avoid the use of photoinitiators and to tune the thiol-ene surface chemistry via off-stoichiometry enable not only straightforward bonding but also good control over the number of free surface thiols available for GNP binding. Owing to the vast excess of thiol functional groups, we were able to bind GNPs on the native thiol-rich micropillars in an efficient manner so that these could be further exploited to immobilizing CHT also based on thiol-gold interaction between the GNPs and the thiol residues of the enzyme. Compared with microchannel packing with porous polymer monoliths or magnetic beads, the well-ordered, microfabricated pillar arrays allowed us to avoid the common pitfalls, such as clogging commonly associated with post-processed microchannel packings. The method qualification evidenced that the developed CHT-IMERs performed proteolytic hydrolysis (of bradykinin) in a robust and stable manner at RT and physiological temperature. The product conversion rate was most dependent on the flow rate (residence time), and almost complete (product/substrate ratio > 10) hydrolysis was achieved at a residence time of as short as 10 min (2.5 μL/min). Furthermore, the activity of the IMER remained stable for at least 1.5 h (continuous use), suggesting negligible leakage of CHT out of the IMER. As the enzymes were firmly immobilized, no further purification of the reaction solution was required prior to mass spectrometric detection. In all, the developed protocol is significantly straightforward, yet robust, while being also somewhat universal, since it can be applied for the immobilization of any proteolytic enzymes by their thiol residues. These are the main advantages of the developed IMER technology, which are likely to provide new opportunities for modern proteomics research. We thank the Electron Microscopy Unit of the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, and the Micronova Nanofabrication Centre, Aalto University, for providing access to the scanning electron microscope and the cleanroom facilities, respectively. Dr. Markus Haapala and Dr. Anu Vaikkinen are thanked for their help with mass spectrometry instrumentation. Open access funding provided by University of Helsinki including Helsinki University Central Hospital. The research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007–2013) / ERC Grant Agreement number 311705 (CUMTAS). The work was also financially supported by the Academy of Finland (grant numbers 304400, 307466, 309608, and 297360), the University of Helsinki Research Funds, and the Doctoral Programme in Chemistry and Molecular sciences, University of Helsinki, and the Business Finland (grant number 211679). The research involves neither human participants and animals.

2019-04-19T05:27:52Z

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00216-019-01674-9

By now, you may have already set your NY resolutions and broken them. Everyone I have spoken to have broken theirs. But there’s a much simpler method that I invite you to try. Pick a word that you can live and play by, throughout the year. A word that has meaning for you and you can apply it to all aspects of your life. I’ve picked mine. It is REDUCE! This year I’m clearing clutter, simplifying my social media, reducing the number of newsletters I subscribe to, reducing my weight, reducing the number of books I have, giving more away to charity for others to enjoy and generally paring everything down. I invite you to join me too, and if you want to share your word with me, I’ll be your ‘accountability’ buddy by checking in with you quarterly to see how you are getting on. You’ve spent hours crafting what you think is the perfect CV, but ever wondered what happens to it at the other end? When it reaches the recruiter? Most people I ask think that their CV will be afforded at least 15 minutes of a recruiters time, to go through and digest all its contents. The truth is, your CV will initially get a quick scan and if the recruiter thinks you haven’t got the skills and qualities required for the post, they will reject your CV at that point. No 15 minute read here! It’s much the same when you receive a leaflet through your front door at home. You quickly scan the document for interesting info and to see if you ‘need’ it. Then you may read on further or keep for reading later. If it doesn’t pique your interest in the first 6 second scan, it goes straight into the bin, as is regarded as junk. I do this daily with the deluge of junk mail I get through the door. Double glazing – don’t need it, BIN. Sheds – don’t need it, BIN. Takeaway menu – don’t need it, BIN. The same happens with your CV! Not a good match – REJECT. Spelling mistakes – REJECT. CV long to read – REJECT etc. etc. Your ‘good stuff’ need to be on the first page of your CV and up at the top so you make an immediate impact. So don’t hide some of this ‘good stuff’ on the 2nd page! Your CV is the equivalent of your ‘sales brochure’ – so sell yourself! You need to make that impact. A recruiter should be able to fold the bottom third of your first page under, and read the top two-thirds, and get a real sense of who you are, what you do, and what experience you have. If it doesn’t, then it’s back to the drawing board! Nobody is going to know from just reading your CV that you are hiding your light under a bushel, so let the recruiter know how good a match you are for this role. Recruiters do this job day-in-day-out, and often will be recruiting for numerous positions at the same time, so time is crucial to them. Many roles attract 100-150 candidates, so do the maths – it would be impossible to read every CV for 15 minutes!! So, do yourself a favour by ensuring your ‘sales brochure’ really does capture your skills and talents and mirror and match the role you are applying for. And, if you need a critical eye, I’ll always look it over for you and do a FREE CV review, and tell you honestly where it needs work and enhancement. It’s always good to have a few written down on your notepad, and it’s OK to refer to them if you have trouble memorising them. Some may have already been answered, and it’s good to say this (make the interviewer feel like they’ve done a good job) 🙂 Say something like, “I do have some prepared questions, and a few of them have already been covered in your description of the role – thank you”. “Can I therefore ask …” and just ask 2-3 questions – not a whole raft that makes them feel like they are being grilled! This is an opportunity for you to gauge whether you’d like to work for them too, so it’s important you also make the right choice of employer. 1. How would you describe the overall management style of the company? 2. Who would I be reporting to and would it be possible to meet that person? 3. What is the biggest challenge this company/sector faces today? 4. Who is your greatest competitor? 5. How large is the team I would be working in? 6. What are the 3 top values of this company? 7. do you have a structured induction programme for new starters? 8. What is the company level of attrition for staff leavers? 9. What changes of promotion are there within this role, or secondment to other roles? 10. Do you offer chances to continue education and training within this role? 11. And lastly, when am I likely to hear whether I’ve been successful and by what method (letter, email, phone call). Building your network is most important. People join LinkedIn to help each other so it’s time to reach out for help and help others too. Start easily with people who you already know (and who know you). These people then become your ‘first-degree connections’. LinkedIn has tools to help you by asking if it can link with your Gmail/outlook account etc. It will use your email addresses to find matches with their members and help you connect. People connected to your first degree connections become second-degree connections if you connect through them. These members can also be useful as you can get introduced through your contact. LinkedIn uses the information in your profile to check against its database and then presents to you people it thinks you may know – i.e. school/uni classmates, ex-colleagues etc. This is why having your profile 100% up to date is crucial. The more information the better it can match you for your past, present and future! You can always use the ‘Advanced Search’ options to narrow down the search for yourself of suitable people to connect to. I.e. perhaps you just want UK contacts, or people within a 50-mile radius of you, or people in your own sector. Obviously, if any of these connections can endorse your skills/talents that goes a long way to prove your credibility and integrity and builds trust. And that’s what LinkedIn is all about – building relationships and establishing trust. Without which, LinkedIn doesn’t work. You should never ever send a generic CV in for a job role. You simply have to up your game these days and stand out to be seen. If you are smart, you will have the type of CV that is easy to customise. If you haven’t got one like that, then I strongly urge you to consider my inexpensive but highly professional CV writing kit. Once you’ve found a job you’d like to apply for, then print off the job advert and arm yourself with a highlighter pen. Go through the advert and highlight the essential words and phrases that you think are essential to the role. The key point here is that their most required skills/traits are always towards the top of the advert. Once you’ve highlighted the essential elements, ask yourself whether you have those skills they require for that role. In your key skills area of our CV, you need to mirror and match what they are asking for – but don’t just copy! For instance, if they are looking for a team player, you could put that you are a collaborator. If they are looking for someone with attention to detail, you could put that you are quality-orientated. Next look at the job spec and see what they require and again you are going to mirror and match that in your bullet points that you list under your career experience section, for each of your roles. If you have direct experience of that, then write that as one of your top 3 bullet points. Most recruiters initially never read the full CV. They skim, scan and scroll. Therefore your ‘good stuff’ needs to be towards the top of your bullet points and the sentences have to have the ‘wow’ factor up at the front of the sentence. Once you’ve finished customising your CV give it one last check over. Go back to the job advert and tick off where you’ve demonstrated those skills. Hopefully, you will fit the role 100%. By doing this, I guarantee you’ll start to get more invites to interview, as you’ll match more closely the person they are looking to recruit! Imagine you are at a huge face-to-face conference where you sit with everyone else for the main part, but then in the afternoon, you get a choice of talks you can attend. Looking at what’s on offer, you will probably choose something that interests you and where you may meet ‘like-minded’ people in the industry that you work in or that you want to join. You could be all day trying to find someone in the main conference hall who could answer a burning question you have, perhaps on how to break into the field of Journalism. Now, if I said that we had 3 talks in the afternoon, one on Journalism, one on Engineering and one on Marketing, which one do you think you’d get the most benefit from? And where are you likely to meet like minded people in the exact field you want to enter. All that talent and experience in one room! Can you see why joining that group would be of benefit now? You may get your questions answered and so much more – new contacts, tips, hints and crucial industry updates. It’s the same with groups on LinkedIn but in a ‘virtual’ space. They all congregate in the same place and help each other. Join groups and ask questions, contribute to other people’s problems by offering solutions, build rapport and give advice if you can. Swim in that talent pool with the industry experts and get known! Recruiters often sift through groups too to search for specific candidates. What are you waiting for? There’s an open door there – get through it! Is It Worth Writing a Covering Letter To Go With My CV? There are split opinions here and I weigh heavily on the train of thought that says ‘yes’ to a covering letter. But I know recruitment agencies who admit to me that they never read cover letters. So why do I think you should still send one? If you’ve prepared your CV correctly, it will very closely resemble what the company said they wanted in their job advert (don’t just send in a generic one). 1. Your genuine interest in what they do (it is a company you have followed for years, engage with or follow on social media). 2. Have you been recommended to apply by someone already involved in the company? It’s OK to name drop on this occasion! It’s a warm lead for them, by someone who they employ saying “here’s another good fit” for this company. 3. It allows you to specifically illustrate how you definitely meet the criteria of the post by outlining exact or similar experience that can also be like a little addendum to your CV (especially if you are obeying my 2-page maximum rule). The last paragraph can also give pertinent information, like holiday dates when you are not available for an interview, and your ‘call to action’ repeated again in bold (aka – please do not hesitate me should you need any further information on 01234 567890). You never know which companies like covering letters or not (except those that ask you to include one) but I hope you’ll see that it can be worth the effort, and may just give you the edge over other candidates! For those of you who have attended my ‘Networking for Career Success’ workshops, you will know how much emphasis I put on handshakes and will have seen my comic demonstrations of what different handshakes look like! Your career will be a series of handshakes and this simple act can say a lot about you, so it’s time to master it! 1. Keep Your Right Hand Free. Firstly there’s always that awkward moment when we’ve got our right hand full of something, and then someone tries to shake our hand, leaving you to shuffle stuff over to the left or find a table to plonk things on. By the nature that you’ve been using this hand to hold stuff, may mean it is hot and sweaty so the first tip is always to keep your right hand free! 2. Stand Up! Never shake hands sitting down. A handshake always normally is at the beginning or end of a conversation, so stand up to greet that person or stand up to say goodbye. Much more professional and your body language will convey how pleased you are to receive them or say goodbye to them. 3. Look and Engage. Whilst your hands are doing the shaking bit, look that person straight in the eyes. This will convey even more body language to them, and remember to smile! 4. Pressure. I’ve had some killer bone-crushing handshakes done on me (what is that all about?)! I’ve got my theories and so may you have too. The best handshakes are even-pressured and with equality coming from either party. The other ones I hate are where people seem to reluctantly shake your hand and instead hold yours with just a few fingers (no palm on palm here). They make you feel like you have a contagious infection they don’t want to catch, or they are worried you didn’t wash your hands after leaving the toilet! And think about how that makes the recipient feel! Do you leave that conversation feeling valued? Excited to have met that person? Ready to do business? Feeling like you’ve made a new friend? 5. How Many Shakes. 2-3 pumps of the arm are advisable, any more and you’ll be giving them the impression that you are their new best friend! Keep it professional! 6. Practice Makes Perfect. I have my classes of students practice with each other and of course, I join in too and give you instant feedback – smile, look at me when you shake, more pressure needed, less pressure needed etc. The more you do it, the better you become. It’s part of your personal branding, along with your clothing, attitude, manner, confidence etc, so if this lets you down the rest of the brand will be ruined too. So do get it right! What are Interview Assessment Days all About? Congratulations if you’ve got this far in the recruitment process. Although you may be pleased wither efforts so far, the mere mention of an assessment day may be making you apprehensive! So what are they looking for when they hold these days? I’ve run many in my days as an HR Manager and I thought it might be good to share some insider secrets. Employers may be looking for different things than what you initially think! Some employers may choose to do a ‘challenge’ type of scenario (sometimes base don a survival exercise). This usually takes the form that they are leaving you in the desert with 5 objects and they tell you the object of your challenge is to all get back to HQ safely, using the 5 objects. There are no real right or wrong answers here, and it doesn’t matter if there was, as they are looking for different things than just getting back to HQ! Your team will probably be between 5-9 other applicants (any more and it is difficult for the observers to watch and listen carefully). Yes, you will be observed and listened to!! 1. How persuasive you are in a group (and do people listen to you). 2. How mindful you are of others and their opinions (especially if they are different to yours). 3. Who is keeping time in the group (you will be given a specific amount of time for this exercise). 4. Who gives up and goes quiet/doesn’t contribute. 5. Who are leaders or clear team players? 6. Who have creative streaks? 7. Who have the right attributes who would fit in well with the company values? You may well be an excellent candidate, but the wrong fit for the company. 10. Who is good at presenting findings on behalf of the group (can they say it concisely, without rambling/waffle). Think of the TV series ‘The Apprentice’ here, at some of the cringe-worthy candidates they have had on there, who we would be desperate NOT to employ! Other exercises that I’ve prepared for assessment days are the in-tray exercise. You are given a list of tasks and you need to show how you would prioritise them if this was a typical working day). Of course, I always made it a bit more challenging by throwing in a curved-ball half way through, to see how they reacted. Some graduates have also been faced with an online assessment test which normally consists of multiple choice questions. Again to be completed within a set amount of time. If you are going for a mechanical/engineering post it may well have those sorts of questions on too. Don’t think you are off the hook in these scenarios too. For my days I would be watching how you interacted/networked with others socially and whether you just ‘turn it on’ when the cameras are rolling! My secretary also observed for me too as the candidates arrived and booked in, and her observations were invaluable! The 1-1 interview, which sometimes takes place on the same day too. They may have questions about how you felt you performed during the day and there will always be a ‘bank’ of questions which they have previously prepared to ask every candidate (os you al get an equal chance), and no-one gets more of a tough interview than others. I have also given my candidates 15 mins to prepare a presentation topic that they will know about when I tell them. They are then given 10 minutes to do a presentation to a small panel audience. What was I looking for here? 1. Ability to think on your feet on a topic. 2. Keep to strict timescales. 4. Engagement with the audience. 6. Whole delivery and flow in terms of body language, tonality, the speed of voice etc. 7. HOT TIP: It really doesn’t matter how right/wrong your answer way, it’s the way you present the skills that I was judging, that I’d mark you on. I’m not a fan of role-plays, but I know some organisations still use them. It may be useful for them to observe you in a situation which you can’t plan for. I.e. coming face to face with an angry customer and how you deal with them. Do you inflame the situation by what you say, or calm it right down. Either way, you will be thinking on your feet and judged on not only what comes out of your mouth, but your body language, how you try to defuse the situation, whether you can get to a solution and move things forward. Ideally, you are looking for a win-win outcome! So, the next time you are invited to an assessment day, embrace it fully. They want to get the right fit for their organisation and by having you with them for a day, they are more likely to see ‘the real you’. This also has advantages for you too, as you can get into the culture of the organisation and make sure it is the right fit for you too! Recruiters these days harness the power of the internet to search for and attract the best candidates for job roles. In order to become a potential candidate and be found, your LI profile needs to stand out. A killer profile needs to highlight your knowledge, skills, accomplishments and potential. You wouldn’t want a potential employer not to see your full potential so do ensure your profile is completed 100%. This gives you up to a 40% greater chance of being spotted. 1. Publish a professional-looking photograph of yourself. Just head and shoulders work best. Not you on holiday or at a wedding – just you in your business attire. 2. Your headline should shout out what you do. You only have 120 characters here so make sure it zings! Make it clear, concise and compelling. Think about what words recruiters would use to find candidates and base it around that. 3. Complete your job experience section. You don’t need to write everything going back years but have at least your last 2-3 jobs on there. Write a mixture of what you did and your accomplishments in here. 4. The summary section is crucial – this normally gets read by potential employers. It’s the equivalent of your Professional Profile on your CV. Get lots of key words in there too, so the search engines can find you. Write it in 1st person. 5. Adding volunteer positions and interests shows a lot about you too, so don’t leave this section out. Show them the whole you! 6. Recommendations are worth their weight in gold. Who could endorse your skills/talents/accomplishments? About three would be a good number to start with. 7. Contact details – I highly recommend you customise your LI URL. The one they generically give you will not have much meaning and may well look like a series of numbers. Click on the pencil icon and see if you can get just your name. This URL will then be useful added to your CV (as a clickable link) and possibly your business/contact cards too. 8. If it’s useful to your target audience, you can also list your website address (if you have one) and social media links. But don’t add them if not relevant. Don’t detract from your core ‘personal brand’. 9. Tenses. I recommend you write your CV in 3rd person and your LI profile in 1st person. This makes you more personable. Current work duties/accomplishments should be written in current tense and past ones written in past tense (psychologically this makes the recruiter feel you have that experience already under your belt, rather than currently just learning it)! 10. Personal Branding – think of yourself as a personal brand. Does this profile reflect you well? Does it encapsulate you perfectly? If this was a sales brochure selling YOU, would it entice someone to want to know more, or buy? Lastly, to get ‘found’ on LI you need to get visible. So remember to turn your setting from ‘invisible to non-one’ to ‘invisible to everyone’. You can show some bits and not others, but get brave and show everything! Are You In CV Denial? People come to me for my CV writing skills for a number of reasons, but the main one is that their CV is not opening doors to interview. I’m always amazed when speaking to potential clients, as they think they are just unlucky in not getting selected for interview (rather than the real truth that their CV is not good enough!). Sorry if that makes you wince! Other potential clients tell me that they wrote it themselves and then had someone else look over it and the auntie/uncle/friend/mum said it was great! My reply to them is, is your auntie/uncle/friend/mum an HR Manager or a recruiter? If not, what would they know? They are hardly liable to tell you that it’s terrible, are they?? But to be fair to the auntie/uncle/friend/mum they really don’t know what they are looking for, from a recruitment angle. The definition of madness is said to be doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Clients do this and never have the concept that there is a right and a wrong way of writing a CV. Most CV writers who are worth their salt will have a good ear to the ground about what recruiters are looking for, and more importantly will have a steady stream of clients who are getting an interview with their new super-duper CV’s. So, are you in denial about your CV? Are you sending it out and not getting the response that you expect? Does your best friend say it is fab? Are you sending it out and not getting interviews? If any of those reasons resonate, it might be time for some plain-talking. I offer a FREE CV review as part of my service. I’m brutally honest when I write your report, but I do this from a heart-centered viewpoint in that I want you to get that job! Lots of my clients have written to me afterwards to thank me for my report, because believe it or not, I write it specifically about your CV. There’s no computer generated or ‘generic’ replies from me! And I don’t add you to a mailing list and then bombard you with emails! What have you got to lose? Stay in denial in your comfort zone, or break out and get that job you truly deserve! I was amazed at my report – I thought you would just give me a bland report, but it was 2 pages of great advice on how I could alter my CV to get my next role. I took your ‘free’ advice and got a new job! Thank you so much for looking over my CV, all your recommendations are fantastic. Or if you’d like a copy of my FREE ebook ’25 Top Tips for CV Writing, just click on the link on my homepage. Print off a copy of the advert, your CV and your covering letter. Put these in a file for reference/aide memoir at the interview. Get the names of who is interviewing you. Check them out online. e. on LinkedIn, company website etc. Memorise their faces and bios. Research the company. Use the company website, Google, Twitter, FB, News, Press Page, LinkedIn too. What is going on in their world? Show you have done your homework. What are their issues right now and how could you help with this appointment? Is the share price up or down? Who are their investors? What are their company values? What matters to them? Plan your trip. If it’s local do a dummy run on the weekend before so you know where they are, where the reception is, where the car park is etc. Double check your interview time. Ensure you have replied to accept the date and arrange to arrive 10 mins before the interview so you can freshen up in the loos, check your appearance etc. (Power stance bit in here). Make pleasant small talk with the people in reception – you never know who they are and the receptionist may have been briefed to feed back on you too! First impressions count. Good handshakes, eye contact, smiles, politeness all goes towards this. Wait to be asked to be seated in the interview room. If there is a panel, shake hands will all of them. Open your folder and have it on your knee or the edge of the table. Pen there too. Shows you are ready for business! Control your nerves. Breathing technique to be put in here. Appearance – your clothes should be appropriate to the role. Clean shoes, hands etc.? Might seem obvious but I’ve seen candidates beautifully dressed and when I look down at their shoes, they are a total let-down. After Interview – if rejected email to thank them for their time. Tell them that despite the result you are still very much interested in the company and would like to watch out for any future openings. Wish them well and say they can keep your CV on file. If I asked you how happy you were with your job/career, what score would you give me out of 10? Anything less than 7 and I would be asking you what you’d like to do about it. Thinking about changing your job/career is a start, but we all know that it’s actions that take you closer to your goal. So what will your actions be to get yourself into a job/career that you completely love? The WORST Recruitment Selection Process I Have EVER Seen! I’ll not name names in this post, as you would be shocked – but I’d love to name and shame!!! A few years ago, a client of mine applied for a service role that required no qualifications, just a willingness to work hands-on and be trained. He really wanted this job, and I really wanted him to at least get an interview so he could demonstrate how willing and able he was. We worked hard on his application and send in a really strong effort for the role. After 3 weeks he got a ‘generic’ response by email saying ‘sorry, you haven’t been selected for interview’. He was gutted – and I was INCENSED! I’ve worked with this company before so I picked up the phone and got through to the line manager and asked him why my candidate hadn’t got an interview. His reply astounded me and these are his words. “Well Christine, I had about 150 applications for this job, and I haven’t got time to read them all, so I just picked the top 6 off the pile, interviewed those and the best one got the job”. I’m still speechless even today about it, hence this post. But for all of you out there whose confidence plummets each time you get a reject letter/email, take a lesson from this in that YOU ARE WORTHY, and a company of this calibre doesn’t deserve you! Do you get that sinking feeling on a Sunday when you know you’ve got work tomorrow? Or perhaps you’d love to get a job and would like to look forward to work on a Monday morning? Chances are, if one of the above sentences resonates with you, then you are ‘stuck’. There are 4 stages where you could be stuck, so identify what stage you are at and then read on for some handy tips and advice. What’s my goal or purpose in life? What sort of people do I like to work with? What are my areas of knowledge or fields of interest? In what location would I prefer to work? Would you move area? What is the minimum salary range I would be prepared to live on? Are there any gaps in my skills that I need further training on? The Internet is a good place to start but rather than trawling all the jobs boards, use one that is a ‘catch-all’. I use www.indeed.co.uk as I like the fact that you can search by area and salary. For instance, if your minimum salary is £25,000 put that into the ‘What’ search box and then put the location in the ‘Where’ box. Make good use of Social Media. Are you on Twitter? If so, follow all the companies that you feel you’d like to work for, and then you’ll get alerts the minute they advertise a vacancy. Same with Facebook. Not tried LinkedIn yet? You should! There are 300m+ users on LinkedIn and that’s companies as well as people. So ‘fish where the fish are’. Companies who have their own profile page will often advertise their vacancies on LinkedIn, as that is where they feel the business community is! Word of Mouth. Does everyone you know, know what you are looking for? Let others be a ‘scout’ for you too. If they hear of anything that suits you, hopefully, they’ll hot foot back to you and let you know. Don’t ‘assume’ that people know. It always amazes me how clients keep sending out the same old CV and expect to get a different result. If you’ve sent it out 20 times and you’ve not even got a sniff of an interview, then there’s something wrong with the CV! That’s where people like me can help with a FREE CV Review. Just send it along with a note of what type of role you are trying to get in to and I’ll give you my honest feedback and some useful notes on how to change it, for FREE. Then this is definitely your interview technique that is letting you down. Again don’t go into the next interview with the same old patter, as you’ll get the same old result! If cash is tight then invest in a book. I’d recommend ‘Brilliant Answers to Tough Interview Questions’ as a starter. And if cash is really tight then the library will have a copy. If you can afford it, find a good Career Coach in your area and ask them to take you through a mock interview and give you honest feedback. 75% of Employees Hate their Jobs! Now hate is a very strong word but I’d certainly endorse that figure by saying that 75%+ of people get little or no enjoyment from their career/role. Are you one of them? So how do you get yourselves out of this pickle, so you don’t become part of the 75% statistic? The first step is to have a strategy/plan of moving from where you are now, to where you want to be. And then be prepared to take ACTION to get there. (After all, you wouldn’t go on a holiday without doing a bit of research first and then making a plan – visiting travel agents, looking on the map, researching the area, buying the currency etc. etc). However, although this option is open to everyone, some people seem to get some pleasure from being ‘stuck’. Is that you? If not, get that plan together and have the trip of your life into a career you truly deserve and love. The Career Lens is a great place to start. Download this free exercise and within 10-15 minutes you’ll already be on your way to a new start. Click here to get your instant Career Lens – no sign up required! As a former HR Manager, when one of my Heads of Department had a vacancy to advertise, we would sit down and write a job description and a person specification. That exercise is very interesting because those documents will be written in such a way that is gold dust to the applicant. If I asked you to describe yourself to me, the first things you’d tell me would be the absolutely crucial traits that you’d want to convey. If we did that exercise for 5 minutes, the things that you’d say in minute 4, would still be relevant, but not as pertinent as the ones you said in minute 1. The same goes for the person specification and job description. The things that are the MOST IMPORTANT always appear in the top 3rd of the page, and that’s the exact skills, traits and competencies that you should be ‘mirror and matching’ back in your CV or application form. You want to get the recruiter to feel that you really ‘tick all the boxes’ so that’s why each CV needs to be tailored to each vacancy. That hopefully will get you on the ‘invite to interview’ list, rather than on the ‘reject’ pile. The company gives you the clues … you just have to pick up on them! My last article concentrated on the ‘S’ of D.I.S.C. This week we are looking in more depth at the ‘C’ – Compliance type. High C’s are reserved and task-orientated. They are Competent, Cautious, Careful and Conscientious. They are always in pursuit of excellence and are very mindful of rules and regulations. They will be happy to sit in a room with a computer or a set of accounts, and enjoy being around other people who are outgoing as long as they don’t have to join in with the fun! Being competent they frequently research the facts and will enjoy investigative work. C’s will follow instructions to the letter and will enjoy reading manuals! They can stay on track with projects and enjoy seeing things fall into place step-by-step. Being lovers of detail they will frequently write “To Do” lists and plan as much as they can. Other groups will write “To Do” lists, but the C’s will stick to them! C’s like to be correct and enjoy being right. If you challenge a C they are more likely to go away and check their facts and figures and then come back to you and present you with the evidence! They love to be accurate and produce work of excellent quality. But beware! Because they are always in pursuit of excellence, they will sometimes miss deadlines because their best is never good enough for them. C-types can normally be found in specialist roles – IT, Accountancy, Law, Music, Teaching etc. Their analytical nature likes to ask “Why” questions. They are not risk-takers and would be unhappy if they were pushed into making quick decisions without having time to think. They respond best to a manager who is supportive and is detail orientated themselves, who works by the rule book and doesn’t change their minds on a whim. They like to communicate in writing so a backup email/letter following a phone conversation would be very welcome. Beware that they don’t handle criticism well, as they have a strong desire to be correct – so if you need to be critical make sure it is handled sensitively! Have you recognised your “type” in the past 4 articles? Most people will identify with 2 types and it is the combination of these two, that makes you unique. This subject is endless and if anyone would like me to address a specific issue, I will be happy to write further articles. Are you a High S? This is the 3rd of my postings about DISC Profiling and this week we are looking at High S’s – the ‘S’ traits are all about the Steadiness/pace of work. As you know some people work faster than others and from this trait, we can assess your work rate as well as lots of other things! High S’s are Steady, Supportive and Stable and desire a great deal of Security. Routine may be boring to some, but not to S-types. It gives them security to know that things are not going to change for change sake. S-types are “nice” people to be around – they will always try to help you no matter what, and for this reason are sometimes seen as a soft-touch and colleagues may put on them. They look for ways to cooperate and help and rarely say no. They quite like being given orders and like to do a good job. At home, they can be very sentimental and have favourite films, memories etc. S-types are ideally suited to the service industry as they are the cogs in the wheel. If you manage any S-types then you will be lucky enough to have a workhorse that doesn’t mind repetitive jobs and will work their way steadily through any pile of paper. For those of you who are not S-types – don’t even think about trying to liven up their workloads by throwing them into unknown situations or changing things for change sake. The S-types hate this! They like security and fear change. The way to motivate S’s is by showing them how much you appreciate them – smile and say ‘thank you’! If you are a manager of this type of personality then please use a coaching style. Encourage, motivate, inspire and watch! More next week on the C-types in DISC – Compliance. If you like to work by the rule book and strive to achieve quality then this could be you! Are you a High I – a ‘people person’? If you read my last blog you will know that I’m working my way through the various personality types in DISC profiling – Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. This week we are going to explore the Influence type. High I’s are very people-orientated. Nothing matters more than people, people, people! They are Inspiring, Influential, Impressive, Interesting and Impulsive. They make inspiring leaders. When you are with them you will feel great – their cup is always half full! They make good sales people and make everything sound great. Optimism is their middle name! They can influence you with their charming ways because they are good talkers. For this reason, they make good ‘front line’ people for any business. They also make good speakers, coaches, actors, comedians and teachers. I‘s are not primarily interested in getting a job done – their primary interest is how everyone gets along with each other during the job. Give them a project and they can visualise creative outcomes, endless possibilities and will be great at generating enthusiasm and getting a willing team together to do the work. Relationships are paramount and they network very easily because they are naturally friendly. After you have been talking to them for a while you will feel like you have known them all your life. I‘s are compassionate people and would give you their last pound if they thought you needed it more than themselves. Be careful though – don’t take advantage of their generous nature! Next week we’ll be looking at the ‘S’ in DISC, which stands for Steadiness. If you are steady, stable and dislike change then this could be you! As a Licensed DISC Profiler, I’ve used this extensively, not only in my career coaching work but also for personal development with my clients. So, over the next 4 posts I’m going to highlight the main behavioural traits of the four groups in D – I – S – C and I’m sure you’ll soon be able to recognise your primary trait! DISC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. Let’s begin with ‘D’ (Dominance type) here. Is this you? Or do you know people around you that fit this description? High D’s are very task-driven and outgoing. They are Dominant, Driving, Demanding, Determined, Decisive and Doers. They make dynamic leaders. They have masses of drive and seldom take “no” for an answer. They tend to take a position quickly and stick to it unless they see a better idea or plan. If you work with a ‘D’ you may sometimes have a difficult time knowing what is going on in their minds. They are normally strong willed and independent. Because they are “bottom-line” orientated they can tend to be blunt and to the point in order to achieve their goal. They are not particularly into talking; more into doing. ‘D’ types make great leaders but can have a short fuse and a hot temper. They can often explode over small things, but 10 minutes later have forgotten all about it, whilst the rest of you are still reeling from the outburst! They quite like conflict and can rise to any challenge. When two ‘D’s clash it can be a good spectator sport, waiting to see who will back down. If you have ‘D’s in your team remember that they need control – give them projects – but don’t give them step by step instructions on how to carry it out. Give them the freedom to make their own decisions – they work best when you don’t tie them down. Just tell them what you want and let them get on with it. That way, you’ll get a good job done well. Recognise yourself? Or someone you work with? In the next post, I’ll describe the ‘I’ in DISC, which is the Influence type. If you like to talk and love people this could well be you! Q: Do I need to write ‘Curriculum Vitae’ at the top of my CV? Answer: My CV review service is very popular and on average I receive about 3 CV’s a day, for this service. The ones that I received today all had something in common. They had ‘Curriculum Vitae’ written across the top of the page. These days, this is not necessary. What is more important is to have your name as a header in a largish bold font so it stands out from the rest of the document. After all, you want to stand out from the crowd, don’t you??? Make your CV look like a ‘sweet-shop’ window! I always advise my clients that if a cv doesn’t grab the potential employer within about 15-20 seconds of reading it then you are unlikely to be asked to interview. I also say this from experience – having worked as an HR Manager and read 1000’s of cv’s, I’ve seen my fair share of good and bads ones! Imagine your first page as a ‘sweet-shop window’ – you want people to come inside and browse, so get your eye-catching stuff in that window to attract attention. Get the potential employer hooked and excited about the prospect of you working with them. You are much more likely then to get invited for an interview to expand on your skills and talents further. Please don’t assume that your cv will be thoroughly read word for word. If an employer is faced with 200 cv’s for each position, they will skim read first and probably have a ‘no’ and ‘yes’ pile. The aim is to ensure you go on the ‘yes’ pile! So, if qualifications are important for the position you are applying for, make sure that is front-loaded on your cv. If they are looking for particular skills, then alter the layout to make sure they stand out on the front page. Your cv is probably going to look very different for each position you apply for (and so it should), so just remember ‘sweetie-shop window’ and get your ‘goodies’ on that front page. Happy job hunting – and as always, if I can help you in any, please just ask!

2019-04-25T11:49:55Z

https://www.christineware.co.uk/author/christine/

Decisions > Federal Court Decisions > Georgetown Rail Equipment Company v. Rail Radar Inc. Georgetown Rail Equipment Company v. Rail Radar Inc. RAIL RADAR INC. AND TETRA TECH EBA INC. Rail: train wheels run on two rails made of steel. Sections of rail vary in length. The ends of the sections generally abut one another. Due to expansion and contraction during different seasons, the gap between the rails may contract and expand. This gap gives rise to the characteristic “clickety-clack” sound of trains. Rail base: the rail base is the base of the rail. Rail head: the rail head is the top of the rail. Crosstie: rails are supported by cross pieces known as crossties (or ties or sleepers) that are generally perpendicular to the rails. These cross pieces are typically made of wood or concrete. Tie plate: the tie plate is a rectangular piece of steel on which the rail base sits. It rests on and is attached to the crosstie. The tie plate distributes the forces from the rail base to the area of the crosstie below the tie plate. Rail pad: when concrete crossties are used, the rail base rests on a rail pad, which rests on the top surface of the concrete crosstie. The rail pad provides a layer of protection between the rail base and the concrete crosstie surface. It is usually made of a polymer. Rail seat: in the context of concrete crossties, the rail seat is the area of the crosstie beneath the rail base. Fasteners: the tie plate is normally secured to the crosstie with fasteners, which can be spikes, or various screws, clips and clamps. Ballast: the crossties usually sit upon a bed of stones of a specific shape and size, called the ballast. The ballast supports the ties, plates/pads, rails and fasteners. It facilitates rainwater drainage, and provides a buffer against the encroachment of vegetation into the track area. Sunken tie plate: a tie plate is sunken when it has worn down the crosstie beneath it so that its lower surface is below the adjacent top surface of the crosstie. This is also referred to as plate cut. Misaligned tie plate: a misaligned tie plate usually occurs when a spike is loose or missing, thereby allowing the tie plate to rotate out of alignment with the rail. Rail seat abrasion: in the context of concrete crossties, rail seat abrasion occurs when rail vibration caused by trains wears down the rail pad and, once the rail pad is worn away, the top of the crosstie. Canadian Patent 2,572,082 [082 Patent], titled “System and Method for Inspecting Railroad Track” , was issued to the Plaintiff and Defendant by Counterclaim, Georgetown Rail Equipment Company [Georgetown], on January 25, 2011. The patent application was open to public inspection as of January 12, 2006. The 082 Patent relates generally to a system and method for inspecting railroad track. It uses lasers, cameras and a processor to capture and analyze images of the railroad track in order to determine the distance between crossties, and detect misaligned or sunken tie plates. Canadian Patent 2,766,249 [249 Patent], titled “Tilt Correction System and Method for Rail Seat Abrasion” , was issued to Georgetown on November 5, 2013. The patent application was open to public inspection as of December 29, 2010. The 249 Patent relates generally to a system and method for determining rail seat abrasion of a railroad track. It uses lasers, cameras and a processor to determine whether rail seat abrasion is present along the track. According to Georgetown, this case relates to systems and methods for determining the degree of wear of a wooden tie under a tie plate (the 082 Patent) and the degree of wear of a pad or a concrete crosstie under a rail (the 249 Patent). Both phenomena are hidden from view from above, because they occur underneath components that are visible from above. Both patents claim to solve this problem by comparing the height of the tie with the height of another track component: the tie plate and rail base, respectively. The 249 Patent also includes an algorithm for increasing the accuracy of the rail seat abrasion measurement by accounting for tilt. The Defendant and Plaintiff by Counterclaim, Tetra Tech EBA Inc [Tetra], has developed a system for inspecting railroad track which it calls the Three Dimensional Track Assessment System [3DTAS]. The 3DTAS is mounted on a rail car that moves along a railroad track. The system positions two lasers adjacent to the railroad track. It uses algorithms to analyze the features of a railroad track bed, including crossties, rails, rail bases, fasteners, ballast and spikes. These features are displayed on a three dimensional [3D] elevation map. Geographical location data may be identified using a Global Positioning System [GPS] receiver or an encoder. Tetra entered into an agreement to provide the 3DTAS and processing services to Canadian National Railway [CN], but ceased providing any services once this litigation was commenced. Tetra says that the 3DTAS infringes neither the 082 Patent nor the 249 Patent. Tetra has also challenged the validity of both Patents on the ground of obviousness. For the reasons that follow, I find that the 082 and 249 Patents are not invalid on the ground of obviousness. The identification of the particular problems, and the use of machine vision and specified calculations as possible solutions, required invention and were not obvious as of the relevant dates. The essential elements of the relevant 082 and 249 Patent claims are also present in the 3DTAS. Tetra’s sale of the 3DTAS to CN and its support of the system therefore infringed both Patents. Georgetown is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Texas, United States of America [US]. Georgetown provides track inspection services to numerous clients across North America, including most of the major railway companies. The Defendant Rail Radar Inc [Rail Radar] is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Province of Alberta. Rail Radar has not participated in this proceeding in any way, and its current status is unknown. Georgetown is not seeking relief against Rail Radar. Tetra is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Province of Alberta. Tetra provides services in various areas of transportation engineering, including infrastructure management and data collection for owners and operators of transportation infrastructure. Georgetown’s initial Statement of Claim was filed on May 29, 2015. Georgetown alleged infringement of approximately 55 claims of the 082 Patent and three claims of the 249 Patent, and sought an injunction, and damages or an accounting of profits. On July 15, 2015, Tetra filed its initial Statement of Defence denying liability. Georgetown filed its initial Reply on July 27, 2015. On May 26, 2016, Tetra filed its Amended Defence and Counterclaim, alleging that the 082 Patent and the 249 Patent are invalid due to obviousness. This proceeding was bifurcated by order of Prothonotary Kevin Aalto dated May 30, 2016. These reasons for judgment concern only the Liability Phase of the proceeding. On June 16, 2016, Georgetown filed its Amended Reply and Defence to Counterclaim, maintaining that the 082 Patent and the 249 Patent are valid and enforceable. On June 20, 2017, Georgetown filed a Fresh as Amended Statement of Claim, in which Georgetown no longer alleged infringement of the 082 Patent claims that relate to detecting the distance between crossties, or the breaks in a rail. Tetra filed its Re-Amended Statement of Defence on July 20, 2017. Georgetown filed its Further Amended Reply and Defence to Counterclaim on August 18, 2017. The present invention relates generally to a system and method for inspecting railroad track and, more particularly to a system and method for inspecting aspects of a railroad track using a laser, camera, and a processor. The “Background of the Invention” states that the majority of crossties in service are made of wood. Various other materials may be used, such as concrete, steel and composite or recycled materials, but these alternatives make up a relatively small percentage of all crossties. Over time, environmental factors may cause crossties to deteriorate until they must be replaced. Several million crossties are replaced in North America each year. The 082 Patent notes that railroad inspectors attempt to grade the condition of crossties and fastener systems on a regular basis. This grading is most often done with a visual inspection to identify crossties and fasteners that are rotten, broken, split or worn to an extent that their serviceable life is at its end. The process of visual inspection is time-consuming. In practice, inspection of the track is performed by an inspector walking along the track to inspect and record the conditions of the crossties and/or fasteners, which are spaced approximately every 20 inches along the track. According to one North American railway company, a crew of three or four inspectors can grade only between five and seven miles of track each day. The invention disclosed in the 082 Patent is intended to overcome, or at least reduce, this logistical challenge. The disclosed system includes lasers, cameras, and a processor. The lasers are positioned adjacent to the track. The laser emits a beam of light across the railroad track, and the camera captures images of the railroad track having the beam of light emitted thereon. The processor formats the images so that they can be analyzed to determine various measurable aspects of the railroad track. The disclosed system can include a GPS receiver or a distance device for determining location data. The measurable aspects that can be determined by the disclosed system include but are not limited to: the spacing between crossties, the angle of ties with respect to rail, cracks and defects in surface of ties, missing tie plates, misaligned tie plates, sunken tie plates, missing fasteners, damaged fasteners, misaligned fasteners, worn or damaged insulators, rail wear, gage or rail, ballast height relative to ties, size of ballast stones, and a break or separation in the rail. The system includes one or more algorithms for determining these measurable aspects of the railroad track. The 082 Patent then provides an explanation of different aspects of the invention, followed by a detailed description of specific embodiments and accompanying drawings. The claims of the 082 Patent, which number 80 in total, follow. The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for inspecting railroad surfaces and, more particularly to systems and methods for determining rail seat abrasion via the utilization of tilt correction algorithms. The “Background of the Invention” is initially similar to that provided in the 082 Patent. However, it goes on to explain that the construction of railroad tracks differs slightly depending on the type of tie material used. If wood ties are used, tie plates are placed on top of the ties, and rails are placed on top of the tie plates. If concrete ties are used, rails are placed on top of the ties with a thin polymer pad in between, preventing direct contact between the steel and the concrete. The 249 Patent states that normal railroad traffic causes friction between ties and rails, as well as rails and spikes, bolts, screws, or clips, and the surface under the ties. Of particular concern is friction at the point where the rail seat rests against the tie. Wear at this point, also known as rail seat abrasion, directly affects the life of the tie by causing it to loosen from the rail, despite the pads used between rails and concrete ties. According to the 249 Patent, railway companies monitor the wear of concrete ties either by direct manual measurement or through the use of electronic devices installed below individual railroad ties. However, this may be unreliable, hazardous, labour-intensive, complicated and disruptive to train traffic. The invention disclosed in the 249 Patent is intended to overcome, or at least reduce, these problems. The “Summary of the Disclosure” of the 249 Patent describes a system and method for determining rail seat abrasion that uses lasers, cameras and processors in a manner similar to the system disclosed in the 082 Patent. However, the system is adapted to determine whether rail seat abrasion is present along the track. The processor employs a mathematics-based algorithm which compensates for tilt encountered as the inspection system moves along the track. The 249 Patent then provides a detailed description of specific embodiments and accompanying drawings. The claims of the 249 Patent, which number 18 in total, follow. (e) determining whether the tie plate is misaligned or sunken based upon the comparison. Claims 67, 68, 70, 71 and 73 are also in issue, but only insofar as they depend from the claims described above. (d) determining a rail seat abrasion value for the right and left rail bases. determining whether rail seat abrasion is present along the rail road track. Claim 11 is also in issue, but only insofar as it depends from claim 7. There are two issues raised in the Liability Phase of this proceeding: whether the 082 and 249 Patents are valid; and, if so, whether the 3DTAS infringes the asserted claims of those Patents. Tetra alleges that the 082 and 249 Patents are invalid because the subject matter of the claims would have been obvious on the priority dates to a person skilled in the art, based on the common general knowledge existing one year before the priority dates. The parties agree that the priority dates, which are the same as the US provisional patent application filing dates, are June 30, 2004 for the 082 Patent, and June 23, 2009 for the 249 Patent. Georgetown maintains that the 082 and 249 Patents are both valid. Georgetown alleges that Tetra has infringed claims 16, 67, 37, 68, 70, 58, 71 and 73 of the 082 Patent, and claims 7, 11, and 18 of the 249 Patent. Tetra denies that the 3DTAS infringes the asserted claims of the Patents. Georgetown submitted the expert evidence of Dr. Harley Myler. Dr. Myler is a professor and Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He was qualified as an electrical engineer and expert in digital signal processing, in particular image processing, with a working knowledge of railways and track inspection techniques. Georgetown also called Gregory Thomas Grissom as a fact witness. Mr. Grissom has been the Chief Operating Officer of Georgetown for the past two years. Tetra submitted the expert evidence of Sébastien Parent. Mr. Parent is a physics engineer with over twenty years’ experience. He was qualified as a physics engineer and expert in machine vision integration, with first-hand experience in the field of image acquisition techniques and automated machine vision systems. Tetra also called Dr. Darel Edward Mesher as a fact witness. Dr. Mesher is an engineer and has been an employee of Tetra since approximately 1992. He was a driving force behind the development of the 3DTAS. Georgetown asks this Court to disregard or discount the evidence of Dr. Mesher on the ground that he is not impartial (citing Justice Frank Collier’s decision in Xerox of Canada Ltd v IBM Canada Ltd (1977), 33 CPR (2d) 24 at 38-40 (FCTD)). Tetra asks this Court to disregard or discount the evidence of Dr. Myler on similar grounds. I agree that both of these witnesses sometimes exhibited a tendency to provide answers, particularly in cross-examination, that were intended to bolster the position of the party that called them to testify, or undermine the position of the opposing party. This observation reflects more negatively on Dr. Myler than it does on Dr. Mesher. Dr. Myler was called as an expert witness, and therefore owed the Court a professional duty of impartiality. Dr. Mesher was called as a fact witness, and frankly acknowledged his interest in the success of the 3DTAS. Despite these reservations, I am not prepared to wholly reject or discount the evidence of either Dr. Mesher or Dr. Myler. Like other witnesses who were called to testify in this phase of the proceeding, they presented impressive qualifications and provided useful information. My reasons for preferring some witnesses’ evidence over that of others are explained in the analysis that follows. The first step in a patent suit is to construe the claims in order to give them meaning and determine their scope (Whirlpool Corp v Camco Inc, 2000 SCC 67 at para 43 [Whirlpool]). The relevant dates for construing the claims are the dates of publication of the patent applications: January 12, 2006 for the 082 Patent; and December 29, 2010 for the 249 Patent (Whirlpool at paras 54-55). The Court must examine the description contained in the patent to identify its “essential elements” , and may be aided by expert evidence regarding the meaning of specific terms (Whirlpool at paras 43, 45, 57). (c) the whole of the specification should be considered to ascertain the nature of the invention, and the construction of claims must be neither benevolent nor harsh, but should instead be reasonable and fair to both the patentee and the public. In order to construe the claims in issue, the Court must define the Person of Ordinary Skill in the Art [POSITA]. This is “the person to whom the patent is said to be addressed, through whose eyes the Court is to read the patent, and who stands as the criterion for determination of obviousness” (Amgen Canada Inc v Apotex Inc, 2015 FC 1261 at para 42). Georgetown describes the POSITA for the 082 and 249 Patents as an electrical or computer engineer who has at least three years of experience working with image processing systems, or a Master’s degree, and with a working knowledge of railways and track inspection techniques. Tetra maintains that the POSITA for the 082 Patent is a person with a degree in engineering or physics with five to seven years of experience in the field of machine vision. For the 249 Patent, Tetra says that the POSITA is again a person with a degree in engineering or physics, but with less practical experience given the more restricted application of the 249 Patent, and because more became known about machine vision between the publication dates of the 082 and 249 Patents. The critical difference between the parties’ positions is the degree to which the POSITA must possess a working knowledge of railways and track inspection techniques. I prefer the articulation of the POSITA advanced on behalf of Tetra. Every claim of the 082 and 249 Patents is premised on the use of machine vision. It follows that the POSITA must understand the use of machine vision to inspect surfaces. The Patent refers to “tool boxes” and “known software packages” , both of which potentially encompass machine vision and image processing beyond the context of railways. Indeed, the 082 Patent acknowledges that the techniques may be applied in other contexts. A knowledge of railways is therefore ancillary to a knowledge of the manner in which machine vision techniques may be applied in different contexts. The patent must be construed taking into account the “common general knowledge” shared by persons skilled in the art (Free World Trust at para 44; Whirlpool at para 53). This is the knowledge possessed by the POSITA at the relevant time, and includes what the POSITA would reasonably be expected to know (Sanofi-Synthelabo Canada Inc v Apotex Inc, 2008 SCC 61 at para 70 [Sanofi-Synthelabo]; Whirlpool at para 74). The common general knowledge of the POSITA must be established on a balance of probabilities and cannot be assumed (Uponor AB v Heatlink Group Inc, 2016 FC 320 at para 47. it is difficult to appreciate how the use of something which has in fact never been used in a particular art can ever be held to be common general knowledge in the art. Georgetown objects to the Court’s consideration of Appendix SP-09 to Mr. Parent’s expert report (Daniel L Magnus, “Non-contact technology for track speed rail measurement: ORIAN” (Paper delivered at the Nondestructive Evaluation of Aging Railroads, 30 June 1995), 2458 SPIE 45 [Appendix SP-09]) as prior art in the obviousness analysis for the 082 and 249 Patents, and consideration of the 082 Patent as prior art in the obviousness analysis for the 249 Patent. Georgetown asserts that these documents were not specifically pled in Tetra’s Counterclaim. In response, Tetra argues that these documents were included in Mr. Parent’s expert report and were responded to by Georgetown. They therefore form a part of the record, and the Court has a wide discretion to evaluate evidence on the record. Alternatively, in the course of closing submissions, counsel for Tetra offered to amend the pleading. When a party pleads invalidity, as Tetra has done in its Statement of Defence and Counterclaim, especially where the invention is complex, it is generally accepted that the party must identify in its pleading the prior art that supports the allegation of obviousness (Throttle Control Tech Inc v Precision Drilling Corp, 2010 FC 1085 at para 13). It is possible to remedy a defect in a pleading by amendment, and it may be an error for a judge to refuse a reasonable request to amend (Janssen Inc v Abbvie Corp, 2014 FCA 242 [Janssen]). In this case, the prior art relied on by Tetra was disclosed in the expert report of Mr. Parent, which was delivered to Georgetown approximately four months before the commencement of trial. Georgetown was aware of all of the prior art on which Tetra intended to rely, including that which was not pleaded, and chose to respond through the expert report of Dr. Myler. Georgetown has not demonstrated any prejudice resulting from Tetra’s failure to include these documents in its Counterclaim. Furthermore, as will be seen below, the contested prior art is not central to the Court’s obviousness analysis. I therefore exercise my discretion to permit Tetra to rely on all of the prior art cited in the expert report of Mr. Parent. According to Mr. Parent, a great deal became known about the field of machine vision in the 1990s. This included the use of optical 3D sensors and 3D laser triangulation. A common technique was to use machine vision to determine the appearance of an object under normal circumstances, and then detect and measure any anomalies or other features of interest. The visual characteristics of an object or scene were understood to be critical to the design of an image acquisition system. Those characteristics included, but were not limited to, colour, type of reflectivity (diffuse or specular), size of the scene, smallest detail of interest and speed of motion. This methodology had been well established since the early 1990s (see, for example, Kevin Harding, “The Art of Lighting Science” Vision Online (28 April 2000) [Appendix SP-06]). Mr. Parent explained that, at the relevant times, many techniques existed to acquire two dimensional [2D] or 3D information from an object or scene. He observed that a 3D triangulation technique was a good and natural choice for the tasks described in the 082 and 249 Patents. The 082 Patent refers to the use of specialized 3D triangulation cameras. Mr. Parent described this as a well-known technique for 3D measurement at the time the applications for both Patents were filed. One of the prior publications cited by Mr. Parent, Liviu Bursanescu & François Blais, “Automated Pavement Distress Data Collection and Analysis: a 3-D Approach” (1997) 41574 NRC 311 [Appendix SP-07], describes a system which uses triangulation with infrared lasers and cameras; uses a beam of laser light with an angular expanse; is mounted on a vehicle; adapts the acquisition configuration (geometry) and number of devices to the need (i.e., pavement inspection); includes an optical encoder and a GPS for geographic coordinates; includes an inclinometer for road gradient and crossfall (i.e., road camber); corrects the profile for roll and pitch of the vehicle; includes a real-time processor for feature detection; includes a storing device; includes a post-processing device extracting and classifying features; and is used to inspect road surfaces and to identify defects. Mr. Parent acknowledged that Appendix SP-07 does not relate to railways. However, he maintained that machine vision techniques need not be linked to a particular field of application. Indeed, paragraph 0024 of the 082 Patent refers to the possible application of the disclosed invention to road, electrical line, piping or other network inspection. Mr. Parent also cited Denis Gingras, “Optics and Photonics Used in Road Transportation” (Paper delivered at the Opto-Contact: Workshop on Technology Transfers, Start-Up Opportunities and Strategic Alliances, 24 September 1998), 3414 SPIE 264 [Appendix SP-08]. The article describes a road inspection system that uses a laser-based triangulation system mounted on a vehicle, with an odometer and GPS for localization of the scans. Mr. Parent noted that the processing includes calibration correction due to the tilt and roll of the vehicle, which he compared to the technique employed by the 249 Patent. Mr. Parent identified a number of articles and patents directed to the context of railways, including Appendix SP-09, which concerns an optical rail profile measurement technology. The system analyzes rail wear, is mounted underneath a track inspection vehicle, uses a combination of charged coupled device cameras and laser diodes to acquire video images, employs a structured light source, performs analysis of the left and right rail profile, analyzes the images using a computer, translates each rail image into real-world X-Y coordinates, and uses an encoder to synchronize each rail measurement with a known location. (b) “Device for Identifying Track Structures” , Japanese Patent No H06-322707 (13 May 1993) [Appendix SP-11], which describes a device that identifies rail track structures, including rail ties (sleepers) and ballast. The device is mounted on a rail car and uses a slit light source to illuminate the track, and a camera to capture the portion of the track illuminated by the light source. The resulting image is stored and processed in order to identify the position of the sleeper, ballast and/or rail joint. (d) G van der Merwe, “IM2000 Infrastructure Measuring Car: the application of recording results” (2001) 30-4 Rail Engineering International 14 [Appendix SP-13], which describes a system mounted on a rail car that is capable of measuring, processing, and storing data concerning the condition of track geometry, catenary and rails. The system is capable of taking measurements at speeds of up to 120 km/h. A laser creates a plane of light surrounding the rail. Using a high-resolution camera, the image of the full rail profile is acquired, and is then converted and analyzed by a computer to calculate the extent of rail wear. Georgetown concedes that the POSITA would be familiar with machine vision lighting techniques and general techniques used to scan surfaces using cameras and a light source, as described in Appendices SP-07 and SP-08. However, Georgetown disagrees that the POSITA would be familiar with the specific applications of this technology, particularly regarding the inspection of pavement, roads and railway tracks, as described in Appendices SP-09 to SP-13. In the portion of his expert report titled “Background and common general knowledge of the skilled person” , Dr. Myler listed only the physical characteristics of the railroad track and track bed that are of interest to rail transport entities, and the commercial and governmental organizations that maintain and use them. I have no hesitation in adopting the approach advocated by Tetra. I see no reason to limit the assessment of the common general knowledge of the POSITA to prior art existing within the limited context of railways. The primary focus of both the 082 Patent and the 249 Patent is the use of machine vision to address well-known challenges associated with the inspection of railway tracks. The POSITA would therefore look to the application of machine vision to the inspection of railways, as well as other comparable surfaces such as roads and pavement. Tetra must establish that the prior art on which it relies was publicly available through a reasonably diligent search as of the relevant date (E Mishan & Sons Inc v Supertek Canada Inc, 2015 FCA 163 at para 20, citing Apotex Inc v Sanofi-Aventis, 2011 FC 1486). Georgetown disputes that the prior art cited by Mr. Parent could have been located through a reasonably diligent search. I am persuaded that the prior art on which Tetra relies would have been located through a reasonably diligent search by the POSITA. Appendices SP-08 and SP-09 were published by SPIE, an organization that is well-known in the field of machine vision, and which has previously published Dr. Myler’s own work. Appendix SP-09 elaborates on Appendix SP-13. Appendix SP-10 was published by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, which Dr. Myler described as a “wellspring” of information. The technology described in Appendix SP-11 does not differ markedly from that found in the other prior art cited by Tetra. Individual patent specifications and their contents do not normally form part of the relevant common general knowledge. Here, we are dealing with a specific application of a known technology to a specific industry, i.e., railways. Nevertheless, I have some doubt whether the patent specifications cited by Mr. Parent were sufficiently well-known to form a part of the common general knowledge at the relevant times. I note, however, that Tetra relies less on the particulars of the patents cited by Mr. Parent, and more on the general principle that machine vision techniques may be applied to the inspection of railways. This potential application of machine vision would clearly form a part of the common general knowledge. (c) a machine vision system with these attributes could be used to inspect railway tracks and their components in order to identify defects. Patent construction is a matter of law for the judge. Expert evidence is necessary only where the meaning of a term is not apparent based on a reading of the patent specification (Johnson & Johnson Inc v Boston Scientific Ltd, 2008 FC 552 at para 92). I have found expert evidence to be helpful in construing the following disputed terms. Georgetown says that the term “frame” is “derived from a picture frame and is typically rectangular. A frame is a single image or a part of a single image. In image processing, a frame is a collection or data structure of pixels” . Tetra maintains that the term “frame” as used in the 082 and 249 Patents refers specifically to a 2D image. While the distinction between a 2D image and a 3D image is central to the dispute between the parties regarding infringement, they appear to have a common understanding of the meaning of “frame”. A frame is a single image or a part of a single image. Viewed in isolation, a frame is a collection or data structure of pixels that may be displayed as a 2D image. Georgetown states that “analyzing a frame of the plurality of images” encompasses any examination or evaluation of the frame. According to Georgetown, this is a form of image analysis, a sub-discipline of signal processing, which involves the extraction of meaningful information from images. In this context, analyzing “a” frame includes analyzing “many” frames. Tetra says that “analyzing a frame of the plurality of images” constitutes a frame-by-frame analysis of 2D images. At this stage of the analysis, I do not see a significant difference in the positions taken by the parties. I am satisfied that “analyzing a frame of the plurality of images” entails examining or evaluating one or many “frames”. Georgetown defines a “region of interest” [ROI] as a bounded set of pixels that define an area being processed. An ROI could be an entire image frame or any bounded set of pixels therein. Usually, ROIs are used to restrict the focus from a large area to a smaller area, in order to reduce processing effort and improve efficiency or speed. In other words, the processing is restricted to a certain area, because that area likely contains the information being sought. Tetra similarly defines an ROI as an area to which a view is restricted, in order to find something of interest and improve processing. However, Tetra stipulates that there is no processing done to find that region. To the extent that there is any material difference in the positions taken by the parties, I prefer the approach advocated by Georgetown. An ROI is a bounded set of pixels that defines an area to be processed. Some degree of processing may be required to identify the region in question. Georgetown defines “contour” as an outline, an edge, a line or a surface that represents the profile of an object. Tetra agrees with this definition, but stipulates that contour, as the term is used in the 082 and 249 Patents, can only be determined on a 2D image. Georgetown says that Items 10 and 14 in Figures 7A and 7B in the 082 Patent are examples of crosstie contours and tie plate contours, respectively. They represent the contour of the tie and the edge of the tie plate viewed in cross-section. In my view, this is a fair articulation of the manner in which “contour” is used in the 082 and 249 Patents. According to Georgetown, when the rails are level, TC equals 0. TC is therefore not a necessary component of determining the “actual delta”. Tetra argues that the invention disclosed by the 249 Patent is fundamentally concerned with TC, and the algorithm for determining the actual delta necessarily requires a consideration of TC. According to the “Summary of Invention” contained in the 249 Patent, the invention comprises “an inspection system comprising lasers, cameras, and processors adapted to determine whether rail seat abrasion is present along the track. The processor employs a mathematics based algorithm which compensates for tilt encountered as the inspection system moves along the track” . I agree with Georgetown that a plain reading of the 249 Patent does not contemplate that compensation for tilt will always be necessary as the system moves along the track. Instead, the system compensates for tilt only when this phenomenon is “encountered” . It follows that the algorithm for determining the actual delta does not necessarily require a consideration of TC in all circumstances where the system is used. I therefore prefer the construction of “actual delta” advocated by Georgetown. Subsection 43(2) of the Patent Act states that a patent is presumed to be valid in the absence of evidence to the contrary. A party alleging invalidity bears the burden of establishing this on a balance of probabilities. The burden therefore falls upon Tetra. Pursuant to s 28.3 of the Patent Act, a patent cannot be issued for an invention that was obvious on the priority date to a person skilled in the art or science to which the patent pertains. The parties agree that obviousness is to be assessed as of June 30, 2004 for the 082 Patent, and June 23, 2009 for the 249 Patent. Obviousness is generally considered to be a factual determination, or a question of mixed fact and law (Wenzel Downhole Tools Ltd v National-Oilwell Canada Ltd, 2012 FCA 333 at para 44 [Wenzel]). It must be assessed on a claim-by-claim basis (Zero Spill Systems (Int’l) Inc v Heide, 2015 FCA 115 at para 85). (d) viewed without any knowledge of the alleged invention as claimed, do those differences constitute steps which would have been obvious to the person skilled in the art or do they require any degree of invention? (a) is it more or less self-evident that what is being tried ought to work? Are there a finite number of identified predictable solutions known to persons skilled in the art? (b) what is the extent, nature and amount of effort required to achieve the invention? Are routine trials carried out or is the experimentation prolonged and arduous, such that the trials would not be considered routine? (c) is there a motive provided in the prior art to find the solution the patent addresses? While the “obvious to try” test may be invoked in a mechanical field, its consideration is not always required (Wenzel at para 95). The analysis tends to arise in areas of endeavour where advances are made through experimentation, and where numerous interrelated variables may affect the desired result, e.g., the development of pharmaceuticals (Sanofi-Synthelabo at para 68). Tetra did not place significant emphasis on the “obvious to try” test. In closing submissions, counsel for Tetra conceded that the analysis may not be necessary in this case. I agree. The evidence does not establish that machine vision and railway inspection are areas of endeavour where advances are typically made through experimentation, and where numerous interrelated variables may affect the desired result. Georgetown was incorporated in 1993. Its sole line of business is the provision of technology, products and services to railroads. Georgetown commenced research into track inspection technologies in 2003, and created a new business unit for this purpose. The initial concept was laser-profiling technology mounted on a vehicle. The product was almost immediately commercialized. Georgetown’s goal was to convert the rail industry to automated tie inspection. At the time, railroads were typically inspected by individuals who walked along the track. Walking inspections were so ingrained in the industry that Georgetown’s idea of automating inspection encountered significant resistance, which continued as late as 2011. The 082 Patent application entered the Canadian National Phase on December 28, 2006, based on Patent Application No. PCT/US2005/023132, which had been filed on June 30, 2005, and claimed priority from US provisional patent application No. 60/584,769 filed on June 30, 2004. The 082 Patent application was opened to public inspection on January 12, 2006. According to Georgetown, the problem of rail seat abrasion first came to light around 2006, after several derailments in the Pacific Northwest. This resulted in the development of the technology described in the 249 Patent. The 249 Patent application entered the Canadian National Phase on December 21, 2011, based on Patent Application No. PCT/US2010/025004, which had been filed on February 23, 2010, and claimed priority from US provisional patent application No. 12/489,570 filed on June 23, 2009. The 249 Patent application was opened to public inspection on December 29, 2010. Today, Georgetown has a fleet of 15 cars equipped with its patented technology. Georgetown offers track inspection services across North America for various national, regional, short-line and commuter railroads. It has no competitors in the US. Tetra is its only competitor in Canada. The POSITA and the common general knowledge are discussed under the heading Claims Construction, above. The Federal Court of Appeal has recently observed that there may be cases in which the inventive concept may be grasped without difficulty; however, because “inventive concept” is undefined, the search for it has brought considerable confusion into the law of obviousness. That uncertainty may be reduced by avoiding the inventive concept altogether, and pursuing the alternative course of construing the claim. This avoids distraction or engaging in an unnecessary “satellite debate” (Ciba Specialty Chemicals Water Treatments Limited v SNF Inc, 2017 FCA 225 at para 77). (c) Group 3 – claims 64, 65 and 66: these relate to methods and a system to identify a break in a rail. Georgetown proceeded to trial only in respect of the claims in Group 2: those that relate to methods and a system to detect misaligned or sunken tie plates. However, Tetra is seeking a declaration of invalidity of all claims of the 082 Patent, as well as claims 7, 11 and 18 of the 249 Patent. The Court must therefore identify the inventive concepts of, or alternatively construe, all of the claims challenged by Tetra, not just those that are alleged to be infringed by the 3DTAS. According to Georgetown, the inventive concepts of Group 2 – claims 16, 37 and 58 of the 082 Patent (misaligned or sunken tie plates) – are a system and methods that use a laser to shine a light on the railway track bed and a camera to capture images of the profile of the track bed. The system and methods include a processor with an algorithm for analyzing the images in a particular manner to detect a misaligned or sunken tie plate. The algorithm (a) analyzes a frame of the many images having a region of interest; (b) determines the presence of a tie plate in the region of interest; (c) determines the crosstie contour and tie plate contours; (d) compares the orientation of the crosstie contour and orientation of the tie plate contour; and (e) determines whether the tie plate is misaligned or sunken based upon the comparison. With respect to Group 1 – claims 1, 22 and 43 (distance between crossties) – the 082 Patent acknowledges that determining whether a frame has a crosstie or not can be performed by imaging techniques known in the art. However, Georgetown maintains that a system or methods for measuring the distance between ties by counting the number of frames and using the speed of the vehicle to calculate the distance is inventive. With respect to Group 3 – claims 64, 65 and 66 (break in a rail) – Georgetown asserts that a system or methods for measuring the gap between adjoining rails by counting the number of images taken between the ends of the rails and using the speed of the car to calculate the gap distance is inventive. Georgetown says that the inventive concept of claim 7 of the 249 Patent is a method for determining rail seat abrasion of a railroad track using the steps of (a) determining the heights of the left and right rail bases, and left and right crossties; (b) determining vertical pixel counts for those heights and normalizing the vertical pixel counts upon a measurement index; (c) recording those heights; (d) determining the actual delta between the left rail base height and left crosstie height, and between the right rail base height and right crosstie height; and (e) determining rail seat abrasion values for the left and right rail bases. According to Georgetown, the inventive concept of claim 11 is the same as that of claim 7, but with step (e) accomplished by using the actual delta for the left and right rail bases. The inventive concept of claim 18 is a system for determining rail seat abrasion having (a) light generators and cameras to generate images representative of the profile of the railroad track bed; and (b) a processor that (i) analyzes the images, (ii) determines the heights of the left and right rail bases, and left and right crossties, (iii) determines vertical pixel counts for those heights and normalizes the vertical pixel counts upon a measurement index, and (iv) determines whether rail seat abrasion is present along the railroad track using the measurements. Tetra’s expert witness, Mr. Parent, testified that the standard features of all automated railway inspection systems are (a) a light generator projecting a beam spanning across the railroad; (b) an optical receiver generating images representative of the profile of the railway track; (c) a processor using algorithms to analyze the images; and (d) a capacity to link an image captured by the receiver to a geographical location. He expressed the view that the image acquisition system described in both the 082 and 249 Patents is a standard 3D triangulation technique by line projection, an approach that was well-known in 2004. Mr. Parent evaluated the 082 Patent as distinct at the algorithm level only, but declined to characterize this as an inventive concept. He denied the existence of any inventive concept of the 249 Patent. 082 Patent, Group 1 – claims 1, 22, 43 (distance between crossties): a machine vision system that measures the distance between ties by counting the number of frames and using the speed of the vehicle to calculate the distance. 082 Patent, Group 2 – claims 16, 37 and 58 (misaligned or sunken tie plates): a machine vision system that (a) analyzes a frame of the many images having a region of interest; (b) determines the presence of a tie plate in the region of interest; (c) determines the crosstie contour and tie plate contours; (d) compares the orientation of the crosstie contour and orientation of the tie plate contour; and (e) determines whether the tie plate is misaligned or sunken based upon the comparison. 082 Patent, Group 3 – claims 64, 65 and 66 (break in a rail): a machine vision system that measures the gap between adjoining rails by counting the number of images taken between the ends of the rails and using the speed of the car to calculate the gap distance. 249 Patent (rail seat abrasion): a machine vision system that (a) analyzes images; (b) determines the heights of the left and right rail bases, and left and right crossties, applying TC as needed; and (c) determines the presence of rail seat abrasion using those measurements. Georgetown concedes that the prior art cited by Tetra demonstrates that machine vision systems were available at the relevant times to capture images of railway track bed components, and to measure their relative positions. However, Georgetown says that none of the prior art would have led a POSITA to build a laser vision system to detect sunken tie plates or rail seat abrasion, or to use the precise series of steps or calculations claimed in the 082 and 249 Patents. Georgetown argues that none of the prior art cited by Tetra discusses TC, or makes use of an actual delta between two points to identify rail seat abrasion. Georgetown devoted most of its evidence and argument to defending the validity of the claims falling within Group 2 (misaligned or sunken tie plates). With respect to Group 1 (distance between crossties), Dr. Myler said only that none of the prior art cited by Tetra identified any problem relating to measuring the distance between ties, or suggested any solution such as that found in claims 1, 22 and 43 of the 082 Patent. Similarly, with respect to Group 3 (break in a rail), Dr. Myler said only that none of the prior art cited by Tetra described a system or method for measuring the gap between adjoining rails by counting the number of images taken between the ends of the rails, and using the speed of the car to calculate the gap distance. He expressed the view that none of the prior art documents identified any problem relating to measuring the gap distance, or suggested any solution such as that found in claims 64, 65 and 66 of the 082 Patent. Tetra does not take serious issue with Georgetown’s assessment of the differences between the prior art and the inventions claimed by the 082 and 249 Patents. Instead, Tetra describes Georgetown’s efforts to distinguish its patented inventions from the prior art as “strategic” and “unfair” . Tetra notes that Georgetown’s original Statement of Claim alleged infringement of 55 claims of the 082 Patent, and claims 7, 11 and 18 of the 249 Patent. Georgetown amended its Statement of Claim on June 20, 2017, shortly before the parties were due to exchange their initial expert reports. The effect of the amendments was to discontinue the action in relation to the claims falling within Group 1 (distance between crossties) and Group 3 (break in a rail). I accept Georgetown’s characterization of the differences between the prior art and the claimed inventions which, in my view, is consistent with the evidence adduced in this proceeding. The disagreement between the parties is not so much whether the claimed inventions differed from the prior art, but whether the differences were obvious. It is common ground between the parties that machine vision and 3D triangulation techniques, assisted by software, were available and commonly used to examine height differences and other elements of various surfaces. This process was applied in many different contexts. Tetra notes that the first section of all claims in both the 082 and 249 Patents is the same regardless of the surface in issue. Only the processing algorithm changes. Tetra says that it would have been obvious for the POSITA to use 3D triangulation to inspect different features of the railway bed. The industry would inevitably adapt known automated surface examination techniques to the inspection of rail components. Prior art demonstrated that machine vision, specifically 3D triangulation techniques, could be applied in the context of railways. However, Tetra acknowledges that none of the prior art was concerned with assessing plate cut or rail seat abrasion. Tetra nevertheless argues that, prior to 2004, the POSITA would have reason to combine common techniques known in the fields of machine vision and 3D triangulation to arrive at the claimed inventions. There was a strong commercial incentive to automate rail inspection, as illustrated by the collaboration between Dr. Mesher and CN that ultimately resulted in the 3DTAS. With respect to the 249 Patent, Tetra says that there are no inventive elements or steps that were not already disclosed by the 082 Patent, with the possible exception of TC. The content of the 249 Patent is identical to that of the 082 Patent, as evidenced by Figures 1 to 12 and the corresponding descriptive paragraphs. According to Tetra, if claims 7, 11 and 18 of the 249 Patent do not account for tilt, then they lack novelty given the teachings of the 082 Patent. The 082 Patent gives the POSITA all the information necessary to measure the heights of the top of the rail and the base of rail, and to calculate the difference. Georgetown responds that there are significant differences between the 082 Patent and the common general knowledge and prior art with respect to determining plate cut. None of the prior art mentions plate cut as a problem to be solved; nor does it provide a means of determining plate cut using a machine vision system. With respect to the 249 Patent, Georgetown asserts that none of the prior art documents recognize a problem relating to rail seat abrasion; nor do they suggest any solution to determining the presence of rail seat abrasion or its extent. Georgetown therefore maintains that there is nothing in the prior art that would have caused the POSITA to evaluate rail seat abrasion using the system or methods described in the 249 Patent. Rail seat abrasion primarily afflicts concrete ties, which are not the focus of the prior art. Georgetown notes that another element of claims 7 and 11 of the 249 Patent is the determination of an actual delta. To the extent that Tetra argues this must be understood as encompassing TC, none of the prior art discusses TC or otherwise determines an actual delta between two points to measure rail seat abrasion. With respect to the remaining claims of the 082 Patent, i.e., those pertaining to Groups 1 and 3, Georgetown argues that none of the prior art recognizes any problem relating to measuring the distance between ties or the gaps between adjoining rails. Nor does it suggest solutions similar to those found in the 082 Patent. The onus is on Tetra to establish, on a balance of probabilities, that the inventions claimed by the 082 and 249 Patents were obvious as of June 30, 2004 and June 23, 2009, respectively. I am not persuaded that Tetra has met this burden. It is true that, prior to 2004, machine vision and 3D triangulation techniques, assisted by software, were available and commonly used to examine height differences and other elements of various surfaces. The prior art cited by Tetra includes several documents that applied this technology in the context of railways. However, none of the prior art identifies plate cut or rail seat abrasion as problems to be solved, or suggests solutions similar to those disclosed by the 082 and 249 Patents. As noted by Georgetown, plate cut and rail seat abrasion are phenomena that are hidden when viewed from above, because they occur underneath components that are visible from above. Both patents solve this problem by comparing the height of the tie with the height of another track component: the tie plate and rail base, respectively. The 249 Patent also includes an algorithm for increasing the accuracy of the rail seat abrasion measurement by accounting for tilt. Neither the existence of these problems nor the patents’ proposed solutions are evident in the prior art. Nor could they have been arrived at without inventive insight. Tetra’s allegation of invalidity is stronger with respect to the claims contained in Groups 1 and 3 of the 082 Patent, i.e., those that pertain to the distance between crossties and breaks in a rail. Both of these phenomena are plainly visible when viewed from above, and there is a basis for asserting that the challenges they present, and the use of automated inspection tools as solutions, are both recognized in the prior art. However, none of the prior art describes systems or methods that are comparable to those found in the 082 and 249 Patents. An ex post facto analysis of an invention is potentially unsound (The King v Uhlemann Optical Company (1949), 11 CPR 26 at 46). An allegation of obviousness may be weakened if the evidence does not explain directly, or by inference, why the claimed invention was not discovered by others (Apotex Inc v Bayer AG, 2007 FCA 243 at para 25). Tetra’s challenge to the validity of the 082 and 249 Patents entails breaking the inventions down into their constituent parts, demonstrating that the parts were individually known, and then asserting that the combination was obvious. The Federal Court of Appeal warned against precisely this kind of analysis in Bridgeview Manufacturing Inc v 931409 Alberta Ltd (Central Alberta Hay Centre), 2010 FCA 188 at paragraph 51. I therefore conclude that the claims of the 082 Patent and the 249 Patent are not invalid on the ground of obviousness. The identification of the particular problems, and the use of machine vision and specified calculations as possible solutions, required invention and was not obvious as of the priority dates. Section 42 of the Patent Act grants the patent holder the exclusive right, privilege and liberty of making, constructing and using the invention and selling it to others to be used. A patent is infringed by any act that interferes with the patentee’s full enjoyment of the monopoly granted (Monsanto Canada Inc v Schmeiser, 2004 SCC 34 at para 34 [Monsanto]). Pursuant to s 55(1) of the Patent Act, any person who infringes a patent is liable for all damages sustained by the patentee after the grant of the patent by reason of infringement. Infringement is determined by comparing the products that are said to infringe the patent with the patent’s claims as construed by the Court. If the 3DTAS contains each of the essential elements of the claims in issue, then Georgetown’s patents have been infringed. The burden of proving infringement rests with the party that alleges it (Monsanto at para 29). The burden therefore falls upon Georgetown. Georgetown submits that Tetra and CN jointly infringed the 082 and 249 Patents by common design: CN installed the equipment provided by Tetra on its rail cars in order to collect image data and perform initial processing; Tetra then conducted further processing and analysis of the data collected by CN. In Packers Plus Energy Services Inc v Essential Energy Services Ltd, 2017 FC 1111 [Packers], Justice James O’Reilly found that a patented method for wellbore fluid treatment was not infringed because the defendant had not performed all of the steps of the method described in the patent. Although the defendant supplied and installed the necessary equipment, third party companies independently performed other essential steps. Justice O’Reilly held that “parties who act in concert to commit a tortious act can each be found liable if all of the parties involved arrived at an agreement to carry out the tort” (Packers at para 48). However, in that case, no agreements had been entered into. The named defendant was therefore found not to have infringed the plaintiff’s patent. The decision has been appealed. Packers concerned a patented method. In the present proceeding, Tetra is alleged to have supplied an infringing system to CN. With respect to the method claims, Georgetown notes that Tetra and CN entered into an Equipment Agreement, a Licence Agreement and a Service Agreement. Assuming, without deciding, that Tetra’s provision of equipment to CN and its subsequent processing may be insufficient to support an allegation of infringement of the method claims of the 082 and 249 Patents, in my view the three written agreements satisfy the criteria of Packers for the commission of the impugned acts in concert. In any event, Tetra does not say that some of the essential steps of the methods described in the 082 and 249 Patents were performed by CN, and that it should escape liability as a result. Nor does Tetra dispute that it entered into agreements with CN to achieve a common objective. It is therefore unnecessary to further consider Georgetown’s argument respecting infringement by common design. determines an actual delta between the rail base and the crosstie. According to Georgetown, the 3DTAS creates an elevation map by capturing data contained in individual frames, and then analyzing the data from many frames. This occurs as follows: two SICK Ranger cameras are mounted on the 3DTAS. They alternate in taking pictures of a rectangular region around a laser line that is draped across the surface of the track. Each image, recorded as pixels, is saved for a certain amount of time inside the SICK Ranger camera. The 3DTAS simplifies the image by removing the foreground and background of the railroad track. The simplified digital picture is then converted by the SICK Ranger camera into what is called an “elevation profile vector” , which is a form of image data. Each digital picture is converted into a unique vector, which retains the height information of the line position. The SICK Ranger camera assembles the vectors into blocks of 5,000, which are stored in matrices on a hard drive. The data are eventually uploaded and sent to Tetra, where post-processing occurs through de-multiplexing and sequencing of the elevation data vectors. A 3D map is then created. Tetra responds that the 3DTAS does not analyze 2D images sequentially, as contemplated by the 082 and 249 Patents. Instead, the 3DTAS uses elevation maps. These are described by Tetra as “matrices of elevation values, constructed from 3D elevation scan vectors” , which may be presented graphically. Tetra says that the elevation maps are not processed as images in the manner described by the Patents, and no analysis is done by the 3DTAS on 2D frames captured by the camera. Mr. Parent insisted that the systems described in the 082 and 249 Patents do not analyze images that have been combined or processed to create a 3D elevation map, but only 2D images captured by the optical sensors. Mr. Parent said that the algorithms in the 082 Patent always refer to 2D images, and these algorithms cannot be applied to a 3D elevation map. However, Mr. Parent also acknowledged that a digital camera captures images in a manner similar to that of a human retina. The image genuinely exists within the camera. The image data that are subsequently processed may not be presented in this manner, although they can be. Algorithms permit images to be presented to the human eye in a variety of ways. It is not necessary for the camera to be capable of digital image processing. A standard camera may be used. Mr. Parent compared the creation of a 3D elevation map to re-assembling the slices of a loaf of bread, then viewing the uppermost crust. In cross-examination, he agreed that 2D images are preserved in a 3D elevation map, which comprises a sequential assembly of height profiles obtained from the camera. Dr. Mesher agreed that an elevation map is a collection of data. He explained that in each line of the elevation map, an individual elevation vector is displayed which portrays elevation as a shade: white is near, dark is distant, and grey is somewhere in between. A frame is a collection or a data structure of pixels, and the 3DTAS analyzes a compilation of individual elevation vectors. Georgetown points to paragraph 0044 of the 082 Patent, which states: “[a]s can be seen in Figures 11-12, the compiled image data forms a three-dimensional representation (X, Y, and Z) of the area of the track bed” . In other words, the patent specifically contemplates the creation of a 3D representation from data compiled from 2D images captured by the camera. I am therefore satisfied that the 3DTAS, when it creates an elevation map, necessarily analyzes “a frame”, “at least one image”, and “a frame of the plurality of images”. A 3D elevation map is simply a construct of the data derived from multiple 2D images displayed sequentially. Georgetown says that the 3DTAS also satisfies the essential element of determining crosstie and tie plate contour. In a 2D image, a contour is displayed as a single line. Conversely, in a 3D elevation map, a contour is displayed as a continuous surface, which is generated by compiling height information from multiple 2D images or elevation vectors. Mr. Parent agreed with this interpretation in cross-examination. Nevertheless, Tetra argues that the 3DTAS collects vectors of unconnected elevation points. Tetra says that in the 3DTAS, the mean or median elevations of the plate and tie regions represent two single floating point numbers, from which no contours can be calculated. I prefer Georgetown’s explanation. I am sceptical of Mr. Parent’s statement that the 3DTAS “collects vectors of unconnected elevation points” . If the vectors are truly unconnected, it is unclear how they could be combined to produce a 3D elevation map. Tetra’s position here is similar to the one it has taken regarding whether the 3DTAS analyzes a frame of the plurality of images. Tetra maintains that the 3DTAS does not analyze 2D images at all, but instead analyzes elevation maps. In my view, this is a distinction without a difference. An elevation map is created from 2D images captured by optical sensors. A contour remains the same regardless of whether it is displayed singly as a 2D image, or sequentially as a 3D elevation map. The only difference is that in a 2D image, a contour is displayed as an outline, while in a 3D elevation map, it is displayed as a surface. Georgetown asserts that the 3DTAS uses ROIs to determine and compare contours, and that the ROI is the surface of the tie plate and the adjoining area of the tie. According to Dr. Myler, in order to obtain the contour data for tie plates and crossties, the 3DTAS system first locates the tie plate holes. For wooden ties, it searches its library for tie plates with matching hole patterns. Once the model is identified, the known dimensions of the model are used to define a bounding box for the tie plate. The 3DTAS system then defines the ROI as the areas at the lateral edges of the tie plate, and the corresponding region on the nearby tie. Dr. Mesher was shown a drawing of a tie plate adjacent to a tie. He was asked to indicate the area that is used by the 3DTAS to calculate the tie plate surface height. He did so, but declined to describe this as an ROI within the meaning of the 082 and 249 Patents. Instead, he opted for a more generic description: “a region that’s interesting” . Tetra argues that Georgetown has conflated the ROI with the bounding box. Dr. Mesher explained that an ROI is an area to which a view is restricted in order to find something and improve processing. However, he emphasized that no processing is done by the 3DTAS to locate an ROI. Instead, once the bounding box is defined, the ROI is determined mathematically without needing to search for anything else. Tetra says that, in the contexts of the 082 and 249 Patents, ROIs are used to highlight horizontal and vertical zones in order to detect specific features. Conversely, the 3DTAS system locates tie plate features by processing the entire elevation map to locate spikes and holes, and then selecting the best known plate using spike and hole pattern matching. Once defined, the plate bounding box is used to define other areas that are required to perform elevation calculations. However, the calculations that determine differences in elevation are based on plate and fastener locations, and require no knowledge of the bounding box. Tetra therefore concludes that the 3DTAS does not use an ROI to restrict the search for any feature in the 3D elevation map, either vertically or spatially. Insofar as it is possible to follow Tetra’s argument, it appears to be premised on the assumption that the 3DTAS does not analyze 2D images at all, but instead analyzes elevation maps. I have rejected this distinction elsewhere, and for similar reasons, I reject Tetra’s assertion that the 3DTAS processes “the entire elevation map” rather than analysing a specific ROI. I accept Georgetown’s evidence and argument that the 3DTAS makes use of an ROI in the manner contemplated by the 082 and 249 Patents. The ordinary meaning of the word “orientation” is the relative position of something. In Dr. Mesher’s cross examination, he agreed that the 3DTAS calculates plate cut values by subtracting the height of the tie and the thickness of the tie plate from the height of the tie plate. The thickness of the tie plate is found in the library of tie plate models. Because this procedure involves comparing the relative positions of tie plates and adjacent ties, Georgetown maintains that the 3DTAS compares the orientations of their respective contours. As noted above, Tetra insists that the 3DTAS does not determine crosstie and tie plate contours. If this is true, then it follows that the 3DTAS does not compare their respective elevations. Dr. Mesher testified that comparing the orientations of crosstie and tie plate contours requires a comparison of the angle between the contour of the tie plate and the contour of the crosstie. He expressed the view that this cannot be done with a single measurement point, which is what the 3DTAS uses in its calculations. A single measurement point is not a contour. According to Tetra, the 3DTAS system measures an average height for one region at the tip of the plate, and an average height for an adjacent region on the tie. The difference between the two averages is reported. While Tetra calls this measure “plate cut” , it is not the real value of the plate cut because the height of the plate is only an estimate. I have concluded elsewhere that the 3DTAS does in fact determine crosstie and tie plate contours, although it uses an algorithm to display them as a continuous surface rather than as a line profile. Tetra admits that the 3DTAS measures the height of the region at the tip of the plate, and the height of the adjacent region on the tie, then calculates the difference. In my view, this amounts to comparing the orientations of crosstie and tie plate contours. The essential element of determining an actual delta between the rail base and the crosstie is found only in the 249 Patent. The actual delta is simply the actual difference in height between two track components. Dr. Mesher agreed with Dr. Myler that the 3DTAS determines the difference in height between the rail base and the adjacent crosstie in order to calculate the thickness of the polymer pad. It calculates the average or mean of two points on the rail base, and then subtracts the average or mean of the heights at three points on the tie. It then further subtracts the thickness of the rail base. There is no serious dispute between the parties that the 3DTAS determines the difference, or the “actual delta”, between the rail base and the crosstie, although Tetra notes that the measurement reported by the 3DTAS is not precise. However, the formulas for determining the actual delta provided in the 249 Patent include a TC factor to account for the lean or tilt of the truck, whether left or right. Tetra therefore argues that the calculation of “actual delta” necessarily requires a consideration of tilt. Georgetown acknowledges that the 249 Patent includes formulas for determining rail seat abrasion as preferred embodiments of the invention. However, Georgetown says that the claims should not be limited to only what is disclosed in the examples (citing Dableh v Ontario Hydro (1996), 68 CPR (3d) 129 at 144 (FCA)). Furthermore, the claims of the 249 Patent encompass the detection of rail seat abrasion even when the track is level. If there is no vehicle tilt, then no correction is required and the TC value in the formula is 0. Even if TC were found to be an essential element of the claims in issue, Georgetown says that the 3DTAS does in fact correct for tilt. As the elevation data vectors are converted into a 3D elevation map, a “real world elevation correction” is performed. Pixel units are converted into engineering measurements, such as millimetres or inches. In order to obtain real world units of measurements, the 3DTAS makes adjustments for vehicle dynamics that affect the distance between the surface and the cameras. Dr. Mesher did not deny that the 3DTAS corrects for vehicle dynamics, but said that it does so only in the longitudinal dimension. Georgetown says this is sufficient to establish that the 3DTAS corrects for tilt. According to Tetra, the 3DTAS applies “Dynamic Vehicle Motion Corrections” . This process is intended to counteract the effects of vehicle suspension bounce in the direction of travel. However, Tetra asserts that it does not address the height differences between the left and right rail heads. According to Tetra, there is no need for the 3DTAS to make this adjustment, because the minor difference in rail height caused by any transverse tilt of the cameras does not affect the degree of precision required by its customer. In the discussion of Claims Construction, above, I have found that the 249 Patent does not contemplate that compensation for tilt will always be necessary as the system moves along the track. Instead, the system compensates for tilt only when this phenomenon is “encountered” . I therefore conclude that the 3DTAS determines the difference, or the “actual delta”, between the rail base and the crosstie in the manner described in the 249 Patent. The algorithm for determining the actual delta disclosed in the patent does not require a consideration of TC in all circumstances. The claims of the 249 Patent encompass the detection of rail seat abrasion even when the track is level. For the foregoing reasons, I find that the 082 and 249 Patents are valid. The essential elements of the asserted claims are also found in the 3DTAS. Tetra’s sale of the 3DTAS to CN and its support of the system therefore infringed both Patents. which acts would have constituted infringement of the Asserted Claims of the 082 and 249 Patents if they had been granted on January 12, 2006 and December 29, 2010 respectively. Reasonable compensation will be assessed by reference. (c) Pre- and post-judgment interest on all monetary awards will be determined by the reference judge. If the parties are unable to agree on the costs payable in the Liability Phase of this proceeding, they may make written submissions, not exceeding seven pages, within 14 days of the date of this Judgment. Responding submissions, not exceeding three pages, may be made within seven days thereafter. GEORGETOWN RAIL EQUIPMENT COMPANY v RAIL RADAR INC. AND TETRA TECH EBA INC.

2019-04-22T04:47:30Z

https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/306076/index.do?iframe=true

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A WebQuest on Slavery and the American Revolution by Dr. Allison Nazzal, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA. Slavery in the United States. Webquest by Crystal Folden, Lincoln Southeast High School, Nebraska. Slavery WebQuest for Gr. 6-10 by Ms. L. Richard, Inverness Education Center/Academy. Underground Railroad Webquest by Ms. Baumann, Mr. Bowman, and Mr. Haines, Greece Central School District, NY. Underground Railroad Webquests. Annotated webquest links collected by Paula Laurita, BellaOnline's Library Sciences Editor. WebQuests Links to Slavery and the Underground Railroad from Safe Passage: The Underground Railroad in Southwestern Ohio. EconEdLink from EconomicsAmerica. Provides a premier souce of classroom-tested, Internet-based economic lesson materials for K-12 teachers and their students, with over 509 lessons. Online elementary economics lessons. K-6 lessons. Bank Notes - Bank of Canada. Learning Resources. H.I.P. Pocket Change. History In your Pocket Lesson plans. Includes The 50 State Quarters� Program Lesson Plans for K-6. The Death Penalty: Teacher Edition. Main Menu: Death Penalty Curricular for High School (Unit Lesson Plans), About the Death Penalty (Arguments For and Against the Death Penalty), State by State Data (includes Interactive Maps: Executions and death row inmates, by state), Courtroom Cases, Links and Resources. 21st Century Schoolhouse - Links to Free Work Sheets. Academy of Achievement: Curriculum Center. Most materials prepared for Grades 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and post Grade 12 containing audio, video and text. Wide range of topics include The Amazing Olympics, Architecture, Black History Month, Earth Day, Entrepreneurs, Freedom and justice, Martin Luther King Day, Poets and poetry, and others. AskERIC Lesson Plans. The Educator's Reference Desk. Collection contains over 2000 unique lesson plans written and submitted by teachers from all over the United States. Class Activities that use Cooperative Learning. Classroom Resources, Classroom Internet Library from New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) Knowledge Network. Canadian, eh? Learn a little about Canada webquest by E. Malick, Grade 6, John F. Kennedy School. Eat Well ~ Feel Swell. A WebQuest on Nutrition for Grades 5 & 6 by Carol Ann Okpro, John F. Kennedy School. Famous Canadians. A WebQuest for Grades 5 & 6, designed by Gerald Robillard (Our Lady of Peace School) and Bob Colvil (Knowlton Academy). Computer Teaching Lesson Plans: Web Quests from Online Teacher Resource. edHelper.com. With links to 2500 lesson plans. Free Lesson Plans for Tired Teachers of Maths, Science, English, Computer and Social Studies from Lesson Plans.com.au. The Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM). Search or browse The Gateway to find high quality educational materials, including lesson plans, activities, and projects from GEM Consortium member sites. Options: Simple Search, Browse Subjects, Browse Keywords. Highschool Webquests. Created by Bob Stevenson. Pick A Subject from: Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Technology, Foreign Language, Business and Economics, Art and Music, Health and Physical Education, Life Skills and Careers. Illuminations from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). 90 online activities, 524 lessons for preK-12 math educators, Principles and Standards for School Mathematics outlines the essential components of a high-quality school mathematics program, plus links to useful mathematics education resources on the Internet. Learning Center (Library and Archives Canada - LAC). A collection strong in history, literature and music, including websites, educational tools, and digitized primary sources (printed documents, diaries, maps, illustrations, paintings, manuscripts, and printed and recorded music) from LAC holdings. Lesson Planet. Search 150,000 Teacher Reviewed Lesson Plans. Lesson Plans Library from Discovery Education. Site provides kindergarten, elementary, middle school and high school lesson plans for all major school subjects. Browse by subject, grade, or both to find hundreds of original lesson plans, all written by teachers for teachers. View all K-5 lesson plans, View all Grades 6-8 lesson plans, View all Grades 9-12 lesson plans. LessonPlansPage.com. Over 3000 free lesson plans. Includes Lesson Plan Guide: 10 Steps to Developing a Quality Lesson Plan. (Pop-up ads). Media Workshop New York: High School Webquests. Nellie's English Projects: High School WebQuest Tasks (ages 15-18). Scroll bar on the left. See also Junior High School WebQuests (ages 12-15), and Elementary School WebQuests Grades 4-6 (Ages 9-12), and other resources. The New York Times Learning Network. Teacher, Student and Parent Connections. Daily Lesson Plans for Grades 6-12 covering all major subjects. Includes lesson plan archive and lesson plan units. A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests. Original WebQuest rubric by Bernie Dodge. See also Cooperative Group Rubric from Cinco de Mayo. Lesson plans, worksheets, activities, clip art, reading, math, science, social studies, and more. Hundreds of educational websites rated by popularity. Student Web Quests. Six webquests designed by students from Mrs. Allnutt's Class. Surf Report: Online Projects from Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB). K-12. Projects range from simple to complex. Variety of topics: Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger, Who Am I? Seasonal Changes through our Eyes and Yours, and others. Teaching Tool: WebQuests from Educational CyberPlayGround™. Links to Elementary School WebQuests, Teaching Tool for Music WebQuests, Teaching Tool for Math WebQuests, Teaching Tool for Art WebQuests, Teaching Tool for Linguistics WebQuests. Teaching with the Web. Choose a category: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. High School WWW Resources subdivided into: Fine Arts (Art, Drama, Music), Language Arts (Grammar, Literature, Mythology, Public Speaking, Writing), Math, Science (Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Physics), and Social Studies. Lots of great links, Hotlists, and WebQuests. Teaching with WebQuests. Suggested links to The Best Wequests on the Net, including: 1998 WebQuests - Body Builders, Desert Biome, Fast Food Nutrition, Comets, Viruses and lots more; 1999 WebQuests - Endangered Animals, Electrical Circuits, Flowers, Properties of light, Electromagnets and lots more; and 2000 WebQuests - Genetics, Dinosaurs, and Mammals. Template to Create a WebQuest - Put the Title of the Lesson Here - Teacher Page. Student Template. From English Montreal School Board, Montreal, QC. ThinkQuest New York City Library - Learning with the Power of Technology. Well organized collection of websites created by students and teachers in New York City. Search by Categories: Arts & Entertainment - Music; Books & Literature - Plays, Poetry; Business & Industry; Computers & the Internet - Programming; Education; Health & Safety - Food; History & Government; Languages & Language Arts; People & Places - China, New York City; Philosophy, Religion & Mythology - Greek; Reference & News; Science - Astronomy & Space, Biology, Geology; Society & Culture - China, Egypt, Greece; Sports & Recreation - Basketball; Technology. Understanding and Using WebQuests. Workshop Resources by Midge Frazel. Web-Based Lesson Plans. This collection of six lesson plans is designed for Adult Education but may be adapted for high school or ESL usage. Lesson topics include: Introduction to the Web, Women's History, and Learning English Using Fables. WebQuest Collections. Updated by Bernie Dodge, San Diego State University. WebQuest: Connecting Students to the World from Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, North Carolina. Select WebQuests by Grades: K-12, Select WebQuests by Subjects: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, The Arts, Vocational. WebQuest Directory from Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board, Quebec, Canada. Includes links to Elementary and Secondary Unit Plans. The WebQuest Page. Topics covered: How to develop and create Web-based lessons, WebQuests and other Internet projects. Includes an online lesson plan collection for K-12 plus Big6 Lessons. Site provides a ready-to-use Student Webquest Template and links to additional materials and resources. WebQuests Based on Literature selected by Bernie Dodge, San Diego State University. WebQuests from Vicki Blackwell's Internet Guide for Educators. WebQuests from webTeacher. Topics include: Introduction to WebQuests, Examining WebQuests, Building Your Own WebQuest, Preparatory Work, Designing the Process, Implementation, plus Additional Resources. WebQuests Across the Curriculum by Edmund J. Sass, Ed.D. More than 350 WebQuests and WebQuest Resources. Examples of WebQuests by Subject: Art, Geography, Health/Nutrition, History, Language Arts, Literature for Adolescents, Literature for Children, Mathematics, Music, Political Science/Government, Psychology/Sociology, Religion, Science, World Languages. WebQuests for Kids developed by Kathi Mitchell. Links to selected webquests (K-12) under categories: Social Studies, Science, and Other Topics. Webquests: Third Grade Ideas. Animal Life Cycle Webquest, Creepy Crawler Insects, The Moon's Many Faces, Map Advenures, Simple Machines Webquest, Fun with Fables, Econ-o-Mania, Weaving Charlotte's Web, Journey of a Monarch Butterfly Webquest. Weekly Online Lessons from Learners Online. Each week, Learners Online publishes a new online lesson that takes learners on a thematic journey across cyberspace. Lessons are tied to current events and help learners extend their knowledge on a wide range of topics. Includes Lesson Archives for Grades 3-12, but mostly for 7-12. Welcome to the World of Webquests. A Webquest of Webquests: Selected list of 152 WebQuests available on the Web in no particular order. Wired Learning - Filamentality. Web-based lessons, activities and more. Filamentality is a fill-in-the-blank interactive Web site that guides you through picking a topic, searching the Web, gathering good Internet sites, and turning Web resources into learning activities. Site includes Videoconferencing, Activities, Projects, Resources, Lessons, and Tools. Xpeditions - National Geographic.com - Lesson Plans, K-12 - Complete List. Christmas Trees & More - Education. Including Christmas Tree Education Kit: The Virtual Christmas Tree Farm from Ontario, Canada. See also Lesson Plans, The Life of a Christmas Tree - Video clips of the life of a Christmas tree, and more. Aesop's Fables. WebQuest by Carol Lundeen, Catawba County Schools, Newton, NC. Aesop's Fables: Fables Webquest for 5th Grade by Brenda Neil, Marceline R-V Schools, Marceline, MO. Fairy Tale WebQuest by Sofie Maurice and Crystal Pearl-Hodgins, Ecole Whitehorse Elementary, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. Fun with Fables. Is it a fable or a fairy tale? WebQuest by Mary Jo Creech, Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, NC. Having Fun with Fables. Fable WebQuest by Debbie Hourigan, Live Oaks Elementary School, Milford, CT. The Realm of Fairy Tales. An Original WebQuest for grades 4-5 by Judy Hoke. See also other Fairy Tale Webquests. Arthurian Legends WebQuest! from Moraga School District, Moraga, CA. Castles, Knights, and Gwen of Air. A WebQuest for Basic English 9, designed by Ms. Kelly Cavanaugh, McCutcheon High School, Lafayette, IN (based upon a design by Dawn Wasson). King Arthur's Round Table Roll Call. A WebQuest by Robin Pulido. Webquest: Arthurian Legends and Lore. A King Arthur WebQuest from South Harrison Community School Corporation. Bullfighting Webquest: The Spanish Tourism Board Wants You! Created by: Erin Curry, Deb Marks & David Marks. When task is completed, new knowledge you gain may include: A better understanding of Spanish culture, history, and language; Skills to help you when traveling in Spain; and more. Deutsch - German. All units designed and written by Andrew Balaam. Contents include: Beginners units, Grammar units, Topics units, Crosswords and Quizzes. This site is for students to learn the German language with exercises to reinforce learning. Foreign Language Webquests: French, German, Japanese, Latin, Spanish from Rogers Public Schools, Rogers, AR. French Speaking Countries Web Quest by Shawn D. Hintz, Nicholas Orem Middle School, Prince George's County, MD. Grades 9-12 Foreign Language WebQuests. A Horse is a Hoarse, Of Course, Of Coarse. A Lesson Plan on Homonyms/Homophones, from Large Collections of Language Arts Lesson Plans. Bones Inside Us. Internet Scavenger Hunt by Vicki Blackwell. Brainy Web Quest. A webquest about the brain. Frogs - Science Web Quest by Beth Zemke, Irvine Unified School District, Irvine, CA. Human Skeletal System. A Web Quest for 4th and 5th Grade designed by Cindy Boguen. Journey to Alaska's Glaciers: Webquest to Explore How Glaciers Shape the Land from iwebquest.com. A "Rock Hound's" Webquest: Exploring Rocks and Having Fun from iwebquest.com. Women in Science by Lorna Holtman. Look Who's Footing the Bill. An Introductory WebQuest on Democracy and the National Debt. Math Magazine WebQuest. An Internet WebQuest on mathmagazine by Ms. Russo, Merrick Avenue Middle School, Merrick, NY. Math Web Quests from Online Teacher Resource. Would You Recommend It? A Webquest on Evaluating Math Games. Astronomy Activities written by Jane Mena-Werth and Dr. Jos� Mena-Werth. Astronomy lesson plans for teachers of kindergarten through high school. Astronomy Lesson Plan Links from Science Spot. Astronomy Webquest: Determining the Age of the Universe! From Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers, IN. Webquests: Using the Internet to Teach Astronomy from Canadian Astronomical Society. Resources for Teachers. Educational Activities: Web-based Astronomy and Astrobiology Lessons. A team of master teachers, university faculty, and NASA researchers have created a series of web-based astronomy and astrobiology lessons for the CERES Project. These classroom-ready activities for K-12 students. Webquests and Lesson Plans include: A Case of the Wobbles: Finding Extra-Solar Planets for Grades 9-12. MarsQuest! for Grades 5-8. Birthday Moons for K-4. Instructional Materials in Astronomy from CIN.org. Moon Quest: A Lunar Journey! From Mr. Conant's Science Web Site, Briscoe Middle School, Beverly, MA. Open Astronomy Curricula. Astronomy lesson plans for Kindergarten through Grade 12 students. Planetary Web Quest for Grades 7-9 Science, by Nancy Chatteinier, Davis Joint Unified School District, Davis, CA. See Web Sites with information on the Planets for more resources. Check out also Nasa's Imagine the Universe and Within Our Solar System. Earth from Space. Lesson plans from Smithsonian Institution, for Gr. 5-12. Remote sensing can be useful in studying numerous disciplines, from biology to ecology to geography. Grade level and standards are noted beside each lesson plan. Free download of Earth from Space Activity Guide - in PDF, 7 pages. An Internet WebQuest: Roller Coaster Physics. A McGraw-Hill Glencoe Science WebQuest. Your job in this WebQuest is to find out how roller coasters work and use this information to build a simple model of a roller coaster. PhysicsQuest. High School Physics Online Investigations. Quests include: Linear Motion, Projectile Motion, Isaac Newton, Conservation of Energy, Waves, Lawnmowers and Physics, Light and Color, Electrostatics, Einstein, Roller Coaster Physics, Atomic and Nuclear Physics, and Exploring the Planets. (Pop-up ads). The Great Sleep Over: Eat, Drink, and Stay Within Budget. An Integrated Unit for Grade 3/4 by Etienne Lantos, Queen's University, Faculty of Education. PDF version, 88 pages. Learning Math: Measurement from Annenberg / CPB. 10 sessions. Last session explores ways to apply concepts of measurement learned in K-8 classrooms. Watch Videos Online. MCA Learning Units: Measurement. Units and Conversions, Perimeter, Area, Volume. Measure It! from FunBrain.com. Easy, Medium, and Hard Centimeters, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Super Brain Inches. Includes K-8 Teacher Resources. Ocean Explorer: Education Lesson Plans direct access to 85 lesson plans developed by scientists and educators. Grades 5-12. Twister Tracking. Lesson Plans, Grades 9-12. In this lesson, students will use a database to learn about, organize, and compare tornadoes in their home state and across the country. The Cloud Case: Teacher's Guide from WeatherEye. Interactive online lesson designed for grades 5 - 8. Cloud Webquest for Sixth Grade Science by Marty Breazeale. It's in the Clouds. An Internet Treasure Hunt on clouds by Ms. Foley, Claypit Hill School, Adams Lane, Wayland, MA. Salt and Germination - in PDF, 10 pages. Lesson 12 - Germination Experiment from ABC Science Online, Australia. Salt Water Properties, an Inquiry Investigation. An Examination of How Salt�s Impact on Water Affects Everyday Life by David R. Wetzel, from Suite101.com. DNA Analysis. Lesson plan from Teachers Domain. Objectives include: Understand how DNA fingerprinting can be used in criminal investigations, Interpret DNA fingerprints, Explore other uses for DNA fingerprints, Understand where DNA is located and the role it plays in the body. Genetic Lesson Plan Ideas from Genetics Education Center, University of Kansas. Including Forensic DNA (fingerprinting, solving crimes, law, courtroom lesson plans and references). Human Genetics: A Worldwide Search for the Dominant Trait - Do You Have It? During this project, students (ages 12-18) will complete surveys, formulate hypotheses, and use the data compiled by students around the globe to test their hypotheses. The Topic: Trees and Forests. Complete A Trees and Forests WebQuest. Select from 10 webQuest projects. Trees & Forests: A WebQuest for 6th Grade Science by Shonna Barth, Bob Buday, Jim Kaupp, and Ray Hoger. Computers - Webquests, Lesson Plans. Saskatoon (East) School Division Teacher Resources. LEGO� Robotics Invention WebQuest. This lesson will teach students the basics of design, building, and programming so that they can create a robot to do whatever they want it to do. Lesson designed for students familiar with Lego Mindstorms Invention System parts, programming environment, and engineering team groups. Robots. Grades 6-8. Roberts - Technology/Human Body Lesson Plan from DiscoverySchool. ToxMystery: What's Wrong in This Room. An interactive learning site for kids from the 7-10 year old age range, from U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. Includes Parent and Teacher Resources: Activities for Students. Provides a fun, game-like experience that introduces children to some of the potential health hazards around the house. Activity covers some pretty big words for this age group: arsenic, carbon monoxide, chromium, asbestos, ozone, benzene, phthalates, radon, etc. that many older students can learn a lot playing this game. Program is very forgiving with correct answers given. Grades 9-12 Health/PE WebQuests. WebQuest Examples. Health WebQuest - Grade Eight AIDS WebQuest by Brenda Kahn, School Library Media Specialist, Haworth Public School, Haworth, NJ. Personal Health WebQuest. College of Education, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS. Garden-Based Learning. Philosophy, Activities, Projects: On-line lesson plans and more-involved projects, Resources, Evaluation, Links. Hoodia Hoodoo by Brooks Jackson, from FactCheckED.org. Students will assess the credibility of various Internet sites that advertise and review Hoodia weight-loss products. Lesson plan in PDF. Art Exhibit. A WebQuest for 6-9th Grade Art, designed by Cathy Nolan. Arti FAQ 21OO Directory from ThinkQuest. Contents include: Cave Art (Prehistoric, Egyptian), Classical Art (Greece and Renaissance), Modern Art (Realism, Abstract Expressionism), Pointillism (Impressionism, Cubism), Pop Art (Futurism, Pop Art), Present (Mona Moo, Millenaire), Quiz, and more. Arts Connected from Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Walker Art Center. Includes full-color digital images of works of art, audio and video samples. Avalon Arts Studio: Ideas for Teachers. Art ideas, art recipes, 3D art, printmaking, painting, watercolors, paper art, non-messy art, and more. (Pop-up ads). Elementary Art Lesson Plans by Sandy Meadors, Art Teacher in Indianapolis, IN. Hands On Art (Hands-on Lesson Plans), Computer Art (Computer Graphics Lesson Plans), Resources (Technology Hints Links and Websites, Regular Art Hints, Clipart, Inspiration and Quotes, Handouts and Templates, Humor, & Vocabularies), Stitchery. Impressionism WebQuest from TeacherWeb Teacher. WebQuest for 9th-12th Grades (Art Through the Ages curriculum) by Stanley F. Gilmore, Jr. Skyscraper Web Quest by Amy B. for Grades 4, 5, 6. Data management and probability. Investigates 3 characteristics of various skyscrapers around the world: total height, number of stairs, and elevator speed. Solutions - in PDF. From Queen's University, Faculty of Education. Comic Strip WebQuest by Edie Alridge, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN. Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index. A unique resource with the largest collection of newspaper editorial cartoons on the web. Updates current cartoons from 54 newspaper editorial cartoonists. Lesson plans for Elementary, Middle, and High Schools. WebQuest Animations & Cartoons. A WebQuest to create animations and cartoons by Michele Plagman, Aitkin Community Schools, Aitkin, MN. Famous Paintings: Art Appreciation Lessons for Kids. An art web quest for children in elementary and middle school, biographies of famous artists, free art worksheets. Getting to Know Pablo Picasso: Artist WebQuest by MaryJo Clark. Country Music WebQuest. WebQuest on Patriotic Themes in Country Music by Pam Petty, for Grades 5-8. This WebQuest provides opportunities to explore some Country Music songs that reflect symbols of freedom found in the United States of America. WebQuest was noted as one of the "Top Ten" best sites on the Internet for the study of American symbols of Freedom. Mozart and Salieri: Professional Jealousy or Murder? Webquest: Did Antonio Salieri poison Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Music for Folks. A Web Quest on American Folk Music by Pam Dumey, Cape Girardeau Public School District, Cape Girardeau, MO. Music Lesson Plans and WebQuests - Classroom Internet Library from New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV). Tejano Music. WebQuest by Barbara McGregor, Nashua-Plainfield High School Nashua, IA. A Web Based Introduction to Basic Music Theory and Music Composition by Chad Sowers, Nashua-Plainfield High School, Nashua, IA. Black History Stamps. Lesson plan for Grades 7 & 8, Social Studies. Students learn about lives and contributions of many black Americans honored on U.S. commemorative postage stamps. Lesson emphasizes finding, organizing, synthesizing and communicating information. Curriculum Guides for Educators. Resources from National Postal Museum, include: We Were There: Letters From the Battle Front Grades 7 - 12. Activity book and resource guide that uses historic letters, envelopes and commemorative stamps from American wars to engage students in historic analysis. Design a Postage Stamp for Black History Month by Marilyn J. Brackney for History, all levels. Design a Postage Stamp Lesson Plan from Lesson Plans.com.au. Grades 4 - 7. Activity using Microsoft Publisher. Native Americans Webquest by Cindy Proctor. "You have been commissioned by the United States Postal Service to develop a series of postage stamps for the coming year to commemorate Native Americans. These stamps will be used all over the United States and even put into stamp collections." Grade 4 Social Studies. Webquest idea may be adapted for higher grades and for different topics. JazzKids: Lesson Plans from PBS. Online activities are designed for students in grades K-5, with accompanying lesson plans for language arts (LA), social studies (SS), music (MU), and math (MA) teachers. Jazz Webquest by Vasalaki Thomas, Sylvester, GA. Jazz: What a Wonderful World. Resources on Jazz music and Jazz Musicians, by webquest scholars: Kari Kraenzler, Nick Lane, Susan Schram and James Samz. Stephen Foster - Teacher's Guide: Suggestions for Active Learning, from PBS. American Experience: Stephen Foster - Main page. History in Film. In depth description and analysis of major films. Arranged by categories: 16th to 18th century, the American Civil War, 1910s to 1930s, World War II, Vietnam War, and other films including Godfather, My Fair Lady, The King and I, and more. The Polar Express Book and Movie WebQuest by Dr. Pam Petty and Block 1 Students, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY. EdGate: Gateway to the Summer Games. Cross-curricular Olympic-themed lesson plans. CyberGuides: Grades 9-12. Literature titles include: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, All Quiet on the Western Front, Black Like Me, The Canterbury Tales, The Crucible, Cry, the Beloved Country, The Glass Menagerie, The Grapes of Wrath, Great Expectations, Night by Elie Wiesel, The Odyssey, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Pigman, Edgar Allan Poe (Author study), Virginia Woolf (Author study), and more. #2655. Edgar Allan Poe Webquest for Grades 8-12. Literature, level: Senior, by Melanie McIntyre, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA. All About Poe - Teachers� Instructions - Student Activity Plan for Grades 6 -9, Student Directions from Thinkport's Student Activity Center. Knowing Poe - Main page. Edgar Allan Poe Collection - Enoch Pratt Free Library. Digital Collections of Edgar Allan Poe. See portrait of Edgar Allan Poe, wooden fragment from the coffin of Edgar Allan Poe, letters from Edgar Allan Poe to Maria Clemm and others, lock of hair of Virginia Clemm Poe, wife of Edgar Allan Poe, and more. Edgar Allan Poe: Father of Horror. A WebQuest for 8th Grade Language Arts by Becky Oakley and Cynthia Wilson, Southern Middle School, Aberdeen, NC. Edgar Allan Poe: Lesson plans, biography, and teaching resources from Web English Teacher. Edgar Allan Poe Webquest from Indiana University Southeast. Task: "Imagine it is sometime in the 1840's, and you are Edgar Allen Poe. One of the selected works provided is not complete. It is up to you to finish this masterpiece." Includes link to The Works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) - Biography, Resources, Poetry, Prose. Edgar Allan Poe Webquest by Jos� A, M�ndez Crespo. Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe. A ReadWriteThink Lesson Plan / Webquest on Edgar Allan Poe for Grades 6-8, by Lisa Gaines, Hoover, AL. Folger Shakespeare Library - Resources for K-12 Teachers. Teaching Shakespeare Lesson Plans, Primary Sources, Study Guides, and more. Hamlet on the Ramparts, joint venture of Folger Shakespeare Library and the MIT Shakespeare Project. Multimedia exploration of Hamlet, complete with film, primary source materials, lesson plans, and tutorials. In Search of Shakespeare - Lesson Plans designed to enrich classroom study of Shakespeare's plays and Elizabethan England, from PBS. Activities created by a team of educators for use in elementary or secondary school classroom settings. Ancient Civilizations. An Integrated Unit for Grade 5 by Cindy Galpin, Beth Butler, Helen Hart, and Pauline Beder, Queen's University, Faculty of Education. PDF version, 89 pages. Kidipede - History for Kids - Europe, Asia, and Africa before 1500 AD. Teacher's Guides for History for Kids. The Middle Ages: Storytelling Webquest for elementary and middle students. Learn about the people of the Middle Ages, Castles, and Knights by studying their Tales and Legends. SCORE History / Social Science. School of California Online Resources for Education, K-12. Medieval Times - Heritage and Citizenship. An Integrated Unit for Grade 4 by Anna Portolese, Rita Zanatta, and Betty Goulden, Queen's University, Faculty of Education. ">PDF version, 130 pages. A Blast from the Past An Integrated Unit for Grade 3/4 by Mary Watson, Queen's University, Faculty of Education.PDF version, 83 pages. Ancient Egypt. Mrs Donn's Lessons & Activities for K-12 teachers & students. Ancient Egypt Webquest from iwebquest.com for elementary and middle students. Learn about Ancient Egyptian daily life, Egyptian mummies, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, King Tut (Tutankhamen), Egyptian games, and Archeology. Roman Empire: In the First Century for Educators from Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Lesson plans for students to learn about the daily life of ancient Romans and to gain a better understanding of the significant achievements and contributions made by the Romans. All Quiet on the Western Front: World War One Web Quest for Mrs. Adams' Sophomore Class, in Preparation of Studying Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. It was supposed to be "The War to End All Wars." The War to End All Wars. World War I WebQuest by Barry Sovel. Use primary sources to explore the experience of different participants' roles in World War I and what it may have been like to have been in 'their shoes'. WebQuest for Information on WWI by D Reiter, Longwood Central School District, NY. World War I: Weaponry, Tactics, and Propaganda. Webquest by P Ells, Scott Middle School, Lincoln, Nebraska. World War I Webquest by P Hewitt, Davison High School, Davison, MI. World War 1 Webquest "And You Are There...". A World War I Webquest by Kathy DeFonzo, Louise Uchaczyk, and Richard Walter, Joseph A. Foran High School, Milford, CT. BBC - Children of World War 2 (1939-1945). Find out what life was like for children in the Second World War. Includes a section for Teachers and Parents covering Curriculum Relevance, Lesson Plans, Printable Worksheets, and Online Activities. A Separate Peace: A Teenager Experiences World War II by Sally Hursey. What I Did During the War: From Grandpa's or Grandma's Scrapbook: A World War II WebQuest by Joyce Valenza, Len Arlen, and Chris Shelly. World War II. A 42eXplore project. World War II: In Defense of Freedom. A WebQuest for 11th Grade US History & Language Arts, by Carolyn O. Burleson. World War II Web Quest. How would history have been changed, if Pearl Harbor had not been bombed? A WebQuest for 7th Grade (World History), by LuAnn Stillwell. See also World War II Web Quest by B Nickleman. Trailing the Samurai's Tale. An Internet WebQuest on The Samurai's Tale by Erik Haugaard. WebQuest by Dan Fickett, Bonita Vista Middle School, Chula Vista, CA. The Trail of Tears and the Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation. Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plans from National Park Service, Washington, DC. *Special note to teachers: This lesson uses the terms commonly used during the 1830s to refer to men and women of English and European origin and to members of native tribes as "whites" and "Indians." This lesson could be a part of a history unit on American Indians, Jacksonian America, Manifest Destiny, or westward expansion, a social studies unit on cultural diversity, or a geography unit on demography. Time period: 1820s and 1830s. Includes: Relevant United States History Standards for Grades 5-12. Canadian Wartime Experience from Archives & Special Collections of University of Manitoba. Grades 4 & 6 materials cover life and times of Louis Riel and the Red River Resistance. Grade 9 material covers Peacekeeping, Human Rights, and Canada's Role in World Conflicts. Grade 11 material covers Canadian involvement in World War I and World War II, including soldiers' personal accounts. Ontario History Quest. Discovering Documentary History 1820-1970. For Grades 7, 8, 10 and 12. Choose a grade to begin your quest to learn about Ontario history. Explore the past from images of original letters, diaries, pictures and other documents. Statistics Canada - Teachers Learning Resources. Teaching Tools include Lesson Plans sorted by level and subject. Virtual Museum of Canada Teachers Centre. Teaching Resources include: Lesson plans, online educational games for kids, and fun learning activities. Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan - Lesson Plan 2 for High School by Rosanne Lichatin. The Emancipation Proclamation through Different Eyes - Lesson Plan 3 for Middle School by Gregory Segovia. Past Issues: Archived lesson plans. American Revolution or Revolutionary War. Links to WebQuests under section: Complete a Revolutionary War WebQuest. The Boston Tea Party: Costume Optional? Gr. 6-8 lesson plan from EDSITEment. Find out what really happened at the Boston Tea Party and other famous tea parties held to protest British taxes. See also Revolutionary Tea Parties and the Reasons for Revolution. The Civil War through a Child's Eye. Lesson Plans from the Library of Congress. Constitution Day Resources for Educators. Include Classroom Activities, Discussion Starters, and Lesson Plans. Constitution Day is September 17. Compiled & Updated by Lianne Hartman, Reference/Instruction Librarian, Lourdes Library, Gwynedd-Mercy College. Crossroads. A K-16 American History Curriculum. Topics covered: Background Material, Essays, Curriculums covered: Elementary, Middle School, High School, and Postsecondary. Dear King George III: A webquest on the American Revolution for 5th grade, author unclear. Original webquest possibly designed by Paula Anderson? Site from Dedham Public Schools, Dedham, MA. Includes links to Words and Music to Yankee Doodle and Games. Ken Kantor's Links to History Webquests including United States History. The Learning Page: Teacher Resources - Lesson Plans Index by Themes, Topics, Disciplines or Eras from the Library of Congress. Lesson Plans by Title. Lessons of Liberty from Liberty Memorial. Download lesson plans: Courage and Honor Lesson Plan - in PDF for Gr. 5-6 (8 pages). Patriotism Lesson Plan - in PDF for Gr. 7-8 (12 pages). Sacrifice Lesson Plan - in PDF for Gr. 9-12 (9 pages). Parents and Teachers Guide for www.whitehousekids.gov. Whitehousekids.gov is an educational opportunity for young Americans to learn about the White House and the President through fun and exciting features. Includes Lesson Plans. News for Kids, Math Challenge, Quizzes and Games, Photos, Videos, History, Tours, Pets, Traditions, Sports, Patriotism, and more. Presidential History Resources. Include Epic Story of the Presidency and Historical Documents. Travel the United States. Webquest by Chris Yancone, Johns Hopkins University, Center for Technology in Education. Who Started the Fire? A WebQuest for 11th Grade American History by Julie Haines, Jackson High School, Jackson, OH. Born on a Mountaintop? Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History. Lesson plan for Gr. 3-5. Subject Areas: Art and Culture - Folklore, History and Social Studies - U.S. History - The West, Literature and Language Arts - American, Biography. American Aloha Lesson Plan: Perpetuating Indigenous Cultural Traditions in Diaspora. Grades 10-12. Subjects covered: History, Social Studies, Language Arts, Multicultural Music and Dance Appreciation.

2019-04-21T13:13:19Z

http://www.geocities.ws/researchguide/webquests.html

Last week I spoke about my visit to Rachna’s Scriptorium. This week Part 2 of the interview has been posted. In this interview I talk about the critiquing process and my a bit more about my own writing process. If you missed Part 1, it is under related articles at the bottom of this post. Thank you to Rachna for the great questions and the warm welcome on her lovely Scriptorium. A couple of weeks ago my good friend and one of my writing partners, Rachna Chhabria, asked if she could interview me on her lovely blog: Rachna’s Scriptorium. Rachna and I became friends through an online writers group called Scribblerati that we both belong to. Very soon we were Facebook friends and this year we became writing partners. For those who follow my creativity blog, Dragonfly Scrolls, you will be aware that I am usually the one asking questions in the interviews. Asking the questions is the easy part. Rachna turned the tables on me this week and put me in the “answer” chair. The interview will be posted in 2 parts. In this first part, posted today, Rachna asks me about my writing process and the NZ publishing scene. My thanks to Rachna for a lovely interview. If you have not visited her Scriptorium before, bookmark her blog because one visit will soon turn you into a fan. Part 1 – My visit to Rachna’s Scriptorium. But I digress….enough with the wishes…. There are some exciting events happening in my writing life and my blogging life. April looks like it is going to be as Mad if not Madder than March. I have quite a few submissions due this coming month as well as quite a bit of editing to do. As for blogging…Warrior Wednesdays is going to be interviewing some amazing authors and writers and I now have all interviews confirmed and locked in until the end of August. So I know where you will all be every Wednesday: sitting down with a cuppa and joining this girl with a quill as I interview some very talented people out there. As Warrior Wednesdays has gained a regular following I am going to start upping the ante as they say a bit…I am going to start digging even deeper into these Warrior Writers and Creative’s Psyche to get to the real secret veins of gold at the heart of their creativity. For this, I am going to ask for audience participation. That would be you dear readers and fellow creatives / bloggers. I need you to tell me what questions you really want answered from these writers. So in order to do this, I have set up two methods of dialogue and discussion. This is the area I have created for Audience Participation. This is your area. You get to post a question here that you would like answered by each Warrior. Each week, starting on the first Wednesday of April I will pick a question from this page (it could be your question) to ask the Warrior. This is a twitter chat room where you can tweet your questions. You can also discuss the previous interviews. I will be asking all the Warriors that I have interviewed already whether they can do a guest host on this tweet chat and you can delve further into anything you would like to know from them. I will let you know via here when we will be doing some guest hosting with the Warriors themselves. This will allow you to not only read the interview but get you involved in the interview process. So starting this week, you have 1 week to post your questions. For this week’s Warrior Interview I have the very gutsy and sassy Leigh K Hunt in studio. I have already received her interview answers and let me tell you that this is going to be a Wowser of an interview. So watch this space tomorrow. You definitely want to be here for this interview. This coming month of April is: Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention month. So in honour of this worthy cause I am going to have the honour of interviewing an Australian Author who is donating the April income from her new biography to this cause. This interview will be hosted on Friday, April the 1st this week. So watch this space for that interview. In April I am going to be reviewing a pre-print new fantasy book. I just received the book today so will be letting you know a review date once I have read it. Let me just tell you the book looks like a very intriguing read. So yes, April is going to be a Mad month again but there are some exciting developments coming up. I hope to see you all here. Look forward to seeing you all participate…lets have some great blog discussions. girl with a quill: Firstly, Welcome to Warrior Wednesdays. Amanda: Thank You for inviting me. girl with a quill: Tell us a little about the woman Amanda Paige and the writer Amanda Paige. Amanda: Well the woman Amanda Paige is a historian and archivist living in Little Rock, Arkansas. I am currently unemployed but volunteer at the Sequoyah National Research Center so I can stay current in my field. I process archival collections and do research related to Indian Removal (Trail of Tears) in Arkansas for the Center. I am single and a “Mom” to my four-legged children: Merlin (Terrier mix), Momma Cat, Bigguns and Baby Girl, all rescued pets by the way. As I writer, I am just beginning with my career. So far my published writing has been nonfiction. I began writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for an internship. I edited selected writings of two American Indian women, Susette LaFlesche Tibbles and Carrie LeFlore Perry. Dr. Daniel F. Littlefield, the professor I interned for, asked me to join him on a project documenting Indian Removal through Arkansas. Under that project I contributed to and wrote numerous site reports documenting Indian Removal as well as articles and conference presentations. Last October my book Chickasaw Removal was published by the Chickasaw Press. Chickasaw Removal came from our North Little Rock site report and we just continued researching the process of removal. For the three of us, we felt Chickasaw Removal was one of if not the most compelling story to tell about removal in Arkansas. I recently contributed articles to the Encyclopedia of American Indian Removal as well. Right now my current work in progress is a biography on Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, based on my internship and what also became my master’s thesis for Public History. On the fiction side: Last year I made a decision to begin working on my fiction writing. For years I had written down some ideas for stories and I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo using an incident from my childhood as the basis for the story. Right now I am reworking this story and beginning to plot out a series that just sort of came to me one day as I rode the bus home from the SNRC. girl with a quill: You are a historian and archivist. Do you find that history tends to play a part in your stories? Amanda: Oh yes. I am reworking my NaNo story to incorporate some historical incidents that will play into the plot. The other series I am working on is very much influenced by the early republic era of American history so yes I can say that history will play a role in my stories. History has been a large part of my life. girl with a quill: Who is your biggest influence in writing and why? Amanda: I am wrestling with this right now actually. The two stories I am working on are completely different genres; contemporary romance for the NaNoWriMo and the other is fantasy. I tend to read a lot of Sci-fi, fantasy, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, nonfiction, mysteries (especially cozy). I have an idea for a cozy mystery and other ideas (don’t we all!) but I don’t want to overdo it right now and burn out. I have enough on my plate and need to finish the Susette LaFlesche Tibbles biography and then I plan to focus more on the fiction. I won’t completely give up on nonfiction as I have already planned to write a book on Arkansas and Indian Removal which will better explain some arguments my coauthors and I made in our site reports and Chickasaw Removal on the importance of Indian Removal in the early development of Arkansas. girl with a quill: You are a co-author of the book “Chickasaw Removal”. Can you tell us a little about this book and what led you to co-write it? Amanda: Well, like I said earlier it grew out of our site report on North Little Rock Arkansas for the National Parks Service to certify North Little Rock’s riverfront as a spot on the national trail. When we three looked at the tribes Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, and Choctaw, we felt the Chickasaw Removal had the most potential for a compelling story of Indian Removal through Arkansas. And I have to say we were right. The book tells the story of the Chickasaw Nation before, during, and right after the removal process especially a lot of the financial fraud that occurred with removal at the expense of the Chickasaw Nation and their resilience as a nation through hardship and adversity. girl with a quill: After your experience of being a co-author, what tips would you give an author who was thinking of co-authoring? Amanda: First of all make sure you can get along with the people you are writing with. I had worked with Fuller and Dr. Littlefield closely for a few years and so that helped immensely! Also you will have to decide how you will make the different authors’ voices mesh and flow. You can’t let ego stand in the way and like I said you need to be able to get along with the people you will collaborate with. girl with a quill: Now I understand that Chickasaw Removal is a non-fiction. Would you say it is more difficult to write a non-fiction or to write a fiction and why? Amanda: I think they are both equally difficult. In nonfiction you still have to tell a story and it can be just as difficult as fiction. Of course in a few years my opinion might change on that as I write more fiction!! Amanda: Nonfiction: first I decide what am I going to write about and then I just do a basic outline. Then I gather as much info on the topic that I can. From there I begin to digest the info I gathered and does it change my basic outline. Then I begin to write. On my fiction, well that is a work in progress as you can see below! girl with a quill: Are you working on a new writing project? Amanda: No I am not superstitious, sorry! girl with a quill: Do you belong to any writing groups and do you have a critique partner? Do you think writing groups or critique partners are important for writers? Why? girl with a quill: What is more important to you? Story or Character? Why? Character. You need a compelling character I think to drive your story. Of course ask me this again in a few years as I write more fiction! LOL. Amanda: Well right now I don’t have one since I am just starting out. I could say all of them but…there was one character in my NaNo that I ended up killing off. He was intended as the heroine’s love interest but he did nothing for her or me and well off he went. Amanda: Gee pick one? Well I do love Scarlett O’Hara. She had the nerve and gumption to let nothing get her down and as the Old South died she was willing to break social norms and do what was needed to survive while the Old Guard sat around whining. She is a flawed character though, as she doesn’t realize til too late she had the perfect man for her. Amanda: Lets see Bobby Flay could cook dinner, I would love to have Vanessa Mae because she could also play some music after dinner, then I would probably just invite three of my friends because actually the friends I have tend to be very creative in their thinking and things they do! LOL. Amanda: Write every day. No matter if it is just one word, sentence, paragraph, chapter etc, any writing counts as progress towards your ultimate goal. Amanda: Ack! This is almost like what do you want on your tombstone, ha! Lets see I guess I want people to know me as a writer who wrote well researched and compelling stories and that I stayed true to who I was. girl with a quill: Can you tell us where we can find you on the web? girl with a quill: Thank you so much for such an interesting interview and a revealing look into history’s lens. It is so true that we can learn so much about history. I for one cannot wait for your biography to be published. Susette’s story sounds fascinating. Thank you for being part of the Wednesday Warriors series. You are indeed a worthy warrior of words. Across ‘The Ditch’ – an interview with Kim Koning, NZ author « Sheryl Gwyther – author. My trip to Australia where I visited with the lovely Sheryl Gwyther. It was quite interesting being on the other side of the interview process. Sheryl had some great questions that really had me scratching my head for just the right answer. Join me in Australia as Sheryl and I sit down for a chat on writing. I have been very excited to have this particular writer in my studio for a good ol’ natter. One of the reasons is that I have been following her interviews on her blog where she interviews writers on writing exceptionally well. So it was a real treat to put the interviewer in the hot seat so to speak. Another reason I have been excited about this interview is that Nicky has become a good online friend with the craziest and quirkiest sense of humour I know. With her photographer’s eye and a childlike imagination, she has a unique perspective on writing. She brought along her two writing friends, her beaded sheep and flying space duck, for the interview and as always packed her quirky sense of humour that never fails to have one smiling. Join us as we discuss squirrels, guinea fowl, photography and writing. Be warned your sense of humour will be tickled. Nicky: Hi Kim, thanks for inviting me to be interviewed as a Wednesday Warrior on DragonFly Scrolls! About me? Well, I’m a mongrel of decidedly mixed European heritage and live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, near the southern tip of the African continent, in a garden full of trees, squirrels and an abundance of guinea fowl! I think we can safely say that an over-active imagination is what drove me to being a writer – that, and a history of creativity in multiple forms in my genetic make-up! girl with a quill: Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? Do you remember your first story? girl with a quill: Your blog is called Absolute Vanilla. What inspired that name? Is it a creative philosophy or a favourite treat? Nicky: Absolute Vanilla is the second blog I created and having learned some lessons from the first blog (a fictional blog written by an acerbic 5’4” alien chicken…), I wanted a name that was high up the alphabetic order so when it is listed it’s near the top of people’s blog rolls. (You can put this down to over 15 spent in marketing and communications!) That aside, I love vanilla. So a bit of juggling and Absolute Vanilla was born. girl with a quill: You mention photography as another creative passion. Do you find your photography to be an inspiration for your writing and vice versa? Nicky: For me photography provides a different way of seeing the world. When you look at life through the lens of a camera you see things in a purer and freer form, you see the beauty or the wonder of the thing you’re looking at in a highly focused way. I find photography to be an incredibly healing art form. Does it influence my writing? Only insofar as I guess one could say I look at the blank page with the same kind of focus with which I see through the camera lens, and that photography has taught me to look at the world in a different way. girl with a quill: On your blog, you have done quite a bit of interviewing yourself. What 3 lessons have you learnt from Writers on writing? Accept the voices living in your head and give them voice. Be true to yourself and write the story you’re meant to write. And a fourth one – accept that it’s very tough out there and you must have persistence and determination to succeed. girl with a quill: Speaking of your blog, do you believe that blogging and having a social presence on the web is important to building a platform for your writing? Nicky: Unquestionably! Social media is fundamental to the times in which we live. I would not be where I am if it weren’t for social media. I started with yahoo groups, then blogging, and then moved onto Facebook, Ning groups and Twitter. All these platforms have given me access to people and ideas without which I would not be where I am today – for example, being interviewed on your blog, or interviewing other authors with whom I’ve connected via Facebook and Twitter on my blog. So, social media has helped me get where I am, it’s helped me create a global network of contacts and it’s got me “out there” – where I’m told I have a persona which is somewhat larger than life…. “But you’re so small!” a group of online friends exclaimed when they met me at a conference last year. “We thought you’d be so much taller!” There you go, that’s part of the power of social networking! girl with a quill: When you are not writing, which writers do you love to read? Why? Nicky: I read mostly Young Adult fiction because that’s what I write. My favourite authors include Meg Rosoff, Kevin Brooks, Marcus Sedgwick and Gillian Philip – to name just a few. They stand out for me because a) they write superbly well b) they’re unafraid to tackle tough issues c) they write with strong and honest voices. For me a good story, well told, is deepened by a very real emotional voice with rich characterisation. It’s authors like these – and others like Candy Gourlay and Keren David – who inspire my writing and my writing journey. Nicky: Aside from what I’ve said above, I think I was inspired to write in the first instance my grandmother who was a wonderful storyteller. Sitting with her in her Austrian-themed dining room, with a pot of Ceylon tea and a pile of anchovy toast, she would weave the most wonderful tales of her life. In many ways, one might say she opened up the world of storytelling to me. Nicky: I’ve always leant towards the fantasy genres, though I find that more recently I’ve moved from pure fantasy to something which is based in urban reality but has fantasy, magical realism or supernatural/paranormal elements. I guess it’s about weaving together the real with the mysterious – which is, I think, a reflection of life per se. girl with a quill: Many writers use writing workshops and writing competitions to hone their craft. Have you attended any writing workshops / entered any writing competitions? Nicky: In a nutshell, no – but only because they’re not accessible to me. I would need to travel to the US or the UK to attend the kind of courses I want to do – though, to that end, I do try to get the SCBWI-BI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators – British Isles) annual conference whenever I can and, if I lived in the UK or US, I would unquestionably attend writing workshops and seminars. The one thing I have done (because I could do it via email) is to have a manuscript assessed by a literary consultancy. That was an incredible (and steep) learning curve and I would heartily advocate it. girl with a quill: Tell us about the publishing process in South Africa. Do you need an agent or can you approach the publisher directly? Nicky: I can’t tell you a huge amount about the publishing process in South Africa as I’m not looking to be published here. This is primarily because the South African publishing industry is small – representative of the reading population – and this is especially for children’s literature (remember the vast majority of South African children are impoverished, and books, sadly, are a luxury). Moreover, I’ve been told by the local publishers with whom I’ve been in contact that I write for an age group and in a genre and about subjects which are of no interest to South African publishers – they prefer novels that are South African based and which contain an African theme. I suppose this is driven by the fact that local booksellers would sooner import foreign books that already have a proven sales record and are guaranteed to sell, so publishers won’t take the risk of putting money into unknown local talent. That said, there is a reasonable market in children’s picture books and educational literature (provided it has an African theme). As for agents, there aren’t any here that I know of – mostly because local publishers prefer not to work with an agent – they would rather deal directly with an author. Nicky: With a blank page – or a blank computer screen! Usually I have a vague idea of what I want to write about, an idea will have come to me in some way and I will spend time letting it “compost” in my head. When I feel I and the story and the main character are ready (which is usually when the character starts prodding my brain a little over-eagerly) – then I just sit down and write. I often think of it as a “channelling” experience! Nicky: I’m unquestionably a pantser! I love the adventure of seeing where a story will take me. I find plotting removes some of the “magic” of the creative process. I will acknowledge, however, that this approach does mean that I have to do lots of rewrites and edits and I do keep telling myself that I really should have a go at plotting, sort of, anyway! Nicky: Nope, not at all superstitious! But then I also don’t believe in things like writer’s block – which I know several of my author friends will argue with me about! girl with a quill: Many published authors say that writing needs to be treated like any other job where you work for a set time every day. Do you have a set routine for your writing? Do you have a favourite time of day for your writing? Nicky: I would like to see it that way, but it doesn’t always work like that – sometimes life just gets in the way. I find I write best in the morning and early evening. Unless I’m really on a roll with a story, I’m useless after lunch – so I use that time for doing other stuff – you know, all the admin related nonsense that so clutters our lives. I don’t really have a set routine, I just try to go with the flow. I believe that writing, like everything else, has rhythms and I try to respect those. If I don’t feel like writing, I don’t. If I need a break I take it. If I want to write for seven hours flat out, I do that (though this may mean that my lovely husband doesn’t get fed!). I’m not inclined to be rule bound but I do discipline myself. I set myself deadlines and I meet them. I try to go to the gym two to three times a week, I try to meditate daily. I make a point of getting away from my writing when it becomes too intense. It’s all about balance, being kind to and respecting yourself and the story and your characters. If I go too long without moving on with a story, my characters can become downright invasive and bullying! girl with a quill: Describe your writing space for us. Nicky: I have a study which I designed myself with a built in desk and bookshelves. It’s painted orange (it’s supposed to be a colour that inspires and motivates!) though the walls not covered in books are covered in pinboards and paintings and photographs. I’d describe it as a very vivid and friendly space. That said, I’m about to build a new house on the side of the mountain and in that the study will be a bit of an eyrie with big windows looking out over valley, mountains and sea. Although I’ve been involved with critique groups for several years, I initially fought joining one for a long time, but I have to say it was one of the best things I ever did. What I will say is that it is critical to find yourself the right group critique group – writers who are at the same level and better than you, people you can trust and for whom you have respect. And if a critique group isn’t right for you, leave it and find another, there is no point in being in a group in which you are not comfortable or in which you are not learning. A good critique group will do two things – one, you will learn why your own story is or isn’t working and how to address problems, and two, in critiquing the work of your peers you will develop your critical faculties, which you can then apply to your own work. It’s very much a two-way street and what people put into a critique group is what they will get out of it. But, and I can’t overstate this point; critique groups must be dominated by mutual trust and respect, and a good critique is kindly done and constructively critical – a critique should never demoralise or embarrass or hurt someone. Nicky: Hmm, good question… I’m not really sure you can separate the two, I think both elements are critical in writing a good novel. I like to start with a strong character, as I believe my character often drives and informs the story. But the two work in tandem – and together with that other critical element, voice. girl with a quill: I know that it is a bit like asking a mother who her favourite child is but, Do you have a favourite story from those you have written and can you tell us a little bit about it? Nicky: Every story I work on is my favourite story, I genuinely can’t say I have one that stands out from the others, though, inevitably, whatever I’m working on at the moment is the “current” favourite. Nicky: I’m afraid the same sort of answer applies as above, though I did write a novel for younger children (9 – 12 years) several years ago that I’d really like to go back to because I so enjoyed the characters. It’s a fantasy, set largely in a fantasy world which gave scope for all sorts of weird and wonderful characters including a dragon, an owl and a Great Dane – who both spoke and had more views and attitude than your average opinion poll – and a pair of incorrigible gnomes. girl with a quill: Are you working on any story now? Can you give us a peek into it? Nicky: There are two: Hercule Poirot is one – simply because Agatha Christie gave him so many characteristics and so much life that he’s vivid – although, admittedly, something of a caricature. The other is Terry Pratchett’s Granny Weatherwax – simply put, she’s a witch after my own heart – I mean, who doesn’t want to be adept at headology and be able to borrow another creature’s mind on occasion?! Nicky: I’m not sure I’d want a dinner party with 5 famous creative people; I suspect there would be way too much ego around the table! Instead, I’d rather invite a huge group of my children’s writer pals to a soiree! Nicky: I think the guest list would very much depend on my mood at the time and the kind of party I wanted. But to be completely frivolous, let me say, Hercule Poirot, Granny Weatherwax, Bertie Wooster (he would of course bring Jeeves), Gandalf and Vlad Dracul. I suspect I’d then sit back and watch the mayhem unfold. I can tell you that already multiple creative outcomes are flitting up from my imagination! Nicky: Try astrophysics instead – it’s probably easier. Accept that you’re not as good as you think you are and set to work improving. Everyone thinks they can write (I was a copywriter and a scriptwriter in a previous life) but actually, most people can’t write and fewer people can write a really good story, especially a children’s story. Nicky: Learn, always learn – observe and grow all the time – be savvy, stay in touch with the world and stay creative. Nicky: I don’t really care about creating a lasting legacy – I just want to tell a good story and tell it well. If it touches someone’s life, that’s wonderful. If a legacy is created from that, great – but since I probably won’t be around to know about it, it doesn’t really matter. To my mind, the desire to create a lasting legacy is fundamentally an ego-based illusion. The important thing in the here and now is to honour the story – and yourself – in the process of creation. I am on Facebook but I manage my connections there quite tightly. And a note to your readers – please don’t confuse me with the chicklit author who uses my name as her nom de plume! Or the Danish musician, who is male. Well it is Wednesday which means it is time for me to have a sit down chat with another warrior. The element of these interviews that I love the most is that I get to sit down and chat with a fascinating artist of words. I learn tips about the craft of writing that have been tried, tested and aced in the school of hard knocks. The other element I love is the myriad of differences and similarities between each writer I interview and myself. Some of us write full-time, some of us wish we could write full-time. Some are mothers, some are single. Today’s writer hails from the fair city of arts and culture in the land down-under: the city that is Melbourne. Join me in my living room as I sit down and chat with the energetic writer, mom, wife, and tea lover as we chat about how she blends a life of writing and creativity (helped along by a freshly brewed cup of tea) with the madness and chaos of a hospital emergency room. While we chat, I will brew us a fresh pot of tea, Jill’s muse…. thanks for inviting me to be interviewed, I hope you enjoy the chat. Jill: I’m a people person who lives happily out of the box and tends to step further out and away if I feel crowded. I live at the base of a mountain that is famous for bushfires but also for beautiful birds and marsupials, brave people who have lost again and again but keep re-building. I work Saturday nights resuscitating people who live literally unbelievable lives of violence, panic, and drunkenness. Why? I still believe that under any mess there is a gem worth looking for. I enjoy the sounds of native birds, the kindness of unexpected people, trust and clarity. I’m a web-browser; I love spiders and usually know who is hiding in my garden. Jill: About fifty years; I don’t remember a time when I didn’t read and write. I do remember it being disruptive to living and learning, but comfort was more important than conformity. girl with a quill: What genre do you write in? What made you decide to become a writer in this genre? Jill: I’ve written Children’s musicals with my husband, articles on health and parenting for years. I prefer Young Adult fiction, mostly metaphorical and speculative. I love walking out of this world to find hooks and handles in another, hoping to offer relief to people who struggle with uniqueness. girl with a quill: Tell us about your books? Are you in Pre-publication? Jill: Yes. I have my first fiction book on its way out. Just a few more pushes and it should breathing and smiling. This one is for the 10 – 15-year-old age group; especially those girls who feel cheated by the lack of choice, the sudden changes of periods, a morphing body and capricious emotions. Most of the books I’ve written have been about pushing through essential walls of change. girl with a quill: Are you working on a new story right now? Can you tell us anything about it? Jill: it defines a child I knew too well, explores the panic of crowding, the tenderness of raising an eaglet, and the sanctity of voice. Jill: Not necessarily, I try to choose universal themes. Everybody knows the same struggles, not everyone has the same choices. I don’t think geography affects the most interesting part of us. I don’t like being a tourist, because no matter how great the scenery, it’s the inner person that is more interesting, beautiful, courageous or tested. Jill: My husband. He believes in me and I trust him. I can’t say that about anybody else. Jill: I knew that I wanted to write fiction, probably for children or emerging adults. I mostly wrote on health and parenting because I’m a critical care nurse and knew the territory well. I don’t particularly enjoy non-fiction, but I felt wanted there and it kept me working in writing for a few years. I would love to become established as YA fiction writer, but I’m still finding my way. girl with a quill: You are a mother with a part-time job and writer? Do you tend to have your children be your beta readers? Jill: I work night duty in a public Hospital Emergency department, and have three High School children. My children do read my work and often pick up inconsistencies in colloquial language, or depth of conversation. However I also like to have the opinion of experienced editors/authors for technical problems with balance/style etc. girl with a quill: In your day job you are a shift worker, do you find that it is harder to find time to write? Do you have set writing times? Jill: I do set myself times to write/edit during the day but also love flashes of inspiration that come during sleep, at odd moments during my usual chaotic life. I don’t find that writing creatively can be worked into planned spaces, it tends to land unexpectedly. I leave notes everywhere; sentences, runaway tangents that appear away from my chosen work space. girl with a quill: You participated in NaNoWriMo 2010 and you were a winner? What did you take away from that experience that is valuable to your writing? Jill: I loved the excuse to have to write. I had previously considered writing an option, a loved option but not one that had enough definition. Nano pushed me to create hours in a day when I’d put on my nano shirt, buy a new teapot, sort out a ritual that became and has remained a beautiful place. I loved listening to other writer’s discuss their struggles, and vulnerabilities. Previously I hadn’t had feedback that was friendly. It was constructive but less intimate, and I believe more grows within the place of vulnerability and intimacy. Not just in writing. girl with a quill: For NaNoWriMo the challenge is to write down the story without editing. Is this how you usually write? Jill: Yes, I love runaway writing, or stream of consciousness. Maybe it seems less didactic and rehearsed, less forced. Jill: I have so many possible plots waiting in a queue in that writing room in my head. I haven’t experienced writer’s block, I could write for days if real life didn’t interrupt me. I recently destroyed a manuscript I had worked on for 5 years because I’d had so much pain in the rewrites. Jill: Definitely a panster. I don’t like confinement and my characters’ journey is happier when birthed and grown organically than under the restrictions of timelines, plots and maps. I have software for mind mapping but it seems so restrictive, it hurts. In my personal life, I don’t like clocks, maps, diaries because they preach at me. In y writing life I need the freedom to dangle a possibility ad allow it to brew. That was why I bought a new teapot for Nano; it was symbolic of brewing and tasting something in a beautiful vessel, , choosing the depth and savouring the outcome. Jill: I don’t think I am superstitious. I wouldn’t want my thought life to be defined by events. Life takes unexpected turns and not all of it needs understanding or reason. Jill: Only this on-line group. Nano helped me listen to other writers, but I’m not very good with too many people. I tried a couple of writer’s groups, but felt crowded. I love having one to appraise my words, but not several. Jill: The character. I love people. I work in an Emergency Department because I love the variety and unexpected changes. All of life is woven with stories but can be boring if the character is not someone you care about. People matter more to me than events. I love metaphors and allegories because they have the chance to unearth the complexity of the heart of people. Jill: A boy who couldn’t read, had cheated and manipulated people to find a way through the system. He reminds me of so many teenage boys I know, covering frailties by unconsciously trapping people to help them find a path. Jill: The Cat in the Hat; he loved mess and always pulled solutions and possibilities out of nowhere. Jill: 1;Dr Seuss because he told children that life would have its pains, pleasures and paradoxes, and that the journey is beautiful. 2; AA Milne; I loved his stories, but after reading his son’s biographies, I was very distressed about Christopher Robin’s parenting. I have so many questions to ask Mr Milne Sr. 3; Simon French; I have re-read all his books so many times, he has a beautiful insight, into injustice in common society. 4;Marilynne Robinson, because she writes those moments of wit, warmth and pain that make you shiver. 5; Robert Frost. He was rejected within his own country because his metaphorical writing wasn’t understood, but he still believed in himself enough to pursue his own style. He seemed to be so sensitive, secure and persistent. Jill: None of them. I have a house full of teenagers, and all their friends. My bravest moment was having 13 13-year-old boys for a 24 hour sleep-over. It was the noisiest, smelliest time I’ve ever had. My characters can stay on the pages. Jill: Accept technical advice, but allow room for your teachers to have opinions that are not necessarily insightful. Jill: No matter how many times you decide you’ve failed, the fire of a dream will not be extinguished. Jill: To find a few sentences that melt the reader’s sobriety and sadness. girl with a quill: Where can we find you? I am on Facebook, twitter; @jilldempsey and have a blog that is still waking slowly. What a fascinating chat and what a fascinating lady. Thank you for coming in today Jill. Now if I am not mistaken, you must be parched and the tea must be brewed. Shall I pour us each a cup while I excuse the readers? and Ink imbrues deeper than Blood…. Today’s writer is an eloquent lady with a lovely turn of phrase hailing from the Netherlands. I met her through the Warriors Facebook group that I belong to and have enjoyed all her wise posts. She may not post as often on the group as I know she is busy on her latest story, but when she does post or post a link through to her blog, I always take note of what she says. She is a writer that not only knows about her craft and has succeeded at having a career in writing but also has a vast resume of writing related paths from being an intern at a top publishing house to editing to ghost-writing. If you think that you find it impossible to just find enough time to write for a hour every day, Mina adds one more item to her resume by being a teacher of creative writing at schools. She started off wanting to be an architect but in the end decided to follow the path of destiny and followed the way of the words to become a writer. They say everything happens for a reason and I am glad that destiny changed her pathway from architecture to writing. Otherwise we would have missed out on enjoying her talent and her wisdom. girl with a quill: Tell us a little about you. Mina: I was born and grew up in a small village in the south of the Netherlands. My dad was an architect and for a long time I thought I was destined to be one as well, as I inherited his math genes. But I hadn’t counted on my mom’s genes. She had a great imagination and she was a storyteller pur sang. She planted the storytelling seed in me. It took its time to grow, even after I found out that my favorite subject in school was… detention. Detention meant writing essays and I loved writing essays even more than I loved math, physics and chemistry. I did study architecture, but never finished it. After dropping out of polytechnic, I wandered around for quite some years until I couldn’t ignore the need to get all the stories out anymore. I followed some courses creative writing and the four-year course Writing Prose For Children. I also did the editor’s minor at the University of Amsterdam and an internship at one of the major publishing houses in the Netherlands. By now I’m not only a writer, but also a seasoned freelance copy-editor. In addition to writing and editing, I write reviews for Booktunes, the site that brings your favorite books and music together and I occasionally teach creative writing to high school students. Mina: After my son was born and I, again, got hold of all those exciting books I used to read when I was young, books taking you with them on adventures you couldn’t even dream of. I realized I had to do more than read. I signed up for some creative writing classes (I’m a bit of a perfectionist) and at one of the classes, Writing for Children, everything suddenly fitted, like finding your true vocation. Mina: Every day inspires me to write. Even the tiniest event can light the fire, because behind every event, every single step you take in life there is a whole world of stories. What if you didn’t take that step? What if you went into the other direction? What you see is what you get, people often say, but what if it’s not? Mina: Home is where I write. I have an office on the second floor where I’m surrounded by paintings and books. From my window I look at one of Amsterdam’s main canals, lined with trees and beautiful 18th century houses. A great view if you have to sit and think, which is what writers do a lot. Mina: I think most of the stories are already in me. They just need to find their way out. Others come to me when I travel, like THE SUN SPIRIT. That one hit me when I was traveling through Arizona and the Navajo Nation: the thunderstorms, the flash floods, the intriguingly mysterious red monoliths. You could feel the adventure in every breath of air, in every grain of sand, in every sudden shadow that darkened the world for a moment. Most of my stories are a mix of character- and story-driven. The story, the adventure is the main pillar on which a telling is built, but every story needs strong characters, too. girl with a quill: Once you have your story, take us through your preparation stage. Tell us a little about your writing process. Mina: The preparation stage is usually a long one, as the story first needs to form in my head. As soon as the basic shape is there, as soon as I’m well acquainted with my protagonist, I can start writing. First a draw a blueprint on the whiteboard next to my desk, next I start writing the manuscript. I am a linear writer, and I usually write a book from the beginning to the end in one go (don’t worry, I do go to sleep at night J). Only my debut, DEEDEE’S REVENGE, was written differently. Circumstances forced me to write some of the individual scenes first and “weld” them together in a later stage. I can still see those seams. They might be invisible for the reader, but they are there. When writing THE SUN SPIRIT I found my preferred modus operandi, so… linear it is. When I’m done writing I put the manuscript away for a week or so to let it all sink in. Then I read it and start revising the first time. After the first revision I give it to my proofreader. She is a friend of my son’s (16 by now). She wants to be a writer herself and she is a very strict and uncompromising editor, and she’s able to single out most of the flaws. I find it invaluable to have a target reader as my proofreader. With her reader’s report at hand I revise the manuscript for the second time. After that, and only when I am truly satisfied with the end result, I hand the manuscript in. girl with a quill: You write YA. What led you into this form of writing? Mina: I know YA is the name, but I see my stories more as coming-of-age stories. Sometimes my protagonist is 10 or 12, sometimes he is a little older, like the one in the new book I’m working on. He’s 16. What they all have in common is that they go through an adventure that will change their lives forever. YA is the major part of what I write, but I also write thrillers for adults and short read-aloud stories for the very young. The thrillers are a logic continuation of writing YA – or at least it feels that way. The short stories work as etudes. Writing them hones my craft and keeps me on my toes if it comes to keeping the “fanning out” in check. Short stories force you to be brief and to the point, but at the same time every sentence, every word needs to be in flow with the next sentence and the next word. girl with a quill: Do you have a favourite out of your stories or your books? Can you tell us why? Mina: That is a hard question. I love DEEDEE’S REVENGE (DE WRAAK VAN DEEDEE), not only because it was my debut, but it also because it is a bit about me. DEEDEE’S REVENGE is about Deedee and her pesky brother Matthias. One day Matthias crosses the line with one of his pranks and Deedee swears she will get back at him. It’s a bit about me getting back at my brother, at last, for one of the pranks he pulled on me when I was young. It’s also the only book I’ve written that has a female protagonist. girl with a quill: Do you have a favourite character from your books? Can you tell us who/what and why? Mina: I think Tom, my protagonist in the Warriors Of The Sun series, is my favorite character. He’s been with me for three books now (of which two have been published so far). I love him and the way he carefully treads through life, getting bolder and more confident with every book. girl with a quill: Do you find that all of your stories are smoothly written once started or have some of them been challenging? Mina: So far it has been easy “writes”, if there is anything like an easy “write”. In a way every manuscript is a challenge, as you never know beforehand if it will work out, but most of the time the writing is smooth. It’s the editing and revising part that bothers me more. That part compels a lot of self-discipline as you have to be able to be ruthless in killing your darlings. girl with a quill: Have you ever written in any other genre? If you haven’t, would you want to and what genre would you choose? Mina: Up till now I have written short read-aloud stories for the very young, adventure (low) fantasy for MG/YA and I just finished the revision of my first thriller for adults. You might think that is different genres, but it’s not. All my stories are spine-chilling adventures, even the short stories (although those aren’t as scary as the stories for my older audience). I don’t think I will ever divert from this adventure genre. It fits me like glove. girl with a quill: You have published your books in Dutch. Have you had your books translated into English? Mina: Three of my books and about 30 short stories have been published in Dutch, none of them have been translated. Yet! girl with a quill: What is your opinion on books being translated? Do you find that it is a positive or a negative to the story? Does anything get “lost in translation? Mina: In the Netherlands we grow up with translated literature. Our publishers have a long tradition of bringing translated books to the public. Partly because there are a lot of good books out there that should be read, but also because of our traders’ mentality: why shouldn’t you publish a book that is successful abroad here as well and make some money in the process? For the story it’s not always a blessing. As an editor I have copy-edited quite some translations, and yes, things can definitely get lost in translation. It takes an outstanding translator to capture not only the story, but also the voice of the author and even then it’s inevitable that some things get lost in translation because of the mere fact that one language isn’t the other. Dutch books are less often translated into other languages. I suspect that it being such a small language area and the corresponding lack of translators from Dutch might be responsible for that, as it makes the translation process a rather costly matter. girl with a quill: Tell us about the process of publication in the Netherlands? Do you have to have an agent or do you work directly with a publisher? Mina: The agent system is slowly gaining ground here, but only for adult literature. Writers usually deal directly with the publishers. That might also be due to the smaller market. The sales figures for midlist writers a not spectacular and if you have to split the already proceeds with an agent… But I’m very much for an agent system. Most writers are not sales people, agents are. It pays to have someone dedicated to your books deal for you. I have an agent (Paul Sebes of Sebes & Van Gelderen Literary Agency) for my thriller. girl with a quill: Have you / Would you submit to any US publishers or UK publishers? Mina: I have not submitted to US publishers or UK publishers. Again: yet! I have signed a contract with literary agent Erzsi Deàk of the Hen & Ink. She will handle all rights for my children’s books, not only the ones that have been published in the Netherlands, but the future ones, too. I am very, very happy with Erzsi. She gives me the opportunity to spread my wings and to become true member of our ever-globalizing world. Would you consider publishing in E-book format? Mina: I am totally addicted to my e-reader. I love the concept and the possibilities it offers to both reader and writer. Thankfully, the Netherlands is slowly but surely picking up the advantages of the e-reader. girl with a quill: Are you working on a new story right now? girl with a quill: You have a website, a blog and a twitter id. Do you find social network platforms important to a writer’s platform? If so, why and how? Mina: I have mixed feelings about social network platforms. Yes, they are important as they give you a more direct way of interacting with your audience and with your peer group. It keeps you informed. One of the earlier Warriors you interviewed aptly named Facebook ‘her water cooler’. That is exactly how I feel about it. Writing can be a very lonely business. It’s good to meet your peers and your audience at the ‘water cooler’ every now and again. The downside, of course, is that it takes away time from your core business: writing. You have to exercise quite some discipline to keep the every now and again really every now and again and not all the time. girl with a quill: If you could choose 5 famous creative people to have dinner with, who would you choose and why? Mina: I would love to have dinner with Jennifer Donnelly, Frank Lloyd Wright, Panamarenko, Yukio Mishima and Harper Lee. Jennifer wrote this intense YA-novel REVOLUTION and I would love to talk about to her our craft and the agony it causes us sometimes and how to overcome that. Frank Lloyd Wright is on the list, because designed the most beautiful houses in the world, houses that – to me – are like stories. I wish he could tell me about the lines he sees and how he was able to put those lines down on paper and shape them into houses. Panamarenko is a Belgian artist. Every single piece of art he makes is a novel in itself. During dinner I would have him tell me everything about how math can marry art. John Irving is one of my favorite writers. I wish he would tell me all about the construction of a story. Finally Harper Lee, the writer of my all-time favorite novel. She only wrote one and I wish she could tell me why. girl with a quill: If you could have a dinner party with 5 of your favourite fictional characters? Who would they be and why would you invite them? Mina: Mizoguchi, the deeply troubled acolyte from Yukio Mishima’s THE TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILION, Scout (Jean Louise Finch) from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Bod Pa, the old shaman in the Dutch coming-of-age novel HET BOEK VAN BOD PA (Bod Pa’s Book) by Anton Quintana, Pepto Bismo, Panamarenko’s statue of a modern day Icarus, and Begochiddy, messengers of the Navajo spirits. I would love to meet them, because they all are out of the ordinary, the stand out in loneliness, in strength, in being different. Somehow they all feel as kindred spirits (I’m not going to burn a temple, though J). Mina: That would be Anton Quintana, a Dutch writer of children’s books and thrillers. His children’s books are the ones I admire most. They all have that extra in them, that thing that tells you that there is more to this world than meets the eye. girl with a quill: What is your favourite classic book? And why? Mina: My favorite classic is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. I know I’m not alone here, but the book is so intense. It reached right into my soul, it questioned my values and it left me with the rather desolate feeling that in the end we’re all alone. girl with a quill: What is your favourite contemporary book? And why? Mina: That is another hard question. There are so many good books coming out. For now, I’ll go with Jennifer Donnelly’s REVOLUTION. It is just as intense as Harper Lee’s book, but on a different level. Donnelly has accomplished, that if you read it, you almost literally can feel the pain of the protagonist, Andi Alpers, whose life was shattered after the death of her younger brother. Mina: Keep honing your craft. Mina: I hope people will read my books. girl with a quill: Can you tell us where we can find on the Web? Thank you Mina for that look into your life as a writer. Now it looks like you are just about ready for another cuppa. Tell me more about the adventures that Dorian gets up to in your latest thriller…Readers if you want to know more you will just have to wait for the book.

