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Treasury Laws Amendment (Improving Accountability and Member Outcomes in Superannuation Measures No. 1) Act 2019 (40 of 2019)
Schedule 5 APRA directions power
Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993
11 After Part 16
Part 16A - APRA's powers to issue directions
Division 1 - General powers to issue directions
131D APRA may give directions to an RSE licensee in relation to licensee's own conduct
(1) APRA may give an RSE licensee a direction of a kind mentioned in subsection (2) if APRA has reason to believe that:
(a) the RSE licensee has contravened a provision of:
(i) this Act; or
(ii) the regulations; or
(iii) the prudential standards; or
(ii) the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001; or
(b) the RSE licensee is likely to contravene a provision mentioned in paragraph (a), and the direction is reasonably necessary to deal with one or more prudential matters in relation to the RSE licensee; or
(c) the RSE licensee has contravened a condition or direction under this Act or the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001; or
(ca) the RSE licensee, or the registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee, has failed to meet a benchmark that relates to the licensee or entity; or
(d) the direction is necessary in the interests of beneficiaries of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; or
(e) the RSE licensee is, or is about to become, unable to meet its liabilities (whether as trustee of a registrable superannuation entity or otherwise); or
(f) there is, or there might be, a material risk to the security of the assets of the RSE licensee (whether held as trustee of a registrable superannuation entity or otherwise); or
(g) there has been, or there might be, a material deterioration in the financial condition of:
(i) the RSE licensee; or
(ii) a registrable superannuation entity of which it is trustee; or
(h) the RSE licensee is conducting:
(i) its affairs; or
(ii) the affairs of a registrable superannuation entity of which it is trustee;
in an improper or financially unsound way; or
(i) the failure to issue a direction would materially prejudice the interests or reasonable expectations of beneficiaries of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; or
(j) the RSE licensee is conducting:
in a way that may cause or promote instability in the Australian financial system.
(2) APRA may give a direction to do one or more of the following:
(a) to comply with the whole or a part of:
(ii) the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001;
(b) to comply with the whole or a part of a condition or direction referred to in paragraph (1)(c);
(c) if the RSE licensee is a body corporate, to do one or more of the following:
(i) to remove a responsible officer of the RSE licensee from office;
(ii) to ensure that a responsible officer of the RSE licensee does not take part in the management or conduct of the business of the RSE licensee, or the business of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee, except as permitted by APRA;
(iii) to appoint a person as a responsible officer of the RSE licensee for such term as APRA directs;
(d) to order an audit of:
(i) the affairs of the RSE licensee; or
(ii) the affairs of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee;
at the expense of the RSE licensee, by an auditor chosen by APRA;
(e) to remove an auditor of the RSE licensee, or of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee, from office and appoint another auditor to hold office for such term as APRA directs;
(f) to order an actuarial investigation of the affairs of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee, at the expense of the RSE licensee and by an actuary chosen by APRA;
(g) to remove an actuary of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee from office and appoint another actuary to hold office for such term as APRA directs;
(h) not to accept, or to cease to accept (permanently or temporarily), contributions to a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee;
(i) not to borrow any amount;
(j) not to pay or transfer any amount or asset to any person, or create an obligation (contingent or otherwise) to do so;
(k) not to undertake any financial obligation (contingent or otherwise) on behalf of any other person;
(l) not to discharge any liability of:
(ii) a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee;
(m) to make changes to the RSE licensee's systems, business practices or operations (including the RSE licensee's systems business practices or operations in relation to a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee);
(n) to do, or refrain from doing, anything else in relation to the affairs of:
(ii) a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee.
(3) A direction under paragraph (2)(j) not to pay or transfer any amount or asset does not apply to the payment or transfer of money pursuant to an order of a court or a process of execution.
(4) Without limiting the generality of subsection (2), a direction referred to in a paragraph of that subsection may:
(a) deal with some only of the matters referred to in that paragraph; or
(b) deal with a particular class or particular classes of those matters; or
(c) make different provision with respect to different matters or different classes of matters.
(5) The direction may deal with the time by which, or period during which, it is to be complied with.
131DA APRA may give directions in relation to the conduct of a connected entity of an RSE licensee
(1) APRA may give an RSE licenseea direction of a kind mentioned in subsection (5), or a direction to cause a connected entity of the RSE licensee to do or not to do something of a kind mentioned in subsection (5), if APRA has reason to believe that:
(a) a connected entity of the RSE licensee has contravened a provision of:
(b) a connected entity of the RSE licensee is likely to contravene a provision mentioned in paragraph (a); or
(c) the direction relates to a connected entity of the RSE licensee and is necessary in the interests of beneficiaries of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; or
(d) a connected entity of the RSE licensee is, or is about to become, unable to meet the connected entity's liabilities; or
(e) there is, or there might be, a material risk to the security of the assets of a connected entity of the RSE licensee; or
(f) there has been, or there might be, a material deterioration in the financial condition of a connected entityof the RSE licensee; or
(g) a connected entity of the RSE licensee is conducting the entity's affairs in an improper or financially unsound way; or
(h) a connected entity of the RSE licensee is conducting the entity's affairs in a way that may cause or promote instability in the Australian financial system; or
(i) a connected entity of the RSE licensee is conducting the entity's affairs in a way that may cause it to be unable to continue to supply products or services to the RSE licensee, or a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; or
(j) the direction relates to a connected entity of the RSE licensee and the failure to issue a direction would materially prejudice the interests of beneficiaries of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee.
(2) However, APRA can only make a direction under subsection (1) as a result of a ground referred to in paragraph (1)(d), (e), (f), (g), (h) or (i) if APRA considers that the direction is reasonably necessary to ensure that the RSE licensee's duties as trustee of a registrable superannuation entity are properly performed.
(3) APRA may give a connected entity of an RSE licensee a direction of a kind mentioned in subsection (5) if:
(a) APRA has given the RSE licensee a direction under subsection (1) because one or more of the grounds referred to in that subsection have been satisfied in respect of the connected entity; or
(b) APRA may give the RSE licensee a direction under subsection (1) because one or more of the grounds referred to in that subsection have been satisfied in respect of the connected entity.
(4) APRA cannot give a direction under subsection (3) to a connected entity of a kind specified in regulations (if any) made for the purposes of this subsection.
(b) if the connected entity is a body corporate:
(i) to remove a responsible officer of the entity from office; or
(ii) to ensure that a responsible officer of the entity does not take part in the management or conduct of the business of the entity (including any business the entity conducts in relation to a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee) except as permitted by APRA; or
(iii) to appoint a person as a responsible officer of the entity for such term as APRA directs;
(c) to order an audit of:
(i) the affairs of the connected entity; or
at the expense of the connected entity, by an auditor chosen by APRA;
(d) to:
(i) remove from office an auditor of the connected entity, or of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; and
(ii) appoint another auditor to hold office for such term as APRA directs;
(e) to order an actuarial investigation of the affairs of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee, at the expense of the connected entity and by an actuary chosen by APRA;
(f) to:
(i) remove from office an actuary of a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee; and
(ii) appoint another actuary to hold office for such term as APRA directs;
(g) not to borrow any amount;
(h) not to pay or transfer any amount or asset to any person, or create an obligation (contingent or otherwise) to do so;
(i) not to undertake any financial obligation (contingent or otherwise) on behalf of any other person;
(j) not to discharge any liability of one or more of the following:
(i) the connected entity;
(k) to make changes to the connected entity's systems, business practices or operations (including the connected entity's systems, business practices or operations in relation to a registrable superannuation entity of the RSE licensee);
(l) to do, or refrain from doing, anything else in relation to the affairs of:
(i) the connected entity; or
(6) A direction under paragraph (5)(h) not to pay or transfer any amount or asset does not apply to the payment or transfer of money pursuant to an order of a court or a process of execution.
131DB Machinery provisions relating to directions under this Division
(1) A direction under this Division must:
(a) be given by notice in writing:
(i) in the case of a direction to an RSE licensee under subsection 131D(1) or 131DA(1) - to the RSE licensee; and
(ii) in the case of a direction to a connected entity of an RSE licensee under subsection 131DA(3) - to the connected entity of the RSE licensee and the RSE licensee; and
(b) specify:
(i) in the case of a direction under subsection 131DA(3) - the ground referred to in subsection 131DA(1) as a result of which the direction is given; or
(ii) otherwise - the ground referred to in subsection 131D(1) or 131DA(1) as a result of which the direction is given.
(2) A direction under this Division is not a legislative instrument.
Note: Under paragraph 11(2)(c) of the Legislation Act 2003, APRA may register a direction under this Division as a notifiable instrument.
(3) In deciding whether to give a direction under subsection 131D(1) to an RSE licensee, APRA may disregard any external support for the RSE licensee.
(4) In deciding whether to give a direction under subsection 131DA(1) or (3), APRA may disregard any external support for the RSE licensee, or the connected entity of the RSE licensee, in relation to which the direction is given.
(5) The regulations may specify that a particular form of support is not external support for the purposes of subsection (3) or (4).
131DC Varying or revoking a direction under this Division
(1) APRA may:
(a) vary a direction given to an RSE licensee under this Division, by notice in writing to the RSE licensee; or
(b) vary a direction given to a connected entity of an RSE licensee under this Division, by notice in writing to the connected entity and the RSE licensee;
if, at the time of the variation, APRA considers that the variation is necessary and appropriate.
(2) A direction under this Division has effect until APRA revokes it.
(a) revoke a direction given to an RSE licensee under this Division, by notice in writing to the RSE licensee; or
(b) revoke a direction given to a connected entity of an RSE licensee under this Division, by notice in writing to the connected entity and the RSE licensee;
if, at the time of revocation, APRA considers that the direction is no longer necessary or appropriate.
131DD Non-compliance with a direction
Failure to comply with a direction given to an RSE licensee - failure by the RSE licensee
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person is an RSE licensee or a member of a group of individual trustees that is an RSE licensee; and
(b) a direction is given to the RSE licensee under this Division; and
(c) the RSE licensee does, or fails to do, something; and
(d) doing, or failing to do, the thing results in a contravention of the direction.
Penalty: 100 penalty units.
Note: If a body corporate is convicted of an offence against this subsection, subsection 4B(3) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose a fine of up to 5 times the penalty stated above.
Failure to comply with a direction given to an RSE licensee - failure by an officer of the RSE licensee
(a) the person is an officer of an RSE licensee that is a body corporate; and
(b) the officer fails to take reasonable steps to ensure that the RSE licensee complies with a direction given to it under this Division; and
(c) the officer's duties include ensuring that the RSE licensee complies with the direction or with a class of directions that includes the direction; and
(d) the RSE licensee does not comply with the direction.
Failure to comply with a direction given to a connected entity of an RSE licensee - failure by the connected entity
(3) A connected entity of an RSE licensee commits an offence if:
(a) a direction is given to the connected entity under this Division; and
(b) the connected entity does, or fails to do, something; and
(c) doing, or failing to do, the thing results in a contravention of the direction.
Failure to comply with a direction given to a connected entity of an RSE licensee - failure by an officer of the connected entity
(a) the person is an officer of a body corporate that is a connected entity of an RSE licensee; and
(b) the officer fails to take reasonable steps to ensure that the connected entity complies with a direction given to it under this Division; and
(c) the officer's duties include ensuring that the connected entity complies with the direction or with a class of directions that includes the direction; and
(d) the connected entity fails to comply with the direction.
Offence for each day on which a person continues to commit an offence
(5) If a person commits an offence against subsection (1), (2), (3) or (4), the person commits an offence against that subsection in respect of:
(a) the first day on which the offence is committed; and
(b) each subsequent day (if any) on which the circumstances that gave rise to the person committing the offence continue (including the day of conviction for any such offence or any later day).
Note: This subsection is not intended to imply that section 4K of the Crimes Act 1914 does not apply to offences against this Act or the regulations.
(6) Subsections (1), (2), (3) and (4) are offences of strict liability.
Meaning of officer
(7) In this section, officer has the meaning given by section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001.
Division 3 - Provisions relating to all directions under this Act
131F APRA may give more than one direction
(1) APRA is not precluded from giving a direction under a provision of this Act because APRA has given, or may give, another direction under that or any other provision of this Act.
(2) The kinds of direction that may be given under one provision of this Act are not limited by any direction given, or that may be given, under that or any other provision of this Act.
131FA RSE licensee and connected entity have power to comply with a direction under this Act
(1) An RSE licensee has power to comply with a direction given to the RSE licensee under this Act despite anything in its constitution or any contract or arrangement to which it is a party.
(2) If the direction requires the RSE licensee to cause a connected entity to do, or not to do, something:
(a) the RSE licensee has power to cause the connected entity to do, or to not to do, the thing; and
(b) the connected entity has power to do, or not to do, the thing;
despite anything in the connected entity's constitution or any contract or arrangement to which the connected entity is a party.
(3) A connected entity of an RSE licensee has power to comply with a direction given to the connected entity under this Act despite anything in its constitution or any contract or arrangement to which it is a party.
131FB Protection from liability - general
(1) A person is not subject to any liability to any person in respect of anything done, or omitted to be done, in good faith and without negligence in the exercise or performance, or the purported exercise or performance, of powers, functions or duties under this Act.
(2) To avoid doubt, any information provided by a person to APRA under section 130A is taken, for the purposes of subsection (1), to be provided in the exercise of a power or the performance of a function under this Act.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person referred to in section 58 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 and, to avoid doubt, does not affect the operation of that section.
131FC Protection from liability - directions
(1) An action, suit or proceeding (whether criminal or civil) does not lie against a person in relation to anything done, or omitted to be done, in good faith by the person if:
(a) the person does the thing, or omits to do the thing, for the purpose of complying with a direction under this Act given by APRA to an RSE licensee, or a connected entity of an RSE licensee; and
(b) it is reasonable for the person to do the thing, or to omit to do the thing, in order to achieve that purpose; and
(c) the person is any of the following:
(i) an officer of the RSE licensee, or of the connected entity of the RSE licensee;
(ii) an employee or agent of the RSE licensee, or of the connected entity of the RSE licensee.
(2) In subsection (1):
employee :
(a) of an RSE licensee, includes a person engaged to provide advice or services to the RSE licensee; or
(b) of a connected entity of an RSE licensee, includes a person engaged to provide advice or services to the connected entity.
officer has the meaning given by section 9 of the Corporations Act 2001.
131FD Protection from liability - provisions do not limit each other
The following provisions do not limit the operation of each other:
(a) section 336B;
(b) section 131FB;
(c) section 131FC;
(d) section 58 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998.
131FE Informing the Treasurer about issue and revocation of directions
(1) If the Treasurer requests APRA to provide information about:
(a) any directions given under this Actto a particular entity; or
(b) any directions given under this Act, during a specified period, to any entity of a specified kind;
APRA must comply with the request.
(2) APRA may provide any information that it considers appropriate to the Treasurer about:
(a) any directions given under this Act at any time; or
(b) any revocations of any such directions.
(3) If APRA provides the Treasurer with information about a direction and then later revokes the direction, APRA must notify the Treasurer of the revocation of the direction as soon as practicable after the revocation. Failure to notify the Treasurer does not affect the validity of the revocation.


