text:
Specific Authors
Spanish-speakers Preferred: How Libraries Can Make Their Workforce Better Reflect Their Communities | Research Briefs
Courtney Cox, Dec 23, 2022
In "Spanish-speakers Preferred: How Libraries Can Make Their Workforce Better Reflect Their Communities," Andrew A. Wakeleea (Fresno City College) and Kim M. Thompson (University of South Carolina) study library employment trends and offer suggestions for how to better foster a more inclusive workforce.
Introducing Research Briefs: Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors in the Library
Courtney Cox, Nov 03, 2022
LJ is piloting a new column called Research Briefs, which will summarize in plain language some key takeaways of recent research on librarianship, and point to the full paper for those who want to know more. In "The Effects of Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors on Academic LIS Professionals' Health and Well-Being," Christy Fic (Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania) and Maggie Albro (University of Tennessee Knoxville) study how counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWB)—which include theft, sabotage, interpersonal aggression, wasted time or resources, and workplace rumors—lead to professional burnout in academic librarians and archivists.
Back to (a New?) Normal: Placements and Salaries Survey 2022
Suzie Allard, Oct 11, 2022
Salaries are way up, and culture is even more important in this year's Placements and Salaries survey.
After the MLIS
Jennifer A. Dixon, Jun 13, 2022
For librarians looking to change career course, post-MLIS certificates can help them learn a new specialization or catch up on technologies.
BIPOC Alumni Scholarship Fund Established at UT Austin iSchool
Lisa Peet, Apr 01, 2022
Update: The fund met its endowment goal of $50,000 by March 31, and will be able to begin awarding scholarships in fall 2023.
In response to a call for increased diversity at the University of Texas (UT) Austin iSchool—and to boost representation and participation among students of color in information sciences fields overall—a group of UT alumni have created an endowed scholarship for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) students. The committee's goal is to raise a total of $50,000 by March 31 so that it can begin awarding scholarships in fall 2023.
New Temporary Changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Could Impact Librarians with Student Loans
Elisa Shoenberger, Nov 15, 2021
In the beginning of October, the Department of Education announced temporary changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) that are projected to help 22,000 borrowers with consolidated loans without further action, and another 27,000 may be able to qualify with additional certification. The DOE expects the changes will help over 555,000 borrowers who previously consolidated their loans and may get an additional two years of qualifying payments. The new program stands to help out librarians in particular.
Catherine Sheldrick Ross | Remembrances
Lisa Henderson, Lynne McKechnie, Pam McKenzie, Paulette Rothbauer, and Lucía Cedeira Serantes, Oct 28, 2021
Catherine Sheldrick Ross died on September 11. Professor, dean, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she was a renowned library and information scholar. She leaves a legacy of research and publications critical to reader, reference, and public services.
Careers During COVID: Placements and Salaries Survey 2021
2020 LIS graduates faced a dip in salaries, an increase in remote work, and a drop in satisfaction, but not a major rise in unemployment.
TODAY'S MLIS: Prepared for Change
Jennifer Geddes, Jul 06, 2021
This year's featured MLIS programs trained numerous library leaders honored by Library Journal as Movers & Shakers. Read more to find out which programs helped launch these talented members of the library community.


Creating a solution to optimize feeding efficiencies and production profitability. "That's what prompted Trevor Lienemann, owner and entrepreneur of Lienetics Ranch to develop the Bextra Bale Feeder. Being a CPA and Cattlemen, and knowing there had to be a more efficient way to feed cattle, and maximize hay savings, he began by designing the original cone hay-saving insert in the early 2000's. It was a great improvement for the cattle industry over traditional ring-type bale feeders, but he didn't stop there. Wanting to further improve the effectiveness, efficiency, durability and convenience, Trevor continued to develop bale feeding inventions and ended with the U.S. Patent No. 8,997,693 – the Bextra Feeder basket design. This new basket (modified cone) designed Bextra Feeder provides hay savings of up to 75 percent over conventional feeders and is much less costly and cumbersome than cone or chain feeders. Bextra is proven to be the best hay saver feeder on the market. Don't compromise… Optimize for maximum profit!
Trevor and his family are active Angus seedstock producers, commercial cattlemen, cattle feeders, and are passionate about positively impacting the beef industry. Together, they handle daily operations at Lienetics Ranch and Lienemann Management Productions, an innovative livestock equipment design and supply Company.
Along the way, Trevor has conducted real-world product testing with his own cattle and customer operations under a variety of conditions with tremendous success of the Bextra Feeder. This practice helped ensure exceptional design, durability and ease-of-use. Additionally, Oklahoma State University has performed independent research trials, proving Bextra Feeder(modified cone) as dominant hay feeder for cost effectiveness.. Additionally, tens of thousands of Bextra Bale Feeders have been placed with cattlemen across the country with tremendous satisfaction.
Bextra is the most cost effective investment you can make in your cattle feed operation today. The Bextra Feeder is proven as the most Convenient, Versatile, Durable, Efficient, Effective, and Economical method of feeding hay materials available to producers across the country today. Don't Compromise…. Optimize for maximum profit!
Click to Learn Why To Choose Bextra.
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We invite you to contact us to learn more about our operation. Click the link below to view our contact information and fillable form to get in touch today!
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If you haven't still noticed, a lot of people are becoming more and more conscious of the food they eat and the condition of their bodies. Just go online and you will find many online articles about the healthy lifestyle, the right kinds of food to eat, and any kind of info that you need on this subject matter. Despite the numerous articles and information that we have, there are still may people who are unhealthy and have failed to achieve their health and fitness goals. Many people are simply unable to control themselves in their eating habits and harmful behaviors despite the many warnings that have been given and understood by them. It seems that people who have set their heart at doing the right things have found themselves unable to attain their goals. What this shows us is that, for many people, it is a difficult task to achieve a healthy lifestyle and also the reason why sicknesses still prevail today. Why are so many people failing to achieve a healthy lifestyle?
The influence of gratification is the main cause of this failure. We don't want to wait for a long time to see results but we want to ratify ourselves immediately after we have done something good. People will choose an instant reward anytime if asked to decide between that or something that can be had in the future which is far better than the instant one. Even if the future reward is a better one, they can't wait and will choose the instant one readily.
Applying this case to health, anything you do to benefit your body will not be seen immediately. You know that dieting and exercise is good for you if you are overweight, but then you will not attain the results immediately and when you think of the hunger that you will feel, or the tiredness of your body , and denying yourself of treats, then you immediately give up on your goals and be as you are. You don't do your dieting and exercising even though you know it is good for you since you will not see any benefit immediately. The failure of many people in achieving the healthy lifestyle is because of this.
Applying instant gratification to your health problem can be a solution to this problem. Just remember that it is not impossible to lay aside instant gratification to gain health benefits. There is no single solution to overcoming the problem of gratification perception. You can try some methods to do this. One of the ways you can do it is by adding a bit of instant gratification to your health plan. Just to give you motivation to help you achieve your health goals, you can reward yourself every time you achieve a goal on your healthy living plan. These rewards can help you slowly achieve your goals.


Does any nation hold the gold it says it does?
by Lawrence Williams, MineWeb China has 1,054.1 tonnes of gold in its official reserves. Yeah right! The USA has 8,133.5 tonnes in its reserves – the world's largest. But forgive me if I treat this figure, and those reported by some other central banks, with about as much scepticism as I treat the official Chinese figure. Much is made of the fact that China has not updated its official reserve figure since 2009 – but then the US has not updated its figure for nearly 40 years. Something similar applies to many other central banks which report identical gold volumes year in, year out. It's all a question of accounting and presentation of statistics. In truth the major central bank holders of gold only tell the IMF what they want the world to believe are their actual attributable gold holdings and the true amounts of accessible physical gold currently held on their own behalf are quite probably somewhat different in a number of cases. There are two potential factors at play here. A central bank may wish to obscure its actual gold holdings for political reasons or for financial ones (currency support). China has been widely believed to have been buying gold in quantity and boosting its reserves in secret by holding this gold in a separate account which it thus considers it does not need to report to the IMF as it is thus not yet part of its official reserve. Meanwhile, a number of Western central banks are believed to have leased out much of their gold to the bullion banks. These, in turn have offloaded the gold to clients or the general market (perhaps much of it ending up in China) or used it as collateral. But this is perhaps at such volumes that there's no way it can get paid back as bullion, as per the leasing terms, as the amount of available physical gold at the current gold price is totally insufficient to cover this. Indeed much of this gold may have been leased out when the gold price was far lower so it would be enormously more costly to replace now. This leased gold still appears in central banks' accounts as remaining in place in their reserves but it may well no longer be there physically. Hence the red flags raised when it was announced that it would take the German Bundesbank seven years to repatriate what is, in effect, a pretty modest amount of gold bullion from the US. Whether the German gold was immediately available for repatriation or not, or if there are other reasons for the time to be taken, cannot easily be explained, hence the doubts raised. These may be spurious, but perception is everything in global financial markets! Returning to China, Bloomberg has recently made quite an impact in other media in suggesting that its analysts reckon Chinese reserves are, in reality, around 2,500 tonnes higher than China says they are. This is not really news in that it is just updated research from calculations from over a year earlier. But it has had a strong impact this time due to speculation that China is indeed about to announce a new higher gold reserve figure. The suggestion is that the country may need to uproot its official reserve holding as a positive element in trying to get the yuan recognised as being part of the make-up of the IMF's Special Drawing Right when this comes up for re-assessment this year. This is perceived as an interim measure in getting the yuan ever more acceptable as a fully tradable currency in major global business transactions – a role currently dominated by the US dollar. China has already made big inroads in this respect with the negotiation of a number of bilateral trade deals bypassing the dollar. It may well say it does not wish to replace the dollar as THE global reserve currency, but it would certainly like to make inroads into the dollar's current pre-eminence here. Central banks as a rule won't facilitate full independent audits of their gold holdings so in effect the IMF effectively has to believe what the banks tell it in publishing global gold reserve data. Perhaps most central banks, but probably not all, are completely honest in their reporting. But the suggestion is that if it wishes to do so China could well announce to the IMF it has increased its gold holdings in its reserves to around 3,500 tonnes as Bloomberg suggests, apparently putting it into second place amongst global gold holders – or perhaps it could even say it has 9,000 tonnes (whether it does or not) putting it into first place. There is no transparency here. 3,500 tonnes is perhaps a nice compromise figure. It is sufficiently high for it to make an impact and give the yuan even more global credibility on its route to becoming a global reserve currency, but perhaps not so high that it would disrupt the gold price over-much. Far higher gold prices may not be in its best interests assuming it remains in a gold accumulation phase. However, if China was to say that it now has 9,000 tonnes in its reserves, replacing the US as the No. 1 gold holder, it would probably lead to a very substantial gold price rise. Now given there has been a considerable amount of what has to be state-sanctioned media publicity and advertising in China to persuade its citizens to buy gold, which has generated a vast number of new gold holders within the Chinese middle class, a big gold price boost could well be a way of helping stimulate the domestic economy which appears to have been slipping. Or is this a too Machiavellian idea even for the Chinese whose long-term planning capabilities enormously exceed those of the West? In terms of economic disruption in the West such a move could be catastrophic. The big short holders of gold (and of silver which would also rise enormously) would be bankrupted overnight throwing the financial system into potential chaos. A gold bull's dream, but not one we would want to seriously contemplate! This is all hypothetical of course, but does demonstrate that the perceived complete lack of transparency around central bank gold holdings means that the figures reported to the IMF, at least in some cases, could be totally open to political and strategic financial gerrymandering. The I.F has no real way of confirming the reality of the gold reserve figures reported to it. It relies totally on the honesty and integrity of those who control central bank policy and reporting. Although some, not many, central banks are supposedly independent of their host governments one suspects even the independents will bow to their administration's wishes and governments are notorious for manipulating statistical data in their own interests. Go figure.