2019-04-25T16:43:54Z

https://kimkoningink.com/tag/interview/

New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Charleston Road Registry Inc. While the string for which Charleston Road Registry (CRR) is applying, .music, is not an IDN and, therefore, does not contain characters which require mixed right-to-left or left-to-right functionalities, CRR has nonetheless familiarized itself with the requirements and components of the IDNA protocol by reviewing the relevant RFCs and the relevant background information found on the ICANN IDN Wiki. CRR has also tested the .music string for rendering issues; none were found. Charleston Road Registry is an American company, wholly owned by Google, which was established to provide registry services to the Internet public. Google is an American multinational public corporation and global technology leader focused on improving the ways its hundreds of millions of users connect with information. Since its formation, Google has been developing technology that can improve upon existing ways of doing business on the Internet. Google provides a variety of services and tools for Internet users and advertisers of all sizes, from simple search features and local ads to enterprise-scale business applications and global advertising solutions. These tools make it easier for people to make use of the world’s information and enable entrepreneurs and publishers around the world to grow their businesses. In line with Google’s general mission, Charleston Road Registry’s mission is to help make information universally accessible and useful by extending the utility of the DNS while enhancing the performance, security, and stability of the Internet for users worldwide. Charleston Road Registry aspires to create unique web spaces where users can learn about products, services, and information in a targeted manner and in ways never before seen on the Internet. Its business objective is to manage Google’s gTLD portfolio and Google’s registry operator business. As discussed further in the responses to questions 23 and 31, Charleston Road Registry intends to outsource all critical registry functions to Google Registry Services. The purpose of the proposed gTLD, .music, is to provide a dedicated domain space in which copyright holders and their authorized distributors and licensees can enact unique second-level domains that relate to the promotion, sampling, or purchase of music. Charleston Road Registry believes that registrants will find value in associating with this gTLD, in particular musicians and music distributors. There is a significant audience for music on the Internet, as supported by industry data: over 10 billion songs have been downloaded on iTunes since its launch in 2001 [Source: http:⁄⁄www.apple.com⁄pr⁄products⁄ipodhistory⁄]; Pandora total listener hours were approximately 2.1 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 [Source: http:⁄⁄investor.pandora.com⁄phoenix.zhtml?c=227956&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=1633097&highlight=]; and total global digital music sales were $5B in 2011 [Source: http:⁄⁄www.guardian.co.uk⁄media⁄2012⁄jan⁄23⁄global-music-sales]. This mission will enhance consumer choice by providing new availability in the second-level domain space, creating new layers of organization on the Internet, and signaling the kind of content available in the domain. The proposed gTLD will also provide Charleston Road Registry with the means to meet its business objectives. The goal of the proposed gTLD is to create a new Internet environment that provides registrants with the opportunity to associate with a meaningful term. Charleston Road Registry, as the registry operator, will define the specialized meaning of the term and, based on this definition, will identify criteria for registrants to operate in the proposed gTLD. Only entities that meet these criteria will be entitled to register for a domain in the gTLD. Specialization, therefore, arises from the Charleston Road Registry definition of a term, as well as through market dynamics as entities align their offering(s) with the term. This specialization will be maintained through intermittent audits to ensure the relevancy of content in the proposed gTLD to the defined meaning of the gTLD. The specialization goal of the proposed gTLD is to create a new Internet environment that provides registrants with the opportunity to associate with the term ʺmusicʺ and to provide content and offerings related to music and⁄or targeted at users seeking music content. Through its association with Google, Charleston Road Registry is uniquely positioned to enable and support the proposed gTLD by providing its service reliability and speed of delivery as a part of its services. Google brings unique expertise and a proven record of excellence in infrastructure operations: Google now runs the largest DNS system in the world, has industry-leading uptime on its services, such as web search, and offers enterprise services on which governments and businesses depend. Charleston Road Registry is committed to using the most technologically advanced, secure, and reliable registry services for all of the domain names in the gTLD so as to not compromise the service levels, security, and stability of the gTLD to users across the globe. Charleston Road Registry will provide both Engineering and Customer Service support to registrars. All registrars will also have the same level of access to Charleston Road Registry resources to resolve disputes and technical and⁄or administrative customer service issues. Charleston Road Registry will provide all registrars with 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week Customer Support in the form of telephone, email, and⁄or web chat for technical and non-technical issues relating to the operation of the gTLD system. Charleston Road Registry will provide all registrars with the same level of access to customer support via telephone, email, and Charleston Road Registryʹs website; email and web-based interactions will be the primary method of provisioning customer service support to registrars. Google has a proven record of providing high-quality, secure online services. Charleston Road Registry seeks to enhance Google’s reputation for excellence, superior quality, and high level of security and become known as an exemplary domain name services provider. When registrants assess opportunities in the marketplace to obtain a name, they will have confidence in Charleston Road Registry’s ability to meet ongoing needs as the registry operator for the proposed gTLD. When Internet users visit a domain name in the proposed gTLD environment, they will be able to reliably expect and experience the high level of security and quality on which Google’s reputation has been built. The registry will be structured in such a way that Charleston Road Registry will enable registrars to register and oversee second-level domain names in the proposed gTLD; that registrars develop and deploy a reasonable process for ensuring that those domain names are used for gTLD-relevant purposes as specified in the registry-registrar agreement; that the WHOIS is thick and reliable; and that the registry is responsive to legal rights owners (if applicable) who may have complaints about potentially abusive registrations. Charleston Road Registry plans to develop and publish eligibility criteria for all registrants in the proposed gTLD and will work with its registrars to execute the eligibility verification process. This process will imbue additional meaning to all second-level domains in the gTLD and enhance the gTLD’s reputation by establishing an authoritative community of content providers. When Internet users visit a website in the proposed gTLD environment, they will be able to reliably expect content relevant to the proposed gTLD. In addition, Charleston Road Registry’s operation of the new gTLD will provide the opportunity for registrars and registrants to build and⁄or bolster their unique brands and brand reputation in association with the proposed gTLD. Charleston Road Registry supports the advancement of registry operators as a whole and the diffusion of gTLDs amongst diverse stakeholders to generate increased competition for the benefit of the Internet public. Increased competition will result in more competitive prices for consumers, generate efficiencies and increase productivity in enterprises, and spur innovation in the gTLD space. The proposed gTLD, .music, will provide a new online structure for the aggregation of music-related content. As an alternative to existing second-level domains, Charleston Road Registry anticipates that the .music gTLD will increase competition among registrars by allowing for further product and pricing differentiation opportunities when offering second-level domains in the gTLD. Charleston Road Registry expects that the .music gTLD will lower barriers to entry into the marketplace for musicians, in particular by introducing a new online distribution channel. This fosters growth in the number of entities offering music and music-related content on the Internet, thereby increasing competition among all music purveyors. Charleston Road Registry also anticipates the .music gTLD may contribute to an increase in online advertising given the specific nature and purpose of the domain. Entities will compete to advertise their goods and services and reach a targeted audience of musicians and⁄or music consumers. Managing this namespace will allow Charleston Road Registry to provide to registrars and registrants the high level of technical operations quality and service for which Google is known, which in turn will incent other existing and new gTLDs to improve the quality of their offerings. Charleston Road Registry will facilitate a fair and equitable registrar process, providing open access to any registrar who meets ICANN accreditation guidelines and fully complying with the Registry Operator Code of Conduct. Charleston Road Registry is committed to treating all registrars equitably and will not offer preferential treatment to Google in its capacity as registrar. Charleston Road Registry believes in the commercial viability of alternatives to existing gTLDs such as .com and .net. The proposed gTLD will provide the marketplace with an authoritative space for registrants to deliver content, imparting brand differentiation not currently available in the current gTLD space. It also delivers value to the Internet public by defining the meaning of the gTLD term, providing for the verification of registrants who will offer content in the proposed gTLD environment, and encouraging a specific use. These activities differentiate the proposed gTLD space in a new and meaningful way. The .music gTLD will provide a new mechanism whereby copyright holders and their authorized distributors and licensees can enact second-level domains that offer content related to their respective copyrighted music content. This signification is not currently available in the gTLD space. In addition, given its association with Google, Charleston Road Registry offers a unique value proposition to registrars and registrants resulting from the strength of Google’s trusted brand, technical leadership, and support for free speech on the Internet. Registrars will have the opportunity to leverage this brand in devising their own market positions. The proposed gTLD will foster innovation by creating a new space for the categorization and classification of online content. It will therein provide a mechanism by which registrars and registrants can better brand and manage their online presence by associating it with the .music namespace. This namespace delivers value to the public through the provision of new and differentiated content, goods, and services to Internet users. The proposed gTLD, .music, will promote innovation among registrars by opening the possibility for copyright holders and their authorized distributors and licensees to own second-level domains in which they can deliver music-related content to the Internet public. This provides registrars with the opportunity to create and offer tailored new products and services that benefit registrants and⁄or improve user experience in association with the registration of a second-level domain in the .music gTLD. The proposed gTLD aspires to become an authoritative online resource for music. In addition, broad adoption of the .music gTLD will likely invite user comparison among second-level domain sites. This will encourage second-level domain registrants to innovate and improve upon their content and⁄or offerings as a point of differentiation. Charleston Road Registry considers the proposed gTLD to be a platform for innovation with existing and future Google products and services. Charleston Road Registry, therefore, may incorporate these new offerings into future registry service options (subject to the ICANN approval process), infusing new ideas into the gTLD for the betterment of the public. Google consistently aims to improve upon technologies that connect people with information, as demonstrated by a proven record of innovation and iteration. Charleston Road Registry strives to offer its constituents this same level of continuous development in advancing its management and operation of the gTLD, engendering benefits to registrars, registrants, and end users. Charleston Road Registry will strive to provide the highest level of user experience through operational stability, security, and performance to serve the interest of registrants in the proposed gTLD. Charleston Road Registry is uniquely positioned to provide this level of experience given its relationship with Google; Google invested over $3 billion in its IT infrastructure in 2011 and maintains a record of excellence in infrastructure operations. The proposed gTLD will provide registrants with the opportunity to differentiate their dedicated domain space such that the end users are able to discern the type of content intended to be found within the proposed gTLD. This will enable increased user visibility of registrants’ offerings, as well as provide registrants with the opportunity to enhance their respective content offerings and innovate in new ways. The proposed gTLD will provide a more trusted and user-friendly environment where domain names and content related to the .music gTLD can flourish. Charleston Road Registry seeks to have users deem the gTLD trustworthy and reliable and recognize it as an aggregated source of targeted goods, services, and information. The proposed gTLD, furthermore, facilitates an improved online user experience through greater structure and categorization on the Internet. Charleston Road Registry will make access to Registry Services, including the shared registration system, available to all ICANN-accredited registrars. Domain names within the proposed gTLD will be available to the public for registration and use. Charleston Road Registry is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, Charleston Road Registry intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition, and choice on the Internet. Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to impose registrant verification enforcement policies on registrars. Charleston Road Registry believes that the .music gTLD will best add value to the gTLD space by limiting content creation in the gTLD to only verified copyright holders and their authorized distributors and licensees. Charleston Road Registry plans to require registrars to include language in their registrar-registrant agreement that the registrant must be authorized or licensed to post any content that the registrant introduces into the gTLD. To preserve the integrity of the gTLD, Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to adopt enforcement measures, including a request that registrars facilitate a user reporting method to log complaints and⁄or potential instances of misuse within the gTLD. If a registrant is found to be in violation of the terms of the registry-registrar agreement or the registrar-registrant agreement, Charleston Road Registry may request that the appropriate registrar enforce such agreements through penalties, including but not limited to suspension of the domain name. -All data transmitted from registrars to the registry will be encrypted using TLS or other similar data protection schemes to ensure that third parties cannot access personally identifying information or other sensitive data as it crosses the Internet. - Charleston Road Registry will attempt to prevent the misuse of WHOIS data for improper purposes such as spam, intellectual property theft or phishing. Charleston Road Registry will attempt to identify patterns of abusive usage of WHOIS and will appropriately use CAPTCHA, query throttling or other techniques to prevent information scraping. - Google will restrict access to data and information systems maintained by the registry to a specific list of individuals involved with supporting the Google Registry system in production. Google will review this list on a periodic basis to ensure that the level of access granted to individuals is appropriate. Google uses two-factor authentication and other mechanisms to ensure that staff with access to user information are properly identified prior to using registry systems. - Google data backups stored offsite are encrypted with passwords that are securely managed on Google’s internal systems. Google can effectively remove the ability to access this data by destroying the relevant encryption password. - Supplying Google account information will be optional for registrants unless the domain registration is directly associated with another Google product offering. Google will not disclose Google account information except for any contact information provided by the user that is required by ICANN to be displayed in response to a WHOIS query. - Registrar billing and payment information will not be stored alongside domain name registration information. All registrar billing and payment information will be stored in a PCI-compliant billing system similar to that used by Google Ads. - Data will not be shared with third parties without permission of registrants, except as required for registry operations or as required under the law, such as in response to a subpoena, other such court order, or demonstrated official need by law enforcement. Once Charleston Road Registry begins developing public-facing resources in its gTLD, it intends to inform the public about the gTLD and the opportunity to obtain domain space there through investments in marketing and public relations. Charleston Road Registry intends to promote gTLDs in its portfolio collectively, such that the public gains an awareness and understanding of new gTLDs and the availability of new second-level domain space on the Internet. Charleston Road Registry believes that this approach will make the strongest impact in modifying consumer behavior and is the best path to achieving success for all new gTLDs collectively. Charleston Road Registry will reach out to the Internet community via a number of different outreach and communications methods and venues to deliver its mission and message to the public, including but not limited to: press briefings, videos posted on various Internet sites, blogs and other social media, and paid advertising. In addition, when developing resources for localized Internet registrars in different global regions, Charleston Road Registry will use local marketing and communications platforms as needed. Members of the public will need to meet stated registration policy criteria to register domain names in the proposed gTLD. Registration will be managed by Charleston Road Registry in three phases. Phase 1 - The first phase will be an extended 60-day sunrise phase. Only owners of trademarks listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse may participate in this phase, and such owners may register domain names that consist of an identical match to their listed trademarks. If multiple qualified parties express an interest in registering the same domain name, Charleston Road Registry will award the domain name through an auction or other predetermined process that will be published prior to the Sunrise Period. At the end of the sunrise phase, at a minimum, Charleston Road Registry will follow ICANN rules for subsequent attributions of trademarked second-level domains and will offer other protections for trademark owners, including but not limited to an extended Trademark Claims Service of indefinite length. Phase 2 - The second phase will be a limited term registration phase. During this phase, any interested applicant may apply for all second-level domain names not previously registered in the sunrise period. Trademarked terms will be subject to the Rights Protection Mechanisms set forth in Response 29. At the end of the second phase, if multiple parties have expressed an interest in registering the same second-level domain name, Charleston Road Registry will award the domain name through an auction or other predetermined process that will be published prior to the commencement of this phase. Phase 3 - The third phase will be a steady state phase for the duration of registry operation. During this phase, any interested applicant may apply for all second-level domain names not previously registered in an earlier phase. Trademarked terms will be subject to the Rights Protection Mechanisms set forth in Response 29. If multiple parties express an interest in registering the same domain name, Charleston Road Registry will award the domain name on a strictly first-come, first-served basis. While Charleston Road Registry reserves the right to charge different prices for unique second-level domains within the gTLD, once Charleston Road Registry determines the price for a particular second-level domain, Charleston Road Registry will not price discriminate among ICANN-accredited registrars. Charleston Road Registry does not intend but reserves the right to offer introductory discounts and bulk registration discounts. Volume discounts, marketing support and incentive programs may be made available, and if so will be offered to all ICANN-accredited registrars without preference. Pursuant to the ICANN-Registry Operator Agreement, Charleston Road Registry will provide written notice a minimum of 30 days prior to any increases in price for initial registrations, as well as written notice 180 days prior to any increase in registration renewals. Further, Charleston Road Registry will offer uniform pricing for renewals as specified in the ICANN-Registry Operator Agreement. Charleston Road Registry does not currently intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation. Charleston Road Registry does, however, intend to keep its practices competitive and aligned to activity in the marketplace. As specified throughout this application, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) plans to implement comprehensive anti-abuse mechanisms. CRR will protect against the abusive registration of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied-for gTLD by reserving to the registry protected geographic names in order to prevent registration of such strings. In that regard, CRR has thoroughly reviewed Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement, the Government Advisory Committee’s (GAC) “Principles Regarding New gTLDs”, and the .info methodology for reservation and release of country names. Accordingly, CRR will, in connection with its registry services operator and registrar, initially reserve from registration by any party names with national or geographic significance within the TLD during the TLD’s Sunrise Period and Trademark Claims Period. (3) The list of United Nations member states in 6 official United Nations languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. As noted above, the top-level domain shall not permit the public to register domain names with national or geographic significant at the second-level. The names will be set aside by use of the Reserved state making them inaccessible (See response to Question 27 for details). Google, as the registry services provider, has arranged for such reservation to occur prior to the launch of the TLD. In the event there is a compelling use of a two-character geographic name, the two-character label string may be released to the extent that CRR reaches agreement with the government and country-code manager and consults with the GAC and ICANN. The Registry may also propose the future release of these reserved names based on the implementation by the prospective registrant of measures to avoid confusion with the corresponding country codes. As with the .info TLD, only if a potential second-level domain registrant makes a proper showing of governmental support for country or territorial names will CRR relay this request to ICANN. CRR also plans to consult with the GAC and of ICANN before proceeding to delegate the domain at issue. Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will outsource the entirety of its technical operations to Google. In addition to running the technical platform, Google will provide CRR with staffing and support to ensure that all registry services meet both the requirements laid out by ICANN in the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) Applicant Guidebook as well as in the gTLD registry agreement. Additional details of Google’s provision of services to CRR are set forth in Question 31, Section 31.1. “Q23_Registry Services Diagram” shows major services being exposed by high-level systems. Note that this diagram shows only data flow and does not specify the physical deployment characteristics of these services. Details on these services are discussed below. Google will receive registration data from users in a manner consistent with standard registry operations. This will be handled via the extensible provisioning protocol (EPP) interface through ICANN-accredited third-party registrars. Google will operate a robust Shared Registration Service (SRS) that allows registrars to add, modify, and delete domain registrations and provides full support for the domain registration lifecycle. Google’s shared registration system (SRS) infrastructure consists of three major components: an extensible provisioning protocol (EPP) server that provides an EPP interface to registrars; the Google SRS Frontend, which provides web-based access to the state of the Google Registry, the registrar’s profile and access to registration reports for the registrar; and the Google SRS Backend, which implements most business logic, interacts with the data store, and pushes updates to DNS and WHOIS servers in order to disseminate TLD Zone files as well as registrant contact information. Details of the SRS are described in Question 24, EPP support in Question 25, and the registration lifecycle in Question 27. TLD zone data will be propagated in near real time to Google’s Authoritative DNS infrastructure, which will serve as the primary means of publication of the TLD zone files. This DNS infrastructure is based on Google’s existing Public DNS product, which handles over 70 billion queries per day. This DNS implementation will be fully compliant with RFCs 1034, 1035, 1982, 2181, 2182, 2671, 3226, 3596, 3597, 3901, 4343, 4472, 4972, and 5966 as well as ICANN’s Specification 10. A full description of Google’s Authoritative DNS infrastructure is described in Question 35. The master zone file will be internally generated and cached in the Google Shared Registration System (GSRS) as modifications to GSRS’s persistent store are made. The zone data will be signed by the Authoritative DNS infrastructure; a copy of the signed data is also returned to the GSRS. The entire master zone file will then be available to authorized parties at an HTTP URL shared with them over the web. The master zone file at this location will be guaranteed to be no more than one hour old. When retrieving the zone file, the client will pass a single HTTP request parameter (“key”), in order to identify individually the qualified client requesting access. This parameter will be the API key given to the registrar during account signup. The mimetype “text⁄dns” will be set on the HTTP response and the content encoding will be gzip. The master zone file will follow the format specified by RFC 1035, with the additional restrictions as specified in Specification 4, Section 2.1.4 of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook. DNSSEC resource records will also be present. In addition, the master zone file will be made available through the Centralized Zone Data Access Provider as specified in Specification 4, Section 2.1.4 of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook. Google will create an implementation of the WHOIS protocol (as defined by RFC 3912) that will listen on port 43 for WHOIS requests. Googleʹs WHOIS service will communicate to the name registry through a private API end-point in order to retrieve the necessary information for WHOIS responses. In addition, Google will operate a public WHOIS, web-based Directory Service at 〈WHOIS.nic.music〉 providing free, public query-based access. Both traditional WHOIS and web-based WHOIS will be made available over both IPv4 and IPv6. - Semi-free text format followed by a blank line and disclaimer specifying the rights of the Registry Operator, and user querying the database. - Each data object shall be represented as a set of key⁄value pairs, with lines beginning with keys, followed by a colon and a space as delimiters, followed by the value. - For fields where more than one value exists, multiple key⁄value pairs with the same key shall be allowed. - The first key⁄value pair after a new-line starts a new record, and is used to identify the record itself. - The format of fields governed by EPP RFCs 5730-5734 (domain status, individual and organizational names, address, street, city, state⁄province, postal code, country, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, date and times) will be formatted as specified by those RFCs. Updates to WHOIS data will be made in near real-time, with the registry’s service level agreement (SLA) committing to 95% of the updates reaching the serving infrastructure within 15 minutes. Details of WHOIS support are included in Question 26. IDNs allow registrars to register domain names with unicode code points representing non-ASCII-based character sets. IDNs constrained by the IDN Tables for this TLD will be supported by the Google Registry. Google’s IDN implementation will make use of the IDNA standard and be fully compliant with both RFCs 5890-5893 and ICANN’s IDN implementation guidelines. For more information on the IDN implementation for the TLD, see Question 44. The Google Registry will support DNSSEC. In particular, registrants will be able to specify a DS record as part of normal domain name registration with their registrars, which will be transmitted to the Google Registry via its EPP interface. The Google Registry will then sign the DS record, along with all other DNS resource records in the TLD Zone, forming a chain of trust between the Google Registry and second-level domain name. The Google Registry itself will publish its own DS record with the root. Google’s DNSSEC implementation will be fully compliant with RFCs 4033, 4034, 4035, 5910, 4509, 4641, and 5155. More information on this topic, including the DNSSEC Policy statement for the TLD is contained in Question 43. The Google Registry operates on Google’s production network, which supports IPv6. Specifically, the Google Registry will specifically support IPv6 access to all registry service endpoints (WHOIS, EPP, DNS, etc.). All services are provided through dual-stack, which is considered the industry-standard best practice for supporting IPv6. In addition, domain name registrants will be able to create IPv6 AAAA glue records for nameservers in the TLD zone. Further detail about Google’s IPv6 implementation is available in Question 36. Google will escrow relevant registration data, as required by ICANN’s registry agreement. Google will ensure that its data escrow will be fully ICANN compliant and performed in accordance to industry best practices. In addition to Google’s practice of hosting critical data on redundant and geographically disparate datacenters, data escrow will provide further assurance against data loss and ensure that all Google Registry data can be retrieved in a timely manner. For more information on Data Escrow, see Question 38. After a domain name has been deleted by a registrar, the domain name shall move into a Redemption Grace Period. The status of the domain will be listed as PENDING DELETE RESTORABLE. When a domain is in this state, it is deleted from the zone for the TLD. This is a strong indicator to the registrant that it must act take action in order to restore the domain to its previous state. For details, see Question 27. Google’s Registry will use Google Accounts to manage registrars. Once a prospective registrar or developer has created an account in Google, the registrar or developer can upgrade from a standard Google account to a registrar and⁄or developer, if certain requirements are met. A. The Google registrar logs in with Google account credentials. B. The Google registrar submits an application identifying that it is an accredited ICANN registrar, and that it wishes to interact with the Google Registry. C. The Google registrar requests and resets initial EPP credentials, which are separate from a Google account. Once a Registrar has been certified and authorized for billing, they will be ready to interact with Google through Google EPP. At this point, the registrar can also view reports on domains registered, EPP transactions, remaining account balance, and other TLD registry statistics. “Q23_Registrar Registration Process Diagram” shows the registration process for registrars. A. The developer logs in the previously created Google account. B. The developer requests an API key to be used for all public API calls. C. The developer reviews access restrictions, quota, and service-level agreements and agrees to appropriate terms. D. Google Registry grants access to zone data exported by the domain. “Q23_Developer Registration Process Diagram” shows the registration process for developers. All Shared Registration System (SRS) services described in Question 23 will run on Google’s robust, high-performance platform. Google’s production platform is an extremely high-capacity, high-availability, scalable platform designed to support some of the most resource-intensive and often-used applications on the Internet, including Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube. Google builds large clusters out of thousands of individual servers. Google uses a common set of tools to allocate resources, provide access to basic services such as storage and locking, and to simplify programmers’ ability to build distributed systems using the cluster’s hardware. Rather than relying on expensive hardware to provide reliability, Google uses a more cost effective approach based on commodity components, and builds fault tolerance into its software. Google simultaneously increases performance, reliability, and scalability of our production systems by splitting work into shards and running multiple replicas of the same process. The numbered sections below discuss details of our SRS implementation and capacity plans. For descriptions and details of all SRS functions, see Question 23. GSRS will be a multi-tier application that consists of the following components. - Google SRS Front End (GSRS-FE): Presentation. A web application which provides an interface between registrars, developers, and other parties that need access to Google Registry information through a web interface. GSRS-FE will also include a web-based WHOIS interface. - Google SRS Back End (GSRS-BE): Business Logic. A representational state transfer (RESTful) service that exposes and controls all registry data. Most business logic related to registry data storage and persistence will be implemented in GSRS-BE. - Google EPP (GEPP): API Proxy. A public end-point for EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) for the top-level domain. GEPP will translate all EPP requests and responses to interface with GSRS-BE. For more information on EPP support, see Question 25. - Google WHOIS (GWHO): A public end-point for WHOIS queries for the top-level domain. GWHO will translate all WHOIS requests and responses to interface with the GSRS-BE. For more information on WHOIS support, see Question 26. In addition, GSRS will integrate with the following internal systems. These internal systems are designed for extremely high performance and robustness, and use the same technologies used for other high-capacity services currently in production. - Google Persistence Service (Persistence): A multi-master persistence solution which will run on top of Google’s proprietary database, BigTable. The Google Persistence Service coordinates between masters using an algorithm for fault-tolerant distributed systems, such as Paxos. BigTable is Google’s internal implementation of a distributed hash table used for the majority of our persistence needs. - Google Accounts (Authentication): An existing platform for creation and authentication of user accounts. Google Accounts provides a standard login page for all Google products, as well as programmatic access for internal applications to retrieve credentials for the logged-in user. - Google Monetization (Billing, as needed for the TLD): A monetization and billing system. Enables Google products to create accounts, create invoices, and perform financial transactions for Google customers. - Google Authoritative DNS (Master Zone File): A robust public DNS server. Google Authoritative DNS will receive master zone file information from the GSRS-BE and distribute DNS information to clients. “Q24_SRS Services Diagram” shows the interactions with these systems as requests come into a Google datacenter and are handled appropriately. Note that, as shown in “Q24_SRS Services Diagram”, all SRS requests are passed to the GSRS-BE, which contains all business logic for Google Registry. Integrated services are then used as needed. Google plans to provision these services to handle significantly greater load than our most aggressive expectations -- see below for details. Google plans to deploy GSRS in five geographically-distributed datacenters throughout North America. Traffic to these datacenters is dynamically adjusted according to load, and the system will be provisioned to allow two simultaneous datacenter outages without substantial performance impact. Each datacenter will include several replicas to handle specific machine failures for any GSRS service. Google’s production servers include the ability to expand to add new servers dynamically according to need. If SRS performance suddenly requires additional throughput capacity -- for instance, during a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack -- Google will be able to enable up to 100 additional replica servers in any datacenter dynamically. The limit of 100 additional replica machines is a self-imposed limit and may be revised upward based on ongoing operational considerations. Each machine will be able to support a minimum of 250 queries per second (read or write), where one query contains one record. For architectural simplicity, our initial implementation will read data without any additional SRS-level caches. Google plans to deploy sufficient capacity to handle SRS request load on the same scale as the largest top-level domains on the Internet. These computations are detailed in “Q24_GSRS Performance and Scaling”. The key factor for scaling GSRS performance capacity will be the GSRS-BE component. Other components for GSRS (both GSRS-FE and GEPP) will receive user requests and then transform them into Remote Procedure Call (RPC) calls to GSRS-BE. GSRS-FE and GEPP will not perform any CPU-, disk-, or memory-intensive computations themselves. The performance capacity estimations below will therefore discuss only GSRS-BE capacity. Based on existing domains and calculations for inbound traffic, Google estimates that there will be about 2300 queries per second for EPP operations, consisting mostly of checks for existing domains, and 3600 queries per second for WHOIS operations. In total, Google estimates that GEPP-BE must handle roughly 5900 queries per second for a scale of 100 million domains. Other operations, such as zone file operations and developer API calls, will create a relatively negligible level of load. Google will meet the SRS throughput requirement, with a 50% utilization rate, with 48 machines allocated across the five datacenters. At this level of utilization, our active capacity will be double the expected throughput requirement. If a datacenter is lost through a production outage or change request, then additional machines will be enabled immediately to take upon the additional load with no manual intervention required. Google production systems have the standard capability to enable new machines to handle increased capacity needs immediately. These estimations do not include any smart caching anywhere in the architecture. If the Google Registry reaches a very large number of domains and additional capacity measures are required, Google will consider a design for an appropriate WHOIS and EPP check result caching plan to relieve load and to improve latency characteristics. These estimates use a very aggressive set of assumptions for scaling, which should be sufficient for a large open domain. Google expects that our SRS network bandwidth requirements will be greatly below Google’s existing per-datacenter network capacity, even for its lowest-capacity datacenters in production. Details of its computations are included below. Google assumes that 99% of RPC calls across both EPP and WHOIS will be less than 5 kB. EPP and WHOIS queries return more of a fixed number of records, and most queries will return only one record. 5 kB is derived as an estimate from taking the sample WHOIS output in the applicant guidebook, and multiplying it by three to account for XML inflation as if the same information passed through an EPP interface. Considering that most EPP commands are expected to be 〈check〉 commands, this is a very conservative estimate. Google then uses 5 kB as the assumed size to calculate the estimates for bandwidth per machine and per datacenter at maximum load. With 250 qps and 5 kB per query, Google expect a maximum of about 12.5 MB⁄s of bandwidth requirement. This is about one-eighth of our current absolute minimum commodity standard of 1 Gb Ethernet. Our backbone routers connect many metro networks around the globe at 10Gb or greater. With 12.5 MB⁄s of bandwidth per machine, and 100 machines maximum per datacenter, Google expects a maximum of about 1.25 GB⁄s data requirements during a major event that requires increased load demand. All Google datacenters’ connections to its production network have a multiple 10 GB⁄s links, and many exceed this by far. Based on these computations, Google believes that the network bandwidth required by the SRS system for as many as 100 million second-level domains will never exceed the capacity that even our smallest datacenter can provide. GSRS will use a multi-master architecture. This architecture is detailed further in Question 32. Machines across multiple datacenters will serve active traffic, with no machines on cold or hot standby. All instances of the data store update in real-time, and updates to registry data are committed across a quorum of replicas before the write is confirmed. When GSRS or a dependent service goes down or is drained by an outage, Google’s network architecture will redirect all affected traffic to another datacenter. Google will design most services as stateless, so service instances will not require any coordination mechanisms. The Google Registry, and in particular the SRS will be compliant with all RFCs outlined in Specification 6. Any RFCs mentioned below and their successors will be complied with. Google’s domain name system (DNS) implementation will comply with RFCs 1034, 1035, 1982, 2181, 2182, 2671, 3226, 3596, 3597, 4343, and 5966. See Question 35 for more details on DNS RFC implementation compliance. Google’s EPP implementation will comply with RFCs 5910, 5730, 5731, 5732, 5733, 5734, 3915, and 3735 for any extensions developed. Please see Question 25 for more details on EPP RFC implementation compliance. Google’s DNSSEC implementation will comply with RFCs 4033, 4034, 4035, 4509, 5155, and the best practices indicated in RFC 4641. A DPS statement will be published for each TLD supported by the Google Registry. Please see Question 43 for more details on DNSSEC implementation compliance. Google’s implementation of internationalized domain names (IDN) will comply with RFCs 5890, 5891, 5892, 5893 and ICANN’s published IDN Guidelines. Please see Question 44 for more details on IDN RFC implementation compliance. Google’s implementation of IPv6 will follow BCP 91 and RFCs 4472. All Registry services will be offered over IPv6. Please see Question 36 for more details on Google’s IPv6 implementation. Google understands the definition of “registry services” as defined in section 2.1 of Specification 6. Google will not support wildcard matching or resolution in the TLD zone as required by Section 2.2 of Specification 6. Google will ensure registry continuity as specified in Section 3 of Specification 6. High availability, extraordinary event handling, and business continuity will be provided with respect to the TLD. See Question 39 for more details on Google’s Registry continuity plan. Google will implement the abuse mitigation requirements as specified in Section 4 of Specification 6. An abuse contact will be made available. See Question 28 for more details on Google’s abuse handling. Google will also take action to remove malicious use of orphan glue records when provided evidence in written form that such records are present in connection with malicious content. Google will implement the supported initial and renewal registration periods as specified in Section 5 of Specification 6. The Google Registry will support domain name registration with validity periods of between one to 10 years in increments of one year. Renewal registration may extend registration to a maximum of 10 years from renewal date in increments of one year. The Google SRS will significantly exceed the requirements of the Service Level Requirement Matrix defined in Specification 10 in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook. All EPP and WHOIS⁄RDDS calls supported by the Google SRS system will have a 99.9% monthly uptime. RPC: A series of TCP⁄IP packets forming a distinct request, and the corresponding TCP⁄IP packets forming the response. Error RPC: An RPC which does not return with 3x 95th percentile latency, or which fails because of internal transient errors. Error Minute: Any minute during which 10% of RPC requests are error RPCs. Monthly Uptime: The total number of minutes in a month minus the number of error minutes divided over the total number of minutes in the month, rounded to the nearest .01%. When calculating monthly uptime percentage, Google does not distinguish between scheduled and unscheduled downtime. Google will meet or exceed all service level agreements (SLA) described in the ICANN Applicant Guidebook. Specifically, Google will meet the commitments as specified in attachment “Q24_SLAs”. Note that the values represent a commitment to exceed SLA Requirements in Specification 10. - DNS Availability: 0 minutes of downtime. - RDDS Query RTT: Less than 400 ms. - RDDS Update Time: Less than 15 minutes for 95% of probes. - EPP Session-Command RTT: Less than 1000 ms for at least 95% of commands. - EPP Query-Command RTT: Less than 400 ms for at least 95% of commands. - EPP Transform-Command RTT: Less than 800 ms for at least 95% of commands. Downtime values are on a monthly basis. Google has the track record to deliver SRS to 99.9% availability. Google is confident in its ability to meet these SLAs for SRS because of its experience with engineering highly-available platforms. As discussed by Urs Hoelzle, Senior Vice President of Technical Architecture, Google has designed its major services to obtain 99.99% reliability . Charleston Road Registry will provide registrars with access to telephone, email, and web chat support, and will escalate issues to the Google technical team as technical faults are identified. For a further elaboration of the escalation process, see Question 42. Google will notify ICANN and registrars, at least 24 hours beforehand, of maintenance for all planned outages and maintenance which will directly, significantly, and visibly affect users of the SRS. Google will implement these technical requirements using the teams and resources discussed below. The cost of these services will generally be set at reasonable market rates per agreement between Charleston Road Registry and Google. The expected costs are discussed in Questions 46 and 47. All services that GSRS will depend on are already well-provisioned and ready to assume the additional load of the Google SRS, including up to 100 million second-level domains, which is well in excess of expected need. The load that GSRS will generate for existing systems will be significantly less than the capacity already designated as part of normal growth for Google and the company’s need for high-performance hardware and support personnel resources. The Google Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing our SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including IDNs. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems. During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least four to seven software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, Google plans to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the Google Registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, Google plans to implement the Google Registry with a team of six to nine software engineers. After the Google Registry is complete, Google expects to staff a team to support the ongoing operation of the registry. This team will consist of at least four engineers who will participate in on-call rotation, respond to alerts, provide support to ICANN and registrars for emergency escalations, and maintain responsibility for bug fixes and improvements. This team will continue maintenance throughout the life of the registry. This team’s responsibilities will generally be limited to registry-specific components. The Google Registry Team will work closely with other relevant teams, including the Authoritative DNS support team, Storage Site Reliability Engineering team, network engineering and operations, and customer support teams. These other teams are described in more detail in Question 31 (Section 31.16) as well as the relevant sections throughout this application. - Google has a global network of datacenters to provide the scalability to meet the performance requirements of SRS. - Google has a multi-master high availability strategy to meet the reliability requirements of SRS. - Google has the proven operational processes and personnel to support the requirements going forward. - The use of Google’s platform allows Charleston Road Registry to commit to service levels that substantially exceed the ICANN requirements in Specification 10. The primary purpose of Google EPP will be to provide for a provisioning interface to the Google Registry using the standardized EPP protocol. Google has no initial plans to provide a software development kit, since there already are a variety of open- and closed-source EPP client implementations available on the web today. Google’s EPP service will act as a connector between EPP clients and Google’s backend systems, which will handle business logic for registry operations. - Listen for EPP connections over port 700. - Support and maintain the EPP session through the life of the connection. - Translate EPP requests and responses between equivalent requests and responses exposed by the Google SRS Backend private API. - Terminate the Transport Security Layer (TLS) connection as defined by RFC 5734. TLS client certificates will be self-certified and transmitted to Google via the registrar application process. The credentials in the certificate will be matched against the account identified by the EPP username and password. Google EPP will support a well defined set of EPP RFCS with a small set of additional, well-defined EPP extensions. RFC 5730 defines EPP, a simple object provisioning XML protocol. The base protocol itself is agnostic to the type of objects being provisioned and allows for extensions to the protocol. Upon connection, a session is established with a 〈greeting〉 message from the server as defined by the RFC. From there, the client will login with a 〈login〉 command, then entertain a series of request and response cycles, and then finally ends the session with a 〈logout〉 command. All EPP commands will be supported according to the RFC in their standard command and response formats. For all commands, only objects defined by RFCs 5731 (domains), 5732 (hosts), and 5733 (contacts) will be supported. No other extensions will be used. - On the 12th failed login attempt, the account will be locked out and require support to reactivate. - Changing the EPP password with the optional 〈newPW〉 element will not be supported. Password changes will instead be handled through the password change interface on the Google SRS Front End. Error code 2501, ʺAuthentication error; server closing connectionʺ will always be returned if this command is used. - The 〈version〉 element must be set to 1.0. - The 〈lang〉 element must be set to “en”. For all other EPP commands there will be no implementation policy specifics. RFC 5731 defines support for domain objects over the EPP protocol. Since RFC 5732 will be supported as well, domain objects will not be able to specify attributes to describe a name server host machine, but rather must reference the relevant host with 〈domain:hostObj〉 references. When 〈domain:authInfo〉 is used, a 〈domain:pw〉 must be passed within to denote the password for the domain (or registrant using the “roid” attribute to denote this), or a 〈domain:null〉 to null it out. For EPP commands dealing with domain object validity, domains will be by default valid indefinitely unless otherwise specified. A 2305 error response code will be issued if there are dependent children subordinate to the domain, which still exist in the repository if a 〈delete〉 command is issued. For all domains which require additional vetting of the registrant because of gTLD registration policy reasons, offline review of the domain may occur for transformation EPP commands. Otherwise, no offline review will occur in general. RFC 5732 provides EPP mappings for host objects. This RFC will be supported in its entirety. There are no special considerations needed for the Google Registry. There will be no offline review before provisioning of any host. This RFC provides EPP mapping for contact objects. This RFC will be supported in its entirety. As specified by the RFC, unless prohibited by the server’s stated data collection policy, per-field disclosure policies will be supported via the 〈contact:disclose〉 element when provisioning contacts. There will be no offline review before provisioning of any contact. RFC 5734 defines connection handling procedures regarding the EPP mechanism. -There will be no more than ten concurrent TCP connections from a single source destination IP without first contacting Google to establish an alternate upper limit. - If a well-formed EPP request is not received at least every 30 seconds, the TCP⁄IP connection may be severed. - TLS is mandatory to connect to Google EPP. - A single TLS client certificate will be required for each EPP user and password pair. Multiple user⁄password pairs will not be permitted for a single TLS client certificate. - A Certificate Name (CN) and subject AltName:dnsName will be set to the hostname of GEPP to be validated against by the client. RFC 5910 governs the additions to the EPP domain mapping RFC for provisioning DS records for a particular domain. Of the two possible supported mechanisms by the RFC, Google EPP will support the ʺDS Data Interfaceʺ, where the client is responsible for the creation of the DS information and is required to pass DS information when performing adds and removes. - The optional 〈secDNS:maxSigLife〉 element will not be initially supported, and a 2102 error code will be returned. - 〈secDNS:update〉 with an attribute of urgent will not be initially supported, and a 2102 error code will be returned if present. RFC 3915 extends the EPP RFCs to account for grace period functionality. Grace periods allow for actions to be reversed or revoked within a specified period of time. In particular, this RFC governs four grace periods: add grace period, auto renew grace period, renew grace period and transfer grace period. Google will comply with this RFC in its entirety. In addition to RFCs directly related to EPP, RFCs defining internationalized domain names (IDN) (5890, 5891, 5892, and 5893) and how they are specified will be implemented for Google EPP. In particular, IDNs will be specified using punycode and in the subset of unicode character code points dictated by the IDN tables attached to this gTLD application. A small set of well-defined EPP extensions will also be supported. It defines mappings to create domains and application for domains during “launch” phases. It will be supported in its entirety. Only encoded signed marks will be accepted in order to minimize signature validation issues. It defines mappings for Mark and Signed Mark objects onto XML. It will be supported in its entirety, as necessitated by 25.2.1. It defines an EPP extension to request and return pricing information on premium domains. It also provides a mechanism for registrars to acknowledge and verify the pricing information on a premium domain before registering it. The extension will be supported in its entirety. It defines a mechanism for registrars to specify which TLD their EPP command is addressed against. It will be used to multiplex many different TLDs in a single EPP endpoint. It will be supported in its entirety. Google will develop Google EPP using a software methodology, which ensures correct functionality by concurrently developing unit and large functional tests alongside the production code itself. Standard XML parsing libraries will be used depending on the implementation language. Implementation will also include monitoring rules that test EPP workflows in production on an ongoing basis. Before deploying to production, Google will create staging environments during development for internal manual and automated testing. All ICANN-accredited registrars must first complete operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) before submitting EPP commands through the production Google EPP environment. The aim of this testing is to ensure that registrars are functioning properly. OT&E instructions will be presented to the registrar after it has created a registrar account with the Google Registry. In general, these instructions will include a series of ordered EPP commands the registrar must perform along with test account credentials. The registrar, once the registrar is ready for certification, it will request a Google Registry Front End evaluation. The test environment will reset to a nominal state, and at this point, the registrar must execute the series of ordered EPP commands within a specified amount of time. If registrar fails OT&E, the registrar will be notified of the failure, and can try again at a later date. If the registrar passes OT&E, the registrar will be notified, and be given production EPP credentials. Google Inc. will implement these technical requirements using the teams and resources discussed below. The Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing the shared registration system (SRS), EPP, and WHOIS systems, including IDNs. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems. During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least four to seven software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, Google plans to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, Google plans to implement the registry with a team of six to nine software engineers. After the registry is complete, Google expects to staff a team to support the ongoing operation of the registry. This team will consist of at least four engineers who will participate in on-call rotation, respond to alerts, provide support to ICANN and registrars for emergency escalations, and maintain responsibility for bug fixes and improvements. This team will continue maintenance throughout the life of the registry. This team’s responsibilities will generally be limited to registry-specific components. The Registry Team will work closely with other relevant teams, including the Authoritative DNS support team, Storage Site Reliability Engineering team, network engineering and operations, and customer support teams. These other teams are described in more detail in Question 31 (Section 31.16), as well as the relevant sections throughout this application. - A thorough understanding of the requirements for the systems. - A reuse of existing industry, standard EPP XML schemas to de-risk system implementation. - A proven software development methodology that will verify implementation against requirements. - Operational procedures that facilitate the ongoing maintenance of the platform and the support of onboarding of new registrars. Google will implement and maintain a “thick” data model WHOIS service, in which the registry will store and serve contact information related to each domain name -- as opposed to a “thin” model, which provides a query referral to a registrar. Google will operate a public WHOIS service available via port 43 in accordance with RFC 3912, and a web-based Directory Service at 〈WHOIS.nic.music〉 providing free, public query-based access. Both of these services will be made available over both IPv4 and IPv6. Google’s WHOIS service on port 43 will comply with the WHOIS protocol as described in RFC 3912 by accepting an ASCII request (terminated with a 〈CR〉〈LF〉) and replying with an ASCII response, terminating the TCP connection once the output is finished. RFC 3912 does not contain further detail on the format of the response payload itself; the format will be as described in “SPECIFICATION 4: SPECIFICATION FOR REGISTRATION DATA PUBLICATION SERVICES”, Section 1, and relevant Best Practices. If ICANN specifies alternative formats and protocols, Google will implement these as soon as reasonably practical and will implement IDN related WHOIS requirements as they evolve. As a matter of policy, Google WHOIS will not return IDN variants for WHOIS queries. Queries for specific domains must be made. 26.1 High-level overview of the WHOIS service. The attachment “Q26_WHOIS Services Diagram” shows an overview diagram of WHOIS services, and other relevant aspects of Google’s network. When a request is received (via the web or “traditional” interface), the appropriate service will extract the query from the request and perform checks to combat abusive behavior (such as Denial of Service and “WHOIS scraping”). Google has extensive infrastructure that profiles requests and applies heuristics to determine if requests are legitimate or “scraping”, and we plan to use this infrastructure to limit abuse of the WHOIS service. This functionality is described in Question 30, Section 30.b.3.2. The request will also increment a counter to allow for reporting of statistics. The service will then query the registry database service, using the GSRS backend API. As the WHOIS service will query the database for the response, Google will provide fresh answers, instead of extracting all of the data from the database and synchronizing the data between servers. In order to provide fast, accurate responses, and to act as the first line of defense against DoS attacks, the WHOIS service may cache the result and reply from cache on subsequent queries for a maximum of 15 minutes. Once a result, or an indication that the requested information does not exist, is received from the database it will be converted into the appropriate response format: HTML for web-based requests, or RFC 3912 style responses for port 43 requests. The result of the lookup will then be returned to the requester. Google operates a fast, reliable, and redundant network, and has developed frameworks for encoding and making remote procedure calls (RPCs). This infrastructure can be leveraged to provide communication and connectivity with other registry systems. Google has significant experience developing secure, stable, resilient, and high-performance applications that perform lookups against a datastore, and has built substantial infrastructure for running such applications and scaling them to meet demand. As described in detail in the responses to Questions 31 and 32, the WHOIS service will be designed as a simple, stateless server that accepts user queries and transforms them into RPCs that will be serviced by the SRS backend server. This model allows additional capacity to be scaled in accordance with need simply by adding additional replicas of the WHOIS server, and means that the resource requirements to operate this layer of the service should be minimal. Google continuously monitors the load on production servers and systems and proactively upgrades and supplements systems before there is any degradation in service. The registry will be initially provisioned to support at least 100 million domain names, which substantially exceeds the expected load, but Google’s overall scale would allow the scope of the service to be increased substantially if required. We estimate that each second-level domain will generate slightly more than 3 WHOIS queries per day. Based on our projections, this will result in an expected load of 3600 qps (queries per second) from WHOIS requests. Since each machine can handle 250 qps, and we plan for a 50% utilization rate, we expect to provision about 30 machines. For more details of our expected WHOIS load and performance capacity, see Question 24. This infrastructure will also help Google meet and exceed the specified Service Level Agreements, including those in Section 10 of the Registry Agreement, as discussed in the response to Question 24. We plan to serve WHOIS queries with at least 99.9% availability, with less than 500 ms latency, and an update time of less than 15 minutes for 95% of updates. As mentioned in previous sections, all incoming RPCs to equivalent calls to the Google SRS Backend. This means that there is no synchronization between Google WHOIS and the SRS since Google WHOIS maintains no persistent state. However, as also previously mentioned, Google may deploy a cache in the WHOIS service to reduce load on the GSRS BE and database while reducing latency, creating a freshness delay of up to 15 minutes. Google WHOIS will follow data formats specified in Specification 4 in the application guidebook. Here is an example WHOIS domain query and response. The Google Registry will comply with Section 3 of Specification 4 in the application guidebook to provide ICANN bulk registration data access. Data will be provided on a weekly basis. Data will include data committed as of 00:00:00 UTC on the day previous to the one designated for retrieval by ICANN. The Google Registry will provide at a minimum all content requested in the specification: domain name, domain name repository, object id, registrar id, statuses, last updated date, creation date, expiration date, and name server names. For sponsoring registrars, the registry will provide: registrar name, registrar repository object id, hostname of registrar Whois server, and URL of registrar. The format of the data will be provided as specified in Specification 2 for Data Escrow. The Google Registry will have the file ready for download as of 00:00:00 UTC on the day designated for retrieval by ICANN. The file will be made available for download by SFTP with a hostname, username, and password provided to ICANN. Our Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing our SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including IDNs. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems. During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least 4-7 software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, we plan to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, we plan to implement the registry with a team of 6-9 software engineers. After the registry is complete, we expect to staff a team to support the ongoing operation of the registry. This team will consist of at least four engineers who will participate in on-call rotation, respond to alerts, provide support to ICANN and registrars for emergency escalations, and maintain responsibility for bug fixes and improvements. This team will continue maintenance throughout the life of the registry. - Google will operate a thick WHOIS service with an interface on port 43 complying with RFC 3912 as well as a web-based query interface. These services will display data in accordance with Specification 4 of the registry agreement. - Google’s WHOIS service offers a simple, stateless, scalable front end to the registry’s SRS-BE servers. The capacity of the service can be expanded simply by adding additional replica WHOIS servers. Google will initially scale the service to support a registry with 100 million domain names. Charleston Road Registry (CRR) sets forth below a description of the various stages and states of a second-level domain (SLD) in its proposed registry system. Please see “Q27_Registry Life Cycle Diagram” for a graphical depiction of the domain registration lifecycle. State changes provide specific use cases to the DNS (Domain Name System) architecture explained in responses for Question 31 (Technical Overview), Question 32 (Architecture) and Question 35 (DNS Service). Note that this response makes references to EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) functionality which is fully described in Question 25. Additionally, state changes may change the information retrievable via Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS, a combination of WHOIS and Web-based WHOIS) as described in Question 26. Reserved domains are not generally available to register. For example, such restrictions may result from agreements with ICANN⁄IANA for operational⁄technical reasons or with governments for geographic names. See response to Question 22 (Protection of Geographic Names) for further details. The registry will maintain a schedule of reserved words as per Specification 5 of the Registry Agreement. For a reserved domain, an EPP 〈check〉 query would return a value of avail=ʺ0ʺ, and there would be no entry in the zone file or RDDS associated with the domain name. EPP 〈create〉 requests will result in a rejection, except those that have prior approval from CRR. The registry foresees two cases as envisioned by Specification 5 of the New gTLD Agreement, particularly applicable to geographic names: 1) CRR releases an SLD for use by the applicable government or country-code manager. In this case, at the end of the registration, the SLD would return to the Reserved state. 2) CRR works with the affected government(s) or country-code manager(s) to permanently make available SLD(s). In this case, at the end of a reservation the string would revert to the Available state. In addition to an explicit Reserved state, CRR will also support a functional equivalent to reserving through registration. This approach follows the practices of the .info registry. That is, CRR will reserve certain names by registering them for the registry, pursuant to Section 2.6 of the gTLD registry agreement. Names reserved using this approach follow the life cycle described below. Generally, CRR will use the state machine to control reservations but leaves open the possibility of using reservation by registration when more appropriate. - The SLD has not existed previously. - The SLD has passed through the Pending Delete state. Domains that are available do not exist in the zone file or RDDS. The Shared Registry System - Back End (SRS-BE) would return a value of avail=ʺ1ʺ when responding to the EPP 〈check〉 query for domain in the Available state. All other states would return a value of avail=ʺ0ʺ. Names that are selected for registration are entered into the zone file at the start of this five-day add-grace period (〈addPeriod〉). Registrars are charged for submitting 〈create〉 requests to the registry. The Google SRS-Backend (GSRS-BE) manages the 5-day grace period countdown, including the transition of the state to Registered. During the Add Grace Period, registrars can cancel the registration and receive a credit for the cost of the original registration (with domain names becoming immediately Available or Reserved, as appropriate), subject to ICANNʹs AGP Limits Policy. GSRS-BE will set the status of the Domain Name to 〈addPeriod〉 while making the zone file and RDDS updates, and then reset it when grace period ends. Owners of domain names can register them for a period of one to ten years. The registrar may renew the SLD for no less than one and no more than ten years from the current day using the EPP 〈renew〉 command. GSRS-BE will manage state changes based on expiration date of domains, including updates to the zone file and RDDS. By default, status of the object is “ok”. Subsequent EPP 〈transform〉 commands or actions by SRS-BE may change that value to indicate restrictions present or transformations pending. Upon receipt of a 〈renew〉 EPP command, SRS-BE will transition the domain name to the state of Renew Grace Period (〈renewPeriod〉). The renew grace period allows registrars to correct the mistaken renewal of an SLD. The Renew Grace Period lasts for five (5) days during which the receipt of a 〈delete〉 EPP command will result in the crediting back to the registrar the cost of the renewal. After this grace period ends, the domain name will revert to the Registered state. Domains in the RGP may transition to the following states: Redemption Grace Period (by meaning of a delete) or Pending Transfer (by means of a transfer) as described in sections 27.8 and 27.11, respectively. GSRS-BE will automatically renew a registration once it has expired and charge the registrar the current renewal fee. By default, CRR will extend the registration for one year. The ARGP is intended to allow registrars to delete a registration which has been auto-renewed and to receive a refund for the renewal fee. For a predetermined number of days after an automatic renewal, the domain is in state of the Auto-Renew Grace Period (〈autoRenewPeriod〉). During this grace period, GSRS-BE will accept requests from the EPP for the existing owner to update, renew, transfer and delete the registration provided there is not a corresponding status that prohibits the transformation. The registrar will then be charged the cost of this new transaction. If the registry happens to receive a 〈delete〉 EPP command during the ARGP, CRR will credit the cost of a renewal to the registrar. Without intervention, SRS-BE will then update the domain’s state to Registered. SLDs that are deleted, such as when a registrar uses the 〈delete〉 EPP command, then enter the Redemption Grace Period (RdGP) (〈redemptionPeriod〉), with the exception of those deleted during the Add Grace Period (see above). The RdGP permits registrars to restore domains that were mistakenly deleted. The RdGP lasts for thirty (30) days. SRS-BE will first check for a clientDeleteProhibited or a serverDeleteProhibited prohibition before making the transition, and will not make the transition if those prohibitions exist. Domains which enter this state become non-operational and are removed from the zone file and RDDS. The SRS-BE will accomplish this change by updating the DNS service. GSRS-BE will also set the status to “pendingDelete”. During the RdGP, the SRS-BE will reject all EPP requests other than 〈restore〉. Registrars have 30 days to submit a 〈restore〉 request in order for the transaction to be accepted and the transaction cost credited back to the registrar. Registrars must provide a 〈report〉 that provides, among other things, a reason (〈resReason〉) and supporting information (〈statement〉) within 5 days (during which time the status will be Pending Restore or 〈pendingRestore〉). CRR will not process a 〈restore〉 without a 〈report〉. If a 〈restore〉 request is not received or if a 〈report〉 is not received on time, GSRS-BE transitions the domain name to the Pending Delete state. Should a registrar reactivate the domain, SRS-BE will update the DNS zone file and RDDS. When complete, SRS-BE will update the state to Registered. This state is the final stage of the lifecycle prior to the domain again being made available. It lasts for 5 days. During this period, registrars shall not have the ability to reactivate the domain, but would have to wait to make a new request once the domain becomes available. During the Pending Delete phase, the SRS-BE will reject all requests to transform a domain name received through the EPP interface. The status of the domain name will be 〈pendingDelete〉. After this stage, the domain shall be removed from the registry’s database and once again made available for registration. As noted above, at the conclusion of the Pending Delete state, GSRS-BE removes the domain name entirely from its database. It is now available for registrars. See 27.3 above for further details of “Available” state. The exception would be those domain names on the reserved list, which will instead return to the Reserved state after they are released. CRR and Google will adhere to the 15 March 2009 ICANN Policy on Transfer of Registrations (as well as its successor scheduled to take effect on 1 June 2012). Therefore, registrars are allowed to transfer domains between each other, provided that the states and status allow for it. - The domain must be in one of the following states: Add Grace Period, Registered, Renew Grace Period, Transfer Grace Period, or Auto Renew Grace Period. - Neither a clientTransferProhibited nor a serverTransferProhibited status must be present. Provided those two conditions are met, GSRS-BE will set the status to 〈pendingTransfer〉 while it performs its activities (during this period, the domain is considered to be in the Pending Transfer state). First, the registry will notify both registrars of the pending transfer. The registry will complete the transfer if it receives an 〈ACK〉 response from the Registrar of Record if received within the first five (5) days. If after five (5) days and the registry has not received any message, the transfer will be automatically completed. If a 〈NACK〉 response is received from the Registrar of Record, the transfer will be rejected. A rejected transfer would result in the SRS-BE setting the state back to its previous value. Upon completion of the transfer, CRR will update the zone file and RDDS and send another notification to both registrars. When a transfer is complete, the registration period for the SLD is extended by a year (but not to exceed ten (10) years from the date of the transfer) and the gaining registrar will be charged for submitting a 〈transfer〉 EPP request. The registry places the domain name into the Transfer Grace Period (〈transferPeriod〉) for the first 5 days after the completion of the 〈transfer〉 request. During this time, the Gaining registrar will receive a credit for the cost of the transfer if a 〈delete〉 EPP transaction is received. Provided the domain is not deleted, at the end of the 5 day period the domain will return to the Registered state. A transfer received during TGP would result in the domain moving to 〈pendingTransfer〉 as described above. The Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing the SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including details related to domain name lifecycle. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems. During initial implementation, this team will consist of at least 4-7 software engineers responsible for implementing the project. Additionally, Google plans to staff one software engineer who is responsible for engineering testing and monitoring for the registry, and one software engineer who is responsible for backup, restoration and escrow. In total, Google plans to implement the registry with a team of 6-9 software engineers. The Google Customer Services Team will be responsible for supporting customers and partners, including life cycle requests. Google has a very large existing customer service team of both internal staff as well as staff contracted through third parties, with many hundreds of dedicated staff members already in place. Since these teams and their management are already in place, no standalone implementation resources are needed. To continue ongoing maintenance of CRR support needs, Google plans to add additional resources for capacity as needed. Google expects to add a total of approximately fifteen additional personnel (including both Google employees and outside vendors) to support all of CRR’s customers and partners. The individual staffing allocation to each TLD is described in Question 47. - The registry will support a full registration lifecycle consistent with that offered by other major gTLDs. State changes are triggered by registrar commands via the EPP interface or by the SRS-BE, which manages changes triggered by the passage of time. Specifically, we will implement in our internal policies and in our Registry⁄Registrar and Registration Agreements that all registered domain names will be subject to a Domain Name Anti-Abuse Policy (“Abuse Policy”). The Abuse Policy will provide CRR with broad power to suspend, cancel, or transfer domain names that violate the Abuse Policy. We plan to post the Abuse Policy on a publicly facing website at nic.music⁄abuse, which will provide a reporting mechanism whereby violations of the policy can be reported by those who are impacted; an easy to find place to report policy violations; “plain language” definitions of what constitutes a “reportable” problem; and compliance processes to provide due process, and sanctions that will be applied, in the case of policy violations. The nic.music⁄abuse website will list CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact. The Abuse Point of Contact shall consist of, at a minimum, a valid e-mail address dedicated solely to the handling of abuse complaints. CRR will ensure that this information is kept accurate and up to date and will be provided to ICANN if and when changes are made.The Abuse Point of Contact will review complaints regarding an alleged violation of the Abuse Policy. CRR also plans to catalog all abuse communications in Google’s customer relationship management (CRM) software using a ticketing system and to maintain records of all abuse complaints for an appropriate amount of time. We shall only provide access to these records to third parties under limited circumstances, such as in response to a subpoena or other such court order or demonstrated official need by law enforcement. b. Is illegal or illegitimate, or is otherwise considered contrary to the intention and design of a stated legitimate purpose, if such purpose is disclosed. The Abuse Policy will state, at a minimum, that CRR reserves the right to deny, cancel, or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold, or similar status, that it deems necessary, in its discretion: (1) to protect the integrity and stability of the registry; (2) to comply with any applicable laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement, or any dispute resolution process; (3) to avoid any liability, civil or criminal, on the part of CRR, as well as its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers, directors, and employees; (4) per the terms of the registration agreement or any agreement CRR has with any party; (5) to correct mistakes made by CRR, its registry services provider, or any registrar in connection with a domain name registration; (6) during resolution of any dispute regarding the domain; and (7) to remedy the abusive registration or use of any domain name. We will remove orphan glue records for names removed from the zone when provided with evidence in written form to the Abuse Point of Contact that the glue is present in connection with malicious conduct according to Specification 6 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement. Google’s back-end systems will also periodically search for orphaned glue. We will inform its registrants that it removes glue if the covering zone is removed, and thus registrants should not reference it from outside the domain. In order to reduce abusive registrations that affect the security of the TLD and its users, CRR plans to provide a domain anti-abuse notice and takedown procedure. Specifically, we will operate an anti-abuse website at the URI address nic.music⁄abuse that will provide the contact information for the Abuse Point of Contact. The nic.music⁄abuse website will prominently display CRR’s Abuse Policy and a fill-in section wherein the user will then be asked to fill in several fields, including the user’s identity and contact information, and the identity and relevant information of the individual or organization that is making an abusive registration or use of a domain name within the TLD, and specific details on how, why, and when the complainant believes the registration or use of the domain name is abusive. The user will be asked to read the Abuse Policy before it submits a complaint and then click on a check box to indicate that the user has read and understands the Abuse Policy. CRR will then provide a targeted response time as to the decision regarding the complaint. We will review with the Internal Abuse Team and render a decision regarding the alleged abuse, and decide whether to deny, cancel, or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain(s) on registry lock, hold, or similar status that violates the Abuse Policy, if applicable. In accordance with the applicable terms of service, CRR reserves the right to terminate the accounts or domains of repeat abusers. Specifically, the process is anticipated to occur as follows: an email containing the information relayed in the complaint will be sent to the Abuse Point of Contact. The Abuse Point of Contact will send an email to the complainant within twenty-four hours of receiving the complaint confirming receipt of the email. The Abuse Point of Contact will preliminarily review to determine whether the complaint reasonably falls within an abusive use as defined by the Abuse Policy. If the complaint does not, the Abuse Point of Contact will email the complainant within forty-eight business hours of the confirmation email to indicate that the subject of the complaint does not fall within the abusive uses as defined by the Abuse Policy, and that CRR considers the matter closed. If the preliminary review does not resolve the matter, the Abuse Point of Contact will relay the complaint to CRR’s Abuse Team. All requests from law enforcement will be flagged for prompt review by the Internal Abuse Team. With the resources of Google’s registry services team, CRR can meet its obligations under Section 2.8 of the Registry Agreement where required to take reasonable steps to investigate and respond to reports from law enforcement and governmental and quasi-governmental agencies of illegal conduct in connection with the use of its TLD. In high-priority cases the Internal Abuse Team will seek to determine within forty-eight business hours whether the registration or use of the domain within the TLD is abusive as defined by the Abuse Policy. In all cases, the Internal Abuse Team will determine whether a domain is abusive within seven business days or sooner of receipt of the Complaint. If an abusive use is determined, the Internal Abuse Team may alert the registry services team to immediately suspend resolution of the domain name, as appropriate. Thereafter, if we decide to suspend resolution of the domain name at issue, the Abuse Point of Contact will immediately notify the abusive domain name registrant of such action, the nature of the complaint, and provide the registrant with the option to respond within ten days. All such actions will be ticketed in Google’s CRM software to maintain accurate complaint processing records. If the registrant responds within ten business days, the Internal Abuse Team will review the response to determine if the registration or use is not abusive. If the Internal Abuse Team is satisfied by the registrant’s response, the Abuse Point of Contact will submit a request to the registry services team to reactivate the domain name. If the registrant does not respond within ten business days or the Internal Abuse Team is not satisfied by the registrant’s response, the Abuse Point of Contact will notify the registry services team to continue the suspension, transfer or cancel the abusive domain name, as appropriate. The anti-abuse procedure will not prejudice either party’s election to pursue another dispute mechanism, such as the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) or Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). If CRR’s registrar receives notice of a URS or UDRP complaint pertaining to a domain name within the TLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four hours of receipt of the complaint. The registrar will also notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In order to further minimize abusive domain name registrations and other activities that have a negative impact on Internet users, CRR will promote the ability to contact a domain registrant using information in WHOIS by providing accessibility in a reliable, consistent, and predictable fashion. CRR will adhere to port 43 WHOIS Service Level Agreements (SLA), which require that port 43 WHOIS service be highly accessible and fast. CRR will either verify the email address or telephone number provided by the registrant or will require that the registrar do so as a part of registration. CRR plans to establish policies and procedures to address domain names with inaccurate or incomplete WHOIS data. As required by Specification 4 of the new gTLD Registry Agreement, CRR will offer thick WHOIS services, in which all authoritative WHOIS data is maintained at the registry. Through CRR’s registrar and registry services team, we will maintain timely, unrestricted and public access to accurate and complete WHOIS information, including registrant, technical, billing, and administrative contact information, identity of the registrar, domain name’s expiration date, nameservers associated with the domain, and specified fields of data for the Registrant Contact, Administrative Contact, and Technical Contact. CRR will employ query rate limiting and CAPTCHA procedures for its WHOIS database to minimize abuse of its features. Abusive activity on the Internet has been a growing problem, creating security and stability issues for registrants, registrars and users of the Internet in general. CRR intends to address this issue across its TLDs by dedicating ample resources for the purpose of implementing its strict abuse policies and procedures. Abusive registrations and uses of domain names in the global top-level domain (gTLD) will not be tolerated. The nature of such abuses creates security and stability issues for the registry, registrars and registrants, as well as for users of the Internet in general. As set forth in prior responses, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will employ a stringent verification process to establish that every prospective registrant meets the registration criteria. In addition to this verification process, the registry promises to incorporate the following Rights Protection Mechanisms. Subject to the Sunrise Eligibility Requirements (SERs) outlined herein, Charleston Road Registry (CRR) will offer a Sunrise Period of 60 days for owners of trademarks listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse to register domain names that contain a second level consisting of an identical match to their listed trademarks. In addition, CRR plans to implement a pricing structure to make it easy for brand owners to secure their trademarks and brand names within the gTLD. CRR’s registrar will confirm all Sunrise and Registration eligibility. As an added measure of security for brand owners, CRR will staff an internal sunrise team (the “Sunrise Contact”) which will review all Sunrise registrations to ensure Sunrise and registration eligibility. The SERs, which will be verified by Clearinghouse data, will include the following: (i) proof of membership in eligible registrant class, (ii) ownership of a mark that is (a) nationally or regionally registered and for which proof of use, such as a declaration and a single specimen of current use – was submitted to, and validated by, the Trademark Clearinghouse; or (b) that have been court-validated; or (c) that are specifically protected by a statute or treaty currently in effect and that was in effect on or before 26 June 2008; (iii) representation that all provided information is true and correct; and (iv) provision of data sufficient to document rights in the trademark. Upon submission of all of the required information and documentation, the registrar will review the submissions and verify the trademark and eligibility information and all contact information provided for registration. The registrar shall then send confirmation messages, listing any deficiencies regarding the trademark information provided with the application. If a registrant does not cure any eligibility deficiencies and⁄or respond by the means listed within one week, the registrar will release the name. CRR will incorporate a Sunrise Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP). The SDRP will allow challenges to Sunrise Registrations by third parties for a ten-day period after acceptance of the registration based on the following four grounds: (i) at the time the challenged domain name was registered, the registrant did not hold a trademark registration of national effect (or regional effect) or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; (ii) the domain name is not identical to the mark on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration; (iii) the trademark registration on which the registrant based its Sunrise registration is not of national or regional effect or the trademark had not been court-validated or protected by statute or treaty; or (iv) the trademark registration on which the domain name registrant based its Sunrise registration did not issue on or before the effective date of the Registry Agreement and was not applied for on or before ICANN announced the applications received. After receiving a Sunrise Complaint, the Sunrise Contact will review the Complaint to see if the Complaint reasonably asserts a legitimate challenge as defined by the SDRP. If the Complaint does not, the Sunrise Contact will email the complainant within 36 hours of the complaint to indicate that the subject of the complaint does not fall within SDRP, and that CRR considers the matter closed. If the domain name is not found to have adequately met the SERs, the Sunrise Contact may alert the registrar to immediately suspend resolution of the domain name, as appropriate. Thereafter, the Sunrise Contact will immediately notify the registrant of such action, the nature of the complaint, and provide the registrant with the option to respond within ten days to cure the SER deficiencies or the domain will be canceled. All such actions will be ticketed in Google’s customer relationship management (CRM) software to maintain accurate SDRP processing records. If the registrant responds within ten business days, its response will be reviewed by the Sunrise Contact to determine if the SERs are met. If the Sunrise Contact is satisfied by the registrant’s response, it will submit a request by the registry services team to reactivate the domain name. The Sunrise Contact will then notify the Complainant that its complaint was ultimately denied and provide the reasons for the denial. If not, both the registrant and the complainant will be notified that the domain name will be released. CRR will offer a Trademark Claims Service during the Sunrise Period and plans to continue to offer the service for an indefinite period of time thereafter during general registration. CRR will staff an internal team that will be considered the Trademark Claims Contact. The registrar will verify whether any domain name requested to be registered in the gTLD is an identical match of a trademark that has been filed with the Trademark Clearinghouse. It is anticipated that a domain name will be considered an identical match when the domain name consists of the complete and identical textual elements of the mark, and includes domain names where (a) spaces contained within a mark that are either replaced by hyphens (and vice versa) or omitted; (b) certain special characters contained within a trademark are spelled out with appropriate words describing it (e.g., @ and &); and (c) punctuation or special characters contained within a mark that are unable to be used in a second-level domain name are either (i) omitted or (ii) replaced by hyphens or underscores. If the registrar determines that a prospective domain name registration is identical to a mark registered in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will provide a “Trademark Claims Notice” (“Notice”) in English on the registrar’s website to the prospective registrant of the domain name. The Notice will provide the prospective registrant with access to the Trademark Clearinghouse Database information referenced in the Trademark Claims Notice to enhance its understanding of the Trademark rights being claimed by the trademark holder via a link. The Notice will be provided in real time without cost to the prospective registrant. After receiving the Notice, the registrar will require the prospective registrant to click a link that specifically warrants that: (i) the prospective registrant has received notification that the mark(s) is included in the Clearinghouse; (ii) the prospective registrant has received and understood the Notice; and (iii) the registration and use of the requested domain name will not infringe on the rights that are the subject of the Notice. CRR reserves the right to adopt other procedures and requirements for the Trademark Claims Service. At a minimum, it is anticipated that after the effectuation of a registration that is identical to a mark listed in the Trademark Clearinghouse, the registrar will then provide a clear notice to the trademark owner of the trademark with an email detailing the WHOIS information of the registered domain name. The trademark owner then has the option of filing a Complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and⁄or the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) against the domain name. As discussed in its right protection mechanisms, CRR will require in its domain name registration agreements that its registry operator and registrar providers, as well as all registrants, submit to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) procedures. CRR and its registrar(s) will abide by decisions rendered under the UDRP and URS on a timely and ongoing basis upon notification. CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all URS Complaints and decisions. After receiving a URS complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a URS complaint from the URS Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry suspends the domain name in a timely fashion and has the website at that domain name is redirected to an informational web page provided by the URS Provider about the URS throughout the life of its registration. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all URS complaints and decisions. CRR will specify in the Registry Agreement, all Registry-Registrar Agreements, and all Registration Agreements used in connection with the gTLD, that it will abide by all decisions made by panels in accordance with the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). CRR’s registrar will be tasked with receiving all UDRP complaints and decisions. After receiving a UDRP complaint about a domain name within the gTLD, the registrar will ensure that the domain name is locked within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of a UDRP complaint from the UDRP Provider and will notify CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact and the registrant. In the event of a determination in favor of the complainant, the registrant will notify the Abuse Point of Contact and the registry services provider to ensure that the registry cancels or transfers the domain name in a timely fashion as provided for by the decision. CRR’s Abuse Point of Contact will oversee and monitor the status and resolution of all UDRP complaints and decisions. CRR will contract with various ICANN-accredited registrars. CRR is committed to reducing abusive registrations, and will ensure that its registrar operates accordingly. CRR will either verify the email address or telephone number provided by the registrant or will require that the registrar do so as a part of registration. CRR will ensure proper access to domain functions by requiring multi-factor authentication from registrants to process update, transfer, and deletion requests. No name will resolve until the registrant has been verified by the internal team as an eligible registrant. See Question 27 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s policies with respect to Add Grace Periods. CRR will implement in its internal policies and its Registry-Registrar and Registration agreements that all registered domain names will be subject to a Domain Name Anti-Abuse Policy (“Policy”). See Question 28 for a detailed discussion of CRR’s Anti-Abuse Policy. The cost of these services will generally be set at reasonable market rates per agreement between CRR and Google. The expected costs are discussed in Questions 46 and 47. The Registry Team will be responsible for designing and implementing the SRS, EPP, and WHOIS systems, including implementation of the rights protection mechanisms. They will also be responsible for creating tests and monitoring for these systems. The Customer Services Team will be responsible for supporting customers and partners, including responding to abusive registrations. Google has a very large existing customer service team of both internal staff as well as staff contracted through third parties, with many hundreds of dedicated staff members already in place. Since these teams and their management are already in place, no standalone implementation resources are needed. To continue ongoing maintenance of CRR support needs, Google plans to add additional resources for capacity as needed. Google expects to add a total of approximately fifteen additional personnel (including both Google employees and outside vendors) to support all of CRR’s customers and partners. The individual staffing allocation to each gTLD is described in Question 47. CRR is committed to implementing strong and integrated intellectual property rights protection mechanisms. Doing so is critical to Google’s goals of model Internet citizenship and fostering Internet development, especially in emerging regions. Accordingly, CRR intends to offer a suite of rights protection measures which builds upon ICANNʹs required policies while fulfilling our commitment to encouraging innovation, competition, and choice on the Internet. Google plans to use the same common secure infrastructure to support the proposed registry that we use for our other production networks and computing environments. Google currently provides best-in-class security technologies and processes to protect Google’s products, services, infrastructure and user data. Google’s common secure infrastructure supports some of the web’s most widely-used services, such as Google Search YouTube, and Google Apps. These services are used by many millions of consumers, businesses and government customers for their daily operations. Google does not have any plan to support High Security Top Level Domain (HSTLD). Google’s security programs are governed through the Google Security Team. The Security Team is led by Google’s Vice President of Security, who reports to Google Senior Leadership including the President of Technology and Chief Executive Officer. Google’s VP of Security has approved the security policies that underpin Google’s information security program. - Control and maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and information systems. - Limit Google’s exposure to the risks arising from loss, corruption or misuse of our information assets. - Ensuring consistency, which is attained against legal, regulatory, policy and best practice requirements. To ensure the consistent implementation of security controls across the various layers of infrastructure and services, Google has documented the following security policies. - Basic Security Policy: States the foundation and principles of Google’s Security Policies. - Physical Security Policy: States how the safety of people and property is protected at Google. - Accounts Access and Administration Policy: States the kinds of internal accounts Google has and how to access, use, and administer them in a way that reduces risk and provides the ability to audit account activity. - Data Security Policy: States how data should be handled at Google to help ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. - Corporate Services Security Policy: Informs Google employees of what to expect regarding access, monitoring, and other security considerations for communications and other data sent, received, or stored using Googleʹs corporate services. - Network and Computer Security Policy: States how to reduce the likelihood of compromise to Googleʹs data and infrastructure from devices connected to Google networks. - Applications, Systems, and Services Security Policy: Ensures that adequate attention is paid to security in the design, procurement, development, deployment, and maintenance of Applications, Systems, and Services. - Change Management Policy: Describes the safeguards that protect Google from accidental or malicious changes to Googleʹs systems. - Information Security Incident Response Policy: States the minimal requirements for preparing for and responding to information security incidents. - Datacenter Security Policy: Ensures that adequate attention is given to verifying that each datacenter hosting Google systems maintains security controls that provide protection appropriate to the criticality of those systems. - Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Independent assessments conducted every two years. In 2011, Google received FISMA certification for Google Apps Cloud, another service that uses the same production network as the Google registry will use. Grant Thornton LLP performed independent assessment, and United States General Services and Administration (GSA) issued FISMA certification to Google based on this independent assessment. - Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE16). Independent assessments conducted annually. - Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). Independent assessments conducted annually. - Payment Card Industry (PCI). Independent assessments conducted annually. Government agencies and Enterprise customers are currently using Google Apps Cloud Services. Google’s corporate and production networks were both in scope for FISMA and SSAE16 independent assessments. Google is also currently preparing for ISO 27001 certification of Google Apps Cloud. Google will make the following commitments to registrants. - Google’s existing dedicated Security Organization will remain the focal point for ensuring implementation of adequate system security in order to prevent, detect, and recover from security breaches. Various teams in the security organization ensure that Google’s infrastructure and services are operated, used, maintained, and disposed of in accordance with internal security policies. - Google will continue to contemplate threats from internal and external sources, and will exercise our existing incident response capability. - Google will continue to perform quarterly scanning of our internal and external infrastructure to detect network, database, application, and OS vulnerabilities. - Google will continue to maintain robust Logging, Monitoring and Auditing capabilities for its systems and networks. These policies are discussed further in Section 30b. - Google’s externally facing network infrastructure will continue to enforce strict access control restrictions to deny all traffic and allow only authorized protocols to enter the Google network. - Google has established background investigations for all Google employees in accordance with local laws and will continue to do background investigations for any new Google employees.

2019-04-23T10:13:09Z

https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails:downloadapplication/528?t:ac=528

Over the first three quarters of 2017, the Port of Riga has handled a total of 25.5mt (million tonnes) of cargo, 5.1% — or 1.4mt — less than during the same nine months of 2016. The Port of Riga is a multi-functional port handling both dry and liquid bulk, as well as general cargo. Dry bulk is the largest cargo segment of the Port of Riga, amounting to 63% of cargo handled by the port over the first nine months of 2017. As compared to the same period of the previous year, the amount of dry bulk handled by the port has increased by 2% (the volume of general cargo has increased by 9.6%, while the turnover of liquid bulk has dropped by 32.9%). Sea, behind the Russian port of Ust-Luga, which has been developing extremely fast in recent years due to the Russian policy of transferring cargo of Russian origin only to its own ports. Over the first three quarters of this year, the Port of Riga has handled a total of 16mt of different types of dry bulk. According to Q3 2017 results, the largest group of dry bulk at the Port of Riga is coal, mineral fertilizers, wood pellets, grain and grain products, metals and wood chips. Coal is a transit cargo at the port of Riga, which is 100% received by rail from Russia. The Russian transport policy in recent years envisages transferring all cargo only to its own national ports and fully closing cargo transit via the Baltic States’ ports. However, despite this policy, this year’s volume of coal handled by the Port of Riga has increased by 2.5% compared to 2016. Overall, 9.3mt of coal were dispatched from Riga this year. The second-largest group of dry bulk at the port of Riga is mineral fertilizers. Mineral fertilizers are handled at two specialised port terminals and are 100% received in transit from Russia. Over the first three quarters of this year, the Port of Riga has handled 1.8mt of mineral fertilizers, which is 12.3% less than a year before. As compared to the previous year, the total volume of dry bulk timber handled by the port over the first nine months of this year has increased by 9.7% and 1.8mt of cargo have been dispatched from the port. Dry bulk timber is an export product of Latvia and an increase therein also suggests an increase in the Latvian wood processing sector. An increase in handled cargo, compared to the previous year, has been registered for woodchips (+13.5%) and sawn timber (+77.9%), while stagnation after the fast growth of the previous year is observed in the wood pellets segment (–4.5%). Grain cargo in Latvia is both of local origin and received in transit from neighbouring countries, i.e. Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. Taking into account the unfavourable effects of this year’s weather conditions on crop harvesting in Latvia, handling of grain products at the port was actively commenced only in the second half of September. Despite that, 261,800 tonnes of agricultural products were handled in September, a new monthly record. Overall, the volume of grain products over the first three quarters of the year has remained at the same level as the previous year. Over the first three quarters of this year, the total volume of dry bulk metals (ore, metals, scrap metal and ferroalloys) has increased. As part of its ongoing development of the terminal, and in order to increase the effectiveness of cargo handling, the company Riga Universal Terminal Ltd. (RUT) has introduced a new technology: containerized dry bulk handling. This technology is often called a revolution in dry bulk logistics and the Port of Riga is the first port in Europe to use it. The company RUT is currently using the containerized handling method for handling wood pellets on large dry bulk ships. Pellets are delivered from warehouse to pier in special-purpose open-top 20-foot containers. Using a portal-frame container lift equipped with a revolute system (revolver), the entire contents of a container are delivered onto the ship by turning the container over into the holds. Atis S?ulte, RUT Trade and Business Development Director: “The main benefit from introducing the new technology is significant optimization of terminal expenses and increase in performance. Now, we can perform dry bulk handling operations involving a significantly smaller number of machinery and human resources. Savings on resources amount to almost 50%. By introducing containerized cargo handling, we have become more competitive and can better adjust to customer requirements. Following the general tendency in cargo carriage, dry bulk ships handled at our terminal are becoming even larger. By means of the new technology, we are able to ensure fast and effective loading of large ships. By applying the new technology, we are able to load dry bulk and containers at the same pier, using one portal-frame lift. It allows us to quickly organize our work in the terminal and quickly handle any type of ship”. Containerized dry bulk handling is also an environmentally-friendly technology. Cargo is practically poured into the holds, rather than above them, which reduces the amount of dust that ends up in the air. Likewise, spread of dust and cargo losses are reduced by handling a great amount of cargo within one lifting time. This method of containerized dry bulk handling is used in the ports of Australia and South America, where it is used with the logistics of mining industry products, i.e. metal ore, coal, as well as grain. This technology is called a revolution in dry bulk logistics, since by using closed standardised containers, dry bulk can be transported from the place of extraction, stored at the terminal without unloading from the container and loaded onto the ship using the same container. As a result, no investments are needed for warehouses and the entire logistics chain from extraction to loading onto a ship can be optimized, using standardized containers and equipment which has been developed and is already used in container cargo logistics. The Port of Kokkola is the third largest general port in Finland. Cargo traffic through the port has experienced powerful growth thanks to development efforts characterized by long-term and thorough planning. The most important success factors of the port are, among others, customer- friendly service, competitive pricing and investments in modern cargo handling equipment. The Port of Kokkola is the preferred and foremost port in Finland serving the mining industry. The expertise of the logistics required by the mining industry is based on a co-operation that goes back more than 50 years. In addition to the mining industry, the Port of Kokkola is an important actor in the transit traffic from and to Russia. The third significant customer group is the industry and the local trade in Kokkola. In the close vicinity of the port the industry concentration of Kokkola Industry Park (KIP) is established. This Industry Park is the largest concentration of non-organic chemical industry in Northern Europe. More than 60 companies are established in the area, employing more than 2,000 persons. Major investments have also been made in the Industry Park. In the first half of this year, the increase in cargo transport in the Port of Kokkola is over 16%, driven by foreign exports. This year, the Port of Kokkola has also achieved “The strongest in Finland” certificate. This kind of certificate is only achieved by companies which obtain the high Rating Alfa credit classification. This certificate is only awarded to every tenth company in Finland. The classification is awarded by Suomen Asiakastieto Oy. The Port of Kokkola is developing and expanding its activities in Russia and CIS countries. In early October this year, the Port Kokkola LTD opened an office in Moscow. With the help of the Moscow office, the Port of Kokkola will develop partner relations with Russia, and will be able to respond quickly to the needs and demands of Russian clients. For the co-operation and development of partner relationships in Russia and the CIS countries will be the representative of the Port of Kokkola, Kauko Tanninen. Tanninen has more than 20 years of experience in Russia in many industries, including mining and logistics. Last year, the Port of Gdansk handled a total of nearly half a million trucks and almost 240,000 railway wagons. In comparison to 2015, this was a leap of 43% in the case of trucks, and of 24% in terms of the intensity of rail traffic. This result in terms of land transport traffic is the best ever for the Port of Gdansk. After summarizing the 12 months of 2016, the Management Board of PGA (Port of Gdansk Authority) can announce record data relating to the use of overland transport. Last year, on average, one loaded truck was handled in the port every minute, and a goods train every 1.5 hours. Regarding the average load of both means of transport, it is estimated this was slightly lower than last year, but the differences are relatively small. In comparison with the data from four years ago, truck traffic in the port in 2016 increased by 100%, and rail traffic recorded an increase of nearly 40%. The current dynamics confirm the large increase in the importance of Gdansk in the operation of overland transport. individual means of transport in overland freight handling in Gdansk was 31% for railways, 29% for trucks and 40% for pipeline transport. The latter has seen an 8% drop in the share structure, with an increase of 5% in truck traffic and 3% in the share of rail transport in overland freight handling. Truck traffic was mainly used to transport general cargo (containers) as well as bulk cargo such as aggregates, chemicals and grain. Rail was used to transport primarily coal, containers and loads of chemicals, including fertilizers. Regarding coal, it should be noted that in the past year a change in the directional structure of freight handling has taken place. Although rail transport still dominated, the number of trucks picking up raw materials from the port and transporting them into the country increased by as much as 45%. According to estimates collected from port operators, the newly built railway bridge over the Martwa Wisla was crossed by a total of more than 5,600 trains, which equates to more than 220,000 wagons. In making the calculations, the operators did not take into account trains which crossed the bridge without goods. Average daily rail freight traffic amounted to around 15 trains a day, or more than 620 wagons a day. The achievement of such a result is pleasing, all the more so because during two quarters only one track was in operation on the bridge. The second track was opened in the third quarter of 2016. The bridge was most intensively used for the transport of containerized cargo, which in the past year increased by more than half in terms of tonnage in overland traffic. This automatically led to a rapid increase in the amount of land transport used to handle freight at the port. Detailed analysis of overland traffic in the port clearly demonstrates the growing importance of Gdansk as the logistics hub of the country. Each day it handles over 1,300 trucks loaded with goods, and more than 650 full wagons, most of which usually travel to or from the port without load. Thus, in practice, this means almost double the traffic compared to average daily levels. This year, the Management Board of PGA expects consistent growth in land traffic and is taking action to stimulate further development in this field. The aim of the Management Board of PGA is to create favourable conditions for the further development of logistics operations in the port, which will translate into higher growth of transshipments, resulting in strengthening the position of the Port of Gdansk. Yet another record result in transshipments at the Port of Gdansk. After the first eight months of 2017, the result has improved by 3.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, and at the same time, is higher than predicted. By August, as many as 25,501,876 tonnes of various types of goods were transshipped at the largest Polish seaport. It is worth mentioning that the upward trend is particularly noticeable in the container transshipment sector. In the period from January to August 2017, the Port of Gdansk exceeded the adopted transshipment plan by 0.7%. The volume of goods handled included mainly imported commodities (63.3%). This good August result is mainly owing to the transshipments of containerized general cargo, fuels (mostly oil), and coal. In August alone, over a quarter more general cargo was transshipped than in the same month of last year. Importantly, this year’s first transshipment of ore took place as well. Between January and August 2017, a total of 25.5mt (million tonnes) of cargo was transshipped. It is a continuation of this year’s trend of record transshipments — already within the first half of the year, the Port of Gdansk recorded the best result in its history, achieving a value several percent higher than in the same period of 2016. “In terms of transshipments, this year shows how dynamically the Port of Gdansk is developing. We owe high transshipment values primarily to general cargo, also of the Ro-Ro type. Within the last eight months, we have handled 373% more commercial vehicles than last year. We are particularly happy about exceeding the plans adopted for 2017. We hope that the coming years will bring even better results and that we will increase transshipments in the less popular categories, such as cereals,” says Lukasz Greinke, President of the Board of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA. Even though, this year, many ports recorded fewer vessel calls for regular links, the Port of Gdansk handled a record volume of containers. Importantly, at the beginning of September, another super large container ship from the OOCL fleet was christened. OOCL Japan will sail regularly between Gdansk and the ports of the Far East. The shipowner’s newest and largest container vessels will be gradually put into service both this year and in 2018. Everything seems to confirm that 2017 will be a record year in the container cargo group. The Port of Gdansk is one of the largest and most important enterprises in Poland. It is one of the most thriving ports in the Baltic Sea. It is of fundamental significance to the national economy and constitutes a key international distribution hub. Back in the year 2001, NK TEHNOLOGIJA started operations with a principal focus on servicing harbour cranes, providing all necessary repairs, main- tenance, retrofitting, assembling and dismant- ling for brand new or used lifting equipment. and developed its scope of supply, now offering turnkey projects for designing, manufacturing, delivery and installation of bulk handling equipment, such as shiploaders, mobile ecological weighing hoppers and tilting spreaders. With the loyal customers all across the Baltics, including, but not limited to the sea harbours of Hamina Kotka (Finland), Tallinn (Estonia), Ventspils (Latvia), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Sankt Petersburg, Ust-Luga and Kaliningrad (Russia), NK TEHNOLOGIJA pays tribute to the capital city of Riga, where the company has been residing since its very foundation, taking part in the local harbour’s development programme of the Krievu sala industrial area. This is a major infrastructure project involving the relocation of the coal terminals further away from the tourists attracted by the city’s downtown and residential areas. The project is supported by EU funds, and scheduled to be finalized by the end of 2018. NK TEHNOLOGIJA is taking an active part in the Krievu sala project, developing technological concepts for the coal handling process improvement in the area, providing its expertise on the basic equipment selection and offering solutions on the environment protection issues. The company’s scope also includes the supply of the rail- mounted mobile shiploader with a tripper car, to handle the coal cargoes with a loading rate of 2,000 metric tonnes per hour. This brand new piece of a modern and high- capacity harbour machinery, contracted a year ago, had already been commissioned and handed over to the customer (the enclosed SLL2000 shiploader can be seen in the photographs). The more demanding and varied the application and environment, the more robust and versatile a drive system needs to be. This is one of the reasons why the hydraulic direct drive is such a natural in the demanding environments and operation situations associated with materials handling. Bucketwheel reclaimers handle a variety of materials, operates under different conditions and they’re exposed to the risk of overloads. A robust hydraulic direct drive system is the perfect solution ensuring that they keep on running even in the toughest of environments. industrial heavy-duty applications. They are perfect for applications requiring high torque and low speed and really show their value when variable speed is used. The advantages of using direct hydraulic drive systems for powering bucketwheel reclaimers are quite apparent. Its controllable variable speed optimizes the machine capacity, while overload protection and high starting torque increases the availability considerably. In addition, the highly reliable drive system for the bucketwheel features such a low weight that the load on the slewing machinery significantly reduces. This leads to both higher uptime as well as less need for maintenance. The weight of a hydraulic motor, attached directly to the bucketwheel shaft, is much less compared to that of an equivalent alternative drive that often consists of more components and a more complicated mounting. Evidently, this weight reduction on the end of a 30–60m boom have a significant influence on the overall machine design. The drive unit can be located on the boom, closer to the machine centre, or on the slew deck. Compounding the weight reduction with the low inertia of the drive and the subsequent reduction of shock loads, there are many heavy arguments for using a hydraulic direct drive system in the design of a bucketwheel reclaimer machine. Another strong argument for using a hydraulic direct drive on a bucketwheel is the versatility offered by a variable speed drive. The ability to vary the bucketwheel speeds depending upon different materials and conditions means that capacity can be optimized. The possibility to monitor the bucketwheel torque condition and relate such information to the slew control offers considerable advantages. reclaimers – both for new machines and for retrofit upgrades. There are many possibilities to optimize all functions on a bucketwheel reclaimer by co-ordinating the control of these. With Ha¨gglunds direct hydraulic drive systems and products for linear functions from Bosch Rexroth there are possibilities to achieve outstanding performance also when it comes to applications like slewing, luffing, long travelling and conveyors, as well as for other functions that go with bucketwheel reclaimers. built-in overload protection eliminates trip-outs and minimizes production losses in the event of e.g. materials avalanche. Hydraulic direct drive systems consist primarily of a hydraulic motor directly mounted on the driven shaft and a drive unit including a control system. The drive unit comprising a fixed-speed AC induction motor and a variable displacement hydraulic pump. This drive unit provides a variable flow of oil to the hydraulic motor in response to a control signal, enabling the speed of the hydraulic motor to be adjusted for every possible need. enclosed motors, they easily withstand the industry’s dust, grit and widely varying temperatures. For conveyors, however, hydraulic direct drives offer more specific advantages. Easily tailored to both task and load, they have a modular construction that simplifies design and installation. And once in place, they provide many ways to maximize conveyor uptime and minimize stresses on machinery, chains and belts. Hydraulic direct drive systems consist primarily of a hydraulic motor and a drive unit, the latter comprising a fixed-speed AC induction motor and an axial piston pump. The drive unit provides a variable flow of oil to the hydraulic motor in response to a control signal, such that the motor’s speed can be adjusted for every conceivable need. The result is that the conveyor can be run at any speed within its speed range – without restriction. This allows soft starting sequences that minimize belt stress, for example, but also fine positioning when inching the belt in forward or reverse to inspect or replace it. Unlimited starts and stops in a conveyor, of course, speed capabilities are closely intertwined with torque. Hydraulic direct drives are capable of starting up from rest with a full load, and of accelerating it under the most extreme load scenarios. This is ensured by the very high starting torque, which can also be maintained for an unlimited period of time. affecting the service life of the belt or wearing the machinery in general. This is done easily via the control signal to the pump, without having to stop and restart the electric motor. Process optimization in their unique combination of variable speed control, sustainable torque delivery and protective torque limiting, hydraulic direct drives have yet another benefit. In short, they enable process optimization beyond any other drive technology. At times when there is a lower load on the conveyor belt, for example, it is possible to slow the belt speed and employ greater torque to maintain a requested material flow. This not only reduces wear on the belt, belt rollers and pulley bearings, but also increases overall efficiency. hydraulic direct drives is the way they achieve these benefits within a very limited space, which is often all that it is available on site. Between their compact motors and the small footprint of their flexibly placed drive units, their installation is truly minimal. Moreover, the mounting of the motor directly on the pulley drive shaft means alignment problems are eliminated. Because the design of hydraulic direct drives is modular, it allows an optimal solution to be sized and tailored for any conveyor, small or large, from a few kilowatts up to megawatts of installed power. Moreover, that solution can be adjusted down the line. With their flexible nature, hydraulic direct drives are easy to upgrade or adapt as needs change and develop over time. perfect load sharing when two or more hydraulic motors are used on one pulley or for multi-pulley conveyor design. The nine new and independent teams in NORDEN’s Dry Cargo Department have been in operation for a few months. “Our experience so far is very promising,” says Gregers Blaabjerg who is Head of Supramax North America and who is motivated by the increased level of responsibility that comes with the independence. Blaabjerg is in charge of Supramax North America — one of the nine new teams — which, with the new set-up in the department, is authorized to make decisions on its own resulting in increased responsibility and transparency regarding the results generated by the team. And transparency does not just apply when the team makes good results but also when the results are less attractive. “The high level of independence is highly motivating for the team — including me. We have a very direct relationship with our customers and the business we make. I know that I and the team have full responsibility for the transactions we make. Each team is an independent profit centre. In the previous setup, there was a smaller degree of transparency in results and it was consequently difficult to quantify good and bad decisions. The increased sense of ownership creates a foundation where everyone in the team does his or her best. This is to the advantage of our customers, but definitely also to NORDEN,” says Blaabjerg. The objective of the new set-up with a simplification, enforcement and empowerment of the entire Dry Cargo Department — with approximately 150 employees distributed on the head office in Hellerup, Denmark and the overseas offices in Singapore, Australia, China, India, the USA, Brazil and Chile — is to implement NORDEN’s strategic decision on significant organic growth by means of increased operator activity, i.e. the combination of cargoes with chartering in of available tonnage in the market. Furthermore, the new set-up with a strong customer focus will underpin NORDEN’s Corporate Soul Purpose which states that NORDEN works at contributing to more efficient and sustainable global trade, where every person and action matters. Blaabjerg’s team consists of six charterers and four operators — five charterers and one operator are located at the head office while the other members of the team work at the office in Annapolis, USA. A very concrete result of the high level of independence and thereby power to make business-related decisions, which previously had to be evaluated by managers further up the hierarchy, is that the team is much more agile — i.e. the work procedures are fast, flexible and able to adjust to the customers’ individual needs as a matter of course. “When a customer has made a shortlist of the shipping companies, which he considers reliable and able to deliver a service of a high quality, it is decisive for him that we are not only able to provide him with a competitive price for transporting his cargo, but that we are also able to quickly provide him with the price. At the other end of the line, he is in contact with the customer, whom he will deliver the cargo to, and to calculate the total price of the cargo, he needs to know the transport costs. “All experience demonstrates that the faster we are able to provide a binding quotation, the more likely we are to obtain the cargo contract. That is the short-term advantage. In the long term, our ability to provide a potential customer with a fast and not least binding quotation increases our chances of being contacted the next time he needs a quotation for a transport,” says Blaabjerg. Although the nine new teams covering the vessel types in the Dry Cargo Department — Post-Panamax, Panamax, Supramax and Handysize — have a high level of independence, this is practised within a well-defined framework which has been determined based on the department’s risk management. In short, it sets out to determine how much exposure is acceptable within the different vessel types and in the different markets based on a risk assessment. “Based on the framework provided for us, it us our task to independently utilize the business opportunities in the best possible way. This requires thorough and in-depth market knowledge, which each of the nine teams must gain independently. Of course, we also have to keep updated continuously in order for us to always know how a market is expected to develop over a two- or three-month period and thereby be able to act accordingly. We have to gather knowledge on e.g. North American grain exports for the year, but at the same time be clo+se to the supply side with regards to tonnage, thereby allowing us to be capable of acting correctly. For that reason, it is necessary to be deeply engaged in your market at all times,” says Blaabjerg. Only if the individual teams get too close to the edge of the commercial opportunities and their associated risks, will management interfere. He mentions another advantage of the new setup, which is that the charterers in the nine teams work much closer together with the operators due to the fact that the team also includes the operators who perform the execution of the transports. “This significantly increases our chances of remembering to include all aspects when we assess a business opportunity, and it strengthens our focus on optimization of current voyages,” says Blaabjerg. He says that trust between colleagues is a crucial factor in making the co-operation in a team work. ”Trust is a prerequisite if we want to be open with each other and be capable of receiving not only praise — which is typically not very difficult to receive — from each other, but also criticism, which is not always easy to receive and handle. In order to be efficient and give our customers the best possible service, we have to be able to discuss all subjects in the teams – also the cases where we have not performed well. And when you have not performed well, there is usually a lesson to be learned,” says Blaabjerg. Although all nine teams in the Dry Cargo Department are specialized and deeply focused on each of their own business areas, it will also be necessary to draw on the knowledge rooted outside the team, more accurately knowledge which is accessible in the newly established knowledge centre in the department. The knowledge centre is manned by colleagues, who are experts within risk assessment, market analysis, fuel efficiency and law. The centre is located in the middle of the Dry Cargo Department, but never further away from charterers and operators — including the ones at the overseas offices — than the nearest computer or phone. The centre serves as a resource for all teams. to charter in a vessel, and who prevent us from burning our fingers because we get hold of a vessel which consumes too much fuel. “It strengthens the work in the team to know that although we are independent, we have the great advantage that we are part of NORDEN, and I mean the entire NORDEN. We can always draw on other colleagues, who have the exact knowledge — or can quickly gather it — that we are after in connection with a future business transaction,” says Blaabjerg. Every member of team Supramax North America has special focus areas and the purpose is that the team is to gather as much in-depth knowledge as possible in order to get the greatest overview and consequently the best foundation for doing profitable business, which encourages the customers to come back. Again and again. coordinating focus on all areas of relevance to our team, and I furthermore focus on the team, the customers, the brokers and the strategy,” says Blaabjerg. At the end of October, major global coatings manufacturer Hempel launched two new premium antifouling coatings, Globic 9500M and Globic 9500S. The coatings offer customers a potential 2.5% reduction in speed loss. This equates to significant fuel savings and lower CO2 emissions improving the operational efficiency of a vessel and minimizing the operator’s environmental footprint. This next-generation coating series builds on Hempel’s proven Globic technology to deliver superior antifouling performance for new buildings and dry- dockings, delivering an outstanding return on investment and flexibility from outfitting through the entire docking interval. Hempel’s patented Nano acrylate technology is the strength behind the Globic range and provides a fine polishing control mechanism to bring the integral biocides to the surface at a stable rate ensuring a clean hull. By combining the strongest binder and biocide package for premium performance at different trading speeds, Globic 9500M and Globic 9500S outperform other self- polishing coatings (SPC) particularly when slow steaming. “Our Globic range has been very well received in the market and since its launch in 2005, over 25 million litres have been delivered worldwide with more than 5,000 vessel applications achieved. Our new coating series is the next step in high performance antifouling protection”. Additionally, the patented microfibres incorporated in the paint give Globic 9500M and Globic 9500S a best in class mechanical strength to avoid cracking and peeling. Globic’s unique technology allows it to start working as soon as the hull meets the water for full and immediate antifouling protection, making it highly efficient even for slow steaming and long idle periods. The new coatings incorporate specially designed water-activated Nano acrylate technology that uses nano capsules to control polishing. When seawater comes into contact with the nano capsules, it penetrates the hydrophobic outer shell.The hydrophilic inner core chemically hydrolyses and then expands which breaks through the outer shell, enabling controlled polishing. Consistent self-polishing and a constantly thin leach layer ensure uniform biocide release over the entire docking interval. Unlike other premium antifouling technologies, Nano acrylate technology provides immediate antifouling protection without the need for water friction. Special microfibres reinforce the binder, providing a skeleton effect that gives the coating enhanced mechanical strength and makes it more resistant to cracking. Also in late October, Hempel launched its new versatile activated zinc primer, Hempadur Avantguard 860. This product combines best-in-class corrosion protec- tion, at the level of an inorganic zinc silicate, with the application benefits of an epoxy. Hempadur Avantguard 860 is specifically designed to protect steel structures in moderate to severe corrosive environ- ments. It is the first of its class, specifically developed to overcome the problems experienced with zinc silicate primers application, without compromising corrosion protection and boosting productivity. In response to general industry concerns over curing times and application properties of zinc silicates, Hempel’s new product, with a recoating interval of just one hour, offers at least four times faster drying than coating systems based on zinc silicates. Highly flexible and versatile, this new coating can be applied year-round and at temperatures down to 14 °F/-10°C, and with no restrictions on minimum relative humidity. Hempadur Avantguard 860 is a SSPC Level 1-compliant two-component activated zinc rich primer, that delivers excellent protection in severely corrosive environments. It incorporates Hempel’s patented Avantguard technology offering a unique combination against corrosion, providing improved barrier, inhibitor and galvanic protections in a single coating for all-round performance. no need for a mist coat as required for inorganic zinc silicates. Since 1915 Hempel has been a world- renowned coatings specialist. Today, it has over 6,000 people in 80 countries delivering trusted solutions in the protective, decorative, marine, container, industrial and yacht markets.

2019-04-24T15:52:20Z

https://www.drycargomag.com/bulking-up-in-the-baltics

People expect long battery life on their mobile devices, and apps play a vital role in achieving that experience. Learn strategies to conserve energy while providing the best experience for your app. Find out about the key areas that affect energy consumption of an app as well as how to best use the available APIs to optimize battery life. Master energy debugging tools to make your app more energy efficient. Battery life is very important to your users. And apps are directly tied to battery life. So as developers, it's very important that we're careful about how we write our code. And the reason for this is if I'm a user and I'm having bad battery life, the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to go to the Battery Usage screen. I'm going to take a look at what apps are using a lot of my energy. If I notice that your app is near the top and I don't expect it to be there, I'm not going to be very happy about that and I may even delete your app. And so today, I'm going to talk about some battery life concepts. Then, we're going to move on and we're going to talk about energy efficient coding practices. From there, my colleague will come up and talk to you about energy debugging tools that are available to you as well as give you a demo. And then we'll wrap it up with some final thoughts. So let's get started. What is energy? Well, energy is the product of power and time. And I'd like to illustrate this with an example. As you can see here, when the device is idle, the power is very low. Yet when the device is active, the power is very high. And you also notice that the power can be even higher and that depends on how much work you're doing or the type of work that you're doing. You'll also notice that there's overhead and that's the amount of power that's needed to bring the hardware up to be able to do your work as well as put it back to sleep. And so as I said before, energy is the product of power and time and that's the area under the curve. And I'd like to take this one step further. The energy that you have is split into two regions: fixed costs and dynamic costs. The dynamic costs are the work that you're doing and the fixed costs are that overhead that we talked about earlier, the amount of energy needed to bring the hardware up to do your work in the first place. So even if you're doing a small amount of work, you're still going to have to pay those overhead costs. And we'll talk more about this later. So our devices are very powerful and so it's important that as developers we're very careful about when we use that power. We need to really think about, do we need to use this power to deliver a great experience to our users. And if we do, we should go ahead and use that power. But maybe there're other times where we can conserve it. So now you might be thinking, what consumes energy. Well, actually nearly everything in our devices consume energy but today I really want to focus on four main things. And these are processing, networking, location, and finally graphics. These are the four main things I really want you to think about when you're writing your apps. So how can I reduce my energy consumption? First, I want to identify the work that I need to do, really think about will this work, help your user. And if it won't, don't do it at all or maybe defer it to a later time. Next, you'll want to optimize your work. Once you've identified the work that you do need to do, try to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Next, you'll want to coalesce, try to batch up your transactions. Don't do them spaced apart. And finally, reduce the frequency of your work. So let's see how we can apply these principles to your apps. And first I want to start with networking. So if you're developing an app that uses networking or you have an app that does networking, you'll really want to pay attention here. And so I'd like to start with an example. I've been working on a social networking app and this app has three parts: a main feed, it has the ability to post a photo, and finally the ability to send some analytics data. And so let's start with the main feed. In my current implementation, I'm just reloading on a fixed timer over and over again. And let's take a look at the energy impact in doing so. Here you can see that at first glance doesn't look to be that energy intensive; however, as we talked about earlier, they're actually those overhead costs and that's the cost to bring up the radio and put it back to sleep in this case. And so even though you're just doing a small amount of work, you're paying those overhead costs and this is really resulting in a big energy impact. So how can we optimize this? First, we'll want to reload only on user interaction or maybe a notification such as an urgent news alert. Next, you'll want to use NSURL Session Default Session and there's a new property called Waits for Connectivity. This will allow you the ability to know when you can connect to the server of your choice. Additionally, you'll want to use NSURL Session Cache as well. This will allow you to not re-download the same pieces of your main feed over and over again and incur those extra costs. So, let's take a look at the energy impact with these optimizations. As you can see here, we've removed that recurring spike. Now you're only reloading on user interaction and notification. And you also removed that overhead cost as well. This is great for battery life. So let's see how we can set this up. First, we'll want to go ahead and create a default session configuration. Then, we'll move on and we'll set the waits connectivity property to true. And finally, we'll configure our cache. So that was the main feed. Now let's move on and talk about how we can post a photo. So in my current implementation, right now I'm just going to send this photo immediately and I'm going to retry on every failure. That's because I really want to get this photo to my server. And let's take a look at the energy impact in doing so. As you can see here, the energy impact is very high. We're spending a lot of time to send up our photo. And finally it times-out, maybe because the networking conditions are poor. And again, we retry because we really want to get this photo to our server. And again, we spend a lot of energy while we're not providing much utility for our user because this photo is still not getting to our server. And this may repeat over and over again. So how can we optimize this? First, we'll want to make sure we really minimize our retries. Only retry maybe two or three times. Next, set reasonable timeouts, maybe 30 seconds or a minute. Don't spend too much time trying in case you're in those bad networking conditions. Finally, you'll want to batch your transactions, so if you have other photos to post at the same time, go ahead and post those as well. Finally, if your retry limit is hit, and you're not sure what to do, maybe create a background session. This will allow you to hand off your photo upload to the system and it can find a good time to do your work. So let's take a look at the energy impact with these optimizations. As we can see here, now we've really reduced the amount of energy that we're spending both in the cost to send our photo as well as that overhead cost. Additionally, you might see that we're still timing out, maybe because those bad networking conditions are still there, but yet the second time we retry, we just go ahead and create a background session and now we're going to let the system handle uploading our photo. So that was how we can post a photo efficiently. Now let's talk a little bit about how we can send up analytics data. And as developers, we all really care about how users are using our apps. So we want to make sure that the data that we're sending does not have an energy impact and we can do that by using Background Session. This provides the ability to hand off your upload or download to the system to do it at a good time. Additionally, it provides automatic retries so you don't have to worry about handling that retry policy yourself. Next, it also provides throughput monitoring which means that if your throughput is very low, for instance you're in those poor network conditions, your task will be stopped and retried at a later time when it thinks it will succeed. Finally, there's some new properties called start time and workload size. This will help you indicate to the system the best time to do your work. And finally, you'll also want to set the discretionary property whenever you're doing work that's not immediately relevant to your user. This will allow the system to find the most energy efficient time to do your work as well. So let's take a look at an example. Here, we can see that right now I'm not using Background Session. I'm just going ahead and sending my data as soon as I have it ready to send to my server. Additionally, there's some other networking that's occurring in the future. And right now we're paying two overhead costs. So let's say that we use Background Session. Now we can see that Background Session has allowed these events to coalesce together and saved us that extra overhead by combining it with the other networking that was already going to happen at a future time. This will really help battery life for your users. So let's take a look at how we can set this up. First, we'll want to go ahead and create our Background Session configuration. Then, we'll move on and we'll set the discretionary property to true. Next, we'll go ahead and we'll set some properties like start time and the expected workload size. And finally, we'll resume our task. So that was how we can send up our analytics data in an efficient way. Now I want to talk to you a little bit about watchOS. So, networking on the watch can be very expensive and so it's important that you use background session for any work that you want to occur when the screen is off. You want to also use this for complication updates or background app refresh as well and that's because you'll be able to get runtime when the task completes so it can go off and doing your networking and let you know when it's done. So, to recap. First, you want to identify the work that you're doing. This will help you ensure that you're not repeating transactions again and again. Next, you want to optimize your work by using Background Session wherever appropriate. Next, you want to coalesce your work. Really batch those transactions up to save that overhead. And finally, reduce your work my minimizing retries and setting reasonable timeouts. So that was networking. Now I want to talk to you a little bit about location. And so as a developer, you have many APIs to choose from when it comes to location. But today I really want to focus on the energy impact of these APIs. So to start off, let's talk about if I wanted to add the ability to add navigation to my app. To do this, I'll want to use continuous location updates and the reason for that is I'll need to know if the user deviates from my course. That way I can provide them new instructions for how to get to their destination. But one thing you want to be cautioned of is that this does prevent the device from sleeping, so it will have a high energy impact on your users. So really, as soon as your user gets to their destination, you'll want to make sure you stop these location updates and make sure the device can sleep again. So let's take a look at how we can do this. First, we'll create a location manager. Then, we'll move on and we'll set some properties. And the property I really want to focus on today is desired accuracy. Really think about the accuracy that you need and the reason for that is higher accuracy is higher power. So really make sure that you do need that high accuracy if you go ahead and set it. And then next, you'll want to go ahead and start updating location. Once you're done, for instance as soon as the user gets to their destination, stop updating location, again so that you can let the device go back to sleep. So that was continuous location. Now let's move on and talk about some other APIs that will allow your device to sleep more often. The first one is request Location and this allows the ability to get the user's current location, maybe if you want to update content based on their current location without having to worry about calling start location and stop location and managing calling both of those. Next, there is region monitoring. Region monitoring provides you the ability to know, let's say, if you want to update content when the user arrives home. You don't have to track their location all the time. You can just create a region and when they cross that region, you'll be able to get some runtime to do your work. Similarly is visit monitoring. Visit monitoring allows you to know when users go to frequently visited locations. You'll also get some runtime at that time as well without having to continuously track their location. You can set that up as follows. And finally there's significant location change. So significant location change can be used if you want to know when the user is moving a significant distance but you don't want to use continuous location because continuous location prevents the device from sleeping. Significant location change doesn't prevent the device from sleeping. It can still sleep between those updates. And so you can really make a good optimization if you're able to move from continuous location to significant location change. One example is maybe you have a weather app. You need to know when the user moves significantly and update the weather at those times. And here is how you can set that up. So to summarize, first you want to identify the accuracy level that you need. Really think about do I need that high accuracy. And if you don't, use something lower. Next, you'll want to optimize your work by using alternatives to continuous location wherever you can and wherever it makes sense. Next, you'll want to reduce your work by stopping location updates as soon as you're done with them. Again, if you let those location updates keep coming, you might prevent the device from sleeping. And finally, you'll want to coalesce your work by deferring location updates. Maybe in the future you'll need that location, you'll really need it and maybe you don't need it right now. So that was location. Now I want to talk to you about graphics. And graphics can be very energy intensive. So here are some good guidelines to follow. First, you'll want to minimize your screen updates, really ensure that these are providing needed changes for your user. Next, you'll want to review your blur usage. If you're placing blurs on top of updating elements, this is very expensive for battery life. So be very cautious of that. So those are some general guidelines. Now let's talk specifically about the Mac. So if you're developing on the Mac, you'll want to be aware that some MacBooks have a discrete GPU and this discrete GPU is great at delivering awesome graphics and awesome performance for your users but it also has a high power cost over the integrated GPU. And so you'll really want to make sure that you're only using the discrete GPU when your animation performance really suffers over the integrated GPU, or if the functionality isn't provided there. Additionally, if you're developing on the Mac, you might be using Metal or OpenGL. And if you're using Metal, you'll really want to be aware that by just calling Create System Default Device, you're going to trigger the Discrete GPU automatically. And so if you don't need the discrete GPU, instead you'll want to call Copy All Devices and pick that device with the low power attribute set. This will ensure that you can use the integrated GPU whenever possible. For those of you that are developing using OpenGL, you'll want to make sure that your app is mux-aware by setting the Automatic Graphics Switching property either in your Info.plist or using the sample below. And the reason for this is if you don't need the discrete GPU, you don't want to be the one to keep it up and automatically you will keep it up unless you set this property. So to summarize, first you'll want to identify the work that you need to do by looking at your burry usage. Make sure you're not placing those blurs over updating elements. Next, you'll want to optimize your work. If you're developing on the Mac, really ensure that you're only using the discrete GPU whenever you really need it to deliver that great performance. And finally, reduce your work by minimizing screen updates whenever possible. So that was graphics. Now let's talk a little bit about processing. And again, processing can be very energy intensive as well. So here are some guidelines to follow. First, you'll want to identify the tasks that you need to do. Next, you'll want to do that work very quickly and efficiently once you've identified those tasks. You'll also want to avoid timers whenever possible. Try to do your work based on user interaction rather than a fixed timer over and over again. But if you really do need to use those timers, try to set a pretty long leeway. That will let the system coalesce your timers with other work. So that was some general guidelines for processing. Today I really want to focus on background processing. And background processing can be very expensive for your users and so it's important to think about what you're doing in the background. The main reason for this is the user is not looking at your app. In the foreground, they're looking at your app. So if you're using some energy there, they might not be as worried. But if you're using a lot of energy in the background, your users might not be happy about this. And so here are some general guidelines. First, we'll want to finish our work as quickly as possible. First think, do I really need to do this work in the background. And if so, find the most efficient way to do it. Next, if you want to update your content, try to use the background app refresh API. This will really help you find the best time to update your content. And finally, you'll want to make sure that you call the completion handler for whatever API that you're using. This will make sure that you allow the device to sleep as quickly as possible and you don't end up paying any fixed cost. So new in iOS 11, there's a completion handler in the PushKit API. This will allow the device to go back to sleep very quickly after you handle your incoming push if you call this. And so you'll really want to make sure that you adopt this if you're using PushKit. And let's take a look at an example. Here, we can see I'm not calling the completion handler in this case when I receive my incoming push. I'm just doing some processing and then I'm letting the device just go to sleep after a fixed period of time. But now let's take a look at the energy impact with the optimization. By calling the completion handler, we are allowing the device to sleep more quickly and not only have we saved that energy that we're using in the background but also that overhead cost as well. That will really help the battery life of your users if you're using PushKit. So let's talk a little bit about background processing on the Watch. So new is the background navigation mode. This also has CPU limits like other background modes on the watch. Additionally, you'll want to really make sure that you minimize any networking that you're doing when in this background mode. Really think about, do I need to do this or will my user care about this networking update that I'm doing. Maybe do it for things like traffic reroute or important traffic information. And finally, use background app refresh and complication updates to update your data. And when you're using these APIs, make sure that you use Background Session, as we talked about earlier, to get that data so you don't have to wait around for the data to come through. So to summarize, first you'll want to identify the work that you're doing in the background. Really make sure it's providing useful content for your user. Next, you'll want to optimize your work by using Background App Refresh whenever you can. Next, reduce your work by limiting the transactions that you're doing in the background. And finally, using background Session whenever possible. So now my colleague is going to come up and talk to you about the energy tools available to you as well as give you a demo. Thanks, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. I am Prajakta Karandikar. I'm an engineer in the power team. So you heard about all the best practices for writing energy efficient code. Now I'm going to talk about the various energy debugging tools that we have developed. We will see how you can use these tools to measure the energy efficiency or energy impact of your applications. These tools will help you find the high-level problems within your application pertaining to energy or the major problem areas and will help you fix these problems. Finally, we will move on to a demo where I'll take some sample applications and debug them for energy issues using our new tools so that it establishes a debugging workflow for you to debug your own applications. But first, let us see why it is important to measure your app's efficiency. Say you develop this awesome application with some great functionality but did not measure its energy impact. Turns out the energy impact of the application is pretty high even with usage for a very small period of time. Naturally, battery usage UI is going to flag this application as one of the top energy drainers and any customer who is using your application is going to experience a significant battery drain even with small-usage periods. It could be possible that the customer deletes your application and that is definitely not something that you desired. So as an app developer, it is really important that you measure your app's efficiency pertaining to energy or its energy impact. And to help you with this measurement, we have the new and improved Energy Gauges. These are included as a part of Xcode, which you all are familiar with. Energy Gauges are designed to give you a high-level overview of the problems within your application pertaining to energy. They will tell you what are the energy-heavy areas within your app. They will also guide you to the right set of instruments to drill down deeper within these problem areas and fix these problems. So where can you access Energy Gauges within Xcode? When you launch your application with Xcode, click on the Debug navigator. A series of performance gauges open to the left-hand side of the screen. These are for the basic metrics in the system like CPU, memory, network, and disk. In iOS and macOS, one of these gauges is for energy impact. When you click on this energy impact gauge, the energy report opens to the right-hand side of the screen. Let me walk you through the various parts of this report. At the top left corner of the report, you will see a value which indicates the overall energy rating or the overall energy score for your application. Alongside it lies a meter which is three regions: the green, yellow, and the red region corresponding to low, high, and very high energy impact. So the bad news for this particular report is that this application which is being debugged has a high average energy impact. The good news, however, is that as you make improvements or optimization to your application, this meter will help you know whether you're moving in the right direction, that is towards the green or the low energy impact zone, or are you moving to the wrong direction, which is the red or the very high energy impact zone. So if you see that your application lies anywhere within the yellow or the high regions, you definitely want to take a look at the pie chart which is at the top right corner of the report. So this pie chart tells you what does the average component utilization for the primary components which consume energy on iOS as were described to you by Daniel. Ask yourself, do you expect your application to be using this much CPU, GPU, networking, location. You can start by eliminating whatever you did not expect your application to be using. Those could be some leaks within your application which have left some hardware running indefinitely and which are resulting in a greater energy impact. For example, say you have developed a gaming application which uses only the CPU and GPU and it requires very little location that is to access the location of the user when the user starts playing a game. But if you see from the energy report that the pie chart tells you that your location utilization is very high, that could be a possible leak within your application where you're continuously accessing location and that could be something which is resulting in excessive energy drain. So once you have eliminated whatever you did not expect your application to be using, next you should try to optimize whatever stands out or is the biggest portion within the pie chart. So for this particular example, we see that the red region, which stands for overhead, is the biggest piece in the pie chart. We know that overhead is the energy that is required to bring up the radios and all the other system hardware which is required for your application to perform work. And this seems about right considering that your application is also utilizing the networking component. Networking is going to bring up the radios which will require power for prolonged periods. So in this case you can try to optimize your networking utilization. Try to batch up all your networking activity within your application whenever possible so that it reduces the impact on the networking as well as the corresponding overhead which has resulted from it. Once you know which is the primary component that you want to try to optimize or improve first within your application, you should look into the segmented bar chart or the instantaneous section of the report. This gets refreshed every second. This is great to find whether what your application is doing over time makes sense. So when you execute certain actions or scenarios while you're trying to debug your application using energy gauges, you can see here what is the exact point of time when you consumed energy, which are the various components on which you generated a workload. This region also tells you whether that workload was generated while the application was running in the foreground, background, or suspended states. So here you can verify whether you're adhering to the good principles of doing as little work as possible or no work if possible in the background state and moving immediately into the suspected state whenever your app is backgrounded. If you do an extended click on any one of these bar charts, it will give you a breakdown of the component utilization for that instant. So this section is great to find what are the opportunities within your application to reduce or to coalesce work. In this particular example, you see that you're repeatedly doing networking activity and that's why time and time again you have the networking impact as well as the overhead impact which is generating from it. So this is a great example that you can batch all your networking work and that is going to lower the energy impact for your application. At the bottom of the report, you have information regarding the various components which consume energy on iOS and some useful tips regarding how you can reduce your application's impact on each one of these components. To the right of these tips, there are buttons to click into instruments. So say from the energy gauge's report, you saw the CPU utilization for your application is maximum and that is something that you want to try to optimize. So you can click on the Time Profiler instrument and this will move your debugging session into instruments time profiler. So Time Profiler basically watches all the running threads of your process and it generates samples at regular intervals. You have a complete back-trace available for each of these samples and that can be seen on the right-hand side in the Extended View section. So this helps you find what are the exact lines of code within your application which are extremely time intensive, where was most time spent within your application, which functions within your application were extremely CPU intensive, and you can try to optimize that part of your code and rerun it for debugging using Energy Gauges. Similarly, if Energy Gauges report told you that your location utilization is extremely high and that is something that you want to go and optimize, you can click on the Location Profiler. This tells you what are the points in code where you have made access to core location manager. You can also see what was the accuracy that is demanded for each of these calls and what is the resulting energy impact from these calls. So in this particular case, we see that the location manager is being accessed time and time again with the best accuracy possible and, hence, there is a high energy impact that is resulting from each of these location calls. This is also a great place to find out whether you have left any leaks in the system. That is whether all calls to locations manager have been successfully released. You can also try to incorporate the good practice of using lower accuracy whenever possible within your application so that it lowers the energy impact resulting from it. Now that we have familiarized our self with the various tools that are available for energy debugging, let us look at some of the scenarios that you should execute on your applications while debugging them for energy issues. So there are some scenarios that could apply to every application. For example, there is the launch and idle scenario, whether the user launches your application but does not interact with it. Secondly, there is a backgrounding scenario. So you should try to run these scenarios using Energy Gauges and see what is the resulting energy impact that is generated from performing these actions on your application. Next, depending on the type of application that you are developing, there will be certain application-specific scenarios. For example, if you're developing a navigation app, some scenarios that would be specific to your application would be looking for a particular location or address and then getting the directions for that address and actually navigating to that particular location. So you should try running these scenarios on energy gauges for your applications, see what is the corresponding energy impact, then try to make improvements or optimization when you find the major problems pertaining to energy and then rerun these scenarios to ensure that Energy Gauges tells you that you're moving towards the lower energy impact or the green zone. So with that, let me move on to a demo where we'll try to run these scenarios on some sample applications so that it establishes a debugging workflow for you to debug your own set of applications. So the first application that I'm going to try to debug is DemoBots. So let me launch DemoBots on my device using Xcode. So this is a simple game that we have developed. We expect the game to be utilizing only the CPU and GPU. Let me click on the Debug Navigator and click on the Energy Impact gauge. This is the first scenario that we're executing, which is the launch and idle scenario. You want to see what is the corresponding energy impact from executing this action on the application. So here, we see that the overall score for our application is high. That is it has high average energy impact. So next, we want to see what are the components that we are trying to utilize. As expected, we are only utilizing the CPU and GPU. There are no unexpected components being utilized, which is great. So next, let us look at which is the largest part of this pie chart and what it is that we can optimize first. So we see that our GPU component is being extensively used at about 88%. So if you try to bring about any optimization or improvement within the GPU in your usage in your application, that is going to give you maximum benefits. Some of the good principles that you could adhere to here are reducing the number of screen updates or reviewing your usage of blurs or using less opacity whenever possible. And this could bring down your GPU utilization and the corresponding energy impact generating from it. Now let us perform another scenario which is backgrounding. Let me try to background this application. So we want to see whether it moves into the backgrounding state or immediately moves to the suspended state. So in this particular case, the application is immediately moved to the suspended state, which is great, because that lets the device actually sleep. And you're not incurring any energy cost on your device. Let us shift gears and move to another application. The second application that we are going to try to debug here is EnergyBuddy. Let me launch EnergyBuddy on my device using Xcode. So this is a simple application which we have developed which lets you take pictures of energy meters. It gets the reading from that picture for the meter. It then accesses your core location and uses your location to get the weather for that particular location. All of this information is later stored in the database, which you can retrieve. So let me click on the Debug Navigator and go to the Memory Impact gauge, sorry, the Energy Impact gauge. So here, this is our first scenario that we're executing, which is the launch and idle. So our -- From here, we see that right now our energy impact is zero, which is great. The only component that we are utilizing is CPU that was required for the launch. Now let us perform one application-specific scenario. Let me try to import a photo and see what is the corresponding impact from this particular action being executed on my application. So when I import a photo, I'm going to accept one of the photos and allow EnergyBuddy to access location. So this generates a graph from the meter reading that it has got. So as we see in the instantaneous section here, on executing this particular action, my application is utilizing CPU for processing and it is also utilizing the location component. So this was expected because we wanted as soon as we import this particular photo, it takes the location and then uses that location to get the weather information. However, here we can see that it is continuously accessing core location and that could be a leak within my code where I have left accessing core location continuously. So that is something that you can fix within your application and then try to rerun this particular scenario of importing a photo to ensure that your energy impact has gone down. So now let us try backgrounding this application. So when I background this application, we want it to move into the suspended state as soon as possible. However, here we see that the application has moved to the background state and it continues to access location while in the background state. So this is not providing any utility to the user and this can definitely be optimized within the application. We are accessing core location and that call is not getting ended and that's why core location is continuously being utilized resulting in the very high utilization for location as you can see in the pie chart. You also see a gray portion on the backgrounding section which is the static costs associated with keeping your device awake. So as long as your devices continues to be in the background state because of this application, there is going to be certain cost that is going to be built to your particular application. So these are some of the scenarios that we want you to run on your applications when you're trying to debug it for energy issues, identify what are the scenarios which are meaningful to your particular application, run those scenarios using Energy Gauges, and see what does the report tell you about the energy impact from executing each one of them. Make the necessary improvements or optimization within your application. Use instruments to drill down deeper. And solve the problems pertaining to energy. Rerun these scenarios in your application after you have improved your code and verify that Energy Gauges tells you that now you have moved towards the lower energy impact or the green zone. With that, I would like to hand it over to Daniel for the final thoughts and wrap-up of this presentation. As you guys saw, you'll definitely want to check out Energy Gauges. It'll help you find great energy improvements to your apps. So let's wrap it up with some final thoughts. First, you'll want to use NSURL Session Background Session whenever applicable. It'll really help the system find the best time to do your work. Next, make sure you minimize your use of continuous location. Remember that this will cause your device to stay awake. Next, avoid timers. If you need timers, set leeway to ensure that they're coalesced. And finally, use Energy Gauges. It'll definitely help you find great optimizations. Here're some related sessions. You'll definitely want to watch the videos for these.

2019-04-23T22:33:10Z

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2017/238/

Placebo and nocebo effects are embodied psycho-neurobiological responses capable of modulating pain and producing changes at different neurobiological, body at perceptual and cognitive levels. These modifications are triggered by different contextual factors (CFs) presented in the therapeutic encounter between patient and healthcare providers, such as healing rituals and signs. The CFs directly impact on the quality of the therapeutic outcome: a positive context, that is a context characterized by the presence of positive CFs, can reduce pain by producing placebo effects, while a negative context, characterized by the presence of negative CFs, can aggravate pain by creating nocebo effects. Despite the increasing interest about this topic; the detailed study of CFs as triggers of placebo and nocebo effects is still lacked in the management of musculoskeletal pain. Increasing evidence suggest a relevant role of CFs in musculoskeletal pain management. CFs are a complex sets of internal, external or relational elements encompassing: patient’s expectation, history, baseline characteristics; clinician’s behavior, belief, verbal suggestions and therapeutic touch; positive therapeutic encounter, patient-centered approach and social learning; overt therapy, posology of intervention, modality of treatment administration; marketing features of treatment and health care setting. Different explanatory models such as classical conditioning and expectancy can explain how CFs trigger placebo and nocebo effects. CFs act through specific neural networks and neurotransmitters that were described as mediators of placebo and nocebo effects. Available findings suggest a relevant clinical role and impact of CFs. They should be integrated in the clinical reasoning to increase the number of treatment solutions, boosts their efficacy and improve the quality of the decision-making. From a clinical perspective, the mindful manipulation of CFs represents a useful opportunity to enrich a well-established therapy in therapeutic setting within the ethical border. From a translational perspective, there is a strong need of research studies on CFs close to routine and real-world clinical practice in order to underline the uncertainty of therapy action and help clinicians to implement knowledge in daily practice. Pain represents a “distressing experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage with sensory, emotional, cognitive and social components” . Among the different pain conditions, musculoskeletal pain is ubiquitous and multifaceted: it can be the consequence of everyday activities that repeatedly or unusually stress the system, or it can be due to either acute traumatic events or to musculoskeletal diseases . It is the most disabling symptom in musculoskeletal disorders, causing a high number of requests for healthcare treatments and rising social costs . Moreover, especially in chronic conditions when pain persists beyond the normal healing time, it is influenced by different physical, psychological and social factors [4–6] defined as “contextual factors” (CFs). The multidimensionality that characterizes pain in musculoskeletal complaints requires an integrative and personalized approach for its treatment. For this reason, the study of the CFs and their conscious use and integration in the clinical practice could represent a novel approach in the management of this complex experience [7–16]. By definition, CFs are physical, psychological and social elements that characterize the therapeutic encounter with the patient [17, 18]. CFs are actively interpreted by the patient and are capable of eliciting expectations, memories and emotions that in turn can influence the health-related outcome, producing placebo or nocebo effects . In other words, the CFs represent the context that accompany any healthcare treatment: the exposure of a patient to a positive context (positive CFs) very often produces a placebo effect that is the occurrence of symptoms improvement (e.g. analgesia), whereas a negative context (negative CFs) can generate a nocebo effect, with a worsening of the pain condition (e.g. hyperalgesia) [20, 21]. In the following review, we use the term CFs instead of placebo, avoiding the misleading interpretation of placebo as inert treatment given to comfort or please the patient and following the recent conceptualization of the placebo as the psychosocial context that accompanies any medical intervention, be it active or sham [22–31]. As extensively demonstrated by the placebo and nocebo effect literature, the CFs can affect the outcome of a treatment with different mechanisms and in different systems, medical conditions, and therapeutic interventions . From a clinical perspective, the study of CFs as triggers of placebo and nocebo effects, is crucial for the management of musculoskeletal pain for several reasons . First, even if CFs are embodied in every complex therapeutic interventions in musculoskeletal complaints, they are often considered as incidental factors capable to affect outcomes. For this reason they are not always identified and used intentionally by clinicians . Second, CFs can produce a therapeutic effect through the involvement of the same central pathways of pain modulation activated by several hands-on (e.g. manual therapy, therapeutic exercises, acupuncture, injections) and hands-off solutions (e.g. pain neuroscience education) commonly applied in clinical practice [35–37]. Third, CFs serve as additional tools for the interpretation of the clinical picture and guide clinicians in managing the complexity behind the patient’s musculoskeletal pain . Taking into consideration CFs as active influencer of the therapeutic outcomes, can help to explain some unexpected outcomes and variability of symptoms experience . Moving from this vision, the present debate is proposed to all the health professionals (physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, nurses, occupational therapists, rheumatologists, orthopedics etc.) that work with musculoskeletal pain. In order to support a better and more conscientious therapeutic use of the CFs in musculoskeletal field, the purposes of this debate are to: 1) briefly define the CFs, how they work and act from a neurophysiological perspective; 2) underline their clinical relevance in pain management; 3) consider their role in clinical reasoning, within the ethical border and 4) suggest how to take them into account in the research field. What do the contextual factors represent? A treatment is never administered in a neutral situation, but rather in a complex set of CFs, that Balint called the “atmosphere around the treatment” and Miller and Kaptchuk called “contextual healing” . Following these definitions, it is clear that the CFs can act “independently” by the nature of the treatment: since they represent the context of any medical treatment, they have a role when a sham treatment is administered but also when an active treatment is administered. CFs were introduced in 2001 by Di Blasi et al. in medical community and recently exploited by Testa & Rossettini in physiotherapy field . CFs can be internal, external or relational. The internal factors consist of memories, emotions, expectations and psychological characteristics of the patient; the external factors include the physical aspects of therapy, such as the kind of treatment (pharmacological or manual) and the place in which the treatment is delivered. Relational factors are represented by all the social cues that characterizes the patient-physiotherapist relationship, such as the verbal information that the physiotherapist gives to the patient, the communication style or the body language . A clear identification of the CFs is crucial in clinical practice, in order to enhance the treatment efficacy. In a work targeted to physiotherapy field, CFs have been grouped in 5 different categories on the base of their sensory and social features : physiotherapist characteristics (professional reputation, appearance, beliefs, behaviours); patient characteristics (expectation, preferences, previous experience, musculoskeletal condition, gender, age); patient-physiotherapist relationship (verbal communication, non-verbal communication), treatment (clear diagnosis, overt therapy, observational learning, patient-centered approach, global process of care, therapeutic touch), healthcare setting (environment, architecture, interior design). During any clinical phase (e.g. consultation, examination and treatment) the CFs “inform” the patient that a healthcare procedure has been delivered and they could positively or negatively affect symptom perception, experience and meaning [20, 21]. The identification of the CFs and the attention to healthcare context is crucial for at least two reasons. First, a treatment delivered in a positive context (positive CFs) produces better outcomes than a treatment delivered in a neutral condition or negative context (negative CFs). The open-hidden approach is one of the best evidence of decreased effectiveness of a medical treatment when a meaningful context is eliminated . In the “open” condition, that mimics the routine medical practice, a treatment is delivered in full view of the patient: it means that the patient is aware of receiving a medical treatment and know when the medical treatment is delivered. In the “hidden” condition, the treatment is administered unbeknownst to the patient. Different studies have reported that open treatments are more effective than hidden treatments, because in the hidden condition the surrounding context (healing rituals, therapist-patient interaction, etc.) is absent, thus losing its positive meaning [43–46]. Second, the psychosocial context can influence the patients in different ways since the responsiveness to the context seems to be not a stable trait but a situational trait , and the same patient can sometimes positively respond to the context and sometimes not. Thus, if a patient is not influenced by the therapeutic context (the so called “placebo non-responders”) he/she needs more medical attention because the lower the placebo responsiveness, the lower the treatment responsiveness . Indeed, if the total treatment effect is conceptualized as the sum of the CFs effect plus the active treatment effect plus the interaction of the CFs and active treatment effects , a patient that is not sensible to the positive influence of the CFs will show a lower treatment response . How do the contextual factors trigger placebo and nocebo effects? If we aim to implement an aware use of CFs along the clinical routine, the understanding of how they work has a capital importance. The CFs shape placebo and nocebo effects through different sources. Historically, the most important models include classical conditioning and expectation processes. Following the classical conditioning, different external CFs represent an example of conditioned stimuli that evoke a conditioned response . In general, as proposed by this model, the repeated contingency between a salient unconditioned stimulus (e.g., sight of food) with a neutral conditioned stimulus (e.g., a bell ringing) can induce the same conditioned response (i.e., salivation) even if the neutral stimulus is presented alone. In the specific contest of healthcare, different aspects of the healthcare setting or physical features of the medical treatment can act as external conditioned stimuli, eliciting a therapeutic response in the absence of an active principle, just because they have been previously associated with it. Recently, other learning mechanisms has been documented, such social learning. In particular, beyond direct first-hand experience to specific external CFs, it is possible to learn a conditioned response by observing other people that respond to specific CFs . Following the expectation model, different external, internal and relational CFs can activate the expectancy of pain relief, triggering neurobiological changes and symptoms’ amelioration . Verbal suggestions are typical external CFs that trigger positive or negative responses. For example, the administration of an analgesic treatment along with the expectations of pain relief can lead to a positive analgesic response, whereas the administration of an analgesic treatment without specific expectations or with expectations or pain exacerbation can result in a negative response and in the perpetration of pain . Following the Colloca and Miller integrative model , conditioning and expectations are not mutually exclusive and can be integrated in a more general learning model, whereby various types of CFs trigger expectancies, memories and emotions that in turn generate behavioral and clinical outcome changes, through the activation of the central nervous system (Fig. 1) [7, 9, 20, 21]. In other words, the presence of external CFs, combined with specific internal and relational CFs, is interpreted by the patient and converted into neural input events and behavioral changes . This model represents a good conceptualization of the role of the therapeutic context, useful also at the clinical practice level. Indeed, it opens up to the possibility to study the effects and the impacts of every single CF on the outcome of a medical treatment. How do the contextual factors work at the neurobiological level? A robust body of knowledge, especially acquired in the field of pain, has identified the neural networks activated by the CFs. Indeed, a crucial question that catch the attention of neuroscientists and clinicians is whether the subjective changes in the outcome after the exposure to a specific therapeutic context are associated with specific neurobiological activities . Pharmacological studies, as well as neuroimaging studies, have address this question using different experimental approaches based on classical conditioning and modulation of expectations. Taken together, these studies demonstrated that different changes in the pain processing network occurs when positive or negative CFs trigger placebo or nocebo effects, respectively. In particular, pain reduction is associated with decreased activity in the classical pain-matrix areas, such as the thalamus, insula, somatosensory cortex, and mid-cingulate regions [55–60]. Interestingly, positron emission tomography (PET) studies showed that the analgesic effect induced by the administration of a real mu-agonist, such as remifentanil, and the analgesic effect triggered by verbal suggestions determined similar activation of different brain regions, such as rostral anterior cingulate cortex and the orbital cortex [61, 62]. Separating the pain anticipation phase and the pain perception phase, a meta-analysis of brain imaging data using the activation likelihood estimation method, identified the involvement of different brain regions: during expectation, areas of activation are found in the anterior cingulate, precentral and lateral prefrontal cortex, and in the periaqueductal gray, whereas during pain inhibition, deactivations are found in the mid- and posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal and precentral gyri, in the anterior and posterior insula, in the claustrum and putamen, and in the thalamus and caudate body . On the other hand, pain increase is associated with signal increases in several regions including anterior cingulate cortex, insula, left frontal and parietal operculum [64–67]. Also, high temporal resolution techniques, such as electroencephalography (EEG), have confirmed that the amplitude of specific evoked potentials, both related to pain anticipation and to pain perception, are affected by the CFs [68–71]. Thus, both early and late sensory components of pain processing are affected by the exposure to positive and negative CFs. Different studies have also characterized the neurotransmitter systems activated the CFs. Using a classical conditioning approach, it has been demonstrated that when an opioid drug, such as morphine, is delivered for different days and then it is replaced by a placebo unbeknownst to the patient a placebo analgesic effect occurs . This effect can be blocked by the mu opioid antagonist, naloxone, thus indicating that the opioid system plays an important role [57, 73, 74]. An indirect evidence of the involvement of the opioid system comes from the study of the anti-opioid action of the cholecystokinin (CCK) system. The proglumide, that is a CCK antagonist, enhances placebo analgesia [75, 76], whereas the activation of the CCK type-2 receptors with the agonist pentagastrin disrupts it . These pharmacological data have been confirmed by a neuroimaging study, in which the authors proved that naloxone blocked the placebo analgesic response in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray (PAG), and rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), and abolished placebo-enhanced coupling between rACC and PAG . Using a the same conditioning protocol, it has been demonstrated that also the cannabinoid system is activated by the positive therapeutic context: when non-opioid drugs, like ketorolac, are administered for 2 days in a row and then replaced with a placebo on the third day, the analgesic effect is not reversed by naloxone, whereas the CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist, rimonabant, blocks this placebo analgesia completely . Also studies in which expectations were manipulated by positive verbal suggestions, showed an activation of μ-opioid neurotransmission in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, and the nucleus accumbens [79, 80]. A different system activated by the therapeutic context is the dopaminergic system: indeed, the positive effect due to the presence of positive CFs seems to be related to the activation of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. as assessed using in vivo receptor binding PET with raclopride. Moreover, when expectations of pain reduction were induced, the analgesic effect of the context was associated with activation of opioid neurotransmission in the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal and insular cortices, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and periaqueductal gray matter. Dopaminergic activation was observed in the ventral basal ganglia, including the nucleus accumbens. Both dopaminergic and opioid activity were associated with both anticipation and perceived effectiveness of the positive verbal suggestions [81, 82]. Recently, oxytocin and vasopressin have been identified CFs enhancer as they potentiate the analgesic effect due to the presence of positive verbal suggestions. Moreover it has been documented that negative expectations about headache pain led to the enhancement of the cyclooxygenase-prostaglandins pathway, which, in turn, induced pain worsening . What is the magnitude of placebo and nocebo effects induced by CFs in musculoskeletal pain? The impact of CFs as trigger of placebo and nocebo effects on pain outcome has been quantified in different ways and has been reported in a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain [86–108], neck pain [95, 99, 109–111], shoulder pain [95, 112, 113], osteoarthritis [38, 91, 99, 100, 114–125], rheumatoid arthritis , and fibromyalgia [97, 127–132]. Different studies have measured the magnitude of placebo and nocebo effects induced by CFs in different musculoskeletal pain conditions commonly encounter in daily setting [117, 133]. Indeed the clinical effectiveness of placebo analgesia was demonstrated in specific complaints such as fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis with an effect size (ES) over 0.5. Also, nocebo hyperalgesia measured as dropout rate due to adverse event were present in fibromyalgia (9.6%) and osteoarthritis (4.8%) . Concerning osteoarthritis, the ES decreased consistently from hand, to knee, to combined hip and knee and then to hip [118, 136]. Moreover, considering the overall treatment efficacy as the sum of the specific component related to the active treatment plus the unspecific component due to the CFs, the impact of the CFs was measured in different conditions and interventions . Zou and colleagues showed that 75% of the overall treatment effect in osteoarthritis is attributable to contextual effects rather than the specific effect of treatments . In fibromyalgia, the 45% of the response of the active drug is attributable to contextual effect and a relevant contextual effects was shown also in aspecific low back pain . Moreover, a recent meta-analysis on spinal manual therapies showed that in acute pain and chronic pain, respectively 81 and 66% of the pain variance were ascribed to CFs . Which kind of CFs influence musculoskeletal pain conditions? Considering the patient’s perspective, expectations toward the therapy, patient’s treatment history and baseline pain severity are elements capable to predict the outcomes of different musculoskeletal pain treatments. Expectations of symptoms improvement can be activated by different CFs: for example, the simple act of administering a treatment, the exposure to a clinical setting, the verbal or non-verbal interaction with the physician are capable of triggering patient’s expectations. As demonstrated by different studies, boosting patient’s expectations toward the therapy significantly increased the chance of pain relief more than delivering a treatment without the expectation of any benefit [86, 90–98, 109, 111, 112, 126, 140]. Patient’s treatment history, that is the patient’s history of past positive or negative medical treatments, can influence the future response of the patient to new medical treatments. Previous positive experiences obtained by a specific therapy increase the likelihood of future positive experiences with the same therapy, while precedent negative outcomes associated to a particular intervention increase the probability of negative outcomes [99, 141]. Higher pain intensity at baseline [99, 100, 118, 128, 129] and the presence of concomitant diseases and psychosocial elements such as depressions [99, 130] are associated with an augmented placebo analgesia and reduced nocebo hyperalgesia. Long-term dysfunction seems to respond less to placebo analgesia indicating that duration of complaints influence placebo analgesia [128, 132]. From the provider’s perspective, clinician’s behavior, belief, verbal suggestions and therapeutic touch can strongly influence patients’ pain perception. A provider acting as competent, experienced, educated, professional, trustworthy, capable to indicate a diagnosis and prognosis, and to monitor patient with follow up, can moderate pain with his behavior [38, 114, 115, 120, 142]. Aligning his/her beliefs with patient’s beliefs, a clinician could modulate pain. Indeed, it was demonstrated that the healthcare provider’s point of view concerning the clinical pathway, the therapy and the prognosis influence patient’s pain [38, 101–103, 107, 114, 115, 143, 144]. Informing the patient that a potent treatment has been delivered enhanced the analgesic effect of the treatment, conversely verbal suggestion concerning the threatening effect of the therapy can compromise the effectiveness of the treatment creating nocebo hyperalgesic effects [108, 121, 122, 141, 145, 146]. Non-verbal communication has powerful effects as well. For example, the use of therapeutic touch can positively influence patient’s pain [105, 123, 124, 131, 147, 148]. Finally, considering the patient-physician relationship, it appears that a positive therapeutic encounter between patient and clinicians can lead to additional clinical benefits. Indeed, an enhanced empathetic interaction comprehensive of therapeutic alliance, active listening, extra time spent with patient, more face-to-face visit, warmth, attention, care, encouragement and support significantly reduced pain more than the same therapy performed with neutral therapeutic interaction [87, 88, 100, 104, 145, 149, 150]. Moreover, a patient-centered approach can increase the effectiveness of the therapy. Indeed, the patient’s involvement in the global process of care has been shown to modulate pain [106, 125]. The strategy to favor the social learning between patients by the observation of other’s pain improvement or reduction is capable to affect the observers’ symptomatology [151, 152]. Also the way by which the therapy is administered can influence pain perception. The adoption of an overt paradigm that enhances patient’s knowledge of being treated modulates the therapeutic outcome : a significant pain reduction was observed after the execution of an exercise in an environment that allowed patients to visualize their body . Also the posology of intervention has an effect as CFs: the placebo effect is higher when therapies are more frequent and repeated a therapy is delivered (e.g. two or more times vs one time) . The choice of the modality of treatment administration can be crucial to modulate patient’s pain. In general, the higher is the invasiveness of treatment (e.g. acupuncture, dry needling, injection, surgery), the better is the reduction of pain [116, 118, 119, 153, 154]. Moreover, parenteral or subcutaneous administrations (e.g. topical) are more efficient than oral administrations [115, 116, 119]. Even the marketing features of treatment should be taken into account. Branded therapy seems to be more effective than unbranded therapy [114, 115]. High prize medication produced better pain relief then discounted medication, therapy considered as “new” improved pain more than “usual” therapy [114, 115]. The more complex is the procedure including therapeutic rituals, mysterious powers, high technology the larger the placebo effect [114, 115]. Lastly, the health care setting, in terms of environment, architecture and interior design should not be overlooked. The use of facilities where evidence-based design such as furnishing, colors, artwork, light, outside views, temperature, soothing sound and music were adopted, positively impacts on patient’s pain creating a proper healing setting [127, 155–157]. Is it time to implement CFs in our clinical reasoning? The clinical reasoning adopted by clinicians in musculoskeletal conditions represents a complex procedure that encompasses different dimensions of pain experience in a bio-psycho-social framework . Indeed, this multi-factorials thinking process considered biomedical (e.g. tissue pathology, disease), psychological and social elements (e.g. experience of disability, patient’s belief, values and perspective) to obtain more complete analyses of the patient’s dysfunction . The role and the impact of CFs should be integrated in the clinical reasoning to increase the number of treatment solutions, boosts their efficacy and improve the quality of the decision-making . Based on the evidence available, some considerations can be drawn to guide a more conscious use of CFs as activators of placebo analgesia and avoiders of nocebo hyperalgesia. Considering the global process of care, clinicians should be aware that the overall therapeutic outcome is determined by the suitability of the therapy adopted (“what we do”) and by how it is delivered (“how we do”) . In this perspective, every musculoskeletal pain treatment is composed by a specific component and by a contextual component . These components represent the two faces of the same coin and are capable of influencing pain at multiple levels of the central nervous system . The use of the best evidence-based therapy is unquestionable, but clinicians should not forget the role of the CFs, as the context surrounding the specific treatment is capable of generating placebo or nocebo responses and modifying the therapeutic trajectory towards a positive or a negative direction . Because it is a fact that placebo [161–163] and nocebo effects are always present in routine clinical practice and can be triggered by CFs , clinicians should be able to use them to optimize the results and reduce failures. Indeed, there are clear evidence that, when placebo was purposely searched as a mechanism, the effect size was about five times greater (Cohen’s d ranging from 0.95 to 1.14) [161–163] than when placebo was used as a control condition (Cohen’s d ranging from 0.15 to 0.27) [165–167]. Moreover, clinicians should combine at the same time different CFs to obtain a larger placebo effect and minimize the nocebo effects. Some studies demonstrated that a lower effect size is present when using verbal suggestions alone (placebo - Cohen’s d = 0.85; nocebo - Cohen’s d = 0.65), while a higher effect size was observed adopting a combination of verbal suggestions and conditioning procedures (placebo - Cohen’s d = 1.45; nocebo - Cohen’s d = 1.07) [161, 164]. Since placebo effects are learning phenomenon , during the history taking, clinicians should assess the patient’s previous experience, expectations and beliefs giving the patient adequate time to tell his/her story [50, 168, 169] (Fig. 2). Previous successful and unsuccessful experiences of a specific treatment are capable to influence the therapeutic outcome . In order to plan a therapeutic intervention, it’s important to question about past memories of analgesic and hyperalgesic responses concerning a treatment; reinforcing the positive experiences and devaluating the negative ones [7, 169, 171–173]. For example, if a patient had a previous negative experience with a specific treatment, clinician should avoid adopting it. On the contrary, if a patient experienced a positive outcome with a treatment, the use of the very same treatment is recommended in order to “activate” the patient’s positive memory of the previous treatment. Since patients’ expectations about the therapeutic benefit influence the effectiveness of the treatment, a clear assessment of patients’ expectations toward the therapy is crucial. In particular, it is crucial to identify patients with low expectations in order to work with them with the aim of improving their belief . Different scale and semi-standardized questionnaires have been proposed to assess patient’s expectations. For example, Younger et al. developed a tool for measuring patient outcome expectancy. The authors found that the final six-item scales, made of two subscales (positive expectancy and negative expectancy), predicted a significant amount of outcome variance in patients receiving surgical and pain intervention . Moreover, clinicians should monitor patient’s belief concerning musculoskeletal conditions, therapeutic action, prognosis and ask questions about the meaning they attribute to symptoms [169, 172, 176–178]. In these times of important expansion of healthcare information delivering by Internet, social media and television it is crucial to avoid the misinformation . The discussion with the patients can help the clinician to guide them to evidence-based information and avoid that they refer to unproven or fake information . Also, asking systematically the patients to summarize the information provided can prevent negative misunderstandings about their complaints [169, 173, 176, 178]. In the waiting, examination, therapeutic and follow-up phases, the social interaction between patients [179, 180], the therapeutic ritual [181, 182] and the awareness of the ongoing procedure [42, 43] are fundamental elements to consider. While waiting for healthcare encounter, a pleasant and peaceful environment, employing professional, friendly and helpful support staff can help patients to feel comfortable . In waiting rooms, clinicians should reduce the social contagion of negative emotions preventing the patient’s interaction and/or observation of another patient experiencing a negative outcome (e.g. increased pain) [7, 183]. Instead, they should promote the social interaction favoring observation of the positive effects of the therapy (e.g reduction of pain) also using video clips showing patients coping well with painful condition [50, 176, 179, 180] (Fig. 3). Before starting the treatment clinicians should read records, thoroughly examine the patients, provide a confident diagnosis and propose, when available, different treatment options encouraging the patient’s involvement in the choice of therapy and treatment goals [169, 171, 184–186]. During treatment it is useful to avoid unintentional “hidden administration” of therapy . Thus, it is crucial to focus the patient’s attention to all the salient sensory elements presented in the therapeutic arena in order to increase the contextual power of the therapy . These elements are: the healthcare environment (e.g. light, color, design of the room), the physical features of the therapy (e.g. shape, size, colour, smell and taste) and the technological features of the device (e.g. novelty, price, invasiveness) [50, 169–173, 187] (Fig. 4). After the treatment, it is valuable to assess the therapeutic outcome and give to patient a feedback on the clinical course in order to maximize the treatment adherence, encouraging the self-managing of the condition [50, 169]. The clinician’s not-verbal and verbal communication represent important element of the overall clinical interaction . Clinicians should prepare themselves mentally and physically for the clinical encounter , acting as experts in their field [169, 172]. It is crucial to effectively inform about the efficacy of a specific treatment [169, 172], considering that beliefs and behaviors could influence patients’ attitudes in a positive or negative way [7, 169]. It is suitable to individualize consultation style according to the patient’s preference opting for a personal interaction and seeking for a warm, authentic and empathic style, limiting technical contacts to the minimum [169, 171, 172, 176, 188–190]. Also, the content of the message (what), the modality of delivering (how) and the time of communication (when) represent a great clinical enigma and should be taken into account. It is recommended to enhance the positive expectation toward the treatment and limit the emphasis on contraindications, tell patients about side effects, but associated with positive clinical outcome. Side effects of treatment should be presented in form of probability instead of a mere list and during the informed consent process positive and negative information should be balanced [7, 50, 169, 172, 173, 176, 180, 183, 191, 192]. What is the concern about ethics? The adoption of placebo strategies seems to be common practice in clinical routine among healthcare providers . In musculoskeletal field, orthopedics surgeon, rheumatology physicians and nurses thought that placebo effects are real, have therapeutic benefits, and are permissible within the ethical borders [194–196]. Patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and rheumatologic complaints know what placebo effects are, consider placebo treatments acceptable when adopted as complementary/adjunct treatments and when no other established treatments are available. However, they present a lack of understanding of nocebo effects [196–198]. Scientific community is still focusing the debate on the possibility of a transparent disclosure to patients of placebo treatments [199–202]. The current researches suggest the possibility to openly prescribe sham medication or sham physical treatments with advanced prior consent . Thus, when available the choice of the best evidence-based therapy is mandatory and a patient must be informed about the use of a placebo intervention with an amount of disclosure sufficient to avoid deception [201, 203, 204]. Although it is common thought that revealing the use of a placebo inhibits its effect, different studies point out the efficacy of placebo interventions also in “open label” conditions where the use of a placebo was disclosed in patients with chronic low back pain [205, 206]. From a clinical perspective, the mindful manipulation of CFs represents a useful opportunity to enrich a well-established therapy that have different ethical implication in comparison with the replacement of real treatment with a potentially ineffective treatment . Is there a place for a translational research on CFs? There is a strong need of research studies on CFs close to routine and real-world clinical practice [49, 207] in order to underline the uncertainty of therapy action and help clinicians to implement knowledge in daily practice. The research community should investigate the effect of the different CFs on therapeutic outcome, instead of minimizing or labeling them exclusively as confounders [209, 210]. The search for a good placebo control in musculoskeletal pain field (e.g. physical therapy) represents an unresolved challenge [211, 212]. Indeed, medical treatments are generally more complex than the mere administration of a drug, involving multiple treatment components that interact with each other and that are difficult to separate (e.g. verbal instruction and education, patient-therapist contact, physical action by the patient or therapist, and sensory feedback) leading to biased estimates of treatment effect . In clinical trial there is a urge to measure patient’s expectation before, during, and after the treatment evaluating by standardized and validated scale all the dimensions of expectation (optimism, pain catastrophizing, hope, trust, worry and neuroticism) [215, 216]. Also measuring the impact of CFs from the patient’s perspective represents a desirable outcome to be implemented in the future researches. Recently, a new item banks (Healing Encounters and Attitudes Lists - HEAL) was proposed as suitable for measuring CFs of the treatment and present promising evidence of predictive and concurrent validity . Despite CFs play a key role in pain [20, 21], there is a still paucity of knowledge on their effects in different musculoskeletal diseases, in young and old participants [218–220], in acute and chronic conditions , in different pain mechanism such as nociceptive, neuropathic, central sensitization . It is of paramount importance to try to identify psychological, neuroendocrine or genetic elements that predict the responsiveness to specific CFs . Finally, the use of meta-analysis may help to estimate the effects of the CFs . This debate presents some limitations. The framework adopted [17, 33] for reviewing the role of the CFs was not preliminarily validated for its specific consistency in the musculoskeletal field and some factors are not related exclusively to musculoskeletal pain literature but refer to pain in general. Examples of primary studies and data offered to sustain each factors of the model were not selected by adopting a systematic review approach and not criticized in depth, given that the main goal was to propose a short synopsis. CFs have been categorized into a conceptual framework by describing each factor involved, therefore interpretations about the relationships between factors and placebo/nocebo effects need additional critical analysis and discussion. This debate points to a conscious use of the CFs, as supplementary therapeutic strategy for pain management capable to improve analgesia and prevent hyperalgesia. The good news is that pain perception can be positively influenced by an honest and aware use of CFs. The bad news is related to the complexity of the phenomenon, to a certain degree of uncertainty in the individual response and to a risk of patient’s deception associated with their use. Nevertheless, clinicians have already enough comprehensive scientific information that allows them to choose the correct behavior wisely and adjust the CFs of the therapeutic setting in an evidence-based and ethically respectful perspective. We think that time has come for clinicians to manage conscientiously and ethically the CFs to enhance the placebo and avoid nocebo effects for the benefit of their patients. The authors want to thanks: Tommaso Geri and Marco Minacci for their valuable advices in the progression of this manuscript; Hassel Comunicazione for their help during creation of images; the reviewers for their precious and constructive suggestions. The authors declare that they don’t use any external funding. GR: made substantial contributions to conception and design, been involved in drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content, given final approval of the version to be published; agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved; EC: made substantial contributions to conception and design, been involved in drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content, given final approval of the version to be published; agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved; MT: made substantial contributions to conception and design, been involved in drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content, given final approval of the version to be published; agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

2019-04-20T04:20:55Z

https://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12891-018-1943-8

This chapter explores the roles, responsibilities, conceptualizations, and practices of parenting, through the findings of a study into childhoodnature. Childhoodnature is an emerging concept within the field of environmental education that espouses there are no boundaries between childhood and nature and that even separating the words implies a binary exists. Utilizing an autoethnographic approach and founded in posthumanism and socioecological theories, this chapter seeks to address the paucity of research that exists about parenting in environmental education and offers methodological, theoretical, and practical approaches to parenting in this context. The findings indicate that through adopting an honest, reflective approach and having a willingness to change, the perceived barriers to parenting childhoodnature can be reconstructed, reimagined, and reconceptualized. This acknowledgment of the importance of environmental education in ecologically sustainable development has been supported by the current research in the field (see, e.g., Cutter-Mackenzie, Edwards, Moore, & Boyd, 2014) and in practice by many educators. Moreover, this statement from the UNESCO report also acknowledges the significance of the family setting in the educational environment, particularly the early childhood setting. These two aspects, environmental education and parenting within the family setting, are the focus of this chapter. In recognition of the role of families on children’s learning about the environment, this chapter focuses on the significant life experiences (SLE) field of environmental education to highlight the importance of parenting in this context. The term SLE was coined by Tanner in 1980 who identified childhood experiences in nature as a key factor in determining environmental choices in later life. Since Tanner’s seminal article, the SLE field has been the focus of many researchers (see the works of Blanchet-Cohen, 2008; Cachelin, Paisley, & Blanchard, 2009; Ceaser, 2014; Chawla, 1998a, 1999; Chawla & Cushing, 2007; Fägerstam, 2012; Finger, 1994; Gough, 1999a, b; Ji, 2011; Lewis, 2007; Palmer, Suggate, Robottom, & Hart, 1999; Sward, 1999; Wells & Lekies, 2006). The recognition of SLEs is important given the current state of decline of the natural environment. Non-human nature is being altered at a rapid rate through the impacts of climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, and pollution among a myriad of other human-induced changes. Due to these changes, it has been suggested that we are now in a new geological epoch, aptly titled the Anthropocene (Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000). The key findings of the prominent SLE research are discussed throughout this chapter. Despite this wealth of research, there remains a serious dearth of information about parents’ conceptualization of nature and their perceived role in influencing SLEs for and with their children through enabling or disabling these experiences. In response to this lack of research, I conducted a study in this domain, focusing on how SLEs shaped my conception of childhoodnature from my perspective as a parent and how my SLEs influenced my parenting choices. To gain a deep understanding of the parent perspective “from the inside,” the study utilized an autoethnographic methodology. This methodological approach drew on past memory data and artifacts to reflectively analyze visual research journal entries about my current perceptions of childhoodnature as a parent (Chang, 2008). The visual research journal was constructed as part of the research and is referred to in this chapter. Through the autoethnographic research process, I gained clarity and insight into my parenting approach, and this changed and evolved during the research journey. This chapter draws on the findings of this research against a review of the literature and seeks to offer “new kinds of education” by parenting through SLEs and childhoodnature. For the purpose of this chapter, I refer to the term “parenting” purposefully as I am only referring to my perspective as a parent and the responsibilities I see in my role as a parent. I have chosen this approach to ensure that my daughter’s perspective is authentically described within this relationship. This is a different approach to that taken by O’Connor and Scott (2007), who use the phrase “parent-child” relationship to define the interaction between parent and child. The phrase “parent-child” denotes that the relationship between parent and child is bidirectional and interactive as they state that the term “parenting” denotes a one-way, top-down interaction. I acknowledge and agree with O’Connor and Scott (2007) that the relationship between parent and child is indeed bidirectional, as also described by Bronfenbrenner (1979) in his ecological systems theory. However, the term parenting more accurately describes the autoethnographic methodology undertaken in this study as I am only considering my perspective. In addition, I do not conceptualize parenting practice as restricted to biological children, although this is generally how it is used in this chapter. I acknowledge that the parent role also refers to guardians, carers, and or the significant adult/s in a child’s life. In this chapter I have conceptualized parenting primarily through ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) that acknowledges the context that the individual, in this case my daughter, exists and lives in. This includes the family situation, the socioeconomic profile, the location, the culture, the religion, etc. The model in Fig. 1 describes the influence of the different factors on one another and is based on the work of Bronfenbrenner (1979); however his original work conceptualized and illustrated each system in a much broader context. The model used in this research (Fig. 1) was designed specifically for the context of this work and includes the influence of nature that was not described in the original model by Bronfenbrenner. The model in Fig. 1 also includes the influence of parent(ing) and education. The center circle denotes the social construct of childhood as the space that children live in and holds the ideas they operate under. The blurred lines between childhood and nature represent the fracturing of the childhoodnature binary to illustrate the boundaryless space that these concepts reside within. The parent(ing) sphere in Fig. 1 symbolizes the bidirectional influence between the parent and the parenting approach and the childhoodnature concept. The parenting approach that I have adopted has been fluid and responsive. I have attempted not to practice a single style of parenting rigidly, but have been open to changing my approach in response to my daughter’s needs. This way of parenting acknowledges and accounts for the developmental changes that occur as children progress into adolescence (O’Connor & Scott, 2007). Along with understanding the developmental changes that my daughter is progressing through, the way I respond to my daughter’s behavior also acknowledges the outer influences that my daughter experiences (refer to the conceptual model Fig. 1 and also the original model by Bronfenbrenner). For instance, understanding the impact of how “being spoilt” by a relative or of someone “feeling sorry” for her may change her behavior. This awareness is significant as through understanding the impact of these external influences, it is easier to understand why she acts differently at different times. This way of understanding children and their behaviors is described through social learning theory that states “children’s real-life experiences and exposures directly or indirectly shape behaviour” (O’Connor & Scott, 2007, p. 6; see also the work of social-learning theorist Bandura, 1977). I perceive my responsibility in parenting is to not react to my daughter’s behaviors and want them to change but to respond to them in a way that acknowledges that I understand why she is behaving in a certain way. Through this action I offer her an understanding of the impact of her behaviors on herself and those around her. I ensure I nominate the behavior as separate from her, so she does not identify with it. As parent and child, we reflect on the experience that caused the behavior. This process encourages, enables, and empowers my daughter to be aware of the influences of the “outer world” so she can be discerning and know she has a choice about what to engage in. I respond in this way for both positive and negative behaviors and do not profess to being an expert in this practice but see it as a work in progress. This aspect is important as children “learn strategies about managing their emotions, resolving disputes and engaging with others not only from their experiences, but also from the way their own reactions were responded to” (O’Connor & Scott, 2007, p. 6). To practice this way of parenting, I accept the responsibility of modeling this approach through being aware of my own behaviors and discarding those that do not support me, my family, or my community. However, in my parenting practice, I have adopted the approach that my daughter is an all-knowing being. My husband and I often say “you are not ‘just a little girl’; you are a person in a little body.” This acknowledges and confirms her knowledge as valuable and equal and aligns most closely with the agentic child as described through the sociology of childhood theory by Sorin and Galloway (2006). Surprisingly, given the seeming changing attitudes around the conceptualization of childhood, my daughter is often still seen and treated by adults as innocent, unknowing, and incapable (Sorin & Galloway, 2006). The impact that I have observed on my daughter is that she becomes reduced: as she is treated as a “little girl” and incapable, she begins to behave in this way too. Within the context of SLEs and I would argue outside of this field of study also, parents play a significant role in influencing and inspiring their children. This section explores some of the literature in these areas and how they have contributed to or align with my research study. Generally speaking, SLE is a field of environmental education which seeks to identify the learning experiences that shaped “active and informed citizenry” toward nature in adulthood. Chawla (1998b) listed the major variables which define the adult environmental behaviors and attitudes that SLE is attempting to foster and recreate as environmental sensitivity, “in-depth knowledge about issues, personal investment, knowledge of and skill in using environmental action strategies, an internal locus of control and the intention to act” (pp. 369–370). Since its conception by Tanner (1980), Chawla has contributed considerably to the SLE field of knowledge. In a study she conducted in 1985, Chawla analyzed 38 autobiographies to discover the type of intense environmental encounters that they recalled, the places that inspired these memories, and the effect that they see these memories had. Chawla (1988) reported that autobiographical authors in her study “attributed an inner sense of calm and connection to nature to profound feelings of communion with the natural world in childhood” (p. 17). The sense of connection felt with non-human nature has been attributed to positive experience in the outdoors (Chawla, 1988). Palmer has also made substantial contributions to the SLE field through undertaking extensive international studies in association with others (see Palmer et al., 1998a, b, 1999). The findings from these studies led by Palmer, along with those from Chawla, reveal that the most important SLEs are (i) having opportunities for positive experiences of, in, and with nature in childhood and (ii) the critical influence of an adult – a parent, teacher, or other family member (see Fig. 2) who inspired “environmental awareness and behaviours” (Palmer et al., 1999, p. 199). Given these findings, there has been a severe lack of research into the SLEs of parents and how they perceive these SLEs as shaping their environmental choices and, also, how they view their role in being an inspiring adult for the younger generation. Furthermore, there are limited studies of parental conceptions of nature (see Kahn & Friedman, 1998; Payne, 2005, 2009) and a paucity of research analyzing how, where, and when these conceptions developed. Parents, however, have been included in many studies in environmental education research, generally in the educational context. One such study that demonstrated some practical and tangible guidance for parents was the research by Chawla and Cushing (2007) who provided a rich analysis of socioecological agency, democracy, and competency in children and youth. Rather than the parental perspective, they looked through the educator lens, which I argue are one and the same in many aspects. Their recommendations to educators regarding parental involvement were twofold: “reach out to parents to convey the importance of democratic parenting” and “encourage parents to take an active and supportive role in their child’s experiences of nature and participation in community groups” (p. 16). These recommendations provided teachers with a practical way of including parents in the classroom’s sociocultural values of agency, democracy, and pro-environmental behavior through personal and collective competence. The recommendations also offered parents a way to support their children to develop a connection with nature through involvement in community participatory activities and encouraging their child’s contributions. The premise behind these actions being that these opportunities in nature may provide a SLE for that child. Moreover, the underlying theme was to encourage an approach to learning in environmental education which involves the connections between child, teacher, and parent. The research eliciting the contributing factors to children not having direct experience with non-human nature were found to be spending more time indoors with digital technology, time pressures of families and educators, loss of natural spaces, and parental safety concerns and fear around stranger danger, traffic, crime, pollution, and nature itself (Foster, Villanueva, Wood, Christian, & Giles-Corti, 2014; Louv, 2006; Malone & Tranter, 2003; Neumann, 2015; Palomino, Taylor, Göker, Isaacs, & Warber, 2016; Shaw, Anderson, & Barcelona, 2015; Sobel, 2008; Sweetser, Johnson, Ozdowska, & Wyeth, 2012). Shaw et al. (2015) further developed a model by Crawford and Godbey (1987) to categorize parents’ perceived barriers to family participation in nature-based, outdoor experiences into three themes: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints. For example, interpersonal barriers include parental time away from work and children’s scheduling conflicts. For a more detailed explanation of these categories, see Shaw et al. (2015) or original authors Crawford and Godbey (1987). The model proposed by Shaw et al. (2015) also includes the cultural aspect of outdoor participation which was clarified to mean a system of shared values and beliefs. Without a hierarchical organizational system of constraints to parents’ perceived barriers to family participation in nature-based, outdoor experiences, the influence of culture is described as an overarching theme that underpins the conceptual model. In the home in situ, the research around intergenerational influences through the parent-child relationship has also looked at the reverse phenomenon: the influence of the child on the parent in making behavior changes around the home. A recent study has confirmed that children can be the change agents, as parents of children who participated in an environmental education program were more likely to adopt sustainable practices in the home (Damerell, Howe, & Milner-Gulland, 2013). The results of my study did not draw on specific attitudes or behavior changes that occurred through intergenerational influence, but acknowledged that the entire study would not have been possible without the constant reflection and lessons that were offered by my daughter. It is noted here that SLE research has not been without contention. Gough (1999b) posed the question which has fuelled academic debate of SLE: “Do the research activities described by SLE researchers actually explore which experiences are likely to produce environmental activists, or rather, what sorts of past experiences are particularly likely to be recalled as significant by those who have, one way or another, become environmental activists?” (p. 353). This idea was considered in my research, and I did question why many of my peers who had experienced similar SLEs to me did not hold the same level of care, concern, and interest in ecological sustainability as I did. I acknowledged this critique of the field of SLE, but, given the limited scope of my research, identified that further analysis would be required to comment definitively about these concerns. Additional to this contention has been the need to discover the most appropriate methodologies for SLE research and determining if past childhood experiences can be used to create influential experiences for children today (Blanchet-Cohen, 2008; Eilam & Trop, 2014; Gough, 1999b). This creates an issue as parents’ ideas about what constitutes a SLE in nature may be vastly different to the needs of their children due to the context of the time in intergenerational differences. Criticism has also been given to the “disproportionate focus on privileged groups and positive experiences” (Ceaser, 2014, p. 205). Ceaser (2014) considered SLEs on marginalized and disadvantaged groups and found that negative experiences (i.e., emotions such as fear, helplessness, and guilt) play a much greater role than positive experiences in determining environmental activism and justice in adult life, as does the embodied learning of these experiences. Similarly, Hsu (2017) found the negative experience of “losing a beloved natural place” ranked third of the eight most crucial factors for environmental action in the rural areas of Taiwan (p. 51). This millennium has seen a new wave of SLE research, which has branched out in many ways. These include and investigate the role of personality, schooling, and community and compared the influence on behaviors with attitudes (Eilam & Trop, 2014). Research has also been conducted “on the meaning of both social disadvantages and negative environmental experiences” as motives for practical concern (Ceaser, 2014, p. 205). A study by Ceaser (2014) also highlighted the need for researchers to consider the influence of environment, society, and history on SLEs (Ceaser, 2014, p. 215). Moreover, through SLE findings, it has been recognized that environmental education programs need to be assessed not only by cognitive responses but also affective responses (Cachelin, 2009; Pooley & O’Connor, 2000). Classified separately to SLE, but also related to lived experiences, is the study of the life course path that identifies “interwoven pathways or trajectories” which together form a life story (Wells & Lekies, 2006). Life course path demonstrates similarities to SLE, such that it builds on previous SLE findings that there is a relationship between childhood experiences and “adult attitudes among environmental professionals” (Wells & Lekies, 2006, p. 13). The findings of Wells and Lekies’ (2006) study were concurrent with SLE research that childhood experiences in non-human nature link with both environmental attitudes and behaviors in adulthood (Wells & Lekies, 2006). The study by Wells and Lekies (2006) called for further research from this field specifically identifying the need for longitudinal studies that focus on “exploring people’s relationships over time and during various periods of life” (Wells & Evans, 2003, p. 327). Finger (1994) used the phrase “life-world approach” to describe his research, which is fundamentally based on SLE. The findings reflect the similar trend discussed earlier that “the main factors predicting environmental behaviour, or absence thereof, are experiences in and with the environment (e.g., previous environmental activism, experiences with nature, and exposure to environmental catastrophes)” (Finger, 1994). This section presented a scoping review of the SLE literature, drawing on parenting as a focus. It was discovered that the two major findings from this research named childhood experiences in non-human nature and the influence of a central adult as key determinants of lifelong attitudes and approaches to environmental behavior. The latter finding is significant as it forms the central foundation of my research: exploring the role and influence of the adult. The next section of this chapter explores these findings through the context of a parent(ing) conceptualization of childhoodnature. Through my recent autoethnographic study titled Parent(ing) Childhoodnature, the extent to which SLEs mediate parent(ing) with/as childhoodnature was explored (for full details of the methodology employed and theoretical framing for the study, see Blom, 2016). The theoretical perspectives of posthumanism, socioecology, and the sociology of childhood were utilized to frame the study (refer to Fig. 3). This angle allowed the distinctions between childhood and nature to be blurred to expose the possibilities that can be enabled through this process; so that there is nothing in between and nothing to separate, it is united: childhoodnature (see Fig. 1). Prior to conducting research into an approach for parenting childhoodnature, it was necessary to gain a deep understanding of how I, as a parent, conceptualized nature. To do this, I drew on my SLEs to explore the impact they had on how I related to and understood nature. What emerged was a complex and varied response to experiences with nature revealing a deeper understanding of myself as being with nature, but also as nature. The autoethnographic approach enabled this deep and reflective response to the research questions. Furthermore, it allowed the parent’s perspective to be explored through intimate and in-depth research. The findings of my research foray were not a neatly laid-out linear map as I had envisaged but a messy assemblage of current memories at times juxtaposed with artifacts from my past. The research found that to conceptualize nature, it was first necessary to develop an understanding of self through honesty, identifying values and an awareness of the images and pictures I operated under which, in effect, governed my movements. Second, the role of nature observations and interactions was identified as a key factor in conceptualizing nature. My first purposeful foray into non-human nature as part of my research was taking a walk with my daughter in the local park. I came up against the barrier of time: experiencing the difficulty of relaxing into the pace of life on this outing. Through this experience I became aware that I needed to be deeply reflective and develop greater honesty with what I was feeling in each moment. From this walk in the park with my daughter, I was able to discover that non-human nature is much more than the scientific view of an interconnection of living and nonliving things; non-human nature offers space to support growth and development. Through the deep interconnection between human and non-human nature, nature has a knowing. It is there providing a sensory experience which I can choose to connect with and observe the wisdom that it offers. At the same time, non-human nature allows me to simply be and feel. After dinner [my teacher] had a chat with me and I began crying again. Why do I cry? I calmed down and walked up to the common room. After being there for five minutes, I began crying again. I kinda [sic] know what [it’s] about and it’s too hard to explain in the dull light of this torch. I decided to go for a walk to the gate. On the way I saw [my teacher]. He asked if I was alright? I said I was but he didn’t believe me. He could tell I was unhappy inside even if I did put on a happy face. At the gate, I looked at the stars and thought about this beautiful place. In my memory, the actual standout moment was not the tears beforehand but the blanket of stars above my head that reminded me that I was part of something much grander, more awe-inspiring. This reminded me of Carson’s (1965) musings about the importance of connecting with the awe and wonder of non-human nature through the “recognition of something beyond the boundaries of human existence” (p. 88). This reflection contributed to understanding my conceptualization of nature as I began to explore my human body as a continuation and part of non-human nature. I perceived the tears as “clearing the ground” of my body-as-nature allowing the learning moment with the stars to occur. Just as Carson (1965) shared “the Maine woods never seem so fresh and alive as in wet weather” (p. 30), through the crying process my body became “fresh and alive” in a similar way, open to the messages and offerings from non-human nature. I questioned why I would refuse to allow myself to cry and to experience the lovely lushness in my body akin to the freshness of a rainy day. I concluded that it was due to the façade of two social norms: (1) what it looks like to be “okay” and (2) that as a woman I need to be superwoman i.e., to do everything and come out smiling. As I have grown, I have come to know that I am superwoman regardless of what I do and what it looks like. I don’t have to hide behind a mask of pretense. I can be honest about what I am feeling, and this is what being brave and what being a superwoman is really about. Through honoring what I am feeling, I am nurturing nature: my body-as-nature. Furthermore, through this internalization of our individual selves into mental activity, there is danger of becoming disassociated with the physical world such that our society is “increasingly governed by its own internal dynamics and attempts to deny our ultimate dependence on natural processes” (Kidner, 2007, p. 139). These ideas align with my understanding and conceptualization that it is through connecting with our body-as-nature that we can more easily access our biophilia (Wilson, 1984) and feel the deeper sense of connection with non-human nature. Bai, Elza, Kovacs, and Romanycia (2010) support this view in the educational context by stating that education needs to bring children’s attention to themselves through “being sense, being bodies, being perceptions, being feelings” (p. 36). They suggest that we are educating children away from their biophilia through a “consciousness that is busily and excessively into ‘doing’ and ‘having’, however educational” (Bai et al., 2010, p. 360). Through adopting a critically reflective process about the social constructs I am a part of and honestly considering the influence these ideas have on my daily practices and movements, I am more easily able to let go of these strongholds of society and live more attuned to the song of nature. I likened this to the work of Latour (2004) who proposed that we no longer accept the value-fact divide if the collective we of nature (both human and non-human) are going to reconceptualize nature and society in a unified perspective. Through this exploration it became evident to me that I needed to let go of what I had accepted as environmentally sustainable and actions “for the environment” and radically open my awareness to the possibilities of what nature was and what a sustainable relationship with nature looked like. I further explored my values by reflecting on past behaviors and choices that did not support or nourish me. When life became overwhelming through poor choices that did not care and nurture my body-as-nature, I was able to restore my sense of emotional, mental, and physical equilibrium through time connecting with nature: generally by going for a swim in the ocean or a walk in the forest. By reconnecting with my “biophilia,” I felt myself again. I deeply appreciated the gift that nature offered through this process while at the same time the influence of significant adults, such as my grandma (see Fig. 2), for sharing the magic of non-human nature with me during childhood. Over the last decade, my relationship with nature has drastically changed. I no longer seek refuge and escape into nature as I once did. I now understand nature as my parent and appreciate the way nature interacts in my everyday life: from the little ant walking across my desk to the flash of a rainbow lorikeet’s belly or the seemingly endless sky with clouds that appear painted on in their awe-inspiring perfection. I value and appreciate non-human nature for all of this, more so now than ever before. Nature provides a little reminder to support my biophilic connection when at times I feel like a mind in complete disconnect from the body that houses it. It is through feeling my body and remembering that it belongs to something much grander than merely the individualized self that I can be in harmony within myself and with all other living things. The choices I make now are aligned with and respect nature more than they ever have been before. I consume less and live more within nature’s cycles. Most importantly, I now understand that my body-as-nature is my and only my responsibility, and thus I treat it with the utmost care and love. I now have the intent of treating all others in this same way. The idea that the human body and non-human nature are conceptually united has been discussed by many researchers, for example, Latour (2004), who states that through the very notion of conceptualizing and conserving nature we are separating ourselves from it. This unification is grounding of the childhoodnature philosophy that proposes that there is no distinction between the concept of childhood and the concept of nature: they have a deeply innate connection to their biophilic source. Developing an awareness of this connection and honoring this internal biophilia is something I value. I now know I no longer need to retreat in the untouched landscape to connect back to this feeling, for it is within me, my body-as-nature. Images and pictures were the third concept presented through my data on conceptualizing nature and are founded on expectations. These expectations generally stem from societal ideals and beliefs that are so ingrained; often it is unclear that I operate under their guise. When I was in my twenties, I became acutely aware of how these images and pictures could be destructive in setting up a framework for disappointment. It was at this time in my life that I renounced many social traditions and norms such as a need for marriage, children, and getting a mortgage on a home, a car loan, and so on. I saw the detrimental effects these images and pictures had on people in my life so decided not to engage in them. We woke up to nice but windy morning. I felt like the tent was about to fall down or blow away. After we got up we went and sat around the gas stove. We had breakfast, it was bread and jam. The wind kept blowing sand into the food. Again it was beautiful weather, apart from the wind. The lake water was no longer fresh, it had sand and everything that had blown into it. We had to back-track along the beach. Even though we’d seen it before it was still unreal and beautiful. The past reflections from my early adolescence are vastly different to my current memories of what that moment was like. The past reflections are devoid of what I remember now about the complexities I was experiencing as a teenager in a remote, highly socialized setting. The past reflections do not describe the depth of beauty that I felt being on that isolated, wild beach nor the impact that being in that place had on my well-being. These aspects are highlighted in my current memories of these moments. Through the process of contrasting this writing with my current memory of this SLE, many conclusions can be extrapolated. One is that even though I did not describe everything in detail at the time, it could be that my expression has changed as I have developed from a girl into a woman. As Muncey (2005) stated “although memory is selective and shaped, and is retold in the continuum of one’s experience, this does not necessarily constitute lying” (p. 70). The differences in data representation do not deviate from their validity. Memory is an important and unique source of data (Chang, 2008). Chawla (1998a) supported this through her SLE research by advocating that memories are generally accurate around the general course of events, whether a single or repeated experience. Another reason for the discrepancy between the two descriptions of the same event is that somewhere in the space between adolescence and early adulthood of my late teens and early twenties, I constructed more complex ideas about what non-human nature meant in my life. These were formed through observations of and interactions with non-human nature and are explored in the next section. So far in this chapter I have conceptualized nature through the lens of a parent and conceptualized nature as a parent. Nature has been shown to be inextricably linked with developing my relationship with self. This exploration is evident throughout my life path and has been a necessary part of resolving the tension I have felt in the current state of the natural environment. As reflected by Orr (2009), we need to answer the question of “who we are and what do we know of ourselves?” to get to this resolution (p.184). Through my reflective approach to understanding my connection with nature, I have observed how this conceptualization of nature has changed significantly along my life path and changed the direction of the path too through SLEs. I draw on another example from my 14-year-old self on the school-based remote learning program to illustrate the influence, impact, and meaning-making of SLEs from a retrospective viewpoint. When I first came to this place the environment was everything around me – the forests, the village. It was a special, new place. But to me it didn’t mean much – it wasn’t my environment to worry about. I didn’t know much about the forests – so I didn’t care much. Through my time here I’ve learnt and thought about what’s around me all the places and what they mean to me. I’ve become more aware about everything I do. Because nearly everything I do here will make an impact on the environment – the water I use and the rubbish I make. I’m hoping to use some of the things I’ve learnt when I return back to the city. Because my environment in the city is as important to me as this place. Through reflecting on my past experiences of the school-based remote learning program, it is evident that as a collective SLE, it provided a key to my connection with both human and non-human nature. It also gave me the knowledge and skills to enable authentic agency in the practice of caring, advocating, and actioning for the natural environment. Kollmuss and Agyeman (2002) assert that direct experiences (such as seeing the impacts of logging firsthand) provide a stronger influence on environmental behaviors and attitudes than indirect experiences (e.g., learning about an environmental problem in a classroom), which focus on the dissemination of knowledge content of environmental issues. The school-based remote learning program provided a combination of these strategies which may have contributed to the success of this approach in enabling a SLE. While the school-based remote learning program was definitely a major shifting point in my life, there were many more SLEs that continued to occur as I completed high school and moved into and through my twenties. The learnings from the school-based remote learning program held strong, and I continued to care and advocate for the environment; however, this had become problematic as I had developed a practice of caring more about non-human nature than my body-as-nature. This idea has been attributed to environmental guilt and has been experienced and observed by researchers (see, e.g., Schneider, Zaval, Weber, & Markowitz, 2017). My next major SLE occurred in my early 30s. I was feeling exhausted by the endless inner conflict between being a citizen in a consumer-based society and being true to my environmental sustainability beliefs. I thought that there must be another way. So I retreated from my seaside residential life into what some may call “the Australian dream”: my husband and I purchased a four-wheel drive and a camper trailer and went traveling around Australia with our 18-month-old daughter. After working in some remote areas and being “on the road” for 6 months, we realized that this way of living was not financially nor practically feasible or sustainable long term. We relocated and I began resolving my inner conflicts about being a part of society and living sustainably. The process I adopted to do this was to first accept that “retreating” from society did not work, and second, I let go of everything I thought sustainability was about. From the outside, I would not have looked the picture of someone who cares about the environment. But, on the inside there was resolve. I approached my environmental and sustainability actions through caring for my body-as-nature first. Only through practicing caring for my body-as-nature was I able to begin to understand what it meant to care for non-human nature. This idea was supported by Parker (as cited in Skamp, 1991) who asserted “If I am uncaring of myself, I am careless of my environment and my sister creatures” (p. 82). I came to realize and understand that my body is made of the particles of the universe, which includes the natural world. My body can work in alignment to the rhythm of this universal order, just as is observed in nature. I am the one who knows and has control over my body, so it is my responsibility and choice to listen to and look after it in a way that respects the universality to which it belongs. Moreover, my body has a way of communicating exactly what is needed. It is my choice to remain open to listening to it, in the same way I “listen to” the nature outside of my body, non-human nature. I grew up in a leafy, city suburb in Australia, with only intermittent opportunities to experience wild nature. Given the profound support non-human nature provided me, I was determined to ensure my daughter had much more exposure and time in non-human nature than I did as she grew up. I was sure that I would be the significant adult in my daughter’s life who would provide her with opportunities to be in wild nature. This picture I held was just another ideal about how I thought things needed to be and what they needed to look like. Trying to live in a way that allowed my daughter to live the idealized childhood spent in non-human nature was not working financially, emotionally, or mentally for our family. I realized that to be a change agent I needed to actively engage in society and be a part of what I had always resisted and retreated from. For me, this was a major turning point in my life that could be described as an unconventional or nontraditional SLE. I started to make changes and critically reflected on some of the sustainability and “green” ways of living that I had adopted. I explored my relationship with food choices; I challenged the concept of time and I reflected deeply on the way I parented my daughter. These concepts are explored in greater depth here. Food is a sensitive topic for discussion as there are often strong emotional, social, and cultural connections with what and how much we eat. However, despite the discomfort and awkwardness that this topic might arouse, it is a necessary aspect of sustainability, environmental education, and understanding parent(ing) from the childhoodnature perspective. Moreover, food is part of caring for our body-as-nature and is in our direct locus of control. I recall personal SLEs that are specifically related to food, which have also formed my beliefs about what it means to be sustainable and nurture childhoodnature. Looking at food choices through the SLE lens, I can identify two SLEs that have strongly influenced my food choices. At age 8, I ate a chicken nugget and was shocked to realize that there was a bone in it. Up until that point I had not deeply considered and acknowledged that a chicken nugget was actually from an animal. As my father was vegetarian, it was a simple transition for me to become a vegetarian in our family landscape and my parents accepted my choice. My second SLE around food choices occurred at age 31. My daughter was 2 months old and I had developed mastitis three times during this period. It was a devastating experience for the pain I experienced, the discomfort for my daughter, and the impact it had on me as a woman. At this point, I decided to stop eating gluten, dairy, and sugar to see what impact it had on my health (as I had dabbled with this way of eating in response to other health issues in the past). After changing my diet, I did not get mastitis again. I actually felt so good from eating this way that I continued, even when I had finished breast-feeding. I continued to experiment with my diet and became aware that certain foods were causing bloating, raciness, and/or tiredness. Due to the discomfort of these side effects, I was willing to no longer eat these foods. After a few years of eating in this way, I started to hear the voice of my body through craving chicken and lamb. It was a challenging time to let go of the environmental and sustainable belief of vegetarianism that I had held onto for over 25 years, but in line with my decision to explore new ways of being sustainable, I chose to honor my body and renounced my vegetarianism. I thought my body would react to the meat and find it difficult to digest. But it was the contrary; my body reacted well and had no side effects, except for greater vitality. This was also observed by White (2013) who found that eating meat restored her “healthy body” after a year spent as a vegetarian (p. 129). Choosing to eat in this way has not been simple, but mainly through the social pressures I have felt and had to confront. It involved a process of letting go of what I had accepted as the social norms of what “healthy and sustainable eating” meant and being brave and trusting enough to accept that the changes I was making were the right choices for me. It gave meaning to the quote by Thoreau, “let your life be a friction against the machine” (as cited in Devall & Sessions, 1985, p. 8). The experience was reminiscent of my choice to become vegetarian at age 8 when it was much less common, especially for a “child,” but the intensity at age 32 felt much stronger. Even writing this now I can see how challenging it is to accept that my body does not lie when it speaks. Even when what it says is in direct opposition to what I am being fed by society, such as the recommendations from the government. I problematized the current government nutrition and lifestyle recommendations through a collage in my visual research journal. The collage troubles the Australian healthy food pyramid and physical activity guidelines. These documents are designed to provide parents and educators with support in providing healthy food and lifestyle options for the children in their care. However, during my research process I questioned this advice considering the current “obesity epidemic’ (WHO, 2000). It would seem that these promotions are not a sustainable solution for human and non-human nature. I decided to listen to the voice of my body-as-nature and for doing this, I have never felt better. I would argue that the way I eat now is more sustainable than it has ever been – both for my body-as-nature and for non-human nature. I have become aware how nature is parenting me about how to eat and live through what I observe in animals. Animals don’t worry about killing each other for food. They innately listen to their body: what and how much food their body needs without intellectualizing their diet. I propose that this could be a new approach to exploring sustainability in food choices. There is a lot of responsibility as a parent to ensure that my food choices and my relationship with food model that which I would want to see for my daughter. I see this responsibility as another reason to choose my food based on what my body tells me, as this is how I would like my daughter to develop a relationship with food: through discerning and making choices for what works for her body. Perceived lack of time is a notable barrier for parents in giving their children access to and experiences in nature along with seemingly busier lives of children, families, and society (Louv, 2006; Malone, 2007; Sandry, 2013; see also “interpersonal theme” in Shaw et al., 2015). Given that SLE research suggests that childhood experiences in nature promote future life paths into personal care and concern for the natural environment and careers in the sustainability and environmental education fields (Chawla, 1998b, 1999; Palmer et al., 1998b), it is an area that requires attention. This concept is explored in this section through a recent SLE from my research data. When he is with her, he is with HER! He is not thinking about what he could be, should be, was or will be doing. He is listening to her, celebrating her, offering her his wisdom of lived experience, appreciating her wisdom and makes space in his life to do things together. It is not about what is being done, but understanding the importance of being with each other. My husband realized that he did not have a lot of time given he was working full-time and studying part-time, so he challenged quantity by offering depth in his quality. The quality spoke volumes. I could see very clearly that connectedness was not about having to spend lots of time doing something, but was about the way that it is done: it was about the quality and not the quantity. The same idea applied to my husband’s interaction with nature. He deeply appreciates nature in his everyday life, but does not need to retreat into non-human nature or spend a lot of time there. He honors and respects his body and treats it with great care, just as he does with non-human nature. Through this observation, the concept of time has been fractured in its intensity. While it is obviously still an important aspect of being in society, it should not govern our thoughts and movements. Moreover, it should not be used as a reason not to engage in building relationships with each other or with non-human nature. We can appreciate the time we have without guilt or regret or wishing away life by wanting to be somewhere else. This lesson has been fundamental in reconceptualizing how I parent, particularly with the current wealth of images and ideas about what getting children back into “non-human” nature should look like. Through reconceptualizing time, I am able to practice parenting childhoodnature through the quality that I parent with and not on the quantity of time I have available. These ideas around parenting are developed in the next section. This section explores some of the reasons that may hinder the seemingly simple twofold actions described through SLE research of (i) providing children with opportunities to connect with non-human nature and (ii) being a role model: inspiring children through living the choices we wish to see in the world (Chawla, 1998b). It has been suggested that a major reason that children are not given permission to play outside is the “fear factor” – the fear of stranger danger and the fear of judgment about bad parenting practices from others (Louv, 2006; Malone, 2007; Ridgers, Knowles, & Sayers, 2012; Shaw et al., 2015; Sobel, 2008). Through my research, I explored this by reflecting on an experience in the backyard with my daughter. I was hanging out the washing while she was on the trampoline. When I had finished I went to go back inside to check the dinner. My daughter was clearly enjoying herself but hurried to put her shoes back on to come back inside with me. I asked her why she did not want to stay outside on her own and she said she was scared. The way she rushed to get off the trampoline certainly confirmed this. I pondered on this event to work out why she would have been afraid. As we do not have a television, I knew there would not have been an image or picture constructed about stranger danger from a television program. I had never told her stories about kidnapping or instances of children being lost. I realized it may have come from my movements, in the way I watched her closely. It was my own fear that my daughter felt and took on as her own. By doing this, I had created a need from my daughter. I realized that if my daughter did not need me, then what was my role as a parent and mother? Through the actions of constantly watching my daughter and making sure she was safe, I was in effect saying to her, “you need me to be okay.” I know my intentions were to ensure my daughter was safe, to be a good parent, and to spend time together, but at times I know these actions conveyed an underlying message that my daughter is “vulnerable, incapable, and in need of guidance and protection” and thus a “welfare dependent” (Barratt & Barratt-Hacking, 2008, p. 287). This view of children is opposed to enabling and empowering children to be the “young citizens” that they are through honoring their “strengths and competencies” and providing them with appropriate “recognition, respect and participation” (Neale as cited in Barratt & Barratt-Hacking, 2008, p. 287). This required me to change my parenting perspective: from seeing my daughter as someone in need of protection to empowering her as a young citizen, not as belonging to me but as being her own being. My husband and I continue to remind our daughter to share and act on how and what she feels and to ask questions from her inner knowing. I can see how this approach supports and empowers her in making choices and remaining in connection with her biophilia. It is quite revelatory to know that I do not actually have to do anything: that my role is to inspire. I understand the practicalities of doing the things for my daughter that she is not yet able to do and therefore supporting her development in the practical sense; but I am also acutely aware of her capabilities as she grows. Children are so much more able than I regularly see them being given credit for. Knowing that I do not have do anything is not an excuse or a way out of parenting my child, but a way of reimagining what parenthood looks like. This way of parenting is about making decisions and movements through taking care with myself and connecting to my daughter as a first priority. To transition my parenting from one of need and busyness to one of connection with myself and my daughter first requires honesty and acceptance. I propose that through letting go of any beliefs, pictures, or ideals about what parenting should look like allows endless possibilities to unfold and invites a more open acceptance of the way it actually is. This applies to the childhoodnature lens. When I have held on to pictures or beliefs about what this looks like in practice with my daughter, it creates a deficit where I am always away from where I want it to be. By confirming through appreciation about what childhoodnature looks like as it is, it allows the next learning and lesson to be presented, therefore allowing a deeper understanding and practice of childhoodnature in our lives. This chapter has detailed a selection of the SLEs that presented through my research that contributed to my everyday conceptions of parenting with/as nature. I view nature as a parent, offering constant guidance about how to live in harmony with human and non-human nature. I understand that my body-is-nature and speaks to me constantly. I can choose to listen and respect the universal order that my body belongs to or not. I have learned that as a human being I have this responsibility of choice, as does everyone. Through the sharing of our narratives and stories, we can learn from each other and, from our learning, discover new ways of experiencing and understanding nature in our lives. The role of nature in my life has changed and developed over time; my SLEs mark these changes. This evolution and changing relationship highlights the possibilities for reconceptualizing the human relationship with/as nature to match the evolving nature of all living things on the planet. I accept that the nature we are living with and experiencing is the result of the collective choices of humanity. Through the autoethnographic process, I have been enabled and empowered to deeply reflect on how my relationship with non-human nature has changed over my lifetime from a place of being to a place of refuge and escape to now, nature as a parent. Autoethnography has allowed my perspective as a parent to be considered from the inside, contributing rich, authentic research to this largely unexplored area of the SLE field. Throughout this inward and outward exploration of both human and non-human nature, I have reconstructed, reimagined, and reconceptualized my approach to parenting with/as nature. This research suggests that to enable and embody an approach to parenting with/as nature that any beliefs, ideals, and pictures about what parenting with/as nature should, would, or could look like needs to be deconstructed. It is then through reconsidering and redefining human relationships with honesty, values, time, food, and perceptions of being in the world that the parenting with/as nature concept can be reconstructed. Practical implementation of these concepts and research findings requires each individual to (a) take responsibility for caring for their body-as-nature and listening to their voice within: their biophilia; (b) be the living inspiration for what they would like to see in the next generation; and (c) utilize each moment with nature by being present at every opportunity and deeply appreciating the messages and wonder that is on offer. Along with the nature of research, this knowledge and understanding is dynamic and will continue to evolve and deepen along with the collective us of human and non-human nature. Crutzen, P. J., & Stoermer, E. F. (2000). The “Anthropocene”. Retrieved from http://www.igbp.net/download/18.316f18321323470177580001401/1376383088452/NL41.pdf.

2019-04-24T16:17:59Z

https://rd.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-51949-4_127-1

First, let me start by saying I LOVE my profession. Teaching is more than a job to me, it is my passion. When I am in a state of 'flow' with my students, that is one of my happy places. I've often had students say that Spanish is their favorite, and that they enjoy it so much they barely know they are learning. When I am with my students I feel the same way (most of the time), we have so much fun that it doesn't feel like work. Teaching is a joy. However, listening to politicians talk about the teaching profession, you would hardly know that so many good things happen in our classrooms. I am aware that most politicians have no idea what happens in schools. Unfortunately, as most parents are passionate about their children (as they should be), education is a powerful chip on the political playing field. When I first became a teacher, I remember being so PROUD to state my profession when asked what I did for a living. Over time, after getting enough negative reactions, and hearing my profession torn apart on TV my feelings began to change. I felt more defiant than proud when asked what I do for a living. Each time I told people I was a teacher, I felt the need to be prepared to battle preconceived perceptions about education. Now, when prospective teachers ask me about going into the field, I feel obligated to warn them about the need for a thick skin in this profession. Teaching is a commitment of the heart, and there is always MORE that you could do for your students, and the race to meet the needs of all the little faces that walk through our doors can be exhausting. When you add to that the negativity from the outside, sometimes I get TIRED. Tired of hearing my profession torn apart, tired of defending it online and in-person, and tired of all the negativity in the world. Tired and worried about the world that I am sending all these precious hearts and minds into. So what do we do? Where can teachers turn for the heart to continue? Because make no mistake, if you are a teacher the world needs you. This is a question I have pondered many times. Yesterday, listening to my daughter and her friend make a video for their 2nd grade teacher, as they raved about how she was their favorite teacher of all time, it hit me. We can turn to the reason we became teachers in the first place, to our students! Every time I am at my most worn out, some interaction with a student lets me know it is all worth it. One of my favorite things to do, is to let students draw me pictures or write me notes after they finish a test (or even on the test if they are waiting for me to repeat a question). They always surprise me with amazing Spanish pictures and the sweetest notes. The pictures below are from this week (and a few older students have sent me after they've moved on from my building). Each one reinforces my belief that teachers are necessary, a force for good, and that I am in the right profession, every exhausting and inspiring second. Yes, it is important to take care of our bodies and minds, but we must also take care of our hearts! I know it looks like a lot of love for me in the pictures below, but the secret is, your students all love you that much too. I even did similar activities when I taught 7th and 8th grade, and their notes were just as touching (if a little less enthusiastic). The next time you need inspiration and a reason to keep going, look at those young minds walking through your door, take a minute to connect and let them write you a message or draw a picture to share their feelings with you; and know that you are needed and loved! Whether students or teachers, we all have those days. The days where the morning just didn't go as planned we rushed to get ready, or to school on time, or ran around stressed out when we were at school to prep for a class, or for students to finish a project or study for a test. Those days when we can feel the tension creeping into our stomach, our neck, our shoulders, and even our attitude. This is a normal part of being human, and there is a scientific explanation for it, our nervous system! What follows is a brief explanation of the two parts of our nervous system, and how to control it when it gets out of control. For a more in depth look, please click here. Many years ago, when we first evolved to be human, our nervous system developed two main parts, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. The two systems act like a teeter totter, when one is in use, the other is not. The sympathetic nervous system is the 'fight or flight' system and is responsible for keeping us safe in times of danger. When this system is activated our heart rate increases, our muscles contract, our pupils dilate and non-vital systems in our body shut down allowing us to react quickly. The sympathetic nervous system is VITAL for keeping us safe, and perfect for needing to escape a tiger or a similar threat. The problem is that our nervous systems have not learned to recognize the difference between the threat of a tiger stalking you in the jungle, vs the threat of being late to school or work because you are stuck behind a bus. The sympathetic nervous system activates in both instances if we don't know how to control it; and with our fast paced lifestyle of always leaping from one project to the next (I myself am guilty of this) we often keep our sympathetic nervous systems in activation for much longer then necessary. This can lead to inflammation based health problems including, migraines, fatigue, muscle tension, weight gain, and many more. To read more about teacher burn out, please click here. 'On the opposite end of the teeter totter is the parasympathetic nervous system (if you speak Spanish I try to remember that 'para' means stop and think of this as the stop system). The parasympathetic nervous system is intended to restore our body to balance after activation of the sympathetic nervous system. When the parasympathetic system is activated our breathing slows down, our muscles relax, all systems come back online and balance is restored to our bodies. This is the system we should be spending the majority of our time in, but with the speed of today's world this system is often neglected. 3) Breathe out through the mouth for the count of 8. (through the mouth here is also important). Next time you are feeling stressed out try cycling through this breathing activity a few times and notice how you feel before and after! This one is so quick I can even do it between classes, before talking to a student that has my sympathetic nervous system firing, or even in the car at a stop light when my own children are being loud in the back seat! Although I have done yoga in Spanish with my students, I had never thought of doing deep breathing or guided meditation in the TL (target language) until a recent blog post by Justin Slocum Bailey (read it here). Justin's post inspired me and I made my first (very short) video below. This video starts with an explanation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems in English (a little too high for my students to understand in the TL), followed by the above breathing exercise in Spanish. I have been doing this with my students at the end of each class (or wherever they need it) the last few weeks and it has been wonderful! I hope it helps you too. I plan to make longer videos eventually....but that is a project for another day! Until then, I hope you spend many happy hours engaging your parasympathetic nervous system. Teaching a language using Comprehensible Input (CI) is my favorite way to teach, hands down (and in my 13 years in the classroom I've taught in a lot of different roles including 3rd grade classroom teacher, 5th grade classroom teacher, after school/summer Spanish teacher, Spanish, a French, and German Exploratory class, Science, Middle School Spanish, and Elementary Spanish. Before teaching with CI I would have been hard pressed to name my favorite subject or age level to teach with, as I found things to enjoy at all levels. After teaching this way however, it would be hard to imagine teaching anything else. CI lights up the way our brains are meant to learn. The classroom becomes a joyous place where intense and meaningful learning and community building takes place. I see it in the bounce in their step when students walk through the door; and I hear it in their voices when they walk by my room at conferences and say in hushed and excited tones, "Mom and Dad that's the SPANISH room." There is a drawback however, teaching this way can be both energizing, and completely exhausting. Some days I am drained and don't have a creative story or interesting thing to talk or read about. When I get that tired, I have to take a step back; and so should you when you feel that way! I know that if I have been up too late grading, or planning, or even with a sick kid, then I don't put quite as much energy into my lesson, and I don't have quite as much patience with my students. Science backs up the need not to over-do! In our brains we all have neurons, which send signals to other neurons that cause us to do...everything! There are even specialized neurons called Mirror Neurons, that help us understand the moods, motivations, and actions of those around us. When you see someone doing something, the same neurons that would light up in your own head if you were doing the action, light up (even though you are only watching someone else do the action). It's part of why you feel scared when you are in a scary movie, flinch when you see a bad injury, or are thrilled by an intense football game. If we come into our classrooms without energy and interest for our subject, the Mirror Neurons in our student's brains will pick that up, and they will not be as interested either, therefore learning less. Notice how you feel looking at the pictures of the exhausted people below. If you want to experience the effects of Mirror Neurons a little more intensely, watch the video of the "Rooftoppers". If you watch the video, the dropping sensation in the pit of your stomach is your Mirror Neurons predicting what would happen if they made a wrong move. Read on for a list of my favorite low-energy CI activities! The only prep (other than making sure they know the above words) is having some 'monsters' available (either stuffed animals, or print outs). All of the below is done in the target language (TL), and actors (the entire class acts at once) are only allowed to do what the narrator (teacher) says. All the quotations are the teacher 'script' with student actions described for each step. I start by saying: "You are in your house, in your room." (students "draw" the house and room around themselves as described in the action above). You are in your bed, sleeping (students pretend to cover up, and close their eyes). I make a noise that represents whatever 'monster' is outside the house, and say "Suddenly there is a noise. You jump out of bed (students pretend to jump out of bed). "You walk slowly to the window." Students pretend to walk slowly to the window. " "You look out the window". Students make the window action as seen above. "There is nothing there." Students shake their head "no" for nothing. "You walk slowly to the door." Students walk slowly to the "door". "You open the door slowly." Students pretend to open the door slowly. "There is a monster! You close the door quickly! You run to your bed. You jump in your bed. You cover your head with the blanket. You go to sleep." Students slam the door (complete with sound effects, run to their 'bed', jump in their bed, and go to sleep. The process can be repeated over, and over, and over, and over with different "monsters" being at the door. Sometimes it is an enormous spider, a tiny dinosaur, a unicorn (we say hi to it, but then it turns out it is a bad unicorn and we slam the door on it too). I have even had the thing at the door be a 'giant pair of pants, or a 'crazy hat' or whatever word I want to get repetitions on, the possibilities are endless. students LOVE this activity, move a lot, and practice high frequency vocabulary, and it takes little prep from the teacher (win, win, win, win). I keep this from being too scary for the elementary kids by having all the 'monsters' be non-threatening in appearance (as seen below). For older students you could do something similar, but with slightly spooky endings. If I was doing Middle School Spanish still, I would prep the my screen ahead of time so that when the students opened their eyes, Sr. Wooly's Ganga girls were peeking out at the students when they opened their eyes. The 'noise' could be a snippet of the Ganga song. If you are reading Sr. Wooly's newest graphic novel, La Dentista, you could also have that character ready to surprise students when they open their eyes! Textivate is incredible for CI teachers. Students can practice both words in isolation and in a story. All you have to do as the teacher, is type your vocabulary and story and hit the 'Textivate button', you will instantly be rewarded with almost 30 different games your students can play to practice their CI. Textivate even has voice-to-text! There are many great instructional videos on Textivate's blog so I won't go into a how-to. Creating a Textivate activity with vocabulary the students already know, and a new simple story, can be a great way to have a meaningful lesson for students when you have a sub as well! Below is an example of work I am leaving for my 1st graders when I am out next week! I have cards made up with high frequency words sitting in the front of my room (I also have student lists laminated). As I create stories with the class throughout the year, I add sentence strips from stories we have done as a class to the 'bag'. A student or student pulls a strip from the bag. If we are playing charades they act it out, if we are playing pictionary they draw it. Simple, and low prep, plus lots of practice of important words and structures. The student lists, are so that if groups of students finish an activity early, they have a 'go-to' . To see the words I have in my word bag (plus some times I made to practice them, click the link below. If you are a Spanish teacher, you can use this list to make your own. You could also buy the one I made, if it's easier. White Elephant (as described by Justin Slocum Bailey here) is also low prep (though sometimes high energy for me, as elementary kids get very worked up when playing). What's in the backpack/suitcase/bag/box/present etc. (whichever word you need to practice) is exactly what it sounds like, throw some things in your container of choice. Describe them, using words the students know, and have them guess what you have in your backpack. Lots of repetitions for descriptive words, colors, size, has/does not have, etc. I have worksheets made up ahead of time that are very generic, they have students practice the you/I forms of Michael Peto's Super 7 and Super 16. Students answer the questions in the 4-square (as seen below) and draw a picture to go with each question. Lots of times these turn into hilarious mini-stories that you can throw into your FVR Library (Free Voluntary Reading Library). I also have blank comic templates that I can quickly write a basic story in, copy, and pass out to students. Students read and draw it. Beautifully illustrated stories can also be added to the FVR library. Finally, I have a worksheet that allows students to practice question words, and create their own "Invisibles" character (thanks Ben and Tina)! Students love making up their own characters, and 'standouts' can become class characters for your stories. Giving yourself a chance to not be in the spotlight and recharge, while your students still enjoy plenty of CI goodness is a great thing for teachers and students alike! I hope one of these activities will come in handy next time you need a chance to breathe (as may be needed during December). Happy Holidays everyone! p.s. If you are a Spanish teacher, my 'Felices Fiestas' site below, has lots of great movie talk possibilities for the holidays (a low energy activity, that I didn't write about as there are many great blogs on it). Classroom jobs are a great classroom tool, both to manage transitions in the classroom smoothly, increase time spent in the TL (target language), and to help create a culture that is special to each class. It helps create a bond between the students and brings everyone together as a team. There are many great blog posts about classroom jobs, however these are the jobs that have worked best for me, in an elementary setting. Many of them were inspired by Ben Slavic's work. Some are unique (as far as I know). I've promised to blog about the jobs that work well in my room many times; and have finally found time at the airport on the way back from presenting at the incredible CiMidwest. To save you some time, I am including a free download to my job badges. My students wear these in lanyards around their necks. In previous years I have used props to identify jobs, but for elementary students the props were a big distraction. They are proud to wear the badges, but mess with them less, so this works better for me. Download your copy (if you are a Spanish teacher) here. If any teachers of other languages would like these, let me know, and I can delete the Spanish words and leave them blank so you can write in your own words. What jobs do I use? Read below for a list and a brief explanation of each job. Artist - Draws characters or stories as they happen. Can use these pictures for a retell, or add words to them and add them to your FVR library. Writer - Writes the story in Spanish or in English. Helps me keep track of what is going on in each story. The watch- tells teacher 5 minutes before the end of the class. I often have so much fun with my students I forget to watch the time. The boss - Walks around at the end of class and makes sure class is in order, doesn’t clean the mess, tells others to pick up after themselves. Host- Greets visitors, offers them a comfy place to sit (can kick kids out of the best seats if they say it in the TL (target language) and a glass of water. Doctor- If someone sneezes, stands up and says 1,2,3 and class says ‘salud’. Escorts kids to the office for injury or illness if necessary. The door- Answers the door during class and asks for the password if letting people into the class. Points- adds class points or teacher points for me when I am too far away from my point place. Props- Brings me props (or retrieves props we throw across the room). Mini Teacher - Passes out or collects paper , turns off lights, and brings me things from across the room, and chooses two helpers to quickly pass out badge jobs at the start of class. At first I call out the Spanish words and they pass them out. When they have acquired the words they call out the jobs in the TL too. Spy- Takes top secret messages from me anywhere in the school they need to go (the office, another teacher) sneaky like... They also "spy" on kids during class and report to me when kids speak English (so I can give myself points). The spy also reports to me when students speak in the TL OUTSIDE of class. So I can give the class points. This is the MOST popular job. It also gets the kids speaking lots of Spanish outside of the class, because they hope the spy will report on them. I don't care how many points my class gets (see here for a link to La Maestra Locas' blog and an explanation of the point system I use). No English- If this person hears someone speaking English they have to say ‘No English, Spanish Spanish’ in the target language. If they say it before I can get to the board to give myself a point, I cannot give myself any points. King or Queen- Makes decisions I don’t want to in the story (usually low pressure decisions like where someone lives). Expert- Makes up details we don’t know in a story (how fast a car is, how far away the sun is, etc.). Whatever they say, we "believe" for the story. For example, if I asked the 'expert' what the fastest car in the world was, and they say 'a school bus', we are going with a super fast school bus for the rest of the story. Computer Crew (3-4)- When we use computers they are in charge of re-setting computers for the next class, plugging them in (if necessary) and making sure headphones are wrapped. The below jobs fall away when students do not need to hear the English anymore. What? - When we say ‘qué’ (what in Spanish) the “What” person, stands up, shrugs their shoulders and says “What” in the voice of Gato, from El Perro y el Gato. Not very helpful if you are not a Spanish teacher. Perro y Gato video at the bottom of this post in case you haven't seen it. Where? - Looks back and forth quickly and says where, where, in a scared voice (as if looking for a monster) when they hear the word ‘where’ in the TL. How- Says ‘how how’ in a shocked voice (as if they broke their favorite toy) when we say ‘how’ in the TL. Because- Says ‘because’ in a annoyed voice when we say ‘because’ in the TL. How much- Makes money sign with fingers when we say ‘how much’ in the TL. That's it, my favorite jobs. I used to have classroom actors too, but almost all my students want to act, so I have decided to not make it a job, to give more students the spotlight. ​Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions! This is the second time I have helped organize a conference (the first time last year at MittenCi). Even with a great team of people (Grant, Haiyun, Marta and Kelly are incredible); it is a crazy amount of work, exhausting, and a bit consuming. Especially as I am a full time teacher, and a mom to three. However, if I am asked to do it again next year, I know I will say yes in a heartbeat. Why do we say yes to these endeavors over and over and keep coming back? Equity and inclusivity, for our students, and for ourselves. If you have never been to a conference there is nothing quite like it. As language teachers, we are often the only teacher in our school, or part of a small group. Sometimes overlooked, or left to our own devices, it is easy to feel isolated and to lose the bigger vision of our full potential. Especially when you see the benefits to your colleagues of being able to talk to others that teach what they teach every day. When you attend a language conference you realize that you have a whole family of people who are making the journey with you. Even though we can connect on Facebook, there is nothing quite like connecting to other people that are passionate about the same type of teaching you do in person. People who understand your struggles and triumphs. Who can renew and inspire you and encourage you to keep on doing the amazing things you do for your students. Your words, comments, or lesson ideas, may have helped inspired someone you've never met. You may have been inspired by someone that needs to hear that they are making a difference. When we connect with other teachers that share our passions, there is nothing quite like the inspiration it gives you to keep doing what you are doing. "Don't reinvent the wheel" is a popular saying, but as language teachers, we often have to build our materials and ideas in isolation. Talking to others that teach what you teach, getting new ideas, and figuring out how to fit them into what you already do, is empowering. I never leave a conference without a notebook worth of things I want to try. I often bookmark great ideas on blogs or facebook groups, that I never actually make it back to because I need more details before I proceed. At a conference, I always leave with things I can try immediately. Even last night, after a full day of writing down brilliant ideas; I was sharing favorite Movie Talks with the brilliant Carla Tarini (and re-writing my lesson plans for next week in my head). Walking away from a conference, I never fail to feel inspired and ready to bring the world to my students. Our brains are wired to see the world as "us" VS "them". This is a part of our ancestral drive to prosper. As hunters and gatherers it was critical to our survival protect our family groups and tribes in order to flourish, and to survive we had to be able to recognize dangers in others that are not part of our own groups. However, we can do better. Neuroscience shows that when we point out the similarities between ourselves and people who look, talk, or act differently; when we explain the meaning behind cultural practices that may be scary because they are the unknown, our brains start to reframe how we see others. We are no longer "us and them" we are "us and us". We all live on this small, but beautiful rock, out in the middle of space. No matter our countries of origin, our skin colors, our religious, cultural (or even political beliefs) we are all in this TOGETHER. In a time when politicians and the forces that propel our world seem determined to point out our differences, and reinforce the "us VS them" mentality, we have a unique chance and responsibility to make a difference. One student at a time, one day at a time. We can connect our students to people and places that they might never have seen, in ways that we might never have imagined, within our communities, and with the world at large. We have a chance to connect our students to their own full potential and to help them see the beauty and possibility of greatness in others. We have a chance to create future leaders that see the "us" that humanity needs to reach a world that is inclusive and equitable for all. ​ Walking through the halls yesterday, listening to the different languages being spoken, and connecting with new and old faces, all I saw was us and us and us and us. And that is a beautiful thing. We all know that students do best when we personalize lessons to where they are at in their lives. To their own interests, abilities, and journeys. This can be a tricky task, and overwhelming, especially when you first start out in the CI world. Listening to other teachers share their struggles, triumphs and best ideas is the path to the skills needed to personalize what we do for our students. It doesn't matter if it is your first conference, or your 50th, the ideas that you walk away with will advance you farther along the road to a program that can meet each of our students where they are at in the moment. Which is where we need to meet them if we are to help them reach their full potential. I was not able to attend any full sessions as I had confernce responsibilities. However for the sessions I was able to sit in on I learned so much that I can use to open the world to my students. As always, I wish I could have attended ALL the sessions. In Bob Patrick's session I learned about no stress ways to teach CI and avoid burnout. From dictations, to using a same story in multiple ways. These are important words for teachers to here. In Justin Slocum Bailey's session I found new ways to do PQA that my students will love. Craig's Klein's session had incredible ideas on how to use curiosity and humor to compel student interest in their language learning. From Amy Vanderdeen I learned new ways to increase the size of my FVR (free voluntary reading) library, and from Becky Moulton I learned about the need to mentor others, and how to do so with compassion and grace. As always, my only true regret at this conference, was not being able to see and talk to everyone. We need a whole week, and sometimes even that is enough. I wish I could have spent time talking to all the attendees, and listening to all the presenters. Whether I learned from you, simply crossed paths in the hall, waved at you across the room, or shared a heartfelt moment of collegiality, thank you for being a part of something incredible. The chance to make our classrooms, and yes even the world at large, an equitable, inclusive, and personally beautiful place for all. Hope to see everyone next year on Sept. 29th, at CiMidwest2018. Our modern lifestyle is generally more sedentary then that of our evolutionary ancestors. Whereas they spent large portions of their day walking long distances, lifting heavy things, sprinting, and stretching as needed; we tend to sit a lot more and move a lot less in general. While we move less, we still are incredibly busy, and the idea of finding the time to work out can be overwhelming. I know that with working full time and three little kids at home, the days of going to the gym or spending two hours doing yoga are over for me (at least for now). Many nights I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to get the kids in bed and fold the laundry (many nights the laundry pile grows instead of being folded). I often do not feel like I have enough time for playing with my kids or leisure activities as it is, but I like being active, and the benefits of an active lifestyle are many. In fact, recent studies say that are sedentary lifestyle is extremely bad for us. Read about this in depth here or here: Sitting is the new Smoking. Unfortunately, the effects of a sedentary lifestyle are not reversed by exercise and diet, so it is important we start moving now. There are many benefits to getting ourselves moving. Neurogenesis: increased neural growth in the brain. The problem is of course, in spite of all the great benefits I do not have that much time in my day. Although I can't get to the gym, I have found ways to 'sneak' fitness into my day that have given me results that work for me. By this I mean, I feel stronger, more flexible, and have more energy. I do NOT have the "perfect body", this was not, and is not my goal. If your goal is also overall good health, strength and flexibility below are my tips for fitting in fitness when there isn't any time! Of course, I am not a doctor or yoga teacher so consult with a professional if you are worried about injury or health risks. Yoga/ Resistance Training was the health activity I missed the most, and I added it back in, by starting with these 7 Yoga poses to do every day (look them over to understand the rest of the post). These are 7 basic poses spread out throughout the day, so that you only do a few poses at any one time. Starting with just 4 breaths a pose, each set takes less than 5 minutes to start. As the poses became easy for me at 4 breaths a pose, I added an extra breath to each pose. I've been doing this set (with a few add ons) for almost 2.5 years daily, and am now up to 20 breaths per pose. While this takes slightly more time to do then when I started, I have noticed increased strength, balance, and flexibility. No extra equipment needed! I do these poses even on days when I am very tired, and I always feel better after I do them. Once I had been doing the above poses for over a year, and was at 10 breaths, I felt the need to increase the challenge. I added a few modifications to increase resistance training. This is how I fit it in a little extra resistance training without a trip to the gym (this won't make sense unless you click on the 7 Yoga Poses link above, as these poses are in addition to the 7 Yoga poses at the above link). 1) I start with the morning cat/cow from the 7 poses above; after I have finished cat cow. I do plank pose in the morning, for the same amount of breaths I did for cat/cow (20 breaths currently). 2) Mid-morning or after lunch I do the forward bends as is in the set above. After lunch or at the end of the school day I do a more challenging lunge set. I start with Warrior 2 (first picture), then add a bending lunge (second picture) and a twisting lunge (third picture). In the twisting lunge, you can get an even deeper twist, if you twist the opposite way. After I do the lunge poses, I hold downward dog for an extra set, and then do yoga push ups. How many push ups should you do? As many as you can do and still do them correctly. Once they are easy, add another. I started with 5 yoga pushups, and now I do 15 (but I added extras slowly over time). If you want to see perfect Yogis doing these poses, you can Google them easily. Please excuse the selfies below, I couldn't find pictures that would show the actual poses without taking them myself or paying for them. I had planned to re-take them in looser clothing, but realized I would never get around to it, and thus never publish this post, so I went with what I captured on my first (and only) attempt. I do the evening yoga poses as is in the 7 Yoga Poses to do everyday set before bed. ​For those that have the time to add a little bonus strength training to their week, I highly recommend this 5 minute yoga routine for your arms 3 to 5 times a week. If you are new to yoga, or worried about flexibility you may want to start with these poses. Yoga should be a stretch, and may strain muscles occasionally, but it should not hurt. If a pose hurts, you probably have something that is not lined up correctly. I recommend stopping, and researching or taking a class if necessary to correct these errors, you don't want to hurt yourself! Aerobic exercise is slightly harder for me to fit in, as I don't have a long block of time in which I can do it. I fit little bursts of increased heart rate throughout the day by doing things like running up and down the stairs (often two at a time). I even do this at school if I don't think anyone is looking (though I don't recommend this if you are worried about falling. I will volunteer to get things on a different floor so that I get an extra chance to move sometimes. In class, if I notice my students looking tired we will stand up and do some in class jumping jacks or fast walking together. There are lots of ways to do little TPRS/CI (comprehensible input) workouts. These are good for you and the students, and can increase energy and learning ability. My students and I dance, run virtual obstacle courses, jump, run, walk, and do yoga all in the target language. Studies show that students often retain information better when it is tied to physical exercise. ​I've also started doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) three or four days a week. There are 10 years worth of studies showing that HIIT training can provide many of the same benefits of longer aerobic workouts. I've only been doing this for about a month, so can't attest to it being the perfect answer to needing to fit more cardio in, but it gets my heart beating faster, is fun, and can be done in about 10 minutes. I'll update this post if I keep it up and find benefits. In addition to all of the above, I go for walks, bike ride, play the tickle monster, and have dance parties with my kids. None of this is done with the goal of working out, but just to have fun while moving! I hope this post helps a busy teacher (or anyone) sneak some extra fitness into your day. If you have other tips, or favorite fun activities to help others get moving, please share in the comments!

