The weather in Minnesota has been, well…miserable! The temperature has hovered between 20-and 35 degrees F all month and we've had three days of snow this week...When it isn't snowing—it's raining! The good news…I've had a lot of time to quilt!
I'm thinking about the weather!
I added some "wind" to the umbrella quilts… and in a note of optimism, I stitched flowers in the blue quilt.
Also, I have had a few requests to do a tutorial on The Flame stitch which is a part of the Fleur de lis motif from yesterday's tutorial. Watch for that soon.
If you like the tutorials, please do me a favor….send warm and sunny thoughts this way!
wow that is amazing! hope the weather improves for you soon.
Wow! That is amazing quilting! Absolutely beautiful.
Love the umbrellas and your tutorials. Thanks from all of us new to machine quilting people.
Just found your blog and I'm really enjoying it. Your umbrellas with the wind are so much fun, and look like our weather in southeast South Dakota!
I'm glad you found us! Isn't this weather frustrating?! I can't wait to sit outside on a sunny day!
Oh, dear – not much warmth to send your way from here! I just came in from snapping some shots of the coyote tracks in yesterday's snow. . . Love your umbrella quilts!
Well, misery loves company! We've had 17 inches of snow in April!
I would be happy to bind any and all of your quilts- just send them my way…. but will you get them back????
Your work makes me smile, I just love it. Thank you so much for sharing!
I'm confident you will! Make sure to check back next Tuesday–for the umbrella tutorial!
It's pretty and warmish in Austin! So here is some love from the Austin Modern Quilt Guild! I hope it comes in buckets like the rain.
I think I feel your "warm wishes" already!
Wowza! Beautiful quilting! I'm still trying to get the hang of FMQ– too chicken to try it on an actual quilt yet.
How optimistic! It was pouring rain while I stitched it. Your perspective is much better than mine…Thanks!


At 2 p.m. as the emcee pleasantly greeted the audience in many different languages before the seminar began, the foreign students studying in Korea put on a big smile on their faces with joy. Korean university students welcomed the foreign friends who came from afar to accomplish their dreams, with cheers and applause.
On July 23, 2017, a seminar for foreign students was held at the New Jerusalem Pangyo Temple under the theme of "Our Mother." It was an event to deliver the encouraging message with Mother's love to foreign students who are studying in Korea and to help them make tomorrow better as they are responsible for the future of each country. Despite heavy rain, over 200 foreign students from 43 countries such as Ghana, Romania, Mongolia, U.S., Vietnam, Brazil, Ethiopia, U.K., Ukraine, Egypt, Italy, India, Zimbabwe, Colombia, and France and more than 400 Korean university students gathered to make unforgettable memories and build a special friendship beyond language and nationality. Many people from all walks of life, including Mr. Panko Panov, Deputy Head of Mission of Bulgaria, attended and encouraged those who would lead the future of the global village.
Korean university students prepared the seminar and made presentations. The presenters recited a variety of literary works that show the value of mother's love such as Counting the Stars at Night written by Yun Dong-ju, Worried about Mom written by Gi Hyeong-do, and other works displayed at "Our Mother" Writing and Photo Exhibition, which consoled the foreign students who missed their homes and mothers. What is necessary to comfort the weary and wounded souls and to make a better world in the age when love withers away is the very love of mothers. They appealed to the attendees to make happy lives all together. The seminar was held in English and simultaneously interpreted to nine languages such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Mongolian, and Nepali.


text:
Classic FM Requests 12pm - 2pm
4 Characteristic Waltzes Opus 22 (2) Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Download '4 Characteristic Waltzes Opus 22 (2)' on iTunes
Vocalist sings an ancient hymn in an empty Pantheon-style church, with awe-inspiring 6-second acoustic
10 August 2020, 17:44 | Updated: 1 July 2022, 17:16
Singing in Iglesia de la Encarnacion, Spain. Picture: Malinda
Chills are guaranteed in this performance filmed in a 14th-century Spanish church
Sometimes the most powerful things are the simplest: a singer, an ancient hymn and an empty church.
Singer and YouTuber Malinda says this was "a truly incredible moment in my life". It's also a moment of music that has touched millions since it went viral on Facebook in 2018.
The footage was recorded during a visit to the 'Iglesia de la Encarnacion' church in the town of Montefrío, Spain. Malina and her family found the vast, circular church empty. She sang one note, and counted the incredible six-second swirling acoustic.
When a singer is in a beautiful, empty church, there's only one thing to do... Watch as Malina sings the ancient plainchant melody Ave Maris stella.
Read more: When two musicians found an abandoned country church, they knew what to do… >
When you get a Pantheon style church with a 6 second acoustic delay all to yourself... ⛪🔊🎵 pic.twitter.com/rtDZhrKWq4
— MALINDA (@missmalindakat) October 24, 2018
Plainchant is among some of the earliest forms of western music. Over the centuries the simple but beautiful solo lines have been sung by monks, nuns and centuries of cathedral singers. You can listen and follow the shape of the medieval notation (called numes) here:
A post shared by Classic FM (@classicfm) on Aug 10, 2020 at 9:09am PDT
After the viral moment, Malinda told the story of the chance encounter with the beautiful space. The singer was on a family holiday in Spain when flooding meant they had to change plans. They travelled to the mountain town to take in the reputed views, but were also drawn to enter the church.
Malinda told the entire, remarkable story later on her YouTube channel. Also, listen out for some incredible chords in the acoustic.
Violinist plays a surprisingly charming duet… with her bleeping washing machine
'I didn't base the character of Lydia Tár on anyone' – Cate Blanchett in conversation with Classic FM

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


K-Means is unsupervised learning algorithm that works by clustering data points into k number of different groups (centroids) each having different arithmetic mean from the other. The K-Means is one of the widely used clustering algorithm for the unsupervised tasks. K-Means clustering algorithm groups the data points by there features based on the similarity function usually the Euclidean distance. K-Means is used in tasks such as anomaly detection, study of genomics, behavioral modeling segmentation among others. In this post we are going to look at how the K-Means clustering algorithm works, its weaknesses, strengths and applications.
The concept of K-Means was coined by Stuart Llyod in 1957, however, the use of K-Means can be dated back in 1967 by MacQueen. The K-Means algorithm uses an iterative refinement technique to arrive to the final clusters. This process is a classical case of NP-hard problem where the algorithm has to try different combination of data points in order to arrive at the most suitable clusters. Due to this weakness the algorithm uses heuristic approaches to arrive at the local optimum easily. There are several extensions of k-means clustering algorithms such as k-median clustering which uses median instead of mean, Fuzzy C-Means clustering where the data has fuzzy degree of being in the clusters. K-Means clustering algorithm has found its use in machine learning itself where it can be used to model supervised learning data. K-Means can be used as the initial stage in machine learning where it groups data into different classes which can then used for supervised learning.
Randomly selects and initializes a centroid value for each cluster.
Assign the data points to the nearest cluster as defined by the distance function usually the Euclidean distance.
Update the mean of each clusters based on new centroid values.
Scikit learn has a sklearn.cluster.KMeans class that can be used to implement the k-means clustering. The KMeans(n_clusters=8, init='k-means++', n_init=10, max_iter=300, tol=0.0001, precompute_distances='auto', verbose=0, random_state=None, copy_x=True, n_jobs=1, algorithm='auto') function takes in different parameters that can be adjusted to improve the performance of the model. In this post we are going to look at how the K-Means clustering algorithm is implemented on different data sets. To learn more about the sklearn KMeans function refer to the sklearn documentation here.
Easy to interpret the results.
Performs better than hierarchical clustering with large number of variables and if k is small.
Produces good results if the clusters are spherical.
Hard to choose the k parameter that can yield high results.
It is sensitive to scale because it relies on the distance function (Euclidean distance).
Assumes that the data is spherically distributed which is not always the case in real life.
Finding the optimal solution to K-Means clustering is computationally expensive. Since it relies on the Euclidean distance this makes it an NP-hard problem.
K-Means assumes that all variables have the same variable which is not always true.
Vector quantization e.g in image processing.
Behavioral modeling such as segmentation in news articles,customers purchasing behaviors e.t.c.
K-Means is a powerful clustering algorithm that is widely used in unsupervised learning. The algorithm partitions the data set into a k number of centroid with each centroid having its mean. The data points are then assigned into the closest centroid using the Euclidean distance function forming clusters. K-Means clustering algorithm has many applications such as in feature engineering in machine learning, study of the genomics, cluster analysis, business use cases such as behavioral modeling fraud and anomaly detection e.t.c. Despite it being easy to implement and interpret K-Means is sensitive to outliers. It assumes that data is spherically distributed and that all variables have the same variance which is not always the case in real life. Additionally it is hard to find the value of k that can instantly give the best results. K-means has many variations but in this post we have just looked at the most commonly used K-Means clustering algorithm.
In this post we have looked at the K-Means clustering algorithm, in the next post we are going to look at the Hierarchical agglomerative clustering algorithm.