text:
Ian Smeulers (Barendrecht, 12 januari 2000) is een Nederlands voetballer die bij voorkeur als linkervleugelverdediger speelt.

Carrière
Ian Smeulers speelde in de jeugd van VV Smitshoek en Feyenoord. In 2018 tekende hij een contract tot medio 2021 bij Feyenoord, en sindsdien speelt hij in Jong Feyenoord. In het seizoen 2019/20 wordt hij verhuurd aan FC Dordrecht, waar Feyenoord sinds 2019 een samenwerkingsverband mee heeft. Hij debuteerde voor Dordrecht op 15 november 2019, in de met 1-1 gelijkgespeelde thuiswedstrijd tegen Roda JC Kerkrade. Hij kwam in de 90e minuut in het veld voor Dwayne Green. In 2021 werd Smeulers verhuurd aan Willem II. Medio 2021 ging hij naar het Noorse Sandefjord Fotball dat uitkomt in de Eliteserien.

Clubstatistieken

Zie ook

 Lijst van spelers van FC Dordrecht

Nederlands voetballer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Dons tame the Cougars on Senior Day
James Salazar
Sophmore Abby Rathbun is surrounded by teammates and coaches following her buzzer-beating shot. Photo Courtesy of Christina Leung/USF Athletics
With two matchups left on the calendar, the last home game of the season gave the USF women's basketball team plenty of cause for celebration.
Before tipoff, the team commemorated Senior Day, honoring its three seniors, forwards Mikayla Williams and Dolapo Balogun and guard Rojeen Sharifi. By the end of the afternoon, the trio was rewarded with more than flowers and framed jerseys as the Dons walked away with a two-point win over their conference foe, the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars.
Points were hard to come by for the entirety of the game. In the first quarter, the Cougars implemented a full-court press to disrupt the Dons' offensive flow. When not searching for open shots, both sides contributed to their teams' respective hustle stats by chasing down every loose ball. Back-to-back BYU baskets gave the Cougars a two-possession lead over the Dons as the first quarter came to a close.
The second quarter told a different story offensively for the Dons. USF found holes in the Cougars' defense and managed to go on a 16-2 run, putting the Dons out in front by a score of 30-24. BYU gathered their bearings and erased the six-point deficit with a pair of 3-pointers, but a right-wing jumper by Balogun put the Dons up 32-30 heading into halftime.
Out of the locker room, BYU knotted the game up at 35 points apiece. Sophomore Kia Vaalavirta limited offensive looks for BYU's Brenna Chase Drollinger, taking away a majority of the Cougars' offense. The Dons ended the quarter on a high note with a 7-2 run, thus building a three-point lead over their opposition.
With 10 minutes left in regulation, BYU scored another pair of baskets to bring the game within striking distance. USF scored five unanswered points to push their lead back up to seven points with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. With the game up for grabs, the Cougars tied the game at 54 points apiece with a little under three minutes left in regulation. USF split a trip to the charity stripe, and BYU drove to the basket to take a 56-55 lead.
As time wound down, the game reached its fever pitch. USF drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key, taking a 58-56 lead, but a BYU layup tied the game at 58 points. With 1.8 seconds left and the game knotted up, USF took their last timeout.
In what was their final possession of the night, Williams tried draining a jumper off an inbound pass from guard Lucie Hoskova. Heavily guarded in the paint, Williams lobbed up a shot that sailed wide. Sophomore Abby Rathbun was in the right place at the right time as she collected Williams' missed field goal and laid up the game-winning buzzer-beater.
USF's 60-58 victory marked the first time that the Dons beat the Cougars in two years. The Dons will end their season with a two-game road trip against the University of the Pacific Tigers and the Saint Mary's Gaels on Feb. 27 and Feb. 29 respectively.
Dons win overtime thriller on the Hilltop
Boba for the Earth: Galina Lang

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Call 08458 15 15 15 or Email Us
Economic Intelligence Unit
Black Country LEP
Walsall to host 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships
Via University of Wolverhampton
Walsall is to host the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships – the first time an international sporting competition of this scale has been held in the town.
The University of Wolverhampton will host the event at its Walsall Campus, which is home to British Judo's Centre of Excellence - a relationship which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.
The Championships, from 25 – 29 September 2019, will be delivered in partnership with Walsall Council, and feature a broad range of categories including juniors, seniors, veterans and visually impaired with over 1,000 athletes expected to travel to the area throughout the competition.
The event will add to the growing list of top-level European and World judo competitions to be hosted in Britain in the 2017-2020 Olympic and Paralympic cycle which has already includes the 2017 IBSA European Championships, the 2018 Veteran European Championships and the 2018 European Open.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, Professor Geoff Layer, said:
We are incredibly proud to have been selected as the venue for the Judo Commonwealth Championships. This will be the first time we will host an international sporting competition of this scale on one of our campuses, and this will be an important step forward in the development of Walsall as a sporting destination.
The University and the British Judo Association share a long track record of collaborative working, particularly since the development of the Centre of Excellence and Dojo facility on our Walsall Campus in 2014. In addition, we're delighted to be partnering with Walsall Council to deliver the Championships which will also boost the visitor economy.
We are confident that the Championships will create a memorable experience for our students and staff, as well as athletes from around the world and members of the community, and we look forward to working with our partners at British Judo and Walsall Council to deliver an amazing event."
British Judo Chairman Ronnie Saez said:
I think it's a fantastic opportunity for British judoka to become involved in a top-quality event. Hopefully we'll put on a fantastic event and leave a legacy for all Home Country judoka to follow.
It promises to be a very big event and we take our obligations very seriously. We prepare scrupulously. We have got a good track record in delivering EJU events over the past 3-4 years and we have a very well-trained volunteer work force, which will help us to put on a championship of the required standard."
Councillor Garry Perry, Walsall Council's cabinet member for community, leisure and culture said:
Having the Commonwealth Judo Championships here in Walsall is a huge coup, not just for the University of Wolverhampton, but also for the borough of Walsall as well. We look forward to showing visitors from across the commonwealth all that Walsall has to offer."
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Hey everyone! The brand new Bella Blvd Design Team is being introduced all this week on the Bella Blvd blog and today is my turn. I just adore this company and am so thrilled to be part of their team. Their designs are just so very "me" and it is so easy for me to create with their products. Total scrappy crush that's for sure!
I created this layout using all goodies from one of the newest Bella Blvd collections - Making the Team. Oh how this sport lovin' boy mama loves this collection! The colors are just perfect and I was so excited to scrap some of these photos I took of Darian all suited up in his football uniform. Doesn't he look great? hee! And I know I've said it before but I'll say it again - I just LOVE the font of the letter stickers Bella Blvd has for each collection. It's just so fun and versatile and the perfect size for longer titles.
One of my favorite new additions to Bella Blvd's lineup of products (like my sports themed play on words there? LOL) are their Miniatures Stickers. These stickers are a great size for layering and adding those little embellishment clusters here and there.
This next layout uses a mix of several Bella Blvd collections both old and new. I love that I was able to dig into my stash and find papers and embellishments that coordinated (both in color and theme) with some of the newest products from Bella Blvd. This is a photo of my adorable little niece Gia I snapped while we were vacationing in Ocean City this summer. Isn't she such a cutie? Oh and I'm loving these alphabet stickers as well - again another super versatile font.


text:
function [critInput] = sineGratingPrep(Parameters, ScreenData, StimSettings, NumSubframes)
%
%  Prepares input parameters for sineGratingDraw