2019-04-26T10:12:22Z

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Design of an MRM assay to determine the absolute quantity and stoichiometry of ubiquitous and tissue-specific human 20S proteasome subtypes. Use of purified isotopically labelled 20S proteasome as internal standard for accurate quantification. Variation in the expression of immunoproteasome in adipocyte-derived stem cells (ADSCs) grown under different O2 levels might be causal for change in cells differentiation capacity. The status of 20S proteasome during ADSCs expansion might constitute an additional relevant quality control parameter to contribute to predict, among other quality markers, their therapeutic capacity. The proteasome controls a multitude of cellular processes through protein degradation and has been identified as a therapeutic target in oncology. However, our understanding of its function and the development of specific modulators are hampered by the lack of a straightforward method to determine the overall proteasome status in biological samples. Here, we present a method to determine the absolute quantity and stoichiometry of ubiquitous and tissue-specific human 20S proteasome subtypes based on a robust, absolute SILAC-based multiplexed LC-Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM) quantitative mass spectrometry assay with high precision, accuracy, and sensitivity. The method was initially optimized and validated by comparison with a reference ELISA assay and by analyzing the dynamics of catalytic subunits in HeLa cells following IFNγ-treatment and in range of human tissues. It was then successfully applied to reveal IFNγ- and O2-dependent variations of proteasome status during primary culture of Adipose-derived-mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells (ADSCs). The results show the critical importance of controlling the culture conditions during cell expansion for future therapeutic use in humans. We hypothesize that a shift from the standard proteasome to the immunoproteasome could serve as a predictor of immunosuppressive and differentiation capacities of ADSCs and, consequently, that quality control should include proteasomal quantification in addition to examining other essential cell parameters. The method presented also provides a new powerful tool to conduct more individualized protocols in cancer or inflammatory diseases where selective inhibition of the immunoproteasome has been shown to reduce side effects. Some hematopoietic malignancies can be successfully treated by inhibition of the catalytic core 20S proteasome complex, and more recent findings indicate that the proteasome is a promising target for the treatment of other cancer types or other pathologies including inflammatory diseases (1⇓–3). Although the cylindrical α7β7β7α7 barrel-like structure of the 20S catalytic core proteasome has been preserved throughout evolution, the oligomeric protease has evolved, resulting in a higher heterogeneity of subunit compositions in mammals. As schematically represented in Fig. 1A, there exist at least six distinct forms of 20S proteasomes in human cells and tissues. The standard 20S proteasome (sP20S)1 is composed of constitutive (α1–α7 and β3, β4, β6, and β7) and catalytic subunits (β1, β2, and β5). It is the most abundant 20S subcomplex in most cell types, but significant amounts of other 20S forms have been observed in some human tissues and cells in their basal state or are induced in specific environmental conditions (4). For instance, in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines or in immune cells, the three catalytic subunits of the sP20S can be replaced in a highly regulated way by their immuno counterparts to form the immunoproteasome (iP20S), which has nonidentical cleavage specificities (5). Two intermediate proteasomes harboring a mixed assortment of standard and immunocatalytic subunits (β1i P20S, β1iβ5i P20S) have also been observed in various human tissues and cells, and their existence is consistent with the rules of cooperative assembly of inducible catalytic subunits (6). Some other 20S subtypes are much more tissue-specific, such as the thymoproteasome (containing β1i, β2i and β5t catalytic subunits) and the spermatoproteasome (containing a specific isoform of α4 called α4s) which are found in the thymus and male germ cells, respectively. The environment- or tissue-specific subunit composition of human 20S proteasome has been shown to fulfill specialized functions that the standard proteasome can only exert suboptimally (4). For example, immune cells contain a significant proportion of immunosubunit-containing 20S proteasome subtypes which display specific proteolytic preferences thanks to which they produce antigens for presentation to CD8 T cells (6). In the thymus, the unique cleavage preference of β5t explains the essential role played by the thymoproteasome in the positive selection of developing T lymphocytes (7). Thus, knowledge of 20S proteasome composition will help us to better understand proteasome function in a given tissue or cell type. It is also crucial when developing novel therapeutic strategies targeting specific 20S proteasome variants. Indeed, the immunoproteasome is a valuable target in several ongoing oncology trials as well as in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (2, 3, 8). Thus, to assess proteasome status, by determining the absolute quantity and stoichiometry of all subtypes, precise and accurate absolute quantification of several subunits from the same biological sample is required. As mRNA and protein levels reported from proteomic and transcriptomic analyses show a low correlation (9), quantification must be performed at the protein level to allow an accurate and complete description of the 20S proteasome status. Several ELISA protocols have been published or are commercially available to determine absolute levels of both 20S and 26S proteasome complexes, but only at the global level, i.e. they make no distinction between the different subcomplexes (6, 10⇓⇓⇓–14). Only Guillaume et al. (6) considered the heterogeneity of 20S subtypes when developing their ELISA assay by using different in-house produced antibodies directed against four different standard and immunocatalytic β subunits. More recently, standard and immunoproteasome subtypes were determined by surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI) using specific inhibitors (15). However, the multiplexing capacity of these methods is insufficient to fully assess proteasome heterogeneity in a single assay. To overcome this limitation, we propose to use Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM), an isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS)-based technique which has been approved for the quantification of multiple biomolecules. In addition to its robustness, precision and accuracy, the main advantage of SRM is its capacity to quantify many analytes simultaneously. SRM has recently been successfully applied in protein assays (16, 17). In these studies, the proteins themselves were not directly detected and quantified, but were analyzed at peptide level, after enzymatic proteolysis. This is a critical step because, in most cases, the absolute quantification relies on the addition of an isotopically-labeled peptide standard (called AQUA peptide) (18) late in the experimental workflow, which might introduce a high variability because of differences in sample preparation. Thus, for accurate and robust absolute quantification of proteins, and to determine protein stoichiometry within protein complexes, the use of isotope-labeled peptides as internal standards requires careful optimization of experimental conditions (19). An alternative approach based on artificial genes coding for concatenated proteotypic peptides (QconCAT strategy) (20) may be used to decrease quantification biases. For robust absolute quantification, an isotope-labeled equivalent of the full-length target protein is considered the ideal internal standard. Several approaches based on the synthesis of heavy versions of the protein of interest have emerged recently. Most of them rely on metabolic labeling and purification of a recombinant version of the protein of interest, or a shorter specific protein sequence, like the Protein Standards for Absolute Quantification (PSAQ) (21), absolute SILAC (22), PrEST (23), FlexiQuant (24), and TAQSI (25) methods. Another approach consisting in the chemical labeling of proteins using isobaric stable isotope tagging technology (26) has recently been described to reduce costs and the time required to grow cells in heavy amino acid-containing media. In all these approaches, because the internal standard is processed together with its endogenous analog throughout the whole workflow, accuracy is markedly better than achievable with AQUA and QconCAT approaches when determining absolute quantities of proteins in various matrices (17). However, to our knowledge, the absolute quantification relying on the isotopic dilution of labeled proteins has been limited so far to monomers, and no reports of assays to determine the stoichiometry of macromolecular complexes have been published. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) hold great potential in regenerative medicine because of their multi/pluripotency and immunosuppressive properties. Over the last decade, the clinical use of MSC has rapidly increased, and more than 800 clinical trials assessing MSC therapy in multiple clinical settings are currently registered (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/). Adipose-derived Stem Cells (ADSCs) are a subclass of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells initially derived from the bone marrow. However, to obtain the critical number of cells before transplantation, ADSCs must be expanded in vitro. This essential step has raised important concerns about the quality of adult stem cells, and interpatient variability is a challenge when seeking to define ADSCs. The development of uniform protocols for both preparation and characterization of MSCs, including standardized functional assays to assess their biological potential, will be critical in contributing to their clinical utility. Here, we applied the SILAC method to engineered cell lines expressing either the standard 20S proteasome or the immunoproteasome to produce and purify isotope-labeled, endogenous versions of standard proteasome and immunoproteasome in vivo. These isotope-labeled proteasome complexes were used as internal standards to quantify the absolute concentration of all 20S catalytic and noncatalytic subunits in biological samples of various origins. The method developed was applied to determine the absolute concentration of total 20S proteasomes and the exact stoichiometry of six ubiquitous and tissue-specific 20S proteasome subtypes in a multiplexed LC-SRM assay with high precision (>92%), accuracy (>90%), and sensitivity (<1 fmol on column). Our results show that the absolute quantity and stoichiometry of the proteasome are challenged both by IFNγ stimulation and O2 levels during ex vivo expansion of primary ADSCs. Thus, determining proteasome status, which is a central contributor to maintaining stem cell homeostasis—characterized by stemness, capacity for self-renewal and cell differentiation (27⇓–29)—might constitute an additional relevant quality control parameter for the production of ADSCs for clinical applications, which is of interest as the number of quality markers currently available is limited (30). Furthermore, accurate and precise assessment of proteasome abundance and heterogeneity could also help when seeking to achieve selective inhibition of a proteasome subtype, like the immunoproteasome, for personalized therapies in cancer or autoimmune diseases. This is the first study to report the simultaneous determination of absolute quantity and stoichiometry for macromolecular complexes based on the isotopic dilution of labeled proteins in numerous human tissues and primary ADSCs culture. HEK 293T, HCT116, HeLa, and RKO cell lines were grown in DMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). U937, HeLa S3, and NB4 cell lines were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS. KG1a cell line was grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 20% FBS. MRC5 cell line was grown in MEM-α medium supplemented with 10% FBS. All cultures were supplemented with 2 × 10−3 m glutamine, 100 units/ml penicillin, 100 μg/ml streptomycin, and maintained at 37 °C under 5% CO2. Unsynchronized cells were harvested at 80% confluence for adherent cells or at a concentration of 1×106 cells per ml of culture for suspension cells. HeLa cells were treated with interferon-γ (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) at 100 ng/ml in fresh medium. Human 293-EBNA cells, “HEK-EBNA sP20S” (mainly expressing sP20S), and 293-EBNA cells engineered to express iP20S, “HEK-EBNA iP20S” (by transfecting 293-EBNA cells with cDNAs encoding the three immunocatalytic subunits β5i, β1i and β2i) were obtained as previously described (6). HEK-EBNA sP20S cells were cultured in SILAC medium which is composed of DMEM supplemented with 10% dialyzed FBS, 4 mm l-glutamine, 200 mg/L l-Proline, 100 mg/ml l-arginine (13C6), and l-lysine (13C6) (Cambridge Isotope Lab., Tewksbury, MA), 100 IU/ml penicillin and 100 μg/ml streptomycin in 150 cm2 culture plates and maintained at 37 °C under 5% CO2. HEK-EBNA iP20S were cultured in the same SILAC medium as HEK-EBNA sP20S, but further supplemented with 5 μg/ml Puromycin and 600 μg/ml Hygromycin to maintain selective pressure. Ten cellular doublings were performed in this medium to achieve an incorporation rate of 95% heavy amino acids in proteins (assessed by MS). Standard 20S proteasome and iP20S were then purified as described earlier (31). Absolute quantities and purities of both purified proteasome subtypes were then assessed as described in Supplementary information I-1. Isotope-labeled sP20S and iP20S were stored as 10-μl aliquots at 1.158 and 0.980 pmol/μl, respectively, in 20 mm Tris/HCl, pH 7.2, 1 mm EDTA, 1 mm DTT, 10% glycerol, and at −80 °C to ensure stability over time. Whole-cell lysates from various human tissues were supplied by AMSBio (Cambridge, MA) (HT-201 (Brain); HT-311 (Colon); HT-804 (Heart); HT-314 (Liver); HT-601 (Lung); HT-406 (Ovary); HT-102 (Skeletal muscles); HT-701 (Spleen); HT-401 (Testis); HT-704 (Bone Marrow); P1234264 (Thymus)). Human ADSC were isolated from subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT) obtained from nonobese human donors (body mass index <26) undergoing elective abdominal dermolipectomy (Plastic Surgery Department, Rangueil Hospital, Toulouse, France). No-objection certificates were obtained to comply with bioethics law no. 2004–800 of 6 August 2004. The stromal vascular fraction (SVF) was obtained by enzymatic digestion of adipose tissue (AT) with collagenase NB4 (Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). Cells were then seeded at 4000 cell/cm2 (P0) and cultivated in α-minimal essential medium supplemented with 10% FBS (Gibco), 100 μg/ml streptomycin, 100 U/ml penicillin, 25 μg/ml amphotericin (Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Sciences, Waltham, MA). Medium was changed twice a week. Cells from the same patients were cultured under normoxic (20% O2, 5% CO2) or hypoxic (1% or 5% O2, 5% CO2) conditions in an Xvivo System (BioSpherix, Paris, NY) to maintain cells in hypoxic conditions at all culture steps. Interferon-γ (100 ng/ml) was added to the medium in some experiments. Our experimental protocols were approved by French research ministry's institutional ethics committee of (N°: DC-2015-23-49) and informed consent was obtained from all subjects in line with current regulations (no subjects age under 18 were included). ADSCs obtained from patients were seeded at 20,000 cell/cm2 and were exposed to an adipogenic mixture containing IBMX (3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine) 0.45 mm, Dexamethazone 1 μm and Indomethacine 60 μm. An immunoproteasome inhibitor, 100 nm ONX-0914 (solubilized in 0.001% DMSO), was also added to the cell medium in some conditions; 0.001% DMSO was added to the control condition in these cases. Cells were grown at 37 °C under normoxic (20% O2) or hypoxic conditions (5% and or 1% O2). The medium was changed every 2–3 days throughout the culture process. At the end of experiment, the cell lineage was determined using Oil Red O which stains for adipocytes. When they reached 80% confluence, HEK-EBNA cell lines (HEK-EBNA sP20S or HEK-EBNA iP20S) were harvested in HKMG buffer (10 mm Hepes pH 7.9, 10 mm KCl, 5 mm MgCl2, 10% glycerol, 10 mm ATP, 1% NP40, protease and phosphatase inhibitor (Roche, Bâle, Switzerland)) and centrifuged for 10 min at 10,000 × g. Supernatants were kept and used for proteasome immuno-purification as previously described (31). ELISA-based absolute quantification of the 20S proteasome was performed as previously described (14). Briefly, ELISA assays were performed in 96-well plates (IMMULON HBX 4, Thermo Scientific). The plate was coated with 100 μl MCP21 monoclonal antibody (European Collection of Cell Cultures) at 5 μg/ml by incubation at 4 °C overnight. Wells were then washed 3 times with PBS/T-buffer. Nonspecific sites were blocked by incubation with 2% BSA in PBS for 1 h at room temperature with slow shaking. The plate was washed 3 times with PBS/T-buffer. The samples (cell lysates) were then deposited in triplicate and incubated for 2 h at room temperature. The plate was washed with PBS/T-buffer and then incubated with the polyclonal rabbit anti-20S antibody (PW 8155, ENZO LIFE Sciences, Farmingdale, NY) for 1 h at room temperature under slow shaking. The plate was washed 3 times with PBS/T-buffer and antibody binding was revealed using horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit antibody and 2 mg/ml ABTS substrate (2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)). The reaction was monitored by measuring the optical density at 416 nm (μQuant; Bio-Tek instruments, Inc., Winooski, VT). The amount of proteasome in the sample was calculated by comparison with the calibration curve produced with purified 20S proteasome purified from human erythrocytes (ENZO LIFE SCIENCE). A linear dose-response was observed between 0 and 20 ng. Cultured cells were harvested in HKMG buffer and sonicated in ice with a Bioruptor Plus (Diagenode, Liège, Belgium) (15 min, cycle 45 s/15 s (ON/OFF), position High). Protein concentration was determined by detergent-compatible protein assay (DC Assay - BioRad, Hercules, CA) according to the manufacturer's recommendation. Proteasome activity was assayed in 96-well black plates (Greiner Bio-One, Frickenhausen, Germany). 10 μl of each lysate fraction were added to 40 μl of Tris-HCl 100 mm and 50 μl of Suc-LLVY-AMC (for chymotrypsin-like activity), Boc-LRR-AMC (for trypsin-like activity) and Z-LLE-AMC (for PGPH activity) substrate in 200 mm Tris-HCl, pH 8 (Enzo Life Science) at a final concentration of 400 μm/well. Kinetic assays were performed at 37 °C in a FLX-800 spectrofluorometer (BIOTEK) over 90 min, reading fluorescence every 5 min, at 460 nm following excitation at 360 nm. Samples were heated to 95 °C for 5 min in Laemmli buffer to denature proteins; 100 mm chloroacetamide was then added to the sample followed by incubation for 30 min at room temperature in the dark. Proteins were loaded onto a 12% acrylamide SDS-PAGE and concentrated in a single band, visualized by Coomassie staining (Instant Blue - Expedeon). The gel band containing the whole sample was cut and washed several times in 50 mm ammonium bicarbonate, acetonitrile (1:1) for 15 min at 37 °C. Trypsin (Promega) digestion was performed over night at 37 °C in 50 mm ammonium bicarbonate at a trypsin/total protein ratio of 1/50. Peptides were extracted from the gel by two incubations in 10% formic acid, acetonitrile (1:1) for 15 min at 37 °C. Extracts were dried in a SpeedVac, and resuspended in 2% acetonitrile, 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid prior to LC-MS/MS analysis. For LC-SRM analysis, 1 pmol of labeled iP20S and 1 pmol of labeled sP20S were added to 25 μg of total proteins before the protein denaturation step. When used, AQUA peptides (Thermo Scientific Pierce Protein Research) were spiked into samples just before mass spectrometry analysis at a concentration resulting in injection of a final quantity of 70 fmol. Peptide mixtures were analyzed by nano-LC-MS/MS using an Ultimate3000 system (Dionex Sunnyvale, CA) coupled to an LTQ-Orbitrap Velos mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) when analyzing human tissue extracts or to a Q-Exactive Plus mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) when analyzing ADSCs. Five microliters (human tissue) or two microliters (ADSCs) of each peptide sample at 1 μg/μl were loaded onto a C18 precolumn (300 μm inner diameter × 5 mm; Thermo Scientific) at 20 μl/min in 5% acetonitrile, 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid. After 5 min of desalting, the precolumn was switched online with the analytical C18 column (75 μm inner diameter x 50 cm; home-made) equilibrated in 95% solvent A (5% acetonitrile, 0.2% formic acid) and 5% solvent B (80% acetonitrile, 0.2% formic acid). Peptides from human tissues were eluted using a 5–50% gradient of solvent B over 105 min at a flow-rate of 300 nL/min and peptides from ADSCs were eluted using a 5–25% gradient of solvent B over 165 min and a 25–50% gradient of solvent B over 135 min at a 300 nl/min flow rate. Both mass spectrometers were operated in data-dependent acquisition mode. During the analysis with the LTQ-Orbitrap Velos, survey scan MS spectra were acquired in the Orbitrap over the 350–1800 m/z range with resolution set to 60,000 (these parameters were 350–1500 m/z and 70,000 with Q-Exactive Plus, respectively). On the LTQ-Orbitrap Velos, the twenty most intense ions per survey scan were selected for CID fragmentation, and the resulting fragments were analyzed in the linear trap (LTQ). On the Q-Exactive Plus, the ten most intense ions per survey scan were selected for HCD fragmentation, and the resulting fragments were analyzed in the Orbitrap. Dynamic exclusion was used with a 60-s or a 30-s window (on the LTQ-Orbitrap Velos or the Q-Exactive Plus, respectively) to prevent repeated selection of peptides. Raw mass spectrometry files were processed using MaxQuant (version 1.5.5.1) and Andromeda was used to match MS/MS spectra against the Human SwissProt database (March 2017 release - 20,181 entries for human tissues analysis/release of August 2018 - 20,386 entries for ADSCs analysis) and a list of potential contaminant sequences provided in MaxQuant1.5.5.1., with Carbamidomethylation of cysteines set as fixed modification. Oxidation of methionine and protein N-terminal acetylation were set as variable modifications. The digestion specificity of trypsin was defined as cleavage after K or R, and up to two missed trypsin cleavage sites were allowed. The precursor mass tolerance was set to 20 ppm for the first search and 4.5 ppm for the main search. The mass tolerance in MS/MS mode was set to 0.8 Da for tissue analysis and to 20 ppm for ADSC analysis. Minimum peptide length was set to seven amino acids, and minimum number of unique peptides was set to 1. A target-decoy approach was used to validate hits, using a reverse database and applying a peptide and protein false-discovery rate of 1%. The “match between runs” option in MaxQuant was enabled, with a time window of 0.7 min, to allow cross-assignment of MS features detected in different runs. Only unique peptides were used for quantification when analyzing human tissues, whereas both unique and razor peptides were used for the quantification when dealing with ADSCs data. Quantitative proteomic analysis was performed on the normalized LFQ intensities from the “proteinGroups” Table in the MaxQuant output. Protein entries identified as potential contaminants by MaxQuant were eliminated from the analysis, as were proteins identified by fewer than two peptides. Tissue-specific 20S proteasome subunits (α4s, β1i, β2i, β5i, and β5t) were compared across the different tissues based on their normalized LFQ intensities (Fig. 3B). To compare the proteomes of ADSCs grown under normoxic or hypoxic conditions, the LFQ intensity values were used for the quantitative analysis. Fold-changes were log2 transformed and thresholds calculated based on their distribution. The upper threshold was calculated as Q3 + 1.5 × IQ, and the lower threshold as Q1 − 1.5×IQ, where IQ is the interquartile, and Q1 and Q3 are the first quartile and the third quartile, respectively. Proteins with fold-changes outside these thresholds were considered outliers from the global distribution. Outlier proteins with a p value of less than 0.05 were considered as differentially expressed between normoxic and hypoxic conditions. GO terms enrichment analysis was performed on these proteins using GOrilla (32). Dried peptide samples were resuspended in a solution containing 2% acetonitrile, 0.05% TFA, to obtain a final concentration of 1 μg/μl. To obtain data for the whole set of peptides/transitions, samples were injected twice as the list of transitions was split into two methods. The sample (2.5 μl, about 2.5 μg protein equivalent) was loaded onto the system and analyzed on a hybrid triple quadrupole-ion trap mass spectrometer 6500 QTrap (AB Sciex, Framingham, MA) equipped with a nanoelectrospray ion source coupled to an Ultimate 3000 system (Dionex) for chromatographic peptide separation. Separation was achieved using a 60 min gradient from 0 to 50% of solvent B (80% acetonitrile, 0.2% formic acid) at a flow-rate of 300 nL/min. Spray voltage was set to 2500 V, curtain gas to 35 psi, nebulizer gas to 5 psi, interface heater temperature to 75 °C, and cycle time to ∼3 s (3.1620 s and 3.0380 s for the two methods). Peptides were loaded onto a C18 precolumn (300 μm inner diameter × 5 mm; Thermo Scientific) at 20 μl/min in 2% acetonitrile, 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid. After 5 min of desalting, the precolumn was switched online with the analytical C-18 column (75 μm inner diameter × 50 cm; in-house-packed with Reprosil C18) and equilibrated in solvent A (5% acetonitrile, 0.2% formic acid). Proteotypic peptide sequences were selected based on results of previous discovery experiments (33⇓–35) and by referring to the golden rules (16) (i.e. considering isoforms, variants, PTMs reported on protein sequence or possibly artifactually-induced by sample handling, or missed cleavages, observed in Protein (UniProt) or MS databases (PeptideAtlas)). To achieve maximal sensitivity, collision energies (CEs) were optimized within a 6 V window around the CE value recommended by Skyline software and based on the m/z of the precursor. Final SRM transitions are given in supplemental Data S3. Transitions could be unambiguously assigned thanks to the co-injected isotope-labeled peptides. Samples were run in a blinded fashion except for calibration curves, for which the lowest concentrations were injected first. To check system suitability and performance before injecting each batch of samples, Total Ion Current was tuned (chromatographic solvent ions of m/z 50 to 1000) at 2000 Da/s scan speed in Q1. Quality controls (QC) (20 fmol of tryptic digest of betagalactosidase; transitions are given in supplemental Data S4) were injected between each sample. Carry-over was checked by injecting tryptic digests of 100 fmol, 500 fmol or 1000 fmol of isotopically labeled sP20S and iP20S spiked in 2.5 μg of HeLa, then one QC sample, and finally a blank sample (the maximum carry-over observed was less than 0.01%). Quantitative reproducibility over time was checked based on signal intensities for heavy transitions (maximum deviation of 50% allowed); injection batches were generally carried out over periods of less than 1 week. Quantitative data analyses were performed using Skyline-Daily open-source software (36). Area values for all transitions were first extracted automatically by the software, then checked manually and adjusted if necessary (i.e. exclusion of data points if S/N < 10). Light transition (L) peak area signals were then normalized with respect to their labeled counterparts (H) (after correction by considering the 95% incorporation rate for R(13C6) and K(13C6) in labeled sP20S and iP20S). For each transition, technical replicates of injection (typically three) were averaged. Ratios (L/H) of all the transitions used to assay a given protein or for total 20S proteasome (details in supplemental Data S3) were then averaged. The amount of labeled reference mix (containing equimolar concentrations of isotope-labeled sP20S and iP20S) spiked into the biological sample before sample preparation was then used to determine the absolute quantity of each proteasome subunit or total 20S proteasome. For each transition, LOD and LLOQ were experimentally determined by injecting heavy-isotope-labeled sP20S and iP20S spiked at increasing concentrations in a HeLa protein lysate and processed by the same method as applied to the other biological samples. LOD and LLOQ values were calculated using QuaSAR (37), which was implemented through the Skyline interface (see supplemental Data S5). Targeted MS measurements were highly multiplexed, and used to quantify proteasome subunits across cell lysates, tissues and primary cells of human origin. The assay developed used internal standards for each analyte, to confidently detect and precisely quantify the proteins of interest. Thus, the analyses meet the expectations of Tier 2 level. The concentrations and stoichiometries of all proteasome subtypes were determined as explained hereafter. Total proteasome absolute quantity was calculated by averaging the quantities of all 20S noncatalytic subunits (α1–7; β3, β4, β6, β7) (mean (α1,2,3,5,6,7; β3,4,6,7) → Total P20S). A stoichiometry of two noncatalytic subunits per 20S proteasome and a molecular weight of 700,000 g/mol were used in these calculations. As β5 is integrated into the standard proteasome, its fraction exclusively represents the fraction of standard proteasome (β5 → sP20S). Similarly, the level of β5t corresponds to the fraction of thymoproteasome “β5t P20S”, and can be obtained by subtracting the sum of β5 and β5i levels from the total amount of 20S proteasome (Total P20S − β5 − β5i = β5t → β5t P20S). As the β2i subunit is integrated into both the immunoproteasome and the thymoproteasome, the difference in its quantity compared with β5t can be used to determine the fraction of immunoproteasome (β2i − β5t → iP20S). The β1i-containing proteasome subtypes correspond to immunoproteasome, thymoproteasome, and intermediate proteasome β1i− β5i. Thus, the quantity of β1i β5i P20S is equal to the difference in abundance of β1i and β2i proteins because both immunoproteasome and thymoproteasome contain β2i (β1i − β2i → β1iβ5i P20S). β5i is contained in the immunoproteasome and in both types of intermediate proteasomes (β5i → iP20S + β5i P20S + β1iβ5i P20S). Thus, the amount of β5i P20S can be calculated as follows: β5i + β5t − β1i = Total P20S − β1i − β5 → β5i P20S. Finally, the spermatoproteasome level can be determined from the quantity of the α4s isoform (PSA7L protein _PSMA8 gene) by subtracting the abundance of the α4 subunit from the total 20S proteasome content (using specific peptides of the PSA7 isoform_PSMA7 gene as detailed in supplemental Fig. 8A) (sP20S − α4 → α4s P20S). All statistical analyses were performed on at least three independent biological replicates. For each biological replicate, results from at least two injection replicates were averaged. Probability values (p) were determined by one-way and two-tailed analysis of variances (ANOVA). Differences were statistically significant at confidence levels of 95% (*), 99% (**), or 99.9% (***). Coefficients of variation were calculated as ratios of the standard deviation over the mean of the values and are expressed as a percentage. Accuracy was determined as the ratio of the difference of the experimental value and the reference value over the reference value and is expressed as a percentage. The “human tissue extract” data set contains mass spectrometry results from the analysis of 11 different human tissues analyzed in triplicate, corresponding to 33 raw files. The “ADSC” data set contains mass spectrometry results from the analysis of three different patients under two different oxygen percentages used for cell culture, samples were analyzed in triplicates, and thus produced 18 raw files. Quantitative proteomic analysis was performed on the normalized LFQ intensities from the “proteinGroups” Table in the MaxQuant output. The data sets corresponding to the mass spectrometry analyses presented in this study have been deposited in the following repositories: PRIDE (Project accession: PXD011894) for label-free MS analyses, and PeptideAtlas (Dataset identifier: PASS01219) for targeted MS analyses. The detailed descriptions of all analyses (raw and processed file names, sample name, biological replicate number, MS technical replicate number, corresponding figure) are summarized in supplemental Data S8. The method aimed to simultaneously determine the absolute 20S proteasome quantity and subtype stoichiometry in a single assay. To achieve this goal, we designed a workflow combining IDMS and SRM to exploit its multiplexing capacity, sensitivity and robustness. In terms of total 20S proteasome absolute quantification, preliminary optimizations were used to select the most appropriate mode of internal standardization to correct for a range of experimental biases (Fig. 1B; supplementary Information I-1). As detailed in supplementary Information I-1 and supplemental Figs. S1–S5, the isotope-labeled whole proteasome complex added to biological preparations clearly provide a much more robust absolute quantification method than spiking with individual isotope-labeled “AQUA” proteotypic peptides for each 20S subunit. Indeed, despite good analytical performance in terms of reproducibility and linearity, absolute quantification using AQUA peptides technology lacked accuracy. This critical issue was overcome by using the absolute SILAC quantification method. We produced and affinity-purified isotope-labeled standard proteasome and immunoproteasome to obtain highly pure standards with a high level of subtype purity (min 99%) and with an excellent isotopic incorporation rate (min 95%) (supplementary Information I-1, supplemental Figs. S3–S4). The optimized quantification method then consisted in the distribution of a reference mixture of 20S proteasome subunits with carefully-controlled stoichiometry into protein lysates (Fig. 1B). After digestion of proteins using trypsin, an SRM method including at least one peptide sequence (with three associated transitions for each light and labeled surrogate) for the 11 noncatalytic subunits (α1–7; β3, β4, β6, β7) (supplemental Data S3) was applied. With this method, absolute quantification of total 20S proteasome was achieved in protein lysates of eight different human cell lines of diverse origins (HEK 293T, HCT116, RKO, U937, HeLa S3, NB4, KG1a, and MRC5). 20S proteasome concentration determined by the SRM method was compared with those obtained with the reference ELISA method (Fig. 2A). A high correlation was found between the two methods (coefficient of determination = 0.98; slope = 1.01). Altogether, these data demonstrate that the newly-developed method is suitable for absolute quantification of 20S proteasome in human cell lysates. Workflow for determination of total 20S proteasome absolute quantity and stoichiometry by LC-SRM. A, Schematic representation of the six main 20S proteasome subtypes with different sets of subunits. The sP20S is the most abundant 20S subtypes in most cell types. The 20S proteasome subtypes containing at least one immunocatalytic subunit are predominantly observed in immune cells but can also be induced in response to inflammatory cytokines. Other 20S proteasome subtypes are tissue-specific, like the thymoproteasome (β5t P20S) and the α4s proteasome (α4s P20S) which have been observed in the thymus and in reproductive cells like testes, respectively. B, Determination of total 20S proteasome quantity and 20S subtypes stoichiometry in Human cell lysates or tissues using SRM. Endogeneous proteasomes contained in biological samples were digested with trypsin. The SRM approach was designed to quantify in a multiplexed manner a set of proteotypic peptides corresponding to α subunits, as well as β catalytic and noncatalytic subunits. Isotope-labeled standard and immunoproteasome complexes were used as internal standards in the final method. They were spiked in the biological sample at equimolar quantities before the tryptic digestion. Alternatively, heavy “AQUA” peptides were added to the endogeneous peptides lysate after tryptic digestion. At least three endogeneous peptides, and three transitions per peptide were analyzed. Thanks to internal normalization with the isotopically-labeled peptides transitions, the absolute quantity of selected α and β noncatalytic subunits as well as of β catalytic subunits were obtained and used to compute the absolute quantities of total 20S proteasome and to assess the stoichiometries of the six main 20S proteasome subtypes in biological samples. Details are provided in the Experimental Procedures section and in Experimental section. Final validation of the LC-SRM method to determine absolute quantity of total 20S proteasome and to precisely and accurately monitor the dynamics of 20S subtypes stoichiometries. A, Correlation curve between the 20S proteasome concentration measured by the ELISA reference method and the one determined by LC-SRM in a panel of eight human cell lines (HEK 293T, HCT116, RKO, U937, HeLa S3, NB4, KG1a, and MRC5). The LC-SRM method was based on the isotopic dilution of equimolar amounts of in-house isotopically-labeled sP20S and iP20S (R(13C6) and K(13C6)) in each cell line protein lysate. One peptide sequence (and three transitions for the light and the heavy surrogate) and three peptide sequences were analyzed for noncatalytic subunit (α1–7; β3,4,6,7) and catalytic subunits (β1,2,5,1i, 2i, 5i), respectively (see supplemental Data S3 for more details on peptides and transitions). An equivalent of 2.5 μg total proteins containing the sP20S and iP20S heavy internal standard mix were injected on column and analyzed by SRM, as detailed in the Experimental Procedures. Three biological replicates (and three technical replicates) were analyzed to obtain statistics. The total proteasome concentrations measured in the initial protein lysates are presented. B, Dynamics of 20S subtypes stoichiometries upon IFNγ stimulation of HeLa cells. The absolute quantities of each of the six catalytic subunits measured by the LC-SRM method were computed to calculate the stoichiometries of 20S proteasome subtypes as detailed under Experimental Procedures. HeLa cells were stimulated for 0, 24, 72, or 96 h with IFNγ and the SRM method used to quantify proteasome subunits in each total cell lysate obtained at each time point of cytokine stimulation. Peptides sequences, transitions and applied voltages are detailed in supplemental Data S3. Three biological replicates were analyzed to obtain statistics. The sum of the stoichiometries of the four 20S proteasome subtypes is very close to the expected value of 100 (obtained from independent measurement of total 20S proteasome absolute quantity). C, Method variability (CV %) and accuracy (%) calculated with data obtained from IFNγ-stimulated HeLa cells. Accuracy was calculated from comparison of total 20S proteasome quantity obtained from noncatalytic subunits (reference values) and from β1/β1i, β2/β2i, and β5/β5i couples of catalytic subunits (experimental values) (n = 36). Accuracy were computed as follow: accuracy = (experimental value − reference value)/reference value × 100. Method variability: Coefficients of variation on all independent measurements (n = 24). Details on stoichiometry determination of 20S proteasome subtypes are provided under Experimental Procedures. Next, we implemented the method to detect the six standard and immune-specific catalytic subunits of the 20S proteasome (β1, β2, β5, β1i, β2i, β5i), as the absolute quantification of these subunits is required to determine the stoichiometry of the different 20S proteasome subtypes present in biological samples (Fig. 1). Two to three proteotypic peptide sequences (and three or four associated transitions for each light and labeled surrogate) were carefully chosen, paying attention to favoring wide distribution over the protein sequence. Transitions and detection were then optimized for the six catalytic subunits. In total, the final method to quantify all α and β subunits comprised 206 independent MS transitions (103 “light” transitions and 103 “heavy” transitions corresponding to heavy surrogate peptides) associated with optimized dwell times and voltages for detection by the mass spectrometer (supplemental Data S3). The method to quantify of the absolute levels of all six 20S proteasome catalytic subunits was validated by taking advantage of the known stoichiometry of incorporation of catalytic subunits into the 20S proteasome (supplementary Information I-2). Based on the excellent accuracy (97 ± 2%) and variability (CVs below 15%) of the method to measure the absolute levels of catalytic subunits (supplementary Information I-2 and supplemental Fig. S7B–S7D), these data were further used to determine changes in the stoichiometries of the four 20S proteasome subtypes observed in a model of IFNγ-treated HeLa cells (sP20S, β5i P20S, β1iβ5i P20S, and iP20S - no β5t P20S nor α4s P20S detected) (as detailed under “Experimental procedures”) (Fig. 2B). As expected, iP20S was highly and significantly increased (by a factor of 12), becoming the major proteasome subtype after 96 h stimulation with IFNγ, whereas sP20S levels dropped by nearly 3-fold (Fig. 2B). Strikingly, the two intermediate 20S immunoproteasome subtypes, β5i P20S and β1iβ5i P20S, which each represented around 10% of the total 20S present, did not vary significantly after the cytokine stimulation. This interesting result shows that the main impact of IFNγ stimulation on the composition of proteasome complexes is the progressive replacement of the sP20S by the iP20S subtype. Next, we applied the method to determine the absolute quantities and precise stoichiometries of 20S proteasome subtypes in 11 protein lysates extracted from human tissues of broad origins (Fig. 3). In most tissues, the proteasome represented 0.2 to 1% of the total protein present (Fig. 3A). A shotgun label-free LC-MS/MS proteomics analysis exclusively identified and quantified α4s and β5t in testes and thymus samples, respectively, confirming their tissue-specificity (4), whereas the immunocatalytic subunits (β5i, β1i, and β2i) were much more widely distributed across tissues (Fig. 3B). The stoichiometries of the six major 20S proteasome subtypes (Fig. 1A) were determined based on the absolute quantities of α and β subunits measured using the optimized method (as explained under Experimental Procedures). The absolute level of the catalytic β5t subunit provided the abundance of the thymoproteasome (Fig. 1A). Because this protein is not incorporated into labeled sP20S and iP20S internal standards, the absolute quantity of β5t was deduced from absolute amounts of total P20S, β5 and β5i (Fig. 3C). Similarly, the α4s subunit (PSMA7L protein) which is representative of the spermatoproteasome could not be directly quantified. Although α4 and α4s are very similar in sequence, three peptide sequences that are specific to the PSMA7 protein (α4) were detectable and were used to distinguish between the two isoforms (supplemental Fig. S8A). The absolute level of α4s was deduced from standard P20S and α4 contents (Fig. 1B, Experimental Procedures). As in the shotgun assay, proteotypic peptides corresponding to the thymoproteasome and spermatoproteasome were only observed in thymus and testes tissues, respectively, (Fig. 3B) and these two 20S proteasome subtypes represented only 20 and 12% of the total proteasome pool in these organs, respectively (Fig. 3C). A principal component analysis (PCA) biplot based on catalytic subunit composition (Fig. 3D) grouped brain, muscle, heart, and testes tissues as they almost exclusively contain standard proteasome β subunits (β1, β2, and β5). Bone marrow, spleen, and thymus were observed on the opposite side of the graph because they contain high levels of β1i, β2i, and β5i immunosubunits. Interestingly, intermediate 20S subtypes (β5i P20S and β1iβ5i P20S) were only detected in low abundance (less than 10% of the total 20S proteasome pool) in bone marrow and spleen, suggesting that the immunoproteasome is the most important proteasome subtype for antigen processing among immunosubunit-containing subtypes. Liver, colon, ovary and lung tissues were placed at an intermediary position on the PCA graph (Fig. 3D), with 50 to 70% of immunosubunit-containing 20S proteasome subtypes (Fig. 3C). The method is able to precisely and accurately monitor 20S proteasome absolute quantities and subtypes stoichiometries in a panel of human tissues. A, Proteasome 20S absolute quantity (% w/w total proteins) measured by the LC-SRM method and 20S Proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity measured by degradation of LLVY-AMC peptide, in a panel of 11 human tissues. B, Label-free relative quantification of tissue-specific 20S proteasome subunits by label-free LC MS/MS reveals the tissue-specificity of α4s and β5t subunits but not the one of immunocatalytic subunits. Relative abundances of each subunits across the tissues are represented. The highest abundance is arbitrarily set to 1. C, Stoichiometries of the six proteasome 20S subtypes in different Human tissue determined by the LC-SRM method. Details on stoichiometry determination of 20S proteasome subtypes are provided under Experimental procedures. D, Biplot Principle Component Analysis of 11 human tissue samples (3 replicates per tissue) based on 20S proteasome catalytic subunits composition. The dashed circles represent the main clusters observed depending on content on standard (β1, β2, β5) or immuno (β1i, β2i, β5i) subunits. Interestingly, the absolute amount of the α4 subunit, measured using peptides common to PSMA7 and PSMA7L proteins (supplemental Fig. S8A–S8B), was stoichiometric and highly correlated with the total 20S proteasome amount (measured using the α and β noncatalytic subunits, apart from α4) both in the panel of eight cell lines (R2 = 0.97; slope = 0.99) and in tissues of diverse origins (R2 = 1.00; slope = 1.01) (supplemental Fig. S8C–S8D). This result once again confirms the accuracy and precision of the method developed while also emphasizing the need for absolute quantification to detect perturbations in proteasome subunit expression or incorporation of subunits into mature proteasomes. It also indicates that this broad panel of normal and tumor human cells do not contain the noncanonical alternative α4-α4 20S proteasome complex in which a second copy of α4 occupies the position normally held by α3 (38, 39). The abundance of some proteasome subunits measured using our optimized MRM assay was compared with mRNA expression data retrieved from the human protein atlas database (40) in corresponding tissues (supplemental Fig. S9). Although positive correlations were observed between some proteins and mRNA molecules abundances, these results suggest that measuring mRNA levels are not suitable when seeking to predict protein expression levels for 20S proteasome subunits in human tissues. Thanks to their immunosuppressive properties, MSCs are considered a promising tool for cell therapy. Much effort has been directed toward enhancing MSCs activity by treatment with IFNγ. However, any ex vivo modifications may also fundamentally alter the cells, and understanding determinants that affect their immunomodulatory activity is essential if we are to develop effective MSC strategies. MSCs obtained from patients must be expanded ex vivo if they are to be used in the clinic, and this process must be carefully controlled (41). Recently, we reported a decrease in the immunosuppressive properties of ADSCs cultured up to the senescent stage and demonstrated that this effect was the result of proteasome-mediated indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) degradation (42). Priming of MSCs with IFNγ has been shown to extensively potentiate their therapeutic activity (43, 44) but, to our knowledge, and although proteasome functions cover a broad spectrum of biological functions, the proteasome status has never been assessed in this context. When used to measure the consequences of IFNγ-stimulation of ex vivo-expanded patient-derived ADSCs on proteasome status (Fig. 4A), our method revealed no major changes in the total 20S proteasome quantity (Fig. 4B). However, a massive replacement of standard catalytic subunits by their immunological counterparts was clearly observed (Fig. 4C), resulting in a strong shift from the standard to the immunoproteasome subtype (Fig. 4D). Indeed, although the standard subtype represented 75% of the 20S proteasome pool when ADSCs were expanded in an IFNγ-free medium, this proportion was decreased to 25% after 4 days' culture in the presence of the cytokine (Fig. 4D). The massive induction of the immunoproteasome by cytokine stimulation is likely to have a considerable impact on the repertoire of degraded proteins and antigenic peptides loaded onto major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) molecules. Proteasome status is affected by priming ADSCs with IFNγ during their ex vivo expansion. A, Workflow for the determination of the effect of priming of ADSCs with interferon-γ on their 20S proteasome status, using the LC-SRM method. Primary cells obtained from two patients were used for the study. B, Proteasome 20S absolute quantity (% w/w total proteins) measured by the developed LC-SRM method in ADSCs obtained from patients (n = 2 biological replicates - 3 technical replicates). C, Fold change in the six catalytic subunits of the 20S proteasome during IFNγ stimulation. ADSCs were cultivated in the presence of the cytokine (100 ng/ml). Absolute quantities of the catalytic subunits were determined by the developed LC-SRM approach and fold changes are calculated relative to time 0h (n = 2 biological replicates − 3 technical replicates). D, Dynamics in the stoichiometries of 20S proteasome subtypes during IFNγ stimulation of primary ADSCs derived from patients (n = 2 biological replicates − 3 technical replicates). Calculations are detailed under Experimental procedures. Conventionally, MSC culture for clinical applications is performed under normoxic conditions (21% oxygen tension), even though oxygen levels within tissues are typically much lower (hypoxic) than these standard culture conditions. Therefore, oxygen tension represents an important environmental factor that may affect how MSCs perform in vivo. However, the impact of hypoxic conditions on distinct mesenchymal stem cell characteristics, such as the proteasomal status, remains unclear. We applied our method to analyze the 20S proteasome status after 10 days of ADSCs expansion under three different oxygenation concentrations: 1%, 5%, and 20%. Interestingly, proteasome abundance, proteolytic activity and composition were all affected by dioxygen levels (Fig. 5A–5C). Indeed, when comparing the effect of ADSC expansion in hypoxic or normoxic conditions (1% versus 20% O2 levels), we detected a significant increase in total 20S proteasome abundance alongside a nearly 2-fold significant upregulation of the three immunoproteasome catalytic subunits (Fig. 5A and 5C). Both changes probably account for the higher 20S proteasome chymotrypsin-like activity measured following culture in normoxic conditions (Fig. 5B). Indeed, structural differences in active sites account for the higher chymotrypsin-like activity of the β5i subunit of the immunoproteasome compared with its β5 standard counterpart (5, 45). Moreover, the relative abundance of 20S proteasome-associated PA28αβ activator is decreased in hypoxia compared with normoxia (p = 0.02) whereas the O2 level had no significant impact on the level of association of the other 20S CP regulators (supplemental Fig. 10B). This last observation further supports the increase measured in immunoproteasome subtype in normoxic compared with hypoxic conditions as PA28αβ is known to preferentially associate with the 20S immunoproteasome variant in cellulo (34). Expansion of ADSCs in different O2 levels affect 20S proteasome status and ADSCs' capacity to differentiate. A, Proteasome 20S absolute quantity (% w/w total proteins) measured by the LC-SRM method in five patients derived primary ADSCs cultivated at three different levels of O2 (1%, 5%, and 20%). B, Proteasome 20S chymotrypsin-like activity measured by the in vitro degradation of the LLVY-AMC peptide by proteasome in ADSCs lysates after cultivation in three different levels of O2 (1%, 5%, and 20%) (n = 5 patients − 3 technical replicates). C, Relative content of standard and immuno catalytic 20S proteasome subunits measured by the method in five patients derived primary ADSCs cultivated at three different levels of O2 (1%, 5%, and 20%). D, Differentiation potential of human ADSCs from different patients under different levels of O2 (1%, 5%, and 20%). The immunoproteasome inhibitor ONX-0914 alters the differentiation capacity of ADSCs at 5 and 20% O2 concentrations. Adipogenic differentiation is indicated by Oil red O staining. Overall, in the absence of IFNγ in the culture medium, the major proteasome subtype observed in ADSCs was the standard proteasome, which represented 60 to 80% of the total proteasome pool, depending on patient and O2 level (supplemental Fig. S9A). Given the massive induction of immunoproteasome upon exposure to the pro-inflammatory cytokine (Fig. 4C) and the absence of immune cells in the ADSC culture medium, the inter-individual differences observed in immunoproteasome content might result from variability in the inflammatory context before surgery. Immunoproteasome subunits have been shown to be required for adipocyte differentiation (29). Accordingly, our data indicate that high levels of immunoproteasome correlate with high adipogenic potential at 20% O2, and the reverse under hypoxic conditions (Fig. 5D). Strikingly, pharmacological inhibition of the immunoproteasome using the ONX-0914 inhibitor (46) leads to a marked decrease in the capacity of ADSCs to differentiate into adipocytes, which confirms previous observations in the PSMB8 KO mice (29) using an orthogonal method. To get a broader picture of the effect of O2 levels on the proteome of ADSCs, a whole proteome analysis was performed on ADSCs grown under normoxic or in hypoxic conditions (1% of O2). Importantly, a new cohort of three patients was used to obtain this new biological material. Out of 3624 proteins identified and quantified, 67 proteins were found at increased levels in hypoxic conditions and 129 were over-represented in normoxic conditions (supplemental Fig. S11 and revised supplemental Data S7). All three immunocatalytic subunits were increased under normoxic conditions (fold increase of 1.6 to 1.9) although statistical significance was only reached for β1i and β2i (p value = 0.05). As discussed above (supplemental Fig. S7), this apparent discrepancy can easily be explained by the lower precision of label-free quantification results compared with SRM quantification data. Functional analysis based on GO Biological processes revealed the most significant pathway related to the proteins for which abundance was modified both under hypoxic and normoxic conditions to be the “oxidation-reduction” pathway (FDR = 1.2E-06 and 5.9E-03 for proteins upregulated in hypoxic and in normoxic conditions, respectively). This result was to be expected following a change in O2 levels from 20% to 1%. Other enriched GO Biological pathways included “response to oxidative stress” (FDR = 4.2E-02) in the proteins that were more abundant in normoxic conditions. This pathway is particularly interesting as the immunoproteasome has been associated with responses to oxidative stress (47⇓–49). ADSCs were also shown to negatively regulate oxidative stress in vivo (50) and notably through Nrf2 which is one of the main transcription factors involved in controlling oxidative stress. In our whole-proteome analysis, we observed that NQO1 (2-fold increase, p value = 0.02), one of the best-known targets of Nrf2 (51), was increased under normoxic compared with hypoxic conditions. Reactive oxygen species seem to play an important role in adipocyte differentiation (52⇓–54). A function of the immunoproteasome related to ADSC differentiation could be the clearance of proteins having undergone oxidative damage, when this type of damage accumulates it could be toxic for the cell. Significantly, 25 of the proteins for which overall abundance differences were detected are functionally related to the “cell differentiation” GO Biological Process (FDR = 1.4E-02 for proteins over-represented in cells grown under hypoxic conditions). Among these, 16 were increased in the hypoxic cells whereas 9 were decreased. These proteins are listed in supplemental Data S7 (4th sheet). Given the importance of the immunoproteasome in regulating ADSC differentiation when stimulated with dexamethasone, and because our results clearly demonstrate that the immunoproteasome is increased under normoxic compared with hypoxic conditions, it is tempting to speculate that some of these deregulated proteins might be direct or indirect targets of the immunoproteasome. In particular, Transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein ig-h3 (TGFBI/BGH3) and Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI1) were both increased in our hypoxic cells (4.1- and 2.9-fold increase, respectively, with p values of 8.5E-4 and 0.03, respectively), and these proteins are known to be target genes of TGFβ1, a pathway required for hypoxia-mediated inhibition of adipocyte differentiation (55). Of course, further experiments will be necessary to confirm that these proteins are downstream players of the immunoproteasome affecting the adipogenic potential of ADSCs. In conclusion, after as few as 10 days of ADSCs expansion under different dioxygen levels, the method developed could detect mild but still significant changes in 20S proteasome status, and variations in the level of 20S immunoproteasome. This change in proteasome composition might be causal for the observed O2-induced variations in differentiation potential of ADSCs even though further investigation will be required to determine the precise mechanisms. This study aimed to develop an assay to determine subunit absolute quantity and stoichiometry within a highly heterogeneous macromolecular protein complex, the 20S proteasome. To achieve this goal, a robust, accurate and sensitive absolute quantification method with multiplexing ability had to be developed to allow the absolute quantification of the 19 different subunits of the 20S proteasome in a single assay. Absolute quantitation based on IDMS using the SRM scanning mode suits the requirements for multiplex detection and is also recognized for its specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy (16, 17). Because many proteasome subunits had to be analyzed, we first used the most straightforward IDMS proteomics strategy, the AQUA (18) method, which involves spiking various isotope-labeled synthetic peptides into samples as internal standards. Although mainly used for the absolute quantification of monomeric proteins, the AQUA method has also been successfully applied to assess the sub-stoichiometric incorporation of the Rpn13 ubiquitin receptor within the 26S proteasome (56). Our AQUA peptide sequences were carefully chosen to meet the requirements for IDMS analysis of proteins (16) and, when tested in simple or more complex biological matrices, they provided good linearity in signal response, low variability, and adequate sensitivity. These analytical performances explain why the AQUA technology was so rapidly adopted for the LC-SRM validation of protein biomarkers in various biological matrices (16, 17). However, we noted a defect in trueness that was easily detected in our system because noncatalytic proteasome subunits are expected to be present at equimolar stoichiometry. Responses were observed to be highly dependent on peptide sequences, probably because of incomplete enzymatic digestion of the protein of origin; other reasons for the discrepancy observed could be incomplete peptide solubilization, peptide instability, or artifactual chemical modifications. Thus, isotope-labeled peptides could not be used to accurately assess proteasome subtype stoichiometry unless laborious optimizations were undertaken (19). Several IDMS methods based on the use of isotope-labeled protein standards like PSAQ (21), absolute SILAC (22), PrEST (23), or TAQSI (25) were developed to overcome the issues of the AQUA methodology. To the best of our knowledge, none of these has yet been applied to determine protein complex stoichiometry. To achieve this goal on highly heterogeneous 20S proteasome complex, we optimized a workflow relying on SILAC-based absolute quantification. A reference mixture containing equimolar concentrations of both isotope-labeled and purified 20S standard- and immuno-proteasome subtypes was produced, qualitatively and quantitatively assessed, and spiked into protein lysates extracted from cell cultures or tissues. After protein digestion, the SRM method was optimized for carefully chosen proteotypic peptides. In this approach, use of a whole isotope-labeled protein as internal standard represents a clear advantage over the PrEST approach (23) because all proteotypic peptides can theoretically be used for quantification. This method was validated by comparison with the reference ELISA method for total 20S proteasome absolute quantification in a broad range of biological samples. Although 20S and 26S proteasome complexes can be routinely quantified using different ELISA assays (6, 10⇓⇓⇓–14, 33), this technique lacks the multiplexing capacity to assess the complete diversity of proteasome subtypes because up to 19 different protein chains can be incorporated into the 20S proteasome macromolecular assembly (Fig. 1A). Moreover, to our knowledge, the precise stoichiometries of tissue-specific β5t- and α4s-containing 20S proteasome subtypes have never yet been determined. Using our optimized assay, for the first time, we accurately quantified the stoichiometry of the tissue-specific thymoproteasome and spermatoproteasome; their low levels in thymus and testes tissues (20 and 12% of the total 20S proteasome pool, respectively) support findings in previous reports showing that β5t and α4s are detected in a subpopulation of cells in these two organs (4, 58). Then, we demonstrated that our method could also precisely monitor changes in 20S proteasome β catalytic subunit composition following IFNγ-activation of HeLa cells. We took advantage of the known stoichiometry of β catalytic subunits in the 20S proteasome to assess the trueness of the method, which exceeded 96%. In comparison, the TOP3 label-free quantification approach barely achieves 78% accuracy after discarding outliers arising from unrepresentative peptides. Converting peptide abundance into protein concentration requires careful selection of peptide sequences and optimization of SRM transitions (19) or, alternatively, the removal of incoherent peptides from global MS1-based quantification datasets, for instance using covariation of peptide abundances (59). Thus, even if label-free MS1-based quantification methods can be used to obtain a rough estimate of protein complex stoichiometry, as previously reported (60⇓–62), these approaches are most appropriate for the high-throughput determination of changes in the relative abundances of protein complex subunits (34, 35) or estimation of protein copy-number without requiring spike-in standards (63). MSCs obtained from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) or AT (ADSCs) are promising tools for cell therapy in regenerative medicine, to treat severe inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, or to prevent transplant rejection (64). Cells must be expanded ex vivo to obtain enough numbers for use in therapy. Thus, culture conditions must be carefully controlled both for safety issues and to optimize therapeutic effectiveness. Using our method, we showed that pre-stimulation of ADSCs with IFNγ and increasing O2 levels both affect the status of the 20S proteasome during ex vivo expansion of primary ADSCs. In both cases, changes in proteasome composition were observed, an increase in immunoproteasome stoichiometry. These results emphasize the high plasticity of the 20S proteasome when exposed to external stimuli, but also the multiple biological roles played by the immunoproteasome subtype. IFNγ is known to induce the immunoproteasome through the formation of new proteasome particles incorporating immunocatalytic subunits in place of the standard ones. Pre-stimulation of both BM-MSCs and ADSCs with pro-inflammatory cytokines, IFNγ, has been shown to increase their immunosuppressive properties (43, 64, 65), by increasing release of several soluble immunosuppressive factors, in particular kynurenine, a product of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity (65). Moreover, both BM-MSCs and ADSCs are antigen presenting cells (64) and, when exposed to IFNγ, they upregulate expression of HLA class I molecules on their surface. This response protects them from NK-mediated lysis (43, 66), and promotes their immunomodulatory effects. Strikingly, both mechanisms linked to the immunosuppressive properties of MSCs are affected by proteasome status. Indeed, a shift from standard to immunoproteasome considerably increases the production of MHC class I-binding peptides in vivo (67) and IDO is known to be a proteasome substrate (68). Proteasome-mediated degradation of IDO was recently reported to explain the reduction in immunosuppressive potential observed in clinical-grade expanded MSCs which had reached replicative senescence (42). Mechanistically, IFNγ is known to increase IDO protein via transcriptional activation (69) but it is also responsible for a strong induction of the immunoproteasome-PA28αβ complex, a proteolytic system functioning in the absence of ubiquitination (67). As IDO is degraded through the ubiquitination-dependent SOC3-proteasome pathway (68), the increase in ubiquitin-independent degradation triggered by IFNγ might constitute a mechanism further promoting IDO stabilization in this physiological context. In addition to its major role in antigen processing, the immunoproteasome seems to degrade oxidized proteins more efficiently than the standard 20S CP (70, 71). De novo synthesis of 20S proteasome and of immunoproteasome is crucially important for maintaining efficient proteostasis in oxidative stress conditions (49). The evidence provided here of low total proteasome content and an absence of immunoproteasome in brain probably accounts for the previously reported higher sensitivity of brain tissues to oxidative stress (72). Activation of the immunoproteasome and autophagy occur during the early stages of ESC differentiation, to allow degradation of damaged proteins and avoid their transmission to differentiated cells (27). Moreover, recent findings indicate that the immunoproteasome is required for differentiation of adipocytes (29) and skeletal muscle (28). In line with this requirement, our results demonstrate that ADSCs grown under hypoxic conditions, had a lower immunoproteasome content and exhibited a lower differentiation potential than their counterparts grown under 20% O2. In addition, our results suggest that immunoproteasome activity is causal for the change in adipogenic potential in normoxic conditions. Thus, the significant increase observed in all three immunocatalytic subunits and in overall proteasome activity in normoxia-cultured primary ADSCs compared with the cells cultured in hypoxic environments could reflect modulation of their therapeutic capacities. Importantly, ADSCs are adult pluripotent stromal stem cells isolated from white AT where O2 levels are below 5% but they are routinely expanded ex vivo under 20% O2. Manufacturing practices for ASC expansion must therefore be carefully optimized and controlled to maintain their therapeutic capacity. The results from the approach developed here applied to primary ADSCs grown in conditions close to real clinical production clearly demonstrate that IFNγ and dioxygen levels could be key parameters in this process. To conclude, the method presented here allows robust and rapid determination of the complete status, i.e. absolute quantity and stoichiometry, of a highly heterogeneous macromolecular protein complex, the 20S proteasome, in various human tissues and cells. When applied to primary ADSCs expanded in different culture conditions, our results highlighted a high plasticity in proteasome composition and abundance which might be related to modulation of the ADSCs' immunosuppressive and differentiation properties. The method developed thus constitutes a sound approach to complement immunophenotyping or other methods to monitor protein markers (73) for the optimization and control of manufacturing processes for ADSCs expansion. Knowledge of proteasome composition is also of major interest for therapeutic purposes. Indeed, upregulation or dysregulation of immunoproteasome catalytic subunits have been observed in several human diseases and disorders, such as inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, and aging (74). For instance, mutations reported in immunocatalytic subunits and the resulting defects in 20S immunoproteasome assembly and activity observed in PRAAS (Proteasome-Associated Autoinflammatory Syndrome) patients could be monitored using our method (reviewed in (75)). Our assay could also be of great interest when seeking to assess patients before instigating immuno-therapy as the efficacy of tumor antigen processing and presentation is closely linked to levels of 20S immune-type proteasomes in antigen presenting cells (75). Detection of increased concentrations of 20S proteasomes or changes in subtype profiles could also be monitored in extracellular body fluids to diagnose and/or as a prognostic marker of various diseases (76). In this context, a more specific targeting of the different heterogeneous forms of the proteasome will lead, in the long run, to more specific treatments generating fewer side effects and less chemoresistance than caused by broad-spectrum proteasome inhibitors (77). However, to design such targeted therapies, tools to precisely determine patients' proteasome status, like the one presented here, will need to be developed. More generally, the developed strategy could be extended to assess the absolute level, dynamic, and heterogeneous nature of many other biologically-relevant macromolecular systems such as the human spliceosomal hprp19/CDC5L complex (19, 61), the nuclear pore complex (78), core ribosomal proteins (62), or even host-pathogens interactions (79). These adaptations would be more accurate than the peptide-based mass spectrometry methods currently used (61). The sole requirement for this adaptation is that it must be possible to ectopically produce and purify each individual subunit in carefully-controlled absolute quantities with heavy-isotope incorporation. The data sets corresponding to the mass spectrometry analyses presented in this study have been deposited in the following repositories: PRIDE, (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/archive/, Project accession: PXD011894) for label-free MS analyses, and PeptideAtlas (http://www.peptideatlas.org/, Dataset identifier: PASS01219) for targeted MS analyses. Skyline files of all targeted experiments are available on Panorama Public (https://panoramaweb.org/project/Panorama%20Public/2018/IPBS-CNRS%20-%20SRM_Proteasome_2018/begin.view?). The detailed descriptions of all analyses (raw and processed file names, sample name, biological replicate number, MS technical replicate number, corresponding figure) are summarized in Supplementary Data 8. Author contributions: T.M., B.F., L.G., A.S., D.Z., F.R.-D., M.B., M.-L.R., A.G.-d.-P., I.A., and M.-P.B. performed research; T.M., B.F., L.G., E.M.-B., A.G.-d.-P., I.A., and M.-P.B. analyzed data; F.A., I.A., O.B.-S., and M.-P.B. wrote the paper; L.S. and I.A. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.G.-d.-P., I.A., O.B.-S., and M.-P.B. designed research. ↵* The authors would like to thank the Région Midi-Pyrénées and the ARC (Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer) foundation for PhD fellowships to TM and BF, respectively. This project was supported in part by the Région Midi-Pyrénées, European funds (Fonds Européens de Développement Régional, FEDER), Toulouse Métropole, by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-11-RPIB-0012: SAFE Project), and by the French Ministry of Research with the Investissement d'Avenir Infrastructures Nationales en Biologie et Santé program (ProFI, Proteomics French Infrastructure project, ANR-10-INBS-08). This article contains supplemental Data and Figures. Revision received January 21, 2019. © 2019 Menneteau et al. Published by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Author's Choice—Final version open access under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license. Van den Eynde, B. J.

2019-04-21T22:02:41Z

https://www.mcponline.org/content/18/4/744

The paper below is slightly revised from the version appearing on pages 53 to 81 of a book published in 1996. by E.S. Husebye and A.M. Dainty (eds.), from Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 836 pages, 1996. This paper is not intended as a review of current capability to monitor nuclear explosions. For such a review, see reference 41 below (written mostly in the year 2000 and published in 2002). Palisades, New York 10964, USA. Intensive efforts to negotiate a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty were carried out from 1958 to 1963, resulting in the Limited Test Ban Treaty banning nuclear tests from the atmosphere, underwater, and in space. Underground nuclear explosions were not banned, in part because seismological methods for monitoring the underground environment were thought to be inadequate. Over the subsequent 30 years, more than 1500 nuclear tests were carried out underground. They showed that seismological methods of monitoring a CTBT were far better than had been thought in early treaty negotiations, and, by the late 1960s, met the level of monitoring capability desired in 1963. Had the global monitoring system advocated in 1958 been built, its capabilities would have far exceeded the capability then said to have been necessary for a CTBT. The most important technical issues in monitoring a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty all became apparent between 1958, when the so-called Conference of Experts was convened in Geneva, and 1963, when the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) was negotiated, signed, ratified, and put into effect. The LTBT was negotiated trilaterally, between the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom; and banned nuclear testing in space, in the atmosphere, and under water. But in 1963 there was a general perception that seismological methods for monitoring underground nuclear explosions were inadequate — a perception that helped strongly to prevent the conclusion of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in this period, even though the key leaders (Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy for the US, General Secretary Khrushchev for the USSR, and Prime Minister Macmillan for the UK) apparently favored a comprehensive ban and made numerous proposals on how it might be implemented and verified. In the words of a former Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dr. Donald M. Kerr, "Nuclear weapon testing is ... a process intimately intertwined with the design of nuclear weapon systems ." In the three decades following the unsuccessful CTBT negotiations of the early 1960s, over 1500 underground nuclear tests were carried out by the US, the USSR, France, the UK, China, and India; that is, about one nuclear test a week, for thirty years. Though the great majority were single explosions, more than a hundred of the tests consisted of more than one nuclear explosion. This extensive activity shows that nuclear weapons development, at least by the superpowers, was not been constrained by the LTBT. Very few underground tests had been carried out, at the time of the early CTBT negotiations. Indeed, only one such test had occurred prior to the 1958 Geneva meetings. Early conclusions on the capability of seismological methods to monitor a CTBT were therefore reached on the basis of minimal data, at a time when seismology itself was practiced at only a few tens of institutions around the world. Seismic data then consisted usually of paper records, rarely seen outside the institution that owned them; were derived entirely from earthquakes or small chemical explosions; covered only a narrow range of frequencies; and had low dynamic range so that it was not possible to record both strong and weak signals on the same instrument. The perceived failure of seismology to support a major arms control objective — the CTBT — coupled with the need to acquire information on foreign underground nuclear weapons tests, led the US and the USSR in about 1960 to begin new efforts in instrumentation and research. These efforts hastened the development of seismology over more than a decade, turning it into the modern quantitative science we know today. This paper first reviews the key technical issues in CTBT verification that emerged in politically charged negotiations up to 1963, and comments upon the conclusions concerning monitoring capability reached by the US at that time. In a later section, the key technical issue not developed prior to 1963 (namely, event identification) is briefly reviewed in light of later practical experience. The underlying question throughout is not only: How are underground nuclear explosions detected and identified? We also ask: How did our present understanding of these issues evolve? By the late 1960s, seismological monitoring methods had improved to reach the level of CTBT verification capability desired by the U.S. in 1963, even though the global monitoring network advocated in 1958-60 was never built. Had it been built, monitoring capability would have been improved about tenfold over what was desired by the U.S. in 1963. The failure of post-World War II efforts to develop some type of international control over atomic weapons, and the subsequent development of the hydrogen bomb, resulted in substantial programs of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. In 1954, fallout from the US 15 megaton BRAVO test contaminated a Japanese fishing boat, causing the death of one man and the serious illness of several others. Later that year, radioactive debris from a Soviet test fell over part of Japan. Many physicians and biologists, able to observe the long-term medical effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, charged that atmospheric tests would carry radioactive material worldwide, causing a genetic hazard that would be particularly damaging if cumulative doses occurred from fallout. The dangers of fallout thus became the first rationale for a test ban, with proponents such as Linus Pauling, the 1954 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, predicting that more people would die of cancer if atmospheric testing continued unchecked; and opponents such as Edward Teller, a promoter of nuclear weapons development, concluding that cigarette smoking would shorten lives far more than fallout. At this time Edward Teller and Ernest Lawrence, of the Livermore Radiation Laboratory, sought to separate the fallout and testing issues by speaking of a 95% clean hydrogen bomb, whose fallout would be negligible. However, such a device would have to be detonated very high in the atmosphere to minimize fallout, and would have to be of very high yield, relative to the size of its fission trigger, to approach the 95% claim . In February 1955 the US Atomic Energy Commission published a report on fallout and its consequences, which was widely criticized as a biased justification of nuclear testing [3, p. 140]. By the mid-1950s both superpowers realized the need for discussion, at least, of a prohibition on nuclear weapons testing. However, they differed significantly on how a test ban might be implemented. Initially the Soviets favored an agreement to outlaw tests, preceded by a complete testing moratorium, before a control system to monitor the agreement was established. Because such a system could entail intrusive on-site inspections, they claimed that inspections with no prior treaty commitment would aid US espionage efforts and undermine Soviet security. The United States preferred the establishment of formal controls prior to the signing of an agreement. It was believed in the West that without such controls the more restrictive nature of Soviet society might permit clandestine testing, and consequently a lead over the US in weapon development. However, at the 1957 meeting of a Subcommittee of the Disarmament Commission of the UN, conducted in London, the USSR surprisingly announced that it would agree to establishing a control system with posts in the USSR, US, UK, and somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, prior to the signing of a test ban agreement. Furthermore, the Soviets announced they would accept a temporary moratorium on tests, two to three years in length. Most importantly, the Soviets accepted a British suggestion that the Subcommittee establish technical working groups to study the feasibility of limiting tests and monitoring such an agreement. At this time, it should be noted, the USSR proposed a nuclear test ban as an objective unto itself, while the Western powers favored a test ban only as a first step to some type of general disarmament agreement [4, p. 16]. Two events, occurring far from the negotiating table, rendered the test ban debate more urgent. Thus, on September 19, 1957, the US carried out the world's first underground nuclear explosion in which the radioactive by-products were fully contained. This was the 1.7-kiloton RAINIER test on the Nevada Test Site. Quoting from Dr. Gerald Johnson , writing of his experience when in charge of the nuclear test program for Livermore: "The development of the technique of underground testing was stimulated in the latter 1950s because of rising concerns about radioactive fallout both locally and worldwide from atmospheric testing. These concerns were brought forcibly to my attention in 1956 ... when we experienced delays of up to three weeks awaiting favorable wind patterns which would result in acceptable local fallout." Second, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, an event that galvanized the US scientific community. In November, Eisenhower established the President's Science Advisory Committee, under the leadership of James Killian of MIT. The PSAC contained many men who opposed the unlimited testing and development posture of the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission. Foremost among these was Hans Bethe. During the difficult Geneva negotiations of the following year, the PSAC was to provide Eisenhower with views drastically different from those of Teller and other prominent US advisers. Early in 1958 Killian appointed an inter-agency committee, including representatives of the PSAC, AEC, and DOD, to study the technical feasibility of monitoring a test ban. This panel, chaired by Hans Bethe, reported in April that a system of 24 inspection stations in the USSR, supplemented by mobile inspection teams, could detect underground explosions down to a yield of one or two kilotons. The panel also concluded that the risks to the US in being subjected to such a test ban would be small, while the political advantages were large; and that continued nuclear testing by both powers would rapidly erode the technological lead the US enjoyed over the USSR. Note that the only signals at the disposal of the Bethe Panel from an actual nuclear explosion in what was perceived to be the most difficult environment to monitor — namely, underground — was from the RAINIER test conducted six months earlier. Note too that although judgments were made on the political ramifications of a test ban, no political scientists or diplomats were members of the Panel. The problem, which persists in test ban debates to this day, was that technical experts were called upon to address issues that were essentially political in nature. The difficulty arises, when the evaluation of technical capabilities (and associated uncertainties) turns into a review of whether such capabilities are in some sense acceptable — which is ultimately a political question. Test ban opponents were quick to highlight these shortcomings of the Bethe Panel, and Teller also emphasized that the Panel had completely ignored the study of intentional evasion by one side. The level of technical discussion of the RAINIER data reached a low point when the AEC publicly announced that seismic signals from this shot were detected to a maximum distance of only 250 miles (400 km). After an outcry from knowledgeable scientists, the detection estimate was revised to 3700 km because of an observation in Alaska. However, inspection of the seismogram in question shows that during a 24-hour period it contained numerous detections with amplitude comparable to that from the RAINIER explosion. Today, we would speak of this as a problem not just in detection in the context of signal-to-noise ratios, but also in association. Given the level of seismic activity around the globe (with approximately ten earthquakes a day having seismic waves comparable in size to those from RAINIER), and the numerous instruments now deployed to record seismic signals, it is necessary not only to detect signals, but to form the correct subset of detections from different stations for a common seismic event — whether earthquake or explosion — before proceeding to analyze the set of detections, for example to estimate the location of the source. The controversy over the Bethe Panel's findings coincided with an announcement of the Supreme Soviet on March 31, 1958, that the USSR would discontinue all nuclear tests providing the US and the UK followed suit. Nine days before, the Soviets had concluded a very extensive test series, in the course of which two or three explosions were often conducted in a single day. The US, having scheduled to commence a test series in several weeks, was awkwardly placed. Sensing a public relations ploy, Eisenhower dismissed the Soviet announcement as a gimmick, which ought not to be seriously considered . Letters ensued between Eisenhower and General Secretary Khrushchev, and on April 8 Eisenhower proposed a meeting of technical experts, as envisioned at the London Conference, a proposal which Khrushchev initially rejected on the grounds that the conclusion of a test ban was a political, not a scientific, matter. Eisenhower reiterated the need for technical meetings on April 28, in a statement of some import: "Studies of this kind are the necessary preliminaries to putting political decisions actually into effect [4, p. 50]." Some confusion existed in the interpretation of this sentence. The Soviets believed it defined the technical meetings as formalities, subsidiary to the inevitable conclusion of the treaty. The US interpretation was that the technical talks were meant to explore the feasibility of concluding a treaty in the first place. Khrushchev accepted the scheduling of these talks on May 9, and the Conference of Experts (to Study the Possibility of Detecting Violations of a Possible Agreement on the Suspension of Nuclear Tests) convened on July 1, 1958 in Geneva. Although conducted at United Nations facilities, the Conference was not a UN-sponsored activity. The American delegation consisted of James Fisk (Chairman), Robert Bacher, and Ernest O. Lawrence (who returned to the US due to illness in the middle of the conference and died of chronic colitis shortly thereafter). A group of about a dozen physicists and seismologists was on hand to advise the delegates. The only US State Department representatives were three observers of relatively junior rank, whereas the Soviet delegation, headed by Yevgeni Federov, included one very high ranking diplomat, Semyen Tsarapkin of the Collegium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The difference in composition of the panels highlighted contrasting attitudes regarding the Conference and its eventual goals. The Conference first discussed detection and identification in four environments: the surface and atmosphere of the Earth; underwater; in space; and underground. Panelists generally agreed that tests in the first category could be readily detected by their output of acoustic and radio waves and radioactive debris, and oceanic tests could be easily detected with hydroacoustic waves. It was agreed that when an underground test is conducted at a depth sufficient to prevent radioactive debris from reaching the surface, signals produced by seismic waves were the only means of detection. Although there are several different seismic waves, in these early years only the fastest seismic wave was given detailed consideration. This wave, known as the P-wave (the P standing for primus, since it is the first wave to arrive at a distant station), spreads though the Earth's deep interior in much the same fashion that a pulse of sound moves through air. In air, the source of the sound might be an exploding firecracker. In the Earth, the source of P-waves might be an earthquake or an underground nuclear explosion. If enough instruments at different locations record the arrival time of the P-wave from a particular source, it then becomes possible to estimate the source location. Throughout the five years leading up to the LTBT of 1963, it appears with few exceptions that only P-waves were considered for use in event identification. The experts in 1958 found few problems with detection by electromagnetic and hydroacoustic waves. A plan for airborne collection of radioactive debris was eventually worked out, in which aircraft belonging to the nation being overflown would be used, representatives of all the signatories would be on board, and the flight path would be determined in advance. The issue of underground detection was far more complex. The only empirical data available at this time was for the RAINIER test. The Soviet delegation was in general optimistic, and held that theoretical interpretation of data from TNT explosions would be sufficient to determine monitoring capabilities for underground nuclear explosions. The Americans replied that the RAINIER data were not consistent enough to allow useful extrapolation. After discussing detection methods, the Conference next turned to the monitoring system that would be necessary. Federov immediately proposed a system of 100 to 110 control posts, the spacing of which would be based on acoustic detection of atmospheric tests. The Soviets maintained that the existing network of seismographic stations for earthquake identification would suffice to monitor underground tests. The British and Americans rejected this proposal, arguing that existing seismographic stations were not adequate for the task, and could serve only as a supplement to a future system of new seismographic stations or control posts. The only criterion for distinguishing earthquakes from explosions accepted at this time was the "first motion" method, based on the expectation that all explosions would be accompanied by a positive first motion (compression), resulting in upward movement of the surface of the ground at all distant monitoring stations when the P-waves arrived, while earthquakes would feature negative first motion (rarefaction), or downward movement of the ground, at least at some stations. The Western experts argued that in most stations the switching of a few wires would reverse the recorded polarity of the first motion and make a compression appear to be a rarefaction. Thus, relying on many stations manned by the potential violator nation would be unacceptable. It was recognized that the size of the seismic monitoring system was inextricably linked to the desired threshold, above which events could be not only detected but also identified as an earthquake or an explosion. The Western delegates estimated that seismographic systems already in place could detect and identify 5% of events equivalent to a one kiloton yield and up, 50% of 5 kt and above, and 90% of 20 kt and above [7, p. 26]. The job of developing a US counterproposal on the size of the monitoring system was entrusted to two young physicists, Richard Latter of the RAND Corporation and Harold Brown of the Livermore Laboratory. The criterion they proposed was observation of first motion at five different seismographic stations. Advocating a capability of detecting and identifying 90% of events equivalent to explosions of one kiloton and up, they concluded that a global network of some 650 stations would be necessary. Although these findings were presented merely as a report, not as a formal proposal, Federov indicated that such a control system would be unacceptable to the USSR. Sir William Penney, head of the British delegation, proposed a third system. In its detection capability Penney's system was a compromise between the US and Soviet models. He suggested 160 to 170 land-based control posts, each operating a small array of about 10 seismographic stations of which 100 to 110 would be based on continents, 20 on large islands, and 40 on small islands, although the precise locations were not specified. Ten ships equipped to detect atmospheric and oceanic tests would supplement these posts. Penney believed [7, pp. 26-35] that such a system would detect and identify 90% of the earthquakes equivalent to 5 kilotons or more, and a small percentage of those equivalent to one kiloton. The other 10% of 5 kt-equivalent events would have to be inspected, and estimates of the number of such events ranged from 20 per year (USSR estimate) to 100 per year (US estimate). The Penney system was in general well received, and the Conference concluded on August 21 after both groups agreed to recommend a system based on Penney's proposal. One important issue was left unresolved. The West suggested that all suspicious unidentified events lead to on-site inspections, while the Soviets favored individual decisions on each case by the control commission, with each member nation having veto power. Many observers believed that, by obtaining agreement on Penney's proposal, the USSR had maneuvered the US into agreeing to a test ban. Critics such as Teller contended that the limitations of the system were not strongly presented, and the idea of deliberate evasion was not discussed. In the contest between the bootlegger and the police, Teller wrote, the bootlegger has a great advantage . He and many other critics believed the Conference of Experts constituted a Soviet propaganda victory . Nonetheless, the US government, especially the State Department, felt compelled to make a public statement demonstrating its commitment to eventual test cessation. President Eisenhower proposed on August 22, 1958, that formal negotiations begin on October 31. He announced that the US would refrain from testing for a period of one year from the start of these talks unless the Soviets resumed tests. He went on to say that such a moratorium could be extended, subject to the installation of a control system and satisfactory progress in implementing other arms control measures. General Secretary Khrushchev, while criticizing the proposition for limiting the moratorium to one year and for its two accompanying conditions, accepted the October 31 date for beginning negotiations. In the intervening two months the USSR, US, and UK each undertook an extensive series of nuclear tests. The diplomatic negotiations, again conducted in Geneva, began on October 31, 1958, but three weeks were consumed in a dispute over the formal conference agenda, until the delegates gave up and proceeded without such an agenda. Even the title of the talks, The Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests, was in dispute, with the USSR equating discontinuance with cessation, and the West interpreting it to mean suspension. After several weeks the USSR introduced a draft treaty of five short articles. It bound the three powers not to undertake nuclear tests in any medium, and to discourage the commencement of nuclear testing by all other states in the world. Compliance would be verified through the detection network recommended by the Conference of Experts. The Western delegates rejected the draft on grounds that no mention was made of other disarmament measures, no control organization was specified, and no provision was made for sanctions against violators. Furthermore, the American and British negotiators were still less than fully confident in the capabilities of the Geneva System of the Conference of Experts. After several more weeks the USSR agreed to the inclusion of a control commission provision, although the exact composition of such a body remained in dispute when the negotiations recessed on December 19. Upon the resumption of talks on January 5, 1959, the chief US delegate, James Wadsworth, held an informal meeting with his Soviet counterpart, Semyen Tsarapkin. He informed him that in the course of underground tests conducted in Nevada in October 1958, data were obtained which indicated that the detection of tests would prove more difficult than previously believed. Based on these tests, known as the HARDTACK II series, it appeared that the number of earthquakes equivalent to a given explosive yield would be far greater than earlier estimates, perhaps by a factor of ten to fifteen. In addition, better data on background noise indicated that the first motion would be more difficult to determine accurately. These findings meant, according to Wadsworth, that the 90% confidence identification threshold proposed in the Geneva System would be more on the order of 20 kt than 5 kt, and that a far larger number of control stations would be required to maintain the 5 kt threshold. How many earthquakes occur each year at different magnitude levels? What would be the magnitude levels down to which a hypothesized global network of seismographic stations could achieve reliable detection and identification? What was the relationship between the yield of an underground nuclear explosion, and its seismic magnitude? which gives a yield (Y) of about 19 kt corresponding to a magnitude (m) of 4.75, whereas this magnitude was later found to correspond to about 10 kt for a typical underground explosion in wet tuff at the Nevada Test Site (see , which in 1981 reported the relation for this test site as m = 3.92 + 0.81 log Y); and to only 2.5 kt for a typical explosion at what became the USSR's main test site (see , which in 1992 reported m = 4.45 + 0.75 log Y for the Balapan area of the Semipalatinsk Test Site). Going back to our historical review, several points should be noted in connection with the HARDTACK data. Out of eight underground explosions included in the series, only two, BLANCA (19 kt) and LOGAN (5 kt) produced seismic data sufficient for evaluation of system capabilities. US seismologists also concluded that the previous magnitude estimate for the 1957 RAINIER test was too high because the seven best stations near the event had given what now appeared to be anomalously large results. Thus, RAINIER, known to be 1.7 kt in yield, should have been estimated at magnitude 4.06 (± 0.4) and not 4.25 (± 0.4) as previously believed. In addition, difficulty in assessing signs of first motion in the HARDTACK tests indicated that the ratio of first motion to background noise amplitude must be at least 3 to 1, rather than 2 to 1 as estimated earlier . Just as the significance of HARDTACK was being debated, a theory even more discouraging to test ban advocates emerged. Albert Latter, of the RAND Corporation, presented preliminary findings on the principle of cavity decoupling — the explosion of a bomb in an underground cavity large enough that the surrounding rock would not deform plastically (permanently) in any direction, but remain elastic. Under such conditions, according to Latter, the seismic signal could be reduced by a factor of as much as 300, thereby rendering impossible the detection of all but the very largest tests . The controversy surrounding HARDTACK and cavity decoupling led James Killian, the President's Special Assistant for Science and Technology, to appoint a Panel on Seismic Improvement, chaired by Lloyd Berkner. The Berkner Panel, in a report on March 16, 1959, concluded that, given current technology, an increase in the number of seismometers at each array station from 10 to 100 would make detection of the first motion much easier. The panel also recommended the establishment of supplementary unmanned stations, 170 km apart in seismic areas, which could identify 98% of one-kiloton events. Future improvements were discussed, including the use of seismometers in deep boreholes, an extensive chemical explosive testing program, and computer-aided reconstruction of waveforms. Regarding cavity decoupling, the Berkner Panel reached a less pessimistic conclusion than Dr. Latter, and stated that apparent yield could probably be decreased ten-fold, depending on the surrounding rock type . The Berkner Panel also recommended major funding for research in basic seismology, with particular attention to improvements in data acquisition. Thus, a key recommendation was that 100-200 of the existing stations in the world be equipped with modern instruments as soon as possible. Annual budgets of about $18 million were outlined for such improvements, plus another $12 million for each of two years to carry out chemical and special nuclear explosions underground for monitoring research . Since, prior to 1960, the field of pure seismology in the United States had received national support at the level of only about $0.7 million annually [19, p. 80], and since funding at the level recommended by the Berkner Panel (for seismology not for nuclear explosions) was actually appropriated and spent [19, pp. 27-37], verification research has had an enormous impact on seismology — and on geophysics in general. In 1959, many feared these new US reports would cause the Geneva talks to collapse. The Soviets refused to consider the HARDTACK data on procedural grounds, namely that the seismometers used were not identical to those specified in the Conference of Experts. The US responded that in a study of small chemical explosions the HARDTACK seismometers had outperformed the Geneva-specified equipment. Decoupling theory was greeted with outrage on the part of the Soviets, who asked why a nation serious about concluding an agreement should devote time and money to devising means of circumventing it. Torn between his own desire for a test ban and this new evidence, Eisenhower proposed on April 13, 1959, a treaty to ban only policeable tests, defined as those in the atmosphere up to 50 km and in the ocean. Khrushchev vehemently rejected the suggestion, claiming that the US would continue nuclear testing underground and in space; and that, in any event, all tests were policeable. Despite their reservations, the Soviets agreed to the establishment of Technical Working Group I, in the summer of 1959, to study high altitude and space monitoring. In the meantime, debate continued on the number of on-site inspections necessary to ensure treaty compliance. The USSR, although specifying no exact figure at this time, insisted the number should be determined by political considerations, while the West held to inspections automatically triggered by technical criteria. Due to Khrushchev's upcoming visit to the US, as well as general elections in the UK, the negotiations recessed in 1959 from August 26 to October 27. Soon after the Conference resumed Tsarapkin proposed that a second working group be convened to examine the controversial new seismic data introduced by the US. The first presentation made in Technical Working Group II was by Carl Romney, and concerned the HARDTACK II data. While including more details, he basically concurred with the position presented in January, namely that the magnitude of RAINIER had been overestimated and therefore many more earthquakes of equivalent size existed. The Soviet response was couched in legalistic terms, and again charged that no conclusions could be drawn regarding the control system since the seismographs used in HARDTACK II were not identical to those recommended by the Conference of Experts. Although this charge in retrospect may seem irrelevant, other Soviet criticism was more substantive. To begin with, fewer than thirty of the stations that had recorded BLANCA and LOGAN were sufficiently calibrated to measure magnitude. Data scatter was highly controversial as well. The Americans insisted that all points should be used in computing an average, while the Soviets argued that points in the so-called shadow zone, of intermediate distance, should be excluded. The background to this argument concerns a property of the Earth of great importance for seismic monitoring, associated with a layer of lower seismic velocities hundreds of kilometers deep in the upper mantle, that has the effect of defocusing seismic waves received in the horizontal distance range about 1000 to 2000 km from an earthquake or an explosion. The property is illustrated in Figure 1, which shows schematically the way in which the amplitude of seismic waves at first decreases with distance, and later increases, as the waves propagate to a range of distances from a shallow earthquake or explosion. The region of low amplitude, or lack of observations, is the shadow zone. At lesser distances (the First Zone), or greater distances (the Third Zone), amplitudes are larger and are thus more likely to be routinely observed above the noise. The inclusion of low amplitude signals within the shadow zone tended to lower the seismic magnitude assigned to BLANCA and LOGAN. Figure 1. This shows the effect of variation in seismic wave speed with depth in the Earth (see bottom right), upon the path of propagation of the fastest seismic body waves (lower section, showing ray paths of propagation in the crust and upper mantle). Amplitudes are relatively strong, out to distance ranges of around 1000 km (the First Zone); are weak or absent in the range around 1000-2000 km (the Shadow Zone); and become strong again beyond 2000 km (the Third Zone). For the decades following the 1963 signing of the LTBT, when nuclear testing was carried out underground but no in-country verification was permitted, monitoring was conducted by National Technical Means using seismic signals acquired typically in the Third Zone. Nomenclature changed, such signals came to be called teleseismic waves, and they have been intensively studied especially for purposes of yield estimation in the context of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty. With renewed attention to CTBT verification, and the use of in-country stations, it has become more important to return to the study of the strongest signals, acquired in the First Zone. Here too the name changed, and such signals are more commonly now referred to as regional waves. From . The most dramatic moment in TWG II occurred when Hans Bethe and Albert Latter officially presented the theory of cavity decoupling. Bethe later commented that the Russians seemed stunned by the theory of the big hole, a concept that implied we considered the Russians capable of cheating on ... a massive scale. After several meetings the Soviets admitted that Latter's work was theoretically valid but argued there was no proof it could be made to work in practice. The British delegation presented the results of several small tests of TNT in cavities, conducted during the summer, which seemed to support the theory. The participants were unable to devise any recommendations at this time for foiling the decoupling strategy. The final item covered in TWG II was the formulation of criteria to initiate on-site inspections. The Soviets proposed that if the epicenter of an event were located in an area of dense population, or if its focal depth were beyond current drilling feasibility, it would be ruled an earthquake. Only events exhibiting positive explosion characteristics should be considered for on-site inspections. The Western delegates, stating that no such positive criteria existed, introduced counterproposals that, according to the Soviet side, would have made the majority of recorded events open to suspicion and eligible for on-site inspection. An American proposal listed several potential methods that might, after sufficient research, evolve into criteria for establishing an event as an earthquake. In the end, technical differences were too deep to allow TWG II to issue a joint statement. The participants agreed instead on a report detailing the proceedings, with four attached annexes. The first listed some generally agreed recommendations on improvements, while the other three consisted of the differing views of the Soviet, British, and American delegations. On February 11, 1960, the US presented a new position at Geneva, proposing a phased treaty that would immediately prohibit tests in the atmosphere, underwater, and underground down to the lowest adequately controlled threshold. This threshold was proposed to be 4.75 on a unified magnitude scale. According to magnitude-yield data from Nevada (see above), the authors of the proposal felt that this limit would correspond to about 19 or 20 kilotons, fully coupled (i.e., tamped in the surrounding medium so that seismic waves would be excited efficiently). In addition, the proposal accepted the idea of a numerical quota of on-site inspections, probably 30% of unidentified events, which the authors felt would be sufficient to deter cheating. On average this was believed to correspond to twenty inspections in the USSR per year, and an equal number in the US and UK together [4, p. 16]. The proposal concluded with a suggestion that the three nations undertake joint seismic research to reduce the threshold further. The problem of proliferation, often cited as a strong reason for concluding a test ban, resurfaced two days after this proposal. On February 13, 1960, France exploded its first nuclear device, which was of 60 to 70 kiloton yield, in Algeria, thereby ignoring recommendations of the UN General Assembly. The USSR replied to the new US position on February 16. Tsarapkin at first rejected the phased treaty concept since the USSR favored a comprehensive ban. He proposed several temporary identification criteria, which might apply for an initial period of two to three years. An event could be inspected if data from several surrounding stations localized it to an area of 200 square kilometers, but would be ineligible if its depth of focus were found to be more than 60 kilometers, its epicenter were found to be oceanic with no accompanying hydroacoustic waves, or if it were established within 48 hours as the foreshock or aftershock of an earthquake. However, on March 19, Tsarapkin issued a more detailed proposal, in which the USSR announced a willingness to conclude a treaty on the cessation of all nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in the oceans, and in outer space, and of all underground tests that produce seismic signals of magnitude 4.75 or above . He agreed to a joint research program. While accepting most elements of the US proposal, the Soviet plan contained no on-site inspection quota, and insisted on a moratorium on tests below magnitude 4.75. In light of later seismic data and later negotiation of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, the acceptance by the USSR of a magnitude threshold is noteworthy. In 1960, magnitude 4.75 was regarded by US experts as corresponding to about 20 kt for an underground explosion in Nevada under conditions of the RAINIER explosion, though later the yield equivalence was found to be about 10 kt (discussion of Romney testimony; see above). And, as also noted above, magnitude 4.75 turned out to correspond to only about 2.5 kt at the principal site the Soviets later developed for underground testing in East Kazakhstan. In retrospect, a threshold test ban based on magnitude would therefore have restricted yields on the East Kazakhstan Test Site significantly more than yields at the Nevada Test Site. Some early hints at the conclusion that magnitude-yield relations might vary between test sites were in fact available in 1960, for although the USSR had not yet conducted an underground nuclear explosion, the Soviets had experience with large underground chemical explosions. For example, on March 3, 1960, 660 tons of TNT were placed in an underground chamber and fired as a single charge at depth in Kirgizia (present-day Kyrgyzstan), resulting in seismic waves so strong that they were reported to the US as the equivalent of 5 kt fired under RAINIER conditions. Today we would expect such a chemical explosion in Kirgizia, and a 5 kt RAINIER-type nuclear explosion in Nevada, both to have magnitude around 4.5. But in 1960 Albert Latter stated that "I personally do not accept the Russian statement because they have not given any confirmatory details ." Several US research programs relating to underground verification were carried out in 1960. Project COWBOY, conducted in March, consisted of a series of chemical explosions set off in cavities, and generally supported the Latter brothers' decoupling hypothesis, although indicating a decoupling factor lower than 300. Accompanying studies concluded that the technology to construct such cavities, through solution mining in salt domes, already existed. Project VELA, the research effort in seismology recommended by the Berkner Panel, began in 1959 under the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense (DOD), and by 1960 had developed detailed plans for evaluating detection and identification capabilities using small chemical and nuclear explosions. The USSR protested that adequate safeguards must exist to prevent these small nuclear shots from being used for weapon development purposes — and indeed the US DOD had plans to couple such supposedly seismic experiments with installations to study weapons effects . But although the chemical explosions under VELA were carried out, the nuclear explosions were postponed indefinitely due to a lack of agreement on safeguards [4, p. 265]. Project VELA also included a plan by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey to build a World-Wide Standard Seismograph Network (WWSSN), following the recommendation of the Berkner Panel. The network would shortly grow to include about 125 stations, most outside the US, each recording in a standard analog format on photographic paper. The stations recorded continuously, and this network collected earthquake data around the world as well as nuclear explosion data. The WWSSN had a profound influence on the growth and achievements of the science of seismology, providing important support and insight into the theory of global tectonics, which revolutionized the Earth Sciences in the 1960s. In addition to the WWSSN, a decision was made to build seven small arrays in the US that conformed to recommendations made in the Conference of Experts, and designed explicitly to detect Soviet tests. The first of these, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, appeared capable of detecting events down to magnitude 4, equivalent to a one kiloton shot, at distances over 2000 miles, (i.e. in the Third Zone) although at the time it appeared identification would not be reliable until the event approached the equivalent of 5 kilotons . Meanwhile, the Geneva Conference turned to the question of how many control posts would be needed and where they should be situated. On May 12, 1960, the US proposed that in the initial phase of a three phase process, 21 posts should be constructed in the USSR, 11 in the US, 1 in the UK, 2 on ships, and 12 on islands in the Northern Hemisphere, for a total of 47. (In Washington two days earlier, Secretary of State Christian Herter had been horrified to learn of a study sponsored by the Department of Defense which estimated it would take $1 to 5 billion to install the 21 control posts in the USSR. The plan turned out to include the building of large airfields by the US in the USSR, and hiring icebreakers to take in supplies. The estimate was found to be inflated and the study declared invalid a few weeks later [23, pp. 323 & 348].) The USSR complained in Geneva that this scheme did not provide any posts in the Southern Hemisphere, where the Western powers often tested. The Soviets instead advocated 15 posts in the USSR, 11 in the US, 1 in the UK, 7 in Australia, 20 on islands belonging to the UK and US, 2 in Canada and/or Mexico, 2 in Africa, and 10 on ships, for a total of 68 posts. In addition, the Soviets insisted that no on-site inspections take place during the first phase of installation, which would probably take four years. The Western powers argued for dividing this phase into two two-year periods, and beginning inspections at the end of the first period. At the time of the US election in November 1960, when John Kennedy defeated Vice-President Richard Nixon, these differences remained unresolved. Figure 2 here shows the locations of stations (arrays) in a global network with 170 stations of the type discussed in Geneva in 1960; and, for comparison, the International Monitoring System's two seismographic networks eventually adopted for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty agreed to in 1996 — which also has 170 stations. (The Figure also shows the infrasound, hydroacoustic, and radionuclide monitoring networks of the IMS.) The IMS includes a network of 50 primary stations which send their data continuously to an International Data Centre, and a network of 120 auxiliary stations which record continuously but which contribute their data to the IDC only upon request for specific time intervals. With this style of operation, the detection threshold of the IMS expressed in terms of seismic magnitudes is determined only by the primary network. The auxiliary network provides additional data, as appropriate for particular seismic events, to enable an improved characterization of a detected event. It is becoming clear through practical experience with the IMS networks (which have been partially operational since 1995) that the primary network of 50 stations, when completed, can be expected to have a significantly better detection capability, than was anticipated in 1960 for the 170-station global Geneva system. Thus, had the Geneva system ever been built, it would have far exceeded the capability that it was expected to have. Figure 2. This shows global monitoring networks. Upper: a design for a seismographic network proposed in 1960 [19, p. 58] and based upon the Penney proposal of 1958. Each continental post was to be an array of about ten stations. Lower: the five networks of the International Monitoring System established by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996, using four different technologies. The primary seismographic network of the IMS (50 stations) provides detection, adequate for location, down to about magnitude 3.25 in Eurasia and North America. The auxiliary seismographic network (120 stations) enables good identification capability. For more information on monitoring capability as of the years around 2000 to 2002, see reference 41. Upon assuming office, President Kennedy undertook a thorough reorganization of the US arms control apparatus. A new unit of the State Department, the Disarmament Administration, was created; Arthur Dean replaced James Wadsworth as chief representative to the Geneva Conference; and Glenn Seaborg, who was more inclined to favor a test ban, replaced AEC Chairman John McCone. The new US position, presented when the Geneva Conference resumed on March 21, 1961, contained a few minor concessions. The US would now seek legislation permitting the Soviets to examine the internal mechanisms of nuclear devices employed in US seismic research and peaceful explosions programs [25, p. 56]. The US proposal continued to insist on a quota of twenty inspections per year in the USSR, as opposed to the Soviet proposal for three, but was willing to assign quotas of twenty inspections to the US and UK as well. Very few modifications were made in the technical issues, however, and the US still envisioned a threshold set at seismic magnitude 4.75. The Soviet reply was pointed and negative. Tsarapkin denounced the testing of weapons by France as a serious obstacle to progress, and accused the US of dragging negotiations out long enough to shift research work for NATO into French hands. On August 28, 1961, virtually as a desperation measure, Ambassador Dean offered to eliminate the 4.75 seismic magnitude threshold if the USSR would agree to an increase in the number of control posts or on-site inspections. As expected, the USSR rejected this proposal. Three days later the Soviet Union ended its moratorium and conducted the first test of what would be its most extensive series ever — a series that had obviously been in preparation for some time. The accompanying statement minimized the importance of a test ban alone, and used the French tests and current Berlin Crisis as pretexts for resuming testing. The US Atomic Energy Commission reported that atmospheric nuclear explosions in the kiloton range took place at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, in East Kazakhstan, on September 1, 4, 5, 13, 17, and October 12, 1961; and east of Stalingrad on September 6. On October 11, 1961, the Soviet Union's first underground nuclear explosion took place, also on the Semipalatinsk Test Site. It had magnitude about 4.8 . This explosion was detected at six stations of the USCGS's new worldwide network and at one Swedish station, and was apparently identified as underground and nuclear , although the event was not widely listed as the USSR's first underground nuclear explosion until the 1980s. The US was ill-prepared to resume testing — Los Alamos and Livermore had not even been allowed to buy cable since this might have signaled an intention to break out of the moratorium — but began with a small underground test on September 15 while still refraining from atmospheric tests. The Soviet Union, despite a UN resolution calling on it to refrain from a proposed atmospheric test of 50 megatons or more, exploded the largest atomic device ever tested on October 30. Its yield was estimated at 58 megatons, but Hans Bethe speculated that if its fusion material had been encased in uranium rather than lead the yield could have been in excess of 100 megatons . Following a recess in the Geneva Conference during October and November, the Soviet Union introduced a proposal for the immediate conclusion of a treaty banning space, atmospheric, and underwater tests, and a moratorium on underground tests pending an agreement on a control system. The US and UK rejected any proposal omitting a specific control system and, in the absence of any further progress, the Conference finally ended on January 29, 1962, without the release of any joint communiqu_(c). The collapse of the Geneva Conference coincided with the creation of a panel, headed by Hans Bethe, to evaluate the most recent Soviet test series. This panel stated that the USSR had made sizable gains in reducing the weight to yield ratio of its weapons, in increasing overall yield, and in reducing the size of the necessary fission trigger. The panel also concluded that much of the preliminary research for this series was conducted during the three-year moratorium on nuclear tests. In the meantime, new seismic data became available regarding explosions in various media. On December 10, 1961, Project GNOME, the explosion of a 3 kt nuclear device in a salt dome in New Mexico, was conducted. Based on results obtained in Project COWBOY, it had been believed that a fully tamped shot in salt would produce a signal smaller, by a factor of perhaps two and one half, than a tamped explosion in tuff, the rock type in which all previous US underground tests had been conducted. Contrary to these expectations the signals from GNOME were significantly larger than those of LOGAN, a 5 kt shot tamped in tuff at the Nevada Test Site in 1958 [4, pp. 351-352]. The GNOME shot was detected as far away as Japan and Sweden. This was the first clear indication to the US that the relation between magnitude and yield could vary significantly from one region to another. The reasons have to do with the differences in rock type in the immediate vicinity of the shot point (which affect the efficiency with which explosion energy is coupled into the energy of seismic waves), and the differences in propagation characteristics of seismic body waves in different geological regions (which affect the way in which body waves are attenuated, as they travel from the seismic source to stations at which the signal strength is recorded). However, although the fact of the stronger-than-expected GNOME signals was encouraging to those seeking effective ways to monitor underground nuclear explosions, other results from this shot were less encouraging. The discovery was made that seismic wave velocities through the Earth's crust were not uniform from one region to another, making more difficult the analysis of signals to obtain a source location. Had the USSR's proposed position on inspection criteria been in force, a 200 square km area around the estimated epicenter, the GNOME shot would have occurred outside the area eligible for inspection. Furthermore, the depth of the GNOME event was not estimated near 350 meters, the actual depth of detonation, but rather at about 130 km, which would have identified it as an earthquake. In general, these uncertainties led many to lose confidence in the capability of seismological methods to verify a nuclear test ban effectively. By making appropriate corrections for the non-uniformity of the Earth's crust, event location could still be done accurately. But what would be the confidence in the corrections, for an event in an area where the corrections had never before been derived, and the ground truth data to do so were unavailable? On February 2, 1962, the US Atomic Energy Commission announced that earlier that day the USSR had apparently conducted an underground nuclear test. The test, widely reported to be the first underground Soviet nuclear explosion, was carried out in a generally aseismic area in Soviet Central Asia (East Kazakhstan), and had a yield estimated at 40 to 50 kilotons. The rapid detection and rapid identification of this test were applauded by proponents of the test ban [4, p. 353], few (if any) of whom knew that there were data, available in the West, to indicate that a previous underground nuclear test at the same test site had taken place in the USSR (see above). The section of Project VELA concerned with cavity decoupling, Project DRIBBLE, was planned to consist of six explosions, both tamped and decoupled. Due to lack of funds this project was temporarily suspended after exploratory drilling and engineering work. Upon its resumption in September 1962 a cavity for a 100 ton shot was planned which would require a year of work and cost $3.2 million. By 1965 more than this had been spent and construction of the cavity had not yet commenced — an indication, presumably, of the difficulty in executing a decoupled explosion, even without the additional problems of keeping the shot secret [30, p. 312]. Within two months of the end of the Geneva Conference, international pressure, especially an emotional appeal from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, led the parties back to the negotiating table. The forum was now multi-lateral, and was called the Eighteen Nation Disarmament Committee, consisting of five NATO states, five from the Warsaw Pact, and eight non-aligned states. The ENDC, a forerunner of today's Conference on Disarmament, convened on March 11, 1962, and began with the Soviet Union tabling a draft treaty on General and Complete Disarmament. The Soviets attributed the failure of previous negotiations solely to US intransigence, and went on to claim that National Technical Means — surveillance that a country could unilaterally achieve without cooperation from the country being monitored — would be sufficient to detect underground as well as atmospheric tests. The US response consisted of a test ban proposal incorporating four modifications to previous Western demands. First, to prevent surprise abrogation of the treaty, heads of state would make periodic declarations that no test preparations were underway, and declared test sites could be inspected by the other party a certain number of times per year. Second, the inspection process and the establishment of control posts were to be inaugurated sooner than the two years previously discussed. Third, the 4.75 magnitude threshold was to be eliminated due to the difficulty of determination, making the treaty comprehensive. Fourth, on-site inspections would mainly be confined to a normally aseismic area in Siberia, with only a few in the heart of the USSR. Although the last two provisions were considered by the US to be major concessions on its part, the USSR rejected this proposal, arguing again that National Technical Means must suffice for any treaty. Despite appeals from the non-aligned states as well as several allies, the US resumed atmospheric testing on April 26, 1962. This series, which included a few proof tests of existing stockpiles as well as new weapon development, totaled about twenty megatons yield. Totaling the activities of the US, USSR, UK, and France, more nuclear weapons were tested in 1962 than in any other year, and more total megatonnage detonated, from September 1961 to December 1962, than in any other period of comparable duration. While the ENDC was stalemated, several developments in the US increased support for an atmospheric test ban. During the spring of 1962, following large test series by the US and the USSR, the level of fallout-induced radioactivity was found to have increased significantly worldwide. Several scientists proposed that the concentration of iodine-131 in the atmosphere had reached dangerous limits, and that protective measures might be necessary for some foodstuffs, especially milk, if tests continued at the same rate. At the same time, US nuclear strategy was officially stated to be changing from one of massive retaliation to a doctrine of targeting Soviet weapons systems. Very large warheads thus became less desirable, reducing the need for atmospheric tests. During this period, Project VELA began to produce useful and specific results leading to a more informed understanding of monitoring capability. An underground French test, conducted in Algeria on May 1, 1962, was detected by several of the new Coast and Geodetic Survey stations, and estimated at 30 to 50 kt. This test, like the Soviet tests in East Kazakhstan, indicated the feasibility of teleseismic detection (i.e., data that had been acquired in what earlier was called the Third Zone, beyond the shadow zone, see Figure 1, and thus available by National Technical Means). Next, the discovery was made that previous estimates of the annual number of shallow earthquakes in the USSR were too large. These estimates, based on extrapolations of earthquake records from 1932 and 1936, had indicated 100 shallow earthquakes above magnitude 4.75 (then thought to be equivalent to 19 or 20 kt in tuff), and 600 above magnitude 4.0 (then thought to be 2 kt in tuff). Using more recent and better data the figures were revised to about 40 shallow earthquakes above magnitude 4.75, and 170 above magnitude 4.0 . The placement of seismometers in deep boreholes was soon found to increase signal to noise ratios by a factor of five or ten. In addition, special filtering of data from surface arrays of many seismometers was seen to improve capabilities considerably. Finally, research showed that seismometers positioned on the ocean floor could provide useful monitoring data. Some other developments, however, indicated new difficulties in detection. Seismic signals measured in different directions from an explosion were found to be of significantly different strengths. American scientists also discovered that a test carried out in loosely compacted alluvium would produce a signal only one-seventh as large as a test in tuff (and one-fourteenth as large as one in granite). However, an underground test in alluvium would most likely cause a cavity visible on the surface. Overall, the Project VELA results were encouraging, and the US felt confident enough to introduce two new draft treaties in Geneva on August 27, 1962. In the eyes of the world, the US position was enhanced by the commencement of a new Soviet test series on August 5, which included a 30-megaton shot. The first draft for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty envisioned a fifteen member International Scientific Commission (four Western, four Eastern, seven non-aligned) to establish standards for the calibration and operation of all elements of the verification system. This system would consist of nationally owned and manned stations as well as several new facilities financed and staffed by the Commission, to be constructed at sites listed in an annex to the treaty. Equal quotas of on-site inspections would be assigned to the territory of the USSR, UK, and US. Any event not positively identified as an earthquake, by first motion or depth, would be eligible. No number was specified at this time for inspections, but the UK and US delegates stated it would be less than the 12 to 20 previously proposed. Data from Project VELA now indicated that only about 10 to 15 unidentified events of magnitude ≥ 4.75 would occur in the USSR each year [32, p. 15]. The second Western draft was a far briefer proposal for a Partial Test Ban. This treaty prohibited tests in or above the atmosphere, in the seas, and in any other environment if the explosion caused radioactive debris to escape outside the territorial limits of the testing state. The last provision was intended to prevent a nation from putting a small amount of earth over a surface shot and styling it an underground test. The draft did not mention the creation of a control system or international organization, nor did it call for any moratorium on underground tests. Ambassador Dean, when presenting the Partial Ban draft, declared it could and should be accepted immediately as a means of limiting the arms race and stopping radioactive pollution. Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze headed a panel to evaluate detection capabilities under both proposed treaties. The panel estimated that the system envisioned in the comprehensive draft could detect underground shots down to about 10 to 20 kt in alluvium, and 1.5 to 3 kt in tuff. Nitze stated that this threshold would still allow the USSR to study most important technical principles of nuclear weapons development, including those relating to neutron weapons. His panel concluded that detection capability for atmospheric and underwater tests was adequate, but that tests conducted in inland waters or outer space would be difficult to detect . The USSR rejected both treaties, the first because it still allowed for on-site inspections that the West could use for espionage purposes, and the second because it permitted underground tests. The eight neutral states in the ENDC sought to placate the Soviets by proposing that the entire International Scientific Commission decide which suspicious events should be inspected, rather than the opposing nuclear power. The Western powers rejected this suggestion and the ENDC recessed on September 7. In October 1962, the crisis over Soviet missiles in Cuba convinced both superpowers of the need for rapprochement. Having confronted the very real possibility of nuclear war, the USSR and the US were more willing to moderate negotiating positions. The Soviet Union indicated it would be willing to consider the use of sealed automatic recording stations, nicknamed black boxes, for in-country verification, based on a suggestion by three American and three Soviet scientists at the Tenth Pugwash Conference in London. Ambassador Arthur Dean revealed to the Soviets that the US might now accept 8 to 10 on-site inspections per year, and 8 to 10 nationally manned control posts, in the territory of the USSR. When the ENDC reconvened in November, the USSR proposed the use of automatic seismographic recording stations to eliminate the need for internationally supervised, nationally manned stations as well as on-site inspections. Several weeks later they suggested three possible sites for these black boxes, and announced they would be willing to have international personnel participate in the installation of these devices on Soviet territory. Although the Western powers rejected the idea of eliminating on-site inspections, they proposed that a group of experts be convened to discuss the black boxes. Following this proposal Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged letters discussing the acceptable number of on-site inspections in the USSR. Kennedy advocated 8 to 10, while Khrushchev demanded 2 to 3. Private talks were then conducted in the US between William Foster, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (created in September 1961 in President Kennedy's new Administration), and Soviet representatives. Potential black box sites in both countries were proposed and accepted or rejected, and seismic noise-level data for the sites exchanged. The US felt its requirements might be satisfied by as few as seven such stations, but when the talks ended on January 31, 1963, the Soviets were willing only to consent to three [25, p. 184]. The same day the talks ended, Edward Teller presented a paper to a group of influential Republican Congressmen, charging that acceptance of current Soviet proposals would be equivalent to accepting an unpoliced moratorium. Due to the unresolved inspection issue, opposition to a test ban developed in the US — or at least to a CTBT. The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy conducted hearings in March 1963, to discuss the technical aspects of verification. Carl Romney testified that the seismographic system under consideration by the US would be able to detect most tests down to 1 kt in granite, 2 to 6 kt in tuff, and down to 20 kt in alluvium. However, he stated that decoupling could attenuate seismic signals by a factor of 200 [30, p. 104]. Much of the criticism of the Kennedy administration's determination to conclude a treaty came from the Republican Conference Committee on Nuclear Testing, chaired by Rep. Craig Hosmer, who had commanded the first occupation troops in Hiroshima in 1945. It appeared that, even if an inspection number acceptable to the Soviets were found, not enough support for a comprehensive ban existed in Congress to provide the Senatorial advice and consent required to ratify a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Apparently Kennedy hoped to generate as much support for the treaty in the Senate as possible, and wanted to receive more than the minimum two-thirds vote needed for ratification. According to Glenn Seaborg, then the Chairman of the AEC, Kennedy felt that the treaty needed to be launched on a strongly positive note to serve its purpose as a first step to a better world order [25, p. 258]. On July 2, Khrushchev announced that the USSR would be willing to accept a treaty banning tests in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater. For the first time, he did not insist that an underground moratorium accompany the treaty. The following day US officials replied that the Administration would also accept such a partial ban. President Kennedy dispatched the veteran diplomat W. Averell Harriman to Moscow with broad instructions to attempt to conclude a comprehensive ban, but to settle for a partial ban if necessary [25, p. 229]. After all the preliminaries, the final steps to conclusion of what has become known as the Limited Test Ban Treaty were anticlimactic. The negotiations began on July 15, 1963, with the US making a final attempt to negotiate a comprehensive ban. An effort was made to arrange meetings between Frank Press, the only seismologist in the US delegation, and Soviet seismologists, but it was claimed that these were all away from Moscow or otherwise unavailable [4, p. 455]. A few days later this attempt was abandoned, and a draft, based on the Western proposal for a partial ban issued the previous year, was put forward. A treaty, virtually identical to this draft, was composed, and signed on July 25 by Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko for the USSR, Ambassador Harriman for the US, and Science Minister Lord Hailsham for the UK. In five short articles, it prohibited testing at sea, in the atmosphere, in space, and in other environments if such tests caused radioactive debris to be present outside the testing state's territory. The treaty was to be of unlimited duration, and would be open to all states for signature. Signatory states would have the right to withdraw with three months notice, if extraordinary events jeopardized their supreme interests. Remarkably, no mention whatsoever was made of verification systems or international control, it being assumed that National Technical Means would suffice. (1) An extensive underground test program must continue in order to improve the US arsenal. (2) Modern nuclear laboratory facilities and research programs must be maintained. (3) The resources and facilities to resume atmospheric tests promptly must be maintained, in the event of Soviet non-compliance with the treaty. (4) US capability to monitor the treaty and detect violations must be improved. President Kennedy, in private conversations with the Chiefs, supported these safeguards. In the view of Glenn Seaborg: "While this support may have obtained the favorable testimony of the Joint Chiefs, it was at a very heavy price for the cause of disarmament" [25, p. 271]. At the end of these hearings, which lasted three weeks, the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave their formal, if unenthusiastic, approval to the limited ban. As expected, Edward Teller opposed the treaty, arguing that the US needed to test in the atmosphere to learn more about weapons effects. Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he stated that if they consented to ratification, "You will have given away the future safety of this country. You will have increased the chances of war, and, therefore, no matter what the embarrassment may be in rejecting the treaty, I earnestly urge you to do so and not to ratify the treaty which is before you" . John Foster, Director of the Livermore Laboratories, considered the treaty disadvantageous from purely technical-military considerations, and urged rejection. The Director of Los Alamos, Norris Bradbury, supported the treaty, but only on condition that the US government devoted itself to a vigorous underground test program. Hans Bethe and other test ban proponents, while regretting failure to negotiate a comprehensive ban, applauded the treaty as a useful first step [34, pp. 583 & 616]. Ratification of the Moscow Treaty, formally known as the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, Outer Space, and Underwater, received the consent of the US Senate, by a vote of 80 to 19, on September 29. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet voted unanimously to ratify the treaty on September 25. On October 7 President Kennedy signed the Moscow Treaty, which entered into effect on October 11. That same day, in Oslo, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Linus Pauling, one of the very earliest test ban advocates. The Moscow Treaty, commonly referred to as the Limited Test Ban Treaty, promptly found wide support. By the end of 1963, 113 nations had added their signatures to those of the USSR, US, and UK, and by late 1994 over 145 states had become signatories. The Peoples Republic of China, which was to test its first atomic bomb in 1964, and France, which felt that its independent arsenal, the force de frappe, still needed perfection through atmospheric tests, were the most prominent states refusing to sign. However, although the LTBT was successful as an environmental measure in that radioactive fallout was greatly reduced (even France and China eventually stopped atmospheric testing — the last such test being conducted by China in 1980), the treaty had little impact on nuclear weapons development in view of the vigorous programs of underground testing that continued for decades. The work to obtain agreements on a CTBT verification regime (including provisions for in-country monitoring and on-site inspection), though briefly considered again in the late 1970s, was effectively postponed for a generation, beginning again on a multilateral basis at the Conference of Disarmament in January 1994 in Geneva, where the work began so many years before. The Conference on Disarmament produced a final CTBT text in 1996, which with one minor revision was adopted by the United Nations in September 1996. The work of monitoring underground nuclear explosions using seismological methods can usefully be broken down into the separate steps of signal detection, location of the event, identification, and estimation of yield. All these steps may be studied both for underground tests conducted non-evasively (the practice under the LTBT); and for tests conducted evasively using various methods (some, as yet hypothetical) to reduce or otherwise manipulate signals, with the goal of avoiding detection and/or identification. Improvements in signal detection came steadily throughout the early years of Project VELA, along with improved methods of event location. The effectiveness and engineering feasibility of the cavity decoupling method of treaty evasion appears to be much more limited than envisioned in 1963. But the early development of methods for event identification began with a setback, and a key method that was indeed successful was discovered too late to have any impact in the period 1958-1963. The key method of event identification that was successful was based upon use of more than just the P-wave. To explain this method, we must first note that earthquakes and underground explosions produce several different seismic waves, falling broadly into three types: those which travel through the body of the Earth (i.e. through its deep interior); those which spread out over the surface of the Earth, analogous to the way that ripples disperse over the surface of a pond; and those which are guided along by the outer layer of the Earth (the crust). These three types of waves are referred to as seismic body waves, seismic surface waves, and regional waves. A subdivision of seismic body waves into so-called P-waves and S-waves has been known since the 19th century. As noted above, P-waves travel faster than all other seismic waves, and, though traveling in solid rock, are analogous to sound waves in air or water. S-waves (the S standing for secundus) also travel through the Earth's deep interior, but slower than P-waves. They consist of a shearing motion in which particles move at right-angles to the direction the S-wave itself is traveling. The typical frequency of a P-wave or an S-wave, as recorded at teleseismic distances (see Figure 1, the Third Zone), is in the range 0.5 – 5 Hz. Surface waves are also recorded teleseismically, but with much lower frequency, typically around 0.05 Hz. The strongest regional wave, known as the Lg-wave, may have frequencies in the range 0.3 – 3 Hz. A number of seismologists noticed in the early 1960s that the different types of seismic waves were excited to different levels by underground explosions, than was the case with shallow earthquakes. Some of this work had in fact been known for many years, but in the context of studying the signals from quarry blasts, which are typically too small to detect except at regional distances. Thus, a Harvard seismologist, Don Leet, who had specialized in the study of quarry blasting, noted from teleseismic records of underground nuclear explosions that they often lacked any S-wave signals even when the P-wave was strong . For earthquakes, the S-wave is usually much stronger than P. The use of what Leet called the “lonesome P” discriminant, however, was unreliable, for many nuclear explosion records did in fact include S-wave signals and it was not until the 1990s that careful quantitative work using regional waves turned this approach into a useful method of event identification. More important, for purposes of monitoring with teleseismic waves, was the discovery that underground nuclear explosions are inefficient, relative to earthquakes, in exciting surface waves. Much of the early work in this field was done at what was then called the Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University in New York. For example, James Brune and others in 1963 found from the study of more than a 100 earthquakes and 35 explosions that "Most of the earthquakes studied generated surface waves 5 to 10 times greater than the maximum observed for explosions when the explosions and earthquakes had short-period regional waves of the same size" . Liebermann and Pomeroy [37, 38] used traditional methods of measuring the magnitude of teleseismic body waves (mb) and surface waves (Ms), and showed for an underground nuclear explosion in the Aleutians that the Ms value was only 3.9, whereas for an earthquake with the same mb as the explosion, the Ms value would be expected to be about 6.1. They then applied this discrimination method to two seismic events in Southern Algeria and successfully identified them as underground nuclear explosions, because the surface waves from these events are much smaller than would be expected from most earthquakes of comparable body-wave magnitudes. The so-called Ms:mb discriminant was clearly successful for shallow seismic events, if they were large enough to give teleseismic body-wave and surface wave signals whose magnitude could be reliably measured. (For deep events, other discriminants could be used.) The method resulted in many efforts over a period of years to improve the ways that mb and Ms are measured, and many efforts to see if the discriminant could be applied reliably at lower magnitudes. Figure 3 shows key results obtained in 1971 (though not released until several years later) for underground nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site and earthquakes in Nevada, namely: that the method appeared to be reliable down to below mb 4; and that the two populations (of explosions and earthquakes) did not appear to merge at low magnitude, so the method could potentially be made to work at even lower magnitudes if signals could be obtained (in particular, surface wave signals from small explosions) . With the growth of the WWSSN in the early 1960s, signal quality was adequate to apply the Ms:mb discriminant routinely on a global basis down to mb 4.5. For example, Sykes and others showed that for events with mb ≥ 4.5, 90% could be identified as earthquakes based upon their depth being greater than 30 km and/or their location being more than 25 km at sea; and all the remaining 10% could be identified using the Ms:mb method . This capability would appear to have been adequate to monitor compliance with a trilateral underground test ban of the type considered in the early 1960s, with a ban on events of magnitude 4.75 and above, although the WWSSN stations would have needed augmentation to improve detections in Eurasia. Figure 3. A robust discriminant, the plot of Ms against mb, is shown for earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions. Since magnitude scales are logarithmic, the separation of the two lines by 0.8 magnitude units implies that surface waves from earthquakes are, on average, more than 6 times larger than surface waves from explosions having the same body wave magnitude. From . The capability to monitor a CTBT by seismological methods was developed on an accelerated basis in the early 1960s, but was then deemed inadequate, leading apparently to the need for significant numbers of on-site inspections of suspicious events. In retrospect, we find that monitoring methods turned out to be significantly better than they were typically characterized at the time by key advisors. Presentations to the US Congress, by witnesses characterizing the US monitoring effort, often gave estimates of monitoring capability that later turned out to be significantly in error, actual capability being better than the estimate. Great improvements in capability were developed in the practical context of monitoring underground nuclear weapons tests following the conclusion of the LTBT — not in the context of earlier arms control negotiations. The Geneva system of 170 control posts (see Figure 2) was never built, but, on the basis of comparison with other networks, it appears it would have enabled monitoring to be accomplished on a global basis down to mb 3 rather than mb 4, about a tenfold improvement over what was stated at the time to be the desired monitoring capability. Support to Richards’ research for over three decades is acknowledged from the Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Air Force Phillips Laboratory, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the Department of Energy. Note: the views and conclusions here are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government. 1. Kerr, D.M. (1988) in J. Goldblat and D. Cox (eds.), Nuclear Weapons Tests: Prohibition or Limitation?, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 43. 2. Magraw, K. (1988) Teller and the Clean Bomb Episode, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May issue, p. 32. 3. Gilpin, R. (1962) American Scientists and Nuclear Weapons Policy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 4. Jacobson, H.K., and E. Stein (1966) Diplomats, Scientists, and Politicians: The United States and the Nuclear Test Ban Negotiations, Univ. of Michigan Press. 5. Johnson, G.W. (1985) Underground Nuclear Weapons Testing and Seismology - a Cooperative Effort, in The VELA Program: A Twenty-Five Year Review of Basic Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, p. 10. 6. The New York Times (1958), April 3, p. 1. 7. Conference of Experts to Study the Methods of Detecting Violations of a Possible Agreement on the Suspension of Nuclear Tests (1958) Verbatim Records. 8. Teller, E. (1958), Alternatives for Security, Foreign Affairs 36, p. 204. 9. Murray, T. (1959) East and West Face the Atom, The New Leader, June 15, pp. 10-14. 10. US Congress (1959) Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Disarmament, Hearings: Geneva Test Ban Negotiations, 86th Congress, 1st Session, p. 29. 11. Ringdal, F. (1985) Study of magnitudes, seismicity and earthquake detectability using a global network, in The VELA Program: A Twenty-Five Year Review of Basic Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, p. 611. 12. Romney, C. (1960) Detection of Underground Explosions, in Project Vela, Proceedings of a Symposium, October, pp. 39-75. 13. Murphy, J. (1981) P-wave coupling of underground explosions in various geologic media, in E.S. Husebye and S. Mykkeltveit (eds.), Identification of Seismic Sources Earthquake or Explosion, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 201-205. 14. Ringdal, F., P.D. Marshall and R. Alewine (1992) Seismic yield determination of Soviet underground nuclear explosions at the Shagan River test site, Geophysical Journal International 109, 65-77. 15. US Department of Defense (1959) Press Release, Jan 16. 16. Latter, A., R. LeLevier, E. Martinelli, W. McMillan (1959) A Method of Concealing Underground Nuclear Explosions, RAND Corporation, Mar. 30. Subsequently published (1961) Journal of Geophysical Research 66, 943-946. 17. Street, K. (1959) Need for High Explosive and Nuclear Tests for Research Program, Report of the Berkner Panel, p. 54. 18. Report of the Berkner Panel (1959), p. 15. 19. Project Vela, Proceedings of a Symposium (1960), October. 20. Bethe, H. (1960) The Case for Ending Atomic Testing, The Atlantic Monthly 206, p. 48. 21. Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapon Tests, Geneva (1958-62) Verbatim Records, section 188, p. 13. 22. Latter, A. (1960) Decoupling of underground explosions, in Project Vela, Proceedings of a Symposium, October, p. 180. 23. Kistiakowsky, G.B. (1976) A Scientist at the White House, Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 24. Romney, C. (1962) US Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings: Developments in the Field of Detection and Identification of Nuclear Explosions (Project Vela) and their Relationship to Test Ban Negotiations, 87th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 123-4. 25. Seaborg, G.T. (1981) Kennedy Khrushchev and the Test Ban, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley. 26. Khalturin, V., T. Rautian, and P.G. Richards (2000), A study of small explosions and earthquakes during 1961-1989 near the Semipalatinsk test site, Kazakhstan, accepted for publication, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2000. 27. Båth, M. (1962) Seismic records of explosions - especially nuclear explosions: Part III, Forsvarets Forskningsanstalt (Swedish Defense Research Establishment), FOA report 4, A 4270-4721, December, pp. 60-63. 28. Agnew, H. (1987) personal communication to one of the authors (PGR). 29. Bethe, H. (1962) Disarmament and Strategy, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 18, 14-22. 30. US Congress (1963) Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings: Developments in Technical Capabilities for Detecting and Identifying Nuclear Weapons Tests, 88th Congress, 1st Session. 31. Foster, W. (1962) U.S. Congress, Disarmament Subcommittee Hearings: Renewed Geneva Negotiations, 87th Congress, 2nd Session, 25 July. 32. US Congress (1963) Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Hearings: Test Ban Negotiations and Disarmament, 88th Congress, 1st Session, 1963. 33. US Congress (1962) Senate Armed Services Committee, Preparedness Investigation Subcommittee, Hearings: Arms Control and Disarmament, 87th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 13. 34. Teller, E. (1963) US Congress, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Hearings: Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 88th Congress, 1st Session, p. 428. 35. Leet, D. (1962) The detection of underground explosions, Scientific American 206, 55-59. 36. Brune, J., A. Espinosa, and J. Oliver (1963) Relative excitation of surface waves by earthquakes and underground explosions in the California-Nevada region, Journal of Geophysical Research 68, June 1, 3501-3513. 37. Liebermann, R.C., C.-Y. King, J.N. Brune, and P.W. Pomeroy (1966) Excitation of surface waves by the underground nuclear explosion Longshot, Journal of Geophysical Research 71, 4333-4339. 38. Liebermann, R.C., and P.W. Pomeroy (1967) Excitation of surface waves by events in Southern Algeria, Science 156, 1098-1100. 39. Lambert, D.G., and S.S. Alexander (1971) Relationship of body and surface wave magnitudes for small earthquakes and explosions, SDL Report 245, Teledyne Geotech, Alexandria, Virginia. 40. Sykes, L.R., J.F. Evernden, and I. Cifuentes (1983) Seismic methods for verifying nuclear test bans, in D.W. Hafemeister and D. Schroeer, Physics, Technology and the Nuclear Arms Race, AIP Conference Proceedings, no. 104, AIP, New York.

2019-04-18T15:35:18Z

https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~richards/earlyCTBThistory.html

1. Department of Urology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130021, China. 2. Institute of Virology and AIDS Research, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130021, China. 3. Department of Nephrology, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130021, China. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is an effective chemotherapeutic agent that specifically impairs cancer cells while sparing normal cells; however, some cancer cells develop resistance to TRAIL. Here, we identified Andrographolide, a diterpenoid lactone derived from a traditional herbal medicine Andrographis paniculata, as an ideal sensitizer for TRAIL to overcome bladder cancer. Our results showed that combination treatment of Andro and TRAIL retarded growth, attenuated proliferation, decreased colony formation, inhibited migration and promoted caspases-mediated apoptosis in T24 cells. Additionally, the sensitization by Andro is achieved through up-regulation of death receptors (DR4 and DR5) of TRAIL in a p53-dependent manner. Crucially, Andro is also capable of inactivating NF-κB signaling pathway via transcriptional down-regulation p65/RelA, which is further contributed to enhancement of TRAIL-mediated cytotoxicity. These results indicated that non-toxic doses of Andrographolide sensitized bladder cancer cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis, suggesting it as an effective therapeutic agent for TRAIL resistant human bladder cancers. Bladder cancer ranks as the 9th most frequently diagnosed cancer and is 13th in terms of deaths worldwide since 2012 . Although accumulating studies show that targeted drugs can improve patient survival rates, first-line molecular-targeted drugs (sorafenib and gefitinib) exhibit only limited therapeutic effects in several clinical trials and can cause severe side effects [2, 3]. Therefore, there is an increasing demand to explore effective strategies for bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) treatment. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), has been reported as a candidate for cancer treatment due to its selective inducement of apoptosis in cancer cells while sparing normal cells [4, 5]. TRAIL specifically binds to cell-death receptors DR4 or DR5 (also named tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 10 TNFRSF10A and TNFRSF10B, respectively), resulting in trimerization of the receptor and clustering of the intracellular death domain of the receptor and leading to death-inducing signaling complex formation [6, 7]. Trimerization of the death domains leads to the recruitment and activation of Fas-associated death domain protein, which promotes transmission of an apoptotic signal and induces apoptosis via both the extrinsic and intrinsic mitochondrial pathways [6, 8, 9]. However, evidence indicates that cancer cells can develop resistance to TRAIL if they lose the ability to express death receptors or exhibit constant activation of anti-apoptotic pathways [9, 10]. Certain malignant cells are resistant to TRAIL, including bladder cancer cells [11-13]. Therefore, identifying effective agents capable of overcoming TRAIL resistance in bladder cancer cells is necessary. Andrographolide (Andro) is a diterpene lactone (C20H30O) and a major component of Andrographis paniculata Nees, which was used as a traditional anti-inflammation medicine in Asia [14, 15]. Andro can be excreted from the body over a short period of time while exhibiting low levels of toxicity to normal cells . Recent progress in Andro-specific research confirmed its effectiveness and specificity in promoting cancer-cell apoptosis . In this study, we discovered that Andro markedly improved the sensitivity of BLCA cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, and that combined treatment stimulated caspase- dependent apoptosis through p53 dependent enhancement of DR4 and DR5 expression. Additionally, Andro treatment attenuated mRNA expression of B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 2 (cIAP2), X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) p65 subunit (RelA). Our study provides evidence supporting clinical application of the combination therapy of TRAIL and Andrographolide for bladder cancer patients. As DR4 and DR5 were canonical TRAIL receptors involved in its antitumor effects, we analyzed mRNA-expression data from the Oncomine database, finding that mean DR4 mRNA expression in bladder cancer tissues exceeded that in normal bladder tissue, whereas no significant difference was found in DR5 between tumor and normal tissues (Figure 1A). Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) profiles from BLCA patients (n = 414) revealed enrichment of apoptosis pathways associated with samples exhibiting high levels of both DR4 and DR5 expression (Figure 1B). Therefore, bioinformatics analysis suggested that relatively high DR4/5 expression might represent an effective therapeutic TRAIL-related target in bladder cancer cells. However, MTS assays revealed that the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of TRAIL was 38.35 ng/mL, indicating that low concentrations of TRAIL would be ineffective in T24 cells (Figure 1C). This suggested the necessity to identify appropriate TRAIL-specific sensitizers capable of overcoming TRAIL resistance in bladder cancer cells. Moreover, Andro represents a potential agonist for TRAIL therapy, with MTS assays revealing an IC50 value for Andro of 101.5 µM in T24 cells (Figure 1E). Both cell-counting and MTS assays suggested that single treatment with either TRAIL or Andro inhibited cell-proliferation rates. Interestingly, we found that combination treatment with TRAIL and Andro substantially enhanced this inhibitory effect on cell proliferation (Figure 2A and B). Additionally, morphological changes in TRAIL and/or Andro-treated cells confirmed the inhibition of T24-cell proliferation associated with combined treatment versus single treatment (Figure 2C). Moreover, colony formation dramatically decreased following combined treatment relative to that observed following treatment with Andro or TRAIL alone (Figure 2D). Given that cancer cells exhibit potent migratory features, we conducted wound-healing assays as functional readings. The results indicated that treatment with TRAIL or Andro alone modestly decreased the ratio of migrating bladder cancer cells. In the TRAIL-treated group, the cell-migration ratio was 65.37 ± 2.47%, whereas that in the Andro-treated group was 79.65 ± 1.82%. However, combined treatment resulted in a migration ratio of 32.16 ± 1.59% (Figure 2E). Evidence shows that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play important roles in tumor progression, invasion, and metastasis . Therefore, we evaluated protein levels of CD147 and MMP-9 by immunoblot, revealing that CD147 and MMP-9 were downregulated after a 24-h incubation with both TRAIL and Andro relative to levels observed following single treatment with TRAIL or Andro alone (Figure 2F). These findings demonstrated that combination treatment with TRAIL and Andro potently suppressed T24-cell growth and migration. The canonical pathway associated with TRAIL-induced cell death involves binding to specific death receptors (DR4 or DR5) to initiate activation of extrinsic apoptosis [6, 7]. MTS assays suggested that in the combination-treatment groups, cell viability was further attenuated along with increasing Andro concentrations (Figure 3A). Immunoblot assays analyzing changes in protein content in T24 cells treated with TRAIL and/or Andro suggested that combined treatment enhanced caspase-dependent apoptosis based on levels of cleaved-poly (ADP ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1; 119/89 kDa) and activation of caspases 3, 9, and 8 (Figure 3B). We then evaluated the roles of Andro in apoptosis progression using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)/ propidium iodide (PI)-labeled flow cytometry. Compared with groups treated with TRAIL or Andro alone, combination treatment notably enhanced apoptosis rates in T24 cells (Figure 3C). These results showed that combined treatment of Andro and TRAIL promoted apoptosis in BLCA cells. Additionally, we found that T24 apoptosis induced by combined treatment was initiated by caspase-specific activation that did not involve cell necrosis. T24 cell viability in the combined-treatment group was restored in the presence of the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK (57.54 ± 4.99% for combined treatment without Z-VAD-FMK and 94.03 ± 3.77% for combined treatment with Z-VAD-FMK). By contrast, administration of Necrostatin-1 (Nec-1; a cell-necrosis inhibitor) did not alter the decreased T24 cell viability observed following combined treatment with Andro and TRAIL, with cell-morphological images supporting MTS assay results (Figure 3D). Immunoblot assays identified that Andro treatment upregulated protein levels of both DR4 and DR5 (Figure 4A). To determine whether one or both receptors were responsible for the pro-apoptotic effect of TRAIL in T24 cells, we used small-interfering (si)RNAs to block innate DR4/DR5 translation (si1201 and si955 targeting DR4 and DR5 mRNA, respectively) according to their knockdown efficiency determined by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays (Figure 4B). Following results demonstrated that cell viability was slightly restored in DR4-knockdown cells and restored to a higher degree in DR5-knockdown cells following combination treatment with TRAIL and Andro. Additionally, we observed no significant difference in cell viability between DR4- and DR5-knockdown cells (Figure 4C). Flow cytometry confirmed those from MTS assays showing that blocking DR5 translation was more effective at reducing the apoptosis rate as compared with blocking DR4 translation (apoptosis rates: 14.41 ± 0.21% in DR4-knockdown cells and 8.07±0.22% in DR5-knockdown cells) (Figure 4D). Potential TRAIL-receptor mRNA expression in bladder cancer patients and the antitumor effects of TRAIL and Andro in T24 cells. (A) Log2-converted DR4/DR5 mRNA expression levels from the Oncomine database. (B) GSEA results showing that high DR4/DR5 expression was positively correlated with apoptosis-gene signatures. (C) T24 cells were treated with various concentrations of TRAIL for 24-h. (D) Two- and three-dimensional chemical representation of Andro derived from the PubChem Compound Database (https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). Red, grey, and light-blue nodes represent oxygen atoms, carbon atoms, and hydrogen atoms, respectively. (E) T24 cells were treated with various concentrations of Andro for 24-h. The p-value and IC50 values were calculated using GraphPad Prism software. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). TRAIL combined with Andro further inhibits T24-cell proliferation, migration, and colony formation. (A, B) Effects of TRAIL and/or Andro treatment on the T24 growth curve. Verification by cell-counting and MTS assays. (C) Images (200×) show T24 cells following treatment with TRAIL or/and Andro for 72-h. (D) Effects of TRAIL and Andro treatment on the colony formation of BLCA cell lines. T24 cells were treated with DMSO (control), TRAIL (2 ng/mL), or Andro (8 μM) alone or both TRAIL (2 ng/mL) and Andro (8 μM) and incubated for 12 days. Cell colonies (>50 cells) were counted using an inverted microscope (100×). (E) Effects of TRAIL and Andro treatment on T24-cell migration. T24 cells were treated with DMSO, TRAIL (2 ng/mL), and/or Andro (5 μM) for 18 h. Images (100×) show T24-cell migration after treatment. (F) Left panel: the protein levels of CD147. Right panel: MMP-9 in T24 cells treated with different concentrations of TRAIL (2 ng/ml) and/or Andro [4uM (+) or 8 uM (++)] for 18-h and measured by western blot. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). Because combined treatment enhanced DR4 and DR5 protein levels in T24 cells (Figure 4A), we performed GSEA of the TCGA profiles of 414 bladder patients, which indicated that both high TNFRSF10A and TNFRSF10B expression were positively correlated with the p53-signaling pathway (Figure 5A). Therefore, we constructed a p53-knockdown T24 cell line to explore the molecular mechanisms associated with Andro-mediated TNFRSF10B expression. Following qRT-PCR and immunoblot confirmation of p53-knockdown efficiency (Figure 5B), immunoblot results revealed that Andro enhanced p53 levels while p53 knockdown attenuated Andro-induced upregulation of DR4 and DR5 levels in T24 cells (Figure 5C). Moreover, MTS assays demonstrated partial restoration of cell viability in p53-knockdown cells compared to sh-ctrl T24 cells following combined treatment with TRAIL and Andro (control shRNA, 69.80±4.89% vs. p53 shRNA, 84.32±2.17%) (Figure 5D). Knocking down of p53 expression also contributed to attenuated synergistic effect of Andro for which decreased cell apoptosis rate in TRAIL-treated T24 cells (control shRNA, 23.88±0.77% vs. p53 shRNA, 13.99±0.88%) (Figure S1). Here, we found that RelA (the NF-κB p65 subunit) was downregulated at both the mRNA and protein levels following combined treatment with TRAIL and Andro (Figure 6A-C). Additionally, combined treatment modified protein and mRNA levels of apoptosis-related genes, resulting in decreased cIAP2 protein levels (Figure 6A), Bcl-2 mRNA levels (combined treatment, 63.08 ± 1.54% vs. TRAIL or Andro treatment alone, 104.33 ± 18.3% and 90.76 ± 1.77%, respectively), and attenuated XIAP mRNA levels (which were stimulated by TRAIL treatment alone) following Andro treatment (Figure 6C). To confirm the role of the NF-κB pathway in regulating TRAIL-induced apoptosis of T24 cells, we used ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC), a pan-NF-κB inhibitor. We found that the PDTC IC50 in T24 cells was 29.33 μM; therefore, we chose 5 µM as the appropriate concentration for further experiments (Figure 6D). MTS and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) assays revealed a synergistic effect of PDTC on the TRAIL sensitivity of T24 cells at relatively low concentrations (Figure 6E-G). Andro sensitizes TRAIL-induced apoptosis but not necrosis in T24 cells. (A) TRAIL combined with Andro treatment inhibited the cell viability of BLCA cell lines. T24 cells were treated with various concentrations of TRAIL and/or Andro [2 (+) or 4 (++) or 8 (+++) μM] for 24-h, and cell viability was examined by MTS assay. (B) Protein expression of hallmarks of apoptosis in T24 cells treated with 2 ng/mL TRAIL or/and 8 µM of Andro for 24-h. (C) Effects of TRAIL and Andro treatment on apoptosis in T24 cell lines. Cells were identified by Annexin V-FITC detection following DMSO (control), TRAIL (2 ng/mL), and/or Andro (8 μM) treatment for 24-h. Histogram showing the apoptosis rates of all cell lines. (D) Images (200×) showing apoptotic cells after treatment under different conditions. Histograms of T24 cells treated with DMSO, TRAIL (2 ng/mL), and/or Andro (8 μM) and Z-AVD-FMK (0.05 μM) or Nec-1 (0.05 μM). Cell viability was determined by MTS assay after 24-h. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). DR5 is critical for Andro-mediated sensitization of T24 cells to TRAIL. (A) DR4/DR5 protein levels in T24 cells treated with TRAIL and/or Andro for 24-h. (B) Histograms of qRT-PCR screening for DR4 (left panel)/DR5 (right panel) siRNA optimization. (C) Cell viability of T24 cells transfected with either siDR4 or siDR5 or both and treated with a combination of TRAIL and Andro for 24-h. (D) Effects of TRAIL and Andro combination treatment on apoptosis in DR4-knockdown and/or DR5-knockdown T24 cell lines. Histogram showing the apoptosis rates of all cell lines. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). Activation of p53 expression is required for Andro-induced upregulation of DR4/DR5. (A) GSEA revealing that genes in the high DR4/DR5-expression group were positively correlated with signatures related to the p53-signaling pathway. (B) p53 mRNA (left panel) and p53 protein levels (right panel) in control shRNA- and p53 shRNA-transfected T24 cells. (C) DR4/DR5 protein levels in control shRNA and p53 shRNA-transfected cells treated with Andro [4 (+) or 8 μM (++)]. (D) Cell viability of T24 cells transfected with control shRNA or p53 shRNA and treated with a combination of TRAIL (2 ng/mL) and Andro (8 μM) for 24-h. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). Combination treatment with TRAIL and Andro enhances cell apoptosis rates through inhibiting the NF-кB pathway in T24 cells. (A, B) T24 cells were treated with 2 ng/mL TRAIL and/or 8 µM Andro for 24-h, RelA/cIAP2 protein levels and its quantification were assessed by immunoblot. (C) Histograms showing the relative mRNA levels of RelA, Bcl-2, and XIAP in T24 cells treated with TRAIL or/and Andro. (D) T24 cells were treated with PDTC at various concentrations for 24-h, and cell viability and IC50 values were measured using MTS assays. (E) T24 cells were treated with 2 ng/mL TRAIL or 5 μM PDTC or 8 μM Andro or with a combination of TRAIL and Andro/PDTC for 24-h. Cell viability was measured by MTS assay. (F, G) Cell apoptosis rates of T24 cells according to Annexin V-FITC detection. T24 cells were treated with 2 ng/mL TRAIL or 5 μM PDTC or 8 μM Andro or with a combination of TRAIL and Andro/PDTC for 24-h. Histograms showing the apoptosis rates. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). We performed MTS assays to evaluate the effect of TRAIL and/or Andro treatment on 5637 and UM-UC 3 bladder cancer cell lines. We found that the IC50 value for TRAIL and Andro treatment alone of 5637 cells was 15.19 ng/mL and 82.9 µM, respectively (Figure 7A), whereas that for UM-UC 3 cells was 75.00 ng/mL and 103.3 µM, respectively (Figure 7C). Both UM-UC 3 cells and 5637 cells were insensitive to low concentrations of either TRAIL or Andro, whereas combined treatment displayed a clear inhibitory effect on the cell viability of these TRAIL-resistant BLCA cell lines (Figure 7B and D). At 24-h post-treatment of UM-UC 3 cells with both Andro and TRAIL, cell viability was 71.54 ± 5.06% as compared with 92.65 ± 3.43% following treatment with TRAIL alone. Similarly, in 5637 cells, cell viability following combined treatment was 57.39 ± 8.31% as compared with 85.96 ± 3.76% following TRAIL treatment alone. Additionally, cell apoptosis rates determined by FACS revealed that combination treatment enhanced apoptosis in both 5637 and UM-UC 3 cells (Figure 7E). Moreover, the synergistic effect of PDTC on TRAIL induced apoptosis was also validated in both 5637 and UM-UC 3 BLCA cell lines (Figure 8). These results further supported that Andro sensitized multiple BLCA cell lines to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. Andro enhances TRAIL-mediated suppression of cell viability and apoptosis rates in other BLCA cell lines. (A, B) 5637 cells were treated with various concentrations of TRAIL or/and Andro for 24-h, and cell viability and IC50 values were measured by MTS assays. (C, D) UM-UC 3 cells were treated with various concentrations of TRAIL or/and Andro for 24-h, and cell viability and IC50 values were measured by MTS assays. (E) Effects of TRAIL and Andro treatment on 5637 and UM-UC 3 cell apoptosis. 5637 cells were identified by Annexin V-FITC detection following DMSO (control), TRAIL (2 ng/mL), or Andro (10 μM) treatment and combined TRAIL (2 ng/mL) and Andro (10 μM) treatment for 24-h. UM-UC 3 cells were identified by Annexin V-FITC detection following DMSO (control), TRAIL (10 ng/mL), or Andro (20 μM) treatment and combined TRAIL (10 ng/mL) with Andro (20 μM) treatment for 24-h. Histogram showing the apoptosis rates of 5637 and UM-UC3 cell lines. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). Enhancing TRAIL induced apoptosis through blocking NF-κB pathway is effective in multiple BLCA cell lines. (A) 5637 cells were treated with various concentrations of PDTC for 24-h, cell viability and IC50 values were measured by MTS assays. (B) Effects of TRAIL and PDTC treatment on 5637 cell apoptosis. 5637 cells were identified by Annexin V-FITC detection after DMSO (Mock), TRAIL (2 ng/mL), or PDTC (20 μM) treatment and combined TRAIL (2 ng/mL) and PDTC (20 μM) treatment for 24-h. (C) Histogram showing the apoptosis rates of 5637 cells. (D) UM-UC 3 cells were treated with various concentrations of PDTC for 24-h, cell viability and IC50 values were measured by MTS assays. (E) Effects of TRAIL and PDTC treatment on UM-UC 3 cell apoptosis. UM-UC 3 cells were identified by Annexin V-FITC detection after DMSO (control), TRAIL (10 ng/mL), or PDTC (40 μM) treatment and combined TRAIL (10 ng/mL) with PDTC (40 μM) treatment for 24-h. (F) Histogram showing the apoptosis rates of UM-UC 3 cells. Data represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 (n = 3). The unique property of TRAIL triggering both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis making it a potentially effective anticancer agent [4, 19, 20]. Resistance of cancer cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis represents a major limitation to its clinical application . Therefore, identifying agents capable of enhancing TRAIL-induced anticancer effects is necessary. In the present study, clinical database analysis and GSEA revealed that mRNA expression of death receptors of TRAIL is positively associated with apoptosis signaling pathway in BLCA patients (Figure 1A and B). However, previous studies reported that human BLCA cells were resistant to TRAIL treatment . Thus, our findings that Andro, a natural compound, enhanced the sensitivity of BLCA cell lines to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis provided critical insight into a novel therapeutic strategy for BLCA patients. In this study, we confirmed the synergetic effect of combined Andro and TRAIL treatment in bladder cancer cells, with Andro treatment enhancing TRAIL-mediated inhibition of cell viability, proliferation, migration, and colony formation and promotion of apoptosis in T24 cells. Consistently, we found that protein levels of two factors involved in tumor migration (MMP-9 and CD147) [23, 24] were decreased following combination treatment (Figure 2). A pan-caspase inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK), almost completely restored cell viability of T24 cells treated with combination therapy, further supporting that Andro-specific increased TRAIL mediated caspase-dependent apoptosis in T24 cells (Figure 3). Another important finding was that combination therapy also increased TRAIL-induced apoptosis rates in multiple BLCA cell lines, indicating that Andro enhanced the anticancer efficacy of TRAIL independent of BLCA cell type (Figure 7). Schematic map describing apoptosis induction of the TRAIL and Andro combination therapy. TRAIL binding to its death receptors (DR4 and DR5), it initiates the formation of the DISC complex, which leads to activation of caspase cascades and induction of apoptosis . However, in cancer cells, pro-survival signaling pathways, including the NF-κB pathway, are activated to prevent TRAIL-induced apoptosis, with accumulating evidence supporting elevated NF-κB levels observed in bladder cancers [26, 27]. Two strategies should be considered to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of TRAIL: 1) enhancing the activation of apoptosis pathways and 2) suppressing pro-survival pathways. We noted that T24 cells treated with Andro exhibited substantial increases in both DR4 and DR5 levels, which possibly contributed to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. It remains controversial whether DR4 or DR5 represents the determinant receptor associated with TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Previous studies claimed that DR4 was more effective in promoting TRAIL-mediated cancer-cell apoptosis [28-30]; whereas other studies indicated DR5 was critical for promoting TRAIL-induced cancer-cell apoptosis . Here, by using siRNA targeting DR4 or DR5, we confirmed that both DR4 and DR5 were required for tumor suppressing activity by combined treatment with Andro and TRAIL in BLCA cells. Crucially, we noticed that silencing DR5 in BLCA cells is more effective in restoring the resistance for Andro/TRAIL treatment than silencing DR4, indicating that DR5 expression level is the major determinant for the sensitization by Andro in BLCA cells. Hence, we suggested that upregulated DR5 rather than DR4 enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis in T24 cells (Figure 4). Our bioinformatics analysis of BLCA patients' data revealed a correlation between death receptors of TRAIL and the p53-signaling pathway. In consistent with previous studies , we confirmed that p53 expression is critical for Andro-mediated increases in DR4 and DR5 expression (Figure 5). Downregulation of endogenous p53 expression blocked Andro-mediated upregulation of DR4 and DR5 levels in T24 cells. Importantly, decreased p53 partially attenuated the synergistic antitumor effects of the combination treatment. Therefore, we assumed that other pathways were involved in cancer-cell apoptosis associated with combined Andro and TRAIL treatment. The NF-κB-signaling pathway protects tumor cells from apoptosis by upregulating multiple anti-apoptosis genes . Accumulating evidence shows that activation of the NF-κB subunit RelA renders tumor cells resistant to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis . In the present study, we found that combined treatment of T24 cells with Andro and TRAIL decreased RelA expression at both mRNA and protein levels. Additionally, the mRNA expression of several NF-κB-regulated anti-apoptosis genes, including cIAP2, Bcl-2, and XIAP, was attenuated following Andro treatment. Therefore, we hypothesized that inhibiting the NF-κB-dependent pro-survival pathway by decreasing RelA expression might sensitize T24 cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. To further support our conclusion, we found that using PDTC (a pan- NF-κB inhibitor capable of suppressing both NF-κB-DNA binding and NF-κB-dependent transcriptional activity) enhanced TRAIL-mediated apoptosis and suppression of cell viability in multiple BLCA cell lines. These results suggested that the synergistic effect of combined treatment and associated NF-κB-pathway inhibition was correlated with the downregulation of RelA by Andro treatment (Figure 6), which agreed with previously reported results [33, 34]. As all our experiments were performed in vitro, thus it is still needed to assess the in vivo effect of the combination therapy of TRAIL and Andro on bladder cancer in future studies. Our findings indicated that combined treatment with TRAIL and Andro increased DR4/DR5 levels and suppressed the NF-κB-dependent anti-apoptosis pathway, both of which contributed to BLCA-cell sensitization to TRAIL. In conclusion, these results indicated that Andro treatment acted synergistically with TRAIL treatment and offers a potential treatment option for patients with TRAIL-resistant bladder cancer. RNA-seq data from the transcriptome profile in a bladder cancer dataset was downloaded from TCGA (https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/repository; data release 10.1; February 15, 2018) and contained 414 bladder tumor tissues and 19 adjacent normal bladder tissue samples. TNFRSF10A and TNFRSF10B mRNA expression data from a previous study was downloaded from the Oncomine database (https:// www.oncomine.org/resource/main.html). GSEA was performed by GSEA 3.0 (BROAD Institute; http:// www.broadinstitute.org/gsea) . Data processing and visualization were accomplished by R (https: //www.r-project.org/) and GraphPad Prism (v7.0; GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA). The BLCA cell lines T24, UM-UC 3, and 5637 cells were purchased from the Type Culture Collection of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China), and cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (HyClone, Logan, UT, USA). All media were supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Biological Industries, Cromwell, CT, USA). All cells were cultured under standard incubator conditions (37℃ and 5% CO2). Andrographolide was dissolved in 10 mM dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) used as a stock solution, and recombinant human TRAIL (R&D Systems, MN, USA) was prepared in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 0.1% bovine serum albumin at 20 µg/ml. Z-VAD-FMK (HY-16658), Necrostatin-1 (HY-15760), and PDTC (HY-18738) were purchased from MedChemExpress (Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA). Antibodies included the following: caspase-8, caspase-9, RelA, caspase-3, and DR4 from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA, USA); β-actin, PARP1, and cIAP2 from Abcam (Cambridge, UK); p53 from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA, USA); and DR5 from Biolegend (307407; San Diego, CA, USA). We used cell-growth curves and colony formation assays to evaluate the effect of Andrographolide and/or TRAIL on bladder cancer-cell proliferation. For growth assays, ~2 × 104 cells/well were seeded in a 24-well plate, treated with different concentrations of Andrographolide or/and TRAIL or DMSO (as control), and trypsinized, followed by resuspension and counting using a cell-counting chamber (Shanghai Precision Instruments Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China). Cell number was counted and recorded after 24-h, 48-h, and 72-h, with the optical density at 450 nm measured at the same time points. For colony formation assays, ~200 cells/well were seeded in a 6-well plate with 2 mL medium, treated under different conditions, and incubated for 12 days, after which cells were washed with cold PBS and fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for 20 min. Cells were then stained with 0.1% crystal violet solution for 15 min at room temperature, washed with double-distilled water three times, and air dried. Colonies (>50 cells) were counted using an inverted microscope (100×). All experiments were performed in triplicate. 100 × cell growth inhibitory ratio (%) = 100 × [(A × 450control - A450sample)/(A450control - A450blank)]. Cells in 6-well plates were washed twice with cold PBS. RIPA lysis buffer (Wanleibio, Beijing, China) was then added to the wells, followed by incubation for 15 min at 4°C. Whole-cell lysate was centrifuged at 12,000g at 4°C, and the supernatant was incubated with loading buffer and denatured at 100°C for 15 min, followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The separated proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes (Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA), and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate and nitro blue tetrazolium (Millipore) were used to visualize the protein bands, with a Quantity One instrument (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) used for imaging. Secondary antibodies included anti-rabbit IgG and anti-mouse IgG (Cell Signaling Technology, USA). Cells treated under different conditions for 24-h were resuspended in 6-well culture plates, washed twice with cold PBS, and pelleted by centrifugation at 5000g for 5 min. Apoptotic cells were quantified using an Annexin V-FITC apoptosis detection kit (KeyGEN BioTECH, Nanjing, China). A FACS flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) was used to analyze cell apoptosis. Briefly, RNA isolated from cells was converted to cDNA using a reverse transcription kit (Transgen Biotech, Beijing, China). PCR amplification was performed using a Roche LC480 instrument (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) with SYBR Green supermix (Fermentas, Waltham, MA, USA), 1 µM of each primer, and 6 μL of diluted cDNA. Samples were amplified in triplicate. Primer sequences for glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), Bcl-2, XIAP, RelA, and p53 are listed in Table S1. Relative gene-expression levels were represented as ΔCt = Ctgene - Ctreference, with fold changes calculated using the 2-ΔΔCt method. GAPDH was used to accomplish the expression normalization. The plasmids pRSV-Rev (12253), pMDLg/pRRE (12251), and pCMV-VSV-G (8454) were purchased from Addgene (Cambridge, MA, USA). The lentiviral vector plko.1 was obtained from Generay Biotech (Shanghai, China). The sequence for p53 shRNA (CCGGGTCCAGATGAAGCTCCCAGAACTCGAGTTCTGGGAGCTTCATCTGGACTTTTT) and flanked by EcoRI and BamHI sites (5′ and 3′, respectively) were inserted into the plko.1 vector. Viruses were propagated in 293T cells, the supernatant of infected 293T cells were collected, and viral particles were pelleted through a 20% sucrose cushion at 28,000 rpm for 90 min. Purified virions were stored at -80°C. Synthetic siRNA [negative-control fluorescein (FAM) siRNAs, DR4 siRNAs, and DR5 siRNAs] were obtained from GenePharma (Shanghai, China). The cellular delivery of siRNA was performed using Lipofectamine 2000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific), optimized using various siRNA concentrations, and evaluated by fluorescence microscope and qRT-PCR. siRNAs sequences are listed in Table S2. Differences among test groups were analyzed by GraphPad Prism software (v7.0; GraphPad Software) and SPSS (v20.0; IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A two-tailed Student's t test was performed to detect statistical difference between two individual experimental groups. Andro: andrographolide; IC50: 50% inhibitory concentration; MTS: 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulphophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium; TRAIL: tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand; BLCA: bladder urothelial carcinoma; TCGA: The Cancer Genome Atlas; MMP: matrix metalloproteinase; DMSO: dimethyl sulfoxide; FITC: fluorescein isothiocyanate; GSEA: Gene set enrichment analysis; Nec-1: necrostatin-1; SD: standard deviation; shRNA: short-hairpin RNA; TNFRSF10A/B: tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 10A/B; Bcl-2: B cell lymphoma 2; cIAP2: cellular inhibitor of apoptosis 2; qRT-PCR: quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; RelA: NF-κB p65 subunit; XIAP: X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis. We thank Junliang Chang and Yuanyuan Li for their technical assistance and Editage for editorial assistance. This work was supported by funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81772183). Conceptualization, Weiwei and Yuyou Deng; Methodology, Yuyou Deng, Haoran Guo and Ran Bi; Software, Yuyou Deng; Validation, Jiaxin Yang; Investigation, Honghuang Lan; Resources, Chunxi Wang; Writing-Review & Editing, Weiwei and Yuyou Deng; Visualization, Yuyou Deng; Supervision, Chunxi Wang; Project administration, Songling Zahgn; Funding Acquisition, Weiwei and Chunxi Wang.

2019-04-18T18:47:33Z

http://www.ijbs.com/v15p0688.htm

Czech (/tʃɛk/; čeština Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛʃcɪna]), historically also Bohemian (/boʊˈhiːmiən, bə-/; lingua Bohemica in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of mutual intelligibility to a very high degree. Like other Slavic languages, Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German. The Czech–Slovak group developed within West Slavic in the high medieval period, and the standardization of Czech and Slovak within the Czech–Slovak dialect continuum emerged in the early modern period. In the later 18th to mid-19th century, the modern written standard became codified in the context of the Czech National Revival. The main vernacular, known as Common Czech, is based on the vernacular of Prague, but is now spoken throughout most of the Czech Republic. The Moravian dialects spoken in the eastern part of the country are also classified as Czech, although some of their eastern variants are closer to Slovak. Czech has a moderately-sized phoneme inventory, comprising ten monophthongs, three diphthongs and 25 consonants (divided into "hard", "neutral" and "soft" categories). Words may contain complicated consonant clusters or lack vowels altogether. Czech has a raised alveolar trill, which is not known to occur as a phoneme in any other language, represented by the grapheme ř. Czech uses a simple orthography which phonologists have used as a model. Classification of Czech within the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Czech and Slovak make up a "Czech–Slovak" subgroup. Czech is a member of the West Slavic sub-branch of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. This branch includes Polish, Kashubian, Upper and Lower Sorbian and Slovak. Slovak is the closest language genetic neighbor of Czech, followed by Polish and Silesian. The West Slavic languages are spoken in Central Europe. Czech is distinguished from other West Slavic languages by a more-restricted distinction between "hard" and "soft" consonants (see Phonology below). The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible into the Czech language from the original languages. Its six volumes were first published between 1579 and 1593. The term "Old Czech" is applied to the period predating the 16th century, with the earliest records of the high medieval period also classified as "early Old Czech", but the term "Medieval Czech" is also used. Around the 7th century, the Slavic expansion reached Central Europe, settling on the eastern fringes of the Frankish Empire. The West Slavic polity of Great Moravia formed by the 9th century. The Christianization of Bohemia took place during the 9th and 10th centuries. The diversification of the Czech-Slovak group within West Slavic began around that time, marked among other things by its ephemeral use of the voiced velar fricative consonant (/ɣ/) and consistent stress on the first syllable. The Bohemian (Czech) language is first recorded in writing in glosses and short notes during the 12th to 13th centuries. Literary works written in Czech appear in the late 13th and early 14th century and administrative documents first appear towards the late 14th century. The first complete Bible translation also dates to this period. Old Czech texts, including poetry and cookbooks, were produced outside the university as well. Literary activity becomes widespread in the early 15th century in the context of the Bohemian Reformation. Jan Hus contributed significantly to the standardization of Czech orthography, advocated for widespread literacy among Czech commoners (particularly in religion) and made early efforts to model written Czech after the spoken language. There was no standardization distinguishing between Czech and Slovak prior to the 15th century. In the 16th century, the division between Czech and Slovak becomes apparent, marking the confessional division between Lutheran Protestants in Slovakia using Czech orthography and Catholics, especially Slovak Jesuits, beginning to use a separate Slovak orthography based on the language of the Trnava region. The publication of the Kralice Bible between 1579 and 1593 (the first complete Czech translation of the Bible from the original languages) became very important for standardization of the Czech language in the following centuries. In 1615, the Bohemian diet tried to declare Czech to be the only official language of the kingdom. After the Bohemian Revolt (of predominantly Protestant aristocracy) which was defeated by the Habsburgs in 1620, the Protestant intellectuals had to leave the country. This emigration together with other consequences of the Thirty Years' War had a negative impact on the further use of the Czech language. In 1627, Czech and German became official languages of the Kingdom of Bohemia and in the 18th century German became dominant in Bohemia and Moravia, especially among the upper classes. Josef Dobrovský, whose writing played a key role in reviving Czech as a written language. The modern standard Czech language originates in standardization efforts of the 18th century. By then the language had developed a literary tradition, and since then it has changed little; journals from that period have no substantial differences from modern standard Czech, and contemporary Czechs can understand them with little difficulty. Changes include the morphological shift of í to ej and é to í (although é survives for some uses) and the merging of í and the former ejí. Sometime before the 18th century, the Czech language abandoned a distinction between phonemic /l/ and /ʎ/ which survives in Slovak. With the beginning of the national revival of the mid-18th century, Czech historians began to emphasize their people's accomplishments from the 15th through the 17th centuries, rebelling against the Counter-Reformation (the Habsburg re-catholization efforts which had denigrated Czech and other non-Latin languages). Czech philologists studied sixteenth-century texts, advocating the return of the language to high culture. This period is known as the Czech National Revival (or Renaissance). During the national revival, in 1809 linguist and historian Josef Dobrovský released a German-language grammar of Old Czech entitled Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache (Comprehensive Doctrine of the Bohemian Language). Dobrovský had intended his book to be descriptive, and did not think Czech had a realistic chance of returning as a major language. However, Josef Jungmann and other revivalists used Dobrovský's book to advocate for a Czech linguistic revival. Changes during this time included spelling reform (notably, í in place of the former j and j in place of g), the use of t (rather than ti) to end infinitive verbs and the non-capitalization of nouns (which had been a late borrowing from German). These changes differentiated Czech from Slovak. Modern scholars disagree about whether the conservative revivalists were motivated by nationalism or considered contemporary spoken Czech unsuitable for formal, widespread use. Adherence to historical patterns was later relaxed and standard Czech adopted a number of features from Common Czech (a widespread, informal register), such as leaving some proper nouns undeclined. This has resulted in a relatively high level of homogeneity among all varieties of the language. A map of the languages of Central and Eastern Europe. Within the Czech Republic, Common Czech is represented by dark yellow (C1) and Moravian dialects by medium yellow (C2) and light green (C3). In 2005 and 2007, Czech was spoken by about 10 million residents of the Czech Republic. A Eurobarometer survey conducted from January to March 2012 found that the first language of 98 percent of Czech citizens was Czech, the third-highest in the European Union (behind Greece and Hungary). Czech, the official language of the Czech Republic (a member of the European Union since 2004), is one of the EU's official languages and the 2012 Eurobarometer survey found that Czech was the foreign language most often used in Slovakia. Economist Jonathan van Parys collected data on language knowledge in Europe for the 2012 European Day of Languages. The five countries with the greatest use of Czech were the Czech Republic (98.77 percent), Slovakia (24.86 percent), Portugal (1.93 percent), Poland (0.98 percent) and Germany (0.47 percent). Czech speakers in Slovakia primarily live in cities. Since it is a recognised minority language in Slovakia, Slovak citizens who speak only Czech may communicate with the government in their language to the extent that Slovak speakers in the Czech Republic may do so. Immigration of Czechs from Europe to the United States occurred primarily from 1848 to 1914. Czech is a Less Commonly Taught Language in U.S. schools, and is taught at Czech heritage centers. Large communities of Czech Americans live in the states of Texas, Nebraska and Wisconsin. In the 2000 United States Census, Czech was reported as the most-common language spoken at home (besides English) in Valley, Butler and Saunders Counties, Nebraska and Republic County, Kansas. With the exception of Spanish (the non-English language most commonly spoken at home nationwide), Czech was the most-common home language in over a dozen additional counties in Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, North Dakota and Minnesota. As of 2009, 70,500 Americans spoke Czech as their first language (49th place nationwide, behind Turkish and ahead of Swedish). The modern written standard is directly based on the standardization during the Czech National Revival in the 1830s, significantly influenced by Josef Jungmann's Czech–German dictionary published during 1834–1839. Jungmann used vocabulary of the Bible of Kralice (1579–1613) period and of the language used by his contemporaries. He borrowed words not present in Czech from other Slavic languages or created neologisms. Standard Czech contains ten basic vowel phonemes, and three more found only in loanwords. They are /a/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /o/, and /u/, their long counterparts /aː/, /ɛː/, /iː/, /oː/ and /uː/, and three diphthongs, /ou̯/, /au̯/ and /ɛu̯/. The latter two diphthongs and the long /oː/ are exclusive to loanwords. Vowels are never reduced to schwa sounds when unstressed. Each word usually has primary stress on its first syllable, except for enclitics (minor, monosyllabic, unstressed syllables). In all words of more than two syllables, every odd-numbered syllable receives secondary stress. Stress is unrelated to vowel length, and the possibility of stressed short vowels and unstressed long vowels can be confusing to students whose native language combines the features (such as most varieties of English). Voiced consonants with unvoiced counterparts are unvoiced at the end of a word before a pause, and in consonant clusters voicing assimilation occurs, which matches voicing to the following consonant. The unvoiced counterpart of /ɦ/ is /x/. This distinction describes the declension patterns of nouns, which is based on the category of a noun's ending consonant. Hard consonants may not be followed by i or í in writing, or soft ones by y or ý (except in loanwords such as kilogram). Neutral consonants may take either character. Hard consonants are sometimes known as "strong", and soft ones as "weak". "řeka" (river) (help·info)), and is present in Dvořák. In unvoiced environments, /r̝/ is realized as its voiceless allophone [r̝̊]. The consonants /r/ and /l/ can be syllabic, acting as syllable nuclei in place of a vowel. Strč prst skrz krk ("Stick [your] finger through [your] throat") is a well-known Czech tongue twister using only syllabic consonants. Slavic grammar is fusional; its nouns, verbs, and adjectives are inflected by phonological processes to modify their meanings and grammatical functions, and the easily separable affixes characteristic of agglutinative languages are limited. Slavic inflection is complex and pervasive, inflecting for case, gender and number in nouns and tense, aspect, mood, person and subject number and gender in verbs. Parts of speech include adjectives, adverbs, numbers, interrogative words, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Adverbs are primarily formed from adjectives by taking the final ý or í of the base form and replacing it with e, ě, or o. Negative statements are formed by adding the affix ne- to the verb of a clause, with one exception: je (he, she or it is) becomes není. Because Czech uses grammatical case to convey word function in a sentence (instead of relying on word order, as English does), its word order is flexible. As a pro-drop language, in Czech an intransitive sentence can consist of only a verb; information about its subject is encoded in the verb. Enclitics (primarily auxiliary verbs and pronouns) must appear in the second syntactic slot of a sentence, after the first stressed unit. The first slot must contain a subject and object, a main form of a verb, an adverb or a conjunction (except for the light conjunctions a, "and", i, "and even" or ale, "but"). Czech syntax has a subject–verb–object sentence structure. In practice, however, word order is flexible and used for topicalization and focus. Although Czech has a periphrastic passive construction (like English), colloquial word-order changes frequently produce the passive voice. For example, to change "Peter killed Paul" to "Paul was killed by Peter" the order of subject and object is inverted: Petr zabil Pavla ("Peter killed Paul") becomes "Paul, Peter killed" (Pavla zabil Petr). Pavla is in the accusative case, the grammatical object (in this case, the victim) of the verb. Pes jí bagetu. – The dog eats the baguette (rather than eating something else). Bagetu jí pes. – The dog eats the baguette (rather than someone else doing so). Pes bagetu jí. – The dog eats the baguette (rather than doing something else to it). In portions of Bohemia (including Prague), questions such as Jí pes bagetu? without an interrogative word (such as co, "what" or kdo, "who") are intoned in a slow rise from low to high, quickly dropping to low on the last word or phrase. Czech: Chc-i navštív-it universit-u, na kter-ou chod-í Jan. English: I want to visit the university that John attends. Some Czech grammatical texts order the cases differently, grouping the nominative and accusative (and the dative and locative) together because those declension patterns are often identical; this order accommodates learners with experience in other inflected languages, such as Latin or Russian. This order is nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, instrumental and vocative. Some prepositions require the nouns they modify to take a particular case. The cases assigned by each preposition are based on the physical (or metaphorical) direction, or location, conveyed by it. For example, od (from, away from) and z (out of, off) assign the genitive case. Other prepositions take one of several cases, with their meaning dependent on the case; na means "onto" or "for" with the accusative case, but "on" with the locative. Examples of declension patterns (using prepositions) for a few nouns with adjectives follow. Only one plural example is given, since plural declension patterns are similar across genders. Czech: Nes-l js-em krabic-i do dom-u se sv-ým přítel-em. English: I carried the box into the house with my friend. Czech distinguishes three genders—masculine, feminine, and neuter—and the masculine gender is subdivided into animate and inanimate. With few exceptions, feminine nouns in the nominative case end in -a, -e, or consonant; neuter nouns in -o, -e, or -í, and masculine nouns in a consonant. Adjectives agree in gender and animacy (for masculine nouns in the accusative or genitive singular and the nominative plural) with the nouns they modify. The main effect of gender in Czech is the difference in noun and adjective declension, but other effects include past-tense verb endings: for example, dělal (he did, or made); dělala (she did, or made) and dělalo (it did, or made). Nouns are also inflected for number, distinguishing between singular and plural. Typical of a Slavic language, Czech cardinal numbers one through four allow the nouns and adjectives they modify to take any case, but numbers over five place these nouns and adjectives in the genitive case when the entire expression is in nominative or accusative case. The Czech koruna is an example of this feature; it is shown here as the subject of a hypothetical sentence, and declined as genitive for numbers five and up. Numerical words decline for case and, for numbers one and two, for gender. Numbers one through five are shown below as examples, and have some of the most exceptions among Czech numbers. The number one has declension patterns identical to those of the demonstrative pronoun, to. Although Czech's grammatical numbers are singular and plural, several residuals of dual forms remain. Some nouns for paired body parts use a historical dual form to express plural in some cases: ruka (hand)—ruce (nominative); noha (leg)—nohama (instrumental), nohou (genitive/locative); oko (eye)—oči, and ucho (ear)—uši. While two of these nouns are neuter in their singular forms, all plural forms are considered feminine; their gender is relevant to their associated adjectives and verbs. These forms are plural semantically, used for any non-singular count, as in mezi čtyřma očima (face to face, lit. among four eyes). The plural number paradigms of these nouns are actually a mixture of historical dual and plural forms. For example, nohy (legs; nominative/accusative) is a standard plural form of this type of noun. Czech verb conjugation is less complex than noun and adjective declension because it codes for fewer categories. Verbs agree with their subjects in person (first, second or third) and number (singular or plural), and are conjugated for tense (past, present or future). For example, the conjugated verb mluvíme (we speak) is in the present tense and first-person plural; it is distinguished from other conjugations of the infinitive mluvit by its ending, -íme. Typical of Slavic languages, Czech marks its verbs for one of two grammatical aspects: perfective and imperfective. Most verbs are part of inflected aspect pairs—for example, koupit (perfective) and kupovat (imperfective). Although the verbs' meaning is similar, in perfective verbs the action is completed and in imperfective verbs it is ongoing. This is distinct from past and present tense, and any Czech verb of either aspect can be conjugated into any of its three tenses. Aspect describes the state of the action at the time specified by the tense. The verbs of most aspect pairs differ in one of two ways: by prefix or by suffix. In prefix pairs, the perfective verb has an added prefix—for example, the imperfective psát (to write, to be writing) compared with the perfective napsat (to write down, to finish writing). The most common prefixes are na-, o-, po-, s-, u-, vy-, z- and za-. In suffix pairs, a different infinitive ending is added to the perfective stem; for example, the perfective verbs koupit (to buy) and prodat (to sell) have the imperfective forms kupovat and prodávat. Imperfective verbs may undergo further morphology to make other imperfective verbs (iterative and frequentative forms), denoting repeated or regular action. The verb jít (to go) has the iterative form chodit (to go repeatedly) and the frequentative form chodívat (to go regularly). Many verbs have only one aspect, and verbs describing continual states of being—být (to be), chtít (to want), moct (to be able to), ležet (to lie down, to be lying down)—have no perfective form. Conversely, verbs describing immediate states of change—for example, otěhotnět (to become pregnant) and nadchnout se (to become enthusiastic)—have no imperfective aspect. Although Czech's use of present and future tense is largely similar to that of English, the language uses past tense to represent the English present perfect and past perfect; ona běžela could mean she ran, she has run or she had run. In some contexts, Czech's perfective present (which differs from the English present perfect) implies future action; in others, it connotes habitual action. As a result, the language has a proper future tense to minimize ambiguity. The future tense does not involve conjugating the verb describing an action to be undertaken in the future; instead, the future form of být (as shown in the table at left) is placed before the infinitive (for example, budu jíst—"I will eat"). This conjugation is not followed by být itself, so future-oriented expressions involving nouns, adjectives, or prepositions (rather than verbs) omit být. "I will be happy" is translated as Budu šťastný (not Budu být šťastný). The infinitive form ends in t (archaically, ti). It is the form found in dictionaries and the form that follows auxiliary verbs (for example, můžu tě slyšet—"I can hear you"). Czech verbs have three grammatical moods: indicative, imperative and conditional. The imperative mood adds specific endings for each of three person (or number) categories: -Ø/-i/-ej for second-person singular, -te/-ete/-ejte for second-person plural and -me/-eme/-ejme for first-person plural. The conditional mood is formed with a particle after the past-tense verb. This mood indicates possible events, expressed in English as "I would" or "I wish". Czech has one of the most phonemic orthographies of all European languages. Its thirty-one graphemes represent thirty sounds (in most dialects, i and y have the same sound), and it contains only one digraph: ch, which follows h in the alphabet. As a result, some of its characters have been used by phonologists to denote corresponding sounds in other languages. The characters q, w and x appear only in foreign words. The háček (ˇ) is used with certain letters to form new characters: š, ž, and č, as well as ň, ě, ř, ť, and ď (the latter five uncommon outside Czech). The last two letters are sometimes written with a comma above (ʼ, an abbreviated háček) because of their height. The character ó exists only in loanwords and onomatopoeia. Unlike most European languages, Czech distinguishes vowel length; long vowels are indicated by an acute accent or, occasionally with ů, a ring. Long u is usually written ú at the beginning of a word or morpheme (úroda, neúrodný) and ů elsewhere, except for loanwords (skútr) or onomatopoeia (bú). Long vowels and ě are not considered separate letters in the alphabetical order. Czech typographical features not associated with phonetics generally resemble those of most Latin European languages, including English. Proper nouns, honorifics, and the first letters of quotations are capitalized, and punctuation is typical of other Latin European languages. Writing of ordinal numerals is similar to most European languages. The Czech language uses a decimal comma instead of a decimal point. When writing a long number, spaces between every three numbers (e.g. between hundreds and thousands) may be used for better orientation in handwritten texts, but not in decimal places, like in English. The number 1,234,567.8910 may be written as 1234567,8910 or 1 234 567,8910. Ordinal numbers (1st) use a point as in German (1.). In proper noun phrases (except personal names), only the first word is capitalized (Pražský hrad, Prague Castle). The main vernacular of Bohemia is "Common Czech", based on the dialect of the Prague region. Other Bohemian dialects have become marginalized, while Moravian dialects remain more widespread, with a political movement for Moravian linguistic revival active since the 1990s. The main Czech vernacular, spoken primarily in and around Prague but also throughout the country, is known as Common Czech (obecná čeština). This is an academic distinction; most Czechs are unaware of the term or associate it with vernacular (or incorrect) Czech. Compared to standard Czech, Common Czech is characterized by simpler inflection patterns and differences in sound distribution. Common Czech has become ubiquitous in most parts of the Czech Republic since the later 20th century. It is usually defined as an interdialect used in common speech in Bohemia and western parts of Moravia (by about two thirds of all inhabitants of the Czech Republic). Common Czech is not codified, but some of its elements have become adopted in the written standard. Since the second half of the 20th century, Common Czech elements have also been spreading to regions previously unaffected, as a consequence of media influence. Standard Czech is still the norm for politicians, businesspeople and other Czechs in formal situations, but Common Czech is gaining ground in journalism and the mass media. unified instrumental ending -ma in plural: s těma dobrejma lidma, ženama, chlapama, městama (with the good people, women, guys, towns) – stand.: s těmi dobrými lidmi, ženami, chlapy, městy. In essence, this form resembles the form of the dual, which was once a productive form, but now is almost extinct and retained in a lexically specific set of words. In Common Czech the ending became productive again around the 17th century, but used as a substitute for a regular plural form. omitting of the syllabic -l in the masculine ending of past tense verbs: řek (he said), moh (he could), pích (he pricked) – stand.: řekl, mohl, píchl. Apart from the Common Czech vernacular, there remain a variety of other Bohemian dialects, mostly in marginal rural areas. Dialect use began to weaken in the second half of the 20th century, and by the early 1990s regional dialect use was stigmatized, associated with the shrinking lower class and used in literature or other media for comedic effect. Increased travel and media availability to dialect-speaking populations has encouraged them to shift to (or add to their own dialect) standard Czech. Bohemian dialects use a slightly different set of vowel phonemes to standard Czech. The phoneme /ɛː/ is peripheral and is replaced by /iː/, and a second native diphthong /eɪ̯/ occurs, usually in places where standard Czech has /iː/. The Czech dialects spoken in Moravia and Silesia are known as Moravian (moravština). In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, "Bohemian-Moravian-Slovak" was a language citizens could register as speaking (with German, Polish and several others). Of the Czech dialects, only Moravian is distinguished in nationwide surveys by the Czech Statistical Office. As of 2011, 62,908 Czech citizens spoke Moravian as their first language and 45,561 were diglossal (speaking Moravian and standard Czech as first languages). Beginning in the sixteenth century, some varieties of Czech resembled Slovak; the southeastern Moravian dialects, in particular, are sometimes considered dialects of Slovak rather than Czech. These dialects form a continuum between the Czech and Slovak languages, using the same declension patterns for nouns and pronouns and the same verb conjugations as Slovak. Standard Czech: Dej mouku ze mlýna na vozík. Common Czech: Dej mouku ze mlejna na vozejk. Central Moravian: Dé móku ze mléna na vozék. Eastern Moravian: Daj múku ze młýna na vozík. Silesian: Daj muku ze młyna na vozik. Slovak: Daj múku z mlyna na vozík. English: Put the flour from the mill into the cart. Czech and Slovak have been considered mutually intelligible; speakers of either language can communicate with greater ease than those of any other pair of West Slavic languages. Since the 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia, mutual intelligibility has declined for younger speakers, probably because Czech speakers now experience less exposure to Slovak and vice versa. In phonetic differences, Czech is characterized by a glottal stop before initial vowels and Slovak by its less-frequent use of long vowels than Czech; however, Slovak has long forms of the consonants r and l when they function as vowels. Phonemic differences between the two languages are generally consistent, typical of two dialects of a language. Grammatically, although Czech (unlike Slovak) has a fully productive vocative case, both languages share a common syntax. One study showed that Czech and Slovak lexicons differed by 80 percent, but this high percentage was found to stem primarily from differing orthographies and slight inconsistencies in morphological formation; Slovak morphology is more regular (when changing from the nominative to the locative case, Praha becomes Praze in Czech and Prahe in Slovak). The two lexicons are generally considered similar, with most differences found in colloquial vocabulary and some scientific terminology. Slovak has slightly more borrowed words than Czech. The similarities between Czech and Slovak led to the languages being considered a single language by a group of 19th-century scholars who called themselves "Czechoslavs" (Čechoslované), believing that the peoples were connected in a way which excluded German Bohemians and (to a lesser extent) Hungarians and other Slavs. During the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938), although "Czechoslovak" was designated as the republic's official language, both Czech and Slovak written standards were used. Standard written Slovak was partially modeled on literary Czech, and Czech was preferred for some official functions in the Slovak half of the republic. Czech influence on Slovak was protested by Slovak scholars, and when Slovakia broke off from Czechoslovakia in 1938 as the Slovak State (which then aligned with Nazi Germany in World War II), literary Slovak was deliberately distanced from Czech. When the Axis powers lost the war and Czechoslovakia reformed, Slovak developed somewhat on its own (with Czech influence); during the Prague Spring of 1968, Slovak gained independence from (and equality with) Czech, due to the transformation of Czechoslovakia from a unitary state to a federation. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, "Czechoslovak" has referred to improvised pidgins of the languages which have arisen from the decrease in mutual intelligibility. Czech vocabulary derives primarily from Slavic, Baltic and other Indo-European roots. Although most verbs have Balto-Slavic origins, pronouns, prepositions and some verbs have wider, Indo-European roots. Some loanwords have been restructured by folk etymology to resemble native Czech words (hřbitov, "graveyard" and listina, "list"). Most Czech loanwords originated in one of two time periods. Earlier loanwords, primarily from German, Greek and Latin, arrived before the Czech National Revival. More recent loanwords derive primarily from English and French, and also from Hebrew, Arabic and Persian. Many Russian loanwords, principally animal names and naval terms, also exist in Czech. Although older German loanwords were colloquial, recent borrowings from other languages are associated with high culture. During the nineteenth century, words with Greek and Latin roots were rejected in favor of those based on older Czech words and common Slavic roots; "music" is muzyka in Polish and музыка (muzyka) in Russian, but in Czech it is hudba. Some Czech words have been borrowed as loanwords into English and other languages—for example, robot (from robota, "labor") and polka (from polka, "Polish woman" or from "půlka" "half"). Czech: Všichni lidé se rodí svobodní a sobě rovní co do důstojnosti a práv. Jsou nadáni rozumem a svědomím a mají spolu jednat v duchu bratrství. English: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Czech". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. ^ a b "Czech language". www.britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 6 January 2015. ^ Golubović, Jelena; Gooskens, Charlotte (2015). "Mutual intelligibility between West and South Slavic languages". Russian Linguistics. 39 (3): 351–373. doi:10.1007/s11185-015-9150-9. ^ a b c d e Berger, Tilman. "Slovaks in Czechia – Czechs in Slovakia" (PDF). University of Tübingen. Retrieved August 9, 2014. ^ a b "Europeans and Their Languages" (PDF). Eurobarometer. June 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2014. ^ van Parys, Jonathan (2012). "Language knowledge in the European Union". Language Knowledge. Retrieved July 23, 2014. ^ Škrobák, Zdeněk. "Language Policy of Slovak Republic" (PDF). Annual of Language & Politics and Politics of Identity. Retrieved July 26, 2014. ^ Hrouda, Simone J. "Czech Language Programs and Czech as a Heritage Language in the United States" (PDF). University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved July 23, 2014. ^ "Chapter 8: Language" (PDF). Census.gov. 2000. Retrieved July 23, 2014. ^ "Languages of the U.S.A" (PDF). U.S. English. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2014. ^ Naughton, James. "CZECH LITERATURE, 1774 TO 1918". Oxford University. Archived from the original on 12 June 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012. ^ "Psaní i – y po písmenu c". Czech Language Institute. Retrieved 11 August 2014. ^ Short 2009, p. 324. ^ Short 2009, p. 325. ^ Uhlířová, Ludmila. "SLOVOSLED NOMINÁLNÍ SKUPINY". Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny. Retrieved 18 October 2017. ^ Lukeš, Dominik (2001). "Gramatická terminologie ve vyučování - Terminologie a platonický svět gramatických idejí". DominikLukeš.net. Retrieved August 5, 2014. ^ a b "Map of Czech Dialects". Český statistický úřad (Czech Statistical Office). 2003. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2014. ^ "Tab. 614b Obyvatelstvo podle věku, mateřského jazyka a pohlaví (Population by Age, Mother Tongue, and Gender)" (in Czech). Český statistický úřad (Czech Statistical Office). March 26, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2014. ^ Šustek, Zbyšek (1998). "Otázka kodifikace spisovného moravského jazyka (The question of codifying a written Moravian language)" (in Czech). University of Tartu. Retrieved July 21, 2014. ^ Short 2009, p. 306. ^ Harper, Douglas. "robot (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved July 22, 2014. ^ Harper, Douglas. "polka (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved July 22, 2014. ^ "Všeobecná deklarace lidských prav" (PDF). United Nations Information Centre Prague. United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-14. Retrieved July 30, 2014. ^ "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2014. Agnew, Hugh LeCaine (1994). Origins of the Czech National Renascence. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-8549-5. Dankovičová, Jana (1999). "Czech". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association (9th ed.). International Phonetic Association/Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0. Cerna, Iva; Machalek, Jolana (2007). Beginner's Czech. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-7818-1156-9. Chloupek, Jan; Nekvapil, Jiří (1993). Studies in Functional Stylistics. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-1545-1. Eckert, Eva (1993). Varieties of Czech: Studies in Czech Sociolinguistics. Editions Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-5183-490-1. Esposito, Anna (2011). Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Enactment: The Processing Issues. Springer Press. ISBN 978-3-642-25774-2. Hajičová, Eva (1986). Prague Studies in Mathematical Linguistics (9th ed.). John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 978-90-272-1527-7. Harkins, William Edward (1952). A Modern Czech Grammar. King's Crown Press (Columbia University). ISBN 978-0-231-09937-0. Komárek, Miroslav (2012). Dějiny českého jazyka. Brno: Host. ISBN 978-80-7294-591-7. Kortmann, Bernd; van der Auwera, Johan (2011). The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide (World of Linguistics). Mouton De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-022025-4. Koudela, Břetislav; et al. (1964). Vývoj českého jazyka a dialektologie (in Czech). Československé státní pedagogické nakladatelství. Liberman, Anatoly; Trubetskoi, Nikolai S. (2001). N.S. Trubetzkoy: Studies in General Linguistics and Language Structure. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-2299-3. Mann, Stuart Edward (1957). Czech Historical Grammar. Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87118-261-7. Mathesius, Vilém (2013). A Functional Analysis of Present Day English on a General Linguistic Basis. De Gruyter. ISBN 978-90-279-3077-4. Maxwell, Alexander (2009). Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism. Tauris Academic Studies. ISBN 978-1-84885-074-3. Naughton, James (2005). Czech: An Essential Grammar. Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0-415-28785-2. Pansofia (1993). Pravidla českého pravopisu (in Czech). Ústav pro jazyk český AV ČR. ISBN 978-80-901373-6-3. Piotrowski, Michael (2012). Natural Language Processing for Historical Texts. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60845-946-9. Qualls, Eduard J. (2012). The Qualls Concise English Grammar. Danaan Press. ISBN 978-1-890000-09-7. Rothstein, Björn; Thieroff, Rolf (2010). Mood in the Languages of Europe. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 978-90-272-0587-2. Short, David (2009). "Czech and Slovak". In Bernard Comrie (ed.). The World's Major Languages (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 305–330. Scheer, Tobias (2004). A Lateral Theory of Phonology: What is CVCV, and why Should it Be?, Part 1. Walter De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017871-5. Stankiewicz, Edward (1986). The Slavic Languages: Unity in Diversity. Mouton De Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-009904-1. Sussex, Rolan; Cubberley, Paul (2011). The Slavic Languages. Cambridge Language Surveys. ISBN 978-0-521-29448-5. Tahal, Karel (2010). A grammar of Czech as a foreign language (PDF). Factum. Wilson, James (2009). Moravians in Prague: A Sociolinguistic Study of Dialect Contact in the Czech. Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-3-631-58694-5. Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Czech. For a list of words relating to Czech language, see the Czech language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Czech language. Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Czech language.

