text:
# ifndef SR_BOX_H
# define SR_BOX_H

/** \file sr_box.h
 * 3d axis-aligned box
 */
#include <sb/SBTypes.h>
# include <sr/sr_vec.h>
#include <vector>

class SrMat;

/*! \class SrBox sr_box.h
    \brief 3d axis-aligned box

    SrBox describes a 3d axis-aligned box. The box is described by
    two 3d vertices a,b; one with the minimum coordinates(a), and the
    other with the maximum coordinates(b). It is used to describe
    bounding boxes, which have their sides parallel to the axes.
    If any of the coordinates of a are greater than any coordinates
    of b, the box is said to be empty, ie, not valid. */
class SBAPI SrBox
 { public :
    SrPnt a; //!< Contains the minimum coordinates of the box
    SrPnt b; //!< Contains the maximum coordinates of the box
    static const char* class_name;
   public :

    /*! Default constructor initializes the box as the empty box (1,1,1)(0,0,0). */
    SrBox ();

    /*! Constructs a box with all vertices the same. This degenerated
        box is identical to a single point and is not considered an
        empty box. */
    SrBox ( const SrPnt& p ) : a(p), b(p) {}

    /*! Constructs the box from the given min and max points. */
    SrBox ( const SrPnt& min, const SrPnt& max ) : a(min), b(max) {}

    /*! Copy constructor. */
    SrBox ( const SrBox& box ) : a(box.a), b(box.b) {}

    /* Constructs SrBox containing the two given boxes. */
    SrBox ( const SrBox& x, const SrBox& y );

	SrPnt& getMinimum() { return a;}

	SrPnt& getMaximum() { return b;}

	void setMinimum(SrPnt& pt) { a = pt;}

	void setMaximum(SrPnt& pt) { b = pt;}

	/*! Init the box as (0,0,0)(0,0,0). */
    void set_null ();

    /*! Sets the minimum and maximum vertices of the box. */
    void set ( const SrPnt& min, const SrPnt& max ) { a=min; b=max; }

    /*! Sets the box to be empty, ie, invalid, just by putting
        the x coordinate of the minimum vertex (a) greater than
        the x coordinate of the maximum vertex (b). */
    void set_empty () { a.x=1.0; b.x=0.0; }

    /*! Returns true if the box is empty (or invalid), ie, when
        some coordinate of a is greater than b. */
    bool empty () const;

    /*! Returns the volume of the box. */
    float volume () const;

    /*! Returns the center point of the box (b+a)/2. */
    SrPnt center () const;

	 /*! Returns the center point of the box (b+a)/2. */
    SrPnt getCenter () const;

    /*! Translates SrBox to have its center in p. */
    void center ( const SrPnt& p );

    /*! Changes the position of the maximum vertex b of the box in order to
        achieve the desired dimensions given in v (b=a+v). */
    void size ( const SrVec& v );

    /*! Returns the dimensions in each axis (b-a). */
    SrVec size () const;

	/*! Returns the dimensions in each axis (b-a). */
    SrVec getSize () const;

    /*! Returns the maximum dimension of the box. */
    float max_size () const;

    /*! Returns the minimum dimension of the box. */
    float min_size () const;

    /*! Extends SrBox (if needed) to contain the given point. If SrBox
        is empty, SrBox min and max vertices become the given point. */
    void extend ( const SrPnt& p );

    /*! Extends SrBox (if needed) to contain the given box, if the given
        box is not empty(). If SrBox is empty, SrBox becomes the given box. */
    void extend ( const SrBox& box );

    /*! Adds (dx,dy,dz) to b, and diminish it from a. */
    void grows ( float dx, float dy, float dz );

    /*! Returns true if SrBox contains the given point. */
    bool contains ( const SrPnt& p ) const;

    /*! Returns true if SrBox intersects with the given box. */
    bool intersects ( const SrBox& box ) const;

    /*! Returns the four corners of side s={0,..,5} of the box.
        Side 0 has all x coordinates equal to a.x, side 1 equal to b.x.
        Side 2 has all y coordinates equal to a.y, side 3 equal to b.y.
        Side 4 has all z coordinates equal to a.z, side 5 equal to b.z.
        Order is ccw, starting with the point with more SrBox::a coordinates */
    void get_side ( SrPnt& p1, SrPnt& p2, SrPnt& p3, SrPnt& p4, int s ) const;
	std::vector<SrVec> getCorners();

    /*! The bounding box is identical to SrBox (needed by SrSceneShapeTpl). */
    void get_bounding_box ( SrBox &box ) const { box=*this; }

    /* Translates SrBox by v. */
    void operator += ( const SrVec& v );

    /* Scales SrBox by the factor s. */
    void operator *= ( float s );

    /* Returns the bounding box of the transformed vertices vM of b. */
    friend SrBox operator * ( const SrBox& b, const SrMat& m );

    /* Returns the bounding box of the transformed vertices Mv of b. */
    friend SrBox operator * ( const SrMat& m, const SrBox& b );

    /*! Outputs in format: "x y z a b c". */
    friend SrOutput& operator<< ( SrOutput& o, const SrBox& box );

    /*! Inputs from format: "x y z a b c". */
    friend SrInput& operator>> ( SrInput& in, SrBox& box );
 };

//================================ End of File =================================================

# endif  // SR_BOX_H

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Headed to the TSX, Aleafia…
Headed to the TSX, Aleafia Closes Emblem Acquisition
Aleafia Health and Emblem Announce Closing of Arrangement
TORONTO, March 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aleafia Health Inc.(TSXV: ALEF, OTC: ALEAF, FRA: ARAH) ("Aleafia Health") and Emblem Corp. (TSXV: EMC, OTCQX: EMMBF) ("Emblem") are pleased to announce that they have completed the previously announced plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement") under the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act, pursuant to which, among other things, Aleafia Health has acquired all of the common shares of Emblem (the "Emblem Shares") following Emblem's amalgamation with Aleafia Health's wholly-owned subsidiary, 11208578 Canada Inc., to form a new wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation continuing as "Emblem Corp." ("Amalco").
The Arrangement creates:
The leading Canadian medical cannabis clinic and education centre network with 60,000 patients seen to date
A high-value, highly differentiated product portfolio of oils, capsules and sprays
Scaled production capacity and leading supply with three dedicated cultivation and product innovation facilities and the industry's largest LP to LP cannabis supply agreement
A national and global distribution platform with provincial supply agreements, retail partnerships and a global expansion
Improved capital markets profile and liquidity, including up-listing to the TSX
A combined entity with a robust cash position
The acquisition of Emblem rapidly accelerates the execution of Aleafia Health's strategy and positioning as a vertically integrated, diversified cannabis company with an integrated, highly differentiated consumer ecosystem.
Geoffrey Benic, CEO of Emblem
Emblem's product leadership in the medical and adult-use sectors and highly coveted supply agreements will perfectly complement our cannabis production and clinic operations. This is a transformative transaction that positions Aleafia Health as a global cannabis leader.
Under the terms of the Arrangement, each former Emblem shareholder is now entitled to receive 0.8377 of a common share in the capital of Aleafia Health, for each Emblem Share held prior to the Arrangement (the "Consideration"). It is anticipated that the Emblem Shares will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") as of the close of trading on or about March 18, 2019.
Pursuant to the letter of transmittal mailed to Emblem shareholders as part of the material in connection with the special meeting of Emblem shareholders held on March 6, 2019 (the "Meeting"), in order to receive the Consideration to which they are entitled, registered holders of Emblem Shares will be required to deposit their share certificate(s) representing Emblem Shares, together with the duly completed letter of transmittal, with Computershare Investor Services Inc., the depositary under the Arrangement. Shareholders whose Emblem Shares are registered in the name of a broker, dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee should contact their nominee with questions regarding the receipt of the Consideration.
Further information about the Arrangement is set forth in the materials prepared by Emblem in respect of the Meeting which were mailed to Emblem shareholders and filed under Emblem's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.
Aleafia Health Board
Concurrent with the completion the Arrangement each of Gary Goodyear and Michael Verbora have resigned as directors of Aleafia Health, and Loreto Grimaldi and Daniel Milliard, each former directors of Emblem, have been appointed to the Aleafia Health board of directors.
Dr. Michael Verbora will remain in his capacity as Chief Medical Officer of Aleafia Health.
TSX Listing
As previously disclosed, Aleafia Health has received conditional approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") to graduate from the TSXV and list its common shares ("Common Shares") on the TSX under the symbol "ALEF". The Common Shares will commence trading on the TSX on March 19, 2019. Immediately prior to the commencement of trading on the TSX, the Common Shares will be voluntarily delisted from the TSXV.
Listed Emblem Warrants
Prior to the completion of the Arrangement, Emblem had outstanding three classes of warrants to purchase common shares of Emblem listed on the TSXV:
EMC.WT – exercisable at a price of $1.75 with an expiry date of December 6, 2019 (the "2019 Warrants") issued pursuant to a warrant indenture between Emblem and Computershare Trust Company of Canada ("Computershare") dated December 6, 2016 (the "2019 Warrant Indenture");
EMC.WT.A – exercisable at a price of $2.15 with an expiry date of November 16, 2020 (the "November 2020 Warrants") issued pursuant to a warrant indenture between Emblem and Computershare dated November 16, 2017 (the "November 2020 Warrant Indenture"); and
EMC.WT.B – exercisable at a price of $2.70 with an expiry date of February 2, 2020 (the "February 2020 Warrants") issued pursuant to a warrant indenture between Emblem and Computershare dated February 2, 2018 (the "February 2020 Warrant Indenture");
(the 2019 Warrants, November 2020 Warrants and February 2020 Warrants are referred to collectively as the "Listed Emblem Warrants").
Following the completion of the Arrangement the Listed Emblem Warrants, with the exception of any Listed Emblem Warrants that have been exercised prior to closing of the Arrangement, will remain outstanding as warrants of Amalco (continuing on as "Emblem Corp.") that upon exercise will entitle the holder thereof to receive the Consideration.
The Listed Emblem Warrants will continue trading on the TSXV as Amalco warrants, under their existing trading symbols, and will remain listed on the TSXV until the earliest to occur of their exercise, expiry or earlier delisting.
Pursuant to the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, and as required by each of the 2019 Warrant Indenture, November 2020 Warrant Indenture and February 2020 Warrant Indentures, Aleafia Health has entered into supplemental warrant indentures in respect of each the foregoing warrant indentures governing the Listed Emblem Warrants. Copies of each of the supplemental warrant indentures are available on Emblem's and Aleafia Health's respective SEDAR profiles at www.sedar.com.
Aleafia Health has submitted an application on behalf of Amalco to the applicable securities regulators for relief from certain continuous disclosure and insider reporting requirements. In the event Amalco is granted such relief, holders of Listed Emblem Warrants will be directed to reference, and rely on, the public disclosure filings of Aleafia Health.
Termination of Aleafia Health and Emblem Escrow
In connection with, and effective as of, the listing of the Common Shares on the TSX, the TSXV has approved the termination of the November 9, 2016 Aleafia Health escrow agreement and the December 6, 2016 Emblem escrow agreement. Upon termination of the Aleafia Health escrow agreement 4,129,650 Common Shares will be released from escrow and upon termination of the Emblem escrow agreement 6,584,133 Common Shares will be released from escrow plus any Common Shares previously issued upon the exercise of any escrowed Emblem options or warrants, if any.
As previously disclosed, in connection with completion of the Arrangement Aleafia Health has paid to Mackie Research Capital Corporation a success fee of 2,331,255 Common shares.
About Aleafia Health
Aleafia Health is a leading, vertically integrated cannabis health and wellness company with four primary business units: Cannabis Cultivation & Products, Health & Wellness Clinics, Cannabis Education, and Consumer Experience with ecommerce, retail distribution and provincial supply.
Aleafia Health owns three major cannabis product & cultivation facilities where it produces a diverse portfolio of commercially proven, high-margin derivative products including oils, capsules and sprays. Aleafia Health operates the largest national network of medical cannabis clinics and education centres staffed by MDs, nurse practitioners and educators.
Aleafia Health maintains a medical cannabis dataset with over 10 million data points to inform proprietary illness specific product development and treatment best practices.
Learn more at www.AleafiaHealth.com
About Emblem
Emblem is a fully integrated cannabis company focused on driving shareholder value through product innovation, brand relevance, and access to patient and consumer channels. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary Emblem Cannabis Corporation, Emblem is licensed to cultivate, process, and sell cannabis and cannabis derivatives in Canada under the Cannabis Act. Emblem's state-of-the-art indoor cannabis cultivation facility and Product Innovation Centre is located in Paris, Ontario. Emblem is also the parent company of GrowWise Health Limited, one of Canada's leading cannabis education services.
For more information, please visit www.emblemcorp.com.
Get ahead of the crowd by signing up for 420 Investor, the largest & most comprehensive premium subscription service for cannabis traders and investors since 2013.
ACMPR, aleaf, Aleafia, Aleafia Health, alef, Canada, Emblem, EMC, EMMBF
Aurora Cannabis Selected as Sole Winner in Italian Cannabis Tender
Harvest One Selects GenCanna as American CBD Supplier
Supreme to Buy Canadian LP Truverra for $20 Million in Stock
Harvest One Signs Premium Cannabis Supply Agreement and Provides Facilities Update

