Mamuka Tsereteli is director of research at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.
Mae West once said that "an ounce of performance is worth a pound of promises." For Georgians, to whom NATO promised eventual membership in the alliance back in 2008, truer words have never been spoken. NATO's standard procedure is to require candidate member states to fulfill a Membership Action Plan (MAP), and the alliance has specifically declared its intent to draw up such a plan with Georgia. Despite that, and years of toil and sacrifice by Tbilisi to improve its standing as a candidate, NATO said last week it would not invite Georgia to sign a membership plan at this year's NATO summit conference, in September.
Amid Russia's aggression towards Ukraine, however, the costs of leaving promise unmatched by performance will be felt by the alliance as a whole, not just Georgia. Washington urgently needs to reconsider – with courage and imagination – its position on Georgia's NATO aspirations.
This is a dangerous step, particularly when Ukraine is moving through such a perilous, uncertain transition, having just signed its delayed association agreement with the EU as it fights pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow. Indeed, it is not clear what, if anything, Western allies will have obtained in return for acquiescing to Russia's perceived demands on Georgia. After giving Georgia some urgent economic support during the short conflict over South Ossetia in 2008, Washington has studiously hewed to a cautious line on Georgian ambitions, supporting the country' territorial integrity but discouraging Tbilisi from developing defensive military capabilities. This has not stopped Moscow from continuing to pressure Tbilisi, most recently by hardening the barriers it has installed at the administrative boundary with South Ossetia. Nor, of course, did Western caution over Georgia deter President Putin from seizing Crimea and destabilizing Ukraine's southeast when the Ukraine crisis erupted this past February. To the contrary, Putin employed the same, tired rationale for his actions there as Moscow employed for South Ossetia – the 2008 Western-backed independence of Kosovo.
While the West has held to the same, skittish line over Georgia since 2008, Tbilisi's new government has embraced a far more circumspect tone towards its larger, northern neighbor. Meanwhile, Putin's challenges have changed, becoming far more complex now than when fighting broke out six years ago. The Russian president knows that he is presiding over a declining state and is playing accordingly. His actions in Ukraine evince his need for short-term boosts to his popularity, and for the consolidation of the Russian state and power. That makes him dangerous and aggressive, but also more selective. With the outcome in Ukraine so uncertain, and with more serious Western sanctions a possibility, Putin cannot afford now to open another front with the West. Therefore, caving in to Putin on Georgia is unnecessary and counterproductive, serving only to embolden the Russian leader in Ukraine, the Caucasus and elsewhere. In other words, hesitation over Georgia is as dangerous as headlong recklessness.
The truth is that Georgia no longer needs a MAP. The country has all the political instruments it needs to lead it to membership. Since 2008, the NATO-Georgia Commission has helped shape the country's broad reform efforts in a way to support eventual Georgian membership of the alliance. In these same six years, Georgia and NATO have sustained an Annual National Program, which is the major element of any formal MAP for aspirant countries. In terms of substantive qualifications for membership, Georgia is rapidly progressing towards military interoperability with NATO forces. It already is a contributor of armed forces to NATO operations, notably in Afghanistan. And it has made major progress in becoming a European democracy.
What Georgia needs, more than any membership plan, is actual membership in the alliance, buttressed by bilateral security guarantees provided by the United States. These are what ensure stability and predictability for the country, helping the country to attract much needed foreign direct investments, and with that, jobs, economic growth and prosperity, and stability.
By reaffirming Georgia's eventual place in Western institutions, the alliance would send an encouraging – not provocative — signal around the region, including to Ukraine, about the value of making difficult reforms. By any measure, Georgia has already made standout efforts to meet NATO's exacting requirements – enough that it actually could be admitted to the alliance now. In a few short years, Tbilisi has made impressive progress on democratic reforms, on liberalizing the economy and on civilian oversight of the military. And it has sacrificed for NATO, providing the largest per capita troop contribution of any country to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Skeptics insist that bringing Georgia into NATO is dangerous since it cannot be defended against Russian invasion. Moscow, it is argued, would have an incentive to attack Georgia, believing that the West would not risk all-out war to invoke the alliance's Article 5, which provides for the common defense of members. While it is true that Georgia cannot defend itself alone, it is also true that, with adequate military support, Georgia's military can readily defend its mountainous terrain from Russian assault. It is worth remembering that Georgia and Russia lost about the same number of soldiers during the five-day war in August, 2008, and a small number of Georgian special operations forces stopped a much larger Russian unit in South Ossetia, wounding the commanding general. It was Russia's air dominance, and Georgia's corresponding lack of anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapons as well as its lack of training in territorial defense, that determined Russian military success. NATO and US defensive weaponry, as well as training, will serve as a significant deterrent to Russian aggression against its smaller neighbor.
The singular focus on the burden that Georgia would impose on the alliance also needs to be balanced with consideration of the wider contribution the country makes to Western security. With Western interests challenged in the Middle East by Russia, Iran and Islamist fundamentalists, maintaining strategic Western presence in the potentially volatile south Caucasus is even more important.
The planned US and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan creates a premium on securing stable, pro-Western partners. Georgia is a central part of the East-West energy and transportation corridor, providing pipelines, ports, railways and highways to bring vital energy resources from Central Asia. More than one million barrels of oil and oil products are transported via Georgia every day, and soon about 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas also will transit Georgia annually. Some of the gas molecules from the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea will travel as far as Italy, via the TANAP pipeline in Turkey, and the Trans-Adriatic pipeline via Greece and Albania. This East-West corridor via the South Caucasus has the potential to become the shortest and fastest land route for container shipments between Europe, the Mediterranean and China. It may be true that there are alternative means of access to these Central Asian resources, and alternative transit routes between China and Europe, but their names are Russia and Iran – in other words, not promising alternatives at all.
Instead of backing off its promise to Georgia, NATO should seize the opportunity at its September summit in Wales to advance Georgia's candidacy without handing Moscow any pretexts for further mischief. The NATO-Georgia Commission and Annual National Plan for Georgia provide a sufficient basis for Georgia's incorporation into the alliance. With new language in place that permits Georgia to join NATO without a MAP, this political obstacle to Georgia's membership will be eliminated. And at last, the alliance's promise will be matched by performance.
Edward P. Joseph is a senior fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Mamuka Tsereteli is director of research at SAIS's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.


Beach Break - Aurura's Play-by-the-Bay Playground in Sea Isle City, N.J.
Aurura's Play-by-the-Bay Playground in Sea Isle City, N.J.
Even in a seaside resort town like Sea Isle City, N.J., kids want to take a break from building sand castles, playing in the waves and burying dad up to his neck in sand. When that time comes, they head for Aurura's Play-By-The-Bay Playground at Dealy Field, a new, state-of-the-art playground that is accessible to all kids.
Located in Cape May County in the southern part of the state, Sea Isle City is home to nearly 3,000 residents, and plenty more vacationers. It sits on Ludlam Island, a natural barrier island, and features a 1.5-mile beachfront promenade, as well as the usual arcades, shops, restaurants and bars one would expect in a resort town.
This sensitivity expands beyond environmental issues to safety and accessibility for all of the people who take part in recreational activities in the city. At Dealy Field, for example, an aging playground was recently replaced to meet exactly these needs.
The wooden playground was nearly 14 years old, and according to Vicki Feeney, recreation director for Sea Isle City, it had a great life. However, it wasn't meeting current standards.
"The playground that we had was a community-built project," she said. "It was an excellent park, but with the new requirements for accessibility and safety, we were not in compliance. It was no longer in compliance with the requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the accessibility wasn't there. It wasn't meeting everyone's needs."
So the Sea Isle City Recreation Department decided to build a new playground. Getting this done presented few challenges, Feeney said. The board of commissioners supported the project right away.
"We decided to step up, and the board of commissioners got behind the project immediately," Feeney said.
Despite the fact that the old playground had been built by the community—and the community was rather fond of its work—local citizens did not argue against the need to build something new either.
"I think they realized why we were doing it," Feeney said. "It was not to take away from the community-built playground. I think they realized we just needed to be in compliance. The playground was on its 13th year. That's a long time for a wooden playground, and we did everything we could to maintain it along the way, but eventually you need to replace it."
The new playground was designed and built by BCI Burke, with Collinson Associates based in Brielle, N.J., coordinating the project. It was christened Aurura's Play-By-The-Bay, in recognition of the efforts of one of the individuals who spearheaded the committee.
Now that the playground is open, kids visit every day to play on the modern equipment, which includes climbers, swings, slides and more.
The playground also features an impact-absorbing surface, designed to prevent injuries.
"It's a poured-in-place safety surfacing, and it highlights the equipment nicely," Feeney said.
The playground is adjacent to other new improvements at Dealy Field, including a state-of-the-art recreation building, landscaped grounds and updated tennis courts. In addition to these amenities, Dealy Field, which is the city's main recreational complex, also features a football/soccer field, baseball/softball fields, a street hockey court, a skatepark, basketball courts and a walking path. There's a picnic area, too, where parents can sit and watch as their children play on the new equipment.
The whole thing, Feeney said, is very eye-catching. "We've had quite a few remarks," she said, "and people have actually driven a couple of hours to play on the playground."
With the improved accessibility and state-of-the-art safety features, it's no wonder kids want to take a break from the beach for some playtime.


