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How AP reported in all formats from tornado-stricken regionsMarch 8, 2012
When the first serious bout of tornadoes of 2012 blew through middle America in the middle of the night, they touched down in places hours from any AP bureau. Our closest video journalist was Chicago-based Robert Ray, who dropped his plans to travel to Georgia for Super Tuesday, booked several flights to the cities closest to the strikes and headed for the airport. Heβd decide once there which flight to take.
He never got on board a plane. Instead, he ended up driving toward Harrisburg, Ill., where initial reports suggested a town was destroyed. That decision turned out to be a lucky break for the AP. Twice.
Ray was among the first journalists to arrive and he confirmed those reports -- in all formats. He shot powerful video, put victims on the phone with AP Radio and played back sound to an editor who transcribed the interviews and put the material on text wires. He then walked around the devastation with the Central Regional Desk on the line, talking to victims with the phone held so close that editors could transcribe his interviews in real time.
Ray also made a dramatic image of a young girl who found a manβs prosthetic leg in the rubble, propped it up next to her destroyed home and spray-painted an impromptu sign: βFound leg. Seriously.β
The following day, he was back on the road and headed for Georgia and a Super Tuesday date with Newt Gingrichβs campaign. The drive would take him through a stretch of the South that forecasters expected would suffer another wave of tornadoes.
To prevent running into THAT storm, Ray used his iPhone to monitor Doppler radar, zooming in on extreme cells and using Google maps to direct himself to safe routes. And then the journalist took over again.
βWhen weather like that occurs, a reporter must seize the opportunity to get the news out and allow people to see, hear and read the power of nature so that they can take proper shelter,β Ray says.
So Ray now started to use his phone to follow the storms. He attached a small GoPro camera to his steering wheel in case a tornado dropped down in front of the car somewhere, and took video of heavy rain and hail with his iPhone. Soon, he spotted a tornado and the chase was on. He followed an unmarked emergency vehicle to Cleveland, Tenn., where he was first on the scene of the storm's aftermath.
Again, the tornadoes had struck in locations that were hours from the nearest AP bureau. Damage and debris, as well as a wickedly violent storm that made travel dangerous, slowed our efforts to get to the news. That wasnβt a problem in Tennessee, where our customers were well served by an all-formats report that included this text story.
βCLEVELAND, Tenn. (AP) _ Fierce wind, hail and rain lashed Tennessee for the second time in three days, and at least 15 people were hospitalized Friday in the Chattanooga area.β
The byline? Robert Ray.
For being adept with technology, chasing after news as it literally dropped from the sky and setting a standard for all-formats reporting that put the AP ahead on the most competitive news story of the day, Ray wins this weekβs $300 Best of the States prize.
Β© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Terms and conditions apply. See AP.org for details. | <urn:uuid:d66bc6fe-8477-4adf-b430-f6a558ccc8ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://%[email protected]/Content/Press-Release/2012/How-AP-reported-in-all-formats-from-tornado-stricken-regions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972142 | 717 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Did you know you have two little yellow, nine-volt-battery-sized adrenal glands in your body, just chilling out, maxinβ, relaxinβ all cool on top of your kidneys? Someone told me this and I checked it out. Turns out itβs true.
It seems as though your adrenal glands are kind of like those British Royal Guards with the big, black fuzzy hats who stand like statues in front of Buckingham Palace. They just stand there quietly, not doing much really, just enjoying the brown, slippery beach that is your kidneys.
However, if anything startling should happen that requires your attention β like say youβre about to give a speech at a wedding or your hear a twig crack outside your tent or your doorbell rings in the middle of the night β then they leap into action, jumping out of their peaceful slumber to squeeze out a big dose of adrenaline right into your body, pumping you up, and turning you into a primal, warrior-like version of yourself.
When tension runs high and adrenaline is secreted into your body some crazy things can happen β sometimes called the fight-or-flight response:
- Your heart rate increases. And specifically, your body starts sending blood to all your big muscles and diverts it away from βnon-criticalβ parts of your body, like your brain, immune system, and digestive system. I guess someone figured you could digest the sandwich after you killed the bear.
- Your pupils dilate and you get tunnel vision. Quite literally, adrenaline also reduces your peripheral vision, which together with your big, wide pupils helps you focus on what lies ahead. You canβt quite see through walls, but if a crow is diving at your eyes you might be able to swat it away better.
- Your body gets ready to boot it. In addition to the rising heart rate, your body starts turning lots more stuff into sugar, raising your blood sugar level and filling you with energy. You might not even feel pain as easily, so the raspberry bushes that shred your legs when youβre running out of the forest wonβt slow you down.
But whatβs also great about adrenalin is that, first of all, you donβt have to control it. It just sort of kicks it into high gear when it figures you could use a boost. I think itβs kind of cool knowing that your body will help you out when you need it most. Punch me in the face and suddenly my internal British Royal Guard tosses away his fuzzy, black cap, cracks his neck, and rolls up his sleeves.
And really, isnβt it that little dose of adrenalin that helps you do a better job when you need it most? Itβs a natural upper, helping you nail the big speech, ace the final exam, or perhaps flee both of those scenes.
Thereβs a reason some people become adrenaline junkies. The boost you get from your adrenal glands waking up and getting out of bed is intoxicating. Sure, it fuzzes up your thinking a bit and sends your intestines on sabbatical, but it sure does pump you up. And remember: when something important in your life is about to happen, you can count on your good pal adrenaline to be there, juicing you up, helping you fight the good fight.
Jian Ghomeshi is the host of my favorite radio show. Itβs called Q and broadcasts across North America every morning. Jian is a big friend and fan of 1000 Awesome Things and The Book of Awesome and Iβm really excited because he just released his first book. Itβs called 1982 and is a beautifully written memoir about growing up in the suburbs of Toronto and trying to fit in. (My kind of book!) For those of you who love reading, I think heβs a fantastic writer and am really excited to recommend this book. | <urn:uuid:803e14c3-dc2e-43d6-b75d-6fb3981c4fe6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://1000awesomethings.com/2012/09/24/934-adrenaline/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947991 | 821 | 1.84375 | 2 |
In Suzanne Collinsβs wildly popular Hunger Games books, children are chosen by lottery to serve as gladiators who fight to the death. The Games are televised for the entertainment of the general population. Collins models her games on ancient Rome, where gladiators fought to the death and slaves were fed to the lions. She even names her dystopian world Panem, after the Latin word for bread, as in bread and circuses, panem et circenses. Bread and circuses refers to the cheap trick of persuading the masses to cheer for a lion or a slave, for one gladiator or another, rather than participating in or observing or acting to change the political arena. Keep the general population fed with the most basic of food and keep their minds off of rebellion with the distractions of entertainment.
As I read through Lenore Skenazyβs blog and watched her appearances on various chat shows, I kept thinking, βBread and circuses.β There is so much air time to fill, so television producers and headline writers make news of the Mommy Wars. Free Range Parenting vs. Helicopter Parenting. Stay-at-home Mothers vs. Working Mothers. Breast vs. Bottle. Sleep Training vs. Attachment Parenting. Blah, blah, blah. In one bloggerβs take on the issue, she asks, βFree range parenting versus helicopter parenting: which team are YOU on?β Really? We have to pick teams? These issues are so much more complex than x vs. y, but so much easier to digest if packaged in a familiar us vs. them format.
In one clip, Skenazy and another parent appear on Anderson Cooper to replay how Skenazy was able to help this woman who is so much of the helicopter persuasion that in public washrooms she feels it necessary to go right into the bathroom stall with her daughter. βDoesnβt everybody?β this mother quips, when the audience gasps. They feed this woman to the lions, then they rescue her, undo her public shame with a public reformation of her extreme and errant ways.
Unless itβs extreme, itβs not entertainment, so we have thown up on the screen all kind of wild and wacky folk on reality shows who hoard or dumpster dive for coupons for hundreds of free sticks of deodorant, saving up against Armageddon.
What good does any of this do? Silly distractions from the reality lived in the murky middle ground.
I respect Skenazy and her husbandβs decision to let their son ride the subway alone. I respect her desire to move away from a culture where kids are kept bubble wrapped. I respect her initiative to create a television show that capitalizes on the buzz that her sonβs subway ride generated. But I resent the circus atmosphere of telling the stories of bubble wrapped or free range kids.
Why do mothers keep feeding each other to the lion of artificially polarized public opinion? | <urn:uuid:1ac6d51e-62f3-46ac-b505-0adc65876218> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://4mothers1blog.com/2012/04/24/a-big-silly-distraction/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937658 | 620 | 1.773438 | 2 |
40th Parliament, 3rd Session
March 3, 2010 -
March 26, 2011
About this Committee
Like other standing committees, the Standing Committee on Health is appointed under the Standing Orders of the House of Commons for the life of a specific Parliament. It was first established in this form in 1994 to reflect the fact that the Department of Health and Welfare had been separated into two components: Health and Human Resources Development. By November 1995, this departmental restructuring was formally recognized in Bill C-95 (Department of Health Act).
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health is empowered to study and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, and operation of Health Canada. This includes its responsibilities for the operations of the internal body called the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA).
The Committee is also responsible for the oversight of five agencies that report to Parliament through the Minister of Health:
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);
- Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB);
- Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission (HMIRC);
- Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC);
- Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC)
The mandate of the Standing Committee on Health also includes reviewing and reporting on matters referred to it by Orders of Reference from the House of Commons relating to Health Canada and its associated agencies. | <urn:uuid:d3966269-01e6-4b57-94f8-f40e83294d91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://[email protected]/CommitteeBusiness/AboutCommittees.aspx?Cmte=HESA&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947484 | 278 | 2.125 | 2 |
Chang-an Jiang, Kim-leng Poh, and Tze-yun Leong
It is a frequently encountered problem that new knowledge arrived when making decisions in a dynamic world. Usually, domain experts cannot afford enough time and knowledge to effectively assess and combine both qualitative and quantitative information in these models.Existing approaches can solve only one of two tasks instead of both.We propose a four-step algorithm to integrate multiple probabilistic graphic models, which can effectively update existing models with newly acquired models. In this algorithm, the qualitative part of model integration is performed first, followed by the quantitative combination. We illustrate our method with an example of combining three models. We also identify the factors that may influence the complexity of the integrated model. Accordingly, we identify three factors that may influence the complexity of the integrated model. Accordingly, we present three heuristic methods of target variable ordering generation. Such methods show their feasibility through our experiments and are good in different situations. Finally, we provide some comments based on our experiments results. | <urn:uuid:f20540ee-fafb-422d-9d76-a6fc554293b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aaai.org/Library/Symposia/Spring/2005/ss05-02-009.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928985 | 209 | 1.632813 | 2 |
No. 24; Updated March 2011
Click here to download and print a PDF version of this document.
Parents are usually the first to recognize that their child has a problem with emotions or behavior. Still, the decision to seek professional help can be difficult and painful for a parent. The first step is to gently try to talk to the child. An honest open talk about feelings can often help. Parents may choose to consult with the child's physicians, teachers, members of the clergy, or other adults who know the child well. These steps may resolve the problems for the child and family.
Following are a few signs which may indicate that a child and adolescent psychiatric evaluation will be useful.
- Marked fall in school performance
- Poor grades in school despite trying very hard
- Severe worry or anxiety, as shown by regular refusal to go to school, go to sleep or take part in activities that are normal for the child's age
- Frequent physical complaints
- Hyperactivity; fidgeting; constant movement beyond regular playing with or without difficulty paying attention
- Persistent nightmares
- Persistent disobedience or aggression (longer than 6 months) and provocative opposition to authority figures
- Frequent, unexplainable temper tantrums
- Threatens to harm or kill oneself
- Marked decline in school performance
- Inability to cope with problems and daily activities
- Marked changes in sleeping and/or eating habits
- Extreme difficulties in concentrating that get in the way at school or at home
- Sexual acting out
- Depression shown by sustained, prolonged negative mood and attitude, often accompanied by poor appetite, difficulty sleeping or thoughts of death
- Severe mood swings
- Strong worries or anxieties that get in the way of daily life, such as at school or socializing
- Repeated use of alcohol and/or drugs
- Intense fear of becoming obese with no relationship to actual body weight, excessive dieting, throwing up or using laxatives to loose weight
- Persistent nightmares
- Threats of self-harm or harm to others
- Self-injury or self destructive behavior
- Frequent outbursts of anger, aggression
- Repeated threats to run away
- Aggressive or non-aggressive consistent violation of rights of others; opposition to authority, truancy, thefts, or vandalism
- Strange thoughts, beliefs, feelings, or unusual behaviors
See other Facts for Families:
#25 Where to Seek Help for Your Child
#52 Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation
#57 Normal Adolescent Development, Middle School, and Early High School Years
#58 Normal Adolescent Development, Late High School Year and Beyond
#00 Definition of a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) represents over 8,500 child and adolescent psychiatrists who are physicians with at least five years of additional training beyond medical school in general (adult) and child and adolescent psychiatry.
Facts for FamiliesΒ© information sheets are developed, owned and distributed by AACAP. Hard copies of Facts sheets may be reproduced for personal or educational use without written permission, but cannot be included in material presented for sale or profit. All Facts can be viewed and printed from the AACAP website (www.aacap.org). Facts sheets may not be reproduced, duplicated or posted on any other website without written consent from AACAP. Organizations are permitted to create links to AACAP's website and specific Facts sheets. For all questions please contact the AACAP Communications & Marketing Coordinator, ext. 154.
If you need immediate assistance, please dial 911.
Copyright Β© 2012 by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. | <urn:uuid:673b1bf6-2c30-40ae-992b-c387d00a836a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=When+to+Seek+Help+for+Your+Child§ion=Facts+for+Families | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927742 | 755 | 3.375 | 3 |
Previous abstract Next abstract
Session 40 - The Interstellar Medium.
Display session, Tuesday, June 09
Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) explosions can make kpc-size shells and holes in the interstellar media (ISM) of spiral galaxies if much of the energy heats the local gas to above 10^7 K. Disk blowout is probably the major cause for energy loss in this case, but the momentum acquired during the pressurized expansion phase can be large enough that the bubble still snowplows to a kpc diameter. This differs from the standard model for the origin of such shells by multiple supernovae, which may have problems with radiative cooling, evaporative losses, and disk blow-out. Evidence for giant shells with energies of \sim10^53 ergs are summarized. Some contain no obvious central star clusters and may be GRB remnants, although sufficiently old clusters would be hard to detect. The expected frequency of GRBs in normal galaxies can account for the number of such shells.
Program listing for Tuesday | <urn:uuid:e2300ad5-01dd-4e80-92b3-7ec88785cc9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aas.org/archives/BAAS/v30n2/aas192/abs/S040015.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912641 | 208 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Everyone wishes for something. And lots of people believe they know how to make their wishes come true with magical thinking.
What is it? "Magical thinking is a belief in forms of causation, with no known physical basis," said Professor Emily Pronin of Princeton. "So, for example, there's no known physical basis for how carrying a fluffy pink rabbit's foot in your pocket is going to increase your odds of winning the lottery."
For magical thinkers, it's more about the power of their wishes, their feelings and their positive thinking to affect their lives directly.
Twenty-seven-year-old aspiring actress Lindsay Lioz relies on magical thinking to further her showbiz career -- starting with visualizing every audition in advance. "It makes me feel like I've had rehearsal," she said. "It makes me feel prepared."
Lioz also uses magical thinking to improve her love life. She's written a list of the qualities she wants in a man -- and she sleeps with that list under her pillow every night. How has it worked so far? "I have great men in my life, I do. I'm very happy with how it's working out."
Magical thinkers call that idea "the law of attraction." It's a key element of the bestselling book "The Secret," which has been hailed by Oprah Winfrey and bought by millions worldwide.
"'The Secret' is telling people that if you think positive thoughts, positive things will happen, even at a very specific level," Pronin said. "If you visualize getting a parking space, you will get one. If you want to get thin, just stop having fat thoughts."
Magical thinking is not a religion. It's a different kind of faith -- a faith in the power of positive thoughts and feelings. Yet as unscientific as magical thinking sounds, Pronin said studies have shown there are times when it seems to have a real effect: "There was a study where people in their mid-20s were measured in terms of their optimism," she said, "and then, 50 years later, those who were more optimistic, were actually more likely to still be alive. So it's not always magical to believe that your positive thoughts are having a positive effect."
Magical thinking starts in childhood. At the University of Texas, Professor Jacqui Woolley has examined how children who know the difference between what's real and what's not believe that wishing can cause a penny to appear in what has just been shown to be an empty box. "We find that, by about the age of 4, most of the kids we test seem to really believe that wishing works," said Woolley. "So that would be an example of magical thinking."
Nick Barber spent his childhood wishing for riches, focusing on something his father gave him. "I was about 8 or 9 when my dad came home and gave me a fake million dollar bill," he said. "And that became something that represented my goals. I've hung on to it every since."
Barber would even sleep with the bill under his mattress. Now, at 27, he runs a multimillion dollar real estate company in Dallas called UMoveFree, and he still has that million dollar bill in his wallet. How did that bill help him get to this point? "It allowed me to believe in myself at a very young age," Barber said, "not to pay attention to those that said you can't, and to always believe that I can." | <urn:uuid:97684525-19c7-48da-a302-c2da701993dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3160862&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990037 | 716 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Do you drive a picop? Eat sΓ‘ndwiches de rosbif? Do you still own any cederrones? If these words don't sound familiar to you, that's because yesterday, the Associated Press released their first-ever Spanish language style guide, and set us all straight on the proper usage of some of EspaΓ±ol's newest words.