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sample recount of Nevada presidential vote changes 15 votes
News | December 9, 2016
by Geoff Dornan
gdornan@nevadaappeal.com
After the recount demanded by presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente, the Secretary of State's office Friday gave him some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is a recount of 5 percent of Nevada's election precincts (93 precincts selected by the candidate) saw just 15 vote changes out of 93,840 ballots cast. To justify a full recount of all Nevada ballots, there has to be a discrepancy of 1 percent or more and that tiny change is just over a tenth of 1 percent.
De La Fuente's vote total didn't change at all, nor did those of the other minor candidates or the "None of these Candidates" total.
"Accordingly, the Secretary of State finds that the statutory requirement needed to request a full statewide recount has not been satisfied," elections Deputy Wayne Thorley wrote to de La Fuente.
But the good news is the sample recount didn't cost anywhere near what the counties he chose had predicted.
De La Fuente had to put up $14,154.98 to pay the estimated cost of the recount but the actual cost, according to Thorley, was just $6,548.65. He said that means De La Fuente will get a $7,606.33 refund.
Naturally, the biggest portion of the change was in the 84 precincts surveyed in Clark County where Hillary Clinton's victory margin decreased by 10 votes and Donald Trump's total went down by 6 votes. All those changes were found in the absentee ballots that must be hand counted, not the votes recorded by the electronic machines.
In Carson City, Douglas and Mineral counties, there were no changes identified in the selected precincts. Nye County found one absentee ballot that increased Clinton's total.
Carson City had estimated the review would cost $780, but it came in at just $98.40 to cover the cost of four recount board members for two hours time. Douglas estimated the cost at $576 but, in the end, paid just $74.25 for about five hours time from two recount board members. In Mineral County, the cost was just $30 and in Nye $32.
Clark, which estimated the total cost at $12,498.98, did the job for just $6,314, two-thirds of it in staff overtime.


text:
Mississippi law erases prescription for some decongestants
Mississippi State Capitol (WJTV)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A new Mississippi law eliminates the requirement for a prescription to buy decongestants that contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.
Judge blocks COVID vaccine mandate for Head Start program
Under the new law that took effect Saturday, the medicine will be available behind the counter of pharmacies, and pharmacists will be required to keep track of how much is sold to one person.
Like many other states, Mississippi mandated a prescription years ago because drug enforcement agents said medications with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine were being used as an ingredient in crystal methamphetamine. Some consumers had complained that nonprescription decongestants were not strong enough.
Republican state Sen. Joey Fillingane said drug agents have seen an increase in crystal meth smuggled from other countries, and most states had already eased the prescription requirement for the decongestants.


APALACHICOLA 132/7.5 349 03W AAF .- .- ..-.
Owner: ST GEORGE PLANTATION OWNERS ASSO.
- GROUND ACCESS BY PERMISSION ONLY.
- 3 FT FENCE IN PRIMARY SURFACE 105 FT WEST OF FIRST 300 FT OF RY 32.
- LARGE BIRDS ON AND INVOF RY.
- TREES, BRUSH AND BERM, 95-124 FT EAST OF RY CNTRLN RY 32.
- 5 FT BERM, FIRST 1250 FT, 100 FT WEST OF CNTRLN RY 14.
- RY AND RAMP ARE OPEN FOR PUB USE. ALL OTHER SURROUNDING GROUNDS ARE PVT. ACCESS TO ALL AREAS EXCEPT THE RY AND RAMP RQR AN OWNER WI THE PROPERTY ASSOCIATION.
There are no published instrument procedures at F47.
Do you have a better or more recent aerial photo of St George Island Airport that you would like to share? If so, please send us your photo.
Flying to St George Island Airport? Find the distance to fly.


Plastics are being talked about again, thanks to the United Nations Environment Programme's #beatplasticpollution campaign, backed in turn by a growing chorus worldwide against the material in its many avatars. Bioplastics at this stage are being proposed as a safe alternative to plastics, and examining whether this assertion is true is critical to how we deal with plastics in the future. Hence this question.
The question is fairly straightforward in its demands. We just need to mention some alternatives to the use of Bioplastics if we are taking a stand that using Bioplastics is not good for the environment.
Introduction – Highlight the anti plastic campaign in India which is gaining steam as world environment day approaches. Mention that plastics are one of the most stubborn pollutants and thus several alternatives have come up.
Conclusion – present your view on whether or not the use of Bioplastics should be promoted.


text:
Transgender Community in Pakistan Finding Kidnapped Children
According to rights groups 40,000 children go missing every year in Karachi.
Pakistan, transgender, missing children, sex industry, Shadi Khan Saif
Begging and sex work are what most transgender people in Pakistan end up doing.
As a result they have information about the dark world of child sex trafficking.
Bindya Rana had the idea of tapping into this information to find missing children.
"We are provided with pictures of the missing child, which we pass on to the transgender people in the areas where they beg and live. We direct them to search around and if they get any information to let us know."
According to rights groups 40,000 children go missing every year in Karachi. Many are kidnapped and sold in the sex industry.
Bindya has around 2,000 transgender people doing this work.
This year alone, they have recovered more than 40 kidnapped or missing children in Karachi.
She says it's a very rewarding work.
"A transgender who helped discover a missing child started crying when the mother of that child hugged and kissed her. She was NOT crying with fear of the kidnappers but was overwhelmed by the love and respect she got for the first time in her life."
Bindya and her team works in partnership with the Roshni Foundation, a non-government group that helps find missing children.
Programme officer Muhammad Ali says it's a success.
"One of our transgender volunteers informed us that a kidnapped girl was being kept at a brothel where she was being exploited. The transgender person asked us to protect her and not reveal her identity. We went to that place with the police and found not only that girl but three more girls aged between 12 and 14 who were being kept at the brothel."
But such success stories are rare... Less than 20 percent of children who went missing were found last year.
Most of the children who go missing are from poor areas.
The government says poverty and large families are part of the problem.
Local Minister for Social Welfare Rubina Qaimkhani wants to see parents take better care of their children.
"Parents must have vigilant eyes for their children. If we work together we can solve this problem."
But there are many children who don't have parents around to watch them.
Edhi shelter for homeless children is one of the largest in Pakistan.
Doctor Rehana is in charge here. He's impressed with the program that see transgender people get involved in finding missing children.
"It's a positive idea. If we Pakistanis use our mind for such positive ideas we can change a lot, but if we stayed on the negative path than nothing is going to change here."
Bindya and her friends don't charge any fees for their services... They just want respect in return for their efforts.
pakistan transgender missing children sex industry shadi khan saif
Pemilu 2024, Tiga Kelompok Ini Rentan Alami Gangguan Hak Pilih
FOMO Sapiens : Korupsi di Kampus dan Transgender Awareness Week