Visit Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany's most recognized building. Never intended for public eyes, the interior of this fantastic castle is visited by millions of visitors each year, and was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland! You will also visit one of King Ludwig's favorite childhood homes, Hohenschwangau, a ruined medieval castle, purchased and rebuilt by Ludwig's father, King Maximillian II. After visiting both castles, you will still have time for a leisurely lunch break, and souvenir shopping, before your return to Baumholder. Cost: Adults $99 per person, children under 12: $79 p.c.


text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
       xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
       xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd
       http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc.xsd">

    <context:annotation-config/>
    <context:component-scan base-package="com.omsalung" />

    <mvc:annotation-driven/>
    <mvc:default-servlet-handler/>
</beans>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I am facing a problem, 3 lack messages stuck in transmission queue and in hung state, not clearing, what is the best way I could clear without loosing, and queue manager is running.
Check the queue manager logs to see what's in there, e.g. channel sequence number mismatch.
Just because the queue manager is running does not mean the channel is running, or the receiving queue manager is running.
What makes you think that the messages are there. Can you see them or are you just going by Queue depth. If the Queue Depth is always 3 then I think it is more likely that you have an application which has put the messages under syncpoint but forgotten to commit it. What does DIS QSTATUS(...) TYPE(QUEUE) UNCOM say ?
I guess 1 lakh is 100,000 in every part of the world.
A lakh (/ˈlæk/ or /ˈlɑːk/; abbreviated L; sometimes written Lac or Lacs) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 10 raised to the 5th power). In the Indian convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000.
The OP saved 4 keystrokes by using the multiplier "lakh." Math majors might have preferred 10 to the 5th. Clearly 300,000 is not exactly 300K messages (given K= 1024).
"oodles" = "a very great number or amount of something."
"cacaload" = Spanish variant of "oodles" with a slight negative connotation (for example "cacaload of messages-in-error."
Do you have any favorite multipliers?
...Do you have any favorite multipliers?
On my 1st and subsequent reads of the OP, I presumed that a "lack message" was an application type or a message type, and not a multiplier. While I like Indian food, I'm not all that familiar their local idioms. I do have a rudimentary understanding of the 'head bob' things.
In the interest of precision and clarity, I'd ask the OP in future posts to use more common terminology - if it's a number, enter it as a number.
Clearly Bruce I'll have to disagree 1K is still 1,000 units (see Kg, Km, KJ etc...) Now if you are talking about KB or Kb this is then to be counted as 2 to the 10th power and equals 1024. (And yes it is the closest power of 2 to 1000).
K is imprecise, as it can mean either x1000 or x1024.
What does the K in cereal Special K imply?
I've never encountered the term "shed load". I first heard of "lakh" a few years ago, about the time I was first mystified by "do the needful". We live and learn.
Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 7:11 pm Post subject: 1 lakh = 1 hectokilo- ?
'k' as in 'kilo' is lower-case, and represents a factor of 1,000, according to the SI.
Upper-case 'K', has usually been used informally to represent 1,000, and 'M' has sometimes been used to represent 1,024,000, but 'K', 'M' and 'G' have also been used more formally to represent powers of 1,024, specifically for describing computer memory capacity.
To avoid ambiguity, the IEC, among others, has published standards for separate binary prefixes about 20 years ago, but they haven't really caught on yet.


text:
Q: Javascript ERROR, undefined, not an object I am new in JavaScript, And I am trying to map my controller's buttons and leds for mixxx application. Is that an object, an array? var is missing.
BehringerCMDMM1.leds = [
    // Master
    { "shiftButton" : 0x12 },
    // Deck 1
    {  "sync" : 0x30  },
    // Deck 2
    {  "sync" : 0x33  }
];

I have an error here,
BehringerCMDMM1.shiftButton = function (channel, control, value, status, group) {
// Note that there is no 'if (value)' here so this executes both when the shift button is pressed and when it is released.
// Therefore, BehringerCMDMM1.shift will only be true while the shift button is held down
var deck = BehringerCMDMM1.groupToDeck(group);
BehringerCMDMM1.shift = !BehringerCMDMM1.shift // '!' inverts the value of a boolean (true/false) variable
BehringerCMDMM1.setLED(BehringerCMDMM1.leds[deck]["shiftButton"], BehringerCMDMM1.shift);

}
about "shiftButton" as undefined.
also I have this function
BehringerCMDMM1.setLED = function(value, status) {

status = status ? 0x7F : 0x00;
midi.sendShortMsg(0x94, value, status);

}
This is from a javascript file I found on the internet created for a different controller. So, I am trying things to understand how can I configure mine.

A: BehringerCMDMM1.leds is an array of objects. Within that array, the element at index 0 is an object that has a shiftButton property. Thus, the only way to get the 0x12 value in your example is to do this:
BehringerCMDMM1.leds[0]['shiftButton']
So when this code executes...
var deck = BehringerCMDMM1.groupToDeck(group);
...the value of deck is probably something other than 0, and you're accessing one of the sync objects in the BehringerCMDMM1.leds array. For example, if the value of deck was 1, then this...
BehringerCMDMM1.leds[deck]['shiftButton']
...will be undefined because you're effectively doing this:
BehringerCMDMM1.leds[1]['shiftButton']

A: Ok,

I am new in JavaScript, And I am trying to map my controller's buttons and leds for mixxx application. Is that an object, an array?

You have a array of objects.

var is missing.

You should test what is inside yout deck variable. Try this:
console.log(deck);
if (deck in BehringerCMDMM1.leds) {
    BehringerCMDMM1.setLED(BehringerCMDMM1.leds[deck]["shiftButton"], BehringerCMDMM1.shift);
} else {
    console.log("Index: "+deck+" doesn't exist");
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A few years ago, Huw Kingston, on his journey visited Sutivan in which he fell in love and the promotion of his book in Croatia decided to do in our town. He will stay in Sutivan from 9.6 to 12.06.2017. Event organizer is Aldura sports – adventure travel: Dalmatia, Croatia with the support of TZO Sutivan as host.
Huw Kingston's inspiring and entertaining tale of his 12 month, 14,000km journey around the Mediterranean Sea by sea kayak, foot, ocean rowboat and bike. His journey was one of physicality and endurance through the cultures, land and seascapes of 17 countries in North Africa and Europe. But above all it was a story of humanity and the power of human kindness in a region torn by economic malaise and increasing conflict.


text:
\section{Conclusion and Perspective}
\label{sec:conclusion}

Executing rules or queries on large data models is still an open challenge in the modelling community, especially when executed on limited hardware.
Solutions proposed so far, mostly rely on loading the full model and all rules in memory or push the problem to the database layer, resulting in high latency.
In this paper we presented a novel approach to weave rules into models@run.time using a lazy loading mechanism, in order to deal with the execution of rules on large-scale models.
We claim that most rules do not require the full data model but only relatively small parts.
Therefore, we first proposed to weave rule models into data models.
Secondly, we used a lazy loading mechanism to load/unload required data on demand.
We integrated this approach into the Kevoree Modeling Framework and showed that it can handle thousands of rules, combined in a large model, with a small and constant memory consumption.

We plan to extend this approach in future work on several aspects.
Firstly, we want to provide a more expressive language to define rules and manage conditions that are based on more than one attribute.
Our approach is restricted to one attribute.
To extend it to several attributes, we intend to explore a publish-subscribe-based system combined with a buffer-based system.
The Pub-Sub system should be able to notify a rule node that a specified attribute has changed.
The buffer-based system should allow to synchronise different updates coming from several attributes, belonging to one or different nodes.
Secondly, we aim at improving the memory required to store the model by using a Rete like approach to represent conditions.
And finally, we want to introduce temporal aspects in rules.

\section{Weaving Rules into Models@run.time}
\label{sec:contribution}
In this section we detail our rule language and weaving process to combine rules and models@run.time.

\subsection{Language Definition}
\label{sec:language}

To weave rules into models@run.time, we leverage two kinds of input: one for the definition of the data structure and another one for defining rules.
For the data structure, we reuse common meta-model formalisms, such as defined by MOF and implemented by EMF/Ecore~\citep{budinsky2004eclipse}.
A data model is a set of classes, which contain a set of attributes and references to other classes.
To meet models@run.time requirements, we use the Kevoree Modeling Framework (KMF)~\citep{DBLP:conf/models/FouquetNMDBPJ12, DBLP:journals/corr/FrancoisNMDBPJ14}, which has been specifically designed for this purpose.
Using a textual syntax, KMF allows to define data structures with built-in lazy loading mechanisms, used for this approach in the processing engine (\textit{cf. } Section~\ref{sec:processing}).
For the second kind of input, rule definitions, we reuse state-of-art rules modelling concepts, where each rule is composed of: a \textit{name}, a \textit{condition}, and an \textit{action}.
The grammar of our rule modelling language is depicted in Listing~\ref{code:rules-grammar}.
This language is inspired by the \textit{when \textless condition\textgreater then \textless actions\textgreater} pattern.

\begin{figure}
\begin{lstlisting}[language=ruleMeta,caption=ANTLR grammar of the rules language, label=code:rules-grammar, basicstyle=\scriptsize]
metamodel: ruleDef*;
ruleDef: 'rule' STRING condition action 'end';
condition: 'when' ('not')? (term op term);
term: (type '.' attribute) | NUMBER | STRING;
op: ( '==' | '>' | '>=' | '<' | '<=' | '!=');
type: IDENT ('.' IDENT)*;
attribute: IDENT;
action: 'then' task;
task: operation ('.' operation)*;
operation: IDENT '(' (value(',' value)*)? ')';
value: STRING | '{' task '}';
\end{lstlisting}
\end{figure}

Conditions allow to specify two things: \textit{i)} to which class a rule is attached, we will refer to this as the context of the rule, and \textit{ii)} the condition of the context to trigger the execution of an action, \textit{i.e., } a condition on values.
The current version of our rule language can only define rules based on single attributes.
We intent to extend this in future work, however this is out of scope of this paper, which focus on the performance and lazy-loading impact of rule engines.
For rule action definition, we reuse the formalism proposed by Gremlin~\citep{gremlingithub}, which has proven its expressiviness to define a flow of processing actions on graph structures.
Our rule action can be regarded as a pipeline, where each action is chained and propagates results to the next one.
We provide actions for four kinds of operations: \textit{i)} to navigate in the model, \textit{ii)} to manipulate the control flow, \textit{e.g., } an \textit{if} statement, \textit{iii)} to manipulate the result, \textit{e.g., } a filter, \textit{iv)} to manipulate variables, like saving results in a variable.
Currently, all rules have its own graph condition.
In future work we plan to use approaches like Rete~\citep{forgy1982rete}, which suggest to share condition trees.

