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Mongabay Series: Amazon Conservation
Brazil's Pantanal is at risk of collapse, scientists say
by Sharon Guynup on 20 December 2022
Though the Pantanal is 93% privately owned, this vast Brazilian tropical wetland remains a stronghold for jaguars and untold other species, and connects animals with the Amazon, Cerrado and other biomes.
A confluence of human activities in Brazil and worldwide — including deforestation and climate change — are heating and drying this watery landscape, threatening the entire ecosystem with drought, wildfires and habitat loss.
Now, a plan to dredge and straighten the Paraguay River that feeds the Pantanal could serve as the death knell for this vast wetland ecosystem.
There's hope that president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who campaigned on an environmental platform, will initiate stewardship that stops Pantanal deforestation and the waterway project, helping curb greenhouse gas emissions.
PANTANAL, Brazil — We cruised the murky brown shallows of the Corixo Negro, the Black Channel, in an open boat, scanning the hyacinth-choked waters and low-hanging tree branches for wildlife. Dozens of jacaré caimans (Caiman yacare) sunned themselves on the shore or lurked partially submerged. A blue-and-russet ringed kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) dove for a meal Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), those bulldog-sized rodents, munched greenery. Innumerable birds perched or soared: eagles, candy-colored spoonbills, squawking parrots and stilt-legged waterfowl. Jabiru storks (Jabiru mycteria) glided above on 2.7-meter (9-foot) wingspans. A family of giant river otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) fished their way downstream.
Then we glimpsed what had brought us here to Brazil's Pantanal wetlands: rosette-spotted fur.
There lay a jaguar (Panthera onca), well-camouflaged, nearly imperceptible, calmly eyeing us from bushes bathed in dappled sunlight. As we silenced the engine and dropped anchor, a small cub ambled from the shadows and snuggled beside its mother. She groomed her baby tenderly, meticulously, ignoring us. Then the pair rose and disappeared into the thicket.
Photographer Steve Winter and I spotted an extraordinary number of jaguars during our September expedition through the northern Pantanal. This is an ecosystem we know well: I've long reported from here, and Winter began documenting the Pantanal's jaguars in 1998, returning many times.
But changes that have occurred in the five years since our last assignment now place jaguars and this entire ecosystem in danger.
'A savanna shaped by fire, cattle and water'
The Pantanal, which means "great swamp" in Portuguese, is the world's largest tropical wetland, even bigger than the state of Florida. Most of it lies in Brazil (78%), but the region also spills into Bolivia (18%) and Paraguay (4%). It's a 185,000-square-kilometer (71,000-square-mile) mosaic of grassland swamp fed by rivers, streams and seasonal floods; and dense, low-forested savanna. Large cattle ranches dot the landscape, but ranchers and wildlife have coexisted relatively well here for more than two centuries.
On this trip, we arrived at the end of the dry season. Soon, months of rain would swell the Paraguay River and its tributaries by up to 4.5 meters (15 feet), inundating 80% of this vast South American floodplain. The Pantanal acts like a giant sponge, holding floodwaters from November/December to April/May. After this, the water slowly drains away during the dry season. Water is why this biological wonder teems with life.
"It's a savanna shaped by fire, cattle and water," says Fernando Tortato, a conservation scientist with Panthera, the wild cat conservation NGO. Seasonal floods sculpt a landscape also swept by yearly dry season fires and grazed by at least 4 million cows.
Discussions with local people and researchers revealed why we saw so many jaguars this year, and some of it was good news. Jaguar numbers here have been rising, largely because they're the area's ecotourism superstars. People flock here from all over the world to see them, pumping nearly $7 million a year into the economy in this remote region. That's made some local ranchers more jaguar-friendly, even if the cats sometimes prey on their cattle.
But our many sightings also had a shadow side. A dark confluence of human activities in Brazil and around the world are now drying up and sizzling the ecosystem, says Alan Eduardo de Barros, who focuses on jaguar ecology at Brazil's University of São Paulo.
Jaguars have become valuable in the Pantanal, with ecotourists flocking to see them and other wildlife during the dry season. Tourists inject some $7 million a year into the local economy. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
The lush riparian tracts along Pantanal streams are important for many species, ranging from jaguars that hunt, find shade and shelter their young there, to capybaras that thrive on the lush greenery. Image by Sharon Guynup/Big Cat Voices.
The list of what he calls "a perverse combination of threats" is daunting, and includes industrial-scale agriculture, dams, and extreme climate-driven heat and drought. Unprecedented, catastrophic fires have charred forested areas. All this has forced jaguars in the northern Pantanal to congregate in unnatural proximity within remaining tracts of green along waterways — where we saw so many of them.
But another potentially devastating risk to the "kingdom of the waters" now looms. There have been small-step moves toward "developing" the Pantanal's lifeblood, the Paraguay River, into an industrial shipping channel for big barges, says Tortato. The Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovía project would dredge and straighten the river to ship soybeans and other commodities southward to Argentina for export, mainly to China. This year, officials in Brazil's Mato Grosso state issued preliminary approval for two large ports on the river.
"It's madness that has been protested by lots of researchers," says Rafael Hoogesteijn, who directs Panthera's jaguar conflict program.
This is happening despite sweeping protections. The entire wetland is a designated national heritage site under the Brazilian Constitution: Use must be ecologically sustainable. President Jair Bolsonaro, in office since the start of 2019, has largely disregarded that designation, but president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who takes office Jan. 1 next year, has promised to turn back the environmental degradation and halt the deforestation conducted under his predecessor.
A jaguar grooms one of her two young cubs. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Record Pantanal fires bring 'astonishing' wildlife disaster
This wetland savanna lies in the heart of South America and boasts one of the continent's highest concentrations of plants and animals. Some are endangered. Despite 3,000 ranches in the Brazilian Pantanal, and 93% of the land being in private hands, this immense wetland has remained a model of sustainable use. Four-fifths of the native vegetation remains.
Pantaneiros, cattle ranchers, have coexisted here with giant anteaters, marsh deer, tapirs and other rare animals since the 17th century. Tolerance of jaguars has been growing, nurtured by ecotourism and cattle-protection initiatives by Panthera. A long-established cowboy culture of "shoot and shovel" — killing and burying jaguars — has faded somewhat.
The Pantanal remains home to the largest cats in all jaguardom and is the big cat's second-largest stronghold, after the Amazon. But in the last few years, normally occurring wildfires have escalated drastically, threatening jaguars and the 47,000-plus animal and plant species that inhabit this rich UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 2019, searing heat and drought, worsened by climate change, sparked massive blazes in the southern Pantanal. The next year, rainfall was the lowest in four decades, and catastrophic fires raged in the northern Pantanal, the worst in recorded history. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research detected 22,099 blazes that incinerated nearly one-third of the Pantanal, about 40,000 km2 (more than 15,000 mi2) — an area about the size of Switzerland.
A jaguar on the prowl along a Pantanal river. Image by Sharon Guynup.
Researchers charted changes in rainfall, fire and the impact on jaguars for 15 years to illustrate the extreme situation that occurred in 2020. Image courtesy of Alan Eduardo de Barros.
"The intensity of these fires was something we'd never seen," says Fernando. "They spread so fast there was nothing we could do to stop them." Many animals were unable to flee. More than 17 million died instantly, a rough estimate that researchers called "astonishing."
But "we don't know how many individuals were really affected," says Ronaldo Gonçalves Morato, a coordinator at the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and co-author of the study. Researchers couldn't account for animals that perished underground, or survivors that later died from lack of shelter, their injuries, or those that starved in a burned-out land.
Jaguars were heavily impacted. They lost more than 2,700 km2 (more than 1,000 mi2) of home range habitat, according to a recent study. "In some areas, you see only black trees," says Fabricio Dorileo, a naturalist whose ancestors settled in the Pantanal some 200 years ago.
The cats require some cover. With much of the woodlands burned, they had to seek new territory to find shade, protect their cubs and ambush prey. "So the jaguars came to the rivers," Dorileo says. Since much of their prey is aquatic, there's plenty to eat there: capybaras, caimans and anacondas.
But jaguars are solitary except when mating or rearing cubs. Each cat needs its own territory, about 90 km2 (35 mi2), and will fight over it, so displacement is a problem. Repeated fires may create competition, and deadly conflict, says de Barros from the University of São Paolo.
The Pantanal's rich habitats teem with life — and caimans are everywhere. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Colliding threats and the 'tragedy of the commons'
Scientists recently sounded an alarm with a letter published in Bioscience, citing an ongoing "tragedy of the commons" occurring in the Pantanal. That oft-quoted phrase was coined 20 years ago in a paper warning that "apparently trivial [cumulative] decisions can lead to profound geographical, ecological and social consequences."
That prediction was prescient for the Pantanal. "Those who benefit from development dismiss larger ramifications," says Tortato, an author on the letter. "It's just another dam, it's just another law." Development and the legal rulings that permit it, coupled with deforestation and escalating fires driven by climate change are creating "a convergence of threats that may lead to the disappearance of the Pantanal as we know it today."
Tortato's co-author, Brazilian sustainability expert Rafael Morais Chiaravalloti, called it "the termitization" of the Pantanal, likening the devastation to a massed termite attack on a single piece of wood.
Because ecosystems are inextricably linked, some of those attacks come from activities in other parts of Brazil, disrupting the Pantanal's watery, life-sustaining pulse. The headwaters of the Paraguay River lie high on the Cerrado plateau, a savanna biome that cradles the wetlands below on three sides. During the yearly October-to-April rainy season, floodwaters from the Paraguay and its tributaries submerge huge tracts of the Pantanal wetlands for four to eight months.
Though the Pantanal is 93% privately owned, this vast Brazilian tropical wetland remains a stronghold for jaguars and untold other species, and connects animals with the Amazon, Cerrado and other biomes. Image by Vitor Vieira Vasconcelos via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
But unchecked industrial agriculture has devoured more than half the Cerrado, converting native grassland to cattle pasture and mega plantations of soy, cotton, corn, oil palm and other commodity export crops. The plantations, with their high water use, are desiccating the savanna, threatening the biome with desertification. That means less water courses from the Paraguay River into the Pantanal. Some 47 hydroelectric dams on its tributaries also limit flow, with another 138 proposed, planned or under construction.
Deforestation, which soared exponentially during the Bolsonaro administration, is also drying the Amazon Rainforest. Researchers discovered back in 1984 that Amazon trees absorb moisture and release it back to the atmosphere — creating a sky river of clouds that moves over the Andes and then swirls back to fall over Brazil. But an increasingly denuded Amazon now makes less rain, bringing greater drought to the neighboring Cerrado and Pantanal.
Global climate change is also altering weather patterns. According to U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change models, rainfall in the Paraguay River Basin could dip by one-third by 2100, with temperatures rising by 5-7° Celsius (9-12.6° Fahrenheit). Extreme fluctuations in flood and drought are expected, caused by short, intense rainy seasons and long, searing dry seasons. Another consequence may be more frequent, intense fire, says Panthera's Tortato.
In the past, yearly fires sputtered out, blocked by water channels acting as natural firebreaks. In 2020, temperatures soared, there was little rain, and the dried-out landscape became a tinderbox.
People add to the problem. About 80% of fires began within 10 km (6 mi) of human settlements or roads, de Barros notes, with many likely started by cattlemen wanting to expand ranches. A government policy that blocked small, preventive controlled burns also did harm. In 2020, the infernos even raged underground, charring roots. Trees, shrubs and grasses died.
Cascading effects, says naturalist Dorileo, include "fewer fruit trees, less insects, and less food for fish and small animals. It's an imbalance that starts from the bottom up."
With these combined assaults, no one knows how long this wetland will remain a keystone habitat for jaguars and other wildlife which link to animal populations in the Cerrado, Amazon, Chaco and other biomes, says Tortato.
In these maps, Alan Eduardo de Barros and his colleagues showed how much jaguar territory was burned in the 2020 fires. Image courtesy of Alan Eduardo de Barros.
A possible death knell
Next could come a massive industrial waterway: a hidrovía. In January, environmental officials in Mato Grosso state issued a preliminary license to build the large Barranco Vermelho port on the Upper Paraguay River. In June, they sanctioned a second, the port of Paratudal. A third is planned.
The proposed Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovía requires dredging and straightening of a sinuous stretch of river to accommodate convoys of barges and ocean-going ships. It would transform one of the wildest spots on the river. The Paraguay runs through the Taiamà Ecological Reserve (protected under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands treaty) and the Pantanal Mato-Grossense National Park.