text:
Webinars & EventsKendall Martin2020-01-06T11:24:43-06:00
EMM Immigration Policy Update
Immigration Policy Update Webinar – January 28, 4PM EST
Migration policy is a fast-moving issue space, with new developments breaking all the time. Join Rushad Thomas, migration policy advisor in The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations, for this webinar to explore the changing contours of immigration policy in recent days. We'll discuss trends in immigrant detention, changes to asylum rules, developments with the refugee admissions program, and so much more.
EMM & EPPN Webinar: Entertaining Angels Unaware: A Migration Policy Update
Entertaining Angels Unaware: A Migration Policy Update.
As Christians, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, welcome the stranger, and acknowledge that whatever we do for the least of these, we do to Christ. Join Policy Advisor Rushad Thomas from The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations as he provides an overview of the migration policy landscape on Capitol Hill. In this webinar Thomas will explore everything from DACA and public charge to refugees and family separation, all with a focus on connecting the Church's public policy positions back to our baptismal promise to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, seek and serve Christ in all persons, and respect the dignity of every human being.
View the recording here.
ABCD 201: The Story of Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte
About Virtual Workshops:
PiW Virtual Workshops are interactive online learning events for PiW members to come together with a practitioner, expert, and/or conversation facilitator to learn, share best practices and ideas, and be in dialogue with one another around a common theme or topic. Unlike webinars, which can allow for passive audience engagement, PiW Virtual Workshops require the active engagement of participants in a virtual "workshop-style" environment. Sign up for PiW here.
Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, birthed through the identification of assets and intentional conversation with the community. Today, just four years later, Galilee Ministries serves over 700 people a week in multiple ways that include providing services for refugees and immigrants while connecting Episcopal and other congregations to their neighbors. Their mission is one of community building and radical hospitality. You are invited to learn from their story in this interactive workshop. The workshop will include both presentations and dialogue among participants.
Participants are invited to read the attached document from the Alban Institute (it's designed for use with groups, but you can also, for purposes of this virtual workshop, use it as an individual to think about assets) and are asked to prepare 2 minute responses to the following questions:
What assets does your organization currently possess?
How does your organization determine what types of services, ministries or programs it will offer?
How does your organization currently work with the community?
Virtual Workshop Presenters:
The Rev. Rebecca R. Yarbrough was one of the team of deacons who began Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte, and nowserves as Chair of the Galilee Board. As former Deacon at St. Alban's, Davidson, and current deacon at The Chapel of Christ the King in downtown Charlotte, she loves bringing people and organizations together to meet community needs, leading to the start of bi-lingual pre-school, expanding a domestic violence program, and other new ministries. She has worked for two regional Councils of Governments since 1975, as a regional planner and project manager first in emergency services, and later in transportation, environmental planning, and regional visioning, developing grants to fund the projects. Rebecca also serves on Diocesan Council, the Bishop's Committee on the Diaconate, the Chartered Committee on Global Missions, and chairs the Costa Rica Companion Diocese Committee. She graduated summa cum laude from Queens College (with a semester at American University) and completed the UNC School of Government's County Administration program. She and husband David, her high-school sweetheart, have grown twin daughters, Nancy and Kathy, a very active Black Lab, and a grand-kitty.
Toni Hagerman serves as Executive Director of Galilee Ministries of East Charlotte. Before coming to Galilee, Toni enjoyed two previous careers, as a commercial real estate paralegal and as a certified educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She is a trained spiritual director and offers spiritual friendship and retreat leadership at Galilee Center. Toni is an avid gardener and is happy to indulge this passion in helping to oversee the Galilee Gardens. She has earned degrees and certificates from James Madison University, Pfeiffer University and Columbia Theological Seminary (Decatur, GA). She has three grown daughters, a wonderful husband, a spoiled dog, and a flock of backyard chickens.
U.S. Immigration: The Basics
September 19, 1PM EST
"U.S. Immigration – The Basics" is a 50-minute overview of U.S. Immigration history, laws, and system. Whether you're working with refugees, immigrants, the unauthorized, or you're a curious citizen and want to understand U.S. Immigration – this webinar is for you. Watch the video here.
Do you ever wonder how the U.S. immigrant population has changed over time? Are you curious about the history and consequences of our shared border with Mexico? Do you know how U.S. policy has affected our immigration situation today? This fact-based presentation describes the history of U.S. immigration, our current laws and procedures, and the national immigration questions we face today. Downloadable flyer here. Discussion questions for the webinar here.
The webinar presenter:
Alyson Ball is a member of EMM's Partners in Welcome community, and graciously offered to share a virtual version of the U.S. Immigration presentation she has presented widely. Alyson holds a BA from Cornell, an MBA from Wharton, and is a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia and Green Valley, Arizona. Alyson volunteers for a variety of nonprofits and has worked with refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrant detainees. Alyson has studied U.S. immigration for over three years and has created this presentation to inform the general public about the complexities of U.S. immigration.
EMM & EPPN Webinar: Listen & Learn: Border Advocacy and Ministry
The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) and Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) hosted a webinar with guest speaker Bishop Michael Hunn of the Diocese of the Rio Grande to discuss border ministry and advocacy. We covered the latest policy changes related to the border and heard a first hand account from Bishop Hunn about how The Episcopal Church is responding to humanitarian needs. We also offered time for dialogue and questions, in addition to offering ways to get involved.
Our 1939 Moment: Continuing the Legacy of Welcome
On June 18, Episcopal Migration Ministries and The Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations hosted a webinar about the history and present of The Episcopal Church's legacy of refugee welcome.
Broadcast the week of World Refugee Day (June 20) and in advance of General Convention, "Our 1939 Moment: Continuing the Legacy of Welcome" offers information, inspiration, and specific ways individuals and congregations can claim this legacy and this work as their own.
Walking in Welcome: An Advent Series with Episcopal Migration Ministries
Episcopal Migration Ministries and the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations hosted a series of three one-hour webinars, Walking in Welcome: An Advent Series with Episcopal Migration Ministries on December 5 at 4 pm Eastern, December 13 at 4 pm Eastern, and December 18 at 12 pm Eastern.
Airing on December 5, Mapping the Way: Tools for the Journey provided the current state of play in refugee resettlement, a brief exploration of how to assess community gifts and assets, guidance on communicating the message of welcome, and next advocacy steps for supporting the work of refugee ministry. View here.
One Community's Journey to Welcome: The Story of West Virginia Interfaith Refugee Ministry aired on December 13 and offered listeners the opportunity to hear how one interfaith group of local leaders have come together to educate, advocate, and provide welcome to refugees and immigrants. View here.
The final webinar of the series, Partners in Welcome: Join Us on the Way, aired December 18 and included an overview of the Partners in Welcome program. View here.
STAND TO SUPPORT REFUGEES


text:
from Queue import Empty
from Queue import Queue as SimpleQueue
import sys
import numpy.random as n_rand
from numpy import ndarray
from numpy import array, float64

# this is the time it takes if a rate of 0 is given
MAX_LIM = 100000
# this is the default length of the queue holding drawn event times
DEFAULT_VALUES = {
    'scale': 1.0,
    'loc': 0.0,
    'size': 1000
    }

def set_default(parameter):
    sys.stdout.write(
        'INFO: Parameter \'{0}\' was not provided. It is set to its default \
                value of {1}'.format(parameter, DEFAULT_VALUES[parameter])
                )
    sys.stdout.flush()
    return DEFAULT_VALUES[parameter]

def get_value(kwargs, parameter):
    if parameter in kwargs:
        return kwargs[parameter]
    else:
        return set_default(parameter)

def inf_time(**kwargs):
    """
        Return an array of size {0} with all elements equal to MAX_LIM = {1}.
        Note: You can adapt both the size and the MAX_LIM by passing the
        explicitly as arguments:
            e.g. inf_time(size=10, MAX_LIM=10000)
    """.format(DEFAULT_VALUES['size'], MAX_LIM)
    return array(
            [MAX_LIM] * kwargs.get('size', DEFAULT_VALUES['size']),
            dtype=float64
            )

class Distro(object):
    """
        This class holds a queue of random times drawn from a given
        distribution with a specified scale.