text:
Intersection of Church & Sepulveda to be closed next two weekends
by Steve Hymon , April 23, 2010
SATURDAY, APRIL 24 UPDATE Good news – The street closure of Church Lane has been canceled this weekend. ________________________________________________________ The latest fun that is part of Sepulveda Pass widening project on the 405 freeway: the intersection of Church Lane and Sepulveda Boulevard is being shut down the two next weekends [continue reading]
Metro creates new 30/10 Initiative web page
Here's the link to the new web page on the 30/10 Initiative that received the unanimous support of the agency's Board of Directors earlier today. The page, shown at right, includes the list of 12 transit project that the 30/10 plan hopes to accelerate and/or help fund. Some of these [continue reading]
30/10 Initiative approved by Board of Directors; effort to build projects in next decade now in Washington's hands
The Board of Directors of Metro on Thursday unanimously voted to support the 30/10 Initiative that proposes to seek federal funds to build a dozen mass transit projects in the next 10 years instead of the 30 years. The plan also would try to speed the construction of some highway [continue reading]
710 study discussion postponed until next month
The monthly meeting of the Metro Board of Directors is underway in downtown Los Angeles. But it appears that there won't be debate today on Item 55, a recommendation by Metro staff to launch a new round of studies on how to improve traffic in the area surrounding the 710 [continue reading]
Busy agenda for Metro Board of Directors tomorrow
The monthly meeting of the agency's Board of Directors will be held Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at Metro headquarters adjacent to Union Station in Los Angeles. Meetings are open to the public. Here's a quick look at some of the more interesting items on the meeting's agenda: •(Item 33) The [continue reading]
Green Line extension meetings on tap
An extension of the Green Line from its current terminus in Redondo Beach to the Torrance Transit Center is currently being studied by Metro. The project is in its draft environmental study phase and a new round of meetings begins soon to give the public a chance to catch up [continue reading]
San Gabriel Valley COG supports study of 710 gap and amended 30/10 initiative
The Board of Directors of Metro meet on Thursday and will consider opening a new set of studies on how to improve traffic on the 710 gap between Alhambra and Pasadena and whether the agency should support Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 30/10 initiative to secure federal funds to fast-track [continue reading]
SB I-405 Clearing and Grubbing Work Planned at Wilshire Boulevard
by Dave Sotero , April 16, 2010
The I-405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Project contractor plans to begin clearing and grubbing work in the southbound I-405 freeway on and off-ramp loops north and south of Wilshire Boulevard starting the week of April 26. In preparation for this work, the southbound I-405 to Wilshire Boulevard on and off-ramps will [continue reading]
New garage opens today at Atlantic station on Eastside Extension
Just a reminder: the new 266-space garage at the terminus of the Gold Line Eastside Extension opened this morning. Here's a recent post. Parking is free and is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The end of the Gold Line is a stone's throw from the 60 freeway for commuters [continue reading]
Board of Directors to consider launching new studies on improving traffic around 710 gap
Looking to solve one of the region's most vexing freeway problems, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors will consider next week launching a new round of environmental studies on how best to improve traffic caused by the 4.5-mile gap in the 710 freeway between Alhambra and Pasadena. The initial [continue reading]
‹ Newer 1 … 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 … 320 Older ›