Volvo has thrown its backing behind new research which could see old diesel truck engines converted into compressed air energy storage systems for fuelling large electric vehicle fleets.
The research is being carried out by a team from the University of Nottingham with the backing of Volvo's Trucks division.
While diesel engines are still viewed as being essential power sources for long-distance commercial vehicles, increasingly stringent emissions regulations are forcing older models off the road. But what's to be done with these end-of-life engines?
As regular readers of EngineeringPro will be aware, the intermittency of renewable energy sources poses a very real challenge to their usability and integration into the grid. Hence, the increasing focus on developing energy storage systems, from batteries to more novel ideas such as this one proposed by Volvo and the University of Nottingham.
The solution being explored by Volvo Trucks and Nottingham University centres around the transformation of existing engine hardware (the engine block, crankshaft, conn-rods, pistons and crankshaft bearing) into effective reversible compressor/expander machines, at relatively low cost per unit of power rating.
These machines will then compress air to put energy into storage or expand stored compressed air to release the energy again. One potential application for these machines would be at charging stations for fleets of electric buses and trucks.
Whilst the work is at an early stage, it could be an ideal way to both repurpose end-of-life technology, and help bridge renewable energy's looming intermittency problem.
At present, re-manufactured engine hardware from Volvo Trucks is being gifted to the University where engineering researchers are adapting the parts and incorporating them into new compression / expansion machines. It is estimated that the pilot project will run until at least August 2019.
Want to be involved in innovative engineering projects like the one above? Then register with Fircroft today to notified of our latest engineering job vacancies as soon as they become available.


