text:
HHS Proposes to Revise ACA Section 1557 Nondiscrimination Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is issuing a proposed rule to revise regulations implementing and enforcing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Section 1557 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities.
PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED RULE
The proposed rule would maintain vigorous civil rights enforcement of existing laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, and sex, while revising certain provisions of the current Section 1557 regulation that a federal court has said are likely unlawful. The proposal also would relieve the American people of $3.6 billion in unnecessary regulatory costs over five years, mainly by eliminating the mandate for entities to send patients and customers "notice and tagline" inserts in 15 foreign languages that have not proven effective at accomplishing their intended purpose. Covered entities report that they send billions of these notices by mail each year.
Section 1557 is a civil rights provision in the ACA that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities. Congress prohibited discrimination under Section 1557 by referencing four longstanding federal civil rights laws:
1. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin).
2. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex).
3. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability).
4. Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (Age Act) (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age).
HHS proposes to ensure the scope of the regulation matches the text of Section 1557 with respect to:
(1) Any health program or activity, any part of which is receiving federal financial assistance (including credits, subsidies, or contracts of insurance) provided by HHS;
(2) Any program or activity administered by HHS under Title I of the ACA; and
(3) Any program or activity administered by any entity established under that Title.
Thus, for example, the rule would apply to federally facilitated and state-based health insurance Exchanges created under the ACA, and the qualified health plans offered by issuers on those Exchanges.
Section 1557 has been in effect since its enactment in 2010, and Congress directed the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to enforce the provision.
Although Congress prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in 1972 (Title IX), and Section 1557 applied that law to healthcare and the Exchanges established under the ACA, HHS's 2016 Section 1557 regulation redefined discrimination "on the basis of sex" to include gender identity and termination of pregnancy and defined gender identity as one's internal sense of being "male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female." As a result, several states and healthcare entities filed federal lawsuits against HHS. On December 31, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued an opinion in Franciscan Alliance, Inc. et al. v. Burwell, preliminarily enjoining HHS's attempt to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and termination of pregnancy as sex discrimination in the Section 1557 regulation. This federal court concluded the provisions are likely contrary to applicable civil rights law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The preliminary injunction applies on a nationwide basis. A separate federal court in North Dakota agreed with the reasoning of the Franciscan Alliance decision, and stayed the rule's effect on the plaintiffs before it.
Consequently, HHS has concluded that it does not have legal authority to implement the provisions on gender identity and termination of pregnancy in light of the court's injunction which remains in full force and effect.
SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED RULE
WHAT THE PROPOSED RULE KEEPS IN PLACE
HHS Would Continue to Vigorously Enforce Civil Rights in Healthcare: Under the proposed rule, HHS would continue to vigorously enforce all applicable existing laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, and sex based on HHS's longstanding underlying civil rights regulations.
Protections for Individuals with Disabilities: The proposed rule would retain protections in the current Section 1557 regulation that ensure physical access for individuals with disabilities to healthcare facilities, and appropriate communication technology to assist persons who are visually or hearing-impaired.
Protections for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency: HHS proposes to retain the current Section 1557 regulation's qualifications for foreign language translators and interpreters for non-English speakers, and its limitations on the use of minors and family members as translators or interpreters. HHS also proposes to include standards from longstanding LEP guidance in the regulation to ensure meaningful access to health programs and activities for LEP individuals and flexibility in meeting such obligation.
Assurances of Compliance: Under the proposed rule, regulated entities would still be required to submit to HHS a binding assurance of compliance with Section 1557.
PROPOSED RULE REVISIONS
HHS proposes to revise various provisions that are not statutorily supported, are unnecessary, or are duplicative of existing regulations. HHS also proposes to remove costly and unjustified regulatory burdens, to conform the scope of the regulation to HHS's own implementation of the statutory limits set by Congress, and to implement the regulation consistent with all applicable federal civil rights laws.
Revise Provisions Preliminarily Enjoined Nationwide in Federal Court
Under the proposed rule, HHS would apply Congress's words using their plain meaning when they were written, instead of attempting to redefine sex discrimination to include gender identity and termination of pregnancy. These redefinitions were preliminarily enjoined because a federal court found they were unlawful and exceeded Congress's mandate. The proposed rule would not create a new definition of discrimination "on the basis of sex." Instead HHS would enforce Section 1557 by returning to the government's longstanding interpretation of "sex" under the ordinary meaning of the word Congress used. HHS also proposes to amend ten other regulations, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, implementing the prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex, to make them consistent with the approach taken in the proposed Section 1557 rule.
HHS proposes to ensure its Section 1557 and Title IX regulations include language Congress enacted that protects religious entities, and that prevents Title IX from requiring performance of, or payment for, abortions.
Remove Costly and Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens
The proposed rule would eliminate burdens imposed by the 2016 regulation's requirement that regulated health companies distribute non-discrimination notices and "tagline" translation notices in at least fifteen languages in "significant communications" to patients and customers. These notices have cost the healthcare industry billions of dollars (a cost which is ultimately passed on to consumers and patients), and data does not show that the notices have yielded the intended benefit for individuals with limited English proficiency.
Revise an Enforcement Structure That Created Legal Confusion
Section 1557 applies multiple civil rights statutes to healthcare settings. As Congress explicitly recognized in Section 1557, HHS has regulations in place for each of those statutes. HHS intends to enforce all those pre-existing statutes and regulations. The 2016 regulation, however, imposed a new single enforcement structure for every type of discrimination claim. Multiple federal courts have rejected various legal theories amalgamated into the 2016 regulation, such as the assertion of private rights of action for Title VI disparate impact claims. HHS proposes to return to the enforcement structure for each underlying civil right statute as provided by Congress and also proposes to remove portions of the 2016 regulation that are duplicative of, or inconsistent with, its longstanding regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and the Age Act.
Revise the Scope of HHS's Enforcement of Section 1557
HHS proposes to revise the 2016 regulation's interpretation of Section 1557 as applying to all operations of an entity, even if it is not principally engaged in healthcare. The proposed rule would, instead, apply Section 1557 to the healthcare activities of entities not principally engaged in healthcare only to the extent they are funded by HHS. For example, the proposed rule would generally not apply to short-term limited duration insurance, because providers of those plans are not principally engaged in the business of healthcare, and those specific plans do not receive federal financial assistance.
Comply with All Applicable Federal Civil Rights Laws, Including Conscience and Religious Freedom Protections
In addition to ensuring consistent enforcement of longstanding regulations for Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and the Age Act as passed by Congress and implemented by their HHS regulations, HHS proposes to add a regulatory provision stating that Section 1557 shall be enforced consistent with the ACA's healthcare conscience protections (Section 1303 concerning abortion and Section 1553 concerning assisted suicide); healthcare conscience laws set forth in the Church, Coats-Snowe, Weldon, Hyde, and Helms Amendments; the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; and the First Amendment to the Constitution.
The Proposed Rule
Author ErwinPosted on May 31, 2019 June 14, 2019 Categories Affordable Care Act, Health, Health Benefits, Welfare BenefisTags ACA, ERISA Litigation, HHS
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text:
The main stimulus for design and production of the ISGE Program were the initial "seed" grants provided by the National Science Foundation. These included:
$99,999 from the National Science Foundation (NSF), for a pilot for the multi-year development of an Integrated Science General Education curriculum teaching six conventional sciences using systems concepts as unifying themes with computerized multimedia modules and interdisciplinary laboratories, June, 1993
$300,000 as a Renewal Grant entitled "Integrated science General Education by Hybrid Interdisciplinary Methods," from the National Science Foundation , Course and Curriculum Development Program, begun June 1, 1997 to present
$430,000 (Cal Poly portion) of a $1.2 million grant to three CSU universities for connection to the Next Generation Internet and for testing new curricula on Internet2, from the National Science Foundation (co-authored and co-P.I.'d with Prof. Ibrahim and professors from two other CSU campuses), 1998
Both the amount of that external funding and the scientific credibility of these funding units greatly enhanced the decision-making and acceptance of the new ISGE Program. Although these occur third in the list due to geographical distance, these programs were the first and primary influence in starting the ISGE Program.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


EnerCorp is a true believer of personal growth and continued improvement.
EnerCorp is a true believer of personal growth and continued improvement. Our management team is dedicated to training and furthering their skillsets to ensure they can continue to improve performance as strategic managers, leading our organization forward.


SACRAMENTO, Calif. – If we want to make sure kids count in policy making, we need to count kids effectively in the 2020 Census, according to the 2018 KIDS COUNT Data Book from The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Billions of dollars in federal grants support programs such as Head Start preschool, special education, foster care, child care and more.
Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research with the advocacy group Children Now, says California is particularly at risk because the state has a high population of immigrants and families with small children – groups that have been under-counted in the past.
"That's important for California, because there's an estimated potential under-count of 750,000 children in California in the Census, so the state has a lot to lose in federal funding and support for programs," she states.
The Data Book rated California 36th in the country for overall child well-being, which is one point better than last year. The state is ranked 45th for economic well-being because of stubborn poverty.
One bright spot is child health. California is ranked ninth in the nation, primarily because the state expanded Medicaid in 2015 to include undocumented children.
Laura Speer, associate director of policy reform and advocacy with the Casey Foundation, says the state and the federal government need to allocate more resources to help convince immigrant families that it is safe to participate in the Census.
"There is a lot of fear of whether or not the information in the Census might be used against families," she states. "So, it's important to make sure that groups like child-care providers, churches, schools and libraries are places where people feel safe to fill out the census form."
The Trump administration wants to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 Census – a move panned by advocacy groups as inflammatory and unnecessary, as the Constitution requires a count of all people, not all citizens.