In case there's any confusion, picop is AP's official Spanish-language word for what many call a camioneta or pick-up truck, rosbif is their official spelling for "roast beef" in Spanish. And cederrΓ³n? That means CD-ROM. Duh.
Gathered in the auditorium of the prestigious Columbia Journalism School, some of the leading Spanish-language journalists sat down on Monday evening to discuss the finer points of the "language of Cervantes" and the AP stylebook -- which they describe as the "journalist's bible." Debate over the AP's continued use of term "illegal immigrant" dominated much of the event. But the most lively part of the evening was the presentation of words with roots in modern-day English -- or "estadunidismos," as the new Stylebook calls them.
If the Spanish-language style guide is to be our bible, then Monday evening's Moses was surely Argentine journalist Jorge Ignacio Covarrubias who has worked with the AP for more than 40 years and helped put together the new stylebook. The white-haired Covarrubias handed down to us such words as zapeo for channel surfing, cibersitio for website, pipermΓn for peppermint, ofimΓ‘tica for computer system for office management (like Word), and vermΓΊ for vermouth -- all in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. (Can we please call it a PowerrpoΓn?)
But not all Spanglish words are fair game, according to Covarrubias. For example, the AP recommends against using parada to mean parade. The word "parada" has historically been used to mean "stop", but many modern-day Spanish speakers have started using it to also mean parade. The AP suggests that writers instead use "desfile."
Many regionalisms are also discouraged. AutobΓΊs is the preferred term for bus, although some countries use guagua and others say colectivo. But, after lengthy discussion of the Spanish word for "drinking straw," (pajita vs. popote vs. canuto), no consensus has yet been reached, said Covarrubias.
Not everybody was happy about all of the AP's decisions. Laura MartΓnez, a bilingual blogger who writes about Hispanic media, tweeted "Cervantes is probably revolcΓ‘ndose en la tumba tras escuchar el tema Γ©se del "cederrΓ³n"," which translates to "Cervantes is probably turning over in his grave after hearing the thing about the 'cederrΓ³n'" | <urn:uuid:cd3169e8-c0b9-4e0a-9e29-ee6c8330ed11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/ap-spanish-language-stylebook-introduces-technical-spanglish/story?id=17769035 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921005 | 619 | 1.75 | 2 |
Question: How is bipolar disorder different from unipolar depression or 'regular' depression?
Answer: Both bipolar disorder and major depression are typically associated with depressive episodes. So both illnesses are accompanied by depressions. The difference is that in bipolar disorder people also have periods of elevation -- or severe irritability. We call these manic or hypomanic episodes. | <urn:uuid:e6ba92ad-ed0a-4cac-8e5d-204b78cdd250> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/BipolarOverview/story?id=4359993 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943297 | 71 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Nine people in South Korea have committed suicide in three separate incidents within two days. The latest was a 72-year-old man who hanged himself at a construction site in Hoengseong, Kangwon Province, Thursday, police said.
Four women and one man -- in their 20s and 30s -- were found dead Wednesday in Hwaseong, just south of Seoul, after sealing a passenger car with plastics sheets and inhaling toxic fumes from burned coal briquettes.
They left suicide notes saying, "I have no more hope and no more dreams" and "please find my identification card in my back pocket."
Police were investigating their motive but assumed that the man recruited the four women on the Internet to participate in a group suicide.
Earlier in another city east of Seoul, Chuncheon, three men in their 20s were also found dead at a private room-for-rent lodge using the same method and sealing the door and windows with dark masking tape from inside the room they were sharing.
Police assumed that they, too, were driven by group suicide pacts cultivated online.
Such news is common here where the suicide rate is the highest among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development group of developed countries.
An average of 35.1 people killed themselves everyday in 2008, according to the health ministry. That's 24.3 for every 100,000 South Koreans, followed by 21 in Hungary, 19.4 in Japan, 16.7 in Finland and 15.8 in Belgium.
The National Statistics Office reported that the suicides are related to the economic downturn, as well as rapid social change within the family and the community.
Korean society in recent years has been plagued by continuous cases of suicide among celebrities, high-profile politicians and businessmen, teenagers and the elderly. Analysts say the most common cause is depression stemming from social and academic pressures or family troubles.
"There's a huge gap in this country because the speed of materialism spreading is much faster than the speed of cultural maturity that must grow together. It all comes from stress of rapid modernization," said Jeung Taek-Hee, an expert and consultant at Lifeline Korea.
Korean parents are having fewer children -- on average one per couple -- and more women are going into the workforce, which leaves the child alone. Although some corporations and government ministries are campaigning for workers to go home by 6 o'clock at least once a month to spend family time, Korean corporate culture still requires employees to participate in work-related dinners and stay late hours.
"Naturally, these busy parents end up spoiling the child who ends up self-centered and incapable of dealing with competition," Jeung said. "But the reality is that this society is very, very competitive."
Along with the miraculous rate of economic growth in the past decades, many South Koreans have become driven by materialism that has been passed on to their kids, Jeung said.
He noted that most of the people who commit suicide, especially the young teenagers, find themselves dangerously distressed by not being able to keep up with others materialistically and eventually become anti-social.
"The easiest place where they can meet friends who share the same pain is online through suicide communities or chat sites," Jeung said.
Once they find each other, they become, "eternal comrades" who "must accompany each other to death," he said.
According to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 28.4 percent of young teenagers committed suicide in 2008 because of "disturbed family relations," mostly the result of parental divorce, 19.6 percent from pessimistic depression and 10.1 percent from academic pressure. | <urn:uuid:2edc9224-49dc-4ff8-a3a7-e5c117b470e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/International/south-korea-struck-online-suicide-pacts/story?id=10636608 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973295 | 750 | 1.898438 | 2 |
World leaders from 47 nations convene this week in Washington, D.C., for the Nuclear Security Summit, a gathering that the Obama administration hopes will raise awareness about the threats of nuclear arms getting into the hands of terrorists or "rogue" nations.
President Obama said Sunday the goal of the nuclear summit is to discuss the terrorist threat and getting countries to lock down their nuclear weapons in a specific time frame. The Obama administration itself has pledged to try to "secure all vulnerable materials" within four years and is hoping the summit will spark a case for preventive action among others.
"If there was ever a detonation in New York City or London or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically, and from a security perspective would be devastating," Obama said on the eve of the summit. "And we know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon -- a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction of using."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that the nuclear summit would be the largest of its kind hosted by a U.S. president since the U.N. conference in 1945.
But even as Obama brings the issue of nuclear security and disarmament into the spotlight -- first with the release of the new U.S. nuclear policy, and then the U.S.-Russia arms reduction agreement -- he faces significant challenges from two fronts.
Internationally, U.S. allies such as India, Pakistan and Israel have been resistant to signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, citing national security concerns. The view in many countries is that this week's treaty signing aside, if the United States and Russia -- which together account for 95 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal and material -- cannot cut their nuclear stockpile, why should they be forced to?
"No one is willing to step up and say, 'Yea, I'm part of the problem here," said former national security official Ivan Oelrich, now vice president of the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists. The "U.S. and Russia have to lead the way in major reductions."
Participant countries will also likely be looking to the United States for accountability. Henry Sokolsi, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, argues that if the United States is going to try to persuade other countries, it needs to shift its own policy at home too.
"I just think it's disrespectful to these countries," he said. "Each country has its own problems. If we're not helping them on that, how can we expect them to not rely on them [nuclear weapons] to feel secure? We rely on them. Why should they be any different?"
Domestically, the partisan rift on Capitol Hill means possibly a tough fight ahead for Obama's nuclear agenda. Critics of the new nuclear policy released last week complain that it gives a free pass to countries such as Iran and North Korea, and Republican senators are already taking aim at the U.S.-Russia arms treaty that was signed last week, saying it hurts U.S. security interests.
The general consensus is that the treaty will eventually be ratified by the end of the year, but the issue is likely to be the subject of a heated political debate for much longer. | <urn:uuid:0a9b45ec-f8f1-41fa-82b8-42fdadb3c33f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-nuclear-security-summit-symbolic-gesture/story?id=10335607 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957308 | 671 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Recently I've been taking a deep dive into the Reactive Extensions for .NET. This is a wonderful project that comes out of Cloud Programmability Division at Microsoft. Rx helps do to really wonderful things with asynchronous and parallel programming in unreliable distributed world. Do you remember what LINQ did to the collections (and much more)? Well, Rx is going to do (and doing) the same to events, asynchronous and distributed programming.
So if you have to deal anything that requires more than a single thread, process or machine to run - you'll be impacted in some way or the other.
The thing I love the most about what Eric Meijer and his team are doing - the underlying logic which is simple plain and so beautiful. Even the entire IObservable/IObserver thing could be logically derived from IEnumerable by inverting the concepts logically.
Just watch these videos, if you are interested in the details here (highly recommended):
What does this have to do with CQRS, Domain-Driven Design and Event Sourcing?
When I'm building some complex interactions and systems, I'm trying to follow the same principle. System design and evolution are not guided by the intuition or creativity. Pure logic and mathematical reason are the most reliable advisors here (it feels like proving a theorem). It's really hard to explain in words, but logically solid design can handle a lot of things with really little effort (and code) just because of it's nature. Basically it allows to say to new challenges: "we did not code for this, but since this is logical, it already is in the design, you just need to enable this".
While I'm just learning CQRS/DDD/ES I want to do it in the logical way that will prevent me from doing bad and illogical things (which will impact my systems later in their lifecycle). Way of thinking that Eric Meijer shows, seems to help here. Besides, it helps to merge the ideas of Pat Helland (almost infinitely scalable systems) into the overall CQRS concepts.
Reactive Extensions benefit a lot from the marble diagrams representing parallel processes and their interactions. So I've tried to re-apply these principles to my understanding of CQRS/DDD/ES. By mechanically reflecting the logic, here's what I've got for the command handler:
Essentially this picture reflects the flow of commands (marked with D for Do) incoming into the handler. Commands can come as a single or as a batch (that's the marble or tick in this reality). Commands coming together either succeed or fail together.
Each incoming tick translates into a new parallel reality for an aggregate (just like SelectMany in Rx, where you get observable of observable of T). Then we flatten successful commands onto the change stream (each change is a unit of work), while errors are flattened into the failure stream.
There is a message dispatcher that catches up upon these streams and sends domain events, command failures and confirmations back to the message bus. This way subscribers will have logically complete information about what's happened in the business logic. Subscribers could include sagas and event handlers working with read models (which will be used to provide clients with feedback that includes potential command failures).
Note a few differences upon the traditional CQRS with event sourcing approach as advocated by Greg Young:
- Aggregate Root can react to incoming commands by providing a finite stream of events, optionally terminating with error (there is a direct translation from Rx observers here: OnError and OnComplete).
- We save successful change (command(s) and resulting events) atomically as unit of work. Persisting commands will actually let us ensure command idempotency in the cruel world of scalable message queues (with "at least once" deliveries). Essentially this is reflection of Helland's activities that we need to have in the same scope with the aggregates that own them.
- Command failures are also saved (although the stream could be different from the event source). We don't need to save the intermediate events though - just command(s) and the resulting failure.
- Message dispatcher runs upon the failure and change streams, publishing domain events into the message bus. We have logically complete information here, that could eventually be provided for the client (sender) for the retrieval.
- theoretically we can easily process commands for a single aggregate in multiple threads, serializing access to the change and failure streams.
Things that do not fit in, yet:
- In CQRS practice there are cases, when there would traditionally be a call to the domain service (in the command handler and before the aggregate root). This does not fit in here. In a Rx world this would probably be a separate async command handler. Yet this would require an additional layer of translation (another command handler and event handler).
- events and commands are some sort of duals. They are both messages that bring along different intent and help to organize CQRS architecture (this comes from the DDD realm). Yet, this duality (and the rules coming out of it) brings additional complexity, when you need to chain multiple operations (first call unreliable operation, then pass the result to the aggregate, then do something else). I think I'm missing some aspect of commands and events that would help to lay out interactions in a clean and logical way.
That's a theory and logic as I see them today. This means:
- tomorrow perception might evolve into something different that better brings together known patterns and constraints.
- in theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice - there is a difference.
If I could bring in sagas, view event handlers and domain services into the picture in a logical way (and without breaking any existing scalability and consistency constraints), I'd be a happy man.
We'll see how it goes (see xLim 4: CQRS in Cloud series for any latest materials on this topic). Meanwhile I'm really interested in your thoughts on this subject. | <urn:uuid:aae437a0-dcca-4c82-a512-d261b6cf812d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abdullin.com/journal/2010/9/19/domain-driven-design-event-sourcing-rx-and-marble-diagrams.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94712 | 1,240 | 1.804688 | 2 |
If Superman had explored these issues instead of bashing unions and promoting charters, moviegoers might have walked away understanding a great deal about why the families it profiled and so many similar families across America face a bleak educational future.
The movie certainly showed scenes of poverty, but its implications and the structural inequalities underlying that poverty were largely ignored. Devastating urban poverty was just there -- as if that were somehow the natural order of things but if we could only βfixβ schools it would disappear.
While youβre reading it, keep this chart in mind (from Alex Knapp at Outside the Beltway):
Iβve complained before about our schoolsβ obsession with behavior management at the expense of thought and inquiry. But I can see why the people in the blue slice above might be more interested in teaching the kids in the yellow slice to behave than in teaching them to question things.
(h/t Balloon Juice) | <urn:uuid:46758e7d-4a9e-416e-bafd-88118a7a610c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ablogaboutschool.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967775 | 193 | 1.726563 | 2 |
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Partitioning of carbon, water, and energy fluxes between understory and canopy in a North Central Florida mature uneven aged pine flatwoods forest.
Starr, Gregory*,1, Powell, Thomas1, Martin, Timothy1, Gholz, Henry1,2, 1 School of Forestry Resources and Conservation, Gainesville, FL2 National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA
ABSTRACT- Of the 5.93 million ha of timberland within the state of Florida, only 19% are maintained under conditions classified as "natural" pine forest. While considerable attention has been focused on the carbon and water dynamics of managed pine plantations in the region, little attention has been given to these natural forests, which are an integral part of the complex mosaic of lands in the region. Based on this importance, it was our intention to quantify how environmental conditions affect ecosystem carbon, water, and energy exchange within a mature pine flatwoods forest and determine how specific components of the system, (i.e. leaf physiology, soil respiration, understory composition and canopy structure), contribute to these exchange rates. During the 2000-2001 field season, the natural pine flatwoods was a carbon sink with an annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of 183 g C m-2. The largest portion of this carbon was sequestered during the winter and spring when temperatures were cooler and canopy LAI was lowest. This could be attributed to a reduction in ecosystem respiration losses and a slight increase in understory photosynthetic rates caused by a larger portion of total radiation reaching the understory. Approximately 90% of the respiratory losses from the system could be accounted through soil respiration, which is highly correlated to soil water potential (r2=0.77, p<0.001). Comparison of eddy covariance measurements above and below the pine canopy indicated that 37% of the ecosystemΓs carbon, 51 % of its latent energy, and 56% of its sensible heat fluxes could be attributed to the understory. Preliminary results show that two species, Serenoa repens and Ilex glabra, comprise 95% of the understory vascular and both have relatively high leaf nitrogen concentration and photosynthetic capacities (~1.4% nitrogen and Amax ~ 4.0 mmol m-2 s-1) and account for ~ 90% of the carbon sequestered by the understory community. These initial assessments provide evidence that natural pine flatwood forest of Florida may be a small regional carbon sink.
KEY WORDS: pine flatwoods, carbon and water exchange, eddy covariance | <urn:uuid:09d8a50e-b5b5-4ac8-9b83-20535564e5da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abstracts.co.allenpress.com/pweb/esa2002/document/17486 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926591 | 537 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Pneumonia is a common cause for ED visits. How do you decide on whether the patient can be managed as an outpatient or inpatient? To supplement your clinical judgment, many clinicians use the Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) score.
Have you heard of CURB-65, supported by the British Thoracic Society? What about SMART-COP, which is meant to help you predict if your patient will need Intensive Respiratory or Vasopressor Support (IRVS)?
It's worth a quick review.
Feel free to download this card and print on a 4'' x 6'' index card.
Presentations are traditionally given using Powerpoint. Keynote is prettier alternative to Powerpoint but is only Macintosh-compatible. Both have the same antiquated structure such that content is presented only linearly.
The hottest presentation tool now is Prezi, a web-based tool, which allows the viewer to zoom in and out of sections. The visuals are more of a conceptual map of the content, where the viewer or speaker can zoom around any desired topic. Because it's online, you can easily embed YouTube videos.
Take a look at this Prezi demo advocating it as a tool for teaching.
To navigate, you can click on the gray arrows at the bottom to advance forward or backward, as pre-programmed. Alternatively, you can drag the display using your mouse. Or you can zoom in/out using the + or - tools on the right.
Google Docs is constantly improving and growing. One of the cool features is that you can embed any document within your blog. Whenever you edit the Google Docs document, it automatically updates in your blog.
How do I do this?
Within your document in Google Docs, click on the upper right "Share" button and select "Publish to Web".
In the pop-up screen, select "Start Publishing".
Copy and paste the provided HTML code in your blog.
With a little HTML editing, you can make the optimize the margins bigger than the teeny preset dimensions. To change the margins to 440-pixel width and 500-pixel height, add the extra text (in bold) into your code as follows:
And ta-da! Embedded is my handout from a recent talk on mobile apps in Medicine.