The hidrovía, heavily supported by the ruralistsas — agribusiness tycoons with strong lobbying ties to the Brazilian Congress — would speed up exports of soy, fertilizer and other commodities overseas, and lower costs.
Researchers call the piecemeal approvals of these "small" port projects an end-round maneuver to commercialize the Paraguay. This year's port approvals have been likened to building bus stations so that lawmakers can then justify construction of a superhighway running to them.
The Pantanal is fed by opaque brown waterways, chiefly the Paraguay River and its tributaries. Image by Sharon Guynup/Big Cat Voices.
Gustavo Figueroa, a biologist for the NGO SOS Pantanal, offered an example of potential impacts on wildlife. A population of jaguars in the Taiamà reserve specialize in fishing, he says, relying on bays formed by yearly floods that would disappear if the project moves forward.
Strong opposition from experts and local people is fighting a government process they say is rife with inadequate studies and unaddressed environmental damage. Technicians from the Mato Gross state environmental authority (SEMA) noted 111 issues in the environmental impact report.
"The preliminary approval ignores cumulative impacts," de Barros argues. "The need for an integrated approach" — examining the combined consequences of river dredging and straightening, of building ports, and releasing an onslaught of barge/ship traffic — "has been demanded by scientists and conservationists for decades."
The hidrovía isn't a new idea. For more than a century, politicians and businesspeople have dreamed of a commercial waterway through South America's heart. Then, in the late 1980s, the Paraguay-Paraná River Basin countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) initiated the process by creating the Intergovernmental Committee on the Hidrovía (CIH). Their goal: to cheaply transport minerals and agricultural products, primarily soy, to the Atlantic coast.
A 1997 CIH report on the proposed waterway failed to seek public input and overlooked environmental consequences and the needs of Indigenous residents. An independent study by Victor Miguel Ponce, a researcher at San Diego State University's College of Engineering, enumerated dire impacts. Blasting, deepening and straightening would alter the river's flood dynamics, draining the river faster. It would increase floods and quickly empty temporary lakes and sodden grasslands, harming the ecosystem.
Isidoro Salomão, a resident and coordinator of the Popular Committee of the Paraguay River, an NGO, fears irreparable damage. "I usually say that water is the blood of the Pantanal," but this project will bleed the Pantanal to death, he commented in an interview with ((o))eco, an online Brazilian environmental news service.
Altering this large river would worsen local climatic changes, making the region more arid with less rainfall, Ponce noted. Savanna will spread at the expense of lusher greenery. Deer and other herbivores would become rarer. Animals and vegetation adapted to dry conditions might fare better, but such shifts would affect the entire food chain.
The Pantanal is a watery mosaic of swamps, grasslands, streams and forests, spread across an area the size of Florida. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Massive jabiru storks are a symbol of the Pantanal: they can be seen there year-round. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Glimmers of hope amid great challenges
Deregulation and the dismantling of environmental agencies has been rampant under the Bolsonaro administration. But Lula's victory in the election in October "brings us some hope that the federal government will give more attention to the environmental agenda," a source told Mongabay, speaking confidentially out of fear of reprisal; Bolsonaro remains in power until Jan. 1.
President-elect Lula had a good environmental record during his first two terms in office, from 2003-2010. This time around, he campaigned on a pro-environment platform, promising to address deforestation in the Amazon and other biomes. "He knows that [his government] needs to act strongly to protect the Amazon and the Cerrado in order to recover Brazil's image abroad," one expert told me. To that end, Lula sent representatives to the COP27 U.N. climate summit in Egypt and attended himself, even though he hasn't yet taken office.
Approval of the hidrovía is a federal responsibility, unlike the ports which only require state approval. The scientific community and local people hope that their arguments will convince Lula to reevaluate and cancel the planned waterway. "While the demand for international commodities is high, we need to regulate it, or control it in a way that you still have enough wild areas to maintain ecological cycles," says Panthera's Hoogesteijn.
There's also hope that Brazilian laws and international agreements will be honored, including wetland protection under the Ramsar treaty. The Pantanal's designation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve requires that sustainable use be balanced with biodiversity conservation. Brazil ratified the U.N. Convention on Biological Biodiversity in 1998, promising to protect 10% of the Pantanal by 2010, with the 2011-2020 Aichi Goals advocating for 17%. That has not happened: just 5% is currently preserved in protected areas, says Tortato, noting that the conserved area needs to at least double.
The Pantanal is a mega diverse landscape, home to about 4,700 species, including the giant river otter. This long, lithe member of the weasel family can reach 2 meters (6 feet) long. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Environmental protection is also embedded within the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. It guarantees the right to an ecologically balanced environment; grants the right to "defend and preserve it for present and future generations"; and requires the government to "preserve and restore ecosystems, ecological processes and protect species."
In contrast, Mato Grosso state passed a bill in August that permitted ranching and tourism within Pantanal protected areas. Governor Mauro Mendes also vetoed a law that prohibited small hydroelectric plants along the Cuiabá River, an important Paraguay River tributary. But there was opposition, as many local people now value biodiversity because of tourism dollars.
The disastrous 2019-20 fires also forged conservation collaborations. The blazes were "a historical event that no one wants to see repeated," says Tortato. "Cattle rancher unions, nonprofits and universities are now working together to manage fire." Some cattlemen are returning to the centuries-old practice of burning underbrush early in the wet season, when fires don't easily spread, which means less tinder in the dry season.
About 93% of the land in the Pantanal is privately owned, with about 3,000 cattle ranches. A "pantaneiro" cowboy culture that once shot jaguars is changing slowly, with the cats bringing tourism income to the region. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
More than 25 new fire brigades have formed. Newly installed cameras in remote areas alert officials to fire before they spread. "It's crucial to fight fires within the first hours," Tortato explains. "Even one or two days [lost] may be too late." In 2020, some initially undetected fires burned for two months. In contrast, quick response by firefighters and airplanes had a blaze in a state park under control within two days.
"Only an ecosystem-wide strategy will shield this mega diverse wetland from destruction over the long term. We need a specific law protecting the Pantanal — now," Tortato says.
In September on our last day in the Pantanal, we watched a nearly grown female jaguar cub dozing in the bushes, her mother sprawled above on a tree branch. That young female holds promise for the future: she may bear a dozen cubs in her lifetime. We hoped that human actions will give her and her offspring the opportunity to thrive.
Related to horses and rhinoceroses, the Brazilian tapir is endangered, but thrives in the Pantanal. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Banner image: This young jaguar's "portrait" was captured by a remote camera as it headed for a favored napping place on a tree bough. Image © Steve Winter/National Geographic/Big Cat Voices.
Tortato, F. R., Izzo, T. J., Hoogesteijn, R., & Peres, C. A. (2017). The numbers of the beast: Valuation of jaguar (Panthera onca) tourism and cattle depredation in the Brazilian Pantanal. Global Ecology and Conservation, 11, 106-114. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2017.05.003
De Magalhães Neto, N., & Evangelista, H. (2022). Human activity behind the unprecedented 2020 wildfire in Brazilian wetlands (Pantanal). Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2022.888578
de Barros, A. E., Morato, R. G., Fleming, C. H., Pardini, R., Oliveira-Santos, L. G., Tomas, W. M., … Prado, P. I. (2022). Wildfires disproportionately affected jaguars in the Pantanal. Communications Biology, 5(1). doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03937-1
Tortato, F., Tomas, W. M., Chiaravalloti, R. M., & Morato, R. (2022). Tragedy of the commons: How subtle, "legal" decisions are threatening one of the largest wetlands in the world. BioScience, 72(7), 609. doi:10.1093/biosci/biac025
Gottgens, J. F., Perry, J. E., Fortney, R. H., Meyer, J. E., Benedict, M., & Rood, B. E. (2001). The Paraguay-Paraná Hidrovía: Protecting the Pantanal with Lessons from the Past: Large-scale channelization of the northern Paraguay-Paraná seems to be on hold, but an ongoing multitude of smaller-scale activities may turn the Pantanal into the next example of the "tyranny of small decisions". BioScience, 51(4), 301-308. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0301:TPPHAP]2.0.CO;2
Figueiredo, J. S., Fantin-Cruz, I., Silva, G. M., Beregula, R. L., Girard, P., Zeilhofer, P., … Hamilton, S. K. (2021). Hydropeaking by small hydropower facilities affects flow regimes on tributaries to the Pantanal wetland of Brazil. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2021.577286
Salati, E., & Vose, P. B. (1984). Amazon basin: a system in equilibrium. Science, 225(4658), 129-138. doi:10.1126/science.225.4658.129
Tomas, W. M., de Oliveira Roque, F., Morato, R. G., Medici, P. E., Chiaravalloti, R. M., Tortato, F. R., … Junk, W. J. (2019). Sustainability agenda for the Pantanal wetland: Perspectives on a collaborative interface for science, policy, and decision-making. Tropical Conservation Science, 12. doi:10.1177/1940082919872634
In Brazil's Pantanal, early flames signal a 'new normal'
Article published by Glenn Scherer
Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change And Biodiversity, Climate Change And Conservation, Climate Change And Extreme Weather, Climate Change And Forests, Climate Change Politics, Conservation, Deforestation, Drought, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Extreme Weather, Featured, Fires, Forests, Freshwater Ecosystems, Governance, Habitat Loss, Impact Of Climate Change, Wetlands, wildfires, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Environmental Science (General)
Environmental Sciences (General)
Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science
Editors: Kathleen Weathers David Strayer Gene Likens
Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science, Second Edition, provides a solid introduction to modern ecosystem science, covering land, freshwater and marine environments. Ecosystem science is now applied to address a wide range of environmental problems. Written by respected experts, this updated edition covers major concepts of ecosystem science, biogeochemistry and energetics. Case studies written by leading figures in the field offer insight into how adopting an ecosystem approach has helped solve important intellectual and practical problems.
Offers one of the few books on ecosystems to cover both the aquatic and terrestrial realms
Features vignettes throughout the book to give real examples of how an ecosystem approach has and continues to create real change
Includes synthesis chapters and case studies to take new information and demonstrate applications
Features new coverage on human-environment interactions and biological interactions within the environment
Managers in ecology, environmental sciences and allied fields. Researchers in allied fields to ecology and environmental sciences like geochemistry, green chemistry, environmental chemistry, geomorphology, sustainability, global change, atmospheric science and conservation biology. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in ecology and environmental science
Introduction to Ecosystem Science
SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS
Ecological Energetics
Secondary production
Organic matter decomposition
Element cycling
INTERACTIONS AMONG BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
Ecosystem concept
Ecosystem in a heterogeneous world
BIOTIC CONTROLS on ECOSYSTEMS
Yaqui valley
GEO-ENGINEERING the OCEAN case study
Kathleen Weathers
Dr Weathers is a Biogeochemist with an expertise in air-land-water interactions, heterogeneous landscapes, ecological importance of fog, air pollution. Dr. Weathers' research focuses on quantifying how biology affects geochemistry and biogeochemical cycling across heterogeneous landscapes, and within and among multiple systems (air-land-water). Specific topics have included quantifying cross-boundary nutrient fluxes (e.g., nutrient and pollutant delivery and biogeochemistry from ocean to forest); how landscape and plant structure affect fog inputs—and how fog affects the biotic and abiotic maintenance of ecosystems; the importance of tree species, and their pests and pathogens, in controlling landscape biogeochemistry; and the effect of cyanobacteria on oligotrophic lake resilience. She has over 100 publications to date
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA
David Strayer
Dr Strayer is a Freshwater Ecologist whose research is focused on the distribution and roles of freshwater invertebrates. He is currently working on the ecology of the Hudson River and on understanding the controls on distribution and abundance of pearly mussels. He has over 100 publications to date.
Gene Likens
Dr Likens is an Ecologist with expertise in ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, acid rain, and human impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. His research focuses on the ecology and biogeochemistry of both forest and aquatic ecosystems. He was the co-founder of the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem study which discovered the links between ecosystem function and land-use practices. He and his colleagues were the first to discover acid rain in North America and to document the link between the combustion of fossil fuels and the increase of the acidity of precipitation. He was, in fact, subsequently rewarded with the National Medal of Science for his work in ecology. He has over 300 publications to date.
Distinguished Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA


Be cautiously optimistic and give your best!
He has never held a gun, investigated a crime or seen a terrorist. He majored in actuarial science but chose not to be an actuary. Although he started his career in the business world, life has led him to a path in civil service. Now he is the Assistant Secretary for Security, providing support on counter-terrorism. He is Percy Leung (BBA in Insurance, Financial and Actuarial Analysis (IFAA) 2006). He navigates the challenges in life with cautious optimism and by playing to his strengths.
Percy was accepted to The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) through the Early Admissions Scheme. He chose to study actuarial science, a sought-after major, because mathematics was his strong suit. He believes that actuarial science and business are becoming more intertwined, and placing the actuarial science programme under CUHK Business School allows students to gain more exposure to the business world.
During his four years of university studies, Percy was dedicated to academic work and went on an exchange programme to the University of California, Berkeley in the US. On the other hand, he also actively participated in extra-curricular activities, with a view to widening his horizons, expanding his professional network and strengthening his soft skills outside the classroom. He is grateful to Prof. Albert Wong, Associate Professor of Department of Finance and Director of IFAA, who has written him many reference letters and encouraged him to participate in various activities. These include the Future Leaders Training Programme organised by Ming Pao Daily News in which he joined students of other tertiary institutions for a study trip to Shanghai and participated in an exchange with local businesses.
Although Percy excelled in his university study, he was aware that actuarial work placed heavy emphasis on data analysis. The extrovert therefore decided to explore different career options after graduation and joined IBM Global Business Services as a business consultant. He worked on more than a dozen consulting projects during his three years at IBM. The exposure to clients from different sectors benefited him immensely down the road.
The 2008 Financial Crisis dealt a heavy blow to business consulting services. It prompted Percy to plan ahead. During the year he graduated, Percy had already thought of applying for the government civil service. Realising that the results of his recruitment examination were soon to expire, he gave it a go and was accepted. Percy enjoyed the frequent change of roles for administrative officers, satisfying his desire for new experiences. He has been with the government for nearly 10 years and counting.
Percy recalls representing the Housing Department to attend meetings with concern groups, where he listened to the hardships faced by people living in subdivided units. He has also visited these units and witnessed the inadequate living conditions of children living there. Every time the memory came to mind, he told himself he must work even harder, and that he could not afford to slack off.
Administrative officers are rotated to a new post every few years, which means they are always tackling new challenges. Percy deals with the constant transition with a cautiously optimistic attitude. To lighten his stress, he focuses on the good and reminds himself to do his best. For example, one of his duties in the Security Bureau is enhancing anti-terrorism laws to prevent terrorist financing at its source, thereby minimising the risk of attacks. He compensates for his lack of relevant experience in this area with extensive preparation and learns as he goes.
Percy was one of the Hong Kong torchbearers during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Percy has been a keen volunteer and has shown concern regarding social issues since secondary school. He has participated in two service learning programmes organised by Chung Chi College. One involved guiding local youths in the Superintendent's Discretion Scheme to complete a life orientation programme. The second one was going to Seoul, South Korea to study policies such as medical subsidy for foreign workers and supporting services for children with cancer. In recognition of his passion for social service, he was named a Hong Kong Outstanding Youth Volunteer by the Social Welfare Department and represented Hong Kong in the 19th IAVE World Volunteer Conference held in India.
Percy was a torchbearer of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He was selected after answering three different open calls. He often uses this experience to illustrate the age-old saying: nothing ventured, nothing gained!