%--------------------------------------------------------------------------
% FlyFly v2
%
% Jonas Henriksson, 2010                                   info@flyfly.se
%--------------------------------------------------------------------------

if nargin<4
    NumSubframes = 1;
end

[tmp, numRuns] = size(Parameters);

P.wavelength  = Parameters(1,:);
P.freq        = Parameters(2,:)/NumSubframes;
P.angle       = Parameters(3,:);
P.patchHeight = Parameters(4,:);
P.patchWidth  = Parameters(5,:);
P.patchXpos   = Parameters(6,:);
P.patchYpos   = Parameters(7,:);
P.contrast    = Parameters(8,:);

P.angle = flipAngleDeg(P.angle);

angleRad = P.angle*pi/180;         % deg orientation.
fRad     = 1./P.wavelength*2*pi;   % cycles/pixel

% TEXTURE
usedTextures = struct('contrast', [], 'wavelength', [], 'freq', [], 'angle', []);
texture = [];

newTex       = 1;

texX = P.patchWidth  / 2;
texY = P.patchHeight / 2;

xAdd = abs(P.wavelength.*cos(angleRad));
yAdd = abs(P.wavelength.*sin(angleRad));

white = WhiteIndex(ScreenData.screenNumber);
black = BlackIndex(ScreenData.screenNumber);
gray  = round((white+black)/2);
inc   = white - gray;

p = 1;

for k = 1:numRuns

    tmpTex.contrast   = P.contrast(k);
    tmpTex.wavelength = P.wavelength(k);
    tmpTex.freq       = P.freq(k);
    tmpTex.angle      = P.angle(k);

    for n = 1:length(usedTextures)
        if isequal(tmpTex, usedTextures(n))
            newTex = 0;
            index  = n;
            break;
        end
    end

    if newTex
        usedTextures(p) = tmpTex;

        %make grating
        [x,y]    = meshgrid(-(texX+xAdd(k)):texX+xAdd(k), -(texY+yAdd(k)):texY+yAdd(k) );

        a = cos(angleRad(k))*fRad(k);
        b = sin(angleRad(k))*fRad(k);

        grating = sin(a*x + b*y);
        grating = gray+inc*grating;
        grating = P.contrast(k)*(grating - gray) + gray;

        texture(p) = Screen('MakeTexture', ScreenData.wPtr, grating);

        index = length(texture);
        p = p +1;
    end
    textureIndex(k) = index;
    newTex = 1;
end

pixelsPerFrame = P.wavelength.*P.freq *ScreenData.ifi;

critInput.texture = texture;
critInput.dstRect = [P.patchXpos - texX;             P.patchYpos - texY; ...
    P.patchXpos + texX;  P.patchYpos + texY ];

critInput.srcRect = [xAdd; yAdd; xAdd+P.patchWidth; yAdd+P.patchHeight];

critInput.pixelsPerFrame = pixelsPerFrame;
critInput.wavelength     = P.wavelength;
critInput.angle          = angleRad;
critInput.textureIndex   = textureIndex;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Reports of sexual violence in armed conflict frequently appear in political discussions and news media, presenting a stark contrast to a long history of silence and nonrecognition. Conflict-related sexual violence has transitioned rapidly from a neglected human rights issue to an unambiguous security concern on the agendas of powerful states and the United Nations Security Council. Through interviews and primary-source evidence, Kerry F. Crawford investigates the reasons for this dramatic change and the implications of the securitization of sexual violence.
Views about wartime sexual violence began changing in the 1990s as a result of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and then accelerated in the 2000s. Three case studies—the United States' response to sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1820 in 2008, and the development of the United Kingdom's Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative—illustrate that use of the weapon of war frame does not represent pure co-optation by the security sector. Rather, well-placed advocates have used this frame to advance the antisexual violence agenda while simultaneously working to move beyond the frame's constraints. This book is a groundbreaking account of the transformation of international efforts to end wartime sexual violence.
Kerry F. Crawford is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at James Madison University. She was the recipient of the 2015-2016 James N. Rosenau Postdoctoral Scholar Fellowship from the International Studies Association. This is her first book.


Creates a UiImage element with default settings.
The prism to create this image for.
The path to the PNG to render for the image.
Flag that pngFile is an absolute path name, instead of a relative path.
Specifies whether the image should have a frame.
The resource ID to render for the image.
Creates a UiImage element with System icon.
The SystemIcon type for the image.
Gets the model resource for the image frame.
Gets the render resource for the image.
Gets the texture resource for the system icon.
the SystemIcon to get the ResourceIdType for.
Returns the texture coordinates used by the UiImage.
Sets a color to modulate the image with.
Sets the model resource used for the image frame.
and 1 meter wide and to be centered at the origin.
Sets the opacity state of the image.
The new opacity state of the image.
Sets if the image needs to be rendered on UI Layer.
The new UiLayerRender state of the image.
Sets the render resource used for the image.
Sets the texture coordinates used by the UiImage.
representing the UV coordinates of the 4 corners.


Pamela Souza directs an active laboratory whose members study aspects of aging, cognition, and speech perception. Her research interests include use of signal- processing amplification which affects acoustic speech cues, how those changes interact with listener age and cognitive status, and how research findings in this area can direct clinical practice. Recent collaborative research includes how age and working memory influence response to hearing aid signal processing; consequences of loss of spectral (pitch) selectivity; and how traumatic brain injury affects speech and sound perception. Dr. Souza is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and serves on the Psychoacoustic and Perception Technical Committee of the ASA. Her work issupported by the National Institutes of Deafness and Communication Disorders. She is also a practicing clinical audiologist who has worked to geriatric populations, includingnearly 15 years as a VA audiologist.


text:
Q: New CSV by combining 2 csv files I have 2 CSV files that has
File1:
Column1,column2
data1, data2

File2:
Column3,column4, column5,column6
data3,data4,data5,data6

I have to create a new CSV file that combines both columns from file 1 with the 1st and 3rd columns from file 2 (4 total columns).
Column1,column2,column3,column5
data1,data2,data3,data5

I am looking to do this using batch file commands. Any suggestions?
Code i am using helps me copy one file.
@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
(
FOR /f "tokens=1-3delims=," %%a IN (file1.csv) DO (
 ECHO(%%a,%%c
)
)>new.csv

GOTO :EOF

A: How about following script?
File1.csv :
column1,column2
data1,data2
data3,data4
data5,data6

File2.csv :
column3,column4,column5,column6
data3,data4,data5,data6
data7,data8,data9,data10

Script :
@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

set ct1=0
for /f "tokens=*" %%i in (File1.csv) do (
    set /a ct1+=1
    set ar1[!ct1!]=%%i
)

set ct2=0
for /f "tokens=*" %%i in (File2.csv) do (
    set /a ct2+=1
    set ar2[!ct2!]=%%i
)

if !ct1! lss !ct2! (
    set ct=!ct2!
) else (
    set ct=!ct1!
)

for /l %%i in (1,1,!ct!) do (
    echo !ar1[%%i]!,!ar2[%%i]!>> new.csv
)

new.csv :
column1,column2,column3,column4,column5,column6
data1,data2,data3,data4,data5,data6
data3,data4,data7,data8,data9,data10
data5,data6,

A: Here is a pure batch solution that works, but with the following limitations and or assumptions:

*

*File 1 lines are terminated by carriage return and linefeed (Windows style)

*File 1 lines are no longer than 1021 bytes

*File 2 must have a value for each column (no consecutive commas)

*File 2 line lengths never exceed ~8191 bytes

*File 2 does not have any quoted column values that include commas.

*Files 1 and 2 have the same number of lines

*Neither file has quoted data values that include new lines (rare, but possible within a CSV).

@echo off
setlocal disableDelayedExpansion
<"file1.csv" >"merged.csv" (
  for /f "usebackq eol=, delims=, tokens=1,3" %%A in ("file2.csv") do (
    set /p "part1="
    set "part2=%%A,%%B"
    setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
    echo !part1!,!part2!
    endlocal
  )
)

A much more robust and faster solution is possible if you use PowerShell, JScript, or VBS.
You can also implement an efficient and robust solution using JREPL.BAT - a regular expression text processing utility. JREPL.BAT is pure script (hybrid batch/JScript) that runs natively on any Windows machine from XP onward. Full documentation is available from the command line via jrepl /?, or jrepl /?? for paged help.
This JREPL solution has only the following reasonable limitations:

*

*Files 1 and 2 must have the same number of lines

*Neither file has quoted data values that include new lines

@echo off
setlocal
set "col=\q(?:\q\q|[^,\q])*\q|[^,]*"
call jrepl "^(%col%),(?:%col%),(%col%)(?:,.*|$)" ^
           "$txt=stdin.ReadLine()+','+$1+','+$2" ^
           /jq /x /f "file2.csv" /o "merged.csv" <"file1.csv"

A: This  flexible script does what you want, given that the following restrictions are not violated:

*

*both files must contain the same number of lines;

*the number of columns per line/row must be equal per each file;

*lines are no longer than 1023 bytes, including the terminating line-break;

*field/cell values must not contain line-breaks;

*each line/row must be terminated by Windows-style line-breaks (CR+LF);

*the given column numbers to copy must be sorted in ascending order;