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Why AMD & IBM Did Well With Earnings And Intel Missed: It Starts With The BOD
Intel's execution problems start with a board that has almost nothing to do with what Intel currently does or even wants to do.
I've really started to focus on Intel's Board of Directors because the makeup of that board makes no sense to me. So, to prove a point I thought I would contrast both AMD and IBM's boards with Intel's to showcase the distinct difference in makeup and to argue that whoever organized Intel's board was incompetent, negligent, or just plain stupid. What is particularly interesting is IBM, one of the oldest technology companies in the world and one that most thought would fail back in the 1980s and AMD, which has historically operated under Intel's shadow are both outshining Intel at the moment. Intel should be doing far better as it is far less complex than IBM, and it is far more powerful than AMD yet that is clearly not the case.
Let's get to it then and contrast the boards. (I'm leaving out the CEOs of all the companies as they are mandatory members of any board). Both AMD and IBM CEOs are IBM trained and IBM has one of the most robust grooming programs for CEOs in any industry (I was, for a time, in that program myself).
IBM's board is a showcase of synergy. Largely made up of CEOs that run companies representing IBM's largest customer set the board reflects IBM's diversity and focus on total solutions. It is interesting to note that IBM's board is not only diverse, but the minority members are representing some of the most seasoned and knowledgeable members on it, there are no token members or seat fillers. The shear reach of this group is humbling.
We begin with Kenneth I. Chenault who was one of the most influential financial CEOs in the US while running American Express (Banking is one of IBM's most powerful customer segments), he was on the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness suggesting he is well connected politically. He currently runs a VC and sits on Procter & Gamble's and Facebook boards connecting to both past and current powerhouses. He also adds to the diversity in the board bit clearly is also a substantive contributor not just a token player.
Michael L. Eskew is the past president of UPS and sits on Eli Lilly and Company and 3M Boards providing him with breadth in the enterprise segment at a board level. This means he understands logistics and distribution allowing to advise on the changes in that industry and he'd be one of the board experts on Amazon at least with how it relates to shipping (Amazon is one of that market's big disruptors) and would be invaluable with regard to industry knowledge in Pharmaceuticals as well, another IBM target industry.
David N. Farr is the CEO of Emerson Electric Co. a firm that doesn't compete with IBM but is also a large diversified manufacturing and technology company. He sits on the China Business council and would be invaluable with regard to helping understand what is becoming the most powerful market in the world and he is chairman of the National Association of Manufactures and would be an excellent source of intelligence on that important segment for IBM.
Alex Gorsky is the CEO of Johnson & Johnson providing the board with strong intelligence on the medical and pharma markets. He sits on a number of foundations with the Wharton Board of Overseers board position standing out as a likely showcase for strong skills in corporate governance. Finally, he is a strong supporter of veterans sitting on the board of the Travis Manion Foundation and on the board for the Congressional Medal of Honor foundation. Veteran support, specifically helping to find veteran's jobs, was an historic focus for IBM. One thing I almost missed he sits on the National Academy foundation which is focused on bringing business and education together to help assure the people companies like need are coming out of schools and would be very helpful in understanding not only the education segment but the best way to multilaterally help both education and business solve critical labor problems.
Shirley Ann Jackson is arguably one of the most influential executives in science and technology and serves as President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With experience from working in Bell Laboratories, one of the few labs that rivals IBM's own, she also has substantial regulatory and public policy experience. She has one of the strongest government advisory backgrounds as (well having served on a variety of Presidential and Secretary of State boards and advisory councils. A theoretical physicist (she has been a professor of theoretical physics and Rutgers) she is also on the board of Marathon Oil Corporation (Petro Chemical is another industry that IBM targets). She holds a Ph.D. and, rather than looking like the token board female she is arguably one of the most knowledgeable (I'd suggest the word brilliant) members of IBM's board.
Andrew N. Liveris is both the Executive Chairman of DowDuPont and the Executive Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical. One of the most powerful executives in the chemical industry he also sits on the Australian government's Industry Growth Centres Advisory Committee and Thailand's Board of Investment and able to provide broad insight into activities in those countries and a strong global perspective on business dynamics.
Hutham S. Olayan is the Vice Chairman of the Olayan Group a powerful multinational investor focused on industrial and commercial businesses in the Middle East. She also sits on the bard of Morgan Stanley one of the most powerful brokerage firms in the US and would be able to provide excellent insight into the financial trading industry a huge market for IBM. She serves on the boards of the MasterCard Foundation, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Ms. Olayan is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and international advisory bodies affiliated with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of Harvard University and the Carnegie Middle East Center. This all gives her impressive breadth and knowledge on areas critical to IBM both in the US and abroad.
James W. Owens retired CEO Caterpillar Inc, arguable the most powerful manufacturer of construction, mining and farming equipment in the world. He is an economist and a director of Alcoa Inc. and Morgan Stanley. He would be invaluable in being able to talk about the dynamics in these related industries and given Caterpillar's global nature, would have insights into the problems of selling expensive capital equipment globally.
Joseph R. Swedish is Executive Chairman and Past President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthem, Inc., a leading health benefits provider. Large scale health benefits is not only a huge potential market for IBM's solutions it is one of the potentially largest beneficiaries for IBM's AI Watson. He also sits on the board of CDW one of the largest US distributors of technology products. He would be able to provide unique insight on technology distribution as well and the increasing needs for health insurance providers in their quest to increase benefits while reducing costs, which are ideal problems for hyperconverged and deep learning systems.
Sidney Taurel is the Chairman Emeritus, Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company, and Chairman, Pearson plc, a provider of digital education products and services. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers of the Columbia Business School, and a graduate member of The Business Council. Additionally, during the past five years, he was a director of McGraw Hill Financial, Inc. This suggests he would be another strong advisor on corporate governance, the pharma industry, and the evolving education market with emphasis on "evolving".
Peter R. Voser is the Retired Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies and Chairman, ABB Ltd., a global group of power and automation companies. This gives IBM access to deep insight on the Petrochemical business as well as the emerging changes in the power and automation industries another one of the target areas for Watson specifically and Smart Cities generally (another major IBM initiative).
Frederick H. Waddell is Chairman and Retired Chief Executive Officer, Northern Trust Corporation, a financial services company. He would be able to provide insight into banking and finance, both huge IBM target industries and critical skills for any board of a company at this scale. Mr. Waddell is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University and a director of AbbVie Inc. another powerful pharma company.
In summary, virtually all of IBM's board have deep CEO skills and experience in markets IBM serves. At IBM's scale the power of this board is almost unprecedented and speak to why IBM was able to successfully execute a turn around. And, of course, IBM's CEO was trained one of the most robust CEO training programs in the industry (in 100 years only one IBM CEO left prematurely).
AMD is far less diverse, and so is their board, and they are not a solution provider, here an ideal board would largely be made up with CEOs that have engineering or industry backgrounds to help the company better position against its most powerful competitor Intel.
John E. Caldwell is ex-CEO of SMTC Corporation (an electronics manufacturing services company) and over the course of his career, Mr. Caldwell has served on the audit committees of ten public companies. He brings to the Board extensive and diversified general management, financial management and risk assessment experience as a result of his experience at SMTC, his other executive management experience and his service as a director on the boards of directors of other public companies. He would be particularly strong on governance and risk, very important for any corporate board.
Nora M. Denzel is one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable executives I've ever known and worked with at IBM. She ran the software unit at HP for a time and is particularly strong in the storage market having worked for Legato after working in the storage division of IBM (where I worked with her). She has surprisingly broad industry knowledge having held a variety of positions across companies that include Intuit, and Outerwall (where she was interim CEO). I've often thought companies need more people like Nora on boards because they know how companies need to work from the inside across a breadth of staff and line positions. She would also contribute to board diversity but by no means would be a token player or place holder.
Mark Durcan ex-CEO Micron Technology. Micron is very similar to AMD and Mark not only is an Engineer (albeit a chemical engineer) he has held a number of integral engineering positions over his career at Micron including head of R&D and would be able to understand intimately AMD's issues and problems both operationally and strategically. He would likely be an invaluable contributor to AMD's board and would have unique experience, both as a CEO and engineer, that would help the board navigate the various technical and operational issues it would annually face.
John W. Marren is an EE was a Senior Partner and the Head of Technology Investments of TPG, and he spent seven years in the semiconductor industry working for VLSI Technology and Vitesse Semiconductor. Mr. Marren currently serves on a number of private company boards including Avaya Inc., Infinidat, Inc. and Isola Group. He has substantial investment and operational experience in AMD's market segment and industry. It is critical an engineering company have qualified engineers on the board and John is clearly one of them.
Joseph A. Householder is President and Chief Operating Officer for Sempra Energy (a worldwide provider of energy infrastructure and gas and electric utilities). He is a member of the Tax Executives Institute, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Southern California and a juris doctor degree from Loyola Law School. This is actually pretty interesting because AMD has often found itself in litigation against Intel (a long history of unfair and anti-competitive practices) having someone strong on compliance and a lawyer could be very handy both tactically and strategically on the board.
Michael J. Inglis is another EE and has held several senior executive positions between 2002 and 2013 at ARM Holdings plc (a semiconductor intellectual property supplier), including as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, as Executive Vice President, General Manager, Processor Division, and as Chief Commercial Officer. ARM holdings are arguably the most powerful entity in the emerging mobile market in terms of technology control and leadership in processors. Michael would understand the market dynamics surrounding AMD and would be particularly good at avoiding past mistakes AMD's board made with their own mobile efforts.
Abhi Talwalkar another EE was President and Chief Executive Officer of LSI. He held a number of senior management positions at Intel Corporation, including Corporate Vice President and Co-General Manager of the Digital Enterprise Group, which was comprised of Intel's corporate client, server, storage, and communications businesses, and Vice President and General Manager for the Intel Enterprise Platform Group, where he focused on developing, marketing, and driving Intel business strategies for server computing. An EE and ex-Intel power player, an obvious power player on AMD's board.
Ahmed Yahia is an ME and a CEO of the Technology & Industry global platform of Mubadala, where he oversees Mubadala's technology, metals, mining and utilities portfolio. He is also a member of Mubadala's Investment Committee, which is mandated to develop Mubadala's investment policies, establish investment guidelines and review all proposed projects and investments to ensure they are in line with Mubadala's business objectives. I suspect Ahmed is on the board representing one of AMD's most powerful investors.
In summary AMD, a similar company to Intel, has 4 EEs, an ME, and a CE on the board (Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, has a PhD in Electrical Engineering herself). The vast majority of board members have deep knowledge of AMD's industry and those that don't either provide needed breadth, governance guidance or represent a major investor. AMD's CEO is also IBM trained.
I'm just going to mostly summarize Intel's board because it, with one huge exception (which I'll cover in detail), makes virtually no sense to me what so ever.
Andy D. Bryant: Chairman ex-Intel CFO: I see no reason why a firm would need two CFOs but at least he'd know the company.
Aneel Bhusri CEO Workday Inc a firm that does enterprise cloud applications for human resources and finance. A software visionary.
Reed E. Hundt has been a Principal of REH Advisors LLC, a strategic advice firm in Washington, D.C., since 2009 and CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital, a non-profit headquartered in Washington, D.C., that promotes the development of state, federal, and international green banks since 2010.
Omar Ishrak (an EE PhD) is the chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic, a global leader in medical technology, and has served in that role since 2011. Prior to joining Medtronic, Ishrak spent 16 years in various roles with General Electric Co., most recently as president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare Systems, a division of GE Healthcare.
Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation PIK Professor of Population Health and Health Equity at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2003 to 2017, she was the president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest U.S. philanthropy organization dedicated to health. She is a medical doctor.
Tsu-Jae King Liu has been a director of Intel since 2016. Dr. Liu holds a distinguished professorship endowed by TSMC in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Liu also serves as dean at the College of Engineering, the first woman to hold that position at UC Berkeley. A clear superstar and the only Intel board member that looks like they truly belong on the board.
Gregory D. Smith is the chief financial officer and executive vice president of enterprise performance and strategy at Boeing. Another CFO, we are now up to three CFOs and only two EEs.
Andrew Wilson is the chief executive officer of Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA"), a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. He serves as chairman of the board for the World Surf League. So, video games and surfing.
Frank D. Yeary has been a director of Intel since 2009. He is executive chairman of CamberView Partners, a leading source of independent, investor-led advice for public companies. Effectively a third CFO.
So, two EEs (granted one of them is truly impressive), one that is a medical equipment expert, 3 CFO types, one software "visionary" and surfing expert, and an MD. And Intel's last 3 CEOs didn't make it to term, weren't electrical engineers (Craig Barrett was a Materials Engineer), and all had an inability to execute. We won't discuss the various affairs (which I think speaks to a lack of ethics).
Wrapping Up:
IBM and AMD had great quarters, even after massive cuts and a clear effort to pad margins Intel missed and much of the firm's future was shut down. Their most recent claim to fame are drone swarms which look great but have no real revenue potential. Any fix for Intel should begin by rebuilding the board and making it more strategic like IBM and AMD have done. They don't even have anyone from either mobile or automotive industries on the board where they seem to want to play. Though doing a deal to sell inferior modems to Apple at or below cost won't help Intel's brand, margins, or profit.
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Business News›Internet›Flipkart's Sachin Bansal vs Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl: Right guys stuck in a tough e-commerce battle
Flipkart's Sachin Bansal vs Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl: Right guys stuck in a tough e-commerce battle
, ET Bureau Last Updated: Mar 28, 2016, 08:27 AM IST
The exchange of barbs between Bansal and Bahl was emblematic of the significant pressure they are under with investors' becoming tightfisted.
Three months into 2016 and the battle lines between India's top two e-commerce companies are being drawn deeper.
The exchange of barbs between Flipkart's executive chairman Sachin Bansal and Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl on Twitter Friday evening wasn't merely a spillover of their rivalry but emblematic also of the significant pressure they are under with investors' becoming tightfisted. It portends more ugly confrontations.
"While in 2014 it looked like the game had consolidated between Flipkart and Amazon, the market suddenly opened with Snapdeal, Paytm and Shopclues jumping into the fray," said Harminder Sahni, founder of retail consulting firm Wazir Advisors. "Now investors are evaluating (e-commerce firms) closely… so it becomes (important to establish) not only how good you are but also how bad the other players are."
This year is widely expected to be an inflection point for Flipkart and Snapdeal, which, along with Amazon, have dominated India's $23-billion (Rs 1.5 lakh crore) ecommerce market but are yet to show paths to profitability, having focused excessively on gaining market share and winning customers.
Investors who have poured billions of dollars into Flipkart and Snapdeal are pressurising the firm's managements to optimise their operations, curb discounts and focus on improving margins as they seek ways to sell their investments and maximise returns. Both Flipkart and Snapdeal are scouting for new investors to back them as they compete for top honours in India's ecommerce industry, among the fastest-growing globally, while staving off the challenge from the deep-pocketed Amazon.
Flipkart has been in the market awhile to raise $1.4 billion and, according to media reports, had approached Alibaba for funding, but investors have become fussy amid growing uncertainty globally around the soaring valuations of private technology startups.
Snapdeal, in which Japan's SoftBank and Alibaba are investors, was able to raise $200 million in February in funding led by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan at a valuation of about $6.5 billion. A lot of that money, though, went to existing investors selling their shares in the company.
Bansal touched a nerve when he wrote on Twitter that Alibaba's recent decision to begin operations directly in India indicated how badly its investments in the country had fared. Bahl retorted sharply by pointing to Morgan Stanley's recent markdown of its shareholding in Flipkart by 27%, in effect dropping the Bengaluru-headquartered firm's worth to about $11 billion from its stated valuation of $15.2 billion.
"The pressure is too much," said Sahni. "I don't think we have seen this kind of a public spat between people from the industry in the modern times. Back in the 1980s-90s we saw this when the polyester wars were on between Mr Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance Industries) and Mr Nusli Wadia (Wadia Group). But those were industrialists at the time of 'License Raj;' these are professionals who do not even have publicly listed companies but have built businesses on funding."
India's e-commerce industry, though, is not in a position of uncertainty. In February, Morgan Stanley raised its forecast for the gross merchandise value of Indian online retailers - key to deriving the valuation of an e-commerce firm - to $119 billion by 2020 from its earlier estimate of $102 billion, indicating that more consumers are buying online.
Gross merchandise value, however, is a hotly disputed metric as it refers to the total value of goods sold on a marketplace without factoring in discounts and product returns, and not the actual commissions on transactions that these firms earn as revenue.
FlipkartKunal BahlSachin BansalSnapDeal