text:
Multi-method evaluation of a national clinical fellowship programme to build leadership capacity for quality improvement
Quality education report
Madalina Toma1,
Avril Blamey2,
Dawn Mahal3,
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8497-394XNicola M Gray1,
Laura Allison3,
Shobhan Thakore3,
Paul Bowie3,4,5
1School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
2Avril Blamey Associates, Glasgow, UK
3Medical Directorate, NHS Education for Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
4School of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University, Stafford, UK
5Institute of Health and Welbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Correspondence to Professor Paul Bowie; paul.bowie{at}nes.scot.nhs.uk
Background This paper reports the results of the evaluation of the Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship (SQSF)—a 10-month, lead-level international educational programme established in 2008 with the overarching aim of developing clinicians with advanced quality improvement knowledge, technical ability and essential leadership skills. The evaluation explores four levels of educational and practice outcomes associated with (1) the reaction of fellows to SQSF participation, (2) learning gained, (3) subsequent behaviour changes and (4) the overall impact on national and international level capability and capacity building.
Methods A theory-informed multi-method design was applied using (1) a search and review of the SQSF organisational database to tabulate personal, professional and demographic characteristics; (2) semi-structured telephone interviews with 16 participants using purposive and self-selected sampling; and (3) a cross-sectional online evaluation survey across all 10 cohorts involving 222 fellows
Results SQSF was positively perceived as a high-quality learning experience containing a well-balanced mix of theory and practice, with a majority of respondents reporting career changing benefits. Most participants reported improved social, behavioural and emotional skills, knowledge and attitudes and, with sustained support of their host organisations, were able to apply and share learning in their workplace. The impact of the SQSF on a wider national and international level capability and capacity was both mediated and moderated by a wide range of interrelated contextual factors.
Conclusions This multi-method evaluation demonstrates that SQSF has achieved significant positive outcomes for the great majority of participants. Some tentative recommendations are provided with the aim of further enhancing fellowship content, delivery, transfer and future evaluations of wider impacts at regional, national and international health system levels.
healthcare quality improvement
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2020-000978
In response to well-established international evidence of unwarranted variations in healthcare processes and clinical outcomes,1 building leadership capacity and capability in quality improvement (QI) and patient safety is now a policy priority in many modern health systems, including the National Health Service in Scotland (NHSS).2–6 Clinical leaders have the potential to influence and enact positive change and improvement within healthcare organisations, but evidence of the professional and institutional impacts of related training programmes remains.7–9
NHSS has invested heavily in workforce QI education and training, including at the leadership level via the Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship (SQSF) programme managed by NHS Education for Scotland (NES), in partnership with Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). The fellowship is a 10-month international educational programme established in 2008 which is open to clinical professionals in Scotland and across Europe who demonstrate a strong interest in QI and leadership and have a significant role in improving the delivery of safe and effective patient care. The educational programme content consists of interactive learning sessions focusing on developing leadership skills and promoting QI principles and values, as well as residential workshops to facilitate learning from global experts, and practical opportunities to apply and spread the learning in the workplace setting and beyond (online supplemental file 1).
[bmjoq-2020-000978supp001.pdf]
Framed by Kirkpatrick's Four-Level Model,10 the paper describes a programme evaluation study aimed at exploring four related levels of educational and practice outcomes:
Level 1: Reaction (the degree to which participants found SQSF favourable, engaging and relevant to their jobs);
Level 2: Learning (the degree to which participants acquired the intended knowledge, skills, confidence and commitment based on their participation in the SQSF);
Level 3: Behaviour (the degree to which participants applied the acquired quality, safety and leadership knowledge and skills into practical implementation of QI activities); and
Level 4: Results (the degree to which participants in the SQSF were successful in developing QI capability and capacity on wider national and international levels).
Data collection and recruitment
Review of the SQSF organisational database
A search and review of SQSF organisational database, administered by NES, was undertaken to descriptively analyse and tabulate personal, professional and demographic characteristics of current and past fellows.
Self-reported online questionnaire
Responses from routinely collected online post-programme evaluation questionnaires were collated via Questback. The survey targeted all fellows from cohorts 1 to 10 and was specifically designed for the current evaluation (online supplemental file 2). It drew on constructs assembled in previous validated instruments7 10 11 which were subsequently commented on clarity and appropriateness by the wider research team. This led to refinement of the survey in terms of wording, sequencing and new additional statements added. The final instrument had six sections designed to gather data about fellows' background, their overall experiences of the fellowship, specific comments on the content, implementation and quality of the programme, views about the knowledge and skills gained, as well as insights about the potential avenues for capacity and capability building.
Semi-structured interviews
Sixteen semi-structured telephone interviews (ranging in length from 30 to 60 min) were conducted by three researchers experienced in conducting qualitative health service evaluations. The interviews aimed to provide an in-depth exploration into how fellows understood and experienced their participation in SQSF. Seven participants were recruited via purposive sampling across all cohorts (1–10) to reflect heterogeneity in terms of gender, time elapsed since graduation (7–10 years, 3–6 years, 1–2 years), country base (eg, Scotland, Norway or Ireland), care sector (eg, primary care or secondary care) and clinical profession (eg, medicine, nursing and midwifery, pharmacy). Additional interviewees (n=9) were self-selected. The topic guide was informed by two telephone interviews with programme leads and relevant published literature.6 8 Saturation was judged to have been reached after 16 interviews, when no new significant themes emerged. Interviews were all audiotaped with permission and transcribed verbatim to facilitate data analysis.
Self-completed online questionnaire
Quantitative data were subject to a basic descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS v27. The coding framework developed from the semi-structured interviews was applied to all open-ended free-text responses which were then categorised and summarised independently according to the same recurring themes. The evaluation team shared interim results with key stakeholders and encouraged participatory interpretation of the findings. Alternative interpretations were included in the analysis. Evaluation findings are presented in such a way as to capture the common themes across individual interviews and survey data sets, as well as comments that were unique to each participant.
Interview transcripts were analysed using the framework approach,12 facilitated by NVivo. The first iteration of the framework was developed using a subsample of six full interviews and categories were agreed by the research team to ensure consistency in coding. After applying the framework to analyse these data, comparisons between the coded data and the Kirkpatrick Model10 and Mery's framework7 were made using a theory-based content analysis approach.13 Three interviews were double-coded to ensure consistency and the researchers debriefed the wider team regularly.
Patient and public involvement statement
Downstream outcome assessment was never the intention of this evaluation. Although the methods employed with the current sample were as rigorous as possible given available resource, the design of the evaluation meant that we did not speak to health service users on whom educational or improvement interventions may have impacted. Therefore, the findings did not include consideration of their priorities, experiences and perspectives in terms of the impact that the programme has had on the quality of care received.
Participants' characteristics
Of the 222 participants in cohorts 1 to 10 (table 1), the majority were Scottish based (n=143, 64.0%), female (n=129, 58.1%) and medical doctors (n=138, 62.0%). The nursing, midwifery and allied health professions were the next largest grouping (n=59, 26.6%), while participants from Northern Ireland (n=34, 15.0%) constituted the second largest national grouping. The great majority of participants were based in the acute setting (n=191, 86.0%).
Personal and professional characteristics of Scottish Quality and Safety fellows
A total of 93 completed questionnaires were returned for analysis across 10 cohorts, equating to a response rate of 44.2% (93/210) with 12 emails deemed as undeliverable. Of the 93 respondents, the majority were Scottish based (n=59, 63.4%) and medical doctors (n=85, 91.3%), working across 7 of the 14 NHSS territorial health boards (table 2).
Crude comparison of the proportion of Scotland-based fellows recruited from NHS territorial boards
Sixteen participants were interviewed for the purpose of this evaluation. The sample contained equal numbers of females (n=8) and males (n=8); 12 participants were Scottish based, three from Northern Ireland and one from elsewhere: eight were hospital consultants, five were nurses, and one GP, pharmacist and allied health professional were represented.
Level 1: Rreaction
The SQSF programme was positively perceived as a high-quality learning experience containing a well-balanced mix of theory and practice, with a majority of fellows reporting clinical practice and career changing benefits. Between 76% and 90% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed with statements indicating their satisfaction with programme content, delivery and format or indicating the extent to which they valued key course components (table 3).
SQSF fellows' views on the quality of the fellowship programme (levels of agreement ≥4 on the rating scale)
Interviewees concurred that the course objectives were clearly communicated, and the content and delivery methods were locally, professionally and developmentally relevant. External contributors and project leads were perceived as high calibre. Practical application of acquired knowledge within interactive team-based learning during the residential components was mostly valued.
The Fellowship Programme was the best run and enjoyable course I have ever been on. It was a life changing experience that completely changed the way that I practice medicine and made me a better doctor. Just the right balance between learning, challenging us and having lots of fun. Speakers were inspirational and the residentials hugely helpful in taking time out of work to fully immerse yourself in all that the fellowship offers. (I15, Hospital Consultant)
Level 2: Llearning
SQSF was successful at consistently increasing awareness, knowledge and skills for most participants. Between 89%–96% of survey respondents indicated very strong agreement with statements regarding impacts on capability and confidence to practice (table 3).
Interviewees also reported the SQSF deepened their understanding of important concepts, theory and methods applied as part of QI and patient safety efforts:
My skills around using QI methodology have massively improved. I've moved from being quite narrowly focused on my specific clinical area to having much broader horizons, and having the knowledge, skills and confidence to work on bigger service developments in areas that have been notoriously unimproved and unimprovable. (I14, Nurse)
While interviewees valued the domain knowledge/skills relating to practical QI approaches, many reported the content and practice opportunities relating to social, behavioural and emotional skill development as being the most impactful aspect. This has helped them become more confident clinicians who are now willing to take appropriate risks, make mistakes and learn from failures:
I'm much more philosophical when there's problems at work so I'm trying to give people time and space to reflect on the problems that they've encountered. It's something developed in the Fellowship that's gone into my clinical arena and made me a better clinician overall. (I7, Hospital Consultant)
Several participants described an increased ability to engage in difficult conversations in a comfortable and structured way as well as an improved ability to voice concerns constructively. Using words such as "energized," "inspired" and "invigorated, they described how residential and networking opportunities allowed access to world-class experts, enhanced their self-efficacy and confidence, and increased their ability to influence senior gate keepers.
The opportunity to network and make connections, the comrade support from an ever-expanding family of fellows and experts assisted with personal growth in terms of breaking down professional boundaries and removing stereotypes so I would say, stick your head above the parapet and forget about the impostor syndrome. (I4, Allied Healthcare Professional)
Other fellows described important attitudinal shifts related to increased appreciation of diversity and openness to change, and a desire to challenge and push themselves outside their comfort zones and be a catalyst for change:
It is about a subtler attitudinal change—a core belief in the power of individuals to transform—both patients and staff. I've come to believe that if people are shown some tools and given some space and self-belief they will become change agents. (I2, Nurse)
Level 3: Behaviour
Most participants had improved their knowledge and, with sustained support and encouragement of their host organisations, were able to apply the knowledge and skills learnt to their workplace. Seventy-six per cent of survey respondents indicated agreement or strong agreement with statements about spreading their learning locally either informally with colleagues or more formally via training, teaching or coaching. Furthermore, 86% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their SQSF project had achieved its goals and 79% that their projects and related improvement work were still ongoing in their workplace (table 4).
SQSF fellows' views on building improvement leadership capacity and capability (levels of agreement ≥4 on the rating scale)
Semi-structured interview data suggested most participants learnt about and implemented specific QI strategies, while others redefined or tailored their roles and aims as clinicians. Tacit knowledge, new ideas, innovations and motivation resulting from the fellowship were all often transferred into practice:
I learnt that I had to find the 'heart' in my work and understand what part of my work really enthused me. My career then changed direction. I have trained as a coach, facilitated regional workshops and focused on development as a senior educator—because this is how I am best suited to make a difference. (I11, Hospital Consultant)
Between 80% and 82% of survey participants claimed to have had some form of influence on local capability and capacity building (table 4). Four common components of this knowledge transfer process were illustrated through interview data. First, teaching QI and related curriculum development were found to be the most frequent influence.
I am scheduled to teach my consultant colleagues this autumn. I have already taught at university level, I have led QI teaching sessions to local trainees and colleagues and have shaped the content of the national registrar training programme. (I12, Hospital Consultant)
Second, many of the fellows mentioned a shift in identity in relation to mentoring colleagues in developing their own QI capability.
I am now doing a lot of formal and ad hoc coaching and mentorship of others, especially around clinical audit and key performance indicators, data for Improvement and understanding variation. (I14, Nurse)
Third, some participants indicated that the fellowship helped them address their specific professional development needs and actively seek out further educational opportunities:
SQSF provided a watershed moment for pursuing further education. It was like letting the genie out of the bottle. It introduced me to a broad and varied literature and key authors who have shaped my thinking and made me explore my interests further within a PhD. (I10, Pharmacist)
Finally, fellows reported being involved in a wide range of QI-related spread and dissemination activities at the local, national and international levels (table 5). This included contributing to the science of improvement through publishing articles in peer-reviewed healthcare journals, presenting at national and international conferences, winning innovation awards and securing funding for future improvement work.
SQSF fellows' reported professional achievements and impacts (n=93)
Level 4: Rresults
Several participants described how taking part in SQSF reinvigorated their career through attaining a more senior position with a designated QI national or organisational role, which often involved a change from 'doing' to 'leading' others:
I am now able to influence more system wide change and will continue to inspire a network of improvers and innovators who have knowledge, skills and contacts to lead change and drive QI agenda in Scotland and beyond. (I07, Hospital Consultant)
Other fellows described how they contributed to establishing QI infrastructures such as QI academies that drive further related capability and capacity opportunities.
I support most of delivery of the formal QI training locally and nationally. We've identified that there wasn't much capacity in the organisation, so we've been sending people on a variety of courses especially through our links with NES platforms which provide staff with access to learning and practice support resources. (I06, Nurse)
A minority of fellows have established or scaled national or international projects. Some examples include becoming active partners in strategic international collaborations with the aim of improving health and social care, at a significant scale and pace:
I became a National Clinical Lead shortly after I finished my Fellowship. I am now advising a wide range of international partners in development of QI strategies, including Brazil, Canada and Australia. Allegedly I am now viewed as a QI expert and I feel like I am the 'go to' person for QI advice. (I16, Hospital Consultant)
Organisational level contexts and support influenced fellows' ability to increase QI capability and capacity in their organisation or beyond. For instance, a prominent theme during the interviews was work pressures, time constraints and backlog of work resulting from attending training:
How to prioritise your priorities when everything is a priority? It can look daunting and overwhelming. I've got my toe in the water but obviously that means stepping away from the involvement in your day-to-day clinical role. (I08, General Practitioner)
Another concern related to a lack of understanding of fellows' potential contribution among senior leaders, failing to involve them in tackling organisational challenges and ultimately leading to their under-utilisation.
I felt like we got to the end of the programme and we were on our own. It was made harder by returning to a place who didn't seem to know quite what to do with me! At the end of the Fellowship I felt empowered, skilled and motivated and within a few weeks I felt isolated, frustrated and discouraged. (I09, Nurse)
It was clear from participants' interviews that the fellowship programme was unlikely to have a lasting effect without sustained organisational support. A supportive ethos and an expectation that all healthcare professionals proactively engage in QI have been found to be important factors in securing change as a result of SQSF:
How to change the leadership culture and the dominant command and control hierarchy focused strongly on performance management? Leading within one's own team is hard unless one has the executive lead firmly on one's side, because others within the team want to jockey for their own positions. It is harder to be a prophet in your own land. (I05, Hospital Consultant)
Summary of main findings