So here is the code:
@echo off
setlocal EnableExtensions DisableDelayedExpansion

rem // Define constants here:
set "_FILE1=%~dp0File1.csv" & rem // (1st input CSV file; state `%~1` to use 1st arg.)
set "_FILE2=%~dp0File2.csv" & rem // (2nd input CSV file; state `%~2` to use 2nd arg.)
set "_COLS1=1,2"            & rem // (ascending list of columns to copy from 1st file)
set "_COLS2=1,3"            & rem // (ascending list of columns to copy from 2nd file)
set "_SEPAR=,"              & rem // (separator character, usually `,`)

rem // Main routine:
4< "%_FILE1%" 3< "%_FILE2%" (
    call :READLINE
)

endlocal
exit /B

:READLINE
    rem // Read a line of both files:
    set "LINE1=" & set "LINE2="
    <&4 set /P LINE1=""
    <&3 set /P LINE2=""
    rem // Terminate sub-routine in case both lines are empty:
    if not defined LINE1 if not defined LINE2 exit /B
    rem // Process lines:
    call :PROCESS LINE1 LINE2
    rem // Repeat reading:
    goto :READLINE
    exit /B

:PROCESS  ref_string1  ref_string2
    setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
    set "BUF=%_SEPAR%"
    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
    rem // Test both strings against global wild-card characters:
    set "STR1=!%~1!" & set "STR2=!%~2!"
    if "!STR1:**=!!STR2:**=!"=="!STR1!!STR2!" goto :PROCESS_CONT
    if "!STR1:*?=!!STR2:*?=!"=="!STR1!!STR2!" goto :PROCESS_CONT
    if "!STR1:*<=!!STR2:*<=!"=="!STR1!!STR2!" goto :PROCESS_CONT
    if "!STR1:*>=!!STR2:*>=!"=="!STR1!!STR2!" goto :PROCESS_CONT
    >&2 echo(ERROR: Illegal character encountered^^!
    exit /B 1
    :PROCESS_CONT
    rem // Prepare line strings for being processed by a standard `for` loop:
    set "STR1=!STR1:"=""!^"
    set "STR2=!STR2:"=""!^"
    set "STR1="!STR1:%_SEPAR%=","!""
    set "STR2="!STR2:%_SEPAR%=","!""
    rem // `for /F` loops to transport prepared line strings beyond `endlocal`:
    for /F "delims=" %%E in (^""!STR1!"^") do (
        for /F "delims=" %%F in (^""!STR2!"^") do (
            endlocal
            rem // Process 1st line string:
            set /A "IDX=0"
            for %%I in (%%~E) do (
                rem // Compare column index of current item with given column list:
                set /A "IDX+=1" & set "FND="
                for %%J in (%_COLS1%) do (
                    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
                    if !IDX! EQU %%J (
                        endlocal & set "FND=#"
                    ) else endlocal
                )
                rem // Matching column index encountered, so assemble output line:
                if defined FND (
                    set "NEW=%%~I%_SEPAR%"
                    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
                    for /F "delims=" %%K in (^""!BUF!!NEW!"^") do (
                        endlocal
                        set "BUF=%%~K"
                    )
                )
            )
            rem // Process 1st line string:
            set /A "IDX=0"
            for %%I in (%%~F) do (
                rem // Compare column index of current item with given column list:
                set /A "IDX+=1" & set "FND="
                for %%J in (%_COLS2%) do (
                    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
                    if !IDX! EQU %%J (
                        endlocal & set "FND=#"
                    ) else endlocal
                )
                rem // Matching column index encountered, so assemble output line:
                if defined FND (
                    set "NEW=%%~I%_SEPAR%"
                    setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
                    for /F "delims=" %%K in (^""!BUF!!NEW!"^") do (
                        endlocal
                        set "BUF=%%~K"
                    )
                )
            )
            setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
        )
    )
    rem // Return output line buffer:
    echo(!BUF:~1,-1!
    endlocal
    endlocal
    exit /B

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This National Student Money Week (4-8 February), take a moment to think about your financial habits and prepare for the term ahead.
Last summer, YouthSight ran a survey on the financial capability and financial position of full-time undergraduate students in the UK. The survey results defined five different student approaches and attitudes towards money.
Look at the five student types below. Which do you most identify with?
They are cushioned by their family's money, leaving them comfortably off.
They have the highest savings, and are unlikely to be in debt.
They find it easy to keep up with bills since their parents pay their bills.
They come from a less affluent background.
They budget well – their money saving skills mean that they have managed to save a lot of money.
They are comfortable, but need to stay on top of their money to keep this stability.
They are living at home, often in more expensive areas like London.
They don't have to pay household bills but are still struggling to save, leaving them squeezed.
They are unaware of their financial situation and have no provisions for income shocks.
Although they may come from a comfortable background, their university life is likely to feel more squeezed.
Outside pressures and difficulty budgeting may leave them in debt.
They struggle to repay debts, leaving them strapped for cash.
They are struggling but think it will always be this way. They're unlikely to have extra income.
They are deep in debt and take out payday loans and unauthorised overdrafts to get by.
They don't see the value in saving and budgeting, or why they should do it.
I'm not in debt and my parents deal with most of my bills. I save a bit and want to be able to afford a good life after uni, but I could plan my finances better. I want to be able to save while still having fun.
I don't come from a rich family, so I've had to learn the hard way to get into good financial habits. I save regularly and am reluctant to spend money. I have set financial goals and rarely get into debt. Is there anything else I can do to set myself up for the future?
I've just started university and realised everything is so expensive! How do my friends survive on just a student loan? I'm enjoying myself but I'm so glad I'm living at home and don't have to think about finances yet.
I really want to go on holiday next year but I need to pay off my debts first. I've been spending too much recently. Being more restrained could help me build a savings buffer.
I'm in debt and have a tendency to go into unauthorised overdrafts or use short-term loans as a way to keep myself afloat. I can't always see the value in planning for the future, so I don't always save. I do worry about my finances, but is there any point in trying to improve them?
Whichever type you identify with, the Student Funding Team based in the Student Life Centre can help you resolve problems or concerns relating to your finances during your studies. You'll get information on funding sources, expert financial advice and practical support, so you can make the most of your time at Sussex.
You can book an appointment with a Student Money Adviser through Sussex Direct, by emailing studentlifecentre@sussex.ac.uk or by phoning 01273 876767.
Visit our Student Budgeting pages to find tips for managing and saving money at university.