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Silica or silicon dioxide is a chemical compound.

Silica may also refer to:
 Silica gel, a desiccant
 Silica, Rožňava District, Slovakia
 Silica, Kansas, United States
 Silica, Minnesota, United States
 Silica, West Virginia
 Silica, Wisconsin, United States
 USS Silica (IX-151), a boat
 Silica, a character from the light novel and anime series Sword Art Online

See also
 Siliqua (disambiguation)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home Windows What Windows 11's New Store Looks Like
What Windows 11's New Store Looks Like
administrator January 9, 2023 comments off
Windows 11 has a new Microsoft Store. It first appeared on June 28, 2021, along with the first Windows 11 Insider Preview release. The new Store is a big improvement—here's what's new.
How to Try the New Store Yourself
As of late June 2021, the only way to see the new Microsoft Store Preview is by downloading the Windows 11 Insider Preview release. The new Microsoft Store will likely ship with Windows 11 when it launches in the fall. Microsoft has also stated that the new Microsoft Store design will also appear on Windows 10 at some point, so it could come to Windows 10 before Windows 11 launches.
One huge change: Microsoft will be allowing traditional Win32 desktop apps in the Microsoft Store for the first time. Microsoft is also welcoming app makers to use their own alternate payment methods without giving a cut to Microsoft (although they can still accept payments through the app store itself if they so choose).
RELATED: How to Get the Windows 11 Preview on Your PC
The Initial Experience
Upon first launching the new Microsoft Store preview, the store window will appear on the screen as usual, but you'll notice a different design and layout.
One thing really stands out at first: The new store design lists main categories such as "Apps," "Gaming," and "Entertainment" in a sidebar with simple icons. (The older version of the Microsoft Store lists these categories without icons along the top of the window.)
Also, you can access your library directly from a handy icon (that looks like a few books) in the lower-left corner of the window. Previously, your Library hid behind an ellipses menu in the old version of the store.
See also How to See When Windows 10 Last Installed a Major Update
Also, the search bar has gained a prominent place in the center of the title bar and is already expanded. In the old store, you had to click the "Search" button first to reveal the search bar.
In the new store, your Microsoft account info remains easily accessible at all times. Use the handy little button up on the title bar to access options like signing in or out, changing your payment method, or redeeming a gift card.
Now that you've seen the basics, let's click on a few of these and take a closer look.
RELATED: Getting to Know the Windows 10 Store
Exploring the Sidebar Categories
If you click one of the categories in the sidebar, you'll see a list of appropriate apps or media for the category. Beneath the splash screen, you'll see several feature spots that display curated content selected by Microsoft. Let's briefly look at each, one by one.
Here's the "Apps" page. This is where you get apps that aren't games, basically. You'll find productivity apps, utilities, media player, and more. Fairly clean and simple.
Here's the "Gaming" category: a colorful mixture of feature boxes and title artwork for many different games that you can play on your PC.
And finally, here's the "Entertainment" section. On this screen, you'll find movies and TV shows that you can buy, streaming video and music services, and more. (At the moment, you'll also find Liam Neeson looking very concerned.)
If you scroll down on any category pages, you'll find lists of apps sorted by subcategory, each with its own title artwork thumbnail. For example, on the Games page, you'll find app subcategories such as "Best Selling Games," "Top Free Games," and "New & Notable PC Games." For any category, you can click "See All" to see a longer list of apps.
See also How to Uninstall an Application on Windows 10
These categories basically contain the same content as the old Microsoft Store, but with a new layout. The sidebar category icons will likely be a welcome feature to many when the new store goes into wide release.
Library and Search
If you click the "Library" icon in the Microsoft Store preview sidebar, you'll see an overview of all the apps you've downloaded or purchased from the store. Compared to the older version of the store, the interface seems simplified. You can still apply filters at the top of the window, but the sidebar that let you sort by "Owned," "Installed," "Download," and other categories is missing.
On the bright side, it's easy to sort your apps by categories such as "Apps," "Games," and "Movies & TV" by clicking the rounded buttons just above the app list. Or, you can apply a filter to narrow things down with the "Filters" button.
And finally, let's take a look at search. When you search for something in the new Microsoft Store, you'll see a list of results that generally resembles the results page of the old store, but simplified.
To narrow down your search, you can click the "Filters" button and refine by category, age, and type ("Free," "Paid," or "On Sale"). It's nice that you can specify paid apps only in the search (something that Apple doesn't currently let you do) because that might even help you avoid apps full of ads and microtransactions. That's a sign of progress, and the Microsoft Store is only likely to continue to improve before its full release. Here's to hoping!
See also How to Change a Drive Letter on Windows 10 or Windows 11
RELATED: The Windows Store is a Cesspool of Scams — Why Doesn't Microsoft Care?
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If your Sony Vaio VGN Charger breaks you will be thinking about the trouble you will need to go to to get yourself a replacement. Do you get the cheapest Laptop Adapter you can find or do you go to a high street store? Do you go to a Sony store or do you pay a lot of money for an original Sony Vaio VGN-FE Laptop Charger, Sony Vaio VGN-NR11SS Laptop Charger or Sony Vaio VGN-N11M Laptop Adapter over the internet? The simple answer is – shop at www.laptop-power.co.uk.
In one package you will be able to get the perfect Laptop Power Supply. We do not sell cheap, low quality chargers that will soon break, instead your original Sony Charger will exactly replace your old charger and comes with a 12 month warranty. We also guarantee to beat the price you will pay if you call Sony or go to your high street electrical store. Here the price can be at least twice the cost when bought from Laptop Power UK. We have original Sony Chargers perfect to keep your laptop powering up every time with all the specific power ratings required to safely ensure correct battery charging. To get yours order today and this original Sony Charger could be with you within 24 hours.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 1st, 2011 at 5:44 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.