The evaluation achieved its aims of exploring four levels of educational and practice outcomes associated with SQSF participation, learning gained, subsequent behaviour changes and overall impacts on national and international level capability and capacity building. Findings from the semi-structured interviews and online survey were complementary and generated confirmatory results, showing that, overall, SQSF achieved positive outcomes at the Reaction, Learning and Behaviour evaluation levels. There was self-reported evidence of the numerous and diverse personal and professional benefits of SQSF participation at level one (Reaction), which was described as a high-quality learning experience with valuable, well-tailored content and delivery methods. Regarding Learning at level 2, a large majority of participants believed that the SQSF programme has provided them with the social, behavioural and emotional skills and knowledge to advance and lead the organisational QI agenda and given some a new-found confidence and ability to engage, collaborate and influence others. Furthermore, most participants were reportedly able to apply the knowledge and skills learnt in the SQSF to their workplace and wider organisations (level 3 Behaviour Change), particularly through undertaking a QI project, teaching quality improvement and curriculum development, mentoring colleagues in developing their own capability, pursuing further education and becoming actively involved in a wide range of dissemination activities. It was however more challenging to establish strong or consistent solely SQSF attributable evidence of level 4 (Organisational Performance) on wider national or international outcomes. Overall, the findings offer a small knowledge contribution of evaluation of QI training at the healthcare 'system-level' (where evidence is very limited) in contrast to most similar assessments which are "…restricted to specific training programmes on single sites or a clinical condition or process that represents one particular organisation problem".7
Key strengths included a strong historical commitment from the SQSF leadership and support team to routinely collect and collate good quality programme and evaluation data, which was made available for this study. The complex and shifting nature of fellows' experiences meant that they benefit from their participation in SQSF in diverse ways, offering programme leadership and other stakeholders' potential reassurance that this system-level educational intervention is well received. For instance, our findings largely support the overall approach adopted by SQSF in providing dedicated teaching faculty and using multiple and diverse QI teaching strategies that improve related educational outcomes such as learner experiences, empowerment and QI confidence levels.6–9
Important evaluation limitations included the largely descriptive nature of the study, relying mainly on self-report data. This means the data analysed are likely to be affected by responder bias while reports of learning and improvement cannot be verified independently. Another imitation is that those interviewed did not represent the overall study sample, but purposive sampling attempted to reflect key characteristics of interest. Furthermore, there is a need to broaden the sample representation beyond clinicians based in acute hospital settings. For instance, although 90% of interactions with the NHS start and finish in primary care14 this sector may be under-represented on the programme and is potentially missing out on building much-needed QI leadership capacity and capability. Lastly, the sample also reflects a possible imbalance in the representativeness of Scotland-based participants, and the proportions of participants applying and being selected from across territorial health boards with particularly well-developed QI infrastructures compared with others. However, developing capacity and capability for improvement encounters some similar challenges regardless of the context, so we believe that lessons described in this evaluation will be more widely pertinent, including in organisations delivering similar programmes beyond healthcare.
Recommendations for educational development
First, given that successful acceptance onto SQSF is through a competitive process, the challenge for stakeholders is to retain this competitive element while promoting, encouraging and 'incentivising' the benefits and opportunities associated with the programme to those professional groups who historically have low engagement with this type of education for a variety of practical, cultural and contractual reasons (eg, independent clinical contractors in primary care).
Second, as a minimum, efforts should be made to develop and implement a systematic front-end analysis process to identify educational and training needs and diagnose organisational transfer barriers before the fellowship is designed and delivered.15–20 Similarly, there might be a need to communicate individual and organisational outcome and impact expectations to all stakeholders before SQSF begins.15–18 Consolidating post-fellowship mechanisms can also be useful so that participants can continue to network and collaborate with peers and colleagues about successes or challenges in creating and sustaining improvements.7
Third, our evidence suggests that despite overwhelmingly positive reactions and learning, similar to other comparable QI educational programmes,7 11 the extent to which participants were able to transfer training into the workplace was mediated by a wide range of interrelated situational factors such as internal motivations, supportive organisational culture, available resources and further coaching and feedback on an ongoing basis.15–17 Respondents' descriptions of their support needs are informative and provocative and can assist organisational leaders and managers in supporting and facilitating their professional learning. Managers should be prepared to actively support fellows and be equipped with a sound and fundamental understanding of how fellows learn to cultivate their interests, how they navigate the interactions among the various components of the SQSF, and how their professional activities interact, relate and shape learning.15 16 Sending clinicians on a fellowship programme just because they are available is not likely to be effective in the longer term.7 9 11 Fellowship provision is arguably more effective if attention is given to ensuring that the work climate and management practices encourage personal development, while ongoing coaching and feedback facilitates the use of goal-setting and action planning for learning, knowledge transfer and impact.7 11 15–20
Finally, Dixon-Woods and Martin outline key challenges for the policy, organisational and research communities in improving the quality of QI efforts in healthcare.21 However, these important issues are equally valid for healthcare and academic educators and arguably should be included in the content design of QI training programmes to raise awareness of, and address, the following complex issues during the training process. For example:
QI as an improvement activity is hugely problematic—the evidence it improves care processes and outcomes evidence is mixed, even when including the more rigorously conducted studies.
The fidelity in application of QI methods by healthcare professionals, such as PDSA cycles (an example of an 'industrial' QI approach22) or criterion-based audit (an example of a 'professional' QI approach23) is also variable and may be a significant reason why the evidence base is so mixed.
Evaluations of QI as a method to share learning are of low quality and need to be a higher priority and conducted more rigorously.
It is assumed (erroneously) that QI approaches 'will work' in any situation regardless of the clinical and socio-cultural contexts encountered—the variable implementation and impact of the WHO safety checklist is a significant case in point.24
Much improvement activity is localised and does not tap into broader organisational resources including opportunities to tackle common problems more collectively and so design more meaningful solutions.
Recommendations for research and evaluation
The Kirkpatrick model provided an appealing theoretical framework for organising the evaluation process and furnished important means for assessing factors essential to fellowship effectiveness. It offered a systematic approach to training evaluation that did not necessitate baseline measures and provided a focus on transfer of learning beyond the shorter-term and individual benefits.25 The results were a more complete and accurate understanding of the 'why and wherefore' of evaluative outcomes, and a firm foundation for making useful recommendations for both researchers and evaluators, who might further interpret the findings considering their experiences, contexts and practice.
Despite its advantages, the use of Kirkpatrick model was not without limitations. Although level four outcomes are generally seen as of utmost importance, evaluators and theorists, including Kirkpatrick, generally acknowledge that this type of assessment is not without challenges and tends to be avoided.10 26 27 Similar to the earlier evaluation of this programme over 5 years ago11 and reflecting the current debates in the literature,28 29 we have not been able to robustly evidence that all levels are causally related, interdependent and accumulative or that they ultimately lead to organisational and wider professional or system impacts. Furthermore, even if level four data is to be achieved, it will be over simplistic to attribute behaviour changes and resulting system level impacts solely or directly to 'participating in SQSF alone'. This poses important questions about whether the scarcity of level four evaluations is due to limited resources, lack of robust contextual information or difficulties in harnessing, exploiting and developing effective data linkage.25 30 31 For instance, having access to robust clinical outcome data from project improvement work may have provided more penetrating insights and enabled an element of verification of success or otherwise. Better data linkage between different quantitative and qualitative sources and case studies may have also aided understanding of the facilitating and hindering individual, organisational and wider health system contexts that should be considered as an adjunct to training delivery and evaluation.32 Indeed, while the wider system impact of taking part in the SQSF was less well evidenced, this was nonetheless found to be conditional on the opportunities and resources available to use new knowledge and skills effectively. For any large and relatively expensive programmes such as SQSF, the investment of time, money and participant energy is necessary to enable participants to fully flourish in their host organisations; however, a further limitation of this and most evaluations of QI capability building is the lack of robust data on the 'return on investment'.7
There is national and international recognition of the ever-greater need for clinical leadership capacity and capability to implement practical change and enhance the effectiveness of patient safety and quality improvement activity in NHSS and beyond. The SQSF was envisioned, specifically designed and delivered with the intention to fulfil this need. The findings provide affirmative evidence of the educational utility of the SQSF in terms of its acceptability to participants, its practical feasibility as a long-standing national training programme and the multiple self-reported personal, professional and organisation benefits associated with participation. The data also suggest that participants who are medically qualified, male and based in the acute hospital setting are potentially over-represented when crudely compared with related national workforce statistics, which is a possible issue for exploration by relevant stakeholders, along with time-management and organisational support challenges to achieving wider impact for some. These potential areas for improvement should be of particular interest to those leading on designing, delivering and evaluating QI education at organisational, regional and national health system levels in the UK and worldwide.
NHSS is the public funded healthcare system in Scotland. Approximately 160 000 staff work across 14 regional NHS Boards, seven Special NHS Boards and one public health body.
HIS is a Special NHS Board which supports the healthcare priorities of the Scottish Government, in particular the Healthcare Quality Strategy and the 2020 Vision and the Scottish Patient Safety Programme.
NHS Education for Scotland
NES is the national Special Health Board with a responsibility to develop and deliver education and training for those people who work in NHS Scotland
Safety, Skills and Improvement Research Collaborative
SKIRC is a cross-directorate, multi-disciplinary body with a focus on research, innovation and evaluation in key areas of strategic importance to Scottish Government, NES, territorial NHS boards, higher educational institutes, professional bodies and regulators—Patient Safety, Clinical Skills, Simulation, Quality Improvement and Human Factors/Ergonomics.
Scottish Improvement Science Collaborating Centre
SISCC is funded to strengthen the evidence base for improving the quality of care sustainably and at scale. The SISCC programme of work aims to generate new knowledge to support improvement activities within health and social care; building capacity and capability through a cross-sectoral platform. Our five research themes are as follows: Improvement Methods; Context; Spread and Sustainability; Capacity & Capability; Behaviour Change.
The evaluation was a joint collaborative effort undertaken by SKIRC and SISCC. The evaluation team would like to offer sincere thanks to all fellows who actively contributed in sharing their SQSF and workplace learning and experiences. We are also very grateful to NES Safety and Improvement colleagues, Samantha Smith and Paul Watson and their teams, for providing much needed project support and advice in a very timely and efficient manner.
Love T,
Ehrenberg N
. Addressing unwarranted variation: literature review on methods for influencing practice. New Zealand: Health Quality & Safety Commission, 2014. https://www.hqsc.govt.nz/assets/Health-Quality-Evaluation/PR/Variation-literature-review-on-methods-for-influencing-practice-May-2014.pdf
. NHSScotland Quality Strategy – putting people at the heart of our NHS, 2010. Available: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2010/05/10102307/0 [Accessed 11 April 2019].
. Quality improvement and data measurement—what non-executive directors need to know, 2016. Available: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00492311.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2019].
Health Foundation
. Quality improvement made simple; what everyone should know about health care quality improvement, 2013. Available: https://www.health.org.uk/sites/health/files/QualityImprovementMadeSimple.pdf [Accessed 30 Jun 2019].
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America
. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2001.
. Quality Improvement-training for better outcomes, 2016. Available: http://aomrc.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2016/06/Quality_improvement_training_better_outcomes_140316-2.pdf [Accessed 15 May 2019].
Mery G,
Dobrow MJ,
Baker GR, et al
. Evaluating investment in quality improvement capacity building: a systematic review. BMJ Open 2017;7:e012431. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012431pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28219957
Øvretveit J,
Staines A
. Sustained improvement? Findings from an independent case study of the Jönköping quality program. Qual Manage Healthcare 2007;16.
Dixon-Woods M,
McNicol S,
Martin G
. Ten challenges in improving quality in healthcare: lessons from the health Foundation's programme evaluations and relevant literature. BMJ Qual Saf 2012;21:876–84.doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2011-000760pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22543475
Kirkpatrick D
. Revisiting Kirkpatrick's four-level-model. Train Dev 1996;1:54–7.
O'Connor P,
Fearfull A
. Evaluation of the Scottish patient safety fellowship programme 2008–2013. Clin Risk 2015;21:22–30.doi:10.1177/1356262215570948
Ritchie J,
Lewis J,
McNaughton NC, et al
. Qualitative Research Practice. In: A guide for social science students and researchers. 2nd edn. London: Sage Publications, 2003.
Krippendorff K
. Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology. 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004.
Dayan M,
Edwards N
. Learning from Scotland's NHS. Research report. Nuffield Trust, 2017. https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/files/2017-07/learning-from-scotland-s-nhs-final.pdf
Bevan H
. How can we build skills to transform the healthcare system? J Res Nurs 2010;15:139–48.doi:10.1177/1744987109357812
Baker GR,
MacIntosh-Murray A,
Porcellato C, et al
. High performing healthcare systems: delivering quality by design. Toronto: Longwoods Publishing, 2008.
Denis JL
. A comparative study of three transformative healthcare systems: lessons for Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, 2011. http://www.cfhi-fcass. ca/sf-docs/default-source/commissioned-research-reports/ Baker-Denis-EN.pdf?sfvrsn
Crisp BR,
Swerissen H,
Duckett SJ
. Four approaches to capacity building in health: consequences for measurement and accountability. Health Promot Int 2000;15:99–107.doi:10.1093/heapro/15.2.99
Potter C,
Brough R
. Systemic capacity building: a hierarchy of needs. Health Policy Plan 2004;19:336–45.doi:10.1093/heapol/czh038pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15310668
Wing KT
. Assessing the effectiveness of capacity-building initiatives: seven issues for the field. Nonprof Volunt Sec Q 2004;33:153–60.doi:10.1177/0899764003261518
Martin GP
. Does quality improvement improve quality? Future Hosp J 2016;3:191–4.doi:10.7861/futurehosp.3-3-191pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31098223
Reed JE,
Card AJ
. The problem with Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25:147–52.doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-005076pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26700542
McKay J,
Bowie P,
Lough M
. Variations in the ability of general medical practitioners to apply two methods of clinical audit: a five-year study of assessment by peer review. J Eval Clin Pract 2006;12:622–9.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2753.2005.00630.xpmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100861
Bosk CL,
Goeschel CA, et al
. The art of medicine. Reality check for checklists. Lancet 2009;374:444–5.
Bates R
. A critical analysis of evaluation practice: the Kirkpatrick model and the principle of beneficence. Eval Program Plann 2004;27:341–7.doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2004.04.011
. Evaluating quality improvement training programs, 2013. Available: http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2013/08/evaluating-quality-improvement-training-programs.html [Accessed 6 Mar 2019].
Daugherty JD,
Blake SC,
Kohler SS, et al
. Quality improvement training: experiences of frontline staff. Int J Health Care Qual Assur 2013;26:627–41.doi:10.1108/IJHCQA-10-2011-0056pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24167921
Matovu JKB,
Wanyenze RK,
Mawemuko S, et al
. Strengthening health workforce capacity through work-based training. BMC Int Health Hum Rights 2013;13:8. doi:10.1186/1472-698X-13-8pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23347473
Kennedy PE,
Chyung S,
Winiecki DJ, et al
. Usage and understanding of Kirkpatrick's level 3 and 4 evaluations. Int J Train Dev 2014;18:1–21.
Babich LP,
Charns MP,
McIntosh N, et al
. System wide improvement capability: does an organization's strategy for quality improvement matter? Qual Manage Healthcare 2016;25.
Shortell SM,
Bennett CL,
Byck GR
. Assessing the impact of continuous quality improvement on clinical practice: what it will take to accelerate progress. Milbank Q 1998;76:593–624.doi:10.1111/1468-0009.00107
Coles E,
Wells M,
Maxwell M, et al
. The influence of contextual factors on healthcare quality improvement initiatives: what works, for whom and in what setting? Protocol for a realist review. Syst Rev 2017;6:168. doi:10.1186/s13643-017-0566-8pmid:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28830572
Data supplement 1
Twitter @pbnes
Contributors PB and MT were responsible for planning the study and led the data collection and analysis. AB and DM contributed to research tool design and data collection while NMG, LA and ST were involved in analysis and interpretation. MT drafted and led the writing of the manuscript. PB, AB, DM, NMG, LA and ST participated in critically appraising and revising the intellectual content of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding SISCC is funded by the Scottish Funding Council, Chief Scientist's Office, NHS Education for Scotland and The Health Foundation with in-kind contributions from participating partner universities and health boards. The grant reference number is 242 343 290 was received from SFC on behalf of all funders. Additional funding and resource was provided by SKIRC, NHS Education for Scotland.
Competing interests MT, AB, NMG, DM and PB have no conflict of interest to declare. ST and LA are senior SQSF programme leaders and are responsible for its design and delivery.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval Under UK 'Governance Arrangements for Research Ethics Committees,' ethical research committee review is not required for service evaluation or research which, for example, seeks to elicit the views, experiences and knowledge of healthcare professionals on a given subject area. Similarly, 'service evaluation' that involves NHS staff recruited as research participants by virtue of their professional roles also does not require ethical review from an established NHS research ethics committee. However, informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants. Data collected were securely stored in line with organisational research governance and data protection procedures to protect confidentiality.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon request.
Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.


