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Home / Boko Haram / Islamist / Boko Haram Want $5.6 Billion USD Ransom for Christian Chibok Girls
Boko Haram Want $5.6 Billion USD Ransom for Christian Chibok Girls
October 07, 2016 Boko Haram, Islamist
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly rejected an offer by Islamic terror group Boko Haram to give back the more than 200 kidnapped Christian Chibok schoolgirls in exchange for 1.7 Trillion Nigerian naira, which amounts to around $5.6 billion USD.
NAIJ reported on Wednesday that the revelations were made in the book Muhammadu Buhari: The challenges of leadership in Nigeria, authored by Prof. John Paden, which examines the major events behind Buhari's presidency.
"On several occasions, prisoners were taken to Maiduguri to facilitate an exchange. But these negotiations stalled when Boko Haram demanded a ransom of €5billion for the girls," the book noted.
"The dilemma for the DSS, which was handling the negotiations, was that a military assault to rescue the girls would almost certainly result in their deaths at the hands of their Boko Haram captors."
Buhari has vowed to drive out Boko Haram from the country, and to free the Chibok girls who were kidnapped in April 2014, which made international news, but he has reportedly refused to give in to the demands of the jihadist group.
The book pointed out that there are thousands of other women and children victims of Boko Haram beside the Chibok girls who need help.
"The Chibok girls were not alone in their grim fate. Hundreds if not thousands, of persons had been captured by Boko Haram in the North-East. Buhari would need to continue degrading Boko Haram until he could tighten the noose around its Sambisa hideouts and bring a close end to this painful episode," Paden noted.
A new video of the kidnapped Chibok girls was finally released in August, showing that the girls are still alive and with their captors.
"We are not happy living here," said one of the girls, who gave her name as Maida Yakubu. "I'm begging our parents to meet the government to release their people so that we can be released."
There are fears that a number of the schoolgirls have been raped and forced into Islamic marriages, though the parents have said they are not giving up hopes to see them alive again.
Chibok girls parents
"The fact is we are overwhelmed with a feeling of depression. It's like being beaten and being stopped from crying. You helplessly watch your daughter but there is nothing you can do. It's a real heartache. Those who are still alive – we want them back. We want them back irrespective of their condition," said Samuel Yaga, the father of abducted schoolgirl Serah Samuel.
"As ordinary men, there is nothing we (the other fathers and I) can do on our own. We are just here unable to do anything with our lives. You see your child but someone denies you from having it. They are being forcefully married and they now live in terrible conditions," he added.
Source(s): Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter
Boko Haram Want $5.6 Billion USD Ransom for Christian Chibok Girls Reviewed by E.A Olatoye on October 07, 2016 Rating: 5


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Edward M. Kennedy
http://www.jeffjacoby.com/3007/chappaquiddicks-unanswered-questions
"I've answered all the questions."
-- Edward Kennedy, July 8, 1994 on the tragedy at Chappaquiddick
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO TOMORROW, on July 22, 1969, Mary Jo Kopechne was buried at St. Vincent's Cemetery in Plymouth, Penn. She had died three days earlier, pinned underwater when Sen. Kennedy's car swerved off Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island.
Within hours of Kopechne's death, a Kennedy aide named Dun Gifford flew a chartered plane into Edgartown (the Martha's Vineyard town of which Chappaquiddick is a part), with orders to get the body off the island. Before Massachusetts officials had even decided whether to perform an autopsy to settle the cause of death, Kopechne's remains were in Pennsylvania -- beyond the state's jurisdiction.
-- Did Kennedy order Gifford to remove the body?
That's one question the senator has never answered.
In fact, quite a few questions have never been answered.
At least, not by Kennedy.
At least, not truthfully.
Kennedy and Kopechne were part of a group of 12 that had come to Chappaquiddick for the Edgartown Regatta and a private barbecue afterward. Half the guests were married men, half were single women in their 20s. Kennedy and Kopechne left the party at some point that evening and ended up driving off the bridge.
Though Kennedy managed to extricate himself from the car and get back to his motel that night, Kopechne remained in the car until her body was recovered by a Fire Department diver at 8:45 the next morning. To the diver, Capt. John Farrar, it was clear that she had neither drowned nor died quickly. Kopechne survived for some time by breathing a pocket of trapped air, finally suffocating to death when the oxygen ran out. When Kennedy reported the accident to the Edgartown police, it was 9:45 a.m. -- some nine or 10 hours after he left Kopechne in his car.
-- Why did Kennedy and Kopechne leave the barbecue?
Kennedy said they wanted to return to their respective motels and left to catch the ferry (which only operated until midnight) back to Edgartown center. But Kennedy's chauffeur, who was on hand, didn't drive them; Kopechne didn't take her purse or her room key; and they didn't go to the ferry. Kennedy headed in the opposite direction -- to Dike Bridge and the secluded beach beyond.
-- What time did they leave?
Kennedy claimed he left at 11:15 p.m., and the accident happened a few minutes later. Yet Deputy Sheriff Huck Look reported seeing Kennedy's black Oldsmobile at 12:45 a.m., heading down Dike Road toward the bridge. After the accident, the senator said he hadn't been able to rescue Kopechne because of the "strong and murky current" in which he kept getting "swept away." In truth there was no current at 11:15. The water was absolutely slack, at low tide. At 12:45, however, the current was fast-moving and strong.
-- Did Kennedy take a wrong turn without realizing it?
So he testified, and his whole story rests upon that claim. But the road to the ferry, which Kennedy had already traveled several times that day, was the only paved road on the island. Anyone driving from the house where the barbecue was held would have felt the road bank unmistakably to the left -- toward the ferry -- and would have seen the shiny left-turn sign. By contrast, it required a deliberate effort to turn right, toward the bridge. Dike Road was unpaved and very bumpy. Its entrance was obscured behind bushes and necessitated a 90-degree turn -- hard to do inadvertently.
-- Why didn't Kennedy call for help to rescue Kopechne?
Because, he said, he was in shock. He called his behavior "irrational, indefensible, inexcusable and inexplicable."
Yet he was not too traumatized to return to the barbecue and fetch two close lawyer friends, Joey Gargan and Paul Markham. He was not too traumatized to make more than 16 long-distance phone calls that night to aides and advisers (none of whom tried to get help to Kopechne, either). Despite his "shock," he managed to: return to his motel, complain to the manager about a noisy party, go to sleep, chat with a friend the next morning about the boat race, order two newspapers, meet again with Gargan and Markham and return to Chappaquiddick to call another lawyer from a pay phone -- all before going to the police.
Senator Kennedy's car is dragged by a wrecker from the channel off Chappaquiddick Island.
-- How much alcohol had Kennedy drunk that night?
-- If he and Kopechne did leave the barbecue at 11:15, what occupied their time until 12:45, when Deputy Look saw them drive toward Dike Bridge?
-- After getting out of the submerged car, why didn't Kennedy walk to the lighted house a few yards away and call for help? Or call from the house with the barbecue? Or from his motel?
-- Did he urge Gargan to fabricate a story about Kopechne being alone in the car when it went off the bridge?
-- Did he go to the police only when he realized he would not be able to carry off such an alibi?
-- If, as Kennedy said later, what was uppermost in his mind was "the tragedy and loss of a very devoted friend," why did he summon 19 high-level political advisers to Hyannis the next day?
-- Was the prosecutor rewarded for not bringing manslaughter or driving-to-endanger charges against Kennedy?
-- Why was the grand jury threatened with jail and intimidated by a judge when it tried to look into the tragedy?
-- When an inquest was eventually held, why did Kennedy fight -- against all precedent -- to keep its proceedings secret?
-- Why was Farrar, the diver, barred from telling the inquest and grand jury what he knew?
Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Mary Jo Kopechne was buried. Three days later, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was sentenced to two months, suspended.
Following the secret inquest in January, District Judge James Boyle found "probable cause" that Kennedy had driven "negligently" and had engaged in "criminal conduct" that "contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne." The senator was never prosecuted and never tried. Though he did not save his young friend that midsummer night in 1969, he did preserve his political career. Kennedy has been reelected to the Senate four times since.
One final question -- the one Kennedy himself asked in 1974, when Richard Nixon was pardoned:
"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law, or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe).
Want to read more Jeff Jacoby? Sign up for "Arguable," his free weekly email newsletter.
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The true believer

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LABYRINTH Getting An Official Board Game And it Looks Gorgeous!
What a time to be alive. River Horse gaming has announced it's developing a Labyrinth video game and we couldn't be more thrilled! Geek X Girls says the game will be fast paced, up to 4 players, and practically for all ages! In a collaboration with The Jim Henson Company, the game focuses on a truly beautiful art style, showcased in the picture below.
Players will be able to choose from five crafted figures to play as Jareth, Sarah, Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus! The figures, as does the game board, look amazing!
Additional stuff packaged with the game includes a 2' x 2' game board, 32 Labyrinth cards, over 30 game tokens, 6 polyhedral dice, 6 reference cards, 4 character sheets, 4 Ability cards, 4 Weakness cards, 4 card stand-ups, a Goblin Clock and Clock hand, and a rules booklet.
No word on a release as of yet but we will keep you updated!