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Conservation Design for Subdivisions: A Practical Guide To Creating Open Space Networks
by Randall G. Arendt
Island Press, 1996
Library of Congress Classification HD1390.2.A73 1996
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
In most communities, land use regulations are based on a limited model that allows for only one end result: the production of more and more suburbia, composed of endless subdivisions and shopping centers, that ultimately covers every bit of countryside with "improvements." Fortunately, sensible alternatives to this approach do exist, and methods of developing land while at the same time conserving natural areas are available.
In Conservation Design for Subdivisions, Randall G. Arendt explores better ways of designing new residential developments than we have typically seen in our communities. He presents a practical handbook for residential developers, site designers, local officials, and landowners that explains how to implement new ideas about land-use planning and environmental protection. Abundantly illustrated with site plans (many of them in color), floor plans, photographs, and renditions of houses and landscapes, it describes a series of simple and straightforward techniques that allows for land-conserving development.
The author proposes a step-by-step approach to conserving natural areas by rearranging density on each development parcel as it is being planned so that only half (or less) of the buildable land is turned into houselots and streets. Homes are built in a less land-consumptive manner that allows the balance of property to be permanently protected and added to an interconnected network of green spaces and green corridors. Included in the volume are model zoning and subdivision ordinance provisions that can help citizens and local officials implement these innovative design ideas.
Randall Arendt was formerly vice president for conservation planning for the Natural Lands Trust and is now president of Greener Prospects, a land use consulting firm in Narragansett, Rhode Island. He is the author of Growing Greener (Island Press, 1999) and Growing Greener Ordinance Language (Natural Lands Trust, 2001).
Copyright Page
How This Handbook Can Help You
Conventional Layouts versus "Conservation Designs":
Advantages of Conservation Design
Roles and Responsibilities of Various Parties
Steps Involved in Designing Conservation Subdivisions: A Straightforward Approach
Linking Conservation Lands in Future Subdivisions to Create an Interconnected Open Space Network: A Greener Vision
Creating Conservation Subdivision Designs on Seven Different Sites
Regulatory Improvements
Management Techniques for Conservation Lands
Toward a New Land Ethic in Your Community
Recommended Further Reading
See other books on: Land use | Landscape | Nature conservation | Planning | Practical Guide
See other titles from Island Press
Nearby on shelf for Industries. Land use. Labor / Land use. Land tenure / Real estate business:


"For small- to medium-sized nations the step from sparking an initiative to effectively following up and weighing on the geopolitical agenda can be large."
Currently no report is available.
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Francis Halzen is a theoretical physicist who works at the interface of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. He is the Principal Investigator for IceCube, the world's largest neutrino detector, the Director of the Institute for Elementary Particle Physics, and the Hilldale and Gregory Breit Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among his recent honours are the 2015 Balzan Prize, the European Physical Society Prize for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology in 2015; the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for Physical Sciences in 2014; the Physics World Breakthrough of the Year Award for making the first observation of cosmic neutrinos; and the International Hemholtz Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.


~ by velofinds on August 6, 2012.
The shot with the Mk1 and current-gen Sciroccos is great. Some people consider the new Sciroccos too small. Well, here's some perspective.
While the Mk1 is a substantially smaller on the outside, I'd be curious to compare interiors. I've had several Sciroccos, and at 6′ and 200+ lbs, I never had any issues. In fact, even after several 1000+ mile trips, I found them rather comfortable.
Aye, Larry. Jeremy Clarkson is a big guy as well, and his feelings about the MkI Scirocco are well-documented.
I recommend you this read, just for the photos.
Text is mine, maybe you will like it too.
Wow. I get that cars have gotten safer, but it's disappointing that they've grown so much in size and weight. Especially challenging considering the smaller roads and tighter parking conditions in many European countries (it's probably a similar situation in many other places also, but I have the more experience traveling in Europe).
US roads must seem like a surreal experience – everything is super-sized here in comparison to many other countries, so the increase in size and weight may be less obvious. When we're surrounded by minivans and SUV's in my friend's vintage Alfa Spider, it is a bit scary (particularly knowing most of those drivers are not paying attention to much of anything driving-related, and lack the skill to truly manage their vehicles).
Still annoyed Audi didn't bring the RS6 Avant stateside. While I couldn't afford a new one, it would have made an amazing used car.
…and then we realized what it meant.
love this one! So much goodness!


Namely health specialist Kathy Walsh firstly shows her treatment back in 2012. Since then the number of view have raise to 2,6 million.
The advice she is giving is that: you must put your head in a position to look up at the celling, then spin your head upside down like you are going to do a somersault. While in this position, turn and face with your left elbow.
Wait for a little bit to end any dizziness that will appear and then raise your head to back level. Wait one more this for the dizziness to end and sit back quickly.
This video was a real hit on You Tube and reached more than 2 million views.
She compared her video to the cat video think of popularity by still she is satisfied with the reactions. To mention that she, Associate Professor and Director of the Balance Lab at the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus, and she is pretty much valued among vertigo sufferers.


He's made it to the 100 crore club, he's dancing with the biggest superstars on stage, he's being offered the biggest films in Bollywood and he's living his dream but yet there is something else that makes him currently the happiest actor in Bollywood.
Reason being, he is working for his next film in his hometown and there is nothing more he could have asked for.
Kartik Aaryan is in Gwalior shooting for Dinesh Vijan's next Luka Chuppi. Gwalior being his hometown, he's having a ball of time shooting for the project. Last week when he began shooting for the film, he was welcomed whole-heartedly by the people of Gwalior and it was almost like a celebration in the city.
Kartik Aaryan who plays a local TV reporter, has a 50 days schedule in the city and he's really happy to be a part of it. This morning he shared a picture on social media, where we see him posing with his parents and he has sweetly captioned the picture saying – Perks of shooting in Hometown. #Family.


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Q: Magento - updating catalog.xml I'm trying to update a magento theme (the theme name is blank_seo), and i'm trying to change the product page default template to 3 columns. I've tried updating the app/design/frontend/default/blank_seo/layout/catalog.xml file. but so far nothing is working.
The only solution that i've found is manually changing the 'Page Layout' dropbox to 3 columns. If anyone has a simpler/quicker way of doing this (or a reason why my editing of catalog.xml doesn't work), I'd be extremely thankful!

A: Just looking at the code I have, I have been able to do this without any issue, which part of the catalog.xml file are you changing? It should be the <catalog_product_view> element like so:
<catalog_product_view translate="label">
    <label>Catalog Product View (Any)</label>
    <!-- Mage_Catalog -->
    <reference name="root">
        <action method="setTemplate"><template>page/1column-productview.phtml</template></action>
    </reference>
    ....
</catalog_product_view>

I have a custom template set up in my system for the product page, as you can see.
Also, make sure you refresh your cache and check your logs to ensure you are not missing any errors.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Apple is collaborating with medical researchers to bring the power of medical diagnostics to over 700 million iPhone users. ResearchKit is a new iPhone open source software framework that enables the creation of diagnostic apps by medical researchers. Set for release next month, ResearchKit is designed to increase patient recruitment, data sampling, and patient interaction. There are already five ResearchKit apps developed by various research institutes to study and diagnose Parkinson's disease, breast cancer, diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular disease.
By tapping into the powerful devices inherent in all iPhones, including the GPS sensors, microphone, gyroscope, and accelerometer, users can provide permission to researchers to track their personal health outcomes including fitness, motor impairment, gait, balance, speech, memory, blood sugar, blood pressure, and asthma inhaler usage. Research participants are empowered to choose which research studies to participate in, as well as how their personal data is shared. For scientists, this means widespread access to a broad global population of research participants and the integration of other features such as informed consent and surveys directly via the app. Overall, this new framework provides a powerful way to improve the process of disease diagnosis and prevention.