A rejuvenating body scrub that renews and nourishes skin through gentle exfoliation. Lotus Exfoliator is made of natural, fine bead powder from lotus seeds that removes dead skin cells while moisturising skin from its innermost layer. Aloe Vera Powder strengthens skin tissues by breathing oxygen into cells with a soothing effect. Skin feels refined and smooth with each use. Ideal for normal to dry skin.
This product contains nut extracts.
Jessie said: The best body scrub that I ever had!
It is make my skin smooth, but still moisturizing. The lotus scent is awesome! Love it!


text:
Heartland Votes
Heartland Football Friday
Heartland Experts
Business Breaks
SoutheastHEALTH
Heartland's CW
Safe, Not Scared: Novel Coronavirus
Submit Holiday Military Greetings
Submit photos & videos
A Better Heartland
Heartland Expert
Life Hacks & Tips
Heartland News Podcast
First Alert weather video
Get your closing on Heartland News
Heartland Hoops
Southeast Health
Heartland Pets
Complete KFVS12, Heartland's CW and Grit schedules
KFVS12 Management Team
KFVS12 Sales Team
Meet the KFVS12 News Team
Meet the First Alert Weather Team
KFVS12 Openings
Purchase Dist. Health Dept. holds drive-thru COVID-19 testing through Dec. 18
The Purchase District Health Department will hold drive-thru COVID-19 testing through December 18. (Source: WIS)
By Amber Ruch | November 30, 2020 at 2:55 PM CST - Updated November 30 at 2:55 PM
PADUCAH, Ky. (KFVS) - The Purchase District Health Department will hold drive-thru COVID-19 testing through December 18.
The testing schedule includes:
Monday-Tuesday, Nov. 30-Dec. 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Hickman County Health Clinic, 370 S. Washington St., Clinton, Ky.
Wednesday, Dec. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Fulton County Health Clinic, 350 Browder St., Fulton, Ky.
Thursday, Dec. 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Fulton County Health Clinic, 402 Troy Ave., Hickman, Ky.
Friday, Dec. 4 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. - McCracken County Health Department, 916 Kentucky Ave., Paducah, Ky.
Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 7-8 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Ballard County Health Clinic, 198 Bluegrass Dr., LaCenter, Ky.
Wednesday-Thursday, Dec. 9-10 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Carlisle County Health Clinic, 62 John Roberts Dr., Bardwell, Ky.
Friday, Dec. 11 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. - McCracken County Health Department, 916 Kentucky Ave., Paducah, Ky.
Monday-Friday, Dec. 14-18 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. - McCracken County Health Department, 916 Kentucky Ave., Paducah, Ky.
The health department was one of four sites chosen across Kentucky to pilot this program.
Testing site locations will change and will be available on the registration site. They ask that you register for a day and time.
The testing is 100 percent free, and they will not ask for insurance. You do not have to have symptoms or a doctor's order.
The health department said results will be available within a few days. You will be contacted by text message or phone call.
They said they accept walk-ups, but prior registration is preferred.
This testing event is for ages 12 and older. However, if the test cannot be tolerated by those under the age of 18, you may be asked to follow up with your local primary care physician.
Copyright 2020 KFVS. All rights reserved.
Amber Ruch
Digital Content Manager, KFVS
Amber has worked at KFVS for eight years.
3,955 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Kentucky
Currently, 1,644 Kentuckians are hospitalized, 392 are in the ICU, and 203 are on ventilators.
Delta School District softens COVID-19 athletic attendance restrictions
Delta schools could have more fans at its home games after adjusting a COVID-19 protocol at Wednesday's school board meeting.
Brooke Buckner
34 new cases of COVID-19 in Cape Girardeau Co.
Heartland BBQ restaurant reacts to Ill. association calling for indoor dining
Colin Baillie
Jackson County Health Department reports 41 new cases of COVID-19
Egyptian Health Department reports 32 new cases of COVID-19
KFVS Careers
publicfile@kfvs12.com