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Данијел Литл Макфаден (; 29. јул 1937) амерички је економиста и економетриста. Добитник је Нобелове награде за економију 2000. године "за његов развој теорије и метода за анализу дискретног избора". Ментор  му је био Леонид Хурвич, који је такође добитник Нобелове награде за економију.

Извори

Спољашње везе
 Веб-страна Данијела Макфадена

Рођени 1937.
Амерички економисти
Амерички нобеловци
Нобеловци за економију

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


During an investiture at Buckingham Palace today the Duke of Cambridge told IllustratorJohanna Basford that Catherine enjoys colouring alongside George and Charlotte.
William told Ms. Basford that Catherine often enjoys taking time to colour in The Secret Garden.
Do you enjoy colouring in adult colouring books? I love it! I find that picking up the crayons or pencils and taking a few minutes to concentrate only on filling in a portion of an intricate pattern can sometimes help to reset my day.
These would make a perfect gift under $20 and could alsa serve as a perfect stocking stuffer if you wanted to use one for that. Ms. Basford is most known for the Secret Garden colouring book but there are 5 titles that she has illustrated for days and days of colouring fun.
Maybe I'll pick up one to use during and after the holidays….doesn't it sound like a FANTASTIC IDEA?


Advanced Division - Regular Season (January 23 - April 3) Each team will play their divisional opponents once, and two teams twice over a 9 game regular season. Playoffs (April 10 - May 1) Each team will play two playoff games, with the top four teams competing for the league title.
Intermediate Division A - Regular Season (January 23 - April 3) Each team will play their divisional oppnents once, and four teams twice over a 9 game regular season. Playoffs (April 10 - May 1) Each team will play two playoff games, with the top four teams competing for the league title.
Intermediate Division B - Regular Season (January 23 - April 3) Each team will play their divisional opponents once, and two teams twice over a 9 game regular season. Playoffs (April 10 - May 1) Each team will play two playoff games, with the top four teams competing for the league title.


text:
Clarissa Elsner 6 July 2017
GVC Holdings PLC (LSE:GVC), the multinational sports betting and gaming group, is pleased to announce a trading update for the six months to 30 June 2017, together with Q2 KPIs.
H1 2017 Group daily NGR up 10% (+12% constant currency) vs pro forma1 H1 2016
H1 2017 NGR €484.8m up 10% vs H1 2016 pro forma1 €441.8m (+11% in constant currency)
Q2 2017 Group daily NGR up 8% (+10% in constant currency) vs Q2 2016
Q2 2017 underlying Group daily NGR up 15% vs Q2 2016 (excluding Euro 2016 revenues)
Kalixa disposal completed
Trading in line with management expectations
Q2-2017 Q2-2016 Change Constant H1-2017 H1-2016 Change Constant
in €000s 91 days 91 days currency 181 days 182 days currency
Sports wagers 12,113 12,394 (2%) (0%) 12,509 12,630 (1%) 1%
Sports margin 10.1% 9.9% 9.8% 9.2%
Sports NGR 945 952 (1%) 1% 947 898 5% 7%
Gaming / other 1,030 890 16% 18% 1,015 864 17% 19%
Total NGR per day 1,976 1,843 7% 9% 1,962 1,762 11% 13%
Games Brands 616 547 13% 15% 616 569 8% 10%
B2B & Non-core 90 96 (5%) (4%) 100 97 4% 7%
Group NGR per day 2,682 2,485 8% 10% 2,678 2,428 10% 12%
Group NGR €m 244.1 226.2 8% 10% 484.8 441.8 10% 11%
Q2 KPIs
The Group enjoyed another strong quarter with daily NGR +8% on the same period last year and +10% in constant currency. This was achieved despite the absence of a major football tournament, reflecting continued good momentum across the business. Excluding Euro 2016 revenues, daily Group wagers and NGR were +10% and +15% respectively versus Q2 2016.
Within Sports Brands, the gross win margin for the period was 10.1% (9.9% Q2 2016), in line with our expectations of the long-term sustainable average. Daily wagers were broadly flat in constant currency, but as noted above, this was against a comparative period that included the Euro 2016 tournament – adjusting for this, underlying wager growth was 10%. Gaming daily NGR from Sports Brands continued to benefit from improved product and CRM, increasing +16% (+18% constant currency) on Q2 2016.
Games Brands daily NGR increased 13% (+15% in constant currency) over the same period last year, the highest quarterly growth reported by the division since the acquisition of bwin.party in February 2016. Growth is being driven by partypoker and an improving performance from the Group's standalone casino brands.
H1 2017
Group NGR for the first six months rose 10% to €484.8m (+11% in constant currency) versus pro forma1 2016. The disposal of Kalixa was completed 31 May 2017 and during the first half contributed revenues of €6.1m against €7.6m for pro forma H1 2016.
Kenneth Alexander (CEO) said:
"The Group continues to perform well with positive momentum across our core businesses. Achieving Q2 constant currency NGR growth of 10% in the absence of a major football tournament is particularly pleasing. As demonstrated at our recent Capital Markets Day, the organic opportunity is significant, whilst we are also well positioned to pursue further acquisition opportunities should they arise. This combined with an increase in marketing investment in the second half to more normalised levels gives the Board confidence of GVC delivering another year of strong progress."
1 Assumes bwin.party acquired 1 January 2016
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Kenneth Alexander, Chief Executive
Paul Miles, Chief Financial Officer
Nick Batram, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Strategy Tel: +44 (0) 1624 652 559
David Rydell, Laura Jaques Tel: +44 (0) 20 3772 2500
About GVC Holdings PLC
GVC Holdings PLC is a leading e-gaming operator in both B2C and B2B markets. GVC has four business segments with a number of brands; Sports Brands (bwin, Sportingbet, Gamebookers), Games Brands (partypoker, partycasino, Foxy Bingo, Gioco Digitale, CasinoClub), B2B and non-core assets. GVC acquired bwin.party digital entertainment plc on 1 February 2016. The Group is headquartered in the Isle of Man, is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index and has licences in more than 18 countries.
For more information see the Group's website: www.gvc-plc.com


text:
|+ style="font-size: 85%;" |
|-
!colspan="3" bgcolor="#efefef"| Formule Renault 3.5 Series seizoen 2008
|-
| vorige: 2007 || volgende: 2009 ||
|-
!colspan="3" bgcolor="#efefef"| Kampioenschap
|-
| 1 ||  Giedo van der Garde || 137
|-
| 2 ||  Julien Jousse || 106
|-
| 3 ||  Fábio Carbone || 97
|-
!colspan="3" bgcolor="#efefef"| Teams
|-
| 1 ||  Tech 1 Racing || 175
|-
| 2 ||  Ultimate Signature || 159
|-
| 3 ||  P1 Motorsport || 142
|}

Het Formule Renault 3.5 Series-seizoen 2008 was het elfde Formule Renault 3.5 Series-seizoen en het vierde onder deze naam. Het seizoen bestond uit 17 races, verdeeld over 9 ronden.

Teams en coureurs

Races

Kampioenschap
 Voor de eerste drie posities in de kwalificatie voor race 2 werden respectievelijk 4, 2 en 1 punt uitgereikt.
 De coureur die de snelste ronde rijdt krijgt twee bonuspunten.

Coureurs

Teams

 Coureurs vertrekkend van pole-position zijn vetgedrukt.
 Coureurs met de snelste raceronde in cursief.
* Deze coureur heeft het bonuspunt voor de meeste gewonnen posities.
† Deze coureurs hebben de finish niet gehaald maar zijn wel geklasseerd aangezien zij meer dan 90% van de race hebben gereden.

Autosport in 2008
2008


The national women's soccer teams clashed Monday in Spain, with Canada winning 2-1.
Apr. 9, 2019 3:00 a.m.
Jordyn Huitema got a starting assignment for Canada's national women's soccer team Monday in a 2-1 friendly match win over Nigeria.
The teenager played 45 minutes up front before being subbed out at half-time for veteran Christine Sinclair.
Canada's first goal came one minute into the second half, with Sinclair setting up Janine Beckie. Abbotsford native Sophie Schmidt scored the winning goal six minutes later.
The game was played at the Pinatar Stadium in Murcia, Spain and came on the heels of a 1-0 win at England four days earlier.
"It definitely was a battle. They gave us some physical challenges but I think we stood up to it," said Canadian coach Kenneth Heiner-Møeller. "The most important thing was we showed composure, after going 1-0 down, it's about keeping our structures right and keeping our composure. The second half was about us having more players in the penalty area and we definitely became more dangerous.
Huitema and her Canadian crew now look ahead to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. They open June 10, facing Cameroon at the June at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier, France. Canada travels to Grenoble for to play New Zealand June 15 at Stade des alpes and group play wraps up June 20 with a match against the Netherlands at Stade August-Velaune.