We hope you can find everything you need. Magnetic Attraction is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction - we will do everything we can to meet your expectations.
We use the strongest magnetic clasps we have found on the market, along with using high quality magnetized hematite beads, to create a magnetic field. When the blood moves through the field, the randomly organized molecules "line up" (much like iron fillings do when in contact with a magnet) and "jiggle" releasing an electrical pulse that helps the blood circulate more rapidly through the body - delivering vital oxygen and nutrients to the cells and eliminating cell waste more rapidly. This speeds the healing process by reducing inflammation - the cause of pain.


Instructional DVD for Bass. By Chris Squire. Instructional/Bass/DVD. Rock. DVD. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.320717).
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This edition: Interactive Download. Pop; Rock. Guitar TAB. 12 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.162725).
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Arranged by Chris Crockarell and Jay Dawson. Arrangers' Publ Marching Band. Arrangers' Publishing Company #M484. Published by Arrangers' Publishing Company (HL.40002846).


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Q: how to remove sensitivity of arduino for analog reading? I am using Arduino UNO i want to read watts of led which is connected with 9v source battery and  and  i am using current sensor module for reading Watts
but arduino gives me some values in analog reading if i dont event attached my led how can i remove it extra value and find accurate value of led ?

A:
I am using Arduino UNO i want to read watts of led

A "current sensor" measures current in amps (or milli amps). Watts (power) is that current multiplied by voltage across the device. If the Arduino gives a value that should be zero but isn't then maybe this is because at zero amps the numerical value is halfway in the range of the analogue-to-digital converter it uses.
This would allow it to "read" or measure amps that are both positive in value and negative in value (useful for when measuring alternating currents).
You may need to offset the current reading with half the numerical scale of the full-scale-range of your ADC to accommodate this.
There can be other errors too and notably just a simple mid-range offset or imperfect conversion gain can account for what might seem sizable errors.

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ÄZQ is the joint competence center of the Federal Medical Association and the German Association of Public Health for quality and knowledge in healthcare. Its main focus is on guidelines, patient information, patient safety, and evidence-based medicine. ÄZQ is one organization responsible for maintaining Germany's Critical Incident Reporting System (CIRS).
Are hospitals in Germany required to implement CIRS systems?
Yes. Hospitals must have an internal CIRS system and must participate in regional cross-institutional systems. Hospitals are also required to use reports to implement safety and quality management.
CIRSmedical is a nationwide error reporting and learning system. It was launched in 2005, and in that year, generated 6,500 error reports.
Does learning from CIRS require voluminous reporting?
It's more about quality than quantity. For example, a small number of reports can have a big impact, while a large number of reports can create an onerous follow-up burden with very little impact.
What role does ÄZQ have in implementing and maintaining internal and external CIRS systems?
In additional to providing educational, implementation and training resources, ÄZQ contracts with hospitals to manage the software and maintenance of their internal CIRS. The contract provides that all reports in the hospital's internal CIRS will be copied into CIRSmedical, so there is automatic participation in cross-institution reporting.
Where is data from CIRS reports stored?
CIRSmedical is internet-based and hosted in a secure environment at Basel University. The Swiss reporting software erases the IT data once the report is transferred to the server in Basel, so the report cannot be traced to an individual reporter or institution.
Does CIRS use a standard reporting form?
In the beginning of CIRS, the system used common formats. In order for common formats to be successful, the software must have the ability to import and export joint files. Now that the Basel server hosts CIRS, 25 different CIRS systems in the network use an internet-based form that consists of 7 basic questions and allows for some customization.
Can hospitals use the same software to generate CIRS reports as they do to maintain patients' medical records?
No. CIRS software is separate from the medical records software. CIRS reports should not be contained in a patient's medical records.
Is there any danger that CIRS data could be used in medical malpractice litigation?
No. First, CIRS reports are anonymous and cannot be traced to an individual patient or provider. Second, the German civil litigation rules forbid a party from getting its evidence from an opponent. Finally, reporters are encouraged to report only near-miss incidents. The only time reporting an injury-causing incident is encouraged is when the claim has already been resolved with insurance.
Can implementation of CIRS expose an institution to additional organizational liability?
Not really. You won't find reports in CIRS about events that the institution doesn't already know about, so implementation of CIRS doesn't expose new errors. Instead, it provides the additional advantage of learning from errors.
CIRS is a voluntary reporting system. Do you think there should be a mandatory reporting system for medical errors?
No. Any requirement to disclose errors or mandatory reporting of harm collides with the right against self-incrimination.
Is there any information about why patients file medical malpractice lawsuits in Germany?
According to the medical arbitration boards, patients file lawsuits because they "had a feeling" that something went wrong and they want to know what happened. There is a generational difference in how doctors respond to medical errors. Generally, older doctors never admit errors while younger doctors are more likely to communicate with the patient. One goal is to teach doctors to "bring patients into the game" to solve conflicts.
How do you feel about a layperson's ability to decide medical malpractice cases?
No way. Laypeople cannot decide these cases. Without medical expertise, they would only be able to decide emotionally.


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Lexipol's FireRescue1 honored by 2021 IAFF Media Awards
Lexipol's FireRescue1, the leading news site for fire service leaders and professionals, has been honored with a first-place award for Best News Feature in the 2021 International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Media Awards. The awards program recognizes the work of fire service journalists and publications that seek to increase awareness of the challenges and successes of the profession and the role of the fire service in protecting the public.
FireRescue1 Senior Associate Editor Rachel Engel authored the winning article, '31 words': Capt. Andrea Hall reflects on leading Inauguration Ceremonies' Pledge of Allegiance. Engel focuses primarily on Capt. Hall's role in the presidential inauguration, but also explores other angles of her story, including Hall's barrier-breaking career as a Black female firefighter, her perspective on the pledge and her thoughts on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry. The result is a powerful profile of an impressive captain and her once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"We are excited to be recognized by these prestigious industry awards, especially for such an impactful story," said FireRescue1 Editor-in-Chief Janelle Foskett. "We were honored to interview Capt. Hall and offer our audience insight into her historic career and participation in the Inauguration Ceremonies."
With an average of almost 1 million page views per month and 265,000 registered members, FireRescue1 is the most comprehensive online news and information resource for fire service professionals across the United States.
Learn more and see the complete list of winners in the 2021 IAFF Media Awards.
Request more info from Lexipol
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Too much information, not enough information and bad information all contribute to uncertainty in the incident commander's decision-making process


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An Open Letter to Tim Tebow — About Virginity and Other Important Matters
Sex & Relationship Therapist: Stephen Snyder, MD Blog An Open Letter to Tim Tebow — About Virginity and Other Important Matters
Tim — First of all, congratulations on your upcoming move to New York City. It's a great town, and I'm sure you'll love it here.
As an athlete and a religious man, you will be a role model to many young people here. So I'm writing to you today in the hopes of reaching them as well. I'm hoping we can spread the word together about an important subject.
It's about sex.
Like yourself, many religious young people have decided to remain virgins until marriage. That's clearly no one's business but their own.
But here's the problem:
Many of them have been led to believe that premarital abstinence, in addition to being a religious requirement, will serve another important goal too:
That it will make sex much more special after marriage.
I'm sure this is sometimes true. But it's not true automatically. In my work as a New York City sex therapist, I've encountered too many religious couples who've been bitterly disappointed when the sex they'd been earnestly saving themselves for fell far short of this ideal.
The erotic impulse is anarchic, infantile. It resists being told to have sex for a higher purpose. Or because it's religiously sanctioned. Or to have a baby. Eros knows no such goals.
Impose social or religious goals on eros, and you risk trouble. Sometimes it's trouble with the practical aspects of sex. And sometimes it's sex that's mechanically successful — but doesn't take either of you anyplace very special.
Such negative experiences can lead to the biggest risks of all — disillusionment about sex, disappointment in yourself or your spouse, and sometimes even loss of religious faith.
There are as many causes of sexual trouble as there are couples. But if there's a common element in disappointed religious couples I've seen, it's this one thing:
It's hurrying to have sex on one's wedding night — because you're now religiously authorized to do so — even though you're not yet ready in spirit as well as in body.
Just because you're in a state of physical arousal — that doesn't mean you're ready to have sex. If a couple wants to make sex good and make it special, more than physical readiness is required.
As I discussed elsewhere in "Some open secrets about sexual arousal," one needs genuine psychological arousal as well. One needs real eros. Eros can't be put on a schedule and told when to show up.
Education in eros comes naturally when a couple is free to dabble at leisure in love's domain. Ordinarily such an education involves long hours of kissing, holding each other, gazing into each others' eyes, speaking softly together. Then undressing together and repeating all of the above while plugged into the electricity of full nakedness.
Then, and only then — when two people are entirely lost in wonder — when eros has made a couple so dumb and happy that it's almost an afterthought really — perhaps finally having intercourse.
Some religious couples — the lucky ones — despite being virgins, know all about eros already. So it's not such a huge step for them to finally have sex in the Biblical sense.
But many have had no erotic education at all. For these couples, erotically speaking, it can be a big mistake to perform the sacrament in a hurry — just to get it over with.
Tim, I'm asking your help. For all the religious young people who look up to you.
Tell them not to hurry. Tell them to take time after the wedding — to enjoy each other fully. Enjoy being plugged into the power of G-d's own electricity, for its own sake. Then sex will be a reward, rather than a goal.
Tim, tell them you're proud that they stayed true to their beliefs. Proud that they saved themselves for marriage.
But tell them to save themselves for eros as well.