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http://conceptmap.cfapps.io/wikipage?lang=en&name=Czech_language

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Oct 1, 2018. Dalvance® (dalbavancin) for injection is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), caused by susceptible isolates of the following Gram-positive microorganisms: Staphylococcus aureus (including methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant strains), Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Streptococcus anginosus group (including S. anginosus, S. intermedius, S. constellatus) and Enterococcus faecalis (vancomycin susceptible strains). To reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria and maintain the effectiveness of Dalvance and other antibacterial agents, Dalvance should be used only to treat infections that are proven or strongly suspected to be caused by susceptible bacteria. When culture and susceptibility information are available, they should be considered in selecting or modifying antibacterial therapy. In the absence of such data, local epidemiology and susceptibility patterns may contribute to the empiric selection of therapy. The recommended dosage regimen of Dalvance in patients with normal renal function is 1500 mg, administered either as a single dose, or 1000 mg followed one week later by 500 mg. Dalvance should be administered over 30 minutes by intravenous infusion [see Dosage and Administration (2.3)]. In patients with renal impairment whose known creatinine clearance is less than 30 mL/min and who are not receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis, the recommended regimen of Dalvance is 1125 mg, administered as a single dose, or 750 mg followed one week later by 375 mg (see Table 1). No dosage adjustment is recommended for patients receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis, and Dalvance can be administered without regard to the timing of hemodialysis [see Use in Specific Populations (8.5), Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. Dalvance (dalbavancin) for injection must be reconstituted with either Sterile Water for Injection, USP, or 5% Dextrose Injection, USP, and subsequently diluted only with 5% Dextrose Injection, USP, to a final concentration of 1 mg/mL to 5 mg/mL. Reconstitution: Dalvance must be reconstituted under aseptic conditions, using 25 mL of either Sterile Water for Injection, USP, or 5% Dextrose Injection, USP, for each 500 mg vial. To avoid foaming, alternate between gentle swirling and inversion of the vial until its contents are completely dissolved. Do not shake. The reconstituted vial contains 20 mg/mL dalbavancin as a clear, colorless to yellow solution. Reconstituted vials may be stored either refrigerated at 2 to 8 °C (36 to 46 °F), or at controlled room temperature 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F). Do not freeze. Dilution: Aseptically transfer the required dose of reconstituted dalbavancin solution from the vial(s) to an intravenous bag or bottle containing 5% Dextrose Injection, USP. The diluted solution must have a final dalbavancin concentration of 1 mg/mL to 5 mg/mL. Discard any unused portion of the reconstituted solution. Once diluted into an intravenous bag or bottle as described above, Dalvance may be stored either refrigerated at 2 to 8 °C (36 to 46 °F) or at a controlled room temperature of 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F). Do not freeze. The total time from reconstitution to dilution to administration should not exceed 48 hours. Like all parenteral drug products, diluted Dalvance should be inspected visually for particulate matter prior to infusion. If particulate matter is identified, do not use. Administration: After reconstitution and dilution, Dalvance is to be administered via intravenous infusion, using a total infusion time of 30 minutes. Do not co-infuse Dalvance with other medications or electrolytes. Saline-based infusion solutions may cause precipitation and should not be used. The compatibility of reconstituted Dalvance with intravenous medications, additives, or substances other than 5% Dextrose Injection, USP has not been established. If a common intravenous line is being used to administer other drugs in addition to Dalvance, the line should be flushed before and after each Dalvance infusion with 5% Dextrose Injection, USP. Dalvance is supplied in clear glass vials containing sterile powder (white/off-white to pale yellow) equivalent to 500 mg of dalbavancin. Dalvance is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to dalbavancin. No data are available on cross-reactivity between dalbavancin and other glycopeptides, including vancomycin. Serious hypersensitivity (anaphylactic) and skin reactions have been reported in patients treated with Dalvance. If an allergic reaction occurs, treatment with Dalvance should be discontinued. Before using Dalvance, inquire carefully about previous hypersensitivity reactions to glycopeptides, and due to the possibility of cross-sensitivity, exercise caution in patients with a history of glycopeptide allergy [see Patient Counseling Information (17)]. ​Dalvance is administered via intravenous infusion, using a total infusion time of 30 minutes to minimize the risk of infusion-related reactions. Rapid intravenous infusions of Dalvance can cause reactions that resemble “Red-Man Syndrome,” including flushing of the upper body, urticaria, pruritus, rash, and/or back pain. Stopping or slowing the infusion may result in cessation of these reactions. In Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, more Dalvance than comparator-treated subjects with normal baseline transaminase levels had post-baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal (ULN). Overall, abnormalities in liver tests (ALT, AST, bilirubin) were reported with similar frequency in the Dalvance and comparator arms [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)]. Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) has been reported in users of nearly all systemic antibacterial drugs, including Dalvance, with severity ranging from mild diarrhea to fatal colitis. Treatment with antibacterial agents can alter the normal flora of the colon, and may permit overgrowth of C. difficile. C. difficile produces toxins A and B which contribute to the development of CDAD. Hypertoxin-producing strains of C. difficile cause increased morbidity and mortality, as these infections can be refractory to antibacterial therapy and may require colectomy. CDAD must be considered in all patients who present with diarrhea following antibacterial use. Careful medical history is necessary because CDAD has been reported to occur more than 2 months after the administration of antibacterial agents. If CDAD is suspected or confirmed, ongoing antibacterial use not directed against C. difficile should be discontinued, if possible. Appropriate measures such as fluid and electrolyte management, protein supplementation, antibacterial treatment of C. difficile, and surgical evaluation should be instituted as clinically indicated. Prescribing Dalvance in the absence of a proven or strongly suspected bacterial infection is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and increases the risk of the development of drug-resistant bacteria. Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in clinical trials of Dalvance cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect rates observed in practice. Adverse reactions were evaluated for 2473 patients treated with Dalvance: 1778 patients were treated with Dalvance in seven Phase 2/3 trials comparing Dalvance to comparator antibacterial drugs and 695 patients were treated with Dalvance in one Phase 3 trial comparing Dalvance single and two-dose regimens. A causal relationship between study drug and adverse reactions was not always established. The median age of patients treated with Dalvance was 48 years, ranging between 16 and 93 years. Patients treated with Dalvance were predominantly male (59.5%) and White (81.2%). Serious adverse reactions occurred in 121/2473 (4.9%) of patients treated with any regimen of Dalvance. In the Phase 2/3 trials comparing Dalvance to comparator, serious adverse reactions occurred in 109/1778 (6.1%) of patients in the Dalvance group and 80/1224 (6.5%) of patients in the comparator group. In a Phase 3 trial comparing Dalvance single and two-dose regimens, serious adverse reactions occurred in 7/349 (2.0%) of patients in the Dalvance single dose group and 5/346 (1.4%) of patients in the Dalvance two-dose group. Dalvance was discontinued due to an adverse reaction in 64/2473 (2.6%) patients treated with any regimen of Dalvance. In the Phase 2/3 trials comparing Dalvance to comparator, Dalvance was discontinued due to an adverse reaction in 53/1778 (3.0%) of patients in the Dalvance group and 35/1224 (2.9%) of patients in the comparator group. In a Phase 3 trial comparing Dalvance single and two-dose regimens, Dalvance was discontinued due to an adverse reaction in 6/349 (1.7%) of patients in the Dalvance single dose group and 5/346 (1.4%) of patients in the Dalvance two-dose group. The most common adverse reactions in patients treated with Dalvance were nausea (4.7%), headache (3.8%), and diarrhea (3.4%). The median duration of adverse reactions was 3.0 days in patients treated with Dalvance. In the Phase 2/3 trials comparing Dalvance to comparator, the median duration of adverse reactions was 3.0 days for patients in the Dalvance group and 4.0 days in patients in the comparator group. In a Phase 3 trial comparing Dalvance single and two-dose regimens, the median duration of adverse reactions was 3.0 days for patients in the Dalvance single and two-dose group. Table 2 lists selected adverse reactions occurring in 2% or more of patients treated with Dalvance in Phase 2/3 clinical trials. * Comparators included linezolid, cefazolin, cephalexin, and vancomycin. In the Phase 3 trial comparing the single and two-dose regimen of Dalvance, the adverse reaction that occurred in 2% or more of patients treated with Dalvance was nausea (3.4% in the Dalvance single dose group and 2% in the Dalvance two-dose group). Among patients with normal baseline ALT levels treated with Dalvance 17 (0.8%) had post-baseline ALT elevations greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal (ULN) including five subjects with post-baseline ALT values greater than 10 times ULN. Among patients with normal baseline ALT levels treated with non-Dalvance comparators 2 (0.2%) had post-baseline ALT elevations greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal. Fifteen of the 17 patients treated with Dalvance and one comparator patient had underlying conditions which could affect liver enzymes, including chronic viral hepatitis, history of alcohol abuse and metabolic syndrome. In addition, one Dalvance-treated subject in a Phase 1 trial had post-baseline ALT elevations greater than 20 times ULN. ALT elevations were reversible in all subjects with follow-up assessments. No comparator-treated subject with normal baseline transaminases had post-baseline ALT elevation greater than 10 times ULN. The following adverse reaction has been identified during post-approval use of dalbavancin. Because the reaction is reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not possible to reliably estimate the frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure. General disorders and administration site conditions: Back pain as an infusion-related reaction [See Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]. Drug-laboratory test interactions have not been reported. Dalvance at therapeutic concentrations does not artificially prolong prothrombin time (PT) or activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). No clinical drug-drug interaction studies have been conducted with Dalvance. There is minimal potential for drug-drug interactions between Dalvance and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) substrates, inhibitors, or inducers [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. There have been no adequate and well-controlled studies with Dalvance in pregnant women. Dalvance should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. No treatment-related malformations or embryo-fetal toxicity were observed in pregnant rats or rabbits at clinically relevant exposures of dalbavancin. Treatment of pregnant rats with dalbavancin at 3.5 times the human dose on an exposure basis during early embryonic development and from implantation to the end of lactation resulted in delayed fetal maturation and increased fetal loss, respectively [see Data]. The background risk of major birth defects and miscarriage for the indicated population is unknown. However, the background risk in the U.S. general population of major birth defects is 2 to 4% and of miscarriage is 15 to 20% of clinically recognized pregnancies. No evidence of embryo or fetal toxicity was found in the rat or rabbit at a dose of 15 mg/kg/day (1.2 and 0.7 times the human dose on an exposure basis, respectively). Delayed fetal maturation was observed in the rat at a dose of 45 mg/kg/day (3.5 times the human dose on an exposure basis). In a rat prenatal and postnatal development study, increased embryo lethality and increased offspring deaths during the first week post-partum were observed at a dose of 45 mg/kg/day (3.5 times the human dose on an exposure basis). It is not known whether dalbavancin or its metabolite is excreted in human milk; therefore, caution should be exercised when Dalvance is administered to a nursing woman. The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother’s clinical need for Dalvance and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed child from Dalvance or from the underlying maternal condition. Dalbavancin is excreted in the milk of lactating rats. Safety and efficacy in pediatric patients have not been established. Of the 2473 patients treated with Dalvance in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, 403 patients (16.3%) were 65 years of age or older. The efficacy and tolerability of Dalvance were similar to comparator regardless of age. The pharmacokinetics of Dalvance was not significantly altered with age; therefore, no dosage adjustment is necessary based on age alone. Dalvance is substantially excreted by the kidney, and the risk of adverse reactions may be greater in patients with impaired renal function. Because elderly patients are more likely to have decreased renal function, care should be taken in dose selection in this age group. In patients with renal impairment whose known creatinine clearance is less than 30 mL/min and who are not receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis, the recommended regimen for Dalvance is 1125 mg, administered as a single dose, or 750 mg followed one week later by 375 mg. No dosage adjustment is recommended for patients receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis, and Dalvance can be administered without regard to the timing of hemodialysis [see Dosage and Administration (2.2), Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. No dosage adjustment of Dalvance is recommended for patients with mild hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh Class A). Caution should be exercised when prescribing Dalvance to patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh Class B or C) as no data are available to determine the appropriate dosing in these patients [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. Specific information is not available on the treatment of overdose with Dalvance, as dose-limiting toxicity has not been observed in clinical studies. In Phase 1 studies, healthy volunteers have been administered cumulative doses of up to 4500 mg over a period of up to 8 weeks, with no signs of toxicity or laboratory results of clinical concern. Treatment of overdose with Dalvance should consist of observation and general supportive measures. Although no information is available specifically regarding the use of hemodialysis to treat overdose, in a Phase 1 study in patients with renal impairment less than 6% of the recommended dalbavancin dose was removed [see Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. Dalvance (dalbavancin) for injection is a lipoglycopeptide synthesized from a fermentation product of Nonomuraea species. Dalbavancin is a mixture of five closely related active homologs (A0, A1, B0, B1, and B2); the component B0 is the major component of dalbavancin. The homologs share the same core structure and differ in the fatty acid side chain of the N-acylaminoglucuronic acid moiety (R1) structure and/or the presence of an additional methyl group (R2) on the terminal amino group (shown in the Figure 1 and Table 3 below). The B0 INN chemical name is: 5,31-dichloro-38-de(methoxycarbonyl)-7-demethyl-19-deoxy-56-O-[2-deoxy-2-[(10-methylundecanoyl)amino]-β-D-glucopyranuronosyl]-38-[[3-(dimethylamino)propyl] carbamoyl]-42-O-α-D-mannopyranosyl-15-N-methyl(ristomycin A aglycone) hydrochloride. Dalvance is supplied in clear glass vials as a sterile, lyophilized, preservative-free, white to off-white to pale yellow solid. Each vial contains dalbavancin HCl equivalent to 500 mg of dalbavancin as the free base, plus lactose monohydrate (129 mg) and mannitol (129 mg) as excipients. Sodium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid may be added to adjust the pH at the time of manufacture. The powder is to be reconstituted and further diluted for IV infusion [see Dosage and Administration (2.3), How Supplied/Storage and Handling (16)]. Dalbavancin is an antibacterial drug [see Microbiology (12.4)]. The antibacterial activity of dalbavancin appears to best correlate with the ratio of area under the concentration-time curve to minimal inhibitory concentration (AUC/MIC) for Staphylococcus aureus based on animal models of infection. An exposure-response analysis of a single study in patients with complicated skin and skin structure infections supports the two-dose regimen [see Dosage and Administration (2.1), Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. Cardiac Electrophysiology: In a randomized, positive- and placebo-controlled, thorough QT/QTc study, 200 healthy subjects received dalbavancin 1000 mg IV, dalbavancin 1500 mg IV, oral moxifloxacin 400 mg, or placebo. Neither dalbavancin 1000 mg nor dalbavancin 1500 mg had any clinically relevant adverse effect on cardiac repolarization. Dalbavancin pharmacokinetic parameters have been characterized in healthy subjects, patients, and specific populations. Pharmacokinetic parameters following administration of single intravenous 1000 mg and 1500 mg doses were as shown in Table 4. The pharmacokinetics of dalbavancin can be described using a three-compartment model. 1 Data from 50 healthy subjects. 2 Data from 12 healthy subjects. 3 Based upon population pharmacokinetic analyses of data from patients, the effective half-life is approximately 8.5 days (204 hours). 4 Data from 49 healthy subjects. In healthy subjects, dalbavancin AUC0-24h and Cmax both increased proportionally to dose following single IV dalbavancin doses ranging from 140 mg to 1500 mg, indicating linear pharmacokinetics. The mean plasma concentration-time profile for dalbavancin following the recommended two-dose regimen of 1000 mg followed one week later by 500 mg is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Mean (± standard deviation) dalbavancin plasma concentrations versus time in healthy subjects (n=10) following IV administration over 30 minutes of 1000 mg dalbavancin (Day 1) and 500 mg dalbavancin (Day 8). No apparent accumulation of dalbavancin was observed following multiple IV infusions administered once weekly for up to eight weeks, with 1000 mg on Day 1 followed by up to seven weekly 500 mg doses, in healthy adults with normal renal function. Distribution: Dalbavancin is reversibly bound to human plasma proteins, primarily to albumin. The plasma protein binding of dalbavancin is approximately 93% and is not altered as a function of drug concentration, renal impairment, or hepatic impairment. The mean concentrations of dalbavancin achieved in skin blister fluid remain above 30 mg/L up to 7 days (approximately 146 hours) post dose, following 1000 mg IV dalbavancin. The mean ratio of the AUC0-144 hrs in skin blister fluid/AUC0-144 hrs in plasma is 0.60 (range 0.44 to 0.64). Metabolism: In vitro studies using human microsomal enzymes and hepatocytes indicate that dalbavancin is not a substrate, inhibitor, or inducer of CYP450 isoenzymes. A minor metabolite of dalbavancin (hydroxy-dalbavancin) has been observed in the urine of healthy subjects. Quantifiable concentrations of the hydroxy-dalbavancin metabolite have not been observed in human plasma (lower limit of quantitation = 0.4 µg/mL) [see Drug Interactions (7.2)]. Excretion: Following administration of a single 1000 mg dose in healthy subjects, 20% of the dose was excreted in feces through 70 days post dose. An average of 33% of the administered dalbavancin dose was excreted in urine as unchanged dalbavancin and approximately 12% of the administered dose was excreted in urine as the metabolite hydroxy-dalbavancin through 42 days post dose. Renal Impairment: The pharmacokinetics of dalbavancin were evaluated in 28 subjects with varying degrees of renal impairment and in 15 matched control subjects with normal renal function. Following a single dose of 500 mg or 1000 mg dalbavancin, the mean plasma clearance (CLT) was reduced 11%, 35%, and 47% in subjects with mild (CLCR 50 to 79 mL/min), moderate (CLCR 30 to 49 mL/min), and severe (CLCR less than 30 mL/min), renal impairment, respectively, compared to subjects with normal renal function. The clinical significance of the decrease in mean plasma CLT, and the associated increase in AUC0-∞ noted in these pharmacokinetic studies of dalbavancin in subjects with severe renal impairment has not been established [see Dosage and Administration (2.2), Use in Specific Populations (8.6)]. No dosage adjustment is necessary for patients with CLCR greater than 30 mL/min or patients receiving hemodialysis. The recommended regimen for dalbavancin in patients with severe renal impairment who are not receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis is 1125 mg, administered as a single dose, or 750 mg followed one week later by 375 mg. Dalbavancin pharmacokinetic parameters in subjects with end-stage renal disease receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis (three times/week) are similar to those observed in subjects with mild to moderate renal impairment, and less than 6% of an administered dose is removed after three hours of hemodialysis. Therefore, no dosage adjustment is recommended for patients receiving regularly scheduled hemodialysis, and dalbavancin may be administered without regard to the timing of hemodialysis in such patients [see Dosage and Administration (2.1), Overdosage (10)]. Hepatic Impairment: The pharmacokinetics of dalbavancin were evaluated in 17 subjects with mild, moderate, or severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh class A, B or C) and compared to those in nine matched healthy subjects with normal hepatic function. The mean AUC0-336 hrs was unchanged in subjects with mild hepatic impairment compared to subjects with normal hepatic function; however, the mean AUC0-336 hrs decreased 28% and 31% in subjects with moderate and severe hepatic impairment respectively, compared to subjects with normal hepatic function. The clinical significance of the decreased AUC0-336 hrs in subjects with moderate and severe hepatic function is unknown. No dosage adjustment is recommended for patients with mild hepatic impairment. Caution should be exercised when prescribing dalbavancin to patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment as no data are available to determine the appropriate dosing. Gender: Clinically significant gender-related differences in dalbavancin pharmacokinetics have not been observed either in healthy subjects or in patients with infections. No dosage adjustment is recommended based on gender. Geriatric Patients: Clinically significant age-related differences in dalbavancin pharmacokinetics have not been observed in patients with infections. No dosage adjustment is recommended based solely on age. Pediatric Patients: The pharmacokinetics of dalbavancin in pediatric populations <12 years of age have not been established. Nonclinical studies demonstrated that dalbavancin is not a substrate, inhibitor, or inducer of CYP450 isoenzymes. In a population pharmacokinetic analysis, dalbavancin pharmacokinetics were not affected by co-administration with known CYP450 substrates, inducers or inhibitors, nor by individual medications including acetaminophen, aztreonam, fentanyl, metronidazole, furosemide, proton pump inhibitors (omeprazole, esomeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole), midazolam, and simvastatin. Dalbavancin, a semisynthetic lipoglycopeptide, interferes with cell wall synthesis by binding to the D-alanyl-D-alanine terminus of the stem pentapeptide in nascent cell wall peptidoglycan, thus preventing cross-linking. Dalbavancin is bactericidal in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes at concentrations similar to those sustained throughout treatment in humans treated according to the recommended dosage regimen. The development of bacterial isolates resistant to dalbavancin has not been observed, either in vitro, in studies using serial passage, or in animal infection experiments. When tested in vitro, dalbavancin demonstrated synergistic interactions with oxacillin and did not demonstrate antagonistic or synergistic interactions with any of the following antibacterial agents of various classes: gentamicin, vancomycin, levofloxacin, clindamycin, quinupristin/dalfopristin, linezolid, aztreonam, rifampin or daptomycin. The clinical significance of these in vitro findings is unknown. Dalbavancin has been shown to be active against the following microorganisms, both in vitro and in clinical infections [see Indications and Usage (1)]. The following in vitro data are available, but their clinical significance is unknown. In addition, at least 90% of organisms in the following bacteria exhibit an in vitro minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) less than or equal to the dalbavancin susceptible breakpoint of 0.25 mcg/mL. However, the safety and efficacy of dalbavancin in treating clinical infections due to these bacteria have not been established in adequate well-controlled clinical trials. Long-term studies in animals to determine the carcinogenic potential of dalbavancin have not been conducted. Dalbavancin was not genotoxic in a bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) assay, a mammalian HGPRT gene mutation assay, an in vitro chromosome aberration assay in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, or an in vivo mouse micronucleus assay. Impaired fertility in the rat was not observed at a dose of 15 mg/kg/day (1.2 times the human dose on an exposure basis). Reductions in male and female fertility and increased embryo resorptions occurred at a dose of 45 mg/kg/day (3.5 times the human dose on an exposure basis), at which signs of parental toxicity were also observed. Increases in serum levels of liver enzymes (ALT, AST), associated with microscopic findings in the liver were noted in toxicology studies in rats and dogs where dalbavancin was administered daily for 28 to 90 days. Hepatocellular necrosis was observed in dogs dosed at ≥10 mg/kg/day for longer than 2 months, i.e., at approximately 5 to 7 times the expected human dose on an exposure basis. Histiocytic vacuolation and hepatocyte necrosis were observed in rats dosed daily at 40 and 80 mg/kg/day, respectively, for 4 weeks, (approximately 3 and 6 times the expected human dose on an exposure basis, respectively). In addition, renal toxicity characterized by increases in serum BUN and creatinine and microscopic kidney findings was observed in rats and dogs at doses 5 to 7 times the expected human dose on an exposure basis. The relationship between these findings in the animal toxicology studies after 28 and 90 consecutive days of dosing to the indicated clinical dosing of 2 doses 7 days apart are unclear. Adult patients with ABSSSI were enrolled in two Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy clinical trials of similar design (Trial 1 and Trial 2). The Intent-to-Treat (ITT) population included 1,312 randomized patients. Patients were treated for two weeks with either a two-dose regimen of intravenous Dalvance (1000 mg followed one week later by 500 mg) or intravenous vancomycin (1000 mg or 15 mg/kg every 12 hours, with the option to switch to oral linezolid after 3 days). Dalvance-treated patients with creatinine clearance of less than 30 mL/min received 750 mg followed one week later by 375 mg. Approximately 5% of patients also received a protocol-specified empiric course of treatment with intravenous aztreonam for coverage of Gram-negative pathogens. The specific infections in these trials included cellulitis (approximately 50% of patients across treatment groups), major abscess (approximately 30%), and wound infection (approximately 20%). The median lesion area at baseline was 341 cm2. In addition to local signs and symptoms of infection, patients were also required to have at least one systemic sign of disease at baseline, defined as temperature 38°C or higher (approximately 85% of patients), white blood cell count greater than 12,000 cells/mm3 (approximately 40%), or 10% or more band forms on white blood cell differential (approximately 23%). Across both trials, 59% of patients were from Eastern Europe and 36% of patients were from North America. Approximately 89% of patients were Caucasian and 58% were males. The mean age was 50 years and the mean body mass index was 29.1 kg/m2. The primary endpoint of these two ABSSSI trials was the clinical response rate where responders were defined as patients who had no increase from baseline in lesion area 48 to 72 hours after initiation of therapy, and had a temperature consistently at or below 37.6° C upon repeated measurement. Table 5 summarizes overall clinical response rates in these two ABSSSI trials using the pre-specified primary efficacy endpoint in the ITT population. 1 There were 7 patients who did not receive treatment and were counted as non-responders: 6 Dalvance patients (3 in each trial) and one vancomycin/linezolid patient in Trial 2. 2 Patients who died or used non-study antibacterial therapy or had missing measurements were classified as non-responders. 3 The 95% Confidence Interval (CI) is computed using the Miettinen and Nurminen approach, stratified by baseline fever status. A key secondary endpoint in these two ABSSSI trials evaluated the percentage of ITT patients achieving a 20% or greater reduction in lesion area from baseline at 48-72 hours after initiation of therapy. Table 6 summarizes the findings for this endpoint in these two ABSSSI trials. 1 There were 7 patients (as described in Table 5) who did not receive treatment and were counted as non-responders. 3 The 95% CI is computed using the Miettinen and Nurminen approach, stratified by baseline fever status. Another secondary endpoint in these two ABSSSI trials was the clinical success rate assessed at a follow-up visit occurring between Days 26 to 30. Clinical Success at this visit was defined as having a decrease in lesion size (both length and width measurements), a temperature of 37.6° C or lower, and meeting pre-specified criteria for local signs: purulent discharge and drainage absent or mild and improved from baseline, heat/warmth & fluctuance absent, swelling/induration & tenderness to palpation absent or mild. Table 7 summarizes clinical success rates at a follow-up visit for the ITT and clinically evaluable population in these two ABSSSI trials. Note that there are insufficient historical data to establish the magnitude of drug effect for antibacterial drugs compared with placebo at the follow-up visits. Therefore, comparisons of Dalvance to vancomycin/linezolid based on clinical success rates at these visits cannot be utilized to establish non-inferiority. 1 There were 7 patients (as described in Table 5) who did not receive treatment and were counted as failures in the analysis. 2 Patients who died, used non-study antibacterial therapy, or had an unplanned surgical intervention 72 hours after the start of therapy were classified as Clinical Failures. Table 8 shows outcomes in patients with an identified baseline pathogen, using pooled data from Trials 1 and 2 in the microbiological ITT (microITT) population. The outcomes shown in the table are clinical response rates at 48 to 72 hours and clinical success rates at follow-up (Day 26 to 30), as defined above. All Dalvance dosing regimens in Trials 1 and 2 consisted of two doses. 1 There were 2 patients in the Dalvance arm with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus at baseline who did not receive treatment and were counted as non-responders/failures. 2 Early Responders are patients who had no increase from baseline in lesion area 48 to 72 hours after initiation of therapy, and had a temperature consistently at or below 37.6° C upon repeated measurement. Adult patients with ABSSSI were enrolled in a Phase 3, double-blind, clinical trial. The ITT population included 698 patients who were randomized to Dalvance treatment with either a single 1500 mg dose or a two-dose regimen of 1000 mg followed one week later by 500 mg (Trial 3). Patients with creatinine clearance less than 30 mL/min had their dose adjusted (Section 2.2). Approximately 5% of patients also received a protocol-specified empiric course of treatment with intravenous aztreonam for coverage of Gram-negative pathogens. The specific infections and other patient characteristics in this trial were similar to those described above for previous ABSSSI trials. The primary endpoint in this ABSSSI trial was the clinical response rate where responders were defined as patients who had at least a 20% decrease from baseline in lesion area 48 to 72 hours after randomization without receiving any rescue antibacterial therapy. The secondary endpoint was the clinical success rate at a follow-up visit occurring between Days 26 and 30, with clinical success defined as having at least a 90% decrease from baseline in lesion size, a temperature of 37.6° C or lower, and meeting pre-specified criteria for local signs: purulent discharge and drainage absent or mild and improved from baseline (for patients with wound infections), heat/warmth and fluctuance absent, swelling/induration and tenderness to palpation absent or mild. Table 9 summarizes results for these two endpoints in the ITT population. Note that there are insufficient historical data to establish the magnitude of drug effect for antibacterial drugs compared with placebo at the follow-up visit. Therefore, comparisons between treatment groups based on clinical success rates at this visitcannot be utilized to establish non-inferiority. 1 There were 3 patients in the two-dose group who did not receive treatment and were counted as non-responders. 3 The 95% Confidence Interval (CI) is computed using the Miettinen and Nurminen approach. Table 10 shows outcomes in patients with an identified baseline pathogen from Trial 3 in the microbiological ITT (microITT) population. The outcomes shown in the table are clinical response rates at 48 to 72 hours and clinical success rates at follow-up (Day 26 to 30), as defined above. In Trials 1, 2, and 3, all patients had blood cultures obtained at baseline. A total of 40 ABSSSI patients who received Dalvance had bacteremia at baseline caused by one or more of the following bacteria: 26 S. aureus (21 MSSA and 5 MRSA), 6 S. agalactiae, 7 S. pyogenes, 2 S. anginosus group, and 1 E. faecalis. In patients who received Dalvance, a total of 34/40 (85%) were clinical responders at 48-72 hours and 32/40 (80%) were clinical successes at Day 26 to 30. Unreconstituted Dalvance (dalbavancin) for injection should be stored at 25ºC (77ºF); excursions permitted to 15 to 30ºC (59 to 86ºF) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature]. Patients should be advised that allergic reactions, including serious allergic reactions, could occur, and that serious allergic reactions require immediate treatment. Patients should inform their healthcare provider about any previous hypersensitivity reactions to Dalvance, or other glycopeptides. Patients should be counseled that antibacterial drugs including Dalvance should only be used to treat bacterial infections. They do not treat viral infections (e.g., the common cold). When Dalvance is prescribed to treat a bacterial infection, patients should be told that although it is common to feel better early in the course of therapy, the medication should be taken exactly as directed. Skipping doses or not completing the full course of therapy may (1) decrease the effectiveness of treatment, and (2) increase the likelihood that bacteria will develop resistance and will not be treatable by Dalvance and other antibacterial drugs in the future. Patients should be advised that diarrhea is a common problem caused by antibacterial drugs and usually resolves when the drug is discontinued. Sometimes, frequent watery or bloody diarrhea may occur and may be a sign of a more serious intestinal infection. If severe watery or bloody diarrhea develops, patients should contact their healthcare provider. Dalvance® is a registered trademark of Durata Therapeutics Holding C.V., an Allergan affiliate. © 2018 Allergan. All rights reserved.

2019-04-22T11:57:25Z

https://www.drugs.com/pro/dalvance.html

The transcript from this week’s MIB: Kathleen Fisher, Alliance Bernstein is below. BARRY RITHOLTZ, HOST, MASTERS IN BU.S.INESS: This week on the podcast, we have a special guest, her name is Kathleen Fisher, she is the head of wealth and investment strategies at AllianceBernstein. Bernstein manages about $540 billion, they’re just a giant company in 22 countries, 3,500 employees, I think that something like 200 analysts and 150 portfolio managers, they are just a behemoth and she runs all of wealth and investment strategies. If you’re at all interested in asset management and what it’s like working at a giant firm or what it’s like to be a woman at a very senior level and really Wall Street still is a male-dominated profession, this is really an interesting conversation. There are a few people who know this business and know the human side of it as well as Kathy, she’s just tremendously knowledgeable and insightful and full of all sorts of intelligent commentary. I think this is the sort of conversation so if you’re at all interested in asset management, wealth strategies, investment portfolio strategies, this is the podcast for you. With no further ado, here is my conversation with AllianceBernstein’s Kathleen Fisher. My guest this week is Kathleen Fisher, she is the head of wealth and investment strategies at AllianceBernstein, a firm that manages about $540 billion with 3,500 employees in 22 countries. She joined the firm as a senior portfolio manager and member of Bernstein’s private client investment policy group. Before joining Bernstein, she spent 15 years at JPMorgan, most recently as managing director advising banks on acquisitions, divestitures, and financing techniques. She graduated from Bates College and has an MBA from NYU. Kathleen Fisher, welcome to Bloomberg. KATHLEEN FISHER, HEAD OF WEALTH AND INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, ALLIANCEBERNSTEIN: Glad to be here. RITHOLTZ: And I’m going to call you Kathy instead of Kathleen. RITHOLTZ: I know that is your to the article you Kathy Kathleen. I know that is your everyday name. You started as an equity analyst, what attracted you to finance in the first place? FISHER: Let me back up say I started as a young economist, I started at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, I was there for three years, I did monetary research as well as GDP research. It was an amazingly wonderful learning experience to do high quality research. It was very academic but I learned the importance of getting your facts right which today is more relevant than ever, isn’t it, when we have a word that’s called fake news. FISHER: But it was a great learning experience about the importance of footnotes, about citing your sources that has followed me in everything I have done since then. Having come to New York to do that job, I did start meeting people who were in investment banking and equity research and lo and behold, someone I met gave me an opportunity to go to Morgan Stanley to be a bank stock analyst and that’s how I got into equity research which back then, it was still a relatively new field, very exciting, and for me, very intellectually rewarding to focus on relative valuations but to also learn that what you think is so right often takes the market much longer to agree with or perhaps never agree with. So it’s a great learning experience. RITHOLTZ: Any particular example stand out? RITHOLTZ: This was quite the memorable experience. FISHER: I was covering bank stocks at a time when bank stocks were very much out of favor, and therefore no one wanted to hear a word I said for quite some time. So let’s just say that in it of itself was a great experience. RITHOLTZ: So you spent a lot of your career at JPMorgan after Morgan Stanley, what was that experience like? What did you do for them? FISHER: My turning it JPMorgan was incredibly fortuitous because I did a lot of bank M&A at a time when bank M&A was absolutely a huge trend in the late 80s, early 90s, mid-90s, so it was a very active space and tons of activity so it was really — a wonderful experience and one captured both all that one does in M&A and corporate finance valuations and the right price to pay for a deal. But also it brought in the human side of things because the bank mergers, needless to say, cost reduction and people reduction, and you had to get your head around that and the important thing is in a world that makes sense over time, it didn’t makes sense for the banking industry to shrink. Those job cuts would come eventually, those mergers accelerated them but it was something that you have to stand back and so now what’s going to happen over time regardless of when. RITHOLTZ: So your tenure at JPMorgan, I believe, that predated the Jamie Dimon era, is that correct? FISHER: Very much predated, it was pre Chase merger, actually. FISHER: Quite a long time ago. So what led you to AllianceBernstein although if memory serves, when you joined, it was Bernstein still, right? FISHER: Now I joined in 2001 and the merger occurred in 2000. And so I came post the AllianceBernstein merger, I joined AllianceBernstein because several of my colleagues in JPMorgan had migrated to AllianceBernstein over time and therefore they enticed me to join the firm. RITHOLTZ: And you’ve been there ever since? FISHER: I have been there ever since 2001? RITHOLTZ: So your current title is head of wealth and investment strategies, what does the head of wealth and investment strategies do? FISHER: Well I am blessed to work with a team of 35 extraordinary experienced professionals who are in two separate groups. One is the Wealth Strategies Group which developed the models that help our clients preexperience the likely financial outcomes of decisions they can make. Whether those decisions are around wealth transfer strategies or retirement or charitable giving, the idea that you have many variables you can control and therefore how to think about different asset allocations, different structures, we help our clients think through all those options. RITHOLTZ: Are you running Monte Carlo simulations or what are you actually doing to derive those variable outputs based on different decision? FISHER: Our core model does indeed utilize a Monte Carlo engine but it’s one that we have developed ourselves over the years because we — as a research-based firm, want to make sure we are informed by history and therefore we want to take responsibility for embedding relationships that make sense over time. So it is our model but using a lot of the important quantitative techniques that are important to getting that right. The other team is the team, the private client investment policy group which works on asset allocation advice and strategies for clients once when they had made the appropriate decisions about their goals and objectives and also the specific execution strategies using the different investment portfolios that we offer at our firm. FISHER: That is very good. And it’s actually,, we are not the asset — we are not the portfolio managers ourselves, we’re making the asset allocation advice using the portfolios that are managed at the firm. RITHOLTZ: So all internal, so in other words, you’re creating a salad from ingredients made within, is that two…. FISHER: That is a good analogy, good — no, no, no, no, we all eat salad, that is good, yes, yes. RITHOLTZ: Some of us, less than we should. RITHOLTZ: So it’s in-house portfolios that are created from — it’s an in-house asset allocation model using various funds and assets that are also managed in-house. So really you — do you use outside managers as well? FISHER: So we use — we use ETFs where appropriate but the bulk of our services are indeed managed in house. RITHOLTZ: Let’s talk a little — last year 2017 was kind of an unusual year, we had very high returns in the United States even better returns overseas especially dollar-denominated and incredibly low volatility and very, very low drawdowns, what do you make of the way 2017 played out? FISHER: You captured all the anomalies and no one knew going into 2017 that they would occur. So it’s a great reminder that you don’t know in any given year what’s going to happen especially the overseas returns with our base investors. We started the year with all the focus on the U.S., but the global thinking is recovery, the benefit to earnings around the world, all of these were very positive surprises that led equities to do quite well but the fact that there was such calm around the globe like the geopolitical issues which the market really has absorbed very nicely, the calm made the Sharpe ratio for the year probably one of the highest on record, right? Returns relative to the unit of risk given the volatility in the market was really quite remarkable. So it’s an extraordinary year, it was actually probably a perfect year and that we had no months when there is a negative return on the global stock market. And so lots of record-breaking events in 2017, and when we look forward, we think a lot of those good things are still in place, the challenge though was we would also argue that a lot of the good news is already in the market. And so one of the things I find fascinating is when you have as you folks do a global allocation, do you get pushback from clients not in 2017 but you know, 2015 or 2014, hey, U.S. stocks are doing great, why are we wasting all this time with all these overseas holdings? What sort of pushback does the diversified portfolio generate? FISHER: I will say, we spend a lot of time with clients reminding why you have diversification, right? You never know when things will change and therefore, we remind there will always be times when you hold something that is out of favor or doing less well than you would like and certainly holding non-U.S. stocks ever since the financial crisis has been a drain on returns until 2017. But we know that over time they will trade places, they do, they have 2017 show that this year, non-U.S. stocks continued to outpace the U.S. for dollar based investors and that is the power of diversification for long-term investors and our clients are long-term investors. So they do embrace the idea that diversification will help them get the returns they expect that the amount of risk they’re willing to tolerate over time. RITHOLTZ: What about the general trend towards indexing, how do you — you guys are an active set of managers although you do use ETFs, how do you see this overall trend away from active management and towards indexing playing out especially your client base tends to be a fairly sophisticated high net worth group of investors. FISHER: Clearly active and passive should and can coexist. There is a role for passive and as a research based firm, we have to acknowledge if we do that the cheapness of passive which has come down a lot in the past 40 years means that investors can indeed get very cheap access to all the many pockets of the market they couldn’t before. So for clients who have relatively short time frames, who are very focused on getting market returns, there is nothing wrong with passive. RITHOLTZ: You mean high active share? FISHER: High active share, exactly. FISHER: And in fact, we have services that are benchmark agnostic, equity services which — you know, don’t even think about benchmarking us, we have some concentrated portfolios of 2025 stocks and when you have that conviction and the time to have it work, those are nice satellites to have around core portfolios. RITHOLTZ: So you are a broad allocator, let’s talk a little about the other half of the portfolio, the fixed income portion. I have legitimately been hearing for 10 years that this bond bull market is over, it’s dead, it’s done and then next year I guess maybe this is the year. We have seen rates start to tick up, what does that mean for fixed income and are we really at the end of the bond bull market? FISHER: You are right, we have been talking about it for a long time. I think some clients are beginning to think it’s a broken record but when you think of how strong the global economy is and although inflation has been a mystery here, inflation has been so low for so long. If the economy continues to be as robust as it has been, it is likely inflation will take up a bit and even a little bit will encourage central banks to become less accommodative, we expect rates to move up gradually and modestly over time, we can’t wait though, this is getting a little bit tiresome to have rates stay as well as they have. RITHOLTZ: We’ve already seen some signs of inflation picking up around the world and fairly recently, early 2018 there are signs — in late 2017, there’s some signs of small amounts of wage pressure, is that going to continue? What — how do you look at that and integrate that into a portfolio? FISHER: We do think the pockets of stress in the job market indicate that wage pressure can develop, but we’re not — we do not have a crystal ball on this, but we do expect that to be a source of upward pressure. So we do think that race will rise and that as I said, gradually, our current forecast though is for fed rate hikes in 2018. And we do think we’ll start to see rates picking up a bit from here, especially as the Central Bank and other parts of the world fall into step as well. RITHOLTZ: So I see a lot of pushback on bond funds versus individual bonds. Is that an issue you ever deal with clients, this seems to be some sort of confusion around do I own individual bonds or am I better off in a fund and not have to pick individual bonds, how you manage that in your portfolios and what do you think of the difference? FISHER: There has been enormous press over the years about problems of bond funds which our clients understand are not true i.e. people who hold individual bonds usually don’t mark their bonds to market and therefore are not paying attention to the actual price loss they may have when rates rise. On funds in contrast, especially intermediate bond funds that are intentionally diversified across the term structure are looking to take advantage of changing yield curves, shapes, they are looking to take advantage of short-term rates rising, you name it, so they can reinvest coupons and higher yielding bonds when rates rise and therefore bond funds are very flexible especially when rates rise to let you take advantage of the changes that occur. FISHER: And therefore bond funds are much better for clients who need to pull money out of their funds as opposed to selling individual bonds at a very poor price in a less liquid market. RITHOLTZ: Let’s talk a little bit about what it’s like for you as a woman working in a field that’s been so male-dominated for so long, have you seen any improvement? Have things gotten better? Are there more opportunities for women in this field? FISHER: Things have definitely gotten better, it’s very obvious that the industry wants women for the right reasons, i.e. we want diversity — for diversity of thought, we want women, we want people of color, we want to have much more and different kinds of input, so many studies have shown how much better teams are when they are diverse and we want to have that advantage also. And also our clients expect it, which is good, I think you can get a lot of positive reinforcement, and I do think one of the reasons things are getting better is that companies are so much more flexible than they ever were before, and that is good for men and women. All right, the fact that there is much — you can work remotely, these are all good things that encourage a fluid and adaptive workforce that benefits everyone. RITHOLTZ: The pay differential between men and women, is it as bad as it was? Is it getting better? FISHER: The problem with any kind of pay measurements is that it’s very hard to actually look at identical jobs. I would argue that certainly at my firm and every firm I know people get the same pay for identical jobs, it’s really — that is the challenge is actually saying each job how you measure each job. RITHOLTZ: Michelle Meyer of Bank of America Merrill Lynch specifically cited a lack of women at the top of the industry as a challenge for women in finance and I’m assuming she means a lack of role models, a lack of mentors, what was your experience coming up through Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and now ,AllianceBernstein. FISHER: So with everything, I am a partner at our firm and that is wonderful and that I and my other senior female colleagues are very focused on coaching, mentoring, and sponsorship of young women, that is absolutely a dominant force. When I was younger, I was kind of lucky in that I never felt the need to fit in and that meant that I wasn’t looking as much for female role models as perhaps some people might have been back then. And therefore, it didn’t stymie me because I always thought that if you had good ideas and were contributing, you would be rewarded. RITHOLTZ: Am I reading too much into this? Are you suggesting you stood out as a woman and there was an advantage to that? FISHER: I will not go that far, I will say that the — and that I think some of the frustrations that some people may have had in their careers, I didn’t have and was very fortunate in every firm I worked for not to have those. FISHER: I think the fact that conversations are being held at the company level in public forums is really good and everyone having conversations they might not have had before and openness leads to good results and good outcomes and much more honesty, candor, and effectiveness. So I think this is indeed a good spot to be in. Time will tell but I most focused on how exciting the brilliant young women that are coming up are doing and the impact I think they will have because there is so much more conversation about really making sure their voices are heard, about taking care not to in any way, make anything seem like it’s male oriented and I think there’s a lot of good things are happening because of that. RITHOLTZ: Holding aside, what — what’s the right thing to do with the social issue aspect of it when you look at the recent financing at Uber which is known as a sort of frat house bro mentality, it cost them tens of billions of dollars both the founders, the employees, the outside investors because of that you know, juvenile frat house approach, have we reached the point where corporate America has said enough is enough? This is real money and we have to get serious about it. Are we at that stage yet? FISHER: You know, you raised a really good point which is that the transparency that the Internet has permitted has made it hard for companies to hide, and that’s a good thing. So I do think there is a much greater awareness that good behavior is necessary and I think that’s going to be very helpful in enforcing more good behavior down the road. RITHOLTZ: Let’s talk a little bit about what you see as head of wealth management and investment strategies, you work with a big spectrum of investors from individuals to institutions to everything in between. How do these different investors differ and in what ways are they the same? FISHER: We are going to focus just on the private client business. FISHER: And what’s interesting there is that it has nothing to do with asset size, people are people and everyone has their own personal preference risk and return, and you could have two people exactly the same amount of money and they can have a whole different view as whether they have enough or they are going to run out of money and both could be in very good places but they each have a very different perspective. So we clearly focus a lot of make people understand the likely financial outcomes of all the decisions they can make sure so that they have the confidence and the understanding to actually make very good judgments about long-term planning. RITHOLTZ: That fear of running out of money I’ve heard that, I’m sure you’ve heard that from people who really, unless they start looking at Picassos will never run out of money, why is this such a significant concern from people who you would otherwise think are totally financially secure? FISHER: It has nothing to do with intellectual knowledge it has everything to do with embedded psychology. And as I said, you don’t know until the person explains you know, whether it’s something in their background, it is their personal makeup which makes them very conservative and fearful that terrible things could happen that could indeed wipe out there their financial misstep. RITHOLTZ: How do you respond to that? FISHER: It really gets to what I said before about modeling and if we can show that even in very poor market conditions they will be in a good place, that is very reassuring to people so we do indeed, do are planning to the 90 percent confidence level to make sure people know that even in very poor conditions they’ll be fine. RITHOLTZ: What about inflation, what sort of the inflation assumptions do you build into those sort of plans? FISHER: We let inflation, it is a variable, i.e. we are not saying we know where inflation go, when we do forecast, we do 10,000 trials and inflation is one of the factors that does unfold over time, it can be very high, it can be very low, and remember deflation can be as bad as inflation but we want to show a range of expected outcomes for inflation as well, because you’re so right, inflationary environments that are extreme can be very dangerous. RITHOLTZ: That is quite interesting. So tell us about your day-to-day, what does that look like? Are you — because you work with two different groups of both planners and the asset management side, you’re working with clients? What a day in the life of Kathleen Fisher like? FISHER: Well, I have the incredible luxury of a lot of diversification in my daily life. My team is working on long-term asset allocation projects, we are working on long-term planning projects, we are publishing for both our clients, we’re creating communications for advisors, we’re meeting with clients, if our perspective can be useful to a client meeting so we have a vast array of different things going on in any given time, we speak in front of public forums in terms of groups, so lots of diversification but what is good about all of it is that we have a lot of interaction with clients and therefore can see what issues really matter to people and where we can be helpful and more clear in communicating. RITHOLTZ: So we mentioned outliving their money, what are some of the other large concerns clients have these days? FISHER: Longevity risk is the biggest risk clients have. People worry about market returns but just think that nothing in human history has prepared people for a world where they work for 40 years and then they have to live on what they save for the next 30 or 40 years. Now for very wealthy people, it’s a different dynamic but still it’s a very different thing when you’re talking about living perhaps as long as you have worked, right? When you go back to why social security was created, people use to die a few years after they retire, so it’s a very different ball game. So the dynamics have changed dramatically and it’s very important now to think about, you know, money lasting for many, many decades. RITHOLTZ: So we have technologies in health and healthcare changing, we have all sorts of things taking place in terms of genomics and in oncology and down the road, what happens when human lifespans, when 100 isn’t a rarity, when that becomes ordinary and then we start seeing hundred 110, 120 as not tremendous outliers. Are we going to eventually have a problem? Are we going to have to reconfigure how we think about our portfolios when we turn 68 or 70 and not shift to that much more of a conservative portfolio? FISHER: Absolutely. And that has been the case for at least a decade now with rates — interest rates being so low. You know, the old, decades ago when people used to talk about switching to bonds bond returns were in the mid-single digits and of course at these level, that would be unconscionable to have had a bond weight if you need the money to work for decades to come. So most firms having to encourage clients to maintain a good equity weight when they retire, it is ever more important because of longevity and the other thing that’s important is to assume that your expenses grow with inflation over time see so you capture the risk of living for quite a long time. RITHOLTZ: So we talked earlier about the shift from active to passive and how they could coexist but underlying that has been the shift from pricey to cheap and we’ve seen what some people call the Vanguard affect pressuring fees across the whole industry, what’s your take on this and what do you see happening going forward in terms of fee compression and everything associated with that? FISHER: It’s a really interesting topic because I do think there is going to be much more segmentation in that getting cheap exposure is a good thing for many people but paying fees for a broader advice model also make sense. I think there’ll be an appropriate demand for transparency of fees and for clear value in what our client is getting for those fees. So I think there’s — these are good trends for clients. RITHOLTZ: So transparency, value and what was the third bullet point in this? FISHER: I think fees have to be appropriate to the value offered. RITHOLTZ: That makes perfect sense. So you are seeing some changes that have taken place in the financial industry over the past few years what do you think is the most significant change that has occurred so far and what should we be on the lookout in the future? FISHER: I would have to say speed and information, I love looking at video clips from 1987 market crash because you see a reporter standing at the top of the New York Stock Exchange with pages giving them handwritten notes about what was happening on the floor. FISHER: Nowadays, obviously we all know that everyone can get real-time quotes on their phones and there’s a ton of information you can look at all day long, the problem is a lot of it’s not very good. So information is not judgment, information is not assessment, it is not perspective, and so the challenges is cutting through all the information to get to truly good advice. And so that has created actually more of a challenge because the more information people have the easier it is to react to as opposed to keeping their eye on the long-term which for most individuals is indeed the right thing to do. RITHOLTZ: Do we suffer from information overload? RITHOLTZ: Is there just to the firehose of not judgment assessment or perspective but just raw news and headlines and political volatility? What does that do to an investor’s attitude, and how does that affect their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot? FISHER: Well it does create those new risks, and you know, studies have shown that back in the day when people can only look at their accounts once a year maybe once a quarter, they stayed long-term investors. But now that they have daily information, they tend to do more things more quickly. So continually keeping the eye in the long-term is really important and I — I tease about everything we are doing here today and that because there is 24/7 news, there is going to be a lot of talking heads all the time telling people what to do, what to buy, what to sell on and you have to stay away from taking that advice too seriously. RITHOLTZ: So one of the things I noticed since you brought up the information flow after the election in 2016, all investors seem to want to ask was what is Trump going to do for my portfolio? And if you remember early on, this guy is going to kill my portfolio and then that very quickly became oh this guy is going to be great for my portfolio. How do you respond to questions about politics when 2017 is a perfect example. Probably the most politically volatile year in my lifetime and at the same time the lowest volatility in the markets. FISHER: It is a fascinating situation isn’t it? We actually look back over time at all the geopolitical events back to about World War II to show it that actually has always been the case that geopolitical events get a lot of headlines but have very little impact on the markets. And the only time they do is when something political works into the real economy so for example on the OPEC oil embargo in the 70s which did affect the economy of course, but many other things that we think of, the Cuban missile crisis, you name it, they really had very little impact on the market and I think that as time has gone on, there has been more appreciation of that which is one of the reasons markets have been relatively complacent through lots of scary headlines. Because what matters over time of course is what companies are doing in terms of earnings growth, in terms of getting momentum for the long run and that’s what investors really have been focusing on this year. RITHOLTZ: We have been speaking with Kathleen Fisher of AllianceBernstein, if you enjoyed this conversation be sure to hang around for the podcast extras where we keep the tape rolling and continue discussing all things investment. We love your comments, feedback and suggestions, write to us at [email protected]. You could follow me on Twitter @Rithotlz, check out my daily column on BloombergView.com, I’m Barry Ritholtz, you’re listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio. Welcome to the podcast, Kathleen, thank you so much for doing this and I’m — we have been looking forward to this since I saw you having a conversation, I think it was with Tom Keene, might’ve been some time ago. So Bernstein is a giant firm, I mean you are half a trillion dollars, plus it’s what almost 4,000 employees, is that about right? RITHOLTZ: 3,500, so that’s a substantial firm. What’s it like working in a shop that large as a person who’s as visible as you are for the company? FISHER: Bernstein, when I say Bernstein, because that is the brand we used. RITHOLTZ: So you started after the merger. RITHOLTZ: And I realized the merger was 2000, I thought it was after. FISHER: The AllianceBernstein merger is 2000 and actually our brand now is AB which is great, nice and snappy, and it’s a wonderful firm and that everyone is — heard someone saying we are just providing great outcomes for our clients because we only do one thing, right? We do invest in research and management. So that’s a real luxury relative to being in a financial conglomerate that has tons of different unrelated business. FISHER: We focus on providing great financial returns and the appropriate risk-adjusted returns for our clients whether they be institutional, private clients, or retail channel. So it’s a really wonderful place to be working since everyone knows our goals and objectives and how we apply resources to achieve them. So I think it’s a great model because I do believe strongly that companies should up the core competency to exploit in a world where depth and breadth matter more than ever. RITHOLTZ: So I remember Bernstein back in the 90s when constantly top ranked on the institutional investor in terms of the research team, the individual analysts, I could pull some names out, Paul Sagawa was on telecommunications, I remember him downgrading Lucent, Cisco, a bunch of telecoms and 99 people thinking he’s crazy and all the stocks then dropped 90 percent so Bernstein was known for their research following the merger with Alliance, has the business changed all that much? I’m trying to remember, do you guys do syndication IPOs, those sort of stuff or is it purely investment management and planning? FISHER: It is investment management and research and our sell side, particularly Bernstein continues to win accolades in the quality of the research they provide. RITHOLTZ: Now that business model is undergoing some pretty serious changes. At one point in time, that was a big profit center for the big banks, now it is the research department, they are in service of the rest of the asset management firm how to — how is that working these days? FISHER: On the Bernstein sell side research group is incredibly well-regarded and well-positioned to gain marketshare in a world where pressures are indeed changing the nature of the business quite substantially. RITHOLTZ: Yes, there has been a lot of decompression in that space and you mentioned the lack of liquidity on the bond side that half of the sell side business has changed dramatically also, but you guys are fortunate that your focus is pretty single-minded and that’s relatively unusual in this industry. FISHER: I think it’s a real advantage to clients to have a firm that really does know what it’s doing and why it’s doing it. RITHOLTZ: To say the least. So let me jump to my favorite questions, these are the questions I ask all of our guests, what’s the most important thing that people don’t know about your background? FISHER: Well, you might have gotten the sense of a pretty disciplined person, I work a lot, I don’t — my young colleagues now I’m not in any social media. RITHOLTZ: No social media, no Twitter, no Facebook. FISHER: No social media at all. RITHOLTZ: LinkedIn, not even LinkedIn? FISHER: Makes me a bit of a Luddite, I admit, but the thing they are learning sometimes that I read lot about what’s going on so I am actually much more up-to-date on what’s trending than they would expect me to be. And the other really interesting thing for most of my younger colleagues is that I do believe that we are in the Golden age of television, I do think that the Sopranos unleashed the most amazing set of programs ever and so when I have any free time on long holiday weekends, I do binge watch everything that I haven’t seen, just like a teenager might. RITHOLTZ: Okay, so give me some names I have my favorites, tell me what you’re watching and enjoying. FISHER: Well, to keep it the nice and light, I did do The Crown over the holidays. RITHOLTZ: One of the guys in my office loves, I can’t get into it. FISHER: I think of people think it’s slow but I think it’s riveting because I’m a bit of an Anglophile, and I do love House of Cards and I will probably still love it without Kevin Spacey, I love Orange is the New Black. So I could go on. RITHOLTZ: Orange is the New Black is a tough watch, I find that is like a little gritty. FISHER: I think men have a harder time with it than women do. Have you seen the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon? FISHER: I have read about it and I know she was the young woman on the House of Cards so I want to see that. RITHOLTZ: My wife and I binged through the whole thing over the holidays and it it’s really tremendous. Tells us about some of your early mentors, you talked about what you’re doing at AB now mentoring women, who were your mentors? FISHER: You know, I wish I could say I had a couple of incredibly important ones. I really didn’t and I regret that because I do think it’s so important. The one thing I did learn though is to make sure I got diverse opinions from people because everyone has biases and everyone has some blind spots so I have found it’s really good to ask multiple people questions over time to get help. RITHOLTZ: What investors influenced your approach to asset management? FISHER: One thing I love about investing is connecting the dots and everything is interconnected, everything can have unintended consequences, when I was young at Morgan Stanley, Barton Biggs was at — he has since passed away and Barton Biggs used to take a big trip every year and write about it. And the reason I’m highlighting that is that clients loved it because it reminded them of the big picture. It reminded them to keep focusing on the long term and recognized all these interconnected issues as opposed to being very, you know, focused on one particular stock or something that was really quite several as opposed to the longer-term. So I gave him enormous credit for helping people think broadly. RITHOLTZ: This is everybody’s favorite question, what are some of your favorite books be they investing or not investing related, fiction or nonfiction, what are you reading? FISHER: I confess I’m not reading anything now. I tend to be in high work mode this time of the year, but I love books, again, that help connect the dots, a book that I read that I recommended to many people is Gotham, which is I think it’s Gotham History of New York to 1898 or so, I think it was written maybe 20 years ago, I forgot the author’s name but there is second version coming out but it is it is a very big book and the reason it’s so wonderful is it actually goes through the first 300 years of New York City and highlights both the — all the accidental forces that made New York become what it is today and the primary one is that the Dutch influence on New York is really what made it such a commercial center from inception. We tend to think about the English influence but you know, the Dutch influence is really much more important to what the city became overtime. RITHOLTZ: Gotham, A History of New York to 1898, Edwin Burroughs and Mike Wallace. FISHER: Yes, and Mike Wallace has just — just done a second book which goes from I think 1898 to 1917 or something like that so it’s a much shorter timeframe but gets into the next period. RITHOLTZ: Greater Gotham, a History of New York City from 1898 to 1919. FISHER: Let me tell you another book that I recommend to everyone which used to be quite well known, I don’t think anyone under 15 knows of it, but All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, does that ring a bell with you? Yes. RITHOLTZ: Sure, it was a movie also. FISHER: Was but the book is much more important than the film and I think it was written in the 40s but it was written about the 30s, it was a little bit based on Huey Long, but more importantly, it’s about, it’s got so many themes but it’s about history, it’s about how you — you have to we have to accept and learn to accept you history but also change, unintended consequences of actions is a big theme of the book, it’s magnificent, and I it also reminds that geography and climate are something we don’t think about as much anymore but when you read that book about the South in the 30s, you feel the heat and the humidity and the dust and you realize how that affected the way people lived in ways that we are sort of immune from today. So it’s a great American novel that brings in many important social themes. RITHOLTZ: I just finished How We Got To Now and one of the six factors that led to modernity was simply air-conditioning. FISHER: I would say air conditioning is the most important invention of the modern era. RITHOLTZ: It has changed where people live, it has changed the political dynamic. RITHOLTZ: Right, it’s really you don’t think about that, we take it for granted but that’s a huge innovation. So we talked earlier about how things have improved for women in the industry. Generally speaking, what you think is the most significant changes we’ve witnessed in finance over the past 25 years? FISHER: You know, like with most industries, I think the power of the consumer is really a big trend, right? FISHER: You see that on every industry, right? The consumer preferences have to be met, they have so many choices and that’s certainly true in private wealth management, right? There are many different choices I think it’s really good for clients and that they are seeing a broad array of different models and every firm is therefore going to have to figure out what’s the model that works best for them and the clients they want to serve. So given that, what you think the next shifts that were good to see are going to be? FISHER: So I figure there’s technology coming sort of from the bottom and that the [robo] advisors have highlighted the opportunity to use technology to give clients quick information and let them do a little iterative work on their own but at the higher end, you’re seeing that there is actually more need for good advice than ever before. Tax code changes and lots of different issues as the investing landscape changes, all these things demand that good advice be available. RITHOLTZ: Tell us about a time you fail and what you learned from the experience? FISHER: You know, I think you’re looking for something very idiosyncratic. I got to tell you that the most important thing that ever happened to me with getting through 2008 and 2009 with private clients because — and the reason I know how important that was — I realized I don’t remember anything about that year except for work because we basically dropped everything to make sure we can work with our clients. As you know, it was a stunning time and anybody in stocks saw their stocks go down and happily our clients often had high quality municipal bonds that really helped offset those losses but it was a time when wit the faith and the way the world worked was shaken to its core and that affected me as well, I had to say the note is everything I believe to be true about investing still true and really had to work through that. And it was a very important experience to say yes indeed the world does still work on but it did require that our firm and many others really focused on risk control in ways that we haven’t had to do before that. So we developed some very powerful risk control tools that have been very — added to our clients ever since then. RITHOLTZ: It’s hard to stop and realize it was only 10 years ago, it feels like it is so much further away, but it’s 2018, it’s just a mere 10 years later, that — isn’t that astonishing. FISHER: Many people are still scarred by it. RITHOLTZ: But there’s a posttraumatic stress disorder amongst investors who I can’t tell you how many times I speak to people, what do you mean you’re 50 percent cash? Well I’m on 50 percent cash, I was 100 percent cash through 2015? Really? That some serious scarring. FISHER: Right, it’s the same thing, people that lost a lot of money in ’08 and will never trust markets again, it takes a long time to get over that. RITHOLTZ: The line I remember from many years ago is when you look in 1929, it did not get back above those levels till 1954, it was 25 years later and someone said you needed a whole generation of people to be born, grow up, and start working again before you even had a chance breach those levels. Tell us what you do to relax outside of the office, what you do to stay either mentally or physically sharp? FISHER: So having been a working mother for most of my career, my children are now adults 31 and — so 32 and 28, I always had to really focus on my job and my family and kind of let other things fall by the wayside and that luckily worked for me. I’m also on some boards that are very important to me but the — I don’t have a high need for fun which is really good. My fun is with my family, I have a wonderful husband and wonderful children and now a grandson and so I spend most of my time focusing on seeing them as much as I can. I do have a trainer, I have a trainer once a week who pushes me to do things that I would never do by myself which I think is wonderful. But I will tell you I don’t have any dramatically interesting outside hobbies like bungee jumping or anything like that. RITHOLTZ: So you mentioned work with some younger women in the firm. If a millennial or recent college graduate came to you and said they were interested in a career in finance what sort of advice would you give them? FISHER: I would get the same advice I’ve been getting for decades which is you have to love the content of what you do, you will always be competing with people who do love that content so if you don’t, you’re going to have an edge. So you have to know why you’re in the fields and find — if you like finance, if you like markets, you know find a spot that really lights your fire because it is competitive, it should be and therefore you want to love what you do and the rest will come. RITHOLTZ: And our final question what is it that you know about investing in markets today that you wish you knew 30 years ago? FISHER: I think, patience and never ever letting yourself get swayed by the short term is something that you know when you’re younger it’s hard to do sometimes. I look back at from the things I did back then and only I’ve held onto certain positions that I didn’t, it would’ve been a whole different story. RITHOLTZ: To say the very least. We have been speaking with Kathleen Fisher, she is the head of wealth and investing strategies at AllianceBernstein. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to look up an inch or down an inch on Apple iTunes, sound cloud, overcast or wherever finer podcasts are sold and you could see any of the other 180 or so such conversations we’ve had. We enjoy your comments, feedback, and suggestions, write to us at [email protected]. I would be remiss if I did not think the crack staff who helps me put together this conversation every week Taylor Riggs is our booker, Michael Batnick is our head of research, Medina Parwana is our audio engineer/producer extraordinaire. I’m Barry Rithotlz, you have been listening to Masters in Business on Bloomberg Radio.

2019-04-26T14:59:53Z

https://ritholtz.com/2018/03/transcript-alliance-bernsteins-kathleen-fisher/

The Harvard Business Law Review (HBLR) aims to be the premier journal covering the laws of business organization and capital markets. HBLR will publish articles from professors, practitioners, and policymakers on corporate law and governance, securities and capital markets law, financial regulation and financial institutions, law and finance, financial distress and bankruptcy, and related subjects. In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission made waves by deciding to regulate the nascent peer-to-peer lending industry. Only two lending platforms survived the SEC’s entry into a previously lightly-regulated market. Under this regulatory setup, the SEC would regulate the lending-investing process, while other agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission would regulate the borrower side of the business. In subsequent years, entrepreneurs, academics, and lawmakers struggled with the question of whether this bifurcated approach should be replaced by a consolidated regulatory approach, supported by an exemption of P2P lending platforms from federal securities laws. This Article argues that the existing bifurcated system works and is continually getting better as the SEC amends existing exemptions and introduces new regulations to smooth the path for financial innovation. It uses data and empirical methods to further examine the relative welfare of borrowers and retail lenders in P2P transactions. It concludes that (i) unlike brick-and-mortar transactions, retail lenders require more protection than borrowers in the P2P world and (ii) the SEC is uniquely suited to protect these retail lenders and should continue to do so, with some recommended modifications. In 2006, a company called Prosper had an audacious idea: helping people borrow thousands of dollars online from strangers. News coverage at the time was slightly incredulous, describing the startup as “ingenious and faintly surreal – its premise is that strangers . . . will come together to execute meaningful, serious[,] and risky transactions in a self-consciously anonymous environment.” Ten years later, peer-to-peer (P2P) loan platforms in the United States have issued $5.5 billion in loans. In a significant departure from traditional bank-based lending, individual retail lenders (“lenders” or “individual lenders”) are loaning money to anonymous borrowers on P2P loan platforms, often based on a combination of verified and unverified data. This is how it works: borrowers register on a P2P loan platform and submit information in a loan application; the loan platform then assigns the loan a quality score before posting the loan anonymously to their platforms to attract lender funding. This novel industry has been the subject of intense regulatory debate, due to concerns over consumer protection. The early days of P2P lending were fraught with risk to lenders, who were largely individuals rather than traditional institutional creditors. Even as the industry grew, lenders bore painfully high default rates―Prosper was charging off more than 20% of loans issued before 2008, while Lending Club fared better, but still had 8.5% of its pre-2008 loans in default. In comparison, consumer loan charge-offs and delinquencies at commercial banks averaged around at 5.5% and 4.7% respectively during the same period in 2009. Regulatory ambiguity ended in 2008; the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fatefully intervened on November 24 and entered a cease-and-desist order (the Order) against Prosper. According to the SEC, Prosper (and by extension, other for-profit P2P loan platforms) were selling “securities” and thus came under the ambit of the 1933 Securities Act. These P2P loans thus had to be registered with the SEC to comply with federal securities laws. This caused a massive industry shakeout. Prosper and Lending Club successfully registered their offerings with the SEC, but other P2P loan platforms such as Loanio, Virgin Money, and Pertuity soon folded under the burden of complying with the SEC’s Order. The SEC’s Order had far-reaching implications for the P2P lending model. Lending Club and Prosper faced significant registration and reporting requirements. These for-profit P2P loan platforms had to shelf-register each loan (known as a “note”) ahead of any given lender’s investment. They had to record details of each funded loan with the SEC in a “posting supplement” placed on EDGAR (the SEC’s disclosure archive), thus publicly storing the borrower’s data and disclosures for the public to see. Unsurprisingly, these registration requirements were difficult to implement for incumbents, and are nearly insuperable for new entrants. The SEC’s Order also fundamentally changed the transactional relationships among the borrower, lender, and platform. Prior to the SEC’s Order, when borrowers and lenders matched, “Prosper would signal WebBank, a Utah-chartered industrial bank, to make the loan to the borrower. WebBank would assign the note to Prosper, which then assigned it to the lender.” Effectively, the platform merely intermediated a loan between the borrower and the lender. The transaction has become significantly more complicated after the SEC’s Order. Today, the lender starts the process by signaling interest in a prospective borrower. When the loan receives enough indications of interest, WebBank funds the borrower but assigns the loan to the platform, not to the lenders. The platform then sells a separate debt instrument backed by the original loan to the lenders, who become creditors of the platform rather than the borrower. The approach is cumbersome and exposes lenders to additional risk, as it entirely eliminates any status lenders may have as secured creditors of the platform. Unfortunately, offering lenders a partial or whole security interest in the loan would potentially make them registrants or underwriters of the security, and thus this workaround resulted. Despite these restrictions, P2P lending has taken off. Lending Club and Prosper have issued more than $13 billion in loans since 2006, with the majority of loan growth concentrated in the past three years. These online marketplaces for personal loans have also benefited both borrowers and lenders by stripping some costs out of the transaction. For example, Lending Club claims that “the traditional banking system is burdened by its high fixed cost of underwriting and services, in part due to its physical infrastructure and labor- and paper-intensive business process . . . .” These platforms may drive additional benefits, such as the potential to harness the “collective intelligence of potential lenders” and its function as an alternative source of capital during the 2008 credit crunch. One of the central questions gripping the industry has been that of the optimal regulatory structure. As P2P lending took off, entrepreneurs, academics, and lawmakers struggled with deciding who should regulate the industry. Should they allow the SEC to retain jurisdiction alongside other regulators (the bifurcated approach), or should they consolidate oversight under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and exempt platforms from federal securities laws (the consolidated approach)? This Article answers that question with the benefit of new data and developments. Section I describes the battle between the bifurcated and consolidated approaches. Section II refutes criticisms of the bifurcated approach. Section III explains the novel risks individual lenders face in P2P lending markets, thus justifying SEC involvement. Section IV outlines modest proposals for the SEC to improve their oversight of the industry. Shortly after the GAO report was published, Andrew Verstein, who is now a Wake Forest Law School professor, published the first comprehensive study analyzing the shortcomings of SEC regulation of P2P lending. Broadly, Verstein advances three criticisms of SEC regulation. First, the cost of SEC compliance would selectively burden certain P2P business models and restrict industry growth. Second, the SEC had no mandate to protect borrowers and might privilege lenders over borrowers when requiring information disclosure. Third, SEC involvement actively hurt lenders by imposing additional risks. On the first issue, Verstein describes how for-profit P2P loan platforms would continue to be harmed by the registration process. P2P loan platforms cannot sell notes before the registration statement becomes effective, and must continue to amend their SEC filings in the post-effective period at great effort. Verstein notes, “The costs and delays from SEC regulation of P2P lending resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of P2P platforms . . . . In this climate, many P2P platforms have found it difficult to compete and grow.” As for borrowers, Verstein worries that mandatory disclosures in SEC filings compromised borrower privacy with little benefit to the lenders, since even the SEC admitted that few people use EDGAR to access information about P2P investments. The SEC has no mandate to protect borrowers and could potentially “ossify a ruthlessly pro-lender bias for P2P disclosure.” Finally, securities registration may have made lenders worse off. P2P loan platforms were forced to opt for shelf registration under Securities Act Rule 415, which is the only way for issuers to register a group of securities far in advance of their issuance. However, shelf registration meant that the platform had to serve as the issuer, rather than the individual borrowers, thus exposing the lender to the credit risks of both borrowers and the platform. Verstein believes that the better solution would be to consolidate regulation of P2P loan platforms under the CFPB. This new agency could craft tailored disclosures that balanced borrower privacy against misleading advertising and disclosures for lenders. The CFPB’s prudential regulatory scheme could further negate some of the unwanted side effects of a purely disclosure-based regime. This perspective helped clarify two opposing positions on the “optimal regulator” for the P2P lending industry. One camp strongly supported the CFPB, since it would impose none of the registration costs outlined above, while also furnishing the additional benefit of being better placed to apply federal consumer protection laws on behalf of borrowers. In contrast, the opposing camp argued for a “wait-and-see” approach that permitted the bifurcated regime to continue. Chief among their reasons were concerns that experienced securities and lending regulators would be foreclosed from applying their expertise to a rapidly evolving industry, instead replacing joint oversight with a single new regulatory entity potentially subject to regulatory capture. Proponents of the bifurcated regime also argued that it was too early to claim that the industry was “stifled by overregulation” and that unchecked growth might foretell a crash. The bifurcated regime has turned out to be the correct choice, due to changes in the SEC’s approach, as well as new empirical data suggesting that lenders require more protection than borrowers in P2P lending markets. Four years later, the dire shortcomings of the bifurcated approach have failed to materialize. Proponents of a consolidated approach under the CFPB had fretted that the cost of SEC regulation was simply too high and would halt industry growth in its tracks. Yet the SEC has expanded private placement exemptions and put in place new regulations to lower the regulatory barrier to entry, effectively exempting new P2P loan platforms from the dreaded registration burden. The bifurcated approach will also likely benefit borrowers, since the centrality of loan platforms in P2P transactions offers an easier single point of application of consumer financial protection laws. But perhaps the most powerful argument in favor of the SEC’s continued role comes from protections that disclosure rules may offer lenders. Empirical analysis shows that the tables have turned on lenders. Unlike traditional credit markets, lenders require more protection than borrowers in P2P lending transactions due to their retail status. Thus, each of the original arguments against the SEC’s involvement have been mitigated or even overturned with time. At the outset, the notion that P2P lending growth has been chilled by regulation should be dispelled. P2P lending volumes at Prosper and Lending Club (both of whom collectively controlled 98% of the P2P market in 2014) grew from $871 million in loans in 2012 to $2.4 billion in 2013. By one estimate, P2P loans in the U.S. reached $5.5 billion in 2014, and are projected to reach $150 billion by 2025. By any measure, growth has been rapid. The remaining concern should thus be whether new entry is still significantly challenged by regulatory barriers to entry. But, since 2013, the SEC has adopted new rules that lower these barriers. The main hurdle faced by for-profit P2P loan platforms, following the SEC’s application of the Howey test, was the need for costly and burdensome registration regardless of business size. In 2011, there were several exemptions that could have removed P2P loans from the ambit of federal securities laws (and, correspondingly, eliminated the need for registration), but most had aggregate offering amount caps which were too low to support the scale of a P2P lending operation. An exemption under Rule 506, which does not have an aggregate offering limit, could have permitted the platforms to execute private placements but for the prohibition on “general advertising” and “general solicitation” (stemming from the Rule 502(c) limitations on the manner of offering). A securities offering made over the Internet—a fundamental sales channel for a P2P loan platform—might be deemed by the SEC to involve general advertising or general solicitation and thus would not qualify for the Rule 506 exemption. Thus, to avoid registration, P2P loan platforms would either have to stay extremely small and give up any economies of scale, or would have to avoid marketing the securities through standard sales channels—both untenable propositions for any consumer-focused business. Fortunately, the SEC implemented Rule 506(c) in September 2013, which “permits issuers to use general solicitation and general advertising . . . when conducting an offering pursuant to [Rule 506(c)], provided that all purchasers of the securities are accredited investors and the issuer takes reasonable steps to verify that such purchasers are accredited investors.” What this means is that as long as the platforms make a reasonable effort to ensure that lenders are “accredited investors,” they should be able to offer and sell an unlimited amount of loans to lenders without going through registration. The dominant lending platforms, Lending Club and Prosper, do not need this exemption since they already have a shelf-registration process in place. But new entrants into the P2P lending arena may yet take advantage of this exemption, especially as it grows in popularity. General use of Rule 506(c) is still small. More than 900 new offerings were conducted in reliance on Rule 506(c) in 2014, raising more than $10 billion in new capital. But this is small compared to the 9,200 offerings valued at $233 billion sold under the old “private” Rule 506 exemption. As the Rule 506(c) exemption gains popularity, it could emerge as a powerful tool to incubate new platforms among informed lenders, thus undercutting concerns around insuperable regulatory barriers to entry. Previous commentators have noted that P2P lending startups are in a catch-22: they cannot legally begin operating without registration or afford registration without venture funding, but they will not get venture funding without acquiring customers through their operations. This exemption dispels some of those concerns. The new entrants can start with Rule 506(c) to grow their customer base. Once they obtain funding, they can then transition to shelf-registration to ensure that their securities enjoy the full benefits of a registered offering, such as the ability for buyers to freely resell their securities. In a related development, the SEC recently implemented a separate crowdfunding exemption pursuant to the CROWDFUND Act of 2012. Some provisions of the SEC’s final rule regarding crowdfunding (Regulation Crowdfunding) appear to further ease entry into the P2P lending market. Borrower companies may raise up to $1 million in a 12-month period, from both accredited and unaccredited investors, subject to individual investment limits and certain financial statement disclosure requirements. The offering must also be made through a broker or funding portal. Regulation Crowdfunding allows platforms to match borrowers and lenders on a marketplace, without requiring the platform to register any securities. This partially resurrects the original transaction structure proposed by lending platforms: lenders can lend money directly to borrowers, with the platform only providing a marketplace in which the transaction can take place. Admittedly, Regulation Crowdfunding does not fully open the door to the original model, since the exemption exempts small business issuers from registration, and further requires issuers to file certain disclosures with the SEC. But while this exemption would not necessarily benefit new entrants seeking to replicate Lending Club or Prosper’s business model, it opens the door to currently unavailable P2P lending structures such as a platform for crowdfunded small business loans. The increasing availability of exemptions for all aspects of P2P funding is evidence that the slow-growth and barrier-to-entry concerns are unwarranted. Proponents of the consolidated approach were justifiably concerned that the SEC would focus on protecting lenders at the expense of borrowers. Holding aside that the status quo involves a multi-agency approach that includes the CFPB, there have been additional benefits accruing to borrowers due to the SEC’s involvement. The SEC’s registration requirement forces the lending platform to issue loans to borrowers in the platform’s own name. Essentially, the platforms have stepped in to act as a clearinghouse. This structure may be detrimental to lenders since they no longer retain a security interest in the borrower’s loan. However, it may have the happy, and likely unintended, consequence of providing additional protections for borrowers. Many of the major consumer financial protection laws, such as the Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) can be more effectively applied against a lending platform than against individual lenders. By issuing lenders a borrower-dependent payment note instead of assigning the borrower’s obligation to the lender, the platform truly assumes the role of “creditor” in each transaction. The platform thus provides a single point of application for the enumerated consumer financial protection laws. To highlight how this works, consider creditors’ obligations under TILA. A covered creditor must “disclose any finance charge; report interest rates as annual percentage rates; identify the creditor; list the amount financed; enumerate the payment schedule; describe late fees; and suggest that the consumer consult a tax adviser.” However, not everyone who lends money is a covered creditor. A creditor is only subject to TILA requirements if he “regularly extends . . . consumer credit” and “is the person to whom the debt arising from the consumer credit transaction is initially payable on the face of the evidence of indebtedness. . . .” An entity “regularly extends” credit if it did so more than twenty-five times in the preceding year. In the original transaction structure where the notes were made payable to the individual lender, attaching TILA obligations to the platform or the funding bank could be difficult if the debt was initially payable to the individual lender. It would be even more difficult to attach TILA obligations to individual lenders—logistics of forcing lenders to comply with TILA aside, the lenders have to regularly extend credit to be covered under TILA. Having the borrowers be clearly obligated to the funding bank or platform provides a logical and sensible party to which TILA duties can attach. The benefits of a single point of application for ECOA are even clearer. One of the key ECOA requirements is the adverse action notice: if the borrower’s application for credit is denied, he is entitled to an adverse action “providing statements of reasons in writing as a matter of course to applicants against whom adverse action is taken.” In the original transaction model, lenders might arguably have been required to issue adverse action notices, as ECOA creditors include “any assignee of an original creditor who participates in the decision to extend, renew, or continue credit.” This requirement would have been unworkable, and potentially imposed civil liability on lenders, as ECOA provides a private right of action. However, the present model appropriately places the full weight of ECOA compliance on lending platforms and funding banks since they are the creditors actually making the loans. The above arguments posit that borrowers receive better protections because of the transactional structure imposed by the SEC. However, they do not directly address the issue of borrower privacy and the potential ossification of a “ruthlessly pro-lender bias” that so concerns Verstein. In Section III-A, this Article describes how empirical analysis shows that borrowers are getting a good deal and face a relatively low risk of exploitation by lenders and the lending platforms. The traditional borrower-lender dynamic has typically favored lenders over borrowers due to the disparity in negotiating leverage between the parties. Borrowers often pit themselves against banks selling financial products with “incomprehensible terms and sharp practices that have left families at the mercy of those who write the contracts.” This does not appear to be the case here. Based on loan data provided by Lending Club, it appears that in P2P lending transactions, borrowers are doing quite well. They are not subject to the same risks as those in the brick-and-mortar lending world. Conversely, lenders have entered the lending market for the first time, and are making small but significant mistakes when processing the reams of data made available to them. The tables have turned on lenders, and the SEC is uniquely suited to protect these neophyte investors through better disclosure. The following analysis is based on an empirical study of 391,888 of Lending Club’s loans made from 2007 to 2013, of which 33,592 are matured and have been fully paid down or charged off. Each loan contains significant borrower disclosures that lenders rely on to make an investment decision. This appears to be the first empirical contribution to the bifurcated versus consolidated regulatory approach debate. Results show that borrowers appear to enjoy better rates than they would have obtained on their immediate source of credit—credit cards. They are also well protected from lender exploitation by a combination of Lending Club collection policies and the collective action problem of collecting on small loans. In contrast, lenders may need to be protected from themselves, since they often misinterpret key information offered by borrowers. Summary statistics are reproduced below. To evaluate whether Lending Club borrowers are getting better interest rates, the empirical study regresses average Lending Club rates for 36-month loans on alternative sources of credit from 2007 to 2012. Controlling for individual borrower characteristics, the study shows that for every 100 basis point (bps) increase in rates for comparable credit products—for example, personal loans, existing credit card APRs, and new card APRs—Lending Club’s average rates rise between eight and thirty bps. Thus, Lending Club’s average rates appear less sensitive than bank rates, which would have benefited borrowers during the 2008 to 2010 credit crunch. During this period, credit card interest rates stayed mostly flat, between 13% and 14% APR—though personal loan rates fell, likely due to rapidly tightening loan issuance standards. Lending Club’s rates stayed relatively flat at 11% to 12% over the same period, resulting in relatively better rates for the average borrower during the credit crisis. It is possible that Lending Club was capturing higher credit-quality borrowers from banks during this period, generating a compositional shift that dampened rate increases. However, banks were implementing tighter lending standards, and fewer borrowers were qualifying for traditional bank credit. Thus, Lending Club may have been able to offer lower rates for equivalent- or greater-risk customers who were unable to obtain bank loans. Most Lending Club borrowers also appear insulated from overpayment exploitation. Overpayment occurs when missed payments and late fees begin compounding, increasing the borrower’s outstanding obligation. This is a common concern in payday lending. Table 1 analyzes just-matured loans, showing the breakdown of overpaying borrowers and the amount overpaid relative to loan size. Lower quality borrowers have a higher risk of overpaying as they are more likely to be miss payments, consistent with their poorer credit quality. Yet on the whole, only 3.8% of borrowers—1,277 out of 33,592 borrowers whose loans terms were completed—paid more than the contracted installments, including charged-off loans. This is in line with the overall delinquency rate on consumer loans at commercial banks, which ranged from 2.4% to 4.9% from 2007 to 2012. Further, borrowers overpaid from 0.4% to 1.5% of the amount borrowed. These overpayment amounts are unremarkable. For comparison, credit card accountholders with FICO above 660 (non-subprime borrowers) historically paid 2-4% of their average daily balance in late fees and over-limit fees, which indicate that overpayment ratios on P2P loan platforms are reasonable. Borrowers also appear relatively free from predatory penalties and collections practices. Lending Club’s collection and recovery process appears fairly forgiving. Borrowers are given a fifteen-day grace period, after which they are charged a $15 flat fee or 5% of the missed monthly payment, whichever is greater. This charge only occurs once per missed payment, avoiding potential pyramiding charges. If the borrower is thirty or more days late, the loan is often turned over to an external collection agency; at 150 or more days late, it is charged off the investors’ portfolios. However, Lending Club does not make a policy of aggressively pursuing recoveries, and notes that “recoveries on previously charged-off loans are infrequent.” Table 4 shows the results of these comparatively lenient policies: average late fees per loan range between $14 and $32. Recoveries rarely exceed 1% of total loan amounts and are typically less than $60 per loan; the only anomaly is a large recovery in Grade G loans, which dramatically skews the small sample of Grade G loans. Correspondingly, it is reasonable to conclude that P2P borrowers have significantly different experiences from payday loans and other forms of predatory lending. The P2P borrower experience is far more in line to that of a typical consumer loan customer or credit card customer with solid credit at a commercial bank. While borrowers are getting a good deal, lenders still misinterpret certain borrower disclosures when choosing which loans to invest in, resulting in suboptimal investment decisions. This may be particularly true for the pre-2012 lending population, which was largely composed of individual lenders. In short, lenders are given a dizzying array of information upon which to base a lending decision, but may need more verification and platform guidance to correctly process the data. These are policies that the SEC is well-suited to require of lending platforms. The empirical analysis discussed below was conducted based on the following procedure. A series of regressions evaluating the effect of various borrower disclosures on three independent variables were run to deduce how lenders treat each piece of information. The well-informed, rational investor should invest more quickly in attributes that predict better loan performance, resulting in matching signs between Column 2 and Columns 3 and 4. Table 6 provides an overview of congruencies and discrepancies between lender interest and loan performance. The need for greater lender protections and clearer disclosures becomes evident when the regression results are compared. On the one hand, Lending Club grading criteria appear to be accurate, and lenders can profitably rely on Lending Club’s grades. Table 6 highlights this in Columns 3 and 4, where Lending Club’s grades are strongly predictive of default probability and loss severity. Additionally, the signs on disclosed information in Column 1 closely match those in Columns 3 and 4, implying that Lending Club is correctly incorporating disclosed information into its assessment of loan quality. Yet lenders do not rely solely on Lending Club’s grades. Instead, they revisit borrower disclosures and assign their own interpretation to those data, sometimes resulting in higher default probabilities. The key takeaways from Table 6 are summarized in the following Exhibit A. The items in the center column describe mismatches between lender expectations—as represented by the variables’ effect on time-to-fund—and actual loan performance. The most significant lender mistakes appear to be around interest rates and credit inquiries, which are respectively categorized as Lending Club-assigned outcomes and verified information. Lenders aggressively seek higher interest rates—a 1% increase in interest rate within the same subgrade will reduce time to fund by nearly half a day. However, higher rates are associated with higher charge-offs even controlling for all other factors, possibly due to the effect on borrower ability-to-pay—an effect well-established in the literature. Additionally, lenders appear to disregard inquiries made in the last 6 months, despite a significant impact on default risk. Lenders also disdain higher FICO and prefer higher revolving utilization. Unfortunately for them, lower FICOs and higher revolving utilization lead to higher charge-offs. For unverified information, lenders make fewer “mistakes” but could still benefit from clearer guidance. They appropriately stay away from borrowers who do not disclose employment, and are correctly wary of borrowers whose stated loan purpose is “moving,” “small business,” and “other.” However, lenders may be missing certain indicators of poor performance. For example, they do not respond significantly to medical and education loans, even though those tend to charge off at a greater rate with higher severity. Conversely, they also tend to base their decisions on attributes that do not seem to have a significant impact. In particular, lenders lend more quickly to borrowers paying rent or mortgages, relative to borrowers who own their homes. Yet these types of homeownership are not associated with significantly better or worse loan performance than that of a home-owning borrower. When it comes to borrower narratives, lenders care about whether descriptions are offered, but appear to care less about the quantity of information disclosed in those descriptions. Having a description reduces time to fund by 0.1 days, but does not significantly affect loan performance. Conversely, the amount of information volunteered by borrowers in their descriptions does impact charge-off probability and loss severity, which lenders fail to take into account. Longer borrower narratives are correlated to lower charge-off probability. Borrowers may be, somewhat surprisingly, using this section to establish their bona fides, rather than tricking soft-hearted lenders into extending foolish credit. Lenders need the SEC’s help. Admittedly, the SEC’s involvement is not uniformly beneficial to lenders. Lenders’ inability to receive a security interest in the underlying loan surely puts them at greater risk should a P2P loan platform become insolvent. But the preceding analysis shows that this may be a necessary cost to keep the SEC involved and protective of lenders. Lenders are offered literally dozens of categories of information, which can be material or immaterial, verified or unverified, voluntary or mandatory. This is a scenario that fits well in the SEC’s wheelhouse, despite playing out in a novel P2P setting. The SEC’s mission to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient capital markets, and facilitate capital formation” applies neatly to P2P lending transactions, especially as platforms begin moving upmarket into bigger loans—for example, small business loans. Keeping the SEC front and center, alongside other agencies such as the CFPB and state lending agencies, ensures that lenders who invest in the booming P2P lending market will continue receiving the disclosure protections they need most. Lenders need additional protections and better disclosure to flourish in the brave new world of P2P lending. The SEC has identified several strategic goals (the Strategic Plan) that are relevant to lenders. Chief among them is “work[ing] to ensure that investors have access to high-quality disclosure materials” containing initiatives such as “design[ing] and implement[ing] new disclosure regimes for specialized categories of issuers so that investors in these products have relevant and useful information to make informed investment decisions.” While the Strategic Plan did not specifically call attention to P2P financing, the rapid growth of this market means that it cannot be overlooked as the SEC implements its initiatives under this goal. The SEC should consider two reforms that would encourage production of reliable information to assist lenders in their decision-making. First, the SEC should direct P2P loan platforms to improve their verification processes. Lenders appear to rely on much of the unverified information when making lending decisions. Currently, platforms focus verification efforts on income data, with useful results. Borrowers with verified income are typically considered worse risks, since poor quality borrowers are required to, or may volunteer, additional information such as tax returns or pay stubs to verify their disclosed income. This is only one example of how verification improves material information. To build on these informational benefits, P2P loan platforms should be required to verify all income disclosures, and take reasonable steps to verify other material disclosures such as employment and homeownership. For less-easily verifiable information, such as loan purposes, platforms might be able to increase truthfulness by highlighting the borrower’s potential antifraud liability for misrepresentation. While these would be difficult to enforce privately, it might nonetheless increase truthful disclosure on the margin. Second, the SEC should direct P2P loan platforms to provide more explanatory disclosures to its lenders. Exhibit A shows several examples of relevant borrower disclosures that seem to be ignored by lenders. For example, certain unverified information (such as borrowing to pay off credit card debt) and even verified information (such as number of inquiries in the last six months) do not appear to affect lender enthusiasm. The platforms’ risk-scoring algorithms are closely-held secrets, and may already account for these attributes during the loan-grading process. However, lenders might benefit from clear and prominent summaries by the platforms about which attributes tend to predict better or worse loan performance, all else held equal. Notably, this disclosure will only help if all material information is verified, since doing otherwise would invite borrowers to game the system by manipulating their information. Finally, the SEC itself needs a more targeted approach towards defining materiality. The SEC’s “basic perspective is as follows: if a platform gives lenders any shred of information, it must matter to lenders; if it matters to lenders, it must be material to their lending decision; and if it is material to the lending decision, it must be posted on the EDGAR system.” But by forcing all borrower-disclosed information onto EDGAR, the SEC may have chilled certain valuable disclosures from ever being made. Table 5 shows that borrower narratives tend to reduce charge-off probability and loss severity. Yet over the past few years, narratives have nearly disappeared from the platform. According to Table 6 below, 98% of loans had narratives in 2007. By 2014, less than 10% of loans contained narratives. One possible reason might be borrowers’ increasing unwillingness to disclose more than they have to, since these personal stories are etched into EDGAR for eternity. Any regulatory effort to further protect lenders must take these tradeoffs into account. One approach would be to define a tighter materiality standard. A standard based on the classic “total mix of information available” formulation could be assessed via the statistical significance of investor responses. An alternative materiality standard based on the size of the misstatement could also be applied. For example, the SEC could evaluate the effect on expected losses (default probability multiplied by loss severity) should the borrower misstate or misrepresent a particular loan attribute, to provide a preliminary assessment as to whether the erroneous disclosure is material. In either case, the platforms would have to collaborate closely with the SEC to correctly identify material items. This narrower reading of materiality would bring several benefits. First, it would quantify “materiality” of disclosures in P2P loan offerings and bring it in line with the SEC’s “rules of thumb” on materiality for other securities. Second, it would allow the SEC to select only the most “material” information to capture in EDGAR, and potentially relieve some of the reporting burdens shouldered by the platforms. To truly ameliorate privacy concerns, however, the SEC should provide some discretion to P2P loan platforms regarding how borrower disclosures that contain personally identifiable information get captured in the shelf registration. For example, it may not be necessary to capture the entire borrower narrative—instead, platforms might be allowed to categorize the narrative under one of several different narrative types. Herzenstein et al. finds six “identity claims” in narratives provided by Prosper borrowers, such as “trustworthy,” “moral,” and “economic hardship.” Using these categories may better protect borrower privacy by preventing inadvertent over-disclosure. When the GAO issued its P2P lending report, commentators worried that the SEC’s dominant role in the industry would chill growth and block new market entrants; it would fail to protect borrowers and would only harm lenders. But the SEC’s approach has managed to address many of those concerns. It has implemented new exemptions to help people more easily access capital markets. Rule 506(c) and Regulation Crowdfunding should permit other novel transactional structures to fill consumers’ need for capital. The SEC’s required transactional structure may also have had the unintended consequence of making consumer financial protection laws easier to enforce, since it provides regulators with a single point of application to attach relevant obligations. Finally, while the lack of a security interest is indeed unfortunate, the SEC’s role is not uniformly detrimental to lenders. Lenders in this market, more than ever, need better disclosure and information verification, and the SEC is the right agency to continue building those protections. This does not give the SEC a free pass. More must be done to tailor the disclosure regime to be maximally useful to lenders. Reforms such as more platform verification of borrower information, and plain English descriptions of borrower information and its effects, could help lenders make better decisions. In addition, the SEC must define a better materiality standard to strike the right balance between borrower privacy and lender information. The approach may not be broken, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t use more fine-tuning. † J.D. Candidate, Yale Law School, 2017. B.A. in Economics, Dartmouth College, 2010. The Author would like to thank Professor Ian Ayres and Adriana Robertson for their invaluable assistance in developing and reviewing this research, and Professor John Morley for his insights on recent developments in securities regulation. Farhad Manjoo, The Virtual Moneylender, Salon (May 22, 2006, 9:00 AM), http://www.salon.com/006/05/22/prosper/. See PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, Peer Pressure: How Peer-to-Peer Lending Platforms are Transforming the Consumer Lending Industry 2 (2015), http://www.pwc.com/us/en/consumer-finance/publications/assets/peer-to-peer-lending.pdf. U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., GAO-11-613, Person-To-Person Lending: New Regulatory Challenges Could Emerge as the Industry Grows 10–11 (2011). Id. at 11 (noting that the same process applies to Lending Club, the only other major for-profit P2P lending platform). Lending Club’s investor base was mostly comprised of individuals until 2012. See How Has Lending Club’s Investor Base Changed?, Lending Club (last visited May 24, 2016), http://kb.lendingclub.com/investor/ articles/Investor/How-has-Lending-Club-s-investor-base-changed/?l=en_US&fs=RelatedArticle (hereafter “Lending Club Investor Base”). Amy Barrett, Peer-to-Peer Lending Pain, Bloomberg Business (Apr. 2, 2009, 12:00 AM), http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2009-04-02/peer-to-peer-lending-pain. See Charge-Off Rate On Consumer Loans, All Commercial Banks, Economic Research Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Feb. 19, 2016, 2:06 PM), https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CORCACBS (place cursor over graph where it indicates “2010 Q2”). Prosper Marketplace, Inc., 2008 WL 4978684 (2008). See Andrew Verstein, The Misregulation of Person-to-Person Lending, 45 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 445, 475–76 (2012). Shelf registration allows an issuer to offer securities on a delayed or continuous basis, unlike a standard registered offering, which must typically be offered and sold within a short period of time. See 17 C.F.R. § 230.415 (2015). This is particularly important for high-volume P2P loan platforms, since they can rely on a single effective registration to offer and sell many securities, instead of going through the registration process for every subsequent security offering. See Valerie Demont, Show Me the Money and How to Get It: The Speed and Flexibility of Universal Shelf Registrations, Pepper Hamilton LLP (May 28, 2009), http://www.pepperlaw.com/publications/show-me-the-money-and-how-to-get-it-the-speed-and-flexibility-of-universal-shelf-registrations-2009-05-28/. LendingClub Co., Member Payment Dependent Notes (Rule 424(b)(3) Filing) (Dec. 20, 2010). Verstein, supra note 9, at 476–77. Prosper Marketplace, Inc., Amendment No. 3 to Registration Statement (Form S-1) 8 (Apr. 14, 2009). See Prosper Marketplace Surpasses $2 Billion in Personal Loans on Its Platform, Prosper Media Room (Oct. 27, 2014), https://www.prosper.com/about-us/2014/10/27/prosper-marketplace-surpasses-2-billion-in-personal-loans-on-its-platform/; see also Lending Club Statistics, Lending Club (last updated Jun. 30, 2015), https://www.lendingclub.com/info/statistics.action. LendingClub Co., Annual Report (Form 10-K) 5 (Feb. 27, 2014). Eric C. Chaffee & Geoffrey C. Rapp, Regulating Online Peer-to-Peer Lending in the Aftermath of Dodd-Frank: In Search of an Evolving Regulatory Regime for an Evolving Industry, 69 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 485, 503–05 (2012). See U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., supra note 3. Verstein, supra note 9, at 51–511. Verstein, supra note 9, at 512–13. Verstein, supra note 9, at 501. Verstein, supra note 9, at 506. See 17 C.F.R. § 230.415 (2008). See Verstein, supra note 9, at 491. See Verstein, supra note 9, at 524–26. See Paul Slattery, Square Pegs in a Round Hole: SEC Regulation of Online Peer-to-Peer Lending and the CFPB Alternative, 30 Yale J. on Reg. 233, 265–73 (2013). See Chafee & Rapp, supra note 19, at 529–30. See Chafee & Rapp, supra note 19, at 530. See, e.g., Slattery, supra note 31, at 256–258; Carl Smith, If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It: The SEC’s Regulation of Peer-to-Peer Lending, 6 Am. U. Bus. L. Brief 21, 23 (2010). Banking Without Banks, The Economist, Mar. 1, 2014, http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21597932-offering-both-borrowers-and-lenders-better-deal-websites-put-two. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, supra note 2, at 1. SEC v. W.J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293, 298–99 (1946) (describing the test for whether a financial instrument is an investment contract under the SEC’s jurisdiction―that is., “a contract, transaction or scheme whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party”). See 17 C.F.R. § 230.504 (2015) (providing a $1 million annual limit on Rule 504 exempt offerings); see also 17 C.F.R. § 230.505 (2015) (providing a $5 million annual limit on Rule 505 exempt offerings). See 17 C.F.R. § 230.506 (2015). Peter Manbeck & Marc Franson, Chapman and Cutler LLP, The Regulation of Marketplace Lending 7 (Apr. 2015), https://www.aba.com/Tools/Offers/Documents/ChapmanRegulationofMarketplaceLending WhitePaper040815.pdf. Eliminating the Prohibition Against General Solicitation and General Advertising in Rule 506 and Rule 144A Offerings, Securities Act Release No. 33-9415, 2013 WL 3817300 (Jul. 10, 2013). See 17 C.F.R. § 230.501 (2015) (defining a natural person as an accredited investor if his net worth exceeds $1 million, excluding the value of his primary residence, or if his individual income exceeding $200,000 in each of the past two years and he has a reasonable expectation of reaching that same income in the current year). Keith F. Higgins, Director, SEC Div. of Corp. Fin., Keynote Address at the 2014 Angel Capital Association Summit (Mar. 28, 2014), http://www.sec.gov/News/Speech/Detail/Speech/1370541320533. Slattery, supra note 31, at 256. Pub. L. No. 112-106, 126 Stat. 306, §§ 301–305 (2012). See Crowdfunding, Securities Act Release No. 33-9974, Exchange Act Release No. 34-76324, 80 Fed. Reg. 71388, 71390 (Oct. 30, 2015). See id. at 71390, 71398–418. But see Christine Hurt, Pricing Disintermediation: Crowdfunding and Online Auction IPOs, U. Ill. L. Rev. 217, 251–58 (2015) (describing challenges associated with equity crowdfunding, many of which apply to debt crowdfunding). See Verstein, supra note 9, at 506. See Verstein, supra note 9 at 491–92. Slattery, supra note 31, at 266 (citing Truth in Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1605(a), 1667(a), 1638(a) (2012)). 15 U.S.C. § 1602(g) (2012). 12 C.F.R. § 226.2(a)(17)(v) (2016). 15 U.S.C. § 1691(d)(2)(A) (2012). 15 U.S.C. § 1691a(e) (2012). 15 U.S.C. § 1691e (2012). Slattery argues that even now, the path to ECOA compliance remains confusing because either the platform or funding bank would have to provide a reason for refusing credit, and “P2P lending platform members [deciding] not to fund you” is unlikely to satisfy adverse action notice requirements. See Slattery, supra note 31, at 269. In any case, the present setup is certainly clearer than the alternative under a model with privity between borrowers and lenders. Elizabeth Warren, Unsafe at Any Rate, 5 Democracy 8, 16 (2007). A brief description of the data is in order. Lending Club has made available a rich dataset of 391,888 individual loans made from 2007 to 2014. This dataset contains mature loans (loans that have been fully paid back or charged off) and unmatured loans (loans still outstanding). The mature loan dataset spans from 2007 to 2012, while unmatured loans span from 2010 to 2014. Each loan is associated with six major categories of information: (i) Basic loan characteristics (for example, term, amount requested, date submitted); (ii) Verified information about the borrower obtained from a credit bureau (for example, FICO score, earliest credit line opened, revolving balance, zip code); (iii) Unverified information furnished by the borrower (for example, annual income, job title, employment length, home ownership, loan purpose); (iv) Self-narrative provided by borrower (for example, self-provided voluntary description of borrower’s character, needs or any other information that may convince lenders); (v) Lending Club’s assigned grades (for example, assigned grades indicating loan quality, interest rate); and (vi) Loan performance (for example, loan status, payments collected to date, recoveries collected, recovery fees charged). Two variables not disclosed by Lending Club were also collected: the amount of time taken to fund a loan (the difference between the loan’s submission date and issuance date) and the total number of investors funding each loan. Since Lending Club fixes interest rates, the primary indicator of investor interest or demand will be the speed at which the loan is funded. All else equal, a “better” loan should be funded more quickly. Several caveats and conditions apply. Lending Club performs loan vetting in parallel with the funding process. If Lending Club has a standard period that is binding on loan funding speed, time to fund would be a weaker proxy for investor demand. However, there is no clustering around specific periods, indicating an absence of strongly-binding standard vetting periods. Additionally, hedge funds and other institutional investors began investing on the Lending Club platform in late 2012. Since the dataset does not contain information on lender identity, the lender welfare analysis is restricted to loans made from 2007–2012 to avoid capturing lending activity from sophisticated institutions during this time period. See Consumer Credit, Fed. Reserve Board (Dec. 7, 2010), http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G19/20101207/. See The January 2010 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, Fed. Reserve Board (Jan. 2010), http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/snloansurvey/201002/default.htm (“[S]ubstantial net fractions of banks indicated that they had reduced credit limits on credit cards and had become less likely to issue cards to customers not meeting credit scoring thresholds.”). No direct data is available to compare Lending Club borrowers against equivalent-risk bank borrowers during the 2007 to 2012 time period. However, Lending Club’s own surveys offer some evidence for better rates in later years. See Personal Loans, Lending Club, https://web.archive.org/web/20141218193735/ https://www.lendingclub.com/public/credit-card-loans.action (stating that 23,716 borrowers surveyed from January 1, 2014 to September 30, 2014 who received a loan to consolidate existing debt or pay off their credit card balance, received a rate that was 6.6% lower than their outstanding debt or credit cards). See Factsheet: The CFPB Considers Proposals to End Payday Debt Traps, CFPB Newsroom (Mar. 26, 2015), http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/cfpb-considers-proposal-to-end-payday-debt-tra/. See Federal Reserve Economic Data, Delinquency Rate On Consumer Loans, All Commercial Banks (Feb. 19, 2016), https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DRCLACBS. Consumer loan delinquency rates proxy for P2P loan overpayment rates, since delinquencies similarly trigger late fees and additional interest on unpaid balances. See Sumit Agarwal et. al, Regulating Consumer Financial Products: Evidence from Credit Cards, 130 Q. J. Econ. 111, 137 (2015). Compare Lending Club Rates, LendingClub, https://www.lendingclub.com/public/borrower-rates-and-fees.action (last visited Mar. 30, 2016). Collection of Monthly Payments, LendingClub, https://www.lendingclub.com/public/collections-process.action (last visited Mar. 30, 2016). What Happens When a Loan is Charged Off, LendingClub, http://kb.lendingclub.com/investor/articles/ Investor/What-happens-when-a-loan-is-charged-off (last visited Mar. 30, 2016). See Lending Club, supra note 5 (showing only 2% of standard program loans going to institutional investors in 2012, and predominantly self-managed individual investors (that is, retail lenders) funding loans in 2010 and 2011). The independent variables are Lending Club’s proprietary score (Column 1), the level of lender interest (time taken to fill the loan request, denoted as “time to fund”) (Column 2), probability of default (Column 3), and loss severity (Column 4). An ordered probit was used to evaluate how Lending Club assigns grades and interest rates based on borrower information. A linear regression was used to analyze how quickly lenders respond to that same information. Finally, a probit and linear regression were used, respectively, to assess how that information predicts loan charge-offs and loss severity. Time to fund is the key variable of interest here. A negative time to fund coefficient on an attribute implies that lenders “fill” loans with those attributes more quickly. Green cells (marked with a “+”) are “desirable” loan outcomes, implying that an increase in the associated variable (for example, FICO score) results in a better Lending Club grade, lower default rates (We don’t use “etc.”) Red cells (marked with a “-”) are “undesirable” loan outcomes. “*” denotes significance at the 10% level, and “**” denotes significance at the 5% level. Coefficients have been omitted for brevity, as the table is meant primarily to illustrate investment patterns. Specifications were tested for multicollinearity, yielding an acceptable level of multicollinearity with mean VIF between 6.9 and 7.3. See, e.g., Joseph E. Stiglitz & Andrew Weiss, Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information, 71 Am. Econ. Rev. 393 (1981). See supra Table 6 and Exhibit A. The Role of the SEC, Investor.gov, https://www.investor.gov/introduction-markets/role-sec (last visited June 21, 2016). See Robb Mandelbaum, How Lending Club Is Shaping the Future of Small-Business Loans, Inc. (May 2015), http://www.inc.com/magazine/201505/robb-mandelbaum/lending-club-money-on-demand.html (describing Lending Club’s 2014 entry into providing small business loans). Sec. and Exch. Comm’n, Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2014–2018 Draft for Comment 38–39 (2014), https://www.sec.gov/about/sec-strategic-plan-2014-2018-draft.pdf. Income Verification, Lending Club, https://www.lendingclub.com/public/income-verification.action (last visited Mar. 30, 2016). This echoes previous calls for greater verification efforts. See Jack R. Magee, Peer-to-Peer Lending in the United States: Surviving After Dodd-Frank, 15 N.C. Banking Inst. 139, 170 (2011). Slattery, supra note 31, at 258. TSC Indus., Inc. v. Northway, Inc., 426 U.S. 438, 449 (1976) (“[T]here must be a substantial likelihood that the disclosure of the omitted fact would have been viewed by the reasonable investor as having significantly altered the ‘total mix’ of information made available.”). SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 99, Release No. 99 (Aug. 12, 1999) (“The use of a percentage as a numerical threshold, such as 5%, may provide the basis for a preliminary assumption that – without considering all relevant circumstances – a deviation of less than the specified percentage with respect to a particular item on the registrant’s financial statements is unlikely to be material.”). Michal Herzenstein et. al , Tell Me a Good Story and I May Lend You Money: The Role of Narratives in Peer-to-Peer Lending Decisions, 48 J. Marketing Res. (Special Issue) S138–49 (2011). Copyright © 2019 Harvard Business Law Review (HBLR). All Rights Reserved.

2019-04-22T18:11:13Z

https://www.hblr.org/2016/08/it-aint-broke-the-case-for-continued-sec-regulation-of-p2p-lending/

Afflictions (also referred to as incapacitations or incaps) are all possible ways to immobilize a ZED. All afflictions stack based on hidden values unique to each ZED called affliction meters, which increase when the ZED is damaged by a weapon with incap power and decrease at a constant rate over time. Each time a ZED is damaged by a weapon with any incapacitation power, the respective affliction meter (be it stun, knockdown, stumble, etc.) increases by a value equal to the incapacitation power of that weapon. Upon reaching the incap threshold the ZED will become afflicted for a short amount of time, varying depending on the Zed and type of affliction. Certain body parts may be resistant or vulnerable to certain types of incapacitation powers, in which case incoming power will be modified by a vulnerability multiplier. Explosive weapons apply incapacitation power based on the target's distance from the center of the blast - the closer a ZED is to the explosion, the more incapacitation power will be applied. Knockdown is a special move where ZED goes into "ragdoll" state. Knockdown followed by getup animations. By any means only 5 ZEDs allowed to be knocked down at time. Once fell on the ground, ZED will be evaluating its getup possibilities within 0.2 second intervals, ZEDs with velocity greater than 100 uu/s or those rigid body is still awake and simulated should skip getup animation untill their next evaluation check. Up to 25 checks (due to code specifics - actually 32) with 0.2s intervals between each two allowed before ZED will be forced to get up back on feet, this results in overall maximum knockdown time of 6.4 seconds. Knocked down ZED will die instantly if it will fall from the height greater than 7.5 meters. ZEDs with dismembered limbs cannot play knockdown / getup animations. Every ZED can be knocked down when player lands on top of its head. Stun is an affliction that causes a ZED to enter a "sleeping" state, during which it will stand in place and not attack. The duration of the stun varies by ZED type. When a ZED's stun duration expires a brief recovery animation will play before it is able to act freely again. Stumble is an affliction that causes a ZED to stagger backwards, temporarily impeding its ability to move and attack. Impacts from different angles will cause different stumble animations, each with its own duration. After playing a stumble animation for a semi-random duration (0.5-0.75 seconds), ZED will be able to interrupt it by taking hit from the weapon which Melee hit power / Gun hit power will be greater than ZED's Melee hit / Gun hit resistance. Additionally ZED should not be in cooldown to applied type of the power, otherwise stumble animation will not be interrupted. Melee hit / Gun hit (aka Hard hits / Medium hits) are ZED's reactions. When "hit" ZED's AI paused for listed amount of time ("AI pause, on melee hit" for Melee hits and "AI pause, on gun hit" for Gun hits). Gun hit / Melee hit can interrupt ZED's special moves (if listed power > ZED's resistance, ZED is not in cooldown and such move can be interrupted by design). Both terms are abstract - firearm can have Melee hit power and Melee weapons can have Gun hit power assigned to them, the only significant difference between them is the duration of the reaction. NOTE: as for the current version ZEDs use "AI pause, on melee hit" timers to pause their AI for the duration of either reaction. Snare slows ZED's movement by 30% (x0.7 multiplier). Snare and Bleeding speed debuffs are multiplicative, total speed mod is 0.7 x 0.7 = x0.49. Poison / Microwave / Fire / EMP affliction causes ZED panic, EMP Disrupt cancels ZED's certain abilities (special attacks, sprinting). Freeze temporary stops ZED's movement. Bleed. Bleeding is a ZED state, when bleeding ZEDs takes more incap power towards its incap meter, moves 30% slower (stack with Snare for total of x0.49 speed multiplier), does 30% less damage (x0.7 multiplier) and attacks 25% slower (animation-wise, as bleeding multiplies the duration of animation by x0.8). Bleed increases amount of the incap power taken by ZED: by default amount of the power given by damage type is "1 + perk incap bonuses", instead bleeding ZED take "1.5 + perk bonuses" amount the weapon powers towards its affliction meter. For the duration of bleed affliction ZEDs shrink in size, however their hitboxes remain the same. ZED affected by bleeding as long as it's stacking meter above the Incap Threshold. Cooldown on this affliction meaning that upon hitting 100 points of bleeding power on ZED's incap meter (not 65 where bleeding start its effects) ZED stops taking any further bleeding power applications until cooldown expires which makes it impossible to maintain constant bleeding. In theory it is possible to avoid cooldown while keep bleeding effect active by keeping ZED's incap meter in range of (65-99), however it is next to impossible on practice. Radial damage sources (e.g. grenades) have their incap powers adjusted according to ZED-to-Explosion proximity. Explosion provides maximum amount of the powers at its epicenter and minimum at the edge. Incap powers scale up / down linearly. Various incap powers can be applied on ZED at the same time, however, when either Knockdown, Stun, Stumble or Freeze incap is IN-PROGRESS (threshold is reached and ZED playing specific animation), the other 3 of these incaps CANNOT appear and for the duration of given incap and ZED DOES NOT accept any incap powers towards these 3. For example, stunned ZED does not take any knockdown, stumble or freeze powers at all. Effect-based incaps (EMP - Burn - Poison - Microwave - Bleed) can co-exist with each other and all other incaps. They can appear along any other incap at the same time, however they do not override ZED animations - instead (for their remaining duration) they start playing right after ZED animation ends. However, these incaps themselves can be overridden by either Knockdown, Stun, Stumble or Freeze. NOTE: ZED that is currently suffering from any effect-based incaps but Bleed DOES NOT accept any Stumble powers. Note: blocking ZED become completely immune to the effects of Knockdown, Stun and Stumble (does not accept incap powers at all). All other incaps during the block getting their powers reduced by 80% (ZED accepts only 20% of the incap powers), power mitigation effect begins after 0.25 seconds since the block move started. Affliction priority (highest first): Knockdown - Stun - Stumble - Freeze - Snare - Melee hit - Gun hit - EMP - Burn - Poison - Microwave. Falling pawns (ZEDs or Humans) may cause damage to other ZEDs or Humans by landing on them (players cannot damage friendly players). Amount of damage depend of falling velocity and mass of both pawns. Damage to take is an integer value of ((1 - Falling Velocity / 400) x Mass of Falling Pawn) / Mass of Pawn That Getting Crashed), note: Falling Velocity is a negative value, maximum falling velocity = 40 m/s (-4000 units / second). After landing on top of pawn's collision cylinder landed pawn will be pushed away by getting extra velocity (including Z-axis) into random direction. ZEDs does not take damage from falling. Game simulates Free Fall and Acceleration of Gravity. Normal in-game gravity acceleration = 11.5 m/s^2. Maximum falling velocity = 40 m/s. from at least H = (13.25)^2/(2x11.5) = 7.634 meters. Damage taken calculated by formula: Falling Damage = Rounddown ((100 x (Player's Velocity - 13.25)) / 13.25). Maximum possible damage from falling = Rounddown ((100x(40-13.25))/13.25) = 201. up to +/- 5 meters per second towards falling player's velocity in the opposite direction to where player is currently aimed at. Note: Unlike players, ZEDs do not take damage from falling. As a rule of thumb, in order to take DOT ZEDs (and players too) have to lose some of their health in the first place. Damaging armored zones such as E.D.A.R's torso or head should not apply DOT status at all, same goes for players - taking armor-only damage results in no DOT applications. Should the player hit any of the armored ZED's exposed body parts and trigger DOT sequence, the armor is always to take damage over time FIRST, protecting actual health for while it lasts. As with all the other forms of indirect damage, DOT damage getting split between all existing armor pieces for equal parts. Damage over time uses "DOT scale" which is multiplier for initial amount of damage given by weapon / ZED, this amount of the damage will be repeated for the duration of "DOT duration" within intervals of "DOT interval". More than one type of DOT can be applied at time, in such case each DOT type will be having its own damage, duration and interval. If DOT of same type applied at target (for example "new" Fire vs. "old" Fire) game will check the effectiveness of "new" DOT in terms of total damage (total damage = DOT damage x (DOT duration / DOT interval)) comparing to "old" DOT. If "new" DOT will be more "effective" then it will be applied (including new and updated damage, duration and interval values) otherwise "old" DOT will be used for its remaining duration. For example DOT from Flamethrower direct hit in most cases will be more "effective" than DOT from splash damage so it will overwrite splash DOT and vice-versa - DOT from splash damage will be "less" effective than DOT from direct hit so it will not overwrite remaining direct hit DOT. Field Medic's Hemogoblin weapon is an exception to the rule above. Each projectile of this weapon applies its own DOT, with its own (yet the same) damage, duration and interval making it the only weapon that can spawn multiple instances of the same DOT type. Amount of DOT ticks and DOT duration / interval: the first DOT tick is not instant but rather kicks-in only after <DOT interval> seconds. On top of that DOT wears off completely when <DOT duration> value become less than <DOT interval>. For example, Caulk n' Burn (DOT duration = 1.7s, interval = 0.4s) has only 3 DOT ticks on it: tick 1 starts at 1.7 - 0.4 = 1.3s mark, tick 2 comes next at 1.3 - 0.4 = 0.9s mark, tick 3 takes place at 0.9 - 0.4 = 0.5s mark. Even though there is a space for tick 4 which could have happened at 0.1s mark, it actually does not happen because DOT wears off 0.1s later after tick 3 (by this time DOT duration become < DOT interval). Note that DOT calculation takes on account a DEFAULT damage value of the weapon and does not depend on amount of the actual (initial) damage taken by ZED. For example, Bloat vs. Spitfire Revolver: Bloat is resistant to ballistic handgun damage of the Spitfire and only takes 35%, 40x0.35 = 14. This, however, does not mean that DOT (which is 80% of the Spitfire damage) will be 14x0.8 = 11. Actual DOT is % of the default weapon damage which is 40x0.8 = 32. Since Bloat is neutral to fire, 32 is exact amount of damage given to it per DOT tick. This means that damage types of the DOT and its causer are treated separately in terms of damage calculation. Player takes twice less damage and affected by twice less time from Fire DOT when healed (damage x 0.5, duration x 0.5). Berserker affected by any forms of DOT for 20% less time than any other perk. Player cannot die during the trader time. During the trader time player takes no damage at all - all incoming damage is being set to 0. Doors has weld integrity (can be restored by Welder) and maximum health (cannot be restored). Regardless from game difficulty ZEDs do same amount of the damage to door (damage amount is ZED-specific). Support has passive skill that allows to repair destroyed doors. Each welder attack restores 7 points. Door will be restored once it accumulate total of 255 points. When door is welded, ZEDs may try to attack it or will try to find another path to the players. Generally the higher door weld integrity is, the more ZEDs attacking or pending to open it already - the greater chances for ZEDs to try to find another path. Depending on amount of ZEDs attacking the door it takes additional damage. With each next attacker door takes 10% more damage per single attack, up to 100% more damage (x2 damage multiplier) when it being attacked by 10 ZEDs at once. Bosses have an ability to destroy closed unwelded doors by sprinting (bumping) into them. Doors have 2 types of the health. Max Health cannot be restored, Weld Integrity restored by Welder. Door will break when either - Max Health or Weld Integrity become zero. Welder can restore or erase Weld Integrity HP. Support's passive skill increases Door HP to restore / erase perWelder's attack interval by up to x1.75 (+119 / -192). it only restores 60% (x0.6) of the regular HP / tick value. Support can repair doors at rate of 7 points / welder attack. Door will be restored upon accumulating a total of 255 points. Amount of the Dosh player getting on kill depend on the Base Dosh Reward, Dosh Kill modifier, Wave Length modifier, percentage of the damage dealt to ZED and finally on Game Length Dosh Scale modifier. Base Dosh Reward: Clots (all) - 7; Bloat - 17; Crawler - 10; Gorefast - 12; Stalker - 15; Husk - 17; E.D.A.Rs - 17; Siren - 25; Scrake - 75; Fleshpound - 200, bosses - 500. PvE ZEDs has their own Dosh rewards (actual numbers at the respecive wiki pages). Dosh Kill modifier: Normal - x1.2; Hard - x1; Suicidal - x1; HOE - x0.9. Wave Length modifier: 1 player - 1; 2 players - 2; 3 players - 2.75; 4 players - 3.5; 5 players - 4; 6 players - 4.5. Game Length Dosh Scale modifier: Short game - x1.75; Medium game - x1; Long game - x0.8. 1. Calculate Adjusted Dosh value = Base Dosh Reward x Dosh Kill modifier x (Amount of the players / Wave Length modifier) x Game Length Dosh Scale modifier. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. 2. Calculate Score Denominator value = Adjusted Dosh / Total Damage Taken By ZED. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. 3. Calculate player's dosh сut that depends on % of inflicted damage: Earned Dosh = Round (Damage Inflicted By Player x Score Denominator). 4. If player has assisted in ZED kill but did not kill it themself, calculate Assistance Dosh value = Round (Earned Dosh x Perk Assist Dosh Modifer). Relevant for Sharpshooter which is the only perk in game that gets 10% more dosh (x1.1 multiplier) for assists. % of Damage Dealt in the formula above implies how much damage exactly each player inflicted to ZED compare to overall amount of the damage taken by this ZED by the moment of its death. Sharpshooter gains 10% more dosh for assists (x1.1 multiplier to Earned Dosh). Short game: wave1 - 550, wave2 - 650, wave3 - 1200, wave4 - 1500. Medium game: wave1 - 450, wave2 - 600, wave3 - 750, wave4 - 800, wave5 - 1100,wave6 - 1400, wave7 - 1500. Long game: wave1 - 450, wave2 - 550, wave3 - 750, wave4 - 1000, wave5 - 1200,wave6 - 1300, wave7 - 1400, wave8 - 1500, wave9 - 1600, wave10 - 1600. With the next respawn player will get highest amount of Dosh out of two possible values -Minimum or Maximum respawn Dosh. End wave Dosh bonus is a total amount on Dosh earned by all players during the last round divided between all living players into the equal parts. Game Conductor is a system that dynamically adjusts difficulty of the game based on how well player's team doing. Difficulty management (change of values) happens within 1 second intervals. Game Conductor is quite complicated mechanism. Many factors have impact on it - average level of the team, average accuracy on bodyshots / headshots, ZED lifespan. Evaluation happening within 1 second intervals. Overall weights of certain criteria: Average Perk level - 0.25, Average Accuracy - 0.25, ZEDs Lifespan - 0.5. Game Conductor will stop its actions completely and all the values will be automatically lowered down to the minimum if average health of the team will become less than 50% OR for the next 15 seconds after one of the teammates had been killed OR simply when it turned off (in such case overall performance of the team will be considered as 0). Normal difficulty: Current spawning interval can be slowed down by up to x1.25 or raised up by up to x0.75. Hard difficulty: Current spawning interval can be slowed down by up to x1.25 or raised up by up to x0.75. Suicidal difficulty: Current spawning interval can be slowed down by up to x1.25 or raised up by up to x0.5. HOE difficulty: Current spawning interval can only be raised up by up to x0.75. Additionally current spawning interval of the ZEDs depends on various factors (more info on Notes Tab, "ZEDs - Spawn intensity" mechanics). 2. AI Movement Speed (PvE only) AI movement speed on the current difficulty will never be higher than movement speed on the next higher difficulty. Normal difficulty: up to -2.5% / +2.5% to the base speed mod of the Normal difficulty. (±50% of Normal-to-Hard diff). Hard difficulty: does not go down / does not go up. (±50% of Suicidal-to-Hard diff, since there is no difference). Suicidal difficulty: does not go down / does not go up. (-50/+65% of HOE-to-Suicidal diff, since there is no difference). HOE: does not go down / does not go up. Additionally current movement speed of the ZEDs randomized within -10% / +10% range. (more info on Notes Tab, "ZEDs - Movement speed" mechanics). 3. ZED Attack Intensity (PvE only) When overall performance of the team become "0", ZEDs will enter low attack intensity mode where they will start using pre-set cooldowns between their attacks. On HOE game or at any boss wave ZEDs do not enter this mode. Low attack intensity mode duration: Normal - 10s, Hard - 8s, Suicidal - 6s, HOE - 5s, Cooldowns - 12s / 14s / 16s / 18s. Additionally low attack intensity mode will occure in solo game if player with less than 95% HP being surrounded by at least 2 ZEDs within 2.5 meters, in this case duration of effect - 10s. Overall attack cooldowns: Clots / Crawler / Stalker - 2s, Bloat / Gorefast - 3s, Husk - 2s for melee, +25% time between fireball and flamethrower attacks (note - these attack already have different cooldowns depending on the difficulty and are also randomized by up to -1s / +1s), Siren - 7s, Scrake - 5s, Quarter Pound / Fleshpound - 5s. 4. ZED Health Mod (PvP only, only player-controlled ZEDs) Based on average level of the team (where all 0s is minimum and all 25s is maximum) ZEDs in PvP games have their health adjusted in the range of (0.85 - 2). 5. ZED Damage Mod (PvP only, only player-controlled ZEDs) Based on average level of the team (where all 0s is minimum and all 25s is maximum) ZEDs in PvP games have their damage adjusted in the range of (0.7 - 1.131). In PvP games player-controlled ZEDs have their HP and Damage multipliers scaled based on the Average Level of the human team. Healers apply health instantly but regeneration takes time. When healed, Player regenerate health at rate of 1 HP per 100ms (making it 10 HP per second), this rate is equal for all Perks. Amount of health in Player's "health to regenerate" pool will never be more than Maximum Health - Current Health. Each next iteration of healing updates "health to regenerate" pool by its value. Healing decreases damage and duration of fire DOT by half. Amount of the Dosh given for healing calculates as Earned Dosh = (Given Health / Player's Max Health) x 60, where Given Health is amount of health given by healers, Given Health adjusted depend on healer and perk but it will never be more than Maximum Health - Current Health. Amount of the item pickups that can be active at time depend on Game Difficulty and Current Wave number. A group of items (weapons / armors / ammo boxes) will be spawned upon starting the game. Locations for these items are random (chosen from all possible pre-set locations). Items will not change their content or location until the next wave. Each time item picked up the countdown for new item begin (countdown based on amount of living players). Items (weapons or armors) will be replaced by items (weapons or armors), ammo boxes will be replaced by ammo boxes. Respawn time depend on amount of the living players. All possible items (Armor, AR-15 Varmint Rifle, SG 500 Pump-Action, Crovel Survival Tool, 9mm Pistol, 1858 Revolver, Winchester 1894, HMTech-101 Pistol and MP7 SMG) has equal chances to appear upon spawning. Amount of ammo given for certain weapon depend from the weapon's ammo pickup scale. Amount of the item / ammo pickups depend on the current wave. With each next wave amount of the possible item / ammo pickups multiplied by the (Wave Number / Max Wave Number) value and rounded down. At least one ammo box will be active from the beginning of the game and at least one item pickup will be active from the wave 2 (any length) and further. During the boss wave there will be maximum possible amount of the ammo pickups (technically, maximum possible ammo pickups - 1). Note: Unlike ammo, active item spawn points shut down (for the entire game) when items taken. DieSector All 6 weapon / 10 ammo spawns are always active, respawn time - 90s / 160s. Krampus Lair All 10 weapon / 19 ammo spawns are always active, respawn time - 150s. Nightmare All 17 ammo spawns are always active, no item pickups, respawn time - 45s. Power Core All 25 ammo spawns are always active, respawn time - 45s. Weapon pickups, per difficulty: 4 / 3 / 2 / 1. Weapon pickups follow the "normal" rules. Santa's Workshop All 10 weapon / 21 ammo spawns are always active, respawn time - 150s. The Descent All 23 ammo spawns are always active, no item pickups, respawn time - 45s. Movement speed depend on amount of the health and carrying capacity. Player can lose up to 15% of the movement speed depending on their current HP. Movement speed decreases linearly from 0 to -15% based on amount of the player's health: 100+ HP = no penalty, 0 HP = -15% speed loss. Having 100+ HP results in no speed loss at all. Player can lose up to 8% of the movement speed when carrying 15/15 (or 20/20) blocks of weight. Movement speed decreases linearly. Hard melee attacks causing Player to pause current movement input for 100ms, as a result there is slight movement pause prior to each of these attacks. ADS-walking / crouching / both-at-the-same-time speed is 40% of the player's default walking speed (i.e. unaffected by health loss and extra weight). Gunslinger's Steady skill multiplies ADS-walking speed by x2, SWAT's Tactical Movement multiplies both ADS-walking and crouching speed by x2.5. Sharpshooter's Stability skill instead multiplies player's walking / sprinting speed by x1.5 but only when crouching (hence x0.4 multiplier should be applied as well) making Sharpshooter the only perk whose extra movement speed depend from the health and weight. Additionally while ADS-walking speed of the SWAT is independent from health and weight, its crouching speed is actually depends (only) from the HP loss. (x0.4 of the default walking speed, i.e. unaffected by health loss and weight carried). Current movement speed (walking / sprinting) depends on two factors: Low Health Speed Penalty and Weight Mod. Low Health Speed Penalty increases linearly upon loosing health, -0.15% per 1 hp loss. For example at 75HP it will be 0.0375 (-3.75%), at 50HP it will be 0.075 (-7.5%), at 1HP it will be almost 0.15 (-15%). Weight Mod increases linearly from 0 (when empty) to 0.08 (-8%) (when fully loaded). Each block of weight increases Weight Mod by approximately 0.005 (by 0.004 for perks with 20 blocks of weight). Berserker and Survivalist get their speed bonuses only while holding melee weapons. Field Medic, Gunslinger and Sharpshooter (with Marksman skill) have their speed bonuses all the time. Sharpshooter's Stability: walk / sprint speed x1.5 (only when crouching, hence x0.4 as well). 9mm Pistol, Knife, Medical Syringe and Welder have no weight at all. Melee weapons have Parry Strength and ZEDs have Parry Resistance. The incoming attack can only be parried with the weapon that has the same or the greater Parry Strength than ZED's Parry Resistance. This rule DOES NOT apply at the damage mitigation process - parry window of the melee weapon lasts for the duration of its "brace-in" animation, any ZED attack encountered during this time will have its damage multiplied by weapon's Parry damage multiplier OR if "brace-in" animation is finished already - by weapon's Block damage multiplier. This means that damage reduction happens regardless from the Parry Strength / Parry Resistance levels however unlike blocking, parrying an attack causes ZED to play stumble or parry-stumble animation. Some of the ZED's strong attacks (indicated with the red glow around the arms) cannot be parried in terms of stumbling ZEDs back but the damage mitigation for these attacks will still be there. After player leaves the block state there is 0.5 seconds cooldown before he/she can initiate a new block/parry sequence. Whenever during the wave time there will be no spare AI ZEDs to spawn, human-controlled ZEDs will be affected by anti-griefing system that will punish them for avoiding engagements. After spending 30 seconds without dealing or taking damage within 2 second intervals they will be taking damage that is 5% of their maximum health. An optional tasks rewarding players with Dosh, XP and Vosh. In Survival mode on official maps starting from wave 2 there is 35% chance for an optional "Stand Your Ground" objective to appear. Upon receiving such objective players will be having 20 seconds (usually) to make their way into the designated area of the map and defend it from ZEDs. Not getting into location in time, having too many ZEDs in it or not having enough players in the area will result in penalties. For every second of lacking players, prommised dosh reward will be decreased by 5, for having too many ZEDs in it - by 10. To maintain the area in the valid state there should be at least A players on B man server (total players - players needed) : 1p - 1, 2p - 1, 3p - 2, 4p - 2, 5p - 3, 6p - 3 and no more than C ZEDs (total players - ZEDs in area to start penalty): 1p - 4, 2p - 4, 3p - 4, 4p - 3, 5p - 2, 6p - 2. Rewards scale with the game difficulty and how well the area was secured during the wave. Rewards based on percentage of earned Dosh compare to the Promised Dosh value. Reward % = (Final Dosh / (Promised Dosh). Dosh Scalar: Normal - x1.2, Hard - x1, Suicidal - x1, HOE - x0.9. XP Scalar: Normal - x1, Hard - x1.3, Suicidal - x1.75, HOE - x2. Vosh Scalar: Normal - x1, Hard - x1.3, Suicidal - x1.75, HOE - x2. Note that all the values above are the subject of change as they all set manually, per map and location. For example SYG objectives on the "Krampus Lair" map have different requirements for holding areas to stay valid and on the "Spillway" the Dosh penalty for having too many ZEDs / too few players in the marked area is only 1 / 5 points per tick. Whether weapon will decapitate or will it instakill, depending on amount of the given damage and remaining body health. ZEDs can only be decapitated when amount of their head health will be lesser than amount of the damage given by weapon. When landing a head blowing shot the extra damage to ZED's body health will be done. Essentially ZED takes extra damage which is at least 25% of its maximum health plus the weapon damage itself. If ZED resistant or weak against the damage type used for decapitation, initial weapon damage will be adjusted (increased or decreased), then this damage will be added to 25% body HP value and this whole sum will be adjusted (increased or decreased) once more. Decapitated ZED: stops sprinting / doing special move (attack, evade, taunt etc.) / cloaking, getting slower rotation rate, limited to headless attacks. Whenever during the wave time there only 5 ZEDs remains, following ZEDs will enter frustration mode. In this mode ZEDs will be forced to sprint regardless of their normal sprint conditions. It takes them random (2.5-5) seconds to enter such mode. Scrakes, Fleshpounds and bosses cannot be frustrated. ZEDs spawned during the boss wave are always frustrated. ZED Time happens on killing ZEDs or killing players. ZED Time slows the world to 20% of its normal speed, ZED Time duration = 3 seconds, ZED Time is a timer, ZED Time can only be reset (not extended). ZED Time slows the world to 20% of its normal speed (i.e. by 5 times). ZED Time duration - 3 seconds. ZED Time is a timer (float value 3.0000). It constantly goes down to 0. ZED Time cannot be extended by certain amount of the seconds. Instead it resets back to 3.0000. Non-commando perk can reset it once. Commando can reset it up to 6 times (at level 25). ZED Time has greater chances to appear in time. For next 30 seconds since the last ZED Time - normal chances (x1), between 30-60s - twice better (x2), if 60s passed without ZED Time - four times better (x4). Minimum interval between 2 ZED Times - 10 seconds. Cooldown begin at the very beginning of each ZED Time. DOT-based damage types (e.g. fire) do NOT trigger ZED Time events. ZED Time can affect players either partially or fully. If ZED Time appears and there is no players or ZEDs nearby, player will enter ZED Time partially - world time will be slowed down but player will retain full movement speed. Player will enter ZED Time fully as soon as he/she spot/get spotted by another player or ZED or perform a shot or attack. There are different visual and sound effects for entering either of ZED Times. When ZED Time kicks in, variable ZedTimeExtensionsUsed (which assigned to the "world" and not to the certain player) will be reset to 0. On each next kill during the time ZED Time active the game will be checking how many times player can extend (reset) it - by default each class has ZedTimeExtension of 1, Commando has it up to 6 at level 25. If amount of the ZedTimeExtensionsUsed variable will be less than player's ZedTimeExtension, the ZED Time will be reset and ZedTimeExtensionsUsed counter will be increased by one. In other words first ever extension can be performed by any perk but all further - only by Commando. By any means only 6 ZED Time extensions can be used in single ZED Time chain. Certain skills provide ZED Time resistance. By default actions (e.g. shooting, moving, reloading etc.) has no ZED Time resistance at all (weapon equipping and putting down has ZED Time resistance of 35%). These skills add listed % of how much certain action has to be resistant to slow-mo effect - 0 (0%) - no resistance, 1 (100%) - full ZED Time resistance. ZED Time slows the world to 20% of its normal speed (0.2 vs 1), subject of change which being modified by skills is for how much world slowed: 1 - 0.2 = 0.8 or 80%. If skill gives full ZED Time resistance, the action will be happening at rate of 0.2 + 0.8 x 1 = 1, i.e. at full speed, if skill gives 50% resistance, the action will be happening at rate of 0.2 + 0.8 x 0.5 = 0.6, so when everything will be slowed to 20% (by 5 times) this action will only be slowed to 60%, i.e. by 1.67 times. Weapon swaps has ZED Time resistance of 35%. When ZED Time occurs weapon swapping slowed by 1 / (0.2 + 0.8 x 0.35) = 2.08 times. Commando's Tactician skill adds additional 30% to the base 35% resistance value making weapon swaps in ZED Time only 1 / (0.2 + 0.8 x (0.35 + 0.3)) = 1.39 times slower than if it would be in real time. Despite the fact that perk description says "+X% of speed", it does not directly change the speed but instead it decreases duration of the attack / reload animation by listed value. For example -25% duration of the reload animation will actually increase its speed by 1 / 0.75=1.33 or 33% and -50% of the melee attack animation will increase its speed by 1 / 0.5 = 2 or 100%. This rule also applied on ROF changing skills - 25% faster firing actually means that it takes 25% less time to perform subsequent shot which increases Rate Of Fire by 33.3%. Combination of few speed bonus applied at same time is a result of multiplication, not a result of sum. For example if two speed bonus (-15% and - 30%) applied at time the final speed bonus will not be -45% but instead it will be (1 - 0.15) x (1 - 0.3) = 0.595 = 41.5% less time to play the animation. This increases actual speed by 1 / 0.595 = 1.68 times. Note: Upgrade bonuses take place before the perk calculations. Each upgrade is a multiplier toward weapon's DEFAULT damage value, it overriders (does not stack) the previous upgrade: 20 x 1.1 -> 20 x 1.2 etc. Upgrade calculations imply interger values: 15 x 1.1 = 16.5 = 16. Upgrades do NOT improve Bash damage. Upgrades do NOT improve Ground Fire damage of the flame-based weapons but DO improve DOT and Splash damage. With each next damage bonus associated with the perk, the base weapon damage will be increased by (base damage) x damage modification value. Sum of all damage adjustments will be either ROUNDED or ROUNDED UP - ROUNDED for Berserker, Demolitionist, Firebug, Survivalist and SWAT and ROUNDED UP for Commando, Support, Gunslinger and Sharpshooter. Example 1: Commando + SCAR-H Assault Rifle + level 25 passive bonus + Hollow Point Rounds damage bonus: Damage = Roundup (55+55x0.25+55x0.3) = 86, where 0.25 is a passive damage modifier and 0.3 is a modifier of Hollow Point Rounds skill. Example 2: Demolitionist + RPG-7 (impact + explosion) + level 25 passive bonus: Damage (impact) = Round (150+150x0.25) = 188. Damage (explosion) = Round (750+750x0.25) = 938. Total damage = 188+938 = 1126, where 0.25 is a passive damage modifier. Certain skills modify magazine size of the weapon AND / OR its spare ammo pool. Magazine size modification increases amount of the ammo in each magazine. This extra ammo is NOT being taken from maximum spare ammo pool. Spare ammo modification does not imply magazine size of the weapon, it only modifies amount of the maximum spare ammo. Certain skills also increase the ammo pool of 9mm Pistol(s). Firearms can utilize both - hitscans AND / OR projectiles. Shotgun pellets, grenades, rockets, Eviscerator's saw blades, Crossbow's bolts, AF2011-A1(s)'s bullets and healing darts are always projectiles. ARs, SMGs, Rifles and pistols are hitscans unless in slow-mo, where they become projectiles. Flame-based weapons use sprays - physical objects that do damage when collide with targets. Ballistic-explosive projectiles can collide with both - ZED's hitzones and collision cylinder. Weapons that do two types of the damage (ballistic and explosive) at same time (M79, M203, RPG-7 for example) use BallisticExplosive type of projectiles. These projectiles can collide with either ZED's hitzones (e.g. head, arms, legs, torso) or with ZED's collision cylinder - an outter cylinder-shaped "hitbox" that defies ZED's size in the world. If projectile misses all the hitzones it will attempt to collide with the collision cylinder. In such case damage will be dealt to the nearest (from the explosion epicenter) hitzone. BallisticExplosive projectiles do impact damage at any range. Generally damage types determining following: visuals (gore, dismemberment, amount of blood, impulse / velocity given to live or death pawns, impact effects, obliteration etc.), DOT existence (its duration, amount and interval) and weapon powers. Ballistic = Normal bullet or projectile, Slashing = Edged melee weapons (plus Eviscerator's projectile), Bludgeon = Bludgeoning weapons (plus weapon buttstock), Toxic = Poisoning damage (Medic Grenade, healing darts), Explosive = Explosives, Piercing = Frag / Nail Grenade shard (plus stab attack of edged melee weapons), Fire = Flame-based weapons, Microwave = futuristic weapons such as Microwave Gun, Killerwatt and Helios Rifle, EMP = EMP Grenade, Freeze = Freeze Grenade. Some damage types associated with certain perks. Association could be meaning that this perk will be getting damage or power bonuses for weapons that use this damage type. Association also used in certain functions that modify different weapon attributes. Damage types extend each other. For example damage type "Fire" is parrent damage type for "Fire_FlameThrower". If perk associated with parent damage type it also associated with all of its sub-damage types unless sub-damage type listed to have another perk to belong to. Most explosives lose their effectiveness (damage) on the distance from explosion epicenter. Final Damage = Base Damage x ((Proximity Percentage) ^ Falloff value). Example: Explosion (damage - 100, radius - 10 meters) vs. ZED (2 meters away from the epicenter) : 1. No falloff - ZED will take full damage. 2. Linear falloff - ZED will take ((10-2)/10)x100 = 80 points of damage. 3. Exponential falloff (power of 0.5) - ZED will take (((10-2)/10)^0.5)x100 = 89 points of damage. 4. Exponential falloff (power of 2) - ZED will take (((10-2)/10)^2)x100 = 64 points of damage. 5. Exponential falloff (power of 3) - ZED will take (((10-2)/10)^3)x100 = 51 points of damage. Explosives do not trace hit zones. Player cannot damage certain ZED's limb with an explosion. Hit detection happens by checking whether explosion sphere does or does not make a contact with ZED's collision cylinder. Since explosions do not trace hit zones it is not possible to apply certain explosion power (knockdown, stun etc.) to certain body part. Instead all explosion powers are being applied to ZED's "Torso" body part. However damage inflicted by explosion is a subject of change depending on the victim's Exposure Percentage. By default uncovered victim (player or ZED) takes full damage (Exposure Percentage = 1). Victim covered behind the obstacles has Exposure Percentage of at least 0.3 plus 0.4 if its head is NOT covered plus 0.15 for each of UNCOVERED leg. On explosion damage to take will be multiplied by the Exposure Percentage value. Fire-spraying weapons has various sources of the damage. Direct hits with the fire-spraying weapons cause FLAME DAMAGE which is applied at the certain rate of fire. At the same time at same rate all targets within certain proximity (SPLASH DAMAGE RADIUS) from the initial target take "indirect" damage - SPLASH DAMAGE. Immediately after taking damage and for some time after ZEDs start to suffer from the DAMAGE OVER TIME (DOT) effect. Afterburn has its own duration and interval to apply the damage which are specific for different sources of fire damage. Amount of the damage per afterburn tick is a % of initial damage - amount of the damage per DOT tick after taking direct hit (as well as interval and duration) will be different from amount of the damage per tick after taking Ground Fire damage. Flame based weapons are also capable of creating either GROUND FIRE or RESIDUAL FLAME (depend on the weapon) - both are small bonfires that remain of the ground for certain amount of the time. Ground Fire / Residual Flame applied at the different rate, has its own damage, radius and falloff as well as its own afterburn attributes. Two Ground Fire sources cannot spawn on top of each other unless there would be at least 0.25 meters between them. In most cases each time ZED takes damage its DOT parameters are being reset, however there might be exceptions. See Gameplay - Damage over time (DOT) for more details. Much like explosives, flame-based weapons such as Flamethrower or Microwave Gun do not trace any hit zones but torso, it is not possible to hit any other hit zones with this kind of weapons. Note that during the post-firing period (read below) flames DO perform zone tracing in a specific way - for the short period of time, when "flame ending" animation still plays it is become possible to headshot ZED or if this ZED wears armor which normally absorbs all indirect damage to inflict damage to any of its exposed body parts, such as to hit Rioter's legs. Sprays of the flame-based weapons have post-firing lifetime where they keep doing damage for a short period of time after player releases the fire button. It takes 0.35 seconds to finish the "flame ending" animation, during this time weapon will be doing damage without consuming ammo. "Flame ending" animation will be canceled and ended earlier should the player trigger new "flame start" animation. Amount of the damage dealt by melee weapons depend on tracer direction. Damage dealt by the melee weapons depends on attack direction and on how well melee tracer connects with the ZED's body - vertical strikes do more damage while horizontal strikes do less damage but have better AOE. Pure horizontal (left-to-right, right-to-left) strikes do never more than 75% and never less than 50% of the base weapon damage depending on the view angle - the closer target to player's view center the more damage it will take. Weapons have Penetration Power and ZEDs have Penetration Resistance. If weapon has Penetration Power its bullet or projectile can pass through ZED's body as long as Penetration Power will be greater (greater, not equal) than ZED's Penetration Resistance. Once passed through ZED, Penetration Power of the weapon will be reduced by amount of the ZED's Penetration Resistance. As long as it greater than Penetration Resistance of each next ZED it will continue to penetrate. Support's passive skill adds 0.2 points to the weapon's Penetration Power per level. All players have penetration resistance of 1. With each next penetration, damage gets reduced by amount of the Penetration Power left compare to its base value. For example - Shotgun (Penetration Power = 2) penetrate a Clot (Penetration Resistance = 1). Penetration Power that remains is 2 - 1 = 1. Damage that will be done to the next Clot is 1 / 2 = 0.5 or 50% of the initial weapon damage. This means that penetration-related skills not just increase amount of the bodies weapon can penetrate but also decrease the damage reduction for each subsequent penetration kill. Support's Penetrator and Gunslinger's Line 'em Up skills remove the damage penetration curve completely, skill owners will always be doing full damage to ZEDs regardless from amount of the penetrated bodies. However Penetration Power loss still remains. Damage reduction on penetration happens after calculating upgraded weapon damage but before calculating damage to ZED: Calculate upgraded damage -> Reduce damage on penetration (Damage = Rounddown (Damage x (Remaining Penetration Power / Initial Penetration Power)) -> Calculate damage to ZED ("ZEDs - Damage to take" mechanic). Amount of the recoil and bullet spread depend on player's stance. Every weapon has its own predefined range of the values - maximum and minimum pitch and yaw. Each time weapon fired, game picks random values from that range and moves player's POV into these coordinates. It takes different amount of the time (weapon-specific Recoil Time) to finish the move. Generally Recoil Time is shorter than weapon's fire interval so every recoil application could apply its full move without overrides from the subsequent recoil applications. The faster weapon fires, the bigger max / min recoil values and the shorter Recoil Time it has - the more overall and more "spike"-ish recoil will be. Maximum and minimum pitch and yaw range to pick values from is affected by recoil modifiers - it can either be increased with the recoil modifier greater than 1 or decreased otherwise.. Recoil modifiers are multiplicative - player using 9mm Pistol while crouching and hip-firing will be having recoil modifier of 0.75x1.75 = 1.3125. Recoil for shooting while jumping / falling will also take on account modifiers for hip-firing and jogging - SCAR-H Assault Rifle will be having recoil modifier of 1x1.75x1.5 = 2.625. Lowest possible recoil can be achieved by crouching stationary and aiming down the sights. Recoil modifying skills and bonuses multiply final recoil modifier (after taking on account falling, walking or jogging, crouching and hip-firing modifiers) of the weapon by listed value. Player stances that has impact on weapon recoil: "crouched" - player is ducking, "falling" - player is airborne (jumping or falling), "hip" - player hip-firing (without ADS-ing), "jogging" - player moving or crouching without ADS-ing, "walking" - player moving or crouching while aiming down the sights. Spread is a random bullet or projectile deviation from the player's initial aiming point. Spread values listed at weapon pages are NOT measured in angles. Spread calculation is a complicated process involving rotators (structures to store X, Y, Z aiming coordinates) and scalar products of vectors. An example below is a conversion of spread factor of Tommy Gun (0.024) into degrees assuming only Y-axis (i.e. how much bullet deviates to the right or left from the actual aiming point). Note that this is abstract example as it only implies one axis with X and Z axises being skipped. Each time weapon fired game picks random float variable RandY = FRand() - 0.5, meaning that its range will be within (-0.5, +0.5). "-" and "+" defy in which direction from the player's POV bullet should move. For simplicity sake let RandY always be +0.5 which is the highest deviation bullet can has while moving "right" from the player's POV. Y-axis spread is a scalar product of two vectors (0, 1, 0) and (0, RandY x CurrentSpread x 1, 0). CurrentSpread (assuming that player hip fires while standing) is 0.024, RandY is 0.5. Vector1 x Vector 2 = 3 / 250 = 0.012 radians which is 0.012 x (180 / Pi) = ~0.69 degrees. Spread modifiers of CurrentSpread in the example above do stack up together. Maximum spread modifier is 1, minimum is 0.5x0.75 = 0.375 (while crouching and aiming down the sights). Shotguns do not change their spread with the player's stance change. HX25 Grenade Pistol note: Unlike other multi-projectile weapons, this weapon has its spread profile adjusted to be more predictable (circle-shaped). One of the pellets of this weapon is always dead-center. There are different reload animations and some animations can be sped up. There are normal reloads and "elite" reloads. Duration of "elite" reload animation is shorter and weapon-specific. Whenever player reloading there is separate timing for updating ammo counter and for allowing to cancel the reload animation. If player managed to cancel reload (by other means, e.g. weapon switching) before reaching the time that it takes to update ammo counter the reload will not be completed. Passive skills that increase reload speed actually decrease the duration of reload animation. For example Firebug's 20% reload speed bonus actually means 1 / 0.8 = 25% faster reloading. Some weapons (mostly ones that hold only one bullet / projectile chambered at time) have a "force reload" attribute which is an artificial delay that needs to expire before the weapon will be automatically reloaded. It should be noted that even without "force reload" value every weapon has a short delay (fire interval) before it can be reloaded as firstly fire interval needs to be finished so weapon could leave "firing" state. Fire interval is a delay between every two shots fired by weapon. Upgrades improve various aspects of the weapons such as damage, handling or ammunition. Damage: Base damage of the weapon is being multiplied by X value. Does NOT work with the ground fire and residual flames. Calculation of upgraded damage takes place before perk bonuses, ZED's hitzones and resistances (see "ZEDs - Damage to Take"). Outcome rounded down to INT. Magazine capacity: Increases base magazine capacity of the weapon. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome rounded down to INT. Spare ammo capacity: Increases spare ammo capacity of the weapon. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome rounded down to INT. Spread: Improves bullet deviation from the aim point. Does NOT work with shotguns. Calculation takes place before taking on account aiming, moving and crouching spread adjustments (see "Weapons - Recoil and spread"). Outcome is a FLOAT variable. Penetration: Increases initial penetration power of the weapon. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. Explosion radius: Increases AOE radius of the projectiles. Does NOT work with the ground fire and residual flames. For ballistic-explosive projectiles calculation takes place after perk effects. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. Reload rate: Reload time of the weapon is being multiplied by X value. Calculation is multiplicative with the perk effects, e.g. reload rate of x0.9 will stuck with lvl 25 Firebug's passive reload rate of x0.8 for a total of 0.9 x 0.8 = x0.72 of the normal weapon reload time which will increase reload speed by 1 / 0.72 = 1.39 times. Recoil: Base recoil modifier of the weapon is being set to X value. Calculation takes place before taking on account stance modifiers (falling, walking or jogging, crouching and hip-firing) and perk effects (see "Weapons - Recoil and spread"). Melee rate: Melee animation time is being multiplied by X value. Calculation is multiplicative with the perk effects, e.g. melee rate of x0.9 will stuck with lvl 10 Berserker's Butcher or Vampire rate of x0.8 for a total of 0.9 x 0.8 = x0.72 of the normal melee animation time which will increase melee speed by 1 / 0.72 = 1.39 times. Affliction power: Increases initial given weapon power of the weapon. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. Heal amount: Increases amount of the health to apply by healer. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome rounded down to INT. Heal recharge: Time to fully recharge the healer is being multiplied by X value. Calculation takes place before perk effects. Outcome is a FLOAT variable. Block / parry damage mitigation: Block / parry damage multiplier of the weapon is being multiplied by X value. This decreases damage to take even further, e.g. mitigation scale of x0.9 on top of Zweihander's parry scale of x0.4 will result in all damage from parried attacks to be multiplied by 0.9 x 0.4 = x0.36. ZEDs can be aggressive not just to players but also to each other. Along the complicated mechanism of choosing the target to chase, ZED might become aggressive to the player whenever in single attack it takes damage which is at least 10% of its maximum health. It is not necessary for ZED to become aggressive to the player who shot it. ZED might become aggressive to the player it was initially targeting. Not enough time passed since the last enemy change time (min - 5s). New potential enemy already targeted by at least 3 other ZEDs. ZED is currently doing melee attack. Current enemy is within ZED's strike range. ZED has LOS on its current enemy and that enemy is also closer to ZED than its new potential enemy. If ZED can see current enemy and cannot see its new potential enemy. ZED does not have LOS on its current enemy. Distance to current enemy is 20% greater than distance to the new potential enemy. Path to current enemy is blocked by the new potential enemy that has also scored damage that is at least 10% of ZED's maximum health. If ZED seeing its new potential enemy, new potential enemy is targeted by less than 3 other ZEDs and "ZEDs targeting current enemy / ZEDs targeting new potential enemy" ratio > 0.5 (evaluation of this event begin when ZED get closer than 15m to players, radius to check how many other ZEDs are targeting players - 10m around each player). I.e. first ever hit to ZED that has 100+ HP from the other ZED will do twice more damage, all further hits will only be doing less damage since the multiplier declines with the HP loss. This formula works based only on ZED's current health - as soon as HP drops below 100, this ZED starts taking normal amount of the damage without additional multipliers. ZEDs attack within certain range, attack itself has its maximum execution range. Each ZED has a set of attacks (animation set) that it can execute. Each attack can be performed under the certain conditions including maximum and minimum range of attack. Within that range ZED will be evaluating a possibility to perform such attack. Attack animation itself has the maximum range where it does damage (i.e. making contact with the player). Depending on the game difficulty ZEDs getting specific odds to execute weak / medium / hard attacks. These types have nothing to do with the damage inflicted but rather defy complexity and amount of the possible moves, i.e. on harder difficulties ZEDs getting more of available attacks. There are various factors to determine whether ZED can perform certain attack or not - chance, difficulty limits, maximum and minum range of attack, cooldown, only when / when not X (X - moving, sprinting, enraged, surrounded, headless, cloaked etc.). On higher difficulties ZEDs have wider variety of attacks that they can possibly execute. It should be noted that animation set is a static object and is shared between all the ZEDs of the same type (e.g. all Scrakes or Husks use the same static list of attacks they can pull out) unlike, for example, health or movement speed which are rather handled on the per-ZED basis. If certain attack in the list has global cooldown and one of the ZEDs has already played it recently, the game writes time stamp next to this attack and all the other ZEDs around have to wait for this cooldown to expire before attempting to play it again. As for global cooldown, nearly all of the ZED's melee attacks have it, common cool downs varying in length of 2-10 seconds, but might as well be shorter for some ZEDs and greater for others. Due to complexity and influence of randomness, this wiki does NOT contain detailed information on each attack and its conditions, especially implying that without visual representation it will be hard for readers to figure and match names and numbers. For such purposes players may individually examinate ZED's animation sets and "_AnimGroup" archetypes in Killing Floor 2 SDK as well as query the information in a text form (yet again without visual representation) by typing in console "GetAll KFPawnAnimInfo Attacks". There are 2 types of ZEDs melee attacks: 1. Impact Attacks, generally performed by the weak ZEDs (Clots, Crawlers, some of the Stalker attacks) - basic "one-target-at-time" type of attacks. To do damage by these attacks, ZED should face its enemy, ZED's target should be within melee attack range and not blocked by obstacles. 2. Swipe Attacks - an "AOE-within-cone-shaped-segment" type of attacks. These attacks can do damage to multiple targets within designated area - forward, forward-left, forward-right, backward etc. Mostly used by medium-to-big ZEDs like Gorefasts, Scrakes, Fleshpounds. Much like Impact Attacks, Swipe Attacks requiring to-target-LOS-clearance and can only collide with the players within melee attack range. Player-controlled ZEDs do Area Melee Attacks. These attacks perform collision checks within ~174,2 degrees cone segments (87,1 degrees to both sides from the player's view direction). Area Melee Attacks will not register if Z-axis difference (height) between ZED and its victim will be greater than ZED's collision cylinder's height x 1.5 (for better representation "getall kfpawn location", Abs(VictimLocation.Z - Instigator.Location.Z) > Instigator.CollisionHeight x 1.5). Melee damage inficted to human players DOES NOT scale over the distance. It either does or does not happen. All Clots can perform a grapple attack. Grapple is a special move. Grapple prioritized over normal attacks, evaluation of possibility to perform a grapple attack happens each time Clots performs a melee attack. Different Clots has different odds to perform a grapple attack. Maximum distance to play grapple start animation and succeed is 2.1 meters. Breaking grapple causes stumble. Clots cannot end grapple by taking damage from other ZEDs, only players can break it. Grapped players are forced to look at the Clots, although there is an option to turn force look off. Grapple Odds (instead of normal attack): Cyst - 80%, Alpha Clot - 33%, Slasher - 38%. Mimimum interval between grab attacks - 5 seconds. Clots cannot grab the player for 1 second after grenade throw. Clots cannot grab the player for 0.5 seconds after shooting the healing dart. Calculate damage in weapon-specific formula - relevant for melee weapons that adjust damage values based on the swing direction. Berserker's Smash or Massacre bonuses for hard and light melee attacks are calculated in this step as well. Pure horizontal melee strikes do never more than 75% and never less than 50% of the base weapon damage depending on the view angle - the closer target to player's view center the more damage it will take. For horizontal melee strikes: Damage = Rounddown (Base Damage x (0.75 to 0.5 scale)), then for all melee strikes: Damage = Round (Damage x Smash OR Massacre Mod). Outcome is an INT. Calculate damage to hitzone. Outcome is an INT: Damage = Rounddown (Damage x Hitzone Scale). Take weakness or resistance on account. Outcome is an INT: Damage = Rounddown (Damage x Damage Type Mod). Apply ZED's block damage modifier. Outcome is an INT: Damage = Rounddown (Damage x Melee OR Damage Mod). Note: ZEDs have separate multipliers when blocking melee and non melee damage sources. Modify damage in perk-specific formula (apply passive damage bonus and skill effects). Passive and skill bonuses are additive, damage multiplied by the sum of all active skill bonuses. Damage = Round(UP) (Damage x (Perk Bonus 1 + Perk Bonus 2 + Perk Bonus 3 + ETC...). Outcome is an INT value, either ROUNDED our ROUNDED UP - ROUNDED for Berserker, Demolitionist, Support, Firebug, SWAT and Survivalist and ROUNDED UP for Commando, Gunslinger and Sharpshooter. Check if player has Field Medic's Focus Injection buff. Outcome is an INT: Damage = Roundup (Damage x Focus Injection Mod). Calculate new value Extra Head Damage = Damage + ZED's Max Health x 0.25. Note: Extra Head Damage for Shotguns calculated presuming that 7 pellets hit (regardless from amount of the actual pellet hits). Apply steps 1-6 on the Extra Head Damage value. Combine adjusted Extra Head Damage and Damage values in order to recieve a final damage value that will applied on ZED upon decapitation. Damage Type Resistance: ZEDs are slightly less resistant to damage types that have Damage Scale < 1 in solo games (when there is only one player at server). Actual resistance value of the given damage type interpolated as Lerp (1, Damage Mod, 0.75). For example Fleshpound's resistance to Ballistic_AssaultRifle is x0.5. When there is only one player at server, it become Lerp (1, 0.5, 0.75), i.e. (1 - (1 - 0.5) x 0.75) = 0.625. Damage type multipliers of x0 are not an exceptions for this rule - if ZED does not take any damage at all, is solo it takes Lerp (1, 0, 0.75) = 25% of it. Such as Abomination Spawn does not take any toxic damage at all in co-op games but does take 25% of it in solo games. Trivial note: when all the damage calculations are done and ZED dies, its last particular hit zone to take damage (head, arm, leg etc...) takes 3 times more damage to gore health than FINAL DAMAGE value. This has no impact on gameplay, because ZED is dead already. Gore health is a variable that defies amount of health for a cetain hit zone, it mostly used for after-dead dismemberment. The only gore health variable that matters is head health, but as said by this moment ZED is dead anyway. ZEDs has base damage values that are being adjusted by different modifiers. ZED attacks are complicated mechanism. During each attack animation ZED might perform one, two or multiple hits. Some attacks has AOE. Depending on attack animation ZED's base damage value will be adjusted by one of the possible damage multipliers. Every single attack has its own damage multiplier. If attack animation involves multiple amount of the hits, each of them might also have its own damage multiplier (opposite to that, all the hits within attack animation might have same damage multiplier). At least 1 point of the damage will be done to the player with every single hit. For ZEDs there are different damage multipliers vs. players when playing solo or co-op. ZED has separate damage multipliers against players and doors. Generally ZEDs do more damage to doors due to higher damage multipliers. ZEDs are able to evade AND / OR to block certain damage sources. Slasher. Chance to evade after taking damage: Normal - 0.1, Hard - 0.4, Suicidal - 1, HOE - 1. Health loss percentage to trigger evade: all difficulties - 0.01. Bloat. Chance to block after taking damage: Normal - 0, Hard - 0.1, Suicidal - 0.65, HOE - 0.85. Health loss percentage to trigger block: all difficulties - 0.1. Block chains (max): Hard - 4, Suicidal - 5, HOE - 8. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 3.5s. When blocking. Damage resistance: Melee attacks - x0.9, Gun attacks - x0.9. Affliction multiplier - x0.2 (ZED takes only 20% of all incoming powers). Solo game block chance multiplier: Hard, Suicidal - x0.1, HOE - x0.2. Crawler. Chance to evade after taking damage: Normal - 0.1, Hard - 0.4, Suicidal - 1, HOE - 1. Health loss percentage to trigger evade: all difficulties - 0.01. Gorefast. Chance to block after taking damage: Normal - 0.2, Hard - 0.5, Suicidal - 0.75, HOE - 0.85. Health loss percentage to trigger block: all difficulties - 0.1. Block chains (max): Normal, Hard, Suicidal - 4, HOE - 5. Block duration - 1s, cooldown - 1s. When blocking. Damage resistance: Melee attacks - x0.8, Gun attacks - x0.8. Affliction multiplier - x0.2 (ZED takes only 20% of all incoming powers). Solo game block chance multiplier: Normal - x0.2, Hard - x0.3, Suicidal, HOE - x0.3. Stalker. Chance to evade after taking damage: Normal - 0.1, Hard - 0.4, Suicidal - 1, HOE - 1. Health loss percentage to trigger evade: all difficulties - 0.01. E.D.A.R Variants. Chance to evade after taking damage: Normal - 0.1, Hard - 0.4, Suicidal - 1, HOE - 1. Health loss percentage to trigger evade: all difficulties - 0.01. Scrake. Scrake has a chance to block upon taking damage or when being aimed at. Scrake has a chance to evade certain damage sources. Scrake cannot block when enraged. Chance to block after taking damage: Normal - 0.05, Hard - 0.1, Suicidal - 0.4, HOE - 0.5. Health loss percentage to trigger block: all difficulties - 0.05. Block chains (max): Normal - 3, Hard - 4, Suicidal - 5, HOE - 6. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 5s. When blocking. Damage resistance: Melee attacks - x0.9, Gun attacks - x0.9. Affliction multiplier - x0.2 (ZED takes only 20% of all incoming powers). Solo game block chance multiplier: Normal, Hard - x0.1, Suicidal - x0.2, HOE - x0.3. Fleshpound. Fleshpound has a chance to block upon taking damage or when being aimed at. Fleshpound has a chance to evade certain damage sources. Fleshpound cannot block when enraged. Hans Volter. Chance to block after taking damage: Suicidal, HOE - 0.3. Health loss percentage to trigger block - 0.1. Block chains (max): Suicidal - 5, HOE - 6. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 7s (Suicidal), 6.5s (HOE). Affliction multiplier - x0.2. Damage multiplier (melee, firearms) - x0.7. Chance to evade after taking damage: Normal - 0.05, Hard - 0.1, Suicidal - 0.2, HOE - 0.2. Health loss percentage to trigger evade: all difficulties - 0.01. Patriarch. Chance to block after taking damage: Suicidal, HOE - 0.85. Health loss percentage to trigger block - 0.1. Block chains (max): Suicidal - 5, HOE - 6. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 3.5s. Affliction multiplier - x0.2. Damage multiplier (melee, firearms) - x0.9. King Fleshpound. Chance to block after taking damage: Normal - 0, Hard - 0.01, Suicidal - 0.2, HOE - 0.3. Health loss percentage to trigger block: all difficulties - 0.05. Block chains (max): Hard - 3, Suicidal - 4, HOE - 5. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 6.5s. Abomination. Chance to block after taking damage: Normal - 0, Hard - 0.1, Suicidal - 0.85, HOE - 0.85. Health loss percentage to trigger block: all difficulties - 0.1. Block chains (max): Hard - 4, Suicidal - 5, HOE - 8. Block duration - 1.25s, cooldown - 3.5s. Abomination has a chance to block upon taking damage or when being aimed at. Abomination has a chance to block or evade certain damage sources. When blocking. Damage resistance: Melee attacks - x0.9, Gun attacks - x0.9. Affliction multiplier - x0.2 (ZED takes only 20% of all incoming powers). Solo game block chance multiplier: Hard - x0.1, Suicidal and HOE - x1. Block has its maximum duration and cooldown, solo game might have an additional block chance multiplier. When blocking ZED takes less damage (melee attacks have separate damage multipliers). Technically damage mitigation effect begin after 0.2 seconds since the block move started. There is a maximum amount of the blocks ZED can execute in a single block chain. If ZED currently blocking and takes damage that is enough to trigger a new block instance there happening block chain increment (initial block gives 1 on the block chain counter, 2nd block attempt (when initial block still active) gives 2, 3rd block attempt (when initial block still active) gives 3 and so on). Each block chain increment resets block duration. Upon exceeding the maximum amount of the block chains (Block chains (max) > value) block ends and ZED plays Melee hit reaction. Each next block sequence (after block cooldown expired) begin with the block chain counter of 1. Generally it is quite hard for ZEDs to chain blocks due to various factors - next block attempt during the current block has a CHANCE to appear upon depleting CERTAIN AMOUNT OF THE HEALTH which ZED looses at decreased rate due to BLOCK DAMAGE RESISTANCE. If ZED is allowed to sprint during the block animation, for the duration of block its sprint speed will be decreased by 25% (x0.75 multiplier). When ZED being aimed at with the Sharpshooter weapons, in such case it is necessary for player to ADS. Time for AI to recieve a warning (i.e. for how long player has to aim at ZED) - random (0.4-0.8)s. Maximum danger distance - 25 meters. AI warning evaluation interval - 0.1s. When certain projectile (pellet / bolt / blade) being fired there happening AI warning notification. Maximum danger distance - 20 meters from the projectile spawn location. AI warning notification happens only when projectile meant to land at the point which is not further than 1.28 meters away from the ZED's location. When ZED being hit. Evaluation interval - each time ZED takes accumulative damage equal to listed health loss percentage (already mentioned above). When ZED being aimed at with the flashlight. Evaluation interval - 1s. Maximum danger distance, from the player position - 20 meters. When ZED being attacked by melee weapon. Only relevant for ZEDs that can block. Maximum danger distance - weapon hit range + zed collision radius. When ZED being attacked by fire weapon. Maximum danger distance, from the player position - 10 meters (15 meters for the Microwave Gun). AI warning evaluation interval - each 0.5s of the continuous weapon firing. When ZED nearby the Ground Fire. Minimum danger distance, from the Ground Fire location - 3 meters. When ZED is at line of Husk's fireball attack. Small ZEDs (Clots, Crawlers, Gorefasts and Stalkers) will attempt to evade when warned of being run over by big ZEDs (Scrake, Fleshpound, Patriarch). ZEDs has separate values of the body health and head health. Damaging body will not be damaging head BUT damaging head will also apply damage to the body (hitzone multiplier should be applied in that case). Damage from explosive weapons applied to the body health, head health will not be taking any damage from explosives (unless it is a direct hit from the projectile). Amount of the health and head health for each next spawned ZED depends on amount of the LIVING players. Players joined the game but not yet spawned will not contribute towards ZED's HP. When there is more than 6 players on the server, ZED HP begin to interpolate linearly. The maximum health cap multiplier (x20) can be achieved upon having 128+6 = 134 players at same time. Interpolation begin at the point A which is a ZED's Health Mod value of 6 players and ends at the point B = 20 which is health cap, amount of the interpolation is value of (Amount Of Living Players - 6 / 128). This interpolated value then being added to 1 to give the final health mod multiplier. Example 1: Gorefiend on the 10-man server. Gorefiend has constant amount of the health at sub-6-man server - 400, i.e. it does not go up when there is 1-6 players because Health Scale value per player for this ZED is 0. So HP begin to interpolate from 0 to 20 and amount of the interpolation is (10-6) / 128 = 0.03125. Lerp (0, 20, 0.03125) = 0 + ((20-0) x 0.03125) = 0.625. Final health multiplier is 1+0.625 = 1.625. At the 10-man server Gorefiend will be having 400 x 1.625 =650 HP. Example 2: Scrake on the 10-man HOE server. Per additional player Scrake gains 39% more health (Health Scale value of 0.39). Interpolation begin from 0.39x6 = 2.34 to 20 and amount of the interpolation is (10-6) / 128 = 0.03125. Lerp (2.34, 20, 0.03125) = 2.34 + ((20-2.34) x 0.03125) = 2.891875. Final health multiplier is 1+2.891875 = 3.891875. At the 10-man server Scrake will be having 1210 x 3.891875 = 4709 HP, where 1210 is amount of the health for 1-man HOE Scrake. Enraged or sprinting Fleshpounds (all variants) can do bump damage to ZEDs just by touching them (although ZEDs on their path will likely attempt to evade the threat). Base amount of the damage is 270, multiplied by x2 if Fleshpounds are sprinting and also multiplied by Fleshpounds' difficulty settings. All ZEDs take full damage, Scrake - only 10% of it, Quarter Pound - 25%, Fleshpound - 0%. If by the moment of bump ZEDs will be having less body health than incoming bump damage, these ZEDs will be knocked down if they would manage to survive (Rioters, for example, as their armor will absorb the damage). Otherwise, if ZEDs will be having enough health to survive the bump, instead they will stumble. Damaged ZEDs will consider their bumpers as an enemies if damage given by the bump will be at least 15% of the ZEDs' maximum health. In Hunt And Heal / fleeing / sprinting modes bosses can do bump damage to ZEDs just by touching them (although ZEDs on their path will likely attempt to evade the threat). Base amount of the damage is 270 multiplied by bosses' difficulty settings. All ZEDs take full damage, Scrake - only 10% of it, Quarter Pound - 25%, Fleshpound - 0%. If by the moment of bump ZEDs will be having less body health than incoming bump damage, there will be 40% chance for these ZEDs to die (get obliterated) and 60% chance to get knocked down without taking any damage. Otherwise, if ZEDs will be having enough health to survive the bump, instead they will stumble. Damaged ZEDs will consider their bumpers as an enemies if damage given by the bump will be at least 15% of the ZEDs' maximum health. Notes: ZEDs do not evade when being runover by Hans Volter. Patriarch does 10 points of damage when bumping into players while fleeing. ZEDs has vulnerable AND / OR resistant hitzones. Damage applied on these hitzones will be adjusted by listed damage multiplier. Hitzones are "additional" damage multipliers. If ZED resistant or weak to certain damage type and getting hit into certain hitzone, the total amount of the taken damage will be multiplied twice - by ZEDs resistance / weakness scale and by hitzone damage multiplier. For example when hit by Ballistic_Rifle damage type into the gauntlets, Fleshpound will be taking 0.75 x 0.2 = 0.15 (15% of the base weapon damage). Two ZEDs of the same type may have different movement speed. Each particular ZED has its own movement speed value. Movement speed can be deviated by up to -10%/+10% from the base speed value. Each ZED getting its movement speed value only once - upon spawning. This means that two spawned ZEDs of same class can has different movement speeds which will not change during the time these ZEDs alive. Movement speed also affected by difficulty mods. Player-controlled ZEDs does NOT have their speed adjusted by randomization. Base ZED's speed mods: Normal - x0.9, Hard - x0.95, Suicidal - x0.95, HOE - x0.95. Base speed mod further affected by the Game Conductor. Slasher speed mods: Normal - x1, Hard - x1, Suicidal - 1.1, HOE - x1.2. Crawler speed mods: Normal - x1, Hard - x1, Suicidal - 1.3, HOE - x1.4. Stalker speed mods: Normal - x1, Hard - x1, Suicidal - 1.3, HOE - x1.4. Abomination Spawn speed mods: Normal - x1, Hard - x1.1, Suicidal - 1.25, HOE - x1.25. All other - x1 / x1 / x1 / x1. Note: Whenever in the multiplayer (non solo) game there will be only one player alive, for every minute spent bosses (Hans Volter and Patriarch only) will be getting +20% of their movement speed, up to +30% at maximum. When hidden (not considered as relevant or not observed by players), ZEDs can move at Hidden Speed (aka Super Speed) which depend on amount of the living players. However in most cases ZEDs prefer to teleport shortly after entering "Hidden" mode. Last 3 ZEDs during the wave time are always relevant. Upon spawning each ZED getting its own Sprint and Sprint When Damaged chances - the values that used to determine whether ZED should or should not sprint under the proper conditions. Player-controlled Alpha Clots and Elite Alphas can rally boost nearby ZEDs. Rally-boosted ZED inflict more damage and (for certain ZEDs on certain difficulties) become able to sprint regardless from its pre-set settings. Rally boost has duration of 10 seconds. Chance to spawn as Elite Alpha: Normal - 0, Hard - 0, Suicidal - 0.25, HOE - 0.35. Alpha Clot has a chance to spawn as Elite Alpha. Elite Alpha able to rally boost nearby ZEDs. Rally evaluation happens when Clot sees the player. Interval to check for rally probability: When Clot sees the player a 2s + random (0-3s) timer starts, then for the duration of Clot-to-player LOS visibility evaluation happens within 1.5s intervals. Rally chance: Suicidal - 0.7, HOE - 0.8. Rally cooldown: Suicidal - 15s, HOE - 15s. Self damage dealt multiplier: Suicidal - x2.5, HOE - x2.5. To activate a rally there should be at least 4 nearby ZEDs (including Elite Alpha itself) within 10m radius. ZED spawn intensity changes depending on the various factors. ZED spawn intensity depend from the Spawn Rate modifier which itself depend from the Spawn Mod, Spawn Time modifier, Solo Spawn Rate modifier and Early Wave Rate / Late Wave modifiers (by default all values set to 1). These modifiers change their values depending on the game difficulty, wave number, amount of the living players and whether this wave is an "early" wave or not ("early" waves: Long = waves 1-4, Normal = waves 1-3, Short = 1st wave). The bigger Spawn Rate modifier is - the slower spawning happening and vice versa, the lesser Spawn Rate modifier is - the faster ZEDs spawning. By any means there is at least 1 second between spawns of two separate ZED groups. Spawn rate at "early" waves will be increased. Spawn Mod for "early" waves calculated as Spawn Mod = Spawn Time modifier x Solo Spawn Rate modifier x Early Wave Rate modifier. If current game is a solo game, ZED spawning will be slowed down. Otherwise Solo Spawn Rate modifier remains the same (1). Solo Spawn Rate modifiers: Short game, all difficulties - (wave 1 - 1.55, wave 2 - 1.65, wave 3 - 1.75, wave 4 - 1.80, wave 4 of normal game - 1.85), Normal game, all difficulties - (wave 1 - 1.55, wave 2 - 1.60, wave 3 - 1.65, wave 4 - 1.70, wave 5 - 1.75, wave 6 - 1.80, wave 7 - 1.80), Long game, all difficulties - (wave 1 - 1.55, wave 2 - 1.59, wave 3 - 1.64, wave 4 - 1.68, wave 5 - 1.72, wave 6 - 1.75, wave 7 - 1.78, wave 8 - 1.81, wave 9 - 1.84, wave 10 - 1.85). If current wave is an "early" wave, Spawn Time modifier changes to 1 for 1 player, to 1.3 for 2 players, to 0.9 for 3 players, to 0.7 for 4 players, to 0.4 for 5 players or to 0.3 for 6 players or more. Otherwise Spawn Time modifier remains the same (1). If current wave is an "early" wave, Early Wave Rate modifier changes to 0.8 (Normal) OR to 0.6 (Hard) OR to 0.5 (Suicidal and HOE). Otherwise (if this is wave is a "late" wave) Early Wave Rate modifier remains the same (1). Spawn rate at "late" waves will be toned down. Spawn Mod for "late" waves calculated as Spawn Mod = Spawn Time modifier x Solo Spawn Rate modifier. At "late" waves Spawn Time modifier changes to 1.1 for 1 player, to 1.45 for 2 players, to 0.9 for 3 players, to 0.8 for 4 players, to 0.7 for 5 players or to 0.6 for 6 players or more. Solo Spawn Rate modifier taken from step 1.1. After getting the Spawn Mod (from either step 1 or step 2), game multiplies it by Difficulty Spawn Rate modifier. For now on all difficulties Difficulty Spawn Rate modifier has a value of 1, i.e. has No impact on the spawning. As a final step game calculates Spawn Rate modifier as Spawn Rate modifier = Spawn Mod x Spawn Rate Intensity of the Game Conductor. Furthermore, overall spawn intensity depend on the map. Each map has its own specific value that used for calculation of the next spawn time. Lower value means faster spawning. Each map has its own specific value (Wave Spawn Period) which sets the base interval between ZEDs spawns. The lower value meaning faster spawning. The values below are NOT exact times between spawns, they are a subject of change via "ZEDs - Spawn intensity" mechanic. AI might stuck due to obstacles or lack of waypoints. AI tends to evaluate and handle the stuck. ZEDs use complicated mechanism to evaluate their stuck possibility when moving to players. Within constant intervals ZEDs check if it is needed to add certain amount of the StuckPossiblity to their stuck meter. Some actions however marks ZEDs as completely unstuck. Upon reaching the StuckPossiblity meter of 5 or higher ZEDs will handle the stuck. ZEDs use different methods to get unstuck. ZEDs does not evaluate stuck possibility before beginning of the game and after it ended. For the next 5 seconds after playing the melee attack animation ZEDs considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossiblity become 0. For the next 5 seconds after teleporting ZEDs considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossiblity become 0. For the next 5 seconds after performing any special move (attack, stumble, knockdown, scream etc.) ZEDs considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossiblity become 0. If ZEDs are not further than 10 meters away from the players AND there are at least 5 AIs remaining throughout the wave, these ZEDs considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossibility become 0. If ZEDs has path to the player (at least one waypoint is cached), they considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossibility become 0. If ZEDs are waiting outside of the closed door while other ZEDs trying to break though, they considered as completely unstuck. StuckPossibility become 0. If ZEDs are not moving in the X|Y axis, StuckPossibility being increased by +0.5. If ZEDs are moving up / down (jumping in one place) StuckPossibility being increased by +1 (by +2 if ZEDs are falling without Z-axis velocity). In order to prevent stuck, ZEDs has their collision cylinder size reduced while at the special areas of the map ("chokepoints") and when they have total StuckPossibility of 2.5 or higher. ZEDs handle stuck differently. Small ZEDs prefer to suicide and respawn at the spawn volumes. Scrake, Fleshpound and bosses cannot suicide when being stuck but rather teleport to the nearest waypoint OR (if there is no waypoints nearby) to the spawn volumes. Some ZEDs can teleport when not observed by players. When hidden (not observed by spectators, not visible and not audible to players) ZEDs can initiate a teleportation to the nearest "best" spawn volume from the players. Observing ZEDs through walls and objects prevents them from becoming hidden for a short period of time hence prevents their teleportation. ZEDs updating their "last relevant time" variable within 5s intervals which is enough to trigger their teleportation. To make sure that certain ZED will not teleport closer, players should have it constantly appearing and disappearing within their LOS (line of sight) since this method forces ZED to update its "last relevant time" variable in intervals shorter than 5s - it is being constantly updated as long as players maintain LOS to this ZED. ZED teleportation being completely disabled when only 12 AIs remain during the wave time (except for Stalker - this ZED can teleport regardless from amount of the remaining AIs). Bloat, Husk, E.D.A.R, Siren, Scrake, Fleshpound and bosses cannot teleport at all.