But if you?re picturing a panic-inducing day of nursery rhymes and soft-play, worry not, as these baby raves are pretty darn cool. From chart-topping DJs to interactive light shows these tot-friendly raves are giving Ushuaia in Ibiza a run for its money. So dust off your dancing shoes, grab your babies and get down to one of these family-friendly raves.
Perhaps the most eclectic kid-friendly rave around, Rave-A-Roo hosts floor-filling day time parties for the whole family. Boasting a line-up of top DJ?s, a soft-play room and live performances, there?s never a shortage of UV paint and glow sticks. The events are suitable for children and their (ir)responsible guardians and there's even a bar for the grown-ups.


text:
"Beyond the Headlines"
Exploring ethics in light of the Rolling Stone reporting controversy; fall semester wraps up
KUNR Public Radio | By David Stipech
Published December 12, 2014 at 11:41 AM PST
This past week, national media reported on the apparent journalistic lapses by Rolling Stone magazine regarding an article it published on sexual assaults on America's college campuses. The magazine's editors announced their own lack of faith in the reporting at the heart of the article.
More information about the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism and Center for Advanced Media Studies.
"Beyond the Headlines" Reynolds SchoolMediaDavid StipechAl StavitskyRolling Stone
David Stipech
David Stipech is a former general manager at KUNR Public Radio.
See stories by David Stipech
New J-School role focuses on media entrepreneurship
As the fall semester gets underway at the University of Nevada, Reno, the Reynolds School of Journalism has a new asset: Mignon Fogarty. Widely known as…
Reynolds School's Caesar Andrews welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winner Hedrick Smith to campus
While traditional journalism jobs have been diminishing in the age of the "new media," today's journalism students are still passionate and interested in…
Rise of Vox native digital media; cuts at NY Times
Digital media continue to reshape the journalism and media landscape, according to Al Stavitsky, Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the…


Oh, it's on! From the moment it was announced that Lin-Manuel Miranda would be on this season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," everyone wondered how things would work out between Miranda and Larry David. The video above shows exactly the kind of interaction fans must have been hoping for.
If you're a 'Curb' fan you know that David rarely if ever gets along with anyone. And Miranda? In real life, he gets along with, like, every body. Everyone loves the guy. So what did they do? They flipped it and made Miranda into a control freak, which made the last two episodes of the season really memorable.
From the first moments we see Miranda and David on the screen, they're immediately at odds with one another.
From their very first moments on screen together, we're supposed to see that David has met his match.
They get into a feud so ridiculous that it even gets physical, with Miranda throwing David to the ground to gain the upper hand in a meeting.
Younger and stronger, David's going to have a tough time getting his way with Miranda.
So what are they feuding about? Episode 9 and 10 are sort of a two-parter, where Miranda is asked to be the lead in a musical David has written.
The musical is about Salman Rushdie's fatwa. Miranda, of course, plays Rushdie, the writer who famously wrote "The Satanic Verses" and as a result, the Ayatollah of Iran had a "fatwa," or hit, put out on him.
Miranda plays opposite actor F. Murray Abraham, who plays the Ayatollah.
The musical numbers put together for this part of the episode are actually legit. The musical numbers were written and composed by Justin Hurwitz, the two-time Oscar-winning composer of "La La Land." Five-time Tony award winner Susan Strotman choreographed it all, bringing a real Broadway show feel to it all. They didn't cut any corners for this part.
Miranda took to Twitter to shout them both out.
Last night's Fatwa! songs on #CurbYourEnthusiasm by the maestro Justin Hurwitz!
Probably doesn't hurt to be a big broadway star yourself to have the best in the game come and help out.
But back to the drama! Miranda and David's conflict finally comes to a head.
There are several storylines that converge at this one moment, where Miranda is NOT going to put up with David's mouth anymore, and he gives him the backhand of his gauntlet (glove).
With the duel being thrown down, there's nothing left to do but to take it to pistols (paintball guns).
When David's pants fall, he pulls the trigger. Miranda inadvertently gets shot in the mouth with a blue paintball, ruining his voice for several months. The fatwa is over.
And if their rivalry isn't enough to get you pumped about Miranda on the show, hearing about his dream of being on it since his college days might.
See? You too could some day slap the snot out of one of your heroes. Dream come true.


Today we have heard a lot of speculations on the new Android 4.4.3 update and whether it's really being rolled out or not. As of now there are no confirmations of people actually getting the update, but Sprint has confirmed multiple times that it's actually happening.
Sprint customer service employees have also shared information about the rollout on Reddit. According to numerous sources the update will be rolling out starting April 14th until April 21st.
As far as we know, Android 4.4.3 will only fix existing bugs and not bring anything new to the table. However, as a proud owner of a Nexus 5 myself, I am excited about the rumoured camera fix. This should solve all existing focusing issues (although not all Nexus 5 devices are affected).
Well, there is no single confirmed case of someone actually getting the update, but we've seen the same story last year. Sprint has leaked information about the update first, everybody thought it wasn't going to happen and then it did. So maybe this time the same will happen.
As you see, Android 4.4.3 is all about fixes. If you want to stay updated with the latest news on the update, here's a link to the XDA Developers thread.
Now the only thing we can do is wait for the update.


A 19-inch monitor may not be considered a good option for those of you who intend to use their screens mainly for gaming or watching movies however it is good for official use. The best 19-inch monitors offer a great performance while working on word documents, preparing presentations, drafting reports and working on various other applications.
These monitors come loaded with a number of features that promote efficiency and productivity. These are also power efficient and eco-friendly thus making them even more suitable for those who need to work for hours on the system. Their ergonomic design is another plus for the users.
The best of the lot are available in slim designs and offer good display quality, appropriate brightness and vivid colors and details. These are available from various brands including Samsung, Lenovo, and Viewsonic among others.


text:
Tambak Sari is een bestuurslaag in het regentschap Pasuruan van de provincie Oost-Java, Indonesië. Tambak Sari telt 4816 inwoners (volkstelling 2010).

Plaats in Oost-Java


Free Audio Recorder/Editor for Mac can capture any sound from a wide range of sound sources, including live performance, stereo mix, cassette tapes, LP, network audio, online radio, streaming video, internet phone and countless more. Literally, it can record any sound you hear, making an awesome Mac audio recorder.
You are allowed to import and visually edit audio in MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, AIFF, WMA, OGG, FLAC, ALAC, MP2 and a whole lot other formats. Songs, recordings, educational listening materials, sound elements... no matter where they come from, you will always find a solution in Free Audio Recorder/Editor for Mac. You can Cut, Copy & Paste your audio, splice and mix audio tracks together, mute audio, and perform more tweaking with with unlimited Undo.
Free Audio Recorder/Editor for Mac provides custamizable audio effects like echo, delay, applification, speed changing, pitch shifting, Bass Boost, Wahwah and tons more to make your audio stunning and unique. It also helps you remove noise from your recordings and music files. It is integrated with an inbuilt amplitude envelope editor, spectrogram mode and frequency analysis for audio analysis apps.
Free Audio Recorder/Editor for Mac is born to make audio recording and editing on Mac easier! You simply click you mouse to achieve any goals on its neat interface. Users of Mac OS X can now make your Macintosh an audio factory for free.
How to Record Audio on Mac?
How to Edit Audio on Mac?


Salt bath Nitrocarburising is a thermo-chemical surface treatment carried out in molten salt at a temperature of 580oC. The process is often followed by a further oxidation treatment in a caustic molten salt bath to give components the characteristic black finish which is also very corrosion resistant. TufftrideTM is the trade name of Durferrit for their salt bath Nitrocarburising process.
Gives a very hard (800-1500Hv) wear resistant surface to the metal typically up to a depth of 0.002"(0.05mm) depending upon the material.
As the process is carried out at 580oC no phase changes take place as is the case with higher temperature treatments, and so there is little or no dimensional change in the components.
The hard wear resistant surface also exhibits self-lubricating & anti-seize properties.
As the process is carried out in molten salt, removing this salt from deep small bore holes or hollow components can be difficult.
Care must be taken with thin section components to ensure that the thin sections do not become Tufftrided all the way through & and hence become brittle.


In an effort to solve overcrowding during the morning class times and to balance out class sizes, we are adding a fourth morning class and changing up the schedule a bit. The new schedule begins Jan. 12th and we'll be monitoring class sizes to see how effective the schedule changes are. It would help us out if everyone would remember to log in at the start of each class so that we can track attendance. This will enable us to find the ideal times to schedule on-ramp sessions for beginners to and to place 2nd coaches when needed.
Class times in the morning will be 5:30am, 6:30am, 7:30am, 9am. *Please see below for details on the 7:30am time slot.
In addition to the change in class times, the 7:30am session on M/W/F mornings will be run as The Barbell WOD, a dedicated strength program designed by Cal Strength. This program is best suited for the intermediate to advanced athlete who would like to focus more time on strength training, with an emphasis on the olympic weightlifting movements. We would like to minimize athletes following programs on the side, without coaching. This class is an opportunity for athletes who would like more lifting than we can fit into a regular one hour class time to get coaching with a solid program to follow. If you aren't sure if this program would be right for you, please ask a coach.
The Barbell WOD takes one hour to complete, and the class will end with the conditioning workout of the day. On Tuesdays, since this time slot will be 90 minutes, the 7:30am class will be run as an Advanced WOD, which will be a more challenging version of the regular workout of the day. We will also be adding an Advanced WOD on Saturday mornings at 11am. Intermediate to advanced athletes, particularly those interested in competition, should make an effort to structure their training with these sessions in mind.
The Barbell WOD includes an online app (soon to be a downloadable app), an online forum for questions, demo videos, results tracking (soon to be expanded) and more. We strongly urge anyone who is planning to make this a regular part of their routine to sign up at thebarbellwod.com. The cost of this program is only $9 a month or $90/year when you use the discount code ROOTS. Your money supports both Cal Strength and Grassroots, and we look forward to working with their awesome team of coaches and lifters throughout the year. When you sign up for The Barbell WOD, you can even visit Cal Strength for a lifting session when you're in the San Ramon area!
A new mobility class has been added to the schedule during the 7:30am time slot on Thursdays. This class is 1 hour long and makes a great active recovery day for athletes of ALL LEVELS. Spending quality time on your ability to achieve full range of motion will help your all around performance inside of and outside of the gym. Now you have two chances each week to spend a dedicated hour to mobility, Sundays at 11:15am and Thursdays at 7:30am.
With the new schedule, starting Jan. 12th, Yoga with Nate will be shifting to a later morning time slot. Please stay tuned for details as we get that set.
We appreciate your patience as we all get used to the new schedule; we realize changing your routine can be tough at first, but we hope that in the long run everyone will benefit from these changes.