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Q: Port is inactive in Arduino IDE
In Arduino IDE the Port(Tools->Port) is inactive. I'm using Arduino Uno which was working properly. What should I do to fix this problem?
Also there is an error icon next to the name of Arduino Uno in windows Device Manager ( Error code in device manager: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)" ).
I uninstalled and updated the driver but nothing happened.
Any help will be appropriated!

A: The problem is solved here. You basically need to download and install the CH340 USB driver.
I downloaded it from this link and it worked pretty well.


Washington now has military forces in about 130 countries, fighting in some of them, peacekeeping and training foreign military units in others. You can hear George Washington turning in his grave.
Using official statistics, the editors at Global Security report there are 155 combat battalions in the US army. Before October 2001, only 17 of those were deployed on active combat service, in Kosovo and a few other hotspots (garrison deployment in Germany and Japan is not regarded as "active combat" service). Today, that figure stands at 98 combat battalions deployed in active areas.
Even a non-military expert can see this is an impossibly high number to sustain over the longer term, which is why, in addition to the 255,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard forces deployed in combat and peacekeeping missions abroad, the US has sent another 136,000 troops from the National Guard and Reserves.
Most of the US carrier fleet are now back in their bases, being refitted after the defeat of Saddam Hussein, but Washington still has 40,000 sailors afloat and on mission. Meanwhile, the US generals are asking for more troop deployments in Iraq, and the Pentagon has just diverted three warships to the coast of Liberia.
Is this the US future -- to have its troops stationed for an undefined time on the Northwest Frontier or in a disease-ridden port in West Africa or some other outpost?
Excellent question. Kos has discussed rotation issues and how stretched our military is--I'm not going to bother finding the links. Reading all this just makes me wonder how the GOP continues to be viewed as stronger on national security when they appear to be engaging us in snipe hunts all around the world.
Washington frantically denies it has imperial ambitions, and I believe those denials to be sincere. But if the US increasingly looks like an empire, walks like an empire and quacks like an empire, perhaps it is becoming one just the same.
[T]he United States is an imperial power with a vested interest in maintaining a certain level of stability in the international political system, and that stability maintenance requires, as it has of every other imperial power, occasional military intervention along the imperial periphery. The uniqueness of the American empire as a voluntary association of market democracies does not alter the imperial obligations of the United States as the center of that empire. Imperial states meddle in small wars for reasons ranging from deterrence of escalation to protection of friends and allies.
I'm not an isolationist, but I see our numerous deployments as part of the terrorism problem. There are 192 countries in the world, and we have a presence in 130 of them. Bush asked "why do they hate us?" He concluded that they "hate our freedom." No. They hate how our tentacles cover two-thirds of the globe. They hate how we require the world to follow rules as we willfully ignore them. They hate how we export violence. Time to choose a different path, or our empire will fall just as the Romans did.


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Trelleborg partners with Molecor SEA in new PVC-O pipe and seal offering for pressurized water networks
Trelleborg's pipe seals operation has teamed up with PVC-O pipe manufacturer, Molecor South East Asia (SEA) Sdn Bhd, to champion a new plastic pipe and integrated seal offering for pressurized water networks in Malaysia.
Manufactured in Malaysia, Trelleborg's F-576 Anger-LockTM seal will be installed into Molecor PVC-O pipes with a pressure rating of 16 and 25 bar, and ranging from DN 90mm to 630mm. Compared with existing systems, the new combination of pipe and seal will improve performance and reduce costs over its lifetime. It will be marketed under the brand name HYPRO.
Nomis Sim, CEO at Molecor SEA, says: "The market has traditionally been dominated by ductile iron pipes; however, PVC-O technology such as ours enables a much lighter and stronger pipe solution. HYPRO PVC-O pipes are best-in-class in terms of mechanical and hydraulic performance, durability and sustainability. The change in material from iron to PVC-O means lower costs, easier installation and reduced environmental impact thanks to its lower carbon foot print. And by removing corrosion concerns associated with ductile iron, the service life of the pipe is extended too.
"We have begun production with pipes of DN 90mm to 630mm in Malaysia and plan to expand our service into other territories in South East Asia in the near future. It was an easy decision to choose Trelleborg's F-576 Anger-LockTM integrated seal for use within our pipes, as it shows clear performance benefits. We are confident that it will provide optimum sealing and leak-free water transport for years to come."
The F-576 Anger-LockTM seal is uniquely designed with a rubber sealing element that is bonded to reinforcing plastic to make a one-piece seal. The soft plastic reinforcement enables easy installation of the seal into the pipe's socket, either manually or automatically, using special insertion equipment.
Martijn Boerma, Business Development Manager Asia Pacific for Trelleborg's pipe seals operation, comments: "At Trelleborg, we pride ourselves in developing truly high performance and efficient pipe seal solutions. So when the opportunity arose to work with Molecor SEA on a new type of pipe and seal combination for the pressurized water market, we were keen to make a start.
"Our F-576 Anger-LockTM seals outperform competitor seals in strength and performance of sealing capability and they also offer a much longer lifetime, making it ideal for use in the PVC-O pipes."
The fully retained F-576 Anger-LockTM seal from Trelleborg has a low jointing force, meaning that it cannot be displaced or lost during stocking transportation and installation. Similarly, it ensures a reliable automatic insertion, unlike other standard rubber seals.
Introducing the Forsheda 576 Anger- Lock™
The Forsheda 576 Anger- Lock™ locked-in seal is a combined lip and compression seal which is installed inside the socket after it has been formed. Making the seal an integral part of the pipe eliminates many of the disadvantages of separate sealing rings.


Blue Diamond Power Pro 12 Surge Protector w/ 12 Power Outlets, 8 Foot Power Cable - Surge Protectors & Power Bars - Memory Express Inc.
Modern Computer and Home Theater setups often use 6, 8, 10 or more power cables. This hardware is a serious investment that needs powerful Surge and Spike protection. Now you can connect and protect your electronics with this Blue Diamond 12 outlet Surge Protector with 288,000 Amps maximum Spike Protection and 4320 Joules.


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Greek Gov't: Waiting for Feedback from EU
The Greek government is expecting feedback on the proposal it has submitted to the EU institutions to continue negotiations on a political level, the government said yesterday.
Conversely, the plan submitted by the institutions to Greece cannot be accepted in its entirety, as was made clear in Greek Parliament on June 5, when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' said: "We want a deal that is economically viable and socially just."
Talks between the Greek government and its partners continue this week, with Finance Minister Yianis Varoufakis meeting with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble in Berlin today, while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets with EU leaders at the EU - Latin American summit on June 10-11.
In a week of urgent diplomacy, calls for movement to end the impasse and avert the risk of wider economic reverberation were made from leaders at the G-7 summit in southern Germany yesterday (7 May).
See also: PM Tsipras speech in Parliament, with subtitles (video, The Guardian, June 5)
Tsakalotos Warns against Eurozone Break-up
In an exclusive interview (video) with Channel 4 News' economics editor Paul Mason (June 5), Alternate Foreign Minister for International Economic Relations, Euclid Tsakalotos, warned that a break-up of the eurozone would lead to "very nasty politics," competitive devaluations and the emergence of nationalisms.
He stressed that Greece is not pro-Europe as a tactic but pro-Europe as a strategy, underlining that Europe has to decide whether it wishes to follow a democratic, flexible course or whether it is a rule-based institution for the rich.
DIGITAL EXHIBITION OF DISTINCTIVE WORKS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PAINTING COMPETITION "NEAR OR FAR, WE ARE ALL ONE"
Reading Greece: Aris Maragkopoulos on Literary Writing and Literary Critique as Two Streams Pouring into the Same River of Creation
Early Christian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki
The Digital Transformation "bible" of Greece (2020-2025)
BOOK OF THE MONTH: "Christmas Short Stories" by Alexandros Papadiamantis
"Greece 2021" | The celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the country's Independence War
Greek and Roman origins of Christmas traditions
© 2020 | Greek News Agenda. All rights reserved.
General Secretariat for Public Diplomacy


Join us on Mother's Day for a Vintage afternoon which will celebrate the end of the RAF centenary year, with a real focus on the importance of mothers during times of conflict.
Enjoy a sherry or prosecco on arrival, followed by afternoon tea and live music, including favourites such as 'White Cliffs of Dover' & 'Que Sera Sera'.
Our 'Rule Britannia' Women at War exhibition will be open. Use our Edwardian photographic studio as a backdrop for your souvenir photos.
The afternoon will start at 2pm and will include a free gift for Mum.