An example rule is shown in Listing~\ref{code:rule-example}, relying on a simple meta-model where a class \textit{Room} has a relationship to a class \textit{HeatingSystem}, containing an attribute \textit{status}.
The then block considers the current room as the starting point to chain actions, such as \textit{traverse}.
As effect, this simple rule activates the heating system when the temperature is below 18 degree.
To trigger actions, such rules just modify the current model itself by expecting a synchronisation by a models@run.time engine.
In addition we support arbitrary action code through injection of lambda functions within the chain of actions.

\begin{lstlisting}[language=ruleLge, caption=Rule example, label=code:rule-example]
rule "SwitchOnHeatingSystem"
when
	building.Room.temperature < 18
then
	relation('heatingSystem')
	.setAttribute("status","on")
end
\end{lstlisting}

\subsection{Rule Action Compilation Process}
\label{sec:compilation_process}

In this section, we describe the weaving process to inject executable rules during the generation process of KMF.
The result of this weaving process is a standalone artefact, which  contains Java classes ready to be used as a models@run.time backbone.
An overview of this is shown in Figure~\ref{fig:compilation-process}.

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{weavingProcess}
	\caption{Compilation process}
	\label{fig:compilation-process}
\end{figure}

KMF generates, based on a meta-model, a set of classes, which are referred to as \textit{model API}.
This API allows to manipulate data compliant to a meta-model during execution: creating new model elements, modifying existing ones, or navigating inside the model.
Every KMF model element is lazily loaded during the execution when relationships are traversed.
Once elements are modified in-memory, KMF persists them to disk using KeyValue storages, such as RocksDB.
To automatically trigger the verification of rules, setter methods of the KMF API are overriden for classes concerned by any rule.
This generation process can be seen on the upper-left part of Figure~\ref{fig:compilation-process} and is divided in two steps.
The first one, depicted on the upper-right part of Figure~\ref{fig:compilation-process}, consists in the creation of one Java class containing all actions, called \textit{Actions dictionary}.
Actions are compiled into static Java code, identified within the dictionary with an integer value.
This way, when a rule condition triggers an action, the system can simply hit the dictionary with a previously stored integer reference to execute the corresponding action code.
The second step aims at generating the trigger code to verify automatically rules.
Because conditions are always based on model element value updates, we override the model API setter to trigger all rule conditions related to this particular class and attribute.
This is depicted as blue rectangle in Figure~\ref{fig:compilation-process}.
As a result, we obtain a standalone Java artefact, embedded all actions as static methods automatically called when KMF elements are modified through an extended setter.
This, together with the KMF lazy loading mechanism, allows to workaround the need to keep every model element in memory to listen for updates.

\subsection{Weaving Condition Trees and Models}
\label{sec:weaving}

In this Section, we describe how rule conditions are weaved into the model.
Like most object-oriented modelling frameworks, KMF uses a graph-based approach to model a system, \textit{i.e., } the model can be seen as a graph of interacting objects, where the graph structure conforms to the meta-model.
Each node in the graph conforms to a meta-class and is editable and accessible using the model API, generated as explained in Section~\ref{sec:compilation_process}.
The node related to the KMF classes are referred to as data node.
These nodes are depicted in blue in Figure~\ref{fig:ast-condition}.
For rules, we use two parts: a \textit{rule node} and a \textit{condition graph}.
A rule node represents a rule, stores actions, and has a relationship to the graph condition.
As mentioned in the previous section, actions are compiled into static fields, using integers as identifiers.
We store this identifier as an attribute in a rule node.
Rule nodes are depicted in red in Figure~\ref{fig:ast-condition}.

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{astCondition}
\caption{Model of a rule condition}
\label{fig:ast-condition}
\end{figure}

Moreover, in Section~\ref{sec:language}, we explained that a rule first defines a context, \textit{i.e., } the class for which the rule should be applied.
A rule node is created for each data node, implied in a rule as context and that conformes to a KMF class.
These two nodes are linked, to first enable an efficient rule verification and secondly to set the input of the first operation with the data node.
Additionally, rule nodes contain an integer reference to an executable action present in the dictionary.

Rule conditions are modelled using a graph, which represents its \textit{Abstract Syntax Tree} (AST).
For each different term and operator, there is a specific type of nodes.
Currently, we defined twelve different nodes for this AST---not all of them are currently used in the rule language, \textit{i.e., } statements for the rule condition: boolean operator (and, or, not), arithmetic operator(=,!=,\textgreater,\textgreater =,\textless, \textless =), constant value and reference value, that refers to the value of another node.
The AST can be modelled using these nodes.
An example is depicted in green in Figure~\ref{fig:ast-condition}.
On the upper-right part of  the figure, in the rectangle, the result of the compilation of the rule is shown in Listing~\ref{code:rule-example}.
On this graph, we can see the second composition of rule nodes and data model nodes: the condition node \textit{Reference value} has a relationship with the node \textit{Room}, which is part of the data model.

\subsection{Rule Processing}
\label{sec:processing}

In this section, we describe how we traverse the model, woven from the data structure definition and rule definition, using lazy loading techniques.
When an attribute, which is part of a rule definition, is modified, we navigate through the relations of a rule, process the condition graph and, if the condition is validated, get the action using its identifier and executed it.
This process uses lazy loading techniques to dynamically load the necessary node on demand into main memory~\citep{DBLP:conf/models/0001MFNKT15}.
When a data model node is accessed, the system first looks into the main memory if the node is present.
If not, it will load it from a persistent storage, and vice versa, stores unused nodes if needed in order to free memory.
Figure~\ref{fig:lazy-loading} shows the processing of two rules, with a memory size that can contain six elements.
The upper zone describes model elements that are loaded in main memory, while the lower zone shows a view on a composed graph.

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{lazyLoading}
	\caption{Lazy loading during graph navigation}
	\label{fig:lazy-loading}
\end{figure}

To process the condition graph AST, we leverage a classical binary tree interpretation.
Each node involved in the condition AST has at most two children.
If a node has at least one children, it means that it is an operator.
There is only one exception: the \textit{node value} that returns the value of an attribute of a data node.
A node value is defined by two things: a relation to the target node and the name of the attribute stored as an attribute.
For instance, in the example depicted in Figure~\ref{fig:ast-condition}, the reference node has a relationship to a room node and store the attribute name 'temperature' as its own attribute.
Processing such nodes mean: resolve the node of the relationship and return the value stored in the attribute, in our example the temperature attribute.
To compute the value of an operator node, the system needs to get the values of its children and apply the semantic of the operator.
For nodes without children, the node returns the stored value or applies a process to compute or get one.

\section{Evaluation}
\label{sec:evaluation}

To answer the two research questions formulated in Section~\ref{sec:intro}, we conducted in this section an experimental evaluation.
Source code is publicly available on GitHub\footnote{https://github.com/lmouline/momo17-bench}.
For all experiments we rely on a smart building dataset with simulated sensor values.

\paragraph{RQ1: processing rules with constant memory}
In our approach, we defined a combination of model and condition AST with lazy loading abilities.
As a result, we should be able to run with an arbitrary size of memory, regardless of the actual model size.
If rules are sequentially processed, the memory limitation is givem by the number and size of nodes implied in one rule (condition AST, rule node, and related data node).
In case rules are processed in parallel, the memory requirement is to fit at least the rule with the largest number of nodes implied for all  threads.
During this experiment, we fix the cache size of KMF to 10,000 elements to force the lazy loading mechanism to mainly work from disk.
Moreover, the model size increases from 100,000 elements to 5,000,000 elements.
During each iteration, we sequentially check all rule conditions and trigger those that are evaluated to true.
Figure~\ref{fig:res-exp-rq1} shows that memory consumption stays constant and below 50MB all along the process.
From these results we can conclude that our approach allows to process a massive model even with limited memory.

\begin{figure*}
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{memoryEvolution}
	\caption{Results for RQ1}
	\label{fig:res-exp-rq1}
\end{figure*}

\paragraph{RQ2: latency of rule checking using lazy loading}
Because our approach relies on a lazy loading mechanism with a persistence storage, we drastically reduce the memory usage, as shown in RQ1.
However, these benefits come at the price of potentially decreasing the latency of the rule engine.
We conducted a second experiment to quantify the latency of our approach against various rule sizes and numbers.
We setup a model of 1 million elements (simulating sensor values) and a RocksDB storage.
Then, we measured three batches of verification with rules, containing small to large conditions to check.
For every batch we evaluated 100,000 rules and measured the total execution time: time to load nodes, process the AST condition and execute the action.
As there is a direct link between the execution time of an action and the process time of a rule, we do not modify this parameter in our study.
Results are presented in Table~\ref{table:ts1} in rules per second processed.
From these results we can conclude that despite the lazy loading mechanism and less than 200MB memory allocated for the processing JVM the throughput is still above 50,000 rules per seconds in average.
Such an engine can be embedded in devices like a Raspberry Pi, with less than 500MB memory.