        Parameters:
        -----------
        :param distribution_type: Specifies which distribution to use.
            Possible values are: 'exp' for exponential and 'norm' for gaussian.
            The default choice is 'exp'.
        :type distribution_type: str
        # :param seed: provide a seed for the numpy random number generator
        :param kwargs: Several parameters are possible:
            - scale: The scale parameter for the exponential distribution.
                (default=1)
            - size: Predefined size of the queue.
                (default: {0})
            - set of parameters specific to the distribution that is
                chosen. For details about the requested parameters check the
                distribution definitions:
                    - exp: numpy.random.exponential
                    - norm: numpy.random.normal
                Note:
                    - If the parameter 'scale' is not given, the default value
                        of scale={1} is chosen.
                    - If the parameter 'loc' is not given, a default value of
                        loc = {2} is chosen.
    """.format(
        DEFAULT_VALUES['size'],
        DEFAULT_VALUES['scale'],
        DEFAULT_VALUES['loc']
        )
    def __init__(
            self,
            distribution_type='exp',
            **kwargs
    ):
        self.distribution_type = distribution_type
        self._init_draw_fct(**kwargs)
        self.queue = SimpleQueue(maxsize=self._dist_params['size'])
        # fill the queue
        self.fillup()

    def v_put(self, new_values):
        for n_val in new_values:
            self.queue.put_nowait(n_val)

    def v_get(self, shape_obj):
        if isinstance(shape_obj, ndarray):
            length = shape_obj.size
        else:
            length = len(shape_obj)
        return [self.get_val() for _ in xrange(length)]

    def _init_draw_fct(self, **kwargs):
        if self.distribution_type == 'exp':
            self.draw_fct = n_rand.exponential
            self._dist_params = {
                'scale': get_value(kwargs, 'scale'),
                'size': get_value(kwargs, 'size')
                }
            if self._dist_params[
                    'scale'] == 0 or self._dist_params[
                            'scale'] is None:
                self.draw_fct = inf_time
        elif self.distribution_type == 'normal':
            self.draw_fct = n_rand.normal
            self._dist_params = {
                'scale': get_value(kwargs, 'scale'),
                'size': get_value(kwargs, 'size'),
                'loc': get_value(kwargs, 'loc')
                }
            if self._dist_params['scale'] == 0:
                # TOIMPLEMENT
                # We are at a dirak delta
                pass
        else:
            raise self.DistributionTypeError(
                    '\'{0}\' distribution is not implemented yet.'.format(
                        self.distribution_type
                        )
                    )

    class DistributionTypeError(Exception):
        pass

    def fillup(self):
        self.v_put(self.draw_fct(**self._dist_params))
        return 0

    def get_val(self, a=None):
        """
        Function returning a value drawn form the associated distribution.
        """
        try:
            return self.queue.get_nowait()
        except Empty:
            self.fillup()
            return self.queue.get_nowait()

    def __getstate__(self):
        d = dict(self.__dict__)
        queue = d.pop('queue')
        simple_queue_list = []
        while True:
            try:
                simple_queue_list.append(queue.get_nowait())
            except Empty:
                break
        d['simple_queue_list'] = simple_queue_list
        # now rebuild the queue for current object
        self._init_draw_fct(**self._dist_params)
        self.queue = SimpleQueue(maxsize=self._dist_params['size'])
        for _el in simple_queue_list:
            self.queue.put_nowait(_el)
        return d

    def __setstate__(self, d):
        if 'simple_queue_list' in d:
            event_queue_list = d.pop('simple_queue_list')[::-1]
            d['queue'] = SimpleQueue(maxsize=d['_dist_params']['size'])
            while len(event_queue_list):
                d['queue'].put_nowait(event_queue_list.pop())
        self.__dict__.update(d)
        self._init_draw_fct(**self._dist_params)


A Junction City, Ore., high school student was arrested after he and a pal allegedly distributed a DVD they had made, complete with rap-music sound track, of them beating up a classmate they had selected at random.
In 1998, a New York jury said Kenneth H. Payne murdered a man, but the state's highest court set him free in October 2004, with no strings attached. The jury had convicted him of "depraved indifference" murder (rejecting "intentional" murder), but the Court of Appeals said the circumstances of the crime better fit the latter rather than the former. Noting that state prosecutors have often used "depraved indifference" as a crutch for juries that might be reluctant to call a murder "intentional," the court decided to send district attorneys a message by essentially giving Payne a free murder.
According to an October Reuters dispatch, Afghan women are being vigorously recruited for the police force even though there are still no female uniforms, and the crews being trained by the United States wear their everyday jewelry, accessories, stockings, high heels and brightly colored head scarves (but still appeared to be highly motivated).


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text:
Listen: Taliban silence Voice of America broadcasts in Afghanistan
"U.S. radio service, the Voice of America has said that the Taliban have banned their FM broadcasts in Afghanistan, the VOA said the Taliban had also banned radio free Europe, also known as radio liberty, from broadcasting in Afghanistan, both VOA and radio liberty are funded by the U.S. government, although they claim editorial independence. The Taliban said the radio services repeatedly contravene their new press laws, the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 as America and NATO were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. The Islamic group initially promised a more moderate rule but have since restricted many rights and freedoms and implemented their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. I'm Karen Chammas"
Taliban silence Voice of America broadcasts in Afghanistan
Taliban Afghanistan America VOA U.S. Government Europe Nato Karen Chammas
U.S. radio service, the Voice of America has said that the Taliban have banned their FM broadcasts in Afghanistan, the VOA said the Taliban had also banned radio free Europe, also known as radio liberty, from broadcasting in Afghanistan, both VOA and radio liberty are funded by the U.S. government, although they claim editorial independence. The Taliban said the radio services repeatedly contravene their new press laws, the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021 as America and NATO were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. The Islamic group initially promised a more moderate rule but have since restricted many rights and freedoms and implemented their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. I'm Karen Chammas