2019-04-19T00:39:45Z

https://wiki.killingfloor2.com/index.php?title=Mechanics_(Killing_Floor_2)

FIND OUT WHETHER BARACK OBAMA IS A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN AS REQUIRED UNDER ARTICLE II OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND STOP THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE FROM VOTING FOR HIM, IF HE IS NOT! By now, almost everyone paying attention to the election seems to know that under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the President has to be a natural born citizen. But hardly anyone seems to know there is no provision in either federal or state law that says anyone, anywhere, has to check. That’s right. Nothing. Even so, voters in general have the right to express preference for a Presidential candidate without respect to qualifications for office. Of course, Electoral College voters must ensure he is at least Constitutionally eligible for the job. Issue: Given that Article II of the U.S. Constitution says the President must be a natural born citizen, could Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and Chair of the 2008 Democratic National Convention have certified that Barack Obama was “duly nominated” as the Democratic Party’s candidate for POTUS; and could the Party chairs of the Democratic Party in all 50 states and the District of Columbia then have submitted his name to state officials, along with Ms. Pelosi’s certification, to be placed onto the general election ballots; and could state officials have placed his name on the ballot and then certified the final number of votes cast for him; and can he receive the requisite votes for POTUS from the Electoral College (“EC”) when it meets on December 15 and then on January 20, be sworn into office, all without being a natural born citizen? Answer: Yes, absolutely; if the EC fails to stop him. In fact, throughout the entire election process, only one opportunity is prescribed in writing to confirm the candidate’s eligibility: when the state in which the candidate seeks to get onto the general election ballot has enacted both a law that says any candidate seeking to get onto the ballot in that state has to satisfy the requirements of the office sought; AND a law that provides for challenging the candidate’s eligibility under state law. Some have charged that even if being born on the base would otherwise have made him a natural born citizen, he wasn’t actually born on the base but in another hospital outside of the U.S. Zone and so, while he is a citizen, he cannot be considered natural born. (As I just explained above; whether he was born in the Zone or the country has no bearing on the analysis of his status as NBC.) Confronted with these accusations, McCain voluntarily handed over his original long form birth certificate to Washington Post reporters whose investigation confirmed he had been born in the hospital on the base where his mother, still alive, said she gave birth. On the other hand, nothing has been confirmed about the natural born status of Barack Obama. As with John McCain, questions have also been raised as to whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen. As previously stated, McCain responded to these questions by producing his long form birth certificate for the press, which investigators used to confirm his legal status. Here’s what Obama did last June to respond to questions as to his own eligibility: he posted on his web site, “Fight the Smears,” a copy of what his campaign called his “Birth Certificate,” which seemed to indicate he was born in HI. Further, they insisted this document put to rest once and for all questions as to whether he is a natural born citizen. In fact, it did no such thing. Even assuming the document Obama posted is real; it is still not a “Birth Certificate,” anyway. Its title is “Certification of Live Birth.” (Yes; Annenberg Political FactCheck.org says it’s a real “Birth Certificate.” But keep in mind, Annenberg FactCheck is funded by the Annenberg Foundation, who employed Obama as the Chair of their Chicago Annenberg Challenge (“CAC”), selected by Bill Ayers for that position, where he doled out to community organizations the millions of dollars donated by the Foundation in a failed campaign to increase the test scores of Chicago public school students.) FYI, according to the government web site of the State of HI, officials there will accept a “Certificate of Live Birth” as primary evidence of, say, Hawaiian birth; but they will not accept a “Certification of Live Birth” without additional documentation. Of course, if he was born in Kenya – a paternal grandmother in Kenya claims to have been present at his birth there – then at no time would he have been a natural born citizen, since his mother had not satisfied the U.S. residency requirements after attaining the age of majority, to automatically pass on her citizenship status to her son. When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children. Bottom line, just because the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama as their candidate for President; and just because the state chairs of the Democratic Party in all 50 states and the District of Columbia submitted his name to be placed on the general election ballot; and despite the fact that state officials in all 50 states and the District allowed his name onto the ballot and millions of voters cast their votes for him, this does not mean he is eligible to be President. Of course, he is not the President; indeed, he is not even the President-elect. Once the results of the state elections are certified by the appropriate state authorities in each state, the next step in the process of choosing a President is the vote by the Electoral College (“EC”) on December 15. And like every other deliberative body involved with this election, the EC is not legally obligated to determine the candidate’s eligibility, either. Under the United States Constitution and federal law, the electors may cast their votes for anyone they want. However, under the laws of a number of states, the electors in those states must pledge to cast their votes for the candidate who won the state’s Presidential election. And some states have enacted laws that require electors to honor their pledges or their parties. Yet, in the history of the EC, no “faithless elector” has ever been punished for voting for someone other than the Party candidate. But since electors are generally chosen by their respective Party based on criteria like Party loyalty and years of service, they rarely go against the will of the Party. On the other hand, the Presidential electors in each state are presumed to honor the conditions laid out in the U.S. Constitution. So, what would happen if the EC voted for him and then his ineligibility is confirmed? Under the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the worst that would happen is that Vice President Elect Joe Biden would be sworn in as President on January 20. Then, he would choose a VP of his own, subject to Congressional approval. (Note 01.08.11: this scenario presumes, Congress makes clear, it will not Certify the vote of the Electors based on the fact, they elected an ineligible President. Please see expanded analysis in QUALIFIED ≠ ELIGIBLE.) Of course, if EC voters receive information before December 15 that Obama is ineligible for the job, pledged or not, it is unimaginable they would still cast their votes for him. Only, how are they ever going to get this information? Several citizens have already filed lawsuits in both federal and state court to address the issue of whether Barack Obama satisfies the Article II requirement that the President must be a natural born citizen. The stated goal in several of these suits is to get the court to compel state officials – usually, the S of S – to vet the candidate as to eligibility, by arguing such vetting is a requirement of the job. That is, having sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution these state officials must verify the candidate’s eligibility. However, while some state laws explicitly require the political party to submit only the names of eligible candidates for inclusion on the state’s general election ballot; as previously stated in this memo, no state law requires a state official to confirm the eligibility of the candidate the major political party submits. As such, most judges have already dismissed these suits, ruling that the nexus between swearing to uphold the Constitution and having to investigate a candidate’s eligibility for POTUS is too attenuated for the court to compel the specific performance sought in the suit. Some of the lawsuits filed in state courts have also been dismissed for lack of standing. That is, the Plaintiff lacked the particularized interest in the case of, say, another candidate on the general election ballot. Able to circumvent this barrier to standing, Alan Keyes, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under President Reagan and candidate for POTUS under the American Independent Party filed a suit in CA attempting to prevent the Secretary of State from submitting California’s 55 electoral votes until Obama provides proof of his US citizenship. The petition filed in August by Plaintiff Phil Berg, Attorney, in federal district court in PA is different. He asked the court merely to Declare whether Obama is a natural born citizen based on several documents he asked the court to order Obama to produce. He named as Defendants Obama, the DNC, and the FEC. In Opposition to Berg’s Motion, Defendant Obama, joined by the DNC, insisted he does not have to produce evidence he is a natural born citizen. He pointed out that Mr. Berg is just one of millions of voters with no special interest in whether he is eligible. That is, as an individual citizen, he lacked standing to bring this action in the first place. Thus, under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, he had failed to present a “case or controversy” for consideration by the federal court. Justice Surrick agreed, granting Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss. It is this ruling against Plaintiff’s Motion for Declarative Judgment on the basis he lacks standing that Berg has appealed up to the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”), asking for Certiorari, meaning, an agreement to review the case. The SCOTUS has given Obama until December 1, 2008 to submit his arguments against Berg’s request for cert. But even if the court grants cert. AND rules in Berg’s favor on the issue of standing; the case will then be thrown back to the trial court for a new hearing, which could stall on deliberations over other procedural issues, without reaching the substantive issue of Obama’s eligibility for POTUS. In the meantime, the EC vote will already have taken place. Since they – like you – have no conclusive evidence Obama is not a natural born citizen, without demanding such proof, their vote for him is a fait accompli. So, other than the EC, can anyone else prevent this from happening? Yes. You. You can bring the court case that will survive the challenge from Obama, the Plaintiff lacks standing. Issue: Given that the President functions as Commander in Chief (“CIC”) of the armed services under the U.S. Constitution; that the CIC is authorized to order members of the armed services, including the national guard, into combat duty; that while serving combat duty such combatants may logically be required to inflict casualties on the enemy; and that causing the death of another under the color of law but not the rule of law could subject that combatant to criminal charges of murder and, on conviction, to execution for his crime; does a member of the military or national guard, currently deployed in or scheduled for deployment to a combat situation, have the particularized standing required by the federal court so as to create a case or controversy under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to successfully petition the federal court to examine whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen and rule on his eligibility to be POTUS? The elements that would establish standing in federal court, and which Judge Surrick found missing in the Berg case; would be present in a case where the nexus between the injury that would likely result if Obama is not a natural born citizen is more direct. For example, if Obama is not a natural born citizen then he is legally ineligible to be POTUS. And that means any orders he issues under the color of law of POTUS lack the real authority of law. Commanding troops to go into combat where they will likely inflict casualties on the enemy, if illegal, thus exposes soldiers to the death penalty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, merely for doing what they believed was their job. (Conversely, under the Code, questioning the legitimacy of the President to hold this position once he is in office subjects soldiers to discipline under “Contempt for Officials.”) This nexus between Obama’s ineligibility and the likely harm that would result establishes standing, in the eyes of the law. Mr. Obama also pointed out to the court that alleging a violation of Article II “fails to state a claim for which relief can be granted because it fails to establish a cause of action.” Mr. Berg justified his presence before the court by citing the Declaratory Judgment Act. But as Obama successfully argued, this Act only affords a procedural remedy to an underlying cause of action. Thus, “a court must find an independent basis for jurisdiction.” And there is no federal cause of action under Article II. But he was wrong. There certainly is a cause of action under 42 U.S.C. §1983 for soldiers who would be compelled to engage in conduct that could result in execution, deprived of due process of law because their Commander in Chief is ineligible for office. be liable to the party injured in an action at law …. “In order to bring action under §1983, one must allege that defendant violated plaintiff‘s constitutional rights and the deprivation must have been committed by a person acting under color of state law. Barna v. City of Perth Amboy, 42 F.3d 809, 816 (3rd Cir. 1994). Under the definition of acting under state law, the defendant in a §1983 action must have exercised power ”possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law.“ West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 49 ( 1988 ) (quoting U.S. v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326 (1941)). And there’s a cause of action under that same law for all of the families of all of those members of the armed forces, including National Guard members who would be deprived of their loved ones under such a scheme. The most obvious “person” subjecting Plaintiff(s) to this unlawful “deprivation” in a §1983 suit is the S of S in Plaintiff’s state. But Defendants could also include Barack Obama; Nancy Pelosi; the DNC; and the state Party chair, since all of these people were inextricably bound up in the governmental function of carrying out the election to be deemed state actors in this enterprise. In conclusion, no one has verified candidate for POTUS Barack Obama is a natural born citizen as required by the U.S. Constitution, notwithstanding the EC is poised to cast their votes for him on December 15. Unless someone produces documentary evidence establishing he was born in Kenya, the only forum to conclusively decide his legal status lies in federal court. This means filing a suit that would survive a challenge to standing. Given the recent pronouncements by the court in the several cases pending, among the Plaintiffs who could establish standing necessary to force this inquiry are members of the military or National Guard scheduled for deployment or about to be scheduled for deployment to a combat zone; and members of their families. This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 14:00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 92 Responses to FIND OUT WHETHER BARACK OBAMA IS A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN AS REQUIRED UNDER ARTICLE II OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND STOP THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE FROM VOTING FOR HIM, IF HE IS NOT! Well that would automatically disqualify BO wouldn’t it and put McCain in his place? What Happens if Obama is Declared Ineligible to be President…. LINK TO PETITION REQUIRING OBAMA TO PROVIDE PROOF. IF YOU WISH, SIGN AND PASS IT ON TO ALL YOUR EMAIL FRIENDS. with all the controversy about his Birth Certificate, he should be made to show it. If John McCain did then he ought to also. The Director of the Hawaii State Health Department and the Registrar of Vital Records for the State of Hawaii have publically stated that Obama’s birth certificate is authentic and on file. The information on the Certification of Live Birth that has been posted on the web since June is taken directly from the vault copy birth certificate. JamesE: Become a more discerning reader when it comes to anything related to Obama. The opening salvo of your linked article reads, “The state’s Department of Health director on Friday released a statement verifying the legitimacy of Sen. Barack Obama birth certificate.” This merely gives us the opinion of the writer. Now, let’s examine the quote on which, presumably, he based his conclusion. “Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawai‘i, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawai‘i State Department of Health has Sen. Obama’s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures,” Fukino said. As you can see, despite writing this article, this reporter fails to provide us with any conclusive information that would aid our analysis as to whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen under the U.S. Constitution and thus eligible for POTUS. And, as a lay person, you have (presumably unintentionally) compounded his mistake. When I was a child, I was told that Hawaii became a state in 1959. I’m curious why you believe it belonged to the British Empire in 1961…. and citizenship status. It was supposed to take effect in all 50 States by May 2008, by all DMV. If Obama has, or, renews his drivers license he must comply. What about FOIA on Obama’s Children? Their BC would have to show the “Parent’s” info! I have been “Searching” for the EXACT DATE when Stanley Ann Dunham, or her Parent’s, became Resident’s of Hawaii. So far, I have only been able to find that she Graduated High School from Mercer Island, WA in 1960. I’ve read that she was not to Happy to go Hawaii. If Ann was registered to go to the University of Hawaii she most likely would have started classes in September 1960. Hawaii State Law’s require that a Resident has to have lived there for at least “one” year. [§338-17.8] Certificates for children born out of State. (a) Upon application of an adult or the legal parents of a minor child, the director of health shall issue a birth certificate for such adult or minor, provided that proof has been submitted to the director of health that the legal parents of such individual while living without the Territory or State of Hawaii had declared the Territory or State of Hawaii as their legal residence for at least one year immediately preceding the birth or adoption of such child. Ann Dunham (a minor) and. or, her Parent’s would have to have taken residence prior to August 04, or, 08 in 1960. If they took residence in Hawaii “AFTER” August 04, 1960 she would not meet the one year residence that is required. I have searched numerous website’s to no avail. BC of Obama might not have been Legal. If I recall correctly I think Andy Martin has done some research along the lines you’re speaking. contrariancommentary.blogspot.com is one site to start. I noticed that he used 338-18 in his “case”. Maybe 338-17.8 should be added, and, or investigated. Birth Certificate’s with the “Parent’s” , Full Names, Address, “RACE”, etc.. Maybe there are less restriction’s on getting the info in Illinois than Hawaii? At 18 did Barack Obama register , as other American fellows who are citizens have to do? I am not a fan of our president elect, I am much too pro- life , but are not his comments worthy of quote , in this instance , when he was asked about Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy? Look it up , sensible sounding to me! Whatever ! A Republic -Democracy may take a while but it is self- correcting .. that will happen should the Lord think the nation is deserving .. and even if undeserving , should He be in a forgiving mode . I can’t be happy about Obama’s obvious positions on abortion. Not a very natural action all the slaughter by abortion of white , black and other helpless babies. Wasted future citizens with the potential to contribute , having eyes ears hands and feet and other essential human qualifications for citizenship. It is not all up to the heavens ..there is work to be done ..no need to freeze in fear or dismiss the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Racist garbage! This is an undignified attack by yet another pseudo scholar of the American Constitution! May God save us from such perverted claims to knowledge of the law! There are several issues to address here. First, some insist Obama must be hiding something since if he would just produce his “long form” birth certificate it would answer all the questions. As the article noted, no official had the legal duty to verify Obama’s citizenship, thus he had no legal duty to provide it to anyone. Even if he did, it would not resolve the issue-first, because Obama’s enemies would insist the “long form” birth certificate was a forgery, and second, because they are now promoting the theory that even if he was born in Hawaii he is ineligible because he father was an alien. He also didn’t need to produce anything to get the cases against him dismissed because the paintiffs lacked standing-as an attorney, I never produce evidence if I can get a case dismissed as a matter of law. Second, this is primarily a political issue which, Bush v. Gore notwithstanding, the SCOTUS is loathe to get involved in. Contrary to the article, it is not a slam-dunk that Obama Sr.’s alien status makes Obama ineligible for the presidency. No court has ever ruled that a person born on US soil to an American parent is ineligible to be president because another parent is an alien. Thus Obama is not ineligible as a matter of law-his enemies only have an argument that he is ineligible, an argument the courts will not hear. There has been, however, an extensive political process during which the issue could have been brought to the attention of the voters. Obama and Clinton were locked in an extended battle for the Democratic nomination during which she could have made the argument that he was ineligible, but she did not. McCain had months to campaign against Obama for the presidency but he also did not argue that Obama was ineligible. You can’t blame the MSM for not making an issue out of Obama’s father when his opponents didn’t even think it was worth mentioning. Now 67 million Americans have expressed their opinion that Obama is qualified for the presidency, and soon 365 electors will cast their ballots for his election-so why would the SCOTUS risk a constitutional crisis when, through the many months of this presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and 67 million American voters all agree that Obama is eligible to be president? The theory that members of the Armed Forces would have standing to challenge the election results because if Obama is ineligible for the presidency then any military action ordered by him as CinC would be illegal exposing them to criminal prosecution is also bogus. In order to be convicted of a crime, one must have the requisite intent, thus a soldier cannot be convicted of following the otherwise legal orders of a CinC who was voted president by the electoral college and sworn in as POTUS, thus they would not have standing. This finally leaves the conspiracy theories: first, that Obama was really born in Kenya and forged his birth certificate, and second, that he was adopted by his stepfather in Indonesia and thereby lost his US citizenship. The Kenyan birth theory is so far-fetched that even on the Texas Darlin blog (and nobody hates Obama more than they do), they have concluded that Obama almost certainly was born in Hawaii. A contemporaneous birth announcement was provided Hawaiian newspapers by the Hawaiian Office of Vital Statistics which in turn received it from a Hawaiian hospital-it was not planted by Obama’s grandparents as part of conspiracy which started at his birth (don’t take my word, its on the Texas Darlin Blog). The Indonesian adoption theory is based on a school record allegedly filled out by his stepfather stating Obama’s nationality is Indonesian. Obama’s enemies have failed to produce a single document showing Obama was actually adopted, despite the fact that both the Clintons and the GOP had months to conduct opposition research on Obama. Without such documents there is no reason to believe that a formal adoption of Obama by his stepfather occurred, or that even if he was adopted, they took whatever additional steps would have been necessary to make Obama a citizen of Indonesia (as the father of adopted children from China, I know that adopting children does not automatically grant them US citizenship). You can’t hang your hat on a school record alone-I would hazard a guess that a school in a third-world country would not have demanded extensive documentary evidence that a child was actually a citizen. Heck, at about the same time Obama was being enrolled in school there, my mother lied about my brother’s age to get him enrolled in school in England. In the extremely unlikely event that one of these conspiracy theories proves out, there is a political process available to resolve the issue-impeachment. There is also the next election, in 2012, when the voters can remove Obama from office themselves if they so choose. The courts are not going to get involved in an attempt to nullify the results of a presidential election. There is no constitutional crisis-the voters have expressed their opinion that Obama is qualified to be president and there is no express definition of “natural born” citizen to the contrary. Your next best shot at getting Obama out as president is the next election four years from now. Obama is definitely an illegal alien. obama is a thug, why is this guy hiding his birth certificate, sealed all his transcripts? only one word FAKE. The guy is not a USA citizen and should be taken to gitmo for treason. I think I will go to the El dorado Kansas court house Monday and file a motion to seek obama’s birth certificate. Wouldn’t that be appropriate since his commie mother stanley ann dunham lived there for a couple of years. google obama’s momma. I think you will be real surprised. Fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. On Dec 5 the Supreme Court will either allow or disallow the usurpation of both the Constitution and the Government of the United States — easily the most pivotal decision since our nation’s founding — and the silence of the news media is deafening (if not downright scary). No matter how many times this garbage is debunked, you people keep bringing it back up. You lost. Now get over it. Slagtastic, the USA will lose if Obama gets sworn into office and is NOT eligible. Our national security will be compromised and he will be subject to blackmail from anyone who would KNOW his situation. He has teams of LAWYERS covering for him on this… so you bet there are people who know the truth. All he has to do is release the records that have been covered up. If they come out OK, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief. If not, the sooner we know the better and the less damage done. For me, it’s not about whether or not I like that he won, it’s about the integrity of our Constitution and the future stability of our country. If we lay aside the question of Obama being born in Hawaii (he WAS born in Hawaii) and consider only the law cases that seek to disqualify him for reasons other than the location of his birth, we find that there are three approaches. (1) Revolving around Obama allegedly having lost his US citizenship due to dual nationality with Indonesia, when he went there when his mother re-married and when he attended Indonesian schools. (2) Revolving around Obama allegedly having lost his US citizenship due to allegedly having traveled on a foreign passport (an Indonesian passport). (3) Revolving around Obama allegedly not being a natural-born US citizen due to the combination of his having dual nationality at birth because of his father’s being a Kenyan (at the time a British subject since Kenya was a colony at the time). Taking these up in order. As to (1) there have been several Supreme Court rulings on this, with the decision being in all cases that a child cannot lose his US citizenship due to having the combination of dual nationality and his parents renouncing his US citizenship when he was a child. The court ruled that only when a person becomes an adult can she or he themselves relinquish US citizenship. Marie Elizabeth Elg was born in the US to Swedish parents, who took her back with them to Sweden when she was a baby. Shortly after her 21st birthday, she obtained a US passport and returned to the US. Some years later, the US government attempted to deport her on the grounds that when her parents had taken her to live in Sweden, she had become a Swedish citizen (under Swedish law), and as a result had lost her US citizenship. It was argued that an 1869 citizenship treaty between the US and Sweden, providing for the orderly transfer of citizenship by immigrants, called for loss of US citizenship following Swedish naturalization. This was one of the so-called “Bancroft Treaties” enacted between the US and numerous other countries between 1868 and 1937. The Supreme Court ruled, unanimously, that the actions of Elg’s parents in obtaining Swedish citizenship for their daughter could not prevent her from reclaiming US citizenship and returning to the US as an adult, provided she did so within a reasonable time after reaching adulthood. Obama returned to the USA before he was an adult. As to (3): This is a completely novel legal theory brought by Leo C. Donofrio, which argues that even if Obama was born in Hawaii the simple fact that his father was from Kenya and did not have US citizenship at the time of Obama’s birth meant that Obama was not “natural born” because natural born means more than the place of birth. Donofrio argues that the natural-born citizenship requirement of Article II should be read in the context of the 14th Amendment which says that a citizen must be born or naturalized AND “subject to the jurisdiction” of the USA. Donofrio argues that Obama was not subject to the jurisdiction of the USA because his father was not a citizen and hence Obama was under the jurisdiction of the other country. This is a highly novel theory, but the Supreme Court does not often accept novel theories. Moreover, this flies in the face of the simple fact that Article II of the constitution does not specifically rule out dual nationality, and that the common-language definition of a natural-born citizen has so far meant a person who was born in the USA. The issue of jurisdiction is unclear. It is unlikely to mean what Donofrio says, which was that Obama at the time of his birth was under the “jurisdiction” of Kenya or Britain. More likely, jurisdiction means only that Obama was not born in a foreign embassy or consulate, where he would be under the jurisdiction of a foreign government. To be sure, he had dual nationality, but the constitution does not rule out people who have dual nationality from being president. If it had intended to do so, it would have. So, the Donofrio theory is unlikely to get the votes of the strict constructionists on the court, and the theory is not likely to get the votes of the liberals or the swing votes. “Dirty Pool” at the Supreme Court apparently on behalf of Obama currently usurping YOUR Constitution: Leo Donofrio’s companion case, brought by Cort Wrotnowski, with fuller/better briefing showing Obama is not an Article II “natural born citizen” reportedly has been sidetracked to the anthrax lab to deprive the full Court from seeing those filings in connection with Donofrio’s case this Friday, Dec 5, 2008. DO SOMETHING AMERICA!!! Please do NOT give up! This is exactly what they want us to do – to give up and let them rob us of our freedon, our liberty and our country! If our founding fathers had given up their fight we won’t be enjoying our free country now. We will seek justice to the end. We will do whatever it takes to uphold the Constitution. Nothing can stop us. The truth will prevail. We can overcome corruption, deceits and whatever they throw at us. The fact that they are resorting to such despictable tactics as using the “anthrax test” as excuse to delay the case show that they are really frightened that the case will be heard. We have made progress and we simply should not and cannot give up now. Leo, we are behind you 100%. Time and patience is on our side. Even if they managaed to drag it on they will only make it worse for themselves – an ineligible president will cause chaos. When/If that happens, we will have even stronger voices, greater strengths to wake up the waylaid Americans, put the traitors where they belong, and put our country back on the right track. Just out of curiosity, what would it take to convince you that Obama’s a natural born U.S. citizen? Also, you do know, I trust, that Walter Annenberg was a Republican. Judge Surrick in Pennsylvania is a Republican. Are Republicans in Obama’s pocket, too? 01.21.11: I am re-reading comments looking for something I said and found this incorrect statement regarding dual citizenship as a barrier to being natural born. I want to correct this mistake now. As I realized after I wrote this, without a ruling from the federal appellate court, no one knows what constitutes being a NBC. In the time it took you to write that, you would have been better off having a beer and reflecting on what you were about to type. 1) You do realize that there is a difference between “citizen” and “natural born citizen”, right? The Swedish girl was declared a “citizen” .. nothing more. 2) No one is arguing that travelling on a foreign passport is automatic grounds for loss of citizenship. Indonesia, at the time in question, did not recognize dual citizenship. To get an Indonesian passport, you must be an Indonesian citizen. To have attended public school in Indonesia, he again must have been an Indonesian citizen. I shouldn’t have to hold your hand through this. 3) “the common-language definition of a natural-born citizen has so far meant a person who was born in the USA” – Wrong. That is referred to as a “native born citizen”. Refer to U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark and you’ll see the justices make a clear distinction between “native born” and “natural born”. Prayers, praying that the TRUTH will come into the light for all to see…Amen. Maybe my approach is oer simplistic, but all I need is a certified long form birth certificate and college school records. If he was born an American citizen and went to school as an American citizen (after he turned 18), then I think he’s a citizen (able to run). If, on the other hand he wasn’t born a citizen or he went to school under the guise of being a non-citizen, foreign exchange or whatever (where I feel like he freely gave up any US citizenship he may have had) then he needs to admit he’s not eligible to run and step down. Either way, he needs to give up the paperwork and let us all move on. I don’t like almost everything about him. He scares me for our nation’s sake. Having said that, with the help of the main stream media (who should be VERY ashamed), it appears he bought the election and may be our president… if he is constitutionally eligible. If he doesn’t get with it soon though and give up the information, he’ll be crap to us all, and not our president, forever. ONLY picture that has ever turned up of him with his “father” Obama Sr. Hey jbjd – how about Soldier4Hillary who is a regular poster over at NQ? I think her name is Patty or Patsy. She was a passionate and vocal supporter of HRC but since campaigning for Barry and then accepting the SOS Soldier is not as enamored. Larry and Susan would know how to get a hold of her. I think she is stationed either at Camp Lejeune or Fort Bragg. She might be interested. As well, she’s a young, black, extremely articulate and very thoughtful woman. I think she’d be perfect too! You know another person that comes to mind is the young fellow who posted a YouTube video telling the world why he as a young black man wasn’t going to vote for the one. He was very articulate and spoke his mind, which I found refreshing. HE ADMITS OPENLY THAT HIS FATHER WAS A BRITISH CITIZEN at the time of his own birth in 1961. Neither Obama not McCain nor Calero are NBC. Nor can any court defined them otherwise, or change the definition. Because the definitin of a “natural born citizen” is a historical fact, not a legal determination, it is a truth of history and political philosophy. You can no more change that definition of De Vattle’s, that you could demand that 1 +1 = 3 just because the Supreme Court says so. Those who claim Obama is a NBC, have given themselves lobotomies, and abandoned all reason….in a word, they are MAD and INSANE for the sake of their political GOD. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (who, I hope, knows the Constitution and all this legal stuff as well as anybody) has a hell of a decision to make on Jan. 20. This is my response to any one who ever asks me to write another letter the existing Congress, Senate or Supreme Court. NOT UNTIL EVERY ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIAL IN THIS CURRENT SLATE IS REMOVED WILL I WASTE MY INTEGRITY WRITING TO ANY OF THEM. THEY ARE TRAITORS—EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. I WILL IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM ACKNOWLEDGE OR VALIDATE ANY ONE OF THEM AS MY REPRESENTIVES IN THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AS THE US CONSTITUTION WAS WRITTEN. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM FAILED TO KEEP THEIR OATH TO UPHOLD AND PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION OF AMERICA! You are in as much of a fog of confusion as all of us. On one hand you readily acknolwedge that our Congress and Senate has failed us by refusing to hear the calls and letters we sent them regarding Obama’s “natural born citizen” status. On the other hand you are asking us to write to our Congress regarding a new bill to be voted upon. It is apparent reality hasn’t hit us yet. If Congress failed America on the most important issue in American history–the installation of a Usurper as President,– what on earth makes you think it is still OUR CONGRESS? We no longer have a Congress, Senate, or Supreme Court that gives a rats tail about us. I will never again write to a dead government. The only issue left is terminating all our elected officials before their terms expire. WE must concentrate on finding every way to publicly expose them for the treason they committed against America and terminate them for breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, conspiracy, and treason. These elected officials are not politicians in office. They are criminals! They should be behind bars. We should be doing every thing in our power to indict all of them. We must constantly remind the public of Congress, Sennate and The Supreme Court’s betrayal of America! There no longer is a Congress that exists for the people! John McCain was not born on a Military Base. His mother left the base and went into the city to a regular hospital. John was born off the base in the city and in a regular hospital. Besides this was not a regular military base as we have today in most cases. Even at that the military base would have to be sovereign land of USA. SORRY I thought about this for a very long time. John McCain is simply not a natural born citizen. 1. I am required to obey “lawful orders”. All persons in the military service are required to strictly obey and promptly execute the legal orders of their lawful seniors. 2. I am required to disobey certain “unlawful orders”. (a) Lawfulness of the order. (i) Inference of lawfulness. An order requiring the performance of a military duty or act may be inferred to be lawful and it is disobeyed at the peril of the subordinate. This inference does not apply to a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime. (ii) Determination of lawfulness. The lawfulness of an order is a question of law to be determined by the military judge. (1) Violation of or failure to obey a lawful general order or regulation. (a) Authority to issue general orders and regulations. (iii) a commander superior to (i) or (ii). (c) Lawfulness. A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the laws of the United States, or lawful superior orders or for some other reason is beyond the authority of the official issuing it. See the discussion of lawfulness in paragraph 14c(2)(a). 4. I am aware (unfortunately) that significant doubt exists as to the constitutional elegibility of my current Commander in Chief. “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. (substantive due process- Laws must be written so that a reasonable person can understand what is criminal behavior ). 7. I assert that I am entitled to a CLEAR and UNAMIBIGUOUS chain of command as a Soldier subject to OBEYING lawful orders. I recognize the fact a military judge IAW the MCM determines the nature of lawful orders in the case of trials by courts-martial. I contend that a Soldier should know implicitly the legality of an order from the President PRIOR to military trial; such would require a determination by the highest civilian court of these United States. (d) Obedience to orders. It is a defense to any offense that the accused was acting pursuant to orders unless the accused knew the orders to be unlawful or a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the orders to be unlawful. Ordinarily the lawfulness of an order is finally decided by the military judge. See R.C.M. 801(e). An exception might exist when the sole issue is whether the person who gave the order in fact occupied a certain position at the time. An act performed pursuant to a lawful order is justified. See subsection (c) of this rule. An act performed pursuant to an order is excused unless the accused knew it to be unlawful or a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known it to be unlawful. Anyway, jbjd, thanks for your reason and clarity regarding this constitutional crisis. A. Plaintiff, an active member of the United States Armed Forces, has significant reason to believe defendant is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Commander in Chief and consequently is unable to issue “lawful orders” to said plaintiff. B. Plaintiff is subject to punishment IAW military jurisprudence due to his awareness of defendant’s questionable eligibility to issue said orders. Plaintiff is required by military regulation to disobey orders that are understood to be unlawful (patently of a criminal nature). C. Plaintiff can only prove defendants ineligibility through placing himself in peril of military courts-martial due to the regulatory constraints of active service in the Armed Forces. Plaintiff asserts that his 5th Amendment rights have been violated by the defendant regarding the immanent threat of deprivation “of life, liberty,…without due process of law”. Specifically, the defendant is uniquely capable of violating “substantive due process” by which the defendant’s executive orders have subjected plaintiff to laws that are not clearly understood by a reasonable (informed) person as to whether they are of a criminal nature due to the questionable lack of issuing authorities qualification. D. Plaintiff has three courses of action (COA) for redress of grievances- violate his oath of enlistment to “obey the [lawful] orders of the President” and follow all instructions of his usurping Commander in Chief, disobey the orders of the President and await adjudication by a military judge as to the [lawful] nature of said order, or seek discovery by the highest civilian court of the United States. The first COA is contrary to all precepts regarding the military obligation of service members to disobey “unlawful orders” IAW the Manual for Courts-Martial and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The second and third COA would require defendant to prove his eligibility. The second COA unfairly subjects defendant to potential punishment IAW the regulations of the Armed Forces. E. Does plaintiff have to risk loss of liberty (or life) to seek redress or is he entitled to discovery by civilian authorities to protect his constitutional rights? Plaintiff contends the third COA is the only reasonable method to resolve the issue of defendant’s constitutional eligibility to serve as plaintiff’s Commander in Chief. The Washington Post article about McCain’s birth on some “Coco Solo medical facility” (with no documentation of it) is incorrect. There is a BC copy from the Live Birth Records of the Panama Railroad Company that shows McCain was born in Colon Hospital in Colon, Republic of Panama which was not – and still is not – part of the Canal Zone. It was incorporated in the Hollander v. McCain lawsuit in NH district court under case #1:08-cv-00009 but you have to dig to pull it out. We are a military family, and we thank you for your attempts to have this Orly person change the terms of her contract. We have tried numerous times and our comments were deleted. We asked her to retract and apologize and she responded by calling us “cowards.” We are not cowards, many members of my family have died in the service of our country. My sons, ARE serving in Iraq. My daughter was deployed a few months ago. Yet, this woman had the audacity to call them, and their families “Cowards,” while they risk their lives, as I did in the past to protect our country. That was the last straw. We contacted Central Command, and as per their instructions,we cannot comment any further on the matter, beyond what I have stated here. JTX, that is a common mistake made as to the City of Colon being in the PMZ. Actually Colon and Panama City were specifically excluded in the treaty. The US had absolutely no jurisdiction over the city of Colon.Here is the Article relevant to the issue. There were changes to this treaty, but this part never changed. McCain is not at natural born citizen. He obtained his citizenship by statute. The Republic of Panama grants to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of said Canal of the width of ten miles extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the route of the Canal to be constructed; the said zone beginning in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low water mark and extending to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific ocean to a distance of three marine miles from mean low water mark *with the proviso that the cities of Panama and Colon and the harbors adjacent to said cities, which are included within the boundaries of the zone above described, shall not be included within this grant.* The Republic of Panama further grants to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation and control of any other lands and waters outside of the zone above described which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said Canal or of any auxiliary canals or other works necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation and protection of the said ….

2019-04-19T12:17:47Z

https://jbjd.org/2008/11/30/find-out-whether-barack-obama-is-a-natural-born-citizen-as-required-under-article-ii-of-the-us-constitution-and-stop-the-electoral-college-from-voting-for-him-if-he-is-not/

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Membership registers: the State law generally requires an LLC to keep an alphabetical list of the names and addresses of all current members. This list can be inspected by any member during regular business hours of the LLC. It should also be made available for inspection to all members at any membership meeting. This list is used by the LLC secretary to prepare and mail notice of meetings to members. If the LLC is managed by specially selected managers, the LLC should have a list of the managers' names and addresses. Minutes of LLC Meetings: if your LLC has been in existence for some time, you may have previously prepared minutes of LLC manager or member meetings or written consent forms. This is especially likely if a lawyer helped you form your LLC. Contact your attorney to get copies of previously prepared minutes and written consents, and place them in your LLC records binder. Most States allow LLCs to be formed with one or more members. The IRS has "check the box" regulations that default to taxation as a partnership. The tax form used is form 1065. Members may not get paid a "salary" or "wages." In lieu of salary, earned income may be paid as "consulting fees" or "guaranteed payments to members/partners." These are taxed to the member (not to the LLC) for SECA purposes (similar to FICA and Medicare). Once "earned income" is generated as per the above, you may receive (if desired and if structured properly) a tax deduction for payments made for health insurance and retirement plan contributions for yourself and family members. An LLC is owned by its members. They are analogous to partners in a partnership or shareholders in a corporation, depending on the how the LLC is managed. A member will more closely resemble a shareholder if the LLC utilizes the operating concept of a manager or managers because then the members will not participate in management. If the LLC does not utilize managers, then the members will closely resemble partners because they will have a direct say in the decision making of the company. A member's ownership of an LLC is represented by their "interests," just as partners have "interest" in a partnership and shareholders have stock in a corporation. Whether you're starting a new business or looking to protect your assets, forming a business entity: corporation, limited liability company, S-corporation or limited partnership is serious business. One size does not fit all when it comes to deciding how you are going to structure your business. Not only is it important to pick the right business structure but it's even more important that you properly set-up your new company from the beginning. Failure to structure your business correctly from the start can leave you personally exposed to litigation and possible tax penalties. Limited liability company has the advantage of being a hybrid between a partnership and a corporation. The advantage of a limited liability company is that most states require fewer formalities be observed in an LLC in comparison to a corporation. Real Estate Investments. LLC's flexibility allow unlimited number of members. LLCs may register their shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission as publicly traded securities i.e.(REITS) Real Estate Investment Trusts under the LLC umbrella at far less costs and with less administrative complications. The United States is the "offshore" for foreign entrepreneurs. Foreign investors consider the United States as their "offshore" tax-free tax haven jurisdiction due to favorite treatment of their investments and tax-free status afforded to them. Example: there's no capital gains taxes on securities purchased in the United States and sold by foreign investors. The LLC is an ideal way to transfer wealth amongst family members. The older generation (parents) retain control of the assets or business by eliminating third party interests and restricting membership, while eliminating estate and gift tax consequences. The LLC is a much more practical device for this purpose with no mandatory distributions to the younger generation (children). Once you have decided the type of business entity which is best for your business, articles of organization must be filed with the proper state agency together with certain fees. Coddan will provide all necessary services to ensure that the administrative processes are completed in the shortest period of time, with the highest degree of skill and efficiency, and at the lowest cost. LLC Advantages: only one LLC member is required to form an LLC in the State of Delaware. Historically, some states require that a limited liability company be comprised of at least two LLC members. Today most states and the IRS recognize the single-member LLC as a legitimate business structure. Separate legal entity, like a limited partnerships and corporations: the limited liability company shares a similar advantage - it is recognized as a separate legal entity from its "members". If you want to become familiar with the description and the contents of Delaware limited liability company formation packages, offered by Coddan and to find, what kind of service is included in this or that Delaware LLC incorporation package, to get an idea about the price of annual renewal of the service, and about the general legal requirements to the LLC organization within State of Delaware, please, check the banners on top of this page or contact us with your LLC incorporation requirements by phone or via e-mail. What are the Advantages to Register a Limited Liability Company in America? How to Form an LLC in USA? If you're a business owner considering your business incorporation options in USA, Coddan is the valuable online resource for information to help you decided whether to form an LLC company in United Stats of America or another type of business entity. There are pros and cons to each, but no matter what type of corporation you opt for, the corporate designation confers an image of stability, longevity, and competence. Entrepreneurs trust us to incorporate in Delaware and register an LLC on the same day, LLC incorporation in USA protects your personal assets from business liabilities. Referrals and repeat customers generate most of our business. We are more than just a filing service; we develop relationships with clients to help make them successful and keep them returning. The Coddan makes registering your Delaware LLC fast and easy. most states answer incorporation submissions within 2-3 business days, so your Delaware LLC can be up and running quickly. A limited liability company, also referred to as an "LLC", is a new class of business operating entity with legal status in certain states (see below) - a hybrid between an S corporation and a partnership. It combines the tax advantage of a partnership (avoidance of corporate income tax) with the legal safeguard of a corporation - namely the fact that owner' personal assets are not normally at risk in business-related lawsuits. As of December 1997, all states, plus the District of Columbia, have passed laws governing the administration and operation of LLCs within their jurisdictions. Simplicity and flexibility of operation: an LLC is formed by filing a form called articles of organization with the Secretary of State, which are similar to articles of incorporation for a corporation. Some states, including California, require an annual report to be filed to keep the records maintained by the state current. Other than that, there are generally no other reports or forms to be filed, except tax returns. An LLC may be "manager managed" or "member managed." A limited liability company that is manager managed is similar to a limited partnership where the general partner has the authority to run the operations of the partnership and the other members have little or no input. In short, the "manager-managed" LLC is well suited to accomplish this estate-planning objective. A manager of a manager-managed LLC may, but need not, be a member (this is a corporate concept). The articles of organization or certificate of formation of an LLC may have to specify whether the limited liability company is member-managed or manager-managed to make this a matter of public record. An LLC that is member managed is similar to a general partnership where all the members have equal say in the operation or the voting may be based on their ownership interest. An LLC also allows for great management flexibility. The management can be decentralized and informal, such as the management of a general partnership. Alternatively, the limited liability company may adopt a corporate style of management structure with a board of "managing directors." The Board may then appoint a president, CFO and secretary. Registration of single-owner LLC or incorporation of a congle member LLC on America: the IRS treats one-member LLCs as sole proprietorships for tax purposes. This means that the LLC itself does not pay taxes and does not have to file a return with the IRS. As the sole owner of your LLC, you must report all profits (or losses) of the LLC on Schedule C and submit it with your 1040 tax return. Even if you leave profits in the company's bank account at the end of the year - for instance, to cover future expenses or expand the business - you must pay taxes on that money. Create of establish the multi-owner LLC: the IRS treats co-owned LLCs as partnerships for tax purposes. Co-owned limited liability companies themselves do not pay taxes on business income; instead, the LLC owners each pay taxes on their lawful share of the profits on their personal income tax returns (with Schedule E). Each LLC member's share of profits and losses, called a distributive share, is set out in the LLC operating agreement. Most operating agreements provide that a member's distributive share is in proportion to his percentage interest in the business. For instance, if Jimmy owns 60% of the LLC, and Luana owns the other 40%, Jimmy will be entitled to 60% of the LLC's profits and losses, and Luana will be entitled to 40%. If you'd like to split up profits and losses in a way that is not proportionate to the members' percentage interests in the business, it's called a "special allocation," and you must carefully follow IRS rules. However members' distributive shares are divvied up, the IRS treats each LLC member as though s/he receives her/his entire distributive share each year. This means that each LLC member must pay taxes on their distributive share whether or not the LLC actually distributes the money to him/her. The practical significance of this IRS rule is that even if LLC members need to leave profits in the LLC - for instance, to buy inventory or expand the business - each LLC member is liable for income tax on her/his rightful share of that money. Even though a co-owned LLC itself does not pay income taxes, it must file Form 1065 with the IRS. This form, the same one that a partnership files, is an informational return that the IRS reviews to make sure the LLC members are reporting their income correctly. The LLC must also provide each LLC member with a "Schedule K-1," which breaks down each member's share of the LLC's profits and losses. In turn, each LLC member reports this profit and loss information on his or her individual Form 1040, with Schedule E attached. After your articles of formation are filed, your LLC should have an organizational meeting where an operating agreement is adopted, interest certificates are distributed and other preliminary matters are completed. After your LLC has been formed, if the entity will have employees, or elect partnership or corporate taxation, the entity will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN). If the entity is a single member LLC with no employees, this will not be necessary as the entity will use the social security number of the single member. If an EIN is necessary, an IRS Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, will need to be completed. What are the Benefits to Register a Limited Liability Company in America? What are the Disadvantages of Operating as an American LLC? The LLC is treated as a partnership for federal tax reporting. Taxable income and losses pass through to its members (owners) in the same manner, as is the case with partnerships and similar to S corporations. The law allows the inclusion of liabilities of the LLC in order to increase basis for tax purposes (as in the case of a partnership). The liability of all members is limited to their investments in the LLC (unless they personally guarantee other debt incurred by the limited liability company). Payment to a retiring member may be structured so as to allow part of the payment to be deducted as an expense to the LLC. The Delaware Limited Company Liability Act does not require that a limited liability company agreement be in English. If an LLC has no members in the U.S., and derives no income from sources within the U.S., then, according to current law, as of December 1997, no U.S. federal income taxes will be due by the members who are non-resident aliens of the U.S. An LLC can be formed by one member/manager. Delaware does not require the member/manager be listed in the document. The new IRS ruling allows the LLC to be perpetual. The benefits for owner-employees, such as health care or life insurance, are only partially deductible from these members' individual federal income tax returns. If you want your LLC to have a fiscal year other than a calendar year, a special election is required. There is a legal requirement for a limited liability company agreement among its members. It should be drafted by an attorney competent in corporate, contract and tax law. Tax treatment of the LLC as a corporation or partnership is going to be governed by the Agreement. And, regardless of the nature of the agreement drafted, tax treatment is completely predictable only if you obtain a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service on a case-by-case basis. The initial members of a new LLC ordinarily make financial contributions (called "capital contributions" in business lingo) to the business to get it started. These contributions can consist of: cash, property, services, or a promise to contribute cash, property or services in the future. In return, each LLC member normally gets a percentage of ownership in the assets of the LLC (this is called a member's "capital interest"). This interest reflects the portion of the assets of the LLC that each member is entitled to when an LLC member sells his membership interest or when the LLC itself is sold. For example, if a member has a 50% capital interest in an LLC whose assets, including goodwill, are valued at $500,000, he can expect to be paid approximately $250,000 if he asks the other LLC members to buy out his interest. Of course, a good LLC operating agreement (or buy-sell agreement) will clearly say how members' interests will be valued so that a member can anticipate how much he'll get when he sells his interest and when he'll get it (in a lump sum, in instalment payments or in a combination of the two). If your LLC members simply contribute cash to start up your LLC, the tax considerations are straightforward. The members are not taxed on the transaction. Instead, their membership interest is given an "income tax basis" equal to the amount of cash each member invests. This tax basis will go up and down during the life of the LLC as profits and losses are allocated and paid to members and as the LLC's liabilities fluctuate. When a member finally sells his membership interest or when the LLC itself is sold, the tax basis at that time will be used to compute the amount of gain that the member owes taxes on. Another popular way to fund an LLC is through the contribution of property. For example, a member may transfer her title (ownership document) to a piece of real estate to her LLC in return for a membership interest. Vehicles, business equipment and machinery, as well as patents and trademarks, are also commonly exchanged for membership interests. As long as other LLC members (if there are any) accept the property at an agreed upon value, there is no legal impediment to doing this. But in some circumstances, contributions of property (especially property that has appreciated in value) can lead to special tax consequences. Tax issues arise when a member contributes property that has increased in value (appreciated) since the time it was purchased, inherited or received by gift. Appreciation is most likely to have occurred on real estate (a building or land) prior to its transfer to the LLC. First - the good news. Contributions of appreciated property to an LLC are generally tax-free at the time they are made (there are some technical exceptions). The not-so-good news is that a member who transfers appreciated property to the LLC must eventually pay taxes on the past appreciation (the increase in value that occurred prior to transferring the property to the LLC). Typically, the member who originally transferred the property to the LLC pays taxes on the past appreciation when his interest in the LLC, or the entire LLC itself, is sold. When LLC members receive a capital interest in an LLC in exchange for cash, property or services, they are also given a share of its profits and losses, called their "distributive share." (This only applies to LLCs with pass-through taxation. Owners of LLCs that elect corporate tax treatment instead receive their share of profits as salaries or dividends.) You'll see the term "distributive share" a lot in IRS publications and tax forms. It refers to how much of the LLC's profits and losses will be allocated to each LLC owner at the end of the year. It is a bit of a misnomer, because under the pass-through tax rules an LLC's owners are taxed on all of the profits allocated to them at the end of each LLC tax year, even if these profits are not distributed. An owner's distributive share is sometimes also referred to as his "profits interest" in the LLC. Each member's distributive share of profits and losses must be specified in the LLC operating agreement. Most often, an operating agreement will provide that each member's distributive share corresponds to his capital interest in the LLC. One flexibility of doing business as an LLC is that the operating agreement can provide that profits and/or losses can be distributed in a manner that is not proportionate to capital interests. For example, an LLC member with a 30% capital interest could receive 40% of the yearly profits. The ability to mete out allocations of profits and losses in different ways is one of the special advantages of setting up an LLC (or a partnership). By contrast, the founders of a corporation are unable to do this sort of disproportionate profit splitting without a lot of tinkering with the standard corporate model. Splitting of profits and losses that are disproportionate to members' relative capital interests are called "special allocations" under the tax law and are subject to IRS tax rules. In addition to the issues discussed in the previous paragraph, there are a number of steps which you should take to preserve your corporation or LLC's identity separate from its owners: make all annual filings with the Secretary of State and pay the franchise fee on time. Operate the company under its proper name or properly filed trade name. Make sure that people dealing with your company understand that it is a corporation or LLC and that they are not dealing with you as an individual. Avoid, to the extent possible, giving personal guarantees. Any document signed on behalf of the company should clearly indicate that the person signing is doing so as an officer of the corporation or as a member or manager of the LLC without personal guarantee. As noted above, treat the company as a separate financial entity. Payments to the company need to be documented as capital contributions, loans, compensation, dividends or loan repayments. These are items which should be enumerated in the annual minutes of the Board of Directors. Stock or Membership certificates are only evidence of ownership and not necessary for ownership. Stockholder and members are not required to be US citizens and are not required to be US residents. Ownership must appear in the company's minutes and on the transfer records. It is the better practice to issue stock or membership certificates. Any restriction on transfer must appear on the certificate to be effective against third parties. If you let employees drive their own cars on company business, make sure that both your and their insurance is sufficient and make sure that your company is listed as an "additional insured" on their policy of insurance. Do not take inconsistent positions with your insurance company (no business use) and then deduct car expenses on your company's tax return. If you lend money to the company the company should adopt a resolution authorizing the borrowing and should issue a note. If you have a pension plan, consult your accountant or plan administrator at least annually for a review because of changes in the law or regulations. Annually review minutes and records with your attorney and accountant. Except in the case of S corporations, the company should have a written employment contract with an owner employee and the company's minutes should reflect the adoption of the contract. If an owner leases property to the company the lease should be either favorable to the company or at arms length with the owner. Rent and expense obligations need to conform to the lease to make it deductible. If you have multiple companies, steps must be taken to avoid confusion. Just as with the case of your need to maintain your company as a separate financial entity, the same must be observed with parent subsidiary relationships as well as brother sister relationships. Document all inter company transactions and maintain financial separation. Unless you choose otherwise, "pass-through" income tax status is automatic for all new LLCs. This means that all of the LLC's profits and losses "pass through" the business and are reflected and taxed on the owners' individual tax returns. The LLC is a vehicle designed to provide general limitation of liability while also permitting, if desired, U.S. federal and Delaware income-tax treatment as if the organization were a partnership. It is important to recognize that merely complying with the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act will not guarantee partnership tax treatment, since the Delaware Act is a statute that permits the members of a limited liability company to determine contractually which corporate tax characteristics, if any, the limited liability company will fail to possess. The Delaware Act has been drafted in such a manner, however, that partnership tax treatment should result if the drafters of an LLC agreement do not contractually override the default provisions of the Delaware Act relating to the lack of continuity of life, centralized management and free transferability of interests. The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue ruling addressing the federal income-tax classification of LLCs formed under the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act. The revenue ruling gives considerable comfort as to the federal tax treatment of Delaware LLCs. In the second fact hypothetical, the LLC's debts, obligations and liabilities continued to be solely those of the LLC. With respect to other aspects of the LLC, however, the LLC agreement provided that (i) management was vested in three managers elected by the members, (ii) an assignee of a member could participate in the management of the business and affairs of the LLC and become a member after the assignee merely provided the LLC with written notice of the assignment, and (iii) the LLC continued following the termination of membership of a member. The service held that under this second hypothetical the LLC would be classified as an association taxable as a corporation (and not as a partnership) for federal income-tax purposes. The Revenue Ruling deals with two examples at opposite ends of the spectrum and provides guidance if a Delaware LLC is structured in a manner consistent with either example. The revenue ruling also confirmed that the flexible nature of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act does not preclude partnership income-tax treatment if the Delaware Act's default provisions are not followed. However, caution and careful tax analysis are strongly recommended before deviating from the Delaware Act's default rules. The limitation of a liability: as noted, a fundamental policy of the Delaware Limited Liability Company Act is to protect against liability to third parties of members and managers of LLCs. The Delaware Act provides that, except as otherwise provied in the Delaware Act, the debts, obligations and liabilities of an LLC, whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise, shall be solely the debts, obligations and liabilities of the LLC. In addition, the Delaware Act provides that, except as otherwise provided by the Delaware Act, no member or manager of an LLC shall be obligated personally for any debt, obligation or liability of an LLC solely by reason of being a member or acting as a manager of the LLC. Thus, regardless of the fact that a member or manager actively participates in the business of a Delaware LLC, or controls a Delaware LLC, such member or manager will not be generally liable for the debts and obligations of the LLC. However, unlike the limited liability company statutes in most states, the Delaware Act specifically provides that a member or manager may agree in a limited liability company agreement or other agreement to be obligated personally for any or all of the debts, obligations and liabilities of a Delaware LLC. Although it would be unusual for a limited liability company agreement to contain such a provision waiving limited liability, this flexible feature of the Delaware Act can be useful in a situation where a lack of limited liability is needed for an LLC to obtain partnership classification for income-tax purposes. Distribution of profits to LLC members: in an unincorporated business like a partnership or an LLC, the owners share in the net profits of the business. They usually don't pay themselves a salary up-front - instead, each year (or often, each quarter), they see how much net profit remains after deducting all regular business expenses. Then they decide how much of this profit to distribute to themselves and how much to retain in the business. The next step is to calculate how much income must be allocated to each owner for income tax purposes according to each owner's "distributive share," or "profits interest," as set out in the LLC operating agreement. Even if some owners operate the business full-time and others (passive investors) don't work in the business at all, the working/ managing owners usually do not get a guaranteed salary. Instead, the working owners split the net profits with the passive owners according to their LLC operating agreement. In recognition of the larger contribution made by the active owners, typically the operating agreement states that they get a larger share of profits than the passive owners do. In addition, the working owners sometimes get all business profits up to a certain level, with any additional profits divided with the passive owners according to the operating agreement. Of course, it's also possible for an LLC owner who works in the business to receive a salary. This is particularly likely in a small business that produces profits year after year, or in a business where one managing owner does all the work for a bunch of passive investors. In this scenario the working/managing owners may receive a guaranteed salary that is paid regardless of yearly fluctuations in the profit-level of the business. Since the salary is guaranteed to be paid regardless of profits, it is a business expense and can be deducted by the business in computing its net profit. This, in turn, reduces the amount of profits the other owners are allocated and taxed on (of course, the other owners also receive less profits under this scenario). The working/managing owners who are paid guaranteed salaries pay individual income taxes on the salary payouts plus, of course, their allocated share of any additional money (profits) they divide with the other business owners. But again, arrangements of this sort are the exception, not the rule, for most smaller unincorporated businesses. Before setting up a guaranteed salary for you or one of your co-owners, talk to your tax advisor. It follows that even if a member's allocated profits are retained by the LLC, the member must pay income taxes on those profits as if she received them. At bottom, this is the big idea behind pass-through tax treatment - the IRS wants its income tax money each year; it doesn't want to wait until the LLC decides to put the money in the owners' pockets. If the owners were allowed to avoid taxes on profits by waiting until they felt like paying them out, you can be sure that in very good income years, when profits would cause LLC owners to be taxed in higher marginal tax brackets, owners would retain the profits in the business. Then in leaner years, when LLC owners would otherwise receive little or no income, they would pay them out so as to be taxed in lower individual tax brackets. To deal with the potential problem of owing taxes if you don't receive a payout of profits one year (say the majority of LLC members vote to keep the money in the business), many LLC operating agreements contain a provision that says the owners must receive (actually have distributed to them) at least a minimum percentage (typically 25% to 30% or more) of their share of allocated profits each year. When it comes to actually paying out profits to the members, LLCs do have to pay attention to a few legal rules. In many states, there are financial tests that an LLC must meet before profits can be paid out. In general, a distribution of profits is valid if, after the distribution: the LLC remains solvent - that is, the LLC will be able to pay its bills; as they become due in the normal course of business, and LLC assets remain equal to or exceed LLC liabilities (or, in some states, a statute sets out a higher asset-to-liability ratio that the LLC must be able to satisfy after distributing profits). Register and Running an LLC Company in USA: How LLCs Report & Pay the Federal Income Taxes? If your LLC has only one member (and you haven't elected corporate tax treatment), the tax reporting process is simple. The LLC itself does not have to prepare and file any tax returns. The owner simply files his regular 1040 form and attaches Schedule C, Profit or Loss From a Business, on which he reports his share of allocated LLC profits or losses, and Schedule SE, Self-Employment Tax Return, on which he figures the self-employment (Social Security and Medicare) tax he owes. Tax tip: use a double-entry bookkeeping system. Some smaller LLCs use a single-entry bookkeeping system such as a simple business check register to keep track of their expenses and income. However, double-entry procedures help owners to organize and track the financial progress of the business better. So even if yours is a one-person or small multi-member LLC, consider setting up a double-entry system for your business. For LLCs with two or more owners, the LLC itself must prepare and file IRS Form 1065, the same tax forms used by a partnership, unless it elects corporate tax treatment as explained in Section C, below. Since LLCs themselves don't pay income taxes on profits (their owners do), this annual partnership income return is informational only. Unfortunately, Form 1065 is a bit complicated for the uninitiated. It requires that the business use a standard double-entry bookkeeping system, with a journal of accounts that are periodically posted to a general ledger. These general ledger accounts, in turn, are used to generate an income statement and balance sheet, both of which are necessary to complete Form 1065. The form must also show a reconciliation of each owner's capital (ownership) account that shows his capital contributions and distributions as well as the allocations and distributions of profits to each owner. Form 1065 also includes Schedule K, where the income, losses, credits and deductions allocated to all owners must be reported. And finally, the LLC must give a Schedule K-l form to each owner, on which it reports the profits, losses, credits and deductions allocated to that owner - called the owner's "distributive share." Each owner uses the Schedule K-l to prepare her individual income tax return for the year and then attaches a copy of it to her 1040. Before deciding whether you'll formally prepare minutes or consent forms for particular decisions, you need to know whether your LLC is "member-managed" or "manager-managed." Let's clarify this legal jargon. Most state statutes provide that an LLC is managed by all its members unless the LLC articles say otherwise. For example, if the LLC organizers decide that the LLC should be managed by four out of seven members, the articles should say so. As an alternative to member-management, the articles can elect manager-management. This means that the LLC is managed by one or more persons who are specifically designated as "managers" (the appointment of just one manager is typical). Managers may be members, officers, or anyone else (even independent contractors, for that matter). Typical wording used in the articles to elect manager-management is "This LLC is managed by one or more managers, whose names and addresses are as follows: name(s) and address(es) of manager(s)." However, most smaller, closely held LLCs - those owned and operated by a small group of people who are active in the business - are member-managed by all members. Typically, state LLC Acts have a section titled "Management," which sets out rules for the re-election of managers by members and recites the duties and responsibilities of managers. These statutes make it clear that the members of a member-managed LLC act in the place of managers, and are subject to the same rights and responsibilities as those set out for specially selected managers. Another way of saying this is that the members of a member-managed LLC do not have to put on their "manager" hats to manage the LLC. They should do so as members, realizing that they are subject to the legal rules set out in the LLC Act that apply to managers in a manager-managed LLC. In a member-managed LLC, the members will make all decisions, either by holding real meetings and recording the decisions in written minutes, or by simply preparing written minutes of a paper meeting or written consents for the members to sign. In other words, there is no need for the members to also don their manager hats and separately approve LLC decisions as managers. But in a manager-managed LLC, where one or more persons (who may be members or nonmembers) are selected to manage the LLC, the nature of a particular decision will tell you whether the managers or the members make that decision. Here's a quick rundown of the various choices for decision making in a manager-managed LLC, geared to specific types of LLC decisions: re-election of managers. In a manager managed LLC where the managers are elected to fixed terms (such as one- or two-year terms), the members meet (in person or on paper) or sign a consent form to elect the managers to another term or replace managers who leave the LLC. (Members in manager-managed LLCs with indefinite terms for managers do not need to vote regularly to re-elect managers, but will do so to replace managers who leave the LLC). Approval of some major decisions reserved to the members. For most manager managed LLCs, state law, the articles, or the operating agreement reserve some types of major decisions to the members. Typically, the following decisions require approval by members: amendment to the articles or operating agreement, issuance of a new membership, admission of a transferee as a member, a vote to continue the LLC after a member withdraws, and a decision to voluntarily dissolve the LLC. Approval of a management decision. Management decisions, such as approval of a standard sales contract, are just the sort of decisions that fall within the purview of the management team. The managers should meet or sign a written consent to signify their formal approval. Approval of a decision that significantly impacts LLC profitability or involves the personal financial interests of one or more managers. It is wise to have all members who do not also serve as managers join the managers in approving decisions of this sort. This is easily accomplished by holding a joint meeting of all managers and members. Or, you can have all managers and members sign a written consent to the decision. (As you'll see in the succeeding chapters, our minute and consent forms accommodate attendance and approval by either managers or members or both.) After all, if a course of LLC action will reduce or gamble LLC profits, obtaining the advance approval of all members can help avoid membership complaints later if the LLC loses money on the decision or deal. And if an action may benefit one or more managers personally - such as a hefty pay raise for a manager (who also works as an LLC officer and receives an officer salary) or the lease of property by a manager to the LLC- asking members to approve it is just fair play and common sense. If, after full disclosure, the members approve a deal that benefits a manager personally, it's less likely that a member will complain (or sue) later. The point here is to treat non-managing members in a manager-managed LLC just as you would any outside investor in a business: You don't normally need to let them in on basic managerial decisions that are meant to be decided by the managers themselves - in fact, non-managing members usually won't want to get involved in these decisions. But you will want to get their advance approval for decisions that may affect their pocketbook or upset them if they're surprised by them later. LLC member-management: the owners of most smaller LLCs choose the standard member-management approach. Again, this means that all LLC members are responsible for managing the LLC. (A few states, such as Minnesota and North Dakota, have copied terminology found in their unincorporated association statutes, and call the managers "governors.") The reason this approach makes sense is that, in most smaller LLCs, all members plan to be active in the business, and all want to be able to vote to decide how the LLC will be run. LLC manager-management: member-management, however, isn't the best choice for all LLCs. Under the other management option - manager-management - an LLC is managed by a single manager or a small group of managers consisting of: one or more selected LLC members; one or more non-members (usually either officers or outside investors), or a mixture of the two. The main reason to opt for manager-management instead of member-management is that you're planning to bring in outside investors who do not want to take a management role in your business. Manager-management also may make sense for an LLC if: the LLC owners decide to hire a chief exec more qualified or suitable than the current LLC members to manage the LLC. The LLC wishes to give an outsider (a non-member) a vote in management (for instance, an outsider wishes to lend money to the LLC, but only on the condition that he be given a say in management decisions). To give the non-member management authority, the LLC must select manager-management and create a management group made up of the members of the LLC and the outsider. The sole member of an LLC wants to manage the business but gifts membership interests to non-managing family members, who will step into a management role only when the current owner-manager steps down. As these bullet points indicate, the people you select as managers do not need to be owners of the LLC. You can select LLC officers and executives or anyone else you wish as a manager. Fortunately, an LLC can easily choose manager-management to handle any of these situations. You just select manager-management in your articles (required in most states) or in your operating agreement (required in the other states). In all states, just one manager is required to manage a manager-managed LLC, but there is no limit to the number of managers you can have. In most small LLCs, managers serve for an indefinite term - that is, until the members of the LLC vote to replace or remove them. Typically, LLC operating agreements allow an LLC manager to be removed or replaced for any or no particular reason upon the vote of the full membership (non-managing members as well as managing members). Another way of saying this is that state law lets LLC members decide for themselves when managers can be removed. Some larger LLCs, however, prefer to have managers serve for a definite term, such as one year, at the end of which the members re-elect or replace the managers. This procedure is usually only used in more formal LLCs with at least several outside investors (who are non-managing members). That's because, unlike corporations, where shareholders re-elect or replace the board of directors each year, most LLCs choose not to deal with the formality of a periodic review and election of managers, unless they have outside investors who demand it. In fact, most LLCs pick an initial management team and stick with it for the long term, unless there is a problem and one or more managers need to be replaced. Manager-management will not affect limited liability. In a manager-managed LLC, all members, managing as well as non-managing, get to keep their personal liability protection. Note that this is a fundamentally different approach than the liability protection that applies to limited partnerships, where at least one general partner must be personally liable for partnership debts and liabilities. If you do choose to go the manager-management route, it's important to realize that state law still leaves certain voting rights in the hands of the non-managing members. As just mentioned, LLC members have the right to remove and replace managers. Also, non-managing members have the right to approve fundamental changes to the LLC and its membership, including the power to amend the articles or operating agreement of the LLC, to merge or dissolve the LLC, to approve or deny the admission of new members and to approve or deny the transfer of an LLC membership from an existing member to an outsider. Members who don't work in or manage the LLC do not pay self-employment taxes. Under current IRS regulations, LLC members who are not active in the business should be able to avoid paying self-employment taxes on their share of allocated LLC profits. This is because the IRS does not consider non-managing members' profits to come from their own efforts, but from the work of others. If you choose manager-management for your LLC, ownership interests in your LLC may be classified as securities because some owners will be investing their money in a business that they're not actively participating in - again, they'll expect to make money from the efforts of others. Asset protection issue: a limited liability vompany ("LLC") offers the same asset protection as a corporation in Delaware and almost every other state. If you sign agreements in the name of the LLC, then the LLC is the responsible party on the agreement, not you as an individual owner. If the business is not successful, or if it incurs a large unexpected debt (which you did not personally guarantee or sign for), then your other personal assets (like home, auto, investments, etc.) are protected from the LLC creditors. In order to have the asset protection benefits of an LLC, especially a sole member LLC, the owner must observe the formalities and operate the business as an LLC. There should be adequate capitalization depending on the nature and extent of the business. The owner should have annual meetings and produce statements about the past business year and expectations for the future. The owner must be careful to enter into contracts through the LLC, and not personally. The owner should use checks and stationery to give notice to third parties that they are dealing with an LLC. These formalities are easy to observe after discussion with the lawyer and review of helpful documents which we will provide. The single member LLC should be operated as a separate business. This is not at all difficult. The owner needs a separate business checking account, and set of books. The same should be done even if operating as a sole proprietorship. The end of year tax work can be done by an accountant quickly and efficiently if you have a separate set of books for your business. The sole member LLC will not require a separate federal income tax filing. The income tax can be reported on schedule C of your personal tax return. For federal income tax purposes the single member/owner LLC is disregarded. Cautions: an LLC will not protect the owner against a claim based on the negligence or professional malpractice (if the owner is a licensed professional) of the owner. These types of claims are distinguished from contractual claims. The LLC will not protect the owner from LLC debts which the owner has personally guaranteed. Nor will it protect against claims against the owner who has fraudulently used the LLC for an inequitable purpose to the detriment of the claimant. Having given all these cautions, the courts in Washington understand that one of the primary features of an LLC or a single owner corporation is to limit liability, and this is a legitimate function of the corporation or the LLC. Running an LLC can be as routine as running a corporation or partnership or other business entity. However, setting up an LLC can be complex. If the LLC will hold real estate, there will be title transfer issues such as title insurance endorsements, liability insurance coordination and review of policies, a deed to be prepared to transfer title. If the LLC will operate a business you will have to consider such matters as coordination of business license, liability insurance, transfer of assets that will be used in the LLC, and employment identification number questions. We have helped many people with their LLCs and would be pleased to assist you in setting up your LLC.

2019-04-25T13:55:21Z

https://www.coddan.co.uk/incorporate-in-usa/general-llc-registration-benefits/

Welcome to extreme luxury, a pleasure zone beyond. This is one of the most polished hotels in the world, let alone the Maldives. Forget barefoot, it’s like landing in a Net-a-Porter advert, so pack your best resort wear. Beach Villas are palatial and private: lots of mahogany and teal, his and her wardrobes, a mini-fridge for your make-up (seriously), and a private pool. It’s just a short amble to a perfect white-sand beach with translucent sea. What a show stealer. If you can bear to leave the confines of your villa there’s an overwater, enchantingly-lit Japanese restaurant with black cod and buttery sashimi to die for, a smoothie bar on the sands and a beach club restaurant with epic calamari. Plus watersports galore, obviously, a giant lap pool and an Espa spa offering properly holistic and delicious treatments in cabanas overlooking the sea. A honeymoon dream for those who like things flash. The Maldives is formed of 20 mesmerising natural atolls which have, over the years, become home to more envy-inducing resorts than an Instagram star could shake a selfie stick at. With big hitter Soneva Fushi and its Six Senses Spa still flying the flag for the larger, more established resorts, it’s this smaller, boutique addition to the pack which promises ultimate solace and serenity in bucketloads. Muravandhoo Island is home to a 73-strong pack of villas, split across the beachfront and wooden jetty, each with private steps down to the crystal clear water’s edge. A fantastic kids’ club, hosting daily storytelling and treasure hunts, keeps little ones entertained while adults get to grips with the wealth of activities on offer, from snorkelling to unearthing the many mosaic art installations dotted across white sands. The wellbeing centre, meticulously brought to life by ESPA, provides respite from the often sweltering temperatures. Kandima brings a full-blown resort concept to the Maldives at an accessible price point. It’s a three-kilometre-long private island, with acres of space and activities on tap. One of only a handful of hotels in the Dhaalu atoll chain, there are over 40 near-private dive sites and all manner of watersports in the vast turquoise lagoon. There’s tennis, badminton, five-a-side, volleyball, gym and art classes and an excellent kids’ club complete with mini water park, as well as gravity-defying aerial yoga, a first for the Maldives. The style is more like a contemporary Ibiza hotel, with a bold, shiny colour scheme. With 11 different bars and restaurants, a beach club and pool at the southern tip and another 100m pool by the watersports HQ, you can do something different every day. At this price point it’s easy to see why it won best newcomer in the Maldives travel awards last year. The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo is a classy, contemporary alternative to the castaway-chic resorts typically found in the archipelago. Japanese developers and Italian architects have infused the resort with a clean aesthetic, piazza-i spired entrance and modern suites complete with Toto electronic toilets. There are six room categories but no short straws to be drawn as all include Westin’s Heavenly beds (quite possibly the most comfortable sleep you’ll ever have) and are located along the fringes of the island, offering spectacular sea views. Overwater villas include decks which span the full length of the open-plan suites, with a private pool, outdoor shower and steps leading straight to the sea. Overlooking a pristine turquoise lagoon in the Baa Atoll, Maldives’ only UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, the island’s tropical landscape is home to a rich mix of marine life, from reef sharks to manta rays. The resort offers three culinary experiences: Island Kitchen for breakfast through to dinner with a fusion of Chinese, Indian and Maldivian cuisine, overwater dining at The Pearl for elegantly plated, authentic Japanese fare, and Thai street food-inspired Hawker for casual, toes-in-the-sand lunches. Solo travellers needn’t worry, a photographic studio with on- hand professionals will help you capture Insta-worthy holiday snaps. The latest outpost from Sonu and Eva Shivdasani, the couple who brought us one of the best and longest-standing hotels in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi. When Soneva Fushi first opened in 1995 there were few hotels to rival it, and it swiftly became a blueprint for sustainable eco-tourism. While Soneva Fushi is still going strong, Soneva Jani is its younger, rather snazzier sibling. All rooms are in bells and whistles water villas: a kitchenette, a rooftop dining area, a private pool, a sitting room, a bed with a retractable roof – yes, you read that right – so you can sleep under the stars. You can also shower under the stars, or bathe in the sea itself. Most villas come with their own waterslide into the sea, and if they don’t you can pay to add one. Meantime the incredible Peruvian restaurant serves zing-fresh ceviche and offers an overwater cinema where you can loll with popcorn after your meal and watch a movie outside. There are watersports aplenty, ice cream, cheese and chocolate ‘rooms’, private beaches and lagoons. The new Crab Shack restaurant does just what it says. Everything is designed to nudge you into enjoying yourself; it would be absurdly hard not to succumb. Set on a long, fish-shaped island, Kanuhura feels wild and pristine enough to have those Crusoe-style moments but small enough to nip back for a forgotten book. Cycle to breakfast beneath a forest of coconut and papaya trees and explore vast empty beaches where hammocks sway between palm trees (a result, surely, of the private pools where many guests loll away their days). The 80 rooms are detached wooden cabins, including 20 built on stilts over the azure shallows, all minimalist whites and pale wood decorated with bright abstract artwork, woven cotton furnishings and big airy bathrooms with showers open to the jungle overhead. Situated in the Lhaviyani Atoll, known for its marine life, a 30-minute boat ride takes guests to swim over shoals of bright blue and yellow surgeon fish and four-metre manta rays. The Kokaa Spa’s therapists from Thailand, Bali and India offer body masks infused with crushed pearl and Himalayan crystal salt or warm mud blended with fresh seaweed, ginger and orange. At the kids’ club, 4-11-year-olds go on treasure hunts or dress up as pirates and sail to Jehunuhura, the hotel’s island where there’s also a tiny restaurant. Another island, Masleggihura, is unoccupied but used for private ‘picnics’ – lobster and steaks barbecued by a private chef. At sunset, cocktails are shaken in tipis on the beach and guests choose between Italian, Asian fusion or local Maldivian fare for dinner. There’s nothing more magical than meandering home by moonlight on two wheels, with crabs scuttling across the path into the undergrowth. Gliding over the glistening Indian Ocean down to the South Ari Atoll is a wondrous experience in itself – step off the seaplane onto the ivory shores of Constance Moofushi and your breath is well and truly taken. Verdant pathways give way to pristine beaches while winding jetties lead to stilted ‘thatch and rope’ villas – each with steps down to the transparent waters below. Dotted with airy bars, oceanside eateries and an overwater spa, this paradise isle is tiny – you can stroll its palm-fringed perimeter in less than 15 minutes. While the vibe is horizontal by day, the island vivifies at dusk with DJs spinning chilled tunes and chefs rustling up candlelit grills on the beach. Head to the Totem Bar for oceanside sundowners and hypnotic views, or to the Manta eatery for moreish Maldivian fish curries. One of the few luxury all-inclusive resorts in the Maldives, you’ll find that drinks, colourful culinary offerings, most watersports and an offshore excursion are part and parcel here. Don’t miss the Snorkelling Experience to the reef: spot turtles, reef sharks, rays and tropical fish parading every colour of the rainbow. Wind down the day at the U Spa by Constance, with a Balinese massage in one of the open air treatment suites, followed by a glass of fizz on the relaxation deck. Kick off your shoes the moment you arrive, you won’t need them again. True barefoot luxury, this is Robinson Crusoe meets Wallpaper chic, perfect for design-savvy divers wanting easy access to the famed southern atolls where whale sharks and mantas lurk. One of the smallest Maldivian resorts, Mirihi weighs in at only 40 rooms, spread between overwater bungalows – book rooms 25 through 39 for the best snorkelling access – and beach villas hidden away in the coconut palms. Refurbished in 2014, the look is pared-back Maldivian wood and thatch, tadelakt showers and towering 15ft-apex ceilings. New for this winter is a two-bed, two-storey beach house. Food is excellent, particularly the curries and sushi selection, with lavish themed buffets every night in the main restaurant. You can eat à la carte at Moraca, the restaurant on the water, and watch turtles, sharks and giant parrotfish swim beneath the underlit pontoon. Freshly raked carpets of sand run through the bar and main restaurant, with pails of water to rinse your feet room- side. It’s low-key, laid-back luxury, with no TVs in the rooms and not much to do on land apart from indulge in exquisite massages at the spa and relax into the paradise of tropical island life. Which is exactly the point. Flying in by seaplane, the first thing you notice about this hot new opening is the 200m swimming pool. It bisects the aptly named Sirru Fen Soneva Fushi or ‘secret water’ island. With only 120 villas – all of which come with private pool and butler service – spread over one of the Maldives’ largest resort islands, everything here is allowed to breathe. The design oozes understated style and bohemian rustic chic. Beach villas feel like private riads with lime-washed courtyard walls, ornate turquoise doors and large gardens, and the spacious overwater villas share the same vaulted ceilings and hand-etched cabinetry. A huge beaten copper bath takes centre stage. In a first for the Maldives they also offer lush safari-style tented jungle villas. Families are exceptionally well catered for, with a wonderfully imaginative kids’ club poolside. Teens will love the graffiti-covered shipping containers of Majaa, too. One of the most breathtaking islands in the Dhaalu Atoll. Scarlet and lemony umbrellas pop out against pristine ivory beaches, aqua infinity pools melt into the ocean and jungle-flanked pathways lead to stylish abodes. Two islands combine to create the resort – ‘Chill’ is the hub, playing host to lavish lagoon villas and a spa, while ‘Play’ boasts chic beach villas, a super-cool surf club and Nest, an Asian-fusion eatery where you can chomp on teppanyaki among the treetops. A fashionable crowd of loved-up couples and families explore the islands on personalised bikes. When the kids are settled into their Explorer’s club, grown-ups can choose to while away the days on jet skis and catamarans, hop on a dhoni to spot bottlenose dolphins or ride the waves at Vodi surf point. Niyama is the only luxury resort in the Maldives where the surf breaks directly on its own shore. For a memorable lunch, the island’s ‘boat bus’ will whisk you across to Subsix – an offshore, underwater eatery with a backdrop of swaying corals and tropical fish. Guests flock to experience the Subaquatic Lunch – the punchy menu includes lobster salad, crab ravioli and seabass (with a glass of wine thrown in) – and it’s totally worth the splurge. Dusk sees islanders converging at the rum shack for lazy sundowners before heading to one of four Michelin-worthy restaurants. If you’re in need of a preen before you head home, a trip to the Drift Spa is mandatory – with offerings including IV boosters, oxygen facials and a keratin blow dry, it’s one of the best in the Maldives. What you want, when you want, is the overriding vibe on this tiny speck of sand in the Baa Atoll – a 30-minute flight from the capital, Malé. It doesn’t matter if you crave a 1.3kg Wagyu steak for breakfast or have a thirst for champagne cocktails at 4 am, this is a private and exclusive bolthole where world-class cuisine and the finest wines collide, 24 hours a day. Such is the hedonistic commitment to unscripted living, you’re positively encouraged to put the resort’s team of talented international chefs and Maldivian housemasters (butlers) to work. There are three restaurants and two bars, but why not dream up a bespoke breakfast on an isolated sandbank, coupled with a remote beachside spa treatment? Or imagine a sunset barbecue on a nearby virgin island, followed by a dusk-lit search for dolphins. The Nautilus is so new that you might be the very first guests to stay in one of its 26 beachside and overwater houses. Calling them ‘rooms’ would be a disservice – they’re ginormous homes, flanked by lofty coconut palms and surrounded by wooden decking, boasting large pools, easy access to the house reef and views of the horizon-gobbling Indian Ocean. So slow down, adapt, and be creative – the world (or at the very least this 242 x 249m island) is very much your oyster. Why here: Since opening in 2015, Amilla Soneva Fushi has been a true disruptor of the traditional Maldives experience and an indulgent island home from home for discerning jet-setters with an eye for the avant-garde. With its clean, contemporary architecture, thoughtful service and witty attention to detail, the resort – located in the UNESCO Biosphere of Baa Atoll, just 30 minutes by seaplane from Malé International – has put the Maldives on the map as a destination not just for couples, but for families and groups of friends. Literally translating as ‘My Island Home’, Amilla Soneva Fushi effortlessly conjures a luxurious ‘homecoming’ feeling for first timers and old friends alike. . Offering a choice of 67 Miami-meets-Maldives Island Homes and Residences that hover over the crystal clear lagoon, nestle among lush treetops or hug the shores of pristine white sand, Amilla Soneva Fushi is home to more purpose-designed houses of two or more bedrooms with interconnecting rooms than any other Maldives resort, providing total peace of mind for parents. Activities: HUB by Dive Butler, water sports and other leisure activities, Amilla Soneva Fushi has its own house reef, The Blue Hole dive and snorkelling site, and all non-motorised watersports (excluding diving) are part of the Amilla experience and can be participated in at no extra charge. Amilla has also partnered with Dive Butler International to create the Home of the Underwater Biosphere (HUB), providing a wide selection of water-based activities around Baa Atoll, including pioneering ‘Rendezvous’ diving experiences and courses for novices or experienced divers alike. There is also the Jim Courier Tennis centre, located nearby the residences, featuring two floodlit tennis courts, with tennis pros from Jim Courier Tennis JCT available to coach on request. What’s my room like: Spacious one and two-bed Beach, Ocean Reef, Ocean Lagoon and Lagoon Houses; Wellness Tree Houses by Bodyism that are 12 metres up in the jungle canopy; ranging between 200 and 600 square metres and all have their own large pool. For VVIP families and parties seeking the ultimate in space and privacy, eight four- to eight-bedroom Beach Residences are also available to book – and indeed to purchase – on request (POA for seriously interested buyers). Best dish: Fringing the freeform pool at Amilla’s sociable heart, chilled-out foodie hub bazaar brings together a diverse array of carefully curated food and drinks to suit every mood and occasion – you can choose from Wok, Fresh, Grill and Joe’s Pizza, or even British seaside treat at the shore-side Fish & Chip Shop. Signature restaurant Feeling Koi is a modern Japanese hotspot with the cool 1 OAK Sunset Lounge and cocktail bar. You can also stock up for beach BBQs and picnics at the gourmet café-deli The Emperor General Store or taste fine wines and artisanal cheeses at The Wine Shop & Cellar Door – and a ‘Home Delivery’ service is available from all the island’s restaurants. Star spa treatment: Javvu Spa has worked on treatments created in partnership with high profile brands such as Bodyism, Pure Massage, ila, Gentleman’s Tonic, QMS and Louise Galvin. The exclusive partnership with Bodyism brings James Duigan’s ‘Clean and Lean’ philosophy to island guests in a typically special and unique way; Wellness Tree Houses are private one-bedroom spa ‘nests’ with their own dedicated treatment suites, high in the treetops, where guests can enjoy a uniquely personal, inclusive wellness experience delivered by Bodyism Performance Specialists; personal training, Bodyism classes and sessions; and The Island Café by Clean and Lean. TOP TIP: Any fish you catch can be taken back to the resort and cooked in the restaurant to your chosen recipe. Double room rate: US$1,250 per night, based on two adults sharing a one-bedroom Lagoon House including breakfast (excludes tax and service). Why here: The diving. The area of sea around the island is called ‘The Aquarium’ as it has an unusually high diversity of sea life, even for the Maldives. The island has a manta ray feeding and breeding ground 150m from the beach. Island vibe: The island is adults-only so the only families out there are with older children. It’s popular with HNWIs, honeymooners/couples and divers. Activities: Scuba diving, snorkelling, sunset cruises, spa treatments, yoga, tennis, football, volleyball, dinner at 5.8 (world’s largest, all-glass, undersea restaurant), lunch on a deserted island. Being green: 30 percent of the island is powered by solar energy. There is also a water bottling plant to substantially reduce the island’s plastic consumption, a food recycling programme and a collection of local greenhouses producing fresh produce for guests. The Manta Trust operates on the island and not only understands the importance of preserving the Maldives’ underwater wildlife but actively takes part in studying and rebuilding it. They lead educational dives, actively replant coral and monitor the local wildlife to preserve the stunning local habitats. What’s my room like: Furnished in tropical décor and equipped with the latest technology, the villas are situated across the lagoon or along the beach. Half the villas have an infinity pool. Contemporarily designed, the villas are the epitome of tropical chic with clean lines, earthy tones and natural materials. How about… Greek Island Hopping? Celeb spotting: So far, Frankie and Wayne Bridge have been along with a plethora of international social influencers. Star spa treatment: The Maldivian Island Paradise Ritual is the one to try for the ultimate indulgence. This 120-minute treatment pampers from top to toe, leaving skin hydrated and hair nourished, thanks to the local 100 per cent virgin coconut oil. It begins with a freshly ground Coconut-Vanilla Body Polish which sloughs off dry skin, revealing healthy skin beneath. A coconut hair mask is then applied, while the therapist performs an Indian head massage using rosemary-infused coconut oil. The oil is then left to penetrate the hair, deeply conditioning it in the process, while you lie back and enjoy either a Balinese or Muscle Ease massage with coconut oil. Best dish: Their eight course, taster menu at 5.8 is stunning. Serving dishes including yellow fin tuna, diver scallop and Asian Angus beef, it is a feast for the senses. TOP TIP: Go on the dive to see the Manta Rays. Only 50m from the beach, they gather in schools of up to 50 rays to feed, barrel rolling in front of you. It a truly breathtaking sight and is uncommon in that size and accessibility, even for the Maldives. Double room rate: Prices start from £520 for a Beach Villa (for two) on a bed and breakfast basis. Why here: Kanuhura has been re-imagined by Inge Moore and her design team at HBA in London, as a unique island retreat. Their project has included the re-design of every existing area and the introduction of some new spaces, making it a brand new resort, with an existing client base. Island vibe: In the ambition to create a truly different destination for this part of the world, the designers took as their starting point the word ‘Gypset’, a lifestyle that combines that of the gypsy fused with the sophistication and speed of the jet set. It attracts a lot of repeat guests, young couples and young families due to the abundance of activities on offer, as well as the great room configurations. Activities: Guests have exclusive access to Jehunuhura Private Island, so you can get a true Robinson Crusoe feel. You can eat lunch or dinner or have spa treatments and yoga sessions on the island, accessible only by boat or foot from the resort. There’s also diving, guided snorkelling trips, PADI certification courses, tennis, squash and a little more gentle, daily yoga and pilates. There are watersports aplenty too, with windsurfing and catamaran sailing courses available. Beginners can opt for resort or taster courses, which are four or eight hours long – at the end you’ll be certified. There’s also wake-boarding, canoes, pedalos, paddle boards and underwater scooters. Children are also well catered for, with child-sized windsurfers, kayaks and water-skis. Being green: Kanuhura’s Marine Biology Research Centre is dedicated to coral reef ecology and conservation. You’ll not only observe our incredible flora and fauna under the sea: if you choose to do so, you can help us protect them, too. What’s my room like? The bedrooms on the beach, the Palm Houses, all have uninterrupted views towards the ocean and offer a colour palette inspired by the palms. The bedrooms flow onto the garden terrace outside. These villas have private pools including private sun loungers and an outdoor dining area. Star spa treatment: The 90-minute Crystal Massage, which aims to restore vitality through the healing and stimulating properties of crystals. The full body massage uses hot and cold blue lace agate crystal balls to relieve muscle tension and invigorate the body, while omega and antioxidant-rich Marula oil soften and soothe the skin. Followed by a neck and face drainage massage using flat crystals, it will leave your skin refreshed and your mind relaxed. TOP TIP: Have lunch at the Chef’s Herb Garden – set amid a beautiful hanging vegetable garden, a large communal table becomes the focal point to enjoy lunch or dinner using the finest freshly picked herbs. Cookery classes are also available here. Double room rate: Beach Bungalow Sunrise during low season (April to 30 September 2017) start from $700 based on two sharing on a bed & breakfast basis. Why here: In a preserved environment, pristine waters and opulent vegetation offer Cheval Blanc Randheli an exceptional setting. The Maison has been conceived in synergy with the island’s natural surroundings, lush vegetation and lagoon views. Island vibe: Stunning design by Jean-Michel Gathy and exceptional service – Art de Recevoir underpins Cheval Blanc’s methodology. Lots of treats and surprises punctuate the stay to adorn everyday life and to surprise guests. With an exceptionally personalised and caring approach, service is tailored according to each guest’s wishes. Activities: Everything and anything. Cheval Blanc offers exceptional experiences, including a sunset dolphin cruise in a traditional dhoni, access to your own private yacht – The Azimut, Jungle Bootcamp on a separate island and Spa island accessed by dhoni for day-long retreats. What’s my room like? Choose from Island Villas, Water Villas or – unique in the Maldives – Garden Water Villas which combine private garden space on one side with direct water access on the other side. The Owners Villa is an exclusive four bedroom villa on its own private island, the ultimate holiday experience for families and friends. Star spa treatment: On its very own spa island, and the only Guerlain spa in the Maldives, which offers orchid based facials to half day pampering session such as Princess of a Day, which will have you looking like royalty by the end. Best dish: Fresh Maldivian fish prepared on a Mediterranean style grill and Langoustine Prosecco Risotto at Deelani or a 15 -course tasting menu at Diptyque – choose from Japanese or Spanish and watch the chefs in live action seated at the bar. Double room rate: From approx. £1,850 per night, including breakfast and all taxes and charges. Why here: Milaidhoo Island Maldives opened in November 2016 and provides a true sense of small-island living, reminding guests why everyone fell in love with the destination in the first place. The resort focuses on introducing guests to the very best the Maldives has to offer through design, cuisine, nature, service and activities. Island vibe: The ultimate resort for laid-back luxury – ideal for high-end luxury traveller whether that’s couples, honeymooners or groups of friends, who love diving and adventure. Activities: Foodies can learn how to master traditional recipes, handed down through generations and can join the local fisherman for the catch of the day. Waterbabies can discover the spectacular Maldivian sea life with Milaidhoo’s resident marine biologist, with a visit to Hanifaru Bay, a marine protected area which attracts the largest seasonal groupings of manta rays in the world, as well as being one of the best places to spot whale sharks in the Maldives. For the ultimate day out in paradise, take a trip to a remote sandbank where you can snorkel, sip champagne, enjoy a seafood bento box lunch and laze around on sunbeds crafted out of sand, adorned with cushions. Accommodation: You can choose between Water Villas or Beach Villas, all of which come complete with infinity pool, day beds, sun loungers, swings and delightful Island Host (chilled-out butler). The bathrooms are a highlight, as they come complete with enormous egg-shaped stone baths, specially designed for the resort to comfortably fit two. The bath overlooks the ocean, while the walk-in rain shower in the Water Villas has a glass floor. Being green: With Milaidhoo being situated in the UNESCO world biosphere reserve, conservation is one of their guiding philosophies. The resort is a participant of the Green Globe certification process and green initiatives the resort undertakes include: They have a state-of-the-art water and STP plant ensuring no contaminants enter the ocean and making best practicable re-use of grey water, they have a coral regeneration programme in place. Star spa treatment: Go for the ‘Milaidhoo Lavender and Lime Ceremony’ by TheraNaka. This ceremony begins with a full body exfoliation, followed by a luxurious milk bath to prepare the body for a 60-minute full-body East African Wood Massage. Best dish: Ba’theli restaurant is the first modern Maldivian restaurant in the Maldives, which has been built in the shape of three boats that stand on stilts over the lagoon. Led by Maldivian chef Ahmed Sivath, Baa’thli’s dishes are steeped in tradition, each inspired from the Maldivian Spice Route. Favourites include: Garudhiya (famous Maldivian soup featuring lightly poached skipjack tuna, perfumed with young curry and pandanus heart), Bakari Sanaamugu Hiki Riha (Maldivian five spiced lamb loin, bitter snake gourd and chickpea gravy, brinjal fritters) and Filolhu Ihi Riha (grilled white snapper fillets, with Maldivian lobster , tomato essence, coconut espuma). TOP TIP: Don’t miss the complimentary yoga and meditation sessions, on offer every day, with resident yogi, in the stunning over-water, open-air pavilion at the spa. Double room rate: From $1,625 per night in a Water Pool Villa on a half board basis, based on two sharing. Why here: Baros Maldives is the ‘original’ luxury resort in the Maldives, having opened in 1973. It is situated in the central southern part of North Malé Atoll, just 25 minutes by speedboat from the international airport, an ideal transfer especially after a long-haul flight. It is surrounded by one of the best house-reefs in the India Ocean, only 15–30 metres from the shore, alive with colours, fish, turtles, rays and coral. Island vibe: Romance all the way – Baros was voted ‘Most Romantic Resort in the World 2016’ at the World Travel Awards for the fourth time. Activities: Diving is a major highlight. Everyone can explore the spectacular house-reef, enjoy thrilling night dives and even get their PADI at their renowned Dive Centre. Those who prefer to stay dry can book a cruise on board Nooma, Baros’ traditional wooden dhoni boat, or Serenity, the resorts luxury motor yacht. For foodies, Destination Dining is a plus and you can enjoy a fine dining experience anywhere on the island. Accommodation: It’s all about the ‘outside, inside life’ feel for guests with their 45 Beachside and 30 Water luxury Villas, many complete with private pools. Designed by Maldivian architect Mohamed Shafeeq, with interiors by Anita Indra Dewi, all were built by local craftsmen using natural materials to blend with the surrounding environment, including natural stones, tropical wood, coconut thatch, sandstone and timber. Being green: Baros has been a leader in green initiatives for 40 years, making it a pioneer eco-friendly resort in the Maldives. Formerly an uninhabited wilderness of coconut palms and tropical undergrowth surrounded by an untouched, coral sand beach, the resort’s original rural ambience has been preserved by respecting its natural ecosystems. Special measures include the careful use of water, CFC-free air conditioning units, minimal use of non-bio-degradable products and conducting awareness programs with their island neighbours. Additionally, their dive centre, Divers Baros Maldives, was one of the first in the archipelago and was the first resort EcoDive Centre in the Maldives, as certified by International Reef Check. Star spa treatment: Signature treatments include the Baros Sand Poultice, designed to improve circulation, relax muscles, reduce water retention and draw out toxins – the perfect remedy for a long-haul journey. The Piano Deck Couples Massage is the ultimate romantic spa experience, taking place at sunset on a secluded deck in the shape of a grand piano, floating over the sparkling lagoon. Best dish: Baros is home to highly acclaimed restaurant The Lighthouse, one of the best fine-dining restaurants in the Maldives, serving outstanding French-inspired dishes paired with excellent wines recommended by the sommelier. Set on an over-water pavilion with a white pinnacle roof, highlight dishes include: Cognac flambéed lobster bisque, Asian spice grilled mahi-mahi fillets and pan-fried lemongrass sand lobster tails. TOP TIP: Dare-devil divers can try exclusive Fluo Night Diving – a unique and remarkable adventure made possible due to the resort’s close proximity to the sheltered waters on the house reef. Double room rate: From $675 per night in a Deluxe Villa on a B&B basis, excluding taxes. Why here: Soneva Jani is set in a lagoon surrounded by five untouched islands, with 24 overwater villas and one Island Reserve. Each of the Overwater Villas has a retractable roof in the master bedroom, that glides back at the touch of a button so that guests can sleep under the stars at night. Island vibe: Guests are encouraged to adopt the ’no news, no shoes’ ethos, a phrase that was coined at the ‘original’ barefoot luxury Soneva Fushi. The resort offers Robinson Crusoe-style escapism without avoiding luxuries. Those with an eco-conscious can visit Soneva Jani and relax in the knowledge that it has a strong commitment to sustainability. It’s perfectly suited to couples, groups as well as families. Activities: It has the first silent overwater cinema in the Maldives – Cinema Paradiso, where you can watch films with wireless headphones without disturbing the nesting wildlife nearby. It also has the first overwater observatory in the Maldives. A sophisticated telescope rises up through the floor of the observatory deck, offering views of the starry sky and its resident astronomer is on hand to teach guests all about the night sky. Finally, guests can enjoy the tranquillity of the remaining four islands that are being kept as natural as possible. These uninhabited islands are used for experiences such as the ‘Robinson Crusoe Castaway Picnic’ – a truly amazing desert island experience. Accommodation: The villas are some of the largest in the Maldives, and the overwater villas are built in renewable wood featuring lots of sweeping curves. Some offer slides from the top deck straight into the lagoon blue, and have portholes in the floor allowing guests to watch the ocean below. Being green: Soneva’s Eco Centro Waste-to-Wealth centre will ensure that waste is recycled, while the extensive vegetable garden will give local produce for the restaurants based on organic principles. The pools use seawater with UV filtration and the villas have been built over the sandy floors of the lagoon, with no damage to any part of the reef. Furthermore, solar PV will be a significant source of power generation at the resort. All waste-water will be collected and treated on-site, and water will also be produced on-site, including drinking water. Best dish: Free chocolate and free ice cream are available all day, every day at So Cool, as well as sushi and sashimi, charcuterie and cheese. For something special, eat at the Observatory where you can dine at one of four tables equipped with screens linked to the view from the telescope. Celeb spotting: Luke Evans, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Naomie Harris, Cara Delevigne, Nicole Scherzinger, Jodie Kidd and Princess Madeline of Sweden. TOP TIP: Book a water villa with a slide – these allow guests to slide from the top deck of the villa into the lagoon below! Double room rate: From 1,870 USD per night. Why here: It’s the only resort in the Southern Laamu Atoll with an incredible signature Six Senses Spa, its own resident marine biology team committed to turtle conservation and coral health and recovery, and some of the best waves in the Maldives to surf (guests can catch the best waves between April and October when wind and waves are up, with the biggest swells likely to occur in June to September, including the Yin Yang Surf Break, the most famous break in the Maldives, which conveniently breaks just a few metres from the resort). Island vibe: The vibe is most definitely barefoot luxury, aimed at those who want a luxury Indian Ocean resort experience that goes beyond just five-star service. It is also a family paradise with so many on offer to keep little ones entertained and allow parents some R&R time. Activities: Aside from the incredible spa offering for which perhaps the group is most famous, guests can venture out onto a yacht for the day, which includes fishing, snorkelling and a picnic on a deserted island, with a beach barbecue on the private sandbank serving up a delicious catch of the day. Culture vultures can venture out to nearby Hithadhoo Island and pop into the schools, community centres and a mosque to take a glimpse at the Maldivian way of life, and even visit some of the locals’ homes. Six Senses Laamu has recently taken advantage of its proximity to the best Maldives surf breaks and thriving surf culture by partnering with Australian masters of luxury surfing, Tropicsurf. From April to October the resort offers keen surfers the opportunity to tackle the mighty Yin Yang wave – one of the most famous surfing waves that breaks just offshore on the outer reef of the island of Hithadhoo, just a few minutes from Six Senses. Accommodation: Guests can choose between beach or over-water villas. Beach Villas are tucked away in the lush tropical vegetation and face the lagoon, have private access to their own stretch of beach and an outdoor rain shower. For panoramic views there’s a treetop deck. A short bike ride are the overwater villas secluded by high wooden enclosures. Offering direct access to the sea, guests can snorkel around the lagoon or relax on overwater netting hammocks. There’s also an outdoor relaxation platform with day beds and sun loungers, as well as an aquarium dining desk with a glass-bottomed dining table. Being green: Six Senses Laamu deserves special congratulations for being the only hotel in the world to make the shortlist for the 2017 Ocean Awards, the preeminent prizes for marine-conservation initiatives. It uses renewable energy to heat the water, rooms are built to stay cool, and air conditioners are low energy consuming units. They have their own recycling facility and do not use plastic for room amenities or water. Star spa treatment: Set right on the beach, the spa offers four uniquely designed couple’s treatment nests, four secluded couple’s treatment pavilions, plus one ayurvedic treatment pavilion, all within the island’s natural vegetation. All of the Six Senses Signature Massages are excellent (there are four varieties: Deep Tissue, Detox, Energiser, Holistic and Oriental), or try the Ayurveda Aromatherapy Abhyang Fusion massage – calming, detoxifying and rejuvenating, this full body treatment expertly merges Ayurveda, Aromatherapy, marma massage, reflexology, remedial techniques, lymphatic drainage and chakra balancing. Using rich aromatic blends, it is recommended for detoxification, better sleep, strengthening of muscles and joints, reducing the signs of cellulite or as a jetlag relief. Best dish: At Leaf, Six Senses Laamu’s signature restaurant, each dish is expertly paired with a wine by Head Sommelier, Karim Boulet. Try the ‘Laamu Fruity Freed Fish Cevice’ (marinated atoll reef fish with pomelo, pickled green mango, pineapple and pomegranate served with tomato sorbet). TOP TIP: Don’t miss out on the incredible array of diving options on offer – the Laamu Atoll truly is a diver’s paradise. Travellers are spoilt for choice when it comes to diving in the Maldives, however Six Senses Laamu is home to the best diving sites in the region – the Reef Dives, Kandus and Thilas being the most important of all. Double room rate: From US$827 (approx. £635) per night in a Lagoon Water Villa. This is subject to 10 percent service charge and 12 per cent GST. Why here: Just opened Kandima Maldives is the first lifestyle resort in the country – we are talking about the first ‘true’ lifestyle resort – Kandima will be accessible to everyone and reflect the NEW Maldives. The first thing to note is its size. This isn’t a ‘ten-minute to walk around the island’ job. Kandima is three km in length so plenty of room for your tropical paradisetranquillityy but with a cool twist of play, partying, action and exploring. Island vibe: The island is 3km long and designed to suit everyone, from families, friends and honeymooners. It attracts those who have always wanted to go to the Maldives, but worry about there being nothing to do. Activities: There’s a stunning large lagoon, the longest white-sand beach in the country, ten restaurants and bars, a beautiful spa, a marine biology centre, art studio, photography studio, jewellery-making classes, cooking lessons, anti-gravity yoga, meditation, new and crazy fitness classes, a library, diving with hammerhead sharks, a turtle beach, watersports such as wake-boarding, SUP, kayaks and banana boats, ‘Kaniland’ unparalleled kids club and for those that like to party, Kandima has the largest beach club in the Maldives and our sleek, sensual, mysterious nightclub and bar – The Forbidden Bar! Accommodation: The resort offers a choice of 274 stylishly designed studios, beach and aqua villas, with 11 different categories to choose from, all of which have a private terrace and endless tropical views to enjoy. Their locations at different points along island makes the accommodation suitable for honeymooners and couples seeking privacy and families as well as group of friends looking for activity. A big focus for us is on technology – making the experience as smooth and easy as possible for our guests. Each room will have a 40-inch LED TV with an entertainment system where you can stream your own movies, music and your Instagram photos that you’ve been posting throughout the day. Best dish: Anything from Sea Dragon (Kandima’s signature restaurant) and set to become the best Chinese restaurant in the country. Situated on the Kandima shore, elevated above the ocean with beautiful large outdoor decking. Kandima has 10 F&B outlets – one of the highest in the Maldives, so there’s plenty to choose from. Being green: Kandima uses smart state of the art technology to improve the guest experience but also to follow one of its values: to be responsible and reduce its carbon footprint due to reducing the islands waste and energy consumption. All water waste and glass are recycled, food composted, items responsibly packaged, energy saved through smart room controls and printed collateral radically reduced through the use of the app and interactive systems. TOP TIP: Don’t miss the sunrise Hammerhead shark diving experience, it’s worth getting up early for. Double room rate: Available from £160 half board per person per night, based on two adults sharing. Why here: A pioneer among global resorts, Landaa Giraavaru has been at the forefront of innovative hospitality since it first opened. But we’re not talking gimmicks here, but more emotional and transformative innovations, the kind that make you happy just to be there. For example, the resort’s pioneering apprenticeship scheme that has transformed the lives and kick-started the careers of nearly 500 local youngsters since it launched over a decade ago; conservation projects that include an on-site turtle rehabilitation centre that has rehabilitated and returned more than 150 ghost-net-injured sea turtles back to the ocean; the surrounding UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, home to the world’s largest known population of manta rays (identified by the resort’s comprehensive manta ray research project, the founding project for The Manta Trust); and the multi-award winning Spa & Ayurvedic Retreat, one of Asia’s most renowned centres of natural healing – a three-acre haven of wellness that offers everything from AntiGravity yoga to Panchakarma, with tailored support that even extends to an online Ayurvedic Pharmacy so guests can continue their wellbeing goals back home. Island vibe: Family and romance. Vast accommodation compounds hidden behind turquoise gates offer huge areas of privacy for couples and families alike. The resort is beautifully spaced – with many facilities located at the water’s edge down lush jungle paths – that it never feels contrived or crowded, even at full capacity. Romance, relaxation, rejuvenation and reconnection are the order of each and every day. Activities: Highlights include Manta On Call (you’re given a phone to be called, anytime, when the manta researchers see mantas nearby so you can be speed-boated out to swim with them); lagoon-based PADI dive courses for children as young as eight (only a handful of resorts in the world have been granted this special dispensation by PADI); the opportunity to plant your own coral reef and then watch it grow via pictures online; Panchakarma, a complete Ayurvedic cleanse not usually available in luxury spas; fun water sports like X-Jetblades and kite-surfing; plus lovely touches like monogrammed bicycles for every member of your group to explore the island. Being green: The resort was the winner of the ‘Doing It All’ and ‘Wildlife Conservation’ categories for large resorts in the Conde Nast Traveler (US) World Savers Awards in 2012 for very good reason. Highlights of the past 6 months alone include the opening of a completely restructured and reimagined Marine Discovery Centre to showcase a decade of marine conservation projects via big screens, touch-activated Prezi presentations, detailed wall displays, a huge aquarium, kids’ touch tank, video wall, naturally styled fish breeding tanks, fish lab and glass-fronted turtle tanks; the Flying Turtles project, which involved the historic transfer of the first live turtles ever to fly overseas from the Maldives for conservation purposes and the development of a new Dolphin ID project – using photos of dorsal fins to identify individuals seen regularly in local waters. What’s my room like? Your Beach Villa (the resort’s most popular option out of 13 room types) is a gated oasis set within its own private compound, walled for privacy and bursting with tropical foliage. Your open-air sand floor living and dining pavilion comes complete with a spiral staircase leading to a furnished sea-gazing loft room, while your private 12-metre lap pool – flanked by a cushioned day bed, deck with loungers, and garden – is the heart of your villa experience. And that’s even before you’ve stepped foot inside the huge air-con bedrooms and bathrooms with cool white and blue beach-chic tones, sofa areas and walk-through wardrobe and dressing corridors. Star spa treatment: If you have the time, book a full Ayurvedic Immersion – an authentic and all-inclusive 7, 14 or 21-day journey of discovery into the heart of Ayurveda; or opt for any one (or all) of the blissful Chakra Blessing treatments devised by ila. The spa was named ‘Best Holistic Hideaway’ by the Condé Nast Traveller Spa Guide 2016 and ‘Best Innovative Spa Concept’ in the Gala Spa Awards 2016 on account of all of its experiences so it’s not easy to go wrong with a selection. For something a little different, a session of suspended AntiGravity Yoga in the dedicated jungle yoga shala is a must, as is a circuit of the unique Yoga Energy Trail: an inspiring exploration of self and surroundings against a myriad of mind-blowing UNESCO Biosphere Reserve viewpoints. Double room rate: The Beach Bungalow with pool from USD 1,300 per night, plus taxes. Founding editor of Country & Town House, Lucy Cleland has been in the glossy magazine business for around 20 years, and divides her time between the glamour of Acton and the mud and wellies of the New Forest with her husband and two children.

2019-04-23T16:40:51Z

https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/travel/best-resorts-maldives/

Are public hospitals reforming efficiently in West Bank? The structure, function, and capacity of the health care system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) had been largely shaped by the complex political history of the country. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the reform efforts were subsidized much by the international aids to rebuild the country’s institutional capacity. No previous studies have provided a realistic evaluation of Palestinian achievements in the conduct of public healthcare, we examine the relative productive efficiency of public hospitals (their managers’ success in the usage of resources) during 2010–2015 within West Bank and Jordan. Then, we estimate the efficiency of policies within which managers operate (the program efficiency) across the two countries. We employ the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to distinguish between within-country managerial efficiencies and public policy “program” efficiencies across the two countries. The study follows two key steps, the first step evaluates managerial efficiencies and explores trends in performance within each country. Then, we examine the program efficiencies across the two countries. Public hospitals improved their year-specific overall efficiency from 75 to 80% in the West Bank and from 78 to 86% in Jordan in 2010 and 2015 respectively. Changes in efficiency are driven by scale effects in West Bank and by managerial enhancements in Jordan. Program efficiency in West Bank outperformed Jordan during 2010–2012, there was no significant difference in mean program efficiencies between the two countries during 2013–2015. This work addresses a gap in the DEA literature by empirically investigating the efficiency of public hospitals as distinct from program efficiency in a developing country, namely, Palestine. Findings stimulate hospital managers to enhance potential improvements, policymakers to allocate resources, and international donors to focus on the right adoption of new technology to get better benefits from their considerable investments in public hospitals. The structure, function, and capacity of the health care system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) had been largely shaped by the complex political history of the country . The OPT comprises West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. The never-ending conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis seemed to come to an end when the Middle East peace process was settled. Particularly, after the Madrid conference in 1991, then the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. However, ground reality suggests otherwise. Regrettably, the peace process reached a deadlock and failed to resolve the conflict. The Palestinians had limited self-determination and constructed a picture that the two-state solution is unapproachable. Since 1994, the administration of the public health care providers in West Bank and Gaza Strip was transferred from the Israeli Civil Administration to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. However, the other health providers named: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Non-Governmental Organizations NGOs, and for-profit private health organization continued as they had been before . Later, the ongoing reform efforts in rebuilding the providers’ capacity have been largely subsidized by international aids. These external funds are efforts by the international community to resolve the conflict in Palestine-Israel through economic encouragements , of which, about 8% is dedicated to the healthcare sector . Although noticeable improvements have been made in the physical capacity of public healthcare providers , no previous studies have examined the efficient use of the considerable financial and technical investments in public hospitals. Estimating their managers’ efficiency of and the influence of reform efforts on efficiency provide insights to key decision makers in the provision of public health care services in West Bank. Managers who make decisions on operational practices and policymakers who may influence the operating environment through regulations may benefit from the attended measurement. Further, International donors who subsidize the capacity building of the country’s public hospitals may organize their efforts more efficiently. The hospital productive efficiency entails the use of minimum input to produce a given level of output. In this work, we separate efficiencies of hospital managers themselves (identified as managerial efficiency in this research project) from the efficiencies of policies within which managers operate (identified as program efficiency) by following the method of Charnes et al. (1981) . Health reform policies may support better use of resources or hamper the ability of the hospitals to transform resources into outputs . Therefore, it is reasonable to consider the accumulated efforts of both hospital managers and policy-makers as reform efforts in delivering health care services across public hospitals. To measure relative productive efficiency, we compare the observed performance of a hospital with an empirical production frontier based on the best results obtained from a homogeneous group of hospitals. About reform policies, a good understanding of the relative Palestinian achievements in the conduct of public healthcare delivery could be suggestive when considering the comparability with Jordan. We employ the two basic Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, namely the CCR model developed by Charnes et al. (1981) and the BCC model developed by Banker et al. (1984) . DEA is a methodology that has been successfully used to evaluate the performance of different healthcare markets . This paper builds on the method of Charnes et al. (1981) ; we follow their two-key steps procedure, in the first step, we analyze the managerial efficiency of public hospitals within each country, West Bank and Jordan. Then, in the second step, we notionally drop the inefficiencies of the first step, and we run a DEA exercise to evaluate the efficiency of a merged set of all the hospitals from the two countries. The observed inefficiencies in the second step are attributable to differences in programs (reform policies) in each country rather than to hospital management. A recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO) describes the health care system in the OPT as functioning under pressure of rapid population growth, deteriorating economy and lack of adequate financial support . Therefore, addressing the efficiency of public hospitals in the OPT is an important consideration for managers, policymakers, and international donors . The available literature describes the status of the Palestinian healthcare system, although often highlighting the weaknesses and the political constraints, had inadvertently dropped the historical associations with Jordan. Further, doesn’t provide performance measures from a realistic point view to judge the Palestinian achievements in respect of healthcare delivery. Hamdan & Defever (2002) identified the unique characteristics of the transitional settings such as the geographical separation between West Bank and Gaza Strip; the pressure of international donors; and the deteriorating economic conditions among others. Giacaman et al. (2003) analyzed the obstacles that faced reform efforts. Batniji et al. (2009) described the health and well-being conditions in the OPT and the maternal and child health issues. Giacaman et al. (2009) described the distorted and fragmented healthcare system in the OPT. Others provided statistical evidence on the Palestinian healthcare practices and healthcare professionals [5, 13–16]. Finally, in their qualitative study, Shahawy & Diamond (2016) show the negative impact of geographical barriers and military occupation in the OPT on the training of the Palestinian medical students. To meet the information needs of public authority and international donors, we provide a realistic benchmark to judge the country’s relative performance concerning public healthcare delivery in West Bank. We pay attention to performance in West Bank and Jordan from two perspectives, the managerial practice perspective within the country and the policy perspective (programs) across the two countries. Therefore, the study goes to answer the following research question: as compared with Jordan, are the public hospitals reforming efficiently in West Bank? On 24 April 1950, the “The Emirate of Trans-Jordan” unified with West Bank into one state of “The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan” that comprised the East and the West Banks of the River Jordan. During 1950–1988 the public health care system in West Bank evolved as part of the public healthcare system in Jordan. Although administered by the Israeli Civil administration during 1967–1994, the institutional affiliation of healthcare providers in West Bank was to the Jordanian Ministry of Health during the latter period. On 31 July 1988, King Hussain of Jordan broke off all the administrative and legal ties with the Israeli-Occupied West Bank . The disengagement decision represents a turning point in a long story of Jordan’s relations with the Palestinians , and initiated new perspectives in the strategy and actors of the peace process in the Middle East . The post-disengagement settings allowed for an effective role of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to act internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians and challenged PLO to shoulder the Palestinian responsibilities . Even though, the historical associations between Jordan and the Palestinians brand Jordan’s stake in the Palestinians’ life as unavoidable . Roughly, to date, around one-half of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian ancestry [21, 23]. Examples of interrelations are numerous: the Jordanian curriculums, legislation, and the healthcare regulations continued to be applied in West Bank in the early nineties. Further, as well as many other sectors, the Jordanian healthcare institutions were the only recognized boards in the Palestinian healthcare markets. To date, the Palestinian Medical Association in Ramallah is part of the Jordanian Medical Association in Amman. The − 250 beds- hospital “Al Makkassed” in East Jerusalem is still recognized as a teaching hospital by the Jordanian Medical Board . Another public − 275 beds- hospital in Hebron which is officially called “Hebron Governmental Hospital” is still recognized among the public as “Alia” after the name of the daughter of King Hussain “Princess Alia.” The same observation goes to “Al Hussain Hospital” in Bethlehem. Finally, bearing in mind that medical professionals are key decision-makers in healthcare delivery and their institutional background has impacts on their decisions, the proportion of accredited Palestinian specialists by the Jordanian Medical Council is not insignificant. The question of measuring productive efficiency and its importance for the economic policymakers was best stated sixty years ago in the seminal work of Farrell (1957) . Farrell succeeded to solve the problem of measuring productive efficiency by combining the measurement of multiple inputs into a single satisfactory measure of efficiency. Farrell’s method to estimate productive efficiency compares the observed performance of an organization or industry with an empirical production frontier based on the best results obtained in practice. Charnes et al. (1978) operationalized Farrell’s approach and introduced the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology to measure the efficiency of a homogeneous group of Decision-Making Units (DMUs). DMU is any productive organization “from a small shop to a hospital to a whole economy.” DEA is a nonparametric linear programming-based method for performance evaluation where multiple performance dimensions exist . The method develops best performers frontier and assigns efficiency score for non-frontier hospitals according to their distance to the efficient frontier. In DEA literature, the measurement of efficiency for performance improvement could be tackled from two perspectives; the input contraction (input-oriented DEA models) and the output expansion (out-put oriented DEA models). The basic DEA model, known as the DEA-CCR model in the literature, assumes Constant Returns to Scale (CRS) in hospital operations. In practice, not all DMUs operate at an optimal scale. Førsund & Hjalmarsson (1974) introduced the decomposition of Farrell’s original measure of productive efficiency into separate scale efficiency and technical efficiency. Then, using the piece-wise linear frontier, the decomposition was considered by Banker et al. (1984) in the DEA-BCC model which accounts for Variable Returns to Scale (VRS). DEA is the preferred method when evaluating health care providers as it has many advantages: (1) DEA is a non-parametric method and doesn’t require a prescribed functional form. (2) Can handle multiple variables and produce a single measure of efficiency. (3) Each hospital is compared with every other hospital in the sample to estimate the best performers frontier. (4) It avoids the need for prices or prior assumptions of weights [29, 30]. Due to the multiple-product nature of hospitals and the multiple-value of various stakeholders, hospitals received the most research attention in DEA empirical works [31–33]. One of the first applications of DEA was to assess the efficiency of policies within which managers work as separate from the efficiencies of the managers themselves . Based on literature review, Hollingsworth (2008) found that researchers applied DEA to compare the efficiency of hospitals across countries to gain insights into the efficiency of different means of healthcare delivery. It has often been used to evaluate the outcomes of care providers and health reforms [34, 35]. A recent theme in DEA literature evaluates the health care systems across countries [36, 37]. The relevant data in West Bank and Jordan was extracted from the annual health reports published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (PMoH) and the Jordanian Ministry of Health (JMoH) respectively. The two ministries of interest publish the annual statistical reports on a yearly basis, and both reports are structured alike. The published raw data reflects the real quantities of the operational data among the working hospitals. We analyzed two nationally representative sets of public hospitals during 2010–2015. Out of 13 public hospitals in West Bank, the analysis included 11 hospitals (66 observations), they utilize 1377 beds which make up 97.4% of the total public hospital beds in West Bank. We excluded a newly established hospital and another psychiatric hospital. Further, the public hospitals in the Gaza Strip are excluded. The relevant data of hospitals working in Gaza Strip is unreliable due to the Palestinian internal conflict since 2006 which escalated with the split of the Palestinian Authority into one government in Gaza and another in West Bank. Therefore, the scope of this papers is to examine efficiency in West Bank . As for Jordan, out of 30 public hospitals, we analyzed 22 hospitals during 2010–2015 (132 observations), three psychiatric hospitals, two obstetric hospitals, and one pediatric hospital were excluded. The excluded hospitals don’t comply with the common input-output measures applied in this study. Then, to avoid bias in our judgment on performance in West Bank, we excluded the largest two hospitals in Jordan as they are three times larger than any hospital in West Bank [24, 38]. Table 1 illustrates the sample characteristics during 2015. Despite the advantages (mentioned before) of using DEA to evaluate healthcare providers, the pitfalls in DEA methodology should be managed carefully : (1) The state of homogeneity among hospitals, all the investigated hospitals are general hospitals owned and administered by the government, they provide primary and secondary care. However, in Jordan and West Bank, tertiary healthcare is provided by non-public hospitals. (2) The number of inputs and outputs when compared with the number of hospitals. Golany & Roll (1989) suggested a rule of thumb that the number of DMUs is, at least, twice the number of inputs and outputs . To achieve this requirement, we followed Boussofiane et al. (1991) and treated each hospital in each year as an observation and then scored all the observations simultaneously . (3) The clear purpose of measurement applied in this research project, to disentangle the program efficiency from the management efficiency by empirical records obtained from public hospitals. (4) The importance of orientation. The public hospitals have the mission of serving the public demand as given and must manage their limited resources accordingly. Hence, when seeking efficiency assessments, it is recommended to employ the input-oriented DEA models with the aim of input minimizing given a certain level of outputs . We applied the DEA-CCR and the DEA-BCC models to score the overall efficiency, managerial efficiency, and scale efficiency [8, 26]. There is no standard set of input-output measures in the DEA literature to analyze the efficiency of hospitals . The fundamental principle, to identify variables, is to have a clear understanding of the “process” being evaluated among hospitals . We used input-output measures that represent the efficiency of access to health care services across hospitals from a productive perspective (technical efficiency) rather than from an economic perspective (economic efficiency). The applied input-output mix in this research project had been used by many researchers in DEA literature [45, 46]. It is worth noting that this mix is a top priority for both managers and policy makers to improve access to health care services in an unstable context, namely, Palestine. We used output measures that represent the level of social orientation in public health, measures gauge the benefits achieved in respect of three functional areas; admissions (inpatient days), outpatient visits, and emergency services. We used inputs that characterize the employed labor and capital to produce hospital services. The three main output measures are: (1) inpatient services as measured by the total number of annual care days rather than a number of cases to account for case-mix adjustment ; (2) outpatient services as measured by the total number of annual visits ; and (3) the emergency services as measured by the total annual number of cases served without admission . On the input side, labor input measures represent three groups of personnel, the full-time employed doctors, the full-time healthcare personnel (e.g., nurses and technicians in para-medical departments), and the full-time administrative personnel [43, 48]. The number of hospital beds represents the capital input measure . Table 2 presents the distribution of input-output variables used during the study period from 2010 through 2015. This step of analysis applies the basic DEA models; the CCR model and BCC model , the CCR model estimates the overall efficiency and the BCC model estimates the managerial efficiency. Then, in the next step, we apply a procedure developed by Charnes et al. (1981) to estimate program efficiency. The type of information drawn from these models achieves our research objective. When longitudinal data is available for hospitals, different ways of analyses can provide alternative views on hospital performance. Window Analysis and DEA-Malmquist Index are known in the DEA literature to approach the efficiency changes over time [50, 51]. These methods elaborate further on the performance changes of the individual hospital. However, we are looking for a realistic indicator to evaluate the relative success of the evolving public hospital services in West Bank in respect of Jordan, rather than to produce individual tables for each hospital. We conducted a 6-year evaluation of two sets of hospitals from 2010 to 2015. The first set comprises 66 observations in West Bank. The second set comprises 132 observations in Jordan. We applied a procedure that captures the year-specific variability in performance of hospitals [41, 52]. For each country, we treated every hospital as a different DMU every year; the yielded DEA estimates are the observed relative efficiencies compared with best performers over the six years of study within the country. The applied procedure avoids the misleading results of efficiency change between consecutive years when DEA assessment is carried out separately for each year. Since performance measurement is relative, the increase in efficiency of one hospital between consecutive years could be attributed to an actual improvement or attributed to a regress in the efficiency (frontier shift) of the whole set of hospitals. Moreover, the simultaneous assessment of 66 Palestinian observations and 132 Jordanian observations improves the discrimination power of the DEA estimator . The mathematical linear programming formulation of the CCR and BCC models is presented in Appendix A. Overall efficiency (OE) as measured by the distance to the DEA-CCR frontier. Pure technical efficiency (identified as managerial efficiency (ME) in this work) as measured by the distance to the DEA-BCC frontier. Scale efficiency (SE) which reflects the proportion of inefficiency caused by the given scale of operations. It is measured by the ratio DEA-CCR score/DEA-BCC score. We follow the work of Charnes et al. (1981) to evaluate the program efficiency of public healthcare delivery in West Bank compared to Jordan. An attempt would be valid if the managerial inefficiency within the country is notionally eliminated and all the hospitals are treated as being managerially efficient. This adjustment could be made by moving inefficient hospitals to their frontier within each set of hospitals. As we applied input-oriented DEA-BCC, reducing all the inputs by the estimated inefficiency score will position all the hospitals on the efficient frontier of their country. After these adjustments have been made up, the new DEA-BCC assessment is carried out comprising a merged sample of all hospitals from West Bank and Jordan (66 + 132 = 198 observations). Hence, any new inefficiencies observed will be attributable to the country’s public policy and reform efforts rather than to local hospital management. As we are employing input-oriented DEA models, in this sense, the resulting efficiency score of a given hospital has the following operational information: it is the maximum proportion of input levels the hospital, if efficient, should spend to secure at least its current output level. For example, efficiency score of 0.85 for a hospital means that this hospital should have used only 85% of what it had expended or could save 15% of its resources while producing the same observed output levels. Inefficient hospital benchmarks a composite hospital of its reference set to improve performance. Because we are addressing market level rather than hospital level, the technique used to design a reference set at hospital level is out of the scope of this work [41, 54, 55]. The following subsections are organized according to our research objective and convey three main results: (1) Overall and managerial efficiency scores of 66 Palestinian observations; (2) Overall and managerial efficiency scores of 66 Jordanian observations; and (3) the reforming efficiency scores across the two countries. Figure 1 illustrates the Palestinian results presented in Table 3, the year-specific mean efficiency scores of 11 public hospitals. Overall Efficiency scores (OE) represent the relative performance as measured by the radial distance to the best performers among the 66 Palestinian observations. The DEA-CCR scores revealed ten efficient observations (15%) in the overall sense. In this regard, these hospitals are managerially efficient and operating under optimal scale. Managerial Efficiency (ME) shows 20 observations efficient (30%) as given by the DEA-BCC scores, the difference observed in some efficient hospitals is the scale inefficient observations, these are ten hospitals. The overall efficiency as given by the year specific mean CCR scores improved during the study period from 75% in 2010 to 80% in 2015. Even though, hospitals in 2015 could produce the observed level of outputs using 20% fewer inputs than they did. It is worth noting the peak “overall efficiency” is 81% in 2012. The large investment of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in installing the Medical Information System in public hospitals during 2011; this may explain progress achieved in efficiency in 2012. The year-specific managerial efficiency (ME) as given by the mean BCC scores shows a slightly positive change from 85% in 2010 to 88% in 2015. It is useful to witness the parallel shape of scale efficiency (SE) with the overall efficiency (OE). This finding suggests that, during the study period, changes in OE are driven by changes in SE rather than by changes in ME. The mean managerial efficiency (as given by the mean BCC scores) is 88% in 2015 and suggests 12% room for performance improvement, the 12% inefficiency is mainly attributed to poor managerial practices. On the other hand, the 9% scale inefficiency is attributed to poor allocation of resources or technologies . The year-specific individual scores are presented in Table 4 within Appendix B. Figure 2 illustrates the results of examining the year-specific mean efficiency scores of 22 Jordanian public hospitals Jordanian hospitals (see Table 3). Efficiency scores represent the relative performance as measured by the radial distance to the best performers among the 132 Jordanian observations. In the overall sense, the DEA-CCR scores revealed 24 efficient observations (18%). In the managerial sense, the DEA-BCC efficiency scores show 44 observations efficient (33%). The observed difference is the 20 scale inefficient observations. During the study period, the overall efficiency improved from 78% in 2010 to 86% in 2015. Even though, hospitals in 2015 could produce the observed level of outputs using 14% fewer inputs than they did. Managerial efficiency shows 6% possible improvement in 2015 as given by the mean BCC scores; this is mainly attributed to poor managerial practices . On the other hand, the 8% scale inefficiency in 2015 is attributed to poor allocation of resources and technologies among the Jordanian hospitals. The remarkable result is the consistent progress and a promising trend in managerial efficiency since 2013, from 87% in 2013 to 90% in 2014 then to 94% in 2015 as given by the DEA-BCC scores. Further, the mean year specific of managerial efficiency has a parallel shape with the overall efficiency, which reveals that progress in overall efficiency is driven by gains in managerial efficiency rather than by changes in scale efficiency. Table 5 within Appendix B exhibits the year-specific individual scores of Jordanian public hospitals. So far, changes in mean overall efficiency scores of public hospitals were shaped differently in West Bank and Jordan during the study period. In West Bank, efficiency progress was driven by improvements in scale efficiency levels. In Jordan, efficiency progress was driven by improvements managerial performance. For comparing the health care reform efforts in West Bank and Jordan, we notionally eliminate the estimated managerial inefficiency of the first step of this study. The basic idea is to drop the inefficiencies attributed to poor managerial practices before carrying out the new assessment. Since all the hospitals have become on the efficient frontier within the country, the new assessment captures new inefficiencies that are attributable to the country’s programs and not management . Figure 3 illustrates program efficiency scores in West Bank and Jordan as given by the DEA-BCC model, Table 6 and Table 7 within Appendix B show the relevant results. Public hospitals’ performance shows differences (0–4%) in mean program efficiency between the hospitals in the West Bank and hospitals Jordan in favor of West Bank. A single sample T-test was conducted to determine if a statistically significant difference exists between mean program efficiency of Jordanian hospitals and mean program efficiency of Palestinian hospitals. During the first three-years (2010–2012), Jordanian program efficiency reported different mean scores compared to Palestinian program efficiency (p < 0.025). For example, in 2010, the difference reported - 4% (M = 0.94, SD = 0.05) in favor of Palestinian programs compared to Jordanian programs t (21) = − 2.78, p = 0.001. However, during the second three-years of the study period (2013–2015), the Jordanian program efficiency reported similar mean scores (p > 0.025). For example, in 2015, the difference reported – 1.6% (M = 0.96, SD = 0.05) in favor of Palestinian programs compared to Jordanian programs t (21) = − 1.603, p = 0.124. To sum up, this study addresses the relative position of Palestinian healthcare programs in West Bank after thirty years of disengagement with Jordan. In this regard, the accumulated outcomes of the two countries’ programs for public hospital services are compared. Unexpectedly, findings show that the implications of Palestinian programs on efficient hospital performance have the edge over the Jordanian programs during 2010–2012. Saying it another way, in West Bank, the inefficient performance is less attributed to public programs than in Jordan during in the first three years of the study period. However, the Jordanian programs show consistent progress during the years 2011–2014. Therefore, the two countries’ programs have no significant difference in program efficiency means during 2013–2015. Although all the investigated hospitals are public and don’t compete, it is felt that the market characteristics of each country may impact efficiency. Palestinian Authority applies health insurance schemes that cover most of the population. Therefore, Palestinian public hospitals are asked to meet the created high demand . The average bed occupancy rate was 88% during 2015 in the West Bank while it was 65% in Jordan during the same period that explains higher levels of capacity utilization in West Bank. Previous evidence supports the impact of bed occupancy rate on efficiency [49, 56]. Another reason the estimated efficiency values in West Bank and Jordan may be the external international fund and the considerable amount of financial and technological investments supported by the international donor in Palestinian hospitals . This, in turn, makes a hospital bed more equipped with medical and paramedical devices and becomes more productive. However, in our analysis, we did not include this nontraditional input, further research could be useful to investigate the level of adoption of new technologies in West Bank. Finally, the working market-structure may influence the efficiency of a hospital. In West Bank, the percentage of public hospital beds of all the beds is 61%. In Jordan, this is 38.7% of all the beds. This could influence people seeking hospital treatment, thus determine the demand and the observed output levels. Further research on the topic to determine the factors that drive the outperformance of Palestinian hospitals to outperform the Jordanian hospitals is useful. Using data from 2010 through 2015, we employed the two basic DEA models and analyzed the productive efficiency of public hospital markets within West Bank and Jordan. We analyzed public hospitalization services within the distinct country conditions of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, particularly after thirty years of Jordan’s decision to end the long institutional, legal, and administrative ties that prolonged from 1950 to 1988 with West Bank. After a transition period, the affiliation of the public hospitals in West Bank was transferred to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in 1994. This work makes a major contribution by extending the descriptive literature of historical associations between the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan with a comparative measure of the implications of public reforms on hospital performance. This study took the Palestinian health literature further by highlighting Jordan’s ongoing stake in the Palestinian healthcare sector. Results surface the significance of operational trade-offs to enhance the productive efficiency of public hospitals by employing realistic operational indicators. Findings provide evidence of the prescribed uneven emphasis of the Palestinian public authorities on the physical capacity and the considerable amount of financial and technological investments . In West Bank, managers of the identified hospitals with poor management as given by the DEA-BCC model should investigate further their managerial practices applied in their hospitals. The Palestinian policymakers can draw from the identified scale inefficiencies an appropriate resource reallocation plan. Since the overall mean efficiency score is inadequate (78%) and scale efficiency drives the year-specific progress during the study period, the operating conditions explore the question of appropriate adoption with technological investments and the adequate managerial efforts to capture the acquired benefits of technology . In Jordan, the average overall efficiency score recorded 80% with a promising trend in 2015. However, the changes over time were driven by managerial improvements and not scale efficiency progress. Despite the similarity in changes in hospital performance, changes were driven differently in West Bank and Jordan. Year-specific improvements were attributed to management in Jordan and attributed to new technologies in West Bank. Health reforms contributed differently to the achieved levels of efficiency across the two countries. The inefficient performance was less attributed to policies in West Bank than the corresponding effect in Jordan. The Palestinian policy implications on hospital performance have the significant edge over Jordan policies during 2010–2012. In Jordan, the continuous improvements in policies during 2011–2014 positioned the two countries at the same level in 2014 but turned again less supportive in 2015. Because Egypt administered Gaza Strip during the same period West Bank unified with Jordan, and because of the lack of reliable data of hospitals in Gaza, we don’t investigate the performance of public hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Further, our findings don’t adjust for quality differences within or across the two countries. The scope of our analysis considers only quantities of services provided and resource distribution. Unfortunately, data associated with qualitative information, as in many other developing countries, is not available. WS was overall in charge of designing the article, data extraction, analysis, drafting the initial versions, and finalizing the article. JC provided a critical review, enhanced improvements, and added input comments on the article throughout its phases. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. The research got ethical approval from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. DMUo represents one of the n DMUs under evaluation, and xio and yro are the ith input and rth output for DMUo, respectively. PMoH. Health annual report 2015 [Internet]. 2015 [cited 2017 May 8]. Available from: https://www.site.moh.ps/index/Books/BookType/2/Language/ar.

2019-04-24T15:46:39Z

https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-018-0180-y

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Halifax Port Authority is pleased to present "The Emigrant" Canadian Transportation & Logistics: Mega projects a huge opportunity for Atlantic Canada. Is the supply chain infrastructure ready? • Five visits from the Queen Mary 2 during the 2014 season. Her first call will be on June 11, 2014. 2014 year marks the 10th Anniversary of the Queen Mary 2. • 10 inaugural calls in 2014, the first of which being the Celebrity Infinity to start the season. • The inaugural call of the Royal Princess on September 25, 2014. This is the cruise vessel that was christened by the Duchess of Cambridge on June 13, 2013. The cruise industry in Halifax is responsible for an estimated $50-million in economic benefits for the local economy. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Meeting of the Halifax Port Authority will be held in Heritage Hall at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, 1055 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. This meeting is open to the public. DATED at Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 4, 2014. SOYEZ AVISÉS PAR CET AVIS que l’Assemblée générale annuelle de l’Administration portuaire de Halifax se tiendra à la Salle du patrimoine au Musée canadien de l’immigration du Quai 21, chemin Marginal, Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, le mercredi 7 mai à 9 h. Cette assemblée est ouverte au public. Des copies des états fi nanciers vérifi és peuvent être consultées par le public au bureau enregistré de l’Administration portuaire de Halifax, à l’édifi ce de l’Administration portuaire, 1215, chemin Marginal, Halifax, durant les heures régulières de bureau (de 8 h 30 à 17 h). DATÉ à Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, le 4 avril 2013. March 26, 2014 – Halifax, NS – The Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market will remain closed today. Halifax is under a blizzard warning. The heaviest snow fall and storm conditions are expected to happen throughout the day. We encourage all of our Market friends to stay safe as this storm moves through the region. Our regular winter hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 19, 2014 – Halifax, NS – The Halifax Port Authority would like to congratulate the Council of International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Locals and the Halifax Employers Association for the successful negotiation of a tentative new labour contract. Union groups which make up the ILA in Halifax include the Halifax Longshoremen’s Association Local 269, The Halifax Freight and Steamship Checkers’ Union Local 1341, and The Halifax Gear Repair and Maintenance Men Local 1825. March 7, 2014 – Halifax, Nova Scotia – The Halifax Port Authority (HPA) would like to advise that construction for a shore power system for cruise vessels is now underway. HPA remains committed to allowing cruise vessels connect to shore power during the 2014 cruise season. Typically, vessels are in port for approximately nine hours, and during that time if connected to shore power, there would be no carbon dioxide (CO2), mono nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) or particulate matter (PM) emissions from the vessel’s auxiliary generators. For tourism, shore power will help support the cruise industry which is worth an estimated $50-million in direct spin-off expenditures to the local economy each year. This year, the Port of Halifax will welcome a record 137 cruise vessel calls carrying approximately 230-thousand passengers as well as crew. The shore power project at the Port of Halifax was first announced in January of 2013. The tariff was developed in partnership with Nova Scotia Power. Transport Canada will contribute up to $5 million to the project. The Province of Nova Scotia and the Port of Halifax will each contribute an additional $2.5 million. Funding for the Shore Power Technology for Ports Program is provided under the Clean Transportation Initiatives in Budget 2011 as part of the renewal of the Government of Canada's Clean Air Agenda. March 3, 2014, Halifax, Nova Scotia - Halifax Port Authority (HPA) and CN Rail continue to work together to promote international trade and build business development opportunities. HPA and CN Rail have hired Crest Container Lines to work in India to promote the Port of Halifax and CN’s rail network as a gateway into North America. The agreement took effect March 1, 2014. Crest Container Lines is based in Mumbai, with nine branch offices throughout India. Fouze Farrhan, President & CEO of Crest Container Lines, has over two decades of proven shipping and freight experience in the Indian Subcontinent and North American market. Crest Container Lines is a member of FFAI, FIATA and is NVOCC licenced by Federal Maritime Commission. “There are many opportunities in this fast growing marketplace, and we are fortunate to have two very strong partners in CN and Crest to help promote our business development efforts in India,” said George Malec, Vice President of Business Development and Operations for the Halifax Port Authority. “Fouze’s experience combined with the expanding Crest network will be an excellent partnership to grow the flow of cargo between the Indian Subcontinent and North America. “CN is pleased to continue to work closely with the Port of Halifax to pursue cargo growth opportunities in the Indian Subcontinent," said Keith Reardon, CN Vice President, Intermodal Services. "Through this partnership we hope to improve the effectiveness of our customers' supply chains and in turn draw more business through the Port of Halifax and CN's North American rail network." March 3, 2014, Halifax, Nova Scotia – Halifax Port Authority (HPA) has strengthened its presence in Europe with the appointment of Graham Fraser as Director, Business Development and Growth – Europe. Graham Fraser has 30 years’ experience in shipping and has held senior commercial, operational and planning management positions at CMA CGM, CSAV, Kent Line Limited & Kent Line International, Contship Container Lines and Canada Maritime. He formed Focus Maritime (North West) Limited based in Liverpool in 2012 and has since developed a portfolio of clients in the transport, banking and manufacturing sectors. February 19, 2014, Halifax, NS – The agri-food export industry contributes significantly to the economic output of Atlantic Canada. To help build international and interprovincial trade in this category, the Halifax Port Authority will attend the International Potato Technology Expo in Charlottetown, PEI, on February 21 and 22, 2014. An estimated 5,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of potato product are exported through the Port of Halifax each year. Other agri-products moved through the Port include soybeans and wheat, both bulk and containerized. January 16, 2014, Halifax, NS - There has been a very positive development regarding marine fuelling at the Port of Halifax. Sterling Fuels is expanding its marine fuelling operations into the Port of Halifax starting January 24, 2014. November 27, 2013 - Halifax, NS - Congratulations to the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market for being recognized as "Most Authentic Downtown Business" by the Downtown Halifax Business Commission Big Day Downtown 2013 Awards. And thank you to the Downtown Halifax Business Commission for this special recognition. November 22, 2013 – Halifax, NS – Over a quarter of a million people visited the Port of Halifax during the cruise season. This year, the Port of Halifax welcomed 134 vessel calls with 252,121 passengers onboard from May 6 to October 31, 2013. The biggest passenger day was October 8, 2013 with approximately 8,700 passengers. The Port of Halifax also recognized its longstanding relationship with Holland America Line by planting tulips in honour of Holland America Line’s 140th Anniversary and 20 years of calls at the Port. October 18, 2013 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority is pleased to see the Federal Government sign the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement today with the European Union. This important trade deal will create new opportunities for the Port of Halifax due to its location as the closest deep water North American port to northern Europe and the Mediterranean with strong links to the central Canadian market through rail and highway connections. There are several direct shipping routes connecting the Port of Halifax to countries in northern Europe and the Mediterranean. “This milestone trade agreement with the European Union will lead to an increase in cargo activity through the Port of Halifax,” said Karen Oldfield, President and CEO, Halifax Port Authority. “An increase in trade with Europe will have long-term economic benefits for the Port of Halifax as a result of increased trade volumes.” Recent investments and ongoing capital projects position the Port of Halifax to be highly competitive with new infrastructure and seamless intermodal connections. “As one of Canada’s leading ports with Europe, the Port of Halifax stands ready to facilitate the increase in trade between Europe and Canada that this landmark agreementwill bring,” said Oldfield. CETA is widely regarded as Canada’s most important trade agreement since the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed with the U.S. and Mexico in 1994. October 17, 2013, Shenzhen, The People’s Republic of China – On October 14, 2013, the Honorable Mr. Huang Min, Director General of the Transport Commission of the Shenzhen Municipality and Mr. Geoffrey Machum, Q.C., Chair of the Halifax Port Authority signed a sister port relationship agreement between the Shenzhen Port Authority and the Halifax Port Authority. The Honorable Ms. Shi Wei, Deputy Director General of the Transport Commission of the Shenzhen Municipality hosted the ceremony and Mr. Weldon Epp, Consul General for the Canadian Consulate in Guangzhou participated as a witness for Canada. The Shenzhen port and its four larger terminal operators – Yantian, Chiwan, Shekou and Dachan Bay – has been the world’s fourth largest container port for 10 consecutive years and China’s second largest container port for 16 consecutive years. The Shenzhen port is the main container hub for the Province of Guangdong and the Pearl River economic zone. The purpose of the twinning agreement is to develop two-way trade to grow the shipping business for both ports as well as deepen the understanding and build relations between the two regions. With this agreement the Halifax Port Authority is joining a family of sister agreements the Shenzhen Port Authority has with the Port of Antwerp, the Port of Zeebrugge, the Hamburg Port Authority and the Port of Virginia to name a few. While work towards the agreement was started months ago, this cooperation agreement will support the supply chain logistics and the advice His Excellency Zhang Junsai, China’s Ambassador to Canada, provided during Port Days 2013. While addressing attendees during the Chairman’s Breakfast, His Excellency discussed the growing demand in China for commodities and resources from Atlantic Canada. October 3, 2013 - Halifax, NS – The Halifax Port Authority is proud to partner with Ambassatours to support the activities of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) - Atlantic Region during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For a second year, the Halifax Port Authority has decided to “Get Pink’d!” during the month of October. Visitors can tour Halifax in style aboard bright pink Ambassatours tour buses thanks to BIG Pink Sightseeing. The popular double-decker tours raise funds throughout the cruise-ship season, by donating $1 from each ticket sold on select buses to CBCF- Atlantic Region. During the month of October, the Halifax Port Authority has committed to matching this amount, up to $3,000. Members of CBCF – Atlantic Region and Ambassatours will be on site at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market today to promote breast health and educate visitors. Additionally, employees of the Halifax Port Authority are being encouraged to Go Pink in their work place, with a casual day fundraising program. September 27, 2013 – Halifax, NS –The Halifax Port Authority hosted a ceremony today to celebrate the longstanding relationship with Holland America Line. In honour of the 140th Anniversary of Holland America Line and 20 years of Holland America Line cruise ship calls at the Port of Halifax, the Halifax Port Authority planted 20 Holland America Line signature tulips in front of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. Eurodam Captain Emiel de Vries took part in the event along with Marie Chapman, CEO of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Krista Dempsey, Vice President of Real Estate for the Halifax Port Authority and special guests Carolyn and Peter Matthews, who arrived in Canada at Pier 21 on a Holland America Line vessel in 1971. The Halifax Seaport is a vibrant arts and cultural district found at the south end of the Halifax waterfront. Extending from Piers 19 to 23, this district has been redeveloped and is now a popular destination for locals and visitors alike. September 25, 2013 – Halifax, NS – The Halifax Port Authority is inviting the public to experience the sights and sounds of a working port. People are invited to hop on a free double-decker bus tour to see cargo and cruise operations in action. There is no need to book in advance. Bus tours are first come, first served. The approximate duration of each tour is 1.5 hours. Tours will depart from the parking lot across from The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 on the opposite side of Marginal Road. Times: 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. September 19, 2013 – Halifax, NS – The Halifax Port Authority is pleased to introduce “The Emigrant,” the latest public art installation at the Halifax Seaport district. The beautiful bronze and marble monument depicts an emigrant leaving his home country to start a new life in Canada. The piece was designed, sculpted and generously donated by artist Armando Barbon, who was on hand for the official unveiling. “With this sculpture, I wanted to say ‘Thank you’ to the country that has been my home for the past 48 years,” said Barbon. “Every day, I feel blessed to be here, and I hope with this sculpture I am able to express the sense of hope and opportunity many new Canadians feel.” The monument is a tribute to the millions who left their home countries, and the significant contributions they have made on the history and culture of our country. September 18, 2013 – N.S. – A new public art installation will be unveiled at the Halifax Seaport during Halifax Port Days 2013 (#hfxportdays). The monument is a tribute to the millions who left their home countries to come build new lives here in Canada. An official unveiling ceremony will take place at 1215 Marginal Road. The artist, Armando Barbon, along with his family will be in attendance along with members of the immigration and multicultural community, and several local dignitaries. September 17, 2013 – N.S. – Asian trade through Halifax will be the central focus of Port Days 2013. The Port of Halifax has been increasing trade with Asia in recent years. Asian trade now accounts for 48% of containerized cargo moved through the Port of Halifax. Port Days 2013 is an excellent opportunity for the business community to learn about growth opportunities in Asia. Featured speakers this year include His Excellency Zhang Junsai, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Canada and Claude Mongeau, President and CEO of CN. Media is invited to attend sessions taking place Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. Port Days 2013 is a conference for transport-related professionals. Each year, the annual event attracts hundreds of representatives from all facets of the shipping and transportation industry. Port Days 2013 is an opportunity for business owners and leaders to learn more about growth opportunities through the Port of Halifax. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/portofhalifax.ca and search hashtag #hfxportdays. Business Session One will be livestreamed and can be viewed here. September 12, 2013 - Halifax, N.S. - The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market is launching a ‘Lunch & Learn’ series this fall. Everyone is welcome. The ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions will take place at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market every Friday from noon to 1:00 p.m. starting September 13, 2013 and running until December 6, 2013. The cost per session is $2 and does not include food – bring your own or pick up something tasty at the Market. The first session will focus on school lunch solutions and will be hosted by Wendy McCallum, a registered holistic nutritionist. The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market hosted a series of public engagement sessions earlier this year. One of the themes coming out of those sessions was the interest in community programing and educational classes to be held at the Market. The ‘Lunch & Learn’ series will feature food demonstrations, wellness workshops, environmental sustainability and will explore issues relating to the local food movement. Sessions will be hosted by local chefs, nutritionists and local artisans. For a complete schedule of events, check out our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HalifaxSeaportFarmersMarket#!/HalifaxSeaportFarmersMarket/events or simply drop by. Come ready to learn and be inspired. August 26, 2013 - Halifax, N.S. - Standard & Poor’s has issued a release affirming the Halifax Port Authority’s credit rating at ‘A’ and revising the outlook on Halifax Port Authority to positive from stable. Please click for further details. June 17, 2013 - Halifax, NS - The Honourable Gerald Keddy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and for the Atlantic Gateway and Member of Parliament for South Shore—St. Margaret’s, welcomed the Berlin Express to the Port of Halifax. The Berlin Express as well as the Yantain Express and Dalian Express, owned and operated by Hapag–Lloyd, are the largest twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container vessels to call in the Port of Halifax and on the Atlantic Coast of Canada. These Super Post Panamax vessels with 7506 TEU capacity, 700 reefer plugs and 100,000 deadweight tonnes at 320 metres in length are deployed by Hapag-Lloyd in the G6 Alliance’s AZX service between Asia and North America via the Suez Canal. The Port of Halifax and Ceres Terminal are the first inbound call from Asia. This new service provides Canadian companies with direct access between the growth markets in Asia for both dry and temperature control cargo. Asia is the fastest growing segment of the containerized business for the Port of Halifax. Hapag-Lloyd has been a customer of the Port of Halifax since 1969. Hapag-Lloyd’s Canadian management recently received the Port’s high volume award for 2012. This was Hapag-Lloyd’s 15th consecutive year as the top volume carrier. The Government of Canada has invested $52.5 million in the Port of Halifax for various projects to upgrade and improve its capacity. For example the government has contributed up to $17.5 million for the South End Container Terminal project at the Port of Halifax, which will allow the Port to berth two of the world’s largest ships simultaneously, giving it a competitive advantage in international trade. The Government of Canada is committed to working with its public and private sector partners to help position the Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor as a key entry point into North America. The Port of Halifax and the Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor are the shortest all-water and intermodal inland route between North America and markets in Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal. June 11, 2013 – Halifax, NS – The annual Green Marine environmental evaluation has seen the Halifax Port Authority achieve top marks measured against the Green Marine criteria. The Port Authority recently scored top level ratings in the categories of Greenhouse Gases and Spill Prevention in the Green Marine 2012 evaluation which was released during the sixth annual GreenTech conference held in Vancouver, BC. This places the Halifax Port Authority among the top-rated Canadian ports as measured by Green Marine. The level 5 rating in Greenhouse Gases is for implementing infrastructure upgrades that will continue to reduce air emissions from Port Authority activities, either on a large or small scale. The level 5 rating in Spill Prevention is for the completion of an oil/water separator installation program for the Halifax Port Authority’s most vulnerable areas. The Halifax Port Authority also received a level 4 rating for Community Issues which measures continuous community engagement in all stages of infrastructure renewal projects. This is an increase over last year’s result. The level 5 rating in the environmental leadership category was maintained. The entire progress report can be found at http://www.green-marine.org/images/stories/progressreport2012.pdf. Final performance results for 2012 will be released in Green Marine’s annual report in the fall of 2013. Green Marine is a North American environmental improvement program endorsed by the World Wildlife Federation Canada, Ducks Unlimited and Transport Canada. Participants agree to undergo a rigorous external audit every two years performed by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance. The program now has 186 members from across North America. The Halifax Port Authority joined in November 2011. Halifax, NS - May 8, 2013 - The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs along with Greg Wirtz, president, Cruise Lines International Association – North West and Canada and David Henderson, Vice Chair of Halifax Port Authority at an event to announce regulatory amendments that will reduce air emissions from ships navigating in Canadian waters. The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, today announced that the Government of Canada is adopting strict environmental standards to reduce air emissions from ships navigating in Canadian waters. 1.Canada is further aligning its emission standards with the United States with the adoption of the North American Emission Control Area (ECA). Air emissions standards under the ECA are stricter than global requirements. 2.New standards will reduce allowable emissions of key air pollutants from ships. By 2020, emissions of sulphur oxide will be reduced by 96% and nitrogen oxides by 80%. 3.New energy efficiency requirements will reduce GHGs emissions from international shipping. By 2025, new vessels must be 30% more energy efficient and all vessels must have energy efficiency plans. 4.A new air emissions regime for Canadian vessels operating in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence waters will support industry efforts to modernize their fleet while phasing in the strictest sulphur oxide standards by 2020. 5.New standards will require marine diesel engines installed after January 1, 2016 to be certified to recognized US or international environmental standards. 6.A new standard will help manage greywater –the water that drains from a ship’s sinks, showers and laundries. Under the amendments, greywater discharged in Canadian waters (other than Arctic waters, which are subject to other standards) must not result in the deposit of solids or cause any sheen on the water. 7.Updated requirements for the transfer of oil between tankers will align Canadian requirements with IMO pollution prevention standards. The Government of Canada is committed to reducing Canada’s GHG emissions, and has backed up that commitment by taking a number of measures. Here are four examples. •Our actions include implementing regulations to reduce GHGs from coal-fired electricity plants, which will reduce GHGs by 214 megatonnes over the period 2015–2035. Canada is the only nation with regulations banning the construction of new coal-fired power plants that use traditional technology. As well, we now require all existing plants to shut down on a schedule, making Canada the first country in the world to do so. •We are implementing regulations to improve fuel efficiency and reduce GHG emissions from new on-road heavy-duty vehicles and engines. With these tough new measures, GHG emissions from 2018 model-year heavy-duty vehicles will be reduced by up to 23 per cent. •The government is consulting on regulations for cars and light trucks for model years 2017 to 2025. Our action to date will see GHGs from cars and light trucks fall by up to 50% by 2025 compared to 2008 models. •We are implementing regulations requiring 5% renewable fuel in gasoline. Transport Canada engaged numerous stakeholders including the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Coast Guard. The Regulations Amending the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on July 21, 2012. For more information on the amendments please see backgrounder. Throughout the 2013 cruise season, Halifax expects 133 vessels and approximately 240,000 passengers to visit between now and the end of October. The number of calls will build gradually over the summer months, gaining momentum in September as the fall foliage colours emerge. The busiest passenger day is expected to be October 8, with four ships arriving at the Halifax Seaport, carrying an estimated 8,700 passengers. With the arrival of the Veendam, the Port of Halifax and Holland America Lines mark a significant milestone as this is the 20th year Holland America Lines vessels have been calling on Halifax. Each year, the Halifax cruise industry contributes approximately $50 million in direct spin-off expenditures for the local economy. Halifax, NS - April 22, 2013 — The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, on behalf of the Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, today announced federal funding for new technology development at the Port of Halifax. The Government of Canada has contributed funding towards the integrated port logistics system and the air gap system. The total cost of these two Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is estimated at $660,000, with the federal government contributing up to $330,000 under the Strategic Highway Infrastructure Program. In addition, the Port of Halifax is providing $330,000 towards the completion of these projects. "A strong and efficient transportation sector is critical to Canada's future economic growth. I am proud that our government has supported these two Intelligent Transportation Systems projects, which will improve the efficiency of the supply chain, reduce costs, and increase the satisfaction of customers moving goods through Atlantic ports," said Minister MacKay. "Ultimately, these will increase safe, efficient and reliable traffic flows while reducing environmental impacts." "Advanced technologies make it possible to improve operational safety, security, efficiency and environmental responsibility without changing the existing infrastructure," said Karen Oldfield, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Halifax Port Authority. "We look forward to working with our stakeholders to identify technologies that can improve operations, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction. The integrated port logistics system will use a market-driven approach to prioritize solutions, define business requirements, and develop and market the technologies. We appreciate the federal government's support of technology advancements that ensure we remain a highly competitive port." With larger ships accessing the port, there is a need to continuously monitor vessel clearances under each of the harbour bridges. The upgrading and enhancing of the bridge air gap system will enable the port to identify exactly the ship clearance. Port operators and shippers will have confidence in the ability of ships to transit beneath the bridge, preventing delays in accessing and leaving the port. These investments will ultimately help reduce levels of emissions and fuel usage and ensure the safety of the bridges and will also result in increased efficiency and safety for port users. Under the ITS Strategic Plan for Canada, En Route to Intelligent Mobility, the Government of Canada committed to advancing the development and deployment of innovative technologies across Canada. To date, about 200 technology projects have received funding under this plan, totalling over $30 million. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual Meeting of the Halifax Port Authority will be held in Heritage Hall at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, 1055 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. This meeting is open to the public. DATED at Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 12, 2013. SOYEZ AVISÉS PAR CET AVIS que l’Assemblée générale annuelle de l’Administration portuaire de Halifax se tiendra à la Salle du patrimoine au Musée canadien de l’immigration du Quai 21, chemin Marginal, Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, le mercredi 15 mai à 9 h. Cette assemblée est ouverte au public. DATÉ à Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, le 12 avril 2013. Monday, February 18, 2013 – Orlando, Fla. – The Port of Halifax is promoting its international supply chain advantages this week at the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s Logistics 2013 Retail Supply Chain Conference in Orlando, Fla. Specifically, the Port is focused on showcasing its benefits for inbound cargo from Asia, which include a quicker overall transit time than any other east coast North American port. The four-day event will consist of panel discussions, keynote addresses, networking sessions, sponsor exhibit and trade show. Logistics 2013 is the largest event of its kind in North America. More than 130 international retailers will be represented at the annual conference, which runs from Feb. 17-20 at Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando. February 14, 2013 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority is pleased to welcome Mr. Lantz Siteman to its board of directors. Mr. Siteman was appointed as a Port User nominee today, February 14, 2013 by the Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. “We are very pleased to have Mr. Siteman joining the Port Authority board of directors,” said Geoff Machum, Chair, Halifax Port Authority Board of Directors. “He brings with him extensive business experience including many years spent in the financial industry which will serve him well in carrying out his duties as a director." Mr. Siteman was Canada Trust Company's district vice president and regional manager for Atlantic Canada until he retired in 2001. As part of the executive team, he contributed to the planning and merger of two national companies in the 1980's, coordinating operations in the Atlantic Provinces to help bring the project to fruition. He has served on a range of boards as well as being involved in community ventures since his retirement. These include currently serving on the board of the Certified General Accountants Association of Nova Scotia and previously as vice chair of the Association for the Eastern Shore Industrial Development Corporation, committee chair of the United Way of Halifax and director of the Eastern Shore Tourist Association. HALIFAX, NS - January 23, 2013— The Port of Halifax will be the first port in Atlantic Canada to implement shore power for cruise ships, beginning with the 2014 cruise season. Today's announcement, which was made at Canada's largest East Coast port by the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, Graham Steele, MLA Halifax Fairview on behalf of Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism for Nova Scotia, and Karen Oldfield, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Halifax Port Authority, represents a $10-million cooperative initiative among the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia and the Port of Halifax. "Our government continues to make significant investments in Nova Scotia's future. We know that a thriving tourism industry is a key part of ensuring Nova Scotia's economic prosperity and we are happy to grow this sector of Nova Scotia's economy while helping the environment,” said Minister MacKay. “Be it the $25 billion federal initiative to build ships in Nova Scotia, offshore oil exploration or tourism, our government is committed to growing Nova Scotia's economy and creating more jobs." "We know Nova Scotians want good jobs and a thriving tourism industry, and this investment represents part of our jobsHere plan to move toward a more prosperous future," said MLA Steele. "The province is supporting the businesses and workers that depend on the cruise ship industry, creating quieter and cleaner conditions for visitors and Nova Scotian families, and positioning Nova Scotia as a more attractive destination." "The support of this project from both the federal and provincial governments will both help the environment and ensure Halifax remains a marquee port-of-call on the Canada-New England itinerary," said Ms. Oldfield. "The cruise industry is an important part of our local economy, generating an estimated $50 million per year in economic impact." Funding for the Shore Power Technology for Ports Program was provided under the Clean Transportation Initiatives in Budget 2011 as part of the renewal of the Government of Canada's Clean Air Agenda. These initiatives focus on aligning Canadian regulations with those in the United States and with international standards, improving the efficiency of the transportation system, and advancing green technologies through programs such as Shore Power Technology for Ports. These initiatives will help Canada achieve its economy-wide target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020. Halifax, NS – January 16, 2013 - The Ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour are showcasing their abilities at the 79th annual Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia (FPANS) Annual General Meeting. “Forest products are an important export from our region,” said Patrick Bohan, Manager of Business Development, Halifax Port Authority. “A wide variety of types of forest products are shipped out of the Ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour including lumber, pulp and paper products, Christmas trees and wood chips to countries around the world." Halifax, NS – January 8, 2013 – The Port of Halifax is promoting the Port’s ability to handle grain and pulse products at Saskatchewan Pulse Days and the Western Canadian Crop Production Show. The production of pulse products has increased in Canada and has grown approximately fivefold in the past 20 years. In 2011, Canada exported an estimated 4.3 million tonnes of pulse products worth approximately $5 billion dollars. Products are exported to countries in Europe, the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and South America. “The combination of our bulk storage and transload positions Halifax as a key export gateway for the growing agrifood business,” added Bohan. December 20, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - The Halifax Port Authority Board of Directors has renewed Karen Oldfield as President and Chief Executive Officer. “The Board of Directors has renewed Karen Oldfield's contract for a term of five years effective January 1st, 2013. "We are pleased to have Karen's leadership role continue at the Port of Halifax,” says Geoff Machum, Chair, Halifax Port Authority Board of Directors. Ms. Oldfield's new contract will expire December 31st, 2017. December 3, 2012 – Sao Paolo, Brazil – The Ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour are being promoted at the Journal of Commerce Breakbulk conference in Sao Paolo, Brazil this week. Both ports are participating in the Atlantic Gateway delegation that is attending the conference. Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country in terms of population and geographic area. “We see a unique audience in Brazil to promote our capabilities as part of this Canadian delegation,” said Patrick Bohan, Manager of Business Development, Halifax Port Authority. As one of the four emerging economies in the BRIC countries, Brazil is predicted to become the world’s fifth largest economy. “Brazil is a fast growing economy with a market of roughly 200 million people. The connections and capabilities we have at both Ports makes us a natural trade gateway for breakbulk and containerized trade going to this region,” said Mr. Bohan. Over the next four years, Brazil will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics both events will mean significant construction and development as the country upgrades its infrastructure. As you are aware from Friday updates, the Nova Scotia Farmers’ Market Development Cooperative (FMDC) and the City Market of Halifax Collaborative (CMHC) have been formalizing a “lease surrender” which was finalized last week. This step means that the HPA can now start the transition to begin operations at the Market which we anticipate happening in mid December. From past Halifax Seaport community consultation sessions, the HPA knows the public’s interest in having accessible, vibrant, public spaces in this district. We also know the high level of commitment of vendors and customers who want to see a Market continue operating on the Halifax waterfront. The HPA plans to continue operating a Farmers' Market and build on its great potential. We recognize that this past year has been a challenging period for vendors. Now that the formal transition is underway, we look forward to working with you, as well as customers and other stakeholders, to plan for a sustainable future for this space. We will be back to vendors shortly with more information and will be seeking your input to inform our long-term planning efforts. There are some priorities that will require attention in the short term, but our intention is that the Market continues to operate with its existing schedule and with minimal disruptions, allowing you to focus on serving your customers during the busy holiday season. We want to support you during this important pre-Christmas shopping period and are planning some marketing efforts over the next few weeks. We will be back to vendors soon with more updates and look forward to working with you all , to create a sustainable future for the Market. November 23, 2012 - HALIFAX, NS – This week marks the beginning of a transitional period at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market. The Nova Scotia Farmers’ Market Development Cooperative (FMDC) and the City Market of Halifax Cooperative Ltd. (CMHC) have taken the final steps to formally surrender their lease to the Halifax Port Authority (HPA), landlord for the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market. In May, CMHC, FMDC and HPA began discussions towards the surrender of the lease. The surrender agreement has been finalized and HPA will now commence the transition process to reacquire its premises over the coming weeks and begin to operate the Market at the Halifax Seaport. The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market will continue to operate with its current schedule. Over the coming months, HPA will work with stakeholders to address immediate priorities and develop a long-term plan for enhanced use of the space. The Halifax Port Authority develops and manages 258 acres of property in support of the port’s diverse cargo and cruise lines of business and is a catalyst for local, regional and national economic growth. Revenue generated from operations allows for reinvestment in the port properties. The HPA is landlord for the Halifax Seaport district which has been redeveloped over the past 10 years as an area for residents and visitors to enjoy. City Market of Halifax Cooperative Ltd. November 19, 2012 - Halifax, NS - The Port of Halifax along with tourism partners, Seaport tenants and members of the community today celebrated the 2012 cruise season. This year, the Port of Halifax welcomed 134 vessels with 252,847 passengers onboard from April 12 until November 1. The Port of Halifax marked a significant milestone this year, welcoming over three million passengers to Halifax since cruise ships began calling here three decades ago. "Cruise ships are an important part of helping make Nova Scotia's tourism industry globally competitive," said Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Minister Percy Paris." We want to congratulate the Port of Halifax on a successful cruise season, which is helping to create good jobs and grow the economy throughout the province." Each year, the Halifax cruise industry contributes approximately $50 million in direct spin-off expenditures for the local economy. The 2013 cruise season will begin in May. November 13, 2012 – Istanbul, Turkey – This week the Halifax Port Authority is promoting the breakbulk and heavy-lift capabilities of the ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour in Istanbul, Turkey. “Turkey has a lot of potential to become a key market for the Ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour with its strong history of breakbulk and heavy-lift cargoes and its strategic location between East and West Europe,” said George Malec, Vice-President Business Development and Operations, Halifax Port Authority. Turkey is already a key export market for bulk commodities such as woodchips from Nova Scotia. “This event provides us with an opportunity to meet with importers and exporters to promote the benefits of moving their goods through our ports to a wider audience,” added Mr. Malec. The Halifax Port Authority is accepting bids on the vessel Rascal, which was raised from the Northwest Arm on Tuesday, October 9, 2012. The vessel is for sale on an as is, where is basis. Bids for the vessel will be accepted until Friday, November 23 at 4 p.m. The Halifax Port Authority makes no representation as to the value or seaworthiness of the vessel Rascal. Viewing of the vessel can be arranged by contacting the Senior Manager, Operations at (902) 426-1796 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Upon acceptance of a bid, the new owner will have 10 days to remove the vessel from Halifax Port Authority premises. The Halifax Port Authority does not bind itself to accept any bid. November 7, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – Today, the Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, announced the reappointment of Mr. D. Geoffrey Machum, Q.C. to the Halifax Port Authority board of directors. Mr. Machum was first appointed to the board in 2006 and was reappointed in 2009 as a Port User appointee. He was elected by the board to a second term as Vice-Chair in October 2009 and continued in this role until he was elected Chair in May 2012. Mr. Machum will continue to Chair the Board of Directors providing guidance as the HPA implements its business strategy and engages stakeholders both locally and internationally. He currently sits on the Governance, Seaport, Human Resources & Compensation and Gateway Strategy Committees of the Board. Mr. Machum is actively involved in the community including as a member of the Board of Directors of Symphony Nova Scotia where he chairs its governance committee and as a member of the Board of Governors of the Halifax Grammar School. He has also enjoyed involvement with the United Way's Leadership Giving Campaign and with the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia. November 1, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - The Halifax Port Authority sent representation to Montreal for the fifth annual Arctic Shipping North America Forum this week to showcase the potential of the ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour to accommodate breakbulk and project cargoes. Of specific relevance to arctic shippers is space for a staging area at both ports. “The development of the Arctic provides great potential for Logistec,” said Curtis Doiron, General Manager – Sales, Logistec Corporation. “As the need for project and re-supply cargo increases, The Port of Halifax and the Port of Sheet Harbour with their substantial laydown space, access to major intermodal networks, and strategic location are very well positioned to play a critical role in the development of the North." The conference focused on the strategic challenges and commercial opportunities for the Arctic. It was attended by more than 180 trade and transport influencers, including government officials, shippers and international industry leaders. October 29, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – This week the final ships of the 2012 cruise season will be arriving in the Port of Halifax. Due to Hurricane Sandy there have been several changes to the cruise schedule this week. The 2012 season will now end on November 1 instead of October 30 with three additional vessels calling Halifax. Approximately 3,000 cruise passengers will be aboard these three vessels. In September two ships, carrying approximately 2,300 cruise passengers, diverted from Halifax because of weather. October 24, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - The Port of Halifax and CN have reinforced their business development efforts in Asia with the recent appointment of new commercial representatives in the region. The Port of Halifax and CN have jointly hired Ajay Kumar Singh as their representative in Mumbai, India, effective October 1. Singh will help to market the Port of Halifax as a gateway to North America using CN's rail network. "The hiring of Ajay will give the port and CN increased commercial presence in Southeast Asia," said George Malec, Vice-President of Business Development and Operations for the Halifax Port Authority. "The increased market intelligence should help us secure more traffic from this highly dynamic part of the world economy." CN earlier this year established a representative in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and has longstanding representation in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. CN also has people in Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, where Lonny Kubas, CN's general manager, Asia, is based. The Port of Halifax has had a dedicated business development manager in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for four years and this existing representative will work closely with CN's new representative. The Port of Halifax's percentage of cargo activity with Asia has grown in recent years, surpassing Europe as the largest source of traffic. Currently, 45 per cent of all cargo moved through Halifax originates from or is destined for Asia. CN's direct involvement in Halifax's business development in India and Vietnam is a positive step toward advancing the port's opportunity in Asia even further. "CN is pleased to be working closely with the Port of Halifax on this market outreach," said Keith Reardon, CN Vice-President, Intermodal Services. "Together we hope to improve the effectiveness of our customers' supply chains and in turn draw more business over the port and CN's North American rail network." HALIFAX, NS, October 12, 2012 – October not only marks the busiest month of the cruise season for the Port of Halifax, it is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That is why the Halifax Port Authority has decided to “Go Pink” during the month of October, in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) – Atlantic Region. Visitors can tour Halifax in style aboard bright pink buses thanks to BIG Pink Sightseeing. The popular double-decker tours raise funds throughout the cruise-ship season, by donating $1 from each ticket sold on select buses to CBCF- Atlantic Region. During the month of October, the Halifax Port Authority has committed to matching this amount, up to $3,000. With thousands of visitors stopping through the Port of Halifax this month CBCF-Atlantic Region was onsite in early October to promote breast health and educate visitors. Additionally, employees of the Halifax Port Authority are being encouraged to Go Pink in their work place, with a casual day fundraising program. Since 1986, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) has been at the forefront of a nation-wide movement to raise awareness and mobilize action on breast cancer. Today, CBCF is the leading organization in Canada dedicated to creating a future without breast cancer. Our investments in vital research, education and health promotion programs have led progress in breast cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment and care. October 11, 2012 – Houston, Texas – The ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour have representation in Houston, Texas this week for Breakbulk Americas 2012, the largest event in North America for companies involved in moving heavy-lift, project and traditional breakbulk cargoes. With more than $100 billion worth of major projects underway in Atlantic Canada, the ports of Halifax and Sheet Harbour are well positioned to handle project-related cargo. “Major investment is expected in our region in the coming years and Halifax and Sheet Harbour are in a great strategic position to handle the associated breakbulk and project cargo opportunities," said Patrick Bohan, Manager of Business Development for the Halifax Port Authority. "Breakbulk Americas provides an opportunity to highlight the emerging opportunities in Atlantic Canada in oil and gas, power generation and major projects." Recent facility enhancements, including the ongoing expansion of Richmond Terminals, have readied the Port of Halifax to accommodate more breakbulk activity. The HPA also recently took over operations of the Port of Sheet Harbour, which offers an abundance of laydown area for heavy lift and project cargoes, as well as easy truck access to major centres in North America. The HPA is attending as part of a group representing Canada’s Atlantic Gateway, which also includes the ports of Saint John, Belledune, Corner Brook and St. John’s. About 230 exhibitors and 3,500 attendees are expected at the four-day event, which runs from Oct. 8-11 at the George R. Brown Convention Centre. The Port of Halifax is exhibiting at booth 759. October 4, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - Late today, the Board of Directors of the City Market of Halifax Cooperative Ltd. (CMHC) met to take the next step to surrender its lease to the Halifax Port Authority (HPA), landlord for the Farmers' Market facility. In May, CMHC and Nova Scotia Farmers’ Market Development Cooperative, Ltd (FMDC) gave approval to their boards to negotiate the surrender of the lease. During the interim period, CMHC and HPA have been working through details surrounding the surrender which will allow the operations for the Market to be transferred to HPA in an orderly manner over the fall months. "We are looking forward to working with the Market Cooperatives’ Boards of Directors to take the next steps forward and finalize a plan to stabilize the Market. As soon as we are able to, the Halifax Port Authority aims to work with vendors, customers, the community and others involved in the Market to ensure a sustainable, vibrant future for this public space at the Halifax Seaport," said Paul MacIsaac, Senior Vice President, Halifax Port Authority. The Market will continue to operate with no immediate changes. For information, please visit www.halifaxfarmersmarket.com or www.halifaxseaport.ca. The Halifax Port Authority develops and manages 260 acres of property in support of the Port’s diverse cargo and cruise lines of business and is a catalyst for local, regional and national economic growth. Revenue generated from operations allows for reinvestment into Port properties. The HPA is landlord for the Halifax Seaport district which has been redeveloped over the past 10 years as an area for residents and visitors to enjoy. HALIFAX, N.S. – Today, the Halifax Port Authority (HPA) will celebrate welcoming over three million cruise passengers to our city. September 19, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - Port Days 2012 is a conference for transport-related professionals featuring a mix of business sessions and networking opportunities. This year’s theme is “Emerging Supply Chains Through Halifax.” Discussions will focus on the many initiatives underway that will result in major capital projects and investments in the Atlantic region and how they’ll affect the Port of Halifax. This event features speakers from across the supply chain and showcases the diversity of the business at the Port of Halifax. The media is invited to attend Port Days sessions taking place on Thursday, September 20, which will include speakers from the following organizations: Ambassatours Gray Line, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, CN, Halifax Port Authority, Liquor Control Board of Ontario, Logistec Stevedoring Inc., MAN Diesel & Turbo Canada, Transportation Media, UPS Canada and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (Canada) Co. Ltd. For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/portofhalifax and search hashtag #hfxportdays. September 18, 2012 - The Halifax Port Authority has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Panama Canal Authority. The Port of Halifax is the first port in Canada to sign an MOU with the Panama Canal Authority. The purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding is to identify business opportunities, increase awareness of the ports, exchange information, and undertake joint marketing initiatives. “Asian cargo is growing over the Port of Halifax and with the Panama Canal expansion nearing completion, large ships will soon have another route option available to and from North America and the Port of Halifax,” said Karen Oldfield, President & CEO, Halifax Port Authority. “With Halifax’s transit time advantages for our Asian target markets, it makes sense for us to establish a strategic partnership with the Panama Canal Authority and this MOU will be mutually beneficial for both ports. September 17, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority and the Halifax Stanfield International Airport hosted a reception together this evening in Shanghai, China to promote Halifax as an east coast gateway. The reception was hosted as part of the Council of the Federation trade mission to China, led by Premier Darrell Dexter. This event provided the Port of Halifax and Halifax Stanfield International Airport with the opportunity to promote Halifax as an international connection point for moving people and trade to and from North America. Local Nova Scotia businesses participating in the mission also had the opportunity to network and talk about potential opportunities. The reception was also hosted in partnership with the Canada China Business Council. Approximately 120 people attended. “We are pleased to continue building relationships in China and with the completion of our main runway extension program in November, we look forward to increasing our cargo and passenger traffic with the Asian market,” said Jerry Staples, Vice President, Air Service Marketing & Development with Halifax International Airport Authority. September 14, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, today visited the Port of Halifax to mark progress on two significant projects. Led by Halifax Port Authority representatives, Minister Ashfield toured the site of the recently completed South End Terminal Expansion project and the construction site of the Richmond Terminals Multipurpose Gateway Improvements project. "Today we take an important step forward as we celebrate investments in the Port of Halifax that will not only improve trade and traffic flows to and from the region's largest deep-water port, but will also benefit the economy by facilitating trade in the Atlantic region as a whole," said Minister Ashfield. "Halifax will be able to attract economic opportunities as a result of these improvements to the Port. These projects will improve the competitiveness of the Port by facilitating the movement of international trade through the Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor. Strategic infrastructure investments like these are key to our Gateway's success." The Government of Canada is contributing up to $17.5 million for the South End Container Terminal project, which will allow the Port of Halifax to berth two of the world's largest ships simultaneously, giving it a competitive advantage in international trade. The Government of Canada's contribution of up to $36.5 million to the Richmond Terminals project will upgrade and expand the port's value-added and breakbulk cargo handling services. "Having the right infrastructure is key to being a highly competitive trade gateway," said Karen Oldfield, President and CEO, Halifax Port Authority. "These terminal enhancements, co-funded with the Government of Canada, ensure we are able to accommodate future growth of both containerized and breakbulk cargo operations in the Port of Halifax." Canada's Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor is the shortest all-water route between North America's East Coast and markets in Europe and Asia, via the Suez Canal. Double-stack rail service provides a direct link to Chicago in 71 hours, and a two-hour fly zone connects the Atlantic Gateway to Montreal, Toronto, Boston and New York. More information on Canada's Atlantic Gateway can be found at www.atlanticgateway.gc.ca. September 14, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority (HPA) is pleased to announce that David Henderson has been elected Vice-Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Henderson was first appointed to the Halifax Port Authority Board of Directors in October 2007 and was subsequently reappointed for a second three-year term. He was elected by the Board as Vice-Chair in September 2012 for a term of two years. He currently chairs the Security, Environment & Safety Committees and serves on the Audit and Gateway Strategy Committees. Mr. Henderson is a highly successful sales professional with over 35 years of experience. He has held positions of responsibility as a sales representative and account manager for the Atlantic region for two leading international manufacturing companies. He is currently the Atlantic Territory Account Manager for Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. In addition, David also manages a portfolio of residential real estate in HRM. An active member of the community, David is Past President of the Nova Scotia Mixed Curling Association, past member of the Kiwanis Club and a member of the Canadian Professional Sales Association. He is also a fundraiser for numerous charities. September 5, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - Standard & Poor’s has issued a release today affirming the Halifax Port Authority’s credit rating at ‘A’. Please click here for further details. August 30, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority salutes Ruth Goldbloom, O.C., who passed away yesterday. Ruth championed the creation of the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 to tell the stories of the one million immigrants who came through the doors of Pier 21 to begin their lives in Canada. In addition, Ruth had a long-standing history of volunteer service to the local community and many organizations. The Halifax Port Authority wishes to express our condolences to Ruth’s family and friends. The HPA will fly flags at the Halifax Seaport at half mast today and tomorrow in remembrance of Ruth. August 28, 2012 - Sheet Harbour, N.S. - Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), today, Aug. 28, introduced the community of Sheet Harbour to its new port manager, The Halifax Port Authority. Through a well-attended open house at the Eastern Shore Wildlife Association Lodge, community members had a chance to meet the new operator and learn more about the Halifax Port Authority's transition and management plans. Federal and provincial representatives were also on hand to welcome the new port managers to the community. "This new management arrangement has the potential to position Sheet Harbour as a port of choice and economic driver for the region," said Jim Boudreau, Guysborough-Sheet Harbour MLA, on behalf of Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. NSBI signed a contract July 1 with the Halifax Port Authority to assume management responsibilities for the Sheet Harbour Marine Terminal. "The Port of Sheet Harbour is in good hands with the Halifax Port Authority," said Peter MacKay, Regional Minister for Nova Scotia. "I am confident that the new leadership will help to re-invigorate the port, and that they will work hand-in-hand with the community to bring work to the area and to grow this valuable gateway to the region, to Nova Scotia and to trade corridors beyond our borders." The Port of Sheet Harbour is provincially owned through NSBI and was constructed by the province in 1989. "We would like to acknowledge the great work the community members have done in helping this become a reality," said Stephen Lund, president and CEO, NSBI."We look forward to a successful relationship with both the community and the Halifax Port Authority for years to come." Nova Scotia Business Inc. worked with the community group Port of Sheet Harbour Governance Committee, during the selection process of the new port manager. "The community is very optimistic that the new manager will bring the port to new heights. We have a lot of stevedores working away from home who are looking forward to having more opportunities at the port," said Anthony Turner, member of the Port of Sheet Harbour Governance Committee. The port is well suited for marine and resource-based industry, manufacturing, and container shipping. "We want to thank the community of Sheet Harbour for the warm welcome they have provided us," said George Malec, vice-president business development and operations, Halifax Port Authority. "The Port of Sheet Harbour is an important asset to this community and we are committed to growing the business to benefit the local economy." Nova Scotia Business Inc. manages multiple ports and industrial parks across the province. For more information about ports and industrial parks in Nova Scotia, visit http://nsbi.ca/property. Nova Scotia Business Inc. is the province's private-sector-led business development agency. Through trade development, investment attraction, business financing and venture capital, NSBI assists local companies and attracts international companies to Nova Scotia. For more information, visit www.nsbi.ca and follow online at www.nsbi.ca/connect. The Port of Halifax was recently at Vietfish 2012, an annual seafood show in Vietnam. For the second straight year, we shared a booth space with Hoang Ha International Logistics, a freight forwarder specializing in seafood. Last year, 21 per cent of our imports from Vietnam were seafood, up from about 12 per cent in 2010. In this photo are Anh Ngo, the Port of Halifax's Business Development Manager in Vietnam, and Daniel Doan, CN Business Development Manager in Vietnam. July 24, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Atlantic Gateway - Halifax Logistics Park, located in Burnside Business Park, welcomes Nova Cold Storage, as its first full-service, refrigerated and frozen food logistics centre. Nova Cold has broken ground on a $9.5 million state-of-the-art facility, located on Wilkinson Avenue. Nova Cold is expanding to accommodate its frozen fish and processed foods storage business, servicing processors, exporters, and freight forwarders. When complete, the new 60,000 sq. ft., federally inspected, cold storage transloading facility will house 5,500 pallets, enough to fill 250 ocean containers. The Atlantic Gateway - Halifax Logistics Park is an ideal distribution site, offering logistics companies large acreage lots within the urban core of the municipality. The Park is serviced by five major highways and is within a 10-15 minute commute of the international Port of Halifax, Halifax Stanfield International Airport, and CN rail’s intermodal yard. Since 2006, 50 acres of the Atlantic Gateway - Halifax Logistics Park have been developed. Today eight companies offer warehousing, customs clearance, transloading, freight forwarding and other value-added services including “just-in-time” delivery. The Logistics Park is also well positioned to play a support role to the companies engaged in the $70 billion in mega projects taking place in Atlantic Canada including the $25 billion Halifax Shipyard contract. “Our region has the transportation infrastructure to compete globally and new private sector investment from companies such as Nova Cold Storage is an indication that our strategy to become Canada’s preferred eastern gateway is working,” said Joyce Carter, Chair of the Halifax Gateway Council and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Halifax International Airport Authority. Phase 1 of the Atlantic Gateway - Halifax Logistics Park is currently underway, comprising 140 acres of serviced lots and Phase 2 will offer an additional 128 acres for future development opportunities. For more information visit www.halifaxgateway.com and click on “Land.” A fact sheet and photos of development at the Atlantic Gateway - Halifax Logistics Park are available upon request. Strategically positioned on the east coast of Canada, Halifax Gateway is comprised of the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, the international Port of Halifax, two super post-Panamax container terminals, CN Rail, a strong logistics and warehousing sector and excellent highway infrastructure. The Halifax Gateway is managed by the Greater Halifax Partnership. www.halifaxgateway.com. June 28, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. – Today, the Halifax Port Authority participated in a round table discussion on infrastructure in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The discussion focused on the Government of Canada’s long-term infrastructure plan that will extend beyond the expiry of the Building Canada plan in 2014. Participants were invited to share insights and ideas to assist in creating a cohesive long-term plan. The new plan will focus on investments that support long-term economic growth. Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities joined the Honourable Peter Penashue and Tom Hedderson, Minister of Transportation and Works from Newfoundland and Labrador for the roundtable discussion. Participants at these regional roundtables included provincial, territorial, municipal and business leaders. Zim is adding a new call at Halifax from July on the Zim Container Service Atlantic, known as the ZCA service. The first Halifax call is scheduled for July 19th by the 4,250 teu Zim Texas, which starts the new westbound port rotation from Haifa on July 3rd. Transit times from Tarragona to Halifax with 7 days, 8 days from Genoa, and 14 days from Haifa. The service is operated with 6 x 4,250 teu vessels and the service will use the Halterm Terminal in Halifax. Port rotation of the ZCA will then be : Haifa, Piraeus, Genoa, Tarragona, Halifax, New York, Savannah, Kingston, Tarragona and back to Haifa. Zim also calls at the Halterm Terminal on the ZCP service covering the Asia/USWC/USEC/Canada trade. Halifax Port Authority will manage operations of the Port of Sheet Harbour Terminal. Nova Scotia Business Inc. has signed a contract, effective July 1, 2012, with the Halifax Port Authority to assume management responsibilities of the Sheet Harbour Marine Terminal. The 10-year agreement is performance-based with an option to renew. The Halifax Port Authority will manage and operate the port under an agreement that includes performance goals. "The Halifax Port Authority has a global network within the industry and a proven track record," said Stephen Lund, president and CEO of Nova Scotia Business Inc. "With this new agreement, NSBI and the Sheet Harbour steering committee's objective is to see increased annual hours worked at the port and to stimulate economic growth for the Sheet Harbour community." The Halifax Port Authority will provide multiple, competitive stevedoring companies an opportunity to use the terminal. "We welcome the Halifax Port Authority to our community and the opportunities it can bring to Sheet Harbour," said Anthony Turner, port of Sheet Harbour steering committee member. The port is in Sheet Harbour on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia and it is well suited for marine and resource-based industry, manufacturing and being an intermediate port for ships on their way to another destination. Companies have already established processing and shipping facilities at the port as a competitive alternative to other locations. "We know that the port of Sheet Harbour is an important asset and we look forward to working with all of the diverse members of the community to make this a successful undertaking," says George Malec, vice-president of business development and operations, Halifax Port Authority. Nova Scotia Business Inc., the Halifax Port Authority and community representatives from the port of Sheet Harbour steering committee will host an open house for the community. Details will be announced shortly. Nova Scotia Business Inc. is the province's private-sector-led business development agency. Through trade development, investment attraction, business financing and venture capital, NSBI assists local companies and attracts international companies to Nova Scotia. For more information, visit www.nsbi.ca and follow online at www.nsbi.ca/connect . The Halifax Port Authority will manage operations of the port of Sheet Harbour terminal. Stephen Lund, president and CEO of NSBI, says the objective is to increase activity at the port and stimulate economic growth for the Sheet Harbour community. The 10-year agreement includes performance objectives. June 21, 2012 - Halifax, Nova Scotia - Today, the Halifax Gateway Council (HGC) held its Annual General Meeting. Business conducted at the meeting included the appointment of Board Members, approval of the annual financial statements, and the appointment of auditors. Joyce Carter, Vice President Finance, CFO and CSO, Halifax International Airport Authority was unanimously reappointed as Chairperson of the Halifax Gateway Council. Carter thanked the Board for its ongoing support, noting "it is a privilege to represent the Halifax Gateway." Carter noted that this past year has been one of unprecedented cooperation among stakeholders. "By operating under a single banner, the Halifax Gateway efficiently delivers a multimodal transportation system that moves thousands of people and tonnes of cargo every day." $28 million being invested in the main runway extension program at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. This investment is provided by the Government of Canada, the Province of Nova Scotia, and Halifax International Airport Authority. $35 million being invested in the lengthening of the South End Container terminal allowing for the berthing of two super post-Panamax ships simultaneously. This investment is cost-shared by the Halifax Port Authority and the Government of Canada. $73 million being invested in Richmond Terminals for the upgrade and expansion of the facility to provide additional capacity for breakbulk and project cargos. This investment is cost-shared by the Halifax Port Authority and the Government of Canada. Record passengers were processed through Halifax Stanfield International Airport (approximately 3.6 million). 9.5 million metric tonnes of port cargo. CN's Autoport processed 190,000 vehicle shipments. Halterm Container Terminal Ltd. announces plans to purchase two new super post-Panamax cranes. Two new tenants secured in the Halifax Logistics Park, Nova Cold Storage and Cherubini Group of Companies, bringing the total to eight. Halifax Gateway wins 1st place marketing award for its awareness building collateral. The Greater Halifax Partnership, the lead economic development organization for Halifax, provides day-to-day management of the HGC. Nancy Phillips, the Partnership's Director of Business Development, is also the Executive Director of the Halifax Gateway Council. John Hamblin, President, Clarke IT Solutions Inc. Captain Sid Hynes, Executive Chairman, Oceanex Inc. WBLI Chartered Accountants were reappointed as auditors for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. Established in 2004, the Halifax Gateway Council provides a forum for transportation stakeholders in the Halifax region to work collectively to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of goods and passenger movements through Atlantic Canada's primary gateway. Its vision is to be the preferred eastern Gateway for North America. June 20, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. -This year an estimated 22,700 Canadian women and 200 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Halifax cruise passengers, the Port of Halifax and a bus tour company are hoping to change these statistics. Ambassatours Gray Line, Atlantic Canada launched a unique fundraising campaign three years ago. Ambassatours Gray Line offers Hop On, Hop Off tours of Halifax on 18 pink buses to passengers on cruise ship days. For every passenger, Ambassatours Gray Line donates $1 per passenger to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Atlantic Region. Today, Ambassatour Gray Lines President Dennis Campbell presented Halifax Port Authority CEO Karen Oldfield with a Big Pink Bus as a thank you to the Port of Halifax for their support and to recognize their efforts to expand and grow the cruise industry in Halifax. Halifax is not the only city who will be seeing pink this summer. Gray Line New York is starting a similar initiative and will have four pink buses providing tours of famous Big Apple landmarks such as Central Park and the Empire State Building. "It is a real honour to see an idea that was started here in Atlantic Canada being used in such a prominent tourism destination," said Dennis Campbell, President Ambassatours and Big Pink. "It is wonderful to see even more people helping to find a cure." "Earlier this month Ambassatours presented CBCF with a cheque for $60,000, raised through their Big Pink Sightseeing tours in Atlantic Canada," said Jane Parsons, CEO, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Atlantic Region. "Corporate support like this enables us to continue our efforts in creating a future without breast cancer." "The high number of cruise ship passengers coming to Halifax provides a great fundraising opportunity and visitors enjoy the tours and like to know they are also supporting an important cause," said Karen Oldfield, President and CEO, Halifax Port Authority. Disney Magic crew members will be visiting more than 130 children in two hospitals in Halifax and Saint John with character visits this week. Over the years, these visits have grown into a tradition for crew members to demonstrate our commitment to the local community. In September, the Disney Magic will reposition to sail 6-, 7- and 8-night Western Caribbean itineraries from Galveston, Texas for the first time. In May of 2013, the Disney Magic will cross the Atlantic to begin a summer season in the Mediterranean. Based in Celebration, Fla., Disney Cruise Line is focused on providing a setting where families can reconnect, adults can recharge and kids can immerse themselves in worlds of fantasy only Disney can create. Most recently, the company was recognized by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine as the top “Cruise Ships of the World,” with the Disney Magic being voted No. 1 and the Disney Dream and Disney Wonder tying for No. 2. Travel + Leisure magazine also ranked Disney Cruise Line the No. 1 Large-Ship Cruise Line for Families. To learn more about Disney Cruise Line or to book a vacation, guests can contact their travel agent, visit disneycruise.com or call Disney Cruise Line at 888-DCL-2500. Travel agents can call Disney Cruise Line at 888-325-2500 or visit disneytravelagents.com. For additional information on Disney Cruise Line and to download photos, visit its media-only website at: www.dclnews.com. His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, (left centre) met with Halifax Port Authority officials for a port briefing on Friday, June 1, 2012. With His Excellency in this photo are (from left): Vice-President Business Development & Operations George Malec, President & CEO Karen Oldfield and Vice-Chair Tom McInnis. June 1, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Port of Halifax welcomed His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, for a briefing on the advantages of the Port of Halifax today. Port officials provided an overview of the Port of Halifax and how Halifax connects shippers to markets worldwide. “The Port of Halifax is one of Canada’s trade gateways and we have a long history of moving goods and people to and from Canada. We were pleased to have the opportunity to discuss the role the Port of Halifax plays as a trade gateway with His Excellency,” said Karen Oldfield, President and CEO, Halifax Port Authority. Halifax connects exporters and importers with 150 countries especially in Europe and Asia which was highlighted throughout the briefing. May 30, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Port of Halifax was recognized for its environmental leadership in Green Marine’s 2011 evaluation released Tuesday at the fifth annual GreenTech Conference in Quebec City, Que. The Halifax Port Authority performed better than average for the 20 port authorities listed by Green Marine. Environmental actions the Port has taken to meet and exceed compliance in this area include: conducting regular documented safety and environmental inspections; advocating public transportation, installing bike racks and using an electric car; preventing tour bus idling; and following standard practices to prevent water pollution, including the installation of oil-water separators. The Port of Halifax was the first port in Canada to achieve an ISO14001 certification in 2005. Halifax also received a level 4 rating (indicating introduction of new technologies) for greenhouse gases and air pollutants and level 2 ratings (indicating systematic use of a defined number of best practices and regulatory compliance) for water and land pollution prevention as well as conflicts of use. Green Marine is a voluntary initiative in which participants agree to undergo a rigorous external audit every two years performed by Lloyds Registry Quality Assurance. The program now has 161 members from across North America. Under Green Marine, overall environmental performance of ports, terminals and shipowners in Canada and the U.S. has improved for the third year in a row. The Port of Halifax joined in November 2011. Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Halifax Port Authority will be held at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel, 1181 Hollis Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. This meeting is open to the public. Dated at Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 28, 2012. Soyez avisés par cet avis que l’Assemblée générale annuelle de l’Administration portuaire de Halifax se tiendra à l’hôtel Westin Nova Scotian, 1181, rue Hollis, Halifax, NouvelleÉcosse, le jeudi 28 juin 2012 à 9 h. Cette assemblée est ouverte au public. Des copies des états financiers vérifiés peuvent être consultées par le public au bureau enregistré de l’Administration portuaire de Halifax, à l’édifice de l’Administration portuaire, 1215, chemin Marginal, durant les heures régulières de bureau (de 8 h 30 à 17 h). Daté à Halifax, Nouvelle-Écosse, le 25 mai 2012. May 23, 2012 - Halifax, NS - Last night, the group operating the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market (City Market of Halifax Cooperative Ltd., CMHC) voted to turn their lease back to the Halifax Port Authority (HPA), landlord for the Farmers’ Market facility. The HPA will work with CMHC to finalize a hand over of the Market building as they finalize a plan to deal with creditors. “People like to buy local and they love their Farmers’ Market. Vendors, customers and our community want a thriving Market on the waterfront and we do too,” said Paul MacIsaac, Senior Vice President, Halifax Port Authority. “Our goal is to work with everyone involved who can help to make this happen. It will take some time and we will need lots of input along the way". May 17, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – Business Development representatives for the Port of Halifax will be in Antwerp, Belgium next week to showcase the Port’s heavy-lift and project cargo handling capabilities at one of the industry’s largest conferences of its kind – Breakbulk Europe 2012. Breakbulk cargo at the Port of Halifax has experienced growth recently with total breakbulk volumes at the Port of Halifax – including commodities such as telephone poles, machinery, steel and rubber – growing in the first quarter of 2012 by over 100 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2011. Over 4,300 participants attended Breakbulk Europe 2011, including more than 180 international exhibitors and sponsors. This year’s event, running from May 22-24, features panel and keynote discussions, workshops and networking events for those in the heavy-lift and breakbulk transportation sector. The Port will be exhibiting at booth #401H2 Canada’s Atlantic Gateway all three days. May 10, 2012 – Halifax, N.S. – The Halifax Port Authority is pleased to announce that D. Geoffrey Machum, Q.C. has been elected Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Machum has served on the Halifax Port Authority Board of Directors since 2006 and was reappointed in 2009 as a Port User appointee. He was elected by the Board to a second term as Vice-Chair in October 2009 and continued in this position until his election as Chair. Mr. Machum is a senior partner with the law firm Stewart McKelvey, where he serves on the firm's regional Partnership Board and the firm’s Human Resources and Governance Committee. Mr. Machum is actively involved in the community including as a member of the Board of Directors of Symphony Nova Scotia and past involvement with the United Way and the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia. The Honourable Thomas J. McInnis has been elected Vice-Chair. Mr. McInnis was first appointed to the Board of Directors in 2008 and has subsequently been reappointed for a second term of three years. Mr. McInnis served as MLA from 1978 to 1993, during which time he held various Ministerial portfolios, including Transportation, Municipal Affairs, Education, Community Services, Economic Development, Labour, Attorney General and Deputy Premier. He is past President of the Nova Scotia Chamber of Commerce and President of the Sheet Harbour & Area Chamber of Commerce. Two new Directors have also been appointed to the Halifax Port Authority board of directors. Mr. Hector Jacques, O.C., has been appointed by the Halifax Regional Municipal Council as the Municipal director. Mr. Jacques formed Jacques Whitford and Associates Limited in 1972, is a recipient of Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame in 2001. Mr. Ted Larsen has been appointed a director in the inland transportation category of Port Users. Mr. Larsen is a longstanding member of the Halifax business community. He is a local business owner, developing and managing a portfolio of commercial and residential real estate. Mr. Jacques and Mr. Larsen will join directors Trevor Johnson, David Henderson and Anne Galbraith. May 10, 2012 - Halifax, N.S. - The Halifax Port Authority was pleased to be a sponsor of the May 10 Halifax Chamber of Commerce's Distinguished Speaker Series which featured Don Stephenson, Chief Trade Negotiator, Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (top). Mr. Stephenson spoke to the Halifax Business Community about the future of Canada-India economic relations focusing on the ongoing trade negotiations between Canada and India. We were also pleased to have Ms. Preeti Saran, the Indian Consul General (middle), based in Toronto, in attendance to bring greetings from India as well as Mr. Satish Thakkar, President of the Indo Canadian Chamber of Commerce (bottom), also from Toronto, to introduce Mr. Stephenson. April 12, 2012 – HALIFAX, N.S. – The 2012 cruise season gets underway today at the Port of Halifax with the inaugural call of Azamara Journey. Halifax expects 130 vessels and 235,000-245,000 passengers to visit this season. Azamara Journey, making its first-ever visit at the Port of Halifax, will also be the first of two Titanic-themed memorial cruises to call Halifax to start the season, the second being Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ vessel Balmoral, which will dock for an overnight stay on April 16. Passengers onboard both vessels will be treated to a special Halifax welcome including dockside highlanders and a complimentary Halifax Seaport postcard with one of Canada Post’s new Titanic commemorative stamps. Cruise traffic will gradually pick up through the spring and summer before the height of the season in September and October as many tourists flock to the region on a fall foliage itinerary. The busiest part of the season will peak on Oct. 1 when five vessels with a combined maximum capacity over 8,600 passengers will dock at the Halifax Seaport for the day. Each year, the Halifax cruise industry contributes approximately $50 million in direct spin-off expenditures for the local economy. April 5, 2012 - HALIFAX, N.S. - The province is helping Nova Scotia businesses find new ways to ship their product, and increase the competitive advantage of the Port of Halifax, with a $500,000 loan guarantee to American Feeder Lines International. The province announced the investment today, April 5, to support the company's weekly shipping service from Halifax to Boston and Portland. "Strong transportation links are the key for exporting our products to international markets, and for economic growth," said Percy Paris, Minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. "This investment will create good jobs and help to make Nova Scotia businesses be more competitive, and that's what jobsHere is all about." This investment supports up to 40 direct and indirect jobs, and is designed to compete for a share of the global supply chain with New England estimated to be roughly 240,000 containers a year that are now moving by truck or rail through other North American ports. Capturing a piece of this market represents a tremendous business opportunity. "American Feeder Lines International truly appreciates this support from Nova Scotia and the Port of Halifax in our endeavour to serve the Canadian and New England market," said Floyd Long, company director of Finance. "Our weekly service provides fast transit times and connects with direct routes serving Asia and Europe, resulting in additional container volume both today and tomorrow." Working in partnership with the Halifax Port Authority, this additional trade route into the New England market further strengthens the Port of Halifax's position as a strategic entry and exit point for goods going to and from North America. "This loan guarantee will ensure American Feeder Lines has the financing available to aggressively market their service which is an important trade link between Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada and New England," said Paul MacIsaac, senior vice president of the Halifax Port Authority. The Nova Scotia Jobs Fund pursues investment opportunities for communities in transition, industry sectors, regional support, small businesses programs, infrastructure and large industrial ventures. March 19, 2012 - HALIFAX, N.S. - Hapag-Lloyd has renamed one of its vessels after the Port of Halifax. Hapag-Lloyd, a leading global container shipping company, has been calling the Port of Halifax for over 40 years. This is the first time a container vessel has been named after the Port of Halifax. The Halifax Express is a Dallas Express Class vessel and has capacity for 4,890 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The Halifax Express joins six other Dallas Express Class vessels including: the Dallas Express, Oakland Express, Rotterdam Express, Seoul Express, Singapore Express and Tokyo Express. A celebration was held onboard the ship today to commemorate the naming. To see what route the Halifax Express takes, please visit www.halifaxgetsitthere.com and click on route maps. We want to address questions about the Port of Halifax head on. First, the Halifax port community is focused on growing our diverse port and no terminals are closing or relocating. We have a Strategic Plan in place to develop and, when required, expand our current facilities and we will continue to advance that plan in close cooperation with port and community partners. For approximately seven years, we have been asked to comment about other proposed port developments in Nova Scotia. Our focus has remained on building the Port of Halifax. Over the past five years alone, the Halifax Port Authority has invested over $147 million on world class infrastructure. Our business is extremely diverse and very strong. This is why the Standard & Poors Rating Agency has given the Halifax Port Authority an “A” stable rating, the first commercial credit rating achieved by a Canadian Port. One component of our business, containerized cargo, is highly subject to the world economy which has been extremely volatile over the past few years. It has been suggested that the Halterm-operated terminal should close and merge with Ceres, or move to Shearwater, or move to another part of the Province, to make room for residential and commercial development on the south end land. Cargo terminals in Halifax are on federal land and the HPA manages these port assets with private sector operators. Both terminals are a key part of the Port's long-term plan. Thanks to major private, Federal and HPA investments, both terminals are well-positioned "big ship" container terminals with capacity to triple volumes then expand to adjacent land as cargo grows. The Halifax Port Authority, terminal operators and the rest of the port community have no interest in doing anything other than continuing the existing strategy of developing what we currently have. The Halifax Gateway Council, CN, labour unions, warehouse operators, trucking companies and many others in the supply chain have urged us to stick to our plan. We are focused on continued investment in our existing port facilities. As required by the Canada Marine Act, the Board of Directors (including representatives of the Municipal, Provincial and Federal governments plus Port users) along with the Senior Management Team at the Halifax Port Authority have formed, and are executing a Strategic Plan. This work will continue. We have invited all the declared mayoralty candidates to visit the port for briefings and tours. We will keep all of them apprised of our strategic plan going forward. We’re in this for the long haul along with a committed port community. March 8, 2012 – Boston, MA – The Port of Halifax’s business development team will be at the International Boston Seafood Show from Sunday, March 11 until Tuesday, March 13 to promote the port’s seafood handling capabilities. This event is the largest seafood showcase in North America. This year’s show will feature about 900 exhibits of fresh, frozen and packaged seafood products as well as processing equipment and service providers. Last year’s event drew 18,000 attendees from 120 countries. While in Boston, a special event with New England businesses is planned in conjunction with American Feeder Lines and the New England ports involved in the shipments on that service. The American Feeder Lines service provides a vital link between New England and Halifax, allowing shippers to access world-wide markets through the Port of Halifax. Seafood exports at the Port of Halifax exceeded 15,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2011 and accounted for 9.1 per cent of total containerized export tonnage. The Port is well-equipped with 1,000 reefer plugs to accommodate temperature-controlled cargo at its two container terminals – Fairview Cove and the South End Container Terminals. The Port will be exhibiting at booth #1370 all three days. February 29, 2012 – HALIFAX, N.S. – “Reliable. Efficient. Effective. Get it there with the Port of Halifax.” That’s the message the Port is spreading to existing and potential containerized cargo customers with a new, dedicated containerized cargo website. HalifaxGetsItThere.com is the Port’s new containerized-cargo-focused website with features that are currently unrivalled in the shipping industry. Customers can use tools such as the Transit Time Calculator – an industry first – to enter the origin, destination and inland transportation mode of their goods to determine the total transit time for their imports via the Port of Halifax. Using the Route Maps and Transit Time Calculator tools on the site, visitors can gain a clearer understanding for why Halifax has become a key link in many shippers’ supply chains. For instance, while it may seem quicker to route all Asian cargo through the west coast of North America, port congestion, terminal and rail dwell, and inland rail or truck haul are all factors that eat away at any initial on-the-water time savings. This website, supported by a digital and print ad campaign, is one element of the Port's cargo strategy to connect with cargo owners, shipping lines and third-party logistics providers. With faster inland transit to Central Canada and the Midwest by rail or road than any other east coast port, the Port of Halifax is touting its efficiencies that make the total transit time a competitive offering for many cargo customers. February 24, 2012 – CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The Port of Halifax is participating in the International Potato Technology Expo in Charlottetown today and tomorrow to pitch its diverse cargo handling capabilities to Prince Edward Island’s agricultural community. “Potato products are among the highest-volume export commodities shipped via the Port of Halifax,” said Patrick Bohan, Manager of Business Development for the Halifax Port Authority. “This event provides the Port of Halifax with an opportunity to profile its cargo handling capabilities to a large portion of the industry in Prince Edward Island, including goods and services providers,” said Bohan. Each year about 5,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of potato product are exported through the Port of Halifax. The Port is investing in infrastructure to serve this industry even better. The International Potato Technology Expo will also include farm equipment dealers and soybean growers. Many potato farmers alternate their crops between potatoes and soybeans annually. The Expo runs from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. today and 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Charlottetown Civic Centre. You can visit the Port of Halifax in the main exhibition building at booth 324B. February 8, 2012 – HALIFAX, N.S. – The Port of Halifax today released its preliminary 2012 cruise season schedule with ships visiting from April through October. This season, Halifax will have six new ships calling for the first time and two turnarounds with cruise ships starting their voyage in Halifax. The first two ships to call Halifax this year will be Titanic-themed cruises, visiting to commemorate one of the greatest maritime disasters in history. Marking 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic, Azamara Journey will visit Halifax for the first time on April 12 as the first vessel of the season. On April 16, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ Balmoral will make an overnight stay. Other vessels making their inaugural calls in 2012 include: Sun Princess (July 18), Norwegian Gem (Sept. 10), Quest for Adventure (Sept. 16) and Artania (Oct. 7). Quest for Adventure, operated by Saga Cruises, will make two turnaround calls – one during its inaugural on Sept. 16 and another on Oct. 1. Halifax is predominantly a port of call destination, but these turnaround calls will have passengers begin their cruise from Halifax. “These turnaround cruises are a chance for Atlantic Canadians who have been looking to depart on a cruise ship from Halifax on a cruise to do just that,” said McGrail. The season will wrap up on Oct. 30 when Seven Seas Navigator and Emerald Princess visit for the day. The Halifax cruise industry contributes approximately $50 million annually in direct expenditures to the local economy. Go to www.cruisehalifax.ca for the full 2012 schedule.