\begin{table}
	\caption{Processing throughput (rules/seconds)}
	\vspace{2mm}
	\label{table:ts1}

	\begin{center}
		\begin{tabular}{ c | c  }
			\Xcline{1-2}{0.7pt}
			\textbf{Condition rule size} & \textbf{Throughput} \\
			\Xcline{1-2}{0.7pt}
			3 & 70,028 \\
			\Xcline{1-2}{0.7pt}
			31 & 58,788 \\
			\Xcline{1-2}{0.7pt}
			255 & 41,152  \\
			\Xcline{1-2}{0.7pt}
		\end{tabular}
	\end{center}
\end{table}

\section{Introduction and Motivation}
\label{sec:intro}

To make sustainable decisions and to take appropriate actions, smart systems need to continuously analyse their context, \textit{i.e., } their environment and internal state~\cite{DBLP:conf/seke/0001FNMKT14, DBLP:conf/models/0001FNMKBT14}.
For example, a smart building can contain hundreds of devices that continuously generate data which contribute to an understanding of the context.
The interest of end users with such systems is, for example, to know the current state of the building, \textit{e.g., } the current temperature, or to remotely switch on/off a heating system.
To do so, such systems often need to process thousands of data updates---\textit{e.g., } sensor values---per second in near-time and on hardware with limited computational capabilities, like a Raspberry Pi~\citep{vujovic2015raspberry}.
Processing these updates mostly consists in a verification against a set of domain-defined conditions that can trigger specific actions~\citep{Wu:2006:HCE:1142473.1142520}.
Which actions need to be triggered for which updates, \textit{i.e., } for which \textit{patterns}, can be defined in so-called \textit{rules}.
Performance of processing these rules is key critical in such domains, since it directly defines the reactivity level of a smart system.
This applies even more when considering security rules that need to aggregate various data to fire the relevant counter-actions.
For instance, in smart building, various temperature sensors (\textit{e.g., } indoor and outdoor) need to be correlated to detect that a door is open and to ultimately fire an alarm.
Thus, independent time series are not suitable to correlate data from different data sources.
Instead, efficiently correlating data relies on navigable data structures~\citep{DBLP:conf/seke/0001FNMKT14}.
The models@run.time paradigm~\citep{DBLP:journals/computer/MorinBJFS09, DBLP:journals/computer/BlairBF09} has proven its suitability to represent the context of such systems and to provide a navigable structure for reasoning engines.
To accurately reflect a current system context, models@run.time are regularly updated, \textit{e.g., } with sensor measurements.
Smart systems need mechanisms to process these updates and trigger actions based on pattern detection---for many domains, in near real-time.

Several approaches try to address the challenge of live processing updates to detect which actions need to be triggered.
\textit{Complex Event Processing} (CEP)~\citep{luckham2008power} investigates how to detect predefined \textit{events}, \textit{i.e., } particular patterns, like sequences of specific values.
Others suggest to use rule engines, like Drools \citep{browne2009jboss}.
In the home automation domain, rule engines like IFTT~\citep{IFTT}, openHab~\citep{openhab} and Pimatic~\citep{pimatic} are used to automate actions.
For patterns on complex structures, OCL-like queries have been defined on top of MOF-based models~\cite{DBLP:conf/seke/AvilaSCY10}.
All these approaches, model-based or not, rely on that rules and data models fit completely into main memory or on high latency persistence storages, which severely damage the reactivity of smart systems.
This leads to limitations for systems, which need to process large amounts of rules on limited hardware.
To address these limitations, we propose to combine a set of \textit{if \textless pattern(context)\textgreater then \textless actions\textgreater} within models@run.time structure with lazy loading abilities.
By combining lazy loading mechanisms with a low-latency persistent storages, we do not assume that rules or models must fit completely into main memory.
More specifically we investigate the following research questions:
\begin{itemize}
  \item \textbf{RQ1}: How can we process rules, on limited hardware, with nearly constant memory, regardless of the model size?
  \item \textbf{RQ2}: Despite the lazy loading mechanism, can we obtain sufficient latency to enable near real-time process?
\end{itemize}

The remainder of this paper is as follows.
Section~\ref{sec:contribution} describes our contribution, Section~\ref{sec:evaluation} its evaluation, Section~\ref{sec:rw} discusses related work and Section~\ref{sec:conclusion} concludes the paper.
Background is explained in the sections when needed.

\section{Related Work}
\label{sec:rw}
The execution of rules on top of models has been previously discussed by the modelling community.
For example, to handle model to model or model to text transformations.
In~\citep{varro2002designing}, Varr\'{o} \textit{et al., } define rules as a set of three elements: a graph pattern to look for, a set of application conditions, and a graph result.
Bergmann \textit{et al., }~\citep{bergmann2010incremental} proposed EMF-IncQuery, a model transformation framework, based on graph pattern matching, for big models.
Other solutions which have been suggested in the context of model transformations, are the ATLAS Transformation Language (ATL)~\citep{jouault2008atl},  Henshin~\citep{biermann2008precise}, and Jouault \textit{et al., }~\citep{DBLP:conf/icmt/JouaultT10}.
To enable live processing of rules,~\citep{david2014streaming} analyses model modifications using a CEP engine.
These approaches require that all data and rules are fully in-memory, whereas our solution loads only the currently processed elements on demand into main memory.
Furthermore, for these approaches, all rules are stored aside of the model, whereas our solution suggests to combine model and rules.
Textual OCL~\citep{warmer2003object} is also related to our approach.
It allows to define model constraints and derived attributes.
Approaches \citep{avila2010runtime} have been investigated to check model constraints during the execution of a system, \textit{e.g., } in~\citep{DBLP:conf/serp/AvilaFC08}, the authors propose a solution to generate Java Modelling Language (JML)~\citep{DBLP:journals/sigsoft/LeavensBR06} assertions, a language to specify pre and post conditions on top of Java methods, from OCL.
These approaches are made for model checking, whereas we propose a solution for rules, \textit{i.e., } they do no support to execute actions.
Another approaches consist in providing OCL interpreter \citep{DBLP:conf/uml/RichtersG00}.
This approach executes the constraints on model snapshots, which are regularly taken and cannot process the events in a short amount of time.
Another application for rules is goal modelling, where goal models represent goals and scenarios of a system with languages like URN~\citep{urn}.
~\citep{DBLP:journals/eceasst/Robinson08} and~\citep{vrbaski2012goal} define an approach to combine rule engines with goal modelling techniques.
These approaches rely on an external rule engine.
To efficiently query large models, several approaches have been investigated.
EMF-Query \citep{emfquery} defines an API to access model elements.
To address its difficulty to deal with large models, they propose a new version, EMF-Query 2, that can lazy load the model element from persistent memory.
Recently, a new approach has been proposed to query large models efficiently: the Mogwa\"i framework \citep{DBLP:conf/rcis/DanielSC16}.
OCL constraints are compiled to Gremlin \citep{gremlingithub} and then executed at the database level.
This approach allow to generate a Gremlin request from OCL constraints.
Contrary to our approach where our rules are directly executed at the main memory level, this approach implies that the request are executed at the database level.
Furthermore, the approach defends in \citep{gremlingithub} and the one explains in \citep{emfquery} have only been designed to query large models, thus cannot execute actions.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
This Harrisburg couple is working to increase access to opportunity — one child at a time | Anwar Curtis
Anwar Curtis
Steve Johnson (center) and his wife, Carla (right) are the co-founders of Camp S.W.A.G., a program for Harrisburg youth (Photo courtesy Steve & Carla Johnson)
Two weeks ago, during a service at Harrisburg Brethren In Christ, Senior Pastor Hank Johnson said something that really stood out for me:
Anwar Curtis (Capital-Star file)
"We are disciples, called to make disciples," he said, as my mind immediately turned to those who work with youth, both nationwide, and right here in Harrisburg.
A little over a year ago, a post from Carla Johnson, of Harrisburg, hit my Facebook page. And she and her husband, Steve Johnson, are just the sort of people that Hank Johnson (no relation) was preaching about.
Carla and Steve Johnson are the co-founders of CAMP S.W.A.G., a program that teaches young people such valuable life skills as dealing with bullying; dealing with the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media, and making friends.
Both Johnsons are focused on making families self-sufficient. And both have a passion for introducing young people to experiences that will help them tap into their talents and passions, making them a valuable asset to the village.
Again, disciples called to make disciples.
Over the past year, the Johnsons made a leap of faith and pitched CAMP S.W.A.G.'s curriculum to the school board in Susquehanna Township, just outside Harrisburg. The effort paid off with a partnership with Susquehanna Township Middle School.
Meet the woman fighting to break down the stigma of mental illness in Harrisburg's Black community | Anwar Curtis
Every Tuesday night, for eight weeks, 30 students who struggle with social or emotional skills participated in their program. The Johnsons told me that they looked forward to watching the students mature before their eyes.
Thanks to the Johnsons' energetic personalities, the students, who struggle to just be kids, quickly realize how easy it is for them to act their age and enjoy their youth. And even as they face the responsibility of caring for siblings and making themselves understood at home and school, CAMP S.W.A.G's participants can still embrace being in a safe haven where they can solve problems without being judged.
The Johnsons have also partnered with the Harrisburg NAACP in an entrepreneurship program that provides city youth with exposure to careers in science/STEM, performing arts, humanities, visual arts, business, and the culinary arts.
In this two-phase effort, students in grades six through eight train with mentors and coaches in their chosen fields. They're required to prepare a business plan and to learn the ins and out of business management, even as they compete for a grand prize of $1,000 awarded for the best presentation.
Phase two is for 9th through 12th graders whose skills in those same subject areas first will be tested in a local competition. Winners move on to a national competition, held at the NAACP's national convention. This year's convention is scheduled for July, with Boston as the host city.
In Harrisburg, out of the ashes of tragedy, a local rapper finds triumph | Anwar Curtis
Another meaningful partnership that Steve and Carla have made possible is one with Dr. Eric Waters, the owner of SMART Preschool Learning Center, in Harrisburg's Kline Plaza.
Every Saturday, the Johnsons hold a Teen Summit workshop that helps students from the Harrisburg public schools develop the life skills they need to grow and flourish.
One neat thing about this workshop is the experiences children are able to create and share with themselves and each other. The Johnsons were able to collaborate, this time with Sherry Phillips who works with youth from Baltimore. Participating students will be partnered with penpals from the Baltimore program. But here's the catch, the students will eventually meet each other which is really nifty.
To sum it up I am glad Carla and Steve Johnson are disciples creating disciples.
Capital-Star Opinion contributor Anwar Curtis, of Harrisburg, tells the stories of the people of Pennsylvania's capital city. His columns appear biweekly. Readers may email him at [email protected].
▪ You can publish our graphics and any photos that are credited to Pennsylvania Capital-Star with the stories with which they originally appeared. For any other uses, you must seek permission from us at [email protected]
by Anwar Curtis, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