text:
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World Stock Market - Stock Markets, Business News, Financials
A. Tsipras: Virtual reality budget
By Derek Black	 Last updated Dec 14, 2021
Frontal and full-fledged is the attack that SYRIZA is preparing on the Government during the discussion on the budget (it will be voted next Saturday).
This emerges from points in the presentation Alexis Tsipras to his Parliamentary Group which met earlier, behind closed doors and via zoom.
"The government is presenting a budget that considers the pandemic over and the wave of price increases and accuracy is temporary," he said, adding that it was fictitious, Tsipras was quoted as saying by party sources.
At the same time, he announced a "battle" of all government material in Parliament during the debate (it starts tomorrow afternoon at 18.00).
"The budget debate is not a battle that will only concern the economy. It will be a total battle, a political battle," he told lawmakers.
In this context, based on party sources, Mr. Tsipras said, among other things:
"Apart from the economic figures, the battle of the Budget, the long debate in the Parliament is not only about the economy. It is a total political confrontation and as such we must see it. of the vote of confidence, but it also has the character of opposition, denunciation and counter-proposal for the opposition parties, so we must see this confrontation as a total parliamentary battle of conflict with the implemented Mitsotakis policy.
This confrontation comes at a critical time for Greek society. At a peak of what I often call a "double pandemic". From the health one, which goes from bad to worse every day, with the country in recent months champion all over Western Europe in losses per million population and with the NSS collapsing. And this forms objectively heavy responsibilities for the government and its manipulations.
And on the other with the "pandemic" of accuracy, which has not yet peaked. We are still on the rise of a phenomenon that affects very heavy households and businesses.
Terrifying price increases on all products and especially the outrageous increases in electricity and energy bills are taking households and businesses off the budget and leading to a rapid decline in income and purchasing power. We must not overlook the fact that at the time of the debate in Parliament, the majority of professionals, farmers, employees and especially small and medium-sized enterprises are facing a frightening increase in the cost of production and shrinking income, while households are facing the syndrome of the third week. That is, their money runs out before the third week of the month even ends.
The budget in the figures gives signs of recovery, after the terrible recession of last year. But it is one thing to talk about sustainable development and another to talk about recovery, the rebound, that is, from last year when we had a fall in GDP close to 9 points.
The crucial issue, however, is whether this recovery will be inclusive, ie it will affect the majority of citizens, households and businesses or whether it will affect a few who will have increased profits even during the pandemic. While equally crucial is the sustainability, prospects and course of the Greek economy as a whole.
So it is no exaggeration that in Mr. Mitsotakis's Greece the numbers are prosperous but the people are suffering.
A key element we must insist on is the fact that the government is presenting a budget which considers the pandemic over and the wave of price increases and accuracy to be temporary.
A budget that is virtual reality and out of place and time.
The reason why Mr. Mitsotakis and his government are submitting this off-site and out-of-time budget, ignoring the ongoing pandemic crisis and accuracy, is their commitments, which were reflected in the Medium-Term Approval approved last June, for fiscal adjustment between 2022 and 2023 of the order of 9 percentage points. This is a frightening fiscal adjustment amid a pandemic and an explosion of the energy crisis.
The government has set a target of moving the primary deficit from 7% to 1% at the end of 2022 and to a + 2% surplus at the end of 2023.
The fiscal adjustment of 9 points in two years is equivalent to the terrible fiscal adjustment made in 2013, the toughest memorandum period. And it is extremely difficult to achieve without dramatic economic and social consequences and an explosion of inequality.
We therefore understand why the government decides to table a budget that it considers an end to the pandemic and cuts with a knife the aid and support measures.
Therefore, our criticism of the government concerns both the imaginary image it cultivates for the country and the pandemic, but also its refusal to support vulnerable social, economic and professional groups due to the pandemic, due to its commitments in the medium term. As well as in its timidity to demand from now on the revision of the Stability Pact.
Mitsotaki's forecast – commitment for 2% primary surplus in 2023 comes at a time when this debate about where the EU will "land" the day after the pandemic and the emergence of an alternative agenda to the failed austerity measures implemented in the pre-pandemic period, is in full swing. The Mitsotakis government, however, is absent from this debate.
An important element of our critique of this budget is the planning for the allocation of European Recovery Fund resources. A design that puts the cart in front of the horse. It does not put forward needs and goals. It does not aim for inclusive sustainable development. It does not aim to alleviate inequalities and, above all, regional inequalities, or even to support small and medium-sized enterprises, the vast majority of which are completely excluded. It does not aim to reduce unemployment. But first they plan how to distribute the money to large business groups and then based on the division they have pre-decided, they see what goals can be achieved.
But even so, Mr. Mitsotakis's government is showing an unprecedented inefficiency in absorbing this money in time. Already based on last year's budget, they provided for disbursement of 1.5 billion. euros in 2022. This was revised during the deposit of the Medium Term to 650 million, to finally close the current year with a disbursement that as everything shows will not exceed 150 million euros.
This is a very bad omen, which shows us that apart from the design and our basic opposition to the design structure or model of the Recovery Fund that throws out social needs and small and medium-sized enterprises, there is also a question in relation to the absorption of resources, which the Mitsotakis government will deal with very strongly in the coming period.
Returning, however, to the great problems of the Budget, which concern what the average citizen experiences, the pandemic and the crisis of accuracy, we can only emphasize:
Cutting health spending.
The absence of costs to deal with accuracy.
Structural budget failures that could lead to a frightening economic and social impasse from the very first months of next year.
Particularly in the area of the health crisis, not only does it not provide for increased spending on health, but it also predicts a frightening reduction in spending of almost € 800 million. This is a criminal decision.
Mr. Mitsotakis does not refuse to support the NSS only due to reluctance to spend for the welfare state but also out of ideological obsession, since he has left for two years without support the public health system and the health professionals. Precisely because his perception of the economy and society is not the perception of a strong public space but of strengthening in any way the private sector even to the detriment of the State.
Finally, I consider it necessary for our criticism to always be enriched by suggestions.
To show that there is another way out of the crisis with society standing.
With measures to support social groups that continue to be affected.
With the reduction of EFK in fuel, heating and driving oil, agricultural oil.
With the immediate increase of the minimum wage to 800 euros.
An initiative similar to those taken by other European countries (Spain, Portugal, Germany) as a measure of inaccuracy. And this is not just a pro-people policy but a highly developmental one, given that in a time of crisis the purchasing power of the citizens is strengthened and this money will be able to move the market.
The government's argument that SMEs will not be able to stand it is false, because our proposal to increase the minimum wage is directly linked to a business support policy with our emblematic proposal to settle the pandemic debt with a write-off and part of the principal debt.
It is a debt that was created without the responsibility of the people who do business, they did not take business risk, they were forced to close. And it is a proposal – as we have the solvency to deposit it since we did the same for the insurance debts after the exit from the memoranda – that does not create a large financial burden, it may be very small or non-existent, since these debts , unless conditions are created that will facilitate their repayment, they may never be repaid, with many companies facing padlocks, from which the State will collect absolutely nothing but debts.
The Budget debate is not just about the economy. It will be a total battle, a political battle.
Towards the government and its policy, everyone should be placed on the basis of their own experiences, the sector and the region they represent.
Why should no one forget that in this battle in Parliament we represent our fellow citizens, who want to hear their problems, anxieties, demands and realistic proposals for their solution, away from ideological obsessions, incompetence and the inaction of the government of Mr. Mitsotakis.
Source From: Capital
Alexis TsiprasbudgetSYRIZA
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Verdiem's New CEO, Jeremy Jaech, Sees Big Opportunity in IT Energy Savings
Updated Dec. 3 with comments from Ed Lazowska (see below): Seattle-based Verdiem, a cleantech-meets-computing firm, announced its new chief executive today. He is Jeremy Jaech, the co-founder of software powerhouses Aldus and Visio, a University of Washington alum, and a certified tech-entrepreneur giant of the Northwest. I've had my eye on Verdiem as an interesting company to watch, and spoke with Jaech by phone this afternoon to get his thoughts on his new position (he's in New York for customer meetings).
"I'm kind of an old guy in this business," Jaech says. Earlier this year, he stepped down as CEO of the Seattle online startup Trumba, which he says was "downsized to profitability." What got him excited about Verdiem was three things. First, the company's concept—software to monitor energy consumption and turn off computers when they're not being used—is simple and powerful. "This is a really easy [return on investment] argument with large organizations," he says. "It's a simple concept with a quick ROI." Second, the technology is mature and based on a fair bit of research. "It's a simple concept, but hard to do right," he says. And third, he says, "the political winds are shifted. They're at the company's back now." With the incoming Obama Administration, he says, companies are more concerned with going green, and in that regard will move more in the direction of European companies.
A quick snapshot of the problem, and the opportunity: something like 60 percent of personal computers are left on 24 hours a day. Companies could save $30 to $60 per PC and monitor per year, if they shut them down for the roughly two-thirds of the time they're not in use, says Jaech. Meanwhile, the average computer puts out about 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year. What's more, IT accounts for a sizeable and fast-growing chunk of total energy usage around the world—roughly 4 percent, based on a 2006 EPA report.
So what's unique about Verdiem's product? Jaech says it's the only software out there completely focused on managing, measuring, and reporting the energy consumption of corporate IT. That includes dealing with "troublesome computers"—those that won't turn off or won't turn back on, which is a technical issue. Verdiem also provides free software to consumers for personal computers; that tool has about 175,000 users.
I asked Jaech about his goals as an incoming CEO in this field. "A lot of my focus right now is executing on what we already have," he says. Verdiem's product is "mature, it works, customers like it. Big companies—that's where the energy savings are, and a lot of [carbon dioxide] emissions can be saved." Most of Verdiem's corporate customers have 10,000 computers or more, he says. As for Verdiem itself, it has about 55 employees and has had 300 percent revenue growth in the past year, Jaech says.
On selling Verdiem's product to corporations, he says, "Oftentimes, IT doesn't care that much about energy savings on their own. It's pressure from a C-level executive, or it comes through facilities people who worry about the energy bill. You have to convince IT that this isn't going to make their job harder, it makes it easier. The place to start is outside of the IT organization…It doesn't require a change in user behavior. That's pretty easy. We have something for them that's a quick win, and relatively painless. As more things are connected to the network, the environment is very receptive to thinking about IT energy savings."
On that note, I asked Jaech for some broader thoughts on the future of cleantech and IT. "The reception we get is quite remarkable," he says. "Companies are starting to create C-level positions, like chief sustainability officer, that are responsible for the carbon footprint of the company…They want to be a step ahead of the government, and a lot of it starts with measurement." He adds, "Companies are starting to get really interested."
Reached for comment on Jaech's appointment, Ed Lazowska of the UW's computer science and engineering department writes, "Jeremy is arguably the most successful serial software entrepreneur in Seattle. He's smart. He's technical. He's insightful. And he's a genuinely good human being…He brings out the best in people."
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text:
Standing Up to the 'Messianic' Menace
Not content with preying upon the weak, the lonely and the infirm, Christian missionaries posing as adherents of Judaism are setting up shop in our own back yard. For those not familiar with "Messianic Judaism," allow me to bring you up to speed. Please note that this is a very brief overview, perhaps a bit oversimplified, but intended to convey a general understanding of the Messianic Movement.
In an effort to make Christianity more palatable to Jews, who are raised in a strong monotheistic tradition, often with an extensive knowledge of the history of Christian anti-Semitism, a handful of missionaries decided to repackage their faith as a form of Judaism. So they call their church a "synagogue," they dub their ministers "rabbis," start peppering their speech with Yiddish phrases, and BAM! Instant Judaism! Similarly, to smooth out some of Christianity's rough edges for Jewish consumption, "Jesus" is only addressed by the Hebrew "Yeshua," and the cross magically becomes a "tree."
We're not here to debate the intricacies of the Messianic movement, or the differences between "Chosen People Ministries" and "Jews for Jesus." The fact is that these are groups that deceptively target unwitting Jews with the message that a Jew can convert to Christianity and still be Torah-observant.
I'm going to take a risk here, and briefly address our Christian readers. Yes, we are a Jewish newspaper with a largely Orthodox readership. But since making our presence felt online, the Jewish Voice has, ironically, attracted hundreds, if not thousands, of dedicated Christian readers as well, and we welcome them. These Christians, most of whom are also staunch Zionists, appreciate the pro-American, pro-Israel perspective offered by the JV. They enjoy our coverage of issues concerning the IDF, and Israel's welfare in general. And here is what I would like to say to the Christian reader of this editorial:
When we find it necessary to stand up to these missionaries, you should be standing with us!
Even if you support the proselytization of Jews, is it not beneath your dignity to do so through dishonest means? Taking Christianity and repackaging it as Judaism is blatant false advertising. Judaism plus Jesus does not equal Christianity. Christianity minus Jesus does not equal Judaism. Christianity may have started its life as a Jewish sect, but it branched off nearly two thousand years ago, and exists today as a distinct religious tradition. There are so many nuances that make our faiths unique, that to attempt to conflate the two is to denigrate them both.
To put it another way: These pseudo-Jews are insulting both of us!
Turning back now to the JV's primary (and originally intended) readership, my fellow Jews:
Rabotai – the only way to defend against the impending missionary threat is to strengthen ourselves spiritually. As cliché as it may sound, increasing our Torah learning (never a bad idea) is a good place to start. As a general rule, one should never let him or herself get drawn into a debate with a missionary. The potential for chilul Hashem far outweighs any conceivable benefit from the exchange. But if you find yourself with your back to the wall, allow me to offer you some advice, based on my own experience. There are three factors common to the vast majority of missionary "proof texts" (Biblical verses by which the missionary asserts that his Christian beliefs are alluded to in the Tanakh):
– Verses taken out of context
– Flagrant errors in translation
– A reliance on quantity over quality
Context is Key:
This is a common one and I won't spend much time on it. Suffice it to say that when a missionary confronts you with a specific verse in the Torah, explaining it as a reference to Christianity, generally one need not look any further than the beginning of the posuk, the beginning of the paragraph, or at most the beginning of the chapter in which the verse appears, to gain a correct understanding of the context, which missionaries will often deliberately obscure. Many passages understood by Christian apologists as "prophecies" regarding their deity are understood by rabbinic tradition (or indeed, by anyone reading the passages in their original context) as referring to, for instance, King David, or as an allegory for the entire nation of Israel.
Lost in Translation:
"Behold," says the prophet (Isaiah in this case), "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (G-d with us)."
The navi is clearly foreshadowing the rise of Christianity, is he not? Who else claims their chosen one shall be the product of a virgin birth (well, other than the various pagan traditions from which the early Church drew most of its dogma)? Except that in the original Hebrew, the verse says an "alma" shall conceive, "alma" meaning young woman. "Betulah" is the word for virgin, and suffice it to say that if the prophet was referring to a betulah, he would have said betulah. And of course, there's the "Immanuel" thing. Aside from the obvious fact that Christians don't pray "in Immanuel's name," there's the disingenuousness of taking a common name, meaning "Hashem is with us," and removing the implied "is," which is never removed in any other context. Many Hebrew names are a combination of G-d's name and some noun or verb. They always mean "G-d is X" or "G-d does X." Never would you combine the words Imanu (with us) and Kel (G-d) and think "oh, his name is G-d (with us)." This little deception is a two-for-one: both a mistranslation and something taken out of its cultural and linguistic context.
A Landfill May be Big and Impressive, but it's Still Full of Garbage:
Once they establish their center of operations here in Flatbush, you may find yourself confronted by a missionary who swears to you that he has hundreds, even thousands of "proof texts" taken from our Bible, that prove that the Torah is just a prequel to the Gospels. Just remember that quantity by itself proves nothing. The above techniques alone, applied as a litmus test, will debunk the majority of these so-called "proofs." The others may require a more thorough background in Torah scholarship, which is why, unless you're a rabbi specializing in the subject, you should leave the inter-faith debates to the professionals, and if confronted, consult with experts like the good people at Jews for Judaism, or talk to your LOR (Local Orthodox Rabbi).
Just remember one thing: One times zero is zero. Ten times zero, is zero. A thousand times zero, is still zero. And in the end, that's all these Messianics have (and in my opinion, all they are), an endless string of zeroes.
The only way to fight this threat is not through violence or intimidation, G-d forbid. It's a free country, and these people are welcome to say whatever they want. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to strengthen ourselves, and increase our learning and mitzvah observance (and in particular, acts of kindness towards our less affiliated brothers and sisters).
By so doing may we merit mankind's ultimate redemption, with the coming of the actual Messiah, may it be speedily and in our days.