Bob German & Paul Stubbs have got together and published a fantastic resource on building SharePoint 2010 and Silverlight solutions. This new book starts with introductions to both SharePoint 2010 & Silverlight development as well as setting up your environment. The book contains great guidance on building custom applications using SharePoint and Silverlight and is filled with some great tricks.
I was lucky to have an opportunity to review this book but what really got me was Bob & Paul asked me to write a forward for the book. This is my first forward for a book and I was flattered to have the opportunity.
Are you interested in looking for a good resource on doing SharePoint 2010 or Silverlight development with both tools? This is the book for you. Bob & Paul, the two best people to write this book with their deep experience in both technologies, have done a fantastic job in starting with primers on both technologies and then diving in deep on doing various things you'd want to accomplish with both SharePoint 2010 & Silverlight.


In the mood for a unique diverse book that encourages readers to use paper to make their own story?
Me too! Storytelling with Tangrams is a fun and unique way to not only share a story, but get young minds working in imaginative ways!
Told in tangrams, the story of Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert, is about two fairy foxes. Originally published in 1990, Grandfather Tang's Story will continue to delight new readers as the wonder of the tangram puzzle—and an endearing game between a grandfather and his granddaughter—reveals a story of magic, clever animals, and, ultimately, true friendship.
Storytelling with Tangrams | What is a Tangram?
"Drawing on a Chinese form of storytelling with seven shapes cut from a square of paper, Tompert recounts the tale of two fox fairies. Parker's pen-and-watercolor art adds drama, while the tangram insets will motivate children to try their own versions."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.
After a couple of easy animal changes, they can be a hawk flying high in the sky.
This story lends itself nicely to a moment of Tangram play. Tangrams is a very ancient Chinese game using 7 shapes.
**We first read the story of Grandfather Tang's Story and then the second time through we made the Tangrams as we read along.
Storytelling with Tangrams |What is the legend behind Tangrams?
A legend says: "Thousands and thousands of years ago, Yu(玉 龍), the Great Dragon, lived among humans, who venerated him because he was 'yang', g ood, and was always ready to help them. One day, the God of Thunder, jealous of the offerings the men had brought to Yu, in a burst of anger, crushed the sky with his hatchet. So, the sky fell on Earth in seven pieces black like coal. Light disappeared taking with it all existing things.
At first, Yu felt sad for the world and then felt nostalgic. So he decided to collect the seven black pieces of the sky and, in memory of the former world, began to reassemble several kinds of shapes: animals, plants and human beings that had disappeared. But after finishing each shape, its shadow left it and wandered the deserted world crying about its misfortune.
These complaints reached the ears of the God of Thunder who was touched and, to remedy the harm he had caused, he pulled from each shadow the body of a living being to repopulate the Earth. From that time on, our shadow faithfully follows every move we make and with the seven pieces of the sky, called Qi Qiao Ban (literally 'seven boards of cunning'), everything on Earth can still be shaped".
We went to the library and checked out a Tanagram book. Making many of the animals and figures, we photographed them, made a photo-collage,and printed them onto card stock. Cutting them apart, we now have many Tangram cards.
Make one set of Tangram shapes for each person.
Mix the cards up and turn them face down.
Each person on their turn draws a card and constructs the Tangram.
See how fast you can do play the game.
Hi Renee, Thanks for stopping by. I so enjoyed participating in the Kid Lit Blog Hop. I found some great new reads which have made their way to the never-ending reading list.
I really like working with 7 tanagram pieces as this is the tradition and there are so many stories one can tell with them. It's really fun.
This book looks so interesting and clever. I am going to be looking for it next library trip. The stroy sounds great and what a great way to keep kids occupied and inspire their creativity making up their own stories using the same shapes. Thanks for sharing it.
My sons have never done tangrams. I don't know why we haven't! This looks like a great activity to pair with a fantastic book. Thanks for sharing this at the After School Linky!
Great post! I love this book and how the tangrams tell a story. It does make me want to play with tangrams! Thanks for sharing at the Multicultural Children's Book Day Linky!
My students always loved designed their own tangram creations after reading this story. We also adore The Warlord's Puzzle which is another take on the "invention" of the tangram. Thanks for sharing this with #diversekidlit!
Thanks Katie for the tip on the Warlord's Puzzle. I'll have to have a look at that one !!


SPURS boss Harry Redknapp is ready to sign David Beckham on a PERMANENT deal.
Beckham, who could be at White Hart Lane this afternoon to watch Spurs play Charlton, has been offered a three-month loan deal but Redknapp has plans to sign him on a long-term basis. If Beckham does well back in the Premier League, Spurs will offer him the chance to come home for good when his LA Galaxy contract expires in November.
Even though Becks will be well into his 36th year by then, Redknapp is convinced he would still have plenty to offer his emerging side – and England.
Redknapp sees the inspirational Beckham as the perfect foil for Peter Crouch and is desperate to get him signed up, for a few weeks at least. And that means by today if possible.
"It is not definite, but if the deal is done by Sunday there is a chance he will be there," Redknapp revealed.
The Spurs boss is rubbing his hands at the impact Beckham could have on some of his younger players, particularly Aaron Lennon.
"They are complete opposites really, but Beckham's delivery and making goals is what it comes down to in the end," said Redknapp.