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Sort 161 games : Name Likes Likes this week Likes this month Views Views this week Views this month Skill rating - lower to higher Skill rating - higher to lower PEGI rating - lower to higher PEGI rating - higher to lower ESRB rating - lower to higher ESRB rating - higher to lower Australian rating - lower to higher Australian rating - higher to lower Accessibility features Release date - recent to older Release date - older to recent Price - lower to higher Special offers - discount Special offers - saving Special offers - time remaining Special offers - recent Added to database - newest first Added to database - oldest first Updated in database Play duration - shortest first Play duration - longest first
Best Video Games with "Assistance with Controls" Accessibility Settings
As part of our Accessibility Report, this page lists games that have been flagged with accessibility settings in the following areas.
Getting Started: Each of these games has been assessed for what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing. Each game offers the following accessibility features and settings:
Assistance Getting Starting: These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Assistance With Controls: The game can automatically assist with aiming, steering, reloading, jumping, running etc. This reduces the challenge of certain aspects of play to remove barriers and make control of characters more accessible.
Platforms: PC, PS4 and PS5
Tchia is an adventure where you play a young girl (Tchia) who can climb, glide, swim, and sail around a beautiful archipelago. Along with the usual sandbox missions and play the game offers an unusual ability to take control (and become) any animal or...
Andy's Pick
A Hat in Time is a running, jumping and exploring game inspired by retro platform games like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon and Psychonauts. As you explore each of the worlds, you discover characters to talk to, enemies to battle and an...
Angie's Pick
Immortals Fenyx Rising is a mythical adventure game where you play Fenyx, exploring the huge open world, solving puzzles and fighting evil fantasy creatures. Fenyx is a newly winged demigod, who was prophesied to be the one to save the Greek Gods' home...
Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Hades is a fighting game where you battle your way through dungeons to escape hell and the clutches of Hades. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades and through the game you'll meet many recognisable greek gods like Zeus, Athena and Posiedon who will try...
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
Platforms: Mac, PC and PS4
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture lands you in a fictional deserted English village in 1984. As you walk the streets of another era you discover bright human forms who re-enact events like a radio play. Through their eyes, you see a web of fear,...
A Plague Tale: Innocence follows Amicia and her little brother Hugo as they use stealth to escape soldiers and swarms of rats. Against the stark threat and darkness of the world, the sibling relationship develops as the two learn to trust one another....
Ellen's Pick
Platforms: PS3 and PS4
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is an action-adventure game set several years after the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. You play Nathan Drake, a happily married former treasure hunter coaxed out of retirement by his brother. This leads into...
Ben's Pick
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a fighting-adventure game set five years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and 14 years before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Young Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis is hunted through the galaxy by the...
The Long Dark is a thoughtful exploration-survival game where you have crash-landed in the icy Canadian wilderness after a global disaster and must find a way to survive. Through exploring, crafting and fighting you must look after your body...
Minecraft Dungeons is an action-adventure game that takes place in the Minecraft universe. You explore various dungeons to complete missions and collect new gear by exploring and finding treasure chests, or by defeating enemies....
Platforms: PS4
The Last of Us Part II is an action-adventure game set five years after The Last of Us. You control two characters in a post-apocalyptic United States. Ellie is out for revenge after suffering a tragedy, and Abby is a...
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is the latest in a series of Star Wars themed Lego running, jumping and building games. You work your way through all 9 of the Star Wars films unlocking new locations and characters as you go.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an adventure about a young girl who travels to an abandoned village in the hope of finding a sacred mountain shrine. To get there she must find and grow a team of charming spirit companions called the Rot, enhancing their...
Super Mario Odyssey
Mario has starred in running and jumping Super Mario games on Nintendo hardware since the Nintendo Entertainment System in the 80's. The formula remains unchanged. Explore a level, jump on enemies, collect coins and get to the flag at the end to inch...
Hannah's Pick
Marvel's Spider-Man (Series)
Marvel's Spider-Man is a series of superhero adventures where you swing through an open-world city fighting crime and advancing a film-like story. There are also many side quests and missions you can take along the way.
Jo's Pick
It Takes Two is a running, jumping and exploring game that tells a story of a young girl, Rose, whose parents are divorcing. The girl creates two dolls to represent her parents, which unexpectedly trap the clashing-couple in them. You and a friend...
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Series)
Platforms: 3DS and 2DS, DS, GameCube, Switch and iOS
Mario Kart is a go-kart racing game on Nintendo systems. You race against other Nintendo characters around different circuits, picking up power ups, attacks and speed boosts. It is frantic and chaotic, but still requires skills to do well at.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an action-adventure game based on the Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales. It is similar to the first Marvel's Spider-Man game in mechanics although Miles Morales extends this...
Edge 10/10
You play a father, Joel, whose daughter was killed during the early stages of a deadly fungal outbreak. It's now 20 years later, and he has clearly suffered from the loss. When Joel is given charge of a girl, Ellie, about the same age his daughter...
Platforms: Android, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and iOS
Fortnite (sometimes misspelled Fortnight) rose to popularity via its Battle Royale mode where 100 players fight against each other in online battles to the death. While they play, using shooting, evasion and building skills to survive, a storm is...
Biomutant is an open world role-play adventure game where you play a Raccoon warrior in a large world filled with mutated animals. Exploring this living breathing ecosystem has the feel of Zelda Breath of the Wild, but in a broken down steampunk...
BedWars (Roblox)
Bed Wars is a game played on Minecraft (since 2017) or Roblox servers (since 2021). It's a team game where you start on an island and must protect your bed and build bridges to attack other teams' beds. The trick is the ecosystem of items and crafting...
A Little To The Left
A Little To The Left is a puzzle game where you are tidying a house into meticulous order. Each puzzle presents everyday objects and some evidence of how they should be organised. The challenge is you have to deal with the mischievous cat who likes to...
Hot Lava
Platforms: Apple TV, Mac, PC and iOS
Hot Lava is a running and jumping game where you mustn't touch the floor because it's covered in lava. It takes the childhood playground game online as you work to cross nostalgia-filled maps on your own or with other players
Satisfactory is a factory building set on a foreign planet. Like the popular Tycoon and Factory games in Roblox, you start with humble beginnings, you harvest what you can by hand but steadily you build a sprawling empire of automated harvesting...
Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4 and Xbox One
Rust (also, Rust: Console Edition) is an online survival game set in the wilderness. You explore, gather and craft materials to manage hunger, thirst, health and protection. The preparation is to ward off the threat of bears, wolves and (more commonly)...
Platforms: Android, PC, PS4 and iOS
Genshin Impact is a role-playing adventure set in a fantastical open world you explore by walking, climbing, swimming and gliding as necessary. Like the Zelda games, you can collect items, and craft new weapons. However, in this game to create a party...
Smalland
Smalland is a survival adventure where you are a tiny character in an overgrown wilderness. The world is dynamically changing, not only with the weather, seasons, day and night but also in response to what you do. It's as beautiful as it is intimidating...
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the twelfth game in the Assassins Creed Series, an open world action-adventure that takes place over several main story quests as well as many optional side missions.
Race with Ryan
Race with Ryan is a kart racing game staring Ryan from the Ryan's World YouTube channel. Along with the racing you need to collect the Mystery Eggs scattered across each track. Each one then gives you a power up to help you win.
Thousand Threads
Thousand Threads is an open world game of consequences. You are free to interact with the world, animals and people however you like, give, take, save, kill, inform, hide, befriend, betray. But how you do this will have ongoing and unavoidable...
Plants Vs. Zombies (Series)
Platforms: PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare is a series of third-person shooting games about the battle for supremacy between weaponised plants and attacking zombies. It's good for families because the comedic zombies and funny plant powers keep things away from...
Microsoft Flight Simulator (Microsoft Flight Sim 2020) is the latest flight simulator game in the long running series. Along with a huge range of aircraft you can learn to fly, the game recreates the entire Earth using textures and data from data maps...
Celeste is a platform game that requires players to use jumping and climbing moves to ascend an increasingly challenging two-dimensional mountain. You play Madeline, who is, perhaps unsurprisingly, haunted by self-doubt at the task in hand. She presses...
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a running, jumping and shooting game. The latest in the series, Rift Apart focuses on jumping between parallel worlds.
Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS
Skyblock is a game played on Minecraft servers where you start on a bare island floating in the sky and must gather resources to thrive and reach other players. It's the Minecraft equivalent to being washed up on a desert island and is hugely popular....
Heave Ho
Platforms: Mac, PC and Switch
Heave Ho is a game where up to four players try and swing themselves across a level. But you can only hang on to certain points and must dangle and swing with both arms to progress. The twist is that you can also hold hands with other players and make...
My Friend Peppa Pig
My Friend Peppa Pig is a narrative role-play game. It recreates the TV show Peppa Pig and features a few of the voice actors from the programme. Unlike the show, you are in the cartoon, controlling a character you create. You play with Peppa and her...