A new CME publication has emerged from the publishers of Emergency Medicine Practice and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Practice called EM Critical Care. This new publication is specifically geared towards manging critically ill patients in the ED. There will be 6 issues per year with each issue offering 3 AMA PRA Category 1 credits. Although it has not yet been released, it appears to have an impressive editorial board including Emanuel Rivers, Michael Gibbs, Benjamin Abella and Robert Arntfield. Oh, and did I not mention Scott Weingart from the EMCrit Blog? If it is anything similar to it's predecessors, it is guaranteed to be a hit!
In a Research Letter in JAMA, Dr. Chretien et al describe the profile of physicians in the Twitter universe, specifically focusing on professionalism.
Self identified physician
At least 500 followers during May 1-31, 2010 (Whew, I only have 309 followers.)
Posted a tweet within last 6 months
A total of 260 physicians were studied.
6.2% were from Emergency Medicine.
15% (most) were from Surgery and its subspecialties.
76% were from the United States.
Three physicians independently coded the 20 most recent tweets from each account (total n= 5,156) for unprofessional content. There were 144 (3%) unprofessional tweets from 27 users:
55 (1%) - possible conflict of interest, advocating for non-standard therapies
38 (0.7%) - potentially violation of patient privacy
33 (0.6%) - profanity
14 (0.3%) - sexually explicit material
4 (0.1%) - discriminatory statement
25 of 27 (92%) of users were identifiable
The authors conclude that, although rare, there should be more physician accountability and guidelines in the age of social media. This is even more true, since I just discovered that all tweets are archived by the Library of Congress!
Take a look at your most recent tweets. How would they have performed if you were included in this study?
Reference Chretien KC, Azar J, Kind T. Physicians on Twitter. JAMA: The journal of the American Medical Association. 2011. 305(6), 566-8. PMID: 21304081 .
Dr. Rob Orman of ERCast blog fame emailed me last week about creating a pocket card on Suicide Risk Stratification. In many community ED's, risk assessment is done by the emergency physician. I'm lucky where I work, because we have a 24/7 psychiatric ED, which consults on suicidal patients in the "medical ED".
In the end, assessment is primarily based on physician judgment, because there's no great clinical decision tool, rules, or scores to assess risk. Rob has created his own mnemonic to help you ask the right questions in assessing a suicidal patient. This is a sneak peak into a larger article that Rob is planning to unleash on the world on suicide assessment. Based on his review of the literature and own clinical experience, the mnemonic is: TRAAPPED SILO SAFE.
"Risk factors" which increase a patient's risk for committing suicide in the near future.
"Protective factors"which decrease a patient's risk for committing suicide in the near future.
Feel free to download this card and print on a 4'' x 6'' index card.
* Updated 3/8/11: Added extra "A" to include "Access to Means" as a risk factor.
Ever since my post about the top medical apps, I have been inundated with people asking me to review their apps.
One has stood out.
Medibabble is a real-time medical translation app and is now available for FREE. It was created by two innovative UCSF medical school graduates, Dr. Alex Blau and Dr. Brad Cohn. This app contains an extensive preset list of history questions and physical exam commands. When you click on a sentence, the app will translate and speak the sentence in one of 5 languages (Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, and Haitian Creole).
Take a few minutes to download all of the free languages onto your device. It only comes with Spanish pre-installed. There is a FAQ page at www.medibabble.com. The app is only available for the iOS platform currently.
Does your Emergency Department have computerized spectrophotometric catheters to measure continuous central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) in early goal directed therapy (EGDT) for severe sepsis? That's what was used in the original Rivers' EGDT study.
I've never even seen one before.
Many emergency physicians are getting around not having the specialized equipment issue by obtaining intermittent venous blood gas measurements off of a central venous line.
But what if you had a 30 y/o woman with early pyelonephritis/urosepsis who has severe sepsis by definition? She's got 10 peripheral lines (I'm exaggerating, of course), a normalized blood pressure with early IV fluids, and appears non-toxic. Her lactate, however, is 9! Do you really need a central line? My gut says no, but the EGDT protocol says yes -- for the purpose of CVP and ScvO2 measurements.
Trick of the Trade:
Use a less-invasive approach where bedside ultrasound and serial venous lactate levels replace central venous lines and ScvO2 measurements, respectively.
Last year, JAMA published a landmark study showing that lactate clearance of β₯10% over the first 2 hours is "not a worse measurement" than ScvO2β₯70%. This double-negative statistical speak came about because it was a non-inferiority study.
So how does this affect the original Rivers protocol? To review, here's the original protocol, which I posted about earlier:
(click to view larger image)
In the less invasive model:
Fluid resuscitate through peripheral IV access instead of a central line.
Follow volume status either with a bedside ultrasound or urine output.
Follow venous lactate levels at time 0 and 2 hours. If the lactate clearance is β₯10% over these 2 hours, you should follow the algorithm as if the ScvO2β₯70%. That means no need for immediate transfusion or vasopressor agents.
How do you know when you have adequately volume-resuscitated a patient using bedside ultrasound? Measure the IVC diameter about 1-2 cm from the right atrium junction.
If the IVC diameter β€1.5 cm and has β₯50% collapse with inspiration, the patient has a very low CVP.
If the IVC diameter is at least 1.5 cm and has minimal collapse with inspiration, the patient is euvolemic. Move to the next step -- assessing the MAP.
This doesn't mean that all EGDT patient should have ONLY peripheral lines. Persistent hypotension, a non-clearing lactate level, and/or clinical toxicity warrant more invasive monitoring and management.
Scott Weingart has an in-depth, 21-minute podcast about the JAMA article and noninvasive approach to sepsis: Podcast link. Scott also briefly interviews Dr. Alan Jones (Carolinas Medical Center), the first author of the study, in the podcast.
Reference Jones AE, et al; Emergency Medicine Shock Research Network (EMShockNet) Investigators. Lactate clearance vs central venous oxygen saturation as goals of early sepsis therapy: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association.2010, 303(8), 739-46. PMID: 20179283 .
In its third official year, the Clerkship Directors in Emergency Medicine (CDEM) organization is still growing strong. It all started with six of us at an informal dinner in Boston about 5 years ago. And now the organization has grown so large that it is now for the first time offering annual awards to its members.
Know an award-worthy educator? Nominate him or her!
CDEM Clerkship Director of the Year Award
This award recognizes an Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director that has made significant contributions to either a 3rd or 4th year EM rotation. To be eligible for this award, the nominee must currently be a Clerkship Director of a mandatory, selective or elective rotation and have served in that role for a minimum of 5 years. This award is presented at the annual CDEM meeting.
CDEM Young Educator of the Year Award
This award recognizes a medical student educator at the Clinical Instructor or Assistant Professor level and less than 10 year from residency completion who has made significant contributions to teaching and educating medical students. This award is presented at the annual CDEM meeting.
CDEM Distinguished Educator Award
This award recognizes a medical student educator at the Associate Professor or Professor level who has made significant contributions to and has demonstrated sustained excellence in teaching and educating medical students for 10 or more years. This award is not presented annually; rather, it is bestowed on special occasions.
CDEM Award for Innovation in Medical Education
This award recognizes a medical student educator at any faculty rank who has made a significant and innovative contribution to undergraduate medical education. This award is presented at the annual CDEM meeting.
By learning about our differences, we can learn to appreciate and better communicate with those who are different from us.
The same falls true for working with residents and faculty from different "generations", as defined as traditionalists, baby boomers, generation Xers, and millennials.
This literature review and consensus document is quite extensive and even comes in 2 parts in Academic Emergency Medicine. There is a great summary table of the generational differences in personal, work, and educational characteristics, communication styles, and technology.
Think of faculty who fit in these age groups. Do they fit their generational stereotype?
Traditionalists (born 1925-1945)
Personal characteristics: Loyal, reluctant to change, dedicated, value honor and duty, patriotic
Work characteristics: Value hierarchy, loyal "company man", job security
Education characteristics: Process oriented
Communication style: Formal
Technology: Tend not to understand
Baby Boomers(born 1945-1964)
Personal characteristics: Optimistic, desire for personal gratification, highly competitive
Work characteristics: Workaholic, competitive, consensus builder, mentor
Education characteristics: Learner depends on educator, lecture format, process-oriented
Communication style: Diplomatic
Technology: Not particularly techno-saavy
Generation Xers (born 1964-1980)
Personal characteristics: Independent, self-directed, skeptical, resilient, more accepting of diversity, self-reliant
Work characteristics: Value work-life balance, comfortable with change, question authority
Education characteristics: Independent learners, problem-solvers, desire to learn on the job, outcome-oriented
Communication style: Blunt
Technology: Interested and facile
Millennials (born 1980-1999)
Personal characteristics: Optimistic, need for praise, collaborative, global outlook
Work characteristics: Team-oriented, follows rules and likes having structured time, career changes
Education characteristics: Team-based learning environment, turn to Internet for answers, outcome-oriented
Communication style: Polite
Technology: Very saavy, technology is a necessity
The authors give multiple examples where generational differences come to light but none more so than in mentorship within the academic department.
Traditionalists view mentorship as a more formal process, where feedback is necessary only to provide criticism or suggestions for improvement.
Baby boomers also view mentorship as a "top down" process. They are ok with infrequent interactions.
Generation Xers and Millennialsprefer mentorship as a more "peer to peer" process with more frequent interactions. They value the personal relationships and the opportunity to collaborate in creative solutions. Because of their stereotypical distrust of authority, however, they may inadvertently sabotage their relationship with their mentors. Distrust sometimes is misinterpreted as a general lack of respect.
To overcome these differences, mentor-mentee pairings should take into consideration gender and shared views about goals, work/life balance, and experiences. Early discussions in a mentorship relationship should discuss generational differences and how each envisions the ideal mentor-mentee relationship to be. The pair should agree upon and adopt a collaborative, shared communication approach with frequent feedback.
So much more in this article... Take a read.
Mohr NM, Moreno-Walton L, Mills AM, et al. Generational Influences in Academic Emergency Medicine: Teaching and Learning, Mentoring, and Technology (Part I). Acad Emerg Med. 2011, 18:190-9, 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2010.00985.x .
A 50 year-old woman, who presented to the ENT clinic for followup check of a facial fracture, has a blood pressure of 210/100. She is asymptomatic and in no pain. She gets referred immediately to the ED for care.
Now you see her in your ED. What next?
There is a lot of controversy whether you should treat or not treat asymptomatic hypertension in the ED. The ACEP Clinical Policy says that there is no need to immediately reduce an asymptomatic patient's blood pressure. With "close followup", they can be referred to their primary care physician.
With so many patients being uninsured or unable to access their primary care physician on short notice, many emergency physicians like myself are slowly moving towards starting antihypertensive medications for them.
If you do decide to start an antihypertensive, which medication do you choose? This Paucis Verbis card is based on a 2009 Cochrane Review, and summarized in American Family Physician in 2010. The blue numbers denote a Risk Ratio (RR) which cross 1, meaning that there is no benefit. The red numbers denote a RR < 1, meaning that there IS a benefit.
A low-dose thiazide, such as hydrochlorothiazide 12.5-25 mg po daily, is a safe and effective choice.
Feel free to download this card and print on a 4'' x 6'' index card.
References Quynh B. Cochrane for clinicians. First-line treatment for hypertension. Amer Fam Phys. 2010, 81(11), 1333-5. Mensah G, Bakris G. Treatment and Control of High Blood Pressure in Adults. Cardiology Clinics. 2010, 28(4), 609-22. ..
EMCast - Monthly podcast interviews with Dr. Amal Mattu through Emedhome.com ($99 annual subscription)
CDEM Curriculum - Resource put together by CDEM for medical students which includes essentially an online textbook in EM (free). Rob even put in a plug for my Digital Instruction in Emergency Medicine (DIEM) online simulation cases. I'm not actually done with all the cases, as Rob suggests! Only the first case on Chest Pain is done thus far... Ack! I better get crackin' now.
Spend a high-yield 25 minutes listening to Rob's take on need-to-know educational resources in EM.
A health care worker hurried in to the ED after being poked with a needle.
'It was an old 18G needle with dried blood', she said. Her puncture had drawn blood. You discussed the very low risk of contacting HIV and the side effects of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). She asked, 'What does very low risk mean?'
Is there another way to covery risk for patients?
Trick of the Trade: Convey probabilities with everyday risks.
This article uses a risk stratifying tool to convey probabilities that compare to everyday risks such as flying, cancer diagnosis, having an MI, etc. Below is the calculation tool from the paper.
Using this tool, the risk of contacting HIV for this patient would be:
5/ (1000 x 100 x 100) = 1/ 2,000,000
According to the everyday risk table in the article, this is similar to the risk of dying in the next 12 months from lightning. You left her to decide on PEP.
As the author pointed out, the risks cited are probabilities instead of exact measurements. This is an important caveat.
I find this helpful to provide context, especially for those who have difficulty deciding on PEP.
Vertesi L. Risk Assessment Stratification Protocol (RASP) to help patients decide on the use of postexposure prophylaxis for HIV exposure. CJEM : Canadian journal of emergency medical care. 2003, 5(1), 46-8. PMID: 17659153
Many academic Emergency Departments are staffed by non-EM residents. Dr. Amer Aldeen and his super-star team from Northwestern created NURRC Modules (Northwestern University Rotating Resident Curriculum). These modules allow the off-service residents, who all have different schedules, to learn key EM-based topics at their own leisure and convenience.
The positive effect of the curriculum on the off-service residents' medical knowledge was recently published in Academic Emergency Medicine: Read my review.
NURRC Video Modules:
ENT and Ophthalmology Emergencies
Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergencies
Trauma and Wound Care
Thanks to the team for agreeing to make these videos free for everyone to use.
I hope I wasn't too pushy or forward in asking for the videos... and then asking if I could post then all on YouTube! Such a great resource shouldn't live behind closed doors. I'll post the other 3 videos once I receive them from Amer.
It is 2 a.m. You, the resident, have just spoken to your staff/attending, who told you to do a task. You have seen one, but don't feel comfortable doing one independently.
Will you tell your staff/attending about how you feel?
What if the patient did poorly after that?
This study examines the perception of EM trainees of their competence and adverse events and how they feel about reporting them.
Anonymous web-based survey sent to all trainees from 9 EM programs in Canada outside Quebec.
37.3% trainees responded.
40% trainees felt they had minimal supervision when doing a task that they did not feel safe about.
Most 'unsafe' tasks included providing care overnight, admission decision or procedures.
When feeling incompetent, a third of trainees will not report this to their staff.
Barriers include worry about loss of trust, automony or respect.
64% trainees felt responsible for contributing to adverse events.
Most relate to procedures - chest tubes, central lines, paracentesis.
Majority, but not all, reported the most serious events to the staff.
Barriers include fear of appearing incompetent and humiliation.
How would I change my teaching practice
Ensure trainees feel safe. Maybe do a dry run of central line insertion/break bad news prior.
Encourage trainees to voice their discomfort. They are learning, not just working.
Discuss adverse events and medical errors with trainees.
Reference Friedman S, Sowerby R, Guo R, Bandiera G. Perceptions of emergency medicine residents and fellows regarding competence, adverse events and reporting to supervisors: a national survey. CJEM: Canadian journal of emergency medical care. 2010, 12(6), 491-9. PMID: 21073775
Medgadget annually hosts a contest for the best medical blogs. It's the Superbowl of blogs.
Our blog was nominated for the Best New Medical Blog last year, but got our butt kicked.
This year, we're honored to be a finalist in the Best Clinical Sciences Blog category. That's the great news. Unlucky for us, we are in the same category as the juggernauts EMCrit (also nominated in the overall Best Medical Blog category) and Resus.M.E. I do love the fact that the EM specialty is dominating with 3 finalists in this list of 5.
With all of the amazing, sunny weather here in California, I feel (briefly) terrible for all those braving the snowpocalyptic conditions across the United States. So, in honor of all those bundled up and shivering, I wanted to review the management of accidental hypothermia.
Tip: Avoid jostling the hypothermic patient too much because of myocardial irritability. Don't send your patient into an arrhythmia.
Feel free to download this card and print on a 4'' x 6'' index card.
In his talk (subtitled "School Sucks"), Northwestern University Physics Professor Dr. Tae describes how he would improve math and science education. While this is directed at college studies, some of the concepts are applicable to teaching Emergency Medicine.
He shares a lot of great insight, but I wanted to focus on one concept in particular:
The secret to learning = "Work your ass off until you figure it out."
Dr. Tae demonstrates this as we watch him make 57 failed attempts trying to learn a new skateboarding trick before finally being able to successfully complete it on the 58th. In order to master this new skill, he had to actively struggle with it until he succeeded. He contrasts this with lectures where students "just sit there" passively, learning very little.
Clinical decision making is a skill, much like skateboarding, and our job in teaching this may be to let the students do most of the work. We're only there to offer guidance and point them in the right direction when necessary. So how can we challenge our students to struggle and fail until they ultimately figure it out?
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Thanks!
Patients with a hairy chest may require little patches of hair to be shaved when applying EKG leads. This allows the leads to stick firmly to the chest. Loose leads will result in either an artifactual signal or no signal at all on the EKG machine.
How can you obtain an EKG without shaving little patches on the patient's chest?
Trick of the Trade: Cover EKG leads with damp gauze
Water maximes the contact surface area between the EKG lead and the patient's skin. The water easily conducts the cardiac electrical signal.
Generously soak gauze with water.
Apply gauze over each EKG lead where it contacts hairy skin.
He is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Clerkship Director at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Rahul has led the charge in building CDEM's educational site at www.cdemcurriculum.org, which essentially is a free online textbook for students on their EM rotation. His amazing technological saavy and passion for education in EM make him a perfect fit on our blogging team. I've been begging him to join us for over a year. We're lucky to have him!