This Harrisburg couple is working to increase access to opportunity — one child at a time | Anwar Curtis

by Anwar Curtis, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
February 13, 2020

Capital-Star Opinion contributor Anwar Curtis, of Harrisburg, tells the stories of the people of Pennsylvania's capital city. His columns appear biweekly. Readers may email him at ACTheMayor@gmail.com.
Capital-Star Q&A: Pa. Ag. Sect'y Russell Redding… by Cassie Miller June 10, 2021
Spiritually remote: How the pandemic impacted… by Special To The Capital-Star December 23, 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Sally Dexter stars in James Phillips' play Hidden In The Sand as it premieres at Trafalgar Studios 2 in London's West End. The show will cast audiences back to the 1970s during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and also features Daphne Alexander and Scott Handy in lead roles alongside Yolanda Vazquez.
Hidden In The Sand is located in both Cyprus and London and amongst the turbulent action of Turkey's invasion of the Mediterranean island in 1974 we meet the character of Alexandra (Dexter), who become a refugee, forced to flee her home, within the crisis and after that she makes a new life for herself in London. It is a new journey for her but as she remembers her past, whilst also attempting to put it behind her, she meets an English teacher named Jonathan, whose unexpected affections are a new twist in her life story.
Sally Dexter has appeared in a wealth of west end shows, most recently Spice Girls musical Viva Forever!, and her career goes back to the 1980s. She won a Laurence Olivier Award for her role in Dalliance at the Lyttelton National Theatre and was nominated again for her performance in Olver! at the London Palladium almost a decade later. Beyond that she has also accumulated various television credits on British screens, meaning she will be a recognisable face even to those who are not familiar with West End theatre.
Following The Confessions of Gordon Brown, Hidden In The Sand runs at the Trafalgar Studios 2 in Whitehall from Friday 4th October 2013 (previews from Tuesday 1st October 2013).


FOR SALE: Luxurious Duplex Penthouse in a new urbanization in Torreblanca, Fuengirola. Close to everything. Consists of 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 1 pantry, 1 boarding room, 1 laundry, Air Conditioning, marble and wood floors, 2 parking spaces, 2 storage rooms, floor heating in the bathrooms, 5 terraces with fantastic panoramic views. In addition you have the Housekeepers accommodation area, which has: 1 bedroom and a bathroom. The complex also features a gym, sauna and swimming pools. A dream property!


In response to the increasing interest in different musical traditions from around the globe, we founded Sangitamiya – The Nectar Music to bring to the Icelandic public a huge variety of instruments from all over the world.
The owner, Eymundur Matthiasson, was inspired to start the store by his meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy, who also gave the store its name (Sangitamiya means 'nectar-music' in Sri Chinmoy's native Bengali language). Sri Chinmoy believed that music was a powerful way to bring peace and joy to people's lives; he offered 800 hundred Peace Concerts worldwide where he played his own compositions on many diverse instruments from different cultures. He loved spontaneously trying out new instruments, and this childlike joy and feeling that everyone can be a musician is something we actively try to foster in Sangitamiya.
Most of the staff is musically trained, and we have offered well-recieved musical presentations and performances at schools for students of different ages.
Percussion instruments such as marimbas, xylophones and glockenspiel; Chinese and Indonesian gongs, cymbals and bells; African djembe, udu and water-drums; Indian tabla, mridangam, madal and ocean drums; Peruvian cajon; Cuban bongoes, güiro and maracas; Pakistani gongdrums, batik and octagonal framedrums; Turkish and Egyptian darbouka; Egyptian bendir; Irish bodhrán; Japanese daiko and fan-drums; Caribbean steel-drums; German log-drums and Sansulas; as well as Nepalese, Tibetan and Indian singing bowls, along with crystal singing bowls from the United States.
String instruments such as ukuleles, strumsticks and banjoes from the United States; guitars; Swedish lyres; Icelandic kanteles and earth harps; Celtic harps; German mandolins; Greek bouzoukis; Rumanian psalteries, dulcimers and melody harps; Chinese erhu, gu-zheng and ruan; Mongolian morin-khuur; Vietnamese dan-tram; Russian balalaikas; Indian sitars; Bolivian charangoes; and Colombian tiples and cuatros.
Wind instruments such as Scottish bagpipes; Irish tin-whistles and traverse flutes; Celtic ocarinas and uillean pipes; Britsh and German harmonicas; Chinese hu-lu-si flutes and sheng mouth-organs; Indian shenais, bansooris, harmoniums and shruti boxes; Moldavian double-flutes; Armenian duduk; Bolivian quenas; Vietnamese and European jawharps; as well as Japanese sakuhachi.
Other instruments such as singing saws, melodicas, energy chimes, wind chimes, water birds, horses, elephants, owls, dolphins, frogs, and whirling tubes.
Learning materials both as books and DVDs.


Born in Birmingham in 1926, Jean was educated at the Girls High School, Sutton Coldfield before studying at Birmingham College of Art. She obtained a National Diploma in Design specialising in life painting, drawing and history of art, followed by a Teaching Diploma and began a career teaching Art at a local grammar school.
A move from the Midlands to the South West in 1971 provided fresh opportunities forher to paint again in earnest. She coupled this with teaching both painting and pottery to adult groups through further education classes in North Somerset.
Jean has been an active member of Clevedon Art Club for the last 40 years, many of these as Club Chairperson. She paints through a range of media but during recent years has specialised in pastel painting which she finds both versatile and exciting. Her work has been displayed at the Pastel Society annual exhibitions in The Mall Gallery,London, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol and in many exhibitions across Somerset as well as featuring in a book on Pastel Painting.


Scholars at Risk will hold its second annual Student Advocacy Day at NYU DC on March 8, 2018.
Students advocate for imprisoned scholars in D.C. at our inaugural Student Advocacy Day in 2017.
Student Advocacy Day convenes students and faculty participating in SAR's Student Advocacy Seminars for an all-day workshop on advocacy and communications strategies to support scholars and students imprisoned around the world. Throughout the day, participants will have the opportunity to engage with staff from the US State Department, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and several NGOs focused on supporting prisoners of conscience. Students will then take to Capitol Hill the next day to meet with elected officials and discuss opportunities to advocate on behalf of their cases.


Get Your Gouin Pool Early Bird Pass!
Stop by one of our registration offices and complete a registration form. At that time you will be asked to verify your address with a valid photo ID or 2 current utility bills showing your address and name. Season passes are non-refundable.
This classes will teach owners the proper socialization and training skills for their dog through positive reinforcement and rewards, according to the AKC – American Kennel Club guidelines. Dogs can begin training as soon as they have the necessary vaccines. Classes will run for 1 hour a week for 6 weeks and upon completion students will receive a certificate.
Come out and shop at the VPD community garage sale. Time to clean out your attic, closets or garage for items to sell. Time to upsell your baby clothes, toys, games, tools, books or anything else you may have. Tables are available on a first come, first served basis. Registration is required in order to reserve your space. Set up time is from 8-9 AM. Concessions will be open for snacks.
Fee: R $20/N $35 (10'x10' space, 2 tables, 2 chairs). Must register for a space and fill out an application. Deadline is April 22.