I received an email this week with a link to an info graphic that someone thought I might like to use. They were right! It's such a great image. This isn't a sponsored post. I don't get anything for sharing the image. I just thought it was something that you might like.
You all know that I love to garden but I also want you to love to garden! It's such a fun, practical, and tasty skill. I discussed the reasons why I garden and how to start a cold loving garden in this post.
Isn't that a great info graphic?
Go grab your gloves and the hose, you have no reason to delay gardening any longer. Are you convinced yet?
And if you need a little more inspiration, Rachel at Thrifty Inspirations made two boxes and filled them for $50 too! Her DYI instructions/post can be found here!
My boxes are 4 by 8 and I have one filled with 25 strawberry plants. I picked 5 quarts and made freezer jam yeasterday. It is a great way to eat healthy that requires only a small space.
Wow this is crazy! I have a 6 x 6 garden and was fretting that I wouldn't be able to fit enough in! This shows me I totally can! Thanks!!
What would be considered a "Really Small" plant?
I'm baffled as to how a blueberry plant is considered small. I guess make sure you get a low bush variety and plant it towards the middle and be prepared for it to get bigger (at least one square). Personally high bush varieties are better and you get more off of them. Good luck!


Into the Great Litany: "For God's mercy upon us, His unworthy servants, that we may all be protected from hatred and evil actions, that we may have instilled in us unselfish love by which all shall know that we are disciples of Christ and God's people, as were our holy ancestors, so that we may always know to decide for the truth and righteousness of the Heavenly Kingdom, let us pray to the Lord".
"For all those who commit injustice against their neighbors, whether by causing sorrow to orphans or spilling innocent blood or by returning hatred for hatred, that God will grant them repentance, enlighten their minds and hearts and illumine their souls with the light of love even towards their enemies, let us pray to the Lord".
"O Lord, how many are our foes who battle against us and say: there is no help for them from God or man. O Lord, stretch forth Thy hands that we may remain Thy people in both faith and works. If we must suffer, let it by in the ways of Thy justice and Thy truth -- let it not be because of our injustice or hatred against anyone. Let us all fervently say: Lord have mercy".
"Again let us pray to God, the Savior of all men, also for our enemies -- that our people Lord who loves mankind will turn them away from attacks on our Orthodox people, that they not destroy our churches and cemeteries, that they not kill our children or persecute our people, but that they too may turn to the way of repentance, justice and salvation. Let us all fervently say: Lord have mercy".


Mrs. Segura is a Partner of the firm and the Officer in charge of Financial and Administrative Services. She has over 20 years of experience in administrative operations and property management, handling a variety of financial, administrative, and oversight functions.
A fully bi-lingual and bi-cultural professional, Mrs. Segura is proficient in selected accounting software and office packages.
She maintains the firm's relationships with external auditors, commercial banks, credit card companies, and other services and vendors. Furthermore, she oversees the firm's compliance with government contracting requirements, as well as all bookkeeping and accounting processes, record keeping and filing system, and home office support to client service consultants.
Prior to co-founding the firm, Mrs. Segura was active in real estate property management including advertising, screening and reviewing applications, negotiating contracts, overseeing maintenance and repair work, and performing all administrative and accounting related activities.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees from The American University in Washington DC, as well as an Associate of Arts (AA), from Montgomery College of Rockville, Maryland. Mrs. Segura is fluent in Spanish (native speaker) and has a basic knowledge of French and German.


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Georgia man to be executed for killing store clerk in $38 robbery
A Georgia man faces execution on Thursday, three decades after he was convicted of fatally shooting a convenience store clerk and stealing $38 after he and two friends went bar hopping.
Texas executes man convicted of shooting estranged wife to death in 2005
A man was executed by lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday, 15 years after authorities say he fatally shot his estranged wife who had told friends she did not expect to get out of the abusive marriage alive.
Ex-con who claimed to be missing boy faces up to two years in prison after pleading guilty in Ohio
A former convict pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stealing the identity of an Illinois boy who has been missing for years, in a case that drew national attention last year, a U.S. prosecutor said.
Ex-con who claimed to be missing boy to plead guilty in Ohio: documents
A former convict who drew national attention last year when he claimed to be an Illinois teen who went missing in 2011 after his mother killed herself has agreed to plead guilty, court papers showed.
Five people, heading to college football game, killed in plane crash in Louisiana: local media
Five people heading to a college football game in Atlanta were killed on Saturday when their small plane crashed just after it departed from a regional airport in southern Louisiana, local media and authorities reported. | Video
Recreational marijuana becomes legal in Illinois on New Year's Day
CHICAGO Many pot-smoking adults in Illinois will ring in the new year on a high note when recreational marijuana use becomes legal in the state on Jan. 1.
Few minds changed, but political passions roused, as Trump formally impeached
By Andrew Hay, Gabriella Borter, Brendan O'Brien and Zachary Fagenson | Video
By Andrew Hay, Gabriella Borter, Brendan O'Brien and Zachary Fagenson
Number of U.S. executions and support for capital punishment decline in 2019, report finds
The number of executions carried out in the United States dropped in 2019 and public support for the death penalty fell to nearly a five-decade low, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Polar vortex, Midwest floods, California fires: The U.S.'s wild 2019 weather
CHICAGO From a brutal polar vortex that froze much of the Midwest and East Coast in January to Hurricane Dorian that killed dozens in the Bahamas in September, Mother Nature dealt Americans a wild and deadly weather year in 2019.


Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton jointly conducted a research on "Measuring Performance in the Organization of the Future" in 1990. They started publishing the insights of the study through a series of groundbreaking articles since 1992 in Harvard Business Review, and subsequently under the bestsellers titled "The Balanced Scorecard", "The Strategy-Focused Organization", "Strategy Maps" and "Alignment".
Many world renowned corporations, government departments, education institutions and NGOs are adopters of Balanced Scorecard, including Department of Defense of USA, BMW Financial Services, Exxon Mobil Corporation, General Electric Company, etc.
High Impact specializes in tailoring the application of Balanced Scorecard for clients according to their industries and organization needs.
Call us at (852) 2234 0383 for service details.


text:
CALL US TODAY: 01494 685800
Purley on Thames
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Email our office 01296 453911 Register interest
Little Green, Aston Clinton becomes food donation station
We were delighted to meet with the Mayor of Aylesbury, Cllr Tim Dixon, and Sherrilyn Bateman of Aylesbury Foodbank at our Little Green, Aston Clinton, marketing suite. They visited us to tell us more about the fantastic work of the Foodbank and the Mayor's 10 Tonne Challenge, as well as drop off a food collection basket.
Since Cllr Dixon was appointed as Mayor in 2022 he has embarked on his challenge to provide food collection points across Aylesbury making it easier for people to donate non-perishable goods to the foodbank.
Due to rising living costs the foodbank has been under increasing pressure to provide more support to those who are struggling to feed themselves and their families.
We are pleased to be able to host the first food collection point in Aston Clinton, providing locals with somewhere close to drop off their donations.
Our marketing suite is open from 10am to 5pm seven days a week. Details on what items the foodbank needs can be found on their website.
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Rosa Rubicondior: Something Is Bugging Creationism.
Evolution doesn't read any rules and feels no obligation to conform to any norms, so we should expect the unexpected. If we didn't get the occasional surprise it would start to look just a little too predictable. If things were as the creationist loons and frauds like to claim, we would expect an intelligent, perfect designer, to at least show bit of consistency.
After all what perfection is there in randomness and how does no pattern at all look like design according to a plan? No doubt though the frauds will fall back on the traditional woo-woo excuse of ineffability and mystery and beyond human comprehension which renders their crackpot notion redundant as a predictive or explanatory tool and shows it up for the simple answer for simpletons that it was designed to be.
Take for example an unusual pattern of evolution leading to speciation published in Cell a few days ago. It involves a symbiotic complex in the cells of a species of cicada. Cicadas are large, sap-sucking insects characteristic of hot parts of the world. They seem to be almost characteristic of the Mediterranean coast - my children called them wizzers as they seem to sit in trees and on telegraph poles and wizz all day long. Cicadas, like several other species, depend on symbiotic bacteria to help with their digestion. The species in question has a 'normal' arrangement with two different bacteria living inside its cells - Sulcina and Hodgkinia. Their contribution is to make histidine and methionine which the cicadas need. However, in some cicadas Hodgkinia exists in two distinct forms which clearly split from the 'normal' type at some point in the evolution of this symbiotic complex.
Mutualisms that become evolutionarily stable give rise to organismal interdependencies. Some insects have developed intracellular associations with communities of bacteria, where the interdependencies are manifest in patterns of complementary gene loss and retention among members of the symbiosis. Here, using comparative genomics and microscopy, we show that a three-member symbiotic community has become a four-way assemblage through a novel bacterial lineage-splitting event. In some but not all cicada species of the genus Tettigades, the endosymbiont Candidatus Hodgkinia cicadicola has split into two new cytologically distinct but metabolically interdependent species. Although these new bacterial genomes are partitioned into discrete cell types, the intergenome patterns of gene loss and retention are almost perfectly complementary. These results defy easy classification: they show genomic patterns consistent with those observed after both speciation and whole-genome duplication. We suggest that our results highlight the potential power of nonadaptive forces in shaping organismal complexity.
The surprise is that this arrangement seems to be non-adaptive i.e offering no particular advantage over the 'normal' form but what it has allowed is for the two forms of Hodgkinia to evolve on their own paths provided they remain synchronised so that one is complementary to the other. This is only possible in the special conditions where all four members of this symbiotic complex are inter-dependent. It seems to be an example of an accidental duplication allowing one of the pair to then lose genes provided the other member retained it, so we have ended up with two forms being almost mirror images of one another.
In many ways this replicates the situation of accidental gene duplication within a cell nucleus, freeing one copy to mutate and evolve without harming the organism, but, as with parasites, the tendency with symbionts is not to increase complexity but to reduce it, so each form of Hodgkinia has become less complex as a result, losing between them a total of 64 genes from the original 137. The difference here is that each form of Hodgkinia occupies its own cell type within the cicada but they are all so mutually interdependent that they behave more like a single species with a distributed genome.
A fascinating example of non-adaptive evolution by genetic drift in the highly specialised, special environment of an advanced symbiotic complex and totally incomprehensible as the product of an intelligent designer of course. Why do the same thing two different ways, even using the same organism to do it in, when there is no detectable benefit from one way over the other?
It's beginning to look more and more like this notional intelligent designer's plan is exactly like the plan of someone who hasn't got a plan.
Your blog's final sentence - "It's beginning to look more and more like this notional intelligent designer's plan is exactly like the plan of someone who hasn't got a plan" - is a big understatement. Rosa. Don't forget that this illusory Intelligent Designer also must be irresolute and insecure, since He deliberately, or (even worse) accidentally, exterminated 99.99 percent of all the species He created. For more details, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pL5vzIMAhs&list=PLED25F943F8D6081C . The video's title is: Does the Universe Have a Purpose? feat. Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Neanderthal Extermination Mapped in Detail.
Creationism, Amber And Mitey Ants.


This article describes update 4011169 for Microsoft Office 2013 that was released on October 3, 2017. This update also applies to Office Home and Student 2013 RT. This update has a prerequisite.
This update makes Office applications work better in network environments that use proxy (.pac) files by dropping the additional and unnecessary direct Internet requests that could cause time-outs and delays.
If the Disable hardware graphics acceleration option is checked, you experience rendering issues when you are running Microsoft Project 2013.
Some memory allocation issues are not optimally handled on 32-bit editions of Office 2013 applications that are running on high resolution devices.


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Share this Story: City to showcase alternatives for bicycle lanes on streets
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City to showcase alternatives for bicycle lanes on streets
Doug Schmidt • Windsor Star
The County of Essex in partnership with the Canadian Automobile Association and Bike Windsor Essex launched the "Watch for Bikes" decal program on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, at the Essex Civic Centre. Designated bikes lanes are shown on Fairview Ave. W. in Essex. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star
The City of Windsor has yet to build a bike lane along any local street that is physically separated from passing vehicles, but what cycling advocates have long been pushing for will be demonstrated this weekend in the downtown.
As part of the public consultation process for Windsor's new active transportation master plan, city staff are hosting a bike lane "pop-up" event along an L-shaped piece of roadway at University Avenue and Goyeau Street on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
City to showcase alternatives for bicycle lanes on streets Back to video
Josette Eugeni, the city's manager of transportation planning, said a variety of "bicycling facilities" will be demonstrated, including temporary physical barriers like bollards used in other cities to separate cyclists from motor vehicle traffic.
Staff from the city and consultants with Urban Systems Ltd., which is undertaking the Walk Wheel Windsor project, will be set up at adjacent Charles Clark Square to provide information, answer questions and collect public input.
The master plan, expected to be finalized and go before city council by late May or early June, will help guide investments over the short- to long-term with the aim of creating more safe, convenient and user-friendly active transportation networks emphasizing urban public transit, cycling and walking.
Other Walk Wheel Windsor pop-up events, where the public can provide input, are scheduled at Malden Park on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and at Vincent Massey Secondary School on Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the 1800 block of Liberty Street.
We want to get people to think differently and remind them there are alternatives
Eugeni said a section of Liberty Street will be closed that day and the school community will be engaged in activities highlighting walking, transit and cycling as alternatives to being dropped off by car and picked up by car. Traffic congestion around Massey related to regular school operations has been a regular neighbourhood complaint to city hall.
"We want to get people to think differently and remind them there are alternatives," said Eugeni.
As for bike lane alternatives, she said the various models to be shown at Saturday's pop-up "come with different costs." Local cycling advocates have complained that, too often, the model used locally is to simply paint a line down the side of the road, with that painted line rarely extending through lighted intersections.
City eyes 'bold' new targets for increased cycling, walking, bus riding
Windsor wants to help people get around using human power
Windsor starting to get serious about bicycling, advocates say
Eugeni points to recent projects like Cabana Road and the current bike lane construction along Totten Street in which double stripes separated by a gap will provide extra space between automobiles and cyclists. Such "buffered bike lanes," she said, help further define the space that motorists should provide bicyclists.
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Malaysian Post-Graduate Students Visit ICMP
Posted on Press Releases
A group of post-graduate students of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations of Malaysia (IDFR) on Wednesday visited the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) facilities in Sarajevo and Tuzla. The students are pursuing Masters Program in Social Science at IDFR and came for an educational visit to ICMP from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Laos, China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Yemen.
The post-graduate students visited the ICMP headquarters in Sarajevo where they were briefed on ICMP efforts to secure the co-operation of Governments and other authorities in locating and identifying missing persons.
"This is not the first time that ICMP has been visited by postgraduates from around the world. It shows that future world's leaders can learn from methods that ICMP uses in assisting Governments to address the issue of persons missing from armed conflicts on political, technical and social level", said ICMP Deputy Chief of Staff Andreas Kleiser.
To learn about ICMP's scientific efforts to locate and identify missing persons, Malaysian delegation visited ICMP's facilities in Tuzla, where forensic anthropologists and pathologists examine, store and make final identifications of mortal remains of thousands of missing persons. They also visited ICMP's center where collection teams bring together blood samples from family members to obtain DNA profiles. During their visit to ICMP, students learned how the dissasociated bodies are put back together using a combination of traditional forensic archaeology and anthropology, as well as DNA methods. Students were impressed with DNA matching on the mass scale which ICMP performs by its matching program that is used to match DNA extracted from the blood samples of family members of the missing and DNA profiles from bone samples exhumed from grave sites.
The students were pleased to learn that ICMP helped in the identification of persons who have gone missing during the tsunami in 2004. ICMP staff who traveled to Thailand briefed the students on technical aspects of the DNA-led identification applied for tsunami victims. ICMP issued more than 800 DNA reports in relation to tsunami identification efforts.
"I am impressed with the success of ICMP in identifying victims despite the difficult circumstances they are faced with. ICMP is doing an important job of establishing the truth about missing persons and ending the uncertainty of their family members", said a post-graduate student from Indonesia, adding that ICMP is "a unique organization of this kind in the world which uses both science and cooperation with governments to resolve the fates of the missing".