text:
'Murder has become an official policy of the government,' says Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu
Uganda, People Power and the Bobi Wine Factor
Ethiopia: Lessons from the Oromo homecoming
AFRICAN MIGRATION: Separating fact from fiction
Tanzania's ACT party gunning for 2020 despite government crackdown
Who are the New African Magazine MOST INFLUENTIAL AFRICANS of 2019 and why?
Forces of change shaping the future
"Africa holds extraordinary market power"
Archiving Kwame Nkrumah work
Is African media fit for purpose?
Konza Technology City: The shop window to tomorrow's Africa
In Conversation: Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA
The rule of law is supreme
Adjoa Andoh's Richard II makes stage history in UK
Farming by choice will drive Africa's food security and prosperity
Fear of karma?
On autopilot to nowhere
Drawing breath from perforated lungs
A tribute to our banking heroes
Articles by region
Back to Africa movement gathers pace
Although Ghana officially launched the Return to Africa project last year, the history of Africans in the diaspora returning to the Mother Continent goes back …
A year to celebrate
The impact of the African and Caribbean diaspora, changing the way that mainstream society thinks and demolishing long-held stereotypes, has been profound.
Brexit and the Black Atlantic
'For once, the African diaspora is not front and centre of a debate about "floods" of migrants.'
The world's champion
Muhammad Ali was held to be an inspiration to Africans everywhere.
Terrorism in Africa is no longer somebody else's war
Once a theatre for proxy wars, Africa must now confront the spectre
of homegrown terrorism by knowing its enemies, choosing its friends
and fighting the instinct for overkill, argues Kalundi Serumaga.
Guyana calls for African diplomatic help
Guyana has called for diplomatic assistance from the African continent as it seeks to deter aggression from neighbouring Venezuela over a border dispute.
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The OSCE mission can directly monitor all processes related to the presidential election in Azerbaijan, Chairman of Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov said.
He made the remarks March 9 at a meeting with Corien Jonker, head of the observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the CEC said in a message.
Having greeted the head and members of the observation mission, Panahov expressed satisfaction with the meeting and highly appreciated the initiative for its organization.
Jonker expressed her gratitude to Panahov for the warm welcome and said that the OSCE ODIHR will observe the pre-election and the election process.
Then the members of the observation mission inquired about preparations for the presidential election in Azerbaijan scheduled for April 11.
Panahov spoke about the high organization of the election, the work done to conduct transparent and fair election and the large-scale briefing program of the CEC.
He brought to the attention of the members of the observation mission the activity of the CEC and numerous projects being implemented to freely ensure the rights of Azerbaijani citizens to elect and be elected, and also said that all steps are taken in the conditions of full transparency.
Panahov said that the CEC is always open for cooperation with international organizations, and also noted that presently, the professional working group is checking the submitted signature lists and other election documents.
The process of verification, which is completely open to the public, is regularly monitored by authorized representatives of political parties, presidential candidates and the media, he added.
Panahov, along with other international organizations, also invited the members of the observation mission to take an active part in verifying the signature lists, as well as in any other election-related processes in general.
During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.


But how are things shaping up heading into the final stretch and how good are each sides chances of reaching their targets? bundesliga.com puts FC Ingolstadt 04 under the spotlight.
The newly-promoted side can be more than satisfied with their efforts this season so far. Few would have reckoned with Die Schanzer being tenth in the table with seven Matchdays remaining and boasting a six-point cushion over the relegation play-off place.The basis for the impressive campaign being enjoyed by Ralph Hasenhüttl's men is undoubtedly their defensive rigidity. Only FC Bayern München (13), Borussia Dortmund (26) and Hertha Berlin (27) - the top three sides in the division - have conceded fewer goals than Ingolstadt's 31.Where Hasenhüttl's team can improve is in front of goal. Only Hannover 96 (22) have managed fewer goals than Ingolstadt's 23 in 27 matches, although Die Schanzer have netted in each of their last six matches, including three against VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 26.
In their debut season in the top flight, the club's ultimate goal obviously remains to stay in the Bundesliga. Nevertheless, if they continue their current form, survival may already be guaranteed before Matchday 34. The likes of 1. FC Köln (ninth) and VfL Wolfsburg (eighth) could also still be reined in in the final few weeks.That said, Ingolstadt's run-in is not the kindest, with matches against FC Schalke 04, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern and Bayer 04 Leverkusen to come. With that in mind, Hasenhüttl's charges will likely need to target games against the likes of Hannover, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and SV Darmstadt 98 for the points they need to be sure of survival.


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text:
Pink-Eye Therapeutic Analysis
168 Words1 Page
In the summer of 2015, a pink-eye (conjunctivitis) outbreak occurred on the family ranch. This was the greatest challenge I have faced in my beef production SAE. Many of the family cattle as well as many of my own cattle were infected with the contagious bacteria or virus. The outbreak was spreading quickly and if left untreated would blind infected animals, infected animals would also not be able to be sold. The correct vaccine would need to be found through research and administered to infected animals. To administer the vaccine, I was required to ride through the cattle herds every day in order to find newly infected animals. When an animal was infected I would rope and restrain the animal from horseback and administer the proper amount
Rhetorical Analysis Of Fast Food Nation
In Fast Food Nation, the author uses multiple rhetorical strategies to achieve an overall tone and effect. One device, however, was utilized throughout the book. To achieve the tone of disapproval, pathos, the appeal to emotions, was strongly used in each part of the book. For example, the book states, "At times the animals are crowded so closely together it looks like a sea of cattle, a mooing, moving mass of brown and white fur that goes on for acres." This appeals to the readers emotions because it discusses the cruel treatment of cows.
Persuasive Essay: The Role Of Animal Testing In The World
Without animal testing, medicine that we are familiar with today wouldn't exist. Animal testing has enabled us to find treatments for cancer, infections, for antibiotics, and even for vaccines. For seven years, an epidemic of one of the world's most feared diseases shattered lives across the entire continent of North America. This killer disease,
The Rhetorical Analysis Of Sarah Mclachlan Animal Cruelty
Thousands of animals across the United States are being beaten, starved, abandoned, and left to defend for themselves. Animal cruelty has become a nationwide problem in today's society. In the Public Service Announcement (PSA), "Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty", produced by the ASPCA, this commercial persuades the audience through pathos appeals, but the PSA's representation of the appeals of ethos and logos are showing animals in America suffering from cruelty and neglect every day. The ASPCA and spokesperson, Sarah McLachlan are trying to convey a message to the public that there is an urgent need to donate money to save the lives of animals being abused and neglected. This appeal to the ethical(ethos), emotional(pathos), and logical(logos) senses of the audience to expose the evils of animal cruelty and convey to the audience that animals are in need of help.
Argumentative Essay: Should Animal Testing Be Banned?
Science researches believe that products which have been tested on animals will make humans' life better. However, the main concern on this issue is that animals are suffering from unnecessary pain. Animals are mostly exposed to radiation, forced to inhale poisonous gases and injected with harmful substances prior to the experiment. Thus, animal testing should be banned because it is cruel, the result is unreliable and expensive.
Should Animals Be Used In Flowers For Algernon By Daniel Keys
There is much controversy over whether or not animals should be used to test new procedures and medications. I personally believe that animal testing is crucial to scientific development. Every life lost is a tragedy but as seen in the story, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keys, it will help us determine what will happen to a human test subjects without human losses. In this essay I will support my belief that animal research is important to human survival and is worth the risk. Animal research has played a vital part in nearly every medical breakthrough over the last decade.
Horse Meat Persuasive Essay
While the FSA was testing meat products for any horse meat it has been said a veterinarian drug tested positive for contamination. Despite the scandal growing in Europe U.S officials deny any contamination in their meat products. The scandal has become the next headline and many are raving about it. Many people were furious and felt betrayed that horse meat was in their beef while restaurants such as taco bell promised 100% all natural beef. Many corporations claims
Food Inc Health Effects
The animals are kept and raised while held in tight spaces and packed with different antibiotics. "When livestock producers administer antibiotics routinely to their flocks and herds, bacteria can develop resistance, thrive and even spread to our communities, contributing to the larger problem of antibiotic resistance"(Report Examines Antibiotics). For example, when E-Coli was found out to be the cause of many sick adults and children, and some deaths, the investigation then took place and was found that the farms where the cows were being raised was so unhealthy and unclean that the animals were standing in their own feces. The film also informs the audience with the devastating news of E-Coli being in circulation from the cows standing in their own feces and then being cut into large pieces of meat without being fully cleaned. Because of this, the feces unfortunately got into the meat and had been eaten by the consumers.
Terrorist Attacks In The 1980s
In the early 1980s a religious commune in the state of Oregon used salmonella to sicken nearly 750 people in the surrounding area (Davisson 2003, 1) (Hilow, 1995). Their actions are a form of CBRN deployment and could be considered terrorist attacks on a civilian population. Terrorist attacks use violence as a form of political activism; which is precisely what the perpetrators attempted to do in 1984. The CBRN agents used by the religious group could be deployed today against the American population and still provide a credible threat to the general population. Salmonella is a form of bacteria that causes food poisoning type symptoms in humans and animals.
The Military Propaganda Analysis
This can also be seen in the meatpacking industry revealed in the novel The Jungle. In this novel, it is revealed that the health of anyone eating meat in America is at risk. In packing plants there is disease everywhere, dead bodies end up in the meat, and poor, filthy, bloody immigrants are the ones doing all the work. When someone reads this they immediately have an emotional response. They think of their health and their children's health and know that something needs to change or their loved ones could get sick.
Persuasive Speech On Animal Rights
Although people irrefutably need sustenance to survive, humans have developed an unbalanced reliance on creatures like cows and chickens as their main food source. "In the United States, about 35 million cows, 115 million pigs, and 9 trillion birds are killed for food each year" (Vegetarianism). This constant demand for meat illustrates the endless cycle of breeding animals and then slaughtering them. However, many first-world countries hold a surplus of provisions that supplies more than enough to feed their people, making the use of livestock pointless.
E. Coli Mastitis Case Summary
Katelyn Pugliese Hannah Chenail Health Management Critically Appraised Topic Clinical Question In dairy cattle with E. coli mastitis, is fluid therapy better then anti-inflammatory containing carprofen to improve clinical recovery? Case During a routine visit to a client's dairy farm, the owner Joe Smith has mentioned that several of his cows are sick with mastitis.
Why I Want To Be A Veterinarian Essay
Certain specialties have certain requirements; which veterinarians must meet. Before sitting for the certification exam. The key skills you need to have are: You have to be caring, responsible, reliable, good team working skills, administrative skills and communication skills, those are just some of the many qualities you need. The history of veterinarian medicine all begins in Lyon, France in 1761 where Veterinarian medicine was discovered by Claude Bourgelat. After observing the devastation being caused by cattle plague to the French herds.
What's Wrong With Factory Farming
The problem with that is, "our increasing use (and misuse) of antibiotics fuels the evolution and dispersion of antibiotic-resistant bacteria" stated by Jonathan Anomaly. This isn't an unknown fact, public health experts have been warning factories about the dangers of using large quantities of antibiotics, especially the misuse of it, for many years, and how it creates an ideal environment for bacteria to evolve and spread resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic resistant bacteria does not stop at livestock; it can spread to human hosts in a variety of ways. Employees on the farm factories can get it from the animals and pass it onto other people, some bacteria can survive in meat even after being cooked and effect those who eat it, also animal waste is used to fertilize crops which can contain bacteria and now can affect those who work with crops or consume them, and finally bacteria can transfer to other animals and streams around the factory (Anomaly). This is an issue that should be prevented from the beginning, instead they don't take a step towards better treatment.
Monologue Tribe
I remember that horrendous memory like it happened yesterday. " Papa, papa….I am going to play by the water's edge." I was only 13 years of age when this happened. " Make sure your brother comes with you," my father said.
More about Pink-Eye Therapeutic Analysis