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2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANCIENT GREECE, ANCIENT ROME, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BERNIE SANDERS, BUZZFEED, CATASTROPHE, CBS NEWS, CHINA, CNN, CONSUMER PROTECTION, CORPORATE TAXES, CORRUPTION, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, EXECUTIVE PAYWATCH, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FORBES, FUNDRAISING, HARPER'S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, INCOME INEQUALITY, IVAN THE TERRIBLE, JOE BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, LEON TROTSKY, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROBERT PAYNE, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SPARTACUS, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE CORRUPT SOCIETY (BOOK), THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE DISCOURSES, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, THE GREAT LEVELER (BOOK), THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIOLENCE, Vladimir Lenin, WALL STREET, WALTER SCHEIDEL, WATERGATE, WEALTH GAP, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, WINSTON CHURCHILL, WONKETTE
THE RICH (LIKE THE PLAGUE) ARE WITH YOU ALWAYS: PART ONE (OF TWO)
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Politics, Social commentary on February 20, 2020 at 12:10 am
Americans are used to Presidential candidates telling lies (euphemistically known as "campaign promises") to get elected.
But when a candidate actually (and usually accidentally) tells the truth, the results can be electrifying.
On June 18, 2019, Democratic Presidential candidate (and momentary front-runner) Joseph Biden addressed a roomful of donors in New York.
The former Vice President believed that his message would comfort his well-heeled audience of billionaires: Don't worry, if I'm elected, your standard of living won't change.
Addressing the 100 or so guests at a fundraiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City, Biden said that he had taken heat from "some of the people on my team, on the Democratic side" because he had said that rich people were "just as patriotic as poor people.
"The truth of the matter is, you all, you all know, you all know in your gut what has to be done. We can disagree in the margins but the truth of the matter is it's all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished. No one's standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change," he said.
And he added: "I mean, we may not want to demonize anybody who has made money.
"When we have income inequality as large as we have in the United States today, it brews and ferments political discord and basic revolution. Not a joke. Not a joke … It allows demagogues to step in and say the reason where we are is because of the 'other'….
"You're not the other. I need you very badly. I hope if I win this nomination, I won't let you down. I promise you. I have a bad reputation, I always say what I mean. The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean."
Biden has talked about decreasing income inequality and promoting workers' rights. But he's taken a moderate stance when it comes to taxation.
United States Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), on the other hand, has attacked the ultra-rich as responsible for the ever-widening gap between themselves and the poor.
"I love Bernie, but I'm not Bernie Sanders. I don't think 500 billionaires are the reason why we're in trouble," Biden said in March, 2019.
Instead, he proposes expanding tax credits for the poor and middle class, and making the tax code less friendly to rich investors.
Robert Payne, the distinguished British historian, took a different—and darker—view of the rich.
Payne authored more than 110 books. Among his subjects were Adolf Hitler, Ivan the Terrible, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, William Shakespeare and Leon Trotsky.
In 1975, he published The Corrupt Society: From Ancient Greece to Present-Day America. It proved a summary of many of his previous works.
Among the epochs it covered: The civilizations of ancient Greece, Rome and China; Nazi Germany; the Soviet Union; and Watergate-era America. And the massive corruption each of those epochs had spawned.
In his chapter, "A View of the Uncorrupted Society," Payne warned: Power and wealth are the main sources of corruption.
"The rich, simply by being rich, are infected with corruption. Their overwhelming desire is to grow richer, but they can do this only at the expense of those who are poorer than themselves.
"Their interests conflict with those of the overall society. They live sheltered from the constant anxieties of the poor, and thus cannot understand them. Nor do they try to.
They see the poor as alien from themselves, and thus come to fear and despise them. And their wealth and influence enables them to buy politicians—who, in turn, write legislation that protects the rich from the poor.
But Payne foresaw an even greater danger from the rich and powerful than their mere isolation from the rest of society: "The mere presence of the rich is corrupting. Their habits, their moral codes, their delight in conspicuous consumption are permanent affronts to the rest of humanity. Vast inequalities of wealth are intolerable in any decent society."
Writing in 1975, Payne noted that a third of the private wealth was possessed by less than five percent of the population—while about a fifth of the populace lived at the poverty level. By 2000, he predicted, about five percent of the population would possess two-thirds of America's wealth. And more than half the population would be near or below the starvation level.
The result could only be catastrophe. The only way to halt this this increasing concentration of wealth by fewer people would be through law or violent revolution.
Payne has proven to be an uncanny prophet.
On December 8, 2017, the Seattle Times noted that the wealthiest one percent of Americans owned 40% of the country's wealth. They owned more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
From 2013, the share of wealth owned by the one percent increased by nearly three percentage points. Wealth owned by the bottom 90%, meanwhile, fell over the same period.
But this situation need not remain permanent.
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text:
Severe epidemic myalgia with an elevated level of serum interleukin-6 caused by human parechovirus type 3: a case report and brief review of the literature
Kiwamu Nakamura ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1301-98651,2,
Kyoichi Saito1,
Yasuka Hara1,
Tetsuji Aoyagi3,
Kadzuhiro Kitakawa4,
Yoshinobu Abe1,
Hiromu Takemura5,
Fumihito Ikeda2,
Mitsuo Kaku3 &
Keiji Kanemitsu1,2
Human parechovirus type 3 (HPeV-3) is known to cause cold-like symptoms, diarrhea, or severe infections such as sepsis in infants and children. In adults, HPeV-3 infection is rarely diagnosed because the symptoms are generally mild and self-limiting; however, this infection has been linked to epidemic myalgia, regardless of the presence of underlying diseases, immunosuppression, or sex.
We describe an adult case of severe systemic myalgia and orchiodynia after infection with HPeV-3, which was transmitted from the child of the patient. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) level was found to be elevated in the patient's serum.
Severe myalgia associated with HPeV-3 infection is potentially caused by an elevated serum level of IL-6.
Human parechovirus type 3 (HPeV-3) was first reported in 2004 [1] and has since been identified to cause cold-like symptoms, diarrhea, or severe infections such as meningitis and sepsis-like disease in neonates [2]. However, HPeV-3 is rarely diagnosed in adults because the symptoms are generally mild and conventional clinical laboratory diagnostic tests are unavailable; accordingly, it is difficult to determine the etiology. Adult cases of epidemic myalgia associated with HPeV-3 were initially reported in Japan in 2012 [3], and other adult cases of myalgia due to HPeV-3 have since been reported [4,5,6]. In addition, myalgia was also reported to occur in children [7]. Interestingly, all reported adult cases of epidemic myalgia due to HPeV-3 have occurred only in Japan, despite the ubiquity of HPeV-3 in Europe, Asia, and the USA [8,9,10]. We herein describe an adult case of severe systemic myalgia and orchiodynia after infection with HPeV-3, which was transmitted from the child of the patient.
A previously healthy 32-year-old man, presented to the outpatient department of our institution with a 3-day history of high fever, sore throat, and mild diarrhea in early September 2016. His chief complaints were severe myalgia in both sides of his cervical and trunk muscles (around the pectoralis major, rectus abdominis, and trapezius areas), in addition to muscles of the upper and lower extremities (both proximal and distal), and orchiodynia. Additionally, he complained of inadequate sleep due to severe leg pain that led him to fear being unable to rise from bed after lying down. He therefore stood by his bed throughout the night.
On physical examination, the patient's height was 171 cm and body weight was 67 kg (body mass index = 22.9). There was no paresis or muscle tenderness noted, and all deep-tendon reflexes were normal. His pain did not extend to the facial, hand, foot, or joint regions. No tenderness was observed in the testes, despite the complaint of orchiodynia. Rectal examination did not indicate prostatitis. He was fully conscious, and no paresis, speech disturbance, or skin eruptions were observed. The differential diagnoses initially included periodic paralysis, myasthenia gravis, adult-onset Still's disease, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
An antigen-based rapid diagnostic test detecting both influenza virus A and B yielded a negative result. His white blood cell count was 3700/mm3, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level was 1.41 mg/dL (normal range: < 0.2 mg/dL), serum creatine phosphokinase (CK) level was 48 U/L (normal range: 60–230 U/L), and serum myoglobin level was 63.1 ng/mL (normal range: 20.3–92.3 ng/mL). All liver and thyroid function tests, electrolytes, and serum ferritin level were within normal limits. Two sets of blood cultures both yielded negative findings. Circulating anti-nuclear, anti-acetylcholine receptor, and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies were not detected.
At the time of case presentation, the patient's wife had just delivered a daughter and was temporarily staying at her parents' house. The patient and his wife also had a 3-year-old son, with whom the patient stayed at their own home following his wife's parturition. He worked in an office and sent his son to a nursery school during the daytime working hours. Five days before the patient's initial visit to our hospital, his son developed a fever and mild throat pain, and several infants at the nursery school also developed mild flu-like symptoms and mild diarrhea that improved over 2–3 days. To rule out the possibility of enterovirus infection, serum antibodies were tested for coxsackievirus (type A2, A4, A5, A6, B2, B4, B5, B6) and echovirus (type 13, 30) at the initial visit and 2 weeks later with the neutralization test method. Significant antibody titer changes between acute and convalescent phases were not detected and a serological diagnosis was not established for these enteroviruses. Because adult HPeV-3 infection may occur shortly after an epidemic of pediatric infection, nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection tests for HPeV-3 were performed, and the HPeV-3 types were identified by sequencing the VP3/VP1 junction in PCR products amplified directly from the specimens [11]. We collected blood samples from the patient at the first visit and 2 weeks later, and obtained stool samples from all family members several days later. We also collected specimens from the patient's parents because the severity of his myalgia restricted his ability to move freely in his house, and he required assistance from his parents in caring for his son and himself.
HPeV-3 was detected in the patient's initial blood and stool samples and his son's stool sample (Fig. 1); viable HPeV-3 viruses were isolated from stool specimens using a cell culture method. We confirmed that the sequences of the PCR-amplified regions were identical in specimens from the patient and his son, indicating that the son had transmitted HPeV-3 to the patient. The results from the mother and newborn daughter, who had not stayed with the patient and his son during that time, were negative. The results from the patient's parents were also negative.
Nested polymerase chain reaction for human parechovirus-3 in specimens from the patient and his family. The target human parechovirus-3 polymerase chain reaction product length was 300 base pairs. Lanes: 1, serum of the patient at the first visit; 2, stool of the patient; 3, stool of his son; 4, stool of his wife; 5, stool of his neonatal daughter; 6, stool of the patient's father; 7, stool of the patient's mother; 8, serum of the patient at 2 weeks after the first visit; M, 100-base pair size marker
He was finally diagnosed with severe epidemic myalgia caused by HPeV-3 infection. Without specific treatment, his severe myalgia, fever, and orchiodynia gradually improved. After a week, he had no difficulty in moving his whole body, and no sequelae remained. Additionally, we measured serum cytokine levels at the initial visit and 2 weeks later. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, and IL-12 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. A cut-off value for each assay was as follows: TNF-α and IL-10, below 2 pg/mL; IL-6 and IL-12, below 4 pg/mL. Although the values of his TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-12 levels were all below each cutoff value, his IL-6 level was elevated to 63.6 pg/mL at the initial visit. Two weeks later, his IL-6 level had decreased to almost half (34.9 pg/mL), but remained higher than normal.