text:
What does it take to make a difference?
Home/Posts/Blog, Editorial/What does it take to make a difference?
** This is an editorial I wrote about 2005. So some of the numbers in it may be outdated. That does not mean they have changed for the better. I am reflecting on this today as after much thought I relize how little has changed, although there have been a few bright spots. If anyone wanted to know why OCF came into being, and wanted to understand what we have improved or changed, a look at the world in which we started is in order.
What does it take?
One person's opinion.
This year cancer replaced heart disease as the number one killer of Americans. Since the official war on cancer was declared by President Nixon in 1972, progress has been made, but clearly not enough. Huge leaps in knowledge such as the mapping of the human genome, which we thought would yield the clues to scientific breakthroughs, have instead left us with the knowledge that cancer is not just a couple of pathology types, but literally hundreds of unique diseases. The more we find out, it is clearer the less we know. That does not mean that progress has not been made, just not progress that has yielded the breakthrough that will finally label cancer a manageable and survivable disease. To put this in perspective, the annual budget for cancer research in the US alone is over 5 billion dollars per year (requests of an additional 4.2 billion over the next 5 years were made this year by the NCI), in spite of this enormous expenditure and effort, one person dies of cancer every minute of every day in the US… and the disease has moved into first place.
While we continue to explore and digest the reams of new data that research is producing daily, we must look to those strategies that in the past have yielded the best immediate, tangible results. If you look at those cancers in which there have been palpable gains against the death rate, i.e. cervical, prostate, colon, etc., they all share two things in common. The first is that they have lent themselves to modes of early detection, even if that detection method is somewhat invasive such as a colonoscopy. This example in itself indicates that Americans will become engaged in early detection if public literacy and awareness are made an important part of the process. The "Katie Couric effect" in the rise of colon exams is clear evidence. They will submit to annual exams like cervical, if they believe that the benefits of opportunistic screening when they are asymptomatic, hold hope of increased survival should they be found with it. The second thing shared by all these cancers where progress can be documented is that in their early stages, they respond well to existing, conventional treatment modalities; surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. What this clearly tells us, is that while science works on ultimate solutions, there are existing, viable mechanisms to reduce the deadly toll of cancer deaths in the US, and the proven vehicles are public awareness and early detection.
Just to pick one of these, cervical cancer, without the development of new science, but with only the adoption of an opportunistic annual screening by female members of the American population, saw during a 10 year period a drop of approximately 70% in its death rate. This is extraordinary by anyone's standards. A motivated and informed public, serviced by a community of medical practitioners engaged in early detection yielded these results. Remember that this is an examination, which is essentially visual, tactile, and if suspect areas are found, a biopsy of those tissues is performed. I could be just as easily describing an oral cancer examination here. No difference exists.
Now the part that I find the most telling. There was no landmark study that said this would be the outcome, no study before adoption of cervical cancer screening that concluded this unprecedented saving of lives would be so dramatic. There have been many retrospective reviews of this situation, but in the late 40's and 50's the American public, the government, private professional medical societies, and doctors drew from what they knew to be sound clinical experience to initiate this program which has saved untold thousands of lives to date.
Just what is that clinical experience that I refer to? Essentially two things, and they have not changed in the subsequent decades. First, the knowledge that discovery of a disease in its early progression (early staging) yields better long-term outcomes. This is not rocket science. Before a cancer has had the opportunity to spread from a localized area, or even a regional area, there resides the best statistical opportunity for cure. Secondly, the cancer in question must be one that responds well to the three established therapies mentioned before in its early stages. Given this information, which treating oncologists find little argument with, I have this question. Of the billions of dollars spent annually by our government on bringing down cancer in the US, less that 2% of all money spent is applied to those areas that have historically yielded the best results – public literacy (awareness), and early detection programs. Why so little on what is so effective? While I won't belabor the point here, consider that this is mostly controlled by doctor-scientist bureaucrats, and you can understand why solutions that are not science based, (leaving socio-economic science out of that definition) get little attention. Compared to gene therapy, early detection just doesn't seem that exciting…. But is it something that can save lives while the search for a cure continues? Most certainly. And it should be implemented now.
So what would it take to have oral cancer, arguably the one which lends itself most readily to early detection and cure at early stages (it requires no invasive procedure, is inexpensive to look for, can be detected by the naked eye or palpation even its precancerous forms in a 3 minute exam, is easy to biopsy, and as an early stage cancer responds well to conventional therapies), depart from its more than 5 decades of no change in the death rate, to a success story like that of cervical cancer?
I began my search for an answer at the Centers for Disease Control where I have participated in the Oral Cancer Work Group for several years. After all, their charter as stated by them is: to serve as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, health promotion and health education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States, and across the globe. One of CDC's chief responsibilities is to guide and support public health practice as administered by its partner organizations. I have been told by them again and again over those years of my participation "that there is no evidence in peer reviewed publications that oral cancer screening would have any positive effect, and therefore we cannot commit to expenditures of assets towards something for which their may be no demonstrable positive effect." My reply has always been that few are interested in spending millions on a study whose results would be self evident to anyone currently engaged in the treatment of the disease. Early staging in oral cancer statistically has been proven to yield better outcomes. Both the CDC's and NCI's own data document this well. Please remember that in many of the diseases like cervical cancer there was no landmark study that definitively found positive effect before it became an excepted annual screening protocol. I could make a list of CDC efforts that have been undertaken where this "proven result" criterion was not applied, but I will spare you a lengthy list.
This time when I called the head of all things dental, I thought it would be different. After all, the main roadblock as it had been presented to me, had been removed. In June 2005 a peer reviewed, long term (10 years), high population (170,000 individuals) study, published in a journal of significance (Lancet) had shown an almost 30% reduction in death rate in a group who had been screened for oral cancer vs. one which had not. When broken down by high-risk persons who smoked or engaged in other risk factors, the results were even more dramatic.
The senior dental people at the CDC, 5 months after the publication of the article, were unaware of it. Worse, having been given a couple of days to review it and revisit the issue with me, instead of embracing something which would change the paradigm of things, their first comments were to attack it. For instance, about half of the screeners in the study were not doctors, and in their mind that was a weakness. In my mind this was one of the core strengths of the article. It clearly demonstrated that it does not take a doctor, pathologist, or oncologist to recognize the early signs of oral cancers, and get these individuals started into a more sophisticated screening and treatment protocol. The end result, a comment that CDC would look into it further, but no commitment of any action or direction was made.
Next I approach individuals in the NIH. I wanted to be sure that the methodology and science in the study was sound. Of course here too I found that I had to refer people to the publication. The good news was that they agreed that there were no serious flaws in the manner which the data was collected. However, they were not in the business of setting public policy, creating recommendations, and their world was one of creating or validating the science. They did however say they would get behind an effort to replicate the study. First through a consensus conference in possibly 2006, and then via a major oral cancer conference in 2007 to help move the agenda forward. While this is at least a positive move, it seems that they missed the huge WHO conference on oral cancer in Crete this year (2005), the hundreds of oral cancer researchers, educators, and treatment professionals who attended and presented papers, and the fact that after a weeks conference of the best minds in the world on the subject, (with the US well represented in the group) that 6 out of 9 recommendations in their declaration at the conference's end had to do with public literacy, awareness, early detection and screening programs. Do I see some of the NIH's position as positive? Yes, when you look at the last 50-year timeline of doing less than what is possible. It does weigh on me that these are again doctor/scientist bureaucrats who do not daily personally see the toll of this disease in the patients and families involved, and the fact that repeating a conference with some uncertain outcome, say in the fall of 2007, will leave tens of thousands of newly diagnosed patients in treatment, of which only half of them will survive 5 years. I think it fairly safe to say that, that 2007 conference will not help them much.
Professional societies, and I will just single out one of several here, the ADA, since I find them to be the group most likely to embrace an opportunity to take a leadership role in bring down oral cancer from its high ranking as a killer, were lukewarm as a group. They have no standards of care for oral cancer, or many other parts of dentistry that you would think obvious, and the best they can do is make recommendations to their membership, but not enforce them. After 50 years of inactivity in the world of oral cancers, I can only fault them in a minor way. After all, they are structured and chartered to take care of their memberships needs, and that means dentists, not the American public. Personally, I think that ensuring that their membership were doing oral cancer screenings would help protect that membership from the numerous litigations for failure to diagnose, and that could easily be interpreted as helping their constituency. Yes, they do have a benevolent foundation, but oral cancer is not on the current agenda of activities. They do have an enormous amount of clout if they decide to exercise it, via state licensing boards and more, but to date that has not been a direction they have taken. They have exhibited the desire to spend the money of others in the oral cancer effort, say from a for profit product company that wishes to raise awareness of oral cancer for vested self interest, but I do not see them taking a leadership position to change the paradigm if it has to come out of their own pocket. More than that, having been told by their senior management that if the foundation aligned itself with the world of hygiene I could consider any ties or assistance (none exists to this date) to them severed, it became clear to me that turf wars were more on their agenda than a genuine desire to change the world of oral cancer.
Let's see, whom have I not offended yet? There were calls to the state licensing boards to see if we could at least get a mandatory CE requirement for oral cancer knowledge and early detection, something that several NIH studies show is desperately needed when their peer reviewed articles showed dentist's knowledge base needed upgrading. They referred me back to the ADA, whose current NCI 1.2 million dollar grant to increase the knowledge of dentists is in progress. While many are expressing disappointment in the preliminary results of this effort, I will withhold an opinion for now. Many of those same state licensing boards did not require the applicant to exhibit knowledge in oral cancer screening for licensure.
Lastly there were the numerous focus groups we did with dentists, doctors, and their staffs. The results of these only replicated what was previously published by the NIH, i.e. the dental community is behind the curve when it comes to being knowledgeable or engaged in the early detection of oral cancer.
All in all this was a depressing exercise. Exactly what are we asking for here? Dentistry has a well-defined referral process. A hygienist finds something that is suspect. It is referred to the general dentist for whom she works. Or a dentist finds a suspicious area and determines that it is something that he can identify or not, and that it has been there 14 days or longer without resolution. This time period does not require a recall if the patient says "I've had that for 4 weeks", times up. He chooses to engage in a form of treatment or refer the patient to a specialist for a biopsy or appropriate treatment. If he begins some treatment protocol, and no resolution takes place in a short, fixed period of time, he refers the patient to someone with more oral medicine experience. That new doctor, perhaps an oral surgeon doing a biopsy, assumes control of the diagnosis and with the help of a pathologist or with an oral medicine specialist comes to a finite conclusion. Should it be something malignant, a referral outside of dentistry to the world of oncology is the next step. In this entire process, the most important part of the process are the original eyes or fingers that were involved in discovery. Without the original discovery, an oral cancer is missed and it continues to prosper into a late stage killer. No one is suggesting that hygienists or general dentists etc. become pathologists, that's why a strong referral chain exists. But they are the key element in the system working. The first line of defense is DISCOVERY. Why this is not taking place, and 66% of oral cancer patients are found as late stage 3 and 4 cancers, indicates a breakdown of what is a very simple system. If anyone was looking and referring the questionable patients, this statistic could not exist, and in my opinion that statistical fact negates all arguments that dentistry is doing its job well. In dentistry's defense, only 60% of the American population sees a dentist every year. Even given that statistic, there is no evidence that the other 40% make up the majority of oral cancer victims.
All this is discouraging, and while I have painted things here with a very broad brush, I will qualify it by saying that a minority of individuals in the practice of dentistry, medicine, otolaryngology and hygiene are very actively pursuing changing this paradigm seemly set in concrete. But it is far from becoming a national standard of behavior in the practicing medical/dental community, or as awareness in the public's mind. Mine is only a single voice, but one which follows previously unheeded calls to action from editors of JADA, dental school deans, scientists at the NIDCR, and others. The American public has been failed for years on many levels, and things seem firmly embedded in the status quo. I wasn't angry 6 years ago when my dental team and my ENT team failed to diagnose my oral cancer for months on end while it finally prospered into a late stage disease. I was just glad to survive and be on this side of the grass after treatments. Anyone can miss something, or make a mistake. Even in this litigious society, with failure to diagnose issues clearly on my side, my inclination was to try and turn that negative into a positive. But this latest exercise in trying to move a mountain of bureaucrats, find a national social responsibility in some entity who would serve the public better, an organization with a soul instead of an agenda, has left me disappointed in the institutions and individuals I have interfaced with, and yes, finally angry. Those engaged in protecting the past or maintaining the status quo hold neither the moral or scientific high ground when they allow things to continue the way they are.
Even though it is just one person's opinion, I'd like you to think for a minute about how this opinion piece makes you feel. If it makes you feel defensive, perhaps you are on the wrong side of this issue. If you believe the situation worthy of change, why not become a proactive part of making that a reality? It's said that a man who wishes to move a mountain starts with a handful of pebbles. I'll be curious to see who chooses to help me pick them up, and who chooses to throw them at me.
Brian Hill is the Founder and Executive Director of The Oral Cancer Foundation (www.oralcancer.org). He is a late stage oral cancer survivor.
March, 2018|Blog, Editorial|
© – The Oral Cancer Foundation – Head & Neck Cancer IRS 501(c)3 Charity – 3419 Via Lido #205, Newport Beach, CA 92663 | Disclaimer / Privacy Policy