The Nellcor Oximax pulse oximetry system reportedly allows clinicians to more effectively monitor a broad range of patients. This oximetry platform comprises a variety of hand-held and stand-alone monitors that reportedly deliver accurate, reliable readings even during low perfusion and signal interference. The new sensors feature several models with Losat expanded accuracy range, and also include the Max-Fast forehead sensor and Softcare nonadhesive sensors.


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English Artists » Deborah Poynton
Born and Trained in the North of England, Deborah travelled throughout Europe and Africa before settling in Dorset.
This is where her artistic talent flowered and much of her work has been exhibited and sold. She has also travelled to Boston in America to collect material from the magnificent Cape Cod area as well as Vermont (which is renowned for the 'Fall'). This trip extended the range of places where her work is hung, and these now include Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. In London, England, she has also achieved considerable success through the Harrods Art Gallery.
The dynamics of Picture construction and simplification of forms as taught by Robin Child are remembered with gratitude, and training the eye to criticize one's own work constructively under the patient tuition of Sam Rabin over several years has proved invaluable. Derek Gardiner R.S.M.A. also offered great encouragement as well as basic advice during the early years of her artistic career.
While preferring Oil on canvas for her landscapes, she has a delicate touch with pastels for portraits, and some of her fine pencil drawings of animals have gone into print.
Her speciality is English River Landscapes, often with low horizons to give a greater expanse of sky – the billowing cloud formation adding a special dimension to the paintings. Trees and fields, bridges and buildings evoke the same sense of timeless tranquility which flows from Hardy's descriptions of his beloved Wessex.
A Very English Landscape
Oil on canvas 41x51cm, signed and framed. In good order. Offered on behalf of a private client who has owned it for
11 years.
Bluebell Woodland Walk
Oil on canvas 51x76cm, sympathetically and expensively framed, signed and in good order.Offered on behalf of a private client who has owned it for over 15 years.
Poppy Fields
Oil on canvas 31x41cm, signed and framed. In Good order - Offered on behalf of a private client who has owned it for 15 years.


I have come to the conclusion that nearly everything I write I will eventually discard as trash. I'll say something like, "how foolish I must have been to even write such rubbish." Probably something more like, "man, I was stupid!" I am, of course, growing. I do not know now, nor will I ever know in this life, everything I want to know (and probably, when I am finally capable of knowing, I won't care anymore). I like to think that, at least most of the time, I am moving in the right direction. Sometimes I wonder, though. I try to go with the flow of the universal stream. The last thing I want to be is the rock obstructing the flow of the stream. It will eventually be weakened and then subdued. Until then, it will be in misery. To flow with the stream means submitting to the will of God, to obey His commandments, His law, and to be what I was created to be. I know what that means, but sometimes I do not know how to do it.
Perhaps I should stick to politics. My views there haven't changed much. The only change has been, I was once in favor of the death penalty, now I am not. My views on faith, however, have changed quite a lot. I'm one of the few people I know who actually came to Christ through apologetics. I then turned to "rational Christianity." Finally I adopted Anselmian Scholasticism, believing that only faith brings understanding, peace, happiness. Human rationalism alone is unreliable at best and deceiving at worst. Reason alone will send you in circles. There must be faith to point you in the right direction. As I grow, I may even drop that opinion.
I once thought that the existence of God cannot be proven because that would be a violation of our free will. If an argument could be constructed that conclusively proved the existence of God, then we would have no real choice but to believe in God, and therefore no free will on the most important question of life. But, now I am beginning to believe that it is possible to prove His existence and that would not be a violation of free will because we can still choose to ignore the argument. I have seen plenty of atheists do just that.
Through it all, I hear Cicero's command, "Look upwards!" Even the great Scipio found that hard to do. So, I am not weaker than other humans, I am just human. I firmly believe that if you believe in God and live your life according to His Will and His Law then nothing bad will ever happen to you. Now, I'm not saying that everything will be roses, but you will be able to step over whatever gets in your way because you are looking upwards to Heaven, not down on the earth.
Look upwards! This is probably the most important lesson in life. I say probably because I learned this lesson rather early in life and I don't know if there are bigger lessons to come.
For everything we experience in our physical world (objects, emotions, love, truth, beauty) there is a Perfect Form. If I draw a circle on a piece of paper, I can understand the quality of that circle because there is a Perfect Circle that I can compare it to. Everything in the physical world is a reflection of a Perfect Form. We can come to know something in our physical world through our reason and logic. However, our reason and logic are useless to understand that object because we can only understand it if we understand the Perfect Form that the object reflects. We can only understand the Perfect Form through faith because the Perfect Form exists beyond our physical world and our logic and reason are chained to the physical world. I cannot prove that the Perfect Circle exists. I can only say that it must exist, otherwise it would not be perfect. But that is not proof, that is faith.
So, it is possible to know something, but not understand it. It is possible to live your life by knowing, but never understanding. Anyone who lives such a life, however, will find that life to be incomplete, misguided, and frustrating. For example, it is possible to know how to use a computer. You can know how to type, you can know how to point and click. But you will never use that computer to its full potential unless you understand how it works. Until then it is merely an appliance, not a tool.
The most important things we will experience in our lives are beauty, truth, and love. These things can only be understood by understanding Perfect Beauty, Truth, and Love, and that is God. God is Perfect Beauty. God is Perfect Truth. God is Perfect Love. It is in our best interest to not only understand Beauty, Truth, and Love, but also to live with it: to have Beauty, Truth, and Love in our hearts. Therefore, we come to the fullness of life only through reconciliation with God. We only achieve this reconciliation through faith.
Look up, and you will see perfection. Look up, and you will see your goal. Look up, and you will be saved. Through all our philosophy, strife, and arguments Cicero remains: a pagan stoic who caught a glimpse of the most important lesson in life and shouts it from the rooftops, nails it to the door, and posts it on the web.


