Nature Days is an independent service offering quality bespoke educational field trips in and around the Gower peninsula for junior schools, senior schools, colleges and the general public.
We provide a cost effective way for children to learn about the different habitats that exist around Gower, in South Wales just a few miles from Swansea and the M4.
Nature Days has achieved the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Kite Mark.
I am pleased to announce that Nature Days has just achieved the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Kite mark for its field work!!
Nature Day is also leading the way in getting ready for Donaldston and the new curriculum for life. If you are starting a new topic, how about taking your class on an inspirational field trip to spark off their ideas and start the planing process?
Look through the available field trips on the website or if you want something bespoke contact Dawn here.
A new term and lots of exciting field work opportunities.
Nature Days is now on hwb so any worksheets, resources can be shared to Welsh schools through the hwb.
Nature Days has created some very successful field trips to cover the new WJEC fieldwork requirements for GCSE and A level Geography. Field trips have been developed to help schools cover the necessary requirements of the spec in the allotted 2 or 4 days. This covers both physical and human aspects as well as being skills based so that all the geographical skills, including the large number of mathematical skills, can be covered during the days.
Advice on how to manage the fieldwork requirements of the new spec is available FREE by Nature Days for any school who is struggling with the new requirements.
Literacy, numeracy and science INSETS and ADDS sessions.
Nature Days has also been undertaking INSET session on "Teaching science in primary using your outdoor space." Support for non- subject specialist in teaching science at KS2 as well as foundation phase and integrating scientific enquiry into all aspects of the curriculum.
If your school would like ADDS training on using their school grounds for teaching science or any subject please contact Nature Days.
With the development of the Donaldson report into a new National Curriculum we hope to work with a number of pioneer schools to develop more creative field days to cover the four main purposes ready for 2020.
New field trips are being developed focusing on Numeracy and Literacy.
All field days are designed to meet the bespoke needs of your class and specific aspects of Numeracy and Literacy can be taught using the outdoors as the catalyst.
Foundation phase days are based on well used stories such as "Tiddler" and "Sally and the Limpet" on beach days, "Stick Man","The Gruffalo" and "The three little pigs" on woodland and river discovery days.
For Key Stage 2 we have inspirational days which allow the children to experience what it is like to be on a desert island like Michael in "Kensuke's Kingdom".
Take a walk down the "Journey to the River Sea" to explore our own temperate rainforest.
Numeracy days can be designed to incorporate problem solving, reasoning, coordinates, estimating, ratio and scale, measuring, creating and interpreting graphs.
All trips have now integrated the new Literacy and Numeracy framework, (LNF).
Our portfolio of field trips is growing as we are responding to requests by schools to create more varied field days.
Don't forget to follow us of Facebook Naturedays and Gower Society Youth and on Twitter @DawnNatureDays @The Gower Society.
The Gower was chosen as Britain's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, giving its unique environment protection since 1956.
INSET training teaching science in your school grounds.
INSET Utilising your school grounds for outdoor learning.


text:
Sira är en ort i Flekkefjords kommun i Agder fylke. Orten har ca 600 invånare och ligger nära väg E39 och har även en station som ligger vid järnvägen som går från Oslo till Stavanger.

Orter i Agder fylke
Flekkefjords kommun

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The trusted source for
healthcare information and
CONTINUING EDUCATION.
MyAHC
CME/CE Map
My CME/CE
Home » Newsletters » IRB Advisor
IRB Advisor
View Archived Issues --Please Select-- July 1, 2021 June 1, 2021 May 1, 2021 April 1, 2021 March 1, 2021 February 1, 2021 January 1, 2021 December 1, 2020 November 1, 2020 October 1, 2020 September 1, 2020 August 1, 2020 July 1, 2020 June 1, 2020 May 1, 2020 April 1, 2020 March 1, 2020 February 1, 2020 January 1, 2020 December 1, 2019 November 1, 2019 October 1, 2019 September 1, 2019 August 1, 2019 July 1, 2019 June 1, 2019 May 1, 2019 April 1, 2019 March 1, 2019 February 1, 2019 January 1, 2019 December 1, 2018 November 1, 2018 October 1, 2018 September 1, 2018 August 1, 2018 July 1, 2018 June 1, 2018 May 1, 2018 April 1, 2018 March 1, 2018 February 1, 2018 January 1, 2018 December 1, 2017 November 1, 2017 October 1, 2017 September 1, 2017 August 1, 2017 July 1, 2017 June 1, 2017 May 1, 2017 April 1, 2017 March 1, 2017 February 1, 2017 January 1, 2017 December 1, 2016 November 1, 2016 October 1, 2016 September 1, 2016 August 1, 2016 July 1, 2016 June 1, 2016 May 1, 2016 April 1, 2016 March 1, 2016 February 1, 2016 January 1, 2016 December 1, 2015 November 1, 2015 October 1, 2015 September 1, 2015 August 1, 2015 July 1, 2015 June 1, 2015 May 1, 2015 April 1, 2015 March 1, 2015 February 1, 2015 January 1, 2015 December 1, 2014 November 1, 2014 October 1, 2014 September 1, 2014 August 1, 2014 July 1, 2014 June 1, 2014 May 1, 2014 April 1, 2014 March 1, 2014 February 1, 2014 January 1, 2014 December 1, 2013 November 1, 2013 October 1, 2013 September 1, 2013 August 1, 2013 July 1, 2013 June 1, 2013 May 1, 2013 April 1, 2013 April 1, 2013 March 1, 2013 February 1, 2013 January 1, 2013 January 1, 2013 December 1, 2012 November 1, 2012 October 1, 2012 September 1, 2012 August 1, 2012 July 1, 2012 June 1, 2012 May 1, 2012 April 1, 2012 March 1, 2012 February 1, 2012 January 1, 2012 January 1, 2012 December 1, 2011 November 1, 2011 October 1, 2011 September 1, 2011 August 1, 2011 July 1, 2011 June 1, 2011 May 1, 2011 April 1, 2011 March 1, 2011 February 1, 2011 January 1, 2011 January 1, 2011 December 1, 2010 November 1, 2010 October 1, 2010 September 1, 2010 August 1, 2010 July 1, 2010 June 1, 2010 May 1, 2010 April 1, 2010 March 1, 2010 February 1, 2010 January 1, 2010 December 1, 2009 November 1, 2009 October 1, 2009 September 1, 2009 August 1, 2009 July 1, 2009 June 1, 2009 May 1, 2009 April 1, 2009 March 1, 2009 February 1, 2009 January 1, 2009 December 1, 2008 November 1, 2008 October 1, 2008 September 1, 2008 August 1, 2008 July 1, 2008 June 1, 2008 May 1, 2008 April 1, 2008 March 1, 2008 February 1, 2008 January 1, 2008 January 1, 2008 December 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 October 1, 2007 September 1, 2007 August 1, 2007 July 1, 2007 June 1, 2007 May 1, 2007 April 1, 2007 March 1, 2007 February 1, 2007 January 1, 2007 December 1, 2006 November 1, 2006 October 1, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 1, 2006 July 1, 2006 June 1, 2006 May 1, 2006 April 1, 2006 March 1, 2006 February 1, 2006 January 1, 2006 December 1, 2005 November 1, 2005 October 1, 2005 September 1, 2005 August 1, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 1, 2005 May 1, 2005 April 1, 2005 March 1, 2005 February 1, 2005 January 1, 2005 December 1, 2004 November 1, 2004 October 1, 2004 September 1, 2004 August 1, 2004 July 1, 2004 June 1, 2004 May 1, 2004 April 1, 2004 March 1, 2004 February 1, 2004 January 1, 2004 December 1, 2003 November 1, 2003 October 1, 2003 September 1, 2003 August 1, 2003 July 1, 2003 June 1, 2003 May 1, 2003 April 1, 2003 March 1, 2003 February 1, 2003 January 1, 2003 December 1, 2002 November 1, 2002 October 1, 2002 September 1, 2002 August 1, 2002 July 1, 2002 June 1, 2002 May 1, 2002 April 1, 2002 March 1, 2002 February 1, 2002 January 1, 2002 December 1, 2001 November 1, 2001 October 1, 2001 September 1, 2001 August 1, 2001 July 1, 2001 April 1, 2001
IRB Advisor 2007-11-01
Best Practices Update: IRB's quality improvement process identifies concerns and fixes problems
Quality improvement (QI) is such an important part of the daily work process at one independent, Midwestern IRB that there are 17 employees on the regulatory affairs and quality improvement team. Read More
IRB's deviation reports increase exponentially, leading to process change
After the FDA in 2000 highlighted the problem of investigators inadequately reporting protocol deviations, sponsors have required all deviations to be reported to the IRB. Read More
Institution's QI form serves as educational tool for PIs
Education is the foundation of quality improvement, which is why one IRB's main educational tool for investigators is an on-line form for quality improvement through self-assessment. Read More
Reporting results from biomonitoring studies
Biomonitoring—measuring levels of environmental toxins in biological samples taken from volunteers—is an important tool in public health research, providing valuable information about local exposure levels. Read More
Decision aids in clinical trials can enhance informed consent
As research participants confront ever more-complicated clinical trials, they also encounter longer, more complex consent forms. Concerns that informed consent isn't necessarily enhanced by these documents has led researchers to seek more useful ways of educating subjects about the study they're considering. Read More
2007 Salary Survey Results: Good IRB professionals are hard to find
Experienced and educated IRB professionals are in a very good position this year to command top salaries and find jobs in a variety of research settings, according to experts and the results of the 2007 salary survey conducted by IRB Advisor. Read More
Begin Test
Buy this Issue/Course
Shop Now: Search Products
Subscription Publications
Books & Study Guides
Group & Site
State CME/CE
customerservice@reliasmedia.com
U.S. and Canada: 1-800-688-2421 x 2
International +1-404-262-5476 x 2
1-800-688-2421 x 3
ReliasMedia_AR@reliasmedia.com
1010 Sync St., Suite 100
Morrisville, NC 27560-5468
© 2022 Relias. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information Privacy Policy Terms of Use Contact Us Reprints Group Sales
For DSR inquiries or complaints, please reach out to Wes Vaux, Data Privacy Officer, DPO@relias.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Putting the time into Twitter but not getting the results you want?
Ready to implement changes and start engaging with your audience?
It's time for a Twitter overview.
Get quick, actionable tips which you can implement right away.
This is great for anyone creating and developing a brand through Twitter. You might be a small business, a blogger or a creative. As long as you're ready to take social media seriously, and are keen to implement my recommended improvements, then this is for you.
Your Twitter overview will include an analysis of your profile, content, tone of voice, interaction with the audience and use of Twitter lists.
It costs just £50, payable via PayPal, and within 48 hours I will have a Twitter overview sitting in your inbox.


Easychamfer - A portable tool that can easily chamfer the cut ends of PVC pipes.
The Easy Chamfer was developed to greatly reduce the time and labour it takes to chamfer PVC piping ranging from 90mm to 350mm (depending on wall thickness). This new tool chamfers precisely to the specifications of the manufacturers. The Easy Chamfer operates from a cordless or electric drill, or alternatively can be fitted with its own cordless or electric motor.
Easychamfer -A close up of the tool.
Easy Chamfer Tool showing the cutting tip and other components that make up this tool.
Easychamfer - The tool set up for use in a cordless drill.
Following two years of development and testing, I am satisfied that the product is ready to be released on the market. Demonstrations of the product to various trade experts including local suppliers, civil contractors and local government have also generated very positive responses and strong interest. "John Doust".
John Doust, the inventor of the Easychamfer has his own website and he can be contacted there.
I am not a plumber, so I have not done an awful lot of work with PVC water and sewerage pipes but on the odd occasions where I have been giving a plumber a hand, or the more frequent times when we have put a backhoe bucket or an auger through a sewerage pipe I could have used one of these.
Instead what we did usually was to get a small 100mm grinder and try to bevel or chamfer the end of cut pipes with it. We did this with varying amounts of success mainly because a grinder is not the right tool for the job. It grinds rather than cuts and leaves burrs that still have to be cleaned off.
I really like the idea of being able to use an existing electric drill, which most of us already have rather than having to buy an all in one unit.
If you are a plumber that works a lot with PVC pipes then I'd say have a look at one of these. From what I have seen it looks a well made tool that will stand up to hard knocks.
Thinking about the times that I have damaged in-situ pipes, it would have been nice if the plumbing merchants that sold me short cut lengths had one of these. It would have been one less job to do on the site.
Nice one John, best of luck with it.
Here are a few new products that are related to building and home improvement type work.
If you are an inventor and you are trying to get something that you feel is worth while off the ground then by all means contact me and I'll give you some space here to promote your product.
If you have a website I'll give you a link, or if you have not got one yet then you can treat one of these pages as your info on the web.
Hip Tite starter fitting for neater tile roofs.
Elbow steel frames A no welding method of joining lightweight RHS.
Power snips for fast scribing and straight cuts.
Truss brace The Frook tempory truss brace and alingment tool for fixing pressed nail plate roof trusses.
Arch Cutting Jig A simple and easy to use jig for cutting perfect arcs every time.
Nobow Flooring Clamp A simple and easy to use jig for cutting perfect arcs every time.
Note! The content and photos on these pages are copyright of each individual inventor. As such they cannot be used without permission.
Just in case you have read a few of these pages and you think that my comments are a bit biased in favour of the inventions, well.... you are right. Why would I bother putting something here if I don't think it is any good? There are heaps of websites that promote crap for money if that's what you want.


text:
Q: How to clone maps in Minecraft SMP (1.6.6)?
Possible Duplicate:
How can I clone maps in SMP?

I'm running a vanilla Minecraft server updated to 1.6.6.  We're trying to make clones of maps other than map_0, however the command /give player 358:1 1 does not work.  Instead it says "There is no item with id 358:1"
Everyone says that command works, and apparently we're the only ones having issues.  To be clear, /give player 358:1 1 does not work, and we're wondering why not...?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Need Faster Word Builder Algorithm I have an app that assists studying for Scrabble. Most searches are much faster than by desktop version in C#, except the Word Builder. This search shows all the words that can be formed from a given set of letters A-Z, or blanks.
What can I do to get it to run faster?
I've considered using a Trie, but haven't found a way to support the use of blanks.
I am using a SimpleCursorAdapter to populate the ListView, which is why I am returning a cursor.
    public Cursor getCursor_subanagrams(String term, String filters, String ordering) {
    if (term.trim() == "")
        return null;
    // only difference between this and anagram is changing the length filter
    char[] a = term.toCharArray(); // anagram

    int[] first = new int[26]; // letter count of anagram
    int c; // array position
    int blankcount = 0;

    // initialize word to anagram
    for (c = 0; c < a.length; c++) {
        if (a[c] == '?') {
            blankcount++;
            continue;
        }
        first[a[c] - 'A']++;
    }

// gets pool of words to search through
    String lenFilter = String.format("Length(Word) <= %1$s AND Length(Word) <= %2$s", LexData.getMaxLength(), term.length());
    Cursor cursor = database.rawQuery("SELECT WordID as _id, Word, WordID, FrontHooks, BackHooks, " +
            "InnerFront, InnerBack, Anagrams, ProbFactor, OPlayFactor, Score \n" +
            "FROM     `" + LexData.getLexName() + "` \n" +
            "WHERE (" + lenFilter +
            filters +
            " ) " + ordering, null);

// creates new cursor to add valid words to
    MatrixCursor matrixCursor = new MatrixCursor(new String[]{"_id", "Word", "WordID", "FrontHooks", "BackHooks", "InnerFront", "InnerBack",
            "Anagrams", "ProbFactor", "OPlayFactor", "Score"});

// THIS NEEDS TO BE FASTER
    while (cursor.moveToNext()) {
        String word = cursor.getString(1);
        char[] b = word.toCharArray();
        if (isAnagram(first, b, blankcount)) {
            matrixCursor.addRow(get_CursorRow(cursor));
        }
    }
    cursor.close();
    return matrixCursor;
}

private boolean isAnagram(int[] anagram, char[] word, int blankcount) {
    int matchcount = blankcount;
    int c; // each letter
    int[] second = {0,0,0,0,0, 0,0,0,0,0,  0,0,0,0,0,  0,0,0,0,0,  0,0,0,0,0, 0};

    for (c = 0; c < word.length; c++)
        second[word[c] - 'A']++;

    for (c = 0; c < 26; c++)
    {
        matchcount += (anagram[c]<second[c]) ? anagram[c]:second[c];
    }

    if (matchcount == word.length)
        return true;
    return false;
    }

A: Focus on speeding up the most typical case, which is where the word is not a (sub)anagram, and you return false. If you can identify as quickly as possible when it is not possible to make word out of anagram then you can avoid the expensive test.
One way to do this is using a bitmask of the letters in the words. You don't need to store letter counts, because if the number of unique letters in word that are not in anagram is greater than the number of blanks, then there is no way you can make it and you can quickly return false. If not then you can proceed to the more expensive test taking letter counts into account.
You can precompute the bitmasks like this:
private int letterMask(char[] word)
{
    int c, mask = 0;
    for (c = 0; c < word.length; c++)
        mask |= (1 << (word[c] - 'A'));
    return mask;
}

Add an extra column to your database to store the letter bitmask for each word, add it to your cursor, and compute the letter bitmask for the letters in term and store in termMask. Then inside your cursor loop you can do a test like this:
// compute mask of bits in mask that are not in term:
int missingLettersMask = cursor.getInt(8) & ~termMask;
if(missingLettersMask != 0)
{
    // check if we could possibly make up for these letters using blanks:
    int remainingBlanks = blankcount;
    while((remainingBlanks-- > 0) && (missingLettersMask != 0))
        missingLettersMask &= (missingLettersMask - 1); // remove one bit

    if(missingLettersMask != 0)
        continue; // move onto the next word
}

// word can potentially be made from anagram, call isAnagram:

A: There are ways to speed up your anagram checking function. Samgak has pointed out one. Another obvious optimisation is to return false if the word is longer than the number of available letters plus blanks. In the end, these are all micro-optimisations and you will end up checking your whole dictionary.
You said you have considered using a trie. That's a good solution, in my opinion, because the structure of the trie will only make you check relevant words. Build it like this:

*

*Sort the letters of each word, so that "triangle" and "integral" will both become "aegilnrt".

*Insert the sorted word into the trie.

*Where you would place the end-marker in a normal trie, you place a list of possible words.

If you were looking for exact anagrams, you would sort the word to check, traverse the trie and print out the list of possible anagrams at the end. But here, you have to deal with partial anagrams and with blanks:

*

*Regular traversal means you take the next letter of the word and then descent the corresponding link in the tree,if it exists.

*Partial anagrams can be found by ignoring the next letter without descending in the trie.

*Blanks can be dealt with by descending all possible branches of a trie and decreasing the number of blanks.

When you have blanks, you will end up with duplicates. For example, if you have the letters A, B and C and a blank tile, you can make the word CAB, but you can get there on four different ways: CAB, _AB, C_B, CA_.
You could get around this by storing the result list in a data structure that eliminates duplicates, such as a set or ordered set, but you would still go down the same paths several times in order to create the duplicates.
A better solution is to keep track of which trie nodes you have visited with which parameters, i.e. with with remaining unused letters and blanks. You can then cut such paths short. Here's an implementation in pseudocode:
function find_r(t, str, blanks, visited)
{
    // don't revisit explored paths
    key = make_key(t, str, blanks);

    if (key in visited) return [];
    visited ~= key;

    if (str.length == 0 and blanks == 0) {
        // all resources have been used: return list of anagrams
        return t.word;
    } else {
        res = [];
        c = 0;

        if (str.length > 0) {
            c = str[0];

            // regular traversal: use current letter and descend
            if (c in t.next) {
                res ~= find_r(t.next[c], str[1:], blanks, visited);
            }

            # partial anagrams: skip current letter and don't descend
            l = 1
            while (l < str.length and str[l] == c) l++;

            res ~= find_r(t, str[l:], blanks, visited);
        }

        if (blanks > 0) {
            // blanks: decrease blanks and descend
            for (i in t.next) {
                if (i < c) {
                    res ~= find_r(t.next[i], str, blanks - 1, visited);
                }
            }
        }

        return res;
    }
}

(Here, ~ denotes list concatenation or set insertion; [beg=0:end=length] denotes string slices; in tests whether a dictionary or set contains a key.)
Once you've built the tree, this solution is fast when there are no blanks, but it gets exponentially worse with each blank and with larger letter pools. Testing with one blank is still reasonably fast, but with two blanks, it is on par with your existing solution.
Now there are at most two blanks in a Scrabble game and the rack can hold only up to seven tiles, so it may not be as bad in practice. Another question is whether the search should consider words obtained with two blanks. The results list will be very long and it will contain all two-letter words. The player may be more interested in high-scoring words that can be played with a single blank.


text:
Don't stop at a COVID vaccine mandate; flu shot should be required, too | GUEST COMMENTARY
Proposed Dollar House revival in Baltimore faces opposition from top housing, finance, legal officials
Bill Frese, the father of Maryland women's basketball coach Brenda Frese, dies
God's timing is perfect and He has the final say
25-year-old man charged with arson after fire in Reisterstown apartment, police say
Maryland's environmental horror show, zombies included | GUEST COMMENTARY
Morgan State University alumna D'Angela 'Dia' Simms believes in making room for diversity in the spirits industry
Jill Robshaw French, equestrian and riding instructor, dies
Howard Democrats ask Hogan to release education money
By Amanda Yeager
Howard County Times |
The Howard County Council's four Democrats have written another open letter to Gov. Larry Hogan, this time asking him to restore funding earmarked for education in light of predictions that the state will see a budget surplus this year and next.
The letter – the second in less than two weeks from council Democrats to the Republican governor – argues spending surplus money on schools should be a priority "given the clear benefits of a top-tier education for the long term health of the State.
"This worthy goal is both a prudent investment in our collective future and a priority of our citizenry," council members wrote.
State Democrats announced in early November that Maryland is expected to collect $500 million more in revenues than budgeted this fiscal year, and $215 million more in fiscal year 2017. Since then, Democratic leaders – including Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the executives of Prince George's, Frederick, Montgomery and Baltimore counties – have called on the governor to release $68 million in funds that the General Assembly set aside specifically for schools.
The money would fulfill the Geographic Cost of Education Index, a state funding formula that provides additional cash to jurisdictions where educating students is more expensive. While it wasn't a requirement, many counties had grown accustomed to the extra money under the administration of former Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat. Citing a need to rein in state spending, Hogan offered to fund half of the formula, but not more.
Democrats press Hogan to release money for schools
Democrats who represent some of Maryland's costliest school districts again called on Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to release money earmarked for them by the legislature, accusing the governor hurting school children to make a political point.
By Erin Cox
In response, state legislators voted to require full funding of the formula in future years.
In February, when Hogan and Democratic lawmakers first started jousting over the formula, Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman wrote a letter to the governor asking him not to cut spending on schools.
"While I support the notion that we must collectively share in correcting the deficits we face, I am concerned about the current proposed budget's impact on state aid for Howard County, particularly for education funding," Kittleman wrote at the time. "Howard County is known and sought after for its exceptional school system, libraries and community college. It would be disappointing to not be able to maintain some of our crowning achievements."
Unlike other local school districts, the Howard County Public School School System didn't feel any repercussions when the formula wasn't funded. Kittleman found $2.8 million in his fiscal year 2016 budget to bridge the gap.
Howard County Times: Top stories Newsletter
Daily highlights from Howard County's number one source for local news.
In their letter to Hogan, dated Nov. 30, council Democrats wrote that "withholding money already approved for Howard County disproportionately hurts minority and special needs students" and pointed out that the school system is already "struggling to keep up with growing enrollment and increasing demand for services for special needs students and also working hard to close the achievement gap."
[More Maryland news] Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's lawyer offers defense, saying she qualified for relief under CARES Act »
They also argued that state funding is necessary to improve test scores, keep up with construction costs and improve teacher pay. "Providing competitive compensation is key to retaining great teachers and attracting the most capable new teachers," council members wrote. "Limited progress in these areas has led to difficulty in recruitment, particularly in certain critical content areas."
Councilman Greg Fox, a Republican from Fulton, said the council's action in writing to Hogan "appears to be a pattern of political behavior that is steeped in hypocrisy," and noted that the county school system did receive the full amount of its request. Fox was the only council member not to sign on to the letter. He also didn't sign the council's earlier message to Hogan urging him to reconsider his stanceo n Syrian refugees.
Howard educators ask Hogan to spend more on schools
Howard County school system officials joined forces with the teachers' union and community groups Wednesday to call on Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to free up nearly $3 million in state funding for Howard schools in his final spending plan for next fiscal year.
Tuesday, Kittleman spokesman Andy Barth reiterated Kittleman's commitment to education funding, though he declined to comment on the letter specifically, which he said the executive had not seen.
Latest Howard County
Maryland environment secretary pledges to increase staffing amid legislators' concerns during Senate hearing
Howard County schools employees to receive $1,800 bonuses
Howard judge places Anne Arundel police officer charged with assault, disorderly conduct on probation before judgment
"Now is not the time to abandon common sense," a spokeswoman for Hogan said in an emailed statement, which pointed out that Maryland is facing a $1 billion cumulative deficit in the coming years and is still behind on funding the state's pension system. "Despite these obvious financial constraints, this administration funded education at record levels this past year and it will remain a top priority going forward. Gov. Hogan was the first governor in the history of the state to fund GCEI in his first year in office and he will be the first governor to fully fund it in his second year."
Allan H. Kittleman
Larry Hogan


text:
Posted on April 6, 2012 by adventiststudies
The processes of drafting a document Adventist Studies: An Annotated Introduction for Higher Degree Students (2006, revised 2009) and writing a journal article "Contextualising Recent Tensions in Seventh-day Adventism" (published in Journal of Religious History, September 2010) have helped to alert me to the need for a better understanding of human sexuality in its various dimensions. This blog is part of a conversation on the related but more specific theme of pastoral care for lesbian and gay Adventists that I initiated almost four years ago, on 13 September 2008.
During the early 1970s, my approach to ministry was deeply impacted by the teaching of Charles Wittschiebe at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, Michigan) and the insights of Clinical Pastoral Education. Wittschiebe's shock of white hair helped to preserve his dignity, despite the fact he was writing a book under the startling title God Invented Sex (1974).
Clinical Pastoral Education as recommended by Christian Theological Seminary (Indianapolis, Indiana) for its Doctor of Ministry students, required us to actively listen to our counselling clients and congregants. This form of process-learning was monitored by skilled supervisors and prodded by fearless input from our peers.
What Wittschiebe Knew
Charles Wittschiebe was not a biblical scholar, nor was he a church historian. But, as a well-trained, caring pastor he sensed Adventist ministers needed to better understand human sexuality in the combined light of Scripture, history and science.
Our heritage offers some interesting observations. Early in 1846, two Advent believers were "published for marriage" as required by law in New England at that time. By so doing they "denied their faith," according to James White. Why? "We look upon it [marriage] as a wile of the devil," he wrote. "The firm brethren in Maine who are waiting for Christ to come have no fellowship with such a move."
The New Testament reminds us how the Apostle Paul questioned marriage, no doubt due to a combination of hope in Christ's imminent return and the active persecution believers were experiencing in the first Christian century. Eighteen hundred years later, it took much Bible study and prayer for our Adventist pioneers to balance their Advent hope and lifestyle patterns.
Issues relating to human sexuality were particularly difficult in the mid-nineteenth century. Christianity was still profoundly impacted by past thinkers like Saint Augustine, who believed sex was essentially evil, even though it was necessary for procreation. In Augustine's view, it was a pity sexual activity had to be experienced; certainly, it should never be enjoyed!
American culture of the 1840s and later added other heavy burdens. It was widely believed that humans had a limited store of "vital force" and that every act of sexual expression was a withdrawal from this finite deposit. Augustine's teaching had helped to galvanise the church into priestly celibacy. The notion of vital force caused nineteenth-century stalwarts to recommend sex only for procreation. Some people (like the famous health reformer John Harvey Kellogg) forever avoided consummating their marriages. It is no wonder that Adventist literature declaimed against "secret vice" (masturbation) as the cause of many horrendous diseases, including (it was claimed) "the inward decay of the head."
Slowly new concepts were developed. Think of such landmark volumes as that by Harold Shryock, Happiness for Husbands and Wives (1949). So Wittschiebe's generation was made ready to appreciate his unblushing affirmation that God actually invented sex and gave it as a precious gift to humankind.
What Wittschiebe Didn't Know
Charles Wittschiebe's classes would have been even better if he had had the benefit of later Adventist authors like Eldon Chalmers, Alberta Mazat, Richard Davidson (an Old Testament scholar) and Ivan Blazen (a New Testament specialist). During the early 1970s we were all too engaged with the need to put straight sex into a mature pastoral perspective to even contemplate the difficult task of dealing with homosexuality. So most Adventist pastors just perpetuated the patterns of millennia: homosexuality was regarded simply as a perverse, evil choice.
Seventh-day Adventist leaders in the 1970s and 1980s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars either trying to help homosexual pastors and others become heterosexuals, or defending the church from being tainted by having its name associated with a more open view of homosexuality. Most of us failed to translate the vision of the Adventist church as "caring" or "welcoming" into effective pastoral care for gay and lesbian believers.
The results of conversion (or "reparation") initiatives were usually disastrous. False hopes were imposed on fragile individuals and some of them were sexually abused by the very people who were reported to be facilitating their transformation. Adventist magazines and journals, like Adventist Review and Ministry, largely failed to keep members and ministers abreast of constructive research. Once Michael Pearson's doctoral dissertation was published (Cambridge University Press, 1990), it was clear that the church was falling well behind the wave of understanding relating to human sexuality, except for the independent Adventist press that Pearson cited at length. Without the constructive input of Spectrum (from 1969) and Adventist Today (from 1993), Adventist perceptions would be even more inadequate.
A Tragic Harvest
For gay and lesbian believers, the options were mostly dismal indeed. Some followed specific pastoral advice to marry, being assured the perceived problem of their sexual orientation would then disappear. For some of these desperate individuals, the result was years of trauma from living hopefully yet deceitfully and, when their situation became unbearable, breaking the hearts of wives or husbands, as well as children—when their marriages ended in disgrace. For church employees this often meant dismissal from their employment without the financial provisions others received. Thereafter, most such people had great difficulty in preparing for and finding suitable employment.
Parents of gay and lesbian young people were often traumatised by the realisation that their son or daughter was homosexual. Some could never admit this to their friends; they hid the dark secret from their church. Some homosexuals felt, especially when earnest prayer or "conversion" initiatives proved fruitless, that suicide was the best option. Some were expelled from both family and church. Many sought to hide their pain and shame by drugs, alcohol, or the anonymity of city life.
Intimations of More Effective Pastoral Care
In 2008, Adventist Forum again offered a more constructive understanding by publishing a volume entitled Christianity and Homosexuality: Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives. The book carries a tribute to Mitchell Henson, a pastor whose "congregation became a beacon of what it means to have an inclusive congregation," despite the attendant difficulties. In a chapter of the book, Pastor Henson tells the story of his church (pages 23-35).
The issue of homosexuality cannot be understood by Adventists without close attention to the Bible, church history, Adventist heritage, the social sciences (including sociology and psychology), as well "hard" sciences such as biology. Pastors and people need to assess the data demonstrating that for most homosexuals, there is absolutely no element of choice in their sexual orientation.
This fact underlines our need for the careful studies that the Forum book reports in the biblical, biomedical, behavioural and social spheres. Roy Gane examines Leviticus; John Jones looks intently at Romans; Fritz Guy uses expertly the tools of a theologian; David Larson employs in a similar way those of the ethicist; Mitchell Tyner probes the importance of legal issues in the United States. We need all these insights and more if we are to function effectively as pastors. Richard Rice and Gary Chartier help to round out the discussion of the biblical, theological and sociological perspectives.
In the last sentence of the book's text, Gary Chartier reflects upon the value of the Larson, Tyner and Henson chapters. In my view, Chartier's words can be more generally applied to the book as a whole. An Adventism that adopts the moral, political and spiritual stances this book recommends and models them effectively will make giant strides toward becoming the kind of community—just, open, caring— that it can and must be.
We owe this as a duty to our Creator. The lives of people made in His image depend on it. Let us be about offering more effective pastoral care for Adventism's significant group of gay and lesbian adherents, their families and congregations.
Bibliographic Note: In order to understand this brief paper in its wider context, the reader should consult two items: Adventist Studies: An Annotated Introduction for Higher Degree Students, and "Recent Tensions in Seventh-day Adventism" that are available electronically from the author (arthur.patrick@bigpond.com) or http://www.avondale.edu.au/research::Journal_Articles/.
FURTHER NOTES Effective pastoral care begins by understanding the person and the issues they face. I need to listen carefully to all those who wish to share experiences and perspectives that relate to the theme under consideration. Toward that end, I have shared drafts of the above paper with several trusted friends. I value the comments already received and invite others, both pro and con. A few of the insights shared with me are appended here. My respondents tell me:
The history of the SDA response to HIV-AIDS issues could be considered fruitfully in the context of the discussion about homosexuality.
There are many ex-SDA gays and lesbians, some of whom now are a part of other faith communities or have lost all connection with God. This little paper has been affirmed as a very welcome consideration of gay and lesbian believers. Sometime, the broader gay and lesbian community, whether ex-SDA or of "no fixed church address" should also be considered.
One respondent says: "Very much agree [with the comment re Spectrum and Adventist Today]. The articles in these publications were of great help to me in the early 1990s when I spent many hours in the … library 'researching' the issue of homosexuality from an SDA perspective."
A range of health impacts has also been documented [in the experience of lesbians and gays], including increased depression, eating disorders and difficulties in establishing and maintaining healthy intimate relationships. SDA homosexuals have typically grown up without positive role models or useful parental feedback on partner suitability and have typically skipped the usual learning process of "teen dating." A general lack of confidence can permeate many aspects of life and impact upon job opportunities.
The ACON Lesbian Health Study, for instance, is another relevant source:
http://www.acon.org.au/community/index.cfm?cat_id=72
A respondent writes: "There certainly can be anonymity in the city, contrasting to a small church community where gossip can be very destructive to individuals and families. I'd also like to add that there is a strong sense of community in 'gay ghettos' like Newtown in Sydney. For many it's the first and only space where there's total acceptance and a feeling of normality."
Another respondent states: "Contributions from many authors show the diversity of feeling and thought on the issues. The sometimes divergent conclusions, and counter arguments serve to strengthen rather than weaken the book's [Christianity and Homosexuality] overall impact. Quite simply, this issue is very challenging. Questions and ambiguities remain both in scientific understanding and theological approaches. Yet, total unconditional love and support is needed and wanted."
Further, a respondent writes of their personal experience as follows: "When an SDA pastor last officially contacted me, I argued to retain my SDA membership. The pastor at the time was called upon to investigate my admission of homosexual orientation by an elder at another church, who I had trusted and was betrayed by. For the record, some years after having been welcomed into another faith community, it was safe and saddening for me to resign my SDA membership. All along, from my youngest years, I have felt and known the love of God's spirit. It's been the official church, and some of its people that made my being [homosexual, that is lesbian or gay] like leprosy."
Anyone who wishes to add notes on this topic for my consideration is welcome to do so.
Back to where the contemporary conversation began, for me. An invitation to a 13 September 2008 event gathered 28 people to our home.
An introduction followed by a presentation by Dr Ronald Lawson took ninety minutes and appeared to elicit a constructive response from the attendees. The initial invitation to the meeting stated that Joan and Arthur Patrick invited (name; the event was open by invitation only) to a time of listening and conversation on the theme Toward Effective Pastoral Care for Lesbian and Gay Adherents and Their Families in our home at 49 Martinsville Road, Cooranbong, on Saturday, 13 September 2008, 3:30pm-5:00pm.
Our special guest for the occasion was Professor Ronald Lawson, City University of New York. We welcomed Professor Lawson, as an Australian who earned a PhD degree in history and sociology at the University of Queensland prior to a long and distinguished career in the United States. He was a guest in our home while filling speaking appointments and conducting interviews in this area.
Currently Dr Lawson is busy writing three books focusing on international Adventism and its development, based on research that includes thousands of interviews conducted worldwide during the past three decades. He has authored many articles in the finest journals of their type, such as Journal of the American Academy of Religion and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.
The meeting in our home invited attendees to reflect on biblical, historical, sociological and and scientific considerations relating to human sexuality in asking how the church might relate Christianly to its homosexual adherents and their families. Such a dialogue should be viewed as a small part of the ongoing discussion taking place throughout the world amongst persons who are interested in the discipline of Adventist Studies and the delivery of Pastoral Care that is informed by Clinical Pastoral Education, Pastoral Psychology and Christian Ethics.
Back in 2008, informal discussion between Dr Lawson and some of the attendees continued for more than an hour after the benediction. Fourteen copies of the book Christianity and Homosexuality left the meeting in the hands of attendees and ten others were taken by an attendee for delivery to Sydney (New South Wales). It is my opinion that the reading of that publication will help to create a better understanding of homosexuality and enhance the present discussion of how to offer more effective pastoral care to gays, lesbians and their families.
The private screening of a new film about the experience of gay Seventh-day Adventists in the Morisset Multi-Purpose Centre on 31 March 2012 is another stimulus to the conversation that began in earnest (for me) almost four years ago. We will hear much more about this important film when it is formally released; in the interim, my readers may like to log on to http://www.sgamovie.com/
Arthur Patrick, posted 6 April 2012
Comment received by e-mail from a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor on 8 April 2012:
"Thank you Arthur for posting on our response to and care of homosexual people both in and out of the church. For the people I have known it is as you say, there is no element of choice.I have worked alongside pastors who are gay and they have been among the most compassionate and effective persons in pastoral care I have known. For them to reflect on their sexuality and also their mostly non inclusion in the church as a whole has, I think, sensitised them to the voices of exclusion and pain they encounter in pastoral care. One minister commented that he understood a little more of what church is like for a woman, which I found an interesting observation.
"I have several close and rich friendships with gay and lesbian people and I see in them a faith that hangs on in spite of the way churches treat them. Nothing I have seen would cause me to question the depth of their faith.
"On the other hand we have experienced the aftermath of several instances of gay people marrying and hoping that might solve the problem. In most cases the fallout was destructive and did not help the cause of acceptance in the church.
Thank you again for your reflective material."
Previous PostPrevious Post 52: More on the Ordination of Women
Next PostNext Post 54: The Cooranbong Airport and Adventist Aviation


Traditional dishes like a South African oxtail is always a winner and has been a 'compliment catalyst' for many a host.
Heat a large casserole (or pressure cooker), that will later hold all the meat. Add the onions, carrots and celery, and fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring continuously, so as not to burn.
Pair this traditional South Afrsh with the Ashton Kelder Roodewal. This Reserve wine is a blend of 40% Pinotage, 30% Shiraz and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and presents a subtle aftertaste of dark fruit, black forest cake, cassis and cigar box.


text:
This is a list of winners of the annual Archibald Prize for portraiture, first awarded in 1921.

List of winners

Gallery

Winners of the Packing Room Prize

Winners of the People's Choice Award

See also
Lists of Archibald Prize finalists

References

External links

 Art Gallery of New South Wales Archibald Prize

Portrait art
Lists of artists
Lists of works of art


A thrilling, action-packed roller-coaster experience of dune bashing in a 4-wheel drive to the heart of the desert. This journey is full of surprise twists, turns and slides across and down the desert dunes. A camel ride awaits on the journey back. An experience for those seeking a daring adventure!


text:
Il doppio del DFS Classic 1987 è stato un torneo di tennis facente parte del Virginia Slims World Championship Series 1987.

Il torneo è stato cancellato per pioggia.

Teste di serie

 Informazione non disponibile
 Informazione non disponibile
 Informazione non disponibile
 Anne Hobbs /  Candy Reynolds

 Beth Herr /  Alycia Moulton
 Bettina Bunge /  Catarina Lindqvist-Ryan
 Informazione non disponibile
 Informazione non disponibile

Tabellone

Parte alta

Parte bassa

Collegamenti esterni

DFS Classic 1987


It is hard to believe we finished "Digital Habitat: Stewarding technology for communities" back in 2009 (after working on it off and on for 5 years). Seven years later the book is still selling on Amazon. And we hear that people still actually use it, even though the whole technology ecology has changed so much.


Size of this preview: 606 × 599 pixels. Other resolutions: 243 × 240 pixels | 486 × 480 pixels | 607 × 600 pixels | 777 × 768 pixels | 1,036 × 1,024 pixels.
A safe inside the Museum of Welsh Life in Cardiff, Wales.
This page was last modified on 23 June 2009, at 09:50.


text:
New study could explain the elusive reason hot water freezes faster than cold
If you want to freeze your water faster, heat it up first. This counter-intuitive piece of advice comes courtesy of the Mpemba effect, an odd phenomenon in physics that still has theorists scratching their heads.
If it exists at all – and not everybody is convinced – the observation still lacks a convincing explanation and ongoing evidence. But a new paper could be set to change that, explaining not only why the effect seems so elusive, but hinting at a possible flipside to the phenomenon that's just as weird.
In this latest study, a small team of Spanish researchers created a model that simplified the problem of simulating fluids by describing heated fluids as a collection of theoretical, inelastic granules.
Reducing complex fluid dynamics to a blocky representation provided them with an easier way to fine tune the system's starting conditions, showing how the jiggling and bouncing of simple particles translates into a rate of cooling and eventual freezing.
Observation of the Mpemba effect has a long history. Aristotle noted the Greeks of Pontus exploited the effect, while the English statesman Francis Bacon and famous French philosopher Rene Descartes also had something to say on the matter.
But it was Erasto Mpemba, an impatient schoolboy in 1960s Tanzania, who gave his name to the effected and sparked modern interest among researchers, when he noticed his warmer ice cream mixture froze quicker than those that had been cooled first.
His curiosity helped inspire a paper on the topic, sparking decades of heated debate that shows no sign of cooling.
Part of the issue is that the effect is so elusive. In spite of a history of notables writing about it, the effect doesn't always show itself.
It's also just so counterintuitive – why should the previous temperature history of a cooling material make any difference to its future temperature change?
This hasn't stopped people coming up with a range of suggestions.
Most speculation seems to revolve around the fact hotter particles move quicker than cooler ones, somehow affecting evaporation rates or ramping up convection currents that can quickly carry energy away.
Earlier this year, researchers proposed the properties of water's hydrogen bonds were to blame. By simulating clusters of water molecules, they revealed a connection between the initial temperature of the water and the ease at which molecules later formed ice crystals.
Colder water lacked this bond-breaking energy, meaning these molecules were off to a slower start when it came to reforming into a solid structure.
But this new study takes things a step further and suggests the Mpemba effect could be a feature of the temperature history of practically any fluid – not just water.
"Our work shows that the existence of the Mpemba effect is very sensitive to the initial preparation of the fluid or, in other words, to its previous history," researcher Andrés Santos from the University of Extremadura in Spain told Phys.org.
While the research doesn't list the exact influences that make or break the effect, it does show that if something affects the movements of particles prior to cooling, the rate of change in the fluid's temperature could be significantly affected.
"Our results show that the Mpemba effect is a generic non-equilibrium phenomenon that appears if the evolution of temperature depends on other physical quantities that characterise the initial state of the system," says Santos.
In other words, something like a spike in starting temperature can theoretically result in the kind of temperature loss that would see a fluid cool quicker, depending on the statistics of its temperature distribution.
The model doesn't rule out other explanations contributing to the effect, and if anything suggests multiple influences could potentially be at work.
It also suggests whatever the variables are, there's no guarantee they'd be practically simple to match, explaining why it's been so difficult to reproduce the effect.
Amazingly, the phenomenon could also push the other way – the same model shows colder fluids could heat up faster in an equally odd reverse-Mpemba effect.
Might it be possible for chilled water to reach boiling point faster than water at room-temperature under certain conditions?
The researchers claim they'll be investigating this kind of prediction as part of future studies.
They'd better be quick, though. The next Erasto Mpemba could already be warming up their ice cream in search of data.
This research was published in Physical Review Letters.
Scary phenomena that occurred during the New Madrid earthquakes in 1811-1812
There's One 'Massively Important' Thing You Can Do About Climate Change Right Now
The New Madrid Fault may take out 150 miles of the Midwest


••Tuesday•, 04 •December• 2018 23:21•	??EPSCadmin??
The 2018 Eagle Pass Eagles football team under the tutelage of head football coach Tom Gonzalez finished their season with an overall season record of 9-3 venturing into the post season as the third place representative from District 29-6A The season was thrilling highlights along with a few heartbreaking disappointments but nevertheless the proud mighty Eagles met every challenge head on winning the bi-district championship with a thrilling 34 to 28 overtime victory over the PSJA Bears before being eliminated in the area round by the Brownsville Hanna Golden Eagles by the final score of 28 to 13..
Offensively the Eagles were led by quarterback Richie Luna who led the team in passing with 1843 yards and connect with an all-time second best single season touchdown passing mark with 21 on the year. Spearheading the Eagles patented ground game were freshman standout running back Jose Hernandez and junior running back Saul Peralez. Rey Rey Mendoza led the Eagles sure handed receiving corps with team highs in both receptions with 42 and in yards with 594.
Eagle Pass Sports Central congratulates the 2018 Eagle Pass Eagles varsity football team on their magnificent season and would like to thank each of the graduating senior class members for their countless number of thrills and memories that each of you provided during your respective Eagle Pass High School football careers and we wish each of you continued success throughout your future endeavors. Eagle Pass Sports Central takes great pride in being the only local sports entity to have covered each and every Eagle Pass Eagles'' varsity football game providing the public with the most complete and in depth game report as well as the only complete game team and individual stats. WAY TO GO EAGLES!
#17 Allan Rodriguez 6 comp. 7 att. 38 yds.
#7 Rey Rey Mendoza 1 carry (-)12 yds.
#9 Carlos De Luna 7 carries 62 yds.
#18 Carlos Santos 3 carries 6 yds.
#4 Jacob Ruiz 16 rec, 177 yds 1 TD.
#12 Alex Flores 1 rec. 9 yds.
#15 Isaac Caballero 1 rec. 2 yds.
#18 Carlos Santos 1 rec. 3 yds.
#21 Saul Peralez 4 rec. 20 yds.


text:
A new drawbridge is on its way in Chesapeake
By Victoria Bourne
The Virginian-Pilot |
Built in 1934, Deep Creek Bridge is a federally owned and operated facility. The bridge passes over the Dismal Swamp Canal where U.S. Route 17 crosses in Chesapeake. (Courtesy of Army Corp of Engineers)
Built in 1934, there's no question that the Deep Creek Bridge is old.
At 20 feet wide and 65 feet long with no safety shoulders to speak of, it's also too short and too narrow.
The drawbridge, which spans the Dismal Swamp Canal and is owned and operated by the Army Corps of Engineers, was labeled functionally obsolete two decades ago because of its inability to handle the traffic volume. More than 27,000 vehicles cross it every day. And because of weight restrictions, emergency vehicles and trucks use it on a limited basis.
A $48.4 million replacement is on the horizon, paid by a mix of federal and state funds. The city has already spent $1.5 million to acquire right of way.
Veronica and Michael Stanford were among at least 200 people who packed into a room Thursday night at the Deep Creek Community Center . They've lived in the area for 20 years, they said, and the bridge has been a longstanding topic in the community. Meanwhile traffic has only worsened.
"We're hoping that it will help," Veronica Stanford said.
Here's the skinny on the old drawbridge's replacement:
At least 200 people came out to the Deep Creek Community Center on Thursday night to see plans for the Deep Creek Bridge replacement in Chesapeake. Project manager Michael Wilkinson describes some of the details. Photo taken Aug. 23, 2018. (Victoria Bourne)
The existing two-lane bridge will be replaced with a 144-foot long, 60-foot wide drawbridge. Two lanes will become five – three heading west and two heading east with a parallel pedestrian sidewalk.
Earl Sorey said the new bridge will function similarly to the Great Bridge Bridge further east, although the counterweight mechanism that draws the bridge up and down will be underground and out of sight, according to Army Corps representatives.
It won't be perfect, Sorey said, but it will be an improvement. Wider lanes will make it more comfortable to drive across, and traffic will clear out faster after an opening, he said.
The project will be phased. A two-lane span will be built just south of the current bridge, which will continue to be open to traffic. Upon completion, traffic will be diverted to the new section and the old bridge will be demolished. It will be replaced by a new three-lane span. The alignment will stay roughly the same. It will not be tolled and waterway traffic along the canal is to be maintained.
Improvements are planned for either side of the bridge. Hinton Avenue will jog a little east to realign with George Washington Highway South. A traffic light will be installed at the new intersection and a stretch of Moses Grandy Trail will be widened. The roadway on the west side of the bridge will widen a bit as well.
Besides the pedestrian walkway on the southern span, there will be two left turns off George Washington Highway North and two left turn options off George Washington Highway South. A dedicated right turn lane from Moses Grandy Trail will take westward drivers across the drawbridge and onto George Washington Highway North. A nearby Food Lion will become right-in and right-out only.
Right-of-way acquisitions began in May. Construction could begin by late 2019 and be completed three years later. Once all is said and done, the city will take over the drawbridge maintenance and operation from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Cycling advocates Christina Teeuwen and Aaron Bull were disappointed the design didn't include a bike lane or multi-use path, particularly since that stretch is part of a planned regional and East Coast trail system, they said.
Latest Traffic & Transportation
Hampton Roads schools to be part of pilot program using electric buses
Don't have a Real ID? You may not be able to fly beginning in October.
Dismal Swamp Canal to be closed to traffic for about 90 days
Judge refuses to toss out corruption charges against former Newport News airport director
Allegiant adding nonstop flights to Pittsburgh, Columbus and Nashville at Norfolk
"It's a real big monkey wrench in the works," Teeuwen said. Bull suggested pavement markings and signs to remind drivers to share the road with cyclists – not just for the sake of recreational riders, he said, but also the children he's seen bike across the bridge.
Tuesday Alaniz thinks the new bridge will be helpful, but won't solve the problem, particularly in light of continuing residential development.
"This needs to be done, don't get me wrong," Alaniz said, but she worries it might be too little, too late. She would've liked to see three lanes in each direction, she said.
Longtime resident Sharon Stamey said: "I think it's wonderful. It's way past time."
Victoria Bourne, 757-222-5563, victoria.bourne@pilotonline.com
Deep Creek Bridge
Army Corps Of Engineers Drawbridge
Most Read • Traffic & Transportation


In this white paper—part two of a three-part series—we review three types of inventory management technology, explore how managers and owners use technology to their benefit, and provide tips on how to assess potential software solutions you may be considering for your store.
Supplier errors can start at the warehouse and carry through to a retailer's financial reports, overstating the inventory on-hand. Per WERC, the typical Perfect Order Completion Index is between 91.1 and 98%. A perfect order is measured by being on time, complete, damage free, and having accurate documentation.


text:
USC Sports
Column: Football remains the most important item for Lynn Swann at USC
New USC Athletic Director Lynn Swann speaks at a news conference Thursday in the John McKay Center.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann, shown in September 2015, has been named USC's new athletic director.
(Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)
Lynn Swann of the University of Southern California Trojans football team runs the ball up field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1973. (Collegiate Images / Collegiate Images/Getty Images)
Lynn Swann leads the Pittsburgh crowd in victory cheers on Jan. 7, 1979, in the final moments of the AFC championship game against the Houston Oilers.
(Associated Press)
Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Lynn Swann, left, stands with his presenter, former Pittsburgh Steelers' teammate John Stallworth, during the ceremony in August 2001 in Canton, Ohio.
(David Maxwell / AFP/Getty Images)
Retired Steelers wide receiver Lynn Swann at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh before the opening game against the Miami Dolphins in September 2006.
(Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images)
In May 2006, Lynn Swann accepts the Republican nomination in the race for Pennsylvania governor. Swann lost to the incumbent, Edward Rendell.
(William Thomas Cain / Getty Images)
Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann sports a Steelers bowling ball during a Super Bowl celebrity bowlling event on Jan. 28, 2009 in Tampa, Fla.
(Scott Boehm / Getty Images)
Lynn Swann prepares to lead the USC football team onto the field at the Coliseum for a game in 2014.
(John McGillen / Associated Press)
Lynn Swann, a member of Augusta National Golf Club, greets Tom Watson before the par-three contest at the Masters on April 10, 2016.
(Andrew Gombert / EPA)
Dr. Charena Swann touches the hand of her husband, Lynn Swann, he was being introduced as the USC's new athletic director April 14 in the John McKay Center.
USC President Max Nikias, right, introduces Lynn Swann as the school's new athletic director on April 14.
By Dylan Hernández Columnist
USC's hiring of Lynn Swann as the school's new athletic director was met with several questions.
Why did USC hire another of its former football stars? What about Swann's lack of experience running an athletic department?
Here's the reality: It doesn't matter.
While it would be nice if the up-and-coming men's basketball program could ascend to national prominence or for the women's teams to win some more national championships, the only sport that really means anything at USC is football.
"I think, certainly, you look at football being the No. 1 asset of the athletic department, in terms of revenue and success," Swann acknowledged.
How Swann is judged will come down to how the football team performs. And how the football team performs will come down to Clay Helton, who is entering his first full season as head coach.
If Helton is the right person to lead the program, then Swann is set. All Swann would have to do is retain him.
But if Helton isn't the long-term solution, Swann will have to figure out not only the right time to make a change, but also how to go about replacing him.
Swann offered no indications of how he might go about doing that at his introductory news conference Thursday. Perhaps he didn't know.
While declaring his goal was for the football team to win national championships, he was careful not to define what he considered an acceptable season.
"Every step along the way is a step to a national championship," Swann said. "Got to win the first game. You take it one game at a time. You got to win the first game, you got to win the second game. You got to continue to move it down the line. That's the way I look at it."
That instinct to avoid controversy should serve him well in the short term, as will his glorious athletic history, nice smile and ability to tell stories.
If Swann looked like a safe choice, that was probably by design. There is stability at USC. The objective is to not disrupt that.
The basketball arena is built. So is the new on-campus football headquarters. The Coliseum will undergo a $270-million renovation, the project to be overseen by current Athletic Director Pat Haden for the next year.
Swann knows this.
USC President C.L. Max Nikias said he wanted his new athletic director to be "a leader, not a manager."
Swann offered a slightly different view, saying there are times it's better to be a manager.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with being a manager," Swann said. "I think all too often people get the job and say, 'All right, I'm going to do with things my way.' Well, I've seen in corporate America, those people don't last very long."
Swann spoke of how he would lean on longtime athletics administrator Steve Lopes and compliance director Dave Roberts.
"I'm not coming to the job thinking I have all the answers," Swann said he told Lopes.
Swann really only has to answer one or two questions. And he has still has plenty of time to ponder them.
While USC was searching for Haden's replacement, Nikias said, he received a letter insisting he pursue President Obama. Playfully told he had beat out Obama for the position, Swann joked, "Well, I can say if I beat the president, I guess I'm the first one to beat him in a race."
If you've ever seen Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis run the bases it probably won't surprise you to learn he's not the best athlete in his family. That would be wife Cindy, a former volleyball player at the couple's shared alma mater of Austin Peay State in Tennessee.
Cindy ran the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon last year in three hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds, which qualified her to compete in the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The mother of three will be running to raise money for pediatric cancer research in honor of Rhyan Loos, the 6-year-old granddaughter of Austin Peay basketball Coach Dave Loos. Rhyan has Stage-4 neuroblastoma. The Ellises attended college with Rhyan's father, Brad Loos, an assistant basketball coach at Missouri.
"Their goal is to raise money for research, and we wanted to help them with that goal," Cindy said.
The Ellises are accepting pledges at teamellisfamily.com and the family will match up to $26,500 in donations.
The sad state of the Dodgers bullpen required Kenley Jansen to record a five-out save in only their ninth game of the season, but the team still made the right decision this winter when they dropped the pursuit of troubled closer Aroldis Chapman.
It's one thing for an organization to stand by its players when they mess up. It's an entirely different matter when it acquires a player who has recently run into trouble, as doing so indicates a tacit approval of his behavior — in the case of Chapman, he was alleged to have physically abused his girlfriend and shot up his own garage.
Also, it's not as if Chapman would be available right now. He's serving a 30-game suspension under baseball's domestic-abuse policy.
dylan.hernandez@latimes.com
Twitter: @dylanohernandez
Get our daily Sports Report newsletter
Dylan Hernández
Dylan Hernández is a sports columnist with the Los Angeles Times. Before that, he was the Dodgers beat writer. Hernandez grew up in South Pasadena and graduated from UCLA in 2002, after which he worked at the San Jose Mercury News for five years.
Daniel Imatorbhebhe returns to Trojans to add another weapon for Kedon Slovis
Tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe, who last played for USC in 2017, is expected to be with the Trojans for spring practice, adding another weapon for QB Kedon Slovis.
USC is expected to hire Todd Orlando as defensive coordinator
Todd Orlando, who served as defensive coordinator at Texas for the past three seasons, is expected to become the next defensive coordinator at USC, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Austin Jackson's departure and holes to fill leave USC in another offseason of uncertainty
With Austin Jackson leaving early for the NFL and its offensive line set for another offseason of uncertainty, questions at left tackle won't be leaving USC any time soon.
USC left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker to return
Left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, whom Pro Football Focus graded as USC's top lineman last season, announced that he will return for his redshirt junior season.
Celtics hand the Lakers their worst loss this season despite Anthony Davis' return
On the parquet floor against the Lakers' hated rivals, the Boston Celtics, there were few friendly faces, and much of the crowd at TD Garden kept the arena packed in garbage time to revel in the one-night derailing of one of the NBA's hottest teams.
Sierra Canyon, Rancho Christian, Mater Dei suffer defeats at HoopHall Classic
Trip back east leaves No. 1 in Southern California up for grab
Kings' playing surface is notoriously unruly. The 'ice guru' is here to fix that
Francois Martindale is tasked with transforming Staples Center's ice surface — maligned by players as soft and slow — into one of the best in the NHL.
The Clippers' defense will have another opportunity to demonstrate how it can deal with the high-powered Dallas Mavericks offense that is directed by wunderkind Luka Doncic.
Joe Montana has good feelings for Super Bowl-bound 49ers and Chiefs
Joe Montana played for the 49ers and Chiefs, foes in Super Bowl LIV. He won four titles with San Francisco but also has an affinity for Kansas City.
Las Vegas expecting a record amount bet on this season's Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2020: Start time, teams, location, channel and halftime show