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CommentOur Say
comment, our-say,
In June, the UK ran without coal power for 18 straight days. Germany has committed to closing all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 30 years. Norway voted to divest more than $8 billion from oil and gas companies ... while its state-owned oil and gas firm, Equinor, continues a push to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight. Wait, what? At a time when nations are trying to reduce their dependence on finite fossil fuels, this seems like an odd move. The Norwegian multinational is majority owned by the Government of Norway. Equinor's website says it has been active in Australia since 2012, and holds two permits to drill in the Bight. Cynically, one might wonder if the Norwegian Government's divestment from fossil fuel companies is a PR exercise, while they squeeze a few more bucks from a dying industry. Equinor was formed by a merger of Statoil and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro. Statoil was responsible for a number of spills in the Arctic. Earlier this year, Equinor tanks spilled oil in the Bahamas when Hurricane Dorian struck in August. The company estimates the clean-up will take another six months. Australian waters are far from the lives and minds of the Norwegian public. Although a spill here would create outcry locally, it would probably be less upsetting for a population half a world away. Ocean-lovers around the country, including at Dalmeny, Culburra, Mollymook and Kiama, will take to the beaches on Saturday, November 23 to voice their opposition to the project. They are worried because the ecological value of the Bight is immeasurable. For instance southern right whales breed there in winter. They're also concerned a spill would hurt human health - and destroy the great Australian playground called "the beach". The profits from a project undertaken by a company majority-owned by a European nation are unlikely to do much for the Australian economy. It seems we wear the greatest risk, with least to gain. Last week Equinor was told by the national regulator it needed to modify and resubmit its environmental plan for Bight drilling. Regardless of best-laid plans, taking a gamble with our precious, pristine ocean to prop up a dying industry seems like a lose-lose proposition.
https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/sbTPpJaw3WwpLe37QYCu92/eb852c45-ca86-4d8c-8ec8-e1bf98b2c94a.jpg/r0_200_509_488_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
Think twice before we let them bite Bight
In June, the UK ran without coal power for 18 straight days.
Germany has committed to closing all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 30 years. Norway voted to divest more than $8 billion from oil and gas companies ... while its state-owned oil and gas firm, Equinor, continues a push to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight.
At a time when nations are trying to reduce their dependence on finite fossil fuels, this seems like an odd move.
The Norwegian multinational is majority owned by the Government of Norway.
Equinor's website says it has been active in Australia since 2012, and holds two permits to drill in the Bight.
Cynically, one might wonder if the Norwegian Government's divestment from fossil fuel companies is a PR exercise, while they squeeze a few more bucks from a dying industry.
Equinor was formed by a merger of Statoil and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro.
Statoil was responsible for a number of spills in the Arctic. Earlier this year, Equinor tanks spilled oil in the Bahamas when Hurricane Dorian struck in August. The company estimates the clean-up will take another six months.
Australian waters are far from the lives and minds of the Norwegian public. Although a spill here would create outcry locally, it would probably be less upsetting for a population half a world away.
Ocean-lovers around the country, including at Dalmeny, Culburra, Mollymook and Kiama, will take to the beaches on Saturday, November 23 to voice their opposition to the project.
They are worried because the ecological value of the Bight is immeasurable. For instance southern right whales breed there in winter. They're also concerned a spill would hurt human health - and destroy the great Australian playground called "the beach".
The profits from a project undertaken by a company majority-owned by a European nation are unlikely to do much for the Australian economy. It seems we wear the greatest risk, with least to gain.
Last week Equinor was told by the national regulator it needed to modify and resubmit its environmental plan for Bight drilling.
Regardless of best-laid plans, taking a gamble with our precious, pristine ocean to prop up a dying industry seems like a lose-lose proposition.
Discuss "Think twice before we let them bite Bight"


.: Congrats To This Special Mommy!
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The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad
Iain R Spears, Janice E Miller-Young, M. Waters, Keith Rome
Purpose: High internal stress is considered to be a possible cause of heel-pad problems. External biomechanical measurements are used to attempt to understand the causes of heel pain. However, internal stress cannot be measured experimentally. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between magnitude of force, time to peak force, and sole angle with internal stresses in the heel using a finite element model. Methods: Computer tomography (CT) was used to create a nonlinear time-dependent three-dimensional finite element model of the heel pad. The material model was based on previously reported force-displacement data derived from in vitro experiments. Although it was not possible to compare internal calculations of stress with experimental data, good agreement was found for external plantar pressures and strains when compared with in vivo values. Internal stresses and external plantar pressures were then investigated for different forces, loading rates (i.e., time to peak force), and angles of foot inclination in the sagittal plane (i.e., sole angle). Results: The results of the model indicate that compressive stress is localized in the region inferior to the calcaneal tuberosity. Peak internal compressive stress was greater than external plantar pressure. Increasing the loading rate (i.e., reducing the time to peak force) caused plantar pressure to increase to a greater extent than internal stress. The general levels of stress were higher when the heel was loaded in an inclined position (i.e., greater sole angle). Conclusion: The finite element technique provides a useful step in bridging the gap between external measures and internal mechanics of the heel pad. A combined kinematic, kinetic, and modeling approach may be required when attempting to identify the biomechanical source of heel pain.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Dive into the research topics of 'The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Heel Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Pain Medicine & Life Sciences 14%
Mechanics Medicine & Life Sciences 12%
Biomechanical Phenomena Medicine & Life Sciences 11%
Foot Medicine & Life Sciences 10%
Kinetics Medicine & Life Sciences 8%
Tomography Medicine & Life Sciences 8%
Spears, I. R., Miller-Young, J. E., Waters, M., & Rome, K. (2005). The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 37(6).
Spears, Iain R ; Miller-Young, Janice E ; Waters, M. et al. / The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad. In: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2005 ; Vol. 37, No. 6.
@article{0dcfc97683274c5aa0fadc331ef4af67,
title = "The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad",
abstract = "Purpose: High internal stress is considered to be a possible cause of heel-pad problems. External biomechanical measurements are used to attempt to understand the causes of heel pain. However, internal stress cannot be measured experimentally. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between magnitude of force, time to peak force, and sole angle with internal stresses in the heel using a finite element model. Methods: Computer tomography (CT) was used to create a nonlinear time-dependent three-dimensional finite element model of the heel pad. The material model was based on previously reported force-displacement data derived from in vitro experiments. Although it was not possible to compare internal calculations of stress with experimental data, good agreement was found for external plantar pressures and strains when compared with in vivo values. Internal stresses and external plantar pressures were then investigated for different forces, loading rates (i.e., time to peak force), and angles of foot inclination in the sagittal plane (i.e., sole angle). Results: The results of the model indicate that compressive stress is localized in the region inferior to the calcaneal tuberosity. Peak internal compressive stress was greater than external plantar pressure. Increasing the loading rate (i.e., reducing the time to peak force) caused plantar pressure to increase to a greater extent than internal stress. The general levels of stress were higher when the heel was loaded in an inclined position (i.e., greater sole angle). Conclusion: The finite element technique provides a useful step in bridging the gap between external measures and internal mechanics of the heel pad. A combined kinematic, kinetic, and modeling approach may be required when attempting to identify the biomechanical source of heel pain.",
author = "Spears, {Iain R} and Miller-Young, {Janice E} and M. Waters and Keith Rome",
Spears, IR, Miller-Young, JE, Waters, M & Rome, K 2005, 'The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad', Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 37, no. 6.
The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad. / Spears, Iain R; Miller-Young, Janice E; Waters, M. et al.
In: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Vol. 37, No. 6, 2005.
T1 - The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad
AU - Spears, Iain R
AU - Miller-Young, Janice E
AU - Waters, M.
AU - Rome, Keith
N2 - Purpose: High internal stress is considered to be a possible cause of heel-pad problems. External biomechanical measurements are used to attempt to understand the causes of heel pain. However, internal stress cannot be measured experimentally. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between magnitude of force, time to peak force, and sole angle with internal stresses in the heel using a finite element model. Methods: Computer tomography (CT) was used to create a nonlinear time-dependent three-dimensional finite element model of the heel pad. The material model was based on previously reported force-displacement data derived from in vitro experiments. Although it was not possible to compare internal calculations of stress with experimental data, good agreement was found for external plantar pressures and strains when compared with in vivo values. Internal stresses and external plantar pressures were then investigated for different forces, loading rates (i.e., time to peak force), and angles of foot inclination in the sagittal plane (i.e., sole angle). Results: The results of the model indicate that compressive stress is localized in the region inferior to the calcaneal tuberosity. Peak internal compressive stress was greater than external plantar pressure. Increasing the loading rate (i.e., reducing the time to peak force) caused plantar pressure to increase to a greater extent than internal stress. The general levels of stress were higher when the heel was loaded in an inclined position (i.e., greater sole angle). Conclusion: The finite element technique provides a useful step in bridging the gap between external measures and internal mechanics of the heel pad. A combined kinematic, kinetic, and modeling approach may be required when attempting to identify the biomechanical source of heel pain.
AB - Purpose: High internal stress is considered to be a possible cause of heel-pad problems. External biomechanical measurements are used to attempt to understand the causes of heel pain. However, internal stress cannot be measured experimentally. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between magnitude of force, time to peak force, and sole angle with internal stresses in the heel using a finite element model. Methods: Computer tomography (CT) was used to create a nonlinear time-dependent three-dimensional finite element model of the heel pad. The material model was based on previously reported force-displacement data derived from in vitro experiments. Although it was not possible to compare internal calculations of stress with experimental data, good agreement was found for external plantar pressures and strains when compared with in vivo values. Internal stresses and external plantar pressures were then investigated for different forces, loading rates (i.e., time to peak force), and angles of foot inclination in the sagittal plane (i.e., sole angle). Results: The results of the model indicate that compressive stress is localized in the region inferior to the calcaneal tuberosity. Peak internal compressive stress was greater than external plantar pressure. Increasing the loading rate (i.e., reducing the time to peak force) caused plantar pressure to increase to a greater extent than internal stress. The general levels of stress were higher when the heel was loaded in an inclined position (i.e., greater sole angle). Conclusion: The finite element technique provides a useful step in bridging the gap between external measures and internal mechanics of the heel pad. A combined kinematic, kinetic, and modeling approach may be required when attempting to identify the biomechanical source of heel pain.
Spears IR, Miller-Young JE, Waters M, Rome K. The effect of loading conditions on stress in the barefooted heel pad. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2005;37(6).