"Hola! I'm Guady. I was born in San José, but live in La Fortuna. I've traveled throughout most of the country, and can't say that I have one favorite place. Costa Rica is surrounded by natural and cultural wonders — wherever you look, you'll find a spectacular landscape, a friendly hand, or the "Pura Vida" lifestyle.
With over a decade of experience in tourism, I help make sure Team Anywhere is working smoothly, so nothing gets in the way of planning your best trip ever! You can find me in our Human Resources, Public Relations, and Social Action departments.
During my time at Anywhere, I've grown both as an individual and a team member. I have come to appreciate how intimately our company is connected with the well-being of the community. I'm a part of the Blue Flag Ecological Program, the Solid Waste Management Committee, the La Fortuna Cultural Committee, and the Local Emergency Planning Committee. It's very fulfilling to not only love my career, but spend each work day knowing that Anywhere works hard to help make our community a more artistic, sustainable, and beautiful place to live.
Costa Rica is also a country of tradition, and a major tradition in my home is breakfast on Saturday. My husband, my son, and I all sit down and eat gallo pinto — a culinary staple of Costa Rica, and a great way to fuel up for a weekend of walking or hiking. You'll see what I mean when you experience the fruit of Anywhere's efforts on your Costa Rican getaway."


Lopholaena coriifolia (Sond.) E. Phillips & C. A. Sm.
Woody shrub, up to c. 2 m tall. Bark dark, roughish, flaking. Leaves alternate, sessile, obovate, c. 4 × 2 cm, grey-green, hairless, leathery to slightly fleshy, 3-veined from the base; margin entire. Flowers in lax, few-flowered terminal heads, white to pinkish; ray-florets absent. Involucral bracts white, persistent. Fruit with long silky pappus.
Derivation of specific name: coriifolia: with leaves like a Coris sp. (Primulaceae).
Habitat: In wooded grassland, woodland and rocky hillsides, often on poor or overgrazed soils.
Wild, H. (undated, c. 1955). Common Rhodesian Weeds ?Government of Rhodesia, Salisbury Page 72. (Includes a picture).
Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2019). Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Lopholaena coriifolia.


text:
How to build an all-weather portfolio
By Abhishek Mande Bhot 26 November 2020
The pandemic has brought about a great deal of uncertainty. So how do you build an all-weather portfolio? Ashish Shanker, Head – Investment at Motilal Oswal explains.
An all-weather portfolio is one that helps you build wealth over a period of time, accounting for economic volatility, the kinds we are in the midst of right now. The philosophy of an all-weather portfolio is not very different from the conventional investment wisdom of our parents and grandparents, who diversified their investments across real estate, gold, bank deposits, and equity markets, says Ashish Shanker, Head – Investment at Motilal Oswal. When you diversify your investments, you protect yourself from volatility.
To do this, Ashish recommends dividing up your assets into four or five asset classes. "Different asset classes perform differently at different times, but even in the worst of times not all asset classes will be in the negative," he says. "The idea is to be able to build a portfolio in a manner that even when one asset class falters, two to three others perform well so that the sum is greater than all its parts. It's a bit like building a team of players that offset each other's flaws and deliver winning results."
The five asset classes are: Debt, Cash, Gold, India Equity, and US Equity.
Debt includes fixed income mutual funds, bonds, etc.
Cash includes short-term bank deposits and money in savings bank accounts, etc.
Gold could be the actual metal sitting in your locker, gold funds, ETFs, or gold bonds. (Here are different ways of buying gold in 2020.)
India Equity includes your investment in Indian stocks.
US Equity is your investment in stocks listed in the US.
"Of these, debt and cash are low-risk investments, whereas the remaining three are high risk," says Ashish. "It is a myth that gold is low risk. On the contrary, it's extremely volatile because the price of the metal fluctuates about as much as an equity market."
To create an all-weather portfolio, Ashish looked back 30 years to analyse how each of the five asset classes performed every year. "We allocated assets equally across these five asset classes at the beginning of each calendar year, and, based on the performance of each calculated the return we would have got at the end of the year, starting with 1990," he says.
So what happens when you invest the same amount of money across Debt, Cash, Gold, Indian Equity, and US Equity markets?
"In 1990, for instance, just a year before the economic liberalisation, the Indian Equity markets would have got you returns of about 34 per cent annually. If you had invested the same amount of money in gold that year, you would have got returns of just 2.3 per cent.
The stock market rally continued in 1991, in part due to Harshad Mehta, and that would have got you a whopping return of 82 per cent that year," he explains.
"As far as asset classes go, Equity and Gold have a low correlation. Equity thrives on positive sentiment whereas Gold thrives on negative sentiment. Which is why when Equity does badly, Gold does well."
Which is also why when Indian and US Equity markets were reeling in double digit negative percentages following the dotcom crash in 2000, Gold gave a 1.3 per cent return. Similarly, in 2002, when the US markets began to slide in March, following corporate fraud scandals, such as Enron, and the negative sentiment post 9/11, to touch lows never seen since 1997, Gold would have given returns of 24 per cent that year.
This trend followed even in 2008 after the subprime mortgage crisis. When both the US and Indian Equity markets were at -23.8 per cent and -57.1 per cent respectively, Gold was on top of the charts giving you 31 per cent returns.
"Even though the Indian and US Equity markets are what one calls hope asset classes, the correlation between the two (though not as much as Gold) is low. This is because the performance of the two markets is directly proportional to the sentiments towards the two economies. Just because one feels positive about the Indian economy, doesn't mean that sentiment can carry forward to the US economy and vice versa."
Which is why if you had invested the same amount of money in the US and Indian Equity markets on January 1, 2013, you would have received 45.6 per cent returns on US Equity markets, where as your returns on the Indian Equity market would have be at just 3.6 per cent. Similarly, if you had invested in Gold at the beginning of 2013, you would have made a loss of nearly 20 per cent that year.
Why does an all-weather portfolio work?
"Every economy goes through high inflation and high growth phases. Depending on what phase an economy is in, you will see different asset classes perform. It could well be that one year your bank deposits would be the ones that save your portfolio from going into red, whereas in another year, it could be your investment in the equity markets. All these asset classes complement each other," Ashish explains. "It is like being in a fast car, but with airbags."
How to pick the best antifragile stocks to beat the downturn
This is MS Dhoni's net worth and how he earns his crores
Best equity funds to invest in during this market carnage
More on Get Smart
These are 5 of the highest paying jobs in India and their salaries
By Rimi Chakraborty 22 October 2020
Pramod Mittal to Nirav Modi, 5 Indian billionaires who went into bankruptcy


Green Care welcomes you to our website. We take pride in serving SE Massachusetts and RI's finest homes and commercial properties. We are a combination of landscape/design/build and maintenance services. Come by and visit our gardens to get ideas for your landscape project.
Looking for instant curb appeal? How about an extreme makeover?
Green Care can provide you with the help you need to create the environment that you are searching for. Our professional landscaping crews have many years of planting experience and will be sure to get your plants off to a great start. Before you know it, your property can be transformed into a work of art.