Wednesday's post is his first (of hopefully many).
Well I finally took the leap and am primarily relying on my iPhone to look up medication doses, which I don't know off the top of my head. Gone are the days of purchasing Tarascon's pocket Pharmacopoeia every few years or so.
I still haven't settled on which I like more. Both are free. Both are available on multiple platforms, including iOS, Blackberry, and Android. Both have some unique features which I find useful.
Common strengths for both apps:
Easy to find drug you are looking for. Epocrates has a Search screen as the home page. Micromedex has a Search screen and alphabetical list of medications as the home page.
Dosing adjustments based on renal and hepatic function
Adult and pediatric dosing recommendations
Safety information with preganancy and lactation
Unique strengths of the apps:
Includes toxicology information for all the medications (what to do in case of an overdose)
I have heard that this Thomson Reuters app has been more peer-reviewed and accepted as a very reliable resource, especially for pediatric dosing.
Free from obvious advertisements (which is sometimes seen in Epocrates via the Doc Alerts)
Has pricing information
Allows user to identify unknown pill based on pill characteristics (color, shape, etc)
Ability for you to take notes on the app
They both will likely answer 99% of what you are looking for from a drug-prescribing perspective. So, which do you prefer and why? | <urn:uuid:7fd745be-c67a-4056-b3dc-570d8f5e1dab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com.au/2011_02_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932867 | 5,601 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Acem Meditation is easy to learn. Personal instruction and guidance ensure that you get a good start. Group discussions help you to deal with beginnerβs problems and to establish a meditation habit.
A beginner's course usually consists of 2-4 sessions, each providing ample opportunity for personal practice followed by guidance and discussion. Groups of 5-15 participants meet for altogether 7-12 hours. Topics covered include:
- Brief introduction and personal instruction
- Applying the basic principles to your own practice
- From stress relief to personal process
- Scientific research and the psychology of meditation
You learn how to use Acem Meditation for relaxation and stress management, and you lay the foundation for a fascinating process of personality development and self-understanding.
The book Acem Meditation - An Introductory Companion is included in the course fee. While you cannot learn the technique from a book, a CD, or the Internet, the psychology of meditation stimulates your practice and provides a fuller understanding of the process.
After the course, you can practise the technique on your own, whether you choose to become a regular meditator or to meditate whenever you feel the need.
If you wish, you may continue to discuss your meditation practice with a qualified guide after the course. You may also choose between a number of follow-up activities, such as group meditations, talks and lectures, the follow-up courses M1 and M2, as well as weekend retreats where you can get away for a while and recharge your batteries.
All instructors have been through several years of training and have long teaching experience.
See details for each course in the right sidebar. | <urn:uuid:0652ebf6-e5c8-439f-b6f3-deffee5f8b93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://acem.com/allobjects/acemcourse/curso_de_principiantes23 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923953 | 338 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Making the Case for Action
This fact sheet(pdf) and slide deck provide essential state-specific information that addresses the economic imperative, the equity imperative, and the expectations imperative of the college- and career-ready agenda. These resources can be used on their own or serve as the foundation for a personalized presentation or fact sheet(word), which can be customized with state-specific details and examples. The PowerPoint, in particular, was developed with various users in mind and offers a wide range of case-making data that can be drawn from to support your own advocacy efforts.
Advancing the Agenda
As states continue their efforts to promote college and career readiness, Achieve regularly surveys the states to identify their progress in adopting critical college- and career-ready policies. Below is a summary of Idaho's progress to date:
See Closing the Expectations Gap for more information
State accountability systems focus the efforts of teachers, students, parents, administrators and policymakers to ensure that students and schools meet the established goals, including the goal of ensuring all students graduate ready for college and careers. Idaho has yet to begin to use any of the key college- and career-ready indicators in their accountability system.
|Annual School-level Public Reporting||Statewide Performance Goals||School-level Incentives||Accountability Formula|
|Earning a college- and career-ready diploma|
|Scoring college-ready on a high school assessment|
|Earning college credit while in high school|
|Requiring remedial courses in college|
For an explanation of the indicators, their uses and Achieveβs minimum criteria for college- and career-ready accountability, see here. | <urn:uuid:3b2c1a91-4f52-464d-ad69-49c1cbadaba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://achieve.org/Idaho | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927479 | 341 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Well, these are still some
difficult questions to answer with pin-point accuracy, and at this point I don't
believe anyone has the exact answer to all 3 of these questions. What I offer
below is a mix of what I Think, What I know and what Appears to be....
Anyone currently attempting to
answer these questions with some type of "Universal Knowledge" on the
subject--is Full of BS--BEWARE! Yes, that includes Me. I don't have the
Complete answer to these questions--and neither does anyone else. This is
a subject that needs to be studied in-depth by someone that has all the
resources to carry it out: Lab, veterinary knowledge/skills, Acrochordus snakes,
What is it:
At this point--I don't know, but here
is what I believe based on experience, observation and research: The skin of the
Acrochordus javanicus and arafurae is very impermeable. So, that makes it a very
protective mechanism against the outside world. It is commonly understood that
"Stress" causes a reduction in the ability of the immune system to do its
job--in humans and other animals--including Acrochordus snakes. Stress appears
to cause a decline in the immune system of Acrochordus snakes causing a decline
in the effectiveness of the skin as a protective barrier against the outside
world. This loss of effectiveness increases until Secondary Infections set in and
ultimately kill the animal.
Where does it come from:
See the paragraph above and add:
Improper Husbandry. Yes, it really is that simple. In the Wild, these animals
have the ability to move from Habitat to Habitat--Microenvironment to
Microenvironment. Even though the White Spot Fungus appears to be a "Captivity"
Problem--the snakes in the Wild maybe be able to prevent it--not by some
"Magical Bacteria", but, rather: by simply selecting
Environments/Microenvironments that they are "Happy" with--i.e., minimum
sustained stress level. In Captivity--the snakes don't have that choice. Plain
and Simple. Additionally, it appears that the more acclimated to captivity that
these snakes get--the more secretive and stress prone they become.
How do We get rid of it:
Proper Husbandry--Yes, it really is
that simple. Reduction of "Stress" will reduce the Progression of the White Spot
Fungus. I have seen it myself. Elimination of Stress will Halt the progression
of White Spot Fungus. Note: I did not say anything about chemicals, medications,
etc.--just eliminate the Stress and the progression of the White Spot will stop.
What is there will remain until the next shed. After the next shed--the animal
will be clean and remain that way--as long as all of the husbandry parameters
are and remain in order. Its just that Simple. A new animal going through the
acclimation process may need to shed 2, 3 or even 4 times before the White Spot
relents completely. However, its progress should be visibly reduced with each
So, what is "Proper
Husbandry"? Well, that's what this website is about. No, I don't have all the
answers right now, but I've come a long way in the last couple of yrs dedicated
to these snakes.
1) If You are genuinely
interested in these snakes--then read this website: Every page, every word, look
at every picture. This website is not setup for those who are just mildly
curious at best. Those folks are more then welcome here. But a lot of
information is "Hidden" within the text for those who are serious about these
animals. Nothing is truly "Hidden", but even this explanation is not sitting on
the Front Page for the "Scanners" to see.
2) Spend the hours necessary
researching these animals for Yourself. Right now, the more people that reach
the same conclusions--based upon knowledge and experience--the Better. The
Online Bibliography at the
link is a Good place to start.
3) Acidic water (pH~6.0), Low
TDSs (~200ppm), Low light--especially in the hide, Lack of vibrations, etc are
Good key elements to the reduction of Stress and the furtherance of "Proper
Recently (4/2007) I have seen
a couple of "For Sale" ads for Acrochordus javanicus for one vendor that are
wrought with misinformation--therefore: Misguidance on the keeping of these
snakes. One ad was for CB Babies basically stating to put them in acidic water
and because they are CB and White Spot free--You (the buyer) don't need to worry
about any future "Bacterial Infections". Sorry, it just doesn't work that way.
The current ad states:
"I have adult specimens of Acrochordus javanicus, about 4' in
length. Perfect specimens with no scrapes, scar, and most importantly NO SKIN
BLISTERS! As many people know WC adult Acrochordus javanicus are very rarely
offered for sale, primarily because of the high mortality rates due to improper
packaging during transport which causes skin blisters (Pseudomonas bacteria
which cause septicemia, aka "Blood Poisoning").
You won't have to worry about that here. These adults came in perfectly and
there were transported correctly. I am only able to offer unsexed specimens.
This species is usually female heavy. There are many reports of this species
being able to be parthogenetic, with LTC females "cloning" themselves. A great
display snake, they feed on fish. As with all Acrochordids, I reccomend great
filtration and the regular addition of a product called "koi zyme."
I am asking $250.00 per a specimen, quanities are limitied. Once
these are gone I will be a few more years until such nice large animals come
Information. Improper packaging/shipping is only one factor and most importantly:
"You won't have to worry about that here." That's Pure
Non-Sense. I am familiar with
this particular individual. He claims to have "...many years of Experience with
Aquatic Snakes." and apparently did a stint at a local zoo which I guess makes
him a Guru in his own mind. His website is and has remained void of his Great
claims of "accomplishments" (suddenly that's changing 6/07 LoL) and has been up for a few yrs now. Buy the
snakes--just don't buy into the BS claims. Apparently this person thinks that
you just need to buy the "Clean" animal from him, toss it into "acidic water"
via peat moss, add Koizyme and Wha-La: Instant Acrochordus! Again, Sorry, it
doesn't work that way. If it were that simple: Someone would have
figured it out a Looong time ago. I have used Salt, Koizyme, Melafix and
Pimafix. I have also researched those products and contacted the manufactures
with any specific questions that I had. One thing that I can tell you is:
None. Not One of those products are necessary to successfully
keep an Acrochordus javanicus or arafurae, Or halt the White Spot Fungus. More
importantly, in reference to the Ads,--Just because You receive a clean
animal--doesn't mean that it is going to stay that way. That whole
thought process is coming from a Total lack of Experience. If that
were True--Plenty of people would be successfully keeping
Javanicus. Am I being
Hardcore: Maybe. But I don't think that I am. I am tired of seeing these snakes
die--that's why I am working with them with the dedication that I am. That's why
I put up this website--including all of the hours and hours of putting it
together and the added expense. That's why I am willing to Openly call these
so-called "Gurus" out here--and on the Forums. Sadly, they don't go
"heads-up" with me in public any more. They just continue to hold onto their
erroneous beliefs and pass along their Bad Information. These
animals will always go to the skin trade. But let's get it together and get them
established in captivity, so they will always be around, and so people will be
able to experience and enjoy their unique presence. I'm no rocket scientist, but
I am a guy that can do research and think my way through most problems. If
Acrochordus husbandry was as simple as some make it sound: This website would
not be here. And You can tell from reading this website that A) its not that
simple, and B) its a lot more involved than the "Gurus" want You to believe. I
have come across a number of individuals that all claim that they have kept
Acrochordus snakes long-term. Notice: the Past tense of: HAVE!
Strangely, None of them happen to be "Currently" keeping
them. Always--Past Tense! Hmmm, I'll leave You to Your Own
Conclusions on that one. Just Beware of the "Claims" out there.
Follow the path that You feel is Best--but base it upon Research and,
White Spot Fungus? Its caused
by Stress and, basically, it appears to be a break-down in the skins ability to
protect the animal from the Outside World, eventually leading to Secondary
Infections that lead to the demise of the snake. There is No "Magical" Bacteria
that Your snake was or was not exposed to in the wild--these snakes die in captivity
from White spot all over the world--including captivity in Asia that contains
water from their own natural environments. Improper Shipping is not the sole
source of White Spot, Skin Blister, Whatever. Animals that Arrive in Your hands
"Clean" Will develop White Spot if Housed Improperly and
Will die from it if the Husbandry Parameters are not Corrected.
Wild-caught, Captive Born, Captive Bred and Born--doesn't matter. Tolerance is
the only difference between these animals--Environmental Imprints on their
brain. Captive Bred and Born babies are always at least a bit easier then
Captive Born babies. Captive Born babies are always a bit easier than
Wild-Caught babies. Wild-Caught babies are always easier then Wild-Caught
adults. Acrochordus snakes are no different.
If You see White Spot fungus
on Your animal--the First question is: Is it Progressing? If it is, then
You probably need to fix something. If not, then the animal may just be
acclimating (If new or just put into a new setup), or the source of stress was
temporary and has already been corrected. Is it a "Death Sentence"? No,
definitely Not. So, don't Freak-out and start adding Salt or any of that
other stuff. Don't start ripping the snake out for Salt Baths, Melafix Dips or
any of that non-sense. You will just be ADDING stress. Just
step back and look at the Big Picture. Observe the snake's behavior. Try to
calmly sort out what may be wrong. As stated in the
Javanicus Caresheet: It could be something as simple as Your kid(s) or 150lbs
Rottweiler bouncing around on the wood floor, or the Thumping from Your too cool
Home Entertainment System. White Spot Fungus is just an indicator that let's You
know that the snake is stressing about something. But it can kill
Your snake--if You don't do Your Job.
This Information is offered on the Acrochordus
javanicus and Acrochordus arafurae Filesnakes as is. This Information
is not offered in reference to any snakes other than the Acrochordus
javanicus and Acrochordus arafurae Filesnakes and even so:
use at You Own Risk!
Additionally, this caresheet is obviously based upon admittedly limited
experience! It is not intend to be a recipe of do this, do this, do this---Bam!
You have a cake. It's intent is to offer more of a conceptual understanding of
these fascinating creatures and their apparent needs both in the wild and in | <urn:uuid:04af5650-b7ba-42b0-af26-e8a95cfaedf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://acrochordus.com/whitespot.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941768 | 2,763 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Society of Consumer Protection S.O.S. Poprad from Slovakia is organisation fighting for straitening citizen, consumer and patientsΒ΄ rights.
In order to make basic European rules of consumer and patients Β΄protection more accessible to blind and purblind people Society of Consumer Protection S.O.S. Poprad has published in cooperation with Slovak Library for Purblind People first Consumer Protection Dictionary in Braille. This unique publication is now available in thirty libraries and eleven regional branches of Union of Blind and Partially Sighted Slovakia.
This would be the wished outcome of a project fulfilled by a joint venture of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE), Active Citizen Network (ACN) and GrΓΌnenthal. A project designed to show the community how chronic pain patients experience the help they receive for the government and the healthcare professionals. But it is more than this.
After the presentation to the Senate of our dossier in terms of fuel poverty, "Energy and chronically ill", made with Acquirente Unico, the Authority for Electricity and Gas has shown not only to be able to act very quickly on important issues, but also to carefully consider the "civic" information produced by the associations.
- FUTURE ACTIVE CITIZENS: VOLUNTEERING AS AN EXERCISE OF DEMOCRACY
- The patientsβ involvement on Health policies in Europe: the citizens voice in Cancer Care decision making process
- PAIN PATIENT PATHWAY RECOMMENDATIONS
- Summer School for civic leader in HTA: the Italian experience
- The Engagement of Cittadinanzattiva in the Fight against Useless Pain
- Programme - 6th European Patients' Rights Day
- 6th EUROPEAN PATIENT'S RIGHTS DAY
- 5th EUROPEAN PATIENTSβ RIGHTS DAY
- 4th EUROPEAN PATIENTSβ RIGHTS DAY
- 3rd EUROPEAN PATIENTSβ RIGHTS DAY
- 2nd EUROPEAN PATIENTSβ RIGHTS DAY
- 1st EUROPEAN PATIENTSβ RIGHTS DAY
- ASSESSING PATIENTS' RIGHTS IN EUROPE
- MONITORING PATIENTS' RIGHTS IN EUROPE
- EUROPEN CHARTER OF PATIENTS' RIGHTS
Read all > | <urn:uuid:2178a29b-8ebd-4286-bf29-ea4790939202> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://activecitizenship.net/network-news.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.879133 | 486 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Does Turkey offer a model that the Mideast can emulate? avril 13, 2012Posted by Acturca in Moyen Orient, Turquie.
Tags: AKP, Arab Spring, foreign policy, Middle East, Neo-Ottomanism, Nora Fisher Onar, Turkey, Turquie
The Daily Star (Lebanon) April 13, 2012, p. 7 Türkçe
By Nora Fisher Onar *
Turkey is often touted as an inspiration for the countries of the rest of the Middle East β a characterization it accepts and pursues. In recent years, Turkish policymakers have worked hard to establish βTurkey Inc.β as the model of a relatively free, stable and increasingly prosperous Muslim-majority country with great economic and foreign policy leverage. But what does the Turkish experience actually represent for the states of the Arab Middle East? How convincing is Turkey, Inc. β and as a model can it really be emulated?
Perhaps the most attention has been paid to the free and fair rise to power of Turkeyβs Justice and Development Party (AKP), which Islamist movements in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Syria have heralded as a symbol of Muslim majoritarian democracy β even explicitly referencing it in the names and platforms of their own parties, movements and factions. To both domestic and international observers, this might signal that, like the AKP in Turkey, Islamist parties elsewhere do not seek to dismantle their statesβ secular framework β at least for the time being.
But in spite of its appeal to both traditional Islamists and βpost-Islamistsβ β that is, those who fully reconcile their particular politico-religious commitments with globalization β the Turkish formula may not be replicable. Civil-military relations in Turkey have undergone a double-sided transformation over recent decades. As a consequence of the intermittent censure by the army, political Islamists had to moderate their demands and practices; simultaneously, the Turkish army β accustomed to the barracks and aware that interference in government hurt Turkeyβs international standing β increasingly relied on civilian allies to pursue its agenda vis-Γ -vis the AKP.