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Air Force Base Remediation Project Includes an Anguil Oxidizer
Posted by Anguil | Leave a Comment
KAFB Ramps Up Fuel Spill Cleanup
By John Fleck / Journal Staff Writer on Friday, January 18, 2013
A Kirtland Air Force Base crew is in the final stages of testing a new machine it hopes will accelerate cleanup of a fuel spill that has contaminated southeast Albuquerque groundwater.
On a concrete pad just north of the base flight line, workers Thursday were testing a garden-shed-sized furnace officials say will begin within the next week to burn off jet fuel sucked from deep under ground.
"It's the next step in actually cleaning up the contaminants," said Col. John Kubinec, the base commander.
Officials note that this is not the final remedy for the longstanding problem, but rather an interim measure to remove some fuel from the ground while the Air Force and state regulators wrestle with the long-term problem of cleaning up the decades-old mess.
"We wanted to get after this contamination sooner rather than later," said John Kieling, head of the New Mexico Environment Department's Hazardous Waste Bureau.
Contractors for the Air Force sank two wells six inches in diameter more than 500 feet into the ground adjacent to the base's old fuel loading area, where in 1999 the Air Force discovered that an underground pipe had been leaking for decades.
Vacuum units will suck fuel vapors from the layers of soil above the groundwater, and the furnace unit will then burn it off, explained Brent Wilson, Kirtland's civil engineer.
The fuel has moved through groundwater more than a mile from the spill site. None has been detected in Albuquerque drinking water wells. Test wells near Phil Chacon Park, between the nearest drinking water wells and the known fuel spill area, recently came back clean, suggesting the risk to drinking water is not imminent, according to the state Environment Department.
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority is in the midst of developing a network of early warning monitoring wells between the fuel spill and the nearest drinking water wells. The water utility is working with the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the best place to put the wells. The agency will pay for the wells but under an agreement with the Air Force, there is a possibility that the Air Force will reimburse the utility for the work, according to John Stomp, the utility's chief operating officer.
Smaller "soil vapor extraction" units have been at work for years sucking aircraft fuel vapors from the ground, but the new larger system is designed to work more effectively at removing the fuel from the ground, Wilson said.
The cleanup efforts face challenges that officials at the Air Force and the state acknowledge cannot be solved with the systems currently in place. The biggest near-term issue is the fact that the water table in the area has been rising as a result of decreased drinking water pumping from nearby wells run by the water utility.
That rising water table has submerged a layer of jet fuel that had been resting in soil on top of the water table, making cleanup harder. In a December report to the Environment Department, the Air Force acknowledged that fuel layer, now trapped under water, "will be an ongoing source of dissolved groundwater contamination indefinitely."
The Air Force and Environment Department are in talks about implementing the next cleanup step, which would begin removing some of that fuel submerged in the groundwater layer.


Most of you who have been a fan of Testube for a few years know the Second Soul album pretty well. But did you know that there was actually a first "Soul" release that came before that? Back in 1996, when I was first learning the in's and out's of my Alesis QS+, and wrestling with my band name a bit, I sent out a limited number of demo cassettes titled Soul. This collection of mid-tempo instrumentals was never sold, but rather used as a promo tool, and paved the way for the sound of the Second Soul album released shortly thereafter. Thanks to a flood of recent interest in my old tunes on Youtube, I decided to dig these recordings out of the vault (actually storage) and make them available again. I even found the original black and white photo that was used for the album cover, and re-scanned it in. The tracks got a little clean-up and some minor remastering, and I hope you dig the results. Twenty years later, I am pleased to present the original Testube demo titled Soul! It is available via my Bandcamp page and will be added to all of the usual online shops (Amazon, iTunes, etc.) very soon!


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Porsche Replicas: Luxury Made in Greece
If you always thought about Greece just for classic ancient ruins and Feta cheese you're wrong; there's something more at least for car lovers. Replicar Hellas is a Greek car manufacture company specializing in replicas of old Porsche models. The models are manufactured from scratch in the company's factory in the northern town of Katerini, without the use of ready kits from abroad.
Replicar Hellas manufactures two cars per month and the average waiting period for an order is five months. The models offered are the RCH 356 Speedster, the RCH Carrera Speedster, the RCH GT Speedster, the RCH 550 Spyder, the RCH Carrera Wide Body and the RCH GULF Wide Body. Regarding cost, the standard version of the Porsche 356 Speedster replica starts at 35,000 euros and may go up to 90,000 euros with extras. For the 550 Spyder, price ranges between 56,000 and 140,000 euros, depending on extras.
The first customer of Replicar Hellas was German and he bought the first car in 2008. Given the astounding quality of the designs, soon many more orders followed from Switzerland, Austria, Italy, England, Belgium and Spain. So far, the biggest demand comes from Germany. The Russians have also expressed interest asking for business partnerships.
So far, Replicar Hellas has manufactured and sold 40 Porsche 356 Speedsters, almost all of them in Europe. "Our goal is to produce 100 cars per model, per year, within five years," stated the company's sales manager, Thanassis Mitsokapas. "The investment required is between 2 and 4 million euros."
Replicar Hellas has participated in several auto shows in Europe. "The feedback we received from all over Europe is that our quality, in general, is unrivaled. There is no comparison. England, which is our main competitor in the Porsche 356 Replica, has inferior quality", noted Mitsokapas. In Stuttgart, where the Porsche manufacturing plant is, inspectors of the legendary automotive company congratulated Replicar Hellas, he added.
What is ironic, however, is that it is still illegal to drive these replicas in Greece. For bureaucratic reasons, they cannot get state approval, which means that they cannot get Greek license plates. This unfortunate situation is about to change. The company is now closer than ever to receive the necessary license to sell its cars to Greeks. Interest is already high and the first Greek order comes from Santorini.
So, if you are into a good old-timer Porsche replica go ahead to the company's web page and place your order!