2019-04-26T13:58:33Z

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Afghanistan - Kabul Kabul is 3 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Albania - Tirane Tirane is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Algeria - Algiers Algiers is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. American Samoa - Pago Pago Pago Pago is 19 hours behind Choibalsan. Andorra - Andorra La Vella Andorra La Vella is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Angola - Luanda Luanda is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Anguilla - The Valley The Valley is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Antigua and Barbuda - Saint Johns Saint Johns is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Buenos Aires - La Plata La Plata is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Buenos Aires - Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Mendoza - Mendoza Mendoza is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Salta - Salta Salta is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Santa Fe - Rosario Rosario is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Argentina - Tucuman - Tucuman Tucuman is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Armenia - Yerevan Yerevan is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Aruba - Oranjestad Oranjestad is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Australia - ACT - Canberra Canberra is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Christmas Island - The Settlement The Settlement is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Australia - Lord Howe Island - Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island is 2 hours, 30 minutes ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - New South Wales - Sydney Sydney is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Northern Territory - Darwin Darwin is 1 hour, 30 minutes ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Queensland - Brisbane Brisbane is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - South Australia - Adelaide Adelaide is 1 hour, 30 minutes ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Tasmania - Hobart Hobart is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Victoria - Melbourne Melbourne is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Australia - Western Australia - Perth There is no time difference between Perth and Choibalsan. Austria - Salzburg Salzburg is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Austria - Vienna Vienna is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Azerbaijan - Baku Baku is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Bahamas - Nassau Nassau is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Bahrain - Manama Manama is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Bangladesh - Chittagong Chittagong is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Bangladesh - Dhaka Dhaka is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Bangladesh - Khulna Khulna is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Barbados - Bridgetown Bridgetown is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Belarus - Minsk Minsk is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Belgium - Brussels Brussels is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Belize - Belmopan Belmopan is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Benin - Porto Novo Porto Novo is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Bermuda - Hamilton (Bermuda) Hamilton (Bermuda) is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Bhutan - Thimphu Thimphu is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Bolivia - La Paz La Paz is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Bosnia Herzegovina - Sarajevo Sarajevo is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Botswana - Gaborone Gaborone is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Acre - Rio Branco Rio Branco is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Amazonas - Manaus Manaus is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Bahia - Salvador Salvador is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Distrito Federal - Brasilia Brasilia is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Pernambuco - Fernando de Noronha Fernando de Noronha is 10 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Pernambuco - Recife Recife is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul - Porto Alegre Porto Alegre is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Brazil - Sao Paulo - Sao Paulo Sao Paulo is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. British Virgin Islands - Tortola - Road Town Road Town is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Brunei - Bandar Seri Begawan There is no time difference between Bandar Seri Begawan and Choibalsan. Bulgaria - Sofia Sofia is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou Ouagadougou is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Burundi - Bujumbura Bujumbura is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Cambodia - Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Cameroon - Yaounde Yaounde is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Alberta - Calgary Calgary is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Alberta - Edmonton Edmonton is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - British Columbia - Surrey Surrey is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - British Columbia - Vancouver Vancouver is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - British Columbia - Victoria Victoria is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Manitoba - Winnipeg Winnipeg is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - New Brunswick - Saint John Saint John is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Newfoundland and Labrador - St. Johns St. Johns is 10 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Canada - Northwest Territories - Yellowknife Yellowknife is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Nova Scotia - Halifax Halifax is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Nunavut Territory - Iqaluit Iqaluit is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Brampton Brampton is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Hamilton (Canada) Hamilton (Canada) is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - London (Canada) London (Canada) is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Markham Markham is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Mississauga Mississauga is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Ottawa Ottawa is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Toronto Toronto is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Ontario - Windsor Windsor is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Pr.Edward I - Charlottetown Charlottetown is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Quebec - Gatineau Gatineau is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Quebec - Laval Laval is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Quebec - Longueuil Longueuil is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Quebec - Montreal Montreal is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Quebec - Quebec Quebec is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Saskatchewan - Regina Regina is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Saskatchewan - Saskatoon Saskatoon is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Canada - Yukon Territory - Whitehorse Whitehorse is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Cape Verde - Praia Praia is 9 hours behind Choibalsan. Cayman Islands - George Town(Cayman Islands) George Town(Cayman Islands) is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Central African Republic - Bangui Bangui is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Chad - Ndjamena Ndjamena is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Chile - Easter Island Easter Island is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Chile - Santiago Santiago is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. China - Beijing Municipality - Beijing There is no time difference between Beijing and Choibalsan. China - Chongqing Municipality - Chongqing There is no time difference between Chongqing and Choibalsan. China - Fujian - Foochow There is no time difference between Foochow and Choibalsan. China - Gansu - Lanchow There is no time difference between Lanchow and Choibalsan. China - Guangdong - Shenzhen There is no time difference between Shenzhen and Choibalsan. China - Guizhou - Guiyang There is no time difference between Guiyang and Choibalsan. China - Hebei - Shijiazhuang There is no time difference between Shijiazhuang and Choibalsan. China - Hebei - Tangshan There is no time difference between Tangshan and Choibalsan. China - Heilongjiang - Harbin There is no time difference between Harbin and Choibalsan. China - Heilongjiang - Qiqihar There is no time difference between Qiqihar and Choibalsan. China - Henan - Luoyang There is no time difference between Luoyang and Choibalsan. China - Henan - Zhengzhou There is no time difference between Zhengzhou and Choibalsan. China - Hubei - Wuhan There is no time difference between Wuhan and Choibalsan. China - Hunan - Changsha There is no time difference between Changsha and Choibalsan. China - Inner Mongolia - Baotou There is no time difference between Baotou and Choibalsan. China - Jiangxi - Nanchang There is no time difference between Nanchang and Choibalsan. China - Jilin - Changchun There is no time difference between Changchun and Choibalsan. China - Jilin - Jilin There is no time difference between Jilin and Choibalsan. China - Liaoning - Anshan There is no time difference between Anshan and Choibalsan. China - Liaoning - Dalian There is no time difference between Dalian and Choibalsan. China - Liaoning - Fushun There is no time difference between Fushun and Choibalsan. China - Liaoning - Jinzhou There is no time difference between Jinzhou and Choibalsan. China - Macau - Macau There is no time difference between Macau and Choibalsan. China - Shaanxi - Sian There is no time difference between Sian and Choibalsan. China - Shandong - Jinan There is no time difference between Jinan and Choibalsan. China - Shandong - Tsingtao There is no time difference between Tsingtao and Choibalsan. China - Shandong - Zibo There is no time difference between Zibo and Choibalsan. China - Shanghai Municipality - Shanghai There is no time difference between Shanghai and Choibalsan. China - Shanxi - Taiyuan There is no time difference between Taiyuan and Choibalsan. China - Sichuan - Chengdu There is no time difference between Chengdu and Choibalsan. China - Tianjin Municipality - Tianjin There is no time difference between Tianjin and Choibalsan. China - Tibet - Lhasa There is no time difference between Lhasa and Choibalsan. China - Yunnan - Kunming There is no time difference between Kunming and Choibalsan. China - Zhejiang - Hangzhou There is no time difference between Hangzhou and Choibalsan. Colombia - Bogota Bogota is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Colombia - Cali Cali is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Colombia - Medellin Medellin is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Comoros - Moroni Moroni is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Congo - Brazzaville Brazzaville is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Congo Dem. Rep. - Kinshasa Kinshasa is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Congo Dem. Rep. - Lubumbashi Lubumbashi is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Cook Islands - Rarotonga Rarotonga is 18 hours behind Choibalsan. Costa Rica - San Jose (Costa Rica) San Jose (Costa Rica) is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Cote dIvoire - Abidjan Abidjan is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Cote dIvoire - Yamoussoukro Yamoussoukro is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Croatia - Zagreb Zagreb is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Cuba - Havana Havana is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Curacao - Willemstad Willemstad is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Cyprus - Nicosia Nicosia is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Czech Republic - Prague Prague is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Denmark - Copenhagen Copenhagen is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Djibouti - Djibouti Djibouti is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Dominica - Roseau Roseau is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Dominican Republic - Santo Domingo Santo Domingo is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Ecuador - Galapagos Islands Galapagos Islands is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Ecuador - Guayaquil Guayaquil is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Ecuador - Quito Quito is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Egypt - Al Jizah Al Jizah is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Egypt - Alexandria Alexandria is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Egypt - Cairo Cairo is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. El Salvador - San Salvador San Salvador is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. El Salvador - Santa Ana Santa Ana is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Equatorial Guinea - Malabo Malabo is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Eritrea - Asmara Asmara is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Estonia - Tallinn Tallinn is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Ethiopia - Addis Ababa Addis Ababa is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Falkland Islands - Stanley Stanley is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. Faroe Islands - Faroe Islands - Torshavn Torshavn is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Fiji - Suva Suva is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Finland - Helsinki Helsinki is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. France - Nice Nice is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. France - Paris Paris is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. France - Corsica - Bastia Bastia is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. French Guiana - Cayenne Cayenne is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. French Polynesia - Gambier Islands Gambier Islands is 17 hours behind Choibalsan. French Polynesia - Marquesas Islands - Taiohae Taiohae is 17 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. French Polynesia - Tahiti - Papeete Papeete is 18 hours behind Choibalsan. French Southern Territories - Port-aux-Francais Port-aux-Francais is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Gabon - Libreville Libreville is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Gambia - Banjul Banjul is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Gaza Strip - Gaza Gaza is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Georgia - Tbilisi Tbilisi is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - Baden-Wurttemberg - Stuttgart Stuttgart is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - Bavaria - Munich Munich is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - Berlin - Berlin Berlin is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - Hamburg - Hamburg Hamburg is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - Hesse - Frankfurt Frankfurt is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Germany - North Rhine-Westphalia - Dusseldorf Dusseldorf is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Ghana - Accra Accra is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Gibraltar - Gibraltar Gibraltar is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Greece - Athens Athens is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Greenland - Nuuk Nuuk is 10 hours behind Choibalsan. Grenada - Saint Georges Saint Georges is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Guadeloupe - Basse-Terre Basse-Terre is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Guatemala - Guatemala Guatemala is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Guinea - Conakry Conakry is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Guinea Bissau - Bissau Bissau is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Guyana - Georgetown Georgetown is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Haiti - Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Honduras - Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Hong Kong - Hong Kong There is no time difference between Hong Kong and Choibalsan. Hong Kong - Kowloon There is no time difference between Kowloon and Choibalsan. Hungary - Budapest Budapest is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Iceland - Reykjavik Reykjavik is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. India - Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Bihar - Patna Patna is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Chandigarh - Chandigarh Chandigarh is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Delhi - New Delhi New Delhi is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Gujarat - Ahmedabad Ahmedabad is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Gujarat - Surat Surat is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Gujarat - Vadodara Vadodara is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Karnataka - Bangalore Bangalore is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Madhya Pradesh - Indore Indore is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Maharashtra - Mumbai Mumbai is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Maharashtra - Nagpur Nagpur is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Maharashtra - Pune Pune is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Orissa - Bhubaneshwar Bhubaneshwar is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Punjab - Ludhiana Ludhiana is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Rajasthan - Jaipur Jaipur is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Tamil Nadu - Chennai Chennai is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Telangana - Hyderabad Hyderabad is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Uttar Pradesh - Agra Agra is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Uttar Pradesh - Kanpur Kanpur is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow Lucknow is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - Uttar Pradesh - Varanasi Varanasi is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. India - West Bengal - Kolkata Kolkata is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Bali - Denpasar There is no time difference between Denpasar and Choibalsan. Indonesia - Bali - Singaraja There is no time difference between Singaraja and Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Bandung Bandung is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Jakarta Jakarta is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Malang Malang is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Semarang Semarang is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Surabaya Surabaya is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Java - Surakarta Surakarta is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Kalimantan - Balikpapan There is no time difference between Balikpapan and Choibalsan. Indonesia - Lombok - Mataram There is no time difference between Mataram and Choibalsan. Indonesia - Papua - Jayapura Jayapura is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Indonesia - Sumatra - Medan Medan is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - Sumatra - Palembang Palembang is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Indonesia - East Nusa Tenggara - Kupang There is no time difference between Kupang and Choibalsan. Iran - Esfahan Esfahan is 3 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Iran - Tehran Tehran is 3 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Iran - Yazd Yazd is 3 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Iraq - Baghdad Baghdad is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Iraq - Basra Basra is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Ireland - Dublin Dublin is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Israel - Jerusalem Jerusalem is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Israel - Tel Aviv Tel Aviv is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Italy - Milan Milan is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Italy - Naples Naples is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Italy - Rome Rome is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Italy - Turin Turin is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Italy - Venice Venice is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Jamaica - Kingston (Jamaica) Kingston (Jamaica) is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Japan - Fukuoka Fukuoka is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Hiroshima Hiroshima is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Kawasaki Kawasaki is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Kitakyushu Kitakyushu is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Kobe Kobe is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Kyoto Kyoto is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Nagoya Nagoya is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Okayama Okayama is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Osaka Osaka is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Sapporo Sapporo is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Sendai Sendai is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Tokyo Tokyo is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Japan - Yokohama Yokohama is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Jordan - Amman Amman is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Kazakhstan - Almaty Almaty is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Kazakhstan - Aqtau Aqtau is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Kazakhstan - Aqtobe Aqtobe is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Kazakhstan - Astana Astana is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Kenya - Nairobi Nairobi is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Kiribati - Tarawa Tarawa is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Kiribati - Christmas Islands - Kiritimati Kiritimati is 6 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Kiribati - Phoenix Islands - Rawaki Rawaki is 5 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Kosovo - Pristina Pristina is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Kuwait - Kuwait City Kuwait City is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek Bishkek is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Laos - Vientiane Vientiane is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Latvia - Riga Riga is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Lebanon - Beirut Beirut is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Lesotho - Maseru Maseru is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Liberia - Monrovia Monrovia is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Libya - Tripoli Tripoli is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Liechtenstein - Vaduz Vaduz is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Lithuania - Kaunas Kaunas is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Lithuania - Vilnius Vilnius is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Luxembourg - Luxembourg Luxembourg is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Macedonia - Skopje Skopje is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Madagascar - Antananarivo Antananarivo is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Malawi - Lilongwe Lilongwe is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur There is no time difference between Kuala Lumpur and Choibalsan. Maldives - Male Male is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Mali - Bamako Bamako is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Malta - Valletta Valletta is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Marshall Islands - Majuro Majuro is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Martinique - Fort-de-France Fort-de-France is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Mauritania - Nouakchott Nouakchott is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Mauritius - Port Louis Port Louis is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Mayotte - Mamoutzou Mamoutzou is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Aguascalientes - Aguascalientes Aguascalientes is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Baja California - Mexicali Mexicali is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Baja California - Tijuana Tijuana is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Chihuahua - Chihuahua Chihuahua is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Federal District - Mexico City Mexico City is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Guanajuato - Leon Leon is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Guerrero - Acapulco Acapulco is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Jalisco - Guadalajara Guadalajara is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Nuevo Leon - Monterrey Monterrey is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Quintana Roo - Cancun Cancun is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - San Luis Potosi - San Luis Potosi San Luis Potosi is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Sinaloa - Mazatlan Mazatlan is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Veracruz - Veracruz Veracruz is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Mexico - Yucatan - Merida Merida is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Micronesia - Pohnpei - Palikir Palikir is 3 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Moldova - Kishinev Kishinev is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Monaco - Monaco Monaco is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Mongolia - Hovd Hovd is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar There is no time difference between Ulaanbaatar and Choibalsan. Montenegro - Podgorica Podgorica is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Montserrat - Brades Brades is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Morocco - Casablanca Casablanca is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Morocco - Rabat Rabat is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Morocco - Tangier Tangier is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Mozambique - Maputo Maputo is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Myanmar - Yangon Yangon is 1 hour, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Namibia - Windhoek Windhoek is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Nauru - Yaren Yaren is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Nepal - Kathmandu Kathmandu is 2 hours, 15 minutes behind Choibalsan. Netherlands - Amsterdam Amsterdam is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Netherlands - Rotterdam Rotterdam is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. New Caledonia - New Caledonia - Noumea Noumea is 3 hours ahead of Choibalsan. New Zealand - Auckland Auckland is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. New Zealand - Chatham Island Chatham Island is 4 hours, 45 minutes ahead of Choibalsan. New Zealand - Christchurch Christchurch is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. New Zealand - Wellington Wellington is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Nicaragua - Managua Managua is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Niger - Niamey Niamey is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Nigeria - Abuja Abuja is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Nigeria - Kano Nigeria Kano Nigeria is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Nigeria - Lagos Lagos is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Niue - Alofi Alofi is 19 hours behind Choibalsan. Norfolk Island - Kingston Kingston is 3 hours, 30 minutes ahead of Choibalsan. North Korea - Pyongyang Pyongyang is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Norway - Oslo Oslo is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Oman - Muscat Muscat is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Faisalabad Faisalabad is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Islamabad Islamabad is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Karachi Karachi is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Lahore Lahore is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Peshawar Peshawar is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Pakistan - Sialkot Sialkot is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Palau - Koror Koror is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Panama - Panama Panama is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Papua New Guinea - Port Moresby Port Moresby is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Paraguay - Asuncion Asuncion is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Peru - Lima - Lima Lima is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. Philippines - Cebu City There is no time difference between Cebu City and Choibalsan. Philippines - Manila There is no time difference between Manila and Choibalsan. Pitcairn Islands - Adamstown Adamstown is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Gdansk Gdansk is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Krakow Krakow is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Lodz Lodz is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Poznan Poznan is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Szczecin Szczecin is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Warsaw Warsaw is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Poland - Wroclaw Wroclaw is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Portugal - Azores Azores is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Portugal - Lisbon Lisbon is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Portugal - Porto Porto is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Portugal - Madeira - Funchal Funchal is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Puerto Rico - San Juan San Juan is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Qatar - Doha Doha is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Reunion (French) - Saint-Denis Saint-Denis is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Romania - Bucharest Bucharest is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Anadyr Anadyr is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Russia - Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Kaliningrad Kaliningrad is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Kazan Kazan is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Russia - Moscow Moscow is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Murmansk Murmansk is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Novgorod Novgorod is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Russia - Omsk Omsk is 2 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Perm Perm is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Russia - Saint-Petersburg Saint-Petersburg is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Samara Samara is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Sochi Sochi is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Ufa Ufa is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Vladivostok Vladivostok is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Russia - Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Russia - Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is 3 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Rwanda - Kigali Kigali is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Saint Kitts and Nevis - Basseterre Basseterre is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Saint Lucia - Castries Castries is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Saint Vincent Grenadines - Kingstown Kingstown is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Samoa - Apia Apia is 5 hours ahead of Choibalsan. San Marino - San Marino San Marino is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Sao Tome and Principe - Sao Tome Sao Tome is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Saudi Arabia - Jeddah Jeddah is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Saudi Arabia - Mecca Mecca is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Saudi Arabia - Riyadh Riyadh is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Senegal - Dakar Dakar is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Serbia - Belgrade Belgrade is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Seychelles - Victoria (Seychelles) Victoria (Seychelles) is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Sierra Leone - Freetown Freetown is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Singapore - Singapore There is no time difference between Singapore and Choibalsan. Slovakia - Bratislava Bratislava is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Slovenia - Ljubljana Ljubljana is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Solomon Islands - Honiara Honiara is 3 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Somalia - Mogadishu Mogadishu is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. South Africa - Cape Town Cape Town is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. South Africa - Durban Durban is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. South Africa - Johannesburg Johannesburg is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. South Africa - Port Elizabeth Port Elizabeth is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. South Africa - Pretoria Pretoria is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. South Korea - Busan Busan is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. South Korea - Incheon Incheon is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. South Korea - Seoul Seoul is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. South Korea - Taegu Taegu is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. South Sudan - Juba Juba is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - Cordoba Cordoba is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - La Coruna La Coruna is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - Madrid Madrid is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - Barcelona - Barcelona Barcelona is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - Canary Islands - Las Palmas Las Palmas is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Spain - Majorca - Palma Palma is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Sri Lanka - Colombo Colombo is 2 hours, 30 minutes behind Choibalsan. Sudan - Khartoum Khartoum is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Suriname - Paramaribo Paramaribo is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. eSwatini - Mbabane Mbabane is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Sweden - Stockholm Stockholm is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Switzerland - Basel Basel is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Switzerland - Bern Bern is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Switzerland - Geneva Geneva is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Switzerland - Lausanne Lausanne is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Switzerland - Zurich Zurich is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Syria - Damascus Damascus is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Taiwan - Kaohsiung There is no time difference between Kaohsiung and Choibalsan. Taiwan - Taipei There is no time difference between Taipei and Choibalsan. Tajikistan - Dushanbe Dushanbe is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Tanzania - Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Tanzania - Dodoma Dodoma is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Thailand - Bangkok Bangkok is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Thailand - Khon Kaen Khon Kaen is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Timor Leste - Dili Dili is 1 hour ahead of Choibalsan. Togo - Lome Lome is 8 hours behind Choibalsan. Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo Fakaofo is 6 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Tonga - Nukualofa Nukualofa is 5 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Trinidad and Tobago - Port of Spain Port of Spain is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Tunisia - Tunis Tunis is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Turkey - Ankara Ankara is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Turkey - Istanbul Istanbul is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Turkey - Izmir Izmir is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Turkmenistan - Ashgabat Ashgabat is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Tuvalu - Funafuti Funafuti is 4 hours ahead of Choibalsan. UAE - Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. UAE - Dubai - Dubai Dubai is 4 hours behind Choibalsan. Uganda - Kampala Kampala is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - England - Birmingham (UK) Birmingham (UK) is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - England - Liverpool Liverpool is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - England - London London is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - England - Southampton Southampton is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - Northern Ireland - Belfast Belfast is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - Scotland - Edinburgh Edinburgh is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - Scotland - Glasgow Glasgow is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. UK - Wales - Cardiff Cardiff is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Ukraine - Kiev Kiev is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Ukraine - Odesa Odesa is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Uruguay - Montevideo Montevideo is 11 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alabama - Birmingham (US) Birmingham (US) is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alabama - Mobile Mobile is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alabama - Montgomery Montgomery is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Adak Adak is 17 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Anchorage Anchorage is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Fairbanks Fairbanks is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Juneau Juneau is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Nome Nome is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Alaska - Unalaska Unalaska is 16 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Arizona - Mesa Mesa is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Arizona - Phoenix Phoenix is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Arizona - Tucson Tucson is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Arkansas - Little Rock Little Rock is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Anaheim Anaheim is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Fresno Fresno is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Long Beach Long Beach is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Los Angeles Los Angeles is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Oakland Oakland is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Riverside Riverside is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Sacramento Sacramento is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - San Bernardino San Bernardino is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - San Diego San Diego is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - San Francisco San Francisco is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - San Jose San Jose is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - California - Stockton Stockton is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Colorado - Aurora Aurora is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Colorado - Denver Denver is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Connecticut - Hartford Hartford is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Delaware - Dover Dover is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - District of Columbia - Washington DC Washington DC is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - Jacksonville Jacksonville is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - Miami Miami is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - Orlando Orlando is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - Pensacola Pensacola is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - St. Petersburg St. Petersburg is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Florida - Tampa Tampa is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Georgia - Atlanta Atlanta is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Hawaii - Honolulu Honolulu is 18 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Idaho - Boise Boise is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Illinois - Chicago Chicago is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Indiana - Indianapolis Indianapolis is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Iowa - Des Moines Des Moines is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Kansas - Topeka Topeka is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Kansas - Wichita Wichita is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Kentucky - Frankfort Frankfort is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Kentucky - Lexington-Fayette Lexington-Fayette is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Kentucky - Louisville Louisville is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Louisiana - Baton Rouge Baton Rouge is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Louisiana - New Orleans New Orleans is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Maine - Augusta Augusta is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Mariana Islands - Guam Guam is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. USA - Maryland - Baltimore Baltimore is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Massachusetts - Boston Boston is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Michigan - Detroit Detroit is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Minnesota - Minneapolis Minneapolis is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Minnesota - Saint Paul Saint Paul is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Mississippi - Jackson Jackson is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Missouri - Jefferson City Jefferson City is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Missouri - Kansas City Kansas City is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Missouri - St. Louis St. Louis is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Montana - Billings Billings is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Montana - Helena Helena is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Nebraska - Lincoln Lincoln is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Nevada - Carson City Carson City is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Nevada - Las Vegas Las Vegas is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Hampshire - Concord Concord is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Jersey - Jersey City Jersey City is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Jersey - Newark Newark is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Jersey - Trenton Trenton is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Mexico - Albuquerque Albuquerque is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New Mexico - Santa Fe Santa Fe is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New York - Albany Albany is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New York - Buffalo Buffalo is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New York - New York New York is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - New York - Rochester Rochester is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - North Carolina - Charlotte Charlotte is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - North Carolina - Raleigh Raleigh is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - North Dakota - Bismarck Bismarck is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Northern Mariana Islands - Saipan Saipan is 2 hours ahead of Choibalsan. USA - Ohio - Akron Akron is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Ohio - Cincinnati Cincinnati is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Ohio - Cleveland Cleveland is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Ohio - Columbus Columbus is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Ohio - Toledo Toledo is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Oklahoma - Oklahoma City Oklahoma City is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Oregon - Portland Portland is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Oregon - Salem Salem is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Pennsylvania - Harrisburg Harrisburg is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia Philadelphia is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Pittsburgh is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Rhode Island - Providence Providence is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - South Carolina - Columbia Columbia is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - South Dakota - Pierre Pierre is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - South Dakota - Sioux Falls Sioux Falls is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Tennessee - Knoxville Knoxville is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Tennessee - Memphis Memphis is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Tennessee - Nashville Nashville is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - Arlington Arlington is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - Austin Austin is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - Dallas Dallas is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - El Paso El Paso is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - Fort Worth Fort Worth is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - Houston Houston is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Texas - San Antonio San Antonio is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Utah - Salt Lake City Salt Lake City is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Vermont - Montpelier Montpelier is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Virginia - Norfolk Norfolk is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Virginia - Richmond Richmond is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Virginia - Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Washington - Seattle Seattle is 15 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - West Virginia - Charleston Charleston is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Wisconsin - Madison Madison is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Wisconsin - Milwaukee Milwaukee is 13 hours behind Choibalsan. USA - Wyoming - Cheyenne Cheyenne is 14 hours behind Choibalsan. Uzbekistan - Tashkent Tashkent is 3 hours behind Choibalsan. Vanuatu - Port Vila Port Vila is 3 hours ahead of Choibalsan. Vatican City State - Vatican City Vatican City is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Venezuela - Caracas Caracas is 12 hours behind Choibalsan. Vietnam - Hanoi Hanoi is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh Ho Chi Minh is 1 hour behind Choibalsan. West Bank - Bethlehem Bethlehem is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Western Sahara - El Aaiun El Aaiun is 7 hours behind Choibalsan. Yemen - Aden Aden is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Yemen - Sana Sana is 5 hours behind Choibalsan. Zambia - Lusaka Lusaka is 6 hours behind Choibalsan. Zimbabwe - Harare Harare is 6 hours behind Choibalsan.

2019-04-20T02:12:55Z

https://www.happyzebra.com/timezones-worldclock/currentlocal.php?city=Choibalsan

THOMSON, CHARLES EDWARD POULETT, 1st Baron SYDENHAM, colonial administrator; b. 13 Sept. 1799 at Waverley Abbey, England, third son and youngest of nine children of John Poulett Thomson and Charlotte Jacob; d. unmarried 19 Sept. 1841 in Kingston, Upper Canada. Charles Edward Poulett Thomson’s father was a partner in J. Thomson, T. Bonar and Company of London and St Petersburg (Leningrad, U.S.S.R.), for several generations a principal merchant house in the Russian-Baltic trade. After attending private schools until age 16, Thomson entered the family firm at St Petersburg. In 1817 he came home because of poor health and embarked on a prolonged tour of southern Europe. Following a stint in the firm’s London office he returned to Russia in 1821 and over the next three years travelled extensively in eastern Europe. He established permanent residence in London in 1824 but frequently visited the Continent, especially Paris. As “the youngest and prettiest child of the family,” according to a brother, George Julius Poulett Scrope (Thomson), Thomson had been “the spoilt pet of all” and early evinced self-confidence and ambition. The diarist Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville described him as “the greatest coxcomb I ever saw, and the vainest dog.” Certainly Thomson aped the manners of the aristocracy. His “love of great society” earned him the censure of his fellow merchants and members of his own family. Single, chiefly – his brother claimed – because he was in failing health and incessantly occupied, he was known as a sensualist. In the Canadas his establishment would, in the words of the author John Richardson*, “acknowledge . . . the sway of at least one mistress.” Married or single, all women “excited his homage,” but the “attentions” he devoted to a married woman in Toronto, Richardson recorded, “were so very marked, that the scandalous circles rang with them.” He was also a gourmet who would try to introduce “French cookery” in the colonies. Thomson was not content with the career marked out for him, and he was not a particularly successful businessman. In 1825 he was saved from disaster in a speculative venture only by the caution of an elder brother, Andrew Henry. Although fluent in French, German, Russian, and Italian, Thomson was barred from the foreign service, which was staffed by the great landed families. Nor was he sufficiently wealthy to buy his way into the aristocracy. Through his early support for parliamentary reform and liberal measures such as the ballot and the abolition of the corn laws, Thomson would reveal the resentment and frustration engendered by his uncertain status in the aristocratic society he frequented. An early advocate of free trade, Thomson naturally became a friend of the Benthamites and was elected to the Political Economy Club. In 1825 Joseph Hume helped him secure the liberal nomination in Dover, and Jeremy Bentham canvassed for him during the election of May 1826. Thomson won, but only at great financial cost, and his election angered his family, who opposed his liberal views. In the House of Commons, according to one critic, Thomson was looked upon as a “bore”; his voice was “thin and effeminate” and his personal appearance “characteristic of a barber’s apprentice.” He rarely spoke on the “exciting party questions of the day,” his brother Scrope noted, and his speeches on commercial matters were considered dogmatic. None the less, Thomson found an important aristocratic patron in John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, who became chancellor of the Exchequer in the Whig administration formed in late 1830; he secured for Thomson the posts of vice-president of the Board of Trade and treasurer of the navy. Since Thomson’s superior at the board, Lord Auckland, was a relative nonentity, Thomson conducted its business. Working closely with Althorp, he helped draft the abortive free trade budget of 1831, thus incurring the undying enmity of protectionists and completely alienating his family. His views were, however, popular with the manufacturing interests in the north of England; although returned for Dover in 1830, 1831, and 1832, he transferred to Manchester, where he was elected without campaigning in 1832 and re-elected in 1834 and 1837. From June until November 1834 and again in the Whig administration formed in April 1835, Thomson served as president of the Board of Trade, opening the department to free traders, making numerous minor reductions in customs regulations, and negotiating trade agreements with several European governments. Thomson expanded the responsibilities of the board and exercised a new control over private bills, especially railway and bank charters; when he sought to exert his authority to supervise colonial legislation, he plunged the Colonial Office into a bitter dispute with the Upper Canadian House of Assembly over currency and banking legislation. In general, Thomson was not directly involved in formulating the cabinet’s response to the political crisis in the Canadas. When news of the rebellions there reached London, he was, according to Lord Howick, “all for executions.” Although once close to Lord Durham [Lambton], he was unsympathetic when Durham resigned after the cabinet failed to defend his ordinance exiling rebels to Bermuda; initially he apparently did not view the Durham report with much enthusiasm. In mid March 1839 he served on the cabinet committee that adopted a proposal for a federal union of the Canadas recommended by Edward Ellice*. After that scheme was abandoned, however, he voted with a slim majority in favour of a legislative union along the lines suggested by Durham. Thomson became increasingly disillusioned with his position in the government, especially when passed over for the chancellorship of the Exchequer in early 1839. His chief complaint, however, was the cabinet’s failure to adopt a major change in economic policy. The conventional Whig approach to finance had left the government virtually bankrupt, and Thomson knew that reforms were necessary. He also knew that he could not persuade the Commons to adopt them and consequently, when finally offered the Exchequer in the summer of 1839, he declined. On 6 September, over the opposition of timber merchants, he was commissioned governor-in-chief of British North America. The Canadian rebels, he predicted, “can’t be more unreasonable than the ultras on both sides of the House of Commons.” He insisted upon the unusually high salary of £7,000, an outfit of £3,000, and substantial casual expenses, and he received the pledge of a peerage if he was successful in his administration. On 23 October Thomson settled in Montreal and reported that, although the province was “quiet,” only the power of the government kept French Canadians from “acts of insubordination.” To discourage disaffection he refused to release from prison the Patriote leader Denis-Benjamin Viger* and had Augustin-Norbert Morin* arrested; he was, however, forced to release Morin because the original warrant for high treason lacked supporting testimony. On 11 November Thomson convened the Special Council, an appointed body of men of proven loyalty which had replaced the legislature after the rebellion of 1837. Only a rump of 15 members braved the snows to assemble in Montreal, and Thomson allowed them merely two days to debate the question of union. The terms he proposed were most unfair to Lower Canada – equal representation for the less populous Upper Canada, the charging of its higher debt against the united province, and a permanent civil list against which the Lower Canadian assembly had long fought – but only three members voted against them. Although Thomson reported that the matter of union was “over with,” John Neilson and others opposed to union raised petitions against it while the francophone press directly attacked “le poulet,” as Thomson was called. In November Thomson departed for Toronto, where he assumed control of the government of Upper Canada on the 22nd. There was considerable hostility to union among officials in the colony, particularly those resident in Toronto, and when Thomson took the oaths of office, John Macaulay* noted, he was greeted with “an abortion of a cheer which was worse than silence.” Thomson sought to dissipate opposition by meeting privately with members of the legislature, which was convened for 3 December. Within Upper Canada Durham’s report had unleashed a broadly based campaign for reform, and Thomson correctly perceived that the “foolish cry for `responsible Govt.’” had gained support because of Lieutenant Governor Sir George Arthur*’s “opposition to all reform and . . . his treating all those who opposed the official party as Democrats and Rebels.” Thomson denounced “any scheme which would render the power of the Governor subordinate to that of a Council,” but he had no objection to Durham’s “practical views of Colonial Government” and promised to administer local matters “in accordance with the wishes of the Legislature.” On this basis he secured the support of the reform minority in the assembly. To the conservative majority Thomson proffered assurance that union and the imperial guarantee of a loan would relieve the colony’s financial embarrassments, and with Arthur’s assistance he won over many moderates. Thomson’s commitment to integrating the French Canadians into the union had led him to seek for the minority “their fair share of the representation.” The terms of union which he extracted from Upper Canada were the best he could get. The proscription of French in written documents was indefensible and ultimately unenforceable, and the equality of representation of the two Canadas was shortsighted, since Upper Canada was bound to grow more rapidly than Lower Canada. The decision to transfer the Upper Canadian debt to the United Province was also unfair, but Thomson correctly pointed out that the sums expended on “the great canals” were “of no less advantage to the Lower than to the Upper Province” and that the costs of completing the canal system would be “very trifling” in view of the long-term return on the investment. Thomson was less optimistic about the prospect of reconciling French Canadians to union. On 18 February he left Toronto and in one of the most rapid journeys ever made by sleigh arrived in Montreal 36 hours later. He insisted that Lower Canada was quiet, that support for union was strong among moderates, and that Vital Têtu, a prominent merchant selected to carry anti-union petitions to London, was “a person of no importance”; yet privately he admitted to Russell that French Canadians would use representative institutions to resist any “practical measure of improvement.” He therefore shoved through the Special Council a series of bills to facilitate union: they incorporated Quebec and Montreal, reorganized the judicial system, established a more efficient police force, and provided for the gradual extinction of seigneurial dues in Montreal. Despite a “few inaccuracies” and an insufficient civil list, Thomson affirmed that the draft of the union bill which he received from Russell in May “will do.” To ensure that French Canadian assemblymen imbibed “English Ideas” he chose Kingston as the capital of the united province, but to obtain French Canadian support he offered Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine* the post of solicitor general, although La Fontaine declined the post. Having been pressured by Bishop Jean-Jacques Lartigue and the French Canadian élite of Montreal, Thomson released Denis-Benjamin Viger from prison in May, and in June he let lapse the suspension of habeas corpus by which means Viger had been held. When members of the English party protested compensation to the Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice for extinction of its seigneurial rights, Thomson denounced the “spirit of intolerance” shown by the British minority, and when he appointed the first corporations for Montreal and Quebec, he ensured that French Canadians were represented, albeit not equally, and selected René-Édouard Caron* as mayor of Quebec. The preference in patronage that he gave to the British of Lower Canada was in part forced on Thomson; he offered positions to French Canadians “whose loyalty is undoubted” and who accepted union as a fait accompli, such as Alexandre-Maurice Delisle* or Melchior-Alphonse de Salaberry*, but few would risk political stigma as vendus. Nevertheless, Thomson’s efforts probably played a part in persuading moderate reformers such as La Fontaine to accept union and to work within the united legislature to achieve their goals. To his “infinite annoyance,” since he was overwhelmed with work and subject to recurring attacks of gout, with which he had been afflicted since age 30, Thomson was forced to depart on 3 July for Nova Scotia and mediate a dispute between Lieutenant Governor Sir Colin Campbell, “playing the dunce at Halifax,” and the House of Assembly. En route he spent two days in the Eastern Townships passing “under triumphal arches.” He assumed control of the government of Nova Scotia on 9 July and recommended remodelling the Executive Council to include leading members from both sides in the assembly and compelling the chief government officials to sit in that house. Even Joseph Howe* proclaimed that Thomson was advising “exactly what the friends of what is called Responsible Government would have created.” Indeed, Howe acknowledged that by including the leading public officers and heads of department in the council Thomson had made “an important refinement” to his own proposals. Ultimately Campbell’s refusal to countenance Thomson’s recommendations resulted in his replacement by Lord Falkland [Cary*]. In late July Thomson visited Prince Edward Island and met with Lieutenant Governor Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy*. Soon after, he accompanied Lieutenant Governor Sir John Harvey* of New Brunswick on a whirlwind tour of Saint John and Fredericton and returned to Halifax full of praise for the “entire harmony” which Harvey, “the Pearl of Civil Governors” in his estimation, had established between the executive and the legislature. Later, however, he changed his view. Faced by acts of aggression from the United States, Thomson had pressured the British government into increasing substantially its garrisons in British North America and its expenditures on defensive works. In late 1840 Harvey’s indecision about the use to be made of troops sent to his command, at his own request, infuriated the more bellicose governor-in-chief, who successfully recommended Harvey’s dismissal. In April 1841 the governor insisted that the British government take an aggressive position with the United States, “whatever the consequences,” in seeking the release of Alexander McLeod*, an Upper Canadian wrongly jailed in New York State for participation in the sinking of the rebel supply ship Caroline in December 1837. By stiffening the resolve of the British government, he contributed to the satisfactory negotiation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. On 19 Aug. 1840 the governor had left Montreal for the Eastern Townships and Upper Canada, visiting more than 40 towns and selecting candidates for the forthcoming elections to the united parliament. During the trip he received a copy of the union act passed by the imperial parliament and discovered that, in order to secure the support of Sir Robert Peel and the Conservative opposition, Russell had omitted from the act arrangements for the creation of municipal institutions and had agreed to alter the distribution of seats in Lower Canada to inflate the number of English constituencies. He told Russell bitterly that he would deplore those concessions “to the end of my life” and considered resigning. He was mollified, however, when he learned of his elevation to the peerage as Baron Sydenham on 19 August, and he declared his intention to “stay and meet the first Parliament.” He also learned that Russell had been compelled to modify his Clergy Reserves Act and allot to the Church of England what Sydenham believed was a “monstrous proportion” of the revenue derived from the reserves. None the less, after a personal appeal to the leadership of the Church of Scotland and to Egerton Ryerson, he remained confident of his ability to “beat both the Ultra Tories and the extreme Radicals” in Upper Canada in the forthcoming elections. He was less certain, however, of Lower Canada, where French Canadian leaders were determined to sabotage the union. Even after reshaping the electoral boundaries of Montreal and Quebec so that both would return representatives from the British commercial community, he predicted that the elections would be “bad” in the lower province, because French Canadians had “forgotten nothing and learnt nothing by the rebellion.” Sydenham therefore used the Special Council to secure passage of 32 measures that he knew the French Canadians would oppose in the united legislature, including one establishing municipal institutions and another a system of land registration long demanded by the British minority. Sydenham proclaimed the union on 10 Feb. 1841, the anniversary of the Treaty of Paris (1763) and of Queen Victoria’s marriage (1840). He had visited Kingston in September 1840 to “patch up a place . . . to meet in the Spring” but, partly because of “a very distressing illness,” was unable to move there until May 1841. His governmental tasks included completing arrangements with the British Treasury for a loan of £1,500,000 to pay off the accumulated debt of the Canadas and finish public works such as the Welland Canal. Even more time-consuming and laborious was the “entire reconstruction” of the administrative departments. Complaining of “the total want of system and power in the conduct of Government, and of the defective state of Departmental administration,” Sydenham agreed with one of Durham’s most important conclusions: the colonial government had to be reorganized to give the executive more effective control over the assembly. In line with recommendations by Durham and with principles, reflecting British practice, laid down by Russell, Sydenham argued that “the Offices of Govt [should be] arranged so as to ensure responsibility in those who are at their head and an efficient discharge of their duties to the Governor and the Public.” Utilizing studies on Lower Canada commissioned by Durham, and on Upper Canada prepared by a royal commission established in 1839 by Arthur, he systematically erected a new departmental framework, reallocating functions among existing offices, particularly the Executive Council, the civil and provincial secretaries, the inspector general, and the receiver general, and creating new offices, such as the Crown Lands Department and the Board of Works. In July 1841 he announced the union perfected, with “Effective Departments for every branch of the public service.” Since, on his insistence, the act of union had given to the executive the sole right to initiate money bills, the new system created a more centralized and efficient form of government, but it also made essential the command of a majority in the assembly. Sydenham’s most serious adversaries were the radical reformers of Upper Canada, led initially by Robert Baldwin and Francis Hincks*. Although they had supported union, they were disillusioned by Sydenham’s clergy reserves bill, which they considered a “poor return” for their support, and by Sir George Arthur’s distribution of patronage. William Warren Baldwin had quickly determined that Sydenham would be “one of the feeble and useless ‘no party men’” and, since Sydenham had refused to head a unified reform movement, Hincks and Baldwin had sought to construct one in alliance with French Canadian reformers. On the eve of the meeting of the legislature Baldwin demanded that the Executive Council be reconstituted on a party basis, and Sydenham therefore dismissed him as solicitor general. During the session reformers repeatedly sought to embarrass the government, and on 3 September Baldwin tried to force a firm commitment from it to responsible government. Although Sydenham refused to bind himself to following the assembly’s dictates on every issue and continued to play a major role in shaping the policies and personnel of the government, his ministers increasingly functioned like a cabinet (as Sydenham himself described them) and indicated to the assembly that they would resign if they lost the confidence of the house. Sydenham, too, was aware that he could not “continue the administration of public affairs with honour to himself, or advantage to the people,” if his government was unable to retain that confidence. Sydenham gave the impression that he expected his system to endure for at least a decade. In August 1841 he wrote to a brother that he would leave behind “a ministry with an avowed and recognized majority capable of doing what they think right, and not to be upset by my successor.” In fact, his ministry was on the verge of disintegration by the end of the first session. Without virtually unanimous support from the British majority, it could not survive, but to maintain that support, noted Colborne, now Lord Seaton, Sydenham had to act “the part of a divided Tory in the Lower Province and of a Liberal in the Upper.” As French Canadian opposition to the union diminished, the loose bonds of Sydenham’s coalition disintegrated, and the more natural party loyalties among the British reasserted themselves. A perspicacious Seaton remarked that no governor could retain control “unless the machine is constantly worked by an Artist as clever and unscrupulous as the one that contrived to secure the majority of the first session.” Sydenham did not live to see the collapse of his system. His health continued to deteriorate, and in July 1841 he submitted his resignation. He requested a gcb (civil division), which was awarded on 19 August. A few days after receiving news of the distinction and dissolving the legislature, Sydenham had a riding accident. A wound became infected, and on 19 September he died, in agony, of lockjaw. According to the Kingston Chronicle & Gazette, between 6,000 and 7,000 people “lined the road in dense masses” to witness his interment at St George’s Church on 24 September. The anglophone newspapers praised Sydenham’s “urbanity and condescension of manner,” and Egerton Ryerson undoubtedly spoke for the majority in extolling “the noble mind which conceived those improvements and originated the institutions which will form a golden era in the annals of Canadian history.” In private, “family compact” members such as John Beverley Robinson* denounced “that despicable Poulett Thomson” and predicted that “it will be long before the mischief can be remedied.” The francophone press, remembering “his crimes,” wasted little space lamenting the architect of what they saw as oppression. Ryerson admitted that “the revolutions of time” were essential for “an adequate appreciation” of Sydenham’s government. Yet Sydenham has remained controversial. In the early 20th century anglophone historians generally praised him. The revisionists have been less kind; Irving Martin Abella’s Sydenham is “a ruthless Machiavellian, unprincipled and cunning, selfish and egotistic, autocratic, narrow-minded, and unbelievably vain.” The best that even the most sympathetic French Canadian historian, Jacques Monet, can say about him is that he was “gouty, impatient, and on occasion, for long weeks at a time, bedridden.” Undeniably, Sydenham found life in the colonies dull, and he had considerable disdain for those he had been sent to govern. When the Toronto Herald issued a sheet of doggerel criticizing him, he ordered “extra copies to be placed on his drawingroom tables for the amusement of New Year’s callers, to whom he read them himself.” Yet there is also abundant evidence of Sydenham’s personal charm and his charisma in attracting support from such diverse personalities as Ryerson and Hincks. Despite frequent illnesses, he did not neglect official duties; he once wrote that he would frequently “breathe, eat, drink and sleep on nothing but government and politics,” and he was responsible for more provincial legislation than any predecessor or successor. Many politically inspired measures – including the municipal incorporation acts, the Common School Act, and the language and judicial legislation – were subsequently amended substantially or repealed, but the administrative structure he created remained nearly intact during the union. As a former member of the British cabinet, Sydenham possessed unusual influence with imperial authorities. Thus he could force the Post Office Department to reduce postal rates considerably despite opposition from the deputy postmaster general, Thomas Allen Stayner*, and he repeatedly overrode efforts by the Treasury to reduce colonial expenditures. Although he believed that the imperial government must lay down the general principles regulating trade, he recognized “the great inconvenience” of its originating all changes and sought to give the local legislatures power to amend regulations. He was also fortunate in receiving the consistent support of Lord John Russell, who dominated the Colonial Office and the cabinet. Most of Sydenham’s contemporaries assumed that he introduced responsible government, and critics such as Seaton argued that he had made it “impossible to resist the demands” of a majority in the assembly. The first generation of historians of Canada, notably John Charles Dent* and Adam Shortt*, accepted that view, but more recently Kenneth N. Windsor, Donald Swainson, and Ged Martin, among others, have disagreed. The revisionist argument, however, places too much emphasis on the refusal by Russell and Sydenham to commit themselves to the principle of responsible government. The London Colonial Gazette pointed out in September 1839 that, “notwithstanding Lord John Russell’s declaration against Responsible Government by that name, Mr. Thompson adopts the views of Lord Durham and accepts that the ‘administration of local affairs [must be] in constant harmony with the opinion of the majority of the representative body.’” Sydenham did try to resist recognizing what he called the “absurd sense” of responsible government, as put forward by Robert Baldwin, according to which he must follow the advice of the majority on all matters, but then no governor prior to confederation could make such a commitment. Revisionists also criticize Sydenham’s intervention in the political process. His partisan use of the apparatus of state was, however, in line with British practice even in the post-reform era, although by acting as his own prime minister and party leader Sydenham involved the crown more directly than did the monarch in Britain or would Sydenham’s successors. To some extent, as Murdoch had declared, government interference was an inevitable by-product of Sydenham’s system of responsible government. So long as Sydenham worked through ministers responsible for his actions and supported by the assembly, nothing in his actions, however, was illegal, unconstitutional, or inconsistent with the basic principle of responsible government. And by the end of the session of 1841 that principle had become the established practice in the legislature of the United Province. The charge that Sydenham wished to anglicize French Canadians is more accurate. He did treat them as a conquered race. Yet to condemn him for doing what he was sent to do is unreasonable. Certainly his objective was to make Lower Canada “essentially British, for unless that be done,” he felt, “it will be impossible to cultivate it’s natural resources, to improve the condition of it’s inhabitants, or to secure its permanent connexion with the Mother Country.” He thus encouraged immigration from Britain and sought to appease the Upper Canadians and the British minority in Lower Canada. The decision to establish the union had been taken by the British cabinet, and even with hindsight it is difficult to see any alternative method of restoring representative institutions to Lower Canada which would have been acceptable to the British inhabitants of both Canadas. In this sense, as Ged Martin has written, union was “dictated by the logic of events”; Sydenham considered “Anglification” an unavoidable consequence. Like most English liberals, he rejected notions of a multicultural society; as Janet Ajzenstat has argued, he believed that deep cultural cleavages prevent “the full realization of liberal rights” by leaving members of minority cultures vulnerable to exploitation. Ultimately the union was not so disastrous to French Canada as its critics had predicted. French Canadians became a minority, but were numerous enough to defend their vital interests and secure enough to open a new era of collaboration with the anglophone majority. Without this imposed cooperation, confederation, which was not a feasible solution to the Canadian problem in the 1840s, might never have taken place. In this sense Sydenham deserves credit not only for preserving the British connection, which was the purpose of his mission, but also for laying the foundation of a more enduring and larger union. No governor had such a profound influence on the future development of the British North American colonies – not even Lord Durham. Some of Sydenham’s correspondence has been published as Letters from Lord Sydenham, governor-general of Canada, 1839–1841, to Lord John Russell, ed. Paul Knaplund (London, 1931). A portrait of Sydenham appears as the frontispiece to Memoir of the life of the Right Honourable Charles, Lord Sydenham, G.C.B., with a narrative of his administration in Canada, ed. G. P. Scrope (London, 1843). AO, MS 4; MS 35; MS 78. MTRL, Robert Baldwin papers. NLS, Dept. of mss, mss 15001–195. PAC, MG 24, A13, A17, A27, A30, A40, B29 (mfm. at PANS); RG 5, A1: 6510–7022; RG 7, G14, 5–6, 8; RG 68, General index, 1651–1841: 72. PRO, CO 42/296–300; 42/446–76; PRO 30/22/3E–4B. UCC-C, Egerton Ryerson papers. Univ. of Durham, Dept. of Palaeography and Diplomatic (Durham, Eng.), Earl Grey papers. Arthur papers (Sanderson). H. R. V. Fox, Baron Holland, The Holland House diaries, 1831–1840, ed. A. D. Kriegel (London, 1977). C. C. F. Greville, The Greville memoirs: a journal of the reigns of King George IV and King William IV, ed. Henry Reeve (8v., London, 1874–87). Notices of the death of the late Lord Sydenham by the press of British North America . . . (Toronto, 1841). [John] Richardson, Eight years in Canada; embracing a review of the administrations of lords Durham and Sydenham, Sir Chas. Bagot and Lord Metcalfe, and including numerous interesting letters from Lord Durham, Mr. Chas. Buller and other well-known public characters (Montreal, 1847). Samuel Thompson, Reminiscences of a Canadian pioneer for the last fifty years: an autobiography (Toronto, 1884; repub. Toronto and Montreal, 1968). Three early nineteenth century diaries, ed. Arthur Aspinall (London, 1952). Colonial Gazette (London), 18 Sept. 1839. Novascotian, or Colonial Herald, 24 Oct. 1839. Janet Ajzenstat, “Liberalism and assimilation: Lord Durham reconsidered,” Political thought in Canada: contemporary perspectives, comp. and ed. Stephen Brooks (Toronto, 1984), 239–57. Lucy Brown, The Board of Trade and the free-trade movement, 1830–42 (Oxford, 1958). Buckner, Transition to responsible government. J. M. S. Careless, The union of the Canadas: the growth of Canadian institutions, 1841–1857 (Toronto, 1967). Craig, Upper Canada. J. C. Dent, The last forty years: the union of 1841 to confederation, ed. D. [W.] Swainson (Toronto, 1972). S. E. Finer, “The transmission of Benthamite ideas, 1820–50,” Studies in the growth of nineteenth-century government, ed. Gillian Sutherland (Totowa, N.J., 1972), 11–32. Norman Gash, Reaction and reconstruction in English politics, 1832–52 (Oxford, 1965). J. E. Hodgetts, Pioneer public service: an administrative history of the united Canadas, 1841–1867 (Toronto, 1955). O. A. Kinchen, Lord Russell’s Canadian policy, a study in British heritage and colonial freedom (Lubbock, Tex., 1945). Ged Martin, The Durham report and British policy: a critical essay (Cambridge, Eng., 1972). Jacques Monet, Last cannon shot; “The personal and living bond, 1839–1849,” The shield of Achilles: aspects of Canada in the Victorian age, ed. W. L. Morton (Toronto and Montreal, 1968), 62–93. W. [G.] Ormsby, The emergence of the federal concept in Canada, 1839–1845 (Toronto, 1969). Adam Shortt, Lord Sydenham (Toronto, 1908). [G.] A. Wilson, The clergy reserves of Upper Canada: a Canadian mortmain (Toronto, 1968). K. N. Windsor, “Historical writing in Canada to 1920,” Literary History of Canada: Canadian literature in English, ed. C. F. Klinck (Toronto, 1967), 231. I. M. Abella, “The ‘Sydenham Election’ of 1841,” CHR, 47 (1966): 326–43. Ged Martin, “Confederation rejected: the British debate on Canada, 1837–1840,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth Hist. (London), 11 (1982–83): 33–57. Phillip Buckner, “THOMSON, CHARLES EDWARD POULETT, 1st Baron SYDENHAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed April 26, 2019, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thomson_charles_edward_poulett_7E.html.

2019-04-26T14:25:25Z

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thomson_charles_edward_poulett_7E.html/

Adams Gillman or Tillman Lived in Macomb County at enlitmetn. Enlisted June 19, 1861 at Fort Wayne for 3 years, age 23. Mustered August 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA Feb 23, 1862. Alverson George Lived in Romeo at enlistment. Enlisted at Fort Wayne June 19, 1861 for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec 16, 1863 at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered December 26, 1863. Wouned in action at Locust Grove, VA, Nov 27, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN July 5, 1865. Died Sept. 2, 1889. Arnold Hiram P. Enlisted June 19, 1861 at Fort Wayne for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug 28, 1861. Killed in action at Fair Oaks, VA, May 31, 1862. Baker Anson H. Lived in Disco at enlistment. Enlisted June 19, 1861 at Fort Wayne for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Missing in action at Chancellorsville, VA May 3, 1863. Returned to regiment Aug. 13, 1863. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863 at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec 26, 1863. Discharged Jan. 19, 1865 at Detroit, MI, on account of wounds received in action at Wilderness, VA. Present residence Chesaning, Mich. Barney Joseph Lived in Macomb County at enlistmetn. Enlisted June 19, 1861 at Fort Wayne for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Taken prisoner at Charles City Cross Roads, June 30, 1862. Returned to regiment March 12, 1863. Deserted at Fairplay, MD July 15, 1863. Bartlett William R. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted Feb 23, 1862 at Macomb County for 3 years. Mustered Feb. 23, 1862. Re-enlisted Feb. 27, 1864 at Camp Bullock, VA. Mustered Feb. 27, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN July 5, 1865. Bellis William Lived in Chesterfield at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Sergeant, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. First Sergeant. Commissioned Second Lieutenant June 10, 1864. Declined to muster. Discharged at expiration of term of service at Petersburg, Va., Aug. 27, 1864. Birchall Thomas Lived in Canada at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Jan. 9, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 32. Mustered Jan. 9, 1864. Killed in action at Wilderness, VA, May 5, 1864. Blumburg Ira A. Lived in Shelby at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 44. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability, at Detroit, MI, Nov. 1, 1862. Boyce Sylvester Lived in Port Austin at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Port Austin, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action at Fredericksburg, VA, May, 1863. Wounded in action July, 1864. Corporal. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Boyce William Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company A, Aug. 6, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Killed in action at Williamsburg, Va., May 5, 1862. Buried in National Cemetery at Seven Pines, VA. Bradley Henry C. Lived in Baltimore at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action in the hip at Gettysburg, PA, July 2, 1863. Promoted to Corporal June 28, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Bronner George Enlisted in company B, Feb 2,. 1864, at Howell, for 3 years, age 25. Mustered Feb. 5, 1864. Wounded in action May 12, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Buchman James G. Enlisted in company B, Jan. 14, 1864, at Huron City, for 3 years, age 43. Mustered Jan. 18, 1864. Taken prisoner June 23, 1864. Died in prison at Andersonville, GA, Aug. 21, 1864. Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, GA. Burnett Joseph Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 10, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Deserted at Fairplay, MD, July 15, 1863. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA, Feb. 15, 1862. Butterfield Abel B. Lived in Baltimore at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Button Amos A. Lived in Shelby at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted as Sergeant Jan. 4, 1864, at Detroit, MI. Mustered Jan. 4, 1864. Promoted to First Sergeant June 29, 1865. Commissioned Second Lieutenant May 8, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN July 5, 1865. Died April 3, 1892. Buried at Mt. Clemens, MI. Calladay Stephen M. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Fortress Monroe, VA, Oct. 14, 1862. Carpenter Alanson Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Pitcher, VA, Jan. 11, 1863. Cascadden William B Enlisted in company B, Jan. 14, 1864, at Huron, for 3 years, age 44. Mustered Jan. 18, 1864. Discharged at Chester, PA, June 21, 1865. Casey James Enlisted in company B, Jan. 11, 1864, at Utica, for 3 years, age 42. Mustered Jan. 11, 1864. Discharged at Detroit, MI, May 24, 1865. Casey Patrick Enlisted in company B, Jan. 13, 1864, at Utica, for 3 years, age 44. Mustered Jan. 15, 1864. Deserted April 11, 1864. Chapman Charles Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1862, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Promoted Corporal October 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Washington, DC, Dec. 24, 1864. Clark Nathan B. Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 30. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Reported as serving in company E, May, 1862. Discharged for disability at Washington, DC, Sept. 15, 1863. Present residence, Casco, MI. Clement Emerson Lived in Lapeer County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA, March 2, 1862. Cole Theron Enlisted in company B, Jan. 22, 1864, at Ray, for 3 years, age 44. Mustered Jan. 28, 1864. Wounded in action May 5, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Nov. 26, 1864. Collard Edward Lived in Macomb at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Aug. 30, 1864, at Pontiac, for 1 year, age 44. Mustered Aug. 30, 1864. Substitute for Matthew Linch. Wounded in action Oct. 27, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Washington, DC, Dec. 24, 1864 Present residence, Lakeview, MI. Cotton Owen W. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Sergeant, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Sept. 12, 1862. Mustered Jan. 17, 1863. Commissioned First Lieutenant Oct. 21, 1862. Mustered Jan. 17, 1863. Wounded in action at Chancellorsville, VA, May 3, 1863. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Sept. 24, 1863. Promoted for distinguished conduct in battles of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Glendale and Malvern Hill. In command of company H, Nineteenth Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps, April 9, 1864. Cottrell George Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Fort Ramsey, VA, Sept. 24, 1862. Darling Marion Lived in Shelby at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Aug., 1861, for 3 years. Mustered Aug. 27, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Washington, DC, March 15, 1863. Buried in Harmony burial ground, DC. Enlisted in company B, Jan. 4, 1864, at Ray, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Jan. 11, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Dewey George W. Lived in Almont at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Wayne, for 3 years, age 34. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action May 12, 1864. Corporal April 1, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 24. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA, Feb. 23, 1862. Buried in National Cemetery at Alexandria, VA. Grave No. 1417. Dickerson Leonidas Lived in Lapeer County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Oct. 6, 1862. Dykeman William Lived in Armada at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Jan. 29, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 45. Mustered Jan. 29, 1864. Died at Washington, DC, July 15, 1864, of wounds received in action at Spottsylvania, VA, May 10, 1864. Buried in National Cemetery at Arlington, VA. Edgerly Henry C Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Entered service in company B, at organization, as Second Lieutenant, June 19, 1861, age 30. Commissioned June 19, 1861. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Promoted First Lieutenant, company A, June 1, 1862. Wounded in action at CharlesCity Cross Roads, VA, June 30, 1862. Resigned Dec. 20, 1862. Commissioned Major, Eighth Cavalry, at organization, Nov. 17, 1862. Mustered Jan. 20, 1863. Resigned on account of disability Jan. 8, 1865. Everett Edwin L. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA, Feb. 28, 1862. Buried in National Cemetery at Alexandria, Va. Grave No. 1483. Farrar Judson S. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Entered service in company B, at organization, as Captain, June 19,. 1861, age 25. Commissioned June 19, 1861. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel, Twenty-sixth Infantry, Sept. 16, 1862. Mustered Sept. 18, 1862. Commanding regiment from Sept. to Dec, 12, 1862. Commissioned Colonel Oct. 9, 1862, at organization. Mustered Dec. 12, 1862. Discharged on account of disability March 29, 1864. Present residence, Mt. Clemens, MI. Farrar Leonidas B A member of company B, Fifth Infantry. Discharged at Mason's Hill, VA, for disability, Oct. 21, 1862. Farrar Stedman B. Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Sept. 27, 1862. Faulkner John Lived in Detroit at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Chancellorsville, VA, May 3, 1863. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action at Locust Grove, Va., May 27, 1863. Promoted to Corporal June 28, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in Armada at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Discharged April 15, 1864, to acept appointment in U. S. Colored Troops. Mustered April 17, 1864, as Captain, company H, Twenty-third Regiment, U. S. Colored Infantry. Finneale Samuel Lived in Wayne County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Locust Grove, VA, Nov. 27, 1863. His arm was amputated. Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps at Washington, DC, July 15, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability July 14, 1864. Foote Eleazer C. Enlisted in company B, Aug. 23, 1861, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Deserted Aug. 31, 1862. Ford Edward Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 32. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Michigan, VA, Feb. 23, 1862. Buried in National Cemetery at Alexandria, Va. Grave No. 1482. Frank Edwin R. Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged at expiration of term of service near Petersburg, VA, Aug. 27, 1864. Present residence, Lansing, MI. In battles: Siege of Yorktown, battle of Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Fredericks- burg, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, Auburn Heights, Wilderness, Todd's Tavern, Po River, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom and Tolopotomy, VA. Frederick George Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Meridian Hill, DC, May 22, 1862. Buried in Military Asylum Cemetery, DC. Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged for disability at Alexandria, VA, Feb. 10, 1863. French Harvey G. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Musician, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 52. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged for disability at Fortress Monroe, VA, June 11, 1863. Gasper John Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged at expiration of term of service at Petersburg, VA, Aug. 27, 1864. Generous Peter Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Sergeant, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Williamsburg, VA, May 5, 1862. Promoted Second Lieutenant. Mustered Jan. 17, 1863. Commissioned First Lieutenant Sept. 12, 1862. Commissioned Captain, company B, Sept. 16, 1862. Mustered Jan. 1, 1863. Killed in action at Gettysburg, PA, July 2, 1863. Initially buried on Jacob Hummelbaugh’s farm and subsequently moved to the Michigan plot of the Gettysburg National Cemetery (G-9). Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Mason's Hill, VA, Oct. 21, 1862. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Reported as of company C. Deserted at Camp Michigan, VA, Dec. 25, 1862. Grindling Amil Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Dec. 30, 1863, at Genoa, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered Jan. 13, 1864. Died of disease May 10, 1864. Buried in National Cemetery at Arlington, VA. Gronon John Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged at expiration of term of service at Petersburg, VA, Aug. 27, 1864. Lived in China at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action in the abdomen at Gettysburg, PA, July 3, 1863. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action at Locust Grove, VA, Nov. 27, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 20, 1865, at La Grange, for 1 year, age 20. Mustered Jan. 20, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Present residence, Millington, MI. Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 29. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Harrison's Landing, VA, Aug. 5, 1862. Present residence, Richfield, MI. Halsey David K. Lived in Richmond at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Taken prisoner Oct. 27, 1864. Commissioned Second Lieutenant to date June 10, 1863. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability June 27, 1865. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 5, 1864, at Ray, for 3 years, age 30. Mustered Feb. 24, 1864. Died of disease May 19, 1864. Buried in National Cemetery at Fredericksburg, VA. Lived in Macomb at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 5, 1864, at Ray, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Feb. 24, 1864. Promoted to Sergeant, Jan. 29, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Present residence, Richmond, MI. Havens Merritt S. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Dec. 21, 1863, at Marion, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Jan. 13, 1864. Taken prisoner May 10, 1864. Returned to regiment Dec. 20, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Hayden John Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease March 24, 1862. Buried in National Cemetery at Alexandria, VA. Grave No. 1292. Lived in Lenox at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Promoted to Corporal Feb, 1865. Promoted to Sergeant May 1, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Hinks Henry Lived in Lapeer County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Washington, DC, Nov. 5, 1862. Hollister Ela Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Falmouth, VA, Dec. 5, 1862. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Camp Pitcher, VA, Dec. 17, 1862. Jock Julius, or Joseph Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Fort Ramsey, VA, Sept. 24, 1862. Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Alexandria, VA, Nov. 18, 1861. Lived in Romeo at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Feb. 28, 1863. Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps Jan. 1, 1865. Discharged at Washington, DC, Feb. 20, 1865, from 129th company, Second Battalion, Veteran Reserve Corps. Lived in Wayne County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Mason's Hill, VA, Oct., 1862. Present residence, Detroit, MI. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Deserted near Leesburg, VA, Nov. 11, 1862. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Fair Oaks, VA, May 31, 1862. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability May 31, 1863. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps April 10, 1864. Discharged at expiration of term of service at Detroit, MI, Aug. 31, 1864. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN., July 5, 1865. McConnell James K. P. Enlisted in company B, March 10, 1865, at Grand Rapids, for I year, age 18.Mustered March 10, 1865.Discharged at York, PA, July 22, 1865. McDonnough Edward Lived in Lapeer County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps Feb. 15, 1864. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Nov. 28, 1862. Lived in Lapeer County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Alexandria, VA, Sept. 5, 1862. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 12, 1864, at Huron, for 3 years, age 32. Mustered Jan. 18, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 12, 1864, at Utica, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Jan. 23, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability April 28, 1864. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Corporal, July 17, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Dec. 20, 1862. Lived in Cincinnati, Ohio at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 27. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Transferred to Invalid Corps Sept. 1, 1863. Newton George H. (Veteran), Lived in Avon at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Promoted to Sergeant. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Promoted to Corporal Aug., 1863. Wounded in action July, 1864. Discharged at Petersburg, VA, Aug. 27, 1864. Pelkey Peter Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Deserted Aug. 27, 1862. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 4, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Feb. 6, 1864. Taken prisoner May 5, 1864. Died at Andersonville, Ga., July 3, 1864. Buried in National Cemetery at Andersonville, Ga. Grave No. 2841. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 29. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died at Alexandria, VA, Dec. 22, 1862, of wounds received in action at Fredericksburg, VA. Buried in National Cemetery at Alexandria, VA. Grave No. 631. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 29, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 25. Mustered Jan. 29, 1864. Wounded in action May 5, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Washington, DC, May 9, 1865. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Promoted to Corporal. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Nov. 14, 1862. Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 12, 1861, at Utica, for 3 years, age 23. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Died of disease at Camp Richardson, VA, Sept. 23, 1861. (Veteran), Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec 26, 1863. Corporal April, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Rich John B. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, July 11, 1864, at Mt. Morris, for 3 years, age 27. Mustered July 11, 1864. Substitute for Henry Beckwith. Deserted at Petersburg, VA, Oct. 27, 1864. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 22, 1864, at Big Prairie, for 3 years, age 25. Mustered July 9, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Robbins or Robinson Charles E., or Charles H. Lived in Detroit at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Musician, Aug. 22, 1862, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Sept. 14, 1862. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Camp Pitcher, VA, Jan. 16, 1863. Robinson Henry Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 27, 1864, at Kalamazoo, for 3 years, age 36. Mustered June 29, 1864. Substitute for Robert Helton. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Robinson William H. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth. Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Washington, DC, Dec. 1, 1862. (Veteran), Lived in Utica at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 31. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action and taken prisoner Oct. 27, 1864. No further record. (Veteran), Lived in Shelby at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Missing in action at Chancellorsville, VA, May 3, 1863. Returned to regiment Aug. 16, 1863. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec 26, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Died July 19, 1897. Buried at Mt. Clemens, MI. Sammist, or Sammis Henry G. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 17, 1862, at Fentonville, for 3 years, age 33. Mustered Feb. 17, 1862. Discharged at expiration of term of service at Detroit, MI, March 28, 1865. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded in action at Chancellorsville, VA, May 3, 1863. Promtoed to Corporal. Re-enlisted Dec 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec 26, 1863. Taken prisoner Oct. 27, 1864. Discharged at Camp Chase, OH, June 19, 1865. Lived in Wayne County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Taken prisoner at Charles City Cross Roads, VA, June 30, 1862. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Jan. 31, 1863. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Entered service in company B, Fifth Infantry, at organization, as First Lieutenant, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Commissioned June 19, 1861. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Commissioned Captain, company E, June 22, 1862. Discharged Feb. 8, 1863. Re-commissioned Feb. 9, 1863. Mustered Aug. 24, 1863. Transferred to company K, June 10, 1864. Wounded in action at Wilderness, VA, May 6, 1864. Acting Inspector General, Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps, Nov., 1864. Commissioned Major Dec. 21, 1864. Mustered Feb. 22, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. In battles of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Charles City Cross Roads, Malvern Hill, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Auburn, Kelly's Ford, Locust Grove, Mine Run, Wilderness, Deep Bottom, Petersburg and Boydton Plank Road. Present residence, Beaver Falls, ME. Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 26, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Killed in action at Gettysburg, PA, July 3, 1863. Buried in the Michigan plot of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Corporal, July 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Wounded severely in the right arm at Gettysburg, PA, July 2, 1863. Promoted to Sergeant. Transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps March 24, 1864. Discharged at Detroit, MI, Sept. 15, 1864. Smith John Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 25, 1864, at Rochester, for 3 years, age 22. Mustered Jan. 26, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonille, IN, July 5, 1865. Smith Oliver Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug., 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 26. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Feb. 14, 1863. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 22, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 30. Mustered June 22, 1864. Deserted at Petersburg, VA, Oct. 27, 1864. Lived in New Baltimore at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 26, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Detroit, MI, July 22, 1862. Present residence, New Haven, MI. (Veteran), Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 26, 1861, for 3 years. Mustered Oct. 1, 1861. Sergeant Major Dec. 20, 1862. Re-enlisted Feb. 29, 1864, at Detroit, MI. Mustered Feb. 29, 1864. Transferred to company B, Dec. 13, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in Oakland County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug., 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 32. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Harrison's Landing, VA, Aug. 5, 1862. Symonds, or Simmons Henry B. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 29, 1864, at Kalamazoo, for 3 years, age 43. Mustered June 29, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 27, 1864, at Ravenna, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered July 8, 1864. Substitute for Leonard Wheeler. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. (Veteran), Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Corporal, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Feb. 22, 1864, at Camp Bullock, VA. Mustered Feb. 25, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, March 9, 1865, at Grand Rapids, for 1 year, age 20. Mustered March 9, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 5, 1864, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered Feb. 6, 1864. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Detroit, MI, May 29, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 30, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 38. Mustered Aug. 30, 1864. Joined regiment at Petersburg, VA, Sept. 11, 1864. Substitute for Edward T. Knapp. Discharged at Washington, DC, May 31, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 6, 1864, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 25. Mustered Feb 4, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Present residence, Owosso, MI. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, July 14, 1864, at Traverse, for 3 years, age 24. Mustered July 14, 1864. Substitute for John S. Newberry. Deserted at Burksville, VA, April 6, 1865. (Veteran), Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted Jan. 4, 1864, at Detroit, MI. Mustered Jan. 4, 1864. Wounded in action at Gettysburg, PA. Sergeant June 28, 1865. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 27, 1864, at Kalamazoo, for 3 years, age 32. Mustered July 12, 1864. Substitute. Taken prisoner Oct. 27, 1864. Died in prison at Richmond, VA, April 20, 1865, of wounds received in action at Hatcher's Run, VA, Oct. 27, 1864. Traver Eugene D. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 19. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Taken prisoner at Charles City Cross Roads, VA, June 30, 1862. Discharged for promotion Dec. 10, 1862. No further record. Trombley August Lived in Augustus at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Killed in action at Charles City Cross Roads, VA, June 30, 1862. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Killed in action at Gettysburg, PA, July 3, 1863. He was first buried in George Rose’s woods and later moved to the Gettysburg National Cemetery. (Veteran), Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Re-enlisted as Corporal Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 26, 1863. Wounded in action at Locust Grove, VA, Nov. 27, 1863. Wounded in action Oct. 27, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Tyler Daniel Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Feb. 7, 1865, at Flint, for 1 year, age 18. Mustered Feb. 7, 1865. Substitute for Daniel Fern. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Died Sept. 6, 1889. Buried at Wayne, MI. Vandemark Abraham Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 10, 1864, at Corunna, for 3 years, age 31. Mustered June 10, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Deceased. Buried at Akron, MI. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged at Fort Wayne, MI, on writ of habeas corpus Sept. 5, 1861. Van Voorhees James E. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Alexandria, VA, May 12, 1862. Re-entered service in company F, Sixth Infantry. Enlisted Feb. 2, 1864, at Roy. Mustered Feb. 4, 1864. Mustered out at New Orleans, LA, Aug. 20, 1865. Died April 22, 1897. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, July 16, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered July 16, 1864. Substitute. Discharged at Wilmington, Del., July 26, 1865, from company G, Twentieth Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps. Vrooman John Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 31. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Dec. 23, 1861. Webster Leo, or Lionel A. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Jan. 23, 1864, at Pontiac, for 3 years, age 20. Mustered Jan. 23, 1864. Absent wounded July, 1864. No further record. Wehner John Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Dec. 23, 1863, at Howell, for 3 years, age 33. Mustered Jan. 23, 1864. Absent wounded May 5, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Weldon Theon B. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 18. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability Oct. 6, 1862. West Thomas J. Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, as Musician, June 19, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 21. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Promoted to Drum Major Sept. 24, 1862. Discharged for disability Oct., 1862. Whitehead, or Whiteford Robert Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, July 8, 1864, at Detroit, for 3 years, age 37. Mustered July 8, 1864. Substitute for Charles H. Rankin. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Lived in St. Clair County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 24. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Alexandria, VA, Dec. 5, 1862. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 27, 1864, at Ashland, for 3 years, age 41. Mustered July 9, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Williams Frank Lived in Macomb County at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug. 28, 1861, at Fort Wayne, for 3 years, age 29. Mustered Aug. 28, 1861. Discharged on Surgeon's certificate of disability at Harrison's Landing, VA, Aug. 6, 1862. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, June 29, 1864, at Kalamazoo, for 3 years, age 28. Mustered June 29, 1864. Deserted Nov. 9, 1864. (Veteran), Lived in Mt. Clemens at enlistment. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, Aug., 1861, at Mt. Clemens, for 3 years. Mustered Aug. 27, 1861. Re-enlisted Dec. 15, 1863, at Brandy Station, VA. Mustered Dec. 27, 1863. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Enlisted in company B, Fifth Infantry, July 12, 1864, at Arbela, for 3 years, age 37. Mustered July 12, 1864. Mustered out at Jeffersonville, IN, July 5, 1865. Died Feb. 3, 1903. Buried at Pine Grove, MI.

2019-04-18T16:54:09Z

http://allmichigancivilwar.com/Regiments/5MIInfantry/5InfCoBRoster.html

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I have been delighted with the top notch standard of work and his friendly professional manner, realistic competitive rates. I cannot recommend highly enough and would not think to use anyone else. We found that we had a failed extractor fan motor. As usual a call to Andy Breeze resulted in a prompt response and a quick replacement of the motor at a very reasonable price. A few failed light bulbs were also replaced while he was here. Andy gives excellent advice and service and we have no hesitation in recommending him. Breeze Electrical were prompt, did exactly as was requested at a good price. I would be happy to use them again. Andy has 4 jobs for me over the last 15 months. He is reliable, efficient, knowledgeable and tidies up at the end of the work. I also used his extensive knowledge to advise me on improvements to my original thoughts. I recommend him without any reservations. Second time I have used Breeze, fitted extra double internal and double external sockets, very prompt, very clean and tidy trades person. Explains all the options. Very reasonable prices. I honestly wouldn't go anyone else for my electrical work. Yet more great service from Andy Breeze. Always helpful and reliable. Thank you. As always has been great, knows what he is doing, he maintains contact with his customers and is always prompt and tidy. Would highly recommend Breeze Electrical Solutions. Very helpful and promptly resolved our electrical problems. Would recommend Andy for any electrical work, reliable, friendly, tidy and affordable. Did an excellent good fitting a new consumer unit in the garage and fitting lights and sockets. Will defiantly be using again. Andy Breeze has carried out several jobs for us. He is reliable and efficient, always on time, extremely thorough, cleans up after himself and is very knowledgeable about all things electrical and what's more is very good value for money. He's also a jolly nice chap! Reliable and friendle, offered advice and help. Flexible to work around other building work being undertake. We would recommend and use again. Andy has undertaken a few jobs for us, he's a great guy, reliable, friendly and his standards or workmanship are very high. A couple of times, we've been in a bit of a pickle, requiring help quickly, and he's always been there for us; most recently, coming to sort something out for us within an hour. I would have no hesitation in recommending him. We have a few properties around the region and this is the first time I have used Andy, I will certainly be using him again. Great service, good follow up and much needed feedback with prevention advice. Very helpful and good value, highly recommended. Called Andy for a small but complex job for a customer, he was polite, courteous and completed the job in a professional manor. Excellent Value for money. Will certainly be calling on his services in the future if needed. Good work from Andy as usual, and he really understands the importance of customer service. Thanks. Prompt, reliable, helpful and knows his stuff!! Thank you Andy - no hesitation in giving this great electrician a 5 star rating. Andy has been absolutely amazing. His knowledge and standard of work is really second to none. I would recommend him to anyone without question. My husband & I have been really pleased with the work he has done for us in our kitchen refit. Andy is courteous, friendly and trustworthy and always delivers a great service. He did an excellent first class job and as is usual, the room was left clean, tidy and exactly as it was before. I would highly recommend Breeze Electrical Solutions for all your electrical undertakings. Really pleased with the work that Andy did, investigating some long overdue faults and finishing electrical jobs for us. Knowledgable and practical, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Once again Andy has done a great job for us. Always cleans up as he goes. Good prices too. Andy is extremely friendly and professional. Very satisfied with work done installing power to garage. Happy to recommend. Very helpful, came out quickly and resolved the problem immediately. Very reasonable cost. I have had Andy before to do work for me, so I had no hesitation in asking him to do rewiring,sockets and light fittings in my new home. He came at a diifficult time and fitted me into his busy schedule. He is an excellent electrician, very organised and tidy; nothing was too much trouble. I would certainly recommend him to anyone. Andy replys to phone calls quickly, arrives when he says he will, does a good job and leaves everything tidy. He has never let me down. I can recommend him very highly. Andy did an excellent job fitting armoured cable out to my new workshop. He worked efficiently, and left no mess and the price was very reasonable. Highly recommended. Andy recently completed some work to get our kitchen ready for a refit. Moved lights, switches and sockets. Gave some really good advice to help guide us. He was prompt, worked really hard all day and tidied up as he went to minimise the mess and disruption. Highly recommended, great value for money too. You can rely on Andy to do a good job, his workmanship is excellent and his advice is practical. Confronted with problems with the lighting in a small en-suite we consulted Andy. As usual he came up with an excellent solution and new fittings were installed We were delighted with the result and the excellent service. Have used Andy on several occasions. He is an excellent electrician, work is of the highest standard and his charges are reasonable. Highly recommended! Very professional job in every respect. I can thoroughly recommend Andy for electrical work. He responds to call-outs quickly and is extremely helpful in providing solutions. His work is of good quality and is good value for money. Prompt response to our request and all work carried out quickly and efficiently. Friendly, Professional. very satisfied with work done. Very obliging and prompt on advising and carrying out the work required. Very satisfactory. Good communication, right price and excellent job done on time, in budget. Tenant was very happy with work done. I'm more than happy to recommend him to you for anything electrical. Andy provides an excellent service. He always comes up with good solutions to electrical problems and has time to help. We highly recommend him. Did an excellent job. Was prepared to take on a small task of fitting a dimmer switch (which many will not do). Replied to initial text message very quickly and completed the work soon after. Will use again. Really helpful and a tidy contractor. I just wish I had known about Andy from the day we moved into this house. Turns up when he says (which in itself is a miracle these days). He solved the problems in my kitchen lighting. It looks super now. He has done little jobs like moving sockets and even managing to change the one of the 15 leds which defeated both my husband and I. Having read all the previous feedback, I totally agree with everything said, punctual, efficient, knowledgeable and above all helpful, he is now our electrician. Andy was recommended to us which is better than any add could have been. He is reliable, friendly and importantly a very good electrician. He was equally happy doing a large job for us as he was fitting a single socket. I thoroughly recommend him. Once again I am pleased to recommend Andy as a thoroughly reliable trader who can be relied upon to deliver prompt, effective and personable service. We have used Andy for a few jobs now and I couldn't recommend him highly enough, the most recent job he did for us was an emergency call out from our tennant on a friday night, Andy called us first to check that it was ok to go to the property and stayed on site (on a friday night!) till he had sorted out all of the problems! Amazing! I would recommend him to anyone and we look forward to working with him in the future. All the best. Excellent, prompt service. Thank you. We have used Andy for a couple of jobs now where he has wired two extensions. He is always punctual, polite and ensures he fully understands what is required. His work is excellent and his charges are always reasonable. We would definitely recommend him. Excellent service, fitted outside sockets, light fittings, indoor sockets, cooker. Andy was not phased by very high ceilings, hard to reach places and crowded loft spaces. Would definitely recommend. Andy's work is impeccable and any job he does leaves you with confidence it has been done properly a necessary point when dealing with electrics especially in older property. A very hard worker and this means he is busy but well worth waiting that few extra days for, and a must for him he leaves everything clean and tidy, he is now officially in the diary for all jobs electric. Andy was extremely helpful and efficient, and arrived at the house promptly. I would recommend him. Good contractor with brill communications and competative prices. Quick, efficient and came at a time that suited me! Very happy. Highly recommended, prompt, efficient and cheerful service. As usual, Andy turned up on time, did an excellent job and charged a very reasonable price. We have used him frequently and he is among the most reliable and best value trades we've come across. Highly recommended. Fantastic prompt service to attend to our recent electrical problems which were soon sorted by Andy. Andy did a good job. He turned up on time and explained exactly what he was doing. Would recommend. Excellent! Andy is knowledgeable and courteous. He offered me a couple of options, patiently explaining the pros and cons of each possibility. Breeze Electrical Solutions will be our No.1 to call for our future requirements. Third time we've used Andy Breeze - a clean and tidy job at a very reasonable cost by a cheerful, accommodating chap. We're really pleased with our new lights - many thanks Andy! Andy is brilliant, I am often away from home but if I have any need for an electrician I can text him or call him and he responds promptly. He carries out the work and is always very tidy and his charges are extremely competitive. I am so pleased with his work. He was recommended to me by Ben Hill (central heating plumber). Andy Breeze is an excellent electrician. He is quick and tidy and always good value. This is the second time I've used Breeze Electrical Solutions based on the excellent service received first time round. Just as before Andy delivered a fast and efficient service, high quality work and all at a reasonable price. I would highly recommend. Very good service, turned up promptly done a very tidy job at a very resonable price. Met Andy for the first time yesterday, arrived on time and did a first class job. A pleasing,cheery attitude, he worked quickly and efficiently. His bill was reasonable, too. I would have no hesitation in recommending Andy and will be using him again when needed. Having used Andy on several occasions and always having a good job done at reasonable cost, recently I needed an electrician to go into my 92 year old mother's house who lives on her own. I needed someone I could trust and asked Andy and as always he was on time, polite and did a very good job. I can highly recommend Andy, he is reliable and very helpful. Excellent standard of workmanship. Andy Breeze has been consistent and professional in undertaking repairs and maintenance toour ageing building - Ruardean Hill Baptist Church. His work is of excellent quality, his manner polite, his response prompt and his charges very fair and reasonable. We would recommend him to anyone needing an electrician. Excellent service. My problem was sorted very quickly with no fuss. I would recommend and definitely use Breeze again. Thank you. Andy came and fitted new sockets for us - neat, tidy, efficient service at a very reasonable cost. Many thanks. Very pleasant/polite. All sorted in short time. I am very pleased with work done. Have used Andy for a few jobs in my house and always receive good work and I would recommend him to anyone. I have now been using Andy for over a year on various projects. He has worked on rewiring inside and outside, lighting, internet and phone lines. He is always timely and courteous and i have no hesitation in recommending him. Andy is GOOD, reliable and very knowledgable. We can thoroughly recommend him - small jobs & large projects. Andy came to sort out a wiring fault in my house, nothing was too much trouble top class service. We have used Andy for the last couple of years to resolve issues and do the wiring in our Granny Annex. He is always on time, works at a good pace and is very methodical. Importantly, he is always very tidy and there are never any off-cuts or trimmings left lying around. We can't recommend Andy highly enough! Andy has been to our house twice and we trust him implicitly to do a good job at a reasonable price. He works hard, leaves the place tidy and is friendly. We would recommend his work. Prompt quality and friendly service at a reasonable price. What more can a customer want? Professional, personable, skilled and efficient, did a great job quickly. A pleasure to deal with Andy. Brilliant as always. Quick, super reliable and easy to get hold of. Thanks Andy! Another great job completed by Andy. We wouldn‘t consider using anyone else for electrical work. Very fair price, always cheerful and so tidy you wouldn‘t even know he‘s been there! Thanks Andy. Andy has done various bits of work for us over the years and has always done a thoroughly professional job at reasonable rates. He takes care to fully discuss the options with you, is very reliable and tidies up afterwards. Andy turned up on time and his work was quick and efficient. Breeze Electrical Solutions will certainly be my number one choice for any future electrical work. A very nice person to do business with! Why did we not call Andy earlier? Once again he called on agreed day even after dental work. That said all the jobs we wanted were done efficiently and he is so tidy . Actually not all jobs I had listed were completed because my solution would not solve the problem! Andy has explained the work needed and will be doing the work very soon. I can highly recommend Andy, he is very reliable and knowledgeable. Good, efficient, clean and tidy service executed with a very pleasant and helpful manner. Good value for money! We‘re very pleased so, Andy, many thanks. Andy has just completed another job for us, it is a pleasure to have him there to work for us, cheerful, tidy & competitively priced. What more could I ask? Called Andy back again this week and work done with the same usual fuss free manner. Turned up when he said he would, got the job done as agreed, charged a fair and reasonable rate. Can‘t ask for more and we will definitely call him when next we need electrical work done. Always reliable, very honest, super efficient, and know his work is the best. Many thanks Andy. Andy has such a "can do" attitude we would not use anyone else. He is so tidy, polite and reliable he really restores your faith in tradesmen. Looking forward to him working for us again in 2016. Always reliable, gets the job done. Quick fast and very honest service. Very well priced for an late evening call out. Price included parts. Was helpful on the phone just to make sure it wasn't anything simple. Prompt, efficient and pleasant as ever. Another job completed very satisfactorily. We really appreciated how quickly Andy calls us back when we need him. Prompt visits, Andy doesn't waste time but quickly gets on with the job in hand. Very grateful for his fault finding skills on this occasion. Really pleased that he sends invoice so quickly too! Don‘t think he could be better! Had Andy back again. He‘s great, does a good tidy job, no mess to clean up afterwards and goes the extra mile when you need help. You can trust him in your house, which is great, as it means you can go out whilst he is working. Andy has done work for me, on and off, for over 4 years. He is always polite, listens to the householder about the problem, and he leaves the area clean and tidy at the end of the work. He always finds a solution to the problem. He keeps in touch with the customer and comes on the day he promises. His rates are very reasonable and fair. I highly recommend him as an electrician and a person. Very good service, reliable, reasonable, very friendly and best of all he kept everything clean and tidy. Thank you Andy. Another great job from Andy this week. Turned up when he said he would, got the job done as agreed, charged a fair and reasonable rate. Can‘t ask for more and we will definitely call him when next we need electrical work done. Great service, good guy, very tidy + reliable. Truely amazing service, great job! Would recommend to anyone. Lovely service, very pleased with him lovely chap. More excellent work from Andy, very reliable and I can't recommend him enough. Andy has completed another job for us. We use him regularly and he turns up on time, his work is excellent and his prices are very reasonable. Highly recommended. Andy is an energetic professional and undertook some fairly complicated work quickly and efficiently. Due to other commitments he was unable to take on all the work I need done, but I will certainly be calling on him again in the future. Yet again Andy has done a simple but superb job. Even though we were away on holiday at the time he knew exactly what we required and got the job done. I would never use any other electrician! Once again, another good job from Andy Breeze. Attention to detail throughout and presented better options that we had not thought of to get the outcome we wanted. Kept us informed and was exceptionally careful to clear up drilling dust. If you want an electrician you can rely on and be confident the job will be done properly then Andy's your man. If you‘re not sure what you need/want, then Andy can also advise and help you come to the right decisions. I have been very satisfied with Breeze Electrical work. Making contact was quick and easy and the service proved to be quick and reliable. I will certainly use the company again. very happy with the service that Andy gave he was polite courteous and tidy! explained just what he was going to do and what was best for us would recommend highly. Reasonable price for work carried out will definitely use Andy service again. Always helpful & cheerful. Very good service. Friendly pleasant and very efficient - will always be my first choice for electrical jobs. highly recommended. Mr A Breeze offers excellent electrical services. Would certainly use for future work. Andy has made a huge difference to the lighting arrangements at the surgery, everything is so much brighter. He arrived promptly, did the job quickly and left all areas clean and tidy. Will definitely us him again for our electrical requirements. Just used Andy for the first time and he is excellent. Prompt, tidy, does a really good job and goes the extra mile. Will be going back to Andy for future electrical work and recommending him to friends and family. Andy does work for us regularly and is always on time, works very efficiently and is very knowledgeable. His prices are very reasonable and he never tries to do work that isn‘t necessary. I have no hesitation in recommending him. I‘ve used Andy for several jobs now and would thoroughly recommend him. Friendly and professional and good rates. We have used Andy Breeze for many major and minor electrical jobs, no matter how big or small the job Andy treats them with the same professional attitude. His work is accurate and professional and I would not hesitate to recommend his work to others. Once again Andy has done a fabulous job for us. Very efficient + tidy work. Very much recommended. Once again Breeze Electrical Solutions provided a professional, helpful and efficient solution to our requirements. We will always come to Breeze / Andy for our electrical needs in the future. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Andy Breeze offers and excellent service, turns up when he says he will and his work is first class and prices are very competitive. We would certainly recommend him. This gentleman is amazing nothing is too much trouble for him. He also is so reasonably priced you don‘t feel like you‘ve been ripped off. Thank you Andy for all the work you‘ve done for us. Excellent service, professional & friendly. We would always recommend him to others. Breeze did a great job - quick efficient, friendly and cheap. I will use them again. The new restaurant lights fitted by Andy look amazing. He is professional and prompt with his service delivery and we would recommend his services to all. Always good prompt friendly service. Very good service in all ways. Great communication, always friendly & helpful. Work clean & professional. Would highly recommend! Always reliable, well priced and would highly recommend him. We use Andy for many of our electrical issues on rental properties. Two more excellent jobs. Thankyou so much Andy, as usual you got me out of trouble. Will see you soon for the next job. Andy was quick and extremely efficient. A really nice gentleman who did a brilliant job for an excellent price. Very good service job well done. Good price. Very good service and careful using a friendly manner. Very pleased with work, turned up when they said they would. Clean & tidy work. Andy is always reliable, we use him regularly for all of our electrcal needs. Andy Breeze has done a number of jobs in our house and I would not hesitate to recommend him as his work is first class, he is honest and always invoices what has been agreed; which is always reasonable. We have had a number of electricians over the years and Andy Breeze is right at the top of our list. Excellent service, Andy is professional, friendly and very good at his job. We would recommend his services to anyone. We are really pleased with Andy‘s recent work and would happily recommend him to anyone. He worked long, late hours to help us get our kitchen ready for a photoshoot at very short notice and is very thorough. Fantastic service - will always use again. Thanks Andy, as usual another excellent job. You always come when you'll say you will & everything is done to a very high standard. Many thanks. Prompt, clean and tidy. Did everything asked and supplied materials from own stock where I had ordered incorrectly. Coordinated with others to complete on time. Excellent job again. Another great job from Andy, I have the smoothest outside lights I‘ve seen anywhere. Great service, very fast, efficient and tidy. Andy always manages to fit you in whatever the job and it‘s always a pleasure doing business with him. Thank you for coming out so quickly, less than an hour is amazing! We have had Andy in to do several jobs and found him to be fair with his prices. Clean and tidy throughout, his time in the house and an excellent workmanship. We‘ve used Andy for electrical work several times over the past few years, initially choosing him because he‘d made it clear he‘d kept up to date with all the regulations. His work has always been excellent. He leaves each work area clean, tidy and sound. He‘s also a nice, cheerful person to have around! Superb friendly electrician no job to big or to small recommend to all my friends. A pleasure to deal with Andy a always. Professional, tidy, efficient. You get what it says on the tin and one more! Time and again I have contacted Andy for various jobs around the house and he is as always on time, courteous, efficient and a damn good electrician. Shame all trades people aren‘t made the same ! Andy has made several visits to improve, mend, advise on and install items in our house and we have experienced a highly professional and personal service at a good price for his high standard of work. Very recommended. Although only a small job Andy was very quick to respond to my initial email, came when he said he would and did an efficient job leaving no mess behind. I would have no hesitation in recommending him and will use Breeze Electrical Solutions again. Great service, job completed with care and explanation if what was required. Cleaned up after work was carried out, and advised us on future electrical instalations. Highly recommended. Very good service, clean and tidy, well mannered. Very prompt service, very clean + tidy. Will contact again with any future problems! Work carried out very efficiently (and he cleaned up afterwards), very impressed. Will call again when we need you, thanks. Excellent service, very polite and clearly explains what is necessary and essential. Highly recommended. Very efficient, tidy and polite. Have been pleased with Andy‘s work and attitude every time he‘s been to our house. He goes above and beyond the call of duty. Punctual, effective and helpful. Sorted lots of little electrical issues in one visit. Friendly, excellent, prompt service at a reasonable price. I would highly recommend this electrician and would not hesitate to use him again in the future. Lights sorted out quickly and efficiently. Good job, well done. As usual an excellent job. Andy gave us helpful advice and efficient service. We have just recently had the services of Andy Breeze and have been very impressed with what he delivered. We have been let down terribly by other so called tradesmen so it was hard to find someone we had faith in. But Andy Breeze was of a top class service. We would highly recommend this guy. We will no doubt use his expert service in the future. Good professional service friendly & courteous. Reasonable price. Thank you. We are very pleased with Andys work. He is an excellent worker. He is friendly and cleans up after him. We cant fault him at all. We would not hesitate to recommend him. Thank you. Would recommend Andy to anyone. Very professional and workmanship top class. Ace electrician. Very tidy and great workmanship. An excellent job once again. Very reliable the only electrician we would use. Prompt and effecient on the number of times that I‘ve used Andy. Will definitely use him again. Really grateful for Andy‘s prompt replies(2nd time he‘s done work for us), punctuality and good communication. Great work carried out efficiently and neatly with reasonable pricing and prompt billing. Excellent work. Clear with exlanations and very informative. Thanks very much Andy. Quick to get back to me, quick to do the work, quick to provide invoice, what more can you want? Professional work with no fuss! Prompt & accurate service. Great Job! All problems solved. Quickyly and tidy. Very satisfied, so reliable, an excellent Electrician. Andy Breeze has done 4 jobs for me over the last 4 years. He is a meticulous electrician, he comes when he promises and tidies up after himself. I would recommend him to anybody. In a bit of bother... No electric.... Many thanks to Andy Breeze... Sorted. What a lovely bloke & very professional. Very satisfied. Prompt and efficient service. Competent, capable and a good job done. Very good, quick & tidy. Extremely competitive price. Great friendly professional service. Would recommend to all. Very good value, highly efficient & friendly service - would highly recommend. Have used Andy on a number of occasions and always found his service to be highly efficient, friendly and reasonably priced. Would recommend him always. Good, efficient, cheerful and very helpful. No hesitation in recommending him for any electrical jobs. Great number of light fittings from his suppliers which were ordered fitted exactly on the days arranged. Tidy in his work, polite in his manner what more could I ask for? Very pleased with work, very efficient. Very pleased the work I have had done. Professional & tidy jobs. Would definitely recommend. Excellent fault finding skills. Great job. Always prompt & reliable, trustworthy, cheerful, energetic and professional. Andy has done a few bits of work for us recently and has always done an excellent job. His work has been to a high standard, he has been very honest in giving us options and will recommend the best but not the most expensive and his rates are very reasonable. Fantastic work reliable trustworthy have used several times and always a first class job. Thank you Andy keep up the hard work. Andy Breeze recently completed work for us which was completed cleanly, efficiently and was competitively priced. We would recommend him. Andy has just completed extensive electrical work for my new kitchen and he has been brilliant as usual. He is totally reliable & his work is always first class. Andy Breeze was very prompt & efficient & reasonable in his pricing. A generally nice man. Andy Breeze Electrical was recommended to us by a member of the family and were really impressed. Andy is a a very nice person, very helpful and his work is excellent. We would have no hesitation in recommencing him to friends and family. Excellent job, pleasant person, cleaned up after job, would not know he had been. Thanks Breeze Electrical for your fast service, great job. We used Breeze Electrical because we found him on the Best of Forest of Dean directory and were really impressed. Andy is a lovely chap, so helpful and his work is excellent. We‘ve recommended him to friends and family and would not hesitate to recommend him on this site. Mr Breeze is very good at all the work that he has done at my home. Excellent electrician. Excellent professional & friendly service. Called Andy after receiving very positive feedback from a relative whom he had done work for and could not have been happier with his integrity and professionalism. Turned up to quote when he said he would, and then turned up to do the work when he said he would. It was a long day but he soldiered on and gave us great service and, great value for money. If we need further electrical work done in the future, there is only one person we will be calling. Thanks Andy! We were very pleased with Andy‘s work. Everything was done perfectly and he was an extremely tidy worker. Would definitely recommend. Andy responded quickly to my request, and his work was exceptionable. I would highly recommend Breeze Electical. Breeze Electrical Solutions are without doubt the very best local electrical business. Andy listens to your requirements and will offer suggestions to obtain the best results. His work is impeccable and his prices are honest and very competitive. Andy has completed work at our property several times now and I would not use any other electrician. I‘d highly recommend Breeze Electrical Solutions every time. Great local electrician who is friendly, doesn‘t charge the earth and does a good job. Andy has done a lot of work for us, he is a reliable, tidy, friendly chap and nothing is too much trouble. He always had solutions for any problems we had, and he works to a high standard. I would definitely recommend him and wouldn‘t hesitate to call him for any future work. Excellent work, very helpful and professional, would recommend. This is our third time Andy has worked for us and as in the previous two visits we just can‘t fault his work. Apart from being a clean, tidy and extremely efficient electrician he is also keen to help solve problems which we may encounter which don‘t necessarily mean more work and income for him. If only all tradespeople were the same. Thanks Andy! Very pleased with our new consumer unit. Very friendly and professional service. Would definitely use again. Highly recommended! Andy has a very friendly attitude that puts you at ease. He is reliable and efficient, I am very glad we have found him. Andy is excellent at his job, very friendly and extremely helpful and would recommend to anyone. Excellent job thank you. Excellent prompt service, thanks Andy! Very good, very efficient and reliable. Excellent service delivered professionally and with a smile! Andy is efficient, polite and very well qualified for the job. Fully recommend. Andy Breeze is very competant, helpful & friendly. Reliable, friendly and reasonable rates. Have used twice and would definitely recommend him. Absolutely brilliant service. High quality work - very tidy. Very fair prices and Andy clears up after himself. Excellent service. Will definitely use him again and no hesitation in recommending him to others. If only all tradesmen were as good as him! We engaged Andy to carry out the electrical work for our recent kitchen refit and to install a light in our porch and outside. He did a great job, was very patient with last minute changes and made sure everything was up and running as soon as possible. We wouldn‘t hesitate to use him again or to recommend his work to others.Thank you Andy! This is the second time that I have used Andy and once again I am extremely satisfied with both his work and attention to detail. He arrived when he said he would, is polite and flexible in what is required, left the work area spotless when he finished and a professional job all round. I just wish all tradespeople were as good! You only have to see how tidy his kit and van is laid out to realise that this is one person who puts value on what he does. Very reliable, trustworthy and always does a neat job cleaning up after himself. Would not hesitate to recommend. Best worker and clean. Will pass his card onto all I know. Andy is methodical, informative and very well organised. His tools and van are kept tidy - all the things I would pride myself in. Right down to him totally cleaning the work area before leaving. If only all trades people were like him ! .. and the electrical work was of a very high standard too! Friendly, professional company. Easy to contact and fast at getting back with answers to queries. All in all I would highly recommend them to anyone and would definitely use again. Excellent work, would use again. Breeze Electrical Solutions have carried out work for us at our business premises and also at home with as little mess and fuss as possible. Great work and friendly, I would highly recommend and definitely use again! Andy couldn‘t have been more helpful, providing lots of advice along the way. Work finished to a high standard and he tidied up as he went along. Very pleased and would definitely recommend to others. Andy thank you for your help in finding and fixing the fault we had on our electrical circuit. I have no reservation in in recommending you, I found you most helpful from my initial phone call requesting help to the time you took in finding the problem and fixing it without recommending we rewire the house but making a very simple and quick change. Thank you Andy and tell your wife that you are helpful and very good phone manners. I would have absolutely no problem in recommending Andy for electrical work! He just finished several different jobs in my house with excellent efficiency. Reliable, and turns up when he says he will, and his prices are really reasonable. Totally satisfied in every way! Knowledgeable, prompt, very good workmanship. Thank you. A1. Very reliable, efficient and friendly. Strongly recommend. Prompt, clean and efficient work, good value, recommended. Arrived on time - done a good job. Very good work and value for money. Brilliant service - quick, efficient, friendly, very happy with service - have used Andy before and would definitely recommend to friends and family. Andy has once again come to add lighting to our site, he is great at finding out what you need and finding an economic way to do it. I cannot recommend him highly enough. No hesitation in recommending Andy, excellent service, tidy and courteous. Andy Breeze is a reliable and honest straight forward electrician who will do a great job on any of your electrical repairs or installations. Great guy, always use him, good workmanship. I found Andy on the recommendation of a neighbour in an emergency. Since then he has done more work. Clean, efficient, works quickly with the least amount of fuss and bother. Very impressed and will use him again. Very good workmanship as ever. Excellent service, would recommend and call in the future if required. Prompt, courteous & reasonable quote. Nice friendly chap, good job! Always good work, well carried out, neatly, quickly & efficiently. Very satisfied and obliging tradesman. Great service. Came really quickly and really pleased with price. Many Thanks. Fantastic service, fitted me in before Christmas. Quick, clean & tidy. Andy always turns up when he says he will, both to quote and do the work. He is efficient and tidy. Highly recommend Breeze Electrical Solutions. Very satisfied with attention and service. Andy Breeze is professional, efficient and trustworthy. We have recommended him to other friends and family without hesitation. Keeps his word and will work late to ensure it happens. We would fully recommend Andy as he gave us a very clear and fair quote and carried out all works to an exceptional standard. He worked around any problems without hesitation and gave very good practical advice. Andy was very helpful and friendly and has installed our heater keeping us warm this winter! Affordable too, thank you! Andy Breeze was professional, efficient and trustworthy. We would be happy to recommend him to other customers. I would recommend Breeze Electrical because good advice was given along with a friendly professional service with reasonable prices. An excellent service with competitive prices. Repeat custom is an indication of satisfaction and trust in a service. Breeze Electrical Solutions have completed several jobs for me and are assured of my future custom as they provide a flawless service. Absolutely delighted with Andy‘s work. He came quickly and was able to help us immediately. I would highly recommend him & will use him next time we need electrical work. Andy Breeze is reliable, friendly and pleasant to have in your home. Really good service. Several hold-ups on a quite small job but Andy was adaptable and fitted in, often arriving after hours if necessary. Absolutely 100% satisfied with Andy‘s work, very efficient. Reliable - knowledgeable. Would definitely recommend. Very friendly and a very good service. Very good reliable service & a pleasant nature. Andy was very helpful & efficient. A most pleasant man and good at his work. Thank you. Breeze Electrical Solutions provide a very good service. I would recommend them to others. I found Andy Breeze very friendly and efficient and I would recommend him to anyone. Excellent, could not have asked for more, very helpful, will use again and recommend. Breeze Electrical Solutions provided me with an excellent service. Thank you. Andy of Breeze Electrical Solutions was very efficient and did an excellent job. We have used Andy since we moved back to UK from Spain and found him very efficient and a nice guy to deal with. We would not hesitate to recommend him for any work required on electrical problems etc. This electrician does a good job at a reasonable price and does not push to do unneccessary wor. I am happy to recommend him. Superb service from Andy. Open and honest from the very beginning. Delighted with the outcome. Strongly recommend his services to anyone needing a local electrician. Thanks. I confirm that Breeze Electrical Solutions in Cinderford did a very good job for me. I always use Breeze Electrical Solutions, a pleasant, efficient service always. Mr Breeze of Breeze Electric is a very efficient, competent and friendly electrician. Breeze Electric Solutions. Excellent work, friendly, clean, tidy and a great job. Andy is very helpful and offered me great advice. All the work completed in my home was of a very high standard and competitive. I definetely recommend Andy! Andy is a great Electrician. extremely efficient and tidy in his work. All round good guy! Andy of Breeze Electrical Solutions is very efficient and pleasant Electrician. Breeze Electrical Solutions were excellent in terms of the work they did and were also very flexible. Highly recommended. Andy has done a great job of sorting our electrical issues for us. He is very professional and reliable. Would highly recommend. Andy is always very punctual, pleasant and always does a very neat job. I would recommend. Andy was very friendly, quick to respond to my calls and was very reliable. Andy from Breeze Electrical Solutions was both very quick and capable!. Thanks. A job well done. left everything tidy and clean, his timing was also very helpful. Andy was very efficient and produced very good workmanship. I would highly recommend. Breeze Electrical Solutions were fast with an excellent service. Highly recommended!. Breeze Electrical provided very good workmanship and value for money. Thanks. Andy was highly satisfactoryin his work, clean and efficient - first class. Thank You. Always tells you if he is running late or before coming. Very tidy and always finishes all jobs in the day. I would recommend Andy Breeze as he is reliable and a very efficient worker. Thank You! Andy has done a number of jobs for me over the past few years. He is quite simply the most helpful, honest and obliging tradesman I’ve come across. If I could find a plumber like Andy I’d be made! Andy has recabled the outside shed for me as well as internal work with light fittings. When I’ve had an emergency he’s made time to fit me in and to cap it all he’s neat and tidy too! I ‘found’ Andy through the recommendation of a friend and I don’t hesitate to recommend him to you. Andy Breeze is a very efficient and tidy worker. I would recommend him to others. Breeze Electrical, brilliant work and leaves everything really tidy afterwards!! I love Andy Breeze because he is very friendly, he is also very helpful and prompt. Andy provided a very good and efficient service and did a very tidy job. He is also reliable and helpful. Very professional, very quick service, courteous and left no mess!. Came out very quickly. Breeze Electrical Solutions gave an excellent response, very tidy and efficient. Andy went far beyond what we actually needed and was very professional. we would definitely recommend him to anyone who needs work done. Fab job Andy!. I found Breeze Electrical provided a reliable and efficient service. Thanks. When I telephoned and left a message Andy returned my call the same day. Andy came following day and sorted the problem. Brilliant!! Breeze Electrical Solutions carry out good work and provide a prompt service. Breeze electrical provide an excellent service and are very prompt in replying to calls. I think that Breeze Electrical Solutions are in every respect just perfect! Excellent service, I will be passing them onto my friends and colleagues. Thank You. Breeze Electrical do an excellent job very efficiently and very fast. Very pleasant to work with. Breeze Electrical Solutions are helpful, efficient and friendly, always smiling!. A good job done!. The service from Andy is excellent, he is also very friendly and helpful. Thanks. Andy of Breeze Electrical is a very thorough professional and a very nice guy. They are very fast, efficient and very good value for money. They do what they say they will do. Andy of Breeze Electrical Solutions has been working hard to solve quite a complicated problem with our Electric Fire. He has gone out of his way with lots of research and effort to solve the problem. In effect he will not be beaten. It’s the good people you come to the fore when things get difficult. I highly recommend Andy and thank him for his sustained effort and professionalism. I run a building company in the Forest and we usually sub-in specialist trades like electricians. This was the first time I had used Andy and he was amazing. Reliable, punctual and tidy with a great eye for on the job problem solving. All in all, an absolute pleasure to work with. I will certainly be happy to use him in future on other projects in this area. Breeze Electrical Solutions provided a very quick and reliable service. Thanks. Breeze Electrical is a very competent electrician, energetic, fast, clean and reasonably priced. I like Breeze Electrical because he is good value for money and also very friendly. We have used Andy for several electrical jobs. You will not find a better local electrician. Very professional and charges a reasonable price. He does exactly what he says on his website ! I’d recommend him to anyone. Excellent communications, very prompt service & a very tidy skilled worksman. Would not hesitate to recommend to others in the area. Many Thanks LW. If you are looking for an electrician who will give you helpful advice, who will carry out the work efficiently and on time, then Andy Breeze is your man. The job charges are very competitive and the quality of the work is excellent. I can thoroughly recommend Andy as a five star service provider. Have used the services of Breeze Electrical on a number of occasions over the last few weeks and the level of service received has always been impressive. Andy is patient and always willing to help whatever the size of the job in hand. He continues to go the extra mile which sets him apart. Thanks Andy. Highly recommended. Would like to thank Andy, He turns up when he says he will, does the job, charges what he agrees before hand. Happy days. Would highly recommend this business. Breeze Electrical Solutions are Top Notch. They give a fast and efficient service. Andy gives a very good all round service. I would highly recommend him to any one. Andy Breeze was very reliable, quick and efficient in his work. Thank you very much. Andy from Breeze Electrical provided a very friendly and efficient service. Breeze Electrical Solutions provide and excellent service. The job was also completed very efficiently. Andy did a great job. he was punctual, neat and tidy in his work. At a very reasonable price. Breeze Electrical came on the same day as I rang and were very helpful. Thanks. Andy did a great job, very professional and his rates are very good as well. Andy from Breeze Electrical was very helpful and friendly. I would recommend him any time. Clean, friendly and absolutely efficient in his, work. Price excellent and affordable. Andy was tidy in his work, quick to come and efficient as well as good price. Andy put some sockets in for us for a wall-hung flat screen TV. He did a wonderful job quickly and efficiently. Couldn‘t be happier with the service and the work carried out and will definitely be using Andy to do the electrics for our next home project. I‘ve used Andy on numerous occasions during the last 12 months, and each time he‘s done a first class job. He always explains things in detail, and has in 2 instances found a way of saving money on installations. I have no hesitation in recommending Breeze Electrical. Andy came out at short notice over the holidays and provided a great service!! Breeze Electrical were efficient and friendly, a service with a good customer focus. Andy from Breeze Electrical is very friendly and of a completely honest nature. Fast, efficient and very helpful. Very please with the service. Would recommend and use again. Andy continues to work for or advise us on our ‘project’ - always punctual, prompt and very efficient. Always recommend. Breeze Electrical are very friendly and very good value for money. Thank you. Andy gave a prompt and efficient service. Will most certainly recommend him. Very efficient and reasonable. I would recommend Andy for an electrical problems you have. Always helpful - works quickly and neatly. Reliable and honest. High standard of work. Andy provided was excellent and helpful service. Prompt response. Many thanks. Andy the electrician was very positive in carrying out the work and was very quick carrying out the jobs required. The work was carried out to a good job and well happy with the finished job. Would recommend this company because they gave an excellent and informative service. Andy of Breeze Electrical Solutions provided a first class service. Many thanks. Found Andy of Breeze Electrical very efficient, very tidy and very pleasant to deal with. Would recommend. Very pleasant and cheerful person. He has done an excellent job. We were happy to use this firm again after our first experience. We shall be happy to use them again for future needs as we appreciate reliability and reasonable charges. Andy did a great job well done. Very reliable and trustworthy. Many thanks. Andy did an excellent job, he is cheerful, tidy and great value for money. Thanks very much. I found Andy to be an efficient and professional worker. Pleasant to have working in the house. Excellent service, gives very good advice on electrical matters. Would recommend him to work for anyone else. Andy from Breeze Electrical is an excellent workman, clean, tidy and determined in his work. Andy gave very good service, came promptly and did the work at a very reasonable price. Breeze Electrical Solutions were very reliable and helpful throughout. Many thanks. Very helpful, sorted the problem after extensive problem solving. Nothing was too much trouble. Highly recommended. Andy was very good at his work, he was very tidy and he was very reliable. Breeze Electrical - very good, I‘m very happy indeed with the result of his work. Andy Breeze is very friendly, reliable and is also reasonably priced. Thanks. The service that Andy provides is efficient, professional and always friendly and helpful. Mr Breeze is extremely efficient and completely honest and reliable. We would recommend any time. We think the service provided by Breeze Electrical Solutions is quite simply Excellent!!!. I found Breeze Electrical Solutions to be reliable, thorough and good value. An excellent service, very professional, even on a Saturday afternnoon. Many thanks we are now warm! I‘m very happy with the service provided by Breeze Electrical Solutions. Thanks. Prompt service, very efficient and tidy. Hard working, knowledgeable and price very reasonable. Good response to initial enquiry. Carried out our requirements efficiently and courteously. Very reasonable charges. Overall a very good experience for us. I would recommend Breeze Electrical Solutions because he is friendly, helpful and nothing is too much trouble. He works hard and has helpful ideas. He is trustworthy, reliable, honest and genuine. Received a very efficient and well done service. Would definitely recommend. Very satisfied with the work. Andy always does a fantastic job. Highly recommended. Breeze Electrical Solutions represent good value for money and are very friendly. Andy from Breeze Electrical provided a fantastic service, highly recommended. Many thanks. I‘m very pleased with your services. Thank you very much for coming at such short notice. Yet again Andy did a thoroughly professional job refitting our kitchen electrics. There is no doubt he is a first class Electrican. Breeze Electrical Solutions - fantastic!!. Andy is also very clean in his work. Efficient, friendly, punctual, good price and cleaned up afterwards. Thanks. Breeze Electrical give a prompt service, they are also friendly and helpful. Andy Breezes does an excellent job. He is reliable and leaves everything neat and tidy. Andy is a genuine guy, returned my phone call, on time and cleared up afterwards. Andy gives an expert and timely service at an affordable price. Thanks a lot. I found Breeze Electrical to be very efficient. helpful and friendly throughout. Breeze Electrical provided a great service, very fast and speedy, I will use him again. You come early. After the work he tidy up the place. Pay attention to details. Good service overall. Mr Breeze is very patient and understanding. He is very neat and tidy, professional and pleasant. His professional work and advice are of a high quality. Many thanks. Andy was very helpful and friendly. I‘m pleased with the work he carried out. Andy did an excellent job of installing my new cooker and some overhead lights just a few days before Christmas. He was tidy and efficient and I will certainly go back to him for any other electrical work that I have. Breeze Electrical Solutions provide a very good and reliable service Thanks ! Andy continues to impress me with his approach to his work, thorough, efficient with good prices. He also treats you and your home with respect which is worth a great deal. First class work by previous appointment. An outstanding result. Excellent in all aspects. First Class ! Extremely helpful, reliable and value for money. On time, quick and very pleasant. Thanks. Very prompt, courteous, reliable and removed shoes without asking!. Reasonable cost. Andy came out very quickly, a brilliant service! Excellent service, very speedy and efficient. Will definitely use again. Andy Has carried out two seperate repairs for me over the last fortnight, great service, he gives clear advice so that I understood the options & the work was carried out quickly & efficiently at a very good price. Thanks again Andy. Andy returns phone calls immediately, tries to sort the problems out and turns up when he is supposed to. I would recommend him, it is unique to find a local engineer that is efficient and reliable. Excellent service, prompt attendance and very informative as to our options. We would thoroughly recommend Andy. Andy recently carried out a number of small jobs for us, a couple of which involved fault finding. He worked very efficiently to complete the individuals jobs in a thorough and reassuring manner. I find him reliable and completely trustworthy. Would recommend him without hesitation. Reasonable pricing - hard working - clean and tidy. I would certainly recommend to other people. A very friendly and helpful individual. Very friendly, professional service. Extremely competitive price and thorough in his work. Highly recommended. Andy does over and above what is expected. His work is very neat and nothing is too much trouble. I would highly recommend Andy for all Electrical work. Breeze Electrical Solutions are fast,efficient and friendly. A very efficient Electrician and a completely reliable person. Breeze Electrical Solutions are simply Excellent! Breeze Electrical provide a very fast, efficient and courteous service. No mess left behind!. Very fast, efficient and friendly work carried out and at a good rate. Thanks. Very reliable, work of an excellent standard, friendly, and knowlegeable. Very efficient, quick and reasonable price. Excellent !. Quick, efficient, thorough work. Andy quickly grasped what was wanted and achieved it admirably. Very clean, tidy, very helpful and professional. Andy is very knowledgeable and trustworthy. I‘m very pleased with the work that has been done. Very efficient, understands what you want and reasonable on price. I would highly recommend, especially for older members of the public. A B Electrical, very please with the service received, quick and tidy work. Immediate response to my initial call - very quick appointment booked - very punctual, pleasant, reassuring and cleaned up after himself. Quick response, clean work, successful repairs, I would use again. Andy from A B Electrical Solutions is efficient and provides a cheerful service. A B Electrical Solutions provide a professional service and good value. Andy is an excellent electrician, good availability and good service. Excellent work, very thorough and very reasonable cost. Cleaned up and removed shoes without being asked. Thankyou very much for fast service. Will deffinatley use again and recommend. Great work from Andy. I would highly recommend him, very flexible, friendly and fair price for the work. Andy does excellent work for a great price, highly recomended! Andy has done a few jobs at our house recently - new smoke alarms, shower cables, chasing in sockets etc and I would echo what lots of people have already said here - efficient response, reassuring that he does know what he is doing, considerate in the home and good attention to detail. Clearly cares about doing things properly. We will be using him again. Really great flexible service at an economical price - highly recommended. Andy of AB Electrical Solutions added some new sockets for me and replaced all switches to chrome. He was really helpful, friendly and reliable. He appeared to have a good knowledge of his trade and made some helpful suggestions for improvement. Very happy with his work and can recommand him to anyone. Andy is a great guy. He does a fantastic job, very professional and always goes that extra mile to provide superb customer service. I wouldn‘t hesitate to recommend him to anyone. Andy is the most professional, punctual, friendly and reassuring electrician we have had the good fortune to contact. Working in our business premises and domestic we certainly recommend him every time. Andy of AB Electrical Solutions provides a very good service. Very pleased with the work carried out, Andy is polite and reliable. Yes, would recommend to anyone, he is a good worker and always very happy. Another wonderful job by Andy. As always he was very helpful and I am pleased to say that he is the first person we call when we need any electrical work done. Friendly and very professional. Always cleans up after every job. Helpful and gives good advice and very trustworthy. Would recommend - Always has a smile! Reliable service, supplied a quck solution to our show problem. Made us feel safe in our home. A very good service provided by AB Electrical. Definately use again. AB Electrical provided an excellent and prompt service. Would not hesitate to recommend. Came to look at the job within a day. Prompt and detailed quotation by e-mail. Work carried out efficiently and on time. Price very fair. Satisfied customer. Excellent. Andy is thorough and competant whether for a small or large job. Andy did an excellent job. I will be recommending him to other people if they ever need an electrician. He‘s also very friendly. Andy of AB Electrical provided great service and got us out of a jam!. Work completed on time, very efficient and tidy, would certainly recommend to other local people. Quick, clean, friendly, helpful and communicative. A good job. Thanks. Very efficient and polite. Will continue to use him in the future. Reliable and cheery. Does a very good job, he is also considerate in your home. AB Electrical Solutions provide excellent service, would use again. Very reliable and polite. He does a very clean and professional job and I would highly recommend him. Excellent service and workmanship. Friendly and helpful. Good aftercare. As a chap, Andy is extremely friendly and helpful, and as an electrician his work was carried out to the highest degree of professionalism. He works quickly, checking carefully as he goes, and even cleans up as he proceeds! Coupled with this, his charges are very reasonable, especially when considering how diligently he carries out his work. We will certainly be using him in the future. Andy was helpful, the work done was completed to a high standard and I would recommend him to everybody. Fabulous work - friendly and professional, and very clean and tidy (always takes his shoes off and tidies up afterwards!). Affordable and knowledgeable - I wouldn‘t hesitate to recommend him! We had excellent service from Andy. He was polite and tidy and did a fantastic job installing new lights, he was also very good value! I will definitely be using him again, and I am more than happy to recommend him to others. Andy installed two night storage heaters for us in addition to some general electrical work. He was very thorough and professional. We would definately use him again and recommend him to others. They displayed professional workmanship, reasonably priced and reliable. Excellent. AB Electrical were prompt and very informative, I was very please. Great service - very happy to help you - will use again. Thanks. AB Electrical do a good job. Very tidy and good at conversing as well as helpful. Andy did a fantastic job rewiring my kitchen and gave me ideas I hadn‘t thought of. Nice one. AB Electrical Solutions delivered what he came to do in a professional, friendly and efficient way. I will recommend him. They provide a fast, efficient, reliable and friendly service. They are quick, reliable, not too expensive and give a really good service. I found AB Electrical Solutions to be very efficient. Thanks for the work you did. AB Electrical Solutions, they are a very good company. Thank You. Clean and tidy. Professional and always willing to help in any situation. Cheers Mate! AB Electrical Solutions provided an excellent service, I would certainly recommend. A very prompt service, also very helpful, friendly and very tidy. Each time we have asked Andy for electrical help he has been most professional in (a) arriving when he said he would (b) being clean and thorough with the job in hand and (c) very sensibly priced. Highly recommended. Thank You. Andy did an excellent job in sorting out my elderly mother‘s electrics, he was very efficient and good value, would highly recommend. Andy carried out all the electrical work to my newly built extension with great professionalism, very tidy work at a reasonable price. I have since had him back to carry out various other projects. I will be using his services again Will be recommending!!! Thanks Andy. Very quick, clean and efficient. Outstanding workmanship and very reasonably priced. AB Electrical Solutions provided a prompt and expert service with reasonable prices. Fantastic service, speedy response and great help with my decision making. Clean and tidy. Thanks very much, happy customer. AB Electrical Solutions, courteous and very tidy. Good service. Came to do the job very quickly after a phone call. Job done efficiently and all left tidy. A freindly service. Very good, reliable, tidy and value for money - would highly recommend. Andy has been an absolute star - we have had a protracted build, and he has fitted in with all our requirements, and has carried out all the work to a very high standard. Highly recommended. Andy came at very short notice to an urgent problem and sorted it very quickly. Many thanks! Very happy with the work that Andy has carried out and would be happy to have him call if any other work needed doing. Excellent service, problems solved nothing too much trouble. Tidy pleasant and a really good job done. Quality of the highest standard. Yes, we would recommend AB Elecectrical Solutions to others. Andy quoted for my small job some time ago, he returned once more to reaffirm my requirements and recently yet again, returned to carry out the work on a date convenient to me. His professional approach and eye for detail was great to see. He carried out the work well and was very tidy throughout and all at a competitive price. Well done and thanks. AB Electrical did a very good job, highly recommended to others. AB Electrical, perfect job well done, very impressed, will use again. Great service from AB Electrical. Very professional & friendly - explained everything in detail. Andy is very reliable, he always turns up when he says he is going to and is very professional and efficient. I would not hesitate to recommend him. Very happy with the service Mr Breeze provided, very satisfied with the job. Andy arrived when he said he was going to and did the job in a proffesional and efficient manner. I‘ve certainly got no complaints. Thanks. AB Electrical - Excellent, very prompt and a very polite workman. I found AB Electrical Solutions are both quick and efficient. Hard working, considerate and understanding. Nothing too much trouble and really good work. Having been fobbed off by another electrician that a fuse ‘was just doing it‘s job’ I called AB Electrical hoping for a more satisfactory solution than being charged £10 to change a fuse (which I could have done myself). I was not disappointed, cables that had burns on them were totally removed & replaced with new, Andy even sorted another unrelated wire for me too. Pleasantly surprised by the bill, I will definitely call Andy next time I need an electrician! Very satisfied, will use AB Electrical again and recommend to others. First class service - from the first phone call to completion. AB Electrical - Andy provided a very efficient and friendly service. AB Electrical Solutions, very well pleased with the job done. AB Electrical Solutions, clean and tidy. did a first class job. First class customer service and delighted with the result. Thanks. Would recommend to friends and family. Excellent service. Andy came out to see us immediately and worked late into Friday evening. I would readily recommend Andy as a professional electrician. Very professional, helpful and flexible. Always contactable which is quite rare for a tradesman!. Would recommend 100%. Excellent work. Sorted our electrical problem quickly at a very good price. Also a top man. Highly recommended. It‘s great to find a tradesman that does what he say‘s he is going to to do, when he say‘s he is going to do it. As well as doing a really clean and neat job. Happy to recommend Andy at AB Electrical to anyone. AB Electrical, good communication, very pleased, would recommend again. He was very good, took time to do a good job. I will recommend to people I know. Thanks a lot. AB Electrical Solutions, very tidy, efficient, excellent job done. We had a problem with our lights, they were very old so Andy replaced them. Great job, left the place cleaner than before he started! I would recommend A B Electrical to anyone needing electrical work. I visited the Forest property at the weekend and saw the new extractor fan. It looked very neat and the tenants were very please with how you left everything tidy when you finished. Thanks. AB Electrical Solutions provided an excellent service and were clean and tidy. Did a splendid job and found an additional fault of which I was unaware. I have no hesitation in recommending his services. Andy is very efficient, neat, tidy and clean as well being prompt. Speedy and effcient service. Would definately recommend to anyone. Fantastic, reliable, on time, cleans up. All round excellent service. Andy is a very good and very tidy worker. Very pleased with his work. AB Electrical Solutions provide excellent services. Thanks. Very quick, clean and efficient. No hesitation in recommending them to anyone. Excellent work and communications. Provides a friendly local service. Came highly recommended and rightly so. Carried out an xecellent job. A quick response and assesment of the situation. Tidy job. Would use again and recommend to others. Excellent response and work carried out was first class. Nothing was too much trouble. Andy recently fitted some external/internal lights & an external power socket for us. Will certainly use in future as excellent workmanship & value. Excellent service, very prompt and tidy. Would recommend to all my family and friends. Responded to an emergency on the same day. Excellent job, cleaned up and good manor. AB Electrical - Very proffesional, prompt, courtious and efficient. Prompt, reliable and efficient, Andy turned up within the hour and on a Sunday too! I‘m really grateful for his professional and helpful attitude. Very competitive rates. Thank you Andy. Natalie. Excellent service, courteous and helpful. Value for money and fair. Andrew works thoroughly, very hard and knows his subject very well. He is also clean and methodical - leaving rooms as they were. cheerful and very helpful. Ain‘t nothing to much trouble. Fast, efficient, reliable and professional. I would certainly recommend with confidence. Andy Breeze works quickly and effectively and is a nice kind person. First person to have diagnosed the problem we had! Excellent service and very reasonable. Would recommend to anyone. J Danks. I found Andy Breeze courteous, reliable, prompt and tidy. Good workmanship, quick and efficient. Andy arrived promptly and completed the job quickly and efficiently, and the cost was very reasonable. Very pleased, thanks Andy! I have sent Andy to many of my customers for electrical work, he has never let me down and always been a true professional. I would always recommend Andy as a very competant electrician. Paul Groves - Forest Fixit. For advice, for a quote and for a job well done Andy‘s your man! Prompt and curteous, all work done in a precise clean job. I would recommend A B Electrical Solutions to any new customers for any household electrical work. Hard working, clean, polite and a good job done. A Job well done, thank you so much! Andy managed to source a part and repair my cooker just prior to all the family arriving for the holidays, phew, and downloaded an instruction manual which I did not have, nice one mate. Andy P. Many thanks Andy, I‘m delighted with the work! I have always found Andy to be honest straight forward and helpful and does what it says on the tin Nick Johnson Independent mortgage insurance specialist. Andy came to do a couple of jobs for me & did a great job. No mess & a good price. I will certainly use him again & would recommend his services too. When I had an electrical problem recently, I contacted Andy who dealt with me in a most professional manner. Result - no longer a problem. Many thanks Andy. Will certainly recommend you to others.

2019-04-24T21:50:17Z

https://www.foresttraders.co.uk/testimonials_breezeelectricalsolutions.php

DSST Public Schools is widely considered to be one of the leading open enrollment STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) schools in the United States, and has become a destination for educators nationwide. DSST schools are home to the highest performing and highest growth secondary schools in Denver Public Schools, and to date, 100% of our graduates have earned acceptance into 4-year colleges and universities. DSST's Mission: DSST Public Schools transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. DSST Public Schools is a values-driven organization and a deliberately integrated community, serving students from all walks of life. Our six Core Values are central to our program and to our results. These values are truly embedded in everything we do. Respect: We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility: We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity: We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage: We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity: We are eager to learn, question, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. High School Spanish Teacher DSST Public Schools (DSST) seeks a High School Spanish Teacher to join one of the leading charter school organizations in the nation. We serve 6-12th grade students across Denver and Aurora. Our mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. Overview of Position : DSST Public Schools seeks teachers with a track-record of raising student achievement to join a team of educators dedicated to providing a rigorous college preparatory program to a diverse population. Our teachers are leaders who play an integral role in ensuring student success through supporting our school culture, developing and instructing a rigorous core curriculum, and using data to drive their daily practice. Our Spanish teachers believe that loving and learning Spanish deepens beyond its usefulness and includes the practice of deeply valuing all cultures and traditions as we learn from them. Our Curriculum Map is as follows: 9th Grade: Spanish 1 10th Grade: Spanish 2 11th Grade: Spanish 3 12th Grade: AP Spanish Language or AP Spanish Literature We also have an “Español para hispanohablantes” (EPH) track that has been designed to ensure that all heritage learners, regardless of initial level of Spanish proficiency, are provided with Spanish instruction that meets their unique needs. We will inquire about your grade level and campus specific preference at the time of interview. Essential Functions : Overview Demonstrate relentless drive to improve the minds and lives of students Take holistic accountability for student success- taking ownership of each student’s academic success or failure. Reinforce the school’s core values, guiding philosophy, rules and school spirit. Classroom Teaching Exhibit mastery and enthusiasm for the assigned academic subjects and classes Work closely and collaborate with other teachers within the school and throughout the DSST network Teach 3-5 classes a day of various lengths depending on the DSST campus and subject area Average 150+ minutes of plan time per day Plan lessons and implement targeted curriculum and assessments for each student which adheres to the school's curriculum and standards. Keep an up-to-date gradebook for each class Work to implement and master DSST Public Schools’ core instructional practices Data and Analysis Implement a variety of targeted assessments and perform a root cause analysis that measure progress towards learning outcomes and that adhere to the DSST Assessment Framework. Use assessment data to adapt curriculum and instructional practices to help students meet the school's performance standards. Such use of data includes re-teach weeks, spiraling skills, and changing daily instruction to meet student needs. Professional Development Participate in weekly feedback sessions with an instructional coach Devote the necessary time and energy required to master the craft of teaching. To be open to innovative approaches to teaching, feedback from colleagues and school administration. Actively participate in the school’s professional development programs including data analysis and planning, leading and participating in best practice sessions, peer coaching, and attending conferences. Additional Duties: School Life Model, live, and reinforce the school’s core values and policies inside and outside the classroom with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. Student Advisor Perform as an advisor to a small group of advisees by overseeing their academic and student life. Taking attendance Checking homework completion Holding regular academic and behavioral conferences Meeting with advisee’s parents and communicating with families regularly Leading reading and culture circles Leading weekly Advisory activities and lessons. Grade level “House” teammate Participate in weekly meetings to support student culture and academics for the whole grade Data tracking and observations in between meetings will be likely Participate in planning and execution of grade level events Weekly Staff Meetings Participate in weekly whole school staff meetings to support school culture, and teacher initiatives Participate in planning and proctoring extra teacher “duties” throughout the week Lunch Duty Morning Duty After School Duty Academic Interventions College Prep Mandatory Tutoring Behavioral Support Intervention Refocus **there may be additional duties depending on the DSST campus** Job Requirements : DSST Public Schools seeks candidates with strong character, passion for excellence and a relentless commitment to student achievement. In order to be considered qualified to teach at DSST Public Schools, you will need a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university as well as the below credentials 36 credits hours (DPS approved) in the subject you are teaching OR a CDE license endorsement within subject area Spanish Fluency: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening Required Competencies : Commitment to Equity We believe that if we actively commit to equitable and inclusive practices aligned to our mission and values, our students and staff will achieve at high levels. Commitment to Continuous Growth We believe that if we foster our own growth mindsets, our students and staff will develop a commitment to continuous improvement and thus maximize their potential. Commitment to Healthy Team We believe that if we commit to modeling and fostering healthy teams, our students and staff will achieve a collective success that surpasses that of the individuals Drives to Results We believe if we strategically develop systems and people with a driven sense of urgency and focus on results, our students and staff will achieve ambitious goals. Classification : Exempt Reports to : School Director Compensation and Benefits : DSST Public Schools is committed to providing our staff with benefit offerings that empower each of our employees to make the choices that best meet their individualized and personal needs while also keeping cost in mind. DSST Benefit highlights include: Medical Plans offered through Kaiser $0 employee cost option! Annual Health Savings account (HSA) gift from DSST Public Schools 2 Dental Plans options offered through Principal Dental Group and Vision through VSP Employee Assistance and Counseling Support 401 (k) retirement plan with 5% annual gift from DSST regardless of personal contribution FMLA effective immediately (6 weeks paid, 6 weeks unpaid) Access to additional discounts through our benefit partners exclusively for DSST staff *Candidates placed in Aurora Science & Tech. will be eligible for a PERA Retirement Plan Physical Demands : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. DSST Public Schools Overview: DSST Public Schools (DSST) operates a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment public STEM charter schools. All DSST schools operate within the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district and students are admitted through DPS’ School Choice process. Our schools focus on building a community where students and staff are valued for their unique talents. Meaningful relationships are at the core of our model which is why our schools are small enough to ensure every student is known and valued for their individuality. We have developed systems and structures to ensure our students will be prepared for college, career and life. The student population across the DSST network is 83% students of color and 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch. This year, DSST will serve approximately 5,700 students at fourteen schools on eight campuses across Denver, and DSST will open its first campus in Aurora, Colorado in the fall 2019. At full enrollment, DSST Public Schools will serve over 10,000 students and will more than double the number of four year college-ready DPS graduates. DSST Public Schools employees support each other not only to have fulfilling careers, but more importantly, to lead fulfilling lives that combines deeply meaningful professional work with personal well-being. Our core values are central to our program and to our results. These values are embedded in everything that we do and how we do it, both for our students and our staff. The six DSST core values are: Respect - We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility - We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity - We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage - We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity - We are eager to learn, questions, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. Doing Your Best - We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive. DSST Public Schools proudly values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. Denver School of Science and Technology does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. (Protected Classes). DSST Public Schools does not unlawfully discriminate against a member of a Protected Class in admission or access to, or terms and conditions of employment, or in its programs and activities. DSST Public Schools shall operate as an equal opportunity employer and will provide and safeguard the opportunity for all persons to seek, obtain, hold and advance in employment within the district without discrimination. The District shall actively promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, aggressive, continuing affirmative action program. Further, DSST Public Schools affirms the rights of all Protected Classes to be free from intimidation, discrimination, physical harm and/or harassment. DSST Public Schools shall inform students, parents, employees and the general public each school year that the educational programs, activities and employment opportunities offered by the district are offered without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. The announcement shall also include the name/title, address and telephone number of the person designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 and ADA compliance activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources. English Language Development Teacher Leader DSST Public Schools (DSST) seeks an English Language Development (ELD) Teacher Leader to join one of the leading charter school organizations in the nation. We serve 6-12th grade students across Denver and Aurora. Our mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. Overview of Position : The ELD teacher leader will play a critical role in ensuring that English language learners, referred to as multilingual learners (MLLs) by DSST staff, get the intentionally designed supports and services that they deserve. Essential Functions : Teach pull-out ELD class(es) to MLL students in order to help promote overall student achievement Manage the MLL Identification and Redesignation process to ensure that all multilingual learners are assigned appropriate interventions and supports Develop colleagues on best practices for MLL students, by: Providing feedback to colleagues around culturally responsive classroom practices Designing and delivering professional development sessions that develop colleagues in the effective use of language acquisition strategies across content areas Work alongside school administration to maintain a school environment that celebrates cultural pluralism Coordinate, lead, and administer the WIDA screener and ACCESS test Identify school-level trends in strengths and growth areas as they relate to MLL student support Manage the school-wide ELD data cycle Other assigned responsibilities that leverage the expertise and strengths of the individual working as the ELD teacher leader in order to serve the emerging needs of our MLL students *** This overview is a comprehensive list of what ELD teacher leaders across the DSST network do. Please connect with your hiring contact and/or the school director at the specific school where you are applying for details surrounding what this role could entail for you. Additional Duties: School Life Model, live, and reinforce the school’s core values and policies inside and outside the classroom with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. Student Advisor Perform as an advisor to a small group of advisees by overseeing their academic and student life. Taking attendance Checking homework completion Holding regular academic and behavioral conferences Meeting with advisee’s parents and communicating with families regularly Leading reading and culture circles Leading weekly Advisory activities and lessons. Grade level “House” teammate Participate in weekly meetings to support student culture and academics for the whole grade Data tracking and observations in between meetings will be likely Participate in planning and execution of grade level events Weekly Staff Meetings Participate in weekly whole school staff meetings to support school culture, and teacher initiatives Participate in planning and proctoring extra teacher “duties” throughout the week Lunch Duty Morning Duty After School Duty Academic Interventions College Prep Mandatory Tutoring Behavioral Support Intervention Refocus **there may be additional duties depending on the DSST campus** Job Requirements : DSST Public Schools seeks candidates with strong character, passion for excellence and a relentless commitment to student achievement. Candidates must have a bachelor's degree along with at least 1 of the 3 items listed below in order to be eligible for hire. State teaching license in English language acquisition (CLDE, LDE, SEI, ESL) or related subject area (e.g. English language arts) ( link ) Completion of degree or 36 hours within a related subject area (e.g. English language arts) ( link ) Spanish fluency in reading ,writing, speaking, listening*** ***Spanish fluency, shown through a successful attempt at the Berlitz exam, is required at DSST: Noel MS and DSST: Henry MS. It is highly preferred at DSST: College View MS. To learn more about the different ways to prove qualifications within the subject area, please visit the Colorado Department of Education’s website at www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof . Additional Requirements: Minimum one year experience teaching English Language Development (ELD), English as a Second Language (ESL), or English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Success in accelerating English language acquisition across the content areas in a public school setting Competencies : Commitment to Equity We believe that if we actively commit to equitable and inclusive practices aligned to our mission and values, our students and staff will achieve at high levels. Commitment to Continuous Growth We believe that if we foster our own growth mindsets, our students and staff will develop a commitment to continuous improvement and thus maximize their potential. Commitment to Healthy Team We believe that if we commit to modeling and fostering healthy teams, our students and staff will achieve a collective success that surpasses that of the individuals Drives to Results We believe if we strategically develop systems and people with a driven sense of urgency and focus on results, our students and staff will achieve ambitious goals. Classification : Exempt Reports to : School Director Compensation and Benefits: DSST Public Schools is committed to providing our staff with benefit offerings that empower each of our employees to make the choices that best meet their individualized and personal needs while also keeping cost in mind. DSST Benefit highlights include: Medical Plans offered through Kaiser $0 employee cost option! Annual Health Savings account (HSA) gift from DSST Public Schools 2 Dental Plans options offered through Principal Dental Group and Vision through VSP Employee Assistance and Counseling Support 401 (k) retirement plan with 5% annual gift from DSST regardless of personal contribution FMLA effective immediately (6 weeks paid, 6 weeks unpaid) Access to additional discounts through our benefit partners exclusively for DSST staff *Candidates placed in Aurora Science & Tech. will be eligible for a PERA Retirement Plan Physical Demands : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. DSST Public Schools Overview: DSST Public Schools (DSST) operates a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment public STEM charter schools. All DSST schools operate within the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district and students are admitted through DPS’ School Choice process. Our schools focus on building a community where students and staff are valued for their unique talents. Meaningful relationships are at the core of our model which is why our schools are small enough to ensure every student is known and valued for their individuality. We have developed systems and structures to ensure our students will be prepared for college, career and life. The student population across the DSST network is 83% students of color and 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch. This year, DSST will serve approximately 5,700 students at fourteen schools on eight campuses across Denver, and DSST will open its first campus in Aurora, Colorado in the fall 2019. At full enrollment, DSST Public Schools will serve over 10,000 students and will more than double the number of four year college-ready DPS graduates. DSST Public Schools employees support each other not only to have fulfilling careers, but more importantly, to lead fulfilling lives that combines deeply meaningful professional work with personal well-being. Our core values are central to our program and to our results. These values are embedded in everything that we do and how we do it, both for our students and our staff. The six DSST core values are: Respect - We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility - We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity - We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage - We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity - We are eager to learn, questions, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. Doing Your Best - We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive. DSST Public Schools proudly values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. Denver School of Science and Technology does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. (Protected Classes). DSST Public Schools does not unlawfully discriminate against a member of a Protected Class in admission or access to, or terms and conditions of employment, or in its programs and activities. DSST Public Schools shall operate as an equal opportunity employer and will provide and safeguard the opportunity for all persons to seek, obtain, hold and advance in employment within the district without discrimination. The District shall actively promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, aggressive, continuing affirmative action program. Further, DSST Public Schools affirms the rights of all Protected Classes to be free from intimidation, discrimination, physical harm and/or harassment. DSST Public Schools shall inform students, parents, employees and the general public each school year that the educational programs, activities and employment opportunities offered by the district are offered without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. The announcement shall also include the name/title, address and telephone number of the person designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 and ADA compliance activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources. Middle School Math Teacher DSST Public Schools (DSST) seeks a Middle School Math Teacher to join one of the leading charter school organizations in the nation. We serve 6-12th grade students across Denver and Aurora. Our mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. Overview of Position : DSST Public Schools seeks teachers with a track-record of raising student achievement to join a team of educators dedicated to providing a rigorous college preparatory program to a diverse population. Our teachers are leaders who play an integral role in ensuring student success through supporting our school culture, developing and instructing a rigorous core curriculum, and using data to drive their daily practice. Our math teachers teach students to see and use math in real life- while upholding the understanding that math is something we understand, not just something we do. We believe all students can be mathematicians and inspire them to see themselves as such. Our curriculum map is as follows: 6th Grade Common Core Math 7th Grade Common Core Math Integrated Algebra I and Geometry I Integrated Algebra I and Geometry II Algebra II Pre-Calculus AP Calculus AB AP Calculus BC There is flexibility in terms of where students are placed along the math curriculum according to performance and preparedness. All students complete Pre-Calculus by the time of graduation. We will inquire about your grade level and campus specific preference at the time of interview. Essential Functions : Overview Demonstrate relentless drive to improve the minds and lives of students Take holistic accountability for student success- taking ownership of each student’s academic success or failure. Reinforce the school’s core values, guiding philosophy, rules and school spirit. Classroom Teaching Exhibit mastery and enthusiasm for the assigned academic subjects and classes Work closely and collaborate with other teachers within the school and throughout the DSST network Teach 3-5 classes a day of various lengths depending on the DSST campus and subject area Average 150+ minutes of plan time per day Plan lessons and implement targeted curriculum and assessments for each student which adheres to the school's curriculum and standards. Keep an up-to-date gradebook for each class Work to implement and master DSST Public Schools’ core instructional practices Data and Analysis Implement a variety of targeted assessments and perform a root cause analysis that measure progress towards learning outcomes and that adhere to the DSST Assessment Framework. Use assessment data to adapt curriculum and instructional practices to help students meet the school's performance standards. Such use of data includes re-teach weeks, spiraling skills, and changing daily instruction to meet student needs. Professional Development Participate in weekly feedback sessions with an instructional coach Devote the necessary time and energy required to master the craft of teaching. To be open to innovative approaches to teaching, feedback from colleagues and school administration. Actively participate in the school’s professional development programs including data analysis and planning, leading and participating in best practice sessions, peer coaching, and attending conferences. Additional Duties: School Life Model, live, and reinforce the school’s core values and policies inside and outside the classroom with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. Student Advisor Perform as an advisor to a small group of advisees by overseeing their academic and student life. Taking attendance Checking homework completion Holding regular academic and behavioral conferences Meeting with advisee’s parents and communicating with families regularly Leading reading and culture circles Leading weekly Advisory activities and lessons. Grade level “House” teammate Participate in weekly meetings to support student culture and academics for the whole grade Data tracking and observations in between meetings will be likely Participate in planning and execution of grade level events Weekly Staff Meetings Participate in weekly whole school staff meetings to support school culture, and teacher initiatives Participate in planning and proctoring extra teacher “duties” throughout the week Lunch Duty Morning Duty After School Duty Academic Interventions College Prep Mandatory Tutoring Behavioral Support Intervention Refocus **there may be additional duties depending on the DSST campus** Job Requirements : DSST Public Schools seeks candidates with strong character, passion for excellence and a relentless commitment to student achievement. In order to be considered qualified to teach at DSST Public Schools, you will need a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and AT LEAST one of the following: 36 credits hours (DPS approved) in the subject you are teaching. Passing of the #5161 Math Praxis exam 152 CDE license endorsement within subject area Competencies : Commitment to Equity We believe that if we actively commit to equitable and inclusive practices aligned to our mission and values, our students and staff will achieve at high levels. Commitment to Continuous Growth We believe that if we foster our own growth mindsets, our students and staff will develop a commitment to continuous improvement and thus maximize their potential. Commitment to Healthy Team We believe that if we commit to modeling and fostering healthy teams, our students and staff will achieve a collective success that surpasses that of the individuals Drives to Results We believe if we strategically develop systems and people with a driven sense of urgency and focus on results, our students and staff will achieve ambitious goals. Classification : Exempt Reports to : School Director Compensation and Benefits : DSST Public Schools is committed to providing our staff with benefit offerings that empower each of our employees to make the choices that best meet their individualized and personal needs while also keeping cost in mind. DSST Benefit highlights include: Medical Plans offered through Kaiser $0 employee cost option! Annual Health Savings account (HSA) gift from DSST Public Schools 2 Dental Plans options offered through Principal Dental Group and Vision through VSP Employee Assistance and Counseling Support 401 (k) retirement plan with 5% annual gift from DSST regardless of personal contribution FMLA effective immediately (6 weeks paid, 6 weeks unpaid) Access to additional discounts through our benefit partners exclusively for DSST staff *Candidates placed in Aurora Science & Tech. will be eligible for a PERA Retirement Plan Physical Demands : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. DSST Public Schools Overview: DSST Public Schools (DSST) operates a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment public STEM charter schools. All DSST schools operate within the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district and students are admitted through DPS’ School Choice process. Our schools focus on building a community where students and staff are valued for their unique talents. Meaningful relationships are at the core of our model which is why our schools are small enough to ensure every student is known and valued for their individuality. We have developed systems and structures to ensure our students will be prepared for college, career and life. The student population across the DSST network is 83% students of color and 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch. This year, DSST will serve approximately 5,700 students at fourteen schools on eight campuses across Denver, and DSST will open its first campus in Aurora, Colorado in the fall 2019. At full enrollment, DSST Public Schools will serve over 10,000 students and will more than double the number of four year college-ready DPS graduates. DSST Public Schools employees support each other not only to have fulfilling careers, but more importantly, to lead fulfilling lives that combines deeply meaningful professional work with personal well-being. Our core values are central to our program and to our results. These values are embedded in everything that we do and how we do it, both for our students and our staff. The six DSST core values are: Respect - We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility - We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity - We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage - We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity - We are eager to learn, questions, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. Doing Your Best - We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive. DSST Public Schools proudly values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. Denver School of Science and Technology does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. (Protected Classes). DSST Public Schools does not unlawfully discriminate against a member of a Protected Class in admission or access to, or terms and conditions of employment, or in its programs and activities. DSST Public Schools shall operate as an equal opportunity employer and will provide and safeguard the opportunity for all persons to seek, obtain, hold and advance in employment within the district without discrimination. The District shall actively promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, aggressive, continuing affirmative action program Further, DSST Public Schools affirms the rights of all Protected Classes to be free from intimidation, discrimination, physical harm and/or harassment. DSST Public Schools shall inform students, parents, employees and the general public each school year that the educational programs, activities and employment opportunities offered by the district are offered without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. The announcement shall also include the name/title, address and telephone number of the person designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 and ADA compliance activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources. Middle School Science Teacher DSST Public Schools (DSST) seeks a Middle School Science Teacher to join one of the leading charter school organizations in the nation. We serve 6-12th grade students across Denver and Aurora. Our mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. Overview of Position : DSST Public Schools seeks teachers with a track-record of raising student achievement to join a team of educators dedicated to providing a rigorous college preparatory program to a diverse population. Our teachers are leaders who play an integral role in ensuring student success through supporting our school culture, developing and instructing a rigorous core curriculum, and using data to drive their daily practice. Our science teachers inspire students to be curious about the incredible world around them by allowing students to truly grapple with a problem. They allow opportunities for experimentation, observation and understanding in the process of making a discovery. We have a rigorous Next Generation Science Standards Curriculum for all of our middle school grades: 6-8th Grade: Integrated NGSS Science Curriculum We will inquire about your grade level and campus specific preference at the time of interview. Essential Functions : Overview Demonstrate relentless drive to improve the minds and lives of students Take holistic accountability for student success- taking ownership of each student’s academic success or failure. Reinforce the school’s core values, guiding philosophy, rules and school spirit. Classroom Teaching Exhibit mastery and enthusiasm for the assigned academic subjects and classes Work closely and collaborate with other teachers within the school and throughout the DSST network Teach 3-5 classes a day of various lengths depending on the DSST campus and subject area Average 150+ minutes of plan time per day Plan lessons and implement targeted curriculum and assessments for each student which adheres to the school's curriculum and standards. Keep an up-to-date gradebook for each class Work to implement and master DSST Public Schools’ core instructional practices Data and Analysis Implement a variety of targeted assessments and perform a root cause analysis that measure progress towards learning outcomes and that adhere to the DSST Assessment Framework. Use assessment data to adapt curriculum and instructional practices to help students meet the school's performance standards. Such use of data includes re-teach weeks, spiraling skills, and changing daily instruction to meet student needs. Professional Development Participate in weekly feedback sessions with an instructional coach Devote the necessary time and energy required to master the craft of teaching. To be open to innovative approaches to teaching, feedback from colleagues and school administration. Actively participate in the school’s professional development programs including data analysis and planning, leading and participating in best practice sessions, peer coaching, and attending conferences. Additional Duties: School Life Model, live, and reinforce the school’s core values and policies inside and outside the classroom with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. Student Advisor Perform as an advisor to a small group of advisees by overseeing their academic and student life. Taking attendance Checking homework completion Holding regular academic and behavioral conferences Meeting with advisee’s parents and communicating with families regularly Leading reading and culture circles Leading weekly Advisory activities and lessons. Grade level “House” teammate Participate in weekly meetings to support student culture and academics for the whole grade Data tracking and observations in between meetings will be likely Participate in planning and execution of grade level events Weekly Staff Meetings Participate in weekly whole school staff meetings to support school culture, and teacher initiatives Participate in planning and proctoring extra teacher “duties” throughout the week Lunch Duty Morning Duty After School Duty Academic Interventions College Prep Mandatory Tutoring Behavioral Support Intervention Refocus **there may be additional duties depending on the DSST campus** Job Requirements : DSST Public Schools seeks candidates with strong character, passion for excellence and a relentless commitment to student achievement. In order to be considered qualified to teach at DSST Public Schools, you will need a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and AT LEAST one of the following: 36 credits hours (DPS approved) in the subject you are teaching. Passing of the #5435 Science Praxis exam CDE license endorsement within subject area Competencies : Commitment to Equity We believe that if we actively commit to equitable and inclusive practices aligned to our mission and values, our students and staff will achieve at high levels. Commitment to Continuous Growth We believe that if we foster our own growth mindsets, our students and staff will develop a commitment to continuous improvement and thus maximize their potential. Commitment to Healthy Team We believe that if we commit to modeling and fostering healthy teams, our students and staff will achieve a collective success that surpasses that of the individuals Drives to Results We believe if we strategically develop systems and people with a driven sense of urgency and focus on results, our students and staff will achieve ambitious goals. Classification : Exempt Reports to : School Director Compensation and Benefits : DSST Public Schools is committed to providing our staff with benefit offerings that empower each of our employees to make the choices that best meet their individualized and personal needs while also keeping cost in mind. DSST Benefit highlights include: Medical Plans offered through Kaiser $0 employee cost option! Annual Health Savings account (HSA) gift from DSST Public Schools 2 Dental Plans options offered through Principal Dental Group and Vision through VSP Employee Assistance and Counseling Support 401 (k) retirement plan with 5% annual gift from DSST regardless of personal contribution FMLA effective immediately (6 weeks paid, 6 weeks unpaid) Access to additional discounts through our benefit partners exclusively for DSST staff *Candidates placed in Aurora Science & Tech. will be eligible for a PERA Retirement Plan Physical Demands : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. DSST Public Schools Overview: DSST Public Schools (DSST) operates a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment public STEM charter schools. All DSST schools operate within the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district and students are admitted through DPS’ School Choice process. Our schools focus on building a community where students and staff are valued for their unique talents. Meaningful relationships are at the core of our model which is why our schools are small enough to ensure every student is known and valued for their individuality. We have developed systems and structures to ensure our students will be prepared for college, career and life. The student population across the DSST network is 83% students of color and 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch. This year, DSST will serve approximately 5,700 students at fourteen schools on eight campuses across Denver, and DSST will open its first campus in Aurora, Colorado in the fall 2019. At full enrollment, DSST Public Schools will serve over 10,000 students and will more than double the number of four year college-ready DPS graduates. DSST Public Schools employees support each other not only to have fulfilling careers, but more importantly, to lead fulfilling lives that combines deeply meaningful professional work with personal well-being. Our core values are central to our program and to our results. These values are embedded in everything that we do and how we do it, both for our students and our staff. The six DSST core values are: Respect - We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility - We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity - We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage - We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity - We are eager to learn, questions, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. Doing Your Best - We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive. DSST Public Schools proudly values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. Denver School of Science and Technology does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. (Protected Classes). DSST Public Schools does not unlawfully discriminate against a member of a Protected Class in admission or access to, or terms and conditions of employment, or in its programs and activities. DSST Public Schools shall operate as an equal opportunity employer and will provide and safeguard the opportunity for all persons to seek, obtain, hold and advance in employment within the district without discrimination. The District shall actively promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, aggressive, continuing affirmative action program. Further, DSST Public Schools affirms the rights of all Protected Classes to be free from intimidation, discrimination, physical harm and/or harassment. DSST Public Schools shall inform students, parents, employees and the general public each school year that the educational programs, activities and employment opportunities offered by the district are offered without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. The announcement shall also include the name/title, address and telephone number of the person designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 and ADA compliance activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources. Middle School Special Education Teacher DSST Public Schools (DSST) seeks a Middle School Special Education Teacher to join one of the leading charter school organizations in the nation. We serve 6-12th grade students across Denver and Aurora. Our mission is to transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. Overview of Position : DSST Public Schools seeks teachers with a track-record of raising student achievement to join a team of educators dedicated to providing a rigorous college preparatory program to a diverse population. Our teachers are leaders who play an integral role in ensuring student success through supporting our school culture, developing and instructing a rigorous core curriculum, and using data to drive their daily practice. Our Special Education teachers see and grow the potential of all students by providing differentiated support and by building inclusive spaces and strong relationships with each student and family. Our Special Education Teachers serve students from all eligibility categories. You may need to teach literacy, math, language skills, behavioral skills, daily living skills, and/or adaptive skills, and may also provide physical care needs. Our teachers provide instruction at the large group, small group and individual level, and collaborate with general education staff for successful inclusion of students. We will inquire about your grade level and campus specific preference at the time of interview. Essential Functions : Overview Demonstrate relentless drive to improve the minds and lives of students Take holistic accountability for student success- taking ownership of each student’s academic success or failure. To live and model the school’s core values with colleagues, students, parents and the larger community To reinforce the school’s core values, guiding philosophy, rules and school spirit Classroom Teaching Exhibit mastery and enthusiasm for the assigned academic subjects and classes Plan and implement targeted curriculum and assessments for each student which adheres to the school's curriculum and standards. Work to implement and master DSST Public Schools’ core instructional practices Curriculum and Assessment To implement a variety of targeted assessments and root cause analysis that measure progress towards learning outcomes and that adhere to the DSST Assessment Framework. To use assessment data to adapt curriculum and instructional practices to help students meet the school's performance standards. Such use of data includes re-teach weeks, spiraling skills, and changing daily instruction to meet student needs. Professional Development To devote the necessary time and energy required to master the craft of teaching. To be open to innovative approaches to teaching, feedback from colleagues and school administration. To actively participate in the school’s professional development programs including data analysis and planning, leading and participating in best practice sessions, peer coaching, and attending conferences. Additional Duties: School Life Model, live, and reinforce the school’s core values and policies inside and outside the classroom with colleagues, students, parents, and the larger community. Student Advisor Perform as an advisor to a small group of advisees by overseeing their academic and student life. Taking attendance Checking homework completion Holding regular academic and behavioral conferences Meeting with advisee’s parents and communicating with families regularly Leading reading and culture circles Leading weekly Advisory activities and lessons. Grade level “House” teammate Participate in weekly meetings to support student culture and academics for the whole grade Data tracking and observations in between meetings will be likely Participate in planning and execution of grade level events Weekly Staff Meetings Participate in weekly whole school staff meetings to support school culture, and teacher initiatives Participate in planning and proctoring extra teacher “duties” throughout the week Lunch Duty Morning Duty After School Duty Academic Interventions College Prep Mandatory Tutoring Behavioral Support Intervention Refocus **there may be additional duties depending on the DSST campus** Job Requirements : DSST Public Schools seeks candidates with strong character, passion for excellence and a relentless commitment to student achievement. Candidates are required to have a Bachelor's Degree. Applicants for Special Education teaching positions must meet the following requirements: Have both a license and a special education endorsement: Type of License: A7- Special Education Teacher in Residence ATL- Alternative Teacher License ATLW- Alternative Teacher License Waiver INTL- Initial Teacher License PFTL- Professional Teacher License PFTM- Professional Teacher License- Master License Endorsement: Special Education Generalist Special Education Specialist Teacher 1-Moderate Needs Teacher- Educationally Handicapped (EH) Competencies : Commitment to Equity We believe that if we actively commit to equitable and inclusive practices aligned to our mission and values, our students and staff will achieve at high levels. Commitment to Continuous Growth We believe that if we foster our own growth mindsets, our students and staff will develop a commitment to continuous improvement and thus maximize their potential. Commitment to Healthy Team We believe that if we commit to modeling and fostering healthy teams, our students and staff will achieve a collective success that surpasses that of the individuals Drives to Results We believe if we strategically develop systems and people with a driven sense of urgency and focus on results, our students and staff will achieve ambitious goals. Classification : Exempt Reports to : School Director Compensation and Benefits : DSST Public Schools is committed to providing our staff with benefit offerings that empower each of our employees to make the choices that best meet their individualized and personal needs while also keeping cost in mind. DSST Benefit highlights include: Medical Plans offered through Kaiser $0 employee cost option! Annual Health Savings account (HSA) gift from DSST Public Schools 2 Dental Plans options offered through Principal Dental Group and Vision through VSP Employee Assistance and Counseling Support 401 (k) retirement plan with 5% annual gift from DSST regardless of personal contribution FMLA effective immediately (6 weeks paid, 6 weeks unpaid) Access to additional discounts through our benefit partners exclusively for DSST staff *Candidates placed in Aurora Science & Tech. will be eligible for a PERA Retirement Plan Physical Demands : The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position is active and may require standing, walking, bending, kneeling, stooping, and crouching throughout the day. The employee must lift and/or move items up to 30 pounds. The employee must have sufficient hand, arm, and finger dexterity to operate a computer keyboard and other office equipment. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. DSST Public Schools Overview: DSST Public Schools (DSST) operates a network of tuition-free, open-enrollment public STEM charter schools. All DSST schools operate within the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district and students are admitted through DPS’ School Choice process. Our schools focus on building a community where students and staff are valued for their unique talents. Meaningful relationships are at the core of our model which is why our schools are small enough to ensure every student is known and valued for their individuality. We have developed systems and structures to ensure our students will be prepared for college, career and life. The student population across the DSST network is 83% students of color and 71% qualify for free and reduced lunch. This year, DSST will serve approximately 5,700 students at fourteen schools on eight campuses across Denver, and DSST will open its first campus in Aurora, Colorado in the fall 2019. At full enrollment, DSST Public Schools will serve over 10,000 students and will more than double the number of four year college-ready DPS graduates. DSST Public Schools employees support each other not only to have fulfilling careers, but more importantly, to lead fulfilling lives that combines deeply meaningful professional work with personal well-being. Our core values are central to our program and to our results. These values are embedded in everything that we do and how we do it, both for our students and our staff. The six DSST core values are: Respect - We appreciate each person and their story through our words, actions, and attitudes. We value their unique perspective and treat others with dignity. Responsibility - We acknowledge that our actions and choices impact ourselves and our community. We take ownership for what we do and how we choose to do it. Integrity - We act and speak with honesty, fairness, and thoughtfulness. We consistently align our words and actions. Courage - We possess the confidence and resolve to take risks, push ourselves, and persevere in the face of pressure, adversity or unfamiliar circumstances. Curiosity - We are eager to learn, questions, and explore. We have a thirst for knowledge, a love of investigation, and a desire to learn about ourselves, our community, and our world. Doing Your Best - We put our best effort into everything we do. We know that individual and collective effort are required for our community to thrive. DSST Public Schools proudly values diversity and is an equal opportunity employer. Denver School of Science and Technology does not exclude participation in, deny benefits to or discriminate on the basis of, ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities. (Protected Classes). DSST Public Schools does not unlawfully discriminate against a member of a Protected Class in admission or access to, or terms and conditions of employment, or in its programs and activities. DSST Public Schools shall operate as an equal opportunity employer and will provide and safeguard the opportunity for all persons to seek, obtain, hold and advance in employment within the district without discrimination. The District shall actively promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, aggressive, continuing affirmative action program. Further, DSST Public Schools affirms the rights of all Protected Classes to be free from intimidation, discrimination, physical harm and/or harassment. DSST Public Schools shall inform students, parents, employees and the general public each school year that the educational programs, activities and employment opportunities offered by the district are offered without regard to ethnicity, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. The announcement shall also include the name/title, address and telephone number of the person designated to coordinate Title IX and Section 504 and ADA compliance activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the School's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), may contact the Assistant Superintendent or Human Resources.

2019-04-21T08:32:42Z

https://www.alumonly.com/company/606/dsst-public-schools/

1.1. The information contained in general terms is purely informational and in the case of contradictions between the information presented therein and the provisions of the regulation on the organization and conduct of the “International Bookmaker - Totogaming” totalizator (hereinafter referred to as the Regulation) agreed with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia, the provisions of the Regulation shall prevail. And the rules of the totalizator exercised on sport.totogaming.am are derived from the provisions of the Regulation. 1.2. The essence of the "International Bookmaker - Totogaming" totalizator is the acceptance of bets from game participants in the prediction of a possible game, sports and possible option of socially significant situation (hereinafter referred to as the outcome), with the winning condition being due to a partial or full coincidence of prediction. That is, registering on sport.totogaming.am, you have the opportunity to make bets through the "International Bookmaker - Totogaming" totalizator based on the opened gaming account and foreseeing the right versions of gambling, sports, socially significant situations, have winnings. 1.3. "International Bookmaker - Totogaming" totalizator organizes "DIGIGAME" LLC (hereinafter referred to as the Organizer) based on the license ՎԽ-025 of the Lottery Organization issued on 01.11.2017 by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia. 1.4. Legal address and location of the Organizer is 26 Amiryan St, Yerevan. Place of implementation of "International bookmaker - Totogaming" totalizator is 26 Amiryan St, Yerevan. 1.5. Only those who have reached the age of 21 have the right to make a bet. 1.6. The Organizer reserves the right to make any changes or additions to the website without the prior written warning. Users are notified via relevant notifications. The bets placed beforehand remain unchanged and the bets accepted are subject to the rules issued at the time of acceptance. 1.7. The organizer reserves the right to deprive any person of his services without the reason (s) discovered. 1.8. The Organizer does not bear any responsibility for any loss or damage which the party suffered claims is the result of using the website or its content. This condition applies to the use or exploitation of this website by anyone, the impossibility of accessing or using the website, delaying the transfer of functions or data, interrupting communications, any errors or omissions in the website. 1.9. Uploading photos or videos from the website or any of its subdivisions is permitted only for personal use. For any other purpose, publishing, broadcasting, or copying this information is strictly prohibited. 1.10. The organizer controls the content of the website and reserves the right to block access to the automatic bets if there are any doubts (bots). 1.11. When downloading the program each time the user receives a winning, regardless of the applicable type of action (internet or mobile services), when opening an account or using an existing account, making a bet, or participating in any game, the customer agrees with the current version of the Rules and the obligation to act upon it. 1.12. By downloading a program, registering an account, using an existing account, bets on any game, getting a win, etc., every time it approves the agreement and the obligation to act upon it. 2. The procedure of accepting bets via website. 2.1. The bets via Internet are accepted as follows: first of all, the participant should register on the Organizer’s website, which contains information about the program, rules of the lottery /these regulations/, participant’s registration on the website, gaming account, receiving the winnings, entrance to the website, and other information. During registration on the website the participant should provide accurate personal information, name, surname, address, nationality, age or date of birth, passport number, as the winnings or money from the account is only paid to a real person, username (login), password, as well as any other information placed on the website the Organizer requires. Upon registering, in case of entering any fictitious or incomplete information, the participant loses the opportunity to revise the disputed issues. After registration on the website a personal gaming account is opened for the participant. One individual can have only one gaming account. The registration on the website cannot occur if there is already a registered account with the same login. In case Totogaming has strong arguments, that the Holder's account has been used by a third party for the purpose of making bets and/ or confirmation of the re-registration (including a new name, new e-mail, etc.), the Organizer reserves the right to invalidate the bets made from such an account, and cancel the payment of the winnings. 2.2. In order to place a bet on any event the participant should submit an order indicating the event on which he/ she places a bet, as well as the outcome of the event, form, type and amount of the bet. The maximum amount of bets made per ticket is 500.000 (five hundred thousand) AMD or equivalent in other currency. 2.3. The bet placed via Internet is considered accepted if it has been added to the participant’s gaming account in ''My bets'' section. The content of the website, its form and procedure of using, and the sequence of steps are determined and changed by the Organizer. The website address or its changes are announced via the way of information dissemination which is more preferable for the Organizer. In case of communication failure or other technical issues the bet is not calculated with coefficient 1, if it has already been recorded on the server of the Organizer’s computer. 2.4. In case of communication failure or other technical issues the bet is not calculated with coefficient 1, if it has already been recorded on the server of the Organizer’s computer. 2.5. The participant carries personal responsibility for confidentiality of his/her gaming account, login and password. The company guarantees non-disclosure of the participant’s personal data by its staff and is not responsible for the consequences of the participant’s personal data being known by other persons. In case the participant becomes aware of the loss of his/her personal data or when he/she has certain doubts about it, he/she should notify the company without haste and change his/her password. In case of forgetting or losing the password and login the bets are not repealed. 2.6. The participant can change his/ her password in ''Change Password'' section of ''My Account'' web page. 3.1. In the betshops of the company where the participant pays the cash and submits his/her username (login), after which the amount is credited to his/her gaming account during 1 hour. 3.2. Through Totogming cards. They have a nominal value set on them. The Totogaming Card also has a protective layer containing a 16-character protective coating (hereinafter referred to as "Pin-Code"). The participant visits the organizer's web page, familiarizes himself / herself with the rules of the page, and registers on the given page (and if the participant is already registered, there is no need to re-register), then clear the protective layer of the card and enter Pin-Code in the appropriate place. After entering "Pin-code", the amount / nominal value on the card is transferred to the participant's game account, after which the participant gets the opportunity to make a bet. If the participant has made a deposit on his/her gaming account via Totogaming card or payment system but hasn’t placed any bets with that amount, in case of claiming that amount back the participant the organizer reserves 2/two/% of the nominal value of the card. 3.3. Via bank transfers, relevant bank cards (Arca, Master Card, etc), relevant payment systems, cash registers (terminals, cash dispensers, etc.), hereinafter: payment systems. The participant can become familiar with specific payment systems on the website of the Organizer. If the participant has made a deposit on his/her gaming account via payment card or payment system but hasn’t placed any bets with that amount, in case of claiming that amount back the participant will be charged percentage for the services of the payment system in size in which the payment system has charged the organizer for the transfer of that amount to the organizer’s account (the Organizer makes a decision on charging commission depending on the player’s gaming history, e.g. in case of gaming misconduct of the participant). To make bets through a bank transfer or payment system, the participant must submit an order to the bank or payment system to transfer a certain amount from his / her card or transfer the amount paid by him / her to the corresponding account of the organizer. If the Organizer receives confirmation from the corresponding payment system that the amount has been transferred to the organizer’s gaming account, the participant can place bets from his/her personal gaming account opened in the company within the balance of the gaming account. 3.4. The amount transferred to the gaming account of the participant can only be used for betting or withdrawn from the account by the participant in accordance with the rules indicated in this regulation. 3.5. The participant may request money from his/ her gaming account in cash or via transfer. 3.6. Any transaction conducted with the Organizer via payment cards and/or/ payment systems and/or Totogaming Cards is considered to be conducted by the participant. 3.7. If the participant informs of losing his/her payment card, from that moment on his/her gaming account shall be frozen until the payment system that serves the card makes the according decision. 3.8. The Organizer can determine the minimum balance of the gaming account, and the procedure and rules of its application will be indicated on the website. 4.1. After the announcement of the result of the event on the webpage the bet winnings are added to the participant's gaming account within one day which is considered a winning payment. To get the money / winnings from his/her gaming account, the participant must submit a request. 4.2. A pre-arranged event - an event, for which there is a prior arrangement. Pre-arranged events are considered the written confirmation of the prior arrangement made by Federbet AISBL /http://federbet.com/, on the basis of the organizer’s written request. 4.3. After submitting the payment order to the Organizer (the form and procedure of the order submission is defined by the organizer and is posted on the organizer's web page) the participant can receive the ordered amount in cash or non-cash within 3 business days. 4.4. The costs associated with transferring the amount from the gaming account to the bank or other account specified by the participant may be made at the expense of the participant (the organizer decides to make the expense at the participant's account taking into account the participant's gambling history, for example, if the organizer estimates that the participant does not display proper gambling behavior). 4.5. Sums / winnings / from gaming account are paid at the company's betshops or by the organizer at the address Amiryan 26 St, Yerevan. 4.6. The Participant can order money only within the balance of his/her gaming account. 4.7. In the event that the player's account balance is negative as a result of a recalculation of the event outcomes which may result from bugs or technical errors, (for example, the balance of the gaming account is 5000 AMD, the player's winning is actually 2.500 AMD, but the bet winning is 25.000 AMD the player was paid 25,000 AMD, as a result of which the negative balance is 17,500 AMD), it will be blocked by the organizer until the participant recovers the amount. 4.8. Winnings are rounded within one dram. 4.9. All objections concerning the calculation of winnings are accepted within a five-day period after the announcement of the outcomes of the event in the form of a written application. 5.1. Single – The minimum stake for betting in the betshops is set 1,000 (thousand) AMD, and the minimum stake for betting on the internet site is set 50 (fifty) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. The maximum stake in this type is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD, and the maximum stake for betting on the internet site is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. In this type you need to predict the outcome of one event. Single bets are accepted on any event specified in the program. The winning amount of a single bet is equal to the product of the bet amount and odds of the given outcome. 5.2. Multi - The minimum stake for betting in the betshops is set 300 (three hundred) AMD, and the minimum stake for betting on the internet site is set 50 (fifty) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. The maximum stake in this type via coupon is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD and the maximum stake for betting on the internet site is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. In this type you need to predict the results of more than one independent events at the same time (the maximum number of events in the accumulator bet is 30). If at least one event in the multi bet has been predicted wrong, the whole bet is considered to be lost. Any combination of any independent events can be included in the multi bet if nothing else is intended by the rules of the games organized by regulations. Besides, multi bets may not be accepted on certain events by the discretion of the organizer. Dependent events cannot be included in the multi bet, - the same event cannot participate in the multi-bet more than once. If there were related or dependent events in the multi bet, the event with the highest odds remains for calculation. The odds of a multi bet are equal to the product of the odds of all the included events. The winning amount on a multi bet is equal to the product of the bet amount and odds of the multi bet. On the organizer’s discretion the participant can be given an extra chance to not lose the multi bet which the participant will be informed about beforehand via the system or the website of the organizer. If a multi bet contains 6 and more events, and the odd of winning for every event is no less than 1.7, and if only one event outcome in this multi bet was predicted incorrectly but other events in the multi bet won by the established odds, then this multi bet is not considered lost and the played sum will be refunded. 5.3. System - The minimum stake for the entire system for betting in the betshops is set 1,000 (one thousand) AMD, and the minimum stake for betting on the internet site is set 150 (one hundred and fifty) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. The maximum stake in this type via coupon is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD, and the maximum stake for betting on the internet site is set 500,000 (five hundred thousand) AMD or its equivalent in other currency. This type is a full combination of a certain number of one-dimensional multi bets (variants of system) previously selected from the group of events and differing from each other by at least one event (the maximum number of events in the system is 16). System is characterized by the same bet amount for each variant (multi bet) and the same number of events in each variant (multi). In the system each combination (variant) is calculated as a separate multi. In this type of bet you need to specify the total number of events for the system and number of events for one variant (multi). The bet amount for one variant (multi bet) is determined by dividing the total bet amount by the number of variants (multi bets). The winning amount of a system is equal to the sum of winnings on multi bets included in the system. The number and ratio of the variants included in the system is determined by the organizer and may be changed at Organizer’s discretion at any time. The list of the number and ratio of the variants included in the system is promulgated either as attached to the program or separately from it. 6.1. The Organizer provides bonuses and opportunity to participate in current promotions to those participants who use the Organizer’s services for enjoyment. Free bets, bonuses and access to promotions will be annulled or canceled for those players who abuses the spirit of such an offer. The Organizer reserves the right to annul a bonus at any time in case of abuse and close the abuser’s account immediately. “Abuse” includes but is not limited to opening several accounts in order to obtain several bonuses. First of all participants can withdraw bonus sums from the remaining deposits, after which only from the bonus amount of the gaming account. The Organizer reserves the right to annul the bonus given to the participant if the bonus was not used for betting. The Organizer also has a right to cancel bonuses and winnings from betting in the full or partial amount of the bonus sum, if the Organizer suspects the bonus has been abused. 6.2. The participant can receive or use only those offers that are available to him/her. The Organizer reserves the right to at any time and for any reason change the conditions of bonus distribution and the group of participants for whom bonuses are available. The Organizer also has a right by its sole discretion and at any time to offer a special bonus to a certain client or group of clients, to cancel bonus offer without any warning or compensation, to change the conditions of the bonus offer and/or to replace one bonus offer with another. 6.3. Within such promotions (including but not limited to “Cash Back”, “Welcome Deposit Bonus”, “Refer a friend” and “Free bets”) only 1 bonus is available for every email address, credit card and e-payment account. 7.1. In order to increase the possible winning of the user, the organizer reserves the right to determine an additional multiplier for those multi bets that meet certain requirements. Such requirements can include some special bets, a certain minimal number of events in the Multi, the minimum odds of the events, as well as combinations of these conditions and/ or other conditions. In case of the requirements are met, user’s winning is multiplied by the additional multiplier. In some cases the organizer may define multi bet with certain fixed events, set the minimum amount of the stake and define the odds. Example 1. For a Multi containing at least 10 events the Organizer has set an additional multiplier equal to 1.1, and for Multi containing at least 4 events with odds equal to at least 1.7 the Organizer has set an additional multiplier equal to 1.2. Option 1: The User has selected multi bet containing 10 events with total odds of 20. In the event this multi wins, the winning will be multiplied by 1.1, which is the multiplier (for example, if the bet was 1,000 AMD, then the final winning will be 1,000 x 20 x 1.1 = 22,000 AMD). Option 2: The User has selected multi containing 5 events each with odds of 2. The odds of multi is equal to 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 32. In the event this multi wins the winning will be multiplied by 1.2, which is the multiplier (for example, if the bet was 1,000 AMD, then the final winning will be 1,000 x 32 x 1.2 = 38,400 AMD). Option 3: The user has chosen multi bet containing 10 events with odds of 2 for each event, the total odds is equal to 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 1024. This multi meets the conditions of both first and second Multi. In the event this multi wins the final winning will be multiplied by 1.2, which is the multiplier (for example, if the bet was 1,000 AMD, then the final winning will be 1,000 x 1,024 x 1.2 = 1,228,800 AMD. Example 2: The Organizer has defined a multi containing 15 certain events and set the amount of the stake to be 1,000 AMD. In case of correct prediction for 15 events out of 15 the total odds for the Multi will be 1,000 AMD, in case of correct prediction for 14 out of 15 events the total odds will be 600, in case of correct prediction for 13 out of 15 events the total odds will be 300. In case of correct prediction for 3 and more events incorrectly, the multi bet will be lost. In case of correct prediction for 15 events the participant will receive 1,000 x 1,000 = 1,000,000 AMD, by predicting 14 events 1,000 x 600 = 600,000 AMD and by predicting 13 events - 1,000 x 300 = 300,000 AMD. 8.1. By the Organizer’s discretion additional odds can be provided for the multi bet constructed from a certain combination of the outcomes of randomly chosen number of events. Such multi is called “Top Multi”. Thus, if we take into account the additional multiplied odds (which is defined by the organizer) the final odds of this multi will be higher than the sum of multiplied odds of the events of the multi. The events offered for “Top Multi” by the organizer can be chosen either from current or yet to be completed events. Several “Top Multis” can be available simultaneously. The number of outcomes of events in a “Top Multi” is defined by the organizer, and the changes made by the participant result in losing the multiplied odds. The Organizer sets the time period during which “Top Multi” is available, such multi can be added on the website and into the organizer system or deleted from the website and the system without previous notice. The Organizer can also define the minimal bet amount for “Top Multi”. The additional multiplied odds for the Top Multi is 1.2, and the stake is 1,000 AMD. In case the results of the three indicated events are correctly predicted by the participant, his/her win will be 1,000 x 1.5 x 3 x 2.5 x 1.2 = 13,500 AMD, where 1,000 AMD is the participant’s bet amount, 1.5, 3 and 2.5 are the odds of the according outcomes of the events, and 1.2 is the additional multiplied odds of the multi. As you can see in the equation, participant’s bet is multiplied by the according odds of all events and by the additional multiplied odds of the “Top Multi”. 9.1. In case of a winning bet the participant has a right to place another bet with the winning sum or its part, without making a deposit via cash or transfer. In this case the organizer has a right to define the additional multiplied odds that is only available for the winning bets. The Organizer can limit the number of such bets without additional multiplied odds, as well as change the group of such bets without previous notice. The organizer defines the additional multiplied odds which can be different for different bets and sports. The organizer can change the additional multiplied odds without previous notice. For example, the participant placed a bet and won 1,000 AMD. At the moment of placing a new bet the organizer defined the additional multiplied odds for “Single” and “Multi” bets to be 1.1 and 1.2 accordingly. Option 1: The participant has not withdrawn the winning amount and decides to place a new bet which is a single bet with odds 2.0. In case this new bet wins the total winning sum of the participant will be 1,000 x 2.0 x 1.1 = 2,200 AMD. Option 2: The participant has not withdrawn the winning amount and decides to place a new bet which is a multi-bet with odds 4.0. In case this new bet wins the total winning sum of the participant will be 1,000 x 4.0 x 1.2 = 5,000 AMD. 10.1. Refer-a-Friend promotion is available if it is offered on the website, or on one or more language versions on the website. In case the promotion is made available, entry to the promotion is made via the promotion page which is clearly displayed on the website. 10.2. The bonus is applicable to existing users who have an Account (“Referrer”) and who refer a friend or colleague who does not and has never had an Account (“Referee”) to register on the website. Referrers are not permitted to refer a member of their family nor are they permitted to refer friends or colleagues from the same household or with whom they share a credit or debit card or e-payment account. In case the company reasonably suspects that a Referrer has used spam, large email distribution lists or any other type of email abuse in order to refer new users, the company will not award a bonus to the Referrer. The company reserves the right to impose a limit on the number of invitations which a user may send to referees per day. When this limit is imposed, it is announced on the Refer-a-Friend page. 10.3. The company reserves the right to withhold the bonus from the Referrer and to discount bets made by one or more Referees if the company suspects that the Referrer/ Referee(s) has abused the spirit of the bonus offer including but not limited to instances where Referees have identical or very similar deposit and betting patterns. The company further reserves the right to block the Referrer and any associated Referees, from being able to participate in the Refer-a-Friend Promotion, to suspend the Account of the Referrer and any associated Referees pending investigation into bonus abuse and/ or fraud, and to terminate those Account(s). 10.4. In order for the Referrer and Referee to receive a bonus the Referee, having opened an Account, must deposit a relevant amount in his Account as stated in the specific terms and conditions of the promotion, which are located on the promotion landing page on the Site, then the Referee must wager a relevant amount on specific number of sport events. In this case, minimal odds can be defined. Detailed information about the promotion will be placed on the promotions page of the organizer’s website. For example, in order for the Referrer to receive a bonus the Referee, having opened an Account, must deposit at least 5,000 AMD, place 10 separate bets on at least three possible outcomes with the minimum odds of 1.50. Each of the 10 bets must be placed on different markets (i.e. different bet types on one fixture or one bet type on different fixtures). The total amount of bets required shall be not less than double of the amount deposited. 10.5. If the Referee loses his/her first bet, at the organizers’ sole discretion a certain amount will be refunded to his Account (this will be noted on the promotions page of the organizer’s website). Bonus will be credited to the Referrer’s Account within the hours determined by the organizer after the Referrer has wagered the required amount. In order to withdraw the bonus the Referrer must have been bet the bonus amount at least three times on sports events with at least three possible outcomes, the odds for which must be at least 1.50. If the bonus amount is placed on more than one bet, each bet must be placed on different markets (i.e. different bet types on one fixture or one bet type on different fixtures). 10.6. The Referee bonuses include but are not limited to Welcome Cash Back Bonus, Welcome Deposit Bonus, or other bonuses at Organizer’s sole discretion. 10.7. If the First Time Registrant meets several bonus requirements at the same time, the organizer is entitled to determine at his sole discretion which of that bonuses (or bonus combinations) are available for the relevant customer. In particular, the Referrer who registered during the Welcome Deposit Bonus and Welcome Cash Back Bonus campaign will benefit only from one bonus promotions at the organizer's discretion. 10.8. Other conditions can be applied to “Refer a friend” campaign. The Organizer can determine a Refer-a-friend Monthly Challenge. The winner of the Monthly Challenge is the Referrer who refers the most valid Referees to the company within the month. Any such conditions can be found one the “Terms and conditions of promotions” section of the organizer’s website. 11.1. Partial Cash Back Bonus promotion is available if it is offered on the Site. It can be offered or on one or more language versions of the Site. In case the promotion is made available, it is clearly displayed on the Site. 11.2. Organizer can offer the participants the Partial Cash Back bonus for one or several lost bets, or for a sum lost within a certain period of time. The certain conditions for this promotion are determined by the Organizer. For example, the promotion can be offered to the participants who make the defined minimal deposit on their Gaming account, or to the participants whose lost amount is over the minimal set by the organizer, etc. The organizer can also define additional conditions for the promotions, e.g. the correlation of partial cash back sum and the sum lost within the defined period of time, maximal cash out sum, types of bet for which the win is subject to partial cash back, etc. Example 1: The Organizer has determined 100% refund promotion to the lost bets within a week on football and tennis markets for users who made an initial deposit of no less than 10,000 AMD. The maximum of refund amount has been set 50,000 AMD. The user has deposited 150,000 AMD, 110,000 AMD of which he lost betting on tennis and football. In this case he will be refunded 50,000 AMD. -If in the result of total score of all bets within one month the participant loses from 150,000 to 250,000 AMD, he is refunded 5% of the total lost. -If in the result of total score of all bets within one month the participant loses from 251,000 AMD to 400,000 AMD, he is refunded 7% of the total lost. -If in the result of total score of all bets within one month the participant loses more than 400,000 AMD, he is refunded 10% of the total lost. 11.3. The bonus is available only when the user made no withdrawal from his account within relevant month. Any calendar day of the month on which the participant makes his first bet may be defined as the beginning of the month, up to the same day next month. Organizer on its sole discretion is entitled to change at any time correlation between the lost amount and bonus amount. When the promotion is available, it is clearly shown on the relevant page of the Organizer’s site. 11.4. To withdraw the bonus, the Organizer has the right to determine additional conditions. For example, the bonus amount received must have been bet three times, on one or more bets with a minimum of 1.50 odds. Each bet must be placed on an event with three or more potential outcomes. If the bonus amount is placed on more than one bet, each bet must be placed on different markets (i.e. different bet types on one fixture or one bet type on different fixtures). 11.5. If the conditions of withdrawal were not followed, or if the organizer has concerns that bonus was abuse, then when the participant makes a withdrawal request the organizer reserves a right to annul the bonus and the amounts won with the bonus sum. Organizer reserves the right at any moment and for any reason to change the conditions of the partial cash back promotion for certain participants. 11.6. If the participant meets demands for several promotions simultaneously the organizer at its sole discretion can determine which bonus is available to that participant. 12.1. Welcome Deposit Bonus promotion is available if it is offered on the Site. It can also be available on one or more language versions in the Site, and for participants from countries chosen by the organizer. In case the promotion is available it is clearly displayed in the according section of the Site. 12.2. The organizer has a right to offer a bonus sum equal to the part of the first deposit to the participants who have never held an Account before, have never received a Welcome Cashback Bonus and/or a Welcome Deposit Bonus. In this case the organizer has a right to define certain conditions, such as minimal sum of the first deposit, the correlation between the deposit and the bonus sum, maximal bonus sum, etc. Detailed information about the promotion is place on the promotions page of the organizer’s website. Example: The Organizer has determined Welcome Deposit bonus of 50% to Newly Registered Users who make an initial deposit of at least 10,000 AMD in their Account. The bonus is limited to a maximum of 50,000 AMD. The user has registered on organizer’s site and made an initial deposit of 50,000 AMD: In this case the user is eligible to 50,000 AMD Welcome Bonus. 12.3. The organizer has the right to determine additional conditions for bonus withdrawal. For example, the bonus amount received must have been bet three times, on one or more bets with a minimum of 1.50 odds. Each bet must be placed on an event with three or more potential outcomes. If the bonus amount is placed on more than one bet, each bet must be placed on different markets (i.e. different bet types on one fixture or one bet type on different fixtures). 13.2. For more detailed rules you can get acquainted with via the organization and conduct of the “International Bookmaker - Totogaming” totalizator issued on 30.11.2017 agreed-upon with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia placed on sport.totogaming.am website of the Rules of Procedure section. 13.3. In the case of contradictions between the rules or information presented in Armenian and other languages, the Armenian text shall prevail.