Full name Ernest Jennings Ford; born February 13, 1919, in Bristol, Tenn.; son of Clarence T. (a postal worker) and Maude Ford; married Betty J. Heminger, September 18, 1942; children: Jeffrey Bucknew, Brion. Education: Attended Virginia Intermount College, 1937-39, and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 1939. Addresses: Home-- 255 Mathache Dr., Portola Valley, Calif. 94025.
Several generations of fans have thrilled to the rich baritone-bass of Tennessee Ernie Ford, one of the first stars to have "crossover" hits in country and pop music. Ford's soothing voice and affable ways assured him constant employment on radio and television from the late 1930s until the 1970s, and his albums of religious music continue to sell well to this day. As Melvin Shestack puts it in The Country Music Encyclopedia, Ford is "a Good Old Boy with no rural edges left.... His rich voice and ability to put over songs (even some clinkers) has afforded him countless acres to cultivate solid gold peas."
Ernest Jennings Ford was born February 13, 1919, in the town of Bristol on the Tennessee-Virginia border. His father was a postal worker who liked to play the fiddle, and many of the Ford family members sang in the local church choir. Ford has said that his family's favorite song was "The Old Rugged Cross," a number he has recorded several times. As a youngster he loved to sing, appearing in high-school plays and taking part in the glee club. He also enjoyed listening to country music on the radio, and he made himself such a fixture at the Bristol radio station that after graduation he was offered a job. While attending Virginia Intermount College to study voice, he worked as an announcer for ten dollars a week. In the fall of 1939 he enrolled at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, but he returned to radio work before the school year ended.
Between 1939 and 1941 Ford served as a disc jockey and announcer on stations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Knoxville, Tennessee. He enlisted in the Air Corps soon after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, becoming a bombardier on heavy aircraft. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant, he was stationed in California as a flight instructor for most of the war, and in 1942 he married Betty J. Heminger. After the war, Ford decided to stay in California. He returned to radio work in a succession of stations in San Bernardino, Pasadena, and El Monte.
The postwar years saw California emerge as a strong market for country-and-western music, and Ford was able to capitalize on that demand. He became friends with Cliffie Stone, whose well-known variety shows "Dinner Bell Roundup" and "Hometown Jamboree" were havens for country talent. By 1948 Ford was a regular soloist on Stone's shows, and Stone helped him to land a recording contract with Capitol Records. The following year Ford had his first charted country hits, "Mule Train" and "Smokey Mountain Boogie." In 1950 Ford and Kay Starr recorded a duet, "I'll Never Be Free," that climbed both the country and pop charts. Thereafter the avuncular Ford's talents were in great demand. As television found its way into American homes, his popularity soared.
Ford's biggest hit came early in 1956. He released "Sixteen Tons," a pessimistic pro-labor song about coal mining, just before Christmas, 1955. "Sixteen Tons" had originally been recorded by its author, Merle Travis, in 1947, but Ford added a soft-rock arrangement that gave the populist tune a snappy beat. In nine weeks "Sixteen Tons" had sold two million copies; it topped the charts throughout the spring months. Ford had his own daytime television show at the time, but the success of the single led to a prime-time variety show on NBC. Enigmatically entitled "The Ford Show," Ford's program was sponsored by the automobile manufacturer of the same name. After a rocky start it quickly gained popularity, running for six years. A New York Times critic has said of the show: "[Ford's] personable drawl, ingratiating smile, and unhurried manner provided a jovial and restful pleasant half-hour." Ford himself decided to cancel the show in 1961 when he retired briefly to be with his family.
Ford had one last daily television show from 1962 until 1965 on ABC. After that, he confined himself to recording and touring, with an occasional television special and numerous appearances on others' shows. Early in his career Ford had discovered an enthusiastic audience for religious music, and as he aged he recorded more and more traditional Christian hymns. It is these works that have maintained his strong following, one that is independent of the vicissitudes of the pop and country markets. Ford's rich bass is particularly well suited to hymn singing, and his renditions of "Old Rugged Cross," "Rock of Ages," and "Faith of Our Fathers," among others, are classics. In 1963 he became one of the first religious performers to earn a platinum record, for the album Hymns. Ford's modern recording work is almost exclusively hymns. He still does personal appearances in Nashville and elsewhere--he was one of the first country performers to tour the Soviet Union--but he now lives in semi-retirement on his ranch in northern California. Coronet magazine contributor Richard G. Hubler notes that Ford broke new ground as an entertainer when he brought "a satiric sophistication to hill-country wit; his offhand comments are those of a new type of minstrel-philosopher." World-Telegram and Sun reporter Harriet Van Horne has called Ford "an original--in thought, word, and deed," whose talent is "the kind ... you can't weigh in gold."
Radio announcer at WOPI, Bristol, Tenn., 1937-39; announcer and disc jockey at WATL, Atlanta, Ga., 1939-41; beginning in 1945 was announcer, singer, and disc jockey at radio stations in San Bernardino, Calif., Reno, Nev., and Pasadena, Calif. In 1949 became featured soloist on "Hometown Jamboree," a country-music variety program heard over radio in El Monte, Calif. Signed with Capitol Records, 1948, had first hit (with Kay Starr), "I'll Never Be Free," 1950. Had first million-selling hit, "Sixteen Tons," 1956. Star of network radio programs, 1952-53; appeared on NBC television show "The College of Musical Knowledge," 1953; starred in a daily daytime variety show for NBC, 1955. Star of "The Ford Show" on NBC-TV, 1956-61, and a daily show on ABC-TV, 1962-65. Has made numerous tours in the United States and Europe and performed in the Soviet Union. Military service: United States Air Corps, 1941-45, served as bombardier and instructor, promoted to lieutenant.
Nearer the Cross Capitol, 1958.
Sing a Hymn Capitol, 1960.
Civil War Songs of the North Capitol, 1961.
Civil War Songs of the South Capitol, 1961.
Hymns at Home Capitol, 1961.
I Love to Tell the Story Capitol, 1962.
Sing a Hymn with Me Capitol, 1962.
Sing a Spiritual with Me Capitol, 1962.
This Lusty Land Capitol, 1963.
Tennessee Ernie Ford Capitol, 1963.
We Gather Together Capitol, 1963.
Long, Long Ago Capitol, 1963.
Great Gospel Songs Capitol, 1964.
Tennessee Ernie Ford's Country Hits Capitol, 1964.
World's Best Loved Hymns Capitol, 1965.
Make a Joyful Noise Capitol.
The Need for Prayer Pickwick.
Faith of Our Fathers Capitol.
For the 83rd Time Capitol.
Tennessee Ernie Ford Sings His Great Love Capitol.
The Story of Christmas Capitol.
The Very Best of Tennessee Ernie Ford Capitol.
(With Glen Campbell) Ernie Sings and Glen Picks Capitol.
Tennessee Ernie Ford Sings 22 Favorite Hymns Ranwood.
Swing Wide Your Golden Gate Word.
Tell Me the Old Story Word.
There's a Song in My Heart Word.
New York Times, October 6, 1956.
Saturday Evening Post, September 28, 1957.
World-Telegram and Sun, September 27, 1957.


text:
<?php

/**
 * @group properties
 */
class Papi_Property_String_Test extends Papi_Property_Test_Case {

	public $slugs = ['string_test', 'string_html_test'];

	public function get_value() {
		$args = func_get_args();
		switch ( $args[0] ) {
			case 'string_html_test':
				return '
hej
';
			default:
				return 'hello';
		}
	}

	public function get_expected() {
		$args = func_get_args();
		switch ( $args[0] ) {
			case 'string_html_test':
				return '
hej
';
			default:
				return 'hello';
		}
	}

	public function test_property_format_value() {
		$this->assertSame( $this->get_expected( 'string_test' ), $this->properties[0]->format_value( $this->get_value( 'string_test' ), '', 0 ) );
		$this->assertSame( $this->get_expected( 'string_html_test' ), $this->properties[1]->format_value( $this->get_value( 'string_html_test' ), '', 0 ) );
		$this->assertSame( 'Hello', $this->properties[0]->format_value( '
Hello
', '', 0 ) );
		$this->assertSame( '
Hello
', $this->properties[1]->format_value( '
Hello
', '', 0 ) );
	}

	public function test_property_options() {
		$this->assertSame( 'string', $this->properties[0]->get_option( 'type' ) );
		$this->assertSame( 'String test', $this->properties[0]->get_option( 'title' ) );
		$this->assertSame( 'papi_string_test', $this->properties[0]->get_option( 'slug' ) );

		$this->assertSame( 'string', $this->properties[1]->get_option( 'type' ) );
		$this->assertSame( 'String html test', $this->properties[1]->get_option( 'title' ) );
		$this->assertSame( 'papi_string_html_test', $this->properties[1]->get_option( 'slug' ) );
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The city of Elk Grove has entered into an agreement to purchase a vacant building in Old Town Elk Grove. The building located at 9676 Railroad Street, was built in the 1900's and has been vacant for some time.
The city has agreed to purchase the building for $500,000. Escrow is expected to close in September if all goes as planned. Then the city will seek bids from developers for a possible restaurant or brewery at the location.
The 1.75 acre parcel is located just south of the planned Old Town Plaza. The plaza is the site of the weekly Old Town Farmers Market and events such as the Brewfest. The city is in the midst of improving the plaza. Stage one includes a bathroom and a newly paved area, which will be completed this summer.