text:
Making Airspace for Birds and Planes
When birds and aircraft collide, it can be disastrous. Fortunately, a combination of common sense, cutting-edge technology, and a bit of bird knowledge is making the skies safer for all.
Those who work in the specialized field of birdstrike avoidance have spoken out for years about the rising hazard of airplanes hitting birds. "The numbers keep going up, and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] is just clueless," Paul Eschenfelder, a veteran pilot for a major international airline, told me late last year. "The airline industry doesn't want to get involved because they're afraid they might have to spend money. Nobody will get involved until we have a big catastrophe."
The big catastrophe nearly came on January 15, 2009.
About 90 seconds after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport, US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada geese, disabling both engines. "It was the worst sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling I've ever felt in my life," Captain Chesley Sullenberger would later tell CBS's 60 Minutes. The plane didn't have enough altitude to glide back to LaGuardia, so Sullenberger executed an emergency water landing on the Hudson River. He and the crew helped all 155 people on board get off safely.
While the accident brought the dangers of birdstrikes to the nation's attention, experts have long been investigating the most effective ways to curtail such collisions. They've discovered it requires an ornithologist's knowledge of bird behavior, high-tech radar equipment, labor-intensive ground observation, and some old-fashioned wildlife detective work.
On a morning last December in Tulsa, members of the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard filtered into a conference room for a 9 a.m. presentation. The fighter pilots wore green flight suits. Shoulder patches identified them as members of the Tulsa Vipers F-16 squadron recently returned from Iraq. They had the look of Top Guns expecting to endure a time waster taught by a civilian. A civilian bird guy.
The presenter that morning was Russ DeFusco, a leading authority on birdstrikes. His job is to keep gulls, starlings, and turkey vultures from getting sucked into the Vipers' engines. To a fighter pilot just back from combat, though, Canada geese may be low on the list of concerns. "These guys are worried about dodging bullets, not birds," DeFusco told me, "so I've got to get their attention in a hurry."
To do that, he told this story.
In July 1995 DeFusco gave a similar briefing to officials at Elmendorf Air Force Base outside Anchorage, Alaska. Elmendorf had a notorious Canada geese problem. Migrating flocks liked to rest and feed on the grass surrounding the base's runways. "You've got to watch the runway grass carefully, and do everything in your power to harass that first migrating bird away from here," DeFusco told Elmendorf officials. "If he lands and feeds, that sends a signal to the rest of the flock. One bird will draw dozens and then hundreds of others."
When DeFusco delivered a plan for an aggressive bird management program, the officials put a few suggestions into action but ignored most of the recommendations. Two months later, on September 22, an Air Force AWACS communication plane struck 25 Canada geese during takeoff. The birds knocked out the two left engines, sending the plane out of control. It crashed in heavy woods outside of Anchorage, destroying the plane and killing all 24 crew members aboard.
If the pilots in Tulsa thought their nimble fighter jets made them less vulnerable, DeFusco told them, they should think again. "The Air Force has lost more F-16s to birdstrikes than any other aircraft," he said. Twenty-two years ago DeFusco was hired to investigate an F-4 fighter destroyed by a griffon vulture in Spain. "It turned out the bird crashed straight through the canopy and decapitated the pilot. The bird goo blinded the co-pilot, who went down with the ship. When they found the co-pilot's body his hand was still gripping the stick."
Birds collide with airplanes, on average, about 20 times a day around the United States. The results of these midair meetings are fairly predictable. The birds end up as "snarge," the industry term for the gooey remains. Commercial jets usually escape with little damage. But not always. A bird can crumple an airplane's nose cone, punch a hole in a wing, disable the ground steering, or destroy an engine. "Most times they just bounce off, and you don't even know you've hit a bird," says Eschenfelder, a member of Bird Strike Committee USA, a group of aviation industry officials who track the issue. "But a jet engine can't just swallow those things and keep going. It's a real hazard, and it's happening every day."
And it's getting worse. The airline industry doesn't publicize it—for obvious reasons—but more birds are hitting more airplanes every year. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the FAA, which monitor wildlife hazards to aviation, there were 1,759 reported birdstrikes to civil aircraft in 1990. In 2007 there were 7,666—a fourfold increase. Some of that can be attributed to better reporting by pilots and mechanics, although the FAA estimates that only 20 percent of all strikes are reported. Another reason for the increase might be the swelling number of flights; commercial air traffic has increased by 1.8 percent a year since 1980, and there were more than 28 million flights in 2007. The FAA estimates that number will continue growing by 2 percent a year and will reach 36 million flights by 2020. Another key indicator is a statistic known as strikes per 10,000 movements of aircraft. It's like the industry's birdstrike batting average. In 1990 it was 0.53, or one strike for every 20,000 flights. By 2007 it had tripled, to 1.75.
Despite the rising incidence and the example of US Airways 1549, the issue remains a low priority for commercial airlines and the FAA. The Air Force has long made birdstrike reporting mandatory. For civil aircraft under FAA jurisdiction, though, reporting remains voluntary. "We're always looking at ways to improve our wildlife mitigation efforts," says FAA spokesperson Hank Price. But in the weeks following the US Airways crash, the agency took no action to review its existing avoidance procedures. "The shame of it is, this is something we can have some control over," says Eschenfelder.
While the continued decline of songbirds and at-risk species is well known, populations of gulls and turkey vultures—large birds capable of inflicting a lot of damage to an airplane—have risen steadily, and grassy fields and retention ponds surrounding airports are attractive feeding and resting grounds for Canada geese. "There are a lot more big birds than there were 40 years ago, and they're hitting aircraft with greater frequency," Steve Predmore, chief safety officer of JetBlue Airways, told a gathering of industry experts in 2006. "Birdstrikes are a real threat," he said, with no silver bullet solution.
There may be no silver bullet, but the nation's pilots and air travelers do have a Lone Ranger. DeFusco realized his calling in the early 1980s when, as an Air Force Academy lieutenant, he hit a bird on his second solo flight. As flames shot out his engine, DeFusco landed the plane and walked away. Because of the high speed, pilots usually see just a flash before impact, if they see anything at all. But DeFusco was a lifelong birder. "It was a Mississippi kite," he recalls.
DeFusco worked on the Air Force's BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) team in the late 1980s and 1990s, developing the first radar-based system for bird avoidance before leaving to become an independent consultant. Today he works out of a home office in Colorado Springs, but he's in such demand that he travels three days a week. "Anybody who has this problem eventually finds me," DeFusco says. "And right now a lot of people are finding me."
Solving human–bird conflicts in a high-risk environment like airports involves a blend of cutting-edge surveillance and traditional birding knowledge. Major airports have employed wildlife managers since the 1970s, and yet the number of birdstrikes continues to rise. Now, DeFusco believes, the aviation industry needs to stop thinking of birds as nuisances and start thinking of them as a natural phenomenon—like the weather. "We're integrating bird migration patterns and historical data into models that will let us predict when and where birds will be concentrated," he says. "Where we are with birds today is something like where we were with weather forecasting 50 years ago."
At work DeFusco combines a detective's gumshoe sleuthing with a lobbyist's persuasive diplomacy. The Tulsa job was part of a long-term contract with the Air National Guard. After the 1995 crash at Elmendorf, military officials demanded new birdstrike avoidance plans at each of the nation's 88 Air National Guard bases. DeFusco has been creating those plans since 2001—after Tulsa he'd have only four more to go.
Like a private eye looking for clues, DeFusco walked the grounds, climbed into the air traffic control tower, chatted up the maintenance crew, and poked around corners in the F-16 hangar. He sought out any natural or built feature that would attract a bird or let deer or coyotes slip through the perimeter fence. (Airplanes hit about 150 mammals, mostly deer, on American runways every year.)
"I often start with the grass," DeFusco told Lt. Col. Jimmy Nichols as they stood at the edge of the Tulsa Airport perimeter road. "Your grass here is in nice shape, not a lot of weeds, which is good. Except for Canada geese, grass is indigestible to most wildlife. The thing is, right now it's cut too low. You want it seven to fourteen inches high. If grass grows above a bird's eye height, you obscure their interflock communication system and keep them from seeing predators. It makes 'em real nervous."
Nichols made a note of it. As the 138th Fighter Wing's safety officer, he's responsible for keeping birds out of his pilots' airspace. And as a fighter pilot with nearly 20 years' experience, he wants nothing to do with birdstrikes. "I once hit a turkey vulture on a low-level flight outside Phoenix," he said. "The bird guts and feathers splattered inside the cockpit. The smell—oh, man. That's nothing I want to experience again."
DeFusco nodded in sympathy. "Gulls are the birds most often struck by commercial airliners, but turkey vultures are the number one species for significant mishaps," he said. "We've lost more military aircraft to them than any other bird." A combination of factors is at work. They're big birds—each weighs about four pounds. There are a lot of them, and they hang out in circular soaring patterns at 2,500 feet. "They've got a locking mechanism in their wings, so they're actually conserving energy soaring up there," said DeFusco. "And they've got no airborne predators, so they haven't developed an evasive response. When an aircraft comes at a red-tailed hawk, the hawk will dive. The turkey vulture doesn't know enough to get out of the way."
Some oak trees caught DeFusco's eye. Airport officials know that trees provide birds with shelter and food, but the Tulsa mayor likes them. DeFusco suggested pruning to let the wind pass through. "Birds roost there for the thermal cover," he said. "If you take that away, they'll look for other trees away from the runway. You lose the birds, the mayor keeps his trees."
DeFusco stepped inside a hangar, where mechanics were busy stripping down the nose of an F-16. Some bird droppings on the floor caught his eye. "That's from our local red-tail," one of the mechanics told him.
Allowing red-tailed hawks to reside at airports is a relatively new and still controversial strategy. In theory, the predatory birds discourage other birds from coming into the area. The data seem to confirm it. Officials at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, for instance, have allowed six pairs of red-tails to nest nearby since 2001. "The resident hawks are airport savvy," says Steve Osmek, Sea-Tac's wildlife program manager. "The birds that tend to get struck are juveniles and migrants—the young and the dumb." The strategy isn't without risk. If a resident hawk caused a mishap, it could be tough to explain in a sound bite why airport officials encouraged their presence.
DeFusco had a simpler solution. "The hawk's okay," he told the hangar crew, "but really, the best thing you can do is close the big hangar doors a half-hour before sunrise and a half-hour before sunset, when smaller birds are coming home to roost."
Habitat management—grass, trees, hangar doors—is the low-tech part of DeFusco's job, and it's an easy sell to airport officials. The high-tech part is tougher. It's one thing to cut the grass higher. It's another thing entirely to convince air traffic controllers to start thinking of birds like they think of weather.
The concept, DeFusco explains, goes back to the National Weather Service's nationwide rollout of Doppler weather radar in the 1990s. The NEXRAD system—TV weathercasters use it for "your Doppler radar forecast!"—is so sensitive that it picks up flying birds, which are noise in the signal for meteorologists. "Their trash was our treasure," says DeFusco. "We could remove the weather from the signal, and what remained was birds. It was a huge breakthrough."
Using data from National Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, the U.S. Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey, and historical birdstrike records, the Air Force team created a database of bird traffic around the country. Real-time Doppler radar provided a secondary layer of information about current bird activity in the area. At the Air Force's Avian Hazard Advisory System (AHAS), pilots combine the two systems to determine the "bird weather" along their route. "From a pilot's perspective," says DeFusco, "the AHAS system is a measure of the amount of meat in the air in front of your airplane."
Among birders, for instance, the Skagit Valley north of Seattle is a well-known wintering ground for snow geese, trumpeter swans, and bald eagles—big birds that can bring down a small plane. Pilots may know nothing about the valley's birding reputation, but a glance at the AHAS site lets them know the area's birdstrike risk level is severe during late December.
Pilots, airfield managers, and air traffic controllers don't universally embrace the AHAS system, mainly because it represents one more piece of data they've got to think about. DeFusco was sensitive to the problem. "This isn't meant to keep you from flying," he assured the F-16 pilots in Tulsa. "It's like a weather condition—if you know a storm is coming in, that won't necessarily ground you, but you might alter your route to avoid it."
The military uses the AHAS system, but civilian airport officials have been slower to adopt it. "It's a challenge Russ and I have talked about for years," says Ron Merritt, president of DeTect, a company that specializes in aviation radar systems. "How do you get bird information to flight crews? There's no bird guy in the [air traffic control] tower. One way to think about it is like wind shear," he says, referring to the weather hazard responsible for a number of fatal crashes in the 1980s. Wind shear problems were reduced in the 1990s with the development of NEXRAD. "Years ago the FAA got serious about wind shear and implemented a system in some airports where a wind shear advisory light dings in the tower when conditions are dangerous. We'd like to do something similar for birds. When there's a swallow storm out there, nobody wants to fly into it."
In Tulsa, Russ DeFusco made the toughest sales call of the day: the air traffic control tower. This was the job's diplomatic end. Everybody else at the airport and Air National Guard base could be gung-ho about birdstrike prevention, but if the people in the control tower weren't on board, all of DeFusco's work might be for naught. He wanted the air traffic controllers to start integrating real-time bird hazard information (that is, pilots and airfield managers spotting flocks of birds near the runway) into their communications with pilots. "If the [bird hazard] level is severe, they should let pilots in the area know that," he said in the elevator up to the control tower. "But they've got strict union rules, and sometimes that stops the whole thing cold."
One supervisor and two controllers worked the tower. It was a slow day, and they could afford to listen to DeFusco's pitch. Below the tower two dozen mallards, buffleheads, and gadwalls paddled around a stormwater retention pond. "We want to make it easy for you," he told the controllers. They listened politely, but their faces read skeptical. On the way out, the tower supervisor gave DeFusco a few encouraging words. "I think we can do it," he said. "We've just got to make sure it's not against any of our rules."
The next morning DeFusco wrapped up his work with a briefing for the 138th Fighter Wing commander, Col. Michael Hepner. DeFusco had been up late the previous night preparing a PowerPoint presentation. He pitched the utility of the AHAS avian radar system, and mentioned the air traffic controllers' crucial role with diplomacy and tact. Hepner nodded in a way that conveyed his understanding of both the importance of the technology and the difficulty of changing air traffic control protocols.
At the end of the day, DeFusco felt he had made some converts to the cause. The air traffic controllers might not fully support it yet, but DeFusco was confident that the 138th Fighter Wing's safety officer, Lt. Col. Jimmy Nichols, would continue to press the issue long after DeFusco's report was filed away. "There's nothing like experience to bring the importance of this issue home," DeFusco says. "When you hit a turkey vulture going 500 knots, like Colonel Nichols did, you'll go out of your way to avoid a repeat performance."
This article originally ran in the September-October 2008 issue as, "Clearing the Air."
No single technique will always keep birds out of flight paths, so airports use a variety of strategies. The cheapest option? "The human being out there hooting and hollering," says John Ostrom, chair of Bird Strike Committee USA. "If you want to move birds, 'shoo, shoo, shoo' still works." Here are other popular tools:
Gas cannons Essentially propane ignited to make a loud noise, gas cannons can be set to timers or remotely controlled. At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, they're often used with distress-cry generators, which broadcast digitally recorded bird sounds.
Radar Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has been the primary test site for bird radar since 2006, and it recently installed a third radar system. Other airports, including Chicago's O'Hare and Dallas Fort-Worth in Texas, plan to install bird radar this year.
Pyrotechnics Each day officials at airports nationwide set off everything from bangers and screamers to grenade-launched pyrotechnics to disperse flocks around runways. They're cheap, easy to use, and effective—even against imperturbable Canada geese.
Falcons and dogs Not all solutions are mechanical. New York's John F. Kennedy International has a resident falconer; his handful of predators keeps smaller birds at bay. Southwest Florida International in Fort Myers is one airport that uses border collies to chase unwanted guests off the tarmac.
Paintball Personnel often use paintball guns, which are less pricey than animal programs. For this nonlethal tactic, officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport aim into and just outside of flocks that don't budge when pyrotechnics are set off.—Katherine Tweed