Eventually, the military relinquished control of crucial institutions (such as the National Security Council), and the final showdown over control of the presidency in 2007 was fought not with bullets and tanks, but with Web declarations, public rallies and court cases. A similar tipping point regarding civilian control of the state is hardly a foregone conclusion in countries still under transition, where national militaries continue to exert a dominant presence in political life.
Other countries in the Middle East also lack the trajectory that Turkey has followed with regard to its economic development. This is particularly true of the export-driven rise of the middle class that has been experienced by religious constituencies across the Anatolian periphery. Such a trend has underpinned the AKPβs moderation, political success and interregional presence. Indeed, Turkeyβs recent economic trajectory is a central component of its appeal in the Arab world.
Over the past decade, Turkey has tripled its Gross Domestic Product and β excluding a dip to minus-4 percent real growth in 2009 β has managed to ride out the global economic crisis with relative equanimity. Commentators have argued that Turkey may be part of a second tier of rising economic powers (alongside such countries as South Korea, Mexico and Indonesia) that is hot on the heels of the Big Four (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
This holds two implications: On a symbolic level, the Turkish experience (along with that of Indonesia and Malaysia) has dramatically undermined theories of Islamβs incompatibility with modernization, especially in the arena of economic governance. More tangibly, over the past decade Turkey has actively sought out partners for sustainable trade-driven growth in a region that has been long addled by the heady cocktail of oil wealth and chronic underdevelopment.
Although economic partnerships were in no way guided by Turkish concerns for democratic governance β a reality that was attested to by Turkeyβs once cozy ties with authoritarian leaders β they have had unintended consequences with positive implications for political reform. For example, the influx of cheaper, better quality Turkish goods in Syrian markets may have undermined a backbone of President Bashar Assadβs regime: namely the interests of the regimeβs business cronies.
To understand the parameters of Turkeyβs role in the region, we should also acknowledge the sensitivities that have arisen from the Ottoman legacy. Some believe that Ankara seeks to reclaim its historical leadership of the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans, something that can rub interlocutors the wrong way. Hence, Turkish foreign policymakersβ reluctance to employ Ottomanist frames of reference.
However, at the domestic social level in Turkey, there remains a growing receptiveness to self-depiction as the benign heir to the Ottoman Empire. This is evident in the proliferation of cultural commodities that employ Ottoman referents. That is the case of the recent record-grossing film βConquest 1453,β about what Western historiography calls the βfallβ of Constantinople. In the film, Mehmet the Conqueror β played by an actor who bears a remarkable resemblance to a young Recep Tayyip Erdogan β is shown to be a forceful and compassionate protector of Muslims and Christians alike (though there is no mention in the film of Jews). The image of Turkey as a βbig brotherβ to downtrodden Muslims in such places as Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina β characterizes an emerging βneo-Ottomanistβ national image that seems to drive Turkish aspirations of regional leadership within the country and amplify Erdoganβs profile abroad. Whether this is a matter of hubris or of genuine capacity remains to be seen.
A final component that is crucial for evaluating Turkeyβs example is that the country has yet to develop a framework for meaningful multiethnic, multisectarian co-habitation. Mounting violence on the part of militant Kurds and the Turkish stateβs heavy-handed response has fueled hostility between ordinary citizens.
For instance, recent court rulings suggest that vigilante terror toward prominent members of the Armenian and Alevi communities is permissible and will go unpunished. Disturbing numbers of journalists, scholars, and students who have expressed critical views on these fronts have been jailed. There is also deep concern in constituencies that embrace secular lifestyles that recent reforms in fields such as education will yield an ever more restricted Turkish society.
Given the need to put its own house in order and the fact that inter-communal tensions across the Middle East are likely to become worse before becoming better, Turkeyβs AKP government must take very seriously its mandate to write a new and inclusive Constitution. In the longer tem, Turkey must confront the standing challenge of the region β learning to live together despite differences β a challenge which also happens to be Turkeyβs own.
At the end of the day, the export of Turkey, Inc. needs stable and predictable conditions in which trade and investment can thrive; hence, the commitment to the βzero problemsβ policy that Turkey employed with neighbors in its economic and foreign agendas over the past decade. Due to last yearβs upheavals in the Arab world, however, this policy is unsustainable. Once well-placed to broker a dialogue between Iran and Israel, Turkey is now more alienated from both countries than before as the two nemeses lock horns in what Graham Allison has called the βCuban missile crisis in slow motion.β
Should Israeli-Iranian antagonism spill over into war, the delicate balance in Iraq may unravel into protracted sectarian and ethnic conflict, just as Syriaβs brewing civil war may spill over into neighboring Lebanon. But even without an Israeli-Iranian showdown and an intensified conflagration in Iraq and Syria, Turkeyβs Kurdish question is, quite literally, kindling awaiting a flame, as attested to by recent clashes during Nevruz, or Nowruz, celebrations. All of this suggests that Turkeyβs aspirations to regional leadership are tactically dependent on forestalling an Iranian-Israeli showdown β an end to which it should leverage all its diminished diplomatic capital in the two countries and in partnership with the United States.
Before the AKP came to power and the Arab Awakening broke out, the received wisdom was that when it came to Islam, democracy and secularism, one could have any two but never all three. Similarly, doubts have long been expressed about whether political and economic liberalism can thrive simultaneously in a Muslim-majority setting. Taken together, it seems that if the purveyors of Turkey, Inc. can show that liberal economics goes hand-in-hand with liberal democracy in a country that is governed by pious Muslims, then the Turkish model-in-progress may achieve fruition and offer a timely example for the Middle East.
* Nora Fisher Onar is an assistant professor of international relations at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul. She is also a Ronald D. Asmus Policy Entrepreneur Fellow with the German Marshall Fund and is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Studies (CIS) at the University of Oxford. This commentary first appeared at Sada, an online journal published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. | <urn:uuid:8fdb8568-67bd-4d67-bbc2-edc4abb8d91d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://acturca.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/turkey-model-mideast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948084 | 1,915 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Serving diverse populations has never been a strong suit of the health-care system in general; there are huge disparities in the quality of care between whites and African Americans and Hispanics. The law calls for expanded initiatives to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the health-care profession, as well as improved cultural competency. But this will take time. Meanwhile, the existing force of health-care providers will have to adopt a more multicultural mindset -- and that includes increased multicultural intelligence in marketing communications.
Insurance companies will face a different set of challenges. The law stipulates that by 2014 states must set up exchanges through which consumers can directly purchase health insurance, and all legal residents will be required to obtain insurance or pay a penalty. That will likely force a change in the traditional model of marketing health insurance from B2B to a more consumer-oriented approach.
Several major insurers already are adding retail locations and kiosks in shopping malls, as well as sponsoring health fairs, The Miami Herald reports. Humana, for example, is offering its members a 5% savings at Walmart stores on purchases of fresh fruits, vegetables and other products that carry the retailer's "Great For You" label. Though many of the newly insured will be eligible for subsidized health insurance through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, to be successful, insurance companies, like providers, will need to be ready to address the unique needs of a very different demographic than what they are used to.
Then there are the pharmaceutical companies. According to Gregg DiPietro, in a blog for Pharm Exec, before the new health-care law, "pharma built its positioning platform almost entirely on two dimensions: efficacy and safety." He adds, "With the approval of the health care law, the conversation has moved ... to one of overall 'value.' ... Efficacy and safety ... are not enough to carry a product's positioning platform."
Dorothy Wetzel, former VP-consumer marketing at Pfizer, offers five questions in a recent blog that any pharmaceutical brand needs to ask itself when considering beefing up its efforts to multicultural consumers:
What is the size of the business opportunity?
Do multicultural patients approach health issues differently than the general-market patients in their disease state?
- Do the current messages in your communications resonate with the multicultural patient?
- Does your current media and tactical plan reach the multicultural patient?
- Are there organizations that could help accelerate access and the impact of your efforts?
"You can't standardize diversity and say that all of our diverse populations need this," says Russell Bennet, Vice President of Latino Health Solutions at United Healthcare. "Each population may need different things."
If we are to count ourselves among the great nations of the world, then Americans have a moral imperative to increase the quality of health care for all. As multicultural marketers, we can help. There is a need to educate about disparities. There is a need to get the word out to medically underserved folks as to how they can take best advantage of the new health-care options. And there is clearly a need for more research that looks into the impact of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation on how one navigates -- and is navigated -- through the health-care system.
Perhaps the greatest challenge faced by advertisers will be to make Americans -- in and out of the health-care profession -- aware that we do indeed have a disparities problem. A study conducted last year found that only 59% of Americans were aware of racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Before the ad industry takes on this issue -- and it's a tough one, given the current political climate -- its first job will be to educate health-care providers as well as the general public. Once that 's accomplished, the industry can tackle the challenge of how best to reach multicultural patients as important consumers. | <urn:uuid:00c459a3-0bdd-4cd0-b1a8-2f1a0d1c8fa4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adage.com/article/the-big-tent/health-care-law-poses-multicultural-marketing-challenges/237911/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956773 | 782 | 1.710938 | 2 |
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005
Eleanor Constance (Ella) Greenham (1874-1957), medical practitioner, was born on 15 April 1874 at Ipswich, Queensland, second child and only daughter of John Greenham, an English-born draper, and his wife Eleanor, nΓ©e Johnstone, from Ireland. John later established a general store, Greenhams Pty Ltd, in the business centre at Ipswich. Ella attended Ipswich Central Girls' and Infants' School then Brisbane Girls' Grammar School, where she won the English and the natural history prizes. On 1 February 1892 she was the first pupil to be enrolled at Ipswich Girls' Grammar School. There she won the silver medal for the top girl in science and four other prizes. Passing the senior public examination next year and winning six more prizes, she proceeded to advanced studies for university entrance.
In 1895 Greenham went to Women's College within the University of Sydney (M.B., Ch.M., 1901), entering the faculty of arts as a necessary preliminary to her medical studies. She was the first Queensland-born woman to graduate in medicine. Registered to practise in Brisbane on 2 May 1901 as medical practitioner no.711, she began work as resident medical officer at the Lady Bowen Hospital, Brisbane, probably becoming the first woman to receive a residential position in a Queensland hospital. Choosing to work in private practice, in 1903 she took rooms in City Chambers, Queen and Edward Streets, Brisbane, moving in 1907 to 284 Edward Street. Although she met opposition from some male colleagues, her bright personality and attentive care gradually attracted patients and she built up a successful practice.
Greenham was dedicated to her profession and, like many early medical women, she did not marry. She was an accomplished pianist, enjoyed attending the theatre and visiting flower shows and was described as 'a large lady, fond of flowing, floral garments'; at the lady mayoress's 'At Home' in 1904 she wore an Assam silk gown and a hat of blue chiffon. One of the earliest women car-owners in Queensland, she drove a Darracq in 1907 and later a Hupmobile. Indeed, she became a shareholder in the Hupmobile agency, Evers Motor Co. Ltd, Brisbane. She also became chairman of directors of Greenhams Pty Ltd.
In 1945 the Queensland Medical Women's Society elected her to honorary membership for her contribution to women's health and in 1953 she was made honorary member of the British Medical Association (Queensland Branch) for fifty years uninterrupted membership. In her eightieth year she retired to 85 Oxlade Drive, New Farm, but she continued to treat her old patients.
Greenham was a pioneer and a skilful, caring doctor. By her persistence and expertise, she swept away difficulties and opposition, helping to shape the future for women in medicine in Queensland. She died on 31 December 1957 at New Farm and was cremated with Anglican rites.
Lesley Williams, 'Greenham, Eleanor Constance (Ella) (1874β1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/greenham-eleanor-constance-ella-12951/text23407, accessed 18 May 2013.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, (MUP), 2005 | <urn:uuid:7e523ce5-3bca-4d7d-8599-419324a8ac99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/greenham-eleanor-constance-ella-12951 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969742 | 732 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Q&A Series: What are the Addicks and Barker Dams and Reservoirs?Read more...
News Release: USACE Galveston District monitors Addicks and Barker dams and reservoirsRead more...
News Release: USACE Galveston awards contract for road repairs at Addicks, Barker damsRead more...
News Release: USACE awards small business contract for environmental assessment at Addicks, Barker damsRead more...
News Release: USACE awards contract for soil sample lab testing at Addicks, Barker damsRead more...
Dam Safety Electronic Press Kit
Dam Safety Video
Updated November 2010! Learn all you need to know about the Addicks and Barker Dam Safety Program in this 20 minute video.
Review the USACE Planning Process
Check the Water Level in Your Area
The Addicks Project Office
1042 Highway 6 South
Houston, TX 77077
News Release: USACE Galveston awards small business contract to survey Addicks and Barker
HOUSTON (March 4, 2011) β The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, awarded a contract Feb. 17, 2011, to Landtech Consultants Inc., a small business, in the amount of $27,464.32 for a deformation survey of structures at the Addicks and Barker dams and reservoirs located in Harris and Fort Bend counties, Texas. | <urn:uuid:7b4a4e77-bd9b-4f88-99e5-45c3ea132708> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://addicksandbarker.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59%3Anews-release-usace-galveston-awards-small-business-contract-to-survey-addicks-and-barker&catid=26%3Anews-releases&Itemid=57 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.874253 | 279 | 1.742188 | 2 |
A land whose rich cultural heritage is discovered not only from within the walls of numerous museums, galleries and churches, many of which today, as zero category monuments are included in a part of the UNESCO World Heritage List, but also in that magical place on the Mediterranean, where even the shortest stroll becomes a journey down a staircase thousands of years old, which takes one through a history that is at the same time turbulent, exciting and glorious.
With as many as seven cultural phenomena- The Festivity of Saint Blaise, lace-making in Lepoglava, Hvar and Pag, the bell ringers from the Kastav region, the Hvar Procession Za KriΕΎem, (βfollowing the Crossβ), two-part singing in the Istrian scale, in Istria and Hrvatsko Primorje, the spring procession of βLjeljeβ and traditional manufacture of wooden toys in the Hrvatsko zagorje region, Croatia is among the countries with the most protected intangible cultural heritage elements, recorded on the UNESCO List.
The famous scientist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), inventor of alternating current.
Was born in Smiljan, Croatia, died in New York, USA.
Dog breed Dalmatian originates from these areas? In a small Franciscan monastery in Zaostrog, there is a painting from 1724 which for the first time depicts a Dalmatian dogβ¦
Slavoljub Eduard Penkala
In 1906, a Croat Slavoljub Eduard Penkala for the first time applied for a patent for a ballpoint (penkala) and a holder for a fountain pen.
From time immemorial, the tie has been a part of the Croatian national costume, which was preserved by the Croats to the more recent times, who moved to central Europe in the 16th century. It was later taken over by the Croatian soldiers who were fighting in Europe, and a part of their uniform was assumed by the French in the 17th century. Under the leadership of the French βGod of Sun" Louis XIV there was a horsemen unit, the so-called Royal cravate, who wore mostly red collar ribbons. The custom of wearing ribbons from the Croats dates back to this time, which was later expanded around Europe and the world, and today is inevitably the most important detail in men's fashion, and also an original Croatian souvenir. The word Β«kravataΒ» (tie) originates from the word Β«KroateΒ»...
The world traveler and explorer Marco Polo was born in 1254, most probably on the island of KorΔula. Even today, there are people living on the island with the same last name..
Island of Vrnik is situated in the archipelago of the PeljeΕ‘ac canal in front of the east coast of KorΔula island, widely known for its stone-pit of quality lime-stone (marble) from which Aia Sofia (Istanbul) and the While House (Washington) were partly built as were some palaces-town halls in Dubrovnik, Stockholm, Venice, Vienna.
Visit to the fertile plains of Baranja where the grapes have been cultivated for centuries, is not complete if you do not taste the "golden drops" of Baranja's vineyards. According to the old manuscripts, vine was a usual drink at the royal court of Maria Teresa, and the ancient Romans, delighted with its bouquet and with the sun rises and sunsets of that region, called it the "Golden hill"...
There is a Ulysses' cave on the island of Mljet. It was named after a story which says that a famous adventurer stranded on the nearby cliff Ogiron, where he met the nymph Calypso with whom he fell in love, and spent unforgettable moments in her company...
Red-white coat of arms
Recognizable all over the world, and related only to Croats - characteristic cube-shaped red-white coat of arms which is believed to originate from the Persian original homeland of Croats (red signifies south and white signifies north). That is where the name for two Croatias derives from, i.e. White in north and Red in south. When the Croats have selected Ferdinand Habsburg to be their King in Cetine in 1527, they confirmed that choice with some seals, and one of them was Croatian coat of arms, but with 64 fields, i.e. the complete chess-board. That is where the popular term βΕ‘ahovnica" derives from, and Ε ah (chess) in Persian means the Ruler - Tsar.
Did you know that there is a world rarity in the Archeological museum in Zagreb? Of course, we are talking about the Zagreb mummy. Nesi-hensu, the wife of Aher-hensu, βthe divine tailor" from Thebes, is the name of a mummified woman who was wrapped in cut ribbons of Zagreb linen book which represents the longest preserved text in Etruscan language and the only preserved sample of linen book in the entire Ancient world.
Top seven world getaways
The American magazine "In Style" has included Croatia on its list of seven top world destinations ("Top seven world getaways"). The article authors recommend a visit to Croatia for its very rich historical-cultural heritage, natural beauties and clean sea. In addition to Croatia, the list of top seven places includes Kenya, South Africa, London, Greek island Santorini and three American destinations - Aspen, Napa Valley and Nantucket.
Every day, for over hundred and ten years, the cannon fires from the top of tower LotrΕ‘Δak exactly at noon in memory of an event from Zagreb history. According to the legend, exactly at noon, the GriΔ canon fired a discharge from LotrΕ‘Δak to the Turkish camp located across Sava and blew out a rooster (or a turkey) which the cook was taking to Pasha on a platter. After this event, the Turks scattered and did not attack Zagreb... | <urn:uuid:a69aabbc-f529-4d67-843a-a5c3cb4e8fe0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://adriatictraveller.com/ru/croatia-essential/heritage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951876 | 1,292 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Rachid Khimoune grew up in a small mining town in Northern France where his Algerian parents had settled. It was there that he saw first hand the end of industrialisation: his father lost his job at the local mine and the family moved to the suburbs of Paris. The waves of urban immigration to the cities [β¦]
I wasnβt given very much information. Stumbling into the secretive meeting Iβd been invited to, an all female brigade greeted me quickly as they pored over a hand drawn map of targets. Drawing on an apparently endless supply of cigarettes, peppered sometimes with wine, they debated logistics. It being Paris Fashion Week, they decided Gucci, [β¦]
Guest Post by Lara N. Dotson-Renta Paris has always been renowned for its culture and support of the arts. Yet, as France has grown into an ever more pluralistic society, the traditional image of what constitutes art in France must evolve as well. Younger generations of artists, many immigrants of African origin, are now reconfiguring [β¦]
What is there to say about that other African election, the one in France? Sunday was the first of two rounds in this presidential contest, which is a lot more about Europeβspecifically Brussels, but also Berlinβthan it is about Africa. Still, it will have real effects on both shores of the Mediterranean and of the [β¦]
You donβt stand in one place to watch a masquerade, as Chinua Achebe famously said. It moves. You move with it. Same goes for demonstrations. On Saturday a few hundred people marched in Paris for peace in Mali. Mostly Malians, as youβd think, but also a few dozen sympathetic observors, several journalists, a well-received Senegalese [β¦]
In the introduction to The World According to Bylex Filip De Boeck and Koen Van Synghel describe the Congolese artist Pume Bylex as βnot interested in the day-to-day reality of Kinshasa. [He] turns his attention to what lies beyond the horizon of the visible and the tangible (β¦) a world with perfection and harmony at [β¦]
At the occasion of the recent publication of Senegalese philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagneβs book βAfrican Art as Philosophy: Senghor, Bergson and the Idea of Negritudeβ (originally published in French in 2007) and listening to this interview where he speaks about his new book, βBergson Postcolonialβ, I intended to write a short post wondering why it [β¦]
Mokobe commentates on the actions of Rihannon, Naomi Campboule, Rachida Beckham and friends over a CoupΓ©-DecalΓ© riddim. The music production is pretty standard, but the video is at least funny. Update (3/19): Following heated reactions from fans, Mokobe took down the music video. In vague terms, he explains why he decided to do so here. | <urn:uuid:6d4534be-3f01-45bc-b9c3-6eef47eefabf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://africasacountry.com/tag/paris/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966055 | 623 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Jim, my personal library, recently gave me an American classic: "The Making of the President: 1960" by Theodore H. White.
The book chronicles Teddy White's experiences along the campaign trail with Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election. The writing is outstanding and the insights are second to none. There are countless political observations that are as true today as they were 50 years ago. However, none of those are what stand out for me. There are two paragraphs that are extremely eerie though the power of retrospection.
The first is on Page 372, when talking about Kennedy and The Oval Office: "When the windows are closed, the sound of Washington traffic, which hums as it passes by outside, is entirely locked out, and one is reminded that these windows are three inches thick of laminated glass, thick enough to stop an assassin's rifle bullet from beyond the grounds -- if the assassin gets time enough to sight."
The other disturbing reference is to a day in the life of John F. Kennedy. On page 375, Teddy White wrote: "Then the supreme and somber problem of war and peace: a long meeting of one and one quarter hours in the cabinet room with Secretary of State Dean Rusk; Secretary of National Defense Robert S. McNamara; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Lyman Lemnitzer; Admiral Harry D. Felt, Commander-in-Cheif, Pacific theatre; two personal advisers McGeorge Bundy and Walter Rostow; and Vice-President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson. Here at this meeting he considered, not for the first time but for the decisive [Whit's italics, not mine] time, American response to the newest thrust of Communist pressure on the changing world -- the movement of Communist guerillas over the jungles and ridges of Southeast Asia into the formless Kingdom of Laos. Could anything be done there, and if it could, should anything be done there? This was the ugliest of problems; and if his decisions were right the meeting would fade into history as unimportant; but if the decisions brought war, then this, indeed, was where the Americans chose war."
I think we can say that the president decided wrong that day. | <urn:uuid:0b410f0f-8b17-4f80-9b51-77574c2ef7cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ahoyhanoi.blogspot.com/2010_05_29_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964527 | 468 | 2 | 2 |
adopt many methods to determine whether the unborn baby is a boy or a
girl. The Chinese
pregnancy calendar is an often used
method to know about the
gender of the new life in the mothers womb.
is an ancient way for
predicting the gender of
the unborn baby
It is also known as a Chinese
conception chart, or
the Chinese Conception Calendar. It is believed that this ancient
method is highly accurate, although no clinical studies verify these
chart is an
ancient Chinese secret
A Chinese scientist developed this calendar,
700 years ago. According to a legend, the Chinese
is capable of
predicting the baby gender based
on two variables: the baby month of conception and the mothers age.
chart was kept in a royal tomb, near the city of Peking in China in
ancient times. Now this original Chinese chart is on display at the
Beijing Institute of Science. Many people, especially the Chinese,
believe that the original Chinese pregnancy
calendar is almost 100%
According to studies, the
Chinese pregnancy calendar
has been found to be
97% effective in
predicting a baby gender. This accuracy is credited to the use of
Chinese lunar calendar
pregnancy calendar is dependent on the
lunar calendar. It is
based on the month a baby is conceived and not the birth month. The
second factor is the mothers age at the time of conception, adding 9
months to her age to adjust the lunar calendar.
conceived month from January to December is listed on the top row of
the Chinese chart,
and the left column of
age during the conception. You need to follow the steps given below to
get the most accurate result from the Chinese
Pregnancy by the boy approaches more often , than pregnancy an girl. On
statistical given beside young and sound parents more often birth boys,
but beside of parents of more senior age on the contrary.
1. Note down your age
at the time of conception.
2. Add 9 months to the age to
adjust to the lunar calendar.
3. Also note down the month
when the baby was conceived.
4. Now simply search for the
conceived month across the top portion of the chart and the age on the
left side of the chart.
5. Lastly, follow these two
coordinates to the spot where they intersect, and that will show you
either a box containing B
boy, or G
comparison to the Chinese pregnancy calendar,
the ultrasound during
the 7th or 8th month of
is a more reliable method to
know the gender of the
child. In fact an ultrasound is use to monitor the
week by week
development right from
conception till child birth.
it is a
boy or a girl, what does it matter? What matters is that you have fun
guessing the gender of your unborn baby using the Chinese pregnancy
All along use a
journal to record your
development week by week.
More radio frequency to conceive aihe male sex is connected with
that Spermatozoidum, carrying male Y-chromosome, several more
movable, than carrying X-chromosome, and has more chances earlier to
reach ovules. But healled Spermatozoidum with X-chromosome more viable
and can more long to survive in wombs of pipe, and wait a period of
One of the ways of planning of conceiving boy or girl is based on such
abilities an Spermatozoidum.
In the first place it is necessary exactly
to define a date of ovulations. So, if beside you menstruations
regular, the day of ovulations constant and possible produce an
uncomplicated calculation. If you want conceive boy or girl, You must
adjust last sexual contact before a data of ovulations. If You to
planned conceive of boy or girl
Study has shown that method
efficient in 80% events aproximately.
Used and other ways of planning conceive boy or girl, based on
calculations "biological rhythms", astrological forecasts and etc. But
from medical standpoints these methods not motivated.
a sex of aihe during pregnancy.
By means of the ultrasound during of pregnancy possible to
define a sex of future child. This better and easier to realize at late
terms of pregnancy, after 22-26 weeks. Then results will more | <urn:uuid:f7082439-68e9-45b6-a427-4600dceaf5e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ainads.com/Pregnancy/Chinese%20Pregnancy%20Calendar%20.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890836 | 940 | 3.125 | 3 |
Chinese domestic production of civil helicopters is set to grow, but not as quickly as the countryβs authorities predict, according to a local market analyst. Matthieu Devoisselle, co-founder of Avia-Tek, a Shanghai-based aerospace consultancy firm specializing in emerging countries, regards government forecasts as unrealistic. But Chinese manufacturer Avicopter does have reason to be optimistic, he adds.
AΓ©rospatiale Super Frelon
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certified the countryβs βnewβ home-grown heavy-lift helicopter on January 9. Built at state-owned Avic, the AC313 tips the scales at 27,600 pounds, can carry up to 27 people and has a maximum ferry range of 485 nm and a service ceiling near 28,000 feet. The AC313 appears to be an outgrowth of the 14,000-pound Chinese Zhi-8. That medium helicopter is based on the 1970s-vintage AΓ©rospatiale SA321 Super Frelon.
Yesterday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certified the countryβs βnewβ homegrown heavy-lift helicopter, the AC313. It tips the scales at 27,600 pounds, can carry up to 27 people and has a maximum ferry range of 560 miles and service ceiling of nearly 28,000 feet. The helicopter was built by state-owned Avic, the same company that recently made Chinese-market Sikorsky S-76 airframes under contract.
China is expected to modify its low-altitude airspace restrictions over the
next few years, a move that could trigger demand for more than 1,000 new civil helicopters there over the next two decades. Part of its strategy for meeting that demand appears to be leveraging current and future relations with established Western helicopter manufacturers to build its own helicopter industry.
Last week China flew a new home-grown heavy-lift helicopter for the first time. The AC313 tips the scales at 27,600 pounds, can carry up to 27 people, has a maximum ferry range of 560 miles and was built at state-owned AVIC, the same company making Sikorsky S-76C++ airframes. The AC313 appears to be an outgrowth of the 14,000-pound Chinese Zhi-8. That medium helicopter is based on the 1970s-vintage AΓ©rospatiale SA321 Super Frelon.
Safranβs helicopter subsidiary Turbomeca could be back in the contest to provide the powerplant for the Z15 helicopter following Chinaβs recent decision to re-evaluate the engine. Late last year, executives with Eurocopterβs EC 175 program indicated that discussions are under way for the possible launch of a new engine for the Chinese version of the medium twin.
The Peopleβs Republic of China (PRC) is generally seen as the next big market for the helicopter industryβOEMs, operators, training schools and maintenance operations alike. But can we expect the skies over China to be black with whirling blades any time soon? | <urn:uuid:6536e7e9-d402-4cf1-923b-8ee387642bfb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ainonline.com/social-tags/a%C3%A9rospatiale-super-frelon | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931336 | 646 | 1.632813 | 2 |
January 28, 2013
Japan is heading for a catastrophe unless it reforms its social, welfare and economic systems to deal with the expected plunge in its population, a veteran demographic expert...
January 02, 2013
Japan's population dropped to 127.47 million in 2012, marking the largest natural decline since statistics began in 1899, according to government estimates.
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- Next Β» | <urn:uuid:ab111279-56e6-4b92-85ba-4fb401154c7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ajw.asahi.com/tag/demographic%20estimate | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900725 | 78 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Priority diagnosis question from a first time poster.Register Today!
This is a discussion on Priority diagnosis question from a first time poster. in Nursing Student Assistance, part of Nursing Student ... Hello All, I've been using AllNurses since I began in nursing school but this is my first post....by It's Just a Ride Nov 23, '12Hello All,
I've been using AllNurses since I began in nursing school but this is my first post. I had a patient in clinical this week and my priority diagnosis isn't completely clear to me.
This elderly patient was in the CCU after an AMI with CHF ~ 45 days prior, history of hypertension, diabetes, family Hx of heart disease. He has a trach/vent in place and appears to be unable to wean due to the potential for right side heart failure.
His heart is the problem. He's on the vent because his heart can't handle the increased workload, SO, I'm thinking Decreased Cardiac Output as my priority, but they've drilled ABC's into our brains so many times a little voice is telling me "B comes before C," but it's the heart, not lungs, that are the real issue. Right?
Also, could I simlpy use AEB AMI, and ventilator dependency? Your insights are appreciated.
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- Nov 23, '12 by ImKosherWhat's your related factors? What is your A/E/B? Following your ABC, we need to figure out if the airway and lungs is contributing to his condition at all and if it priority. Tell us a little more about the pt.
- Nov 23, '12 by It's Just a RideAside from the Hx I mentioned (HTN, diabetes, fam Hx of heart disease), the pt had no indication of CHF until he was braught in for the AMI. He was described as a stable, critical patient. Stable on the vent, critical off of it.
I was thinking Decreased Cardiac Output or Inneffective Tissue Perfusion, but he is stable currently so those would be "risk for" at the moment, right? A therefor wouldn't be used as primary diagnoses. He's on bedrest, NPO, trach/vent, and was in between an NG and PEG tube placement when I was work with him. He is dependent, alert and oriented, and denied any pain although he had a nasty ulcer on the posterior left wrist from dopamine infiltration.
His airway has some mucus production so I could go that direction. He required suctioning twice while I was there. His breathing is controlled by the vent. His heart is stable provided his lungs have assistance from the vent.
These diagnoses usually make sense to me but after my first day on CCU I'm not sure what direction this should be going.
- Nov 23, '12 by fireballnursieInsufficient gas exchange related to decreases cardiac function as evidence by inability to ween off artificial life support.
- Nov 23, '12 by It's Just a RideI can see this connection. Thank you very much FireBall.
And thank you Kosher for the input.
- Dec 1, '12 by GrnTeaThat would be "decreased," "wean," and we don't say "artificial life support" for something like this.
Let's back up here.
How do you know he's on the vent because his right heart might not be able to manage without it? It may be that the work of breathing is just more than he can handle, and if he isn't ventilated mechanically he will not be able to move enough air to stay alive. He is old and has a bad heart, and that resulting weakness may be the reason he's on the vent. The vent doesn't decrease right heart workload per se.
However, decreased cardiac output itself would certainly cause him to be weak. Seems to me that he has at least two priority problems: he can't move enough air to support himself, and his heart is too weak to support any activity. Now, go to your NANDA-I 2012-2014, which every nursing student should have even if his/her faculty neglected to put it on the bookstore list (free 2-day shipping from Amazon), and see what nursing diagnoses fit these defining characteristics. That's how you determine nursing diagnoses-- you identify the defining characteristics by your own assessment, then see what diagnoses they point to. It's just like checking a hematocrit to help make the medical diagnosis of anemia.
I hope you haven't already turned this in, because in my opinion you're a little confused about cause and effect here. Hope we hear back from you. | <urn:uuid:2125b549-64b3-4c17-a9d0-5ce81c17ea0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/priority-diagnosis-question-799002.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975109 | 1,042 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Israel (ΧΧΧΧ Χͺ ΧΧ©Χ¨ΧΧ) is a small yet diverse Middle Eastern country with a long coastline on the eastern Mediterranean Sea and a small window on the Red Sea at the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba).
Israel was established as a state for the the Jewish people, following the Second World War. Israel is considered part of the Holy Land (together with areas of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Territories). The three major monotheistic religionsβJudaism, Christianity, and Islamβall have historical ties to the region. Israel thus contains a vibrant modern history and culture, based in part on the diverse, immigrant origins of its inhabitants returning from the Jewish Diaspora. These aspects make Israel a fascinating destination for many travellers and pilgrims.
For Singaporeans, many of us have a warped perception of Israel as a dangerous place to visit because of the frequent news reports of conflicts in the Middle East. When I told my friends and family that I was travelling to Israel, the most common comment I get from those who have not been there is that I should be very careful for my safety.
The worries are unnecessary.
I had a great one week stay at Israel, thanks to the wonderful team from Dig Israel who hosted me there. For the uninformed, Israel is a safe place to visit (excluding the West Bank and Gaza Strip which are not tourist destinations). It is like many other cosmopolitan cities around the world, but with itβs own quirk, diverse culture and people. I will share more about my Israel trip in my subsequent blog posts.
This post is to share some travel tips for Singaporeans who are planning to visit Israel on your own without going through a package tour:
1. Israeli currency β New Israel Shekel
This currency is not easily available outside of Israel, but fret not, you can go to any money changer in Israel to do the exchange. There are counters available at the airport too, but the service fee or βcommissionβ they charged are quite steep (about S$10+ depending on how much you change). The fee varies from one money changer to another, hence get a few quotes before settling on one to change. The fee charged is a flat fee, hence try to change as much currency as you need just once.
2. Singaporean Passport
If you are holding a Malaysian passport, sorry, you cannot enter Israel. For Singapore passport holders, we do not require a visa. However, request for the Israeli custom officers to stamp on a special piece of immigration paper available at Israel airport instead of stamping directly on your passport. This is because an Israel passport chop may cause difficulties getting into and/or be refused visas to Islamic countries, such as Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan for your subsequent travels.
3. Clearing Israel Custom
The security check is really tight when travelling to Israel. I find it fair enough as it is for our own safety too. You will be asked some profiling questions at the luggage check-in counter travelling to and from Israel. Some of the questions may get a little personal β eg. I was asked questions like why did I only took leave from work one week before my trip; asked to recount my day by day itinerary during my stay in Israel; went through some of my personal photos in my digital camera to check if what I said about my itinerary was true; reasons why I travelled to Malaysia since I been there twice this year and also whether I know anyone there. The questioning may take quite a while and will make some people uncomfortable. My advice is just to answer as honestly as possible if you have nothing to hide. Do not lie to speed up the questioning as they are very thorough and you may end up having to tell another lie to cover a previous harmless lie, increasing the chance of being exposed as a liar and getting detained. You will get to fly. Be patient.