WAGGONER ET AL. v. ROSENN, SECRETARY OF PUBLIC WELFARE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. No. 144, Misc.
286 F. Supp. 275, vacated and remanded.
William C. Sennett, Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and Edgar R. Casper, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
The motion of appellants for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for further consideration in light of Shapiro v. Thompson, ante, p. 618.
COURT OF SEDGWICK COUNTY, KANSAS. No. 877, Misc.
Kent Frizzell, Attorney General of Kansas, and E. G. Collister, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, for respondent.
The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted. The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the District Court of Sedgwick County, Kansas, for further consideration in light of Smith v. Hooey, 393 U.S. 374.


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La fontana del Basilisco di Malesco è stata costruita nel 2002 su disegno di Giorgio Cavalli. A pianta quadrangolare ispirata al fiore Potentilla tormentilla molto diffuso nel territorio nonché presente nello stemma comunale. La fontana parte dell'ecomuseo Ed Leuzerie e di Scherpelit.

I quattro petali costituiscono le vasche e i sepali le fontanelle orientate secondo i punti cardinali. Al centro è presente un grosso blocco in pietra ollare proveniente dalla locale valle Quarem. Al di sopra è stata collocata una scultura in bronzo rappresentante un basilisco (Berzelesk in dialetto locale), opera del milanese Luca di Francesco.  La tradizione popolare narra di avvistamenti nel territorio di Malesco e nella confinante Val Grande di questo animale.

Bibliografia

Altri progetti

Malesco
Architetture di Malesco
Ecomuseo Ed Leuzerie e di Scherpelit


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https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB50001424052970204582404576214651775536900
Money Ignores China's Challenges
Updated March 26, 2011 12:01 am ET / Original March 26, 2011 5:21 am ET
February Hedge Funds: Best, Worst, Biggest
China seems to be everybody's favorite emerging market, but hedge-fund managers and their investors should look before they take another great leap forward.
Despite lagging returns, money continues to flow into China-focused funds. Assets under management at the end of 2010 totaled $18.68 billion, off their peak of $22.84 billion in 2007 but up sharply from their postfinancial-crisis low of $10 billion. Net investor assets grew by 25%, or $3.5 billion, in 2010, according to a report by HedgeFund.net. Yet the research firm's HFN China index dropped by 1.8% in 2011 through March 1 and was up just 7.99% over the past 12 months through March 1. In turn, the HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Index gained 1.33% so far this year and by 12.01% in the past 12 months.
HFN cautions that the hedge-fund business in China seems to be in a boom period even though companies are being "reined in." The government's inflation worries are clear: Interest rates have risen, growth forecasts have been scaled back and bank-reserve requirements jumped in January. As a result, the equity markets have fallen, notes HFN.
At the same time the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East reflects the unhappiness of young people with current political restrictions that also exist in China.
"The balancing act of fostering growth along with the perception of equality while keeping inflation at bay when foreign governments are pushing for a stronger yuan is tenuous and underscores the importance of reduced reliance on long-bias equity exposure" to generate returns, says HFN.
Over the past 12 months, China-focused fund returns had the highest correlation among the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to HFN's Emerging Markets index.
Of course, a lot of the funds and their investors are after the sorts of returns that prevailed over the past five years. The HFN China Index rose 91% in that time, compared with just 35% for the Hedge Fund Aggregate Index. Whether achieving such gains in China is still a realistic expectation is another matter.
THERE ARE SOME INTERESTING PREDICTIONS about the hedge-fund industry for the rest of the year from Celent, a research and consulting firm focused on information technology in the financial-services business.
Among the findings: Institutional investors and pension funds are seeking more hedge-fund exposure, which bodes well for new fund launches. Collateral, counterparty risk, transparency, operational due diligence and reporting are the foremost investor concerns since the financial crisis.
Appetite for staff outsourcing is likely to grow because funds have unloaded the burden of nonprofit-generating activities to vendors, says Celent, a unit of Oliver Wyman.
Consolidation is likely. Two tiers—multibillion-dollar funds and boutiques—will emerge. Costs will increase and barriers to entry will rise.
MOVING TO THE MUTUAL-FUND FRONT, the 2011 Lipper Fund Family winners were announced last week. MFS Investment Management and Delaware Management were named the top overall fund families; Pimco and Hotchkis and Wiley for equity; Loomis Sayles and Delaware for fixed income; and Janus and Delaware for mixed assets.
Win, Lose
Stock funds and taxable-bond funds had net weekly cash inflows averaging $3 billion and $4.5 billion, respectively, in the four weeks through Wednesday, Lipper reports. But money funds and muni funds had outflows averaging $3.5 billion and $974 million.
E-mail: tom.sullivan@barrons.com


A Pair's minimalistic leather ballerinas. Made from very soft leather which makes these ballerinas really comfortable to wear.
1 x Ballerina was added to your shopping bag.
1 x Ballerina was added to your wishlist.


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Orchesia minuta es una especie de coleóptero de la familia Tetratomidae.

Distribución geográfica
Habita en la Isla King (Australia).

Referencias

Minuta
Coleópteros de Australia


Kevin Gardner sees green roads right around the corner. "A lot of the infrastructure in this country needs to be re-built," says Gardner, University of New Hampshire associate professor of civil engineering and director of the Environmental Research Group. "We have a real opportunity to re-build the infrastructure the right way with sustainable materials and socially sensitive designs that protect air, water, land, and human resources."
Funded by the Federal Highway Administration and pooled state highway funds, as well as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants for specific research projects, Gardner established the new Recycled Materials Resource Management Center (RMRC) at UNH on June 1, 2007. The RRMC is a collaboration between UNH environmental and social impact researchers and University Wisconsin-Madison geotechnical, or soil behavior, faculty.
Working closely with a board of advisors composed of representatives from the EPA, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, as well as numerous other stakeholders, one of the Center's activities is to establish a green roads program that develops criteria for what makes a roadway green.
Similar to the green buildings program established by the U.S. Green Building Council, which triggered a boom in green building construction, a green roads program, it is believed, will give the green light to sweeping reforms in the way we build roads. The project is full of twists and turns. Today's urban sprawl requires road builders to confront a range of sensitive issues involving air, water, land, building materials, energy use, biodiversity, and social capital-an index of social productivity and quality of life.
To jump-start the process, the RMRC faculty teamed up with the UNH Stormwater Center in Durham. Their task is to account for both environmental and social impacts of road-building, as well as establish better uses of recycled and virgin aggregate materials, such as crushed rock, much of which must be transported from New Hampshire. Green standards, according to Gardner, will give road builders the guidelines they need to effectively reduce the environmental impacts (such as carbon footprint, wetlands disturbance, and stormwater runoff generation) and improve the quality of life in communities affected by infrastructure re-construction.
The first step is to figure out how to reduce the 300 million tons of virgin aggregate materials mined in this country every year. The U.S. currently recycles 90% of used asphalt, but still uses a large percentage of virgin materials in the recycled mix. The question is, can pavement be made with 90% recycled asphalt, or does it have to be less than 40% or even 20% to get a roadbed that lasts? What happens to the modifiers that bind these materials over time? How recyclable are the recycled materials?
"The cost of building a road is not reflected fully in the price of materials," Gardner adds. "The total cost of mining virgin materials, for instance, involves not only the cost of materials and labor, but also the environmental cost at the mining site, the environmental costs (such as air pollution and its associated health care costs) of transporting these materials to the building site, and the environmental costs of building the equipment to mine and transport material and build the roads."
To account for these hidden costs, the RMRC created a computer model that Gardner's Ph.D. student Alberta "Birdie" Carpenter uses to capture the full environmental, social and material costs of road-building. The model was recently "road-tested" in the Pittsburgh region to help identify the significant influence that materials recycling can have on regional air quality, hazardous waste generation, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.
Research and development of better ways to re-build infrastructure is only half the battle. The other half is education and outreach to developers, road-builders, and engineering students. In addition to publishing and publicizing the results of their research and green roads standards, the RMRC is now offering a sustainable engineering class at UNH and expects to have fellowship and Ph.D. programs by 2010.
"The first green roads will probably start with small housing developments and municipalities because developers and local developers have already seen the benefits of green building construction," says Gardner, "but as the benefits and cost-savings begin to be realized on a bigger scale, we believe the RMRC green roads program will pave the way for rapid adaptation at all levels of road-building."


MikeRat is a producer based in Minneapolis, MN. He spends most of his time sampling kung-fu movies and stupid video clips from the internet, as well as teaching Ableton at Slam Academy (Minnesota's only Ableton Certified Training Center). He has shared the stage with plenty of world-class artists including Thriftworks, Mr. Bill, Esseks, Ott., ill.Gates, KJ Sawka, Random Rab, Minnesota, Sunsquabi, and NiT GRiT. A resident performer at Infrasound Music Festival, you can catch him playing festivals all throughout the Midwest area (soon to be the world).


in the future. Afghanistan could easily be Obama's Vietnam.
troops will come home sooner or later.
2006 to 195 today, which is an increase of about 31%.
are AFT, AFSCME, and SEIU.
complex situation in which we now find ourselves?
the AFL-CIO to adopt a resolution against the Iraq War.
from the other candidates through his anti-war rhetoric.
Washington. In fact, we have an opening to do so.
and they are organizing to change the world.