Erik Solheim was back home in Oslo last weekend, and vigorously trying to defend himself after having to resign as head of the United National Environment Programme (UNEP). He had no choice, after the UN's secretary general himself told him he had to go.
Solheim's version is that he "had to go because I tried to change the UN." He told various Norwegian media that he'd tried to launch some reforms "that someone didn't like." He repeated his contention that a UN report detailing and criticizing his extensive and expensive travel was full of errors, and he also claims he had "massive support" among most UN member nations.
Newspaper Aftenposten, however, reported that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reacted negatively to Solheim's lack of humility. UN auditors determined Solheim had both ignored and all but defied the UN system that he was part of. When Solheim criticized the report, failed to express regrets or promise to change his ways, Guterres had enough. After speaking with people tied to the UN in New York, Geneva, Oslo and at UNEP in Nairobi, Aftenposten was told that the UN boss didn't like Solheim's failure to accept criticism.
Guterres also "knew that he had Norwegian officials behind him when he gave Solheim the message on Monday" that his time was up. The two men had spoken on the phone and Guterres sent a letter that Solheim had to resign immediately.
Aftenposten outlined other problems, though, in addition to Solheim's constant travel and how expensive and environmentally unfriendly it was (Solheim claims it was necessary in order to meet national leaders face to face and spread his climate agenda). Some of Solheim's staff members, for example, reportedly got better benefits than others, including one who was allowed to work from home in Paris instead of moving to UNEP's headquarters in Nairobi. "Erik created a culture where 'his' people felt they could do as they liked," one sourse at UNEP told Aftenposten. Those who criticized Solheim were often told they were too bureaucratic and difficult.
He also ran into trouble, reports Aftenposten, for agreeing to make UNEP a sponsor of the regatta known as Volvo Ocean Race, at a cost of USD 500,000. Solheim claims it was important to raise UNEP's profile and a means for building up awareness of the problem of plastics in the seas.
UNEP also entered into an unclear agreement with the company running Norwegian industrial tycoon Kjell Inge Røkke's research vessel. Shortly thereafter Solheim's wife Gry Ulverud was hired to work for the same company. That set off criticism for a possible conflict of interest.
Other conflicts arose over UNEP's financial support from China, and UNEP's cooperation with China's international Green Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Critics, not least the US, claim the Chinese are using UNEP to "greenwash" its global infrastructure project, and have raised numerous questions.
Solheim dismisses most of that criticism as well, claiming he has run into challenges from UN members who simply resist his belief that countries like China, India and Indonesia can lead the way in the future instead of countries in North America and Europe.
The 63-year-old Solheim told newspaper Dagsavisen that he has received lots of sympathy from staff members, from embassies and international organizations. He claims he merely has worked "intensely" to put climate and environmental issues high on the international agenda. He still claims his constant globe-trotting was necessary ("I can't ask the leader of Coca-Cola to come see me in Nairobi, I have to go visit him," to talk about getting rid of plastic bottles, for example) and that he and his staff achieved "outstanding" results during his tenure.


Access physical activity grades, report cards and other related documents from all Global Matrix events in which Poland has participated.
"For us in Poland, AHKGA Global Alliance 3.0 is An initiative that goes far beyond grades and identifying problems around physical inactivity of kids. Being part of the aliance creates an opportunity to spark a movement towards more active kids in Poland. A movement in which, representatives of all of the sectors are involved, as this is the only way to achieve change." - Paweł	Zembura, Ph.D. and Agata	Korcz, Ph.D.
The 2018 Polish Report Card is the second assessment of children and youth PA in the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance project, following the Global Matrix 2.0 in 2016.
The 2018 Polish Report Card included 10 core PA indicators used in the Global Matrix 3.0. The Research Team (RT) conducted systematic reviews to identify data sources applicable to each of the indicators, which were later assessed based on the same set of criteria. All data sources were published within the last 5 years (since 2013) except for the ones referring to the Physical Fitness indicator.
Little has changed regarding the grades and informative data sources in 2018 when compared to the Poland's Report Card in 2016. Important limitation were acknowledged - the grades were based on self-reported data and RT was not able to identify nearly any data sources regarding children younger than 10 years old.
In spite of the promising environment regarding PA in Poland, as suggested by strong grades allocated to the School and Government indictors, the proportion of children and youth who meet the recommended levels of PA and screen time remains low. Promotional efforts need to extend beyond school sports in Poland and multicomponent strategies that engage family, peers and the community should be encouraged in order to maximize participation in PA for Polish children and youth.
 Zembura and Gołdys are with the Social Challenges Unit at Robert B. Zajonc Institute of Social Science, University of Warsaw, Poland. Korcz is with Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznan, Poland. Cieśla is with the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce, Poland. Nałęcz is with the Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
Aleksandra GołdysAleksandra Gołdys is co-founder of the Social Challenge Unit at University of Warsaw, Poland. For more than ten years, she has conducted research, social interventions and advocacy with a special emphasis on public health, physical activity and innovation in education. Alexsandra cooperates with the main Polish foundations that deal with life capabilities of youth (e.g., Polish Children and Youth Foundation, Foundation for the Development of the Education System, Unit for Social Innovation and Research "Shipyard", The Polish-American Freedom Foundation) and also with international organizations such as Stanford University, Brown University, ISCA, and UEFA. Aleksandra is most proud of being part of community-based projects like planning sport strategies for two Polish regions and from the first Polish qualitative research on social usage of governmental sport infrastructure. For the last two years, her team has evaluated four main public interventions focusing on increasing physical activity level among youth, co-financed by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism in Poland. Aleksandra believes that researchers share responsibility for translating research results into real actions and real change.
Goldys A, Nałęcz H, Zembura P.
Background: The 2016 Poland's Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth is the first assessment of child and youth physical activity in Poland using the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance grading system. The main goal was to summarize and diagnose the current state of child and youth physical activity (PA) in order to increase awareness and surveillance. 2) Methods: The systematic methodology that underpins the Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card was adapted and applied. The best available data were consolidated, reviewed by a group of experts, and used to assign the letter grades to nine core PA indicators on a scale ranging from A (highest) to F (lowest). 3) Results: 1) Overall physical activity (D), 2) Organized sport participation (C), 3) Active play (INC), 4) Active transportation (C), 5) Sedentary behaviors (D), 6) Family and peers (C), 7) School (B), 8) Community and the built environment (C), and 9) Government strategies and investments (C). 4) Conclusions: The final grades show a strong role of school in providing PA to children and youth in Poland. However, promotion of school-based sport participation appears to be insufficient by itself to sustainably promote PA in this group.