Someone said to me the other day, "I don't know how you do it."
I always trip on at least one toy a day.
Brady knows his fair share of curse words thanks to those damn toys on the floor.
I have a long list of things that need to be done that don't get done.
My idea of working out is the dance I do after I step on one of their damn toys.
We eat a lot of sandwiches for dinner.
I could go on. The list always goes on.
Being a mom is hard enough and I thought I had adjusted to being a mom of two pretty well. That slapped me pretty harshly in the face when I went back to work.I remember it being rough when I went back after Brady was born and it one of the biggest hurdles I faced as a new mom. I thought it would be a bit rocky at first getting used to juggling another little one into the mix but it's been harder than I expected for different reasons. With Brady, it was getting used to the idea of having another little being to tend to instead of relaxing at home or going to the gym. This time around it is harder for different reasons. I mean it's obvious adding another little person is going to make things a little harder to adjust to but then you add in the fact that you need time for well baby visits, his endocrinologist, lab work and you know, the whole taking care of two kids thing. Then, the holiday's hit and then the sicknesses started and things spiraled into pure chaos. I've missed a lot of work since I've been back which has left me WAY behind and very stressed. Lots of little things have piled up and my to-do lists are daunting and never ending.
I'm lucky my job is flexible to meet my family's needs but I have to say it doesn't make it easy and my work load is still just as heavy. My work week is a scheduled (but flexible on when) 42.5 hours and adding in drive time that probably hits it well over 50. I try not to work late but there are times it's a necessary evil. The flexibility is what keeps me there but as a social worker, my job is very stressful. I'm surely overworked and grossly underpaid. I'm not wanting to start a stay-at-home vs working moms debate and I know both have their ups and downs. I find myself struggling lately and I'm sure part of it is because I'm just so behind in every aspect of life because of everything in life but that is.....well, life!
When I'm at work, I'm thinking about the kids. Worrying if Benny's crying all day (which many times he does and that is probably the hardest thing, ever.) Praying they don't pick up another virus. Worry that they will eat/sleep/etc well that day. Wonder what the heck I'm going to feed everyone because I either need to go to the grocery store or I didn't thaw anything out. The list goes on.
When I'm at home, I'm good about not working when I'm at home but work is always in the back of my head, especially after a rough or stressful day. It's hard not to shake the stress sometimes and while yes, the sweet snuggles of my babies helps, it doesn't always magically make it disappear!
I find it hard to be just one person at a time. I can't just be Mommy. I can't just be the 'employee.' Can't I just be Amy because there is no set definition to who she is and who she is, well, that is up to me.
I think that it's what makes being a working mom the hardest. Picking a role isn't possible. My kids ALWAYS come first yet I have to be on time to work. I have to show up without spit-up or some other stain from my kids on my pants. I have to be professional yet I find myself talking to my 3 year old in the car on the way too a meeting about poop.
Then, there is the house. The perfectionist in me wants it to be clutter free and the dishes done. I have a hard time actually relaxing and I find that I need to be busy all the time. I know I don't have to be but I struggle with this a lot.
I can only describe being a working mom as a balancing act. I used see it more as a juggling act but as a mom, we juggle a lot in life but it's more than that. It's about finding balance amidst chaos. You can't juggle more than you can handle but you can create your own meaning of balance. It doesn't have to be a perfect definition. It doesn't even need to be defined.
I haven't found that perfect blend of balance yet. I'm working on it but until then I'll be the one with the messy house, the smear of baby food in my hair and the one who needs to be reminded about everything because lets be honest, I can't remember crap anymore.
Not to sound redundant, but I don't know how you do it. I just don't. I've always thought working moms have it impossibly hard. You're a rock star.


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Blog: Uncategorised
Spotify Q1 2020: Choppy Waters Ahead
potify
Spotify's first quarter earnings were a mixed bag, with a largely positive picture for Q1 but some warning signs for the remainder of the year: Subscribers: Spotify's Q1 earnings may not have…
Independents Grew Fastest on Spotify in 2019, But There's a Twist
independent labels
Major labels
Tomorrow (Wednesday 29 th April) Spotify announces its Q1 2020 results, at which point we will find out whether it had a COVID-bounce like Netflix did ( adding 15.8 million subscribers in Q1 ) or whether…
The Gaming Boom Is Driven by Different Genders In Different Age Groups
female gaming
gamer demographihcs
We know that we are experiencing a spike in games engagement during this crisis. 21% of adult consumers in the US say they've spent more time playing games online 'in the last two weeks' (fielded…
What the Recorded Music Industry Can Learn from the Whaling Industry of the 19th Century
23 capital
A high-risk industry with large upfront costs and no guarantee of return. No, this is not the recorded music industry, nor is it venture capital (VC) – this is the whaling industry of the 19 th century.…
Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?
With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding…
Libra: A Reckoning for Crypto… or for Facebook?
Last week Facebook and its network of partners, including Spotify, MasterCard and Uber, announced the development of a new cryptocurrency, Libra , planned to go live next year. As the first tech major…
Quick Take: Spotify, Stories and Music – the Social Media Divide
The story of a song's creation is one of the great mysteries of music. Regularly are we regaled with anecdotes of a song emerging fully formed in a 15-minute flurry of creative genius. However, while…
Skin in the Game: Prediction Markets and the Future of Media Discourse
predictions markets
If talk was cheap before, then the laws of supply and demand mean the advent of big data drove that value to zero. So overwhelmed with opinions are we that it is hard to know who means what anymore. This…
Is Sinclair About to Cause a Stir in US Streaming Sports Coverage?
Sinclair Broadcasting
This has been a busy week for Disney. As part of the regulatory approval terms for acquiring 21 st Century Fox's non-US TV network businesses, it had to divest itself of the 22 regional sports networks…
Can PlayStation 5 Compete Successfully Amid the Coming Games-Streaming Disruption?
As Mark Cerny, the lead system architect of PlayStation, implied in an exclusive interview with Wired , PS5 is coming likely in fall 2020 – and it is not just meant to be a mere upgrade of the PS4. The…
Creator Support: A New Take on User Centric Licensing
artist streaming income
User-centric licensing (i.e. stream pay-outs based on sharing the royalty income of an individual user split across the music they listen to) has stimulated a lot of debate. I first explored the…
Free Streaming Goes to Voice: Should Radio Companies Be Worried?
amazon streaming strategy
radio disruption
History doesn't repeat itself. It does, however, rhyme. Amazon have followed up the announcement of its free music streaming service by elaborating on its integration into Alexa and its Echo device.…
Amazon's Ad Supported Strategy Goes Way Beyond Music
Ad Supported
ad supported strategy
ad supported streaming
Amazon is reportedly close to launching an ad supported streaming music offering . Spotify's stock price took an instant tumble. But the real story here is much bigger than the knee-jerk reactions…
Four Principles for Marketeers to Achieve Business Growth
Blog post by Georgia Meyer
The ascent of the digital content economy has wrought radical change to marketing principles, the consequences of which have not yet been sufficiently internalised in marketing strategy and tactics. MIDiA…
Quick Take: Spotify's Throwback Hub and the Future of the Album
Throwback Thursday, one of Spotify's most popular features, has been expanded into a new Throwback hub. Launching initially with 30 playlists and described by Austin Daboh, Head of Music Culture &…
We're Hiring A Video Analyst
Analyst Role
Jobs at MIDiA
midia research jobs
We are looking for a Video Analyst to join our fast-growing team. You will either currently work in a strategy, commercial or marketing role with a TV or video company, or you will be an experienced industry…
Business Development Manager Opportunity
We are looking for a client-obsessed individual to join MIDiA's sales team as a Business Development Manager, to focus on the TV, Video and Media sectors. The successful candidate will report directly…
Downtown Acquires AVL: Value Chains in a Post-direct Distribution Era
cd baby music distribution
When Spotify announced that it was going to launch direct distribution on its platform, it was clear the various digital distributors that emerged in the post-Napster wave of online music (Tunecore, CD…
Apple Joins The Games Subscription Race With Arcade
Apple has announced that it will launch a games subscription service called Arcade. For a monthly payment (price point to be determined), the service will feature over 100 original games which users will…
SXSW 2019: Streaming, Radio and the Unevenly Distributed Future
'The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed'. In many ways, this quote by science fiction writer William Gibson surmises the work we do at MIDiA: cautiously observing new tech developments…


Windows 10 – What's all the fuss about?
Windows 10 has been officially with us for a month now. Available from 29th July 2015 it is the biggest mass Operating System update on any platform so far. Microsoft have offered a free upgrade to anyone already running Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 OEM versions (i.e. if it came pre-installed on your PC) and you will be invited to download Windows 10 at some point if you haven't already. The idea is that Microsoft want to give as many users as possible the same interface irrespective of the platform they use whether it is PC, tablet or mobile phone.
The normal way to get your upgrade is to reserve it when the invite comes via a Windows update onto your device and then wait your turn to download it. The Polymorph Managed Services team couldn't wait though and downloaded a copy from here.
So what do we think of Windows 10? Well we've been all over it like a rash and we think it is really good! Back is the start menu and desktop we all know from Windows 7 combined with the tiles that are so familiar from Windows 8. The interface looks fresh and is intuitive in use too.
We've had no issues of note after the upgrade and have been able to use our existing applications and hardware as normal. Be warned though; if you are at all unsure about upgrading you should run the Windows Compatibility Checker before doing so in case any of your hardware or software is incompatible currently. Use the 'Get Windows 10' app to do a compatibility check. It should be installed automatically during Windows updates and will show as a Windows icon in your device's system tray (see image below). You should manually run a Windows update if it isn't there.
So what if you upgrade and then find there is an issue or you just don't like the new Windows 10? You will have one month after upgrading to revert back to the previous version of Windows on your device.
We reckon Windows 10 is the best version yet and we really don't think you'll be disappointed if you take the plunge and upgrade.