text:
Is student debt keeping Americans away from marriage?
Having a student loan could influence whether America's young adults first union after college is marriage or cohabitation. This is according to a study published in Springer's Journal of Family and Economic Issues. Lead author Fenaba Addo of the University of Wisconsin Madison in the US says the findings highlight how attitudes towards marriage, living together and the perceived shame of accumulating debt have changed over the course of two generations among adults in the US. The study supports the idea that debt is becoming a barrier to marriage, as many couples first live together so that they can save, pay off debt and then be in a position to afford their preferred wedding.
According to recent statistics, one in every two first-time full-time undergraduates hold federal loans, and student debt stands at 1.4 trillion US dollars — second only to home mortgage debt. To investigate the impact of such debt on young people's future relationships and likelihood of marriage, Addo and her colleagues analyzed publicly available data collected from two generations of young adults who were part of the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY). All had received post-secondary schooling. The subsequent analysis highlights important changes in the life experiences of these groups, who grew up roughly 20 years apart.
The proportion of young adults who transitioned into a first marriage by the time they had reached the age of 34 declined considerably between 1979 and 1970. Almost 70 per cent of the NLSY79s were married by their mid-30s, either marrying directly or cohabiting before marriage.
In contrast, over half of the NLSY97 cohort was still unmarried at the same age. This was true for 55.35 per cent of women (compared to 27.68 per cent in NLSY79) and 50.87 per cent of men (compared to 31.64 percent of them in NLSY79). While premarital cohabitation was becoming more common even among the older cohort, over a third of NLSY79 respondents married without first living together. This proportion was more than halved (to 14.8 per cent) among NLSY97 young adults. In the NLSY79, 6.7 per cent of those who married reported living together first, compared with 22.4 per cent of the young adults in NLSY97.
The statistics reflect that while a greater share of the young adult population was married in the mid- to late-1980s than in the early years of the 21st century, among the later cohort first unions are increasingly cohabitations, as marriage is delayed. They were also more likely to take on education loans to pursue a college degree and accrued more debt than their counterparts from the earlier cohort. In the 1997 group, student debt among college-attending young adults was associated with delays in marriage, but not in the 1979 cohort. It had a growing influence on women's likelihood of getting married directly after studying, but no longer on men's position.
According to Addo, women in the younger group seem to be entering into arrangements to live together to take advantage of one of the benefits of marriage — that two can live as cheaply as one. While this allows them to pay off debts before getting married, it does delay marriage and may also result in more nonmarital births or overall fewer marriages, if couples or one partner comes to see shared living as an acceptable alternative to marriage or they are incompatible and the relationship dissolves.
"Rising student debt is reshaping relationship formation among college-going youth, and as cohabitation has become more widespread, social and economic disparities in who marries without cohabiting first have increased," explains Addo.
Materials provided by Springer. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Analysis of billions of Twitter words reveals how American English develops
Linguists and geographers analysed 8.9 billion words contained within 980 million Tweets posted across the United States between 2013 and 2014 to identify the regions from which new words tend to originate.
Led by Professor Jack Grieve, from the Centre for Corpus Research at the University of Birmingham, researchers used advanced computer technology to analyse the geocoded Tweets which revealed the precise longitude and latitude of the user at the time of posting.
They tracked the origin of 54 newly emerging words in American English. For example, they found that the word 'baeless', which mean 'to be single', originated from Deep South, while the word 'mutuals', which is short for 'mutual friends', originated from the West Coast.
Geo-coded data from Twitter allowed them to create maps for these 54 words, showing how the phrases had spread across the country over time.
Applying modern computational techniques to the study of language variation and change, the team identified that development of new words in Modern American English centred on five regions: The West Coast, the Northeast, the Mid Atlantic, the Deep South, and the Gulf Coast.
Professor Grieve commented: "This is the first time that such a large sample of emerging words or any type of linguistic innovation has been mapped in one language. Twitter is only one variety of language, but given that almost all these words are used in everyday speech, we believe our results reflect the words' general spread in American English.
"Our study provides a framework for future research by showing how the origin and spread of emerging words can be measured and mapped. Linguistics is shifting from a social science to a data science, where linguists are increasingly analysing massive amounts of natural language harvested online.
"This is allowing us to pursue new research questions that would have been impossible to investigate just a few years ago. We can analyse in very fine detail how language changes over short periods of time and understand the processes through which languages evolve — one of the most challenging questions in science."
The researchers' findings also challenge existing theories of the spread of new words. They show that new words do not simply spread out unconstrained from their source, nor do they spread from one large city to the next, as predicted by previously developed theories for the spread of new words, known as the 'wave' and 'gravity' models.
Instead, the study found the spread of new words is constrained by cultural patterns. New words tend to spread within cultural regions, before reaching the rest of the United States. It also found that African American English was a major source of lexical innovation on US Twitter.
Professor Grieve is speaking about the team's research at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV) conference held at New York University from October 18 to 21. He will focus on how these words spread just in New York City over the time period in question, as well as delivering a workshop on 'computational sociolinguistics'.
Materials provided by University of Birmingham. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Breastfeeding changes gene activity that may make babies less reactive to stress
It has long been known that there are many physical and mental health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies. But can these benefits be due to genetic changes induced by breastfeeding? New research suggests that connection.
The research, published in the September 2018 edition of the Pediatrics, was led by Barry M. Lester, PhD, director of Women & Infants Hospital's Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a member of Care New England Medical Group.
"What we found is that maternal care changes the activity of a gene in their infants that regulates the infant's physiological response to stress, specifically the release of the hormone cortisol," explained Dr. Lester.
Dr. Lester and his colleagues looked at more than 40 full-term, healthy infants and their mothers, one-half of whom breastfed for the first five months and one-half of whom did not. They measured the cortisol stress reactivity in infant saliva using a mother-infant interaction procedure and the DNA methylation (changing the activity of the DNA segment without changing its sequence) of an important regulatory region of the glucocorticoid receptor gene which regulates development, metabolism, and immune response.
"Breastfeeding was associated with decreased DNA methylation and decreased cortisol reactivity in the infants. In other words, there was an epigenetic change in the babies who were breastfed, resulting in reduced stress than those who were not breastfed," said Dr. Lester.
Materials provided by Care New England. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Psychologists define the 'dark core of personality'
Egoism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, sadism, spitefulness, and others are among the traits that stand for the malevolent dark sides of human personality. As results from a recently published German-Danish research project show, these traits share a common 'dark core'. So, if you have one of these tendencies, you are also likely to have one or more of the others.
Both world history and everyday life are full of examples of people acting ruthlessly, maliciously, or selfishly. In psychology as well as in everyday language, we have diverse names for the various dark tendencies human may have, most prominently psychopathy (lack of empathy), narcissism (excessive self-absorption), and Machiavellianism (the belief that the ends justify the means), the so-called 'dark triad', along with many others such as egoism, sadism, or spitefulness.
Although at first glance there appear to be noteworthy differences between these traits — and it may seem more 'acceptable' to be an egoist than a psychopath — new research shows that all dark aspects of human personality are very closely linked and are based on the same tendency. That is, most dark traits can be understood as flavoured manifestations of a single common underlying disposition: The dark core of personality. In practice, this implies that if you have a tendency to show one of these dark personality traits, you are also more likely to have a strong tendency to display one or more of the others.
As the new research reveals, the common denominator of all dark traits, the D-factor, can be defined as the general tendency to maximize one's individual utility — disregarding, accepting, or malevolently provoking disutility for others — , accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications.
In other words, all dark traits can be traced back to the general tendency of placing one's own goals and interests over those of others even to the extent of taking pleasure in hurting other's — along with a host of beliefs that serve as justifications and thus prevent feelings of guilt, shame, or the like. The research shows that dark traits in general can be understood as instances of this common core — although they may differ in which aspects are predominant (e.g., the justifications-aspect is very strong in narcissism whereas the aspect of malevolently provoking disutility is the main feature of sadism) .
Ingo Zettler, Professor of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen, and two German colleagues, Morten Moshagen from Ulm University and Benjamin E. Hilbig from the University of Koblenz-Landau, have demonstrated how this common denominator is present in nine of the most commonly studied dark personality traits:
Egoism: an excessive preoccupation with one's own advantage at the expense of others and the community
Machiavellianism: a manipulative, callous attitude and a belief that the ends justify the means
Moral disengagement: cognitive processing style that allow behaving unethically without feeling distress
Narcissism: excessive self-absorption, a sense of superiority, and an extreme need for attention from others
Psychological entitlement: a recurring belief that one is better than others and deserves better treatment
Psychopathy: lack of empathy and self-control, combined with impulsive behaviour
Sadism: a desire to inflict mental or physical harm on others for one's own pleasure or to benefit oneself
Self-interest: a desire to further and highlight one's own social and financial status
Spitefulness: destructiveness and willingness to cause harm to others, even if one harms oneself in the process
In a series of studies with more than 2,500 people, the researchers asked to what extent people agreed or disagreed with statements such as "It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners here and there.," "It is sometimes worth a little suffering on my part to see others receive the punishment they deserve.," or "I know that I am special because everyone keeps telling me so." In addition, they studied other self-reported tendencies and behaviors such as aggression or impulsivity and objective measures of selfish and unethical behaviour.
The researchers' mapping of the common D-factor, which has just been published in the academic journal Psychological Review, can be compared to how Charles Spearman showed about 100 years ago that people who score highly in one type of intelligence test typically also score highly in other types of intelligence tests, because there is something like a general factor of intelligence.
"In the same way, the dark aspects of human personality also have a common denominator, which means that — similar to intelligence — one can say that they are all an expression of the same dispositional tendency," Ingo Zettler explains.
'For example, in a given person, the D-factor can mostly manifest itself as narcissism, psychopathy or one of the other dark traits, or a combination of these. But with our mapping of the common denominator of the various dark personality traits, one can simply ascertain that the person has a high D-factor. This is because the D-factor indicates how likely a person is to engage in behaviour associated with one or more of these dark traits', he says. In practice, this means that an individual who exhibits a particular malevolent behaviour (such as likes to humiliate others) will have a higher likelihood to engage in other malevolent activities, too (such as cheating, lying, or stealing).
The nine dark traits are by no means the same, and each can result in specific kinds of behaviour. However, at their core, the dark traits typically have far more in common that actually sets them apart. And knowledge about this 'dark core' can play a crucial role for researchers or therapists who work with people with specific dark personality traits, as it is this D-factor that affects different types of reckless and malicious human behaviour and actions, often reported in the media.
'We see it, for example, in cases of extreme violence, or rule-breaking, lying, and deception in the corporate or public sectors. Here, knowledge about a person's D-factor may be a useful tool, for example to assess the likelihood that the person will reoffend or engage in more harmful behaviour', he says.
Fact box:
Dark personality traits studied in the research project:
Machiavellianism
Moral disengagement
Psychological entitlement
Psychopathy
Self-interest
Spitefulness
How to win friends online: It's not which groups you join, but how many
Your chances of forming online friendships depend mainly on the number of groups and organizations you join, not their types, according to an analysis of six online social networks by Rice University data scientists.
"If a person is looking for friends, they should basically be active in as many communities as possible," said Anshumali Shrivastava, assistant professor of computer science at Rice and co-author of a peer-reviewed study presented last month at the 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining in Barcelona, Spain. "And if they want to become friends with a specific person, they should try to be a part of all the groups that person is a part of."
The finding is based on an analysis of six online social networks with millions of members, and Shrivastava said its simplicity may come as a surprise to those who study friendship formation and the role communities play in bringing about friendships.
"There's an old saying that 'birds of a feather flock together,'" Shrivastava said. "And that idea — that people who are more similar are more likely to become friends — is embodied in a principal called homophily, which is a widely studied concept in friendship formation."
One school of thought holds that because of homophily, the odds that people will become friends increase in some groups. To account for this in computational models of friendship networks, researchers often assign each group an "affinity" score; the more alike group members are, the higher their affinity and the greater their chances of forming friendships.
Prior to social media, there were few detailed records about friendships between individuals in large organizations. That changed with the advent of social networks that have millions of individual members who are often affiliated with many communities and subcommunities within the network.
"A community, for our purposes, is any affiliated group of people within the network," Shrivastava said. "Communities can be very large, like everyone who identifies with a particular country or state, and they can be very small, like a handful of old friends who meet once a year."
Finding meaningful affinity scores for hundreds of thousands of communities in online social networks has been a challenge for analysts and modelers. Calculating the odds of friendship formation is further complicated by the overlap between communities and subcommittees. For instance, if the old friends in the above example live in three different states, their small subcommunity overlaps with the large communities of people from those states. Because many individuals in social networks belong to dozens of communities and subcommunities, overlapping connections can become dense.
In 2016, Shrivastava and study co-author Chen Luo, a graduate student in his research group, realized that some well-known analyses of online friendship formation failed to account for any factors arising out of overlap.
"Let's say Adam, Bob and Charlie are members of the same four communities, but in addition, Adam is a member of 16 other communities," Shrivastava said. "The existing affiliation model says the likelihood of Adam and Charlie being friends only depends on the affinity measures of the four communities they have in common. It doesn't matter that each of them are friends with Bob or that Adam's being pulled in 16 other directions."
That seemed like a glaring oversight to Luo and Shrivastava, but they had an idea of how to account for it based on an analogy they saw between the overlapping subcommunities and the overlapping similarities between webpages that must be taken into account by internet search engines. One of the most popular measures for internet search is the Jaccard overlap, which was pioneered by Google scientists and others in the late 1990s.
"We used this to measure overlap between communities and then checked to see if there was a relationship between overlap and friendship probability, or friendship affiliation, on six well-studied social networks," Shrivastava said. "We found that on all six, the relationship more or less looked like a straight line."
"That implies that friendship formation can be explained merely by looking at overlap between communities," Luo said. "In other words, you don't need to account for affinity measures for specific communities. All that extra work is unnecessary."
Once Luo and Shrivastava saw the linear relationship between Jaccard overlap of communities and friendship formation, they also saw an opportunity to use a data-indexing method called "hashing," which is used to organize web documents for efficient search. Shrivastava and his colleagues have applied hashing to solve computational problems as diverse as indoor location detection, the training of deep learning networks and accurately estimating the number of identified victims killed in the Syrian civil war.
Shrivastava said he and Luo developed a model for friendship formation that "mimicked the way the mathematics behind the hashing work."
The model offers a simple explanation of how friendships form.
"Communities are having events and activities all the time, but some of these are a bigger draw, and the preference for attending these is higher," Shrivastava said. "Based on this preference, individuals become active in the most preferred communities to which they belong. If two people are active in the same community at the same time, they have a constant, usually small, probability of forming a friendship. That's it. This mathematically recovers our observed empirical model."
He said the findings could be useful to anyone who wants to bring communities together and enhance the process of friendship formation.
"It seems that the most effective way is to encourage people to form more subcommunities," Shrivastava said. "The more subcommunities you have, the more they overlap, and the more likely it is that individual members will have more close friendships throughout the organization. People have long thought that this would be one factor, but what we've shown is this is probably the only one you have to pay attention to."
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Office of Naval Research.
Marker in brain associated with aggression in children identified
Imagine a situation where one child is teasing another. While the child doing the teasing means it playfully, the other child views it as hostile and responds aggressively.
Behavior like this happens all the time with children, but why some react neutrally and others act aggressively is a mystery.
In a new study, a University of Iowa-led research team reports it has identified a brain marker associated with aggression in toddlers. In experiments measuring a type of brain wave in 2½ to 3½-year-old children, toddlers who had smaller spikes in the P3 brain wave when confronted with a situational change were more aggressive than children registering larger P3 brain-wave peaks, research showed.
The results could lead to identifying at an earlier stage children who are at risk of aggressive behavior and could help stem those impulses before adolescence, an age at which research has shown aggressive behavior is more difficult to treat.
"There are all kinds of ambiguous social cues in our environment," says Isaac Petersen, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the UI and corresponding author on the study. "And, when children aren't able to detect a change in social cues, they may be more likely to misinterpret that social cue as hostile rather than playful.