text:
The "Thirteen Reasons Why" Author Says He's Being Harassed After Having "Affairs With Consenting Adults"
The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators says it cut ties with author Jay Asher after an investigation of sexual harassment. He says he's the one who's being harassed.
By Krystie Lee Yandoli
Krystie Lee Yandoli BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on February 13, 2018, at 3:48 p.m. ET
Following allegations of sexual harassment that caused a children's book group to say it cut ties with him, author Jay Asher admitted to BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that he's had affairs with consenting adults, but he said he's subsequently been harassed in connection with these affairs.
Asher is best known for writing Thirteen Reasons Why, the young adult novel about a high schooler who is sexually assaulted and then ends her own life. The novel was adapted into the hit Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, starring Katherine Langford and Dylan Minnette.
Penguin Books, Netflix
The allegations against Asher came to light yesterday after Lin Oliver, the executive director of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, said the author has been expelled from the literary organization.
"After we investigated, we felt that terminating his membership was the proper course of action," Oliver told BuzzFeed News on Monday. "We have always been really sensitive to sexual harassment issues and have a zero tolerance policy, but clearly our policies haven't prevented violations, so we're taking this opportunity to take another look at our guidelines."
"I did have affairs with consenting adults, which ended years ago," Asher told BuzzFeed News in a statement Tuesday. "I am ashamed of myself and the pain our actions caused our families."
Steve Cohn / Invision for Netflix
Asher and his wife, Joan Marie, at the Netflix premiere of 13 Reasons Why in March 2017.
"During the past decade of harassment related to these affairs, I have never once retaliated," he continued. "I will continue to leave my accusers to their anonymity in order to save them and their families from further hurt."
Beth Dubber / Netflix
Asher did not name the people he says are harassing him. The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has also not revealed who made the complaint against Asher.
A spokesperson for Netflix told BuzzFeed News, "Jay Asher was not involved in the second season of 13 Reasons Why. The upcoming season will not be impacted in any way."
Multiple social media posts from Asher show he was on the set of Season 2. BuzzFeed News understands Asher visited the set, but didn't play a creative role.
Twitter: @jayasherguy
Netflix did not respond to a question about whether they received any complaints about Asher on set. The second season of the series, which is produced by Selena Gomez, is due out sometime in 2018.
Eric Charbonneau / Invision for Netflix
If you have information or tips, there are a number of ways to securely share information with BuzzFeed News, including SecureDrop and postal mail. You can also email us at tips@buzzfeed.com or send us an encrypted message over Signal at (646) 379-1975. The best tips include specific information and documentation in addition to names. You can learn more about how to reach us here.
Krystie Yandoli is an entertainment editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Krystie Lee Yandoli at krystie.yandoli@buzzfeed.com.


text:
Etihad Airways eyes Tanzania's airspace
United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways is eyeing Tanzanian airspace through its expansion program targeting the fast-growing tourism and business opportunities in Africa.
The airline will make its first landing at Julius Nyerere International Airport in December this year after years of business negotiation between Tanzanian aviation and tourism officials and the Etihad Airways executives.
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will be flying daily from Abu Dhabi to Dar es Salaam after launching its schedule flights in December, officials from the Tanzania Airports Authority had confirmed.
The flights will be operated using Airbus A320 aircraft with 16 Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats.
Dar es Salaam will be Etihad Airways' 110th destination globally, and the airline's 11th destination in Africa and the Indian Ocean. The daily schedule will offer two-way connectivity over Etihad Airways' hub in Abu Dhabi, with convenient onward connections to 45 popular destinations across the Middle East, Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, North and Southeast Asia, and Australasia.
Etihad Airways Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, Kevin Knight said the airline has planned to extend its wings to reach more African cities by the end of next year. Other African cities the airline is eyeing are Entebbe in Uganda and Algiers in Algeria to be covered in May and June.
Knight said during the just-ended World Route Development Forum Strategy Summit in Chicago that the airline will add a number of new non-stop routes including San Francisco and Dallas in the US between November and December this year.
Tanzania Airports Authority is constructing Terminal Three building at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam to create a capacity to handle six million passengers after its completion in October next year. The new terminal will have a feature which allows Airbus 320 to dock and get maintenance, airport officials said.
James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said Dar es Salaam is an important new route on Etihad Airways' global network.
"The Dar es Salaam route builds upon our existing presence in Africa, and supports the close trading relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Tanzania," Hogan said.
Tourism is the area of business attracting many airlines to land in Dar es Salaam and other Tanzanian international airports. Tanzania was last year named one of the world's most sought destinations for leisure travelers.
A good record of international-class tourists fly to Tanzania every year to visit premier attractions, mostly Mount Kilimanjaro, the wildlife-rich national parks of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and the spice island of Zanzibar.
Dar es Salaam provides a strategic gateway for the transportation of goods and commerce to the surrounding six land-locked countries of Zambia, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.


text:
Strain improves performance of atomically thin semiconductor material
May 10, 2018 By Editor
Michael Pettes, left, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Ph.D. student Wei Wu check a specially engineered device they created to exert strain on a semiconductor material only six atoms thick.
Researchers in UConn's Institute of Materials Science significantly improved the performance of an atomically thin semiconductor material by stretching it, an accomplishment that could prove beneficial to engineers designing the next generation of flexible electronics, nano devices, and optical sensors.
In a study appearing in the research journal Nano Letters, Michael Pettes, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, reports that a six-atom thick bilayer of tungsten diselenide exhibited a 100-fold increase in photoluminescence when it was subjected to strain. The material had never exhibited such photoluminescence before.
The findings mark the first time scientists have been able to conclusively show that the properties of atomically thin materials can be mechanically manipulated to enhance their performance, Pettes says. Such capabilities could lead to faster computer processors and more efficient sensors.
The process the researchers used to achieve the outcome is also significant in that it offers a reliable new methodology for measuring the impact of strain on ultrathin materials, something that has been difficult to do and a hindrance to innovation.
"Experiments involving strain are often criticized since the strain experienced by these atomically thin materials is difficult to determine and often speculated as being incorrect," says Pettes. "Our study provides a new methodology for conducting strain-dependent measurements of ultrathin materials, and this is important because strain is predicted to offer orders of magnitude changes in the properties of these materials across many different scientific fields."
Scientists have been intrigued by the potential of atomically thin materials ever since researchers Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov successfully cleaved a one-atom thick layer of graphene from a piece of graphite in 2004. Considered a supermaterial for its outstanding strength, flexibility, and ability to conduct electricity, two-dimensional graphene transformed the electronics industry and earned the researchers a Nobel Prize.
But for all that it offers, graphene has its limitations. It is a poor semiconductor because it lacks an electron band gap in its internal structure. As a result, electrons are unimpeded and flow rapidly through it when the material is energized. The best semiconductor materials, such as silicon, have a sizable band gap that allows a flow of electrons to be turned on and off. That capability is vital for creating the strings of zeros and ones that make up the binary computing codes used in transistors and integrated circuits.
Materials scientists are exploring the potential of other two-dimensional and atomically thin materials hoping to find products superior to graphene and silicon.
Strain engineering has been discussed as one possible way to enhance the performance of these materials, because their ultrathin structure makes them particularly susceptible to bending and stretching, unlike their larger three-dimensional bulk forms. But testing the impact of strain on materials just a few atoms thick has proven enormously difficult.
In the present study, Pettes and Wei Wu, a Ph.D. student in Pettes' lab and the study's lead author, were able to successfully measure the influence of strain on a single crystalline bilayer of tungsten diselenide by first encapsulating it in a fine layer of acrylic glass and then heating it in an argon gas chamber. (Exposure to air would destroy the sample). This thermal processing strengthened the material's adhesion to a polymer substrate, allowing for a near perfect transfer of applied strain, which has been difficult to achieve in prior experiments.
The group then customized a bending device that allowed them to carefully increase strain on the material while monitoring how it responded through a Horiba Multiline Raman Spectrometer at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, a shared user facility funded by the National Science Foundation.
It was an exciting moment.
"Our new method allowed us to apply around two times more strain to the 2-D material than any previous study has reported," says Pettes. "Essentially, we were in new territory."
Ultimately, the researchers found that applying increasing levels of strain to the material altered its flow of electrons, which was reflected by the increased intensity in photoluminescence.
Working with computer modeling expert Avinash Dongare, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at UConn, and former Ph.D. student Jin Wang, the team was able to show that their process could, theoretically, manipulate the band gap of tungsten diselenide and other atomically thin materials, which is extremely important for design engineers seeking faster and more efficient semiconductors and sensors. Manipulating a semiconductor with an indirect band gap very near the point of transitioning to a direct band gap could lead to extremely fast processing capabilities.
"This is the first time that extrinsic control over an indirect-to-direct electron band gap transition has been conclusively reported," says Pettes. "Our findings should allow computational scientists using artificial intelligence to design new materials with extremely strain-resistant or strain-sensitive structures. That is extremely important for the next generation of high-performance flexible nanoelectronics and optoelectronic devices."


In addition to therapies for older feet to include nail-cutting and hard skin removal, Ashleigh will provide a service for feet that have suffered years of wear and tear as well as circulation problems. Ashleigh is available for appointments on Saturdays and Mondays.
Retainers - why wear them?
What does GDPR mean to me?
Why should I go for a hygiene appointment?
Prosecco and teeth - what's the deal?
Double award win for Pembroke!
Need a mouthguard for the Schools Fitness Challenge?
"Record teeth extractions in under-4s"
If you've got it covered, so have we!
Elisa and Naoimi pass with flying colours!


text:
Q: Limit in a sense of distributions How to find $\lim_{a\rightarrow\infty} f_a$ in $D'(R)$, for $a>0$, where $f_a:R\rightarrow R$ is defined by
$f_a(x)=\begin{cases}\frac{\sin{ax}}{x}&x\neq 0 \\0&x=0\end{cases}$
Thanks in advance.