Painting: Acrylic, Ink, Gouache, Monotype, Screenprinting on Paper.
Loving pink on this natural/warm grey-ish paper. This paper asorbs color so it feels almost native to the paper. It feels warm and natural.
Playing on a theme of circular moving shapes that have been screenprinted and then inked/washed over, with multiple layers of small topographic dots juxtaposed against the stark and graphic navy blue dots that spill down the paper. This painting feels quite painterly with variations in the dots/paint across.
This is primarily a navy blue, not black. The navy is dark but has a bit more life than true black.
Please see a sample of the paper in the thumbnails.


In October 2018, in response to ten consecutive months of declining building approvals for private sector houses, Master Builders SA released "Make Housing Great Again", our five point plan to improve affordability and protect jobs in the industry.
One of the key recommendations was a stamp duty exemption for first homebuyers on new builds up to the median house price, with a long-term view to complete abolition on new builds.
Master Builders SA Chief Executive Officer Ian Markos said the report provided a compelling case for the Marshall Government to abolish stamp duty on new builds up to the median house price in this year's State Budget.
"Stamp duty distorts the supply and demand balance for new housing and is a major impediment to economic growth," said Mr Markos.
"As housing costs have increased substantially in recent decades, the weight of stamp duty hasn't come down at all. The amount of stamp duty is enormous now, about $20,000 on the current median house price of $470,000. For a first homebuyer, that's a massive impost and possibly the difference between owning their own home or not.
"Our policies to improve affordability and protect jobs in the housing industry are based on what is proven to work under both Liberal and Labor governments interstate.
"As noted by the ABS, the strong growth in loans to first home buyers has been driven mainly by changes to first home buyer incentives made by the New South Wales and Victorian governments from 1 July 2017.
"In 2017/18 the number of first home buyer dwellings financed increased by 34.95% in Victoria and 73.60% in New South Wales compared to the previous year. South Australia recorded just an 11.52% increase.
"What do we want for South Australia's economy? More jobs and more houses built, so what do we do? Tax both of them. It doesn't make any sense. The independent Hudson Howells report shows that an exemption will increase jobs and Gross State Product and with net State Government financial gains. Even in the "Low Case Scenario", a stamp duty exemption on new builds up to the median house price would deliver a Net State Government gain of $17.58 million.


text:
La chiesa di San Silvestro è un edificio di culto cattolico sito in via Gramsci a Mancasale, nel comune di Reggio Emilia. È sede dell'omonima parrocchia del vicariato urbano della diocesi di Reggio Emilia-Guastalla.

Storia
La chiesa viene nominata per la prima volta in un documento del 1057 e nella prima metà del Quattrocento fu riedificata da Francesco Zoboli.
La torre campanaria subì alcuni interventi nel 1650 e nel 1672. Tra il 1772 ed il 1797 la chiesa fu oggetto di importanti lavori che comportarono la realizzazione dell'attuale facciata nel luogo dove prima sorgeva l'abside. Verso la fine dell'800 furono compiuti alcuni lavori di abbellimenti all'interno, mentre nel 1909 la torre venne dotata dell'odierno cupolino.

Descrizione
La chiesa presenta una facciata a capanna ripartita da due coppie di lesene laterali e coronata da un frontespizio spezzato. L'interno, barocco, è a una sola navata, con colonne d'ordine ionico a due a due intermezzate da cappelle per ogni lato. Nel catino vi è dipinto San Silvestro, mentre nell'ancona del coro vi è una tela settecentesca raffigurante il Santo patrono della chiesa e il paesaggio di Mancasale. Negli altari minori vi sono le statue del Sacro Cuore di Gesù e della Madonna del Rosario e due quadri d'ignoti settecenteschi: San Michele Arcangelo e l'Innalzamento della Croce.

Bibliografia
 Ferdinando Fabbi, Guida di Reggio nell'Emilia-Città del Tricolore, Reggio Emilia, 1962.

Voci correlate
 Mancasale
 Diocesi di Reggio Emilia-Guastalla

Altri progetti

Silvestro
San Silvestro
Reggio Emilia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Provides guidelines and directions to allassets on potential areas on sedimentology, diagenesis, mapping, petrophysicalproperties, link between geology and petrophysics, rock-typing, log typing.Defines and updates workflows, methodologies and procedures in alignment withindustry best practices.
Represents technical authority for CarbonateReservoir Geology in to the COMPANY.
Defines standards for sedimentology, diagenesis andpetrophysics across to the COMPANY Asset Teams (SOPs).
Supports assets in determining opportunities todevelop studies to assist with reservoir characterisation andsurface-subsurface integration.
Identifies challenges across all assets andimplements new technologies and workflows.
Captures lessons learned / best practices andensures their communication and consistency across assets.
Understands and promotes the companys health,safety & environmental policy and objectives; performs work in accordancewith the companys established rules, regulations and approved procedures;intervenes to stop unsafe acts and practices; and is concerned for thewellbeing and safety of own self and others, including all contracted laborforce.
Plan and conduct meetings / workshops with assets toensure they receive the necessary technical support and advice on Petrophysics(Formation evaluation from logs) initiatives.
Integrates all geological and geophysical data todefine reservoirs configurations, lateral and vertical changes in stratigraphicsequence, lithofacies, depositional environments and Petrophysical properties,Integrates geological and reservoir data and establishes rock typing schemesand reservoir characterization models for each reservoir.
Interprets various geologicaldata of the developed and undeveloped reservoirs and recommends wells locationswith estimation of geological markers, oil and gas zones, coring, testing andwell logging.
Analyses, interprets and quality controls allgeological data and ensures updates data base.Advises Reservoir, Drilling and Petroleum Engineers on variousgeological aspects of well completion and workover programs.
Prepares and periodically, updates reservoir mapssuch as structural contour maps, Isopach maps, lithofacies maps and poro-permmaps. Prepares and provides geological data pertaining to projects in searchfor oil and gas.
Ensures cores are dispatched for necessary tests,verifies contractors core reports and checks related invoices, initiatescoring and routine analysis programs and SCAL program with Reservoir Engineers.
Provides technical advice and assist reservoirengineers when coordinating all special core analysis with service companies,ensures that the coring lists and coring maps book are regularly updated.
Quality controls andintegrates all geological data to construct a robust Geological model thatserves the backbone for dynamic model and future field development, ensure theupdating of geological model by updating the new acquired data.
Organizes and contributes to internal and externalknowledge sharing initiatives.
B.Sc. /Master degree in PetroleumEngineering or Geology.
15 years inpetro-technical discipline (Reservoir Engineering, Petroleum Engineering,Geoscience), of which 5 years in a specialist role. International experience ispreferable.
Attending and representing to the COMPANY in conferences,seminars and society meetings to Identify new developments in the industry ofinterest of the Company.
Prepares reports/papers on such functions andcirculates to supervisor and team members.


text:
A NEET Connection
March 2, 2020 By Becca Wolf in Research Tags: Arabidopsis, Ron Mittler
Arabidopsis growing in Ron Mittler's lab. | photo by Becca Wolf, Bond LSC
Protein important in balancing iron and reactive oxygen in plant and cancer cells
By Becca Wolf | Bond LSC
You might tend to think durability is more of an issue in building a car or engineering a building, but environmental stress makes resilience vital for plants, too.
In the world of understanding and engineering more durable crops, scientists recently identified a protein that's key to some of that resilience in a neat way. Actually, it's literally a NEET protein.
Ron Mittler, a Bond Life Sciences Center principal investigator and professor of plant sciences and surgery, is probing the use of the NEET protein to balance iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the chloroplast to make plants stronger and healthier, and it plays a similar role in cancer cells. These proteins belong to a unique family of iron-sulfur (Fe-S) proteins ideally maintaining the proper balance of the heavy metal in and outside of plant cells. Along with several other scientists, Mittler published his most recent plant findings in The Plant Journal last October.
Since NEET proteins regulate both iron and ROS, Mittler teamed up with heavy metal expert David Mendoza, fellow Bond LSC primary investigator and associate professor of plant sciences. Through a Bond LSC Grant for Innovative Collaborative Research, the two started work at the intersection of two labs.
"The main philosophy of Bond LSC is to establish collaborations between researchers to advance the field of whatever sciences that you do," Mendoza said.
Mittler and Mendoza looked at how NEET impacts iron and ROS, working together to figure out how to make plants more durable. Doing so, they have made a lot of progress in the field and believe that their collaboration has been a good one. Says Mendoza, "It is a very productive collaboration."
Trays of Arabidopsis in Ron Mittler's lab. | photo by Becca Wolf, Bond LSC
A Balancing Act
But the work doesn't stop with plants. Mittler found NEET proteins also play a similar role in cancer cells, regulating the level of iron and potentially toxic ROS compounds. Humans and plants need iron and ROS, but too much of either can be destructive. NEET proteins allow cells to grow and spread quickly which is beneficial for plants, but detrimental for humans when cancers grow out of control. In humans, NEET proteins also play a significant role metabolism related to diabetes and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.
Despite needing both iron and ROS to function, there can be too much of a good thing. To keep iron levels balanced, oxygen is needed. While oxygen on its own is a fairly stable molecule, adding electrons or exciting the present electrons can make the molecule want to react with things around it creating oxidants. Electrons are the negatively charged particles of an atom that keep balance within the cell. When balanced, iron and ROS helps cells grow, but when placed together, the iron turns ROS into hydroxyl radical, an ion that reacts with anything and destroys everything. If not controlled, this desire to bond with things nearby can damage cells and lead to cancer.
Cancer cells like ROS and iron because it enables them to spread quickly and take over more of the body. To stay balanced, NEET proteins are needed.
"These proteins apparently enable the cells to keep high levels of both iron and ROS and to survive," says Mittler, "So it looks like cancer needs these proteins because if you suppress these proteins or if you target them with drugs, the cancer cells die."
Sara Zandalinas holding a dying Arabidopsis seedling and a living seedling in Ron Mittler's lab. | photo by Becca Wolf, Bond LSC
Poisoning the cell
Knowing NEET proteins make cancer and plant cells stronger, Mittler wanted to look at "what happens if they're not functioning well," in hopes to understand their function. To test this, Mittler and his collaborators found a way to make the NEET proteins not function. Mittler called this "poisoning the cell."
"If there is no protein, there's no life," he states. "We were able to control when we introduce this protein, and being able to introduce this protein enabled us to actually find out what happened to the cell if this protein goes bad."
It was found that if the function of this protein is disrupted, the chloroplast is destroyed. Mittler described it as "completely blown to pieces." The destruction of the chloroplast is caused by too much iron due to a broken NEET protein. Similarly in cancer cells, if there are no NEET proteins, the cells do not spread as quickly and die.
Mittler elaborated, "What we found is that we can target those proteins in cancer, so then we basically destroy the cancer cells." Currently, NEET proteins are used as markers in the cancer field. Doctors and scientists look for them in order to help diagnose patients and to figure out life expectancy rates. But in the future, doctors hope to use targets these proteins to kill off cancer cells, a treatment that would be less toxic than chemotherapy.
In plants, Mittler has concluded that the NEET protein would make them grow bigger and faster, leading plants to be "more tolerant to stresses because it has the ability to modulate the levels of iron and reactive oxygen." Findings like these may one day help plants deal with stress like drought and temperature extremes. With humans continuing to contaminate the environment and climate change escalating conditions, Mittler hopes his findings on iron, ROS, and NEET proteins will make plants able to withstand changes better.
"If I can improve the way plants balance reactive oxygen and iron, I can make plants tolerate much more of these bad combinations of stresses even, and maybe even make bigger, stronger, healthier plants."
Read more about this research in the October 2019 edition of The Plant Journal article "Expression of a dominant‐negative AtNEET‐H89C protein disrupts iron–sulfur metabolism and iron homeostasis in Arabidopsis."
The Bond LSC Grant for Innovative Collaborative Research program aims to foster inter-laboratory collaboration to make pilot projects that have potential for later federal funding.
Nature's cinema: New technique allows plant imaging in real-time
October 23, 2019 By Mariah Cox in Research Tags: Arabidopsis, Ron Mittler
The September issue of Molecular Plant depicts a plant fluorescing in response to reactive oxygen species propogation taken by Yosef Fichman of the Mittler Lab.
Plant biologists across the country opened their mailboxes last month to the glowing leaves of Arabidopsis on the cover of the latest issue of Molecular Plant.
That cover taken by post-doctoral researcher Yosef Fichman of Bond Life Sciences Center depicts plants fluorescing in response to reactive oxygen species (ROS) propagation, a technique that allows researchers to track plant response to certain stressors.
The novel approach is the first of its kind to image the response of an entire plant, rather than small samples. To make this technique work, Fichman — who works in the lab of Bond LSC's Ron Mittler — and his collaborators came up with the idea to fumigate the plant with a dye which enters the plant, reacts with ROS inside the plant and fluoresces under an in vivo imaging system (IVIS). From there, the researchers could watch the stress signals of the plant as they evolve in real-time following the application of different stresses.
Soil 'cookies' are used to grow Arabidopsis in the lab for use in Fichman's ROS imaging research. | Photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC
ROS are essential regulators of cellular and systemic signals in plants as well as animals. Additionally, they play an important role in hormonal, physiological, and developmental reactions in plants such as growth and development as well as defense and acclimation to environmental stress.
ROS are both beneficial and detrimental to plants. On one hand, they regulate basic biological processes. On the other, if overproduced, they are toxic to cells and can cause cell stress or death. However, recent research by the Mittler lab supports the idea that, at certain levels, ROS can be more beneficial than harmful because they have the power to signal defense mechanisms against stressors in the environment. In essence, it is a way for cells to communicate with each other, creating a domino effect, or wave that sends a message to nearby cells and eventually over long distances within the plant.
Now that they have a technique to detect the fast-moving ROS signal in plants, the researchers can identify the proteins that are involved in the plants' response to stress. The signal is important because it causes fast adjustments to stress within the environment, which means that other parts of the plant that are not subject to stress can build up protection mechanisms.
"In order to understand plants' response to stress, we need to know the mechanism of that's going on in plants," Fichman said. "Basically, it's a balance of resources within the plant."
Currently, the researchers are working with Arabidopsis, but this technique applies to other plant and crop models. Previous methods of tracking biological responses in plants included the arduous process of gene manipulation and expression. The new method allows for a straight-forward approach to tracking and monitoring the biological reactions in plants.
Moving forward the researchers plan to use Arabidopsis mutants and other plants to track the response to different stresses compared to the wild type to see if there are changes in the genes involved. Fichman is particularly interested in the effect of abiotic stresses, such as high-intensity light and leaf destruction by insects.
The Mittler lab uses high-intensity light shone directly on the plant's leaves to imitate light stress in natural environments. | Photo by Mariah Cox, Bond LSC
"Whether you like to call it weather extremes or global climate change, there are changes. Plants are a main food source, so we need to be prepared to create better plants for the future that allows crops to grow in stressful conditions such as high light, less water and heat," Fichman said. "If plants invest more resources into protecting themselves they will be able to survive these changes and continue to produce food for our future. I'm studying this mechanism in ROS waves and in different pathways to create better plants in the future."
By understanding the proteins that are involved in plants' response to stress, researchers can begin to re-engineer plants to survive harsher conditions. Fichman's technique makes it easier to recognize plants' responses to stress moving forward.
For Yosef, when it comes to research, imagination is the only limitation.
"In research, we can come up with the craziest ideas and science allows us to check those ideas and discover new things," Fichman said. "This is why I wake up in the morning."
This research was published in the September 2019 edition of Molecular Plant.
#IAmScience Brittany Cruzan
September 7, 2018 By Erica Overfelt in #IAmScience Tags: Arabidopsis
When Brittany Cruzan does her laundry, she can't stop thinking about science.
"Science controls our everyday life," Cruzan said. "Coffee, tea, the way you cut your hair, it's all science. I've liked science since I was a kid. I am obsessed with knowing how things work. I don't care why but I care for how.
Cruzan applies that desire to know how things work to work in the lab. From her first semester of freshman year to now as a junior, Cruzan been in Mannie Liscum's lab chasing the how behind the science.
"Freshman year I was sterilizing water and this year I am creating mutations in plants" Cruzan said. "I went from making water and dirt to now making a living organism. I am definitely getting a lot of guidance from grad students but it is exciting to feel independent."
The lab uses Arabidopsis as their model plant to study its growth and how the plant responds directionally to light. This research can aid scientist in enhancing plant growth in drought and other circumstances, and they use mutations to explore which genes might create characteristics that are more resilient to stress in the environment. Now that Cruzan has her own project it's easier for her to realize the potential impact this research has on others.
"I am researching to find the maximum potential for plant growth and maximize the output for agriculture," Cruzan said. "Once we figure this out it could mean more corn, more cows and more full bellies."
After college Cruzan wants to continue impacting lives. She plans to volunteer before she applies to med school, and she believes life is full of endless possibilities.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to do, but I want to make people happy," Cruzan said. "Anything I can do for the greater good makes me sleep better, whether that is volunteering or doing research to feed the world."
For now, you can find Cruzan in the lab focused on a way to improve plant growth.
"I don't think I personally will get far enough to solve world hunger, but if we can figure out a plants growth then we can add to all the research being done," Cruzan said. "I believe that research creates the world of tomorrow, and while it may seem small today, in 5 years it could change a life."
Unmasking the unknown
March 1, 2016 By Justin L. Stewart in Research Tags: Arabidopsis, Bond Life Sciences Center, Dan Leuchtman, decoding science, genetics, Immune System, Mannie Liscum, mice, mizzou, MmSRFR1, plant science, research, SRFR1, Walter Gassmann
Scientists explore genetic similarities between plants and mice
University of Missouri PhD Candidate Daniel L. Leuchtman peers through an Arabidopsis plant. Leuchtman has been experimenting with replacing a gene in the plants immune system with a similar gene from mice. | Photograph by Justin L. Stewart/MU Bond Life Sciences Center
By Justin L. Stewart | MU Bond Life Sciences Center
Almost two-thirds of what makes a human a human and a fly a fly are the same, according to the NIH genome research institute.
If recent research at the University of Missouri's Bond Life Sciences Center is verified, we'll soon see that plants and mice aren't all that different, either.
Dan Leuchtman studies a gene in Arabidopsis plants called SRFR1, or "Surfer One." SRFR1 regulates plant immune systems and tell them when they are infected with diseases or illnesses. Leuchtman studies this model plant as a Ph.D. candidate at MU, splitting time between the labs of Walter Gassmann and Mannie Liscum.
His research involves breeding Arabidopsis plants missing the SRFR1 gene and then replacing it with the MmSRFR1 gene.
A series of Arabidopsis plants show the differences between the plants, from left, without SRFR1, with MmSRFR1 and with SRFR1. | Photograph by Justin L. Stewart/MU Bond Life Sciences Center
So, what is MmSRFR1? Leuchtman and company believe it's the animal equivalent of SRFR1, though they aren't fully aware of all of its' functions.
"We're actually one of the first groups to characterize it," Leuchtman said.
Arabidopsis plants missing the SRFR1 gene struggle to grow at all, appearing vastly different from normal plants. Leuchtman says that a plant missing the SRFR1 gene is a mangled little ball of leaves curled in on itself. "It's really strange looking."
While his experiments haven't created statuesque plants equal to those with natural SRFR1 genes present, the Arabidopsis plants with MmSRFR1 show a notable difference from those completely lacking SRFR1. Leuchtman says the plants with MmSRFR1 lie somewhere in between a normal plant and one lacking SRFR1.
University of Missouri PhD Candidate Daniel L. Leuchtman poses for a portrait in a Bond Life Sciences Center greenhouse. Leuchtman has been experimenting with replacing a gene in Arabidopsis plants immune system with a similar gene from mice. | Photograph by Justin L. Stewart/MU Bond Life Sciences Center
"At its' core, it's more understanding fundamental biology. How do we work? How do organisms tick? How do you go from DNA in a little bag of salts to a walking, talking organism?" Leuchtman said. "The more you know about how an organism functions, the more opportunities you have to find something that makes an impact."
Understanding spit
October 8, 2015 By Roger Meissen in Research No Comments Tags: Arabidopsis, genetics, nematodes, plant sciences, soybean
Scientists find how nematodes use key hormones to take over root cells
Roger Meissen | Bond Life Sciences Center
This Arabidopsis root shows how the beet cyst nematode activates cytokinin signaling in the syncytium 10 days after infection. The root fluoresces green when the TCSn gene associated with cytokinin activation is turned on because it is fused with a jellyfish protein that acts as a reporter signal. (N=nematode; S=Syncytium). Contributed by Carola De La Torre
This is a story about spit.
Not just any spit, but the saliva of cyst nematodes, a parasite that literally sucks away billions in profits from soybean and other crops every year.
Researchers are working to uncover exactly how these tiny worms trick plant root cells into feeding them for life.
A team at the University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences Center collaborated with scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany to discover genetic evidence that the parasite uses its own version of a key plant hormone and that of the plants to make root cells vulnerable to feeding. Their research recently appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Melissa Mitchum
Cytokinin is normally produced in plants, but these researchers determined that this growth hormone is also produced by nematode parasites that use it to take over plant root cells.
"While it's well-known that certain bacteria and some fungi can produce and secrete cytokinin to cause disease, it's not normal for an animal to do this," said Melissa Mitchum, an MU plant scientist and co-author on the study. "This is the first study to demonstrate the ability of an animal to synthesize and secrete cytokinin for parasitism."
Not Science Fiction
Reprogramming another organism might sound like a far out concept, but it's a reality for plants susceptible to nematodes.
Cyst nematodes hatch from eggs laid in fields and quickly migrate to the roots of nearby plants. They inject nematode spit into a single host cell of soybean, beet and other crop roots.
Carola De La Torre
"Imagine a hollow needle at the head of the nematode that the parasite uses to penetrate into the plant cell wall and secrete pathogenic proteins and hormone mimics," said Carola De La Torre, a co-author of the study and plant sciences PhD student with Mitchum's lab. "Nematodes use the spit to transform the host cell into a nutrient sink from which they feed on during their entire life cycle. This de novo differentiation process greatly depends on nematode–derived plant hormone mimics or manipulation of plant hormonal pathways caused by effector proteins present in the nematode spit."
These effector proteins and other small molecules in their spit cause the root cell to forego normal processes and create a huge feeding site called a syncytium. In a short period of time, this causes hundreds of root cells to combine into a large nutrient storage unit that the nematode feeds from for its entire life.
Being able to convince a root cell to do the nematode's bidding starts with a takeover of the plant host cell cycle — which regulates DNA replication and division. This implies that a plant hormone like cytokinin is involved, says Mitchum. Cytokinin normally regulates a plant's shoot growth, leaf aging, and other cell processes.
Proving the relationship
While Mitchum's lab had a hunch that cytokinin was key to this takeover, proving it took some creative science.
De La Torre and Demosthenis Chronis, a postdoctoral fellow MU at the Bond LSC depended on mutant Arabidopsis plants to explore the relationship. "One of the great things about using Arabidopsis as our host plant is the vast genetic resources of cytokinin and hormone mutants that are available through the scientific community," De La Torre said.
She infected Arabidopsis that contained a reporter gene called TCSn/GFP with nematodes. This gene is associated with cytokinin responses within the plant cells and is fused with a jellyfish protein that glows green when turned on. So, De La Torre saw nematodes activated cytokinin responses in the plant early after infection when her plants emitted a green fluorescent glow under the microscope.
Next, she infected plants missing the majority of their cytokinin receptors with nematodes. Then she started counting nematodes present.
"After a careful evaluation of nematode infection, we observed less female nematodes developing in the receptor mutants compared to the wild type" De La Torre said. "The nematodes could not infect well, and that was a clear piece of evidence suggesting that cytokinin plays a main role in plant–nematode interactions."
Another experiment looked at Arabidopsis containing a reporter gene called GUS that was fused to the regulatory sequences of the cytokinin receptor genes. All three cytokinin receptor genes were activated where the nematode was feeding.
A final experiment used a mutant that created an excess of an enzyme that degrades cytokinin, finding that a base level of plant cytokinin was also necessary for nematode growth.
"The simple statement is that the cytokinin receptors were activated in response to nematode infection and the mutants did not support growth and development of the nematodes," Mitchum said. "This shows that if you take away the ability of the plant to recognize cytokinin the worms are unable to fully develop."
An international collaboration
Mitchum's team did not work alone.
The lab of Florian Grundler at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn, Germany, was also on a mission to uncover if genes in the nematode controlled cytokinin activation. They had identified a key gene in the beet cyst nematode that makes the cytokinin hormone. When they took away the ability of the nematode to secrete cytokinin certain cell cycle genes were not activated at the feeding site and the nematodes did not develop. Now we know that the nematode is also secreting cytokinin to modulate the pathways.
De La Torre took that information and found the same gene in the soybean cyst nematode.
Now, Mitchum's team is trying to find how this key gene might work differently in other nematode types, like root-knot nematode as part of a new National Science Foundation grant. They hope this will help lead to better resistance in future crops.
"Understanding how the nematode modulates its host is going to help us exploit new technologies to engineer plants with enhanced resistance to this terribly devastating pathogen," Mitchum said. "Technology is changing all the time, we're gaining new tools constantly, so you never know when something new is going to allow us to do something specific at the site of nematode feeding that will lead to a breakthrough."
Mitchum is a Bond LSC investigator and an associate professor of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. The study "A Plant Parasitic Nematode Releases Cytokinin that Control Cell Division and Orchestrate Feeding-Site Formation in Host Plants" recently was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant #IOS-1456047 to Mitchum). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.
"Mutant seeds" blossom in the pollen research field
November 20, 2014 By Paige Blankenbuehler in Research Tags: Arabidopsis, Bond Life Sciences Center, decoding science, jack c schultz, mapk3, mapk6, mizzou, MU decoding science, plant science, pollen, shuqun zhang, University of Missouri, university of missouri science, wrky34, zhang pollen
A mutant arabidopsis model nearing pollination.
Mutant arabidopsis models under lamps in Shuqun Zhang's lab.
Three-month-old mutant arabidopsis models are used to study the function of pollen.
The thought of pollen dispersed throughout the air might trigger horrific memories of allergies, but the drifting dander is absolutely essential to all life.
Science has long linked this element of reproduction with environmental conditions, but the reasons why and how pollen functions were less understood. Now lingering questions about the nuanced control of plants are being answered.
"Pollen is a very important part of the reproductive process and if we understand how pollen develops and how environmental stresses impinge on this process, we might be able to prevent crop loss due to high temperature or drought stress etc.," said Shuqun Zhang, a Bond Life Sciences Center investigator.
Zhang has developed a new line of seeds that helped him and his lab identify an influential signaling pathway that triggers a chain reaction associated with normal pollen formation and function.
This research could lead to improvement to a plant's response to disastrous environmental variables like drought to optimize pollen production and increase the production of food crops.
Left: Pollen grains genotypes MAPK3 and MAPK6 are illuminated by red and yellow dye using a fluorescent microscope. RIGHT: Normally developed pollen grains shown by an electronic microscope scan. | Credit: Shuqun Zhang
Mutant seeds are the key to this work.
Instead of glowing green in the soil like you might see in a science fiction movie, they are providing important insight on plant reproduction and stress tolerance.
Zhang developed these plants from a mutant strain of Arabidopsis, a model plant used in scientific research. Certain genes were "switched off"to pinpoint where important pollen functions were signaled.
Using this mutant plant and seed system, Zhang found that WRKY34and WRKY2, two proteins that turn on/off genes, are regulated by MPK3and MPK6 "signaling" enzymes. These enzymes basically transform proteins from a non-functional state to a functional state, turning on specific duties or functions. Zhang, a professor of biochemistry at MU, began tinkering with the MPK3 and MKP6 pathways more than twenty years ago during his post-doc at Rutgers University.
Zhang's research shows the newly identified MPK3/MPK6-WRKY34/WRKY2 pathway is a key switch in the hierarchy of the signaling system in pollen formation.
The research showed that the plant's defense/stress response and reproductive process are linked, and the influential proteins MPK3 and MPK6 were part of the bigger WRKY34/WRKY2control pathway, which is activated in early pollen production.
The system is so useful that researchers across the country won't stop asking for the seeds, Zhang said.
"We have a lot of requests for seeds," Zhang said. "This is a very nice system to study pollen formation and function."
The cascade of control
The functions of MPK3/MPK6 in plants can be compared to a "mother board" switch. The pathway — MPK3 and MPK6 —are part of a hierarchy of response, turning functions on or off. In other words, it's a switch that controls a lot of different things. Controlling WRKY34/WRKY2 is one of the many roles played by MPK3 and MPK6.
Shuqun Zhang, University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences investigator.
"Whatever is plugged into it is what comes on," Zhang said. "We are actually very, very interested in the evolutionarily context, how this came to be."
This signaling process is just one of many in plants. MPK3 and MPK6 are two out the 20 MPKs, or MAPKs (abbreviated from Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases) in Arabidopsis. They control plant defense, stress tolerance, growth, and development including pollen formation and functions.
"We determined that this MAPK-WRKY signaling module functions at the early stage of pollen development," Zhang said.
The "loss of function of this pathway reduces pollen viability, and the surviving pollen has poor germination and reduced pollen tube growth, all of which reduce the transmission rate of the mutant pollen," according to the research.
Zhang and his lab worked with the MU Division of Biochemistry and Interdisciplinary Plant Group on the research, which published in PLoS Genetics in June of this year.
A world without pollen production and defense
Without pollen, plants would not reproduce — there aren't any Single Bars in the plant world (that we know of) — and if plant generations don't propagate, there would be no air or food for human life to sustain.
"The factors such as heat and drought stresses cause problems to the plant's normal developmental process and that's how pollen fails to develop," Zhang said. "If we understand the process, and know how environmental factors impact negatively the process, we can then make plants that can handle environmental stress better."
Zhang and his lab continue to research the complexities of these pathways. Next on the quest is to answer how MPK3/MPK6 are involved in pollen functions such as guiding the pollen tube growth towards ovule to complete the sexual reproduction process in plants.
"It is possible that MPK3 and MPK6 are activated quickly in response to the guidance signals," he said. "There's still a long way to go because very few players in this process have been identified, we try to understand the biological process how they work together." This research is in collaboration with Dr. Bruce McClure, also professor of Division of Biochemistry.
1. PLoS Genetics (May 2014): Phosphorylation of a WRKY Transcription Factor by MAPKs is Required for Pollen Development and Function in Arabidopsis — Funded by a Hughes Research Fellowship and grants from the National Science Foundation.
2. Plant Physiology (June 2014): Two Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, MPK3 and MPK6, are required for Funicular Guidance of Pollen Tubes in Arabidopsis — Funded by a National Science Foundation grant and a NSF Young Investigator Award.
Hearing danger: predator vibrations trigger plant chemical defenses
July 1, 2014 By Roger Meissen in Research 10 Comments Tags: anthocyanins, Arabidopsis, Bond Life Sciences Center, cabbage butterfly caterpillar, chemical defenses, glucosinolates, hearing, Heidi Appel, plants, Rex Cocroft, sound, University of Missouri, vibration
Experiments show chewing vibrations, but not wind or insect song, cause response
As the cabbage butterfly caterpillar takes one crescent-shaped bite at a time from the edge of a leaf, it doesn't go unnoticed.
This tiny Arabidopsis mustard plant hears its predator loud and clear as chewing vibrations reverberate through leaves and stems, and it reacts with chemical defenses. Plants have long been known to detect sound, but why they have this ability has remained a mystery.
University of Missouri experiments mark the first time scientists have shown that a plant responds to an ecologically relevant sound in its environment.
"What is surprising and cool is that these plants only create defense responses to feeding vibrations and not to wind or other vibrations in the same frequency as the chewing caterpillar," said Heidi Appel, an investigator at MU's Bond Life Sciences Center and senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
Heidi Appel, investigator at MU's Bond Life Sciences Center and senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, and Rex Cocroft, a professor of Biological Sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science, found that plants create chemical responses specifically to predator chewing vibrations.
Appel partnered with Rex Cocroft, an MU animal communication expert who studies how plant-feeding insects produce and detect vibrations traveling through their host plants.
"It is an ideal collaboration, that grew out of conversations between two people working in different fields that turned out to have an important area of overlap," said Cocroft, a professor of Biological Sciences in MU's College of Arts and Science. "At one point we began to wonder whether plants might be able to monitor the mechanical vibrations produced by their herbivores."
While Appel focused on quantifying "how plants care and in what ways," Cocroft worked to capture inaudible caterpillar chewing vibrations, analyze them and play them back to plants in experiments that mimic the acoustic signature of insect feeding, but without any other cues such as leaf damage.
Cocroft used specialized lasers to listen to and record what the plant hears.
"Most methods of detecting vibrations use a contact microphone, but that wasn't possible with these tiny leaves because the weight of the sensor would change the signal completely," said Cocroft.
This cabbage butterfly caterpillar munches on an Arabidopsis leaf adjacent to a leaf where a piece of reflective tape bounces back a laser beam used to detect the vibrations created by its chewing. Roger Meissen/Bond LSC
The laser beam reflects off a small piece of reflective tape on the leaf's surface to measure its deflection, minimizing contact with the plant. The laser's output can also be played back through an audio speaker, allowing human ears to hear the vibrations produced by the caterpillar.
Moved by the sound
Recording the sound is just the start.
You can't put headphones on a leaf, so tiny piezoelectric actuators – essentially a tiny speaker that plays back vibrations instead of airborne sound – is required.
"It's a delicate process to vibrate leaves the way a caterpillar does while feeding, because the leaf surface is only vibrated up and down by about 1/10,000 of an inch," Cocroft said. "But we can attach an actuator to the leaf with wax and very precisely play back a segment of caterpillar feeding to recreate a typical 2-hour feeding session."
Appel and Cocroft tested whether these chewing sounds could create more chemical defenses in the plants and whether these feeding recordings primed defenses when played before an actual caterpillar ate part of a leaf.
"We looked at glucosinolates that make mustards spicy and have anticancer properties and anthocyanins that give red wine its color and provide some of the health benefits to chocolate," Appel said. "When the levels of these are higher, the insects walk away or just don't start feeding."
The researchers played 2 hours of silence to some Arabidopsis plants and 2 hours of caterpillar-chewing noises to others. They then chose three leaves around the plant, and allowed caterpillars to eat about a third of each leaf. After giving the plants 24 to 48 hours to respond to the caterpillar attack, they harvested the leaves for chemical analysis.
When they found higher levels of glucosinolates in the plants that were exposed to chewing vibrations, they knew they were on the right track.
A similar second experiment went further, testing whether the plants would simply respond to any vibration, or whether their response was specific to chewing vibrations. In this case Appel analyzed anthocyanins, which again were elevated – but only when plants had been exposed to chewing vibrations but not to vibrations created by wind or the sounds of a non-harmful insect.
Past echoes and future promise
While the past is littered with suggestions that people talk to their plants, Appel and Cocroft hope their work is shifting the focus on plant acoustics towards a better understanding of why plants can detect and respond to vibrations.
"The field is somewhat haunted by its history of playing music to plants. That sort of stimulus is so divorced from the natural ecology of plants that it's very difficult to interpret any plant responses," Cocroft said. "We're trying to think about the plant's acoustical environment and what it might be listening for, then use those vibrational sounds to figure out what makes a difference."
The National Science Foundation seems to agree with the merit of their endeavor, awarding a grant to extend this project.
The next step includes looking at how other types of plants respond to insect predator sounds and pinpointing precisely what features of the sounds trigger the change in plant defenses.
These questions aim to further basic research understanding of how plants know what's going on to respond appropriately to their environment. This could one day lead to ways to create better plants.
"Once you understand these things you can mess around with it in plant breeding through conventional methods or biotech approaches to modify plants so they are more responsive in the ways you want to make them more resistant against pests," Appel said. "That's the practical application one day."
This research was published online in the journal Oecologia July 1, 2014 and will appear in print in its August issue.
Chemical beacons: LSC scientist discovers how plants beckon bacteria to attack
April 24, 2014 By Roger Meissen in Research 1 Comment Tags: Arabidopsis, bacteria, Bond Life Sciences Center, chemical signals, Scott Peck
Scott Peck, Bond LSC scientist and associate professor of biochemistry, studies Arabidopsis and how bacteria perceive it before initiating an infection. Roger Meissen/ Bond LSC
Sometimes plants inadvertently roll out the red carpet for bacteria.
Researchers at the University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences Center recently discovered how a plant's own chemicals act as a beacon to bacteria, triggering an infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published their study April 21.
"When bacteria recognize these plant chemicals it builds a needle-like syringe that injects 20-30 proteins into its host, shutting down the plant's immune system," said Scott Peck, Bond LSC plant scientist and lead investigator on the study. "Without a proper defense response, bacteria can grow and continue to infect the plant. It looks like these chemical signals play a very large role in mediating these initial steps of infection."
The question of how bacteria actually know they are in the presence of a plant has puzzled scientists for years. Being able to identify the difference between a plant cell and, say, a rock or a piece of dirt, means the bacteria saves energy by only turning on its infection machinery when near a plant cell.
"Our results show the bacteria needs to see both a sugar – which plants produce quite a bit of from photosynthesis – and five particular acids at the same time," Peck said. "It's sort of a fail-safe mechanism to be sure it's around a host before it turns on this infection apparatus."
Peck's work started with one mutant plant called Arabidopsis mkp1.
Discovered several years ago by Peck's lab, this little mustard plant acts differently than others by rebuffing the advances of bacteria. Lab tests confirmed that this mutant didn't get infected by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000, a bacterial pathogen that causes brown spots on tomatoes and hurts the model plant Arabidopsis. Along with MU biochemistry research scientist Jeffrey Anderson and post doc Ying Wan, they showed that this mutant didn't trigger the bacteria's Type III Secretion System, the needle-like syringe and associated proteins that lead to infection.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) worked with Peck's team to compare levels of metabolites between the mutant Arabidopsis and normal plants. This comparison helped Peck identify a few of these chemicals – created from regular plant processes – that existed in much lower levels in their special little mutant.
Using the PNNL work as a guide, the team found five acids collectively had the biggest effect in turning on a bacteria's infection: aspartic, citric, pyroglutamic, 4-hydrobenzoic and shikimic acid.
"The key experiment involved us simply adding these acids back into the mutant," Peck said. "Suddenly we saw the mutant plant wasn't resistant anymore and the bacteria were once again capable of injecting proteins to turn off the plant's immune system."
First contact and recognition means all the difference, whether bacteria or plant. Just a slight jump out of the starting blocks by one or the other could change who will win a battle of health or infection.
While low concentrations of these five acids trigger the bacteria's attack, high levels blind it to the plant's presence, leading Peck to believe it could be used to hinder bacterial growth. If this actually thwarts the bacteria's head start, it could mean stopping disease in crops and could lead to a different approach in the field.
"A lot of the winning and losing occurs within the first 2-6 hours and it seems to be that if the microbe is too slow to turn off the immune system, the plant can actually fight off the infection," Peck said. "In the future we could possibly make a new generation of anti-microbial compounds that don't try to kill the bacteria, but rather just make them no longer virulent by blocking these chemical signals so the natural plant immune system can basically take over."
Peck's team believes at least some other bacteria will respond to these chemical signals, and he plans to test other bacterial pathogens to make certain. They also want to test bacteria to see if they are more virulent in humans once primed for attack by these plant chemical signals.
"In the long run the question is how far this extends. A lot of people get salmonella or listeria infections through a food source," Peck said. "The question is do other bacteria that come in through plant food sources have similar perception systems and end up being more infectious in humans because they are already primed for infection."
A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation supported this research.
Bond LSC team identifies first plant receptor for extracellular ATP
January 16, 2014 By Roger Meissen in Research 1 Comment Tags: Arabidopsis, extracellular ATP
Jeongmin Choi (left), Gary Stacey (center) and Kiwamu Tanaka recently discovered the first plant receptor for extracellular ATP using Arabidopsis plants. Roger Meissen/Bond LSC
It's the genetic equivalent to discovering a new sensory organ in plants.
A team at the University of Missouri Bond Life Sciences Center found a key gene that sniffs out extracellular ATP.
Scientists believe this is a vital way plants respond to dangers, such as insects chewing on its leaves. The journal Science published their research Jan. 17.
"Plants don't have ears to hear, fingers to feel or eyes to see. They recognize these chemical signals as a way to tell themselves they are being preyed upon or there's an environmental change that could be possibly detrimental, and they have ways to defend themselves," said Gary Stacey, a Bond LSC biologist. "We have evidence that extracellular ATP is probably a central signal that controls the ability of plants to respond to a whole variety of stresses."
ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the main energy source inside any cell. All food converts to it before being used in a cell, and ATP is necessary to power many of the cell processes that create more energy. Its value as an energy reserve is squandered outside the cell.
Scientists spent years trying to figure out what this compound did while floating outside cell walls. Animal researchers found that answer in the 1990s. They identified the first ATP receptors, now seen to play roles in muscle control, neurotransmission, inflammation and development.
Plant scientists observe similar extracellular ATP responses in plant biochemistry, but until now could not identify the exact receptor for it or what it did.
"We call this new receptor P2K, and it's unique to plants," Stacey said. "Even though animals and plants hold some responses in common, they have evolved totally different mechanisms to recognize extracellular ATP."
Led by Stacey, MU graduate student Jeongmin Choi and postdoc Kiwamu Tanaka screened 50,000 mutant Arabidopsis plants to find ones that didn't respond to extracellular ATP. Using a protein called aequorin – which causes jellyfish to glow – the two-year process boiled down to whether a plant would produce light when ATP was added. Since aequorin only luminesces when it binds to calcium, those plants without extracellular ATP receptors stayed dark.
"If you add ATP to wild-type plants, calcium concentrations go up and the plants produce more blue light," Choi said. "We found nine mutant plants with no increase in calcium and, therefore, no increase in light emission."
These Arabidopsis plants contain aequorin. Aequorin produces blue light as a result of oxidation of the substrate, in a calcium-dependent manner. When wild-type seedlings were treated with 500 uM of ATP, intracellular calcium concentration is rapidly elevated. Increased calcium were bound to aequorin, which leads to blue light emission. Courtesy Jeongmin Choi
By comparing the genetic sequences of these nine mutants, Stacey's lab pinpointed the gene to chromosome 5 and labeled it DORN 1, since it doesn't respond to the nucleotide ATP.
This discovery casts a different light on previous research.
"What we think is happening is that when you wound a plant, ATP comes out in the wound and that ATP triggers gene expression, not the wounding in and of itself," Stacey said. "We think ATP is central to this kind of wound response and probably plays a role in development, in a lot of other kinds of things."
Future research will focus on exactly how this receptor works with ATP. Tanaka plans to study its protein structure, how it reacts to pests in lab situations and possible co-receptors that could also play a role in recognizing ATP.
Grants from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the Republic of Korea supported this research.


text:
Q: Compare json arrays and result in a simple array I have two JSONS and i have to create an array from it
Array1: [{ label: "HEADER" value:"header" }, { label: "FOOTER" value:"footer" }]
Array2: [ { header: "Header 1", footer: "Footer 1" }, { header: "Header 2", footer: "Footer 2" }]
Expected Array(The label of Array1 will be the search criteria from Array2 Keys : [["Header 1","Header 2"],["Footer 1","Footer 2"]]

A: You could use Array.map() on Array1, then for each value in this array, run .map() again, returning all matching items in Array2.
We'd use Array.find() and String.includes() to do this.

const Array1 = [ { label: "HEADER", value:"header" }, { label: "FOOTER", value:"footer" } ]
const Array2 = [ { header: "Header 1", footer: "Footer 1" }, { header: "Header 2", footer: "Footer 2" } ]

const result = Array1.map(({ label, value}) => {
    return Array2.map((obj) => {
        let key = Object.keys(obj).find(key => key.includes(value));
        return key ? obj[key]: null;
    })
})
console.log('Result:', result);

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

Another example, this time Array2 has an entry with no footer property (as requested):

const Array1 = [ { label: "HEADER", value:"header" }, { label: "FOOTER", value:"footer" } ]
const Array2 =  [ { header: "Header 1", footer: "Footer 1" }, { header: "Header 2" }]

const result = Array1.map(({ label, value}) => {
    return Array2.map((obj) => {
        let key = Object.keys(obj).find(key => key.includes(value));
        return key ? obj[key]: null;
    })
})
console.log('Result:', result);

.as-console-wrapper { max-height: 100% !important; top: 0; }

A: I'm taking for granted that array1 values can only contain 'header' | 'footer' and that each array2 item has a header and a footer property since it's not specified. So it would be:
const array1 = JSON.parse(/* JSON1 file content */);
const array2 = JSON.parse(/* JSON2 file content */);

const result = array1.map(item1 => {
    const criteria = item1.label.toLowerCase();
    return array2.map(item2 => item2[criteria]);
});

A:

let Array1=[{label:"HEADER",value:"header",},{label:"FOOTER",value:"footer",}] ,Array2=[{header:"Header 1",footer:"Footer 1"},{header:"Header 2",footer:"Footer 2"}]

let result = Array1.map(e => e.label.toLowerCase())
                   .map(s => Array2.map(n => n[s]))

console.log(result)

A: A simple double Array.map will help.
Logic

*

*First Array.map will return the values from first array arr1.

*Second Array.map will return elements from second array arr2 with keys as value from arr1

const arr1 = [{ label: "HEADER", value: "header" }, { label: "FOOTER", value: "footer" }]
const arr2 = [{ header: "Header 1", footer: "Footer 1" }, { header: "Header 2", footer: "Footer 2" }];
const output = arr1.map(item => arr2.map(node => node[item.value]));
console.log(output);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Roughly two-thirds of Americans drink coffee daily, according to a July 2015 Gallup poll. Coffee can stimulate the movement of stool through the intestines by promoting muscular contractions of the bowels. This short-term stimulation is not significant enough to cause diarrhea in most people. However, individuals respond differently to various foods and beverages, and some people might be exceptionally sensitive to the intestinal effects of coffee. Therefore, it's possible that coffee might cause diarrhea, but this effect is generally unlikely. The caffeine in coffee is a nervous system stimulant. One effect of this stimulation is a short-term increase in muscular contractions in the bowel, although not all people experience this effect. Among those who do, drinking coffee can lead to the urge to have a bowel movement shortly afterward. While the bowel stimulating effect of coffee has usually been attributed to its caffeine content, a similar effect has been seen with decaffeinated coffee in at least one study -- although the research on this topic is limited. Nonetheless, it appears that the laxative effect of coffee is mild and is not sufficient to cause diarrhea in most people.
Reviewed by: Tina M. St. John, M. D. Welcome to Reddit s coffee community. We re equal parts a passionate horde of amiable amateurs and the back room lounge of the coffee industry. To us, the world of coffee is more complex than just a tasty caffeinated beverage to get you going.
This is a place to talk about the farms, the beans, the baristas, the roasters, the industry, the brewing gear techniques. It s a place to ask questions about how to make your daily cup just a little bit better. Its a place to learn, share, and make new friends. Welcome to! Rules. Please read these. These lay out our our expectations for participants, but also the values and rationales behind them. In short, be nice, respect this community and its members, don t try to sell or promote stuff, and be aware comments and submissions are both curated content within this space. We also offer as our more casual fun sister community. If is dry and stodgy and pretentious, is our break from that. Just in case you re more into pictures of etched or free-pour latte art or that oh-so-beautiful, monstrous Slayer espresso machine pouring a luscious shot through a bottomless portafilter. Or maybe you heard a great coffee joke, bought an awesome new coffee mug or found a mysterious can of crazy looking foreign coffee in your grandfather s basement. For non-informative or non-depthy-discussion coffee culture posts, please check out.
It s our fun place. Links, Questions and Wiki For more guides, gear, reading, news and links visit our We run weekly special threads, listed below. created curated by community - it s. Please include tags based on your posts content prior to the Title, e. g. [Gear][Video] How to install the PID mod on a Rancilio Silvia - We know they can be kind of ugly but the are helpful we swear. The following tags should cover just about everything but feel free to make your own if one of the following doesn t work. [Gear] - For equipment related posts. Mods, purchasing, new products, storage containers, etc. - no photo only posts [Question] - For questions about anything coffee related. [Technique] - Brew technique / espresso technique. [How To] - For instructions or guides. [Beans] or [Roaster] - Posts about a specific coffee varietal, coffee roaster or origin. [Photo] - Does your post include a photo? [Video] - Does your post include a video? [News] - News about the coffee industry. [History] - Got some fun facts or details coffees history? [Deals] - Please include cost, shipping and the website in the title. Must be a well known company.


With hundreds of acres of parks and open spaces in Lenexa, there are numerous outdoor recreation opportunities in our community. We encourage you to take advantage of the recreational amenities available to you and your family.
Playground Passport - Visit each playground and complete the secret puzzle to earn a prize.
I Like Lenexa App - download the app to get information on each of our outdoor amenities, learn about upcoming events, check in to parks and playgrounds, and complete achievements to earn points and prizes.
We have athletic fields that you can rent for a variety of sports games and practices, including baseball, softball, soccer, flag football and lacrosse.
We have 33 parks with various amenities for your enjoyment. Browse our park directory to find the location of your next family outing!
Spend the afternoon outside enjoying one of our outdoor courts or courses, including basketball, disc golf, horseshoes, ice skating, pickleball, sand volleyball, skateboarding, sledding and tennis.
We maintain 26 miles of trails for biking and hiking. You can enjoy varied scenery through heavily wooded areas, open prairie and along lakes and ponds.


LinGon is a chambermusic ensemble created in 2008 by four musicians that met during their studies in Brussels and Cologne. They have all specialized in early music and historically informed performance and play on historical instruments.
LinGon is currently focusing on 17th century music from Germany, Austria and Italy and perform in several european countries as well as in Japan. Depending on the project and program the ensemble expand with more singers and instrumentalists.
In 2012 LinGon received the title "IYAP selected promising ensemble 2012" by Musica - Impuls center for Music.


The Boxster offers optional parking sensors to help warn the driver about vehicles, pedestrians or other obstacles behind or, optionally, in front of the vehicle. The S5 doesn't offer a front parking aid.
Both the Boxster and the S5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control and electronic stability systems to prevent skidding.
To reliably power the ignition and other systems and to recharge the battery, the Boxster has a standard 175 amp alternator. The S5's 150 amp alternator isn't as powerful.
J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Porsche vehicles are better in initial quality than Audi vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Porsche second in initial quality, above the industry average. With 30 more problems per 100 vehicles, Audi is ranked 16th, below the industry average.
J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the long-term dependability statistics that show that Porsche vehicles are more reliable than Audi vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Porsche second in reliability, above the industry average. With 50 more problems per 100 vehicles, Audi is ranked 15th.
The flat cylinder configuration of the boxer engine in the Boxster lowers its center of gravity, enhancing handling stability. The S5 doesn't offer a boxer engine configuration.
On the EPA test cycle the Boxster Auto with its standard engine gets better fuel mileage than the S5 Cabriolet (22 city/32 hwy vs. 18 city/26 hwy). The Boxster S Auto gets better fuel mileage than the S5 Cabriolet (21 city/30 hwy vs. 18 city/26 hwy).
Regenerative brakes improve the Boxster's fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The S5 doesn't offer a regenerative braking system.
In heavy traffic or at stoplights the Boxster's engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. (Start/Stop isn't accounted in present EPA fuel mileage tests.) The S5 doesn't offer an automatic engine start/stop system.
The Boxster offers optional heat-treated ceramic brake rotors, which last ten to twenty times as long as conventional cast iron rotors, don't rust, don't fade during repeated high speed braking, and their lighter weight contribute to better braking, handling and acceleration. The S5 doesn't offer ceramic brake rotors.
For better traction and acceleration, the Boxster has larger rear tires than the S5 (265/45R18 vs. 245/40R18). The Boxster's rear tires are larger than the largest rear tires available on the S5 (265/45R18 vs. 255/35R19).
For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Boxster offers optional 20-inch wheels. The S5's largest wheels are only 19-inches.
The Boxster's front to rear weight distribution is more even (45% to 55%) than the S5's (57.7% to 42.3%). This gives the Boxster more stable handling and braking.
The Boxster S handles at .99 G's, while the S5 Cabriolet pulls only .91 G's of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.
For better maneuverability, the Boxster's turning circle is 1.4 feet tighter than the S5's (36 feet vs. 37.4 feet).
The Porsche Boxster may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 950 to 1350 pounds less than the Audi S5.
The Boxster is 10.5 inches shorter than the S5, making the Boxster easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.
The Boxster's instruments include an oil pressure gauge and a temperature gauge – which could save your engine! Often 'idiot lights' don't warn you until damage has been done. The S5 does not have an oil pressure gauge.
In case of a sudden change of weather, the Boxster has a standard remote convertible top which can be raised from a distance to protect the interior of the vehicle from damage. The S5 doesn't offer a remote top, so the driver will have to run to the car, get in, turn the ignition on and raise the top to prevent the interior from being damaged.
When the Boxster with available tilt-down mirrors is put in reverse, the passenger rearview mirror tilts from its original position. This gives the driver a better view of the curb during parallel parking maneuvers. Shifting out of reverse puts the mirror into its original position. The S5's mirror doesn't automatically adjust for backing.
Insurance will cost less for the Boxster owner. Kiplinger's estimates that insurance for the Boxster will cost $305 to $642 less than the S5 each year.