2019-04-26T13:43:54Z

https://rules.totogaming.am/?l=en&m=4077&s=6716

An example method is provided for a computing device to provide quality of service (QoS) for a container in a virtualized computing environment. The method may comprise receiving a traffic flow of packets from a virtual machine and identifying a container from which the traffic flow originates based on content of the received traffic flow of packets. The container may be supported by the virtual machine. The method may further comprise retrieving a QoS policy configured for the identified container. For example, the QoS policy may specify a network bandwidth allocation for the container. The method may further comprise forwarding the received traffic flow of packets according to the QoS policy. 1. A method for a computing device to provide quality of service (QoS) for a container in a virtualized computing environment, the method comprising: receiving a traffic flow of packets from a virtual machine; identifying a container from which the traffic flow originates based on content of the received traffic flow of packets, wherein the container is supported by the virtual machine; retrieving a QoS policy configured for the identified container, wherein the QoS policy specifies a network bandwidth allocation for the container; and forwarding the received traffic flow of packets according to the QoS policy. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the QoS policy specifies the network bandwidth allocation for the container using one or more of the following: a container shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the container relative to at least one other container; a container limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the container; and a container reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the container. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network bandwidth allocation for the container is associated with a network resource pool of the virtual machine, the network resource pool being defined by one or more of the following: a virtual machine shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the virtual machine relative to at least one other virtual machine; a virtual machine limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the virtual machine, the container limit value not exceeding the virtual machine limit value; and a virtual machine reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the virtual machine, the container reservation value not exceeding the virtual machine reservation value. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein forwarding the received traffic flow of packets comprises one or more of the following: scheduling the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at least the container reservation value; scheduling the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at most the container limit value; and allocating available network bandwidth to the container according to the container shares value. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein, prior to receiving the traffic flow, the method further comprises: receiving a request to allow the container to start; retrieving the QoS policy configured for the container from a management entity or obtaining the QoS policy configured for the container from the request; and in response to determination that the QoS policy can be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, allowing the container to start. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises: in response to determination that the QoS policy cannot be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, determining whether a network bandwidth reallocation is possible to satisfy the QoS policy; and in response to determination that the network bandwidth reallocation is possible, allowing the container to start, but otherwise disallowing the container to start. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the container comprises: parsing header data of each packet of the traffic flow to identify the container based on tag data in the header data, wherein the tag data is added to the packet by the virtual machine. 8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that includes a set of instructions which, in response to execution by a processor of a computing device, cause the processor to perform a method of providing quality of service (QoS) for a container in a virtualized computing environment, the method comprising: receiving a traffic flow of packets from a virtual machine; identifying a container from which the traffic flow originates based on content of the received traffic flow of packets, wherein the container is supported by the virtual machine; retrieving a QoS policy configured for the identified container, wherein the QoS policy specifies a network bandwidth allocation for the container; and forwarding the received traffic flow of packets according to the QoS policy. 9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the QoS policy specifies the network bandwidth allocation for the container using one or more of the following: a container shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the container relative to at least one other container; a container limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the container; and a container reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the container. 10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the network bandwidth allocation for the container is associated with a network resource pool of the virtual machine, the network resource pool being defined by one or more of the following: a virtual machine shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the virtual machine relative to at least one other virtual machine; a virtual machine limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the virtual machine, the container limit value not exceeding the virtual machine limit value; and a virtual machine reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the virtual machine, the container reservation value not exceeding the virtual machine reservation value. 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein forwarding the received traffic flow of packets comprises one or more of the following: scheduling the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at least the container reservation value; scheduling the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at most the container limit value; and allocating available network bandwidth to the container according to the container shares value. 12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein, prior to receiving the traffic flow, the method further comprises: receiving a request to allow the container to start; retrieving the QoS policy configured for the container from a management entity or obtaining the QoS policy configured for the container from the request; and in response to determination that the QoS policy can be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, allowing the container to start. 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises: in response to determination that the QoS policy cannot be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, determining whether a network bandwidth reallocation is possible to satisfy the QoS policy; and in response to determination that the network bandwidth reallocation is possible, allowing the container to start, but otherwise disallowing the container to start. 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein identifying the container comprises: parsing header data of each packet of the traffic flow to identify the container based on tag data in the header data, wherein the tag data is added to the packet by the virtual machine. 15. A computing device configured to provide quality of service (QoS) for a container in a virtualized computing environment, the computing device comprising: a processor; a physical network interface controller (NIC); and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive a traffic flow of packets from a virtual machine; identify a container from which the traffic flow originates based on content of the received traffic flow of packets, wherein the container is supported by the virtual machine; retrieve a QoS policy configured for the identified container, wherein the QoS policy specifies a network bandwidth allocation for the container; and forward, via the physical NIC, the received traffic flow of packets according to the QoS policy. 16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the QoS policy specifies the network bandwidth allocation for the container using one or more of the following: a container shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the container relative to at least one other container; a container limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the container; and a container reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the container. 17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the network bandwidth allocation for the container is associated with a network resource pool of the virtual machine, the network resource pool being defined by one or more of the following: a virtual machine shares value that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the virtual machine relative to at least one other virtual machine; a virtual machine limit value that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the virtual machine, the container limit value not exceeding the virtual machine limit value; and a virtual machine reservation value that specifies a minimum bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the virtual machine, the container reservation value not exceeding the virtual machine reservation value. 18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein instructions for forwarding the received traffic flow of packets cause the processor to perform one or more of the following: schedule the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at least the container reservation value; schedule the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at most the container limit value; and allocate available network bandwidth to the container according to the container shares value. 19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: prior to receiving the traffic flow, receive a request to allow the container to start; retrieve the QoS policy configured for the container from a management entity or obtaining the QoS policy configured for the container from the request; and in response to determination that the QoS policy can be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, allow the container to start. 20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to: in response to determination that the QoS policy cannot be satisfied with current available network bandwidth, determine whether a network bandwidth reallocation is possible to satisfy the QoS policy; and in response to determination that the network bandwidth reallocation is possible, allow the container to start, but otherwise disallow the container to start. 21. The computing device of claim 15, wherein instructions for identifying the container cause the processor to: parse header data of each packet of the traffic flow to identify the container based on tag data in the header data, wherein the tag data is added to the packet by the virtual machine. Benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) to Foreign application Serial No. 3244/CHE/2015 filed in India entitled "PROVIDING QUALITY OF SERVICE FOR CONTAINERS IN A VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT", on Jun. 26, 2015, by Nicira, Inc., which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes. Unless otherwise indicated herein, known approaches described are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion throughout the present disclosure. Virtualization allows the abstraction and pooling of hardware resources to support virtual machines in a virtualized computing environment. For example, through server virtualization, virtual machines running different operating systems may be supported by the same physical machine (e.g., referred to as a "host"). Each virtual machine is generally provisioned with virtual resources to run an operating system and applications. The virtual resources may include central processing unit (CPU) resources, memory resources, storage resources, network resources, etc. Virtualization software (e.g., hypervisor) running on the physical machine is generally used to maintain a mapping between the virtual resources allocated to each virtual machine and the underlying physical resources of the physical machine. In practice, since a single physical machine can support tens to hundreds of virtual machines, it can be challenging to manage the sharing of physical resources (e.g., network resources) among different virtual machines, and different applications supported by each virtual machine. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an example virtualized computing environment with a distributed virtual switch. In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of the present disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated in the drawings, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitly contemplated herein. The challenges in managing the sharing of physical resources, and particularly network resources, in a virtualized computing environment will now be further explained using FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram illustrating example virtualized computing environment 100. Although an example is shown, it should be understood that virtualized computing environment 100 may include additional or alternative components, and each component may have a different configuration depending on the desired implementation. Virtualized computing environment 100 includes hosts 110 (also known as "computing devices", "host computers", "host devices", "physical servers", "server systems", etc.) that are connected to management entity 160 and user device(s) 170 via physical network 150. Each host 110 includes virtualization software (e.g., hypervisor 111) and suitable hardware 112 to support virtual machines, such as "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121. Although one host 110 and two virtual machines 120, 121 are shown for simplicity, there may be multiple hosts 110, each supporting tens or hundreds of virtual machines in practice. Hypervisor 111 maintains a mapping between underlying hardware 112 of host 110 and virtual resources allocated to virtual machines "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121. For example, hardware 112 includes components such as physical network interface controller (NIC) 114 to provide access to physical network 150; Central Processing Unit (CPU) 116, memory 118 (e.g., random access memory) and storage disk 119 (e.g., solid state drive, hard disk drive), etc. Although one is shown for simplicity, host 110 may include any suitable number of physical NIC 114 (also known as physical network adapters). Virtual machines 120, 121 each represent a software implementation of a physical machine. Virtual resources are allocated to virtual machines 120, 121 to support respective guest operating systems 122, 123 and applications (e.g., containers that will be explained below), etc. For example, corresponding to hardware 112, the virtual resources may include virtual CPU, virtual memory, virtual disk, virtual network interface controller (vNIC), etc. Hardware resources may be emulated using virtual machine monitors (VMMs) implemented by hypervisor 111. For example, VMM 124 is to emulate vNIC 126 to provide network access for "VM1" 120 and similarly, VMM 125 to emulate vNIC 127 for "VM2" 121. In practice, VMMs 124, 125 may be considered as components that are part of "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121 or alternatively, separated from "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121. In both cases. VMMs 124, 125 maintain the state of respective vNICs 126, 127. When virtual machines 120, 121 are migrated, data relating to the state is also migrated. Hypervisor 111 further implements virtual switch 130 to handle traffic forwarding from and to "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121. For example, virtual switch 130 may include any suitable network module 132 to handle egress traffic (may also be referred to as "outgoing traffic") and ingress traffic (may also be referred as "incoming traffic"). The egress traffic is received by virtual switch 130 from "VM1" 120 via vNIC 126 or "VM2" 121 via vNIC 127 for forwarding to physical network 150 via physical NIC 114. The ingress traffic is received by virtual switch 130 from physical network 150 via physical NIC 114 for forwarding to "VM1" via vNIC 126 or "VM2" 121 via vNIC 127. As used herein, the term "traffic" may refer generally to a group of bits that can be transported together from a source to a destination, such as in the form of "packets", "frames", "messages", "datagrams", etc. Physical network 150 may be any suitable network, such as wide area network, virtual private network, etc. Management entity 160 provides management functionalities to manage various components in virtualized computing environment 100, such as hosts 110, virtual machines "VM1" 120, "VM2" 121, etc. In practice, management entity 160 may be implemented by one or more virtual or physical entities. Users (e.g., network administrators) operating user devices 170 may access the functionalities of management entity 160 via any suitable interface (e.g., graphical user interface, command-line interface, etc.) and/or Application Programming Interface (API) calls via physical network 150. For example, Representational State Transfer (REST) API may be used to create, modify or delete objects defined by API module 162 using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests. User device 170 may be any suitable computing device, such as user workstation, client device, mobile device, etc. In virtualized computing environment 100, container technologies may be used to run various containers inside virtual machines 120, 121. As used herein, the term "container" (also known as "container instance") is used generally to describe an application that is encapsulated with all its dependencies (e.g., binaries, libraries, etc.). For example, containers "C1" 141, "C2" 142 and "C3" 143 are executed as isolated processes on guest OS 122 inside "VM1" 120. Similarly, "C4" "C5" 145 and "C6" 146 are executed as isolated processes on guest OS 123 inside "VM2" 121. Any suitable networking drivers may also be installed on "VM1" 120 and "VM2" 121 (e.g., vmxnet, vmxnet3, etc.) to interface with the containers. Containers "C1" to "C6" may be implemented using any suitable container technology, such as Docker (www.docker.com), Linux (http://linuxcontainers.org), etc. Unlike conventional virtual machines that have one OS per virtual machine, containers "C1" to "C6" are "OS-less", meaning that they do not include any OS that could weigh 10s of Gigabytes (GB). This makes containers "C1" to "C6" more lightweight, portable, efficient and suitable for delivery into an isolated OS environment. Running containers inside a virtual machine (known as "containers-on-virtual-machine" approach) not only leverages the benefits of container technologies but also that of virtualization technologies. However, the use of container technologies presents a new problem in virtualized computing environment 100. Conventionally, it is not possible to differentiate traffic originating from different containers supported by the same virtual machine, or containers supported by different virtual machines. For example in FIG. 1, containers "C1", "C2" and "C3" are all supported by "VM1" and sends packets via vNIC 126, virtual switch 130 and physical NIC 114. Although containers "C1", "C2" and "C3" are run as isolated processes at "VM1", packets from these containers would appear to virtual switch 130 to have originated from "VM1". The same problem may be observed for containers "C4", "C5" and "C6" that run inside "VM2" and share access to vNIC 127. As such, in existing systems, it is impossible for host 110 to manage the individual network bandwidth usage of different containers running inside virtual machines. This is undesirable because some containers may be starved of network bandwidth while others dominate. According to examples of the present disclosure, Quality of Service (QoS) may be provided to containers (e.g., "C1" to "C6") in virtualized computing environment 100. For example, to provide QoS for "C1" running inside "VW1" in FIG. 1, a QoS policy may be configured for "C1". When a traffic flow of packets is received from "VM1", "C1" may be identified based on content in the packets and forwarded according to the QoS policy. This "container-aware" approach supports QoS policy configuration and traffic flow differentiation to partition network bandwidth among different containers from the same virtual machine or different virtual machines. As used herein, QoS is a term of art that is well understood by those in the field of network bandwidth management. It may include concepts such as bandwidth reservations, weighted shares, and limits imposed on individual network bandwidth consumers (e.g., containers, virtual machines), etc. U.S. Pat. No. 9,019,826 issued to Jean-Pascal Billaud, et al., is fully incorporated by reference herein to explain possible features and certain implementation details of an example QoS management component. In more detail, FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an example process 200 to provide QoS for containers in virtualized computing environment 100. Example process 200 may include one or more operations, functions, or actions illustrated by one or more blocks, such as blocks 210 to 240. The various blocks may be combined into fewer blocks, divided into additional blocks, and/or eliminated based upon the desired implementation. In practice, example process 200 may be implemented using any suitable computing device. In one example, example process 200 may be implemented by host 110, such as using hypervisor 111 that implements virtual switch 130 and network module 132, etc. Depending on the desired implementation, hypervisor 111 may implement example process 200 by interacting with management entity 160 (e.g., with network management module 164 and container QoS policies 166). At 210 and 220 in FIG. 2, when a traffic flow of packets is received from a virtual machine (e.g., "VM1"), a container (e.g., "C1") supported by the virtual machine (e.g., "VM1") from which the traffic flow originates is identified. The container (e.g., "C1") may be identified based on content of the received traffic flow of packets. As will be described using FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, traffic flow differentiation may be implemented based on tag data added to packets originating from the container (e.g., "C1"). For example in FIG. 1, when "C1" sends a traffic flow of packets (see 180), "VM1" may add tag data to the header data of each packet to generate tagged traffic flow (see 182). Different tag data may be used for different containers, such as "TAG1" for "C1", "TAG2" for "C2", "TAG4" for "C4", and so on. The tag data may be added using any suitable approach. In one example, a guest agent (not shown for simplicity) that hooks onto a network stack of guest OS 122 may be used to add the tag data. The guest agent may be installed on guest OS 122 as part of a suite of utilities (e.g., known as "VM tools") for enhancing the performance of virtual machine 120, 121. In another example, container (e.g., "C1") add the tag data to its packets, in which case traffic flow 182 in FIG. 1 also represents a tagged traffic flow. At 230 and 240 in FIG. 2, a QoS policy configured for the identified container (e.g., "C1") is retrieved and the received traffic flow forwarded according to the QoS policy. Here, the term "retrieved" is used to include hypervisor 111 retrieving the QoS policy from local storage on host 110, or from management entity 160 (e.g., via network management module 164 if the QoS policy is not available locally). The QoS policy configured for the container (e.g., "C1") may specify a network bandwidth allocation for the container, such as based on a network resource pool associated with the virtual machine (e.g., "VM1") supporting the container. As used herein, the term "network resource pool" is used to refer generally to a set of network resources (e.g., network bandwidth) allocated to the virtual machine (e.g., "VM1"). Example QoS policies will be explained in more detail using FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. In practice, QoS policies may be configured using any suitable approach, such as by a user (e.g., network administrator) who interacts with management entity 160 using user device 170, programmatically using a script, etc. As will be described further using FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, another approach is to automatically configure the QoS policies as containers are started. Using QoS policies, prioritization may be enforced to reduce the likelihood of a traffic flow from one container dominating over that of others. Since container traffic may be one of the most common traffic types in the future, example process 200 facilitates seamless network bandwidth management when container technology is used in virtualized computing environment 100. In particular, using example process 200, host 110 is able to support container traffic isolation and container QoS provisioning. Example process 200 may be performed to differentiate traffic flows from containers (e.g., "C1" to "C3") supported by the same virtual machine (e.g., "VM1") or from containers (e.g., "C1" to "C6") supported by different virtual machines (e.g., "VM1" and "VM2"). In the following, various examples will be discussed with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 9. In particular, example QoS policies will be explained using FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, example processes for starting a container using FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, example process for traffic forwarding using FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, and example implementation in a distributed virtual switch using FIG. 9. FIG. 3 illustrates example table 300 of QoS policies 311-316 configured for containers in example virtualized computing environment 100 in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 will be explained with reference to FIG. 4, which is a schematic diagram illustrating subdivisions of network resource pools according to example QoS policies 311-316 in FIG. 3. In the following examples, containers "C1" to "C6" are configured with respective QoS policies 311-316. It should be understood, however, that it is not always necessary for each and every container to be configured with a QoS policy. For example, container "C6" may not require any QoS policy if it is merely implementing an application that runs as a background task or it does not require network access. Referring to the columns of table 300, each container is associated with container name (see "CON1" to "CON8" at 317); container identifier (ID) such as a 64 hexadecimal digit string (see "C1" to "C8" at 318); Internet Protocol (IP) address to communicate with the outside world (see 320); container share, limit and reservation values (see 322, 324, 326); container tag data (see 328) and data relating to a network resource pool of associated virtual machine (see 330, 332, 334, 336). QoS policies 311, 312, 313 are configured to specify respective network bandwidth allocations for "C1", "C2" and "C3" sharing the network resource pool of "VM1", and QoS policies 314, 315, 316 to specify respective network bandwidth allocations for "C4", "C5" "C6" sharing the network resource pool of "VM2". QoS policies 311-316 may be retrieved based on container name 317, container ID 318, container tag data 328, etc. The network resource pool of a virtual machine (see 330) may be defined using one or more of the following: (1) virtual machine shares value=S.sub.v that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to a virtual machine relative to at least one other virtual machine (see 332); (2) virtual machine limit value=L.sub.v that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the virtual machine (see 334); and (3) virtual machine reservation value=R.sub.v that specifies a minimum network bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the virtual machine (see 336). Virtual machine limit and resented values may be expressed in data transfer rate, such as Megabits per second (Mbps). The QoS policy configured for each container may be defined using one or more of the following: (1) container shares value=S.sub.c that specifies a network bandwidth allocation priority given to the container relative to at least one other container sharing a virtual machine's network resource pool (see 322); (2) container limit value=L.sub.c that specifies a maximum network bandwidth allocation for the container (see 324); and (3) container reservation value=R.sub.c that specifies a minimum network bandwidth allocation guaranteed for the container (see 326). The container limit value cannot exceed the virtual machine limit value (i.e., L.sub.c.ltoreq.L.sub.v) and container reservation value cannot exceed the virtual machine reservation value (i.e., R.sub.c.ltoreq.R.sub.v). Container limit and reserved values may be expressed in data transfer rate, such as Mbps. As used herein, the term "shares" or "shares value" is used generally to describe the relative importance or priority of a traffic flow compared to at least one other traffic flow. Shares may be specified in absolute units with a value ranging from 1 to 100 to provide a greater flexibility for unused network bandwidth redistribution. For example in FIG. 3 (see 332), "VM1" with shares=100 is given a higher priority than "VM2" with shares=50. This means that if there is spare bandwidth of 600 Megabits per second (Mbps) during periods of network resource contention, "VM1" may be allocated with up to 400 Mbps (i.e., 100/150=67%) and "VM2" with 200 Mbps (i.e., 50/150=33%) provided respective virtual machine limit values (see 334) are not exceeded. See corresponding representations 410 for "VM1" and 420 for "VM2" in FIG. 4. For the containers, QoS policy 311 is configured to allocate "C1" with shares=50; QoS policy 312 to allocate "C2" with shares=20; and QoS policy 313 to allocate "C3" with shares=10. In this case, "C1" with shares=50 is given a higher network bandwidth allocation priority over "C2" with shares=20 and "C3" with shares=10 (i.e., lowest priority in this example). During periods of network resource contention, "C1" may be allocated with up to 63% (i.e., 50/80), "C2" 25% (i.e., 20/80) and "C3" 13% (i.e., 10/80) of the network bandwidth available for "VM1", provided respective container limit values (see 324) are not exceeded. See corresponding representations 432 for "C1", 434 for "C2" and 436 for "C3" in FIG. 4. Similarly, QoS policy 314 is configured to allocate "C4" with shares=80; QoS policy 315 to allocate "C5" with shares=100; and QoS policy 316 to allocate "C6" with shares=20. In this case, "C5" with shares=100 will be given a higher network bandwidth allocation priority over "C4" with shares=80 and "C6" with shares=20 (i.e., lowest priority in this example). During periods of network resource contention, "C4" may be allocated with up to 40% (i.e., 80/200), "C5" 50% (i.e., 100/200) and "C6" 10% (i.e., 20/300) of the network bandwidth available for "VM2", provided the respective container limit values (see 324) are not exceeded. See corresponding representations 444 for "C4", 442 for "C5" and 446 for "C6" in FIG. 4. The term "limit" or "limit value" is used to generally describe a maximum network bandwidth allocation (e.g., maximum permitted data transfer rate). In the example in FIG. 3 (see 334), "VM1" has a higher limit=2000 Mbps compared to 1500 Mbps for "VM2". For containers supported by "VM1", QoS policy 312 allocates "C2" with limit=800 Mbps, which is higher than limit=500 Mbps allocated to "C1" (see 311) and limit=100 Mbps allocated to "C3" (see 313). Similarly for "VM2". QoS policy 314 allocates "C4" with limit=600 Mbps, which is lower than limit=800 Mbps allocated to "C5" (see 315) and "C6" (see 316). In practice, the virtual machine limit value=L.sub.v (e.g., 2000 Mbps for "VM1") cannot be less than the virtual machine reservation value=R.sub.v. (e.g., 1000 Mbps for "VM1"). Similarly, the container limit value=L.sub.c (e.g., 500 Mbps for "C1") cannot be less than the container reservation value=R.sub.c (e.g., 120 Mbps for "C1"). If the limit is exceeded, packets can be dropped, even if there is bandwidth available at physical NIC 114. Since limit values 324, 334 are hard boundaries, "C1" is allowed to transmit up to 500 Mbps even when "C2" and "03" are not transmitting. Similarly, "VM1" is only allowed up to 2000 Mbps even when "VM2" is not transmitting. The term "reservation" or "reservation value" is used to generally describe a guaranteed minimum network bandwidth allocation. Reservation, for example, is useful for time-sensitive traffic flow (e.g., voice, video, etc.) that requires a minimum data transfer rate. For containers supported by "VM1" with reservation=1000 Mbps, "C1" is allocated with reservation=120 Mbps (see QoS policy 311), "C2" with reservation=100 Mbps (see QoS policy 312) and "C3" with reservation=30 Mbps (see QoS policy 313). Similarly for "VM2" with reservation=500 Mbps, "C4" is allocated with reservation=20 Mbps (see QoS policy 314), "C5" with reservation=100 Mbps (see QoS policy 315) and "C6" with reservation=20 Mbps (see QoS policy 316). The sum of all container reservation values (e.g., 250 Mbps in total for "C1", "C2" and "C3") for containers running inside the same virtual machine (e.g., "VM1") cannot exceed the corresponding virtual machine reservation value (e.g., 1000 Mbps for "VM1"). As explained using FIG. 1, QoS policies 311-316 in FIG. 3 may be configured by a user (e.g., network administrator) operating user device 170 by interacting with management entity 160 via physical network 150. For example, QoS policies 311-316 may be configured using an interface (e.g., graphical user interface, command-line interface, etc.) and/or Application Programming Interface (API) calls supported by management entity 160, such as using API module 162 and network management module 164. Another approach is to configure QoS policies 311-316 as corresponding containers "C1" to "C6" are started. Using example "C1" as an example, command line "Docker run -name=CON1 -network-shares=50 -network-limit=500 -network-reservation=120 -cpu-shares=20 -memory=256 ubuntu /bin/sh" may be used to run and allocate a new container with name="CON1", shares=50, limit=500 Mbps, reservation=120 Mbps, CPU shares=20 and memory=256 MB. In this case, the shares, limit and reservation values provided may be used to configure QoS policy 311, which will be added to table 300 when "C1" is started. In practice, guest tools running on corresponding "VM1" may provide the values to management entity 160 via hypervisor 111. In another example, QoS policies 311-316 in FIG. 3 may be configured programmatically, such as using a script, etc. QoS policies 311-316 may be stored in any suitable storage device accessible by management entity 160 (e.g., Container QoS policies 166) and/or host 110 to facilitate traffic forwarding when containers are running. In practice, "VM1" and "VM2" may share an even larger network resource pool reserved for virtual machine traffic (which includes container traffic). For example, there may be other types of traffic in virtualized computing environment 100, such as traffic relating to network file system (NFS), virtual machine migration, fault tolerance (FT), Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI), management functionality, etc. Similar shares, limit and reservation values may be defined for other traffic types. In the example in FIG. 1, containers "C1" to "C6" may be running (i.e., started) or exited (i.e., stopped) in virtualized computing environment 100. For example, when "C1" is running, it is run as an isolated process or namespace independent of other processes on "VM1" and host 110. When "C1" is exited, data relating to its operation (e.g., file system, exit value, etc.) is preserved. Depending on the desired implementation in practice, "C1" to "C6" may be started (to run), stopped or restarted (to run again). According to examples of the present disclosure, an admission control process may be performed to govern whether containers can be started. For example, before "C1" is allowed to start running, the current available network bandwidth is assessed to ensure that QoS policy 311 configured for "C1" can be satisfied. The current available bandwidth may depend on a number of factors, such as the bandwidth of physical NIC 114, network congestion, packet size, packet loss, etc. Two example implementations will be described below using FIG. 5 (i.e., admission control by hypervisor 111) and FIG. 6 (i.e., admission control by management entity 160). FIG. 5 is a flow chart of example process 500 for starting a container in virtualized computing environment 100 in FIG. 1 according to a first example implementation. Example process 500 is illustrated using one or more operations, functions, or actions represented by 510 to 590. The various operations, functions, or actions may be combined, divided, and/or eliminated based upon the desired implementation. Example process 500 may be implemented by virtual machine 120, 121 (e.g., using guest agent or "VM tools" on guest OS 122, 123), hypervisor 111 (e.g., using network module 132 at virtual switch 130) and management entity 160 (e.g., using network management module 164 having access to container QoS policies 166). For simplicity, "C1" and "VM1" will be used as example container and virtual machine in the following. At 510 in FIG. 5, upon detecting that "C1" is starting, "VM1" sends a request via vNIC 126 to hypervisor 111 to allow container to start running. For example, the request may include a container name (e.g., "CON1"), container ID, tag data (e.g., "TAG1") or any other suitable data for identifying "C1". The request may further include the amount of network bandwidth (e.g., shares=50, limit=500 Mbps, reservation=120 Mbps) requested by "C1" to start running. At 520 and 525 in FIG. 5, hypervisor 111 receives the request from "VM1" and retrieves QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". In one example, the retrieval may include sending the request to management entity 160. At 530 and 532 in FIG. 5, management entity 160 receives the request from hypervisor 111, and determines whether there is any QoS policy configured for "C1" in table 300/166. If yes, at 534 in FIG. 5, management entity 160 retrieves and sends QoS policy 311 configured for "C1" to hypervisor 111 via physical network 150. At 535, hypervisor 111 receives QoS policy 311 from management entity 160. Otherwise, at 536 in FIG. 5, management entity 160 creates a new entry in table 300/166 to add QoS policy 311 based on the received request. At 537 in FIG. 5, hypervisor 111 is also notified to rely on the container shares, limit and reservation values for "C1" that are specified in the request. In other words, if there is an existing QoS policy for "C1", the existing policy retrieved from management entity 160 will be used. Otherwise (e.g., when "C1" is started for a first time), if there is no existing QoS policy for "C1", the QoS policy is obtained from the request. This facilitates automatic configuration of QoS policies 311-316 as containers are started. At 540 in FIG. 5, hypervisor 111 determines whether QoS policy 311 can be satisfied with current available network bandwidth in the network resource pool of "VM1". As explained using FIG. 3, QoS policy 311 specifies shares=50, limit=500 Mbps and reservation=120 Mbps for "C1", which depend on shares=100, limit=2000 Mbps and reservation=1000 Mbps for "VM1". Hypervisor 111 may calculate the network bandwidth available for "VM1" and determine whether QoS policy 311 can be satisfied. For example, if "VM1" has only used up 50% of its reservation=1000 Mbps, the remaining network bandwidth of 500 Mbps may be used to guarantee reservation=120 Mbps for "C1". At 550 in FIG. 5, in response to determination that QoS policy 311 cannot be satisfied at 540, hypervisor 111 determines whether a network bandwidth reallocation is possible to satisfy QoS policy 311. For example, if there is unused network bandwidth from the network resource pool of "VM2" or "VM3", a portion of the unused network bandwidth may be (e.g., temporarily) reallocated to "VM1" and therefore "C1". Additionally or alternatively, a virtual machine may be migrated to another host or a container stopped to release some network bandwidth to support "C1". For example, another virtual machine (e.g., "VM2") may be migrated or "VM1" itself may be migrated to another host with sufficient network bandwidth to support "C1". At 560 and 570 in FIG. 5, in response to determination that QoS policy 311 cannot be satisfied, hypervisor 111 instructs "VM1" to disallow "C1" to start running. Otherwise, at 580 and 590 in FIG. 5 (i.e., QoS policy 311 can be satisfied), hypervisor 111 instructs "VM1" to allow "C1" to start running. Once "C1" starts running, the shares value, limit value and reservation value defined by QoS policy 311 will be enforced for any traffic flow to and from "C1". Although example process 500 shows hypervisor 111 allowing or disallowing "C1" to start running, an alternative implementation may involve management entity 160 making admission control decisions. In more detail, FIG. 6 is a flow chart of example process 600 for starting a container in example virtualized computing environment 100 in FIG. 1 according to a second example implementation. Example process 600 is illustrated using one or more operations, functions, or actions represented by 610 to 675. The various operations, functions, or actions may be combined, divided, and/or eliminated based upon the desired implementation. Similar to FIG. 5, example process 600 may be implemented by virtual machine 120, 121 (e.g., using guest agent or "VM tools" on guest OS 122, 123), hypervisor 111 (e.g., using network module 132 at virtual switch 130) and management entity 160 (e.g., using network management module 164 having access to container QoS policies 166). Again, for simplicity, "C1" and "VM1" will be used as example container and virtual machine in the following. At 610 in FIG. 6 (related to 510 in FIG. 5), upon detecting that container "C1" is starting, "VM1" sends a request via vNIC 126 to hypervisor 111 to allow "C1" to start running. The request may include a container ID, tag data (e.g., "TAG1") or any other suitable data for identifying "C1". The request may further include shares=50, limit=500 Mbps, reservation=120 Mbps requested by "C1" to start running. At 620 and 625 in FIG. 6 (related to 520 in FIG. 5), hypervisor 111 receives the request and sends it to management entity 160. At 630 (related to 530 in FIG. 5), upon receiving the request from hypervisor 111, management entity 160 determines whether a QoS policy has been previously configured for "C1". If yes, at 634 in FIG. 6, management entity 160 retrieves QoS policy 311 configured for "C1" from table 300/166, such as based on the container ID and container name in the request. Otherwise, at 636 in FIG. 6, management entity 160 creates a new entry in table 300/166 to add QoS policy 311 that includes the container shares, limit and reservation values requested by "C1". At 640 in FIG. 6 (related to 540 in FIG. 5), management entity 160 determines whether QoS policy 311 can be satisfied. The determination may be based on whether the current available network bandwidth in the network resource pool of "VM1" can be used to support shares=50, limit=500 Mbps and reservation=120 Mbps defined in QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". At 645 in FIG. 6 (related to 550 in FIG. 5), in response to determination that QoS policy 311 cannot be satisfied, hypervisor 111 determines whether a network bandwidth reallocation is possible to satisfy QoS policy 311. Similar to 550 in FIG. 5, the reallocation may involve "borrowing" spare network bandwidth from another resource pool, or releasing network bandwidth by migrating virtual machine(s), stopping container(s), etc. For example, another virtual machine (e.g., "VM2") may be migrated or "VM1" itself may be migrated to another host with sufficient network bandwidth to support "C1". At 650, 655 and 660 in FIG. 6 (related to 560 and 570 in FIG. 5), in response to determination that QoS policy 311 cannot be satisfied, management entity 160 instructs hypervisor 111 to disallow "C1" to start running, in which case hypervisor 111 also instructs "VM1" the same. Otherwise, at 665, 670 and 675 in FIG. 6 (related to 580 and 590 in FIG. 5), management entity 160 instructs hypervisor 111 to allow "C1" to start running, in which case hypervisor 111 also instructs "VM1" the same. FIG. 7 is a flow chart of example process 700 for forwarding a traffic flow of a container according to a QoS policy in example virtualized computing environment 100 in FIG. 1. Example process 700 is illustrated using one or more operations, functions, or actions represented by 710 to 770. The various operations, functions, or actions may be combined, divided, and/or eliminated based upon the desired implementation. Similar to the examples in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, example process 700 may be implemented by virtual machine 120, 121 (e.g., using guest agent or "VM tools" on guest OS 122, 123), hypervisor 111 (e.g., using network module 132 at virtual switch 130) and management entity 160 (e.g., using network management module 164 having access to container QoS policies 166). Again, for simplicity, "C1" and "VM1" will be used as example container and virtual machine in the following. At 710 and 720 in FIG. 7, upon detecting a traffic flow of packets from "C1", "VM1" tags the traffic flow with any suitable data identifying "C1". The traffic flow from "C1" represents an egress traffic flow (may also be referred to as "outgoing packets") from "C1" to a destination accessible via physical network 150. In practice, the traffic flow may be detected and tagged by "VM1" using a guest agent that hooks onto the network stack of guest OS 122. As described using FIG. 3, "VM1" is aware of, or has access to, the mapping between container ID (see 318 in FIG. 3), container IP address (see 320 in FIG. 3) and tag data (see 328 in FIG. 3). In response to detecting packets having a source IP address that matches with the IP address=172.17.42.1 associated with "C1", "VM1" generates a tagged traffic flow by modifying the packets to include tag data "TAG1". At 730 in FIG. 7, "VM1" forwards the tagged traffic flow via vNIC 126 to hypervisor 111 for forwarding to physical network 150 via virtual switch 130 and physical NIC 114. See also traffic flow 180 and tagged traffic flow 182 in FIG. 1. In one example, the tagging process at 720 may involve modifying header data in each packet to include "TAG1" associated with "C1". FIG. 8 illustrates example packet 800 tagged with data identifying a container for forwarding according to example process 700 in FIG. 7. In this example, example packet 800 is a Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) packet, but any other suitable protocol may be used. In practice, example packet 800 may include alternative or additional fields based upon the desired implementation. Example packet 800 includes suitable header data, such as source port 810, destination port 815, sequence number 820, acknowledgement number 825, data offset 830, reserved field 835, various flags 840, window size 850, checksum 855, urgent pointer 860, and options 865. Payload information 870 follows the header information. According to 720 in FIG. 7, options field 865 may be modified to include tag data 870 (e.g., TAG 1) such that hypervisor 111 is able to identify "C1". It may be possible for hypervisor 111 to identify "C1" based on the source IP address of the traffic flow. However, it is not always reliable to rely on the source IP address to identify "C1", especially if the IP address is volatile and susceptible to frequent changes. In this case, it may be inefficient to update table of QoS policies 348 every time the IP address changes and as such, the tagging process 720 at FIG. 7 may be implemented. At 740, 750 and 760 in FIG. 7, in response to receiving the traffic flow from "VM1", hypervisor 111 identifies "C1" from which the traffic flow originates and retrieves QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". For example, hypervisor 111 may parse the header data of the received traffic flow to examine tag data 870 in options field 865 (see FIG. 8). Hypervisor 111 identifies "C1" as the source container if tag data 870 matches with "TAG1". The retrieval at 760 in FIG. 7 may include hypervisor 111 retrieving QoS policy 311 from local storage, or from management entity 765 (shown in dotted box) if QoS policy 311 is not available at host 110. In the latter case at 765, network management module 164 at management entity 160 may retrieve QoS policy 311 based on tag data "TAG1" or container ID associated with "C1" and send retrieved QoS policy 311 to hypervisor 111 via physical network 150. At 770 in FIG. 7, hypervisor 111 forwards the traffic flow of packets from "C1" according to QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". In practice, network module 132 at virtual switch 130 may implement a packet scheduler to schedule the packets for forwarding at a data transfer rate that is at least reservation=120 Mbps but at most limit=500 Mbps. Packet scheduler may also allocate available network bandwidth according to shares=50 while satisfying reservation=120 Mbps and limit=500 Mbps. For example, a dedicated software queue may be maintained for the traffic flow from each container for this purpose. Using the examples in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, if there is unused network bandwidth=1000 Mbps in the network resource pool of "VM1", "C1", "C2" and "C3" will be guaranteed at least 120 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 30 Mbps respectively. The remaining unused network bandwidth of 750 Mbps (i.e., 1000-sum of container reservation values) may be allocated according to respective shares values (i.e., 50/80 or 63% for "C1", 20/80 or 25% for "C2" and 10/80 or 13% for "C3") without exceeding respective limit values (i.e., 500 Mbps for "C1", 800 Mbps for "C2" and 100 Mbps for "C3"). When "C1" is stopped, "VM1" may inform hypervisor 111, which may in turn inform management entity 160 to remove QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". In this case, table 300 may be updated by management entity 160 as containers are started and stopped in virtualized computing environment 100. Although the examples in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8 are explained with reference to hypervisor 111 implementing virtual switch 130 in FIG. 1, it will be appreciated that a distributed virtual switch (DVS) may also be used. The DVS represents a collection of different virtual switches 130 across different hosts 110. In practice, the DVS may be implemented using any suitable technology, such as vSphere Distributed Switch (developed by VMware, Inc.), etc. In more detail, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of example virtualized computing environment 900 with DVS 910. Although an example is shown, it should be understood that environment 900 and DVS 910 may include additional or alternative components, and each component may have a different configuration, depending on the desired implementation. DVS 910 (see dotted line box) spans across multiple hosts, such as Host-A 110A and Host-B 110B. In the following, reference numerals with a suffix "A" refer to elements relating to Host-A 110A and suffix "B" to Host-B 110B. Similar to the example in FIG. 1, Host-A 110A executes hypervisor 111A and includes hardware 112A to support virtual machines "VM1" 120A and "VM2" 121A. Hypervisor 111A implements VMM 124A to emulate vNIC 126A associated with "VM1" 120A, as well as VMM 125A to emulate vNIC 127A associated with "VM2" 121A. To support "VM3" 120B, Host-B 110B includes hardware 112B and executes hypervisor 111B to implement VMM 124B that emulates vNIC 126B. Using container technologies, containers "C1" 141A, "C2" 142A and "C3" 143A may run on guest OS 122A inside "VM1" 120A; "C4" 144A, "C5" 145A and "C6" 146A on guest OS 123A inside "VM2" 121A; and "C7" 141B, "C8" 142B and "C9" 143B on guest OS 122B inside "VM3" 120B. DVS 910 binds virtual switch 130A of Host-A 110A and virtual switch 130B of Host-B 110B into an aggregate virtual switch. Compared to having to manage individual and segregated virtual switches 130A, 130B, DVS 910 is logically configurable to simplify the provisioning and administration of virtual networks connecting virtual machines 120A, 121A, 120B across multiple hosts 110A, 110B. DVS 910, being a software abstraction, may be implemented using any suitable number of components distributed in different hardware. In the example in FIG. 9, components of DVS 910 may be implemented using hypervisor 111A on Host-A 110A and hypervisor 111B on Host-B 110B. Similar to the examples in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 7, "VM1" 120A may tag traffic flow of packets (see 920) originating from "C1" 141A may be with tag data identifying "C1". The resulting in tagged traffic flow (see 922) is then forwarded to DVS 910 via vNIC 126A. Upon receiving tagged traffic flow 922 from "VM1", DVS 910 may identify "C1" based on the tag data, and retrieve QoS policy 311 configured for "C1". For example, QoS policy 311 may be retrieved from a local storage, or from management entity 160 (e.g., via network management module 164 with access to QoS policies 166). Such container traffic flow differentiation allows DVS 910 to forward tagged traffic flow 922 according to QoS policy 311 via physical NIC 114A. Similar to the examples in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, QoS policy 311 specifies a network bandwidth allocation for "C1", for example based on a network resource pool of "VM1". QoS policy 311 may specify according to least one of: container shares value, container limit value and container reservation value. Prior to the above traffic forwarding, an admission control process may be performed. In this case, DVS 910 may interact with management entity 160 to determine whether to allow "C1" to start running based on QoS policy 311. Similar to the examples in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the determination may be made by DVS 910 or management entity 160. In practice, management entity 160 may implement a Network Input Output Control (NIOC) module and network virtualization manager (NSX manager) to facilitate the examples explained using FIG. 2 to FIG. 8. Although one DVS 910 is shown for simplicity, multiple DVSs may be configured to form multiple virtual networks logically connecting different virtual machines on different hosts. As used herein, the term "virtual network" refers generally to a logical overlay network, and not simply a software implementation of a physical network, which is sometimes the intended meaning of the same term by those in the art. The logical overlay network is a conceptual network that can be arbitrarily defined and distributed in an arbitrary manner over physical resources. In one example, a "device" (e.g., container, virtual machine, etc.) may reside on a layer-2 logical network that is overlayed on a layer-3 physical network. In such a scenario, a tunnelling protocol (e.g., Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN), Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation (GENEVE), Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE), etc.) may encapsulate Ethernet layer-2 frames in IP (e.g., Media Access Control (MAC) in User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or "MAC-in-UDP" encapsulation) and allow the "device" to participate in a virtualized layer-2 subnet that operates in separate physical layer-3 networks. The term "layer-2" generally refers to a Media Access Control (MAC) layer and "layer-3" to a network layer in the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. Although not shown in FIG. 9 for simplicity, DVS 910 may include a logical collection of distributed virtual ports (DV ports) that connect (e.g., logically associated) with respective vNICs 126A, 127A, 126B. A DV port may be understood as a software abstraction that encapsulates the "personality" (including configuration and runtime state, etc.) of a corresponding virtual port of virtual switch 130A, 130B. Unlike a virtual port, a DV port usually persists and migrates with its associated virtual machine. Multiple DV ports may form a DV port group. The above examples can be implemented by hardware (including hardware logic circuitry), software or firmware or a combination thereof. For example, host 110, 110A, 110B and management entity 160 may be implemented by any suitable computing device, which may include processor and memory that may communicate with each other via a bus, etc. The computing device may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform processes described herein with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 8. The techniques introduced above can be implemented in special-purpose hardwired circuitry, in software and/or firmware in conjunction with programmable circuitry, or in a combination thereof. Special-purpose hardwired circuitry may be in the form of, for example, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and others. The term `processor` is to be interpreted broadly to include a processing unit, ASIC, logic unit, or programmable gate array etc. The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure.

2019-04-26T12:15:10Z

http://patents.com/us-20160380909.html

A mobile device that receives a streaming content that it shares with other devices in its vicinity/proximity. The mobile device comprises a communication circuitry that facilitates establishing a communication link with a plurality of other mobile devices. The mobile device receives the streaming content and shares it with substantial synchronization with the plurality of other mobile devices in real time employing the communication circuitry. The mobile device manages synchronized viewing of the streaming content with the plurality of other mobile devices by coordinating pauses, buffering, resumptions, restarts and terminations based on events reported by the mobile device and by the plurality of other mobile devices it is communicatively coupled with. The present application is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 11/891,193 entitled MOBILE DEVICE CAPABLE OF SHARING SMS MESSAGES, EMAIL SCREEN DISPLAY LOCALLY WITH OTHER DEVICES (Attorney Docket No. 23041US03), filed on Aug. 8, 2007, the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. The application Ser. No. 11/891,193 was a continuation-in-part (CIP) of U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 11/810,597 entitled MOBILE DEVICE SHARING PICTURES, STREAMING MEDIA AND CALLS LOCALLY WITH OTHER DEVICES (Attorney Docket No. BRR2006US02-U1), filed on Jun. 5, 2007, the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. The present application makes reference to, claims priority to, and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/837,664 entitled MOBILE DEVICE CAPABLE OF SHARING SMS MESSAGES, EMAIL SCREEN DISPLAY LOCALLY WITH OTHER DEVICES (Attorney Docket No. BRR2006US03) filed on Aug. 14, 2006, the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. The present application makes reference to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/819,464 entitled MOBILE DEVICE SHARING PICTURES, STREAMING MEDIA AND CALLS LOCALLY WITH OTHER DEVICES, filed on Jul. 7, 2006, the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety. The present invention relates generally to the interactions between mobile device and other devices, and more specifically to the localized sharing of streaming content, email, SMS and other content with other mobile devices. Sometimes, when a user receives a SMS message, the user may want to share it with a friend or spouse in physical proximity, but yet not close enough to view the mobile device. However, forwarding or resending the received SMS to share it with others will incur additional charges, and will also require the availability of the wireless network and services, which may be inaccessible. Similarly, email received by a user cannot be shared with others in close proximity without rerouting it back to the wireless network and back to the mobile devices of the others. In addition, there may be additional costs incurred or resources needed to forward the emails (as is done over the Internet typically). In general, for a user of a mobile device to share the information displayed on the mobile device with others in proximity, the user has to ask them to assemble around the mobile device and make them view the display on the mobile device. This is fairly limiting and not a good user experience, especially since the screen on the mobile devices are small and not convenient for simultaneous viewing by a group of people. Quite often a user may want to share the content on his mobile device. The user has no easy way to share the viewing or listening experience with others in the premises without using the wireless network (to reroute the data/information for sharing), with extra costs associated with such sharing, and with the need to have the wireless network currently accessible and available. For example, this may not be possible inside buildings or tunnels or trains where wireless network access is often a problem. Some mobile phones can receive MP3 songs etc. from a media store such as iTunes. However, they cannot share it with their friends how might have mobile devices of their own in proximity. They have to ask their friends to individually access them (by searching for the content, downloading them, etc.). Shared experience is not easy, especially simultaneous viewing/hearing of media that is available on the Internet. The problem with a group of friends individually downloading a media file, or watching it as it is streamed is that such group viewing where each user individually downloads from a remote server is prone to a lot of problems, not least of which is that they are experiencing a different part or a different portion of the media at any given time. It is a poor and noisy, if not a chaotic attempt at a shared experience. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings. The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods of operation that are further described in the following Brief Description of the Drawings, the Detailed Description of the Invention, and the claims. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention made with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 7 is a perspective block diagram of a local sharing environment wherein a wireless network provides various kinds of data services to a source mobile device, such as email, SMS, MMS and broadcast media. FIG. 8 is a perspective block diagram of a local sharing environment wherein a network provides access to a media server, a video server, an audio server and a document server for accessing various kinds of media/information that is shared locally with other devices in proximity. FIG. 9 is a network comprising a plurality of devices that communicate, wherein the devices can share content with each other. FIG. 10 is a mobile device that receives a streaming content that it shares with other devices in its vicinity/proximity. FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a mobile device 107 that is capable of locally sharing streaming media, emails, SMS messages and data displayed on the mobile device 107 with other devices in proximity, such as the mobile device 157. The mobile device 107 is part of a network 105, such as a wireless network, with access to voice and data services that make it possible for it to receive SMS, email and other types of data. The mobile device 107 is communicatively coupled with an SMSC 167 that provides SMS messages sent by other people, that can be viewed on the mobile device 107. It is also communicatively coupled to a broadcast server 109 and an audio server 129 via a WLAN or cellular wireless connections. The mobile device 107 can be used by an user to download audio and video content such as mp3, wma, MPEG2, MPEG3, etc. The mobile device 107 is communicatively coupled with the broadcast server 109, such as a DVBH server or a TV broadcast station, and to an audio server 129, such as an Apple iTunes server, a real-audio based streaming server, etc. The mobile device 107 employs a local sharing manager 177 that makes it possible to share data with other mobile devices, such as a mobile device 157, for specific types of data managed or manipulated by client applications. For example, an email received by the email client 125 in the mobile device 107 is shared with the mobile device 157. Similarly, an SMS message received by the SMS client 123 in the mobile device 107 is shared with the mobile device 157. The local sharing manager 177 in the mobile device 107 facilitates the sharing of the SMS messages and the email messages with other devices in proximity, such as the mobile device 157 in local communication proximity. In one embodiment, the email client 125 receives an email message from a mail server (such as an Exchange server) and the user reviews the email message received. When the user then decides to share the received email message with his spouse or friend using the mobile device 157, the user activates a local sharing key, for example a soft key. In response, the received email message is transferred to the mobile device 157 for local sharing, i.e. for display on the mobile device 157. Specifically, the email client 125 responds to the activation of the local sharing key by determining the email to be shared, packing the email data into a email packet for transfer to the mobile device 157, communicating the email packet to the local sharing manager of the mobile device 157, and confirming the communication of the email packet to the user of the mobile device 107 (such as via a display of a message box). In one embodiment, the SMS client 123 receives a SMS message from a SMSC server (in a wireless network) and the user reviews the SMS message received. When the user then decides to share the received SMS message with his spouse or friend using the mobile device 157, the user activates a local sharing key, for example a soft key. In response, the received SMS message is transferred to the mobile device 157 for local sharing, i.e. for display on the mobile device 157. Specifically, the SMS client 123 responds to the activation of the local sharing key by determining the SMS message to be shared, packing the SMS data into a SMS packet for transfer to the mobile device 157, communicating the SMS packet to the local sharing manager of the mobile device 157, and confirming the communication of the SMS packet to the user of the mobile device 107 (such as via a display of a message box). The mobile device 107 employs a local transmission and reception component 173, which is often a low power communication means such as Bluetooth, to communicate with the mobile device 157. The local sharing manager 177 in the mobile device 107 manages the establishment of the communication with the mobile device 157 and the subsequent local sharing, and the local transmission and reception component 173 supports local sharing as and when required, by providing one way, two way local or multi-point communication means (as necessary) between the mobile device 107 and the mobile device 157. For example, to locally share email and SMS messages, in one embodiment, the local transmission and reception component 173 provides a one-way communication such that the mobile device can share an email packet or an SMS packet with the mobile device 157. The local sharing manager 177 facilitates sharing of instant messages, SMS messages and email messages received by the mobile device 107, such sharing occurring without the use of the cellular wireless network (or the wireless LAN network) on which the mobile device 107 typically operates. Thus, the local transmission and reception component 173 employs a protocol other than the RF protocols used for GSM or CDMA based wireless networking. It is based on protocols used for low power communication of devices that are in proximity, such as devices that are within 1 feet to 30 feet of each other, such as Bluetooth, or in some cases, 802.11 based protocols. The local sharing manager 177 makes it possible to share the content currently being rendered, played or displayed by a mobile device 107, with another mobile device 157 in its vicinity. The sharing client 175 also makes it possible to share the audio content currently being rendered, played or displayed by an audio client/player 163 in the mobile device 107. For example, the audio client 163 may be an Apple iTunes client, another MP3 player client, etc. In one embodiment, the local sharing manager 177 simultaneously conducts local sharing, such as that of an email as well as a streaming audio, etc. The local sharing manager 177 makes it possible to share specific stored or streaming content (audio, or video) that is currently being displayed, played or rendered by a typical client in the mobile device 107, (such as the audio client 163 or the media player 127) with another mobile device in its proximity, such as the mobile device 157. In one embodiment, the recipient mobile device 157 also comprises a local sharing manager 177 that is capable of negotiating sharing of email, SMS, media streams and other content with the local sharing manager 177 of the source mobile device 107. For example, it is capable of negotiating a channel for communication, buffer sizes, etc. In a related embodiment, the recipient mobile device 157 also comprises local sharing manager 177 that is capable of temporarily suspending sharing when an incoming phone call is received on it. It is also able to terminate sharing and letting local sharing manager 177 of the source mobile device 107 know that it is pausing or terminating sharing. In general, the recipient mobile device 157 is capable of starting, stopping, pausing and otherwise controlling the sharing of media streams and content with the local sharing manager 177 of the source mobile device 107. The mobile device 107 is also capable of printing emails, SMS pictures, etc. using the local sharing manager 177, a printer manager 121, a printer 151 being used to print them using local sharing means. In one embodiment, the printer 151 comprises a local sharing manager component that makes it possible for the mobile device 107 to interact with and communicate the email, SMS message, picture and other information to the printer 151. In a related embodiment, the printer 151 employs an adapter (wireless or wired) that provides it with the facilities needed to interact with the mobile device 107 to provide local sharing printing support. A display manager 175 in the mobile device 107 is used to manage what is displayed in the display of the mobile device 107. It is used to manage the display of text, graphics, video, etc. on an LCD screen (or other screens) on the mobile device. The display manager is implemented as hardware (chipset) in one embodiment and as a combination of hardware and software in another embodiment. The display manager 175 is used to print whatever is currently displayed in the mobile device 107, onto the printer 151. It employs the services of a print manager 121 to conduct printing on the printer 151, which in turn employs the services of the local sharing manager 177, if necessary, to establish communications with the printer 151 employing local sharing means. The source mobile device 107 and the target device 157 (which may or may not be a mobile device) are capable of communicating over a locally sharing communication means, that is different from a wireless communication means, such as 3G, GSM, CDMA, GPRS, etc. typically employed for communication between the first mobile device 107 and a wireless network with which it is associated. Using a local sharing manager, the mobile device 107 shares incoming calls, email, SMS messages, MMS messages, streaming media, pictures, etc. locally (without employing the cellular wireless network) with a target mobile device 157. The target mobile device 157 may also have a similar local sharing manager and be able to share locally with the mobile device 107. FIG. 2 is a flow chart 205 showing typical usage of a source mobile device 107, in accordance with the present invention, for sharing a SMS message received by the source mobile device 107 with another recipient mobile device 157. At a start block 207, the source mobile device receives a SMS message that a user can choose to view. Then the user can store it locally on the mobile device, delete it, or store it on the network side on a server. Then, at a next block 209, the local sharing manager 177 is activated in the source mobile device 107 by the user in order to share the received SMS message, which typically is the currently viewed SMS, with another person in communicative proximity (local communication, not using the cellular wireless network or equivalent IP based networks). In one embodiment, the user is prompted with a list of users (names of users) with whom the user can conduct local sharing, such a list having been registered previously with the local sharing manager 177. In a related embodiment, the local sharing manager 177 determines a list of currently available local sharing participants among a previously registered list of local sharing participants and lets a user choose one or more of the currently available local sharing participants (i.e. their mobile devices) as targets for sharing. The local sharing may be preconfigured such that the list of one or more recipient devices is known to the source mobile device 107. In one embodiment, the local sharing may also be accompanied by a discovery process where, based on user input that is solicited, or based on pre-configured preferences, the local sharing manager 177 discovers the target devices (such as mobile device 157) and starts negotiating the transmission of the SMS packet (or email, screen dump, etc.) to the target device(s). Then at a next block 211, transmission of the SMS packet that comprises the SMS message occurs for the purposes of sharing locally with one or more recipient devices. The SMS client determines the content of the SMS packet, and communicates it to the local sharing manager 177 for communication to the target devices. The local sharing manager then interacts with the local transmission and reception component 173 to have the SMS packet (data packets in general) sent to the target device(s). In a related embodiment, the SMS client determines the content of the SMS packet, and communicates it directly to local transmission and reception component 173 for communication to the target device(s). At a next block 213, receiving of the locally shared SMS packet for sharing is initiated in the target mobile device(s). The user of the target device can view the displayed SMS packet, and optionally store it. For example, the locally sharing manager in the mobile device 157 receives the locally shared SMS packet and communicates it to the SMS client in the mobile device 157 for display to the user of the mobile device 157. The user is also provided with an opportunity to save it locally in the mobile device 157. Then, at a next block 215, the transmission of the locally shared data, such as the SMS packet, is terminated. FIG. 3 is a flow chart 305 showing typical usage of a source mobile device 107, in accordance with the present invention, for sharing an email message received by the source mobile device 107 with another target mobile device 157. At a start block 307, the email client in the source mobile device 107 receives an email message that a user can choose to view. The user can store it locally on the mobile device 107, delete it, or store it on the network side on a server. Then, at a next block 309, the local sharing manager 177 is activated in the source mobile device 107 by the user, in order to share the received email message, which typically is the currently viewed email in the email clainet, with another person in communicative proximity (local communication, not using the cellular wireless network or equivalent IP based networks). In one embodiment, the user is prompted with a list of users (names of users) with whom the user can conduct local sharing, such a list having been registered previously with the local sharing manager 177. In a related embodiment, the local sharing manager 177 determines a list of currently available local sharing participants among a previously registered list of local sharing participants and lets a user choose one or more of the currently available local sharing participants (i.e. their mobile devices) as targets for sharing. The local sharing may be preconfigured such that the list of one or more recipient devices is known to the source mobile device 107. In one embodiment, the local sharing may also be accompanied by a discovery process where, based on user input that is solicited, or based on pre-configured preferences, the local sharing manager 177 discovers the target devices (such as mobile device 157) and starts negotiating the transmission of the email packet (or SMS, screen dump, etc.) to the target device(s). Then at a next block 211, transmission of the email packet that comprises the email message occurs for the purposes of sharing locally with one or more recipient devices. The email client determines the content of the email packet, and communicates it to the local sharing manager 177 for communication to the target devices. The local sharing manager then interacts with the local transmission and reception component 173 to have the email packet (data packets in general) sent to the target device(s). In a related embodiment, the email client determines the content of the email packet, and communicates it directly to local transmission and reception component 173 for communication to the target device(s). At a next block 313, receiving of the locally shared email packet for sharing is initiated in the target mobile device(s). The user of the target device can view the displayed email message in the email packet, and optionally store it. For example, the locally sharing manager in the mobile device 157 receives the locally shared email packet and communicates it to the email client in the mobile device 157 for display to the user of the mobile device 157. The user is also provided with an opportunity to save it locally in the mobile device 157. Then, at a next block 315, the transmission of the locally shared data, such as the email packet, is terminated. It should be noted that the sharing of a current email can be terminated by the user of the source mobile device. In addition, the recipient device also facilitates termination of sharing of the email, such as when it determines that it is about to receive its own incoming voice call. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a local sharing mobile device 107 wherein a local sharing manager in the local sharing mobile device 107 manages printing with a local sharing printer in its proximity. At a start block 407, the local sharing manager 177 is activated in the source mobile device 107. The local sharing manager 177 facilitates the discovery of other devices in proximity, including a local sharing printer, if any. In one embodiment, where the connectivity with other devices for sharing is over Bluetooth protocols, it discovers other Bluetooth devices and establishes pairing with them. Then, at a next block 409, the user displays a picture using a picture client or a camera client, an email using an email client, an instant message using an IM client, etc. The display manager 175 facilitates the display of the email message, the picture, etc. Such a display manager 175 is equipped with the capability to share the displayed content with a local sharing printer, such as the printer 151. The user has to activate printing with a local sharing printer and the local sharing printer is sent the appropriate printing data packet comprising the picture, email, SMS message, etc. Then, at a next block 411, the local sharing printer employs the appropriate device driver to print the information being shared. To print emails and SMS messages, it employs a simple text print driver. To print a picture, the whole screen (current screen) or an image, it employs a image print driver. Thus, appropriate drivers are employed for the different types of data being printed. Then, at a next block 413, at the end of the data transfer, such as a picture, the printing is completed. Then, at a next block 415, the local sharing is terminated. In one embodiment, all established local connections are also terminated. In another embodiment, all established local connections are continued in anticipation of a subsequent media sharing event. FIG. 5 is a flowchart 505 that shows the operations of local sharing mobile device 107 as it provides tracking functionality for shared data. The mobile device 107 is capable of local sharing and tracking of shared data by means of low-power local broadcasts. Local sharing broadcasts can be terminated either by a user of the sharing device or at the end of a local sharing episode, such as the end of a media stream or data that is broadcast. At a start block 507, the local sharing manager of the source mobile device 107 is activated. The user can activate it to share received or played media, or the local sharing manager is configured to be activated when specific types of events occur, such as the receipt of email, the receipt of SMS messages, the receipt of incoming calls or the download of a song. Then, at a next block 509, local sharing occurs. For example, the low power broadcast of the media stream or media content currently being played in the source mobile device is initiated. Such broadcasts can be over a local FM radio frequency channels, over Bluetooth connections, over IrDA links, over WLAN connections, etc. In addition, the locally shared media, email, SMS, etc. is stored along with a log of the user with whom such sharing occurs, the timestamp of the sharing event, the device details of the target/recipient sharing mobile device(s), etc. For example, the tracking of the sharing event may comprise of information regarding the media or content being shared locally, the timestamp of when the sharing occurred, a target/recipient device details, user details if available, etc. Such information can be used for charging record creation, which may be subsequently used for billing purposes. Then, at a next block 511, if user info and device detail information is not available, the local sharing manager of the source mobile device 107 queries user info and device information from the target mobile device(s) 157. Then, at a next block 513, the user information and device information are stored for tracking purposes. Finally, at the next block 515, the tracking information is displayed to the user at the end of the local sharing episode. In one embodiment, the user information and device information are not stored for tracking purposes in the block 513. Instead, at the end of the local sharing episode at the block 515, the display of tracked information, i.e. the user information and the device information and associated timestamp, occurs, with a prompt to the user to store the tracking information. If the user agrees to store the tracking information, then it is locally stored in the locally sharing source mobile device 107. In a different embodiment, the tracking also occurs in the target mobile device(s) 157 at the end of the local sharing episode. In one embodiment, the local sharing, such as media broadcasts and sharing of email, SMS etc., are continued regardless of the presence of at least one listener, i.e. a recipient mobile device 157. In a different embodiment, the source mobile device 107 is able to determine if at least one recipient mobile device 157 is currently connected and able to listen to the shared media stream and the source mobile device 107 does not broadcast or locally share if it determines that no recipient mobile device 157 is currently able to receive the broadcasts (i.e. not connected or in the range on the low powered local broadcasts). In one embodiment, a source mobile device 107 and a target client device 157 share media and textual messages (email, SMS, etc.) locally when the source mobile device 107 receives a media stream (such as a download of an MP3 song, or an incoming voice phone call) or email, SMS etc. The local sharing is setup by selecting a common communication channel, such as a FM station on the target mobile device(s) and the same FM station on the source mobile device 107. FIG. 6 is a perspective block diagram of a local sharing network wherein more than one target devices 609, 611 can share media streams, emails, SMS messages, etc. locally with a source mobile device 607. Low power local communication means such as Bluetooth connectivity or IrDA, etc. are used for locally sharing data. The source mobile device with Bluetooth 607 is capable of broadcasting media streams to more than one listening client devices 609, 611 over Bluetooth connections. Thus incoming emails, SMS messages, voice calls, downloaded streaming audio songs, etc. are shared with one or more listening client devices 609, 611 by a source mobile device 607. In one embodiment, a Bluetooth based broadcast of locally sharable data, such as screen shots or pictures taken by a camera, is facilitated by the local sharing manager 177. Bluetooth radios connect to each other in piconets, which are formed by a master radio simultaneously connecting up to seven slave radios. As such, in a related embodiment, up to seven target listening devices are able to receive shared media streams transmitted by a source mobile device 107, such as a mobile phone. In particular, the source mobile device with local sharing 607 is capable of sharing email, SMS messages, pictures, etc. with the target device with local sharing 609 but also with a target printer with local sharing 611. FIG. 7 is a perspective block diagram of a local sharing environment 705 wherein a wireless network 721 provides various kinds of data services to a source mobile device 707, such as email, SMS, MMS and broadcast media. The source mobile device 707 is capable of receiving online broadcast data, email messages, SMS messages, multi-media messages as well as voice calls. The source mobile device 707 receives them and shares them locally with one or more listening client devices 709, 711. The local sharing conducted by the mobile device 707 with the one or more listening client devices 709, 711 does not involve the wireless network 721. Only the source mobile device 707 is directly connected to or associated with the wireless network 721. The listening clients 709, 711 may not even be on the same wireless network 721—instead they may be subscribers of a different wireless (or wired) network altogether. The source mobile device 707 employs 3G, GPRS, GSM, VOIP, CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS or other standard wireless protocols to interact with the wireless network 721, and with an email server 715, an SMS center 717, an MMS serve 719 or a call client device via the wireless network 721. It uses other low power local sharing protocols to locally share content, such as received emails, SMS messages, MMS messages, voice calls or streaming media, with the listening client devices 709, 711. For example, it employs Bluetooth or 802.11 based protocols for local sharing. A set of menus are provided by the source mobile device 707 to let the user initiate local sharing, provide information that can help in the configuration of local sharing and for the termination of local sharing of received calls and broadcast/multicast media. Broadcast media received are retransmitted to the local client devices 709, 711, over different communication means than the one they are received on. Multicast media may selectively forwarded to local client devices 709, 711 using appropriate protocol translations or bridging. FIG. 8 is a perspective block diagram of a local sharing environment 805 wherein a network 821 provides access to a media server 815, a video server 817, an audio server 819, a document server 841 and a content delivery network 845 for accessing various kinds of media/information that is shared locally by a source device 807 with other devices in proximity, such as a local client device 809, a local sharing client device 811 and a local sharing client device 831. More specifically, the local client device 809 listens to shared content but does not share its own content with other local devices. The local sharing client device 811 not only listens to shared content provided and presents it to a user but also shares content that it receives. The local sharing client device 831 can only share its content—it does not listen/present content shared by other devices 807, 809, 811 in proximity. Thus a variety of sharing modes and sharing devices are supported by the present invention. The local sharing client device 811 is a tablet device, a mobile device (such as a cell phone, PDA, etc.), a laptop, a Wifi router, a computer, etc. in some embodiments. The use of other devices to be used as local sharing client device 811 is also contemplated. A sharing client module or application in the devices 807, 809, 811 implements a player stream acquisition retry logic that allows also enables the sharing client module/application to automatically reconnect, if it is temporarily disconnected from a shared media stream (such as due to issues with connectivity issues, coverage issues etc. on the associated devices). If after multiple retries the sharing client is still unable to make a connection to the stream, a message is displayed stating that the sharing client is unable to connect to the shared media stream. An XML feed that contains metadata and URLs for shared content thumbnails and media assets, if available, is shared by the source mobile device 807 with the other devices with which it shares a content. This XML feed is used, for example, by an appropriate content player/renderer on the receiving device, such as by a video player to populate and play the shared content. Often times, content such as video is encoded at several variable resolutions and several bitrates by a content provider, and a content delivery network 845 provides access to this content at an appropriate resolution and bitrate required by a source mobile device 807. Thus, the source mobile device 807 determines an appropriate resolution and bitrate factoring in the type of devices it is locally sharing with, or by dynamically determining synchronization issues other devices receiving the shared content seem to be experiencing. The source mobile device 807 thus determines an appropriate resolution and bitrate for the shared content, if it is an audio content or a video content, based on capabilities of other devices, or based on actual audio and video latencies, delays, synchronization problems, missed data, or buffering problems reported or experienced by the other devices it is currently sharing with. It then requests, for example the media server 815 or the video server 817, to provide the shared content employing the appropriate resolution and bitrate for the shared content. Thus, it makes use of techniques such as adaptive bitrate streaming supported by servers. In one embodiment, the source mobile device 807 selectively denies content sharing with a local device, such as the local sharing client device 811 for example, if it determines that the resolution and bitrates currently supported or requested by local sharing client device 811 is not appropriate for a good user experience, or is inappropriate (for example, not supported by) for other devices involved in local sharing experience. The source mobile device 807 can also selectively (based on configuration, user preferences, etc.) specify a condition for inclusion of a local device for locally sharing content, wherein the condition comprises a minimum resolution and bitrate. Thus devices that do not meet that criteria are not included in local sharing of some types of content (this can be for specific types of criteria, for example). In addition, if a device, such as local client device 809, that had previously requested a low resolution or a bitrate for a shared content subsequently indicates that is can handle a higher resolution and/or a bitrate, the source mobile device 807 attempts to bump up the resolution and bitrate for that content (such as by requesting a provider, such as the content delivery network 845, or the video server 817, etc.). This is done, in one related embodiment, after it determines if any of the other devices currently sharing have no problems with such changes, or are capable of handling the content at a higher resolution/bitrate, etc. In one embodiment, the local sharing can be over different local sharing technologies—some local devices may employ Bluetooth and its variations, others can employ WiFi and the variations of WiFI, and some may even employ IR or microwave based technologies. Thus, individual local devices 807, 809, 811 and 831 may share their content employing one or more different local communication technologies and protocols. For example, communication link 825 and 823 may be based on 802.11n while communication link 831 may be Bluetooth based. In one embodiment, the local sharing is “synchronized”, i.e. media that is shared is in substantially synchrony across all the shared device. Thus, a viewer viewing a shared media on one of the local devices, such as local client device 809, will be experiencing substantially similar audio and video presentation to those experienced by a user of the local sharing client device 811, i.e. they will be listening to the same segment (or substantially similar portion) of a song/music being shared, or viewing the same portion (or substantially similar portion) of the video currently being locally shared by the source mobile device 807. The source mobile device 807, for example, sends timecodes, using which the receiving devices that locally share content synchronize their presentation of content. For example, source mobile device 807 simply transmits timecodes and the receiving devices, such as local client device 809, seeks to the timecode, for example, when it is more than one second out of sync. If one of the receiving devices request a pause, the source mobile device 807 pauses and transmits a timecode at which the pause occurred. In one related embodiment, to support synchronization, shared media is synchronized by the source mobile device 807 and the receiving local client devices 809, 811 using vertical interval time code (VITC), a form of SMPTE time code embedded as a pair of black and white bars in a video signal. Thus an encoder would employ VITC for encoding shared media. Encoders can also be synched using linear or longitudinal time code (LTC), which encodes SMPTE time code data as a Manchester-Biphase encoded audio signal. The use of other forms of timecodes is also anticipated. In one embodiment, the receiving device in a locally sharing environment 805 may decide not to have synchronization, and present locally share content without attempting any synchronization. For example, the local client device 809 (actually a client app or module) can decide not to display a received content in a “synchronized” mode, based on user instructions, because of an inability to support synchronization, etc. It can then receive and display the shared content (such as a music video, a song, a movie, etc.) without synchronization while the other devices participating in the sharing, such as the source mobile device 807 and the local sharing client device 811, may continue to employ synchronization techniques such as VITC to experience a synchronized display/presentation/rendering of locally shared content. In one embodiment, the source mobile device 807 receives a first content from an external server, such as the video server 817, with which it is communicatively coupled. It then dynamically retrieves a currently supportable parameters from the plurality of local client/mobile devices 809, 811 and determines an appropriate parameter set, wherein the supportable parameters retrieved from the plurality of local client/mobile devices 809, 811 each comprises at least a resolution and a bitrate. Frame rate is also useful in such selections to be used as a criteria. The source mobile device 807 communicates the appropriate parameter set to the external server 817 and from then onwards receives the first content based on the communicated appropriate parameter set. Thus, in the middle of the process of receiving a streaming media, or streaming content, especially one that has been provided by a content provider with multiple resolutions and multiple bitrates, the source mobile device 807 can change the requested resolution, bitrate, etc. and thus modify the bandwidth used, etc. It can then support more number of devices locally by factoring in their limitations and dynamically changing capabilities (that may vary by network coverage, load, battery status, temperature, etc.). The local sharing environment 805 also supports adding new devices in the middle of a sharing event, selectively terminating/dropping devices during sharing, etc. It also supports assigning one device as a proxy to a sharing device (one that wants to share), and conducting sharing with other devices via the proxy device on behalf of the sharing device (the one that initiated sharing of content). It also supports receiving an audio on the Internet, and broadcasting it locally to other devices over FM radio frequencies by the source mobile device 807. Similarly, the source mobile device 807 can receive a video (such as a movie clip from YouTube or some such Internet server, etc.) and rebroadcast locally to other devices in proximity, such as local client device 809, and this rebroadcast can occur over WiFi, Bluetooth, or some other local communication means 825. In one embodiment, the source mobile device 807 receives a content that it wants to share, from an external server 845, 815,817 or 819. It presents it to a user of the source mobile device 807. It also forwards it to the local sharing client device 831 for storage. The other client devices 809 and 811 receive an instruction to share the content locally, by getting it from the local sharing client device 831 where it has been stored and is available. In a related embodiment, the sharing is synchronized such that all the locally sharing devices 807, 809 and 811 are able to present the content to associated users in a substantially synchronized mode. In a related embodiment, the local sharing client device 831 is a network storage server (NAS) that is able to support simultaneous access of streaming content by the other local client devices 809, 811, such as over IP based streaming connections. In a related embodiment, the local sharing client device 831 is a streaming server (such as Wowza) and consumes a live RTMP stream provided by the source mobile device 807 and while it also provides a multicast streaming to the local client device 809 and the local sharing client device 811, in either RTMP, RTSP or HTTP Live. The streaming between the local sharing client device 831 and the local client device 809 and the local sharing client device 811 is also possible over each stream is a unicast stream for each device from the local sharing client device 831. In one related embodiment, the source mobile device 807 adds cue points to the live stream it receives, which it communicates (those cuepoints in the order they appear) to other devices it wants to share with, or to the local sharing client device 831 which does the local sharing as a proxy for the source mobile device 807. Then, by sharing the cuepoints with other local sharing devices (over UDP for example, one cuepoint at a time), the source mobile device 807 can prompt the other devices to “synch up” to those cuepoints. This might require the source mobile device 807 to delay the local presentation of the received steaming content by a certain amount (2 seconds for example initially, or a configured number of frames, etc.), so as to provide sufficient delay to provide other devices the possibility of synching up. In one embodiment, the source mobile device 807 implements intra-stream synchronization schemes that are based on data buffering and on the introduction of a delay before the play-out of buffered data packets (i.e., frames). Those synchronization schemes are rigid in some embodiments or adaptive in others. In rigid schemes, the play-out delay is chosen a priori in such a way that it accounts for the maximum network transfer delay that can likely occur across the local sharing client devices 809, 811. Rigid synchronization schemes work under a worst-case scenario assumption and accept the introduction of delays that may be longer than necessary, in order to maximize the synchronization guarantees they can offer even under demanding situations. In some embodiments, the present invention employs synchronization schemes that compute (by the source mobile device 807, for example) the delay parameter continuously while streaming: an attempt is made to “guess” the minimum delay that can be introduced, while still ensuring synchronization under actual operating conditions. In order to enhance quality of service in terms of minimized play-out delay, those schemes accept some temporary synchronization inconsistencies and/or some data loss, in case the computed delay results are at times insufficient (due, e.g., to variations in network conditions) and may need to be corrected on the fly. In one embodiment, the present invention employs an approach where frame rates are sacrificed to achieve synchronization. For example, the source mobile device 807 acts as a central controller that coordinates the behavior of other local sharing client devices 809, 811, and configures them to employ proper frame rates, synchronization schemes, buffer sizes, etc. Other synchronization schemes are also contemplated. In one embodiment, a mobile device 807 shares content in a network that comprises a plurality of mobile devices 807, 809, 811, 831 that communicate with each other. The mobile device 807 shares a first content for simultaneous presentation with a first device 809, a second device 811 and a third device 831 among the plurality of devices, wherein the display of the first content in the mobile device 807 is substantially synchronized with its corresponding display in the first device 807, the second device 811 and the third device 831. The mobile device 807 receives from the second device 811 a first signal and pauses sharing of the first content. It subsequently receives from the second device 811 a second signal and resumes sharing of the first content. Later, the first device 809 continues to share the first content with the second device 11 on resumption of local sharing. If the mobile device 807 determines that the first content comprises synchronization information. It then synchronizes the local presentation of the first content employing the synchronization information. For example, it can communicate over UDP with the other devices in proximity and provide timecodes, or cuecodes (that provide cue to a reference point in the content) which the other devices can use to seek synchronization. In a related embodiment, a client in the mobile device is responsible for managing sharing of content, synchronization of content, etc. The mobile device 807 receives from the second device 811 signals to start, stop, pause or otherwise control the sharing of the first content. It also responds appropriately to the received signals and manages the sharing of the first content. In another embodiment, the local client device 809 is an IPTV and the source mobile device 807 locally shares a received content with the IPTV 809. FIG. 9 is a network 905 comprising a plurality of devices that communicate, wherein the devices can share content with each other. The network comprises a first device 907 among the plurality of devices sharing a first content for simultaneous presentation with a second device 909 and a third device 911 among the plurality of devices. The second device 909 communicates a first signal and pauses receipt of the first content shared by the first device 907 with the second device 909. The second device 909 subsequently communicates a second signal and resumes receipt of the first content in the second device 909. The first device 907 continues to share the first content with the second device 909 on resumption. The second device 909 starts, stops, pauses and otherwise controls the sharing of the first content by the first device 907. The first device 907 continues to share the first content with the third device 911 when the second device communicates a pause signal and pauses receipt of the first content. In one embodiment, the first device 907 initiates the sharing of the first content, negotiates the transmission of the first content, starts, stops, pauses and controls the sharing of the first content with the those of the plurality of devices with which it simultaneously presents the first content. The first device 907 receives an incoming phone call and shares it with the plurality of devices 909, 911 after pausing the sharing of the first content for the duration of the incoming phone call. In one embodiment, the first device 907 facilitates activation, by a user, of sharing of the first content from the first device 907, wherein the first content comprises synchronization information. The first device 907 facilitates substantially synchronized audio and video experience by the corresponding users of those of the plurality of devices 909, 911 with which it simultaneously shares the first content. In another embodiment, the first device 907 receives the first content from an external server with which it is communicatively coupled. The first device 907 dynamically retrieves a currently supportable parameters from the plurality of mobile devices 909, 911 and determines an appropriate parameter set, wherein the supportable parameters retrieved from the plurality of mobile devices 909, 911 each comprises at least a resolution and a bitrate. The first device communicates the appropriate parameter set to the external server and receives the first content based on the communicated appropriate parameter set. In yet another embodiment, the first device 907 pauses the sharing of the first content with the second device 909 and the third device 911 on receipt of the first signal from the second device or on the determination of the occurrence of an event of interest. It discovers another one 951 of the plurality of devices 909, 911, 951 as a new target available for sharing the first content and adds it as an additional recipient device for sharing of the first content by the network in the middle of the shared viewing of the media content by the first device 907 with the second device 909 and the third device 911. The newly added device 951 receives the remaining portion of the first content for substantially simultaneous consumption of the first content. (Alternatively, it starts the shared content from its beginning). In one embodiment, the first device 907 solicits initiation and optional configuration of local sharing of the first content by a user of the first device 907 employing appropriate set of menus and prompts provided by the first device 907. In a different embodiment, the first content is one of a broadcast content, a streaming content and a downloaded content. Each of the plurality of devices 907, 909, 911, 951 comprise a local sharing manager 961 that facilitates starting, stopping, pausing, resuming and otherwise controlling the sharing of the first content. The local sharing manager 961 in each of the plurality of devices 907, 909, 911, 951 is capable of receiving the first content and retransmitting it to the others of the plurality of devices for local sharing. In one embodiment, the first device 907 communicates a synchronization information to the others of the plurality of devices 909, 911, 951 it is currently sharing first content with and in response, the others of the plurality of devices 909, 911, 951 ensure substantially synchronous presentation of the first content based on the synchronization information. In a related embodiment, the third device 911 buffers a portion of the first content that is being shared and the second device 909 receives the portion of the first content buffered by the third device 911, after communicating the resume signal. In addition, the second device 909 also resumes receipt of the first content from the first device 907 while it presents the portion of the first content buffered by the third device 911. FIG. 10 is a mobile device 1007 that receives a streaming content that it shares with other devices in its vicinity/proximity. The mobile device 1007 comprises a communication circuitry 1073 that facilitates establishing a communication link with a plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087. The mobile device 1007 receives the streaming content and shares it with substantial synchronization with the plurality of other mobile devices 1057 in real time employing the communication circuitry 1073. The mobile device 1007 manages synchronized viewing of the streaming content with the plurality of other mobile devices 1057 by coordinating pauses, buffering, resumptions, restarts and terminations based on events reported by the mobile device and by the plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 it is communicatively coupled with. The mobile device 1007 comprises a streaming media player 1027 that is capable of receiving and playing streaming media (songs, movies, video clips, etc.), buffers 1023, a local sharing manager 1077, a network storage manager 1013, a firmware 1017 and an operating system (OS) 1019. Employing the local sharing manager 1077, the streaming media player 1027 shares any media/content it is currently displaying/presenting to a user. Employing the network storage manager 1013, the streaming media player 1027 stores media/content it has received (or is currently receiving/presenting) into a network access manager (not shown) that it is communicatively coupled to. It also comprises an FM radio transmitting/receiving circuitry 1077 that facilitates receiving media over FM radio waves, transmitting media over FM radio waves (for sharing locally), etc. For example, the mobile device 1007 can receive an audio program from the streaming audio serve 1029 and broadcast it over the FM radio transmitting/receiving circuitry 1077 locally in order to share it with other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087. It coordinates the sharing by sending details of the audio program to the other mobile devices 1057, such details, for example, comprising of a trigger to start sharing, the creator of the audio program, a title for it and other details associated with the program, an identification for an channel for sharing (receiving over the identified FM channel), etc. In one embodiment, the mobile device 1007 comprises at least one buffer 1023 and the mobile device queues up at least a portion of the streaming content in the at least one buffer 1023 when any one of the plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 or the mobile device 10007 initiates a pause signal. The mobile device 1007 distributes the buffered at least a portion of the streaming content to the plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 when the device that initiated the pause signal subsequently communicates a resume signal. In one embodiment, the mobile device 1007 receives or retrieves supportable parameters from the plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 and the mobile device 1007 determines an appropriate parameter set from the supportable parameters received or retrieved from the plurality of other mobile devices 1057. It employs the appropriate parameter set in receiving or retrieving the streaming content from an external server, such as a streaming media server 1009, a streaming audio server 129, or even an external mobile device (not shown). In another embodiment, the mobile device 1007 simultaneously shares the streaming content with the plurality of other devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 and pauses sharing with all of them based upon a first event, resumes sharing based on a second event, and terminates sharing based on a third event. In a different embodiment, the mobile device 1007 tracks the sharing activity by collecting information regarding the content being shared locally with the plurality of other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 the timestamp of when the sharing occurred, a device details of the plurality of other devices 1057 that participate in sharing, and user details if available. In one embodiment, the streaming media player 1027 is integrated/merged with the local sharing manager 1077, and is capable of playing streaming media (presenting it to a user), sharing streaming media (such as by retransmitting, rebroadcasting, storing in NAS for coordinated and/or synchronized access by other mobile devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 etc.), forwarding interactive media, etc. In one embodiment, the other mobile devices are one of a computer, a tablet, a laptop, a PDA, a WiFi router, a NAS, a cellular phone, an IPTV, and an IP Phone. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, the first device 1083 is a cellular mobile device, the second device is a 1085 tablet device, and the third device 1087 is an IPTV. The mobile device 1007 shares a first content for simultaneous presentation with a first device 1083, a second device 1085 and a third device 1087 among the plurality of devices, wherein the display of the first content in the mobile device 1007 is substantially synchronized with its corresponding display in the first device 1083, the second device 1085 and the third device 1087. The mobile device 1007 receives from the second device a first signal and pauses sharing of the first content. The mobile device 1007 subsequently receives from the second device 1085 a second signal and resumes sharing of the first content. The mobile device 1007 continues to share the first content with the second device 1085 on resumption. In one embodiment, the mobile device 1007 receives from the second device 1085 signals to start, stop, pause or otherwise control the sharing of the first content. It acts appropriately in response to the signals and manages the sharing of the first content. In a different embodiment, the mobile device 1007 receives the first content from an external server, such as the streaming media server 1009 over Internet, and shares it with the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087. The mobile device 1007 dynamically retrieves currently supportable parameters from the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 and determines an appropriate parameter set, wherein the supportable parameters comprise a resolution, a bitrate and frame rate. It communicates the appropriate parameter set to the external server, such as the streaming media server 1009, and receives the first content based on the communicated appropriate parameter set. The mobile device 1007 continues the sharing of the first content with the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087. In a related embodiment the mobile device 1007 shares the first content as it is received, in real time, from an external server, such as the streaming media server 1009. In another embodiment, the mobile device 1007 shares the first content as it is received from an external server with a networked access server (NAS) 1081 or a local media server 1091 (a local one in the premises, that TVs, PCs, music systems and other local devices interact with and retrieve music, videos, etc.) communicatively coupled to the mobile device 1007 and to the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087, for sharing it with the plurality of devices in real time, and determining a reference to it. The reference is a URL, using which the plurality of mobile devices can access the first content, play it back (in real time too). The reference is a unique identification in another related embodiment. Other types of references are also contemplated. The mobile device 1007 communicates the reference to the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 for substantially synchronized viewing with the plurality of devices. a. Communicates a message to the NAS 1081 to instruct it to store it, and make it accessible, as it is being stored, to the other devices for shared substantially synchronized access. d. As needed, communicated synchronization information, instructing the others of the plurality of devices 1057, 1083, 1085, 1087 to synch up to appropriate cuepoints or markers on the streaming media that facilitates substantially synchronized presentation across all the devices participating in the shared viewing. The terms “circuit” and “circuitry” as used herein may refer to an independent circuit or to a portion of a multifunctional circuit that performs multiple underlying functions. For example, depending on the embodiment, processing circuitry may be implemented as a single chip processor or as a plurality of processing chips. Likewise, a first circuit and a second circuit may be combined in one embodiment into a single circuit or, in another embodiment, operate independently perhaps in separate chips. The term “chip”, as used herein, refers to an integrated circuit. Circuits and circuitry may comprise general or specific purpose hardware, or may comprise such hardware and associated software such as firmware or object code. The terms “media” and “content” as used herein may refer to music, recorded voice inputs that a user records, videos, video clips, live transmissions of music and programs, and multimedia information accessed by a user. The media and content may be received by a mobile device in MP3 format, AMR format, WMA format, WMV, AVI format, MP4, MPEG based formats, DVD formats, HDDVD formats, PDF, PPT, Silverlight Smooth Streaming formats, etc. The term “SMS” as used herein may refer to a textual content delivered over a text based messaging system, such as a text message service that can be provided over a WAP bearer (for example). It includes text messaging over IP networks, such as SMS over IP. The term “email” as used herein may refer to textual and multi-media content delivered over an electronic mail service, such as mail and files delivered over a push or pull based mail delivery service. It includes textual and multi-media content delivered via a client pull service or a server push service. The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the performance of certain significant functions. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description. Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significant functions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocks may also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certain significant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram block boundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and still perform the certain significant functionality. Such alternate definitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocks and sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention. One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functional building blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and components herein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components, application specific integrated circuits, processors executing appropriate software and the like or any combination thereof. Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of clarity and understanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be obvious to one of average skill in the art that various changes and modifications may be practiced within the spirit and scope of the invention, as limited only by the scope of the appended claims. the first device continuing to share the first content with the second device on resumption. 2. The network of claim 1 wherein the second device starts, stops, pauses and otherwise controls the sharing of the first content by the first device. the first device receiving an incoming phone call and sharing it with the plurality of devices after pausing the sharing of the first content for the duration of the incoming phone call. the first device facilitates substantially synchronized audio and video experience by the corresponding users of those of the plurality of devices with which it simultaneously shares the first content. the first device communicating the appropriate parameter set to the external server and receiving the first content based on the communicated appropriate parameter set. the first device continuing to share the first content with the third device when the second device communicates a pause signal and pauses receipt of the first content. the another one of the plurality of devices receiving the remaining portion of the first content for substantially simultaneous consumption of the first content. the first device soliciting initiation and optional configuration of local sharing of the first content by a user of the first device employing appropriate set of menus and prompts provided by the first device. the local sharing manager in each of the plurality of devices capable of receiving the first content and retransmitting it to the others of the plurality of devices for local sharing. 10. The network of claim 1 wherein the first device communicates a synchronization information to the others of the plurality of devices it is currently sharing first content with and in response, the others of the plurality of devices ensure substantially synchronous presentation of the first content based on the synchronization information. the second device also resuming receipt of the first content from the first device while it presents the portion of the first content buffered by the third device. the mobile device managing synchronized viewing of the streaming content with the plurality of other mobile devices by coordinating pauses, buffering, resumptions, restarts and terminations based on events reported by the mobile device and by the plurality of other mobile devices it is communicatively coupled with. the mobile device distributing the buffered at least a portion of the streaming content to the plurality of other mobile devices when the device that initiated the pause signal subsequently communicates a resume signal. the mobile device employing the appropriate parameter set in receiving or retrieving the streaming content from an external server. 15. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the mobile device simultaneously shares the streaming content with the plurality of other devices and pauses sharing with all of them based upon a first event, resumes sharing based on a second event, and terminates sharing based on a third event. 16. The mobile device of claim 12 wherein the mobile device tracks the sharing activity by collecting information regarding the content being shared locally with the plurality of other mobile devices, the timestamp of when the sharing occurred, a device details of the plurality of other devices that participate in sharing, and user details if available. the mobile device acting appropriately in response to the signals and managing the sharing of the first content. the mobile device continuing the sharing of the first content with the plurality of mobile devices. the mobile device communicating the reference to the plurality of mobile devices for substantially synchronized viewing with the plurality of mobile devices.

2019-04-25T06:42:53Z

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20120233644A1/en

Using a combination of mathematical modelling, statistical simulation and large-scale data analysis we study the properties of linear regulatory chains (LRCs) within gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Our modelling indicates that downstream genes embedded within LRCs are highly insulated from the variation in expression of upstream genes, and thus LRCs act as attenuators. This observation implies a progressively weaker functionality of LRCs as their length increases. When analysing the preponderance of LRCs in the GRNs of E. coli K12 and several other organisms, we find that very long LRCs are essentially absent. In both E. coli and M. tuberculosis we find that four-gene LRCs are intimately linked to identical feedback loops that are involved in potentially chaotic stress response, indicating that the dynamics of these potentially destabilising motifs are strongly restrained under homeostatic conditions. The same relationship is observed in a human cancer cell line (K562), and we postulate that four-gene LRCs act as “universal attenuators”. These findings suggest a role for long LRCs in dampening variation in gene expression, thereby protecting cell identity, and in controlling dramatic shifts in cell-wide gene expression through inhibiting chaos-generating motifs. In brief We present a general principle that linear regulatory chains exponentially attenuate the range of expression in gene regulatory networks. The discovery of a universal interplay between linear regulatory chains and genetic feedback loops in microorganisms and a human cancer cell line is analysed and discussed. Novel interactions between four-gene linear regulatory chains and feedback loops were discovered in E. coli, M. tuberculosis and human cancer cells, suggesting a universal mechanism of control. The behaviour of cells is controlled in large part by the coordinated activation and inhibition of thousands of genes. This coordination is achieved via a complex network of gene regulation that enables a cell to express the appropriate set of genes for a particular environment and/or phenotype. The primary mode of gene regulation is through a class of genes that encode proteins which bind to regulatory regions on the DNA. These transcription factors (TFs) activate or inhibit the expression of typically a large number of downstream target genes. Genome-wide studies of TF binding allow the construction of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that summarize the global structure of genetic interactions; each node represents a gene and an arrow between two nodes denotes the regulation of a target gene by a TF-coding gene (which we will describe for brevity as a TF unless there is potential for confusion). The dynamics of transcriptional regulation are still not fully understood . However, over relatively long time scales, transcriptional response is generally analogue, i.e. a stronger expression of a TF gene results in a higher nuclear concentration of the TF protein and thereby a stronger activation or inhibition of the target genes [2-6]. GRNs typically contain thousands of genes and are beyond simple intuitive interpretation and understanding. Therefore, computational and mathematical approaches must be employed to gain a better understanding of the structure and function of system-level genetic interaction. One widely used approach focuses on the study of small-scale network configurations, called motifs [4, 7], and on their functional pressures. This approach has been effective in uncovering the functionality of motifs often encountered across different networks, such as the feed-forward loop and the bi-fan. The combinatorial complexity of GRNs limits the applicability of this analysis to motifs comprising more than four nodes, and complimentary ways of analysing networks are important to better understand how larger-scale topology is associated with GRN function [4, 8, 9]. In this article, we use a methodology inspired by motif analysis to study the behaviour of a particular class of network configurations that we call linear regulatory chains (LRCs). Our approach exploits the theoretical power of mathematical and statistical analysis to determine the expected behaviour of LRCs and to derive predictions that we then test on biological datasets available in the literature to obtain a better understanding of the selection pressures acting on GRNs. For the purpose of our mathematical analysis, we define LRCs as linear chains of one-way regulation in which each node interacts with at most one node downstream and one node upstream. A given interaction can be either inhibitory or activating. Each LRC starts at the top layer (no transcriptional input) and ends at the bottom layer (no transcriptional output1) of the respective GRN. We relax this definition when studying real GRN datasets, and define LRCs as linear chains of genes which form a causal chain of transcriptional interaction, without placing restrictions on the number of connections to any given node. While our analysis is focussed here on transcriptional interactions, the generality of network modelling allows the application of our results to other contexts in molecular biology and beyond [5, 10, 11]. To investigate the effect of LRCs in gene expression we employed a minimal mathematical model of transcriptional regulation. The model describes a linear chain of regulation as portrayed in Figure 1A. For two adjacent genes in the chain, we assume that the rate of transcription of the target gene varies smoothly with the concentration of the TF of the corresponding upstream gene, according to a Hill-like function (see Materials and Methods). This function is characterised by four parameters and is able to describe both activation and inhibition (Figure 1B-C and Figure S. 1A). To minimize the complexity of our model, we assume that protein concentration can be used as a proxy for gene expression, i.e. that the rate of transcription and the protein concentration are proportional. We define the source TF as the TF at the top of the chain which is not itself under transcriptional regulation. Most of our analysis concerns the effective regulation by the source TF on downstream genes. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish the regulation of a downstream node due to its immediate upstream TF and the effective regulation of the same node due to the source TF. A useful feature of the Hill-like function that we use is its universality: if it describes each of the individual links in the chain (with Hill coefficient of unity), then the net regulation of a node due to the source TF can also be described by the very same function, thus providing a simplified description of the LRC. These three measures complement the Hill coefficient, which is commonly defined for transcriptional response and determines the degree of non-linearity, i.e. “sensitivity”, of the regulatory function . The precise sequence of inhibition and activation within an LRC dictates the net effect on a given target gene when the expression of the source TF is varied. For example, consider an LRC comprising only inhibitory interactions: after an even number of regulatory steps, the initial gene acts as an activator, while after an odd number it acts as an inhibitor (Figure 1D). On the other hand, when the LRC comprises only activating interactions, all downstream genes are effectively activated by the source TF. If the LRC is a mixture of activating and inhibiting interactions, the type of net regulation of a given gene depends on the number of upstream inhibitory links. Due to this dynamic diversity, we will focus primarily on LRCs comprising only inhibitory steps. The relevance of our analysis to more heterogeneous LRCs will be discussed as appropriate. Figure 1 Dynamics of long regulatory chains (LRC). (A) Schematic of a 5 gene LRC formed by inhibitory transcriptional regulations. (B) Net transcriptional activation. The figures summarize the salient features of transcriptional activation. The concentration of a target gene (y axis, arbitrary units) varies as a function of the concentration of an upstream transcriptional activator (x axis, arbitrary units). Three features used to summarize the dynamics of transcriptional response are highlighted: the effectiveness is reported by the orange line, the highest level of expression (HLE) is reported by the pink line, and the lowest level of expression (LLE) is reported by the green line. (C) Net transcriptional inhibition. The salient feature of a transcriptional inhibition is reported using the same conventions of panel B. (D) Net response in an LRC of transcriptional inhibitors. Responses of the genes in a LRC formed by transcriptional inhibitors are reported using conventions comparable to those of panels (B) and (C). Note i) how inhibition and activation alternate and ii) the changes in LLE (dotted blue line), HLE (dotted red line), and effectiveness (orange line). The behaviour of each step of transcriptional regulation is characterised by a potentially unique combination of biological factors that control how the concentration of the source TF affects the expression of the target TF. In our model, this behaviour is controlled by four independent parameters (See Supplementary Figure 1). Our parameterization allows for greater flexibility, but limits our ability to perform a full analytical analysis. Therefore, we decided to study the behaviour of LRCs by analysing the outcome of 10000 simulations constructed by randomly sampling all the necessary parameters and measuring LLE, HLE and RE as a function of the length of the chain (up to chain length of ten). The results of our analysis are summarized in Figure 2A-C. Figure 2 Properties of simulated LRCs and comparison with experimental data. (A) RE for LRCs of inhibitor. Mean RE across 10 000 simulations is reported, on a log scale, for LRCs of different lengths composed of transcriptional inhibitors (crosses). The dashed line indicates the linear regression on the points. Note the very good fit of the model with the data (adjusted R2 = 0.99). Values of REs are normalised so that RE(1)=1. Errors bars indicate the standard error. “d” indicates the strength of exponential decrease (See Materials and Methods). In this and the following panels LRC lengths are associated with different colours. (B) LLE for LRCs of inhibitors. Mean LLE across 10 000 simulations is reported, on a log scale, for LRCs of different lengths composed of transcriptional inhibitors. Note the steady increase. Errors bars indicate the standard error. (C) HLE for LRCs of inhibitors. Mean LLE across 10 000 simulations is reported for LRCs of different length composed of transcriptional inhibitors. Note the steady decrease. Errors bars indicate the standard errors. (D). RE computed from the synthetic biology experiments of Hooshangi et al. 2005. The y-axis reports, on a log scale, RE. Note the good fit with an exponential decrease as predicted by the mathematical model (dashed line) with a value of “d” compatible with expectations. (E) LLE for the biological experiments referenced in the description of panel D. The y-axis reports, on a log scale, the number of proteins per cell (R.P.P.C.). Note the steady increase as predicted by the mathematical model (Panel B). (F) HLE for the biological experiments referenced in the description of panel D. Note the steady decrease as predicted by the mathematical model (Panel C). (G) Average response function for the inhibitory regulation of LRCs. The average transcriptional response is reported for LRCs composed of an odd number of inhibitors, which results in a net inhibition. Note the decreasing Effectiveness, the increasing LLE, and the decreasing HLE as more regulatory steps separate the TF from the source gene. (H). Average response function for the activating regulations of LRCs. The average transcriptional response is reported for LRCs composed of an even number of inhibitors, which results in a net activation. Note the decreasing Effectiveness, the increasing LLE, and the decreasing HLE as more regulatory steps separate the TF from the source gene. Our simulations show quite convincingly that the average RE decreases exponentially, since log(REn) decreases linearly with increasing n (Figure 2A). This result is robust to variation in the parameter space (Figure S. 2A-F), statistically highly significant (p-value < 10−6) and supported by a strong goodness of fit (adjusted R2 > 0.9). Additionally, our simulations show that the average LLE increases (Figure 2B) and the average HLE decreases (Figure 2C) with increasing n. The rate of change in LLE and HLE is less dramatic than the change in RE and more sensitive to parameter choices. Using a synthetic biology approach, Hooshangi et al. constructed a genetic circuit comprising a linear chain of four transcriptional inhibitors . This circuit was formed by E. coli genes and was inserted into live bacteria. Therefore, their data are ideal to test the predictions of our model. On deriving the value of RE from their published data we find an exponential decrease as predicted by our simulations (Figure 2D). Moreoever, on deriving LLE and HLE we find a clear increase in LLE and decrease in HLE consistent with the results of our simulation (Figures 2E and 2F). This comparison with experimental results supports the predictions of our simulations and indicates that the signal conveyed by the LRC (i.e. the effect of variation of an upstream TF on a downstream gene) gets exponentially weaker as the length of the chain increases. To better understand if this effect was limited to a chain of inhibitors, we extended our analysis to LRCs formed only by activators and to LRCs formed by a mixture of activators and inhibitors. These simulations show that our conclusions on the behaviour of RE, LLE and HLE are robust to the type of chain considered (Figure S. 1B-C). These results indicate that in an LRC the response of a gene to the variation in the concentration of an upstream TF becomes exponentially weaker as the number of links separating them increases, and thus a long LRC acts as an attenuator of upstream variation. The steady increase in LLE indicates that even though each inhibitory link of a LRC may be capable of perfect inhibtion, the net inhibition of a downstream gene becomes increasingly “leaky”. Similar considerations suggest that activated genes downstream of a long LRC are only able to achieve an imperfect activation. These observations are supported by the behaviour of the average response function for inhibiting and activating chains (Figures 2 G-H). This average behaviour is, however, not always observed: in a small percentage of cases (<0.5%) RE remain stable or even increase. This indicates that examples with non-decreasing RE are possible as long as the factor controlling transcriptional regulation are constrained to specific values that remains shielded from molecular noise. The results reported in the previous section support the idea that LRCs more than a few genes in length act as very strong attenuators of variation. LRCs beyond a few steps in length should be rare in real organisms since the attenuation saturates exponentially as a function of the number of links in the LRC (i.e. increasingly long chains act as increasingly imperfect regulators and exhibit increasingly lower relative effectiveness). To test this hypothesis we constructed various GRNs from the literature and computed the number of LRCs of different length. The E. coli GRN, obtainable from the RegulonDB database , is one of the most validated in the literature. Our analysis on this GRN indicates that LRCs are preferentially short and that chains with more than six genes are very uncommon (Figure 3A and Table 2). The lack of long LRCs is particularly evident when the real GRN is compared to both random (Figure 3A) and randomised (Figure S.4) networks. A consequence of our current analysis is that transcriptional regulation in LRCs is more functional for nodes closer to the source gene. Therefore, evolutionary arguments would suggest that genes deeper in the chain require additional regulatory inputs in order to exhibit functional variation of expression. To test this hypothesis, we looked at the 52 longest LRCs of E. coli, which comprise six TFs and one non-TF gene. In all of these LRCs, transcriptional regulation from TFs outside of the LRCs is present, indicating that off-chain regulation is a common, perhaps even required, feature. If we divide the genes of these LRCs into two classes depending on their distance for the source gene, a pattern emerges. The TFs constituting the upper half of the LRCs, i.e. from the second to the fourth position, are regulated on average by only a limited number of TFs, whereas the average number of regulating TFs increases significantly from the fifth position onward (Figure 3B, p-value < 2×10−16), consistent with our hypothesis. The relatively small number (56) of long LRCs allows us to analyse their individual structures and functionalities. These LRCs can be grouped into three categories depending on the genes contained. The first category contains the MarRAB operon , the second category contains the Gadx-GadW regulon and the third category contains the RcnR-RcnA genes . As reported in Table S1, the vast majority of the TFs forming these LRCs are involved in stress and antibiotic response, suggesting that such functionalities may require the tightly controlled dynamics provided by a long LRC. The MarRAB operon and Gadx-GadW regulon form peculiar three-gene feedback loops which, due to its high level of connectivity, is quite unlikely to emergence by chance. This configuration, which we call a “chaotic motif” (Figure S. 3A), has the potential to generate highly variable gene expression profiles [9, 17]. The chaotic dynamics allow GRNs with small differences at the level of gene expression to diverge rapidly over time. Therefore we previously proposed that the chaotic motifs identified in E. coli could be used to promote differences in the gene expression profile across different bacteria thus generating extensive phenotypic heterogeneity in a population and promoting the emergence of antibiotic-resistant cells . In figure 3C the genes forming the only two chaotic motifs observed in E. coli are reported in red and all of the TFs that regulate them, either directly or indirectly, are reported in blue, violet and green. While potentially beneficial under stress conditions, a chaotic response is presumably detrimental in a stable environment. Therefore, we expect that the chaotic motifs will be tightly controlled under normal conditions. As suggested by our analysis, long LRCs could be ideal candidates to provide such tight control. Indeed, we find that both chaotic motifs are intertwined downstream with one or more of the longest LRCs of E. coli (Figure 3C). Statistical analysis indicates that the probability of these motifs being embedded into such long LRCs by chance is very small (p-value = 0.004). Figure 3 Interplay of LRCs and feedback loops in E. coli K12. (A) Distribution of the length of LRCs in E. coli K12. The number of LRCs of different lengths is reported. Note how most LRCs are formed by 5 or less genes. Length distribution of the real network is in blue and those for average random networks are in red. (B) Degree of regulation in the longest LRCs. The two box plots report the distribution of the number of transcriptional inputs of the genes in the upper half (2nd to 4th) and lower half (5th to 7th) of the longest transcriptional cascades in E. coli. The top genes of the chains are unregulated by construction and were not included. Note the highly statistically significant difference. (C) Chaotic motifs in E. coli and their upstream regulation. The network reports the two chaotic motifs found in E. coli with all the genes involved in their regulation either directly or indirectly. The genes forming the chaotic motifs are highlighted in red. The genes that control only the Marr-Mara-Rob motif are highlighted in blue, the genes that control only the Gadw-Gadx-Gade motif are highlighted in green, while the genes that regulate both are highlighted in violet. Note how the longest LRC upstream of the chaotic motifs is the shared one (violet genes). (D) Mean position across all LRCs (MPAL) of genes involved in chaotic motifs versus other genes. The box plots report the distribution of MPAL for each gene involved in the formation of the chaotic motifs (Chaotic) and for the other genes (Stable). Note how the MPALs of chaotic genes are significantly larger than the MPAL of stable genes, indicating that chaotic motif genes are encountered more frequently than average in long LRCs. (E) Interplay of the longest LRCs and of one of the chaotic motifs of E.coli. The Marr and Mara genes found in a chaotic motif (red arrows) are part of two of the longest LRCs in E. coli: Ihf-Fis-Crp-Mara-Rob-Marr and Ihf-Fis-Crp-Marr-Rob-Mara (thick violet and red arrows). Note that the motif is controlled by a 3-gene upstream LRC (Ihf, Fis and Crp) when marbox is not active (in violet), while it is regulated by a 2-gene LRC (Ihf and Fis) when marbox is active (see the orange arrows). A similar behaviour can be identified for the other chaotic motif. (F) Dynamics of one of the chaotic motifs of E.coli. A cartoon of the transcriptional regulation of the marRAB operon is plotted as derived from [2-7]. Note that Fis only activates the marRAB operon when marbox is already activated. To further test this idea we compute the “embeddedness” of different genes into LRCs of different length. More precisely, for each gene, we computed the “mean position across all LRCs” (MPAL), which is the mean length over all the LRCs that contain that gene. Genes that are more often found in long LRCs will have a larger MPAL. Consistent with our expectation, the genes involved in chaotic motifs have a significantly larger MPAL than the other genes of the E. coli GRN (Figure 3D, p-value < 0.004). These results support the idea that LRC dynamics is exploited by cells to control the activation of chaotic motifs. To explore the molecular mechanisms underpinning this theoretical prediction, we analysed the biology of the MarRAB operon due to the availability of extensive information on its genetics as a consequence of its key importance in antibiotic resistance . The behaviour of MarRAB depends on the activity of the marbox enhancer DNA sequence. Experimental results indicate that Fis acts as a promoter of MarRAB only when marbox is activated by MarA, SoxS or Rob . Moreover, when MarA, SoxS or Rob is absent, Fis reduces the activity of MarRAB . Therefore, our theory indicates that when marbox is not active, the transcriptional activity of both MarA and MarR is tightly controlled due to the presence of a long LRC and that the potential chaotic behaviour of the motif is restricted (Figure 3E, violet arrows). Upon activation of marbox by an environmental signal – such as superoxide stress transduced through SoxS [19-21] – Fis activates the MarRAB operon and the LRC becomes shorter (Figures 3E, yellow arrows; Figure 3F). This allows larger variations for MarA and MarB potentially unleashing chaotic dynamics. Comparable dynamics is observable in the other chaotic motif, which includes the genes GadX, GadE, and GadW. Fis has been reported to inhibit expression of Gadx in the late stages of exponential growth, when a dramatic shift in gene regulation can be observed with respect to earlier stages . Interestingly, the late stages of exponential growth are commonly associated with stress and the GRN of E. coli suggests that during this stage Gadx is regulated by a two-gene LRC, which is formed by Ihf and Fis, instead of the three-gene LRC which is active in the previous stages (formed by Ihf, Fis and Crp). To the best of our knowledge, the exact molecular mechanism underlying this switch has not yet been elucidated. However, our analysis provides new ways to approach the investigation of this problem . The E. coli GRN is one of the most experimentally validated available in the literature and extensive analysis is possible. Other less well-characterised GRNs are available for M. tuberculosis and S. cerevisiae, allowing an admittedly more limited exploration. As our theory will be very sensitive to false positives, the outcome of our analysis for these organisms is potentially less robust. Figure 4. Interplay of LRCs and feedback loops in M. tuberculosis and S. cerevisiae. (A) Distribution of the length of LRCs in M. tuberculosis. The number of LRCs of different lengths is reported. Note how most LRCs are formed by 7 or less genes. Length distribution of the real network is in blue and those for average random networks are in red. (B) Degree of regulation in the longest LRCs of M. tuberculosis. The two box plots report the distribution of the number of transcriptional inputs of the genes in the upper half (2nd to 4th) and lower half (5th to 7th) of the longest transcriptional cascades in M. tuberculosis. The top genes of the chains are unregulated by construction and were not included. Note the highly statistically significant difference. (C) Chaotic motifs in M. tuberculosis and their upstream regulation. The network reports the two chaotic motifs found in M. tuberculosis with all the genes involved in their regulation either directly or indirectly. The genes forming the chaotic motifs are highlighted in red, while the genes that regulate them are highlighted in purple. Note how the LRC upstream of the chaotic motifs is the composed by three genes as in E. coli. (D) Mean position across all LRCs (MPAL) of genes involved in the chaotic motif versus the other genes in M. tuberculosis. The box plots report the distribution of MPAL for each gene involved in the formation of the chaotic motifs (Chaotic) and for the other genes (Stable). In agreement with expectation, chaotic motif genes show significantly higher MPAL compared with others. (E) Distribution the length of LRCs in S. cerevisiae. The number of LRCs of different lengths is reported. Note how most LRCs are formed by 8 or less genes. (F). Degree of regulation in the longest LRCs in S. cerevisiae. The two box plots report the distribution of the number of transcriptional inputs of the genes in the upper half (7th to 11th) and lower half (2nd to 6th) of the longest transcriptional cascades in S. cerevisiae. The top genes of the chains are unregulated by construction and were not included. Note the highly statistically significant difference. The experimental work of Harbison et al. provides one of the most reliable sources for transcriptional interactions in yeast [9, 23] and we reconstructed the GRN of S. cerevisiae from their data. However, it must be noted that other datasets exist with different properties [24, 25], thus indicating the difficulty associated with the experimental derivation of the GRN for this organism and suggesting a perceivable level of noise even in the data that we used. LRCs of moderate length are present in this organism (Figure 4E). Nonetheless, they are shorter than expected from random networks. Moreover, compatible with our expectations, the number of transcriptional regulators is higher for genes deeper in the longest LRCs (Figure 4F). No chaotic motifs are observed in this GRN. The work of the ENCODE consortium allowed the derivation of a partial GRN for two human cell lines: GM12878 and K562. The GRN of the human non-cancer cell line GM12878 behaves as expected from our theory: LRCs are preferentially short and the longest transcriptional chains consist of only four TFs and one non-TF gene (Figure 5A and C). Moreover, LRCs are shorter than expected from random networks and the number of transcriptional regulators is higher for genes deeper in the longest LRCs (Figure 5C). Compatible with the idea of a relatively stable phenotype of normal cells, no potentially chaotic motifs can be identified in this cell line. Figure 5 Interplay of LRCs and feedback loops in human cell lines. (A,B,C) Distribution of the length of LRCs in the two human cell lines GM12878 (non-cancer) and K562 (leukaemia). Despite there being a comparable number of TFs and comparable link density in the two human cells lines, the GRN of the human leukaemia cell line K562 displays remarkably different properties: very long LRCs can be found, although longer LRCs would be expected from random networks (Figure 5 B, C and E), and potentially chaotic motifs consisting interlinked feedback loops are common [9, 17] (Figure 5F and Figure 6 A and B). The longest LRCs are composed of 14 TFs and one non-TF gene (Figure 5 B and C, and Figure 6 A). Interestingly, the “tail” of the longest LRCs contains several genes that are often dysregulated in cancer: EGR1 [26, 27] , IRF3 , POLR3A , and IRF1 [31, 32]. All but one gene (GTF2F1) involved in the formation of potentially unstable long feedback loops are embedded into the longest LRCs found (Figure 6A). The probability of observing this embedding by chance is small (p-value < 10−2) and all the TFs involved in the formation of potentially chaotic feedback loops display a large MPAL (Figure 5F). The longest LRCs have a peculiar structure. Two four-gene LRCs control the complex set of feedback loops. Remarkably, a single four-gene LRC, composed by EGR1, IRF1, POLR3A and IRF1, can be found in the tail of the longest LRCs (Figure 6A), emanating from the feedback loops. Our theoretical analysis suggests that the dynamics of the final gene of this chain (IRF1) is highly constrained, and biological experimentation indicates that IRF1 is a tumour suppressor gene relevant to a number of cancers including leukaemia [32-34]. Our theoretical interpretation is that the dynamics of LRCs is exploited by cancer cells to inhibit the proper activity of this gene. Figure 6 Chaotic motifs in cancer cells (K562) and their upstream regulations (A) Interplay of the longest LRCs and chaotic motifs in cancer. The network formed by all the TFs implicated in the longest LRCs of the cancer cell line K562 is reported. Note how the longest chains (thick arrows) are entangled with the feedback loops. Two 3-gene LRCs can be observed upstream of the feedback loops and one 3-gene LRC can be observed downstream (blue arrows). The presence of the 3-gene LRCs upstream of potentially chaotic motifs is consistent with our findings in E. coli and M. tuberculosis. Also note how IRF1, a gene which is a key regulator of growth of leukaemia and other cancer cells [8-10], is found Sdownstream of the long feedback loops. (B) Chaotic motifs in K562 and their upstream regulation. The network reports the genes involved in the formation of the chaotic motifs of K562 (red) with all the genes involved in their regulation either directly or indirectly (violet). Note how the chaotic motifs sit at the bottom of multiple LRCs. (C) A cartoon demonstration of proposed functional interaction between long linear regulatory chains (LRCs) and chaotic motif. In gene regulatory networks, upstream long LRC restricts transcriptional dynamics of chaotic motif, which has the potential to produce diverse transcriptional profiles under similar biological conditions. This restriction can be walked around via alternative regulatory path in certain organism such as E. coli upon activation. In addition, Long LRC can be used to insulate important downstream gene from the dynamics of chaotic motifs. Note that a group of genes with a high MPAL can be identified in the Stable group. These genes are therefore likely to be encountered in relatively long LRCs, and hence conceivably have very limited RE. Notably, all of these genes have been shown to have an important role in the survival of leukaemia cells (NFE2, POLR3A, JunD , Myc, GATA2, NR4A1, IRF3, IRF1[32-34]) suggesting that cancer cells may be dynamically controlling the variation of these genes. Potential biases introduced by under sampling and errors in the human GRNs limit the power of a direct mathematical approach. However, the strong diversity observed in different topological features of the non-cancer and cancer cell lines is an indication of a profound difference in their transcriptional programs. Therefore, a direct comparison between the GRNs of the two cell lines can be very informative in highlighting differences that may then be used to develop new therapies . Theoretical and experimental efforts have provided strong evidence that variability in gene expression plays a significant role in controlling cellular phenotypes in development , health and disease [44, 45]. While the transcriptional mechanisms responsible for controlling this variability continue to be an active area of research , the potential system-level interactions are less well explored, and network analysis of GRNs is a powerful approach to fill this gap. GRNs provide a description of the coordination of gene expression at a systems level and can therefore be used to explore the potential role of topological features that control the variability of genes expression. Our mathematical model suggests that long LRCs “pin down” the expression of downstream genes, limiting their ability to vary in response to environmental or intracellular cues affecting the gene at the top of the chain. In fact, the variation is predicted to decay exponentially along the chain. This conclusion is supported by data derived from synthetic biology experiments on E. coli . A direct consequence of our model is that long LRCs are ineffective in transmitting variation in gene expression beyond a few transcriptional steps. Therefore, over evolutionary time, one might argue that long LRCs yield inefficient information transmission and will have been negatively selected, resulting in relatively small numbers of long LRCs in GRNs. This prediction is supported by an analysis of the GRNs of different organisms, ranging from bacteria (E. coli and M. tuberculosis), to yeast and human. It has been observed that the sensitivity of gene regulation becomes higher as LRCs get longer and a “switch-like” behaviour is observed; this can be interpreted as the result of an increasingly larger effective Hill-coefficient . Whilst our findings do not contradict this, we present an additional observation that the terminal gene of a long LRC will display only a limited range of variation in response to changes in the concentration of the source gene. Beyond a length of approximately four links, due to the exponential decay, the range of variation is very small and likely to be comparable in magnitute to the fluctuations in gene expression due to intrinsic molecular noise. In addition, our modelling indicates that the effectiveness of regulation is compromised by the LRC topology itself. For example, a linear chain of an odd number of perfect inhibitors will have a net effect of imperfect inhibition, and the degree of imperfection will increase with the length of the chain. Taken together, these observations imply a tradeoff between the sharpness and the effectiveness of net regulation through a LRC, which depends on the specific parameters that characterize the interactions, but nonetheless strongly suggest that very long LRCs are of limited utility in GRNs, and hence negatively selected through evolution. Our model also suggests that the average behaviour of LRCs can be prevented by constraining the biological parameters associated with transcription to very specific values. This suggests that, under specific circumstances, biological processes may be in place to prevent the emergence of such average behaviour in LRC. The precise regulation of the parameters required also suggests that molecular insults are very likely to push LRCs towards the average expectation, potentially changing the behaviour of cells. Under normal conditions, cells must be able to filter the fluctuations of protein concentration, which are due to molecular noise. To this end, they need to display a stable response. A consequence of this type of response is the limitation of the heterogeneity of a population of cells, as each cell exposed to similar stimuli will react in a comparable way. Therefore, the very same stable behaviour that helps cells withstand a noisy environment can be detrimental under stress condition, such as an antibiotic treatment, as in this circumstance heterogeneity is helpful in allowing the emergence of resistant subpopulations of cells. Therefore, it has been suggested that network motifs in the GRNs of bacteria can be activated only when the cell is exposed to stress [19-21]. Ideally, these motifs should have the potential to produce chaos. Chaos theory is a well-known mathematical theory that studies the behaviour of systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions — a paradigm popularized by the so-called “butterfly effect”. In a chaotic system, small differences in initial conditions can yield widely diverging states after a relatively short time [47, 48]. Theoretical studies indicate that certain network motifs have the potential to produce a chaotic response and recent experimental work has shown complex oscillations and, loosely speaking, chaotic dynamics of certain GRN motifs both in cell-free system and in vivo . Since a chaotic response is able to generate wildly different values by starting from very similar initial conditions, it has been suggested that chaos can act as a “heterogeneity engine” that allows a population of cells to quickly explore a large number of phenotypes . Such phenotypic heterogeneity is likely to play a crucial role in allowing the emergence of resistant clones which will help a population to overcome challenging conditions such as environmental stress and antibiotic treatments [50, 51]. As discussed above, minimal chaotic motifs can be identified in the GRNs of E. coli and M. tuberculosis. Moreover, more complex and somewhat more disorganized chaotic motifs can be found in cancer. This suggests a strong parallelism between the systemic processes that allow bacteria and cancer to generate heterogeneity and ultimately to overcome the ability of the immune systems to properly fight infections and cancer. A limited number of long LRCs can be observed in the GRNs analysed. This suggests that such configurations may be important to limit the gene expression level of few selected genes. Remarkably, we found that in both E. coli and M. tuberculosis, long LRCs are associated with genes activated during stress and antibiotic response. The expression of stress response genes is associated with an increased metabolic cost, which generally results in a reduced growth rate [52-54]. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect a tight control of these genes to prevent a dampening of the fitness of a population. Indeed, such tight control is embodied in the dynamics of LRCs. Additionally, the transcriptional control exerted by LRCs on genes downstream in the chain can help reduce noise arising from stochastic gene expression and fluctuations in the cellular environment [55-58]. The entanglement of long LRCs with potentially chaotic motifs in E. coli and M. tuberculosis suggests that the dynamics of long LRCs may allow these organisms to directly influence phenotypic variability and hence population-level heterogeneity by allowing a chaotic response only when needed. This finding is supported by the biology of both the MarRAB operon and the GadW, GadX, and GadE genes in E. coli and suggests new ways to bolster the effectiveness of drug treatments by targeting the mechanisms that lead to the emergence of resistant clones in bacterial populations. In all the GRNs that we analysed, the chaotic motifs are observed after LRCs composed of exactly four genes. This is in remarkable agreement with our theoretical observation that the genetic variation is tightly restrained from the fourth gene onward, and leads us to propose that four-gene LRCs act as “universal attenuators”. Long LRCs and potential chaotic motifs are entangled in such a way to support both strong variations in the expression of certain genes, i.e. those within long feedback loops, such as EGR1 (a regulator of multiple tumour suppressor genes ) and a very limited variation in the expression of others, i.e. those residing at the end of LRCs, such as IRF1 (an essential regulator of growth of leukaemia and other cancer cell types [31-33]). Indeed, four-gene LRCs operate at both the “input” and “output” of non-linear feedback loops in the K562 GRN. The combined action of these competing dynamics may be able to generate heterogeneity while limiting the necessary variation in gene expression associated with tumour suppression. Our findings may provide a mechanistic basis for “oncogene addiction” [60, 61]. The term is used to indicate that some tumours depend on the constitutive activation of a single oncogene for sustaining growth and proliferation and that transient inactivation of that particular oncogene may be enough to promote differentiation or apoptosis of cancer cells . Universal attenuators may drive the constitutive activation of a gene, and thus targeting of LRCs could be a novel strategy for cancer cell killing. We have previously shown that mathematical modelling can be used to explore the topological features associated with robustness in GRNs. In particular, the theory of Buffered Qualitative Stability (BQS) postulates that long causal chains of genes, irrespective of the in-degree of the gene at the top of the chains, should be limited in number due to their evolutionary susceptibility to seeding long feedback loops, which can create instability. Taken together with our current result, this indicates that long causal chains of TFs are dangerous and with limited functionalities, thus suggesting that healthy cells should have very limited instances of such configurations. This is indeed observed in real data. Further connections emerge when potential sources of instability (chaotic motifs) are contextualised with respect to LRCs. When chaotic motifs are identified in a GRN, they are entangled downstream of long LRCs. Moreover, and quite unexpectedly, an LRC comprising exactly four genes (and therefore three transcriptional interactions) can be found upstream of all the chaotic motifs. This strongly suggests that four-gene LRC provides a general mechanism in GRNs to ‘pin down’ or insulate the genes involved in the generation of a chaotic response, hence allowing a topological control of heterogeneity. We have presented a set of results arising from theoretical modelling, statistical simulations and data analysis, all focused on the role of two different topologies in GRNs, namely, long linear regulatory chains (LRCs) and chaotic motifs. Our modelling work indicates that LRCs have a key role in reducing variation in gene expression, while chaotic motifs can act in the opposite manner and generate strong variation through chaotic dynamics. LRCs are highly effective at shutting down variation, and hence there is no additional benefit for a GRN to have very long chains, a result which is consistent with the GRNs analysed. Chaotic motifs, in being able to generate variation so rapidly, would presumably be inactivated in the steady state of a cell’s life cycle, and indeed we find in bacteria and a human non-cancer cell line that such motifs, when present, always sit at the end of relatively long LRCs, implying that they are strongly suppressed. The GRN of a human cancer cell line exhibits a much richer interplay between LRCs and chaotic motifs, and we postulate this may allow a given cancer cell to drive strong variation in certain genes and inhibit expression of tumour suppression genes, thereby allowing optimal conditions for growth and survival in the challenging environment of host tissue. Due to the ubiquity in the GRNs studied of four-gene LRCs, we postulate these modules as “universal attenuators”, with a key role of controlling potentially chaotic feedback loops. Our work provides evidence that one can exploit knowledge of the topology of GRNs to exert a direct control on the variability of genes, even if a precise characterization of the parameters that control gene regulation is unavailable. Given the qualitative differences between the GRN topologies of normal and cancer cells , this may provide a way to design new targeted therapies that selectively affect gene expression variability only in cancer cells. In this equation, x is the concentration of the transcriptional regulator directly upstream of the gene under consideration. The parameters of the equation characterize the mode and intensity of the interaction: a models the concentration of y when x is not present, /3 models the concentration of y when x is highly expressed, h is the Hill coefficient which describes the “cooperativity” of transcriptional regulation, and s is a quantity associated with the shape of the interaction function. When β>α, the equation describes a transcriptional activator and when β<α, it describes a transcriptional inhibitor (Figure S.1A and Figure S. 1 D-G). The interaction term described by Eqn. 1 was used to model the response of the terminal gene of a LRC with a different number of genes when the concentration of the gene at the top of the LRC is varied between zero and infinity. To this end, we introduced three measures relative to the response function of the terminal gene: “Relative Effectiveness” (RE), “Lowest Level of Expression” (LLE), and “Highest Level of Expression” (HLE). These quantities are described in the main text and in Table 1. The RE, LLE and HLE of 10000 simulated LRCs with 2 to 10 genes were computed. Both concentration and parameter values were measured in arbitrary units. For each gene of the LRC, the parameters that control the interactions were randomly generated using a uniform sampling. The parameters α, β were sampled between 0 and 1000 to indicate up to a 1000-fold activation or inhibition, h was sampled between 1 and 10 to account for polymeric regulation of up to 10 transctiption factors and s was sampled between 0 and 10 to account for different activation thresholds. For all the sampling ranges, the boundaries were excluded. Simulations and statistical analyses were performed in R version 3.2.2. To assess the sensitivity of our results to different parameters values, we performed an exhaustive computational analysis to explore the outcome of our analysis when different ranges for the parameter were used (Figure S. 2). This analysis supports the robustness of our conclusions. We used a linear regression on the log-transformed data and computed the p-value for the estimation of the slope and the adjusted R2 for the liner model. A p-value close to zero indicates that the slope is significantly different from zero and therefore that a clear exponential decay was present in the non-log-transformed data. An adjusted R2 close to 1 indicate that the lineal model describes the data very well. Therefore, the values reported in the main text support the existence of a strong exponential trend. GRNs described in the main text were derived with the same procedures and parameters described in a previous work . In particular, the E. coli GNR was obtained from RegulonDB version 8 by considering only interactions supported by at least two evidence codes, the M. tuberculosis GRN was obtained from literature by considering all interactions, the yeast GRN was constructed from literature by considering interactions obtained under rich media growth supported by a p-value lower than 10−3, the human non-cancer and cancer cell GRNs were constructed from the proximal filtered network derived from the ENCODE data for the GM12878 and K562 cell lines respectively. See our previous work for a discussion on the rationale behind these choices. The number of LRCs can be very high in complex networks with a high edge density. Therefore, we decided to develop a probabilistic algorithm to sample from the complete set of LRCs. Specifically, an LRC was grown from a starting node S selected with a probability proportional to its total degree. Starting from S a biased random walk was performed by randomly selecting an upstream node (with a probability proportional to its in-degree) or a downstream node (with a probability proportional to its out-degree). Nodes already present in the LRC were excluded from further sampling. This growing procedure was repeated until no upstream or downstream nodes were available. 10000 LRC samples were considered for each network and duplicates were removed from the count. The procedure described along with all the other operations on the networks were implemented using R version 3.2.2 and the “igraph” package version 1.0.1 . The code is available as a supplementary file. To perform the statistical analysis of the embeddedness of chaotic motifs with the aim of assessing the probability of interaction of the chaotic motifs with the longest LRCs of the network we employed a simple statistical model that could avoid many of the mathematical and computational complications arising from the comparison of real networks with a randomised null model. In particular, we focused on the behaviour of the TF directly upstream of the chaotic motifs, which will be referred as U. In all of the GRNs considered in this article, this U is the third gene of the longest LRCs. U regulates n other TFs. Of these, ncare chaotic TFs, i.e. TFs that take part in the formation of chaotic motifs, and ns =n - nc are stable TFs, i.e. TFs that do not take part in the formation of chaotic motifs. Due to the way in which GRNs have been constructed, U cannot regulate itself. Moreover, due to the structure of LRCs U cannot regulate the two TFs upstream in the longest LRCs. It is important to stress that these two upstream TFs are not chaotic. Therefore, if a GRN contains NTF TFs, U could in principle regulate up to NTF -3 TFs. The NTF genes can be further divided into NC chaotic TFs and NS = NTF - NC stable TFs. Using a hypergeometric distribution, it is possible to compute the probability that when n TFs are selected from a set of containing NC chaotic genes and NS -3 = NTF - Nc -3 stable genes at least nc chaotic genes are selected. This probability represents the p-value included in the main text. A random network associated with a GRN formed by g genes, n TFs and e edges was obtained by randomly placing e edges on an empty network with g nodes, in such a way that the source of each edge was randomly selected from a fixed set of n nodes. The randomised (rewired) GRNs were derived from original GRNs of the corresponding organisms using the “rewire.edge” function of the igraph package version 1.0.1 in R version 3.24. The number of rewiring iterations for each GRNs was set to ten times the number of edges in the network. 100 randomised GRNs were generated for each organism or cell type. The values of RE, HLE and LLE along the linear transcriptional chains in the bacterium E. coli K12 were obtained from the experiments conducted by Hooshangi et al. 2005 . Gene and transcription regulation data for E. coli K12 were obtained from RegulonDB with the same procedures and parameters described before . Data on the functions of genes in E. coli K12 were obtained from the referenced literature and the EcoCyc web resource [66, 67]. The GRN for M. tuberculosis, S. cerevisiae and human were derived from experimental data [23, 63, 64] using the same procedures and parameters described before . DL drafted the manuscript, provided original concepts, designed the computational experiments, designed and implemented the simulations and performed the statistical analysis. LA drafted the manuscript, provided original concepts, designed and implemented the computational experiments and performed the statistical analysis. TN drafted the manuscript, provided original concepts and performed analytic calculations. The authors thank Md. Al Mamun and Julian Blow for helpful comments throughout the project. DL acknowledges support from the Wellcome Trust PhD programme. LA and TJN acknowledge partial support from the Scottish University Life Science Alliance. The authors also acknowledge High Performance Computer resources partially supported by the Wellcome Trust (Centre Grant 083524). 1 Transcription factors that are only regulated by feedback loops are also considered at top layer. In the GRNs analysed in this study, there are very few transcription factors in this category. Coulon, A., et al., Eukaryotic transcriptional dynamics: from single molecules to cell populations. Nature Reviews Genetics, 2013. 14(8): p. 572–584. Barzel, B. and A.L. 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2019-04-19T00:57:28Z

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/074716v1.full

1 These Explanatory Notes relate to the Lords Amendments to the Digital Economy Bill as brought from the House of Lords on 5 April 2017. 2 These Explanatory Notes have been prepared by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in order to assist the reader of the Bill and the Lords amendments, and to help inform debate on the Lords amendments. They do not form part of the Bill and have not been endorsed by Parliament. 3 These Explanatory Notes, like the Lords amendments themselves, refer to HL Bill 80 the Bill as first printed for the Lords. 5 Lords Amendments 3 to 39, 41 to 44, 46 to 214, 216 to 236, 243 to 245, and 247 to 289 were tabled in the name of the Minister. 6 Lords Amendments 1 and 2 were tabled by Lord Mendelsohn, 40 and 45 by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, 237, 238 and 239 by Lord Best, 242 by Lord Wood of Anfield, and 246 by Lord Moynihan, and were opposed by the Government. 7 Lords Amendment 215 was tabled by Lord Hunt of Wirral, Lords Amendments 240 and 256 were tabled by Baroness Benjamin, and Lords Amendment 241 was tabled by Lord Borwick. These Lords Amendments were supported by the Government. 9 Lords Amendment 1 would require the universal service order to specify, as soon as reasonably possible, that by 2020 a broadband connection with download speeds of 30 Mbps, upload speeds of 6 Mbps, fast response times, committed information rates of 10 Mbps and an unlimited usage cap must be available to every household in the UK. 10 It would also require the USO to specify that "the target for broadband connections and services to be provided before 2020 must have (a) speeds of 2 gigabits or more; fibre to the premises (FTTP) as a minimum standard; (c) appropriate measures to ensure that internet speed levels are not affected by high contention ratios; and (d) appropriate measures to ensure service providers run low latency networks". 11 In addition, the amendment would place a duty on "internet service providers" to ensure that their networks offer the standard set out in the target to "every household in areas of low population density, before deploying their network in urban areas". 12 The amendment would also require the Secretary of State to ensure that the roll out of the broadband universal service obligation prioritises SME’s premises and is delivered on a "fair and competitive basis". 13 Lastly, the amendment would require the universal service order to provide that "mobile network coverage must be provided to the whole of the United Kingdom". 14 Lords Amendment 2 would require mobile service providers to offer customers entering into a mobile phone contract the option of placing a limit on their monthly bill. Providers would also have to allow their customers to switch in accordance with rules set by Ofcom and those rules would follow the principles about switching set out in the amendment. 15 Lords Amendment 3 would remove clause 9 from the Bill. This is consequence of Lords Amendment 245, described below, which provides the Secretary of State with a wider power making clause 9 redundant. 16 These amendments would improve the clarity of drafting. Lords Amendment 4 clarifies the wording of clause 15(1). Lords Amendments 21 and 30 are amendments to clarify wording. 17 Lords Amendments 6 and 9 would provide for the Secretary of State to make regulations specifying the circumstances in which pornographic material is or is not to be regarded as made available on a commercial basis. Lords Amendment 5 would remove clause 15(2) as this will be dealt with in the regulations. 18 Lords Amendment 8 would remove ‘a means of accessing the internet does not include any device or other equipment for doing so’ but this text would be re-inserted by Lords Amendment 25. This is consequential on Lords Amendment 5 which removed clause 15(2); as a result, the phrase 'a means of accessing the internet' no longer appears in clause 15, but it is used in clause 22 and so Lords Amendment 25 would insert the definition into that clause. 19 Lords Amendment 12 would clarify that different persons may be designated for the purposes of different functions of the age-verification regulator. Lords Amendment 15 would provide that an affirmative Parliamentary procedure will apply for the first designation of a regulator in relation to any regulatory function. Lords Amendment 16 is consequential. Lords Amendment 17 would replace 'the House of Commons and the House of Lords' with ‘each House of Parliament’, consistent with uses in other provisions in Part 3. 20 Lords Amendments 13 and 14 would require the Secretary of State to be satisfied that any person hearing an appeal (under the arrangements that the regulator must maintain) will be ‘sufficiently independent’ before designating the regulator. Further, when designating the regulator, the Secretary of State would have to accompany that designation with a statement of the reasons as to why she is satisfied about the proposed regulator’s arrangements for appeals. Lords Amendments 31 and 33 would be consequential amendments to these amendments on appeals. 21 Lords Amendment 18 is a technical correction. 22 Lords Amendment 19 would provide for the Secretary of State to lay in Parliament the regulator’s guidelines on financial penalties. New clause: Meaning of "extreme pornographic material" 23 Lords Amendment 28 would insert a new clause to set out the meaning of "extreme pornographic material". This replaces the definition of 'prohibited material', which is removed by Lords Amendment 22. Lords Amendments 10, 20, 23, 24, 27, 29, 32, 34, 35, 38, 41 and 42 are consequential to these. Lords Amendment 11 would amend the definition of 'pornographic material' to make clear that age verification must be in place for the material covered in (g) to (i), as would be inserted by that amendment. The definition of "extreme pornographic material" is based on the approach in section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. Lords Amendment 43 (which references section 22(3) of the Video Recordings Act 1984) would make provision that where any alteration is made to a video work in respect of which a classification certificate has been issued, the classification certificate is not to be treated for the purposes of Part 3 as issued in respect of the altered work. Lords Amendment 44 would clarify that nothing in Part 3 affects the application of other legislation to pornographic material or extreme pornographic material. 24 Lords Amendment 36 would insert a new clause that provides that the regulator may not give a notice to an ISP under clause 23(1) (Age-verification regulator's power to direct internet service providers to block access to material) if it appears to the regulator that the steps or arrangement that would be required of the ISP by the notice would be likely to be detrimental to national security, the prevention or detection of serious crime, or the prevention or detection of an office listed in Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. 25 Clause 15 (3) requires the age-verification regulator to publish guidance on certain matters. Lords Amendments have narrowed the scope of this guidance and inserted Parliamentary oversight of it. As above, Lords Amendment 6 provides the Secretary of State with the power to make regulations specifying the circumstances in which pornographic material is or is not to be regarded as made available on a commercial basis, so this is no longer a matter on which the regulator must publish guidance. Lords Amendment 37 would insert a new clause to require the regulator to publish guidance on what age-verification arrangements websites are required to make and on the circumstances in which the regulator will treat services as those provided by "ancillary service providers". 26 The regulator’s guidance would be laid before Parliament subject to the affirmative procedure for first exercise of the power and the negative procedure thereafter. The guidance on ancillary service providers is also to be subject to approval by the Secretary of State before it is laid. 27 Lords Amendments 7 and 26 would be consequential amendments removing guidance requirements now covered in this new clause. 28 Lords Amendment 39 would insert a new clause that would provide the Secretary of State with the power to issue guidance to which the age-verification regulator must have regard. The guidance may cover, for example, the preparation, publication and content of guidance by the regulator. Guidance issued by the Secretary of State under this new power would need to be laid before Parliament. 29 Lords Amendment 40 would insert a new clause (Code of practice for commercial social media platform providers on online abuse) requiring the Secretary of State to publish a code of practice regarding the responsibilities of social media platform providers to protect certain individuals from abuse. 30 Lords Amendment 45 would require the Secretary of State to produce a report on the impact and effectiveness of the regulatory framework, within 18 months, but not before 12 months, of the coming into force of Part 3. Before publishing this report, the Secretary of State would have to consult on the definitions used within this Part and the report must be laid in each House. 31 The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1979 ("the 1979 Act") provides a right for authors, known as the "public lending right", to receive payments from a central fund in respect of such of their books as are lent out to the public by local library authorities in the United Kingdom. 32 Lords Amendment 46 would amend the definition of "lent out" in section 5 of the 1979 Act to extend the public lending right to include remote loans of e-books and audio-books from public libraries in the United Kingdom – that is, where those e-books or audio-books are communicated by means of electronic transmission to a place other than library premises. 33 The amendment would also amend section 40A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 so that copyright in an e-book or e-audio-book (as defined) within the public lending right scheme is not infringed by lending by a public library, provided that the e-book or e-audio-book has been lawfully acquired by the public library, and the lending of that work complies with any purchase or licensing terms that may have been applied to it. 34 This would maintain the right for copyright owners to authorise remote loans by public libraries of e-books and e-audio-books. This would reflect the differences between digital and physical books and enable copyright owners to include technological features and/or terms and conditions in respect of e-books and e-audio-books to mirror physical lending. 35 Lords Amendment 47 would delete the provision for transitional arrangements in relation to the repeal of section 73 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 36 Chapter 1 of Part 5 creates new gateways that allow "specified persons" to share information for the purposes of improving the delivery or targeting of public services or the provision of a benefit in order to improve the wellbeing of individuals or households. 37 Lords Amendment 48 would provide that a person must be specified in relation to a particular specified objective in order to share information for that objective. 38 Lords Amendments 49 to 55 would provide for the specified persons who are able to disclose and use information under these powers to be listed on the face of the Bill in three new schedules (for which see amendments 283, 284 and 285). These lists can be amended by regulations which are subject to the affirmative procedure in both Houses. 39 Lords Amendment 51 introduces criteria for adding specified persons to the public services delivery schedule. 40 Lords Amendment 56 would add a third condition that in order to become a specified objective, the objective must have as its purpose the supporting of the delivery of a specified person’s functions, or the administration, monitoring or reinforcement of a specified person’s functions. 41 Lords Amendments 91, 92, 95, 96, 97, and 102 are consequential amendments which would relate to the insertion of new schedules of specified persons. 42 Lords Amendments 282, 283 and 284 would insert the schedules that list the initial "specified persons" for the purposes of the public service delivery clauses. There are three of these schedules: one each for clause 30 (Disclosure of information to improve public service delivery); clauses 31 and 32 (Disclosure of information to and by electricity and gas suppliers); and the new clauses on disclosure of information to and by water and sewerage undertakers (see amendments 65 and 66). 43 These amendments would respond to recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. 44 Clause 31 permits the disclosure of information by specified persons to gas and electricity suppliers for the purposes of assisting people living in fuel poverty. 45 Lords Amendment 57 would provide for the specified persons to be listed on the face of the Bill in a new Schedule. Lords Amendment 58 would confer a power for the appropriate national authority to add, remove or modify the Schedule by regulations. Lords Amendment 60 would introduce criteria for adding specified persons to the Schedule. Lords Amendments 62 and 63 are consequential amendments. 46 Lords Amendments 59 and 64 would restrict the power to amend the list of support measures in clause 31(3) so that only fuel poverty support measures could be added, modified or removed from the list. 47 The effect of Lords Amendment 61 would be to restrict the power to add to the list of permitted recipients of information under the clause. 48 These amendments would respond to recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. 49 Lords Amendments 65 and 66 would insert two new clauses into the Bill, which would extend information-sharing provisions to water and sewerage undertakers, if certain conditions are met. The provisions are intended to enable data-matching to take place, in order that water and sewerage undertakers can more easily identify householders who may be eligible for assistance under the various "water poverty" support schemes that are available. 50 The clauses would largely mirror the provisions in the existing clauses 31 and 32 for gas and electricity companies. The provisions take account of the recommendations made by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for those clauses, including providing that the "specified persons" who can use the information sharing powers be specified in a Schedule to the Bill. The power to amend the Schedule is restricted such that specified persons may only be added if they either provide or support the provision of water poverty assistance. 51 Lords Amendments 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 85, 86, 93, 94, 98, 99 and 103 would make consequential amendments. 52 Lords Amendments 259 and 264 would provide that the new clauses extend only to England and Wales (in which water is devolved on a ‘wholly or mainly’ basis by appointment area). 53 Information received under a sharing-provision in chapters 1 (public service delivery), 3 (debt) and 4 (fraud) may only be used by the person who receives it for the purposes for which it was shared, and may not be further disclosed for another purpose, subject to specific exceptions. One of those exceptions is for the prevention of anti-social behaviour. In Chapter 5 (research), personal information may not be further disclosed at all, unless certain exceptions apply, including the prevention of anti-social behaviour. Different provisions apply to personal information disclosed by the revenue authorities. Lords Amendments 68, 80, 119, 123, 152, 156 and 188 would adjust the definitions of "anti-social behaviour" in Part 5, so that the definitions would be capable of being applied in the whole of the UK. 54 Lords Amendments 100 and 104 would amend clause 38 to reflect aspects of the new devolution settlement set out in the Wales Act 2017. 55 Lords Amendments 101, 140, 173, 222 and 223 would adjust the meaning of a "Welsh body" for the purposes of Part 5 to reflect the terminology used for Welsh public authorities in the Wales Act 2017. 56 These amendments would respond to recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. They would require a parliamentary procedure for the Codes of Practice which the relevant minister has to issue for chapters 1 (public service delivery), 2 (civil registration), 3 (debt), and 4 (fraud). They also apply to the Codes of Practice which the Statistics Board is required to issue in chapter 5 under clause 61 (research) and to publish in chapter 7 under clause 68 which inserts new section 45G(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. 57 Lords Amendments 87, 88, 105, 126, 127, 159, 160, 206, 207, 231 and 232 would require the Codes of Practice for these Chapters to be laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament before they are first issued. All subsequent revisions of the Codes would have to be laid in draft before Parliament for 40 days (draft negative procedure). 58 Lords Amendments 228 and 229 would require the same procedures for the Statement of Principles which must be published by the Statistics Board in Chapter 7 under clause 68 which inserts new section 45E(5) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. 59 Lords Amendments 90, 133 and 166 would respond to a recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee by removing the Henry VIII powers set out in clauses 37(3), 47(3) and 55(3). They would mean that the relevant Minister would no longer have those powers to make amendments to other primary legislation or the Bill itself in chapters 1 (public service delivery), 3 (debt) and 4 (fraud) respectively. 60 Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Part 5 each introduce an offence if personal information which has been received directly or indirectly under the respective power is further disclosed, subject to specific exceptions. 61 Lords Amendments 79, 122, 155 and 187 would provide that "protected disclosures" made by whistleblowers and disclosures for journalistic purposes in the public interest would not be subject to the criminal sanctions that are contained in Part 5 of the Bill. 62 Lords Amendments 83, 84, 124, 125, 157, 158 and 195 would remove the ‘secondary disclosure’ offence for information disclosed by HMRC. This would mean that only the person receiving information directly from HMRC under the relevant power who further disclosed that information would be subject to the criminal sanctions contained in clauses 35, 44, 52. 63 When it comes to clause 60, this would mean that all those whom Chapter 5 envisages will handle or use information disclosed by HMRC under clause 57(1) would be subject to that criminal sanction. Such disclosures would also be caught by the offences contained in the new clauses inserted by amendments 200 and 201. None of these offences would apply to a third party who came into possession of that information and further disclosed it. 64 Lords Amendments 73, 74, 120, 121, 153, 154, 179, 180, 218, 219, 220, 221, 224, 225, 226, 227, 235 and 236 would replace the references in Part 5 of the Bill to Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 with references to the equivalent provisions in the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, with a saving provision for the former until the latter provisions are fully in force. 65 Lords Amendments 199 and 200 would insert new clauses to provide for personal information disclosed by Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority to be protected by the same protections as apply to such information when disclosed by HMRC. 66 Lords Amendments 177 would remove repetition of wording which could have caused confusion. They would make clearer that a disclosure under clause 57(5)(b) of information which originates from HMRC, the Welsh Revenue Authority or Revenue Scotland cannot be made without the consent of the relevant body. 67 Lords Amendment 191 would make a consequential amendment to provide that the disclosure offence in clause 59 does not apply to personal information disclosed by Revenue Scotland and the Welsh Revenue Authority as well as personal information disclosed by HMRC. 68 Lords Amendments 89, 106, 128, 161, 208, 216, 217, 230 and 234 would require persons using the powers conferred by Part 5 of the Bill to have regard to the Information Commissioner’s codes of practice on (i) identifying and reducing risks to privacy and (ii) the information that should be given to data subjects, where such Codes are relevant. 69 This requirement would not apply to Chapter 5 because that Chapter focuses on the sharing of non-personal data. 70 Chapter 3 sets out a power for specified persons to disclose information to another specified person for the purposes of taking action in connection with debts owed to the public sector. 71 Lords Amendment 113 and the consequential amendments listed below would provide for the specified persons permitted to make use of the power to be listed on the face of the Bill in a new schedule (for which see amendment 286). This Schedule could be amended by regulations which would be subject to the affirmative procedure. 72 The amendments would respond to recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. 74 Lords Amendment 114 would set out more specific criteria relating to the identification, management and recovery of debt owed to a public authority which a body must meet before it can be added to the list of bodies permitted to make use of the debt power. 75 Lords Amendments 108, 111, 115, 116, 117, 118, 130, 131, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143 are consequential on the proposed addition of the schedule of specified persons to the face of the Bill. 76 Lords Amendment 285 would insert the new schedule of specified persons for the purposes of the debt provisions in Chapter 3. This is in response to the DPRRC recommendations. 77 Clauses 46 and 54 require the relevant Minister to review the operation of Chapter 3 (debt) and Chapter 4 (fraud) three years after they come into force. If, as a result of the review, the relevant Minister decided that the corresponding Chapter should be amended or repealed, clauses 46(5) and 54(5) would allow the relevant Minister to do so by regulations. 78 Lords Amendments 129 and 162 would narrow the scope of clauses 46(5) and 54(5) by providing that the power to amend the Chapter following the Minister’s review may be exercised only for the purposes of improving the effectiveness of the operation of the powers and that they may not be used to remove any safeguards relating to the use or disclosure of information. These amendments would address recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. 79 Clause 49 sets out a power for specified persons to disclose information to other specified persons for the purposes of taking action in connection with fraud against a public authority. 80 Lords Amendment 146 and the consequential amendments 144, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175 and 176 would provide for the specified persons to be listed on the face of the Bill in a new schedule (for which see amendment 287). This schedule could be amended by regulations which would be subject to the affirmative procedure. These amendments would respond to recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. 81 Lords Amendment 147 would set out more specific criteria relating to a body’s ability to identify or reduce the risk of fraud against a public authority which must be met before a new body can be added to the fraud schedule. 82 Lords Amendment 286 would insert the new schedule of specified persons for the purposes of the fraud provisions in Chapter 4. 83 Chapter 5 contains provisions regarding disclosure of information for research purposes. The Bill provides for information to be processed to remove identifying characteristics before being shared with researchers. The UK Statistics Authority, which is referred to as the Statistics Board in the clauses, will oversee this process by accrediting all participants in this processing, including those who process the information, researchers and peer reviewers. 84 Clause 57 outlines the conditions for disclosure of personal information held by a public authority in connection with their functions to another person, for the purposes of research. 85 Lords Amendment 179 would clarify that a public authority processing another public authority’s information must be accredited to do so (as must a public authority processing its own information). 86 Clause 59 prohibits the disclosure of personal information which identifies a particular person and is received by a person under clause 57(5). 87 Lords Amendments 181 and 192 would extend protection beyond the processing stage for personal information which has been ‘de-identified’ and disclosed under clause 57(1), but from which a person’s identity could potentially still be deduced. It would also cure a defect in the drafting of the criminal offences by ensuring that personal information disclosed under clause 57(1) can be disclosed for the purposes of peer review, and in the case of information obtained from a revenue authority such as HMRC, without needing to seek that authority’s further consent. 88 Lords Amendments 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 189, 190, 193, 194, 196, 197, 198, 209, 210, 211 and 212 are consequential on amendments 181 and 192. 89 Lords Amendments 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205 would provide that the Code of Practice for Chapter 5 only applies to the disclosure, processing, holding or use of personal information. 90 Clause 65 provides that a Revenue and Customs official may disclose non-identifying information in connection with a function of the Revenue and Customs, provided the official thinks that the disclosure would be in the public interest. 91 Lords Amendments 213 and 214 would insert new clauses to allow disclosure of such information in the public interest by the Welsh Revenue Authority and Revenue Scotland respectively. This would ensure that all UK revenue authorities would have the same information-sharing provisions. 92 The Employer Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) is a non-profit making company which maintains a database of insurance policies to enable employees to trace relevant persons in order to obtain compensation for workplace injuries. 93 Lords Amendment 215 would create a permissive information gateway allowing HMRC to share the name and address of an employer and associated reference numbers with ELTO, for the purpose of improving the quality of the ELTO databases. 94 These Amendments relate to commencement by Welsh Ministers. 95 Lords Amendments 260 and 261 would provide that the Welsh Ministers commence the provisions of Chapter 5 (research) which relate to disclosure of information by the new Welsh Revenue Authority and the new clause inserted by Lords Amendment 214. The Authority is not yet operational. 96 New section 53A, which is inserted into the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 by clause 69, gives the UK Statistics Authority the right to disclose information to a devolved authority. Lords Amendment 233 would add to the definition of "devolved authority" "the Registrar General for Northern Ireland". The Registrar General has specific statistical functions not shared by the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland. This amendment would allow UKSA to share information with the Registrar General, for example to enable the Registrar General to produce statistics in between censuses. 97 Lords Amendment 237 inserts a new clause that would require the Secretary of State to establish "the BBC Licence Fee Commission" to make recommendations on the level of the licence fee. Lords Amendment 239 is consequential, and would insert a new clause to require the Secretary of State, when determining the financial settlement, to consider the BBC Licence Fee Commission’s recommendation. 98 Lords Amendment 238 inserts a new clause that would require the Secretary of State to conduct a full public consultation on appropriate levels of BBC funding. 99 Lords Amendment 240 would confer a power on Ofcom, if it thinks fit, to publish criteria relating to the provision of children’s programmes on licensed public service channels (i.e. Channel 3, Channel 4 and Channel 5) and services related to those channels. The amendment would also confer a power on Ofcom to impose, if it considers necessary, conditions (quotas) that it deems appropriate for securing that the provision of children’s programmes meets any such criteria. 100 The Lords Amendment would require Ofcom to publish any criteria relating to the provision of children’s programmes in a statement that sets out the criteria and how it proposes to apply them. Before publishing or reviewing any statement, Ofcom would have to carry out a public consultation. After any review, Ofcom would revise or withdraw the criteria by publishing a further statement. Where Ofcom publishes criteria, it may from time to time assess the provision of children’s programmes in relation to any licensed public service channel. For the purposes of that assessment, Ofcom must take into account the provision of children’s programmes on all "related services" and draw no distinction between whether a programme is provided on a licenced public service channel or on another service. 101 Lords Amendment 256 is consequential, bringing the provision into force two months after Royal Assent. 102 Lords Amendment 241 would allow the Secretary of State to require providers of video on-demand programme services to provide designated levels of subtitling, signing and audio-description. In the government’s view this would improve accessibility to such services for people with disabilities affecting hearing and/or sight in a similar way to the provisions in the Communications Act 2003 requiring linear broadcasters to comply with accessibility requirements. 103 Section 303 of the Communications Act 2003 sets out specific targets for broadcasters in relation to access services and requires Ofcom to publish a Code. Ofcom published its Code on Television Access Services in July 2004. The Code sets out the obligations on domestic licensed TV channels to provide subtitles, signing and audio description, collectively known as access services, on a gradually increasing proportion of their programmes. The obligations were initially placed on 70 domestic TV licensed channels. From 2016 the number of domestic licensed TV channels required to provide access services increased from 75 to 83. This figure which has taken in excess of 10 years to achieve, accounts for over 90% of the audience share for television watching in the UK. 104 For video on demand services such a Code does not exist and Ofcom lack the power to require compliance with accessibility requirements. Since 2010, the Communications Act 2003 has stated the appropriate regulatory authority must encourage providers of on demand programme services to ensure that their services are progressively made more accessible. The Lords Amendment creates parity in the regulatory regime between broadcast and video on demand services. 105 Lords Amendment 242 inserts a new clause that would extend the regulatory regime for the electronic programme guide on linear services to catch-up on-demand services. 106 Lords Amendment 243 would give a power to the Secretary of State to amend the conditions in section 98(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996 which a television channel must meet in order to be a qualifying service for the purposes of the listed events regime. 107 New subsection (5A) would enable the Secretary of State to lower by regulations the percentage of the population by which a channel must be received in order to be a qualifying service. The other condition, that a channel must be received without charge, would be unaffected. 108 New subsection (5B) would prevent a change made by regulations under this section from altering the validity of pre-existing contracts between broadcasters and holders of rights to listed events. This means that existing television rights agreements, which can last for several years, would not be rendered void by a change to the percentage. Further to that objective, new subsection (5C) would enable the inclusion of transitional, transitory, or saving provisions in regulations under this section. 109 New subsection (5D) would require regulations made under this section to be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure of both Houses of Parliament. 110 The power for the Secretary of State to set strategic policy statements now applies to a number of regulators. The Water Services Regulatory Authority ("Ofwat") has this provided for in section 2A of the Water Industry Act 1991. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets ("Ofgem") has this provided for in s.131 of the Energy Act 2013. There is no equivalent provision for Ofcom. 111 The government’s view is that in order not to compromise Ofcom’s independence and reputation, that a clear and transparent mechanism is needed to set strategic direction. 112 The Lords Amendment would provide the Secretary of State with the power to set out a statement of strategic priorities which Ofcom must have regard to on: telecommunications, the management of the radio spectrum, and postal services. 113 This would have to be consulted on (including with Ofcom) and laid before Parliament and subject to an annulment by either House within 40 days. 114 Ofcom would also be required to share with the Secretary of State documents it is about to publish - there would be a regulation making power (negative procedure) for the Secretary of State to exclude certain publications. 115 This would ensure that government is better informed of key research, developments and decisions, and through this aid the government’s development of policy. Finally, it would also serve to create greater transparency in the working relationship between government on Ofcom. 116 Lords Amendment 245 inserts a new clause that would provide that an internet service provider, may restrict access to information, content, applications or services, where that is in accordance with the terms of service agreed by the end-user. 117 Lords Amendment 288 makes consequential amendment to the Bill’s long title. 118 Lords Amendment 246 would amend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by inserting additional requirements to provide the ticket reference or booking number and any specific condition attached to the resale of the ticket to subsection (4) of section 90 of the Act. 119 Lords Amendment 247 would introduce a new clause designed to regulate the bulk purchase of tickets online by the use of ‘bots’. The amendment would provide the power for Government to introduce a criminal offence of using bots to purchase tickets for a recreational, sporting or cultural event in excess of the maximum permitted. The intended offence would apply only to tickets for events in the UK, but cover activity to obtain tickets that occurs outside the UK. 120 The offence would be summary only, with a maximum punishment of an unlimited fine in England and Wales, and an exceptional summary maxima in Scotland. The penalty in relation to Northern Ireland would be clarified once the Executive is in place. 121 The offence would be enacted by regulations, which would be introduced via affirmative procedure as soon as practicable, once relevant Technical Standards Directive processes have been completed. 122 Lords Amendment 248 would provide the Secretary of State with a power to make UK-wide regulations, subject to the affirmative procedure (new subsection 11), which would, in turn, confer power on the civil courts to make a drug dealing telecommunication restriction order (‘DDTRO’) on application by the police or NCA. 123 The effect of such an order would be to require the relevant communications provider to take whatever action the order specifies for the purpose of preventing or restricting the use of communication devices in connection with drug dealing offences, such as closing down mobile phone handsets, blocking SIM cards (and the associated phone number), and preventing the portability of phone numbers to another mobile network. New subsections (5) to (8) sets out the matters that must be addressed in any regulations, including who can make applications for such orders and provision about appeals. New subsection (9) sets out the matters that may be addressed in any regulations, for example, provision about time limits and costs. New subsections 4 and 12 would provide definitions of certain terms, including "drug dealing offence" and "communications provider". 124 Lords Amendments 249 to 252 would create a charging power to enable the collection of charges by the Information Commissioner to fund its data protection and privacy and electronic communications regulatory functions. 125 The amendments would replace the Information Commissioner’s current fees charging powers under Section 18 and 26 of the Data Protection Act 1998 as it will be necessary to repeal these provisions as part of implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation which will become part of UK law on 25 May 2018. 126 The amendments would also repeal Part 3 of the Data Protection Act. Part 3 imposes an obligation on data controllers to notify the Information Commissioner of certain types of data processing and the Commissioner maintains a register of all data controllers. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) removes the obligation on data controllers to notify the Commissioner and so it is necessary to repeal Part 3. The GDPR will become part of UK law on 25 May 2018. 127 The amendments seek to replicate the substance of the fee raising powers in the Data Protection Act 1998. Charges would continue to be based on the principle of full cost-recovery; and although it would no longer be a requirement for organisations to notify the Information Commissioner that they are processing personal data, organisations would continue to receive the same broad range of services from the Information Commissioner’s Office. This includes good practice guidance on organisations' obligations under the data protection framework and how to comply; online training videos; free voluntary audits of an organisation’s data protection practices to support improved compliance; and advisory visits. 128 Lords Amendment 234 and 254 would confer a power on the Secretary of State to modify or supplement provision in section 68 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 as to the Secretary of State’s liability in respect of BT plc’s liabilities to the BT Pension Scheme. 129 Lords Amendments 255 and 287 would make consequential amendment to the commencement provisions and the Bill’s long title. 130 Most Lords Amendments to clause 89 are consequential on other amendments and are described above. Lords Amendment 262 would enable commencement of measures by area. The government’s intention behind this amendment is that the government can ensure that measures are not commenced for Northern Ireland in the event that the Northern Ireland Assembly has not given legislative consent. Necessary consents from the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales have already been given. 131 In consequence of the potential need to commence the Bill by area, Lords Amendment 263 would also provide the power to make necessary transitional provision. The transitional powers would also be used to define small and micro businesses in the statistics chapter of Part 5 until definitions in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 come into force. 132 Lords Amendment 264 would provide that the new provisions relating to water poverty, inserted by Lords Amendments 65 and 66, extend to England and Wales only. 133 Lords Amendment 265 would insert Paragraph 13A into Schedule 1 to clarify the relationship between code rights and land registration rules. The amendment confirms that Code rights will bind successors in title to the land they relate to, in accordance with paragraph 10 of the Code, and independently of land registration rules. In short, code rights will bind successors in title whether they are registered or not. 134 Paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 provides that an operator may assign an agreement under which code rights are conferred to another operator, enabling the second operator to ‘stand in the shoes’ of the first. The landowner cannot make the assignment subject to consent or conditions but may require the first operator to guarantee the obligations of the assignee operator. 135 Lords Amendment 266 would amend paragraph 15 so that it would ensure that the new electronic communications code provides landowners in Scotland with the same right (as was intended by the previous drafting to apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) to be able to require an operator to guarantee the obligations of an assignee operator. 136 Paragraph 23 of Schedule 1 makes provision for payment of consideration for code rights to be assessed at market value on a "no-scheme" basis. Lords Amendments 269 would amend part of paragraph 23 to clarify that the new valuation approach is based on four assumptions. Lords Amendments 267 and 268 are consequential. These amendments would not change the "no-scheme" basis of valuation and therefore do not alter the effect of paragraph 23. 137 An owner or occupier whose access to their land is obstructed by electronic communications apparatus without their agreement has the right to require the removal of that apparatus. Lords Amendments 271 and 272 make clear that this right only arises where the apparatus itself interferes with access by adjusting the first condition that must be met for an owner or occupier of neighbouring land to have a right to require the removal of apparatus. The Bill as drafted expressed the condition as requiring the operator to obstruct or interfere with access ‘in the exercise of a right mentioned in paragraph 13(1)’. The rights mentioned in paragraph 13(1) include activities other than the installation of apparatus, such as rights to enter land to inspect or repair equipment. 138 Paragraph 59 of Schedule 1 made provision regarding code rights when a public road is decommissioned ("stopped up"). 139 Lords Amendment 273 would remove paragraph 59, which in the government’s view, after further stakeholder consultation, is unnecessary as the matter is covered in existing statutory provisions (see for example section 334 Highways Act 1980). Lords Amendment 270 is consequential. 140 Paragraph 64 concerns Crown Tidal Land. Lords Amendments 274 and 275 would amend paragraph 64 to align its provisions so that they are consistent with the amendments made to paragraph 23. The amendments would not change the "no-scheme" basis of valuation. 141 Part 13 of Schedule 1 provides rights for operators to require the cutting back of trees or vegetation which interfere, or potentially interfere, with electronic communications apparatus. These rights require the operator to serve a notice on the occupier of land on which such trees or vegetation are growing, and is subject to a counter notice procedure. The code as drafted states a counter notice can be served by ‘the occupier of land on which the tree is growing’, erroneously omitting occupiers of land on which vegetation is growing. Lords Amendment 276 would correct this omission, making it clear a right to serve a counter notice arises wherever a notice requiring trees or vegetation to be cutback has been served. 142 Paragraph 95 of Schedule 1 gives the Secretary of State the power to make regulations to confer jurisdiction on the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal (in England and Wales). Lords Amendment 277 would correct paragraph 94(1)(a) to reflect that there is no First-tier Tribunal in Wales. 143 Paragraph 104 of Schedule 1 sets out who has the authority to enter into agreements or grant code rights over various different categories of Crown land. Lords Amendments 278 and 279 would make consequential changes as a result of the transfer of the management functions of the Crown Estate Commissioners under the terms of the Crown Estate Transfer Scheme 2017, which is made under section 90B of the Scotland Act 1998. 144 Lords Amendments 280 and 281 would correct minor omissions and referencing errors. 145 Lords Amendments 249 to 252 would create a charging power to enable the collection of charges by the Information Commissioner to fund her data protection regulatory functions. The charges will be subject to a Ways and Means Resolution. Before considering Lords Amendments the House of Commons will be asked to authorise the imposition of charges which are payable to the Information Commissioner. These Explanatory Notes relate to the Lords Amendments to the Digital Economy Bill as brought from the House of Lords on 5 April 2017.

2019-04-26T09:49:51Z

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0166/en/17166en01.htm

THE HON. SPEAKER: I also wish to inform the House that there will be a Catholic Service tomorrow, Wednesday, 29th March, 2017 at 1145 hours in the Senate Chamber. All members who are Catholic and non-Catholic are invited. First Order read: Consideration: Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Bill [H.B. 5A, 2016]. Amendments to Clauses 2, 29 and 99 put and agreed to. THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the Bill be read the third time. Second Order read: Second Reading: National Competitiveness Commission Bill [H. B. 6, 2016]. THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE (HON. C. C. SIBANDA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I move that the debate do now adjourn. THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE (HON. C. C. SIBANDA): Mr. Speaker Sir, the Government of Zimbabwe remains devoted to eliminating the problems involved in doing business in Zimbabwe. The anticipated advancement in the economy and investments would be sustained if we have a favourable working environment. There are quite a number of obstacles that are involved when one wants to set up a business in Zimbabwe. After realisation of the stagnation in business growth, the Ease of Doing Business Project was launched. As a country, we evaluated means of improving on our commercial laws and regulations and their enforcement. In a world that is fast globalising, many of our transactions are not being done electronically thereby making it relatively unfavourable for business to be conducted only through paper records. That is why this Bill seeks to amend the Deeds Registry Act so that registration of property is done electronically and an electronic database is created to promote economic growth, both locally and internationally. The effect of these changes is to ensure that business is promoted by the expedited registration period and electronic database, thereby making savings on both money and time. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am sure that everyone is affected by the aforementioned challenges which significantly contribute to corruption in Zimbabwe. The unavailability of electronic access to the Deeds Registry’s Offices also contributes to delays in export time and reduces exports. The unavailability of access to the Registry’s Offices is of great concern as we are in an era of globalisation and digitalisation. It is, therefore, fundamental to ensure that there is smooth transfer of titles and registration of properties to reduce the cost of doing business among other benefits. Mr. Speaker Sir, at this juncture, I would like to highlight the contents of the Bill before Honourable Members. Mr. Speaker Sir, Clause 2 seeks to amend section 78 of the principal Act so as to restrict the execution of powers of attorney only to those witnessed and signed by a legal practitioner, notary public or justice of the peace and the signature of such legal practitioner. Attestations of such powers by “competent witnesses” or commissioners of oaths will no longer be competent for deeds registry purposes. This new mandatory provision of having a legal practitioner, notary public or justice of the peace attest to approve of the power of attorney is due to the high increase of fraudulent transfers of immovable property based on fake powers of attorney. This new requirement will protect the public from fraudsters who intend to swindle innocent victims. Mr. Speaker Sir, Clauses 3 and 4 further seeks to permit the digitalisation of the deeds registry and eventual establishment of an electronic deeds registry which will supplement the paper based one, thereby greatly expediting and facilitating deeds registry administration. Access to the electronic registry for the purposes of information gathering and conveyancing work or notarial practice will be subject to certain safeguards against fraud, violations of privacy and other abuses. THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, our whispers are too loud please. Hon. Minister if you can carry on. THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE VICE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE (HON. C. C. SIBANDA): The Clause will not limit the Deeds Registry Office to Harare and Bulawayo only but will allow for a centralised electronic database. The Bill will also allow maintenance of the Register to be extended to provide online services which is the new trend in business and allows users not to be physically present at the Registrar’s Office, thereby saving and promoting businesses in Zimbabwe. Hon. Members will note that this amendment Bill has addressed the core issues to facilitate ease of doing business in Zimbabwe in terms of the Registrar’s Office. The role of the Registrar is expediting the registration and inspection of properties. Registration is fundamental in promoting business in our country. It is high time that we move from paper based systems that are long winding, difficult to access and confined to a specific geographic location. We need to embrace technology and use it as a necessary tool to promote business and attract investors by eliminating obstacles that lengthen the process of registration. I therefore commend the Deeds Registry Amendment Bill of 2016, to the House and move that the Bill be now read a second time. THE HON. SPEAKER: I shall not call for a debate because the Portfolio Committee on Justice needs to table their report before we can open the debate to everyone else. THE MINISTER OF STATE IN VICE PRESIDENT HON. MNANGAGWA’S OFFICE (HON. C. C. SIBANDA): I move that the debate do now adjourn. Fourth Order read: Second Reading: Judicial Laws Amendment BillAmendment (Ease of Settling Commercial and Other Disputes) Bill [H. B. 4, 2016]. THE MINISTER OF STATE IN VICE PRESIDENT HON. MNANGAGWA’S OFFICE (HON. C. C. SIBANDA): Mr. Speaker Sir, our Government remains committed to removing the difficulties involved in doing business in Zimbabwe. The desired growth in the economy and investment would be sustained if we have an enabling environment. Rigorous business hurdles for setting up and running a business, limited access to credit, limited legal enforcement of business contracts are just but to mention a few challenges we face in Zimbabwe and across Africa. The ease of doing business project is centred on how as a nation we can improve our commercial laws and regulations as well as their enforcement so that we improve economically in the region. Its objective is to eliminate the unnecessary cost and other policy inconsistencies affecting business. Business regulation and enforcement plays a pivotal role in the fulfilling of ZIM ASSET as it contributes towards economic growth. That is why this Bill seeks to amend the High Court Act, the Magistrates’ Courts Act and the Small Claims Courts Act so that disputes of a commercial nature are dealt with expeditiously in our courts. It will expedite justice delivery and promote access to justice. Hon. Members might be aware of our considerable efforts to get rid of stringent business regulations which hinder economic growth, causing unemployment and corruption. This also leads to delays in export time and reduces exports. Court regulations that result in delays in dispute resolution weaken the enforceability of contracts, increase corruption and are associated with inconsistency and unfairness of dispute resolution. Justice delayed is justice denied. A competent court system capable of enforcing business contracts and ensuring a smooth transfer of titles in the event of sale or purchase of property reduces the cost of doing business. Mr. Speaker Sir, this now brings me to the contents of the Bill before Hon. Members. Mr. Speaker Sir, the parties involved in the suit must consent to the hearing of the case by means of a virtual sitting. The Bill states that the High Court rules of court for virtual sittings apply only to civil proceedings and not criminal proceedings. The Bill does acknowledge the possibility that the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act may under exceptional and specific circumstances, allow the use of virtual sittings in criminal hearings. In its current form, the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act does not make provision for virtual hearings. This will assist in speedy resolution of commercial disputes between parties electronically, without them being necessarily present in court. Mr. Speaker sir, Clauses 2 and 5 of the Bill provides for the creation of divisions in the High Court for specific purposes. The judiciary is set for reformation through specialised extensions of the High Court. This is in line with the Constitution as provided for under Section 171 (3) which stipulates that a law may be made to provide for the High Court to be divided into specialised divisions but every such division must be able to exercise the general jurisdiction of the High Court in any matter that is brought before it. - the digitasation of the records filed or lodged with the Registra and the conditions of access thereto or for the copying thereof for the purpose of any judicial proceedings. Mr. Speaker Sir, Clause 5 of the Bill will amend the interpretation section of the Magistrates’ Court Act, Chapter 7:10 by adding definitions of business, commercial court and commercial dispute for the avoidance of doubt and the closure of any loopholes when disputes of a commercial nature arise. This will also ensure speedy conclusion of disputes as there will be no need to battle on interpretations of what constitutes a commercial dispute. This has been done for clarity. The definition of person has been extended to juristic persons to allow corporate entities to follow up on their debtors. Formally, they had no locus standing in the small claims court. Artificial personality, juridical personality or juristic personality is the characteristic of a non-living entity regarded by law to have the status of personhood. Statutory Instrument 34 of 2016 has also increased the jurisdictions of the Small Claims Courts from $250 to $1000. This was done in order to decongest the Magistrates’ Courts in order to facilitate speedy resolution of disputes. Mr. Speaker Sir, Clause 11 of the Bill seeks to afford parties in a dispute the right to legal representation in the Small Claims Court which was previously non-existent in such courts. Lawyers are now allowed to represent clients in the Small Claims Court in line with the constitutional provision as stipulated under Section 69(1). However, the tariffs should be governed by the Minister responsible and party to party costs cannot be claimed. The right to legal representation is generally regarded as a constituent of the right to a fair trial. Legal representation is an important tool or means of enforcing one’s rights. As a minimum, the right to a fair trial includes, the right to be heard within a reasonable time, the right to counsel and the right to a public hearing just to mention a few. This right is also protected under the Universal Declaration to Human Rights (article 10), International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, ICCPR (article 14), African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, ACHPR (articles 3, 7, 26). Mr. Speaker Sir, Hon. Members will note that this amendment Bill has addressed quite a number of issues to facilitate ease of doing business in Zimbabwe. The role of the Judiciary in dealing with insolvency and resolution of other disputes is of considerable importance. There is a significant relationship between the positive and negative between court efficiency in handling debt contracts and total credit. There is also a correlation between procedural formalism of the court system and the duration of resolution. Courts are essential for entrepreneurs because they interpret the rules of the market and protect economic rights. Efficient and transparent courts of law encourage new business relationships. THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, if I could crave the indulgence of the House to move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 5 to 45 be stood over until Order of the Day, Number 46 has been disposed of. HON. CHAMISA: I have a point of order. THE ACTING SPEAKER: You may go ahead. HON. CHAMISA: Thank you very much. I did not rise to object to the expediency of dealing with Order Number 46 but my reason for being on my feet is just to seek clarification before the Minister assumes the platform, particularly in the context of the myriad of challenges and problems we are facing in the country when it comes to the queues that are in the banks. We have been waiting for the Minister. If he may also favour us with whether or not he is going to issue a Ministerial Statement on the important issue of availability of cash in the banks. Hon. Speaker, it is very important. I know it is not directly related to this matter but now that we have the Minister and we have given him the indulgence in allowing him to skip all the other motions. Is he also as a quid pro quo and an alternative favour to Parliament, is he going to favour the nation with a statement on the circumstances around the bond notes, their effectiveness or lack thereof and what is being done by Government? I think we have gone into almost 100 days after the introduction of the bond notes. I thank you Hon. Speaker. THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Yes, I will do so. I will favour the House with a Ministerial Statement sometime next week. I am not going to be in the country from tomorrow until Saturday. So, I will do so next week. THE ACTING SPEAKER: ZANU PF Members of Parliament, there will be a Caucus meeting for ZANU PF Members of Parliament on Wednesday, 29th March, 2017 at the ZANU PF Headquarters at 1000 hours. You will be advised of the agenda. Please attend and be punctual. Thank you. Forty-Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Second Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Analysis of the findings of the Auditor-General on the 2013 Appropriation Funds and State Enterprises and Parastatals Accounts. THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to express my sincere apologies to the august House for the time it has taken me to respond to this report that was presented in March, 2016; as well as the other issues that were raised by the august House for my attention. Let me further assure the House that I will, going forward, endeavour to submit timely responses to issues raised by the House. For ease of reference, in my response, I will deal with each of the issues raised by the Committee. I refer to the Committee’s recommendations and also the action taken by the Executive. Treasury should by the end of June 2016, come up with regulations providing specifically for various acts of financial misconduct. As indicated in my reponse to the Third public Accounts Report on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Public Finance Management Regulations are currently being finalised and will be available to the Auditor-General for comment during the first quarter of 2017. Appointment of Boards and Senior Management of SEPs and declarations of Assets by SEPs Board Members. That the Executive should, where applicable, constitute Boards and appoint Senior Management to run the affairs of State Enterprises and that all Board Members should declare their assets. The Executive is finalising a draft corporate Governance Bill for Public Enterprises that will govern the appointment of Board Members and Senior Managers, clarify roles and responsibilities and provide for the declaration of assets by each Public Enterprise Board Member. The Bill should be presented to Parliament during the first half of 2017 as the drafting is at an advanced stage. I also need to point out that in terms of good corporate governance, Ministers and the Executive should not appoint management. Management appointments should be the responsibility of Board Members. All Accounting Officers must appoint Audit Committees by June 2016 in order to comply with Section 84 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act. While the process has taken longer than anticipated, given the requirement to consider conditions of service for Audit Committee Members, the Treasury in January 2017, directed all Accounting Officers to appoint Audit Committees by 31 March 2017. The framework for these appointments has been resolved and is specified in a letter to all Accounting Officers, headed, “Operationalisation of Public Finance Management Act and Provisions on Establishment of Audit Committees for Government” dated 27 January 2017. All entities must put in place key policy documents such as IT, Investment and Risk Management Policies by the end of June 2016. These issues will be adequately addressed in the proposed Governance Bill and will be vigorously pursued when the Bill becomes law. Failure to manage Cash and Receivables. Accounting Officers failing to manage cash and receivables should be dismissed. While I share the Committee’s concerns and Treasury is doing everything in its power to improve the management of these and other Government resources and assets, each case will be treated on its merits with the dismissal of Accounting Officers possibly being considered by the responsible authority as a last resort after appropriate disciplinary procedures have been fully exhausted. I may also wish to add that, training of Accounting Officers is imperative and will be pursued as vigorously as motoring of their performance. Related party transactions should be reported on time and failure to do so should be dealt with in terms of Section 91 of the PFM Act. I am satisfied that related party transactions are adequately covered in annual reports of Appropriation Accounts and the Financial Statements of SEPs, reports that are tabled before this House. Where there are transgressions, these will be fully investigated and appropriate action taken. All allowances paid to Senior Executives and Managers should be reflected in the payroll. All emoluments to Executives and Senior Managers are now fully reflected on the payroll. In addition, these as well as payments to Board Members are now subject to appropriate taxation. Government efforts to reform the Procurement Law are at an advanced stage. As you are all aware, the Bill is going through the Parliamentary approval processes. I agree with the Committee’s recommendations and would advise that, while there are a few exceptions, remission of Statutory and Contractual obligations to these bodies has improved considerably this report was tabled. We continue to work on trying to ensure total compliance. Government is fully committed to implementing the RBM Performance Management System. Within different ministries and parastatals, the level of success and commitment has been varied but we continue to work at it. I agree with the Committee’s recommendations and am pleased to advise this House that all loans now have loan agreements and that all Government guarantees are now subject to on-lending agreements between the Government and the ultimate borrower. I agree with the Committee’s recommendations and advise that the draft Corporate Governance Bill adequately deals with this issue. I have combined a number of issues of a compliance nature that the Committee raised in their report. I agree with the Committee’s recommendations on compliance, timeliness and the need for disciplinary measures to be taken where there are transgressions. There has been some improvement, achieved mostly through considerable investment in training at the processing as well as the supervisory level. This, however, remains work-in-progress. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will be taken. I agree with the Committee’s recommendations and can assure the House that such incidences are fully investigated and disciplinary action taken. As financial management performance improves through training and experience, I expect the occurrence of these incidences to reduce and cases of prosecution to increase. Once again, I apologise for the delay in responding to the Committee’s report and I am sure that as we go forward, there will be increased improvement in the matter. Thank you very much. HON. MPARIWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I rise to give an appreciation to the Minister in terms of the good progress that he has indicated and some of the members including myself have seen that the Minister has gone out of his way with the meager resources that the country has in trying to implement and cushion in terms of departments and parastatals. You may recall, Hon. Speaker, you are a member of the Public Accounts Committee, that we have lost millions of resources in parastatals. We appreciate that the Minister is trying his level best in trying to curb the loopholes as indicated in the reports of the Auditor General. I may not have done justice if I were to sit down without actually paying tribute to the Auditor General and her department who happen to be the real people in terms of the work that the Public Accounts Committee does and with the reports that they produce. Let me encourage all members of the House to go through the reports of the Auditor General so that they get an appreciation of where we are getting all these issues and concerns. With that, let me thank Hon. Minister Chinamasa for a job well done. This is team work and this is what we are calling for as Members of Parliament – to hold the Executive to account so that we have some kind of progress and protect our own resources. With these few words, I move that this House takes note of the Second Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Analysis of the Findings of the Auditor-General on the 2013 Appropriations Funds and State Enterprises and Parastatals Accounts. HON. MATUKE: Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that we revert to Order Number 14. HON. NDUNA: I move the motion standing in my name that this House adopts the Second Report of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development on the inquiry into the Aviation Industry in Zimbabwe. HON. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. In the second and third Session, the Committee commenced an enquiry into the operational challenges faced by aviation industry. Pursuant to this, the Committee held oral evidence sessions with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), Air Zimbabwe Board and Management and National Handling Services. The oral evidence sessions were augmented by site visits to the Harare International Airport and the Victoria Falls Airport. The enquiry was not only motivated by the Committee’s desire to uphold Section 119 (3) of the Constitution which explicitly spells out our oversight mandate, but also by the Committee’s earnest intention to contribute to the national development agenda in line with Strategic Goal 7 of our Institutional Strategic Plan and the ZIMASSET economic blueprint. The idea was to create value through rejuvenating our flagship carrier, Air Zimbabwe, in particular and the entire aviation industry in general based on the firm belief in the strategic importance of our national airline to the economic revival of Zimbabwe. Air Zimbabwe is, indeed, a strategic unit that can be used by Government in order to grow other sectors. As such, it must not be viewed parochially as a cash cow or as a business entity with the sole mandate to make a profit but rather as an economic driver. To put this into perspective, for example, if an individual flies from Johannesburg to Harare, they are only going to spend USD 300 on airfares which may not translate to much, but they will spend over USD 2 000 when they stay at the Meikles Hotel for a week. Viewed from this perspective, our national airline is thus a major economic driver whose revival we must resolutely fight for. 1.2 The afore-stated enquiries confirmed, regrettably, that though Air Zimbabwe is a strategic national asset which is still very much viable and will, if handled correctly, always be viable, the aviation industry was fraught with both intrinsic and extrinsic challenges. The enquiry into the operations of the CAAZ in particular revealed that the aviation industry requires funding in excess of US$50 million for construction and upgrading of airports infrastructure as well as the modernisation of Air Traffic Control communication systems and air navigation aids. Given such a scenario, it was little wonder then that Zimbabwe continues to maintain such an enviable safety record in the region and beyond in the face of such challenges. The Committee believes that this admirable safety record is attributable to the professionalism and dedication of the foot soldiers- pilots and air traffic controllers- even though the resources are insufficient to the extent that at one time these diligent men and women worked for three years without pay. The Committee thus resolved to extend its enquiry in the Fourth Session to the operational level, to the pilots and air traffic controllers themselves- the men and women responsible for maintaining safe, expeditious and orderly movement of aeroplanes in our skies- to hear from ‘the horse’s mouth’ as it were, the situation obtaining in the industry. This report, therefore, outlines the Committee’s findings in that enquiry. inadequate resources, the bulk of the resources were being committed to non- priority areas at the expense of core activities. For example, CAAZ financed non-core activities such as Customer Service Celebrations over procurement of standby communication radios. Not celebrating customer service week has no effect on the safety of aircraft whereas loss of communication with aircraft may result in loss of property, lives and stretches the nation’s fiscal space through litigation. 2.2 Expeditious Procurement and Implementation of Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B). operational across the country, pilots in equipped aircraft would have access to services that provide a higher level of safety and efficiency. Aircraft will enjoy more efficient spacing and optimal routing. This will enhance the Air Traffic Controller's awareness of aircraft in the airspace and enables controllers to identify and resolve potentially hazardous situations quickly and effectively. It also improves the ability to perform life-saving search and rescue missions. Air traffic controllers tracking aircraft will have information that is more accurate about last reported positions, helping to take the "search" out of search and rescue, thereby reducing the critical window of time involved in search and rescue operations. prevails, the country is not guaranteed of continuous provision of efficient and effective air navigation service. They pointed out that the Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management equipment has outlived its lifespan. The radios breakdown frequently and, in some cases, pilots have to resort to use of cell phones to talk to controllers. Basic equipment like microphones, headsets and handsets are in a sorry state and in short supply. There are no backup communication systems in the event of a breakdown of the equipment. 2.3.2 As a result, aircraft flying in the lower air space are flying with very limited radio contact with Air Traffic Control. This may lead to collision due to lack of traffic information and traffic avoidance advice. Lack of radio surveillance in the lower airspace may also result in security infringement and delayed or no rescue in the case of a crash. A case in point is the helicopter that entered Zimbabwean airspace and crashed in the Gwanda area in 2014. · Lack of emergency escape routes for Control Towers at Harare, J. Air Traffic Control personnel in the mainstream of the organisation’s programs. They contended that ATC training programs are afforded minimal funds in favor of non-core activities that include but are not limited to golf tournaments, football tournaments, secretaries’ and office orderlies’ retreats. The Air Traffic Controllers pointed out that there are some officers that were last trained over 20 years ago and have not received any further refresher training since their basic ATC training. Thus, the air traffic controllers are not abreast with modern trends in the industry. Management Policy in full. They noted, for instance, that in 2010, the nation lost an MA60 aircraft owned by Air Zimbabwe in a runway accident at Harare airport involving warthogs. While wildlife remained a looming threat at airports such as Victoria Falls, Buffalo Range, Hwange and Kariba, the authority had not put in place robust measures to mitigate accidents similar to the one that occurred at Harare airport. They pointed out that simple, inexpensive measures like grass cutting, bush clearance and allocation of vehicles and personnel for the sole purpose of clearing identified wildlife were not being implemented by management. This resulted in aircraft delays and increased workload on the pilots and controllers due to aborted landings and takeoffs. 2.5.2 In addition, the runway rehabilitation at Harare airport remains incomplete more than a decade after it began. Consequently, a significant stretch along the runway has a rough surface, which has the potential to damage aircraft. Moreover, there is no lighting on the runway centerline and all taxiways. The airfield lighting cannot be switched on/off from the tower and the brilliance cannot be adjusted from the control tower as well. This is particularly important in harsh weather conditions when aircraft on final approach request that lights be turned on or brilliance be increased or decreased at that instant. Coordinating with an electrician with that capability is not instantaneous and usually the aircraft lands without any of the requested action complied with which is very dangerous and exposes the aircraft to risks of bad landings and accidents. 3.1.1 Air Zimbabwe had no substantive management for over three years with the Chief Executive Officer holding the post in an acting capacity. This had crippled the CEO’s ability to make substantive policy decisions and created an untenable corporate governance scenario of ‘responsibility without authority.’ The implication of this scenario was that the acting CEO could not make decisions without consulting the parent Ministry thus resulting in inordinate delays in decision- making due to bureaucratic red tape. 3.1.2 The pilots further submitted that due to the specialised nature of the aviation industry, it would be prudent to appoint board members with a modicum of understanding of the industry as opposed to the prevailing situation wherein ‘professional ignoramuses’ were appointed to the board. In addition, the board members were constantly and consistently chopped and changed at the discretion of the Minister resulting in a dearth of continuity in operations and, ultimately, a disconnect between the Ministry and the airline’s vision. most 20 years. Beyond that, the aircraft would have exceeded their sell-by date resulting in huge maintenance costs. Accordingly, they proposed that new aircraft be purchased to enhance efficiency, attract customers and reduce operational costs. abandoned due to operational challenges, was a latent cash cow which needed to be resuscitated as a matter of urgency. They contended that owing to the huge number of Zimbabweans residing in the diaspora, airlines plying that route such as Ethiopia and Emirates airlines were almost always full to capacity. Re-introducing a direct flight between Harare and London would recapture all those customers who had to endure long transit hours along that route. 3.4.1 The pilots noted with concern the lack of job security arising from the fact that they did not have proper working contracts but were paid what was termed a “working allowance.” This had resulted in an unbridled brain drain of skilled and experienced pilots and engineers. In addition, there was no visible commitment from management to retain the skilled manpower. exacerbated by the apparent lack of engagement at policy level which had resulted in policy decisions which neither protected nor promoted the national airline. For instance, where other airlines are jealously protected by their governments, Zimbabwe had granted licences to new airlines to ply exactly the same routes that Air Zimbabwe plies which was unheard of in the industry. All national airlines are protected by their governments and are given the first right of refusal rather than just putting a direct competitor on the same route. 4.1 There was generally low morale among both pilots and air traffic controllers who felt that the importance of their profession was not being given due recognition and support. This was exacerbated by management’s apathetic attitude towards staff welfare issues typified by delayed responses to the concerns of staff. 4.4 Air Zimbabwe and CAAZ management have not created sufficient platforms for engagement with operational staff with the result that there is no shared vision of the direction both organisations should take nor are there common values. 4.5 Clearance of the debt to IATA will unlock value for Zimbabwe by enabling Air Zimbabwe to create strategic partnerships with other airlines. 4.6 Air Zimbabwe’s governance structure should be modeled in a way that enables management to make quick and viable decisions in a short space of time. The rather lengthy consultation chain involving management, the board and the parent Ministry hinders expeditious decision making in this cut-throat industry. control units and a standby communication system by end of June 2017. resources strategy of CAAZ to ensure that air traffic control personnel are up-to-date with modern trends and developments in the aviation industry by end of June 2017. 5.3 Rehabilitation of the runway at the Harare International Airport and installation of airfield lighting must be done immediately. 5.4 The air navigation system should be computerised and integrated by end of June 2017. consultation with operational staff and provide timeous feedback on staff welfare issues by end of June 2017. 5.6 Government, in the current budget, must prioritise the clearance of the IATA debt to enable Air Zimbabwe to actively pursue strategic partnerships and alliances with other airlines which will facilitate the revival of the national airline through opening up more routes. streamline its work force to ensure that it is not overstaffed in the wrong areas and understaffed in critical areas. Critical revenue generating processes must be prioritised in the process by end of June 2017. unexplored lucrative local routes such as Harare-Beitbridge by end of June 2017. permanent member of the board to ensure not only that they are represented at the policy making level but also that the board comprises personnel with extensive knowledge of the aviation industry by end of April 2017. incentive on all tickets sold outside the country by end of April 2017. HON. CROSS: Mr. Speaker Sir, this report is extremely important and I must say every one of us who are regular fliers must have heard this report with a great deal of concern. Flying an aircraft in the skies is not an amateur’s job. This is a task that has to be conducted by experts and has to be managed properly or else it puts at risk everybody who does so. What we have heard this afternoon is a litany of failure by the Ministry of Transport and the Air Zimbabwe Board. I want to raise in terms of the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe, the question of landing fees and departure taxes which were not raised by the Committee. In my view a departure tax of fifty dollars per passenger is simply outlandish and there is absolutely no way that we can provide a cost effective aircraft service or landing fees here at this rate. We have got to be competitive internationally when it comes to landing fees if we are going to attract air transport services. In addition to that, this question of airport communications and control; this is not something you can play with. This is either done properly or it is not done at all and to have heard this afternoon that the equipment is antiquated, that many aircraft controllers simply do not have the basic equipment to do their jobs and, that radar systems are not working Mr. Speaker, is an issue which needs urgent attention. I think and I would hope that we will demand that the Minister of Transport make an early response to this report. When it comes to the questions of dysfunctional management, I think this has been an issue for a long time and I think this requires the Minister’s urgent attention. I know the new Minister is doing his best and I really think that he should put this matter to rest as soon as possible. These proposals by the Committee that senior members of staff should be incorporated into the Board from both the technical and the flying staff I think, is a very good one and would help improve the quality of the management team. When it comes to procuring equipment Mr. Speaker, there is no problem in the aviation industry in getting credit in terms of buying new equipment but what the sellers of new equipment look for is credible management that we can provide and a sound balance sheet. I think the Minister of Finance could restructure the balance sheet to meet the requirement. Good international insurance cover; we can arrange that in no time at all and a sound business plan whichcould be put to bed by a team of local consultants together with management. That includes the question of vigorous promotion and advertising and good financial management. Mr. Speaker Sir, all those issues are under our control and I believe that we could put together a respectable, functional and cost effective air services in Zimbabwe under Air Zimbabwe’s control without any difficulty and in short order. The recommendations of the Committee I think needs to be followed up without exception and I will just point out to the House Mr. Speaker that, the question of management moral is very much a product of management itself and the question of the Board. It is not difficult to manage people who want to work for you and provided we do the right things. Even if pay is not adequate, we can find highly motivated people who would work to put Air Zimbabwe back on its feet. When it comes to procurement, I believe that we put together a team today in Zimbabwe, consisting of our better business persons. We could in fact organise procurement of new equipment across the board of extensive credit terms. Every airline in the world well does this. You do not have to buy equipment for cash. When it comes to provision of essential equipment, what we heard this afternoon Mr. Speaker is not a hugely expensive list of requirements. Earphones and microphones; for heaven’s sake, these are minor equipment. This should be petty cash in terms of an institution like Air Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Transport. These matters need to be attended to immediately. There should be no delay whatsoever. Then there is the question of vision. Mr. Speaker, surely, we as a nation can sort this out tomorrow. It is not difficult to give an organisation a vision of where it needs to go. I think that the Minister needs to address this urgently. When it comes to the debt to IATA of $4.5 million, I cannot understand why this is not being settled. You cannot fly internationally if you do not pay IATA. You cannot sell tickets through the international systems without paying IATA. It makes complete business sense for the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to find this small amount of money and settle this obligation immediately. This really is petty cash. When it comes to management review, we have all heard in the past the fact that Air Zimbabwe has numerous directors. They have a tor heavy management staff. Surely a review of management and conditions of employment and of general staff, is long overdue and that should be attended to. None of these issues requires external assistance or external intervention. None of these issues require donors’ assistance. These are things we can do ourselves and we can do it tomorrow. I think as this august House, we must demand that the Minister appears before this House and give a full ministerial statement in response to this report. I thank you. HON. MATUKE: I move that we revert to the Order of the Day Number 24. urban roads are in an appallingly dilapidated state that is not only car-worthy but is hazardous to life, limb and property. (ZINARA) took over from Harare City Council and other municipalities the collection of termly vehicle licensing fees, 10% of which revenue would be retained by municipalities for road maintenance. to all other local authorities. HON. MAJOME: I thank the indulgence of the House in allowing me to debate this motion right now. I rise to move this motion on behalf of all other Hon. Members of Parliament and other members of the public on the appalling and alarming state of our roads. Not a single person who is in this room or an outsider who possesses a motor vehicle or even rides in a motor vehicle has not ever had the experience of being stopped by the police, in our numerous road blocks and having their car combed through with a fine tooth comb for un-roadworthiness. We are a nation that is, for lack of a better term, obsessed with roadworthiness of cars. The police holds microscopes and magnifying glasses to check if our cars are roadworthy or not. Some people have even been arrested for keeping their cars dirty because in terms of the law, you cannot have a dirty car. However, we are so fastidious about making sure that our cars are roadworthy but unfortunately, while we are doing that, we are not at all making any effort to ensure that the roads that our cars travel on are car-worthy. Our roads are not worthy of having any modern motor vehicle travelling on them. What I am seeking to persuade Hon. Members of this august House is not anything new. I have researched and found beyond doubt ever since I came into this Parliament the reason why - particularly our urban roads are in that state. I represent Harare West Constituency. With your indulgence, I am going to ask Hon. Members to be shown the state of roads that are in Harare West Constituency, in the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe. I have been travelling all over the country and the roads in Harare are not in a different state from the other ones. I have found that the sole cause of this terrible state of our roads is the lack of funding to Harare Municipality in particular. They are not accessing the money that is required in order not only to repair our roads but to keep them in a state of repair. Hon. Members of the august House will remember that the state of our roads started deteriorating very rapidly from around 2010. Before that, our roads might not have been the best in the world but they were certainly not in the state that they are in. Their decline has been precipitating and escalating. Recently, with cyclone Dineo, it is even worse now. What it means therefore is that local authorities and particularly Harare City Council is failing to maintain the roads because it cannot cope with the rate of wear and tear and it does not have the money. It is no coincidence that our roads started to decline more around 2010 but there is something very particular around the financing of infrastructure that happened there. In that fateful year of 2010, in October, Government made a fateful decision to take away the collection of revenue for car licences that we pay on a termly basis, in its wisdom. I am sure Government had good intentions by taking away licencing from local authorities and directing it straight to ZINARA. From that time on, our roads descended into the deep potholes that they are now. My motion is designed to plead with Hon. Members of this august House across the political divide to; for once do something that is in the common national interest and put aside our party suspicions, but do something that is in the interest of the public of Zimbabwe and do something in this august House where we use the powers that we have as legislators, to make, guide and influence good policies for the good governance of this country. In particular, to specifically move to reverse that very unfortunate decision that has resulted in municipalities, in particular, I will speak of Harare Municipality because that is what I have researched on. This will allow them to access funding that we pay for motor vehicle licences so that our roads can be repaired. I make this impassioned plea to Hon. Members because this is not the first time that this august House has done something that I am pleading with the Hon. Members to agree to resolve. A short while ago, in the Seventh Parliament, on 20th January 2009, a similar motion was moved and indeed passed by this august House in order to save the nation from the suffering that was there. In that motion of 2009, Hon. Larry Mavima, seconded by Hon. Hlongwane, moved a motion that was carried by this august House because of the love that Hon. Members of Parliament have for the people of Zimbabwe and for the people they serve. They moved a motion to stop the Zimbabwe National Water Authority’s revenue collection of water and put it back to council. Mr. Speaker Sir, you will recall in 2009, cholera was wreaking havoc in our country and no less than 4 000 people died because of cholera. At that point, the management of water systems had been taken away from municipalities and had been given to the ZINWA. The House noted at Hon. Mavima’s instigation that ZINWA did not have the capacity or resources to provide safe drinking water and that municipalities used to be able to do that before. Indeed, Mr. Speaker Sir, this august House did work across the political divide and resolved to pass the motion by Hon. Mavima for municipalities to have back their water revenue so that they could manage water supplies. Mr. Speaker Sir, what I seek to do is to plead with the Hon. Members to repeat history, that they work according to their consciences and agree that for the good management of our country and of our roads in particular, that Hon. Members move and agree that the licences that we pay for the maintenance of roads, go back to municipalities so that they have money in their hands to fix the roads that are in their districts, in terms of the Constitution. That is the essence of my motion Mr. Speaker Sir. I did a bit of research about the origin of motor vehicle licensing and our good friend Wikipedia gave me the definition that a motor vehicle licence is required for a motor vehicle to be legally permitted to be used or kept on a public road in the jurisdiction. There is a brief history about the origins of motor vehicle licensing. Zimbabwe uses a system that we inherited from the United Kingdom, rightly or wrongly but our system of motor vehicle licensing was borrowed from there. When motor vehicle licensing started somewhere in 1870 and there was something called the Tramways Act of 1870 that was passed. It tried to develop infrastructure in the local authorities. There was a Motor Act of 1903 that introduced a registration fee for each motor vehicle that was not the news for trade and the pricing were according to the weight of the vehicle. It was established that in 1920, there was need to maintain roads and it was developed to ensure that the money goes to the use of roads. Therefore, Mr. Speaker Sir, there was a road fund that was established after the Great War. That localised the collection of revenue for municipalities to fix roads in their localities. This is essentially, what we inherited and the system has been working extremely well. I did find out why it is that this decision was made and I could find no clear answer. I was also told that when the Zimbabwe National Roads Authority collects this revenue, it is meant to remit and give back the revenue to municipalities. I have established in Harare City Council in particular, that right now for Harare City Council to have its roads fixed, it needs a phenomenal amount of money that goes into millions but what has been disbursed by ZINARA from 2009, from the time they started up to 2015, is only $9 292 000. I am going to show you slides of the roads that we have so that we see and remember what it is exactly that we are dealing with. So that we do not forget that as legislators, have a responsibility to represent our constituents so that they can live better lives. Mr. Speaker Sir, I started more or less in First Street, Harare but I realised that from the minute that I gave notice of my motion, I was very pleasantly surprised Mr. Speaker Sir, about two days later, which I want to think that it was a happy coincidence, I heard an announcement that the Government has declared the roads in Harare to be in a state of disaster. I was encouraged and also amused because I thought to myself, why are we in a state of disaster? I said to myself, honestly, from the history of the revenue collection and management that this is surely a state of disaster that we have created for ourselves by taking a disastrous policy decision where we deprive ourselves of revenue and our roads are not repaired, they are in a state of disaster. Mr. Speaker Sir, those on the screen are roads in Harare West Constituency. The first one was in Kirkan Road near Warren Hills Golf Club. These are plush suburbs that Harare West must have invested their life savings to build houses and every quarter they pay, on those roads, for licenses. That is Good Hope road in Good Hope and that is not hopeful at all Mr. Speaker Sir. There are craters in the middle of the roads and the communities are suffering. This is the plush suburb of Marlborough in Harare and that road is called Campbell Town road. Mr. Speaker Sir, I ran contest of the worst road in Harare West Constituency on my facebook profile, to hear from Harare Westners which roads they consider – Mr. Speaker Sir, that is nothing less than a disgrace. I want to remind Hon. Members that the state of our roads does cost us lives. This young man was called Delan Dzimunya. He perished on 18th March, 2013 on Harare Drive. Those Hon. Members who use Harare Drive will know that there is an Engen Garage just before you get to the Lomagundi Road. Young Delan Zimunya was a Grade 7 pupil at Hallingbury School. He was knocked down on trying to cross Harare Drive Road. He was knocked down because while there is a pedestrian crossing that has been designated for the longest time, that pedestrian crossing, because of the lack of funding to roads, is invisible to motorist. A child who wanting to cross the road can see some faint zebra stripes but a motorist who is passing by cannot see them at all. This young child died on the way to Parirenyatwa Hospital, a needles loss of live. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am particularly moved and inspired in the memory of Delan Zimunya that this august House does think about the safety of road users. Signage road markings are poor or missing or the paint that is used is so faint that even if they paint it, three months down the line, it is gone. This has cost lives. Brilliant young minds and loses to families that would have done something for Zimbabwe. I do implore upon Hon. Members to do the right thing and resolve that licensing be taken back to municipalities because I know that if roads are funded, we will avoid such needless loss of lives. May His soul rest in peace. On the issue of traffic safety, I am glad that members of the Transport Committee are here. In the Harare West that I represent, there are cycle tracks that had long been built alongside roads for children even to cycle their bicycles out of the road. What you see on the screen is in Sawlely Way in Marlborough and this is near Marlborough Primary School. On the right, there used to be a cycle track that school children could use bicycles and it was very safe but there is nothing like that anymore. On the same road, the humps are missing and it is a tale of horror. Our roads are extremely dangerous because there is no funding on roads. Apart from the potholes, the issue of traffic safety is gone. In terms of traffic lights, there should be robots that should work but they are never working. These signs are so dilapidated and are causing a danger because there is no funding. Mr. Speaker Sir, while we are here, I have talked a lot about Harare West but let us talk about the capital City of Harare. That should be the jewel in our crown. We talk day in day out about ease of doing business and investor confidence. Mr. Speaker Sir, what you see on the screen there in fact is a crater that has been at the corner of nowhere else other than the corner of First Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue, the very street that this Parliament is built. Mr. Speaker Sir, I feel ashamed. I think even in the memory of Nelson Mandela, it does not do right to the memory of people that we want to honour to have the roads that we name after them deteriorate to that level because we have taken away revenue for their maintenance. That is the Central Business District of Harare and in fact of the capital city of Zimbabwe. No investor will take us seriously if we continue to make decisions and keep on along a disastrous path or disastrous and potholed road. Mr. Speaker Sir, I want Hon. Members to pay attention to this video that I filmed in First Street at exactly the corner of Nelson Mandela Avenue and First Street, the Central Business District of Zimbabwe. That is a Mercedes Benz that is getting right into the crater and another vehicle on the other side and pedestrians that are at the centre of that island. We now need 4 x 4s, to go through the streets of Harare, First Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue. If you noticed, there was an island in the middle of the street. Actually, on that day, I was moved to record that video because I was almost knocked over because when you stand in the centre of the island, cars come inside to the centre towards the island to avoid the crater. Needless to say Mr. Speaker Sir, traffic lights were simply not working again because of this issue of roads. My question is, why do we as a country insist on taking policy decisions that harm us. We saw the young life of Delaney Zimunya gone needlessly. The policies harm ourselves, our lives and those of our future citizens and not only our vehicles. The cost of doing business and the amount of money that individuals spend on maintaining vehicles, Mr. Speaker Sir, this cannot be said. Yesterday there was commissioning of a plant for motor vehicles through Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries. I think we are doing very well by seeking to attract business but if we were to ask those Engineers who assemble those vehicles and ask them to give us a report, they will tell you that the motor vehicles that are being assembled are meant for what is called tarmac roads or roads that are paved. They are not meant for what we see there. This is along Hopley Road. Mr. Speaker Sir, this cannot be allowed to go on. Property values are deteriorating in that area. Our beautiful city and other cities across the country are like that. While we are on the issue of licencing, if it is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, what we did is to channel all the revenue and flood ZINARA. We took away vehicle licences and flooded them at ZINARA and ZINARA is swimming and drowning in money and it does not know what to do with it any more. Mr. Speaker Sir, this has been tabled in this House. There is an article from The Newsday that appeared some time in 2015. There was a report that ZINARA bought snow ploughs for roads. Yes, it has been said. They are trying to give the excuse that they are multi-functional but seriously speaking, if we are to be resourceful and try and also use the snow ploughs to grade roads, they were created as snow ploughs. We do not have snow in Zimbabwe and this decision is not a good decision. Our municipalities are crying out loud for funding to fix roads and yet ZINARA is not doing right and is not disbursing that money to municipalities, it has deficits. Mr. Speaker Sir, ZINARA is blaming heavy taxes for bad roads and it is really alarming that they receive money and like I said, they are looking for excuses. They are suffocating and drowning in money that they do not know what to do with. Let us save, not only our roads, but let us also save ZINARA by giving it what it can manage. Let ZINARA continue collecting revenue for the trunk roads but for the municipalities and the cities, the crafters of our Constitution found it fitting that we devolve and decentralise power and resources to municipalities. What we have done there now needs to be reversed for the sake of our lives and our economy. Mr. Speaker Sir, the Hon. Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development said we need $24 billion to repair our roads. My simple plea is that if we had not made this disastrous decision of removing revenue from municipalities and starving them, our roads could not have deteriorated so badly that we now need $24 billion to repair them. This august Parliament can put a stop to this unhappy state of affairs. I am sure no one likes the deterioration of vehicles and even danger to life. We need to stop this. Hon. Minister Kasukuwere said the roads are in a state of disaster and indeed they are in a state of disaster but this is a man-made disaster. I am happy that no women were part of that decision. If it was, it is time this Parliament has an opportunity in this House to solve this state of affairs. We do not need to look for money from investors from outside to fix our roads. Each month we pay those termly licence vehicle fees. That is a lot of money. All that we need to do is to take that money and channel it straight to the roads and the local authorities are best suited for that. While I was on that, there are alarming reports that have been produced by the Auditor-General’s office about opaqueness and lack of transparency and apparently also misappropriation of money by ZINARA because it simply has got too much money. There are procurements that are done that are not substantiated at all. I am looking for a specific set of accounts that is still pending. I am glad that the Public Accounts Committee has taken an interest in it. I got that from the Public Accounts Committee’s reports and I want to salute the Committee, led by Hon. Mpariwa for doing a sterling job and exposing these distortions and foibles. Mr. Speaker Sir, there are successive reports that councils are indeed crying about. In 2014, the Auditor-General found that ZINARA operates in a system of weak financial controls and that in 2014 they have made payments amounting to $4 157 937 which were not supported at all by authorised payment vouchers. Mr. Speaker Sir, if you give me $4 157 937, I can tell you what I will do with the roads in Harare West. For example, I will just repair Lomagundi Road, widen it and I would also widen Kirkman Road. Anyone who lives in the Western suburbs of Harare will see how these roads are now no longer fit for the population of Harare. There are plans to widen them through byways and pass ways. We could do wonders with that. Speaking about Lomagundi Road Mr. Speaker Sir, I note with sadness that His Excellency the President hails from Zvimba in Mashonaland West. Mr. Speaker Sir, the way to Zvimba right now, I would want to believe it is impassible by the Presidential motorcade. Driving there day in day out, I do not see His Excellency’s Mercedes Benz being able to pass by and actually travel and go at the speed that is required. That is the road that is the gateway to Mashonaland West. Mr. Speaker Sir, we cannot allow this. The money that has been given to ZINARA should just come straight back and repair our roads. Further on, in 2014 again, ZINARA procured 40 motorised graders through a tender of $8 040 800. In Harare, we do not need graders. We just want our roads to be resurfaced and paved. I am sure that other places would also want graders and even rural authorities would also benefit from that money from licences that they also get from their surroundings. They did not at all go to tender in using that shocking amount of $8 040 800. ZINARA deals in huge sums of money – it is awash in funding and choking in it and this decision to keep on giving them the money that we need for our roads is a bad decision and we need to secure it. Mr. Speaker Sir, they did not even go through the State Procurement Board that was there before we started debating the Procurement Act that we are debating. They also proceeded to engage exactly the same supplier who they had engaged without going to tender again, to develop a $54 million vehicle licencing system. Mr. Speaker Sir, why pay $54 million to licence vehicles when those licences that we are paying are meant to go down on to the roads. They are not meant to pay some obscure and dubious supplier who has not been approved by the State Procurement Board. Mr. Speaker Sir, this is the revenue that we pay for licences. Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to remind Hon. Members that our duty in terms of the Constitution is to ensure that the Constitution is upheld and followed. We do have that power for a very good reason. We represent those people who are having their vehicles mangled. I saw Hon. Chibaya sitting there and he has left – just about two weeks ago, there was a story in our national newspapers to the effect that a family of three people was killed instantly when the kombi that they were riding in was swerved to avoid a pothole. These are matters of life and death and we can solve this problem for the sake of our nation. We do not need to keep on shoveling money to ZINARA. It can still have money as it can do all sorts of other things but, in terms of lives and the expenses, and even in terms of savings per household, if we want to grow the economy, we need to put money back to the local authorities. We have an Auditor-General who has stringent methods of monitoring. If we are worried that the local authorities might abuse the money, I do not think that Zimbabwe is short of auditing brains that can put in place vigorous methods to ensure that money is not abused. Even using ICT, it would be possible to track how much money has been used. Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to end by winding up and plead with Hon. Members of this august House that can we use the hopes of the people that we represent and do the right thing and move this motion and pass it to ensure that the licencing fees that are actually meant for repairing the roads comes straight to our roads. That in particular, our Constitution requires that local authorities be given the authority and it will not dis-empower anyone but it will be a good way of prudent financial management. Let money be used for its purposes and let it be directed by the shortest route. If money goes round and round in ZINARA bank accounts and graders, it will get lost. It is getting lost and it is not getting to our roads. Mr. Speaker Sir, on that note, I want to wind up and plead with Hon. Members of this august House to support this motion so that we use the money that we are paying everyday so that it goes right back on to our roads. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. *HON. MAONDERA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution on the motion raised by Hon. Majome. It is a very pertinent and important motion. I support all that she has said and we say this motion is not partisan. It is not ZANU PF and it is not MDC-T but it affects all the people of Zimbabwe because when we are looking at these issues which have a bearing on our lives, we have to support them just like we supported the motion raised by Hon. Khupe when she talked of cancer. We all supported it because it has a bearing on our lives. Hence, we also have to support this motion on the state of our roads because it affects us all. We are talking about ZINARA and the maintenance of the roads. When you talk of local authorities about why they are not repairing and maintaining the roads, they will tell you that we are not receiving anything from ZINARA. Yet, when you go to ZINARA and say why are we not repairing our roads which are so full of potholes, they will tell you that we are sending all the monies to the local authorities and we find ourselves in a blame game. As stated in the motion by Hon. Majome, we need to take back the process where councillors were collecting vehicle taxes and levies. This way, we will be able to confront local authorities if our roads are still bad. I am sure that we were all watching on the screens in this House when we were shown the state of the roads and cars having problems in maneuvering these roads. When you are travelling along Highglen Road getting to the roundabout in Glen Norah up to a place called Masimbi in Glen Norah, this is the road which feeds into Simon Mazorodze and also goes via Glen Norah and Kuwadzana up to Bulawayo Road. This road is in a bad state. Again, when you look at Glen Norah, we also have a road called State House where recently a learner from Ruveneko School was hit by a car because the road signs which were showing the state of the road and humps had been vandalised. This pupil was fortunate in that whereas she was injured, she was not killed. We are saying, let us put our heads together and solve this problem. When you talk to the local authorities in Harare, they will tell you that they were given less than $2 million to repair the roads yet the taxes from cars in Harare can give an amount of $9 million. So the question to be asked is, we have paid $9 million and we are only given $2 million – where is the $7 million going to. Even if you were to look at the amount which is collected by Mutare, Zvimba or any other local authorities, you will ask yourself the question that these monies have been collected from motorists residing in those particular areas but, where are these taxes taken to. We are always saying that we want to lure foreign business ventures to come into this country, but whenever they come into the country; they do not feel comfortable with investing in a country which has a problem with its roads, communications and water; yet when these people alight from the aeroplane at the Harare International Airport and travel along the Joshua Mquabuko Nkomo road, which is the Airport road, it is so beautiful and it gives them the comfort that Zimbabwe has good roads. But to their surprise, they will find that the roads are so bad. The road was constructed by a company which was given $70 million yet we know that the road did not cost that much and they did not complete the project. It had to be completed by the local authorities or the Government at a lesser amount than what has been stated. That is why I am saying the investor comes into the country, travels along Joshua Mqabuko or Airport Road, the road is good but when they get into the city centre, they find that the roads are in a bad state and full of pot holes. How can we lure foreign investors? We need to be very careful. If we look at the report of the audited results of ZINARA, the Auditor General (AG) revealed that there was recklessness in handling of finances at ZINARA. How do the people of Zimbabwe feel if they pay a lot of money and yet the roads are not maintained? This is tormenting because when you pay your money, you expect to get good service. ZINARA was founded so that it could rehabilitate the roads but instead of serving this purpose, the problems are multiplying. The same goes for the animosity between the police and the people of Zimbabwe. If we were to go on an opinion poll and ask the people of Zimbabwe about the performance of ZINARA, they will tell you that ZINARA is an organisation that the country can do without because it is not properly utilising the money meant for road maintenance. Motorists incur huge bills resulting from hitting pot holes. The suspension, wheels and shocks of vehicles are being damaged and yet people pay licences but ZINARA abuses the funds. At times people are involved in accidents. As a result people are now asking what they have done wrong to the Government to deserve such an imposition which is now tormenting them. We are a democratically elected Government which is empowered by the people. Let us put our heads together. ZINARA should confine itself to collecting toll fees only and let local authorities tax the vehicles in their vicinity. If the Government does not want to give back the licence fees to local authorities, then let us craft a law which does not compel local authorities to maintain and construct roads. We need to consult ZINARA and the local authorities to come and give us a clear picture of who is responsible for repairing, maintaining and constructing our roads because the blame game is too much. We may not make a decision as to where our finances are going to. We have been told that in the procurement of products and services, we hear that ZINARA will simply decide without consultation and purchase equipment for repairing roads. As far as we are concerned, this is just a scapegoat for abusing these funds. If we go to China and buy that equipment, you will find that we are being short changed. One will only notice this after thorough calculations have been done. I am pleading with the people of Zimbabwe that we talk to Government so that licence fees for cars be collected by local authorities and not ZINARA. Our roads are bad especially when we compare to the state they were in, in 2009. From 2009 to 2017, there was nothing comprehensive done on the maintenance and repair of roads. This is what has led to our roads being declared a national disaster. As far as the bad state of our roads is concerned, it is of our own making. We were watching whilst the situation got bad. This is unlike the cyclones which just come all of a sudden and cause destruction. I feel we need to get a response from the responsible Minister of Local Government or Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. The collection of vehicle licences should be taken away from ZINARA and returned to the local authorities. If this is not solved, this is going to have an effect in the next coming election. *HON. GANGARAHWE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution on the motion raised by Hon. Majome. There are some points where I agree with her and where I do not agree. Let me now explain myself clearly. Thank you Hon. Majome for informing us that ZINARA is collecting licence fees. Local authorities in Harare are also collecting money but Hon. Majome did not talk about it. Cars are parked for eight hours in town and they are charged one dollar per hour. That money is collected by the local authority. One car pays eight dollars per day. How many cars are parked per day? Why should the local authority start clamouring for money from ZINARA when they cannot account for the parking fees they collect. Some of the areas where these cars are parked are bad but people still pay a dollar per hour. At Mbare Musika, the buses pay $15 for coming into the terminus. How much money is collected per day? I think it adds up to $1 000 per day. The travelers’ sheds at Mbare Musika are all dilapidated and vandalized. The local authority is not doing anything about it. Why are they not repairing that market place? The local authorities are also collecting money for water. What is happening to that money which is collected on behalf of ZINWA? If one checks on the reservoirs, we find that the water is now murky because the pumping systems are so bad. They do not suit the current population. If the pipes were good enough to allow all the water coming in, we would not see frogs coming out on the pipeline. Airport Road which is being referred to as a good road, it was in bad shape until it was taken over by the local authority of Harare. I am not opposing that ZINARA should hand over the payment of licence fees to local authorities but what I am saying is that Harare City Council should account for all the monies that they are collecting so far so that we can judge them on their performance. If you look at Mutare-Plumtree road, the road was maintained and reconstructed. It is now a smooth road and even the toll gates which were erected are collecting money for the maintenance of that road. If we were to ask ZINARA about the fees collected, you can have the tangible example that ZINARA is doing a very good job. *THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO): Order, order! Hon Member, please confine yourself to the motion raised by Hon. Majome. Do not talk about other authorities. You can give examples in your contributions but please stick to Harare versus ZINARA. *HON. GANGARAHWE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I was giving examples of the revenue collected by Harare City Council. Most of the bad roads are found in Harare. When we go to the City of Bulawayo, there are very good roads and yet they are the same people who are saying ZINARA should give them the chance to re-collect licence fees. When we look at the salary bills, they are paying themselves huge salaries. When we look at the materials used to repair roads, 50kg of bitumen which can patch up to five potholes costs $20.00. Vehicles pay $8.00 each per day, so for a week that car will have paid $40.00 and above. They can buy a lot of bitumen to seal those roads. This is only showing us that there is abuse of funds by the local authorities. I still emphasise that Harare City Council should account for the taxes they collected from vehicles on the roads. As far as I am concerned, there is abuse of funds by the City of Harare. Even if Harare is to say they were allocated $1.2 million, if we were to look at the materials used to seal the potholes, we will be surprised at the amount which they used to buy those materials. I am saying City of Harare is being reckless in the use of money. They should account for the levies that they are collecting so that we can judge them from what they are saying. I come from Mhondoro where we do not pay any amount but our roads are being maintained, even though they are gravel. The Ministry is sending graders to maintain and repair our roads. I would like to thank the Government for such an effort and ZINARA for giving us money to repair our bridges. I am saying, we should not give Harare back the responsibility of collecting vehicle licence fees because they cannot account for the parking fees which they are collecting. There should be a condition that in order for them to be considered for any return of service, they should account for the monies they collect from parking. Also at Mbare Musika terminus, they should account for the $15.00 they collect per bus. Why are they not repairing the travellers’ sheds at Mbare Musika. As far as I am concerned, City of Harare is a council which has not been properly run. I am also told that the directors at Harare City Council had their salaries cut on the back of a directive by the Government that they were getting mega salaries. Now they want to strike so that the salaries revert back to the era of mega salaries which were inappropriate. I thank you. On the motion of HON. MATUKE seconded by HON. RUNGANI, the House adjourned at Ten Minutes to Five o’clock p.m.