"Children respond to the same social cues in different ways, and we think it's due to differences in how they interpret that cue, be it neutral or hostile," Petersen says.
The P3 wave is part of a series of brain waves generated when an individual evaluates and responds to a change in the environment — such as changed cues in a social interaction. Previous research, primarily in adults, has shown individuals with shorter P3-wave peaks when confronted with a change in the environment tend to be more aggressive. As such, scientists believe P3 is a key indicator of aggression, as well as associated with depression and schizophrenia.
To tease out those differences in children, the researchers recruited 153 toddlers and, in individual sessions, outfitted each with a net of head sensors that measured brain-wave activity while a steady stream of tones sounded in the room. As the children watched silent cartoons on a television screen, the pitch of the tones changed, and the researchers measured the P3 brain wave accompanying each change in pitch.
The change in pitch is analogous to a change in a social interaction, in which the brain — consciously or subconsciously — reacts to a change in the environment. In this case, it was the change in pitch.
Toddlers with a shorter peak in the P3 brain wave accompanying the tone change were rated by their parents as more aggressive than children with more pronounced P3 spikes.
The difference in P3 peaks in aggressive and non-aggressive children "was statistically significant," Petersen says, and the effect was the same for boys and girls.
"Their brains are less successful at detecting changes in the environment," Petersen says of the children with shorter P3 brain-wave peaks. "And, because they're less able to detect change in the environment, they may be more likely to misinterpret ambiguous social information as hostile, leading them to react aggressively. This is our hypothesis, but it's important to note there are other possibilities that may explain aggression that future research should examine."
The researchers tested the same children at 30, 36, and 42 months of age to further explore the association with the P3 brain wave and aggression.
"This brain marker has not been widely studied in children and never studied in early childhood in relation to aggression," says Petersen, who has an appointment in the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. "It might be one of a host of tools that can be used in the future to detect aggression risk that might not show up on a behavioral screening."
The research is important because early interventions are more effective for stemming aggression, says Petersen, who is a clinical psychologist.
"Evidence suggests that early interventions and preventive approaches are more effective for reducing aggression than interventions that target aggression later in childhood or in adolescence when the behavior is more ingrained and stable," he says.
The children were tested at Indiana University-Bloomington. Contributing authors at Indiana University include Caroline Hoyniak and John Bates. Angela Staples at Eastern Michigan University and Dennis Molfese at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln also are contributing authors.
Alzheimer's: Tips for Effective Communication
Communicating with someone who has Alzheimer's disease can be challenging.
Because Alzheimer's disease slowly erodes verbal communication skills, your loved one's words and expressions might make little or no sense to you. In turn, he or she might have trouble deciphering your words. The resulting misunderstandings can fray tempers all around, making communication even more difficult. Here's help easing the frustration.
Alzheimer's damages pathways in the brain, which makes it difficult to find the right words and to understand what others are saying. A person with Alzheimer's disease might have trouble finding the right words or invent an entirely new word to describe a familiar object. He or she might get stuck in a groove—like a skipping record—and repeat the same word or question over and over.
A person living with Alzheimer's disease might also:
Lose his or her train of thought
Struggle to organize words logically
Speak less often
Revert to a native language
What you can do to help
Despite the challenges, you can communicate effectively with someone who has Alzheimer's disease. Consider these tips:
Be patient. Let your loved one know you're listening and trying to understand. Don't interrupt. Keep your voice gentle. Hold the person's hand while you talk. If you're frustrated, take a timeout for yourself.
Show respect. Avoid baby talk and diminutive phrases, such as "good girl." Don't talk about your loved one as if he or she weren't there.
Avoid distractions. Communication might be difficult—if not impossible—against a background of competing sights and sounds.
Keep it simple. Use short sentences. As the disease progresses, ask questions that require a yes or no answer. Break down requests into single steps.
Offer comfort. If a person with Alzheimer's is having trouble communicating, let him or her know it's OK. Encourage him or her to continue explaining what he or she is thinking.
Use visual cues. Sometimes gestures or other visual cues promote better understanding than words alone. Rather than simply asking if someone who has Alzheimer's disease needs to use the toilet, for example, take him or her to the toilet and point to it.
Avoid criticizing, correcting, and arguing. Instead of correcting your loved one, try to find the meaning in what he or she is saying. To spare anger and agitation, try not to argue with him or her.
Communicating with someone with Alzheimer's disease can be challenging, especially as the disease progresses. Remember, however, that your loved one isn't acting this way on purpose. Don't take it personally. Use patience and understanding to help him or her feel safe and secure.
7 Smart Things You Can Do to Proactively Prevent Running Injuries
Nothing gets in the way of a good run like pain. Pain can be acute and stop you right in your tracks or it can be chronic, starting small and gradually getting worse over time without completely going away. The last thing any runner wants or needs is an injury.
Unfortunately, running-related injuries are common in runners of all levels. One research review found that the incidence of a running-related injury among amateur runners was as high as 17.8 for every 1,000 hours of running accounted for. It was significantly lower (7.7) for elite runners, but still a part of the sport. This means running-related injuries are actually relatively common. But what if you could prevent running injuries from happening in the first place?
Most running injuries—like runner's knee, shin splints, and plantar fasciitis—are the result of overuse, or repetitively putting stress on a muscle or bone, rather than one traumatic wrong move. They can be exacerbated by many things, like a high volume of training or the wrong kind of sneakers. But paying attention to your body and adding a few simple things to your training routine (beyond just logging miles) can help you avoid a lot of these overuse injuries—so that you can keep feeling good and strong as you run and train for your next race.
Here is a list of seven smart things you can do to help prevent running-related injuries. They're definitely worthwhile for any runner, but especially for anyone who is about to ramp up their mileage (all you people training for a marathon right now, I'm talking to you!).
1. Do glute-strengthening exercises.
Every runner needs a strong set of glute muscles for safe running. The glutes—made up of the gluteus medius, minimus, and maximus—are critical for single-leg stability and power while running. It sounds sort of weird but running is actually a single-leg sport. You take off and land on one leg at a time. Which means you need to have good dynamic balance on each leg to prevent injuries up and down the body. The gluteus medius is largely responsible for hip abduction (moving the leg away from the center of the body), which makes it key for single-leg stability.
A weak gluteus medius can cause the knee to collapse inward (also known as dynamic valgus). Weak gluteus medius muscles are often a precursor to many knee injuries, including ACL and MCL tears or what is known as "the unhappy triad," the phrase used to describe when the ACL, MCL, and meniscus simultaneously tear. Definitely not something you want to happen.
Try strengthening the glutes with squats, single-leg bridges, clamshells, and banded lateral walks. Pro tip: Do some glute strengthening exercises before every run. This will help prep the muscles to work, and remind you to engage them as you run.
2. Foam roll your thighs and calves.
This simple tool can be every runner's best friend. Evidence suggests foam rolling can effectively reduce muscle soreness while improving range of motion. Just keep in mind that foam rolling is a temporary treatment for tightness and discomfort, not a solution that addresses why it develops in the first place. By all means, foam roll that tight fascia (connective tissue that attaches your muscles to tendons and bones) to promote blood flow and flexibility of the soft tissue in your tight thighs and calves. But don't forget to also strengthen those glutes (Do I sound like a broken record yet?) so you can lessen the strain you're putting on your muscles.
3. Find—and stick with—the right running shoes for you.
Unfortunately, the main criteria of the right shoe isn't how cool it looks, but how well it supports your body throughout many miles of impact. Finding the right running shoes is often the result of many training miles, and trial and error. Usually, it takes more than five minutes of jogging on a treadmill at a running store to identify the right footwear.
To get an idea of what shoes to try, get to know your feet. Do you overpronate (your feet roll inward significantly as you run) or supinate (feel don't roll in enough)? Are you a toe runner or a heel striker? Look at the bottom of your sneakers—where are they most worn down? Some sneakers have more arch support than others, some have a wider outflare at the heel for improved stability. As much I love trying out new styles, I find that once I know a brand and style of shoe that works for me, it's best to stick with it.
4. Build up your mileage slowly.
One common cause of running-related injuries such as shin splints is doing too much too soon. According to research, avoiding sudden large increases in intensity, frequency, and/or duration of exercise is the best way to avoid shin pain. The same slow and steady approach can help you avoid other overtraining injuries. Balance training runs with low-impact core and hip-strengthening exercises. Try cross-training workouts like cycling or swimming. By continuing to strengthen your muscles and improve aerobic capacity, your running can still improve without your feet having to hit the pavement quite as often.
5. Work on core strength.
Having a strong core helps improve your stability and keep your body balanced and upright—important for any sport, and especially a single-leg one like running. The research is minimal, but there is evidence that suggests that the stability and postural control core strength provides can reduce the risk of running-related knee pain. One study found that specifically combining hip and core strengthening can make a difference (which brings us back to the importance of the almighty glutes).
Keep your core game strong by doing some core exercises such as forward planks, side planks, leg extensions, and dead bugs. (Here's a five-minute core workout specifically created for runners that you can try.) Don't rush these exercises—rather, move through them slowly and with intention, thinking about fully engaging the core muscles with every rep.
6. Stretch after a run if you're feeling tight.
When you run, your muscles are repeatedly lengthening and shortening. If they're tight, they can cause pain or limit optimal joint mobility, especially if you're running for a significant amount of time. While the evidence on stretching before and after running is mixed, I have found that stretching—especially after a run—can help my patients recover and feel better the next day.
Usually when you run, you can feel which parts of your body are tighter than others. If you pay close attention, you might notice how this limits your movement when running. For someone who sits all day at a desk job, for example, I recommend doing some hip flexor stretches, like a lunge with overhead reach, before and after running. This will open up the hips and help you activate the glutes. For someone prone to plantar fasciitis, I'd recommend stretching your calves.
Despite inconclusive evidence that stretching can enhance your performance as a runner, there is no evidence that stretching after a run is can harm your performance. While stretching might not be necessary for every person to do after every workout, I believe the best runners have good mobility and stability. So pairing stretching with strengthening is a great way to encourage good body mechanics and avoid unnecessary straining and injury.
7. Pay attention to your body and what it's telling you.
Next time you head out for a run, listen to your body. Tune into the muscles in your legs, how your feet feel when they hit the ground, and how strong you feel as you take each stride. Usually, signs of an overuse injury start as a whisper. If that whisper gets louder, listen to it before it starts to become a scream. Check yourself and your training routine—have you been doing some core- and hip-strengthening exercises? Do you need to stretch those hamstrings after your run? Most runners aren't afraid to run with some pain, and a certain amount of discomfort is normal and OK. But you have to check in with your body, even if your heart wants to push through the pain, if you want to avoid actually getting injured.
Listening to your body also means taking a day (or multiple days) off when you need it. Setting aside time to rest and recover—and sleep!—is essential for giving your hard-working muscles and tendons a break. Don't think of rest days as lost time, but rather as an important part of a well-rounded training plan. You need them just as much as you need your long runs and cross-training workouts.
While it's impossible to foolproof your running and completely protect yourself from injury, you can be proactive in preventing common aches and pains from turning into a real problem. While some injuries may be unavoidable, many can be sidestepped if you remember to run smart, and not just fast.
Why You Should Add Hamstring Curls to Your Workout Routine
Looking to seriously strengthen your hamstrings? Give sliding leg curls a go.
Celebrity trainer Don Saladino, co-founder of NYC-based Drive495 gym—whose clients have included Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman, among others—recently posted a video of the move on Instagram. Though it does hone in on the hammies, as Saladino writes in the caption, it also targets much more than that.
"This movement forces you to stabilize your core and maintain a neutral lumbar spine when performing correctly," Saladino writes in the caption.
You can check out the video, via @donsaladino, here:
Above all, this is a hamstring move. Having strong hamstrings is important for several reasons.
"It looks basic, but it's challenging," Stephanie Mansour, Chicago-based certified personal trainer, tells SELF of the sliding leg curls. The difficulty is primarily due to the fact that you have to bend your knees while simultaneously extending your hips. "It can be hard to do both at once," explains Mansour.
What's more, the move requires serious strength from—no surprise—your hamstrings.
"A lot of times the hamstrings can get ignored," says Mansour. Many popular lower-body moves, like squats, focus on the glutes and quads, while placing little (if any) emphasis on the hamstrings. This muscle deserves move love, though, as it's a large and important workhorse in your lower half. Strengthening it will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your lower body. Plus, a tight lower back could be the result of tight hamstrings, and movements that both stretch and strengthen the hamstrings can alleviate both types of tightness.
While there are several moves you can do to target hamstrings, these curls are unique in that they require activation during both the eccentric (lowering) and concentric (lifting) phase of the move, which happens as you extend and then flex your knee. Compared to moves that work the muscle during just one phase of movement (like curls performed on a hamstring curl machine, which are eccentric-focused) this activation in both directions helps build an overall well-rounded muscle, explains Mansour.
But it's not just about the hammies. These curls also engages other muscles in both your upper and lower half.
Though sliding leg curls are a hamstring-dominant move, "as your hamstrings fatigue, you will feel it in your glutes too," James Brewer, NYC-based certified personal trainer and certified Spin and TRX instructor, tells SELF.
That's because the glutes—specifically the gluteus maximus (the biggest muscle in your butt) and gluteus medius (a smaller butt muscle that muscle supports the hip and rotational movement of the thigh)—serve as stabilizers during the move, says Brewer. "If your butt drops as your legs extend forward, that defeats the whole movement," he adds.
The curls also demand core strength, primarily from your rectus abdominis (what you think of when you think "abs"), your transverse abdominis (the deepest ab muscle that wraps around your sides and spine) and erector spinae (a set of muscles in your lower back), says Mansour. This move can teach you how to simultaneously engage your glutes, hamstrings, and core so you can better and more easily activate the core in other lower-body exercises, adds Mansour.
You'll also recruit your inner thighs and hips, says Brewer, plus your calves and the muscles on the front of your lower leg, adds Mansour. Then, there's the upper-body component. Your lats and triceps need to be continually engaged to keep your spine neutral and hips up.
The one muscle you shouldn't feel working: your quads, which would happen if you grounded your entire foot, rather than just your heel, like Saladino demos. "If you feel your quads, you're totally off on form," says Brewer.
Keeping a neutral lower back is key to performing this move safely and correctly.
As Saladino advises in the caption, maintaining a neutral lumbar spine (not rounding or arching your lower back) as you perform the reps is important.
"Arching your back as you lift your hips is very dangerous," adds Mansour, and "if you round your back while you lift your hips, you wouldn't be able to press your hips up all the way."
Saladino demos the move atop the slideboard, a specialized piece of gym equipment, but you don't need one to perform the exercise.
If you have a wood, marble, or any other type of smooth, flat floor at home, you can replicate the purpose of the slideboard by simply wearing socks or by placing towels—either cloth or paper—under each heel, says Brewer. If you go this route, you might want to place a yoga mat under your upper body for comfort.
If you have sliders (sometimes referred to as gliders), you can do this move on any type of comfortable surface—wood, carpet, or otherwise—by placing one slider under each heel.
Here's how to do the sliding leg curls:
Grab your sliding tool of choice (and a mat, if necessary) and lie on your back with your knees bent, and your heels directly under your knees.
Place your arms next to your body at a 30-degree angle with your palms pressed down.
Press your arms, upper back, and shoulder blades down into the mat or ground. Make sure your shoulders aren't hunching up toward your ears.
Flex your toes toward your shins so that just your heels are pressing on the ground.
Pull your abs in, and without rounding or arching your back, squeeze your glutes to lift your hips up into a bridge position.
This is the starting position.
Keeping the edge of your heels as the only point of contact that your feet have with the ground, slowly move your heels away from your body to extend your legs out.
Once fully extended, move your heels back in toward your butt with slightly more speed, as Saladino demons. Stop when your heels are directly under your knees again. This is one rep.
Try 4 reps if you're a beginner, 8 if you're intermediate level, and 12 if you're advanced, says Brewer.
Rest for 1 minute and repeat the same number of reps for 2 more sets, resting another minute in between each set.
"This is not a speed movement," says Brewer. Focus on slow, controlled movements. Continually pressing your upper body into the floor—particularly your lats—and squeezing your glutes will help your hips stay elevated.
As you bring your legs back in towards your butt, make sure your heels don't go further back than under your knees, warns Mansour. "This could overflex your knees," she says.
If you have difficulty extending your legs out all the way, that's OK, Brewer says. It requires a certain level of core, glute and hamstring strength to do so. Go halfway if you need to, says Mansour, and keep the focus on lifted hips and controlled movements.
If you're having trouble keeping your hips lifted, grab a soccer ball or yoga block and place it between your knees. "This will help you keep your glutes engaged throughout the movement so that your butt doesn't sag," says Brewer.
If, on the other hand, you've mastered this move and are looking for more challenge, try a single-leg variation, suggests Brewer. From the starting position, lift one heel off the ground and bring that knee in toward your elbow on that side. Keep that position locked in and your hips lifted while you perform the leg curls with the other leg that's grounded. Switch legs and repeat on the other side.
The One Highlighter Makeup Artists Always Have in Their Kits
I wouldn't quite consider myself a highlighter enthusiast—blame my oily T-zone—but during the off chance I feel like glowing a little more than usual, I'm all about the highlight. There's something about applying just a little above my cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose, and at the cupid's bow (that dip right above your top lip) that makes me feel totally ethereal—which is why I always keep some in my makeup bag, just in case.
I wanted to know what the pros keep in their makeup bags—the ones they take to photoshoots and fashion shows to give their clients that special glow. I asked seven makeup artists what they always have in their kits, and they gave me the inside scoop on their favorite highlighter liquids, creams, sticks, and powders. Here are their picks.


text:
La Torre Trump (en inglés: Trump Tower) es un rascacielos de uso mixto ubicado en el 725 de la Quinta Avenida, entre las calles 56 y 57, en Midtown Manhattan, Nueva York. Diseñado por Der Scutt, y promovido por Donald e Ivana Trump y la Equitable Life Assurance Company (renombrada como AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company en 2004), la torre es propiedad y la sede central de la Organización Trump y alberga el ático que Donald Trump usa como residencia privada. Las tiendas de la planta baja de la torre fueron abiertas el 30 de noviembre de 1983. La apertura del atrio y las tiendas se celebró el 14 de febrero de 1983, mientras que los apartamentos y las oficinas se inauguraron poco después. HRH Construction fue el contratista del edificio y la ejecutiva de la construcción fue Barbara Res.

Arquitectura
La Torre Trump fue construida en el lugar donde estaba situada la tienda Bonwit Teller, un edificio arquitectónicamente renombrado destruido por Trump en 1980. Trump aseguró que el valioso bajorrelieve de esculturas de diosas semidesnudas de caliza de estilo art déco, así como la verja considerablemente ornamentada ubicada encima de la entrada a la tienda, serían donadas al Museo Metropolitano de Arte. De todos modos, las esculturas acabaron siendo destruidas, con Trump alegando preocupaciones sobre seguridad, peligros generales, gastos, y a una posible demora de diez días en la construcción debido a la dificultad de retirar dichas esculturas. La verja decorativa del edificio, supuestamente trasladada a un almacén en Nueva Jersey, nunca fue recuperada. El arquitecto Der Scutt se indignó con la destrucción, que tenía la esperanza de incorporar las esculturas de las diosas en el diseño del vestíbulo del nuevo edificio; Trump rechazó el plan, prefiriendo algo "más contemporáneo".

La Torre Trump es uno de los cien edificios más altos de Nueva York. La torre es una estructura de hormigón reforzado, con un núcleo reforzado, y fue la estructura más alta de este tipo en Nueva York cuando fue construida. Una estructura de hormigón en la parte más alta del edificio ata las columnas exteriores al núcleo. Esto incrementa las dimensiones eficaces del núcleo respecto a las de la construcción con el fin de resistir fuerzas laterales (viento, pequeños terremotos, e impactos perpendiculares a la altura del edificio). Una estructura similar fue usada para la Trump World Tower.

Generalmente un edificio de esa altura no podría haberse construido en un terreno tan pequeño. Mezclando los usos (tiendas, oficinas, y residencias), construyendo una arcada a lo largo de la manzana (conectando con el IBM Building por el este), y usando los derechos de vuelo de la tienda Tiffany's, e incluyendo el atrio, que fue diseñado como un "espacio público" bajo las normativas de la ciudad en ese tiempo, Trump fue capaz de conseguir espacio extra para la construcción de una torre más alta.

Los espacios públicos del edificio están cubiertos de Breccia Pernice, un mármol rosa con nervios blancos. También hay zonas decoradas con espejos y latón. Estas incluyen el vestíbulo de las oficinas y el atrio de tres pisos que consta de una cascada, tiendas, cafés, y un puente de peatones que cruza la piscina de la cascada. El atrio está coronado por un tragaluz. En 2006, Forbes evaluó la torre en 318 millones de dólares. La torre Trump fue el escenario del espectáculo The Apprentice, de la cadena de televisión NBC, incluyendo el famoso "consejo de administración" donde al menos una persona era despedida al final de cada episodio; el consejo de administración es actualmente un estudio de televisión dentro de la torre Trump.

Controversias

El periodista David Cay Johnston cuestionó el particular uso del hormigón, y sugirió que había una conexión con el crimen organizado.

Trump testificó en 1990 que desconocía que 200 inmigrantes polacos indocumentados, algunos de los cuales vivieron en el sitio de la construcción durante una huelga de tráfico y trabajaban en turnos de todo el día (por los cuales eran supuestamente pagados en negro con $4 o $5 por hora), estaban involucrados en la destrucción del antiguo Bonwit Teller Building. Trump dijo que raramente visitó el lugar de la demolición y nunca avisó a los trabajadores, quienes eran conocidos como la "Brigada Polaca" y se distinguían visualmente por su ausencia de cascos protectores. Un asesor laborar e informador del FBI, convencido de la evasión fiscal en los cobros, testificó que Trump era consciente de la contratación ilegal de los trabajadores. En la declaración, Trump admitió que él y un ejecutivo usaron el seudónimo "John Baron" en algunos de sus acuerdos empresariales, aunque Trump declaró haberlo hecho años después de la construcción de la torre Trump. Un abogado laboral testificó que fue amenazado por teléfono con una demanda de 100 millones de dólares por alguien que usaba ese nombre en la Organización Trump. ("Mucha gente usa seudónimos", bromeó Trump a un reportero. "Ernest Hemingway usó uno.") Presentada en 1983, la demanda colectiva sobre pensiones del sindicato sin pagar y obligaciones médicas pasó por varias apelaciones y juicios sin jurado, y en una ocasión fue comparada con el Jarndyce and Jarndyce, el caso aparentemente interminable que forma la columna vertebral de la Casa desolada de Charles Dickens. La demanda fue resuelta en última instancia, en 1999, con sus registros sellados.

La Ciudad de Nueva York concedió el permiso a Trump para construir las últimas 20 plantas del edificio a cambio de operar el atrio como espacio público, adquirido por la ciudad. En el vestíbulo del edificio hay dos quioscos con productos de Trump (uno de los cuales sustituyó un largo banco público) operando fuera del cumplimiento de la normativa municipal. La ciudad emitió un aviso de violación en julio de 2015, demandando que el banco fuese devuelto a su lugar. Aunque la Organización Trump dijo inicialmente que la violación carecía de fundamento, un abogado de la organización declaró en enero de 2016 que los quioscos serían eliminados en dos o cuatro semanas, antes de una decisión judicial.

Presentes y pasados propietarios e inquilinos
 Donald Trump y su familia.
 Guccio Gucci, propietario del edificio demolido para la construcción de la Trump Tower.
 Jean-Claude Duvalier, dictador haitiano (apartmento 54-K).
 Mutaib bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
 Andrew Lloyd Webber.
 El piso 17 está ocupado por las oficinas de la CONCACAF, la confederación de asociaciones de fútbol en Norte y Centro América.
 El anterior presidente de la CONCACAF, Chuck Blazer, vivió en dos apartamentos en el piso 49. El segundo de sus apartamentos era ocupado principalmente por gatos.
 Cristiano Ronaldo, el famoso futbolista portugués.
 José Maria Marin, antiguo presidente de la Confederación Brasileña de Fútbol, actualmente bajo arresto domiciliario en su apartamento.

Aparición en películas
La torre sirvió como sede de las Empresas Wayne en la película de Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight Rises.

Véase también
Anexo:Edificios más altos de Nueva York
Anexo:Edificios más altos de Estados Unidos

Referencias

Donald Trump
Midtown Manhattan
Rascacielos de Nueva York
Rascacielos de Estados Unidos entre 200 y 249 metros
Edificios residenciales de Estados Unidos del siglo XX
Edificios de oficinas de Estados Unidos de los años 1980
Arquitectura de Estados Unidos de 1982
Rascacielos inaugurados en 1982
Obras de Der Scutt
Rascacielos de oficinas de Manhattan
Rascacielos residenciales de Manhattan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Seychelles Nation 21-September- 2016: Stakeholders met yesterday in a half-day workshop to validate the Mercury Assessment Report of the Minamata Convention on Mercury which is aimed at controlling mercury emissions and releases.
The workshop was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the environment department of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and Energy.
The report was presented by Dinesh Aggarwal, Project International Technical Expert and run by Dave Evers.
Other stakeholders present were officials from the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA), the Ministry of Health and the environment department.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, named after a town in Japan where there was a very significant mercury contamination event which had a very harmful impact on human health, is the first global agreement specifically designed to address contamination from a heavy metal. The convention seeks to address issues related to the use and release of mercury in trade and in industrial processes. The treaty also addresses major sources of atmospheric emissions and releases of mercury into the environment, as well as long-term storage and disposal of mercury compounds.
Under the Minamata Convention, individual countries are charged with protecting human health and the environment from the risks of mercury exposure by systematically controlling mercury emissions and releases, including phasing out the use of mercury in certain products and processes.
In order to meet its obligation under the treaty, Seychelles conducted a Minamata Initial Assessment (MIA) to quantitatively and comparatively determine the extent of local mercury pollution.
The issue of mercury in fish and seafood cannot be fully addressed by Seychelles alone as it is a consequence of global mercury releases. But we should be aware of the potential impacts on our health of eating fish that might contain high level of mercury, as much as we are aware of the nutritive and beneficial qualities of eating fish that do not have high levels of mercury. The impacts of mercury pollution are challenging to identify and to reverse. Findings from the Seychelles MIA indicate the input of mercury into the Seychelles' ecosystem is relatively minor and that with the effort of stakeholders, these impacts can be further reduced.
The impact of regional mercury loads in the Indian Ocean and the effect on commercial fisheries, specifically swordfish and tuna, require broader regional actions. But MIAs are being undertaken my many countries in the region to reduce mercury in there.
It is to be noted that Seychelles signed the Minamata Convention on May 27, 2014, becoming the 98th signatory to the convention. To date more than 50 countries have ratified the convention, which means it is now in force globally.
Explaining the damaging effect mercury has on both the environment and human health and where it is used in the manufacturing of various products that are traded internationally, Marie-May Jérémie, director general for biodiversity conservation and management in the department of environment, said mercury enters the environment through pollution by various industrial and small-scale mining processes. Ms Jérémie was standing in for Alain Decommarmond, principal secretary in the same department.
"Mercury is in the oceans in the form of methyl mercury, which accumulates in predatory fish and other sea foods – and this has been a particular concern for Seychelles, which obviously is not itself a mercury producer.
"National actions alone are not sufficient to protect humans and the environment from the harmful impacts of mercury," said Ms Jérémie.
It was in recognisant of that insufficiency, she said, that the global community agreed in 2009 to start inter-governmental treaty negotiations with the objective of agreeing to a global and legally binding treaty to limit emissions of mercury. This came through the Minamata Convention.