A: You want to calculate for $\phi\in D(R)$
$$ \lim_{a\to\infty} \int_R \frac{\sin ax}{x} \phi(x) dx $$
which is well-defined as the integrand is continuous. Substituting $y=ax$, the integral becomes
$$ \int_R \frac{\sin y}{y}\phi(\frac{y}{a}) dy. $$
As $\phi(\frac{y}{a}) = \phi(0) + \frac{y}{a}\phi'(\xi_y)$ for some $\xi_y$, you have
$$ \int_R \frac{\sin y}{y}\phi(\frac{y}{a}) dy = \pi\phi(0) + \frac{1}{a} \int_R \sin y \phi'(\xi_y) dy.$$
The latter integral is bounded independently of $a$, so you conclude
$$ \lim_{a\to\infty} \frac{\sin ax}{x} = \pi\delta.$$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


One of the benefits of becoming a McCall's dealer is that is we can positively affect customer loyalty for your business. With extensive experience in the HVAC industry, we have seen many local HVAC companies come and go. The factor that sets apart those with longevity and those that don't survive is their customer service. Having a solid HVAC supplier that is responsive to the needs of customers is the key to delivering good customer service and staying in business.
McCall's stays at the forefront of the HVAC industry and enables its dealers to do the same. We always have the latest in technology available to you, as well as the continuing education and training needed to ensure you are up-to-date and knowledgeable. When customers see you as an expert in your field, loyalty builds.
Reputations matter when it comes to doing business. Homeowners and business owners in Johnsonville, SC and surrounding areas know that McCall's is a name they can trust. Being a McCall's dealer extends that reputation to your company, giving you a boost over the competition. Because customers who know McCall's trust them, that customer loyalty extends to your business.
Contact us today and learn more about increased customer loyalty and the many other benefits of becoming a McCall's dealer.


text:
Cvetka Bevc ( es una escritora y poeta en idioma esloveno.

Biografía
Bevc es aborigen de Slovenj Gradec. Estudió musicología y literatura comparada por la Universidad de Liubliana y también asistió a estudios de postgrado en el Universidad Colegio Cork.

Trabajó como editora en una revista juvenil de música (Glasbena mladina) y en la radio nacional eslovena y en la Slovene Writers' Association.

Escribe poesía, prosa, radioteatros y cuentos infantiles.

En 2012, su novela Potovci (Viajeros) fue una de las cinco finalistas para el Kresnik Award.

Obra

Algunas publicaciones

Prosa
 Prigode Špelce Žvekič, 2003
 Soba gospe Bernarde, 2007
 Zgodbe iz somraka, 2007
 Škampi v glavi, 2010
 Desetka, 2011
 Potovci (Travellers), 2011

Colecciones de poesía
 Prelet žerjavov, 2004
 Med ločjem, 2005
 Odbleski, 2009

Libros infantiles
 Klavirski duhec Jošti, 2005
 Abecednik zaljubljene krastače, 2007
 Labod Zaki najde starše, 2008
 Veverica Mica in druge pravljice iz Zelenega gozda, 2009
 Pesem za vilo, 2009

Referencias

Enlaces externos

Escritoras de Eslovenia
Poetisas de Eslovenia
Escritores de literatura infantil de Eslovenia
Ilustradores de Eslovenia
Musicólogos de Eslovenia
Escritores en esloveno
Alumnado de la Universidad de Liubliana
Alumnado de la Universidad Colegio Cork
Escritores de Eslovenia del siglo XX
Escritores de Eslovenia del siglo XXI
Eslovenas del siglo XX
Eslovenas del siglo XXI
Nacidos en Slovenj Gradec

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
November PCS – Dick Ewers
Posted By admin on Dec 4, 2017 | 0 comments
AFTER ACTION REPORT: November 18, 2017
Photos by: Roy Gant, Bill Deaver and Cathy Hansen
What spectacular weather we are having for November!! A beautiful Plane Crazy Saturday with loads of airplanes flying in taking advantage of the bright blue skies, warm temperatures and light northeast breezes. What a switch from the howling west winds we are famous for!
Eric Hansen flew in from Rosamond Skypark and has a great deal for anyone wanting a nice Bellanca Viking! Eric said he has too many airplanes! I didn't know that was possible. Having lots of airplanes must be in the Hansen genes!
This airplane has a strong high time 300 hp IO-520 (great engine!) good for a few hundred more hours of building high performance/complex aircraft flying time! 2 coms, VOR/ILS, transponder, autopilot, intercom. August 2017 annual. Cruise 160 kts @ 12 gph, 520 nm range.
Lots of kids and families came out for a day at the airport. Hopefully, they are future pilots and flight test engineers! Actually two of these kids said they wanted to be astronauts! That is a great attitude! Set your sights high.
This Cessna 152 came from Redlands Airport (KREI). The pilot said his flight was
perfect to MHV!
Chris McMurtry flew in his vintage 1939 Piper J-3 Cub. We are always happy
to see Chris and his Cub!
Great to see Axel Alvarez and his wife, from Inyokern and his Sport Class race plane, the
'Alvarez Special!' Axel has been involved with aviation since he was akid. He soloed at the age of 16, earned his Private certificate at 17, Instrument certificate at 18 and Commercial certificate at 19. He then earned an Aerospace Engineering degree from the University of Tennessee. Once he graduated from college, he moved to California and obtained a job performing flight test on high performance airplanes and helicopters.
That job provided the opportunity to apply to United States Naval Test Pilot School. He was accepted and graduated the following year. He has flown multiple general aviation and military aircraft, to include gliders and helicopters. He is a member of the West Cast Ravens Formation team and has performed in shows such as California Capital and
Oshkosh. He has also flown in large formations for events such as the 40-ship formation
over Oshkosh celebrating 40 years of Van's Aircraft and a 49-ship formation over the
Kansas City NFL stadium raising breast cancer awareness.
He and his wife spent approximately 10 years building an RV-4 derivative which he raced in 2016. Prior to Racing at Reno he raced street bikes. His advice for kids is "Look for opportunities, set goals and then go for it".
Jim Roberts flew his 1957 Bellanca in from Tehachapi. Jim has a 1957 pickup truck with a matching paint job too. Both the pickup and the Bellanca had belonged to his Dad.
He has kept them both in pristine condition in honor of his late Father. That is so awesome! Both Chris McMurtry and Jim Roberts were inspired to fly by their fathers.
Our hope is that we are inspiring the kids who come to Plane Crazy to fly and design
airplanes!
Roy Gant, our photographer friend from Bakersfield said, 'You can't take too many
photos of an F-86!' We believe that statement!
Al Hansen's 1952 Canadair Mk-VI Sabre is on display, next to his 1954 North American
T-28B.
Dick Ewers gave a fantastic presentation about flying science missions over the North and South Poles, low-level, in NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory! The photos and video looked like he was flying over another world!
Hard to believe these magnificent mountains of ice and snow are really part of our planet Earth!
Dick served as a USMC fighter pilot more than 21 years and after retirement from the military, he flew as an engineering test pilot for Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group for nine years. He joined NASA Dryden, now NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB as a research pilot in 1998. He piloted NASA's DC-8 on scientific missions for over 15 years and was 'over the moon' enthusiastic about flying that aircraft! He told how this airplane was capable of really long flights and he laughed when telling
how they would run out of food before they would run out of fuel.
Many former NASA employees came to hear the stories from their good friend. One of the MTM board members said it was one of the best presentations we have ever seen.
Thank you to Dick Ewers for sharing the beauty and grandeur of the North Pole and Antarctica. Only a few people have had the opportunity to see what you have seen.


text:
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Grumpy Emoji</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="main.css">

Grumpy Emoji <big>☺</big>

        New!

          Read here about everything that is wrong with emojis.

      Are you, too, weary with the fuss around Emoji? Fear not: We have the
      cure: Grumpy Emoji. This unique font is specifically targeted to enhance
      your enjoyment on Emoji rich sites. Whether it's the good old
      ☺,
      a well-meant 💕
      or a steaming 💩,
      Grumpy Emoji font is here to protect you from the epileptic seizure bound to happen.

        Download

        ZIP file, 140kB

        Fork on Github

A Small Showcase

Compare the magnificent emoji rendering with the Grumpy Emoji
        font for example with the widely used emoji from
        Twitter and
        Google:

              Codepoint
              Twemoji
              Google Noto
              Grumpy Emoji

              U+1F600

              <big>😀</big>

              U+1F363

              <big>🍣</big>

              U+1F384

              <big>🎄</big>

              U+1F405

              <big>🐅</big>

              U+1F680

              <big>🚀</big>

              U+26C5

              <big>⛅</big>

Can you see the magnificent, splendid enhancement in emoji rendering,
        that this font provides?

Embed Grumpy Emoji on your Site

This is an easy one: Add these lines to your HTML file, and
        nasty, distracting emoji, that managed to slip your attention, will
        instantly be taken care of.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="grumpy.css">
<style>
  body { font-family: Grumpy, sans-serif; }
</style>

Character Support Table

The following codepoints are covered by this font:

              Codepoint
              Glyph

U+0000	☀

U+2600	☀

⋮	⋮

U+27FF	⟿

U+1F000	🀀

⋮	⋮

U+1FFFC	🿼

Going Wild with Grumpy Emoji

Of course now that you fought emoji with success, you are free to
        add a little eye candy to your site:

☺

          Created with grumpiness (and FontForge)
          ·
          Codepoints
          ·
          Twitter

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub