Climate change is causing significant changes to phytoplankton in the world's oceans, and a new MIT study finds that over the coming decades these changes will affect the ocean's color, intensifying its blue regions and its green ones.
Satellites should detect these changes in hue, providing early warning of wide-scale changes to marine ecosystems.
Writing in Nature Communications, researchers report that they have developed a global model that simulates the growth and interaction of different species of phytoplankton, or algae, and how the mix of species in various locations will change as temperatures rise around the world.
The researchers also simulated the way phytoplankton absorb and reflect light, and how the ocean's color changes as global warming affects the makeup of phytoplankton communities.
Current day Chl-a and its interannual variability.
e model satellite-like derived; f OC-CCI, v2 satellite derived. White areas are regions where model resolution is too coarse to capture the smaller seas, or where there is persistent ice cover.
Model actual Chl-a is the sum of the dynamic Chl-a for each phytoplankton type that is explicitly resolved in the model.
It is equivalent to the Chl-a that would be measured in situ.
The researchers ran the model through the end of the 21st century and found that, by the year 2100, more than 50 percent of the world's oceans will shift in color, due to climate change.
The study suggests that blue regions, such as the subtropics, will become even more blue, reflecting even less phytoplankton — and life in general — in those waters, compared with today.
Some regions that are greener today, such as near the poles, may turn even deeper green, as warmer temperatures brew up larger blooms of more diverse phytoplankton.
"The model suggests the changes won't appear huge to the naked eye, and the ocean will still look like it has blue regions in the subtropics and greener regions near the equator and poles," says lead author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a principal research scientist at MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
Dutkiewicz's co-authors include Oliver Jahn of MIT, Anna Hickman of the University of Southhampton, Stephanie Henson of the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, Claudie Beaulieu of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Erwan Monier, former principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Global Change Science, and currently assistant professor at the University of California at Davis, in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources.
This research was supported, in part, by NASA and the Department of Energy.
The story of oceans and climate would not be complete until we explore the impact of weather and climate on marine life.
We also need to understand how ocean life, notably phytoplankton might modulate oceanic weather and climate, through their role in the global carbon cycle, and on the ocean heat budget. One way that phytoplankton influence the oceans is through heating.
Photosynthesis is quite inefficient, so much of the light absorbed by phytoplankton cells is released as heat.
The ocean's color depends on how sunlight interacts with whatever is in the water.
Water molecules alone absorb almost all sunlight except for the blue part of the spectrum, which is reflected back out.
Hence, relatively barren open-ocean regions appear as deep blue from space.
If there are any organisms in the ocean, they can absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light, depending on their individual properties.
Phytoplankton, for instance, contain chlorophyll, a pigment which absorbs mostly in the blue portions of sunlight to produce carbon for photosynthesis, and less in the green portions.
As a result, more green light is reflected back out of the ocean, giving algae-rich regions a greenish hue.
Since the late 1990s, satellites have taken continuous measurements of the ocean's color.
Scientists have used these measurements to derive the amount of chlorophyll, and by extension, phytoplankton, in a given ocean region.
But Dutkiewicz says chlorophyll doesn't necessarily reflect the sensitive signal of climate change.
Any significant swings in chlorophyll could very well be due to global warming, but they could also be due to "natural variability" — normal, periodic upticks in chlorophyll due to natural, weather-related phenomena.
"An El Niño or La Niña event will throw up a very large change in chlorophyll because it's changing the amount of nutrients that are coming into the system," Dutkiewicz says.
In this extra video, Dr Michelle Gierach from NASA JPL outlines how models can be used to assess phytoplankton biodiversity, and how future satellite missions will lead to better monitoring of coral health, biodiversity and potentially even phytoplankton species.
Instead of looking to derived estimates of chlorophyll, the team wondered whether they could see a clear signal of climate change's effect on phytoplankton by looking at satellite measurements of reflected light alone.
The group tweaked a computer model that it has used in the past to predict phytoplankton changes with rising temperatures and ocean acidification.
This model takes information about phytoplankton, such as what they consume and how they grow, and incorporates this information into a physical model that simulates the ocean's currents and mixing.
This time around, the researchers added a new element to the model, that has not been included in other ocean modeling techniques: the ability to estimate the specific wavelengths of light that are absorbed and reflected by the ocean, depending on the amount and type of organisms in a given region.
"Sunlight will come into the ocean, and anything that's in the ocean will absorb it, like chlorophyll," Dutkiewicz says.
When the group compared results of their model to actual measurements of reflected light that satellites had taken in the past, they found the two agreed well enough that the model could be used to predict the ocean's color as environmental conditions change in the future.
"The nice thing about this model is, we can use it as a laboratory, a place where we can experiment, to see how our planet is going to change," Dutkiewicz says.
Marine diatom cells (Rhizosolenia setigera), which are an important group of phytoplankton.
As the researchers cranked up global temperatures in the model, by up to 3 degrees Celsius by 2100 — what most scientists predict will occur under a business-as-usual scenario of relatively no action to reduce greenhouse gases — they found that wavelengths of light in the blue/green waveband responded the fastest.
What's more, Dutkiewicz observed that this blue/green waveband showed a very clear signal, or shift, due specifically to climate change, taking place much earlier than what scientists have previously found when they looked to chlorophyll, which they projected would exhibit a climate-driven change by 2055.
"Chlorophyll is changing, but you can't really see it because of its incredible natural variability," Dutkiewicz says.
"But you can see a significant, climate-related shift in some of these wavebands, in the signal being sent out to the satellites.
Though plankton can't be seen from space, NASA's SeaWIFS satellite can image the chlorophyll found in phytoplankton.
Satellites measured land and ocean life from space as early as the 1970s.
But it wasn't until the launch of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) in 1997 that the space agency began what is now a continuous, global view of both land and ocean life.
This video was created with data from satellites including SeaWiFS, and instruments including the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.
On land, vegetation appears on a scale from brown (low vegetation) to dark green (lots of vegetation); at the ocean surface, phytoplankton are indicated on a scale from purple (low) to yellow (high).
In the Northern Hemisphere, ecosystems wake up in the spring, taking in carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen as they sprout leaves — and a fleet of Earth-observing satellites tracks the spread of the newly green vegetation.
Meanwhile, in the oceans, microscopic plants drift through the sunlit surface waters and bloom into billions of carbon dioxide-absorbing organisms — and light-detecting instruments on satellites map the swirls of their color.
The space-based view of life allows scientists to monitor crop, forest and fisheries health around the globe.
Observations from space help determine agricultural production globally, and are used in famine early warning detection.
But the space agency's scientists have also discovered long-term changes across continents and ocean basins.
As NASA begins its third decade of global ocean and land measurements, these discoveries point to important questions about how ecosystems will respond to a changing climate and broad-scale changes in human interaction with the land.
The climate is warming fastest in Arctic regions, and the impacts on land are visible from space as well.
The tundra of Western Alaska, Quebec and elsewhere is turning greener as shrubs extend their reach northwards.
And as concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continue to rise and warm the climate, NASA's global understanding of plant life will play a critical role in monitoring carbon as it moves through the Earth system.
Expanding these observations to the rest of the globe, the scientists could track the impact on plants of rainy and dry seasons in Africa, see the springtime blooms in North America, and the after-effects of wildfires in forests worldwide.
The grasslands of Senegal, for example, undergo drastic seasonal changes.
Grasses and shrubs flourish during the rainy season from June to November, then dry up when the rain stops.
With early weather satellite data in the 1970s and '80s, NASA Goddard scientist Compton Tucker was able to see that greening and die-back from space, measuring the chlorophyll in the plants below.
He developed a way of comparing satellite data from two wavelengths, which gives a quantitative measurement of this greenness called the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index.
But land is only part of the story.
At the base of the ocean's food web are phytoplankton — tiny organisms that, like land plants, turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen, aided by the right combination of nutrients and sunlight.
Recent studies of ocean life have shown that a long-term trend of rising sea surface temperatures is causing ocean regions known as "biological deserts" to expand.
These regions of low phytoplankton growth occur in the center of large, slow-moving currents called gyres.
The next step for NASA scientists is actually looking at the process of photosynthesis from space. When plants undergo that chemical process, some of the absorbed energy fluoresces faintly back, notes Joanna Joiner, a NASA Goddard research scientist.
With satellites that detect signals in the very specific wavelengths of this fluorescence, and a fine-tuned analysis technique that blocks out background signals, Joiner and her colleagues can see where and when plants start converting sunlight into sugars.
Earth is still the only planet we know of with life - the one thing that, so far, makes Earth unique among the thousands of other planets we've discovered.
With that in mind, our habitable home world seems evermore fragile and beautiful when considering the vastness of unlivable space.
According to their model, climate change is already changing the makeup of phytoplankton, and by extension, the color of the oceans.
By the end of the century, our blue planet may look visibly altered.
"There will be a noticeable difference in the color of 50 percent of the ocean by the end of the 21st century," Dutkiewicz says.


The regular possession for the spaces in which voiced spoken language are restrained in cartoons is a "balloon". This is so named some the actual contour of the outer space. Lettering in a sketch is an of value feature, and it is fine meriting poring over a few undemanding rules to manufacture your cartoons outer shell paid and jammy to publication.
Firstly your packages should be totally apparent and oversimplified. Compare them to the use of Arial or Helvetica typestyles in printing, or on the web. These two styles are among the maximum touristed because of their plain, non grouchy style, and are beautiful hands-down to publication in supreme sizes. So, circumnavigate lacelike flourishes and curlicues, and superior culture should be the reign rather than the exception.
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For the benefit of sleekness do not take a crack at to communication lacking archetypal chart numerous giddy nonintersecting guidelines, diagram the post in light near pencil in the past inking. A slap-up tip is to cut slots in the method of parallel guidelines out of a scrap of cobwebby card. A middling company card is perfect. Cut out two or iii of these for post of contrary spot. Use a pen whose point has turn blunted with use for piece of writing. A new broad-nibbed pen may be used, but never a new wonderful tapering pen.
When you are inscription your cartoons, you should carnivore in heed that all drawings conscious for publication, beside exceptional exceptions, will be shriveled in extent beforehand the printing formula. Usually your map will be slashed by one half, tho' now and then it will be a miniature more or smaller quantity. So an productive picture of four by 4 inches will look as a two by two in picture.
The small genre unanimously in use in newspapers and magazines is six constituent type, that is six seventy-seconds of an inch in rank. So you can see that in a fractional lessening book you should be comic strip your parcels no less than 12 factor group in size, or xii seventy-seconds of an linear unit. If the narrowing is to be a bit less than a fractional after your culture should be haggard around an ordinal of an linear unit high-ranking. Smaller group may be utilised sometimes , but it is e'er improved to err on the side of condition and kind your culture a little bit too big, to some extent than too petty.
If you cut the slots in your paper to these guidelines you won't go far unsuitable. You will ne'er be plan the worse of (quite the conflicting in fact, it shows expertise) if you ask the insubstantial or press you want to submit to what price cut they frequently use. Finally don't forget that it is easier to portrayal your spoken communication near writing implement up to that time inking. You can slickly trademark changes which will not be noticeable, using a devout prize eraser anterior to inking.


Under the supervision of Roundy's Supermarkets, Pick 'n Save manages locations across Milwaukee, WI.
Founded in 1975, Pick 'n Save operates as part of a network of over 150 locations. The retailer helps generate nearly $4 billion in annual revenue. Grocery items offered at store locations include baked goods, dairy products, deli items, frozen foods, meats, produce, and non-perishable foods. The company serves the state of Wisconsin with several sister stores, including Rainbow Foods, Metro Market, Ultra Mart Foods, and Mariano's Fresh Market. Under Roundy's Supermarkets, Pick 'n Save publicly trades on the NYSE under the stock symbol, RNDY.
Grocery store workers may continuously find great opportunities with the supermarket. Candidates discover local jobs by completing application forms, which frequently asks for employment history, work skills, character references, availability, and previous education or training. Offering entry-level positions and professional employment alike, the grocer features occupational opportunities in store operations, corporate offices, and distribution centers. Total employment numbers comprise close to 20,000 positions. Each department comes with unique job duties and responsibilities. Aspirants must list the desired job when submitting Pick 'n Save employment applications. Potential hires may also apply online for jobs with the regional supermarket chain.
At base level, the store operations branch of Pick 'n Save spends the most time with customers. Typical positions within the branch include cashier, stock clerk, and customer service associate jobs. Distribution center workers provide retail stores with the appropriate merchandise, all on time and unbroken. Applicants may find distribution jobs in one of three warehouses across the state of Wisconsin. At the highest level, job seekers may start jobs with the corporate parent, Roundy's Supermarkets. Corporate opportunities oversee the daily operation of all brand affiliates, including Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, Mariano's Fresh Market, and Copps Food Center.
Local grocery store jobs come with enticing work benefits to keep the best employees around. The company offers many common job benefits found in the supermarket industry, such as disability coverage, employee stock purchase plans, and comprehensive healthcare coverage, which includes vision, dental, and medical insurance options. Many full-time workers in store operations, distribution, and corporate may also access 401(k) retirement plans. Most employee benefits available from the retailer and affiliates vary depending on job title, employment status, and time spent with the company.
Get the best Pick n Save jobs in sent to your inbox daily.


TTIP video by Off On One. Off On One is an offshoot of Osis Design with a slightly skewed focus on current issues. This video is an Off On One collaboration (featuring music by Dij) describing some of the issues around TTIP – The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.


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Saudi Arabia: Shipping Laws and Regulations 2021
ICLG.com > Practice Areas > Shipping Law > Saudi Arabia
Are you a leading legal expert in Saudi Arabia practicing in Shipping Law?
Other Comparative Legal Guides featuring Saudi Arabia
Alburhan Law Firm
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The Law Firm of Wael A. Alissa in association with Dentons & Co.
Curtis starts up in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh is the location of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle's third office in the Middle East, which will be staffed initially with a disputes practitioner.
V&E partner joins Latham in Saudi
Latham & Watkins' associated law firm in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh has welcomed a corporate partner from Vinson & Elkins.
Smile Telecoms aims to rebound through restructuring
Last month's restructuring should ease pressure on the Africa-focused telecoms company, with Afreximbank playing a role as a leading lender.
Andrew Mizner | 25 May 2021
W&C ramps up Riyadh strengths
A dual-qualified project development and finance lawyer has joined White & Case in Saudi Arabia.
Robert Li | 06 May 2021
A global outlook on renewable energy
The ICLG.com Renewable Energy & The Law webinar, held in conjunction with Dentons, saw a panel of leading international experts give detailed insight into the future of the renewable energy sector.
Squire Patton Boggs hires from Simmons in Middle East
Enhancing its Islamic finance, banking and financial services regulatory capabilities in the Middle East, Squire Patton Boggs has hired a partner from Simmons & Simmons.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Construction Projects | Saudi Arabia | Turkey
Covid-19 has greatly affected construction projects, not just in Saudi Arabia but all over the world. Parties involved in construction projects are having difficulties in moving projects forward and in finding solutions to claims arising from on-site suspensions, delays, and additional costs.
COVID-19 - Restructuring of distressed real estate projects | Saudi Arabia
As we approach the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale and impact of its devastation has laid waste to many sectors of the economy and tipped over the edge those sectors that were on the brink of collapse. The real estate market is particularly vulnerable given its fragile state in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia in 2020.
COVID-19 Global Telecommunications Regulatory Measures
COVID-19 continues to create uncertainty on a global scale across all business sectors. The impact of the virus on the global economy is unprecedented. For the communications sector, governments and public authorities around the world have implemented various regulatory measures affecting the industry, ranging from legislation to recommendations with respect to traffic management, location data, alerts, spectrum and other measures.
COVID-19 and legal issues in Saudi Arabia
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt around the world. In this article we consider legal issues which are likely to be relevant to those doing business, particularly in relation to construction projects, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ("KSA").
Saudi Arabian Labor Law – Explanatory Memorandum to Address COVID-19 Pandemic
The Saudi Ministry of Human Resources & Social Development has issued an explanatory memorandum to guide private sector employers in implementing immediate changes to their employment relationships to lessen the adverse economic impact on businesses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
How Can the Oil and Gas Industry Prepare to Deal With the Impact of COVID-19?
Peter Stewart (partner), Rob Broom (associate) and Natasha Ahmed (trainee), from our Energy & Natural Resources Practice, consider the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the oil and gas industry.
Saudi fintech closes Series A round with USD 110 million
Saudi fintech company Tamara has closed the Middle East's largest ever Series A funding round, raising USD 100 million.
Sandy Bhadare | 23 Apr 2021
Latham & Watkins advises on EIG-Aramco JV
A consortium led by energy and infrastructure investor EIG has agreed to acquire a 49% stake in Aramco Oil Pipelines Company in a transaction valued at USD 12.4 billion.
NatWest Markets and Santander sell shares in Saudi British Bank
NatWest Markets and Banco Santander have taken advice from Allen & Overy on the second disposal of their shares in The Saudi British Bank.
NRF and Jones Day involved in Jeddah airport sewage plant financing
Norton Rose Fulbright and Jones Day have been called into play on the shariah-compliant financing of an independent sewage treatment plant at Jeddah airport, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Electricity Company green Sukuk oversubscribed
Shariah-compliant bonds valued at USD 1.3 billion have been issued by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).
Linklaters leads PetroTel's USD 300 million financing for Oman project
Texas energy company PetroTel has received USD 300 million financing from United States financing company Development Finance Corporation to build oil and gas fields on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.
We found the guide very interesting.
Isabelle Schmit, Attache de Direction - COMMISSION DE SURVEILLANCE DU SECTEUR FINANCIER, Luxembourg

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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TSX-V: SGC
Kahuna Gold Project
Disclaimers and QP Statement
AGM Materials
President's letters
DAVID ADAMSON, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Executive Chairman & Director
Mr. Adamson has over 25 years of experience in the mineral deposit industry mainly in Canada and the USA. He has a proven record of creating shareholder value by identifying opportunities, making discoveries and advancing them through the exploration stage to development. Mr. Adamson has provided leadership in public companies at both management and board levels. In 2010 he received the AME BC Colin Spence award for Excellence in Global Mineral Exploration. He has played a key role in five mineral deposits, most recently at Newcastle Gold where he unlocked significant shareholder value when he oversaw the development of the geological model. This lead to its eventual sale and basis of a 3 million oz proven and probable gold mine plan. Mr. Adamson is fully conversant with complex corporate agreements and negotiations including corporate re-organizations, option and joint venture agreements, stakeholder agreements and all aspects of public financings, having raised well over $500 million to date. Mr. Adamson has been a member of senior management and board member of several publicly traded companies, prior to which he was senior geologist with Lac Minerals, a major gold producing company which was acquired by Barrick Gold in 1995. Mr. Adamson holds both an MSc and PhD in economic geology.
MARTIN TUNNEY, P. Eng.
President & Director
Mr. Tunney's 15 years of experience in the mineral industry are very well-rounded. He began as a mining engineer working for Inco and then Newmont in Canada and the Southwestern USA. He started his capital markets experience with Raymond James Investment Banking and later joined CIBC in their Global Mining Team. He has worked on transactions of all sizes including some of the largest gold and base metals transactions of the last decade. He is experienced in all aspects of M&A, financing, streaming, royalties and has played a key role in financings exceeding $1.5 billion. He spent 4 years at NewCastle Gold as Vice President of Technical Service and Vice President of Corporate Development where he was instrumental in the dramatic increase in shareholder value. His work led to the eventual development of a multimillion ounce resource and sale of the company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bishop's University and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Mineral Engineering) from the University of Toronto.
MICHAEL G. LESKOVEC, CPA, CA
Mr. Leskovec is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over sixteen years of financial experience with publicly listed companies and capital markets. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Nighthawk Gold Corp. (TSX listed resource company) and as the Vice-President, Financial Reporting of Northfield Capital Corporation (TSXV listed investment holding company). Mr. Leskovec holds an Honours BAcc from Brock University in Ontario, Canada. Until its sale in 2008, Mr. Leskovec served as an Officer of Gold Eagle Mines Ltd., which was involved in the development of the Bruce Channel deposit in Red Lake, Ontario, and was sold to Goldcorp Inc. for $1.5 billion. Prior to this, he served as an Audit and Assurance Manager at Smith Nixon LLP, where he managed audit engagements of publicly listed corporations traded on the TSX and TSXV.
CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR, M. Sc., P.Geo
Senior Consultant & Director
Economic geologist and explorationist with 15 years of industry and research experience with both mid-tier producer and junior exploration companies. Mr. Taylor is a Director of a number of TSXV listed resource companies and the CEO of Great Bear Resources and Dunnedin Ventures Inc.
CHAD ULANSKY, B.Sc., P. Geo
Mr. Ulansky is a professional geologist and is currently President and CEO of Metalex Ventures Ltd. and Cantex Mine Development Corp., as well as serving as director of several public and private mineral exploration companies. Mr. Ulansky has diamond exploration experience that includes the original Ekati diamond discovery and has since spanned fifteen countries on four continents.
By providing your e-mail address, you are consenting to receive press releases, quarterly and annual reports, presentations and other information concerning Solstice Gold Corporation and its affiliates and partners.
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© 2020 Solstice Gold Corporation


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Please remember this is a general schedule of the day so if you want to make sure to catch something, come early and stay late! Throughout the day there will be time for lei making, dance lessons, eating ono (delicious) treats and a raffle! There will also be Te Hau Nui t-shirts and our 15 year anniversary DVD available for sale.
3:00-4:30 Hula auana (Hawaiian – modern style) and Maori dancing with dancers of Te Hau Nui and special guest Kahana Kuikahi. Music by the wonderful Myles Kuikahi, Patti Maxine, and Tracy Parker!
4:30- 6pm Tahitian dancing with dancers of Te Hau Nui and special guest Tuia Yuga and friends. Kahiko dancing.
5:30-7:00 Victor Ohana Band with dancers of Te Hau Nui.


The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a federal program that regulates and sets guidelines for employer-sponsored benefit plans, such as short and long term disability, pension plans, health plans, welfare plans, life insurance, and more. Filing an ERISA claim is complicated, and the system is actually designed to work against employees. As such, it is vital that you work with an attorney when you file an ERISA claim, or when your ERISA claim has been denied. The ERISA Lawyers for Plant Scherer of J. Price McNamara Law Firm handles all types of ERISA claims, denials, and bad faith insurance claims. We assist employees of Plant Scherer in receiving the benefits that they have worked for over the years, and which they are simply requesting at this time. It would be nice if insurance companies saw such claims as simple, and paid out promptly and without argument. However, this is generally not the case.
Why it is in the Insurance Company's Interest to Deny Your Claim?
Your insurance company exists to make money, pure and simple. Like any business model for companies across all sectors, the primary goal of an insurance carrier is to maximize profits for shareholders. As such, insurance adjusters deny ERISA claims on a daily basis to avoid costly benefit packages. These denials are made easier by the ERISA claims process, which has been rigged by large employers and insurance companies to work for them instead of for employees.
According to the Department of Labor, insurance companies have to provide claimants with a written notice of why their claim was denied. In addition, there must be a "full and fair process for review of the claims denial." Rules created fairly recently also protect the claimant from conflict of interest, increase transparency of why the decision was made, and give the employee an opportunity to respond with the reasoning behind the denial. To successfully counter the initial decision, you need an attorney.
You have a limited time to file an appeal once your claim has been denied. This time limit is generally 180 days, according to the Department of Labor. The sooner you start working with an attorney, the more time you will have to file an appeal. A common reason why ERISA claims are denied is that there is insufficient medical evidence, which takes time to gather. To get started today, contact the Law Offices of J. Price McNamara to speak with an ERISA Lawyer for Plant Scherer employees.


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Home World Europe News Pope Francis visits Lampedusa island
Pope Francis visits Lampedusa island
Pope Francis has visited Italy's tiny island of Lampedusa and condemned the "global indifference" to migrants' plight during a Mass.
On arrival, Pope Francis threw a wreath in the sea in memory of the many people who have drowned trying to reach Europe.
A small boat carrying 166 Africans – reportedly Eritreans – arrived at Lampedusa's port just hours before the Pope's plane touched down.
The island is struggling to cope with thousands of illegal migrants.
Lampedusa, about 80 miles from Tunisia, is one of the nearest gateways to Europe for Africans fleeing poverty and conflict.
Tens of thousands of migrants have made the dangerous crossing in recent years, usually packed into rickety wooden boats exposed to the elements.
As Pope Francis arrived on a coast guard ship, dozens of Lampedusan fishing boats sailed in nearby.
The pontiff is on his first pastoral visit outside Rome since his election in March.
"Pope Francis, only you can save us," read a banner on one of the boats.
Pope Francis visited migrant island of Lampedusa
"You're one of us," said a sign hanging from an apartment near the port.
Some residents threw flowers into the water and chanted "Viva il Papa" as his vessel docked.
Pope Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, met and spoke to a few migrants, then rode in an open-topped car – rather than the Popemobile often used by predecessors – to the site for Mass, near a "boat cemetery" where the hulks of shipwrecked migrant boats lie in the sun.
His altar was a small, painted boat.
The Pope called for a "reawakening of consciences" to counter the "indifference" shown to migrants.
"We have lost a sense of brotherly responsibility and have forgotten how to cry for migrants lost at sea," he said.
He denounced the traffickers who exploited migrants and took great risks with their lives.
Pope Francis, whose own ancestors immigrated to Argentina from Italy, has previously stood in sympathy with impoverished illegal migrants.
Lampedusa's native population of 6,000 is often outnumbered by thousands of migrants in improvised camps around the island.
The UN refugee agency says 8,400 migrants have landed in Italy and Malta in the first six months of the year, almost twice as many as last year, but down on 2011, when tens of thousands fled north Africa during the Arab Spring.
The migrants are normally transported to reception centres on the Italian mainland to be identified and ease the burden on Lampedusa.
[youtube 8sb3HZU450c]
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Tisa (znanstveno ime Taxus) je rod drobnih igličastih dreves ali grmovnic iz družine Taxaceae. Rastejo razmeroma počasi, vendar so lahko zelo dolgožive in dosežejo velikosti od enega do štirideset metrov, s premerom debla do štiri metre. Imajo rdečkasto lubje, suličaste, sploščene, temnozelene liste dolžine 1–4 centimetrov in širine 2–3 milimetre, spiralno urejene na deblu, baze listov pa so zasukane, tako da se listi na vsaki strani stebla uredijo v vrsto.

Storži so močno preobraženi. Vsak vsebuje posamezno seme dolžine 4–7 mm in ga obdaja preobražena luska, ki se razvije v aril, tj. mehak, svetlordeč jagodičast, na enem koncu odprt mesnat ovoj dolžine 8–15 mm. Arili dozorijo v 6–9 mesecih po oprašitvi, nato pa jih pozobajo drozgi, pegami in druge ptice, ki nato z blatom raztrosijo v trdem ovoju nepoškodovana semena. Moški storži so zaobljeni, premera 3–6 mm in sipajo pelod zgodaj spomladi. Tise so večinoma dvodomne, posamezne pa so tudi enodomne ali pa sčasoma spremenijo spol.

Vse tise so si zelo sorodne, zato jih nekateri botaniki obravnavajo kot podvrste ali varietete ene same splošno razširjene vrste. Ob tem se kot ime vrste uporablja ime tise, ki je bila prva znanstveno opisana, tj. Taxus baccata.

Najnenavadnejša je sumatrska tisa (T. sumatrana, izvira s Sumatre in Celebesa severno od skrajnega juga Kitajske), za katero so značilni redki, srpasto oblikovani rumeno-zeleni listi. Razmeroma posebna je tudi mehiška tisa (T. globosa, izvira iz vzhodne Mehike južno od Hondurasa), katere listi so po obliki med sumatrsko tiso in drugimi vrstami. Floridska tisa, mehiška tisa in pacifiška tisa so redke in prizadete ali ogrožene vrste.

Vse vrste tise vsebujejo zelo strupene alkaloide taksane, katerih formula se med vrstami nekoliko razlikuje. Alkaloid najdemo v vseh delih drevesa, razen arilih. Arili so užitni in sladki, seme pa je zelo strupeno; v nasprotju s pticami človek semensko ovojnico razgradi in s tem sprosti taksane. To je lahko ob uživanju »jagod« tise, ne da bi prej odstranili semena, usodno. Ob tisah pogosto najdemo poginule prežvekovalce, posebno govedo in konje, ki so se zastrupili z listjem, jelenjad pa strupe razgradi in se lahko z listjem hrani brez posledic. Zaradi smukanja tise v naravi pogosto najdemo le na strmih ponočjih, ki so jelenjadi nedostopna. Z listjem se hranijo tudi ličinke nekaterih metuljev, npr. Peribatodes rhomboidaria.

Največja tisa v Sloveniji
Nad Solčavo, na Šturmovem hribu pri obnovljeni domačiji »Na hribu« pod Hribarsko zijalko, raste na ozkem gozdnatem grebenu največja tisa (Taxus baccata) v Sloveniji. Prav zaradi izpostavljene lege jo je pogosto zadela strela in ji odbila vrh. V preteklosti so jo izkoriščali tudi ljudje za cvetnonedeljske butare in nagrobne vence. Drevo ima obseg 240 cm, visoko pa je 9 m. Starost ocenjujejo med 500 in 700 let. Zaradi izjemnih dimenzij, je ta tisa razglašena za naravni spomenik.

Uporabnost tise
Zaradi svojih značilnosti je imela tisa zelo pomembno vlogo v kulturi človeka. Tisov les je trd, žilav a vendar elastičen, zato so že od kamene dobe dalje uporabljali za izdelavo orožja, zlasti lokov, kasneje pa tudi pohištva. Prav zaradi izjemnih lastnosti in velike uporabnosti lesa, so obširni tisovi pragozdovi v Srednji Evropi praktično izginili že pod rimsko prevlado.

Že v pradavnini so tiso častili kot sveto drevo. V grški in rimski mitologiji je bila pot, ki je vodila v kraljestva mrtvih, obdana s tisami, poznali so Germani in Kelti in je in pomenila obrambno moč, previdnost, potrpljenje, vztrajnost in zaščito v primeru napada ter modrost v nesreči.

Viri
 Solčavska tisa
 Naravna dediščina
 Tisa, čarodejno drevo

Tisovke

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Trendsetter — дебютный студийный альбом Coi Leray. Он был выпущен на лейблах Republic Records и 1801 8 апреля 2022. Альбом содержит гостевые участия от Ники Минаж, Yung Bleu, Fivio Foreign, Young M.A, G Herbo, H.E.R., Nav, Lil Durk, Wallo267, King Gillie, Polo G, Lil Tecca, A Boogie wit da Hoodie и Pooh Shiesty.

История
В июне 2021 года Coi Leray дала интервью Two Bees TV на церемонии вручения наград BET Awards 2021, в котором она сказала, что альбом будет выпущен в сентябре того же года, и назвала некоторых исполнителей, которые участвуют на нём. 1 октября 2021 года Coi Leray заявила, что готова выпустить альбом, но лейбл Republic Records не разрешил ей. Она объявила, что закончила работу над пластинкой в декабре 2021 года.

Выпуск и продвижение
28 марта 2022 года Coi Leray объявил дату выхода альбома и поделилась обложкой. Три дня спустя она обнародовала список исполнителей, которые появятся на альбоме. Coi Leray показала трек-лист 4 апреля 2022 года.

Синглы
Главный сингл альбома ремикс на сингл 2021 года «No More Party» при участии американского рэпера Lil Durk был выпущен 19 февраля 2021 года. Второй сингл «Big Purr (Prrdd)» при участии Pooh Shiesty вышел 26 марта 2021. Третий сингл «Twinnem» был выпущен 20 сентября 2021 года. Четвертый сингл «Anxiety» вышел 28 января 2022. Пятый и последний сингл «Blick Blick» при участии тринидадско-американской рэпершей Ники Минаж был выпущен 18 марта 2022 года.

Список композиций

Примечания

Дебютные альбомы 2022 года
Альбомы Republic Records
Альбомы, спродюсированные Dr. Luke


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(-) Remove PE5 (40) filter PE5 (40)
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Project acronym AltCheM
Project In vivo functional screens to decipher mechanisms of stochastically- and mutationally-induced chemoresistance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Researcher (PI) Alexandre PUISSANT
Summary Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), the most common leukemia diagnosed in adults, represents the paradigm of resistance to front-line therapies in hematology. Indeed, AML is so genetically complex that only few targeted therapies are currently tested in this disease and chemotherapy remains the only standard treatment for AML since the past four decades. Despite an initial sustained remission achieved by chemotherapeutic agents, almost all patients relapse with a chemoresistant minimal residual disease (MRD). The goal of my proposal is to characterize the still poorly understood biological mechanisms underlying persistence and emergence of MRD. MRD is the consequence of the re-expansion of leukemia-initiating cells that are intrinsically more resistant to chemotherapy. This cell fraction may be stochastically more prone to survive front-line therapy regardless of their mutational status (the stochastic model), or genetically predetermined to resist by virtue of a collection of chemoprotective mutations (the mutational model). I have already generated in mice, by consecutive rounds of chemotherapy, a stochastic MLL-AF9-driven chemoresistance model that I examined by RNA-sequencing. I will pursue the comprehensive cell autonomous and cell non-autonomous characterization of this chemoresistant AML disease using whole-exome and ChIP-sequencing. To establish a mutationally-induced chemoresistant mouse model, I will conduct an innovative in vivo screen using pooled mutant open reading frame and shRNA libraries in order to predict which combinations of mutations, among those already known in AML, actively promote chemoresistance. Finally, by combining genomic profiling and in vivo shRNA screening experiments, I will decipher the molecular mechanisms and identify the functional effectors of these two modes of resistance. Ultimately, I will then be able to firmly establish the fundamental relevance of the stochastic and/or the mutational model of chemoresistance for MRD genesis.
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), the most common leukemia diagnosed in adults, represents the paradigm of resistance to front-line therapies in hematology. Indeed, AML is so genetically complex that only few targeted therapies are currently tested in this disease and chemotherapy remains the only standard treatment for AML since the past four decades. Despite an initial sustained remission achieved by chemotherapeutic agents, almost all patients relapse with a chemoresistant minimal residual disease (MRD). The goal of my proposal is to characterize the still poorly understood biological mechanisms underlying persistence and emergence of MRD. MRD is the consequence of the re-expansion of leukemia-initiating cells that are intrinsically more resistant to chemotherapy. This cell fraction may be stochastically more prone to survive front-line therapy regardless of their mutational status (the stochastic model), or genetically predetermined to resist by virtue of a collection of chemoprotective mutations (the mutational model). I have already generated in mice, by consecutive rounds of chemotherapy, a stochastic MLL-AF9-driven chemoresistance model that I examined by RNA-sequencing. I will pursue the comprehensive cell autonomous and cell non-autonomous characterization of this chemoresistant AML disease using whole-exome and ChIP-sequencing. To establish a mutationally-induced chemoresistant mouse model, I will conduct an innovative in vivo screen using pooled mutant open reading frame and shRNA libraries in order to predict which combinations of mutations, among those already known in AML, actively promote chemoresistance. Finally, by combining genomic profiling and in vivo shRNA screening experiments, I will decipher the molecular mechanisms and identify the functional effectors of these two modes of resistance. Ultimately, I will then be able to firmly establish the fundamental relevance of the stochastic and/or the mutational model of chemoresistance for MRD genesis.
Project acronym aLzINK
Project Alzheimer's disease and Zinc: the missing link ?
Researcher (PI) Christelle Sandrine Florence HUREAU-SABATER
Summary Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most serious diseases mankind is now facing as its social and economical impacts are increasing fastly. AD is very complex and the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide as well as metallic ions (mainly copper and zinc) have been linked to its aetiology. While the deleterious impact of Cu is widely acknowledged, intervention of Zn is certain but still needs to be figured out. The main objective of the present proposal, which is strongly anchored in the bio-inorganic chemistry field at interface with spectroscopy and biochemistry, is to design, synthesize and study new drug candidates (ligands L) capable of (i) targeting Cu(II) bound to Aβ within the synaptic cleft, where Zn is co-localized and ultimately to develop Zn-driven Cu(II) removal from Aβ and (ii) disrupting the aberrant Cu(II)-Aβ interactions involved in ROS production and Aβ aggregation, two deleterious events in AD. The drug candidates will thus have high Cu(II) over Zn selectively to preserve the crucial physiological role of Zn in the neurotransmission process. Zn is always underestimated (if not completely neglected) in current therapeutic approaches targeting Cu(II) despite the known interference of Zn with Cu(II) binding. To reach this objective, it is absolutely necessary to first understand the metal ions trafficking issues in presence of Aβ alone at a molecular level (i.e. without the drug candidates).This includes: (i) determination of Zn binding site to Aβ, impact on Aβ aggregation and cell toxicity, (ii) determination of the mutual influence of Zn and Cu to their coordination to Aβ, impact on Aβ aggregation, ROS production and cell toxicity. Methods used will span from organic synthesis to studies of neuronal model cells, with a major contribution of a wide panel of spectroscopic techniques including NMR, EPR, mass spectrometry, fluorescence, UV-Vis, circular-dichroism, X-ray absorption spectroscopy...
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most serious diseases mankind is now facing as its social and economical impacts are increasing fastly. AD is very complex and the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide as well as metallic ions (mainly copper and zinc) have been linked to its aetiology. While the deleterious impact of Cu is widely acknowledged, intervention of Zn is certain but still needs to be figured out. The main objective of the present proposal, which is strongly anchored in the bio-inorganic chemistry field at interface with spectroscopy and biochemistry, is to design, synthesize and study new drug candidates (ligands L) capable of (i) targeting Cu(II) bound to Aβ within the synaptic cleft, where Zn is co-localized and ultimately to develop Zn-driven Cu(II) removal from Aβ and (ii) disrupting the aberrant Cu(II)-Aβ interactions involved in ROS production and Aβ aggregation, two deleterious events in AD. The drug candidates will thus have high Cu(II) over Zn selectively to preserve the crucial physiological role of Zn in the neurotransmission process. Zn is always underestimated (if not completely neglected) in current therapeutic approaches targeting Cu(II) despite the known interference of Zn with Cu(II) binding. To reach this objective, it is absolutely necessary to first understand the metal ions trafficking issues in presence of Aβ alone at a molecular level (i.e. without the drug candidates).This includes: (i) determination of Zn binding site to Aβ, impact on Aβ aggregation and cell toxicity, (ii) determination of the mutual influence of Zn and Cu to their coordination to Aβ, impact on Aβ aggregation, ROS production and cell toxicity. Methods used will span from organic synthesis to studies of neuronal model cells, with a major contribution of a wide panel of spectroscopic techniques including NMR, EPR, mass spectrometry, fluorescence, UV-Vis, circular-dichroism, X-ray absorption spectroscopy...
Project acronym ARPEMA
Project Anionic redox processes: A transformational approach for advanced energy materials
Researcher (PI) Jean-Marie Tarascon
Host Institution (HI) COLLEGE DE FRANCE
Summary Redox chemistry provides the fundamental basis for numerous energy-related electrochemical devices, among which Li-ion batteries (LIB) have become the premier energy storage technology for portable electronics and vehicle electrification. Throughout its history, LIB technology has relied on cationic redox reactions as the sole source of energy storage capacity. This is no longer true. In 2013 we demonstrated that Li-driven reversible formation of (O2)n peroxo-groups in new layered oxides led to extraordinary increases in energy storage capacity. This finding, which is receiving worldwide attention, represents a transformational approach for creating advanced energy materials for not only energy storage, but also water splitting applications as both involve peroxo species. However, as is often the case with new discoveries, the fundamental science at work needs to be rationalized and understood. Specifically, what are the mechanisms for ion and electron transport in these Li-driven anionic redox reactions? To address these seminal questions and to widen the spectrum of materials (transition metal and anion) showing anionic redox chemistry, we propose a comprehensive research program that combines experimental and computational methods. The experimental methods include structural and electrochemical analyses (both ex-situ and in-situ), and computational modeling will be based on first-principles DFT for identifying the fundamental processes that enable anionic redox activity. The knowledge gained from these studies, in combination with our expertise in inorganic synthesis, will enable us to design a new generation of Li-ion battery materials that exhibit substantial increases (20 -30%) in energy storage capacity, with additional impacts on the development of Na-ion batteries and the design of water splitting catalysts, with the feasibility to surpass current water splitting efficiencies via novel (O2)n-based electrocatalysts.
Redox chemistry provides the fundamental basis for numerous energy-related electrochemical devices, among which Li-ion batteries (LIB) have become the premier energy storage technology for portable electronics and vehicle electrification. Throughout its history, LIB technology has relied on cationic redox reactions as the sole source of energy storage capacity. This is no longer true. In 2013 we demonstrated that Li-driven reversible formation of (O2)n peroxo-groups in new layered oxides led to extraordinary increases in energy storage capacity. This finding, which is receiving worldwide attention, represents a transformational approach for creating advanced energy materials for not only energy storage, but also water splitting applications as both involve peroxo species. However, as is often the case with new discoveries, the fundamental science at work needs to be rationalized and understood. Specifically, what are the mechanisms for ion and electron transport in these Li-driven anionic redox reactions? To address these seminal questions and to widen the spectrum of materials (transition metal and anion) showing anionic redox chemistry, we propose a comprehensive research program that combines experimental and computational methods. The experimental methods include structural and electrochemical analyses (both ex-situ and in-situ), and computational modeling will be based on first-principles DFT for identifying the fundamental processes that enable anionic redox activity. The knowledge gained from these studies, in combination with our expertise in inorganic synthesis, will enable us to design a new generation of Li-ion battery materials that exhibit substantial increases (20 -30%) in energy storage capacity, with additional impacts on the development of Na-ion batteries and the design of water splitting catalysts, with the feasibility to surpass current water splitting efficiencies via novel (O2)n-based electrocatalysts.
Project acronym AXIAL.EC
Project PRINCIPLES OF AXIAL POLARITY-DRIVEN VASCULAR PATTERNING
Researcher (PI) Claudio Franco
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUTO DE MEDICINA MOLECULAR JOAO LOBO ANTUNES
Summary The formation of a functional patterned vascular network is essential for development, tissue growth and organ physiology. Several human vascular disorders arise from the mis-patterning of blood vessels, such as arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms and diabetic retinopathy. Although blood flow is recognised as a stimulus for vascular patterning, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate endothelial cell behaviour in response to flow and promote vascular patterning. Recently, we uncovered that endothelial cells migrate extensively in the immature vascular network, and that endothelial cells polarise against the blood flow direction. Here, we put forward the hypothesis that vascular patterning is dependent on the polarisation and migration of endothelial cells against the flow direction, in a continuous flux of cells going from low-shear stress to high-shear stress regions. We will establish new reporter mouse lines to observe and manipulate endothelial polarity in vivo in order to investigate how polarisation and coordination of endothelial cells movements are orchestrated to generate vascular patterning. We will manipulate cell polarity using mouse models to understand the importance of cell polarisation in vascular patterning. Also, using a unique zebrafish line allowing analysis of endothelial cell polarity, we will perform a screen to identify novel regulators of vascular patterning. Finally, we will explore the hypothesis that defective flow-dependent endothelial polarisation underlies arteriovenous malformations using two genetic models. This integrative approach, based on high-resolution imaging and unique experimental models, will provide a unifying model defining the cellular and molecular principles involved in vascular patterning. Given the physiological relevance of vascular patterning in health and disease, this research plan will set the basis for the development of novel clinical therapies targeting vascular disorders.
The formation of a functional patterned vascular network is essential for development, tissue growth and organ physiology. Several human vascular disorders arise from the mis-patterning of blood vessels, such as arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms and diabetic retinopathy. Although blood flow is recognised as a stimulus for vascular patterning, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate endothelial cell behaviour in response to flow and promote vascular patterning. Recently, we uncovered that endothelial cells migrate extensively in the immature vascular network, and that endothelial cells polarise against the blood flow direction. Here, we put forward the hypothesis that vascular patterning is dependent on the polarisation and migration of endothelial cells against the flow direction, in a continuous flux of cells going from low-shear stress to high-shear stress regions. We will establish new reporter mouse lines to observe and manipulate endothelial polarity in vivo in order to investigate how polarisation and coordination of endothelial cells movements are orchestrated to generate vascular patterning. We will manipulate cell polarity using mouse models to understand the importance of cell polarisation in vascular patterning. Also, using a unique zebrafish line allowing analysis of endothelial cell polarity, we will perform a screen to identify novel regulators of vascular patterning. Finally, we will explore the hypothesis that defective flow-dependent endothelial polarisation underlies arteriovenous malformations using two genetic models. This integrative approach, based on high-resolution imaging and unique experimental models, will provide a unifying model defining the cellular and molecular principles involved in vascular patterning. Given the physiological relevance of vascular patterning in health and disease, this research plan will set the basis for the development of novel clinical therapies targeting vascular disorders.
Project acronym BetaRegeneration
Project Induction of Insulin-producing beta-cells Regeneration in vivo
Researcher (PI) Patrick Collombat
Summary Diabetes has become one of the most widespread metabolic disorders with epidemic dimensions affecting almost 6% of the world's population. Despite modern treatments, the life expectancy of patients with Type 1 diabetes remains reduced as compared to healthy subjects. There is therefore a need for alternative therapies. Towards this aim, using the mouse, we recently demonstrated that the in vivo forced expression of a single factor in pancreatic alpha-cells is sufficient to induce a continuous regeneration of alpha-cells and their subsequent conversion into beta-like cells, such converted cells being capable of reversing the consequences of chemically-induced diabetes in vivo (Collombat et al. Cell, 2009). The PI and his team therefore propose to further decipher the mechanisms involved in this alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration process and determine whether this approach may be applied to adult animals and whether it would efficiently reverse Type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, a major effort will be made to verify whether our findings could be translated to human. Specifically, we will use a tri-partite approach to address the following issues: (1) Can the in vivo alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration be induced in adults mice? What would be the genetic determinants involved? (2) Can alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration reverse diabetes in the NOD Type 1 diabetes mouse model? (3) Can adult human alpha-cells be converted into beta-like cells? Together, these ambitious objectives will most certainly allow us to gain new insight into the mechanisms defining the identity and the reprogramming capabilities of mouse and human endocrine cells and may thereby open new avenues for the treatment of diabetes. Similarly, the determination of the molecular triggers implicated in the beta-cell regeneration observed in our diabetic mice may lead to exciting new findings, including the identification of "drugable" targets of importance for human diabetic patients.
Diabetes has become one of the most widespread metabolic disorders with epidemic dimensions affecting almost 6% of the world's population. Despite modern treatments, the life expectancy of patients with Type 1 diabetes remains reduced as compared to healthy subjects. There is therefore a need for alternative therapies. Towards this aim, using the mouse, we recently demonstrated that the in vivo forced expression of a single factor in pancreatic alpha-cells is sufficient to induce a continuous regeneration of alpha-cells and their subsequent conversion into beta-like cells, such converted cells being capable of reversing the consequences of chemically-induced diabetes in vivo (Collombat et al. Cell, 2009). The PI and his team therefore propose to further decipher the mechanisms involved in this alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration process and determine whether this approach may be applied to adult animals and whether it would efficiently reverse Type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, a major effort will be made to verify whether our findings could be translated to human. Specifically, we will use a tri-partite approach to address the following issues: (1) Can the in vivo alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration be induced in adults mice? What would be the genetic determinants involved? (2) Can alpha-cell-mediated beta-cell regeneration reverse diabetes in the NOD Type 1 diabetes mouse model? (3) Can adult human alpha-cells be converted into beta-like cells? Together, these ambitious objectives will most certainly allow us to gain new insight into the mechanisms defining the identity and the reprogramming capabilities of mouse and human endocrine cells and may thereby open new avenues for the treatment of diabetes. Similarly, the determination of the molecular triggers implicated in the beta-cell regeneration observed in our diabetic mice may lead to exciting new findings, including the identification of "drugable" targets of importance for human diabetic patients.
Project acronym BIOMIM
Project Biomimetic films and membranes as advanced materials for studies on cellular processes
Researcher (PI) Catherine Cecile Picart
Host Institution (HI) INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLE
Summary The main objective nowadays in the field of biomaterials is to design highly performing bioinspired materials learning from natural processes. Importantly, biochemical and physical cues are key parameters that can affect cellular processes. Controlling processes that occur at the cell/material interface is also of prime importance to guide the cell response. The main aim of the current project is to develop novel functional bio-nanomaterials for in vitro biological studies. Our strategy is based on two related projects. The first project deals with the rational design of smart films with foreseen applications in musculoskeletal tissue engineering. We will gain knowledge of key cellular processes by designing well defined self-assembled thin coatings. These multi-functional surfaces with bioactivity (incorporation of growth factors), mechanical (film stiffness) and topographical properties (spatial control of the film s properties) will serve as tools to mimic the complexity of the natural materials in vivo and to present bioactive molecules in the solid phase. We will get a better fundamental understanding of how cellular functions, including adhesion and differentiation of muscle cells are affected by the materials s surface properties. In the second project, we will investigate at the molecular level a crucial aspect of cell adhesion and motility, which is the intracellular linkage between the plasma membrane and the cell cytoskeleton. We aim to elucidate the role of ERM proteins, especially ezrin and moesin, in the direct linkage between the plasma membrane and actin filaments. Here again, we will use a well defined microenvironment in vitro to simplify the complexity of the interactions that occur in cellulo. To this end, lipid membranes containing a key regulator lipid from the phosphoinositides familly, PIP2, will be employed in conjunction with purified proteins to investigate actin regulation by ERM proteins in the presence of PIP2-membranes.
The main objective nowadays in the field of biomaterials is to design highly performing bioinspired materials learning from natural processes. Importantly, biochemical and physical cues are key parameters that can affect cellular processes. Controlling processes that occur at the cell/material interface is also of prime importance to guide the cell response. The main aim of the current project is to develop novel functional bio-nanomaterials for in vitro biological studies. Our strategy is based on two related projects. The first project deals with the rational design of smart films with foreseen applications in musculoskeletal tissue engineering. We will gain knowledge of key cellular processes by designing well defined self-assembled thin coatings. These multi-functional surfaces with bioactivity (incorporation of growth factors), mechanical (film stiffness) and topographical properties (spatial control of the film s properties) will serve as tools to mimic the complexity of the natural materials in vivo and to present bioactive molecules in the solid phase. We will get a better fundamental understanding of how cellular functions, including adhesion and differentiation of muscle cells are affected by the materials s surface properties. In the second project, we will investigate at the molecular level a crucial aspect of cell adhesion and motility, which is the intracellular linkage between the plasma membrane and the cell cytoskeleton. We aim to elucidate the role of ERM proteins, especially ezrin and moesin, in the direct linkage between the plasma membrane and actin filaments. Here again, we will use a well defined microenvironment in vitro to simplify the complexity of the interactions that occur in cellulo. To this end, lipid membranes containing a key regulator lipid from the phosphoinositides familly, PIP2, will be employed in conjunction with purified proteins to investigate actin regulation by ERM proteins in the presence of PIP2-membranes.
Project acronym BreakingBarriers
Project Targeting endothelial barriers to combat disease
Researcher (PI) Anne Eichmann
Summary Tissue homeostasis requires coordinated barrier function in blood and lymphatic vessels. Opening of junctions between endothelial cells (ECs) lining blood vessels leads to tissue fluid accumulation that is drained by lymphatic vessels. A pathological increase in blood vessel permeability or lack or malfunction of lymphatic vessels leads to edema and associated defects in macromolecule and immune cell clearance. Unbalanced barrier function between blood and lymphatic vessels contributes to neurodegeneration, chronic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. In this proposal, we seek to gain mechanistic understanding into coordination of barrier function between blood and lymphatic vessels, how this process is altered in disease models and how it can be manipulated for therapeutic purposes. We will focus on two critical barriers with diametrically opposing functions, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the lymphatic capillary barrier (LCB). ECs of the BBB form very tight junctions that restrict paracellular access to the brain. In contrast, open junctions of the LCB ensure uptake of extravasated fluid, macromolecules and immune cells, as well as lipid in the gut. We have identified novel effectors of BBB and LCB junctions and will determine their role in adult homeostasis and in disease models. Mouse genetic gain and loss of function approaches in combination with histological, ultrastructural, functional and molecular analysis will determine mechanisms underlying formation of tissue specific EC barriers. Deliverables include in vivo validated targets that could be used for i) opening the BBB on demand for drug delivery into the brain, and ii) to lower plasma lipid uptake via interfering with the LCB, with implications for prevention of obesity, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. These pioneering studies promise to open up new opportunities for research and treatment of neurovascular and cardiovascular disease.
Tissue homeostasis requires coordinated barrier function in blood and lymphatic vessels. Opening of junctions between endothelial cells (ECs) lining blood vessels leads to tissue fluid accumulation that is drained by lymphatic vessels. A pathological increase in blood vessel permeability or lack or malfunction of lymphatic vessels leads to edema and associated defects in macromolecule and immune cell clearance. Unbalanced barrier function between blood and lymphatic vessels contributes to neurodegeneration, chronic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. In this proposal, we seek to gain mechanistic understanding into coordination of barrier function between blood and lymphatic vessels, how this process is altered in disease models and how it can be manipulated for therapeutic purposes. We will focus on two critical barriers with diametrically opposing functions, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the lymphatic capillary barrier (LCB). ECs of the BBB form very tight junctions that restrict paracellular access to the brain. In contrast, open junctions of the LCB ensure uptake of extravasated fluid, macromolecules and immune cells, as well as lipid in the gut. We have identified novel effectors of BBB and LCB junctions and will determine their role in adult homeostasis and in disease models. Mouse genetic gain and loss of function approaches in combination with histological, ultrastructural, functional and molecular analysis will determine mechanisms underlying formation of tissue specific EC barriers. Deliverables include in vivo validated targets that could be used for i) opening the BBB on demand for drug delivery into the brain, and ii) to lower plasma lipid uptake via interfering with the LCB, with implications for prevention of obesity, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. These pioneering studies promise to open up new opportunities for research and treatment of neurovascular and cardiovascular disease.
Project acronym BrightSens
Project Ultrabright Turn-on Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticles for Amplified Molecular Sensing in Living Cells
Researcher (PI) Andrii Andrey Klymchenko
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE STRASBOURG
Summary Existing fluorescent molecular probes, due to limited brightness, do not allow imaging individual biomolecules directly in living cells, whereas bright fluorescent nanoparticles are unable to respond to single molecular stimuli and their inorganic core is not biodegradable. The aim of BrightSens is to develop ultrabright fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) capable to convert single molecular stimuli into collective turn-on response of >100 encapsulated dyes, and to apply them in amplified molecular sensing of specific targets at the cell surface (receptors) and in the cytosol (mRNA). The project is composed of three work packages. (1) Synthesis of FONs: Dye-doped polymer and micellar FONs will be obtained by self-assembly. Molecular design of dyes and the use of bulky hydrophobic counterions will enable precise control of dyes organization inside FONs, which will resolve the fundamental problems of self-quenching and cooperative on/off switching in dye ensembles. (2) Synthesis of nanoprobes: Using cooperative Forster Resonance Energy Transfer from FONs to originally designed acceptor-sensor unit, we propose synthesis of the first nanoprobes that (a) undergo complete turn-on or colour switch in response to single molecular targets and (b) harvest light energy into photochemical disruption of cell membrane barriers. (3) Cellular applications: The obtained nanoprobes will be applied in 2D and 3D cultures of cancer cells for background-free single-molecule detection of membrane receptors and intracellular mRNA, which are important markers of cancer and apoptosis. An original concept of amplified photochemical internalization is proposed to trigger by light entry of nanoprobes into the cytosol. This high-risk/high-gain multidisciplinary project will result in new organic nanomaterials with unique photophysical properties that will enable visualization of biomolecules at work in living cells with expected impact on cancer research.
Existing fluorescent molecular probes, due to limited brightness, do not allow imaging individual biomolecules directly in living cells, whereas bright fluorescent nanoparticles are unable to respond to single molecular stimuli and their inorganic core is not biodegradable. The aim of BrightSens is to develop ultrabright fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) capable to convert single molecular stimuli into collective turn-on response of >100 encapsulated dyes, and to apply them in amplified molecular sensing of specific targets at the cell surface (receptors) and in the cytosol (mRNA). The project is composed of three work packages. (1) Synthesis of FONs: Dye-doped polymer and micellar FONs will be obtained by self-assembly. Molecular design of dyes and the use of bulky hydrophobic counterions will enable precise control of dyes organization inside FONs, which will resolve the fundamental problems of self-quenching and cooperative on/off switching in dye ensembles. (2) Synthesis of nanoprobes: Using cooperative Forster Resonance Energy Transfer from FONs to originally designed acceptor-sensor unit, we propose synthesis of the first nanoprobes that (a) undergo complete turn-on or colour switch in response to single molecular targets and (b) harvest light energy into photochemical disruption of cell membrane barriers. (3) Cellular applications: The obtained nanoprobes will be applied in 2D and 3D cultures of cancer cells for background-free single-molecule detection of membrane receptors and intracellular mRNA, which are important markers of cancer and apoptosis. An original concept of amplified photochemical internalization is proposed to trigger by light entry of nanoprobes into the cytosol. This high-risk/high-gain multidisciplinary project will result in new organic nanomaterials with unique photophysical properties that will enable visualization of biomolecules at work in living cells with expected impact on cancer research.
Project acronym CARBONFIX
Project Towards a Self-Amplifying Carbon-Fixing Anabolic Cycle
Researcher (PI) Joseph Moran
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DE RECHERCHE AUX FRONTIERES DE LA CHIMIE FONDATION
Summary How can simple molecules self-organize into a growing synthetic reaction network like biochemical metabolism? This proposal takes a novel synthesis-driven approach to the question by mimicking a central self-amplifying CO2-fixing biochemical reaction cycle known as the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle. The intermediates of this cycle are the synthetic precursors to all major classes of biomolecules and are built from CO2, an anhydride and electrons from simple reducing agents. Based on the nature of the reactions in the cycle and the specific structural features of the intermediates that comprise it, we propose that the entire cycle may be enabled in a single reaction vessel with a surprisingly small number of simple, mutually compatible catalysts from the recent synthetic organic literature. However, since one of the required reactions does not yet have an efficient synthetic equivalent in the literature and since those that do have not yet been carried out sequentially in a single reaction vessel, we will first independently develop the new reaction and sequences before attempting to combine them into the entire cycle. The new reaction and sequences will be useful green synthetic methods in their own right. Most significantly, this endeavour could provide the first experimental evidence of an exciting new alternative model for early biochemical evolution that finally illuminates the origins and necessity of biochemistry's core reactions.
How can simple molecules self-organize into a growing synthetic reaction network like biochemical metabolism? This proposal takes a novel synthesis-driven approach to the question by mimicking a central self-amplifying CO2-fixing biochemical reaction cycle known as the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle. The intermediates of this cycle are the synthetic precursors to all major classes of biomolecules and are built from CO2, an anhydride and electrons from simple reducing agents. Based on the nature of the reactions in the cycle and the specific structural features of the intermediates that comprise it, we propose that the entire cycle may be enabled in a single reaction vessel with a surprisingly small number of simple, mutually compatible catalysts from the recent synthetic organic literature. However, since one of the required reactions does not yet have an efficient synthetic equivalent in the literature and since those that do have not yet been carried out sequentially in a single reaction vessel, we will first independently develop the new reaction and sequences before attempting to combine them into the entire cycle. The new reaction and sequences will be useful green synthetic methods in their own right. Most significantly, this endeavour could provide the first experimental evidence of an exciting new alternative model for early biochemical evolution that finally illuminates the origins and necessity of biochemistry's core reactions.
Project acronym chemech
Project From Chemical Bond Forces and Breakage to Macroscopic Fracture of Soft Materials
Researcher (PI) Costantino CRETON
Summary Soft materials are irreplaceable in engineering applications where large reversible deformations are needed, and in life sciences to mimic ever more closely or replace a variety of living tissues. While mechanical strength may not be essential for all applications, excessive brittleness is a strong limitation. Yet predicting if a soft material will be tough or brittle from its molecular composition or structure relies on empirical concepts due to the lack of proper tools to detect the damage occurring to the material before it breaks. Taking advantage of the recent advances in materials science and mechanochemistry, we propose a ground-breaking method to investigate the mechanisms of fracture of tough soft materials. To achieve this objective we will use a series of model materials containing a variable population of internal sacrificial bonds that break before the material fails macroscopically, and use a combination of advanced characterization techniques and molecular probes to map stress, strain, bond breakage and structure in a region ~100 µm in size ahead of the propagating crack. By using mechanoluminescent and mechanophore molecules incorporated in the model material in selected positions, confocal laser microscopy, digital image correlation and small-angle X-ray scattering we will gain an unprecedented molecular understanding of where and when bonds break as the material fails and the crack propagates, and will then be able to establish a direct relation between the architecture of soft polymer networks and their fracture energy, leading to a new molecular and multi-scale vision of macroscopic fracture of soft materials. Such advances will be invaluable to guide materials chemists to design and develop better and more finely tuned soft but tough and sometimes self-healing materials to replace living tissues (in bio engineering) and make lightweight tough and flexible parts for energy efficient transport.
Soft materials are irreplaceable in engineering applications where large reversible deformations are needed, and in life sciences to mimic ever more closely or replace a variety of living tissues. While mechanical strength may not be essential for all applications, excessive brittleness is a strong limitation. Yet predicting if a soft material will be tough or brittle from its molecular composition or structure relies on empirical concepts due to the lack of proper tools to detect the damage occurring to the material before it breaks. Taking advantage of the recent advances in materials science and mechanochemistry, we propose a ground-breaking method to investigate the mechanisms of fracture of tough soft materials. To achieve this objective we will use a series of model materials containing a variable population of internal sacrificial bonds that break before the material fails macroscopically, and use a combination of advanced characterization techniques and molecular probes to map stress, strain, bond breakage and structure in a region ~100 µm in size ahead of the propagating crack. By using mechanoluminescent and mechanophore molecules incorporated in the model material in selected positions, confocal laser microscopy, digital image correlation and small-angle X-ray scattering we will gain an unprecedented molecular understanding of where and when bonds break as the material fails and the crack propagates, and will then be able to establish a direct relation between the architecture of soft polymer networks and their fracture energy, leading to a new molecular and multi-scale vision of macroscopic fracture of soft materials. Such advances will be invaluable to guide materials chemists to design and develop better and more finely tuned soft but tough and sometimes self-healing materials to replace living tissues (in bio engineering) and make lightweight tough and flexible parts for energy efficient transport.


text:
Q: Express user authentication middleware, how much should it do? I'm trying to learn Express session and authentication handling.
For example:
app.post('/login', authCredentials, function(req, res) {
   console.log("second")
});

function authCredentials(req, res, next) {
  //this happens first
  console.log(req.body) // => { username: etc, password: etc }
  next();
}

My question is just how much should my authCredentials function do?
For example if the credentials are correct, I can do something like
res.redirect('/index'). Once I do that, however, what purpose does the second function have?
Other questions:

*

*How would I handle invalid credentials?

*If I make authCredentials just return true or false depending on the credentials, doesn't that break the middleware flow because it would never invoke next()?

*Is it possible to access anything in authCredentials in the anonymous callback after it? Basically in the function(req, res) { }?

A: The answer depends on your authentication strategy i.e. are you using session identifiers, access tokens, etc.
In either case I suggest that you break out the credential exchange (aka login) from the authentication.
function usernamePasswordExchange(req,res,next){
  var username = req.body.username;
  var password = req.body.password;

  callToAuthService(username,password,function(err,user){
    if(err){
      next(err); // bad password, user doesn't exist, etc
    }else{
      /*
        this part depends on your application.  do you use
        sessions or access tokens?  you need to send the user
        something that they can use for authentication on
        subsequent requests
      */
      res.end(/* send something */);
    }
  });
}

function authenticate(req,res,next){
  /*
    read the cookie, access token, etc.
    verify that it is legit and then find
    the user that it's associated with
  */
  validateRequestAndGetUser(req,function(err,user){
    if(err){
      next(err); // session expired, tampered, revoked
    }else{
      req.user = user;
      next();
    }
  });
}

app.post('/login',usernamePasswordExchange);

app.get('/protected-resource',authenticate,function(req,res,next){
  /*
    If we are here we know the user is authenticated and we
    can know who the user is by referencing req.user
  */
});

Disclaimer: I work at Stormpath and we spend a lot of time writing
authentication code :) I just wrote our newest library, stormpath-sdk-express,
which has a concrete implementation of my suggestions

A: You want to add your authCredentials middleware to every end point that needs authentication. app.post('/login') usually does not need any as you want to access this end point to actually get credentials in the first place.
When credentials are correct/valid you simply invoke next() and the workflow will jump to the next middleware or the actual end point. If there was an error, invoke next() with an error object like next(new Error('could not authenticate'); for instance. Add an error route to your general routing and the error will be handled there:
app.use(function(err, req, res, next) {
    res.render('error', err);
});

*

*Should be answered by now.

*A middleware does not return a value. It either calls next() or ends the process differently by calling res.send().

*There are different approaches to pass variables from one middleware to another. The most common is probably to attach the desired value to the req parameter.

authenticate is an asychronous function in the following example:
function authCredentials(req, res, next) {
    authenticate(req.body, function(err, user) {
        if (err) {
            return next(err);
        }
        req.user = user;
        next();
    });
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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Veteran's DayBeth Winchell2018-11-08T22:03:33+00:00
Phi Psi News Blog
Moments of Gratitude
On Veterans' Day, we remember the perils of WW1 that led to the commemoration of heroes.
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (Virginia 1979, Johns Hopskins 1883) was a distinguished leader his entire life. He served as chapter President for two different chapters, and as an official delegate to the 1880 Grand Arch Council, amongst his more well-known professional, academic and political achievements.
Wilson, in his second term of Presidency during World War I, always sought to bring peace and unity to the deep divide of nations. And for this peace Wilson had a clear plan; his ideas for the negotiation of peace were outlined in his famous speech, Fourteen Points. Included in this proposal was the formation of the League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations. While the League of Nations and many of the Fourteen Points were never ratified by Congress, President Wilson's efforts contributed to the end of WW1 with the signing of the Armistice Agreement on November 11, 1918. We commemorate this date each year out of respect and gratitude for our veterans.
"At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 an Armistice Agreement was made that created a cessation of hostilities in what was described as 'The War to End all Wars'. It was the following year in 1919 that the first Armistice/Remembrance Day commemorations were recognized at the White House by President Wilson, and at Buckingham Palace by King George V."
Since that day in 1918 wars continue to plague our nations, and soldiers continue to give their lives in the name of freedom and justice. In 1954, President Eisenhower modified the Armistice Day Remembrance originally marked by Pres. Wilson, by declaring that November 11 be a day to honor all veterans, of all organizations, regardless of the conflict they served.
Today, and every day, but especially today, we take the time to say thank you to all those who have served or are serving to protect this nation.
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Ships ready to assemble. This table is Greenguard certified to support better indoor air quality for businesses and home offices.


text:
'use strict';

// Thermostats controller
angular.module('thermostats')

.controller('AddUserController', ['$scope', '$stateParams', '$location', 'Authentication', 'Thermostats', '$timeout', 'UsersThermostat',

	function($scope, $stateParams, $location, Authentication, Thermostats, $timeout, UsersThermostat) {
		// Find existing Thermostat
		$scope.findThermostat = function() {
			$scope.thermostat = Thermostats.get({
				thermostatId: $stateParams.thermostatId
			});
		};

		$scope.submitUser = function() {
			$scope.newUser = UsersThermostat.get({
				username: this.newUsername
			}, function() {
				console.log($scope.newUser._id);
				if ($scope.newUser._id) {
					var uniqueUser = true;
					$scope.thermostat.users.forEach( function(user) {
						console.log(user._id);

						if (user._id === $scope.newUser._id) {
							$scope.error = 'User already added to thermostat';
							uniqueUser = false;
						}
					});
					if (uniqueUser) {
						$scope.thermostat.users.push($scope.newUser);
						$scope.thermostat.$update(function() {
						}, function(errorResponse) {
							$scope.error = errorResponse.data.message;
						});
					}
				} else {
					$scope.error = 'username doesn\'t exist';
					console.log($scope.error);
				}
			});
		};

		$scope.removeUser = function(userIndex) {
			this.thermostat.users.splice(userIndex, 1);
			this.thermostat.$update(function() {
			}, function(errorResponse) {
				$scope.error = errorResponse.data.message;
			});
		};
	}
]);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NEWMAN FLAGS DOWN A NARROW VICTORY
Ed Hinton, Sentinel Staff WriterTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- NASCAR officials took the pizzazz out of another finish with a late caution Sunday. But this time there were no mistakes, just clockwork precision on the final judgment call.
With Ryan Newman leading but Kasey Kahne in hot pursuit and gaining and less than a mile remaining in the DHL 400, officials threw a caution to freeze the running order. Kahne's charge was instantaneously bridled, and Newman got the first victory of what had been a sputtering season for last year's winningest driver.
The premature end happened so fast, so late in the last lap, that no beer cans or coolers were thrown in protest by the 150,000-plus spectators at Michigan International Speedway. That was a respite from fan uproars at caution-aborted finishes in recent months.
Afterward, both drivers agreed that Kahne couldn't have passed Newman, even if they'd gone to the checkered flag under green.
"If it had gone all the way to the start/finish [line], he would have beat me by a car length probably," said Kahne, a 24-year-old rookie, after collecting his fourth second-place finish of the season.
"I really don't think he had a shot at all," Newman said, "but obviously he was closing in pretty fast."
The caution came out as the dueling Dodges of Newman and Kahne entered Turn 3 because of a wreck that happened far behind them -- P.J. Jones' crash into the wall in Turn 2.
As recently as a year ago, NASCAR rules would have allowed Newman and Kahne to keep racing to the line. And indeed, the track was clear ahead of them.
But the concern was for the safety of Jones and others in the back of the field, and that outweighed a few seconds of extra excitement up front.
"The 50 car [driven by Jones] made heavy contact with the wall, and he had at least six cars behind him," NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo said in a clarification. "And we didn't want to delay fire and rescue [teams] to him, due to the severity of the contact."
But just before that, for the first two-thirds of the final lap, Kahne brought the crowd to its feet with his surge.
"I saw Ryan get loose [exiting Turn 2], and when I first saw him wiggle I thought he might have been out of gas," Kahne said. "Then he was just loose, and I got a good run on him down the backstretch. I was just going to drive as hard as I could to see if I could catch him."
"I don't know if it was just oil [on the track] or I just hit something or what," said Newman, "but I got really, really loose and had to check up."
That's when Kahne closed the most, but Newman said he had no handling problems entering Turns 3 and 4.
"He wouldn't have gotten around me, I can guarantee you that," Newman said.
NASCAR ended its decades-long practice of "racing back to caution" -- i.e., back to the start-finish line after a caution flag comes out -- last September. Instead, NASCAR now "freezes the field" at the moment a caution begins, allowing no cars to improve position.
That has enhanced safety for both drivers and rescue crews, but it has also caused a lot of confusion this season. Two weeks ago at Dover, Del., officials took 24 laps to sort out a scoring dispute.
Last Sunday's Pocono 500 ended under caution as officials scrambled to deal with a heated game of fender-banging between Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick, and the Pennsylvania crowd was so riled that an assistant flagman was hit with a flying beer cooler.
All of that followed a storm of beer cans thrown onto the track by fans at Talladega, Ala., in April, in protest of an official decision that put Jeff Gordon ahead of crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a locked-in caution-flag finish.
This time, neither Newman nor Kahne would have been in contention for the win in the first place without all the new rules. Each fell a lap down during the race. But under cautions now, NASCAR allows the top-running driver among lapped cars a "free pass" back into the lead lap.
Both Newman and Kahne benefited from the free passes, to the annoyance of third-place Dale Jarrett, who earned his position without such a gift during the race.
"I just don't agree with giving people laps back," Jarrett said. "Both the guys who beat me were a lap down at one time. I don't know what that says."


text:
11 Celebrity Alcohol Brands to Try This Lockdown
Toilet rolls (Kim Kardashian), fizzy drinks (Taylor Swift), sizzling grills (George Foreman) – is there anything celebs won't put their faces to?
When we first heard of celebrity-endorsed alcohol brands, we all had the same thought…
'Here we go again!'
… but then we sat down and had a think about it (and some drinks) and did a complete u-turn!
Booze is different. People are passionate about alcohol. For some of these celebs, it's a genuine interest away from their (enviable) lives. And, hey, if you're going to have a side project, may as well make it boozy, right?
So we've checked out some of the biggest and best celeb-endorsed alcohol products which we think you should be trying yourselves!
Casamigos Tequila – George Clooney
Originally founded by the suave, sophisticated and sensationally stylish Mr George Clooney in 2013, Casamigos Tequila was sold in 2017 to British company Diageo for the small fee of $700 million, which could rise to a cool billion dependent on performance (think we're in the wrong business!).
Now, to spend *that* much money on a company, they must know something a lot of people don't and must have a huge amount of faith in the product. So it is definitely worth checking out if you ask us!
Haig Club Whisky – David Beckham
Haig Whisky really missed a trick when they got David Beckham to endorse their single grain Scotch whisky in 2014… Blend it like Beckham was a four-yard tap-in their marketing department should be ashamed of. We're just going to unofficially call it that and be done with it.
Light, sweet and sumptuously smooth, it's a fantastically quaffable beverage whisky aficionados will love. Get your bottle of Blend it Like Beckham here.
Heaven's Door Whiskey – Bob Dylan
We've had an actor and a footballer, it's about time we throw a musician into the mix, and they don't get much bigger, better or more famous than the legendary American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
We wouldn't knock on heaven's door, we'd be roundhouse kicking the door off its hinges to get our mitts on this sensational concoction which has been toasted in oak cigar barrels for extra depth of flavour. Award-winning and truly sublime!
Wild Turkey Longbranch Bourbon – Matthew McConaughey
The smooth-talking Hollywood A-Lister Matthew McConaughey holds the title of Creative Director at Wild Turkey and they've set out on a mission to create one of the best bourbons on the market which you'll have to be the judge of (we think it's pretty damn good if you were wondering!).
Boasting a smoky, subtle finish with notes of toasted oak, it's as refined and as cool as the main man himself!
Crystal Head Vodka – Dan Aykroyd
Not just a name to a brand, Dan Aykroyd and artist John Alexander came up with and co-founded this boozy venture back in 2007, and it's been going strong ever since.
Winner of multiple awards and critically acclaimed, it's been praised for its purity with no added sugar, citrus oils or additives included.
Proper No Twelve Irish Whiskey – Conor McGregor
The notorious cage fighter who sprang to prominence in the brutal world of MMA is famously proud of his Irish roots, so it was no surprise that he dipped his toes in the wonderful world of all things whiskey.
Propet No Twelve is aged for at least three years and is an ultra-smooth blend with notes of vanilla, honey and toasted barrel wood.
Miraval Rose – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
One of the most famous couples on the planet, Brangelina (or BroJo), are the proud co-owners of a stunning rosé wine company which is not only as classy and delicious as you'd expect, but it's also a lot cheaper than a lot of the other entries on the list.
For the certified connoisseurs amongst you, you can expect notes of raspberry, strawberry, citrus fruits and herbs.
Aviation Gin – Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds purchased a stake of Aviation American Gin back in 2018, joining an elite list of celebrities making waves in the booze world. As with Clooney's tequila company, it was bought up by Diageo who are seemingly buying up everything under the sun, but, again, there must be something in it if it's as highly sought after as it is.
Featuring juniper, cardamom, coriander, lavender, Indian sarsaparilla, sweet orange peel and aniseed it has an earthy flavour with floral undertones for a stunningly unique taste.
Sauza 901 – Justin Timberlake
Another celebrity, another tequila – this time it's singer/actor/all-round heartthrob Justin Timberlake who's dipped his toes into the endorsement of this stunning Mexican spirit.
Smooth and crisp with hints of almond honey and coconut, it's definitely worth a try!
Virginia Black Whiskey – Drake
If Drake puts his name to something, you better believe it's going to be pretty cool! Virginia Black Whiskey is a big hitter in the world of whiskey with its smooth rich flavour.
Expect notes of cinnamon, apple, marshmallow and caramel – very festive, perfect to enjoy over Christmas period!
Armand de Brignac Champagne – Jay-Z
Jay Z decided to buy the champagne company back in 2014 and this highly-acclaimed bubbly brand is rated very impressively by those in the know. Perfect for that extra-special celebration (Lockdown ending?!) it's a little pricier, but it is champagne, after all!