HPeV-3 is thought to circulate among infants in nursery schools, as well as in households. However, most related cases of myalgia occur in adults and are thought to have been transmitted from young children [12]. In previous reports, most adult patients with epidemic myalgia due to HPeV-3 infection are aged between 20 to 40 years [3,4,5,6]. While the overall seropositivity rate (cut-off value of greater than 8×) for HPeV-3 was 79.4% in residents of Yamagata prefecture (next to Fukushima prefecture, where the case patient lived), the necessary antibody titer for preventing HPeV-3 infection (neutralizing [NT] antibody titer equal to or higher than 32×) decreases in adults as they age [13]. This might suggest that adults who do not have sufficient titers of NT antibodies may develop HPeV-3 infection after occasional contact with infected children, and a few individuals may have further complication, such as with epidemic myalgia.
Previously, Mizuta et al. reported 22 cases involving epidemic myalgia in adults (average age: 37 years [range: 23–66 years]) [3]. All but one patient had muscular weakness, and 18 of 22 (82%) presented with high fever. In those cases, severe myalgia mainly occurred in the proximal upper and/or lower limbs, and laterality was generally not recognized. Furthermore, Mizuta et al. reported elevated CRP levels in 86% of patients, although the values were relatively low (average: 1.95 [0.1–6.8] mg/dL). Elevated CK and myoglobin levels occurred in 55% (average: 443 [43–1598] mg/dL) and 73% (average: 101 [18–253] mg/dL) of patients, respectively, indicating that CK and myoglobin are not always elevated in patients with epidemic myalgia, regardless of severity. Other symptoms reported by Mizuta and colleagues included pharyngeal pain and orchiodynia, a specific symptom of epidemic myalgia with an unknown mechanism that was reported by 27% of male patients, as well as by our patient. In another report, Tanaka et al. used computed tomography to detect swollen testis and peritesticular effusion in a patient [4]. Yamakawa and Mizuta et al. also reported 17 confirmed epidemic myalgia adult cases (average patient age: 36.8 years [range: 21–50 years], 14 males and 3 females) in 2017 [7]. All patients had myalgia and muscular weakness; 14 patients (82%) presented with high fever, 8 patients (47%) exhibited upper respiratory symptoms, and 4 (24%) had gastroenteritis. Scrotal pain occurred in 4 of 14 male patients (29%). In these cases, all but one showed an elevated level of CK (average value: 1017 [61–6155] IU/L, normal value; 55–175 IU/L). Mild leukocytopenia occurred in 7 of 17 patients (average value: 4391 [2730–5610] cells/mm3, normal value; 3900–9000 cells/mm3). Increases in CRP value were mild (average value: 0.771 [0.21–5.138] mg/dL, normal value; 0.000–0.300 mg/dL) [6]. Interestingly, the levels of CK and CRP did not increase proportionally in these patients. The CRP level of the patient who had the highest CK level (6155 IU/L, patient number 5) was 0.342 mg/dL. On the other hand, the CK level of the patient who had the highest CRP value (5.138 mg/dL, patient number 14) was only slightly elevated (248 IU/L) [7]. In our case, despite the severe myalgia of the patient, which prevented him from laying down on the bed throughout the night, his CK level was normal and his CRP elevation was relatively low. There is the possibility that we did not detect CK elevation of the case patient due to the time points of our blood tests (initial visit, 2 days later, and 2 weeks later). However, systemic myositis including all extremities and trunk muscles is usually accompanied by a remarkable elevation of CK; additional mechanisms inducing systemic myalgia after HPeV-3 infection other than myositis are suggested in this patient.
In addition, many issues regarding epidemic myalgia due to HPeV-3 remain unclear. First, we have not yet determined why adult epidemic myalgia due to HPeV-3 has only been reported in Japan, despite the passage of several years since the first report. We might attribute this phenomenon to a racial variation, difference in the clinical testing system, or recognizability of this disease amongst general physicians (i.e., not pediatricians). Second, it remains unknown why only HPeV-3 causes severe epidemic myalgia in adults, as similar cases attributed to HPeV-1 or HPeV-2 have not yet been reported.
Compared to HPeV-3, influenza virus and enterovirus more commonly cause myalgia and myositis. Epidemic pleurodynia (also known as Bornholm disease) is generally caused by coxsackievirus type B, and less frequently by echovirus and coxsackievirus type A. This disease is characterized by fever and paroxysmal spasms of the chest and abdominal muscles. Most cases occur during localized summer outbreaks amongst adolescents and adults [14, 15]. In addition, severe rhabdomyolysis and renal failure can be induced by various viruses, including influenza viruses A and B [16]. In this case, however, the time frame in which our patient visited our institution was not in the local endemic influenza season (typically from late November to next March), and the antigen-based rapid influenza test result was negative. Serological assays for the tested coxsackievirus type A and B, or echovirus between the acute and convalescent phases did not indicate the acute infection.
Because the epidemiological evidence indicates that not all adults infected with HPeV-3 develop epidemic myalgia, we hypothesized that severe myalgia may be associated with an increase in cytokine production. As such, we measured the cytokine levels in serum samples from our patient at the initial visit and 2 weeks later. Among the cytokines measured, IL-6 level was exclusively elevated. IL-6 is a known inflammatory cytokine that causes pain by inducing prostaglandin E2 production. When administered to humans, IL-6 can cause side effects including fever, headache, and myalgia [17]. IL-6 has been correlated with the development of symptoms including myalgia caused by influenza virus infection [18]. In recent research, coxsackievirus type B4 was found to induce production of IL-6 together with interferon-α and TNF-α from human mononuclear cells [19]. Considering these reports and the current case, elevated levels of acute inflammatory cytokines may play a role in myalgia or myositis caused by viral infections. Although further studies are required to elucidate the pathogenesis of severe epidemic myalgia after HPeV-3 infection, the elevated level of IL-6 in the case patient's serum may correlate with the development of this disease.
This is the first report to demonstrate increased IL-6 levels in an adult patient with epidemic myalgia due to HPeV-3 infection. Further virologic, genetic, epidemiologic, and pathologic studies are needed to verify our hypothesis regarding the relationship between elevated IL-6 levels and myalgia severity in adult patients with HPeV-3 infection.
CK:
Creatine phosphokinase
CRP:
HPeV-3:
Human parechovirus type 3
IL:
Interleukin
TNF-α:
Τumor necrosis factor-α
Ito M, Yamashita T, Tsuzuki H, Takeda N, Sakae K. Isolation and identification of a novel human parechovirus. J Gen Virol. 2004;85:391–8.
Harvala H, Robertson I, Chieochansin T, McWilliam Leitch EC, Templeton K, Simmonds P. Specific Association of Human Parechovirus Type 3 with Sepsis and Fever in Young Infants, as Identified by Direct Typing of Cerebrospinal Fluid Samples. J Infect Dis. 2009;199:1753–60.
Mizuta K, Kuroda M, Kurimura M, Yahata Y, Sekizuka T, Aoki Y, et al. Epidemic myalgia in adults associated with human Parechovirus type 3 infection, Yamagata, Japan, 2008. Emerg Infect Dis. 2012;18:1787–93.
Tanaka S, Kunishi Y, Ota M, Ono A, Kanno N, Kurakami Y, et al. Severe human parechovirus type 3 infection in adults associated with gastroenteritis in their children. Infect Dis (Lond). 2017;49:772–4.
Shinomoto M, Kawasaki T, Sugahara T, Nakata K, Kotani T, Yoshitake H, et al. First report of human parechovirus type 3 infection in a pregnant woman. Int J Infect Dis. 2017;59:22–4.
Yamakawa T, Mizuta K, Kurokawa K, Nagasawa H, Yamada T, Suzuki E, et al. Clinical characteristics of 17 adult patients with epidemic myalgia associated with human parechovirus type 3 infection. Rinsho Shinkeigaku. 2017;57:485–91.
Mizuta K, Yamakawa T, Kurokawa K, Chikaoka S, Shimizu Y, Itagaki T, et al. Epidemic myalgia and myositis associated with human parechovirus type 3 infections occur not only in adults but also in children: findings in Yamagata, Japan, 2014. Epidemiol Infect. 2016;144:1286–90.
Harvala H, Calvert J, Van Nguyen D, Clasper L, Gadsby N, Molyneaux P, et al. Comparison of clinical diagnostic samples and environmental sampling for enterovirus and parechovirus surveillance in Scotland, 2010 to 2012. Euro Surveill. 2014;19:pii 20772.
Abedi GR, Watson JT, Pham H, Nix WA, Oberste MS, Gerber SI. Enterovirus and human Parechovirus surveillance - United States, 2009-2013. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64:940–3.
Huang YP, Hsieh JY, Wu HS, Yang JY. Molecular and epidemiological study of human parechovirus infections in Taiwan, 2007-2012. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2016;49:321–8.
Harvala H, Robertson I, McWilliam Leitch EC, Benschop K, Wolthers KC, Templeton K, et al. Epidemiology and clinical associations of human Parechovirus respiratory infections. J Clin Microbiol. 2008;46:3446–53.
Mizuta K, Yamakawa T, Nagasawa H, Itagaki T, Katsushima F, Katsushima Y, et al. Epidemic myalgia associated with human parechovirus type 3 infection among adults occurs during an outbreak among children: findings from Yamagata, Japan, in 2011. J Clin Virol. 2013;58:188–93.
Tanaka S, Aoki Y, Matoba Y, Yahagi K, Itagaki T, Matsuzaki Y, et al. Seroepidemiology of human parechovirus types 1, 3, and 6 in Yamagata, Japan, in 2014. Microbiol Immunol. 2016;60:854–8.
Yamamoto SP, Kaida A, Naito T, Hosaka T, Miyazato Y, Sumimoto S, et al. Human parechovirus infections and child myositis cases associated with genotype 3 in Osaka City, Japan, 2014. J Med Microbiol. 2015;64:1415–24.
Huang WT, Lee PI, Chang LY, Kao CL, Huang LM, Lu CY, et al. Epidemic pleurodynia caused by coxsackievirus B3 at a medical center in northern Taiwan. J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2010;43:515–8.
Abe M, Higuchi T, Okada K, Kaizu K, Matsumoto K. Clinical study of influenza-associated rhabdomyolysis with acute renal failure. Clin Nephrol. 2006;66:166–70.
van Gameren MM, Willemse PH, Mulder NH, Limburg PC, Groen HJ, Vellenga E, et al. Effects of recombinant human interleukin-6 in cancer patients: a phase I-II study. Blood. 1994;84:1434–41.
Kumar K, Guirgis M, Zieroth S, Lo E, Menkis AH, Arora RC, et al. Influenza myocarditis and myositis: case presentation and review of the literature. Can J Cardiol. 2011;27:514–22.
Alidjinou EK, Sané F, Engelmann I, Hober D. Serum-dependent enhancement of coxsackievirus B4-induced production of IFNα, IL-6 and TNFα by peripheral blood mononuclear cells. J Mol Biol. 2013;425:5020–31.
The authors would like to thank the patient and his family for permitting us to publish this report.
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Department of Infection Control, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan
Kiwamu Nakamura, Kyoichi Saito, Yasuka Hara, Yoshinobu Abe & Keiji Kanemitsu
Ikeda Memorial Hospital, Sukagawa, Japan
Kiwamu Nakamura, Fumihito Ikeda & Keiji Kanemitsu
Department of Infection Control and Laboratory Diagnostics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
Tetsuji Aoyagi & Mitsuo Kaku
Department of Microbiology, Fukushima Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Fukushima, Japan
Kadzuhiro Kitakawa
Department of Microbiology, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan
Hiromu Takemura
Kiwamu Nakamura
Kyoichi Saito
Yasuka Hara
Tetsuji Aoyagi
Yoshinobu Abe
Fumihito Ikeda
Mitsuo Kaku
Keiji Kanemitsu
KN and KK2 designed and prepared the manuscript. KS, YH, TA, AY, HT, FI, and MK were the patient's physician team and collected specimens assayed in this study. KK1 performed PCR assays and genome sequencing of the isolated virus. All authors have read and approved of the manuscript.
Correspondence to Kiwamu Nakamura.
This study was approved by the ethics committee of Ikeda Memorial Hospital (ethical approval number is currently not available because no specific approval number is provided to each case report at Ikeda Memorial Hospital). Written informed consents were obtained from the patient and all his family members including his spouse, parents, and the spouse's parents. The patient gave written consents on behalf of his son and daughter whose ages were < 18 years.
This study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.
The authors obtained written informed consents for publication of this report from the patient and all his family members including his spouse, parents, and the spouse's parents. The patient gave written consents on behalf of his son and daughter whose ages were < 18 years. All authors have read and approved content and submission of the manuscript.
Nakamura, K., Saito, K., Hara, Y. et al. Severe epidemic myalgia with an elevated level of serum interleukin-6 caused by human parechovirus type 3: a case report and brief review of the literature. BMC Infect Dis 18, 381 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-018-3284-5
Epidemic myalgia
Orchiodynia