text:
Commitments and impact
Helping small businesses thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic
Kaiser Permanente grants are supporting businesses such as the Carefree Bar and Grill in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Cynthia Bickal, with her husband at their bar and grill, received help from the Energize Colorado Gap Fund, partially supported by a grant from Kaiser Permanente.
Cynthia Bickal grew up in the restaurant business, starting out as a busser in her teen years and moving up to server and bartender roles. Her mom had owned a bar and grill in Wisconsin, and her maternal grandmother owned one in California.
So, when Bickal and her husband moved from Iowa to Colorado, she knew that she wanted to serve some of her Native American tribe's foods in a welcoming neighborhood bar and grill. She established Carefree Bar and Grill in Colorado Springs.
"I figured that we would continue what we'd been doing — being part of the restaurant business — but do it for ourselves," said Bickal, who signed the lease for a building space in December 2019.
Then, the world shut down a few months later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bickal found herself not only learning about the fees and licenses associated with owning a business, but also modifying plans due to mandated reduced restaurant capacity and navigating the complicated process of applying for grants.
Receiving help
Eventually, Bickal received assistance through the Energize Colorado Gap Fund, which is part of Energize Colorado, a public-private partnership that serves Colorado's very small businesses, specifically rural businesses and businesses owned by women, veterans, and people of color.
With the help of a $1 million grant from Kaiser Permanente, Energize Colorado is using its Gap Fund to help some of Colorado's small businesses — which employ 1.1 million people, accounting for 42.8% of the state's workforce — get through challenging times. Since 2020, the Gap Fund has deployed nearly $27 million directly to small businesses in the forms of grants and low-interest loans. Additionally, Energize Colorado has used its Gap Fund to deliver technical assistance and loans to more than 45 businesses, and the organization plans to support more than 50 additional businesses in the first half of 2022.
Today, Bickal is grateful for the financial assistance and continues to adjust personal and business plans so that she can continue serving her Colorado Springs neighborhood and make connections within the community. "From speaking with Cynthia, I appreciate her resilience and continued fight to serve her community with a wonderful restaurant like Carefree Bar and Grill," said Ryan Cobbins, program director for the Energize Colorado Gap Fund.
In addition to aiding small businesses like Carefree Bar and Grill through the Gap Fund, Energize Colorado is also using grant money received from Kaiser Permanente to help execute its Square Mile Program. The Square Mile Program aims to improve the economic outcomes in underserved communities in the Pueblo, Southwest Denver, and East Colfax corridor areas, as well as in the child care industry. The intent is to meet small-business owners where they are, helping them prepare for loan readiness and providing business mentorship and technical assistance while creating a community cohort of businesses that support one another. The Square Mile strategy is a top priority and initiative for 2022.
Additional community health grants
In the third quarter of 2021, Kaiser Permanente committed nearly $63 million in grant funding to organizations working to:
Boost COVID-19 vaccination rates by increasing access to and confidence in the vaccine with a focus on reaching faith-based Black and Latino communities
End homelessness by expanding the availability of affordable, permanent housing
Promote environmental stewardship in the health care industry by encouraging the adoption of sustainable and climate-smart solutions and helping the United States health sector become carbon neutral (meaning that for any carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere an equivalent amount is removed)
Support health and wellness initiatives in schools, with a focus on resilience and mental health programs
"In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, community-based organizations are creating ways to serve businesses and community members," said Stephanie Ledesma, interim senior vice president of community health programs for Kaiser Permanente. "Awarding grants to these organizations furthers our shared commitment to inclusive economic growth, which builds upon our long-standing commitment to supporting the social needs of our members and communities."
Grants to community-based organizations are part of the contributions Kaiser Permanente makes throughout each year to improve the health of our communities. Kaiser Permanente also serves the community through a range of programs, including Medicaid, charitable health coverage, medical financial assistance, and medical research. Learn more about our commitment to community health.
Share Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pinterest
Share Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Linkedin
Share Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Twitter
Share Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Facebook
Print Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Email Helping Small Businesses Thrive During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Novel coronavirus and COVID-19
Angela M. Dowling to lead Kaiser Permanente in Washington
New regional president brings broad health plan experience to the region. …
Timely flu vaccinations at community events
Proactive flu prevention outreach in Downey, California.
Projections for COVID-19 in 2023
Two leading infectious disease physicians discuss what to expect with COVID-19 …
Increasing community resilience with disaster readiness
Kaiser Permanente partners with the American Red Cross to help address …
Do I need the new COVID-19 booster?
A physician answers some common questions about the current state of the …


Admission Requirements and Process for training program.
Doctoral applicants must be university graduates (MSc or MA degree) or students registered for their final semester of university studies.
When applying to the programme, applicants are required to state the specific training programme and research topic they wish to pursue within one of the University's doctoral schools.
The admission procedure is based on evaluating the candidate's general knowledge and personal ability topic-related knowledge and academic competence previous scientific activity and contribution.
The entrance interviews are organiesed late June by the scientific doctoral schools.


According to Statistics Canada, full-time employment in Canada shows zero growth over the past 12 months. In addition, there are fewer job vacancies compared to last year, which indicates less hiring and a softer job market. The trend is particularly noticeable in Quebec and Saskatchewan. This reflects a highly cautious business sector in Canada.
The question is, are you hiring? And if so, what precautions are you taking to ensure that you don't make a hiring mistake?
Is the candidate a good fit with your company culturally?
Is the candidate a good fit for the role?
Does the candidate have any special attributes that you should be aware of?
1) Interview more than 3 times.
2) Take them out for lunch.
3) Consider using assessment tools to measure strengths and reveal weaknesses. Psychological and psychometric instruments have come a long way. They are far more accurate than they were 30 years ago and help to identify who a person really is.


The Spaniards reach their first World Cup final with a win over Germany.
DURBAN, South Africa (TheStreet) -- Carles Puyol's powerful header in the 73rd minute was all Spain needed Wednesday to beat Germany, 1-0, to advance to its first World Cup final.
Spain's Carles Puyol (5) scores on Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer during their World Cup semifinal soccer match in Durban, South Africa, Wednesday.
The smooth passing of the 2008 European champions was too much for Germany, a team that many believed could have muscled its way to the title after thrashings of England and Argentina.
But sure-footed Spain controlled time of possession, 57 minutes to 43, and moved deliberately and artfully on the Germans' goal throughout the match. Germany had its chances, but appeared flummoxed frequently by the quicker Spanish side in a clean game that saw no yellow or red cards issued.
Spain will face the Netherlands for the trophy on Sunday in Johannesburg. The Dutch defeated Uruguay, 3-2, on Tuesday. The winner of Sunday's match will hoist a World Cup for the first time.
Written by William Hennelly in New York.