text:
The End of GameCube Production
Nintendo has confirmed that they have stopped producing that little cube of a console. Nintendo did say that they still have enough consoles for them to be bought for a bit longer because of surpluses but after that they are all gone. This is obviously so that Nintendo can focusing on getting more Wii's into stores because it is still nearly impossible to buy one. This way all of the factories that were making GameCubes can now make Wii's. Smart on the part of Nintendo because when you produce less things it becomes cheaper per item to manufacture. This may mean that in the not to distant future we could see a price reduction on the Wii.
Published February 23, 2007 By Michael
Categorized as Gaming, Nintendo
MIT Sketching Program


text:
There's a Toxic Cloud Behind the Stock Recovery
Rising share prices haven't helped to alleviate the looming pension crisis.
3 December 2020, 1:00 pm GMT+8
Every silver lining has a cloud. Photographer: RapidEye/E+/Getty Images
To get John Authers' newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, sign up here.
Bad News for Pensions
Every silver lining has a cloud. Stock markets' recovery since March has been prodigious. Now the notion of a reflationary 2021 is turning into a new orthodoxy. But the combination of events in the last few months has been toxic for some of the crucial building blocks of the financial system that was already in trouble — pensions.
Retirement plans lean on equities in large part to build their assets. But their liabilities, the guaranteed incomes they have promised their members, depend on bonds. The higher the yield they pay, the cheaper it will be to guarantee any given income by buying bonds. This logic applies with only slightly less force to "defined contribution" plans where retirees have no guarantees — higher bond yields will make it far easier for them to turn any given lump sum into an income.
That leads to the problem for pensions. Reflationary ideas are afoot, and inflation expectations for the next 10 years, as derived from the Treasury market, are their highest in over a year. Normally, higher expected inflation would help to push up the nominal yields payable on fixed-income securities. But that is only happening to a very limited extent. While breakevens are back to their norm of the last five years, nominal yields remain a step change lower:
That means that real yields remain punishingly low, and largely negative. In the U.K., real yields (those paid on index-linked gilts) have been outright negative since before the Brexit referendum. Yields on German index-linked bunds are higher but also unremittingly negative, and this year U.S. inflation-linked Treasuries, or TIPS, have joined them:
This is a horrible combination for anyone trying to run a pension plan. What follows is the estimate by Mercer of the funded status of the corporate defined benefit pension plans run by companies of the S&P 1500 — it shows the the value of assets as a percentage of the value of liabilities (the cost of buying the guaranteed income). By Mercer's calculations, these pensions have been in deficit ever since the early days of the credit crisis in 2008, and this year's rally has left them with assets of $2.17 trillion, still far short of their $2.6 trillion in liabilities. November's historically strong stock market only succeeded in reducing this deficit by one percentage point, because at the same time the companies suffered a fall in the discount rate:
Bear in mind that, apart from the first and last years on this chart, these dreadful deficits formed over a decade-long period when a bull market raged almost uninterrupted. Rising share prices, and asset price inflation, don't help put together a pension.
Mercer conducts a similar exercise for the U.K., where deficits are less severe thanks to a longstanding emphasis by regulators on "liability-matching," which effectively forced managers to build up bond holdings to be sure of being able to pay guarantees. Even so, FTSE-350 company pension plans have slipped into deficit over the last two years:
Part of the problem is low nominal government bond yields. But a further issue as the year drags on has been the remarkable support that central banks, led by the Federal Reserve, are giving to corporate credit. Pension liabilities are typically calculated using high-quality corporate yields as a benchmark. A sharp rise in corporate spreads in March ironically helped pensions by sharply increasing their discount rates. Since then, they have done nothing but tighten, creating a "double whammy" for pension managers. This chart shows how the Moody's index for AA-rated U.S. corporate debt has performed compared to the 30-year Treasury yield:
With solvency issues now apparently behind them, many investors are prepared to bid corporate yields ever lower in their hunt for yield, given the minuscule payouts available on government debt. In these conditions, the winds are set very unfair for pension funds.
That is leading to a crisis of confidence. To see how deep that crisis is, it is necessary only to read the latest annual report on the pension fund sector produced by CREATE-Research of the U.K. and sponsored by Amundi SA. This research, run by the British academic economist Amin Rajan, has been going on for two decades now, and involves regular intensive interviews with a range of the most powerful pension fund managers from across the world. This year, 1,458 managers from 17 countries responsible for more than $2 trillion in assets were questioned. These are the people in overall charge of asset allocation, rather than the fund managers who are entrusted with chunks of their portfolios, and their views can be surprisingly different from others in the pension sausage-making machine.
Most alarming is this chart, which summarizes what managers expect to have to do to stay viable in the wake of the pandemic. Almost half are going to ask for more of a contribution from their sponsors (many of whom are in the public sector and are seriously hurt); about a third intend to reduce retirement benefits (even though these are hard-wired into workers' contracts of employment); and 30% are planning to switch from defined benefit to defined contribution, which entails giving up on offering a guarantee and leaving pensioners to shoulder the risk:
Pension fund issues are deep-seated and build up over time. As Rajan puts it:
Sponsors want to reduce the benefits simply because they don't have the cash. But this is nothing new. It's been built up for the last 10 years, and politicians have been kicking the can into the tall grass. It should have been addressed about the middle of the last decade when it was becoming clear that rates would stay lower for longer.
However, the pandemic has added a fresh element to the managers' despair. Now they think that inflation will at last come unanchored and increase. The world has been braced for such a development for a decade. CREATE-Research's respondents seem convinced that it is at last going to happen. By big majorities, they see inflation taking over after the crisis, central banks losing their power and independence, and asset returns diving:
Pension managers are also braced for a return to governmental intervention in place of free markets, and (with only slightly less conviction), the return of nationalism and a sharp switch toward redistributive policies:
That they are so convinced of a leftward and corporatist shift in the world probably owes something to knowledge of their own economics. Defined benefit plans have government "lifeboat" funds in both the U.S. and the U.K., and those lifeboats are likely to be overburdened within a few years. That will leave governments with two invidious choices; either let pension plans go under, and hence allow companies to renege on promises made to their workers, or come up with yet more money from taxpayers to pay them. The latter involves yet another example of switching money away from the young and toward the old. Inter-generational conflict looks ever more likely as people growing up without a realistic chance of even buying their own home or providing a pension for themselves watch an older cohort retire in comfort. From the point of view of pension fund managers, it seems obvious that the market won't be allowed to make these decisions, and that the government will have to intervene. As Rajan puts it:
This populism really, really worries pension plans. It's very easy to harvest resentment in the general population. Doing something about it is quite another matter, and this generation of populist politicians haven't been able to find a solution. It's a journey into the unknown.
The problem with the pension crisis, as with climate change, is that it isn't urgent. These issues unfold over a very long time, and it is always possible to say that there is no harm in waiting another day before acting. Meanwhile, pressing issues, such as the crises of 1998 and 2020, demand an immediate response and get one — which by lowering bond yields only serves to make the pension crunch, with all its implications for social cohesion, that much more intractable.
What do pension funds plan to do in the next few years? The league table of the assets they find most interesting follows:
The confidence in a broadly reflationary move that sees a rotation out of the U.S. and bonds and into equities seems very high — and does at least imply some decent hope that discount rates will rise. Pension managers intend to pour money into global stocks, infrastructure, private equity, and a range of long-term debt. They don't seem at all convinced about gold, most aren't allowed to invest in cryptocurrencies even if they wanted to, and, most spectacularly, they have no interest whatsoever in hedge funds. Only 4% say they are interested in total return investments, even though hedge funds bill themselves as the ideal alternative to generate gains in these challenging conditions. This varies by region, with Europeans now adamantly turned against hedge funds, which they feel have failed to deliver on their promise of uncorrelated absolute returns. They have lost patience after a decade in which they would have been far better off in simple vanilla index funds.
In the U.S., where pension managers went into hedge funds earlier, largely thanks to the influence of the large university endowments (which had great success with them in the decade before the global financial crisis), there is still slightly more willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt.
There is one other surprising development in the survey: Pension managers turn out to be enthusiastic about ESG investing. Many are under pressure from trustees. And many believe — according to Rajan — that the shareholder model of capitalism is probably coming to an end, to be replaced by a stakeholder model. Many believed that if they were in the business of offering pensions, they also needed to be in the business of helping to maintain sustainable climates and societies into the future.
To be clear, I find this surprising, as does Rajan, who is as respected an observer of the sector as any. There appears to be a shift in psychology driven by the horrors of the last year, and plan sponsors' understanding of the intractable pension crisis that awaits in future. These people are practical and it is unwise to put an ideological label on the problem. Many think the current model of capitalism is unworkable and that something more statist will come, but they are abandoning hope because they think markets have already been hopelessly distorted by government intervention.
This all sounds very miserable, no doubt. But it is logical. The response to the market crises of the last 20 years has been cheap money, and this has worked for many parts of the economy. The one significant sector that is harmed ever more seriously by lower rates is the one where, by its nature, the problems will take the longest to emerge. That is the cloud behind the resurgent reflation hopes and continued low bond yields of today.


Are We Listening? | Namaste Now!
The divine sings, mostly imperceptiviley, and the song reverberates through eternity. Do we have the ears to listen? Can we be still, long enough to try?
Previous PostWhy Awaken?Next PostHow To Find Untold Happiness!


With other films have failed to attract the audiences, Dil Raju produced 'F2' is continuing its dream run at box-office. The film has collected whopping Rs 2 Cr from Nizam region on its fifth day taking its cumulative amount to Rs 9 Cr in the area.
In just five days the film has reached to break-even stage. Its five days worldwide collections are Rs 32 Cr. It was sold for Rs 33 Cr.
'F2' starring Venkatesh, Varun Tej, Tamannah and Mehreen in the lead roles is directed by Anil Ravipudi.


Maximize the comfort and functionality of your outdoor dining or entertainment space year round.
Let Us Fulfill Your Outdoor Living Dreams.
Contact Us Today for a Free Design Consultation, Measuring, and Quote.
We also have numerous Equinox Texas displays across San Antonio & Austin that we'd be happy to refer you to.