Do not take stuff like soil from Jerusalem and salt from the Dead Sea to pack home on your own. All baggage going out of Israel are screened and opened up for checking. Do not pull stunts like these. Do not take photographs of the security counter and officers either.
The ultra-orthodox Jews are easily identifiable with their curly side burns, black suits and tassels. Tourists like to take pictures of them because of their interesting appearance which we are not familiar with. However, do bear in mind that they are not animals in the zoo and as much as you would get pissed off with strangers taking random pictures of you, they feel the same way too. Do accord them due respect and try not intrude in their personal space.
6. The Sabbath
Be aware of the Sabbath: from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, train and bus services are not available in Israel (except in Haifa, Nazareth and Eilat, and limited sherut services β shared taxis). Unless you have a car, or are willing to pay for a taxi (not shared), if youβre day tripping on a Friday, you should start thinking about how to get back by noon at the latest, and you should plan on staying near your lodgings on Saturday. Attractions, shops and malls are also closed during the Sabbath. I made the mistake of staying for an additional day in Tel Aviv during the Sabbath and ended up wandering the streets alone with nothing to see or do. I also had to specially advance book a taxi to the airport.
7. Gay and Lesbian Travel
Israel is one of the most βgay friendlyβ countries in the world. Seriously. All three major cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa) have an annual βPrideβ parade, and the annual Love Parade in Tel Aviv gets cheering spectators too. Look out for many hotels, cafes and restaurants with rainbow flags hanging outside. These are all gay-friendly places.
Israel is not a cheap country. I find it more expensive than Sydney and the United States in terms of food, lodging and shopping. On average, a meal cost around S$20 for a simple meal at a cafe. A bottle of 500ml water cost around S$5. Taxi from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv one way cost about S$100.
Street food is safe and clean. Israeli cuisine is as diverse as the population which makes up this gastronomic country. Food in Israel is generally of a very high standard. I really enjoyed the food during my stay. Not tipping in sit-in restaurants that have waiters is frowned upon, but is accepted for signalling atrocious service. It is standard to give 10%-15% (or more for exceptional service). 20% tip is considered generous.
Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of Israel. Hebrew is most commonly spoken. 20% of the population are Israeli-Arabs who speak Arabic as well. English is the most popular foreign language. Israelis study English in school from an early age, and it is commonly understood in Israel. Nearly anyone you meet on the street will be able to communicate with you in English. All street and road signs (and many others) have English names, as well as the Hebrew and Arabic names.
Ten easy tips! Have a safe and fun trip to Israel! | <urn:uuid:c5532c80-b7db-475f-8464-54c762b3afe9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alvinology.com/2012/10/20/travel-tips-for-singaporeans-visiting-israel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96289 | 1,492 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Average life span in the wild: 12 years
Size: 21 in (50 cm)
Weight: 14.4 oz (408 g)
Did you know? Chameleons don't change colors to match their surroundings. Each species displays distinct color patterns to indicate specific reactions or emotions.
The Meller's chameleon is the largest of the chameleons not native to Madagascar. Their stout bodies can grow to be up to two feet (two-thirds of a meter) long and weigh more than a pound (one-half kilogram).
Meller's distinguish themselves from their universally bizarre-looking cousins with a single small horn protruding from the front of their snouts. This and their size earn them the common name "giant one-horned chameleon."
They are fairly common in the savanna of East Africa, including Malawi, northern Mozambique, and Tanzania. Almost one-half of the worldβs chameleons live on the island of Madagascar.
As with all chameleons, Meller's will change colors in response to stress and to communicate with other chameleons. Their normal appearance is deep green with yellow stripes and random black spots. Females are slightly smaller, but are otherwise indistinguishable from males.
They subsist on insects and small birds, using their camouflage and a lightning-fast, catapulting tongue, which can be up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) long, to ambush prey.
Exotic pet enthusiasts often attempt to keep Meller's chameleons as pets. However, they are highly susceptible to even the slightest level of stress and are very difficult to care for in captivity. In the wild, they can live as long as 12 years. | <urn:uuid:9c71b6db-6728-48b5-96b5-05fbc0b5bb4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amazingpicturesoftheanimals.blogspot.com/2012/05/mellers-chameleon-facts-pictures.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939643 | 359 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Nuclear Energy in France
Nuclear energy is the cornerstone of french energy policy. In the β70s France chose to develop nuclear as its base load electricity source as a response to the oil crisis and assure its energy independence.
Nuclear Electricity Production: France currently counts 58 commercial nuclear reactors in operation responsible for producing 80% of French domestic electricity. As a comparison, the 104 US reactors produces 20% of US electricity.Despite scarce natural resources, France has reached an energy independence of 50% thanks to its strategic choice for nuclear energy.
Environment: As well as providing safe and reliable energy, nuclear helps to reduce French greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the release of 31 billions tones of carbon dioxide (contrary to coal or gas generation) and making France the less carbon emitting country within the OECD. As a leader in nuclear energy, France has developed clean technology for radioactive waste disposal. Reprocessing currently allows France to recover valuable elements from spent fuels and permit a significant reduction of high level waste and lead to safer and optimized containment, for final radioactive waste disposition. French nuclear power plants produces only 10 g/year/inhabitant of highly radioactive waste.
International Cooperation and research: France is one of the forerunner in nuclear research and participates in numerous international cooperation programs alongside the United States such as the development of the next generation of nuclear power plants (Gen IV) and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) that will be built in Cadarache, South of France.
The French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
The French Atomic Energy Commission is a public body established in October 1945 by General de Gaulle. It constitutes a power of expertise and proposition for the authorities. A leader in research, development and innovation, the CEA is involved in three main fields:
It develops and acquires the technological building blocks necessary to the development of the nuclear reactors of the future (Contribution to Generation IV and GNEP research),
It contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emission with its research on hydrogen, fuel cells, biomass, energy storageβ¦,
It supports the nuclear utilities in France by optimizing the nuclear power plants of the French nuclear fleet and by optimizing the fuel cycle,
It offers safe and economically viable technical solutions for managing nuclear waste,
It conducts fundamental research in climate and environmental sciences, high energy physics, astrophysics, fusion, nanosciencesβ¦
Information and Health technologies:
It tackles micro and nano-technologies for telecommunication and nuclear medicine for radiotherapy and medical imaging,
It researches programs on biotechnology, molecular labelling, biomolecular engineering and structural biology,
It shares its knowledge and know-how through education and training through the National Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (INSTN),
It manages over 300 priority patents and is active in the creation of clusters.
Defense and National Security:
It conceives, builds, maintains then dismantles the nuclear warhead of the French deterrence force,
It helps to fight against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons (NRBC program).
The missions of the CEA are similar to the Department of Energy in the United States. The CEA has a network of counselor or representatives in French Embassies around the world (see joint map).
The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN)
Created in 2006, from the former DSIN (Directorate for the Safety of Nuclear Facilities), the French Nuclear Safety Authority is an independent administrative authority which is tasked with regulating nuclear safety and radiation protection in order to protect workers, patients, the public and the environment from the risks involved in nuclear activities. It also contributes to informing the public. Like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the United States, it carries out inspections and may pronounce sanctions, up to and including suspension of operation of an installation.
French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN)
Created in 2001 by merging the Protection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IPSN) and the Ionizing radiations Protection Office (OPRI), the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety is a public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature placed under the joint authority of the Ministries of the Environment, Health, Industry, Research and Defense. It is the expert in safety research and specialized assessments into nuclear and radiological risk serving public authorities whose work is complementary to the ASN.
Its scope of activities includes:
environment and response,
human radiological protection,
research on the prevention of major accidents,
power reactor safety,
fuel cycle facility safety,
research installation safety,
waste management safety;
nuclear defense expertise.
National radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA)
Created in 1991, the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management is a public industrial and commercial organization that operates independently of waste producers. It is responsible for the long-term management of radioactive waste produced in France under the supervision of the French Ministries for Energy, Research and the Environment. It can be compared to a certain extent to the Office for Nuclear Waste of the Department of Energy in the United States.
Andra also pursues industrial, research, and information activities as it designs and implements disposal solutions suited to each category of radioactive waste:
the collection, conditioning, disposal of radioactive waste from small producers (hospitals, research centers, industry),
specification of waste packages for disposal,
disposal in suited sites,
monitoring of closed disposal facilities,
research programs for long-lived and high level activity waste, especially through the operation of an underground research laboratory in a deep clay formationβ¦
General Directorate for Energy and Climate (DGEC)
The General Directorate for Energy and Climate represents the government and is part of the Office of the Department for Ecology and Sustainable Development. It defines the French nuclear policy. The DGEC takes care of the energy supply, the security of supply, oil refining and logistics, nuclear industry, and coal and mines.
Consequently, its activities include:
the design and implement energy and raw material supply policy,
to ensure opening of electricity and gas markets,
track key energy and raw material sectors,
to oversee enterprises and public institutions in energy sector,
to ensure compliance with rules and regulations governing energy sector,
to participate in European and international energy projects and working groups,
to provide economic, environmental, and fiscal expertise on energy matters.
The Rise of Nuclear Power Generation in France. | <urn:uuid:f5c220a7-7276-4cf2-9208-33679d478b1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article949&xtor=AL-13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912335 | 1,305 | 3.125 | 3 |
American Progressives United Party Promotes Worker Cooperatives Submitted by Joe on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 10:34 The recently-formed American Progressives United Party has made cooperatives part of their program and hosts articles on Valley Green Feast and the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives. email / post to social media 734 reads Add new comment Your name E-mail The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. Homepage Comment * More information about text formats Text format Full HTMLFiltered HTMLPlain text Full HTMLWeb page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.Lines and paragraphs break automatically.Filtered HTMLWeb page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.Plain textNo HTML tags allowed.Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.Lines and paragraphs break automatically. CAPTCHAThis question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. What code is in the image? * Enter the characters shown in the image. | <urn:uuid:a3676b82-a5e1-48c4-a63c-f7d14adedbe2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://american.coop/node/282 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.798558 | 265 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Mexican America - Introduction
"Mexican America" is a sampling of objects from the collections of the National Museum of American History. The stories behind these objects reflect the history of the Mexican presence in the United States. They illustrate a fundamentally American story about the centuries-old encounter between distinct (yet sometimes overlapping) communities that have coexisted but also clashed over land, culture, and livelihood.
Who, where, and what is Mexico? Over time, the definitions and boundaries of Mexico have changed. The Aztec Empire and the area where NΓ‘hautl was spokenβtoday the region surrounding modern Mexico Cityβwas known as Mexico. For 300 years, the Spanish colonizers renamed it New Spain.
When Mexico was reborn in 1821 as a sovereign nation, its borders stretched from California to Guatemala. It was a huge and ancient land of ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse regions that struggled for national unity. Texas, (then part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas) was a frontier region far from the dense cities and fertile valleys of central Mexico, a place where immigrants were recruited from the United States. The immigrants in turn declared the Mexican territory an independent republic in 1836 (later a U.S. state), making the state the first cauldron of Mexican American culture. By 1853, the government of Mexico, the weaker neighbor of an expansionist United States, had lost what are today the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In spite of the imposition of a new border, the historical and living presence of Spaniards, Mexicans, indigenous peoples, and their mixed descendants remained a defining force in the creation of the American West.
βLa AmΓ©rica Mexicanaβ es una muestra conformada por objetos provenientes de las distintas colecciones del Museo Nacional de Historia Americana. Estos objetos reflejan la historia de la presencia mexicana en los Estados Unidos e ilustran una crΓ³nica fundamentalmente americana acerca del encuentro centenario entre comunidades diferentes que han coexistido, pero que tambiΓ©n se han enfrentado, en la pugna por la tierra, la cultura y el sustento.
ΒΏQuiΓ©n, dΓ³nde y quΓ© es MΓ©xico? Con el transcurso del tiempo, las definiciones y los lΓmites de MΓ©xico han ido cambiando. Se conocΓa como MΓ©xico al Imperio Azteca y toda el Γ‘rea donde se hablaba nΓ‘huatl βactualmente la regiΓ³n circundante a la ciudad de MΓ©xico. Durante 300 aΓ±os los colonizadores espaΓ±oles se refirieron a ella como Nueva EspaΓ±a. Cuando en 1821 MΓ©xico resurgiΓ³ como una naciΓ³n soberana, sus fronteras se extendΓan desde California a Guatemala. En ese entonces era un antiguo e inmenso territorio conformado por regiones Γ©tnica, lingΓΌΓstica y econΓ³micamente diversas que luchaban por adquirir unidad nacional. Texas (en ese entonces parte de los estados mexicanos de Coahuila y Tejas) era una regiΓ³n fronteriza lejos de las densas urbes y de los fΓ©rtiles valles de MΓ©xico central, donde se reclutaban inmigrantes de los Estados Unidos. En el aΓ±o 1836 este territorio mexicano se declarΓ³ como repΓΊblica independiente (y mΓ‘s tarde, estado de EE.UU.), convirtiΓ©ndose en el primer calderΓ³n de la cultura mexicoamericana. Hacia 1853, el gobierno de MΓ©xico, el vecino dΓ©bil de un Estados Unidos en expansiΓ³n, habΓa perdido el territorio de los actuales estados de California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Nuevo MΓ©xico, Texas y partes de Colorado y Wyoming. A pesar de la imposiciΓ³n de un nuevo lΓmite fronterizo, la presencia histΓ³rica y ocupacional de los espaΓ±oles, mexicanos y pueblos indΓgenas, junto a sus descendientes mestizos, constituirΓa a lo largo del tiempo una influencia determinante para el desarrollo del Oeste Americano.
"Mexican America - Introduction" showing 1 items.
- This print depicts American forces attacking the fortress palace of Chapultepec on Sept. 13th, 1847. General Winfield Scott, in the lower left on a white horse, led the southern division of the U.S. Army that successfully captured Mexico City during the Mexican American War. The outcome of American victory was the loss of Mexico's northern territories, from California to New Mexico, by the terms set in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It should be noted that the two countries ratified different versions of the same peace treaty, with the United States ultimately eliminating provisions for honoring the land titles of its newly absorbed Mexican citizens. Despite notable opposition to the war from Americans like Abraham Lincoln, John Quincy Adams, and Henry David Thoreau, the Mexican-American War proved hugely popular. The United States' victory boosted American patriotism and the country's belief in Manifest Destiny.
- This large chromolithograph was first distributed in 1848 by Nathaniel Currier of Currier and Ives, who served as the "sole agent." The lithographers, Sarony & Major of New York (1846-1857) copied it from a painting by "Walker." Unfortunately, the current location of original painting is unknown, however, when the print was made the original painting was owned by a Captain B. S. Roberts of the Mounted Rifles. The original artist has previously been attributed to William Aiken Walker as well as to Henry A. Walke. William Aiken Walker (ca 1838-1921) of Charleston did indeed do work for Currier and Ives, though not until the 1880's and he would have only have been only 10 years old when this print was copyrighted. Henry Walke (1808/9-1896) was a naval combat artist during the Mexican American War who also worked with Sarony & Major and is best known for his Naval Portfolio.
- Most likely the original painting was done by James Walker (1819-1889) who created the "Battle of Chapultepec" 1857-1862 for the U.S. Capitol. This image differs from the painting commissioned for the U. S. Capitol by depicting the troops in regimented battle lines with General Scott in a more prominent position in the foreground. James Walker was living in Mexico City at the outbreak of the Mexican War and joined the American forces as an interpreter. He was attached to General Worth's staff and was present at the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec. The original painting's owner, Captain Roberts was assigned General Winfield Scott to assist Walker with recreating the details of the battle of Chapultepec. When the painting was complete, Roberts purchased the painting. By 1848, James Walker had returned to New York and had a studio in New York City in the same neighborhood as the print's distributor Nathaniel Currier as well as the lithographer's Napoleon Sarony and Henry B. Major.
- This popular lithograph was one of several published to visually document the war while engaging the imagination of the public. Created prior to photography, these prints were meant to inform the public, while generally eliminating the portrayal of the more gory details. Historians have been able to use at least some prints of the Mexican War for study and to corroborate with the traditional literary forms of documentation. As an eyewitness, Walker could claim accuracy of detail within the narrative in his painting. The battle is presented in the grand, historic, heroic style with the brutality of war not portrayed. The print depiction is quite large for a chromo of the period. In creating the chromolithographic interpretation of the painting, Sarony & Major used at least four large stones to produce the print "in colours," making the most of their use of color. They also defined each figure with precision by outlining each in black. This print was considered by expert/collector Harry T. Peters as one of the finest ever produced by Sarony & Major.
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- associated date
- Currier, Nathaniel
- Scott, Winfield
- Sarony & Major
- Walker, James
- ID Number
- catalog number
- accession number
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center | <urn:uuid:ff577d1a-83b8-467c-af1c-4c0aa2ead4fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/mexican-america?edan_start=0&edan_fq=date%3A%221840s%22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.776227 | 1,938 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Few things have been more poorly understood about the Obama administration than its foreign policy. Partisan and ideological blinders have tended to obscure and distort how critics and supporters have interpreted his policy decisions and his reactions to events around the world. More hawkish interventionists have fixated on Obamaβs diplomatic overtures to authoritarian states, his condemnation of Manuel Zelayaβs deposition, and his slightly firmer line on Israeli settlements as proof of weakness and perfidy, while realists and liberals have great confidence that the same represents a significant positive departure from past policy, but both are finding more in these moves than is really there. This has led to a number of misconceptions about how to classify the Obama administrationβs foreign policy inclinations, and it has created confusion in how we should judge the administrationβs performance in improving relations with much of the rest of the world.