HEGGIE, JAKE I Shall Not Love in Vain/As Well as Jesus?/If You Were Coming in the Fall/It Makes No Difference Abroad/At Last, To Be Identified!
MUSSORGSKY Ah, why, my heart, with such sorrow laden?
QUILTER, ROGER Fair House Of Joy/In Spring/Come away, death/O mistress mine/Blow, blow thou winter wind/Fear no more the heat ʻo the sun/Love's philosophy/Now sleeps the crimson petal/Who is Sylvia?
RACHMANINOFF Oh, never sing to me again/How fair this spot!
STRAUSS Und gestern hat er mir Rosen gebrach/Frage und Antwort/Selige Nacht/Die Verlassene/Die tote Braut/Befreit/Wiegenlied/In der Campagna/Cäcilie/Mein Auge/Zueignung/Morgen!/Kornblumen/Mohnblume/Epheu/Wasserrose/Hat dich die Liebe berührt/Kling!
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Songs of Travel/Silent Noon/Is my team ploughing?
SAINT-SAENS "Samson et Dalila" Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse!


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Remarkable and Improbable Voyage of Apollo 11
Roaring Brook Press
Richard Maurer
The history of NASA's Apollo program from Earth orbital missions to lunar landings in a propulsive nonfiction narrative.
Only now, it is becoming clear how exceptional and unrepeatable Apollo was. At its height, it employed almost half a million people, many working seven days a week and each determined that it will not fail because of me."
Beginning with fighter pilots in World War II, Maurer traces the origins of the Apollo program to a few exceptional soldiers, a Nazi engineer, and a young eager man who would become president.
Packed with adventure, new stories about familiar people, and undeniable danger, Destination Moon takes an unflinching look at a tumultuous time in American history, told expertly by nonfiction author Richard Maurer.
Richard Maureris a writer, photo researcher, and exhibit designer. His books for young readers include The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and her Famous Brothers. The Wild Colorado, winner of the Western Writers Spur Award, and Airborne: The Search for the Secret of Flight, winner of the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award. A native of West Texas, he now lives in Central Massachusetts with his wife and two sons.


text:
Car News / Vehicle Information / Tesla has reached target and rolled out 7,000 cars in one week
Tesla has reached target and rolled out 7,000 cars in one week
Justin Kavanagh July 03, 2018
Tesla Motors has reached their ambitious meeting goal of 5,000 Model 3s manufactured in one week and surpassing them to build 7,000 cars in all. Their goal all along was to produce 5,000 Model 3 cars per week before the close of the second quarter. They have certainly demonstrated their ability to mass produce the battery-powered vehicles to cover demand.
Tesla beat their self-imposed deadline by 2,000 cars, the final car rolling off the assembly line on Sunday morning, several hours after the midnight goal set by Musk. This could not come at a better time for Tesla as they have been losing money hand-over-fist burning through cash to produce the Model 3, and along with delays in production, have also potentially compromised Tesla's first-to-market position for a mid-priced, long-range battery electric car.
Tesla Model 3 production has been plagued by a number of issues, including problems with an over-reliance on automation on its assembly lines, battery issues and other bottlenecks.
The company regularly engages in what they call "burst builds,". These burst builds are temporary periods of fast-as-possible production so they can estimate how many cars they can build over longer periods of time. With regard to this kind of build strategy, Brian Johnson who is an Analyst at Barclays warned investors in March to be wary of brief "burst rates" of Model 3 production as they were not sustainable.
Tesla claim though, that they can produce 6,000 Model 3 cars a week from next month with Musk saying, "I think we just became a real car company,"
Investors are watching closely to see whether the company can keep up its end-of-quarter production speed and increase efficiency to produce the cars at a profit so they will have too prove to investors that it can sustain and increase its production.
Since the launch in March 2016, the Model 3 has generated thousands of reservations from consumers in an unprecedented show of support for the new vehicle. Back in May, Tesla said that despite the delivery delays, its Model 3 reservations exceeded 450,000 at the end of the first quarter.
Despite touting the Model 3 as a $35,000 vehicle, Tesla has yet to begin building that basic version and instead is currently building a higher-priced version. It is not clear how many of the orders are for the more premium version.
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