2019-04-20T05:06:08Z

https://parlzim.gov.zw/national-assembly-hansard/nationl-assembly-hansard-28march-2017-vol-43-n0-49

It is hard to know how many species have gone extinct so far because it is difficult to prove that something not seen recently is really gone forever. This paper uses a new, highly conservative statistical method to infer the number of extinct amphibian and reptile species across the world. Frogs are of particular concern because an invasive fungus has recently caused many populations to collapse. The data are lists of specimens in museum collections. The method provides sensible results when the data are randomized or artificial extinctions are imposed. It suggests that about 200 frog extinctions have occurred and hundreds more will be lost over the next century, so we are on pace to create a mass extinction. There is broad concern that a mass extinction of amphibians and reptiles is now underway. Here I apply an extremely conservative Bayesian method to estimate the number of recent amphibian and squamate extinctions in nine important tropical and subtropical regions. The data stem from a combination of museum collection databases and published site surveys. The method computes an extinction probability for each species by considering its sighting frequency and last sighting date. It infers hardly any extinction when collection dates are randomized and it provides underestimates when artificial extinction events are imposed. The method also appears to be insensitive to trends in sampling; therefore, the counts it provides are absolute minimums. Extinctions or severe population crashes have accumulated steadily since the 1970s and 1980s, and at least 3.1% of frog species have already disappeared. Based on these data and this conservative method, the best estimate of the global grand total is roughly 200 extinctions. Consistent with previous results, frog losses are heavy in Latin America, which has been greatly affected by the pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Extinction rates are now four orders-of-magnitude higher than background, and at least another 6.9% of all frog species may be lost within the next century, even if there is no acceleration in the growth of environmental threats. Obtaining concrete estimates of extinction tallies for major taxonomic groups has proven to be elusive, with the literature veering between conservative counts based on thorough assessments of well-known species to much higher figures based on global-scale considerations of threat levels (1⇓⇓⇓–5). Uncertainty is so great that, for example, the 2004 Global Amphibian Assessment (1) used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) hazarded that anywhere between 9 and 122 amphibians might have gone extinct since 1980. Another analysis (2) suggested a range of 28–201. Meanwhile, comprehensive reviews of threats to reptiles (5) offered no estimate of the number of extinct species and sidestepped the matter of whether it might be large. These sorts of questions are still wide open because (i) it is difficult to distinguish species that are highly endangered and rarely sighted from species that are actually extinct, and (ii) researchers have lacked a robust statistical protocol for estimating extinction tallies (6). A means of addressing these concerns is provided by a Bayesian approach that involves computing probabilities of sightings (Materials and Methods), which like a recently published algorithm (6) yields highly accurate posterior extinction probabilities in simulations. As a result, the summed posteriors constitute reasonable estimates of the total number of species to have gone extinct in a particular area (Tables 1 and 2). The probabilities are dependent upon the exact choice of Bayesian priors and on other details of implementation, but the method is consistently conservative and it is optimal for detecting single-digit extinction percentages of the kind reported here (Materials and Methods). The new equation is applied here to anuran, caudatan, and squamate museum specimen records and published observations that encompass nine major geographic regions (Fig. S1). Although the dataset does not include unpublished field observations, the identifications used here constitute the only information that can be used in a study of this kind. Study regions were selected based on the amount of available data and to provide broad coverage emphasizing the tropics. These regions collectively include most of the hotspots for amphibian diversity (3) and for vertebrates in general (4), and they are large and widely dispersed enough that they are likely to be representative. The analyses used individual specimen records primarily drawn from HerpNET (www.herpnet.org) and a series of databases focusing on particular regions or museums. Additional information was drawn from 361 publications that documented recent sightings in particular localities, and public databases were used to vet and update species names. The dataset includes at least one observation each for 2,708 of 6,355 frog species recognized as valid by AmphibiaWeb (amphibiaweb.org) (42.6%) and 4,105 of 9,267 squamate species recognized by the Reptile Database (www.reptile-database.org) (44.3%). Geographic regions included in the analysis. Cumulative extinction probability curves suggest that anuran extinction rates were negligible before the 1970s, and since then have been considerable and sustained (Fig. 1). There is substantial decoupling among regions and between groups (Table 1). For example, the number of extinctions in the southeastern United States and southern Europe is apparently zero, in line with previously published expectations that tropical species are more threatened (1, 4, 5), and frog extinctions usually exceed squamate losses in the same regions. Because most of the apparent squamate extinctions except those in Mesoamerica, Madagascar, and possibly South Asia seem to represent either local extirpations or other confounding factors (Supporting Information), the data only provide clear evidence of extinction pulses of frogs and only in a few specific areas: Mesoamerica, Brazil, Madagascar, and the Sahul region. Most of the apparent extinctions in Sahul pertain to New Guinea, where the dataset is of good quality (Fig. S2). Cumulative numbers of inferred anuran extinctions in (A) Mesoamerica and Brazil and (B) Madagascar and the Sahul region (where extinctions are strongly concentrated in New Guinea). Figures are sums of individual extinction probabilities (see Table 1 for frogs and Table 2 for squamates) and are extremely conservative (Materials and Methods and Figs. 4 and 5). Global grand totals are 66.1 frog extinctions and 54.0 squamate extinctions. Size of the dataset representing New Guinea. A square-root scale is used on the y axis to make smaller values more visible. The figures for these regions weakly suggest an acceleration in extinction rates during the 1980s and early 1990s (Fig. 1). If real, this pattern might relate to the Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis epidemic, which has been strongly implicated in major population declines of anurans throughout Central America (7) and Australia (8) and is a potential factor in Brazil (9). B. dendrobatidis also infects plethodontid salamanders and is thought to be responsible for Central American salamander population declines (7). However, B. dendrobatidis is absent from New Guinea (10) and Madagascar (11), where the current data suggest there has been a substantial number of extinctions. The data also do not prove that there has been a truly catastrophic mass extinction in Central America, even though numerous population crashes have been observed (7). Furthermore, B. dendrobatidis has had little or no effect on populations in Europe (12), Asia (13), and mainland Africa (14) despite being present. Therefore, rates of anuran loss cannot yet be tied to B. dendrobatidis in a consistent manner. Variation among countries is also difficult to relate to their environmental and socioeconomic differences in a broad-brush manner. For example, the possible extinction pulse in Madagascar may stem from the fact that its human population has more than doubled since 1985, at which point 66% of its rain forests had already been eliminated (15). High extinction rates in Brazil and New Guinea also might involve deforestation. However, deforestation in South Asia and the Sunda region appears to have had little or no impact. Factors other than the B. dendrobatidis epidemic and habitat destruction might be important locally, but if the current analysis is accurate then they are less plausible as single agents of extinction on a global scale. No one has suggested that the numerous introductions of exotic reptile and amphibian species in the United States have resulted in extinctions of native species, and introductions in the tropics have been minimal. The cane toad Rhinella marina has been introduced to Australia and New Guinea, where it might be a factor, but also the Philippines, the United States, and other countries where no major losses of amphibians appear to have occurred (Table 1). Economic exploitation has been implicated by the IUCN in very few major population declines of individual amphibians and reptile species and appears to have spatially restricted effects (5, 8). Finally, this analysis is unable to directly quantify the effects of climate change, but the early onset and steady pace of extinctions in most areas (Fig. 1) is inconsistent with a recent major impact. This point will, however, become irrelevant as global warming continues to accelerate. In sum, there are two major patterns in the regional data. First, despite spatial heterogeneity the number of frog extinctions seems to have been much higher in relative terms than the number of squamate extinctions (Table 1 vs. Table 2). Second, a substantial extinction pulse in Latin America is most plausibly related to the B. dendrobatidis epidemic, although it might involve other factors such as deforestation or the spread of invasive species. Total global losses for the entire study period through 2010 are 3.05% for frogs (Table 1). This figure is equivalent to ∼6,355 × 0.0305 = 194 extinctions if the true global tally is proportional to estimates for the regions studied here. Figures for caudatans are similar in relative terms (Materials and Methods). The anuran total to date is higher than previously reported values (2). Therefore, one could argue that the tallies might represent regional extirpations, taxonomic errors, and cases in which population crashes have not yet led to actual extinctions. Cases of extirpation and error appear to be rare with respect to frogs, although nuisance factors are important for squamates (Supporting Information). It is also impossible to say whether some of the inferred frog extinctions do represent steep population declines. Regardless, there are many good reasons to think the counts are conservative: (i) the analytical method is designed to infer less extinction when data are lacking or when a species is found in multiple areas; (ii) it is also unlikely to detect extinctions that have occurred within the last decade or two (Fig. 2); (iii) the results have been skewed downward by assuming that extinctions could have taken place as early as 1900, long before many species were even described; (iv) a substantial number of species may have disappeared before being documented in museum collections; (v) rare species are more often omitted from the analyses because multiple sightings are required to compute an extinction probability; (vi) some seemingly widespread species, especially in the tropics, may actually consist of cryptic species complexes that include locally rare and geographically restricted members (16); (vii) processes such as human population growth, habitat destruction, and climate change accelerated through the study interval; and (viii) many species may already be doomed to extinction because their current population sizes are unviable. Relationship between the current extinction probability and the last year of collection for frogs from the Mesoamerica (A), Brazil (B), Madagascar (C), and the Sahul region (D). Even though the first point is straightforward, the fact that the analysis only recovers absolutely large anuran extinction pulses in selected regions (Fig. 1 and Table 1) raises the question of whether these pulses might simply reflect regional declines in sampling. This suspicion is hard to square with actual sampling trends (Fig. 3). For example, extinctions are relatively common in both Brazil and the Sahul region but the data tallies go in opposite directions (Fig. 3A). Meanwhile, little or no extinction is inferred for frogs from the southeastern United States or Sunda region, and yet the former dataset shows a decline much like that in the Sahul region, whereas the latter exhibits high variation with an overall upward trend (Fig. 3B). These patterns strengthen the argument that the figures reported in Table 1 are absolute minima. Size of anuran datasets representing regions with high (A) and low (B) extinction estimates. (A) The Sahul region (thin line) and Brazil (thick line). (B) The Sunda region (thin line) and southeastern United States (thick line). Because a method like the one used here infers little extinction in the absence of data, the true scope of the current mass extinction will remain unclear until there is much more intensive sampling in the tropics. Indeed, this paper is not intended to provide a definitive answer because the data include a myriad of complexities. It only offers a conservative lower bound that is an approximation of current knowledge. Despite this fact, the evidence does suggest that there has been a massive increase in the extinction rate over the long-term background average. Fossil data indicate that the background rate for reptiles and amphibians is even lower than the approximate 22% per species per million year rate for mammals (17) (Materials and Methods). A cumulative loss on the order of several percent in a few decades (Fig. 1 and Table 1) therefore implies that current rates are about four orders of magnitude higher than normal. Indeed, average extinction rates observed during 1971–2000 suggest that, about 6.9% of anuran species may be lost within the next century (Materials and Methods). This rate may seem slow on a human time scale, but it is a conservative minimum estimate and human impacts are intensifying. Thus, the data suggest that a runaway train of extinction is now likely to produce what would be seen as a global mass extinction on the ultimately more important landscape of geological time. Mitigating this crisis will require strong ongoing support of monitoring by field ecologists and museum scientists (18). The analyses focused on nine mostly large geographic regions with distinct biotas that were chosen to cover major hotspots of biodiversity (3) and conservation threat (4); they capture large fractions of all low-latitude biogeographic regions, including both humid and arid biomes (Fig. S1). Parts of the United States and Europe were analyzed to broaden the socioeconomic and demographic scope of areas included in the study. The focal regions were the southeastern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas east of 100° W); Mesoamerica (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and tropical Mexico; i.e., all Mexican states centered below the Tropic of Cancer); Brazil; southern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Spain); East Africa (Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda); Madagascar; low-altitude South Asia (Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka); the Sunda Shelf region (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore); and the Sahul region (New Guinea, including Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian part of the island, and Australia). Data were sparse for the remaining subtropical and tropical regions. Analyses were restricted to species listed as being valid by AmphibiaWeb (amphibiaweb.org) or the Reptile Database (www.reptile-database.org). Lists of specimens were downloaded from HerpNET (www.herpnet.org), the Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums (OZCAM) website (ozcam.org.au), the American Museum of Natural History website (AMNH: www.amnh.org), the Field Museum of Natural History website (fm1.fieldmuseum.org/collections/search.cgi?dest=herps&action=form), and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle website (https://science.mnhn.fr). Additional records for East Africa were directly provided by the AMNH and the Natural History Museum in London. Data for Brazil were retrieved from the speciesLink Network (www.splink.org.br). Institutions providing large numbers of data records are listed in the Supporting Information. Additional data were drawn from the primary literature to make sure that undersampling was not responsible for high extinction count estimates (although the Bayesian method actually tends to underestimate extinction when sampling is persistently poor). The literature search focused on papers published over the past 15 y and, respectively, yielded 53, 18, 48, 61, 95, 71, and 15 publications for the Mesoamerican, Southern European, East African, Malagasy, South Asian, Sunda Shelf, and New Guinea datasets. The United States, Brazilian, and Australian datasets were deemed adequate without augmentation. Invalid names were corrected by referring to a list of synonyms and outdated genus-species combinations downloaded from the Integrated Taxonomic Information System website (www.itis.gov). Records of 91 extralimital species, invasive species, and species found only on small islands were removed by hand. Threat status was based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org), with some updates drawn from the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act list (www.environment.gov.au). Species sampled only in 1 y were omitted from the analysis. Data records were grouped by collection year and location. Sample locations were defined as states or provinces for Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, and the United States, Interim Biogeographic Regionalization for Australia regions for Australia, and otherwise entire countries. For published data, locations were defined as reported by the authors. Numerous methods of evaluating individual species have been proposed (19, 20) but they perform poorly when evaluated using either empirical data (20, 21) or simulations (22). Most of them also provide hypothesis test statistics (i.e., P values) instead of actual extinction chances, and as such are categorically unusable for the present purpose of inferring extinction counts. Posterior probabilities were instead computed using a simple Bayesian method, which performs robustly in a variety of simulations similar to those previously published (6). The probabilities it generates are strongly related to the last year of sighting (Fig. 2) but the correlation is erratic because other factors come into play. The computation works by combining an agnostic, 0.5 prior extinction probability with joint conditionals calculated separately for the two hypotheses that a given species has survived or gone extinct. It is assumed that extinction operates on a continuous basis, so the extinction probability declines exponentially through time and is therefore lowest in the most recent year. Assuming a uniform distribution instead would make little difference to the results because the exponentially distributed per interval prior changes very slowly. Varying the overall prior of 0.5 uniformly over the range 0–1 would have no effect at all. The conditional computations are based on a published combinatoric equation (23) that compares the number of ways a species’ sightings can be located within its observed range to the number of ways they can be located across the species’ hypothesized range. These probabilities are based on the numbers of potential sightings (i.e., those of all species found in the same geographic area) and of actual sightings. The conditional based on the survival hypothesis assumes that each species actually ranges through the whole study interval; the conditionals based on hypothesized extinction dates assume that the ranges go up to the base of the relevant intervals. The conditionals are set to zero for all extinction dates that equal or precede the last sighting. Bayes’ theorem is then applied to compute a posterior extinction probability for each interval. The summed probabilities are computed for all species and then averaged to obtain a rate for the entire dataset. Finally, this mean probability is recycled as a prior and the individual species values are recomputed. Simulations show that this last step biases the figures downward when actual probabilities are high, but when they are very low recycling produces more accurate estimates. This method could be applied to simple presence–absence data. However, there is much additional information in the form of sighting frequencies within intervals. Therefore, the calculations are based on counts of sightings of each focal species in each interval relative to counts of all sightings in each interval (Fig. 3). To make the analyses more realistic, the data are analyzed separately for each local geographic area (country or state/province) and the resulting posteriors are then multiplied to obtain an overall extinction probability for each species. This approach is highly conservative because poor data in any area will result in a low individual posterior and therefore a low product. For example, if a species found in three areas has posteriors of 0.5, 0.5, and 0.1, the overall extinction probability is only 0.025. In practice, the method almost never infers that a species found in multiple areas is extinct. The computations must consider a fixed window of time. This window could equal the span between the first and last observation of the taxonomic group in a given region. However, using a fixed window across all regions seems more objective. The computation will yield higher extinction probabilities when the window is short. In principle, it would be admissible to assume that no extinctions could have taken place before about 1950 because the current analysis suggests that few or none occurred before the 1960s (Fig. 1). To make the analyses more conservative, the window is defined to run from the year 1900 to the last observation of the group in the relevant region. Imposing this rule has little effect in terms of truncating older data because there are few 19th century data records in most regions. The samples of species (Tables 1 and 2) are partial relative to total global diversity, making it important to estimate uncertainty in the counts. Confidence limits are easy to compute using a bootstrap protocol in which posterior extinction probabilities are drawn with replacement from the empirical set, the values are summed, and the procedure is iterated 10,000 times. Tables 1 and 2 report the 95% confidence limits derived using this procedure. Any method will flag some species as extinct regardless of whether any extinctions have occurred in the first place. It is therefore important to show that false-positives are rare by considering what would happen if we could be sure there was no extinction at all. This question is easily answered by randomizing combinations of collection years and spatial locations plus identifications across the entire set of data records for each region (e.g., records of all frogs from Brazil). For example, a date of 1900 might be substituted for one of 2000 in an identification of some species from some place. Records are grouped by geographic area (country or state/province) to make sure that spatial variation in sampling intensity is not altered. By definition, the randomization protocol leaves the number of data records in each year unchanged. It also has almost no visible effect on the number of species sampled in a given year (Fig. S3), which shows that inferred extinctions cannot be attributed to a trend toward only sampling nonthreatened species. The results of a single trial each for the four key frog datasets are illustrated in Fig. 4. These very low cumulative extinction probability sums (see also Tables S1 and S2) show that the trends summarized in Fig. 1 and Table 1 cannot be dismissed as an artifact of the method: if a species is not actually extinct it almost never infers a high extinction probability. Thus, the extinction tallies reported in this paper are likely to be absolute minimums, regardless of whether sampling is rich or poor. Simulated extinction proportions recovered by Bayesian analysis in the presence and absence of extinction. Data are for (A) Mesoamerica, (B) Brazil, (C) Madagascar, and (D) the Sahul region. Upper lines (“real”) show actual values. Lower lines (“random”) show data produced by randomizing collection dates, which obliterates any signal of true extinction. Number of species sampled per year in the actual data for frogs from (A) Brazil, (B) Mesoamerica, (C) Madagascar, and (D) the Sahul region (thin black lines) and datasets in which the years of collection have been randomized (thick gray lines; see also Fig. 4). Small offsets and the lack of consistent trends demonstrate that collectors are not focusing more strongly on particular groups of species. A poor method might infer many spurious extinctions because the data are truncated at the present. In other words, it might be fooled by the fact that many species have not been sighted recently simply at random, even though they will be sighted again in the future. To test for this bias, the global frog data were truncated at 1990 and then again at 1970 and the extinction probabilities were recomputed. The results suggest that censorship has virtually no effect on the running tally of inferred extinctions (Fig. S4). There are also fair correlations between the through-1970 and current probabilities (Spearman’s rank-order correlation ρ = 0.592, P < 0.001) and between through-1990 and current probabilities (ρ = 0.612, P < 0.001), which is noteworthy because the truncated probabilities are consistently low and therefore more subject to random sampling error. (A and B) Effect of truncating the data records at either 1970 or 1990. The degree of conservativeness of the method when applied to real data can also be shown in a straightforward way by means of a Monte Carlo simulation analysis. The algorithm involves randomly adding a number of extinction events to an empirical dataset and seeing whether the analytical method recovers the correct extinction proportion. (i) Extinction events are randomly produced on the basis of an assumed per year extinction probability. To reflect the fact that major extinction threats have increased through time, a zero probability is assumed for years before 1900. (ii) All actual presences of a species younger than the simulated extinction event are removed from the dataset. (iii) The number of species going extinct is divided by the total to produce a simulated proportion. (iv) Bayesian computations are applied to the data and the sum of extinction probabilities is divided by the number of analyzed species to produce an inferred proportion. (v) The analysis is repeated after varying the assumed extinction probability. Interpreting the results would be difficult given a dataset suspected to include a significant number of real extinctions. Therefore, two datasets seeming to only include a trivial number (Table 1) were selected: those representing frogs from the southeastern United States and squamates from southern Europe. The first is very densely sampled and includes relatively few species, so it amounts to a best-case scenario. The second is moderately sampled. The results suggest that Bayesian probabilities are indeed extraordinarily conservative (Fig. 5): the inferred extinction proportions are less than one-half as high as the simulated proportions. Simulated extinction proportions and posterior probability sums recovered after imposing artificial extinction events. Proportions were generated by randomly adding events to real occurrence data for frogs from the southeastern United States (closed circles) and for squamates from southern Europe (open squares). Sums are based on Bayesian calculations. Because the simulations suggest such unusually conservative behavior, it is inferred that the number of false-positives hiding within Table 1 (extant species flagged as likely extinct) is generally much smaller than the number of false-negatives (extinct species flagged as likely extant). Again, the extinction proportions reported in this paper are likely to be substantial underestimates: the real proportions could be many times higher. Analyses of salamander specimen records from the southeastern United States (109 species) and Mesoamerica (178 species) were also feasible. Summed estimates for the two regions were, respectively, 0.57 and 5.77 extinctions, with probabilities > 0.2 for three species (Batrachosps nigriventris, a least-concern species well-known from the United States that was purportedly collected in Panama in 1932 and 1936, which has a posterior of 0.623; Dendrotriton xolocalcae, a vulnerable Mexican species last collected in 1966 that has a posterior of 0.926; and Oedipina paucidentata, a critically endangered Costa Rican endemic last collected in 1952 that has a posterior of 0.381). The inferred 3.63% extinction rate for Mesoamerica is not a surprise because the B. dendrobatidis fungus does cause mortality in salamanders (7), but the dataset is too small to warrant detailed interpretation. Comparison of Probabilities to Threat Categorizations. The IUCN threat categorization is widely used in studies of global and regional patterns (1⇓⇓⇓–5). Correlations with independent categorizations are unfortunately weak (24, 25). Nonetheless, only the IUCN data are available for the entire range of species considered here. Mean extinction probabilities and counts of species with extinction probabilities >0.5 do climb with nominal threat levels (Table S3): the fraction of species seeming to be extinct is quite low in the “least concern” category. Furthermore, the unevaluated category seems to include a relatively large number of seemingly extinct species, as one might expect. However, the relationship between counts and rankings is not perfect, which might reflect problems with the IUCN ratings that have been noted before (25). Of equal concern, threat categorizations are lacking for well over half of all squamates and the higher-ranked categories seem to have been used very sparingly: the number of critically endangered squamate species is a full order-of-magnitude lower than the number of critically endangered frog species, even though (i) the number of evaluated squamate species is half again greater, and (ii) the absolute numbers of apparent frog and squamate extinctions are comparable (Table 1). The results together suggest that unless the new probabilities are quite inaccurate, threat categories should be reassessed for a large number of species. Per year rates of extinction accelerated in the mid-20th century (Fig. 1), making it necessary to focus only on relatively recent values to make any projections. Potentially, artifactual slowdowns at the end of the curves also become visible somewhere after 2000 (Fig. 1) and the method is unable to recognize extinctions having occurred within the last decade or two (Fig. 2). Therefore, means of the per year rates were computed from the combined global data for the period 1971–2000. The respective values for frogs and squamates are 0.0720% and 0.0298% per year. These figures were used to compute losses-in-one-century projections of 6.95% and 2.93% by means of the equation 100 [1 − (1 − x)100] where x is the rate in proportional (not percent) terms. Robust rates of extinction for living groups with good fossil records can be obtained using the conventional method of Lyellian analysis, which involves taking the log ratio of species found at one point in geological time to species still alive (26). For example, 7 of 14 amphibian species at the 13-Myr-old Norden Bridge Quarry in Nebraska are extinct (27), suggesting an extinction rate of 5.2% per million years. Likewise, 8 of 12 squamates in the approximately 11-Ma-old Lemoyne Quarry fauna (28) are extinct, suggesting a rate of 9.5% per million years. Similar data exist for a variety of other Miocene samples. For the purpose of computing such rates, older (e.g., Oligocene) samples include too few extant species and younger (e.g., Pliocene) samples include too few extinct species. The following museums and universities each provided at least 1,000 useable data records via HerpNet, OZCAM, speciesLink, or their own sites: the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the American Museum of Natural History, the Australian Museum, the Australian National Wildlife Collection, the Bishop Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Cornell University, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Georgia State University, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Louisiana State University, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, the Museu de Biologia Prof Mello Leitão, the Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle, the Museum of Southwestern Biology, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at Berkeley, Museum Victoria, the Natural History Museum in London, the Smithsonian Institution, the South Australian Museum, the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, the Universidade Estadual Paulista, the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, the University of Arizona, the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas, the University of Texas at El Paso, and the Western Australian Museum. To facilitate ground-truthing of the results by assessing species on a one-by-one basis, those having Bayesian posterior extinction probabilities >0.2 are listed here by geographic region. IUCN threat categorization codes (Table S3) and last sighting years are given before probabilities. Comments are based largely on IUCN assessments and on the Reptile Database. Most of the frog species are endemic to the study regions, whereas many of the squamate species range out of the study regions or are otherwise problematic. Abbreviations are as follows: EX, extinct; CR, critically endangered; DD, data deficient; EN, endangered; LC, least concern; NT, near threatened; VU, vulnerable ; ?, status not determined. Agalychnis lemur (? 1982 0.222), Allobates kingsburyi (EN 1950 0.234), Atelopus glyphus (CR 1965 0.218), Craugastor amniscola (DD 1965 0.234), Craugastor angelicus (CR 1987 0.467), Craugastor emleni (CR 1985 0.659), Craugastor fecundus (CR 1989 0.576), Craugastor merendonensis (CR 1968 0.277), Craugastor milesi (CR 1983 0.937), Craugastor omoaensis (CR 1974 0.383), Eleutherodactylus albolabris (? 1964 0.257), Eleutherodactylus dilatus (EN 1954 0.241), Hypsiboas albomarginatus (LC 1937 0.917), Incilius holdridgei (CR 1970 0.808), Isthmohyla zeteki (NT 1964 0.656), Plectrohyla robertsorum (EN 1971 0.372), Pristimantis latidiscus (? 1948 0.518), Pristimantis moro (LC 1947 0.554), Pristimantis ockendeni (LC 1966 0.439), Rhinella chrysophora (EN 1996 0.205), Rhinella granulosa (LC 1969 0.283). A. lemur, A. glyphus, P. latidiscus, P. ockendeni, and R. granulosa range into South America but most contribute little to the probability total for this region. Specimens of A. kingsburyi (an Ecuadorian endemic) and H. albomarginatus (a Brazilian endemic) may be misidentified. The others are all endemic to the study region. Cycloramphus dubius (LC 1988 0.972), Cycloramphus granulosus (DD 1977 0.788), Cycloramphus mirandaribeiroi (DD 1978 0.220), Cycloramphus semipalmatus (NT 1979 0.999), Gastrotheca fissipes (LC 1999 0.297), Ischnocnema epipeda (NT 1978 0.538), Leptodactylus pustulatus (LC 1973 0.999), Melanophryniscus spectabilis (DD 1965 0.341), Phrynomedusa fimbriata (EX 1959 0.482), Phrynomedusa marginata (LC 1978 0.219), Rhinella arenarum (LC 1982 0.841), Scinax brieni (LC 1978 0.500), Scinax strigilatus (DD 1960 0235), Trachycephalus atlas (LC 1980 0.350). R. arenarum is widely distributed in South America. The others are all Brazilian endemics. Arthroleptis adolfifriederichi (LC 1983 0.254), Arthroleptis lameerei (LC 1956 0.248), Arthroleptis wahlbergii (? 1923 0.794), Hyperolius marginatus (LC 1930 0.922), Mertensophryne lonnbergi (NT 1981 0.252), Phrynobatrachus bequaerti (V 1962 0.521), Phrynobatrachus kinangopensis (LC 1981 0.543), Phrynobatrachus minutus (LC 1971 0.904), Phrynobatrachus rouxi (DD 1926 0.898), Poyntonophrynus lughensis (LC 1975 0.364). Arthroleptis is taxonomically complex, so some identifications may be erroneous and others may be overlooked. All species except M. lonnbergi, P. kinangopensis, P. minutus, and P. rouxi range outside of the study area. Anodonthyla montana (VU 1994 0.960), Anodonthyla rouxae (EN 1975 0.872), Dyscophus antongili (NT 1995 0.663), Heterixalus boettgeri (LC 1999 0.223), Madecassophryne truebae (EN 1995 0.330), Mantella madagascariensis (VU 1991 0.997), Mantidactylus ambohimitombi (DD 1930 0.895), Mantidactylus bourgati (DD 1975 0.966), Mantidactylus madecassus (EN 1995 0.330), Platypelis milloti (EN 1993 0.774), Plethodontohyla ocellata (LC 1995 0.204), Plethodontohyla tuberata (V 1996 0.525), Stumpffia grandis (DD 1995 0.220). All are endemic to Madagascar. Fejervarya greenii (? 1976 0.444), Philautus signatus (EN 1967 0.223), Polypedates eques (EN 1995 0.519). P. signatus is from the Western Ghats; the others are endemic to Sri Lanka. Albericus valkuriarum (LC 1988 0.659), Aphantophryne pansa (LC 1988 0.348), Austrochaperina robusta (LC 1969 0.229), Barygenys flavigularis (DD 1986 0.225), Batrachylodes minutus (LC 1966 0.270), Batrachylodes trossulus (LC 1986 0.291), Callulops humicola (LC 1966 0.960), Callulops stictogaster (LC 1982 0.224), Cophixalus cryptotympanum (DD 1991 0.963), Cophixalus kaindiensis (DD 1988 0.583), Cophixalus parkeri (LC 1988 0.912), Cophixalus riparius (LC 1987 0.997), Cophixalus sphagnicola (LC 1988 0.503), Litoria amboinensis (LC 1985 0.266), Litoria angiana (LC 1987 1.000), Litoria contrastens (DD 1982 0.543), Litoria disrupta (LC 1987 0.939), Litoria lutea (VU 1966 0.960), Litoria narinosa (LC 1987 0.560), Nyctimystes daymani (? 1972 0.688), Nyctimystes foricula (? 1987 0.718), Nyctimystes kubori (? 2003 0.365), Oreophryne anthonyi (LC 1963 0.220), Oxydactyla stenodactyla (LC 1974 0.450), Palmatorappia solomonis (VU 1966 0.884), Platymantis neckeri (LC 1966 0.270), Platymantis solomonis (LC 1989 0.310), Rheobatrachus silus (EX 1979 0.418), Taudactylus diurnus (EX 1978 0.342), Xenorhina rostrata (LC 1972 0.238). A. robusta, R. silus, and T. diurunus are or were Australian endemics. All of the others are or were endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. There is no trend in the size of the New Guinea dataset (Fig. S2). Coleonyx brevis (LC 1975 0.227), Opheodrys vernalis (? 1906 0.937), Tantilla nigriceps (LC 1981 0.419). All have ranges that extend well outside of the study region. Anolis cristifer (DD 1925 0.554), Aspidoscelis inornata (LC 1960 0.238), Ctenosaura oedirhina (EN 1980 0.432), Epictia magnamaculata (? 1960 0.290), Eumeces ochoterenae (? 1941 0.958), Geophis blanchardi (DD 1940 0.886), Mesoscincus schwartzei (LC 1939 0.608), Pseustes shropshirei (? 1960 0.0906), Rhadinaea forbesi (DD 1948 0.581), Sceloporus albiventris (? 1964 0.211), Sceloporus edwardtaylori (LC 1971 0.250). A. inornata and P. shropshirei range into South America; the others are endemic to the study region and are mostly found in Mexico. Elapomorphus mertensi (? 1967 0.373). A widespread Brazilian endemic. Eumeces algeriensis (LC 1908 0.892). This species is mostly restricted to North Africa. Agama mwanzae (LC 1974 0.535), Amblyodipsas katangensis (? 1955 0.488), Causus maculatus (? 1962 0.228), Chamaeleo hoehneli (? 1975 0.281), Chamaeleo roperi (? 1934 0.698), Chamaesaura anguina (? 1961 0.438), Chilorhinophis carpenteri (? 1958 0.981), Chondrodactylus bibronii (? 1930 0.535), Mochlus sundevalli (LC 1958 0.214). A. mwanzae records may have been overlooked because this taxon is sometimes treated as a subspecies. C. roperi may be invalid. A. katangensis, C. maculatus, C. anguina, C. bibronii, and M. sundevalli range outside of the study area. Amphiglossus astrolabi (LC 1992 0.882), Brookesia peyrierasi (V 1989 0.353), Furcifer bifidus (LC 1931 0.904), Geckolepis anomala (? 1950 0.430), Lygodactylus decaryi (DD 1950 0.430), Oplurus saxicola (LC 2003 0.253), Phelsuma barbouri (LC 1995 0.696), Pseudoxyrhopus imerinae (NT 1978 0.320), Tracheloptychus madagascariensis (LC 2003 0.400), Uroplatus fimbriatus (LC 2002 0.948), Zonosaurus trilineatus (LC 1983 0.649). G. anomala is probably a junior synonym of Geckolepis typica. All are endemic to Madagascar. Ahaetulla mycterizans (LC 1965 0.498), Bronchocela jubata (LC 1910 0.936), Ceratophora stoddartii (? 1995 0.261), Liopeltis calamaria (? 1979 0.230), Nessia burtoni (? 1979 0.689), Nessia monodactyla (? 1978 0.785), Plectrurus perroteti (LC 1990 0.253), Rhinophis drummondhayi (? 1978 0.320), Rhinophis philippinus (? 1978 0.413), Typhlops beddomii (? 1982 0.202). A. mycterizans and B. jubata are largely restricted to southeast Asia. L. calamaria is widespread and P. perroteti and T. beddomii are from southern India; the others are endemic to Sri Lanka. Macrocalamus lateralis (LC 1987 0.722). This species ranges into Southeast Asia, and is represented here by Malaysian specimens that may have been misidentified. The author thanks numerous museums for making their data available; and D. Nipperess, S. Peters, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. The author is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT0992161). Author contributions: J.A. designed research, performed research, contributed new analytic tools, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1508681112/-/DCSupplemental.

2019-04-21T00:45:35Z

https://www.pnas.org/content/112/42/13003

I was recently in contact with Beau, the owner of Jagd Mafia again and he said they were sure liking their logo design(s), which made me happy and I realized I hadn't shared it online yet. This was my most complicated logo design to date. I was given a photograph and was told they want to use the person holding the head of the stag. Jagd Mafia is a hunting adventure based out of Germany. If hunting is your thing and you are in that area you should get in contact with them, as it looks like they have a great time! Thank you Beau! I wish you and your business the best! a powerful one it is. The gorgeous wood frame was made by my husband of Wisp Woods. Love teaming up with him on projects! He's been making the most beautiful wooden bookmarks lately. I haven't been so good about getting new designs posted. This was a really fun logo to create. The business owners were awesome to work with and had a good idea of what they wanted. What made this job even sweeter was getting the actual product to try! It is so awesome to actually see my design on an actual product but then to try out the item... oh my goodness! We made avocado pudding with the honey and it was amazing! Kaelyn doesn't like avocados but she loved this dessert. The recipe will definitely be shared in one of our Enduring Health newsletters (can sign up at the bottom of the page) and possibly eventually on the Enduring Health blog. Thank you Brad and Crystal! I wish your business great success! I can't believe it has almost been a month since we celebrated Kaelyn's golden birthday! She is our little sunshine so it worked great for her golden theme. She loves to see what I come up with for decorations and of course she's excited for the food/dessert too. I made a wild rice dish and a couple cupcake experiments. Her golden ones were chocolate chip pumpkin with a unique frosting, no lemon. (unique, but tasty and good!) The recipe will most likely be shared in one of the first two Enduring Health Journey newsletters. If you are interested in receiving healthy recipes, uplifting inspiration, and tips for healthier living please sign up at the bottom of the page on my new website HERE. I will try to have the first newsletter out the end of this month and it will only be coming out quarterly so I won't be flooding your inbox. :) The recipes shared in the newsletter may or may not be put on the Enduring Health Blog. Kaelyn is so excited to help in sharing healthier lifestyle tips and allergy friendly meal plans. My passion... to share our story of difficulty, to share what we have learned, to encourage and inspire you to live a healthier, happier lifestyle, and above all... to hopefully grow and strengthen your faith. A year ago, I thought if we (my daughter and I) could get better, if we could overcome most if not all of our health issues, I would share our story with the world. I am so happy to say God has blessed us greatly in knowledge, in hope and encouragement, and in health. He has driven Enduring Health Journey to become a reality. He has showed us the power of purpose, prayer and perseverance and we want to share it with you. We are in the beginning stages of a new blog, website, twitter space and instagram. We hope you will join us; we pray you will be blessed! Hello! Sorry this space has been quiet for so long. I would love to add a few more hours into the day... I bet most of you would agree. I've been having some fun the last couple months with wood burning projects. I enjoyed coming up with the words, designing and burning the one above simply to inspire myself. It is to remind me that if I keep a positive view from the time I awake, it will be a good day, no matter what is thrown my way. There is a bright side to every situation. It is up to us to choose how we will respond. God's way is the best. I have seen myself change so much this past year. It amazes me to see how God can work within one's self when you are open to Him and welcome to change. I have grown so much spiritually and because of this my physical and emotional well being improved greatly. I am grateful. If you have been in this space for awhile, you know I had a long ways to go with physical health. And thankfully I can say I am now doing so well! God has guided me and He has healed me physically, emotionally and spiritually. With that said, there is always room to grow and improve but I am no where near where I was two plus years ago and honestly it is all thanks to the Lord. With that said, God has placed the passion in my heart to reach out to others, those who are struggling, whether it is with health, financial, marriage problems whatever, I want to offer encouragement and hope. I have been working on a new site for awhile now and am hoping to share it with you soon. I pray that it will inspire people all over, in all walks of life. It will be a place where I share my heart, words that God has placed on my mind, and the ways that helped me and my daughter heal. My desire is for the new site to be an uplifting space for anyone that stops by. I've debated about getting rid of this space but have decided against it, because I do love to create. So this space will go back to its original purpose, a place to share designs and art/creations. The new site will be focused on health, wellness and encouragement. I hope you will join me in the new space when it is ready. Last thing, my sweet and very talented husband made the awesome frame above. He's made a few of them now and I love them! I thought it made the piece. You can check out more of his work at wispwoods.com. Be sure to read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE before reading Part 3. Thank you! You would think after receiving the ultimate gift from their father, the childrens' lives would go smoothly and everything would be good. But this was not so. Although both children accepted the same perfect gift each used it differently in their lives. Neither entirely understood the benefits of such a great gift for it was beyond what they could imagine. The daughter took her father's words to heart. She knew how much he loved her, she knew how much she loved and missed him, and she knew she wanted her father's ways to continue. By living a life like her father, she knew many others around her would be touched and blessed. Changing her way of living was not an easy task. She found that controlling her tongue as well as her negative thoughts to be two of the most difficult challenges. She would also have to get out of her comfort zone and reach out to others. But she pressed on. She wanted her life to be a tribute back to her dad, a thank you for loving her beyond measure. She would imagine her father looking down upon her with a smile on his face with every good step she made. She did what she did not because she felt she had to for her father, but because she wanted to and because of the love she felt for him. Her heart had changed... it had grown. She learned that doing good was not the easiest route to take but somehow it was definitely the most rewarding. Yes, she faced trials from time to time, sometimes she wondered if she was going to survive the struggling and suffering, but she would refocus her mind on the positive, on her father, what he would have done in her situation. Her father's letters gave her great hope and inspiration during the difficult times. After patience and endurance through the battles in her life she was always able to overcome them and feel more powerful than before. She grew thankful for the difficult times because looking back, she could see that through the journey she was learning new and important lessons. She was becoming a better and stronger person. She was feeling freer from struggles that would have previously made her feel miserable long term. People around her were always watching. Some were quick to cast judgement on her. They didn't take the time to get to know her, but then there were others who were drawn to her, one's that didn't even know why their paths joined hers but in time they were touched by her. They learned new things about themselves through her kind words and actions. They were drawn to her for the good and it made them want to be better... for themselves and for others. She was also encouraged by them. There was an indescribable strength through the positive actions. The brother was going through life completely different. He said he accepted his fathers final gift at the same time his sister did, but the acceptance did not make it into his heart. The acceptance of the gift only made it in his mind. He went on with his life saying many things his father did and did some good deeds but he remained focused on his own works. He was still driven by worldly things... money, his company, his own desires of things he wanted and wanted to do. He couldn't see the power that his father was giving him through his final gift. He didn't allow his heart to be open for change. His mind was always racing on what he thought he needed to do next. This was quite the opposite from his sister. She would allow her mind to rest on her father and his ways and words and allow them to guide her. But the son, he was guiding himself which made for very difficult times and he continued to grow weaker. It felt like he was always fighting against someone or something. He didn't realize that the biggest battle was going on inside himself. He did things because he thought he had to. He didn't see any use for controlling his tongue and controlling his own mind was not even a thought. To him life was just going to happen, he didn't see how he could have any impact on it for the good. Even though his father was on his thoughts from time to time, he remained in his own works and because of this he could not truly prosper in any area of his life. The sister saw how her brother was struggling. She could see the war that was going on within himself. She tried to make him see that the ways of their father and the love for him had to be embedded in their hearts. She tried to get her brother to read their father's letters but he always responded that he didn't have time for that. This hurt her for she knew how life could change for the better for him if he just took the time and put his focus on their father, his ways and words, and allow his mind and heart to be renewed. But the sister knew that she could not push him, that if she did it would only drive him farther away. So she went about her day, focusing on the good, focusing on her father and what she could do for someone else. Because of showing great love, the daughter felt so full, so happy and blessed in return. She couldn't think of living life any differently. She wanted the same for everyone around her. She wanted everyone to feel loved. She realized that EVERYONE had been given this amazing gift. The ultimate gift was given a very long time ago and it is passed down to each generation. The daughter wants everyone to know the great power that dwells within each believer. She knows by watching her brother and others around her that there is a choice to accept this great gift... not just to accept it through mind and word but in the heart. By truly accepting the great power and love, it completely changes a person. It makes them live for the good, it makes them do good, it makes them love in a new way, it makes them see life so differently... there is no longer a darkness but light and hope in all situations. The sister does not know what any given day will bring, but she is certain that good will come from it. She prays that one day her brother will experience this light... because there is no greater gift! Initially I didn't know there was going to be a part three. But I felt it laid on my heart that many people aren't realizing the amazing gift that dwells within them. This power is just waiting and wanting to be used. God gave US, you and me who believe in Him, the Holy Spirit to dwell within for a purpose. It isn't meant to sit in us and do nothing until the day we die. We are meant to be transformed, to do good and amazing things right now in this life. The Bible is filled with so many letters explaining how it is best to live our life. It tells us how to overcome evil that we will experience. It explains a good part of God's will for us. I have never been so excited to learn... it is like discovering the best kept secrets, but the crazy part is it shouldn't be a secret. We are meant to share the good exciting news, but somehow Satan has such a strong hold on this world, so many people aren't hearing/learning the so called secrets to living a better life! Jesus came to Earth to show us by His actions the ways we should go. We are suppose to learn from what he did and said. Sure we can believe in Him and believe that he died on the cross for our sins to save us and have eternal life, but I feel that there is so much more that is not being taught, even in many churches. Jesus died, so we could be given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so we can be the hands and feet of Christ. Jesus paid the ultimate price so we are able to overcome Satan's evil doings! We should be thanking God for His amazing gift by loving Him and doing the good that He showed us to do. He wants us to pray continually for guidance, and if we really are being true to His ways, He will answer our prayers, He will be glad to guide us, He will show us His great love. I am certain of this. So long I didn't make the time for Him. I didn't make the time for a relationship with Him. I didn't realize what I was missing and through that journey I learned that I was really hurting myself for not taking the time to get to know Him. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was allowing Satan into my life and even allowing him to work through me. And although my journey has been a rough one, I am so thankful for it, because God has drawn me closer to Him by experiencing those difficult times. I now know that God was after my attention the whole time. He loves me and He loves you. He is OUR Father who wants the best for us. We just need to give Him our time, our focus and allow Him to work through us. Our Father has a great plan for us. Are we willing to let Him move us? Make sure to first read Part 1 HERE. Once back home, the children tried to go about their busy days as usual. They were hoping that their filled work schedules would take some of the pain away. Oh how their hearts were aching. They had never felt a pain like this before. They found themselves unable to focus on anything other than their father. Not keeping in better contact with their dad while he was alive was tormenting their minds. Why, they wondered, did they put all their focus and attention on their jobs, money, material things? What was their purpose? Someone that meant so much to them, someone who went above and beyond for them was now gone. They were feeling miserable for how they treated their father and now they couldn't see a good purpose in anything they were doing. Everything was feeling meaningless. People around them could tell a difference in their attitudes and it was impacting everyone around them. Relationships, their businesses, everything it seemed, was starting to suffer. Eventually the children decided to head back to their childhood home to see if there was any hope of finding closure to this heartbreaking situation they found themselves in. I know my death came as a shock to you, but I expected it. Although you won't be able to understand right now my passing is for the best. You see, out of bad things come good so don't focus on the bad but look forward to the good that is coming because it will. There are a few things I want to share with you that I couldn't before. You see, before I never had your full attention. I want you to know how much I love you... each of you, so very, very much. I thought about you well before you were born. My heart was bursting when I saw you come into the world for the first time. You were perfect! You are wonderfully made and capable of so much! The purpose of your life was never simply to survive. You were meant to live life fully, to truly thrive. A life of good; able to enjoy all the gifts I have given you from the beginning. Now, you are given choices to make. You are given free will over your own lives. I never once told you growing up that you had to do things my way and no other. I strongly urged you in certain directions for your safety but the end choice was always yours. If you chose wrongly there would be consequences. Because I love you, I want to warn you, if you choose to follow the ways of the world, you are likely never to feel complete. There will be great hurt on many different levels. But I am happy to tell you there is another option for you. Would you like to live a life where you felt free, at peace and filled every day? Could you accept a gift like this? Now if you feel bad about any actions you have done in regard to me or have done something else that you think is so unworthy of deserving such a gift, I tell you, for peace of mind, please ask for forgiveness and know then that you are truly forgiven. I love you with my whole heart. I could never stop loving you; you, who I loved before you were even born. I've watched you grow. I know you so well. You are a part of me. There is nothing you could do that could stop me from loving you. Trust me! My earthly gifts did not move you. At least they did not move your heart. Your heart was left unchanged. Since my death, you realized a pain you had never known, your heart felt something. Your heart is changing, renewing and growing. You now are seeing me much more clearly then when I was with you in person. I have given you ALL I have and ALL this I give you will be more then you can ever imagine. As you know, my heart was filled with love, joy, kindness and truth. This is your inheritance. My gift goes beyond any "natural" gift. There is no limit and it cannot be contained. It is freely available for you and it is meant to be passed down to your children and their children, for generations to come. With this great gift you will be able to overcome life's trials. You will be brought to difficult situations but with my gift, planted in you, you will be able to overcome these trials! Children, trust me! A good heart conquers all evil! All you need to do is place your faith in me. By excepting my most precious gift, you will lack nothing. For my heart will join yours and work together with you to do what you have seen me do and even greater things than these. There are no boundaries to the good you are able to do. With me, in you, all things are possible. Have faith in ME! Keep your focus on ME! Speak words that come from me, these are words of life. If you happen to make a mistake and lose focus, it is okay. My love for you is too great. I will never give up on you, so do not give up on me due to your own mistakes. Ask for forgiveness and keep pressing forward. In the box, I have left you many more letters to reveal to you more of my good and perfect ways. Read them, but know that the most important thing is that I am always with you. I am in you. I love YOU! So children, I hope you now know deep within your soul how much you mean to me. I hope you know I want the best for you and your children to come. I pray you will accept my gift; that you will open your heart fully and allow me to guide your steps. You will then live an abundant life of blessing and you will impact many around you. This will make me proud! With tears streaming down their faces, the children were changed forever. They accepted the perfect gift from their father. They were filled with great hope for having a purpose filled life. They were ready to share the good; to share the love with others. Love lettering done by my daughter, Kaelyn age7. The only way I can describe this story is that the Holy Spirit wrote it through me. I pray it will bring you closer to Him. He has certainly made a huge difference in my life. For so long, I didn't have time for Him. When I thought I really knew Him I didn't. He wasn't IN my heart. I finally realized how much he loves me and ALL his children. He so wants to be a part of our life. He wants us to turn to Him first for every situation we find ourselves in. He wants us to speak His words. He wants us to love like Him. He wants the best for us. What he desires most is for us to KNOW Him and love Him! If we are hoping for prayers and desires to be fulfilled, are we wanting these gifts without having a relationship with the one who gives them? I have cried, because I am guilty of this. I am thankful for the trials I have gone through because I can now see Him much more clearly. I have a new love in my heart... it is for Jesus who showed me how to live, who took my place as a sinner on the cross, who freed me from Satan. I pray that I will keep my focus on you Lord and that you will work through me the rest of my life, no matter how undeserving I am. Thank you God for leaving us so many letters (in the Bible) to encourage us and reveal your ways to us! God, thank you for loving me with your whole heart. I love you! The Greatest Gift of All! ~ Part 1 Do you have it? There once was a wise man. Although he was very rich, he had a good heart. Unlike most prosperous people around him he was always thinking of others' needs before his own. He loved giving gifts, especially unexpected gifts. He enjoyed giving the most to his children, a son and a daughter. Even though the man had so much, he did not believe in simply spoiling his children. He wanted his gifts to be special, exciting, well thought out and with a special purpose in mind. The children adored their father growing up. He was a giver, not only of gifts but of his time and love. When the son and daughter grew older they moved many miles away to go to school. They started careers and became very focused on growing their own companies. They wanted everything their father had and more. They became so busy with their own lives that contact with their father was gradually being pushed to the side. His calls weren't being returned. His letters were left unanswered. Sometimes his letters weren't even being read. He didn't want to force his relationship with them. He loved them and wanted them to be happy with whatever choices they made. But his heart did ache for them terribly. He would do anything for his children! He started to wonder if he was on their heart any more. The children continued on with their busy lifestyles... work, dinners, meetings, parties, keeping up their homes, and so forth. One day the father decided to surprise them with investing a huge sum of money into their new careers. His thought was that it would take away any financial strain from them and it would be a great seed that would continue to grow and the wealth could eventually be shared with others. The son and daughter were thrilled with the generous gift from their father, but they remained captivated in their busy lifestyles and didn't even get around to thanking their father. The thought would pop into their minds every so often that they needed to call him and thank him but the moment never seemed right, time was passing so quickly, this and that had to be done first. Just too much had to be done. The father's heart was hurting. His children who he loved so much wouldn't acknowledge him. He had done so much for them. He had what seemed to be everything, everything that could be theirs one day, but they were so focused on their own daily lives that they couldn't see the end picture. The father was hoping that the children would look back on their childhood and remember his actions, to learn from it and walk in his ways. For his life was good. Very good. He was rich in so many ways. Not long after, the children received another letter in the mail from their father. It stated that he felt like he wouldn't be around much longer but he had a really wonderful gift he wanted to give them. It was something they couldn't get anywhere else. Something that would change their lives forever. The children were stunned to get such a letter. What was wrong with their father? He had always been a strong and healthy man. They decided they needed to tie up loose ends at work and then the next day they would fly home to be with their dad. Once they arrived home, they learned the devastating news; their father had passed away the night before in his sleep. What did he die from they asked? They were told, "His heart just stopped." They were also told that their father had left them a gift upstairs and he wanted to be sure they got it. The children were so stunned and heartbroken from the loss of their father that they didn't believe they could accept one more gift from their dad and returned home without seeing what was in store for them. As time went by, thoughts of their father invaded their minds. They had so many good memories of him. He was always full of laughter, helping them and everyone else around them, he saw the good in every situation... he was a remarkable man. No one was like their dad. They started to realize for the first time in their lives that no one who received gifts from their dad deserved to. He never once wanted anything in return. His delight came in the giving. His heart was better than gold. Will the children go back to their childhood home and see what the last gift was that their father left them? For awhile now I have truly believed in the healing power of food. Food is medicine. Meaning food that is organic and as close to God's original creation will benefit us. If man gets in the way and tries to alter food the healing power seems to be, no, IS destroyed. I don't really know when it happened that man thought they could create something better than God. I have found this to be true from personal experience. Trying raw milk this summer confirmed my beliefs. Kaelyn was allergic to milk since she was a baby. When my health turned for the worst and I removed many foods from my diet, I found dairy was a big issue for me also. I was sad because I really liked dairy products. After cutting it out I kept getting this feeling that milk should work for me. But no matter what we tried from the store, like 100% grassfed homogenized butter, Kaelyn and I would both break out with rashes. I was frustrated. I had been doing quite a bit of health research around that time and had come across a few readings that several people with dairy allergies could actually tolerate raw milk. This was exciting news, but where could I get my hands on raw milk? A farm a couple hours away was already swamped with customers wanting his raw milk and my husband was not for raw milk at all due to safety health scares at that time. Since then my belief in the healing power of God's given food increased. I was watching and experiencing my own body heal through food, herbs and prayer. Hearing stories from my 92 year old grandma about her and her family drinking a lot of raw milk growing up really made me want to try it. Without going into much detail on my grandma, she does not seem her age, she is active, keeps up her own big house, gardens, and if her or her siblings happen to fall they bounce right back up. No broken bones! There has to be a good foundation for this type of exceeding health. Anyway as time went on I had a conversation with another couple about raw milk near our area. (Thank you June and Jason!!!) I kept the information in my mind. I had been feeling for quite awhile that we were not getting enough calcium in our diet. After seeing that my teeth were not looking so great... like some translucent spots on them I knew we HAD to get more calcium. That night I told my husband to please go to the nearby dairy farm and see if we could try some raw milk. He finally changed his mind and decided we could try it! Turns out the farm had one jug of milk that hadn't been spoken for and that we could try it. If it worked for us we would have to buy a cow share as required by state law at that time. Well we tried it. I was nervous giving it to Kaelyn since she had always reacted very noticeably in the past to dairy. At first I blotted some milk on her wrist and then by her mouth. This is a good test to see if you are highly sensitive to a food. She did not react! So she drank some. She loved it and still did not react. Milk continued. My teeth looked better within 24 hours of drinking the milk and Kaelyn's eczema on the back of her arms was reducing! Praise the Lord for His good gifts! How he worked out a place to get it right near us and its healing qualities amazes me. Some may be wondering why raw milk works and not pasteurized dairy. The main reason is when raw milk is heated, beneficial bacteria and enzymes that the body needs are killed. Pasteurization prohibits the milk from working in the body the way it was originally meant to. Short explanation... the good is destroyed by the heat. Man, get the hint... DON'T mess with God's design and we would all be better off! End of rant. More information on the health benefits of raw dairy vs pasteurized can be found on Dr. Mercola's site HERE. Have a awesome and blessed day! I love these family bikes. They always make me laugh! Beautiful sandy beach and clear water. Turkey burger topped with caramelized onions and sprouts. Our side was smashed cauliflower. K and I both liked it! Great place to check out if you are in the Duluth area. We saw a number of things. We toured the William Irvin ship which was HUGE! Kaelyn did not like going to the top deck since it was so high up but atleast she enjoyed pretending to steer the ship once she was up there. Another highlight was the Heritage and Arts Center. It had something for everyone to enjoy... history, art show, kid play area, amazing train museum, detailed wood carved furniture plus more. Lake Superior area was a hard place to leave. We debated about taking another day to see more sights in the area but decided we would just have to go back when we had more time to explore. We are so thankful for the family adventure we had and look forward to seeing new sights next summer. Wow, sorry for the extended blog silence. Hopefully everyone hasn't given up on me. I was thinking our summer would be a little slower and that just wasn't the case. Fishing time! Kaelyn and her Grandpa are the lucky ones. Gardening sure takes a lot of time, but it is well worth the fresh, organic produce. This year my garden consisted of onions, butter lettuce, red romaine, garlic, cilantro, kale, collards, spinach, swiss chard, radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, green beans, celery, summer squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, dill and Kaelyn grew peas, ground cherries, sweet corn and a watermelon. I also grew a fair share of weeds... I just couldn't keep up! Our biggest project was renovating a camper. We love to travel, but when our food issues were posing a real problem with travel plans we decided to find a camper so we could have a kitchen with us where ever we go. The whole process was quite a struggle and a humbling experience. We had no idea how quickly campers went up for sale and were sold right away. We inquired about quite a number but they were all sold before we could look at them. We absolutely fell in love with one and were going to travel several hours to get it. The guy promised to save it for us and wouldn't you know it was sold out from underneath us. It was an emotional roller coaster. We ended up finding an older one with the same layout though and thought it would be a fun, quick renovation project to get it how we wanted it. Ha! I should have learned my lesson by now, wallpaper hides many things really well! In renovating houses I have had a ceiling fall on my head... the wallpaper was hiding the cracks! In the camper, the wallpaper was hiding black mold! Uggh! Hubby spent a lot of time rebuilding and fixing window issues. There were a lot of late nights, sweat, and tears put into this project over most of the summer. One of the Bible school crafts I had the kids do. This year we had a safari theme. K spent a lot of time at the pool. Her excuse was she needed a lot of practice for swimming lessons. It paid off because she passed no problem. EEK! We can tolerate milk! RAW milk that is. Praise the Lord! This will get its own post soon. Kaelyn did Plein Air Paint Out with me this year and had so much fun. Fourth of July... Kaelyn requested we go to the BIG show again. At the end of summer our camper was finally ready to use for a few outings. Awe... so much better. Clean, light and airy. K loves her bunk bed. K's first roller coaster experience and she insisted on going by herself. She had the most horrible expression on her face while riding I thought for sure she was in tears and screaming the entire time but when she got off and got her breathe, she said it was fun! Back to school. Summer went by way to quick! Now that my firecracker is back in school and the garden produce is slowing down, I should be able to post more often. Definitely more health posts in the works. Hi! Thank you for stopping by! I'm a small town girl living in the Midwest. Although I would love to live by the ocean, I've learned to appreciate the beauty around me. No matter where I live, creating is a big part of my life. I am a graphic designer & artist who also enjoys renovating houses with my husband and watching my delightful daughter grow. I have been fighting Graves Disease, Celiac Disease, Leaky Gut, Candida, food allergies/intolerances and secondary infertility but have learned a lot through the journey and it has brought me closer to Christ. With His help I will overcome sickness and be healed. I am so thankful for the blessings God has given me and my family! You are welcome to follow along to see where our journey goes from here. All photos on this site are taken by me unless otherwise stated and/or linked in the post. If you use any of my images on your blog or site please give credit and link back here. Please do not print any images without permission! Thank you! Some blog posts may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a very small percentage of a purchase made when using the link. All products I link to are items I personally use and think highly of. Any money that is made supports the on going of this blog. Thank you! I am a C.O.L.E. Prayer Team member. (Caring Openly, Loving Eternally) If you would like to open your heart and share your support and faith to a child and family going through a serious illness please join our team. Your life will be changed forever! For more information please visit: www.colesfoundation.com .

2019-04-25T10:22:11Z

http://enduringarts.blogspot.com/

While all of these subjects do have, for some intrinsic interest and merit, that interest varies widely from person to person. Almost no student needs all the things we now teach them. What all students do need are the underlying skills that the subjects we teach are “proxies” for: the ability to think effectively, act effectively, relate to others effectively and accomplish useful things effectively — in whatever particular area is of interest to them. Today, we teach these most basic underlying skills extremely indirectly. In many cases we never even communicate to our students what the real underlying skills actually are. Some teachers may say to students “My real job is to teach you to think.” and some may students figure out on their own that “socialstudies” is not just the name of a subject, but is really about people and society. (I never did, until college.) But that’s not the norm. Missing pieces Worse, we don’t even have “proxies” for many important skills —we just don’t include them at all. Effective acting, relating and accomplishing are rarely, if ever taught (or ever mentioned) in K-12 education. Even our best independent schools — often with long lists of “character skills” they try to build — are severely limited in the scope of the underlying skills they teach —they still focus heavily on “academics,” i.e. the old “core proxies” of math, language arts, science and social studies. But that’s not nearly enough for tomorrow’s kids. “Proxy” education, and limited scope may have been sufficient (and even good) in previous times. Many of the needed underlying skills not taught in school were taught at home, or in the church, or though apprenticeship. The top schools taught “character skills” to the elite. And the actual (as opposed to the underlying) skills and knowledge obtained from the proxies was what many students needed back then, something they could not, in those times, obtain easily, or at all, in other ways. So that combination may have worked in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries — a time when education was much less universal, and the world was a different place. Clearly we had, in those times, “educated” people. But the approach has never worked for all. And it is certainly not the education that will work, and prepare our kids, for today and tomorrow. Imagine if — because we clearly want to teach kids to be alert and focused, and because someone realized that truck driving requires being alert and focused — we decided that every student should spend years learning to drive trucks — starting with vans in elementary school and working their way up to tractor-trailers in high school. And that we required all kids, in order to graduate (so as to demonstrate their focused attention), to handle an 18-wheeler? Ridiculous, of course. But it’s not so far different from what we do now with math, language arts, science and social studies. After much observation and speaking with kids around the world, I believe strongly that the biggest reason kids are dissatisfied with their education today — and are increasingly failing in school and dropping out in large numbers around the world — is less our outdated teaching methods (although they certainly contribute) and far more the fact that what we are asking our kids to do and learn is, for most of them, not teaching them skills they know they need for life and success. Most of what we teach will NEVER be of use to them directly, and is in the curriculum only as an outdated proxy for helping acquire the skills they really need to have. And everyone knows it. So it’s less HOW we teach that’s the real problem, and more WHAT we teach. This is incredibly obvious to most kids, but most adults either can’t see it, or choose not to. Credentials? It is certainly true that having a credential, such as a “diploma” certifying you navigated the math, language arts, science and social studies we now teach at at least a minimal level, is useful for some things in some places. But a shrinking number of kids view mastering the math, language arts, science and social studies we offer today as crucial to their future lives. And unfortunately — despite our increasing need for technical workers and our push to get students interested in STEM careers — the kids are right. No person will be satisfied — in a STEM or any other career — because someone has insisted it was important, or because it teaches them skills “their country needs.” But ask anyone — kid or adult — whether they agree that the ability to think effectively, act effectively, relate effectively and accomplish effectively are critical to success in any field, and you will, I believe, get a positive answer. People know what’s important — so why don’t educators? PISA can certainly rank 14-year olds on their scores on the PISA test. But I submit that it doesn’t measure “education.” Education is far less about “learning subjects” or even acquiring specific skills like mathematical thinking, and far more about people BECOMING: becoming good, capable, flexible people who can maximize their talents and reach their goals. We call that, in English, “becoming educated.” Further. I submit that “education” is, at the highest level, about a particular kind of “becoming.” Education is — or should be — about each person becoming able to think effectively, to act effectively, to relate effectively to others and to accomplish useful things effectively, to the best of their capabilities — regardless of the field they choose to enter. Moreover, I believe none of those categories can be omitted to become an educated person, even though three out of the four are generally omitted from school. Under the main categories of Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment, there are a great many skills and sub-skills to be acquired as part of an education (see further down for the list). But nothing is “above” these four main skills in terms of our educational requirements. Other skills that ought to be acquired — ethics, culture, citizenship, preparation for employment — all are part of, and flow from, acquiring the top-level skills of Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment. Those four skills, I believe, are where we should be focusing our kids’ education and attention, individualizing by passion, and using modern pedagogies and technologies that students understand, relate to, and enjoy. The assumption that education is only—or even mainly—about math, language arts, science and social studies — and that these are the main things our kids should study in school — is a false and deceitful one. Worse, this old assumption is now leading the world, and the education of our youth, in extremely harmful directions. It is time for us to lose the “proxies” and tell our students directly what they really need and what we really want from them. We can—and I believe we must— do this. Their new world has far more variability, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (“VUCA” — Google it) —than ours ever did. Their world’s pace of change is not just faster, but is greatly accelerating —humans have never before experienced such rapidly accelerating change. times to the curriculum, almost all world educators today would agree that the four “core” subjects of math, language arts, science and social studies are the “key” ones. They are the parts of the curriculum that don’t get eliminated, or relegated to after-school programs, when money is short. But mastering the curriculum of math, language arts, science and social studies we teach today, while, of course, still important for some students, does not come anywhere close to preparing ALL our young people sufficiently for their new, changing world. Not only are those four subjects, as we have seen, just proxies for needed underlying skills, but, worse, a great many of the skills all our kids do need for the future are currently missing from our curriculum, especially in the important areas of acting, relating and accomplishing. Essentially, we now focus the bulk of our kids’ valuable attention, during their most “influence-able” years, on wrong things. And this difficult and dangerous situation can’t, and won’t be “fixed” by just adding on a few “21st century skills,” as many currently propose (for reasons I will discuss in a minute.) What’s needed is a wholly new and differently-focused curriculum, one that directs our kids’ attention to the skills they really need, and not to areas that all of them need “only some of”; that directs their attention not just to fields such as STEM, but to the skills that underlie success at all fields. Technology as a “Mask” Many would argue that educators are moving forward in education, by “introducing technology.” Certainly educators are doing this, and it is proceeding with varying, but often accelerating success in many places. The problem though, is that adding technology often masks what we are NOT doing, which is moving forward on curriculum — our deeper, underlying need. “Introducing technology,” like “reforming pedagogy” often gives the appearance of moving forward in educating our youth. But in reality, both are just delivering the old curriculum in new ways.. This is true of almost all the highly-touted new projects: things like Khan Academy and MOOCs, for example — innovative though they may be in some respects — are just new ways of delivering our old curriculum. If done well, introducing technology and reforming pedagogy, can, by themselves, have some positive short-term positive effect on our kids’ education. Long-term, however, those things are only important in addition to making the curricular changes our kids need, certainly not instead of them. Introducing technology and reforming our pedagogy without changing the “core” of what we teach moves our kids’ education very little into the future. In terms of really affecting our kids’ becoming educated, they are, alone, both large wastes of effort and money. I know this to be true because I have been part of both the technology and pedagogy reforms. My first two books were about adding technology (particularly the technology of video games) to education. My next two books are about pedagogy — specifically the switch to Partnering. And in watching those reforms progress (or not progress) I learned this lesson: important as both of those reforms are, they are not the key to a better education. All my experience and instincts tell me the really important problem in education — the one that will, if solved, have by far the most positive impact on the world’s kids — is reforming what we teach. I strongly believe that if we DON’T change what we teach, all the other changes are in vain. So we must stop focusing on changing things that are not the basic problem and then waiting, forlornly, for our kids to get interested in becoming educated. We can do much better. My next two books (currently in progress) — like this article — are about future-oriented education and the curricular reform. To say that our kids do not have to do this — that it is not the best way to prepare them for the world — rankles, often big time. Influenced by our own experience (and perhaps our former teachers’ admonitions) we see math, language arts, science and social studies as important in themselves — rather than as the “proxies” they really are. We, today’s adults, therefore have a great deal of trouble letting these “once-core” subjects go. The World Has Moved On But the world has moved on since today’s adults were educated. We have gone, in only a short time, from the last Pre-Internet generation to the first Internet generation. And — difficult as it may be for some to accept (since we worked so hard to acquire them) — many skills that were hugely important to the pre-Internet generations are now less useful in the world. “Cursive handwriting,” “computation by hand” and “knowing details” are just the beginning of what kids no longer need. But of course they need other things. As society evolves, our curricular needs change. No longer does a person have to know Greek and Latin, or have memorized long passages and tables to either be considered “educated” or to succeed in most fields, as they once did. But many other human skills — long known-about but not part of formal education— have now come to be recognized as crucial for our kids’ future. Action skills, relationship skills and accomplishment skills are among the most important of these “formerly-missing-and-now-recognized –as-necessary” skills. But “official” curriculum is slow to catch up, and today our curriculum is way behind the world. This is partly because of the rapid growth of technology, which many can see, but it is even more because, as technology increases many of our capabilities, there is a concomitant need for more and better “human” skills (something that is often less obvious). Of course, in some parts of the world things are different. There are still places where the power does go down often. But the global trend is clear. Many of the arguments against curricular change are about culture — many people fear losing theirs. But we need to separate “cultural retention” for our kids from what global education requires for them. We must learn to help kids learn to appreciate the cultures they came from without keeping them in the past. We must also understand that no one is suggesting we should drop the “old” subjects entirely, but only that we change the “core” of what we require every student to go though. Math, language arts, science and social studies are still there — and will always be — for every student who needs or wants them. What I am arguing for is putting those subjects lower down in our priorities for all kids, and not requiring the same amount of them for everyone. New Basics, and a New World K-12 Curriculum The issue is that today’s math, language arts, science and social studies curriculum — overstuffed as it is — is far too narrow cope with today’s world. Because of our world’s huge transformation trends — to VUCA, to accelerating change, to extended brains, and to everyone being networked together — we require a new set of “basics” to teach all our kids. What we need is a curriculum that is NOT based just on tradition, or on the past skills of math, language arts, science and social studies surrounded by a limited number of “21st century skills,” but rather a curriculum based on what is our kids need to be successful in the future. Today’s curriculum, designed for an earlier time, cannot provide this — certainly not for everyone. Bear in mind that to design a better curriculum we do NOT have to totally abandon the past — certain math, language arts, science and social studies, of course, ARE still important and can be retained. The issue is, rather, that in our new world, the old skills and subjects are not required in the same way by everybody. And, at the same time, there are far more important skills—many of which are currently not part of our education—that are required by all. A great many fundamental and long-known-about human skills that we don’t now include in our curriculum need to be brought back to the forefront for the future. What if, instead of organizing our education at the top level by the four subjects of math, language arts, science and social studies — and measuring and evaluating our kids only on them (e.g. “How good are you in math? What’s your verbal SAT score?” “What is your country’s PISA ranking in science?”) — we chose a different framework for our education. Suppose we were to organize education—comprehensively from kindergarten to secondary—around four very different “top-level” subjects. What if we organized education around the key things that are actually important to the success of every person in the world? I believe, that if we did this, those four subjects would be the following: Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment Those are the top-level skills that people — any people — need to be good at to have a useful and successful life — no matter what their location, work or interests. “What do you mean by ‘effective’?” you many well ask. The adjective is there, for me, not as a definition (effective takes a huge variety of different forms) but rather as a distinguisher from “ineffective.” Most of us have learned to recognize the distinction between effective and ineffective — although often it’s difficult. As part of their education, our young people need as much practice as we can give them in doing so. So — with the qualifier of “effective” — thinking, acting, relating and accomplishing are the four main subjects of this new curriculum. All students “take” them as their four main subjects for 13 years. They are what students get assessed and graded in. And unlike the subjects of today, the names of those toplevel subjects — Thinking, Acting, Relating and Accomplishing — make it very clear to the students what their education is about, what they should become better at, and on what criteria they will be evaluated. The fourth main subject, “Effective Accomplishment” consists of doing projects in the real world. Small, or local projects and group and individual accomplishments in the early years, and larger, eventually worldwide, projects and accomplishments in later years. The categories of projects will depend on the interests and passions of the particular students, the needs of the community and world, and the skills teachers feel it is in the best interest of individual students to acquire or improve. It can be easily seen that most of the above sub-topics are not today covered, either systematically or at all, in almost any school. It should also be noted that even all of the so-called “21st century skills” proposed comprise only a small fraction of the skills kids need to learn, as do other proposed frameworks such as the so-called “4c’s” (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking). What About Today’s Subjects? Just as every student, today, is better at some subjects than at others, each student will have a somewhat different profile of new curriculum strengths. Knowing whether you are a person who is best at thinking — or at acting — or at building and maintaining relationships — or at accomplishing things in the real world, is far more meaningful than knowing you are better at doing math, language arts, science or social studies. This is certainly true for each student, but it’s also true for their potential employers. Understanding someone’s relative strengths in the areas of thinking, action, relating and accomplishing is really how we all, in our heads, evaluate people. One’s grades in math, language arts, science and social studies — and even one’s personal recommendations and portfolio evaluations — are just more “proxies,” and supporting evidence, for what we really want to know about kids — i.e. how well they think, act, relate and accomplish. Even if you agree that mastering, to the best of your ability, Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment is truly what’s important for success, and you further agree that those four subjects would be good candidates to replace math, language arts, science and social studies at the top level of our curriculum (with the old subjects offered differently to different students) several questions might come to your mind. For one, how central do reading and writing remain? They have been the foundations and underpinning of our curriculum for centuries, and they remain foundational. But it is important to realize two things: Reading and writing are no longer the only foundations. Text is no longer “all.” Technology, especially in the form of video and voice connections, is quickly becoming equally foundational. “Video is the new text,” says consultant mark Anderson. Critical Thinking Mathematical Thinking Scientific Thinking Creative Thinking Problem-Solving Inquiry Skills Argument Skills Design Thinking Systems Thinking Judgment Aesthetics Habits of mind Self-knowledge of one’s own passions and strengths. to all are reading and mathematical thinking. More recently scientific thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving may also be included in this group. But all of the other “thinking” skills, including the extremely important skills of design thinking, systems thinking, judgment, aesthetics, habits of mind, and self-knowledge of one’s own passions and strengths (and, of course, others), are NOT taught systematically as part of our curriculum. And even those areas that are taught are often approached more in terms of “content” than of “thinking.” A result of this approach is that today many of our college teachers complain, frequently that “ I have to teach my students to think.” But college not the time to be starting this — it is probably too late for most. Our kids should be spending a much larger portion of their K-12 time learning, systematically, to think effectively. So “Thinking Effectively” should be a top-level subject for every student. But thinking, you might ask, about WHAT? Many academics argue that thinking has to be “domaingrounded,” and, while there are differences of opinion on the subject, they may very well be right. But which domain doesn’t matter, as long as kids learn to do their thinking well. All of the fundamentals of good thinking can be learned by considering situations and problems in whatever area is of interest to each individual student. There are some things, of course, that we would like all of our kids to think about—ethics, and forms of government, for example. But there are I believe many fewer of these than most think. A key principle in education should be “General skills for all, individual examples for each student.” For example, I recently heard of a math course that begins by analyzing mathematically the question “Am I popular.” While this is important to many young people, other students might have their own questions to analyze mathematically. And all of those same questions can also be analyzed in many other ways as well. So we do not need a textbook full of “officially” “appropriate” or “relevant” problems, because any problem of appropriate scope and level can be used to teach the components of effective thinking. We will never run out of these. The positive result of doing this is that we would focus our students’ attention far less on the subject matter, and far more on the way they approached thinking about it. After taking “Effective Thinking” for 13 years, students would come out able to think effectively about almost any problem or issue in multiple ways — wearing, as Edward DeBono puts it, multiple “hats” or “thinking caps.” Our young people would also be able to recognize which types of thinking were ineffective in particular situations, something that today’s kids are not, for the most part, focused on or good at. So we certainly can — and I believe we must — teach the crucial subject area of “Effective Thinking” more specifically, more systematically, and better than we do today in our curriculum.. But another big part of our educational problem today is that most curricula are ONLY about “thinking.” Other huge domains that are crucial for life and success — particularly acting, relating and accomplishing — are almost entirely missing. But not in this new curriculum. Effective Action Everyone is familiar with people who know lots of things, but can’t do much. One good reason for this is that we hardly ever teach — or don’t teach — effective action in school. But we certainly could. Thanks to Stephen Covey, for example, The “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” have been known and recognized for over a quarter of a century. What justification can there possibly be for our being aware of these incredibly important habits, yet not teaching them, systematically, to our kids? (The habit are: Begin with the end in mind, Do first things first, Be proactive, Seek first to understand, then to be understood, Think win-win, Synergize, and Sharpen the saw.) Having learned them from his books, I use them every day, and try to regularly practice all of them. Our kids could too —but they generally don’t learn, or practice, these habits in class. Ironically, the Covey Institute has developed a curriculum to teach the habits to students, so we even have good ideas about how to do it. This curriculum is used by some schools. But not by most. components of effective action that we could and should be teaching our kids include Positive Mindset, resilience, “grit,” entrepreneurship, innovation, improvisation, breaking down barriers, project management and more. There are experts — and often already developed curricular units — in almost all of these areas. But they are not part of our standard curriculum. Why not? Here’s just one simple example: We often have our kids read, in kindergarten, (in the U.S. at least) the story of The Little Engine That Could. A useful introduction to positive thinking. But then we don’t systematically follow up and build on this by teaching teach the incredible power of a positive mindset (as shown, for example, in the work of Carol Dweck), for the subsequent 12 school years. Or we say to our kids we want them to be resilient, but we don’t teach them resilience over our entire curriculum, even though it’s a skill acquired largely though practice over time. There exist, around the world, curricula for teaching entrepreneurship and creativity, but few of our K12 schools use them. Few schools, if any, include project management anywhere in what they teach, even though it’s a well-established and highly useful discipline, valuable in any walk of life. Again, we could do this. Doing so would be incredibly helpful to our kids — imagine what they could accomplish if we did. Many consider building and maintaining effective relationships to be the most important skill a person can possess. Relationships, of course, do often come up in school — in classrooms, in projects and in literature. Yet how much of our curriculum is devoted to systematically analyzing those relationships, with the goal of making students better at building and maintaining their own effective relationships? The answer is little, if any, despite the fact that the study of relationships is deep and well known. Again, many curricular units on “emotional intelligence” and “social skills” already exist, but are not widely-used. Most teachers do try to help kids deal with one-on-one relationships and issues as they occur in the classroom (although not, generally, as part of the curriculum.) But they could also be helping their students, particularly if it were it in the curriculum, become far more effective at building and maintaining relationships in teams, families, communities, workplaces, and, of course, online. We could also systematically be helping our kids become more effective at skills that help build effective relationships, such as empathy, ethics, politics, citizenship, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Yet again, for almost all of these, there already exist curricula created by various groups. What if we made building and maintaining effective relationship a key pillar of the world’s curriculum? throughout their K-12 years. If we did this, our kids could leave school not just with a transcript of their grades, but with a resume of what they have accomplished in the world. What I am proposing here is a curriculum for the future. Yet you may have observed that up until now I have hardly spoken about technology. Why is that? The answer was provided to me, a few years ago, by a high school student, who said: “You guys [i.e. adults] think of technology as tools. We think of it as a foundation —it underlies everything we do.” Technology’s role in the new curriculum is as a foundation — a support for everything we do. The entire curriculum I propose here should be thought of as bathed in, and supported by technology — which, these days, is rapidly and continually improving. This is a similar foundational role, of course, to that provided by reading and writing — also technologies) — or the last several hundred years. That foundation is now giving way to a much broader technological foundation for education. While the four overarching “core” skills of the new curriculum — Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment — remain the same for all students, technology enables each student, every day, to do individualized work on each of those four key skills, as well as to do many old things faster and better. Importantly, however, even though it is a curriculum for the future, the new curriculum does not focus primarily on technology. Its goal, rather, is to use technology — in as powerful and up-to-date a fashion as possible — to help improve our students’ becoming better at Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment. only our very first baby steps. Technology’s capabilities will continue to improve rapidly. Soon technology will be doing a great job on the content side. But technology can’t, and shouldn’t, do everything in education. For one thing, a great many —perhaps all — of the new skills and sub-skills included in the new curriculum require nuance — nuance that, for now, only a human can provide. Educators must work with technology to assure that the technology does what it can do best — e.g. provide lots of differentiated and individualized examples — and that humans do what they do best, —e.g. help students understand and interpret those examples in all their human complexity We also need good teachers for the extremely important things that technology can’t do at all. These include motivating our students deeply, respecting our students, empathizing with them, and encouraging their individual passions. Motivation, respect, empathy and passion do not — and will not (at least for the foreseeable future) — come from machines. Those are the human traits needed for a successful education. They are the things we require our human teachers to provide. And additionally good teachers are required for teaching our students to teach themselves, deliberately and well, for the rest of their lives, as they will have to do. The training and preparation (and licensing) of teachers for a curriculum organized around Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment, will, of course, have to be different from that of today. Most teachers will no longer be specialists in math, language arts, science and social studies, but rather they will become specialists in the four new top-level areas of: Thinking, Action, Relationships and Accomplishment. You might want to reflect a moment. as a reader, on which of these four new domains YOU might be interested in specializing in and/or teaching. What would draw you there? Will it work? “Interesting, but will it work?” is something that will be asked by many (by funders especially, but also by educators and parents.) Will it work, importantly, not just in the small sense of raising achievement scores (we would need new tests for this), but in the larger sense of making the world, over time, a better place, with better-educated people. The only honest answer is “we don’t know.” But since our current education is now failing, we need alternatives — something we don’t currently have enough of. There are, however, many reasons for optimism; reasons to think that this new curriculum, or something like it, will work, in some useful sense, for a great many more kids than does today’s curriculum of math, language arts, science and social studies. Will it work for all? This is proposed as a “curriculum for all.” So a key question is whether this new curriculum will work — and work better — not just for the top ten percent of our kids (almost anything will work for them) but also for the remaining 90 percent, as well as for kids who are not today receiving any formal education at all. Because the strongest arguments for this curriculum are (1) that it is both more useful and (2) that it is passion-based, there are strong indications that it could. In the end, any curriculum is only as good as its implementation, and this is never uniform. Teachers will have to be trained, and become good at implementing this new approach. Education, like democracy, takes many forms, and has implementations that are very different, so, in all likelihood, will this curriculum. It is imperative that we do think about and try new approaches to our curriculum — approaches that are different and more suited to our world and kids of today and tomorrow than the single one we now have. My argument is not that this is the ultimate alternative but, rather, that we need alternatives. This new curriculum is offered in the spirit of this need for experimentation and change. Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment, acquiring those skills through students’ individual passions, and applying them to life through real-world accomplishments will be a better approach than focusing everyone on math, language arts, science and social studies. One thing we can say with certainty is that this will not harm our kids. It will clearly benefit many — and I believe all. How to Name It What should this new curriculum, based on Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment, learned and expressed through individual passions and real-world accomplishments be called? I still don’t have the final answer to that question. I have in the past referred to it as “eTARA” (the acronym for Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment) and as ”The UPLIFT Curriculum.” Neither of these is fully satisfying. It may turn out to have many names, depending on who implements it. Whatever it is called, a key role of this new curriculum will be to bring to an end the endless chase for higher grades, and better test scores in the narrow domains of math, language arts, science and social studies. There is no longer a need to chase those false goals, because it is now clear that those “old” subjects are really just proxies for the real supporting skills that lie under them. We must now focus on, and teach our kids the underlying skills directly. we have new and better measures of where kids are succeeding at the things that really count, our new rankings will look very different. The Goal of Education Underlying our need to change the curriculum is a new—or revised—understanding, not just of our changed context, but of what education is for in our society—what its goal is. If asked “What is the goal of education?” many would answer it is “learning.” “Learning” is what we try measure in our assessments. We often refer to our students as “learners.” Almost all the books found in the “education section” of bookstores today — online and off — are about some type or method of “learning.” But learning is NOT the real goal of education — certainly not any more. Today “learning” is only a MEANS to the real goal of education, which is “BECOMING”: becoming a good, capable, and flexible person, who will help make the world a better place. “Becoming” is — or should be — the real goal of education in the world, the goal we pass on to our children. And until everyone realizes this, accepts it, and acts on it, much of the huge amount of time and money the world now spends on education will remain, essentially, wasted. It is my great hope is that by moving to something like the new curriculum described here, and by focusing our young people, therefore, on the “true” basics of Effective Thinking, Effective Action, Effective Relationships and Effective Accomplishment, acquired through individual passions and applied to helping the world — rather than focusing kids on what we teach kids today — the world will take giant steps toward the goal of effectively educating all its people — and, therefore, towards making the world a better place for all of us, and our posterity, to live. Report "The World Needs a New Curriculum"

2019-04-24T08:36:21Z

https://kipdf.com/the-world-needs-a-new-curriculum_5b38c420097c4793168b45ce.html

Nearly twenty years ago, 3Com Corporation launched a new industry by developing the first technology for networking personal computers. Today, 3Com is a company that maintains its leadership role with innovative solutions spanning the scope of communications. From the global enterprise to the neighborhood business, from the Internet point of presence to the home office, 3Com systems and products put computing resources within easy reach of millions of users worldwide. 3Com combines cutting edge research and development with world-class manufacturing facilities, and international service and support. It began with the seed of an idea. In 1902, the heartland needed folks to embrace new advances in agriculture. But leaders with open minds, strong hearts and willing hands weren’t in abundance. By empowering the next generation to lead, 4/H took root. Grew kids who are confident and strong. And capable enough to find the answer. Who stick to a job until the job gets done. 4/H has kept right on growing. And giving back moves entire communities forward. When you think about it, it makes sense that we began with farming. Welcome to Advantage Technology Incorporated and to the excitement and challenges of a growing business. As a new employee, your job is important to us. Your success is an important factor in the success of this company. This software is designed to offer you accurate information about company policies and procedures, benefit packages, performance reviews, training, and education opportunities. Advantech offers a complete selection of full height, fault resilient rack mount and wallmount chassis for mission critical applications. A complete range of compact, fanless, and rugged embedded box computers offer a simple, modularized design for any environment. The benefits and services available to you as a member of the Select Choice plan have been designed with your personal health in mind. Our goal is to provide you and your family with convenient, comprehensive health services, and to protect you from the high cost of both routine preventive care and major illness. Please keep your Select Choice Member Card with you. The number on the card is your member number. You may be asked this number when seeking services from Select Choice providers, and when calling Aetna Health Plans with questions relating to your coverage. As health care costs have escalated, so has the demand for AFLAC's products. To meet that need, we have continued to develop new insurance products and to enhance existing policies. At the same time, we have expanded our distribution system of agencies and sales associates. We have also aggressively promoted the AFLAC brand through effective advertising. Congratulations, you just bought Allstate Homeowners Insurance. And now, if your home or property suffers a covered loss or is damaged, you'll be covered, and that's a good feeling. However there are some things that can't be replaced, so that's why it's is important to prevent these damages from occurring in the first place. Here, you'll learn what steps you can take to make your home safe and secure. • How secure do you feel about the future of your job? • Could you use some additional income? • Are you completely debt-free? • Would you like more time with your family? • If you were disabled today, could you maintain your lifestyle for 6 months? • Are you saving enough for your children’s or grandchildren’s education? • Are you living in the house and the neighborhood of your dreams? • Are you secure for a retirement of comfort? • Earn unlimited income with flexible working hours. • Get paid in the future for the work you do now. • Work from home and spend more time with your family and friends. • Take control of your financial future and inspire others. Sound good? Then let me tell you about an income opportunity like no other. • that can offer you the greatest Opportunity for success. Our company's vision is focused on your success. Amica Life Insurance Company was incorporated in 1968 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amica Mutual Insurance. Our goal was to further broaden the types of financial protection available to Amica policyholders. We believe in a consistent, conservative philosophy of investment, which translates into a strong and stable company for our policyholders. Amica Life has never invested in real estate, mortgages, or junk bonds. Over 98% of the company’s bonds are investment grade. Careful selection and underwriting of business have resulted in extremely low mortality experience and claims costs. We believe Amica policyholders are well-informed individuals capable of making their own decisions. We sell life insurance with a no-pressure approach. Our job is to guide policyholders to the type and amount of insurance that will provide the necessary protection. We strive to provide quality, value-oriented products. Our salaried representatives are trained to help you answer life insurance questions. You can count on receiving the same consistent, high level of service that has distinguished the Amica name. Apple Computer began with a simple idea: That the power of computing should be available and accessible to everyone. On that premise, the personal computer revolution was launched. Our vision of empowering the individual remains the driving force behind Apple, and we continue to deliver information tools that enhance the way people work, learn, and play. Apple has grown by broadening its scope beyond the desktop computer to encompass software, printers and peripherals, portable computers, and beyond. Apple's products are designed to work the way people do, allowing them to creatively explore and share ideas. This innovative approach has resulted in the sale of more than 20 million APPLE MACINTOSH systems. Millions of people are diagnosed with cancer every year. This disease hampers the prospects of many for a long and full life. At Aventis, we offer innovative drugs for the treatment of common cancers, such as breast or lung. Our scientists are utilizing new technologies, including gene therapy and immunology to develop new agents for the treatment of other cancers, such as head, neck and gastric. At Aventis, our goal is to develop more effective treatments for cancer; ones that give people a better chance to make their dreams come true. Everyone wants to live life freely. Unfortunately, for more than 5 million people around the world that’s just not possible. Simple movement that most of us take for granted is quite painful to them. They suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. At Aventis, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, our scientists are combining their in-depth know-how with new technologies to develop more innovative anti-rheumatic treatments. One of our most important goals is to fight the causes of rheumatoid arthritis, not only its symptoms – so that people are free to enjoy whatever moves them. When you first open a Client Interaction, you will be on the Identification Page. This is the default page for all client interactions. Please confirm the following information – Client Name, Date of Birth, and Social Security Number – before continuing. As you have learned, the easiest and most efficient way to open a New Customer Session is to swipe the customer’s pin card. If the customer does not have their pin card, you can use their Checking or Savings Account number – but you must also ask for additional identification. In this example, you’ll explore the structure of Trades. First you’ll click through set of real portfolios. Then you’ll open a new window showing the first level in the portfolio hierarchy. Click ‘Structure’ to open the details. Baxter Industries has made significant progress since it announced last November a series of strategic actions to reduce costs, improve shareholder value, and extend its leadership position worldwide. The actions address the dramatic changes underway in the U.S. health-care system, and accelerate growth of the company’s medical-technology businesses worldwide. Baxter has reorganized its U.S. sales force into cross-divisional, regional teams. This customer-driven initiative establishes a sales structure that mirrors the emerging health-care networks, and a team-selling approach that provides customers with one primary point of contact. The cost pressures on Baxter’s U.S. hospital customers translate directly to the company as the country’s largest distributor of medical products. Baxter’s U.S. medical-products sales make up about half of the company’s total sales volume. But the changing environment also offers opportunities, in part because Baxter has invested heavily in the last three years in programs to help hospitals reduce their costs. Cumulatively, these programs saved U.S. hospitals more than $200 million last year. Baxter has more products than any other supplier. Variety, velocity, and volume of data are growing exponentially. 80% of data is now from "unstructured" sources. Email, webpages, documents, multimedia, and social media are all contributing to the data tornado that you're struggling to maintain, manage and mine for value. Helitech has and remains to be an industry leader in foundation repair and waterproofing solutions to residential homeowners for over 25 years. While they’ve expanded into 5 states, their still a family owned business that takes pride in providing long term, quality solutions to every homeowner. Business today is all about communications. Needless to say, a single networked imaging device is not always the best way to facilitate that communication-especially if you plan to grow your business. That's why we offer a full range of intelligent Multi Function Center solutions designed to optimize the productivity of any person or department in your company. More than print, fax, copy and scan, we have some models with features like duplexing, networkability and expandable paper tray capability. Your online business is growing. That’s a good thing. But as orders increase, so do the bottlenecks in business processes. To keep growing, you need to do a better job at managing inventory, processing & fulfilling orders and keeping your customers happy – all while expanding into new channels. Creating innovative, high-performance golf equipment is a challenge. It calls for a profound understanding of the game and those who play it. It requires intelligence, imagination and deep R&D resources, and above all, it demands a relentless commitment to be the best. You have to resist following and insist on leading. That’s what Callaway does. Citi turns 200 this year. So why should that be of any interest to you? There have been some good days and some difficult ones. But through it all we’ve persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. And the Panama Canal that made our world a smaller place. We supported the Marshall Plan that helped Europe regain its strength, and pioneered the ATM so you can get cash when you want it. It’s been our privilege to back ideas like these and the leaders behind them. So why should our anniversary matter to you? Because for 200 years we’ve been helping people and their ideas move from ambition to achievement. And the next great idea could be yours. Cities are increasingly becoming recognized as the locus of economic and social development. The world has reached a tipping point, where half the world's population is already living in cities. Nearly 2 billion new urban residents are expected in the next 20 years, 90% of them in developing countries. Millions of pounds of good, edible food are thrown away each year by New York City food businesses. At the same time, an estimated 1.5 million people are hungry, one third of them children. City Harvest is the link between those who have so much and those who have too little. City Harvest is committed to feeding hungry people in New York City using a variety of innovative, practical and cost-effective methods. Our primary approach is to rescue food that otherwise would be wasted and deliver it to those who serve the hungry. City Harvest strives to be a model for others to fight hunger in their communities. What started in 1941, as a single hot dog cart in Los Angeles, with first-day receipts of $14.75- has grown to one of the largest companies in the United States, operating and franchising quick-service restaurants with systemwide sales that topped $3.16 billion last year. Today, CKE Restaurants, Inc., based in Santa Barbara, Calif., operates the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. brands through its subsidiaries, franchisees and licensees. From it's rich heritage, Coach continues to maintain the highest standards for materials and workmanship. Coach’s exceptional work force remains committed to carefully upholding the principles of quality and integrity that define the company. We attribute the prominence of the Coach brand to the unique combination of our original American attitude and design, our heritage of fine leather goods and custom fabrics, our superior product quality and durability and our commitment to customer service. Let's get started with an overview of conflicts of interest. The simplest way to understand conflicts of interests, is to remember that we all have a duty always act in the interests of the company, and NOT for our own personal benefit. Do not enter into situations where your actions might create a conflict, either actual OR potential, between personal gain, and company obligations. These are called 'Conflicts of Interest." If a conflict of interest arises, please disclose it immediately and let others decide how to proceed. Corporate training videos often deliver confusing messages, or simply bore employees. It doesn’t have to be that way. In the next hour, you’ll learn all you need to know to produce a corporate training video that'll both entertain and educate. All of us here at DataPlex welcome you to our website in which we attempt to distill the essence of what we are all about ... helping our customers improve their use of disparate, complex and ever-changing technologies. In a nutshell, we increase their "tech worth" by evolving, integrating or expanding their existing systems and by strategically deploying new, state-of-the-art platforms. Davidson Inc. is a leading publisher and distributor of multimedia software for both the home and school markets. The company is internationally renowned for its award-winning consumer titles, such as the Blaster series, which has sold over 3 million copies. In the school market, Davidson is best known for interactive multimedia systems including Story Club, English Express, and the upcoming Vital Links. Vital Links is a multimedia U.S. history system for the middle grades being developed by Davidson, Addison-Wesley, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education via a grant from the states of California, Florida, and Texas. What you need to know. In 2008, the dominant customers in the U.S. and the world will be consumers age 50 and older. Regardless of your industry or sector, you could prosper by focusing on these aging consumers and understanding their evolving needs. change over the years and how your business can serve them best. Medicine has advanced dramatically over the past 30 years. In many cases, the medicine of the future is still being tested with the same clinical trial infrastructure used in the 1990s. Technology has evolved – so why haven’t clinical trials? Secure digital technology has the potential to improve, enhance, and in some cases reinvent the way clinical trials are conducted. How does a small, young company beat an industry giant on its own turf? It works like this: Big players focus on sustaining innovation, upgrading existing products and services to attract higher-paying customers. Disruptive innovation creates new markets and reshapes existing ones. To achieve growth in a fast-changing world, you want to be a disruptor. Don’t be disrupted. The Division of Marketing Practices responds quickly and decisively to the rapidly changing world of fraudulent marketing practices. It enforces federal consumer protection laws by filing actions in federal district court on behalf of the Commission to stop scams; prevent scam artists from repeating their fraudulent schemes in the future; freeze their assets; and obtain compensation for scam victims. The Division also files administrative cases with the Commission to stop these scams. New Dove Face Essential Nutrients Pillows are revolutionary. Add water, and they foam with a nutrient-enriched lather. The textured side removes dull skin. The other side gently cleans new skin. Leaving your face glowing with health. They're a lot of care in one little package. Learn more at www.dove.com. Let's transition away from the Design Center and make our way to the Sales Counter. While the visual aspects of the Sales Counter are not going to generate quite as many "wow's" from our customers that the Design Centers will - making sure they are kept clean and organized is very important to appealing to our customer's perception that frequent the Sales Counter - namely the Contractors. The Counter Sales staff need to be diligent about keeping the counters themselves cleared and neat. Point of Purchase displays are supplied with important information and should only be placed in appropriate locations on the counter. Making sure the floors are kept clean and free of debris - especially since the warehouse is very near the Sales Counter - also requires diligence. Stocked merchandise placed around the Sales Counter like caulk displays, Care and Maintenance products, tools and accessories as well as transition strips all need to be kept properly stocked and neatly organized. Most of the orders are placed at the Sales Counter and as a result most of the payments get processed there as well. We need to make sure those areas where that kind of money is handled are kept clean. Our compensation plan is designed to support our vision, values, and growth objectives. This plan allows us to win and retain key talent to support our growth and help us best succeed as an organization. The key to our compensation package is performance. We pay people differently based on their individual skills, experience, and performance, as well as company results. Enron Corp., the world’s leading natural gas company, today put its Teesside power plant into full commercial operation and brought itself one step closer to becoming the world’s first natural gas major. Brought in on time, on budget, and with record-setting speed, the gas-fired cogeneration plant is producing 1,875 megawatts of electricity and steam for customers across the U.K. The $1.2 billion facility is by far Enron’s most impressive cogeneration installation to date, although Enron also has other projects in various stages of development elsewhere in the U.K. and Europe, in Central and South America, the Pacific Rim, Asia, and the United States. Finding new ways to solve environmental problems is nothing new to us. In fact, that’s how we got started. Thirty years ago, we were [Environmental Defense was] just a small group of friends living on Long Island. Lawyers and scientists by profession, we were united by a shared concern for the natural world. When we learned that beautiful birds, who had graced our island for centuries, were suddenly unable to reproduce, we knew we had to do something. Fashion you relish. Quality you expect. Service you can depend on. Furnishings you can afford. Choices galore. This is the colorful image of Ethan Allen we want consumers to know. The wide spectrum of our image is expressed in many ways: through our galleries, our advertising, and our team of professionals who represent Ethan Allen. But is our image clearly visible to consumers? How can we ensure that Ethan Allen’s true colors shine through? Building a strong image that withstands the test of time takes imagination, innovation, and participation. Those who have succeeded in maintaining a colorful, appealing image have followed a simple rule. In 1994, Ethyl entered into a long-term supply agreement with The Associated Octel Company Limited of London, under which Octel provides Ethyl with lead compounds. The contract with Octel allowed Ethyl to cease all production of lead compounds. At the same time, Ethyl is distributing for Octel any of its lead compounds that are shipped in bulk using Ethyl’s excellent worldwide shipping, storage, and delivery system. The use of lead continues to be phased down in world markets, with the increasing reliance on automotive emission-control technology requiring unleaded fuel. Market forces reshaping the petroleum additives industry underlie several important trends. As original equipment manufacturers strive to comply with emissions and fuel-economy regulations, they issue more stringent and frequently changing new-product performance specifications. Resulting trends include demand for technically superior, higher quality, better-performing, and environmentally safer fuels and lubricants; shorter product life cycles; further globalization of the industry and its downstream OEM and oil-company customers. Two other forces exert pressures on profitability and result in downsizing. After completing your timesheet, hit the Next button and the Expense Report screen appears. This screen allows you to add any expenses that you might have incurred during your current timesheet. Mileage and expenses can be changed by hitting the plus and minus buttons. For a manufacturer: Visibility, Performance and Predictability are paramount to success. But how do industry professionals in sewn products manufacturing meet the challenges of reducing cycle times, increasing productivity, and delivering greater quality at lower costs? And before it you must kneel. and pay you with a promise. And you want to make it work. But we’ll put it out of reach. The Market’s going to crash. So we need to hoard some cash. So we’ll get the working stiff to post our massive bail. And foreclose on their their homes. Is none of our concern. Cause we’re just too big to fail. For over 100 years Florian Papp has offered only the finest antiques and works of art, which covers a multitude of periods and styles from around the world. Browse our web site. They are updated regularly, and contain all of our pieces as well as recent acquisitions. We value the craftsmanship and design of centuries past, and we make it available to you with a little help from the future. 1201.3.2. Application and Fee Deposit. Application for a Permit for moving a building or structure shall be in writing on a form prescribed by the Building Official and in accordance with approved City procedures. Each application shall be accompanied by a Permit fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) and a deposit of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for cost of processing the application in accordance with this section. If the application results in a Permit being issued, the one hundred dollars ($100.00) shall be refunded, but the one hundred dollars ($100.00) cost deposit shall be retained to cover cost of processing the application and no portion of the one hundred dollars ($100.00) cost deposit shall be refunded to the applicant. On large industrial sites, many sources of 2D & 3D information co-exist and are used by specialist software and suitably skilled users. Engineers and maintenance departments need to be able to rely on as-built data like Terrestrial Laser Scans, 3D Models, Panoramic images and annotations. - and with a higher level of quality. Field data is acquired and validated in a continuous process by the 3D measurement service. SITE-SPOT is designed for frequent updates and accommodates your laser scan history. Authorized users are able to navigate through the 3D virtual environment. Clever tools create value by simplifying daily operational processes. - additionally, users have access to an advanced query system to select and view model data in both 2D and 3D. Join some of the leading industrial sites in the world by improving your digital asset information with SITE-SPOT. Visit fugrositespot.com for more information and request a demonstration. Although the controlled use of ionizing radiation is widespread and highly beneficial, employees may regard its potential for harm too casually. Most exposures are harmless, but above certain levels, ionizing radiation can be very dangerous. The purpose of this video is to increase your knowledge of ionizing radiation and to help you develop safe work habits. When working with ionizing radiation technology, you’re the person most responsible for your safety. If you're watching this you might be dealing with some kind of computer problem; Networking issues, a virus your afraid to touch, a piece of software that refuses to install. Whatever it is; it stinks. But we have some good news. You can get this problem taken care of and prevent problems still to come with your own personal Geek Squad Agent on call 24/7. It’s called Geek Squad Tech support and it will cover three PCs, Macs, or Tablets no matter where you bought them. In 1997, The Gillette Company embarked upon an extraordinary path when it awarded a gift of five million dollars to a strategic joint venture of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Massachusetts General Hospital to establish The Gillette Centers for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care. The Gillette gift, which is not just for bricks and mortar, is an investment in fundamental research and innovative therapies for early detection, prevention, and cure of women’s cancers. This investment is meant to serve families well beyond the Boston area, and it is the Company’s hope that when the cure for women’s cancers is found, it will be the result of the world-class research being conducted at The Gillette Centers for Women’s Cancers. Zantac was the largest selling pharmaceutical product in the world for the seventh consecutive year. Revenue growth of 20% was achieved during the year, aided by the development of alternative dosage forms and new indications. Its contribution to total group sales remained unchanged at 44%. The treatment of milder forms of peptic acid disease offers a further growth opportunity for Zantac. Our recently announced intention to form a joint venture with Warner-Lambert Company to develop, seek approval for, and market over-the-counter (OTC) versions of Glaxo prescription medicines should enable the value of Zantac in the market sector to be realized. Google Analytics gives you rich insights into your website’s traffic and marketing effectiveness. Powerful, flexible, and easy-to-use features let you reach your customers in entirely new ways. Forging our future requires the courage to explore new dimensions. And to increase our competitive advantage, Greiner’s management is focusing its energies on developing the firm’s capabilities in emerging new markets. Specifically, we have chosen three areas which we believe will have the greatest potential for financial and technological gain. These are multi-model transportation facilities, the Asian marketplace, and public/private transportation ventures. Within this anual report, you will see some of the strides we have made in developing these markets and see the magnitude of these new dimensions and the potential they represent for future growth. Right now you're facing one of the most important decisions you'll make for your company. Choosing the right retirement benefits for employees can be difficult even for the most experienced business person. With so much on the line, it's important to select a company like Hartford Life Insurance Company. We have the experienced people who can help simplify the complexities of a qualified plan, a well-designed program to make sponsoring a retirement plan easy, including an array of investment choices with solid performance histories - all at a very competitive price. When you choose to team up with Hartford Life, you'll get our trademark service excellence. We'll provide you and your employees world class investment choices, customer service, and education materials. We offer your Pension Administrator electronic links to your participant-level investment data easily and efficiently. We'd like to deliver for you as well, so we're pleased to present this proposal for our premier defined contribution program. Our program offers the solid foundation you would expect from an industry leader: a wide array of investment choices, customer service support, timely and accurate recordkeeping and reporting, the latest technology, including internet access, effective employee communication and competitive pricing. One of the most important measures in physics is velocity. Velocity is not just speed – it is the speed of an object in a calculated direction. Precise. Focused. Razor sharp. Velocity is… power in motion. At HealthyPlace.com, we believe the more you understand about Schizophrenia, the more likely you are to get the full benefit of treatment. We want to help you learn as much as you can about this devastating illness and to offer you the support you need to begin treatment. With HighFi, IT teams program networks in real-time to ensure the highest quality for business apps. IT operations serve ever-growing number of devices without worry, by predicting network issues before they actually happen. By adapting to the ever-changing nature of all things connected, IT security offers the best defense for BYOD and IoT. As we embark on our next one hundred years we reflect on the moment. A moment that belongs to each of us. It’s in this moment that we might choose to step forward. A call that rings out inside each of us. into who we could be. One century ago our founders listened. And they heard a thunderous pulse so clear. Here at Hoechst Celanese, we make chemicals. The chemicals we make are used in turn by other companies to make the products we come in contact with every day. Hello, I'm (insert name), and for the next few minutes, we're going to take a look at just some of the many ways Hoechst Celanese Chemical Group's products are used to make the things that touch our lives. We all know that matter is made up of tiny particles called molecules. Every drop contains about a quadrillion billion molecules. In turn, molecules are made up of atoms. Water molecules for instance contain two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. All molecules have a characteristic shape. For instance, H2O molecules are triangular. What then is a chemical reaction? It is a rearrangement of molecules. When chemicals react, molecules break apart and rearrange, sometimes combining with bits and pieces of other molecules to become new substances. That's what happens to most of the molecules we produce: they're split apart, broken into pieces, and converted into new molecules. Customer service has always been important at The Home Depot. Without customers there wouldn’t be a Home Depot. Today when we say customers first, we mean helping customers first. Helping people as if they were friends or family. Helping people in a way that builds customer relationships and strengthens our foundation of service. Introducing First, a blueprint for making excellent service a reality in The Home Depot stores. First is a specific set of behaviors that tells us how to help customers, it will be part of every customer interaction. First stops talking about service and actually makes it happen. Service that makes customers come back to us year after year. Are you ready? The first letter of First is F and it means find the customer and help the customer find the product. Actively seek customers out and take charge of helping them find what they need. One, find the customer. If you’re not tasking don’t sit back and wait for customers to find you, actively look for and find them. It’s not often a two-hour ride lasts a lifetime. Talk to most motorcyclists, and they’ll tell you how one ride can get inside of you, and stay with you forever. This same phenomenon happens on another level at every Ride for Kids event. Each ride works to improve the lives of kids who have been diagnosed with childhood brain tumors by raising funds for medical research. Our progress is encouraging. In 1984, a child diagnosed with a brain tumor was expected to live only five more months. Today, medical advancements have allowed that child to live another three years. With Honda’s support, more than 10,000 motorcyclists devote their time, money and energy to the Ride for Kids program every year. Yet everyone’s goal of finding the cause of childhood brain tumors, and discovering a cure, remains many rides away. Which is why Honda continues to nurture this program. Because, while the ride lasts only a day, it leaves us with hope that last a lifetime. Honda. The power of dreams. Like many people, you may have discovered that your place to do business is right in your own backyard. The IBM PS/1 is perfect for you. It runs the software small businesses need. The PS/1 is expandable, so it can grow as your business grows, even outside your home. And because it’s from IBM, it’s compatible with most business computers. But the PS/1 fits into your life, too. It’s remarkably easy to set up and use. Best of all, it comes with the service and support you can only expect from IBM. The first meeting with the client is more than a get-acquainted session... The business at hand for you at this meeting is not to find out about the subject, but to find out about the videotape itself. Don't be surprised if the client wants to launch right in to talking about the subject. However, this will do you little good until you know about the tape. So as soon as possible, swing the conversation around to the four P's of the videotape: People, Purpose, Presentation, and Production. It is not a good idea to write the narration first then think up ideas to illustrate it. For one thing, this puts the emphasis on the less effective part of the video and reduces the more effective to a second-class status. Secondly, when explaining things in words, we tend to make our explanations more universal by making them more abstract. Thus, you will put yourself in the difficult position of trying to use moving pictures, the most concrete form of expression, to illustrate abstractions. Let the visuals drive the script and keep everything firmly rooted in the concrete. Welcome to your innovative future with Infogroup. Infogroup is the fuel behind the growth of thousands of small businesses and over 400 Fortune 500 companies. For over 35 years, we've been helping companies increase sales and customer loyalty through our high value data, market intelligence, and innovative solutions. We're passionate about fueling our clients' business growth, and work tirelessly to help our clients connect and engage with their most valuable audiences. The future has never looked brighter. For more than five years, the ScanEagle by Insitu has distinguished itself as one of the most capable, cost-effective, and dependable systems available for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Now, with the Integrator, Insitu has created the next generation UAS—combining key strengths of the ScanEagle: Long Endurance, High-Performance, Heavy-fuel propulsion, and Runway Independence (without the risks associated with nets), with technologies enabling a new paradigm in UAS payload capability and operational flexibility. Built for both the present and the future, the Integrator’s open software architecture is a force multiplier. Standardized electro-mechanical and payload data interfaces provide for rapid integration and deployment of large single or multiple payloads. With multi-mission capability in a single aircraft, the Integrator can be configured to handle the most complex operations with a single sortie—imaging, intelligence, tracking, communication relay, all independently or in concert. Flexibility that allows the operator to adapt, overcome, and succeed in the most dynamic mission environments. With Integrator, technology makes the difference and Insitu leads the way. Integrators suite of Insitu payloads is another example of focused technology benefiting the mission. The single turret’s electro optical and dual infrared sensors provide critical imagery, night and day, while adding ranging and visible cueing to forces on the ground. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) enables broad-area searches by imagery analysts, to detect man-made objects obscured to the naked eye. —all can be deployed on the Integrator. Just as critical is the direct support to those who need it most: Cutting-edge communications payloads securely relay tactical information and provide encrypted digital video to a forward unit’s Rover 4 or Rover 5 remote video terminal. Insitu has been the class leader in heavy-fuel propulsion, fielding in theatre successfully since early 2008. Integrator carries forward this tradition of excellence and leading from the front with its electronic fuel injected heavy fuel engine. Now in flight trials, this powerplant reduces logistics footprint and costs by use of a common commodity fuel. EFI/HFE also improves reliability and performance by utilizing a controlled and standardized fuel, implementing finer engine control and health monitoring via EFI, and creating an engine that dynamically adapts to its operating environment. Cutting-edge technology makes the Integrator by Insitu the most versatile UAS in its class—prepared today for land and maritime expeditions around the globe. The Integrator by Insitu—advanced technology to support your mission. You enrich the lives of others. You spark love, hope and pride. You touch the world around you in many subtle, yet enduring ways. You may not think your life is extraordinary. We do. Inspire is our tribute to the extraordinary strength and spirit of today’s woman. We know. From our 105 years of making women beautiful. This video will cover a wide array of services our company offers. To begin, Inspire’s fragrance line is radiant, with jasmine and jonquil from the south of France. The world’s first tubing-free insulin pump, the ********insulin pump System is discreet and durable, wireless and incredibly easy to use. With just two user-friendly parts that communicate wirelessly, the ********************************* simplifies insulin pump therapy. The waterproof Pod integrates the pumping mechanism, cannula, needle, and insulin reservoir into one wearable unit. The PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager) wirelessly programs insulin delivery, calculates suggested doses, and has a convenient, built-in ***********blood glucose meter. Two decades of applications experience have combined to produce the Series 9000, the first automatic inspection system to offer camera or laser sensors. Now, in a single system, you have a choice in the type of technology best suited to your application. These include 100% inspection at full line speeds, real time alarms and reporting, stored product codes, data link to other computers and networks, computer-controlled thresholds, tandem configurations, multiple sensors for wide webs, programmable Cross-Direction Lanes with dead zones, edge tracking for product wander, and optional streak detection processor. Intense 22 Fitness offers a highly efficient system of exercise developed from scientific research rather than the latest trends. Our scientifically designed exercise protocol uses computer monitored exercise equipment and a state of the art body composition analysis machine, as well as our own highly advanced online nutritional program and cutting edge nutritional products. You will find everything you need at Intense 22 Fitness to achieve your health and fitness goals. Intense 22 Fitness. A Personal Training Experience. Every year, companies around the world spend in excess of thirty billion dollars on market and consumer research. Companies like Nielsen, Kantar, IMS, Gfk, ipsos and Synovate have become global knowledge powerhouses by conducting research into consumer behavior for more than 60 years. The thirty billion dollar research industry is driven by the need for information. Information about consumers, how they act, what they like, when they spend, how they shop and why they think the way they do has led to an insatiable need for information. The more data, the more accurate the data, and the more intelligence that can be derived, the more valuable the information. Consumer surveys, mystery shoppers and casual human observation provide brief glimpses into the psyche of the consumer. When you add ISA Promotion in Motion to your brand’s marketing mix, you’ll reach more customers and move more product than with any other in-store communications vehicle. And you’ll gain an important and immediate edge on your competition to help build brand share. To demonstrate just how effective a promotional tool our electronic signs are, we hired an independent research firm to conduct a six-month pilot test and measure the effectiveness of our in-store electronic displays. Here’s what happened: on average, thirty-six brands participating in ISA Promotion in Motion increased their sales by a whopping 31% over the six-month test. Now more than ever, companies need to inspire their business-critical audiences. They need to reach out to customers and give their employees a sense of purpose. And sensitive frequent and effective communication is the key. At Jack Morton Worldwide, we create experiences that inspire customers and employees. Face-to-face meetings and events. Web and satellite broadcasts. Corporate and retail environments. Experiences that increase understanding, loyalty, performance and results. Our mission is to inspire your business community. We offer our expertise, our global network and our support. Helped by a $90 billion government stimulus package, the performance of Japan’s stock market has been spectacular in the past 12 months, nailing down a 40% return for investors. Bid Japan sayonara? Not according to Stephen Silverman, head of the Merrill Lynch Pacific Fund, which has scored a 546% total return over the past ten years. That makes it the champ of all mutual funds. Silverman, a former U.S. Marine Corps first lieutenant who commanded a missile battery, keeps about 65% of his assets in Japan, with the rest scattered throughout Asia. He tells Fortune’s Joshua Mendes which Japanese investment targets he has in his sights. Welcome. The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum is dedicated to the memory of our nation's thirty-fifth President, and to all those, who through the art of politics, seek a new and better world. Our purpose is to advance the study and understanding of President Kennedy's life and career and the times in which he lived; and to promote a greater appreciation of America's political and cultural heritage, the process of governing and the importance of public service. We accomplish our mission by: • preserving and making accessible the records of President Kennedy and his times; • promoting open discourse on critical issues of our own time; and • educating and encouraging citizens to contribute, through public and community service, to shaping our nation's future. Many people quickly assume that being a good leader means you're a good manager and vice versa. The two concepts are actually quite distinct and understanding that distinction can help you understand what it means to be good at either or good at both. Leadership is setting the tone of an organization; the broad objectives and long term goals will come from the leader, and then managers need to execute on a plan to attain them. Leadership is not necessarily getting caught up in all the details but rather setting the plan and inspiring people to follow them. Many people quickly assume that being a good leader means you're a good manager and vice versa. The two concepts are actually quite distinct and understanding that distinction can help you understand what it means to be good at either or good at both.Leadership is setting the tone of an organization; the broad objectives and long term goals will come from the leader, and then managers need to execute on a plan to attain them. Leadership is not necessarily getting caught up in all the details but rather setting the plan and inspiring people to follow them. Welcome to Makro ... the largest self-service wholesalers in the world. Makro gives the small business an opportunity to compete effectively, by providing a one-stop source for top-quality products at the lowest possible prices. The Makro story goes back to 1968, when we opened our first cash-and-carry wholesale center in Amsterdam, Holland. The concept was successful, and soon, Makro centers appeared in Breda, Delft, and other Dutch cities. A dynamic pattern of growth had been established and soon Makro went international. First, Belgium. Then, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Spain, Brazil, and in 1981, the United States. With cellular-system ownership positions in more than 100 markets across the country, McCaw Cellular, operating primarily under the name Cellular One, is the largest cellular carrier in the United States, having grown its subscriber base more than 40% in the past year. In the areas of the country where McCaw is licensed to provide service, there are more than 100 million potential customers, around 80% of whom are in the 30 most-populous U.S. markets. As the equipment costs and monthly bills of cellular users continue to drop, more than 14,000 customers sign up for new service very day, adding to a consumer base of more than 16 million people. MCN Corporation is the holding company for Michigan Consolidated Gas Company, MichCon, Citizens Gas Fuel Company, and MCN Investment Corporation. MichCon is the largest natural gas distributor in the state of Michigan, and one of the largest in the United States. As a natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage company, MichCon serves more than 1.1 million customers in more than 500 communities including Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor. Also grouped under utility services, Citizens is a gas utility serving 12,000 customers in Lenawee County in southern Michigan. MCN Corporation is taking advantage of changes in the natural gas industry, in a way that is helping to build shareholder value. Once thought of as strictly a gas utility, MCN is on its way to becoming an energy company, with a diversified portfolio of natural-gas-related businesses. With a three-part strategy for growth that emphasizes the company’s natural gas expertise, MCN is exploiting market opportunities to produce superior corporate performance. During 1993, MCN’s record performance was reflected in outstanding financial results. Net income increased 27% to $72.8 million on total revenues of $1.47 billion. The success of any company is not achieved by any one particular event, but is the result of a series of occurrences throughout its history. It is a combination of the management team, the employees, and the corporate philosophy that make or break a company. Mylan is the proof of that principle! We have grown from a tiny, single location, West Virginia company, to a present day, financially strong, multi-location industry leader listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mylan’s code of ethics and its corporate philosophy that “If we can’t do it right, we don’t do it at all,” combined with the integrity of its employees provides the foundation upon which this company is built. Research is the life-blood of any company. It is the catalyst by which a company grows, and lack of it can cause stagnation or even failure. Mylan is a research driven company dedicated to excellence. As we continue our evolution into a fully integrated pharmaceutical company, we have targeted compounds to meet unmet needs ... we are aggressively developing products that will effectively treat serious disorders and diseases that are not addressed by pharmaceuticals presently on the market. Our R&D budget is not based on a percentage of sales but on accomplishing goals. We do not waste money, but we spend whatever is necessary to do it right. At NetJets, our care for our Owners means not only flying them halfway around the world in the safest way possible, but also getting them the help they need should a medical emergency arise far from home. That’s why we collaborated with Mayo clinic to develop Mayo Clinic Executive Travel Response. As an owner, you’ll receive a dedicated phone number to reach Mayo Clinic medical professionals 24 hours a day, for any medical reason. Whether you need critical care in Eastern Europe and don’t know where to turn, or just want medical advice from a trusted source closer to home, someone is always there for you. #1: In 1973, global investing was a new concept -- one seen by many as daring, to say the least. New Perspective Fund was among the pioneers, and it proceeded with great care. Initially, only 1/3 of the fund’s assets could be invested outside the U.S. At the end of New Perspective’s first fiscal year, roughly a quarter of our holdings were based abroad (in Canada, Europe and Japan). The world is a very different place today. Opportunities beyond the borders of the U.S. now account for more than 60% of all the assets invested in the world’s stock markets, compared with about 40% in 1973. New Perspective Funds’ ability to capitalize on investment opportunities around the world again proved beneficial in fiscal 2013. The value of your holdings increased 12.6% if, like most shareholders, you reinvested the two dividend payments totaling 20 cents a share -- one of 13 cents a share in December 2012, and another of 7 cents a share in May 2013-- as well as the capital gain distribution of 37 cents a share paid last December. The fund’s 12.6% total return outpaced unmanaged benchmarks for both global and U.S. stock markets; the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index, which measures 22 major markets including the U.S., gained 8.1% with dividends reinvested. Operation Hope is the product of the creative energies of thousands of citizens. Representatives from churches, synagogues, businesses, and schools come together to help our neediest neighbors. Operation Hope provides emergency food pantry for families, shelter for homeless families, community kitchens, and supportive services. The services we provide do bring hope to shattered lives, and make real the possibility of recovery, restoration, and stability. Lives are touched. Hope is alive. Since the 1950s, Parker Drilling has been an active player in drilling markets. Today, Parker operates around the globe. Parker does not seek out markets solely for their exotic nature. Parker is well suited to move with customers into rugged, hostile drilling environments. In some markets, Parker has little or no competition. In other areas, like Latin America, the Asia Region, and in the United States, there is considerable competition, depending on the specific country or location. We compete against no single drilling contractor in any of our markets, however. This direction toward more industry consolidation is expected to continue, meaning fewer, but larger competitors. Physician Computer Network is a leader in the developing and marketing of highly functional practice management software products for physician practices. The company’s objective is to establish a large installed base of physician practice customers who use PCN’s software products. Since September 1993, the company has completed seven acquisitions of software information businesses. These acquisitions have lifted PCN’s share of the office-based physician market to over 85,000 physicians resulting in an approximate 25% market share. At Pfizer, we want every colleague to feel connected by an inspiring vision of our place in the world and our future together. Achievement of the vision begins with clarity. As we continue through this orientation, you will see that we have rare clarity about our mandate as an organization, and the way people within it must pursue results. But the words can only be a guide for action. Each of us must feel energized by our purpose and mission, become a champion of our values, and behave as a leader. We are a great company, with a record of exceptional performance and success. But we have before us the opportunity to become an enduring leader, contributing more to human health than any company in history. It is up to each of us to find a way to lead. Understanding the principles that guide our quest is only the start. Bringing them to life through action is the challenge we face every day. Together, we can meet this challenge. Policy Governance®, an integrated board leadership paradigm created by Dr. John Carver, is a groundbreaking model of governance designed to empower boards of directors to fulfill their obligation of accountability for the organizations they govern. As a generic system, it is applicable to the governing body of any enterprise. The model enables the board to focus on the larger issues, to delegate with clarity, to control management's job without meddling, to rigorously evaluate the accomplishment of the organization; to truly lead its organization. Welcome and thank you for taking the time to learn a little about private equity. In this presentation, you’ll learn the basics about private equity and the role it can play in your clients’ portfolios, as well as in your practice. Clients have goals related to seven life priorities, with Finance being the connecting point among them all. Understanding these life priorities can help you identify concerns clients may have in their pursuit of their goals. -Invest according to my values. -Enhance returns while lowering risk. -Help preserve my original investment. For many of these clients, private equity can be an important solution to help them pursue their goals. -Fit into your overall goals-based approach with clients. -Help your clients pursue the goals that matter most to them. -Help you attract new assets. Each year Prudential HealthCare conducts member satisfaction surveys to discover which member services and benefits are working well and to identify opportunities for improvement for the Prudential HealthCare HMO and Prudential HealthCare Point of Service plans. In response to your feedback, we have enhanced the provider networks to provide more choices to you. There are now 257 hospitals and 39,990 primary and specialty care providers in the HMO and POS networks in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The biggest problem in retail is hiring, particularly hiring hourly workers. Some of the most important people you have working for you are the hourly workers that are dealing with the public on a day-by-day basis- at least according to unicrew, an Oregon-based company, which was founded in 1997 to service the needs of hourly employees. The people on the phones, the people at the cashier’s desk, the stock clerks, usually anyone in a store and those answering calls in an insurance company, are almost always hourly workers. They’re the people that deal with the public. Unicrew believes that hourly employees deserve the same job-hunting opportunities as their salaried counterparts. Traditionally, job seekers looking for a salaried position have many options, including placement firms and internet job searches. Unicrew’s mission to empower the hourly work force begins with making it easier to apply for the jobs they want. There’s a huge population out there that’s been getting hired the old-fashioned way, with paper and pencil based applications, and Unicrew wants to change all that and automate the entire process. Unicrew’s found a key to their success in the kiosks - or job centers - that can be found in a number of nationwide stores, including Target and Best Buy. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, has issued the Hazard Communication Standards which helps to assure your safety and health on the job. The rule, known as “The Right to Know” involves training in the use of chemicals such as cleaning solution, which are part of your everyday work. Riskconnect, Inc is the provider of a pemier, enterprise-class technology platform for the risk management system. Here at Shell we’ve worked hard to create a safe and efficient work environment. Click the 3 links at the top of the page to review additional information about: Standard Operating Procedures, Safe Practices, and Problem Reporting. Security. A basic human need. A vital part of your business. A key to your long-term success. You need an integrator that can help you achieve a higher level of security today and build for tomorrow. Does your integrator pass the test? Siemens does. As a technology leader for more than 160 years, Siemens has the most powerful combination of people, application, systems and service to tailor security solutions that meet your evolving needs. We invest in the best talent and employ a culture of continuing education and training, and bring that knowledge back to you. Our sophisticated technologies and industry focus result in solutions that align security plans with business objectives. We offer the most comprehensive product portfolio to support a wide variety of needs. And our unmatched customer service means we’ll be there when you need us. Siemens. The people, application, systems and service to meet all your security needs. Siemens. The first name in security integration. Silicon Valley Group designs, manufacturs, and markets technically sophisticated equipment used in the primary stages of semiconductor manufacturing. SVG’s product offerings include photoresist processing equipment; oxidation, diffusion, and low-pressure chemical vapor processing systems; and photolithography exposure tools that utilize step-and-scan technology. Silicon Valley Group is a leading supplier of automated wafer processing equipment for the worldwide semiconductor industry. The company designs, manufacturers, and markets technically sophisticated equipment used in the primary stages of semiconductor manufacturing. SVG’s product offerings include photoresist processing equipment; oxidation, diffusion, and low-pressure chemical vapor processing systems; and photolithography exposure tools that utilize step-and-scan technology. Since its founding, SVG has steadily broadened its business base by expanding distribution channels and by extending product lines. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then small-cap value stocks are exquisite…to those who know where to find them and how to view them. Small company stocks, defined as those with a market capitalization of less than $1.5 billion dollars, perform differently than their large-cap peers, often outperforming them over multi-year cycles. In fact, small company mutual funds, as a group, had a recent five-year total cumulative return of 73.26% . Value stock, which could be thought of as those in the "bargain bin" of Wall Street, often are ignored by investors. These stocks tend to trade at a discount because the market believes they pale in comparison to the attractiveness of premium growth stocks. Creating a Dream, a house...in ways you would never imagine. SmartCam data gives you new ways to squeeze savings from your production line. Low-cost SmartCam units can be installed at trouble points where the occasional defect can turn production into wasteful scrap. From operator alarms to active process control and data acquisition, SmartCam fulfills your inspection needs. In any configuration, a SmartCam system can take you one step closer to increased customer confidence -- offer “zero defects” production and back up your strong quality goals with complete objective inspection reports for each product run; realtime process control -- correct off-spec production the instant that a problem develop. - Your customers see the future everyday. Companies forged in the fire of the digital revolution have taught them what it means to be connected ... what it means to be responsive ... what it means to be engaged. - What’s the cost of being one step behind your customers? Of failing to meet the demands of a market you once owned? - Right now, someone is working on an app, a product, a business that will fundamentally change your industry. "Awareness is essential in sports. It's a quarterback feeling the pocket collapsing. It's a point guard knowing who is trailing the fast break. It's a runner understanding their body's physical limits... And pushing past them. Just like in sports, awareness is critical to our success." Direction: The client has asked that the voice be inspiring, energetic yet conversational in the 20-30s age-range. For an internal video series for a local sportswear company. This will be for internal web-usage only. This professional metal spray gun provides ultimate control and durability for all your spraying projects. The pro-gun features a fast “Push N’ Click” pattern changing system to quickly and easily switch spray patterns. Global competition, shrinking budgets, and a demand for faster, more flexible service have intensified business pressures in the 2000s. In response, organizations must be single-minded in their focus, with every resource used effectively to impact the bottom line. Telecommunications -- with its ability to influence day-to-day operating efficiencies -- has emerged as a vital resource and a strategic competitive differentiator. With the pace of business escalating, the need to communicate quickly, reliably, and economically, becomes imperative. Sprint Services allow your organization to focus on your core business. Renowned for blending an innovative use of modern technology with a master craftsman's attention to detail, Taylor guitars are widely considered the best sounding and easiest to play in the world. The company was a pioneer in the use of computer technology, lasers and other high-tech tools and machinery, and today, Bob Taylor is widely recognized throughout the musical instrument industry as the visionary acoustic guitar manufacturer. The company’s innovations include, but are not limited to, the New Technology neck, the first major innovation in the construction of the acoustic guitar in the last 100 years; the award-winning Expression System pickup, a groundbreaking, high-tech approach to amplifying an acoustic guitar; and the T5, the first, true hybrid acoustic and electric guitar that can produce amplified acoustic-tones, full-crunch electric, and everything in-between with the flip of a five-way switch. Outstanding playability, flawless craftsmanship, and stunning aesthetics are just a few of the reasons that many of today’s leading musicians make Taylor their guitar of choice. The company’s artist roster numbers in the thousands, and includes the likes of Dave Matthews, Taylor Swift, Prince, Jason Mraz, and Zac Brown, and many others. At AT&T’s Technical Service Center, advanced technology provides quality service. Our patented, highly sophisticated EXPERT System is an application of artificial intelligence that can diagnose troubles and recommend solutions, based on historical maintenance data. This set of software programs can identify a problem and, whenever possible, remotely clear the alarm. If dispatch of a technician is required, all the information from the EXPERT System is available, so that the right technician with the right training and the right parts is dispatched. The trouble can then be repaired on the first visit, minimizing any disruption to your system. The AT&T Smart Invoice System is an added value for AT&T Service Agreement customers. This electronic billing service was developed with our customers in direct response to their needs. This Windows-based system allows your business to receive bills directly into your PC (or one purchased from AT&T) via electronic AT&T Mail transmission. Benefits include quick delivery of bills -- 5 days or less; flexible formatting -- allows you to sort, analyze, summarize, and customize bills for your internal systems by installation, purchase order, or service order number; summary billing -- shows monthly, quarterly, and/or year-to-date totals. The AT&T Technical Service Center offers benefits for AT&T Warranty and Service Agreement customers through around-the-clock system monitoring, diagnosis, and testing that help ensure system reliability; a single source of support with 24-hour, toll-free access for trouble reporting; advanced technical support and EXPERT System technology that can help maximize system availability; quick trouble resolution through intelligent dispatch of technicians equipped with information from the EXPERT System; high quality technical support for all AT&T Communications Systems through our helplines. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is concerned with solving complex social and environmental problems. With a practical and results-oriented approach to philanthropy, the Foundation supports innovative as well as time-tested strategies for addressing those problems. This approach is manifest in the Foundation’s building, completed in May, 2002. Site, architecture and interior design create an environment that is beautiful and honors the Foundation’s commitment to energy conservation and environmental protection. The LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – rating system, created by the U.S. Green Building Council, articulates a clear set of environmental principles and goals designed to encourage sustainable buildings. This approach mirrors the Foundation’s own ethos of encouraging innovation and seeking to attain demonstrable results. The Foundation’s building is the first in California, and only the fifth in the nation, to receive Gold-level certification, under the LEEDS 2.0 standards. The Foundation earned this recognition by addressing a wide range of building-related environmental issues concerning site design, water and energy efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. The Humane Society of the United States does not categorically oppose all uses of animals in current research as we work with others toward the day when animals will no longer be necessary as laboratory subjects. But we are dedicated to the alleviation of suffering, for animals and humans alike. We believe that our mission is shared by many in the research community, and we seek to enlist their support for this ambitious and important campaign. This campaign to eliminate animal pain and distress in the laboratory will improve our understanding and recognition of animal suffering in general, thereby strengthening our on-going efforts to eliminate the suffering of all animals. Collins & Aikman Senior Notes were sold during the quarter. The realized loss on the Collins & Aikman investments was approximately $150 million, the largest loss ever incurred by the Fund in its 17-year history. TAVF management simply misanalyzed the situation. The company’s free fall into Chapter 11 and the loss of support from its three principal customers – General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler – was at a materially faster rate than Fund management thought would be the case. Also, Collins & Aikman’s exit from bankruptcy was not fast enough to avoid the feeding frenzy perpetrated by the professionals, i.e., lawyers and investment bankers. With hindsight, this seems to have been pretty stupid on our part. Fund management should have known better – especially given the fact that (i) the Fund has been relatively close to Toyota Industries for 10 years and owns approximately $675 million of the Company’s Common; and (ii) it is not like we lack experience in restructuring proceedings. “There is nothing like dream to create the future...” the words of Victor Hugo. The nurturing force for a seed, called dream, is our desire to imagine a better tomorrow. At Toshiba, we’re helping to create it. Toshiba has been turning “dream” into a tangible future for over 100 years ... sustaining it now with our commitment to manufacturing in the U.S. and with a wide diversity of products of the highest quality. All of which have helped make us one of the leading electrical and electronic manufacturers in the world. And a company that believes dreams can come true. For more than 53 years, UNICEF has been helping governments, communities and families make the world a better place for children. Part of the United Nations system, UNICEF has an enviable mandate and mission to advocate for children's rights and help meet their needs. UNICEF now works in 161 countries, areas and territories on solutions to the problems plaguing poor children and their families and on ways to realize their rights. Its activities are as varied as the challenges it faces, encouraging the care and stimulation that offer the best possible start in life, helping prevent childhood illness and death, making pregnancy and childbirth safe, combating discrimination and cooperating with communities to ensure that girls, as well as boys, attend school. At United College Marketing Services, we want to provide you the inside credit information that we feel every college student can benefit from. There are too many people on campus that scream “get good credit!” but there’s no one that really explains all the ins and outs. For this reason, UCMS has developed Credit Strategy Seminar videos to make sure that every college student signing up for a credit card (even if it’s not through us) gets the chance to be “credit educated”. Virginia Shores Financial is dedicated to improving the communities we serve. And we value our partnerships with local organizations. Our “Making Waves” program offers paid leave for employees who want to do their part. After twenty volunteer hours we also add a donation to the cause. Providing value can be a tough challenge for any company today. So is the commitment to improve efficiency. Very few companies can claim to do either. Fewer still can do both. But there’s one company that delivers on that promise. One company that provides value and improves efficiency. One company that truly makes a difference. Waibel Energy Systems. …and creates a more positive outlook and attitude for the people using those facilities… from hospitals and schools, to offices and manufacturing plants. After fifteen years of planning and construction, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has opened in downtown L.A. Frank Ghery’s flamboyant design substantially boosted the cost, which came to more than five times Lillian Disney’s founding gift of $50 million. The acoustic brightness of the main auditorium suggests that Disney Concert Hall will soon be one of the great public listening places in America. Fall programming promises the brightness of variety too, with composers as unfamiliar to staid classical audiences as John Adams and Steve Reich. The Waterpic ST75 offers you complete control over the dental implant procedure. The ability to automate and maintain total stream flow, while in surgery is a feature unheard of in the past. This new revolutionary technology, affords both you and the assistant almost hands-free support. Divino Holding since its incorporation in 2013 has been noted for its reputation as a dependable property investment & financial solution provider in Singapore and across Asia Divino Holding is dedicated to delivering value added and quality products. The innovative and receptive approach adopted by the Management allows the Company to produce products that the customers look for in their real estate and finance need. Receiving your benefits enrollment kit can be an overwhelming experience. But have no fear, resources are available to help you understand both the benefits and the enrollment process. Click on one of the following resources for help. But wait, what is well-being? We all strive for it, and most of us have a vague sense of what it is -- but at the end of the day, do we really know what it means? Contrary to popular belief, well-being isn't just about being physically healthy and happy. It’s more than just eating an apple a day or meditating for five minutes and hoping for the best. Well-being is made up of all the things we think, feel, and experience each day. Apache® Spark™ is an open-source cluster computing framework with in-memory processing to speed analytic applications up to 100 times faster compared to technologies on the market today. Developed in the AMPLab at UC Berkeley, Spark can help reduce data interaction complexity, increase processing speed and enhance mission-critical applications with deep intelligence. Highly versatile in many environments, Spark is known for its ease of use in creating algorithms that harness insight from complex data. Spark was elevated to a top-level Apache Project in 2014 and continues to expand today. IBM is committing to the Apache Spark project with investments in design-led innovation and broad-scale education programs to promote open source innovation and accelerate intelligence into every application. In the art of home-building, Berry homes are true originals ... exclusive designs created and copyrighted to prevent duplication and protect value. Berry originals won 23 design awards and gained national recognition for their innovative features. The experience of living in a Berry home is one of progressive discovery. The aesthetic impact is what overwhelms at first sight, but in time you discover the hidden construction specifications that are part of the “true-value” package. Space ... light ... volume ... formal vs. informal ... indoor vs. outdoor ... and energy efficiency. Through years of careful market research, we learned what our discriminating buyers searched for ... when you open the door of a Berry home ... you will have entered your dream house! Your company’s combination of quality products, quality people, and sound marketing programs resulted in our tenth consecutive year of record sales and earnings. Volumes both domestically and internationally reached new highs, and for the first time in company history, our international business accounted for more than half our total volume. In the process, your company faced significantly greater competition pretty much across the board, and this competitive activity gives no indication of abating as we head into 2014. Despite increased spending by competing brands, solid volume gains were achieved in North America. Cities are increasingly becoming recognized as the locus of economic and social development. The world has reached a tipping point where half the world’s population is already living in cities. Nearly 2 billion new urban residents are expected in the next 20 years, 90% of them in developing countries. With an annual research budget of $100 million, Wright State University is a leader in Ohio for research in neuroscience, human performance and aerospace medicine — and other STEM fields. Our researchers work in partnership with businesses, community organizations and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The power of these partnerships will be seen in our new Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration building, where scientists and engineers will work side-by-side to take research from the bench to the community. The new building will be home to the Wright State and Premier Health Partners Neuroscience Institute, which helps patients with badly injured limbs improve their mobility. Many women feel uncomfortable with blatant displays of power. Traditionally, women have been the “power behind the throne” so wielding it publicly can be frightening. To address and overcome that fear, learn to recognize the difference between “good” and “bad” power. The former allows you to stick up for yourself and fulfill your needs; the latter is used to manipulate and control others.

2019-04-26T11:49:08Z

https://www.edgestudio.com/script-library/english-adult/corporate-industrial

arrangement, style, grammar, punctuation, and document design conventions. that form dynamic visual arguments. own methods as writers by engaging in many collaborative activities during class. technical means of supporting our learning of rhetoric and the composing of argumentative essays. shows the sum evidence of your learning, including your own observations and analysis of your learning. Three tardies equal one absence. 2008.mycomplab. such as 3 . The instructor will determine what to do in case of extended illness or personal crisis on a case­by­case basis. workshop participation. Each recorded instance will count as ONE (1) Tardy. When students miss a day. the instructor will lower the course grade by ½ letter grade for each additional absence. Pearson Longman. If students miss more than the allotted number of class meetings. Alfano and Alyssa O’Brien. workshops. Pearson Longman. REQUIRED TEXTS & SUPPLIES Envision in Depth: Reading. Writing.com COURSE POLICIES & GRADING PROCEDURES Attendance Regular attendance is essential in all writing courses.com/ Access to Blogger at http://www. While some instruction is delivered through lecture. much of the course content is taught through class discussion. and Researching Arguments.blogger. students’ brief observations of their learning as it relates to course strands.ablongman. if a student misses two classes for athletics. By Christine L. The DK Handbook. may be incorporated as part of class activity. However. and/or online activities. Participation Students are expected to fully participate in the intellectual activities of the course.com/envision Access to MyCompLab at http://www. she will have one additional absence to use at her discretion. Lynch. By Anne Frances Wysocki and Dennis A. If students reach the limit of absences by the drop date. class activities.Observations—completed throughout the semester once or more times a week. Participation will be measured through class discussion. Students are allowed up to THREE (3) excused absences. even if students have turned in all the required papers on time. Blank CDRs Laptop computer as per classroom teacher’s instructions Access to Envision Companion Website at http://www. they will often have missed not just hearing a lecture but actually working toward the successful completion of an assignment. Arriving late to class or leaving is unprofessional and will be factored into the attendance policy. provide evidence of student work and writing. If a student uses excused absences. excessive absences are an adequate reason for being failed in first­year composition. the instructor may drop them from the class for excessive absences. Work Samples—all formal assignments (and their drafts). For example. 2009. Observations should be posted on the class blog. and interactive activities such as brainstorming or editing. she will not receive unexcused absences above and beyond those excused absences. Students are encouraged to contact Student Disability Services to discuss their individualized needs for accommodation. technology. However. collaboration. promptness. it is best to communicate with me by email or my office phone. including collaborative work and your three major essays. The course is designed to stimulate interaction between students. on a flexible and individualized basis. Students are expected to bring their laptops to class with batteries fully charged. Your mid­term and final grades will be based on your portfolio of written observations and your work samples. you will directly apply what you learn in this course. In other words. sound rhetorical skills. For more information visit http://www. by arguing for your own grade. You also can arrange to see me at other times that are mutually convenient. collaboration. reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities. she cannot expect always expect to “get notes” from another classmate or otherwise “make up” the work because the social dynamic of the class period cannot be reconstructed. research. which necessitates regular attendance and participation for two reasons: 1) to listen to the ideas of other members of the class. but will receive individual attention from me and your classmates. Your goal is to demonstrate your development toward mastery of five course strands (rhetoric/ critical thinking. and lab) and development across five dimensions of learning 4 . argumentative writing. the grading strategy will track and monitor that development. creativity.html Technology Requirements This course requires the use of computer technologies in and out of class. Office hours belong to you just as much as our class time. Because the course is concerned with your development as a critical reader and writer. effective arguments. If a student misses class. and 2) to voice ideas for the benefit of the class. Office Hours Please note my regular office hours above. as well as completion of each component of your LR.edu/sds/student_guide/index. Students with Disabilities It is university policy to provide. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of my availability and the help I am ready to offer. you will argue for your grade by summarizing your learning and estimating the grade that the evidence of your learning supports. Grading Policy This class offers you an approach to learning that may be different from your past experiences. competent use of technology —all of these things and more contribute to an outstanding portfolio. level of writing.clemson. In the final step to completing your LR.online discussion in class blog. If you need to contact me outside of class time or office hours. Your work will be collected in the Learning Record (LR). participation. While some class time is provided for computer literacy instruction. the instructor on an individual basis will either provide additional help or recommend other support for advanced applications. Your assignments will not receive individual grades. Please turn off cellular/mobile phones and pagers during class. each component of the LR is vital to a quality body of work: your attendance. 5 . Evidence of significant and sustained development across the five dimensions of learning and five course strands. with generally good quality overall in course work. is oblique or irrelevant. • Shows poor or confusing organization. B: Represents good participation in all course activities (including attendance and promptness). shows little evidence of research. • Demonstrates clarity. • Attempts to document correctly. and questions according to convention. Evidence of marked and above average development across the five dimensions of learning and five course strands. D: Represents weak and uneven participation in course activities. • Uses only a few basic sources. and incorporates smooth. all assigned work completed on time. including strong analysis. Evidence of development across the five dimensions of learning and five course strands is partial or unclear. While each writing situation may call for some adjustment in the overall criteria based on the rhetorical situation. relies heavily on generalization. organization. the following descriptive rubric is consistent with the values of first-year composition at Clemson and describe very general indicators that both you and your instructor may take into consideration when assessing your work and progress in the course. is too short. • Shows unusual or substantial depth and complexity of thought. some gaps in assigned work completed. • Demonstrates competence in mechanics.(confidence and independence. with inconsistent quality in course work. • Incorporates a wide range of sources. Your estimation of your mid-term and final grades should be more detailed and specific. and reflectiveness). • Contains only minor mechanical errors and exhibits no pattern of errors. A: Represents excellent participation in all course activities (including attendance and promptness). • Consistently strays from topic. • Documents ideas. and unity throughout. • Responds fully to topic and thoroughly addresses issues. • Evidences mastery of mechanical and technical aspects of writing. with very high quality in all work produced for the course. • Demonstrates effective organization and adequate development. Evidence of some development across the five dimensions of learning and five course strands. • Clearly and directly responds to topic and to issues. • Thoroughly investigates the topic. shows full development with supporting detail. But the final interpretation and assessment of your grade remains the responsibility of your teacher. • Addresses question or topic and explores issues but draws no clear conclusion. well­ integrated transitions. • Demonstrates superior control of diction. C: Represents average participation in all course activities. all assigned work completed on time. • Reflects simplistic. • Shows depth and complexity of thought. • Documents sources correctly. These goals will be discussed throughout the course. knowledge and understanding. use of prior and emerging experience. all assigned work completed. reductive. focus. information. • Shows clarity of thought and organization but fails to show sufficient complexity or depth of thought. with consistently high quality in course work. shows appropriate variety of sentences. or stereotypical thinking. avoids major errors. investigates issues and addresses basic counterarguments. • Attempts to include adequate detail and development but may leave out obvious counterarguments. uses plenty of detail to support ideas and conclusions. with occasional minor errors. skills and strategies. In the event that I do give quizzes. and I receive it on the following Tuesday. • Contains obvious or deliberate plagiarism.” A simple definition of plagiarism—one that we will expand upon this semester—is when someone presents another person’s words. Furthermore. we shall not tolerate lying. visuals. All work may be turned in early for evaluation and/or pre­planned absences. or mechanics. and responsibility. F: Represents minimal participation in course activities. For example. or missing in some cases. Therefore. if a paper is due on a Thursday. • Provides no development. NOT the student. fails to address assignment. Due Dates All assignments are due within the first five minutes of class on the due date. • Exhibits consistent flaws in language. or ideas as his/her own. • Exhibits inadequate research or reading. • Exhibits inadequate research or reading. syntax. cheating. lacks documentation of some or all sources. • Documentation is careless. the Work Sample in your LR is date stamped automatically with the day and time you enter the assignment and its lateness will be taken into consideration when assessing the validity of your argument for your grade. so document them in your Learning Record as Work Samples. students are responsible for formally announced changes in the schedule. the instructor might revise the tentative course schedule. or very low quality in course work. they will count as evidence of your learning. Any extensions need to be documented in writing. Quizzes I may elect to give quizzes on the readings and class discussions/lectures if I feel that the assigned work is not being completed by all students satisfactorily. words or passages are nearly plagiarized. serious gaps in assigned work completed. • Contains garbled paraphrases.’ Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness. we have inherited Thomas Green Clemson’s vision of this institution as a 'high seminary of learning. The instructor determines the validity of excuses for late work. without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others. or stealing in any form. unless otherwise specified. we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of a Clemson degree. fails to establish topic. Periodically. Late work without a valid excuse constitutes evidence in your Learning Record that will negatively affect your argument for a good grade. The best way to avoid quizzes is to complete the assignments and participate in the class discussions. • Displays gross technical or mechanical incompetence and repetitive errors. honor. incorrect. The instructor will deal with plagiarism 6 . Evidence of development is not available. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty The following is Clemson’s official statement on “Academic Integrity”: “As members of the Clemson University community. • Distorts topic or assignment. I also ask that all the assignments be turned in to me in hard copy. This means ALL assignments must be in an ELECTRONIC format. website. The most serious offense within this category occurs when a student copies text from the Internet or from a collective file.on a case­by­case basis. See the Clemson site below for information about Academic Integrity and procedures regarding the violation of Clemson policies on scholastic dishonesty: http://www. make an argument that offers a new perspective on the topic at hand.html MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS NOTE: All assignments. Using the assigned readings in Envision in Depth and the models available on Envision Online (the Companion Website). interviews.edu/html/academics/academic_integrity_2002. Oct. must be included in your Learning Record. The report should be in MLA format and a minimum of 3000 words. Ch 7) This assignment should include a Works Cited page. including library sources. and effect. The form of this assignment is an integrated textual and visual essay that utilizes visual images and the rhetorical elements of composition. 7 . podcast. Nov. Students should put forth an argument using both writing and images. photo­essay. social.clemson. or other multi­media combination. 8] Final draft due: Week 5 [Monday. Meanwhile. The aim of your argument is to support a thesis—using the tools of persuasion—concerning how your chosen visual text itself offers a persuasive argument. First draft due: Week 11 [Monday. (See EID. Sept.cs. or political issues raised by the visual in order to bring in research sources. make an argument that persuades readers of your thesis. MLA format. Visual rhetoric assignment: This assignment requires students develop proficiency in rhetorical analysis and argument by developing a writing piece that examines a visual text. Using readings from Envision in Depth and your own library/field research. and be a minimum of 1500 words. 15] Research argument assignment: This assignment requires you to broaden the topic from one visual text to the larger cultural. video. blog. intended audience. drafts and final drafts. minimum 2500 words. First draft due: Week 4 [Monday. A written report detailing your project’s rationale and process should accompany the final product. Sept. This type of academic dishonesty is a serious offense that will result in a failing grade for the course as well as the filing of a formal report to the university. mp3 file(s). presentation. This assignment emphasizes research skills. 27] Final draft due: Week 12 [Wednesday. via MyCompLab. be formatted according to MLA standards. 5] Multimedia assignment: This assignment requires students to develop an extended argument using multimodal composition strategies such as an op­ad. and other forms of academic inquiry. You can choose to work alone or form a group with your classmates. Dec. Dec. 29] Parts B. The portfolio is reflective and helps students to understand their progress as writers while learning how to present ideas in multiple media. 1] Learning Record portfolio: This is a resource for managing and documenting the work and learning you do in this class. Sept. 5] 8 .2 are due: Week 16 [Friday. This assignment requires students to engage with electronic technologies and incorporate various media.1 and A. Various assignments will be due throughout the semester. and all observations. and essays must be included in the LR on the date due. visual communication. 17] Final draft due: Week 16 [Monday. and perhaps even video into their reflections on their development as writers. Parts A.2 and C.2 are due: Week 2 [Friday. Nov. including verbal writing. 24] Parts B. drafts.1 are due: Week 6 [Wednesday. Aug. Each group contains up to 3 people.1 and C.The project will be showcased to the class the day it is due. Outline/Storyboard due: Week 14 [Monday. com/) Blogger Address: http://eng103­31. your own observation on Online. Key to Abbreviations: EID = Envision in Depth EOL = Envision On­Line companion website (available at http://www. assignments. half the class argues that Marlette’s point is persuasive (& why). students instructor via MCL Read EID Ch 1 (pp 1­29). opening – how is rhetoric all around us? WEEK 1 Form groups.1 and A.mycomplab. 34) about student newspaper or from the Internet (through Envision Read EID Ch 2 (p. 272­273. SYLLABUS ITINERARY (subject to change) [Assignments listed are due by the next class period unless noted otherwise] Readings and Resources.com/ Before Class In Class After Class Introductions: course. 280) Analyze John Riviello’s Flash Cartoon Movie on Barbie (p. EOL) ads and post your writing in Fri Blogger as Study ads in EID Ch 10 (p. OBSERVATION 1 272) Start working on LR parts A. p. 3 judges vote.com. Send a message to your instructor. half the class argues the point is not persuasive (& why). American Idol style on which team was most persuasive 9 .blogspot.2 that are due Conduct pro/con debate about Doug Marlette’s article (p. using a cartoon or comic either from the Clemson Complete Collaborative Challenge (p. in class. 264­ Blogger 1/7 267.ablongman. and 283 the Set up your account in Blogger Atlas Comic) Upload a photo of yourself Watch some examples of multimedia project on to Blogger as your profile YouTube. picture. 20).com/envision) DK= The DK Handbook MCL = MyCompLab (available at http://www.30-52). Discussion of EID Ch 1 and Ch 10. Blogger. 1/9 266. LR. 15. complete Collaborative Challenge. 16­ on 1/16 (next Fri). MCL. Set up your account in MCL Create an account in Wed Read EID Ch 10 (p. 53-81). p 72. 126­129 Brainstorm to develop ideas for visual rhetoric assignments 10 . to 1/14 529­537: Introduction. paying careful attention to the marginal annotations in Fri Mieszkowski. and Miliard LR PARTS A. Read. p. on historical Read EID. 22­23 to refine the thesis Discussion of visual rhetoric assignment Review Jason Benhaim’s visual rhetoric assignment in EID (p. on “Week in Pictures” learn about invention. “Snapshots of the newspaper photo essays arrangement. p.53-81) and bios Each group of students choose one of the following to complete in class: • Collaborative Challenge. 185­186). 24­27). 58. • Collaborative Challenge. Sontag. 586-587 In groups. “America”. Ch 1. p. 298-299.1 and A. America 24/7 Each student will compose a thesis statement from the perspective of a different persona within the collaborative challenge activity. 61.2 blue concerning what makes for an effective essay 1/16 (EID Ch 14) DUE midnight in MCL Consult models of visual rhetoric assignments posted on EOL Read DK p. 31) work Discussion of EID Ch 3 (p. 52 for guidelines) 63) Mon Statements” p. Discussion of Ch 2 on Ads and Strategies of Persuasion. 1/12 357. p. on collections of hoax Complete Creative Wed “Representing Reality” p. 266 & 280 following the guidelines in Read EID Ch 3 (p. p. 78. or fake photos Practice. p. Ch 3 about persona (see Discussion of visual rhetoric assignment (See EID p. 29 collaborative challenge. analyze ads on p. in LR. and style Ordinary”. See models of student papers in EOL. PHOTO AND BIO is due also use ads that students bring to class to discuss how midnight in MCL rhetorical appeals and strategies of persuasion (p. complete Collaborative Challenge. Ch 1 & Ch 2 under Write a short bio (follow “Student Writing” Read EID “Visual guidelines on p. Reading” p. 46 in class. p. Read EID Ch 10 “Fashion and p. Work with EID. Ch 14. on photobanks through EOL WEEK 2 • Collaborative Challenge. Patricia Cox. Pick a photo of yourself. followed by a list of principles you each pledge to uphold. 24 in small groups. due Monday 11 . Maximum 1-page document due midnight tonight. Mon MLK DAY 1/19 Discuss models of visual rhetoric assignments posted on EOL Each group analyzes three model papers and offers a short Complete Thesis exercise presentation on the papers to the class: discuss thesis. choice for your assignment (p. introduction and conclusion 23). ACADEMIC INTEGRITY PLEDGE In groups. 22­ Work on draft of visual of visual rhetoric for analysis. craft a definition of Academic Integrity (one due Midnight in Blogger paragraph) (Read DK Handbook pp 144­145 and 308­311). and post it in Blogger by midnight In groups. rhetoric assignment Blogger as Discuss Sontag. Mieszkowski. complete the Creative Practice from EOL. due strategy. Finish the 1st draft of visual rhetoric assignment.. Pledge. and post your thesis Wed rhetoric assignment. due Bair’s rhetorical analysis from the student samples found 1/23 next Monday under Chapter 2 student web resources. Use EID p. Ch 14) and student observations in the LR about how cameras capture social identity WEEK 3 Co­author a 1­page In­class peer review of thesis statements for visual rhetoric Academic Integrity assignment revisions. explicit or implicit use of rhetorical terms and statements for visual 1/21 next Monday strategies of persuasion from Ch 1­3 of EID. in conjunction with Traci Fri rhetoric assignment. “America”. and Miliard (EID OBSERVATION 2. on Work on draft of visual tonight University Promotional Materials. Ch 14. p. p. Each student complete graphic brainstorm or mapping activity topic in class on Mon 9/15 for you own topic (on a computer. be 1/30 focus from one visual text ready to discuss your research to a larger research paper. 26­37 http://inspiration. 591­592. also bring a hard copy rhetoric assignment to should develop a thesis statement. FIRST 1/26 Bring a hard copy of the DRAFT due midnight in 1st draft of visual Complete the Creative Practice on apple ads. Then compare the group to class today class today. p. use free download of Read DK pp. the form on EOL strategies. and post your writing in Blogger as Read DK Handbook pp OBSERVATION 3. or how you 297. 17­25 Decide on your research Browse topics in Case studies: EID. 558­559. Ch 15. Ch 10. p. 610­611. Read EID. 33­34) Write a reflection on what Begin process of finding a WEEK 4 you observed from reading topic for your second Wed other people’s papers about research project In class Peer review the 1st of visual rhetoric assignment. thesis to the one in Seth Stevenson’s article (p. For example. Orbach. use 1/28 effective argumentation assignment. 268 FIRST DRAFT (of visual rhetoric assignment) DUE on advertising VISUAL RHETORIC Mon What is the thesis of Orbach’s piece? Assess it in class ASSIGNMENT. Document your research topic Fri will broaden out your What topics interest you? with notes in your LR. p. p. each group MCL.com or use pen and paper) 12 . essay topic. 326. 1 (Evaluation) in Discuss how to apply what you learned to your own research Develop some ideas for your LR topic idea research assignment 13 . Discuss EID Ch 4 and Research Topic Ideas Read EID Ch 4 (pp. Visit the Writing Center in Room 305 Daniel Hall some time this week to get help revising your 1st draft of visual rhetoric assignment. 84­ Wed Discussion of research argument assignment Keep revising your 1st draft of 108) 2/4 visual rhetoric assignment In groups. as example of completed assignment Groups work through Creative Challenge: “Narrowing your Keep revising your 1st draft of Read student examples of Fri Topic” on EOL visual rhetoric assignment LR Parts B. assignment. analyze Tanner Gardner’s paper. 2/2 Revise your visual rhetoric Class does not meet. 252­262. WEEK 5 Include your writer’s bio and photo to the end of the essay.1 (Analysis) 2/6 and C. p. and conclusion (see EID p. 27 for final check). 64­ 67) and make a last pass (see EID p. Mon assignment. intro. if the instructor suggested Teacher conference on the first draft of visual rhetoric during the conference. Include an effective title. 1 midnight tonight in MCL Look at examples of LR WEEK 6 Read Joseph Yoon’s Discuss Freewrites in class.1 and C. link to reading on p 96 of Peer review your freewrites in a group and work toward “So- EID) Whats” and a hypothesis or research question. 1­4 and Discuss DK pp 38­86 tonight in MCL 14 .1 DUE MIDNIGHT in MCL Complete parts B.1 and C. FINAL DRAFT (of visual rhetoric assignment) DUE Complete the final draft of MIDNIGHT in MCL VISUAL RHETORIC Mon assignment that is due 2/9 Class discussion of LR parts B. 38­86 C.1 and Fri Read DK p. LR PARTS B.1 of LR due midnight 2/13 Review Ch. including Joseph Yoon’s freewrite research freewrite on the Wed Vietnam Memorial (see 2/11 Develop a freewrite on your own and post it in Blogger. Bibliography.118 to keep making entries in your LR Work on Annotated Read Case study in Ch 10: Discuss EID Ch 5 in class. 104­113 Discuss Iceberg of Research (p. 2/20 297 and in Ch 11. 112 in your LR. 264­ See “At a Glance” on EID p. Use the “At a Glance” on p. – both full-text sources and ones they have to go to the library to check out. 111). 372­389). What kinds of texts form a range of perspectives on these issues? 15 . Complete the Creative Mon Practice on p. send students to the library to retrieve sources once they have completed their search. After Complete “At A Glance” class. 110 135 for guidelines. 113 Students search their topics through databases on their laptops 2/16 concerning searching. due “Playing Against Monday. Academic databases. p. use what you learned from the library workshop to locate a range of sources Read DK p. 140­141 Record an observation in WEEK 7 your LR in which you Use Inspiration. Read EID Ch 5 (p. Discuss Google vs. 5 sources. p.com or other graphic brainstorm/mapping tool reflect on how the to create Iceberg for individual student research projects. 109­ 138) Read DK p. Stereotypes” (p. Fri “Marked Bodies. complete Collaborative challenge p. In groups. based research process is going Wed on both web sources (Google) and and how the visual 2/18 additional library sources mapping process helps you conceptualize the Complete the Creative Practice in EOL Ch 5 research necessary for your project. 135) and their own methods of avoiding “what is your method for examples in EOL unintentional plagiarism. and focus Compare outlines by Lee­Ming Zen p. 3/2 Also Read EID “Yo. Ch 6 (144­151) http://www. Draft sample annotations for those 2 sources together. p. 149­151) Fri how are the voices for 3/6 each article distinct? Peer review outlines using “At a Glance” p. Ch 5. Collaborative Peer Review Guidelines Compose a set of interview questions in your LR and Discuss interviews and surveys. Look at the websites in EID p. 238-239). Yao!” and Look at the poster (p. Use “At a Glance” p. 273). p. 152 What sources might Dexian Cai add to his Complete Collaborative challenge. talking about their sources. “Cultural Differences” (p. analyze websites on other topics together. Globalization. What do you learn about Websites? What do you learn from reading the articles that complicates your analysis of the Websites? Discuss bibliographies. p. 284). 313 Discuss Doris Kearns Goodwin article (p. Ch 6. Read EID. 125 WEEK 8 And then with EOL. to work on a visual (jpg) and the outline (txt) in map of your outline for the assignment. post the graphic WEEK 9 3/4 Use Inspiration in class. including “Year of the Yao” at outline with inspiration Wed Read EID. on the laptops. In small groups. LAST DAY TO DROP CLASS WITH A ‘W’ Read EID. talk about University Policy on Plagiarism. 120 & 121. discuss students’ individual Post your observation on Compare your methods to Fri note-taking styles (p. 293) as an interview. 271) then compare it to Pro­ BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE 2/23 Anna Websites in light of Udovitch’s argument (p. MIDNIGHT IN MCL Read Student sample annotated bibliographies Return to John Riviello’s website and assess the images of toys . 234­239 Watch Bush versus Bush – how people answer questions 2/25 Conduct that interview as Analyze “Cultural Differences” (EID p. 358­362) Look at Movie trailers in class as examples of outlines and Continue working on your organizational strategies. 293) ANNOTATED Next. 139­ 144 Mon To be arranged. Ch 5 for boys with regard to Pope’s article (p.yearoftheyao. find the Website for the Dove Campaign and analyze it in Mon light of Orbach’s argument (p. 152 research assignment? 16 . from EOL.144­147 to Dexian Cai on “McDonaldization” – (p. your LR Read Ch 15. part of your research Is it serious? Humorous? Reliable? Compare it with the Interview about tattoo culture following 9/11 on EID. 123 Have students work in small groups. p. 2/27 note taking?” in Blogger as OBSERVATION 4. 130 Wed post them in Blogger Read Ch 9. peer review with “At a Glance” p.com/ technology. p. different article in this case study. Ch 15. identity. taking over the world? Discuss EID. 152­175 3/13 Compare images of Media Globalization on p. Record your observation in 560­561). 154­155 17 . 157) online during peer reviews) WEEK 12 Record an Observation in FIRST DRAFT (of research argument assignment) DUE Wed Read EID on integrating your LR about the first draft 3/25 sources. 614) in his essay? (see EID p. p. How does each one offer a distinct voice? What your LR about Read EID. 560­561). “East Meets West” – Work on the first draft of small groups. EID p. How Mon does our position in the Record an observation in To be arranged. 3/9 world shape the way we your LR think about identity. Discussion of revision techniques and elevating style. and culture? In class: Discuss the readings in Ch 14. research based argument. research evidence makes the argument of each article? Work in WEEK 10 Ch 15. not inserting sources p. “East Meets West” – how are culture. and society changing with cross­cultural influences? Fri Read Ch 6. identity. Read Ch 14. p. society. “Images of Crisis” (p. peer review. in­class writing of revisions of first draft of research argument Fri Read Ch 7 on Document assignment 3/27 Design. 178­204 Focus on integrating. 3/11 and society changing with due Next Mon Students could also choose to report on articles from cross­cultural influences? “McDonaldization” – how does the class respond to the Post it in Blogger as argument that McDonalds is a form of American culture that is OBSERVATION 5. 154­155 and what you learned from Peer reviews in class Use EID. Discuss Sunthar Premakumar’s two drafts in Ch 6 Write a reflection Mon observation in your LR 3/23 (Bring hard copy or Collaborative Challenge: How might Sunthar integrate the about strategies for drafting prepare to show the draft article by David Wells (EID p. each group should offer a short report on a Wed how are culture. p. “Images of Crisis” (p. 623 to images of Gaming Culture found in Ch 13 3/16 WEEK 11 ­ FALL BREAK 3/20 Finish your first draft (of research argument assignment) for Monday. 162 questions. – have groups showcase ads and discuss their strategic use of appeals and strategies of development WEEK 14 Complete the appropriate “At a Glance” box for your Complete “Prewriting Work in groups on multimedia argument assignment. Small group work (if time) – give each group a short 174 and record your 3/30 assignment.5­10. analyze the images in Ch 10 as examples of storyboard/outline of Multimedia arguments. Share the revised papers with the class and talk about the WEEK 13 decisions in the use and placement of visual evidence. Against Drunk Driving. p. and 10. Anti-Piracy (filesharing). p.6. 18 . 558 on group mock-up an op-ad for a different cause. See Figure 10.1. EID. Fri Multimedia Argument 10.16. paper with no visuals – have them Google search some visuals observations in your LR to use as evidence in the paper and insert in appropriate places. Wed multimedia: Op­Ad. p. 234­262 4/3 argument assignment in In groups. 10. 197 your LR Review multimedia argument assignment In groups. 199. complete the Collaborative Challenge on EID p.) Work in groups on multimedia argument assignment. analyze a few print and Mon commercial op-ads as a class – refresher on rhetorical appeals complete the Collaborative 4/6 and strategies of development. such as Mothers Multimedia features.205 Record an initial brainstorm Discuss Ch. your own revision process in 4/1 Why is it important to avoid Discussion of multimedia argument assignment. 7 p. 10. Read EID Ch 12 on FINAL DRAFT (of research argument assignment) DUE Record an observation on Wed Copyright and Creativity.3.2.188. etc. 8. see your LR plagiarism? Guidelines in EID Ch 7. Conference with instructor on research argument assignment Work on revisions of Discuss academic document design and use of visual rhetoric Complete “At a Glance: p Mon research argument in papers. Checklist” (p. p. 7 and EOL Ch. 10. Website examples Analyze examples in EID Ch. 10. 4/10 (Bring hard copy or CD to class Monday. Small group work: have each Challenge. 200 and p. 196. 9. Anti-Drug. brainstorm ideas for the project. 205) for 4/8 Photo Essay. 10. 202 and post in your LR Work on As a class. 10. Decide on your topic and Look at Ad layout on p. p.7.11. 7 and 12 Fri idea for the multimedia Read Ch.12. Finish the final draft of the multimedia argument Mon assignment. 4/15 Work in groups on multimedia argument assignment.mycomplab.2 4/22 and C. include in your LR. 8. peer review instructor Compare student assignments to examples listed in EOL WEEK 15 bibliography for Ch 7 Conference with instructor on multimedia argument Wed To be arranged. WEEK 16 FINAL DRAFT (of Multimedia Argument assignment) Wed DUE Complete LR parts B.blogspot. 185­186).2. To be arranged. Work in groups on multimedia argument assignment.2 and C.206-231 Mon 4/13 Prepare for conference with In­class writing. Photo and Bio: (Due Midnight 1/12 in MCL) Pick a photo of yourself. 63) and write a short bio (follow guidelines on p. p. your LR.com/ 1. your instructor conference in 4/17 Work in groups on multimedia argument assignment. Part A1: Interview (Due Midnight 1/16 in MCL ) 19 . 4/20 Prepare showcase.com Class Blog: http://eng103­31. To be arranged. Conference with instructor on multimedia argument Write an observation about Fri To be arranged. p. following the guidelines in Ch 3 about persona (see collaborative challenge. 2.2 Fri 4/24 DUE Course Evaluations ENGL 103 ACCELERATED COMPOSITION ASSIGNMENTS FOR MyCompLab/Class Blog MyCompLab: http://www. due Fri Hold showcase of Projects in class LAST DAY OF CLASS LR PARTS B. STORYBOARD/OUTLINE (of Multimedia Argument assignment) DUE Read EID Ch. especially concerning: • Your estimated evaluation in terms of the grade criteria for the course. especially concerning: • Reflections on your learning experience in the course. The pledge should contain several paragraphs that define academic integrity (including citing the sources from which your definitions are drawn) and a list of responsibilities that each of you pledges to uphold during this course and your remaining semesters at Clemson University. Part B1: Midterm Analysis of Data (Due Midnight 2/13 in MCL) Develop your summary interpretation of your development in terms of the major strands of work. • Any supplementary information or comments not included in Parts A and B. We hope to contribute. and thinker. Part C2: Final Evaluation and Grade Estimate (Due Midnight 4/24 in MCL) Include here any comments you’d like to add. • Any suggestions for the instructor for future classes. to a new motto at Clemson: The Clemson Ethos IS the Clemson Experience! 5. 3. Part B2: Final Analysis of Data (Due Midnight 4/24 in MCL) Develop your summary interpretation of your development in terms of the major strands of work. Observations (Due every week in Blogger) Please include the following information for each observation. 6. Be sure to connect your interpretations with specific examples included in the observations and samples of work. Part A2: Personal Reflection (Due Midnight 1/16 in MCL) Reflections on your own development with respect to reading. • Then. indicate your final grade estimate. 8. or teacher. The interview should focus on the person’s impressions of your development as a reader. and listening. indicate your midterm grade estimate. speaking. writer. 4. Please identify the person (first name only) and how long he or she has known you. writing. Academic Integrity Collaborative Project (Due on 1/23 in Blogger) This assignment requires students to meet in groups to discuss and co­author a 1­page Academic Integrity Pledge. Remember that establishing your credibility as a writer means establishing your ethos as a person. 9. Be sure to connect your interpretations with specific examples included in the observations and samples of work. • Then. with this assignment. close friend. • Suggestions for your own further development during the remainder of the term. Each group member signs the document at the bottom. • Suggestions for class activities or for the professor to better support learning. 7. and other course strands (see your syllabus for the FIVE course strands information). a parent or other family member. Interview with another person who knows you well—for example. Copy and paste these observation fields for each new observation: 20 . Part C1: Midterm Evaluation and Grade Estimate (Due Midnight 2/13 in MCL) Include here any comments you’d like to add. social. Using the assigned readings in Envision in Depth and the models available on Envision Online (the Companion Website). Visual rhetoric assignment (FINAL DRAFT) (Due Midnight 2/9 in MCL) This assignment requires students develop proficiency in rhetorical analysis and argument by developing a writing piece that examines a visual text. The aim of your argument is to support a thesis—using the tools of persuasion— concerning how your chosen visual text itself offers a persuasive argument. This assignment emphasizes research skills. intended audience. make an argument that persuades readers of your thesis. make an argument that persuades readers of your thesis. This assignment emphasizes research skills. (See EID. 11. interviews. social. make an argument that offers a new perspective on the topic at hand. including library sources. and be a minimum of 1500 words. Ch 7) This assignment should include a Works Cited page. Using the assigned readings in Envision in Depth and the models available on Envision Online (the Companion Website). Students should put forth an argument 21 . and other forms of academic inquiry. 12. 13. or political issues raised by the visual in order to bring in research sources. including library sources. minimum 2500 words. be formatted according to MLA standards. The aim of your argument is to support a thesis—using the tools of persuasion— concerning how your chosen visual text itself offers a persuasive argument. 14. and effect. be formatted according to MLA standards. Visual rhetoric assignment (FIRST DRAFT) (Due Midnight 1/26 in MCL) This assignment requires students develop proficiency in rhetorical analysis and argument by developing a writing piece that examines a visual text. and other forms of academic inquiry. Using readings from Envision in Depth and your own library/field research. The form of this assignment is an integrated textual and visual essay that utilizes visual images and the rhetorical elements of composition. presentation. (See EID. interviews. or political issues raised by the visual in order to bring in research sources. compiling. Annotated Bibliography (Due Midnight 2/23 in MCL) Conducting research and identifying your sources are essential parts of college studies. intended audience. and annotating a list of five different research sources. documenting. Research argument assignment (FINAL DRAFT) (Due Midnight 4/6 in MCL) This assignment requires you to broaden the topic from one visual text to the larger cultural. MLA format. Ch 7) This assignment should include a Works Cited page. The form of this assignment is an integrated textual and visual essay that utilizes visual images and the rhetorical elements of composition. presentation. In this assignment you will follow MLA guidelines to practice both of these skills. Students should put forth an argument using both writing and images. Research argument assignment (FIRST DRAFT) (Due Midnight 3/13 in MCL) This assignment requires you to broaden the topic from one visual text to the larger cultural. and effect. Date observed: Date entered here: Context (choose one): individual | pair | small group | large group | whole class | lab Activity: Observation: 10. and be a minimum of 1500 words. 17. Various assignments will be due throughout the semester. Multimedia assignment (FINAL DRAFT) (Due Midnight 2/9 in MCL) This assignment requires students to develop an extended argument using multimodal composition strategies such as an op­ad. visual communication. MLA format. and essays must be included in the LR on the date due. This assignment requires students to engage with electronic technologies and incorporate various media. A written report detailing your project’s rationale and process should accompany the final product. make an argument that offers a new perspective on the topic at hand. 15. blog. photo­essay. blog. podcast. The portfolio is reflective and helps students to understand their progress as writers while learning how to present ideas in multiple media. mp3 file(s). Various assignments will be due throughout the semester. visual communication. The report should be in MLA format and a minimum of 3000 words. The project will be showcased to the class the day it is due. and all observations. or other multi­media combination. The portfolio is reflective and helps students to understand their progress as writers while learning how to present ideas in multiple media. mp3 file(s). podcast. Using readings from Envision in Depth and your own library/field research. Learning Record Final portfolio (Due Midnight 4/24 in MCL) This is a resource for managing and documenting the work and learning you do in this class. 18. and essays must be included in the LR on the date due. A written report detailing your project’s rationale and process should accompany the final product. website. using both writing and images. minimum 2500 words. website. including verbal writing. The report should be in MLA format and a minimum of 3000 words. video. The project will be showcased to the class the day it is due. Learning Record Midterm portfolio (Due Midnight 2/13 in MCL) This is a resource for managing and documenting the work and learning you do in this class. and all observations. drafts. photo­essay. 22 . Multimedia assignment (STORYBOARD/OUTLINE) (Due Midnight 4/13 in MCL) This assignment requires students to develop an extended argument using multimodal composition strategies such as an op­ad. 16. drafts. and perhaps even video into their reflections on their development as writers. or other multi­media combination. and perhaps even video into their reflections on their development as writers. This assignment requires students to engage with electronic technologies and incorporate various media. video. including verbal writing.

2019-04-20T04:27:34Z

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