What continues to confuse observers on both sides is the remarkableβor perhaps depressingβcontinuity between the Obama and Bush administrations in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, which is usually acknowledged only when it suits the rhetorical purposes of an argument. Critics and supporters alike would rather emphasize a dialectical relationship between the two administrations in which Obama is the antithesis of Bush for good or ill, which permits discredited neoconservative interventionists to describe any Obama failures as the repudiation of realism, their traditional bΓͺte noire, and allows realists and liberals to rediscover the virtues of U.S. hegemony by confusing change in management with change in policy.
This continuity necessarily thwarts any attempt to find a consistent theme or pattern to the administrationβs actions, and it renders criticisms of a lack of consistency moot. That has not stopped critics from trying to find grand, unifying explanations of Obamaβs actions, such as perceiving a βpro-dictator,β βanti-democratic,β or βanti-Americanβ pattern in Obamaβs responses to the Honduran constitutional crisis and Iranian elections, but these are unsupported claims. No administration will ever pursue any policy with anything like perfect consistency, and Obamaβs predecessor was no exception, so we should expect the same consistency or lack thereof from an administration that has largely followed in its predecessorβs footsteps. Indeed, the difficulty of pursuing a policy consistently draws more attention to the flaws of the policy than to an undesirable lack of consistency.
No matter how idealistic and ideological an administration may be, there are structures and interests that limit how any administration can act: Every βfreedom agendaβ must have its exceptions for Arab dictators and anti-Russian demagogues, every non-proliferation regime must have its exceptions for allied nuclear states outside of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and every βwar on terrorβ must make room for or at least overlook the sponsorship of terrorism by allied governments. For that matter, there may also be longtime allies that find themselves at odds with major multilateral organizations, as the Honduran transitional government recently has, in which case Washington may end up siding with the latter as part of its regional or global βleadershipβ role. So a lack of consistency in administration policy by itself is neither praiseworthy nor damningβit is what the reality of international affairs imposes on even the most zealous ideologue.
Inasmuch as Wilsonian idealism has permeated both parties especially since the end of the Cold War, the criticisms that partisan opponents level at a given administration will typically be framed in terms of the administrationβs failures or disinterest in promoting democracy, and the administrationβs defenders will stress its overriding democratist goals. Once again, we have debates over means rather than ends. We have seen this nowhere more clearly than in the domestic reactions to Obamaβs handling of the Iranian elections. Whether or not Obamaβs domestic critics were genuinely interested in the plight of Iranβs reformers, whom many hawkish interventionists had previously derided as fundamentally no different from their hard-line rivals, they took up the cause of the Iranian protesters and demanded more forceful rhetoric and action from the president, who resisted calls to insert himself into what was an entirely internal Iranian matter.
When Obama did not heed their calls, hawkish critics were furious about the βbetrayal of democracyβ that this represented. However, even as he said little and did less in response to Tehranβs crackdown, Obama wanted to emphasize that his restraint was the best means of aiding Iranian dissidents. This may be true, given past U.S. interference in domestic Iranian politics and the regimeβs mockery of the protests as a phony U.S.-backed βcolorβ revolution, but the crucial point is that Obama felt compelled to explain his restraint in these terms. More than that, his aides reportedly wanted to credit the presidentβs earlier speech in Cairo with sparking the apparent late surge for Moussavi as a way of emphasizing the importance of soft power in shaping public opinion. In other words, the new administration wanted it known that regime change in Tehran and democracy promotion in Muslim countries, two ideas for which the previous administration was quite properly criticized as overly ideological and detached from reality, were still very much a part of U.S. policy despite any apparent changes to the contrary.
Classifications of foreign policy schools or inclinations are never precise, whether they are applied to the thinking of individuals or entire administrations, as most policymakers combine elements from different schools and will tend to adapt their use of diplomatic, political, and military tools to changing circumstances. As we recall from the preparation for the Iraq war and the slight shifts made during the second Bush term, even inside the Bush administration one would find conflicting views and changes in the presidentβs own thinking over time. It is also important to bear in mind that these classifications tend to bleed into one another in practice, which is a function of the broad bipartisan consensus about the legitimacy and necessity of the projection of American power around the world, the preservation of U.S. military and political supremacy, the promotion of liberal democratic values, and the inevitability of American global leadership. Most foreign policy debates take place within these fairly narrow boundaries, and the points of contention are questions of means rather than ends.
This practical blurring of lines between foreign policy schools is also the result of widely shared cultural-political convictions that Andrew Bacevich has called the βideology of national security,β which is the belief that expanding freedom (however vaguely or loosely defined) is the purpose of history and the mission of the U.S., that American actions abroad serve this purpose, and that both American freedom and security are bound up in ensuring universal freedom. While such ideas are normally associated today with neoconservatives or βhard Wilsonianβ idealists, it is fair to say that this ideology is the foundation of the bipartisan consensus just described, and most internationalistsβwhich is to say most Americans who spend any time thinking about foreign policyβpartake of it to some extent.
Obama sympathizers have fixated on superficial changes in style and tone in the hopes that they represent some significant shift in policy, and enemies have discovered proof of sinister plots in the same ultimately trivial gestures. Thus Obamaβs βrecognitionβ of the Iranian government by using its formal title of Islamic Republic, or the initial gestures connected with βresettingβ the relationship with Russia, or even something as unremarkable as acknowledging the American role in the overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953 are taken as powerful signals one way or the other: as exciting openings to rapprochement or pathetic instances of weakness and capitulation. As it happens, the truth is far simpler than either of these interpretations allows.
For all of the praiseβand abuseβthe administration has received for its greater realism, it clearly remains committed to halting Iranβs nuclear program by any means available and to unnecessary, provocative NATO expansion into former Soviet space, even though both policies expose the U.S. to many more costs and risks rather than fewer. For all of the talk of engagement and βreset,β the substance of our Iran and Russia policies has not changed under the new administration, and it never was going to change greatly. The administration believed that it could extract concessions and aid from these states through negotiations, but it never intended to alter its behavior toward them. The president still presumes to dictate the security and energy policies of other states, and he still insists on extending our sphere of influence to Russiaβs borders in the name of eliminating spheres of influence. Whichever name one wants to give to this sort of foreign policy, it remains inexplicably aggressive, hegemonic, and dangerous to U.S. interests, and it is all the more so because it comes wrapped in a veil of diplomatic gestures and the pretense of repairing damaged relations.
Daniel Larison is contributing editor at The American Conservative, where he blogs at Eunomia, and an online columnist for The Week. He has recently completed a Ph.D. in Byzantine history at the University of Chicago.
Source: AFF Doublethink Online | Joseph Hammond
Source: AFF Doublethink Online | Angie Picardo | <urn:uuid:8b4014fe-a7d1-4348-9e18-b10930fdf8eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americasfuture.org/doublethink/2009/09/obamas-illusory-realism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960911 | 1,899 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Three years ago Karen and I headed north up the Hudson River to check out the ice. This winter has been so mild, I doubt thereβs much ice to look at on the Hudson. So to find ice we had to go fartherβto QuΓ©bec City and the St. Lawrence River.
The evening we arrived we climbed up to the Plains of Abraham for a big-picture view of the river. I donβt think you can see how cold it was, but you can see the wind on the water:
The next day we decided to get a close-up view of the ice, and we took the ferry across to LΓ©vis. You can see the ferry at the bottom of the picture above. The ice was pretty thick, and the ferry had to push through the floes.
Some of them were big enough that the boat would shudder as it crashed into them:
Looking back toward QuΓ©bec:
Looking at this view, I pretended I was on the deck of an Arctic icebreaker:
QuΓ©bec and the ChΓ’teau Frontenac:
Back on the QuΓ©bec side, we looked across to LΓ©vis. Here you can see both ferries cutting paths through the ice:
A few miles to the east the St. Lawrence splits around the Γle dβOrlΓ©ans. The shipping channel runs to the south of the island, and the north side is allowed to ice over completely: | <urn:uuid:87215dbd-8f6f-4c81-8904-1500f6a6ac42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amovablebridge.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/interlude-glace-ice-ii/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=c1ce40f6e1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968069 | 299 | 1.554688 | 2 |
[Lowfer] ARRL Letter, VLF
Mon, 22 Mar 1999 23:01:26 -0500
William Cantrell wrote:
> Hi Andre',
> Sounds like you would fit nicely into our little group of experimenters.
how about you guys fitting in _our_ group ??? :-)
> We are primarily a group of electrical engineers, physicists, and technicians, who
> fled ham radio to get back to "real" experimentation.
Many of us (I being one of them) consider that LF may be one of the last frontiers
of _experimental_ ham radio . Lots of (if not most) things have been done in HF and
VHF. In Microwave, most experiments may have to do with using either old Navy or
Air Force equipment, and very expensive test equipment.LF, on the other hand, has
the advantage of needing only very simple equipment. Any old 'scope will do, almost
any bulb will work as a test load, and almost any amplifier will perform at 136
kHz. It remains that one really has to reconsider everything one does. How does an
antenna which is << lambda really work? How do we reduce the QRM to a minimum?
> I find it a little puzzling that your experimenters are bunched together in
> northern Va.
as I said, this happens to be where we live... | <urn:uuid:976bab01-acef-4ac4-b27f-f95ee0bb202e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amrad.org/pipermail/tacos/1999/000910.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928661 | 292 | 1.546875 | 2 |
π FineWeb-Edu-score-2
1.3 trillion tokens of the finest educational data the π web has to offer
What is it?
π FineWeb-Edu dataset consists of 1.3T tokens (FineWeb-Edu) and 5.4T tokens of educational web pages filtered from π· FineWeb dataset. This is the 5.4 trillion version.
Note: this version uses a lower educational score threshold = 2, which results in more documents, but lower quality compared to the 1.3T version. For more details check the FineWeb blog post.
To enhance FineWeb's quality, we developed an educational quality classifier using annotations generated by LLama3-70B-Instruct. We then used this classifier to retain only the most educational web pages. FineWeb-Edu outperforms FineWeb on popular benchmarks and shows the power of classifiers trained on synthetic data.
The Dataset Curation section details the process for creating the dataset.
What is being released?
Along with the dataset, which includes all filtered CommonCrawl dumps since 2013, we also release the educational classifier used for the filtering as well as the code for training it and running inference at: https://github.com/huggingface/cosmopedia/tree/main/classification.
How to load the dataset
Similarily to FineWeb, You can load the full dataset or a specific crawl/dump. Dumps have the format CC-MAIN-(year)-(week number)
.
Using π datatrove
from datatrove.pipeline.readers import ParquetReader
# limit determines how many documents will be streamed (remove for all)
data_reader = ParquetReader("hf://datasets/HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu-score-2", glob_pattern="data/*/*.parquet", limit=1000)
data_reader = ParquetReader("hf://datasets/HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu-score-2/CC-MAIN-2024-10", limit=1000)
for document in data_reader():
# do something with document
print(document)
###############################
# OR for a processing pipeline:
###############################
from datatrove.executor import LocalPipelineExecutor
from datatrove.pipeline.readers import ParquetReader
from datatrove.pipeline.filters import LambdaFilter
from datatrove.pipeline.writers import JsonlWriter
pipeline_exec = LocalPipelineExecutor(
pipeline=[
ParquetReader("hf://datasets/HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu-score-2/CC-MAIN-2024-10", limit=1000),
LambdaFilter(lambda doc: "hugging" in doc.text),
JsonlWriter("some-output-path")
],
tasks=10
)
pipeline_exec.run()
Using datasets
from datasets import load_dataset
fw = load_dataset("HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu-score-2", name="CC-MAIN-2024-10", split="train", streaming=True)
Dataset curation
A new approach has recently emerged for filtering LLM training datasets: using synthetic data to develop classifiers for identifying educational content. This technique was used in the trainings of LLama3, Claude3 and Phi3, but its large-scale impact on web data filtering hasn't been fully explored or published.
The highly popular Phi3 models were trained on 3.3 and 4.8 trillion tokens, with the paper stating: βOur training data consists of heavily filtered publicly available web data (according to the 'educational level') from various open internet sources, as well as synthetic LLM-generated data". Similarly, the LLama3 blog post notes: βWe found that previous generations of Llama are good at identifying high-quality data, so we used Llama 2 to help build the text-quality classifiers that are powering Llama 3.β However these classifiers and filtered datasets are not publicly available. To enhance FineWeb's quality, we developed an educational quality classifier using annotations generated by LLama3-70B-Instruct to create FineWeb-Edu.
Annotation
We used Llama3-70B-Instruct to score 500k FineWeb samples for their educational quality on a scale from 0 to 5.
We explored various prompts and found that the additive scale by Yuan et al. worked best. To avoid the LLM favoring highly technical pages like arXiv abstracts and submissions, we focused on grade-school and middle-school level knowledge. By setting a threshold of 3 (on a scale of 0 to 5) during the filtering process, we were able to also retain some high-level educational pages. The final prompt can be found in this blog post TODO.
We also experimented with different LLMs: Llama3-70B-Instruct, Mixtral-8x-7B-Instruct, and Mixtral-8x22B-Instruct. Llama3 and Mixtral-8x22B produced similar scores, while Mixtral-8x7B tended to be more generous, not fully adhering to the score scale. Verga et al. suggest using multiple LLMs as juries. We tried averaging the scores from the three models, but this shifted the distribution to the right due to the higher scores from Mixtral-8x7B. Training on a dataset filtered with a classifier using jury annotations performed worse than using a classifier based on Llama3 annotations. We hypothesize that the jury-based approach retains more low-quality samples.
Classifier training
We fine-tuned a Bert-like regression model using these annotations, based on Snowflake-arctic-embed. When converted to a binary classification using a score of 3 as a threshold for keeping and removing files, the model achieved an F1 score of 82%. The classification of FineWeb 15T tokens took 6k H100 GPU hours.
The classifier is available at: https://huggingface.co/HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu-classifier/
Filtering and results
Note: You can find more details about the ablations and results in the FineWeb blog post (TODO).
We investigated the impact of using different thresholds for the filtering and found that threshold 3 gave the best overall results. Although using a threshold higher than 3 improves performance on knowledge and reasoning intensive benchmarks, it significantly degrades performance on HellaSwag and PIQA.
We then built π FineWeb-Edu by filtering out samples with scores lower than 3. This removed 92% of the dataset, leaving us with 1.3T educational tokens. Our ablation demonstrated that this refined dataset surpasses π· FineWeb and all other open web datasets, with remarkable improvements on educational benchmarks such as MMLU, ARC, and OpenBookQA. The plot below compares FineWeb-Edu to other web datasets:
To retain more tokens, we also experimented with a less strict threshold of 2 instead of 3. While being less performant than using threshold 3, it still outperformed FineWeb and it preserved 5.4T tokens. We release these two dataset as FineWeb-Edu and FineWeb-Edu-score-2 along with the classifier.
You will find all the ablation models in this collection. The FineWeb-Edu ablation model (trained on 350B tokens) is available at https://huggingface.co/HuggingFaceFW/ablation-model-fineweb-edu.
Considerations for Using the Data
This section is copied from the parent dataset: FineWeb.
Social Impact of Dataset
With the release of this dataset we aim to make model training more accessible to the machine learning community at large.
While multiple open-weights models with strong performance have been publicly released in the past, more often than not these releases are not accompanied by the corresponding training dataset. This is unfortunate as the dataset specificities and characteristics have been demonstrated to have a very large impact and role in the performances of the models. As the creation of a high quality training dataset is a fundamental requirement to training an LLM capable of excelling at downstream tasks, with π· FineWeb we (a) not only make the dataset creation process more transparent, by sharing our entire processing setup including the codebase used, we also (b) help alleviate the costs of dataset curation, both in time and in compute, for model creators by publicly releasing our dataset with the community.
Discussion of Biases
Efforts were made to minimize the amount of NSFW and toxic content present in the dataset by employing filtering on the URL level. However, there are still a significant number of documents present in the final dataset that could be considered toxic or contain harmful content. As π· FineWeb was sourced from the web as a whole, any harmful biases typically present in it may be reproduced on our dataset.
We deliberately avoided using machine learning filtering methods that define text quality based on the similarity to a βgoldβ source such as wikipedia or toxicity classifiers as these methods have been known to disproportionately remove content in specific dialects and overclassify as toxic text related to specific social identities, respectively.
Other Known Limitations
As a consequence of some of the filtering steps applied, it is likely that code content is not prevalent in our dataset. If you are training a model that should also perform code tasks, we recommend you use π· FineWeb with a code dataset, such as The Stack v2. You should also probably consider complementing π· FineWeb with specialized curated sources (such as Wikipedia, for example) as they will likely have better formatting than the wikipedia content included in π· FineWeb (we did not tailor the processing to individual websites).
Additional Information
Licensing Information
The dataset is released under the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) v1.0 license. The use of this dataset is also subject to CommonCrawl's Terms of Use.
Future work
We plan to work on better educational classifier to improve the quality of FineWeb-Edu.
Citation Information
@software{lozhkov2024fineweb-edu,
author = {Lozhkov, Anton and Ben Allal, Loubna and von Werra, Leandro and Wolf, Thomas},
title = {FineWeb-Edu},
month = May,
year = 2024,
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu}
}
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