text:
How satire is used to excuse disinformation in elections
Different parts of the world have seen misleading claims and videos dismissed as comedy
Posted: 15 November 2019 By: Alastair Reid
The doctored video shared by the Conservatives replaced an answer about Brexit with a clip of the interview listening to the question.
Alastair Reid is the managing editor of First Draft News.
Most people in the UK would be aware of the video by now.
Last week, the shadow Brexit secretary appeared on ITV's flagship breakfast show Good Morning Britain. Sir Keir Starmer was there to face a grilling from presenters over his party's strategy for leaving the EU, as part of the daily merry-go-round of interviews in election season.
"I have been talking to the EU, to political leaders across the EU 27 countries, for three years and I know very well what the parameters are of any deal they would do with a Labour government," he said.
Some hours later, the British Conservative Party took the clip of the same question and replaced Starmer's answer with a five second shot of him listening to the question, making him appear unable to answer.
"LABOUR HAS NO PLAN FOR BREXIT" screamed the blood-red text laid over the footage.
At least four Conservative candidates, including health secretary Matt Hancock, shared the edited video on Twitter to attack the Labour Party. When GMB host Piers Morgan complained on Twitter, CCHQ Press Office responded with a slightly longer clip which still did not include Starmer's answer.
The next day, party chairman James Cleverly defended the video, which has not been removed, variously as "humorous", "light-hearted" and "satirical".
"We posted the full interview so people could see the full interview from which we derived that clip. Obviously our interview was light-hearted and satirical," Cleverly told BBC Breakfast the next day.
Conservative Party Chairman @JamesCleverly tells #BBCBreakfast the edited video of Labour's @Keir_Starmer was "light-hearted and satirical."
More here: https://t.co/rGz2VWO6OD pic.twitter.com/BgGUZnqoSp
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) November 6, 2019
This, too, was untrue. The main Conservatives account had retweeted a post from the party press office which showed part of Starmer's interview without a jaunty soundtrack, but this ended before the question was put to him. The day passed and the news cycle moved on.
But the episode points to an emerging trend, from across the political spectrum, of invoking "satire" or "humour" as a justification for disinformation.
Worried that lies might deceive voters? Concerned about doctored videos of politicians circulating online? Well, comes the response, you should learn how to take a joke.
Three days after the Starmer video, on 8 November, another Twitter account repeated almost exactly the same trick. "News Addict", a pro-Conservative Twitter account with almost 13,000 followers, shared a video of BBC deputy political editor Nick Robinson interviewing Ian Blackford, the SNP leader in the House of Commons, on the day the party's campaign launched. Similarly, the video had been edited to shorten or remove Blackford's answers to questions about the NHS.
It has since been shared almost 4,000 times on Twitter, three times more than the Starmer video, and led to an embarrassing apology from Andrew Neil, the BBC's political interviewing heavyweight, who shared the clip to his 950,000 followers.
To News Addict's credit, the account did reply to anyone calling out the fakery by sharing the original, unedited interview. If anyone went further in asking why it had been edited so heavily, News Addict would repeatedly respond with a string of laughing emoji.
*The barriers to entry for reaching an audience of millions have plummeted and the social media platforms make it easier to propagate hoaxes than it is to check sources.*
The tactic is not limited to Conservatives, of course. On the same day as the Starmer interview took place, a tweet mocking Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson was posted by a fake BBC account. The account included BBC in the username and a stock image of a reporter holding a microphone and its tweet was shared more than 8,000 times before the account was suspended. A little digging would see the account was linked to a website with a satirical disclaimer, but this was not clear to anyone who saw the tweet in their feeds.
Nor is the tactic limited to the UK. The same has been seen around the world in recent elections as the barriers to entry for reaching an audience of millions have plummeted and the social media platforms make it easier to propagate hoaxes than it is to check sources.
In February, Brazilian agency Publico published an investigation into almost 100 Twitter accounts which had sprung into action during the bitterly fought election of President Jair Bolsonaro. With names like 'Gobo News' and 'Monica Bengamo' they were often difficult to distinguish at first glance from the real outlets and journalists they sought to ape, in this case Globo News and journalist Monica Bergamo. According to Publico, the accounts mixed real news and opinion in with the satire in a way one expert described as "intending to deceive" while pushing the same agenda which saw Jair Bolsonaro elected.
Then, in April, a Republican political operative created a fake campaign website for former US vice-president Joe Biden, one of the leading candidates to be the Democrat nominee for the 2020 election. The slickly produced site focuses heavily on Biden's interactions with women and girls and opens with the line: "Uncle Joe is back and ready to take a hands-on approach to America's problems!"
Screenshots and overlay by First Draft.
The parody Biden website is as slickly produced as the real thing.
True, several women have come forward to report they felt uncomfortable in the way Biden touched them, leading the candidate to promise he would respect other people's "personal space". But the fact the site was created by a man who also creates digital content for Donald Trump's re-election campaign was only discovered months later by the New York Times. Patrick Mauldin denied making the website directly for Trump. The site ranked higher in search results than the real thing when Biden launched his campaign and is still online today.
Satire is used strategically to bypass fact-checkers and to distribute rumours and conspiracies, knowing that any push back can be dismissed by stating that it was never meant to be taken seriously. – Claire Wardle, co-founder, First Draft
One of the most prominent examples comes from France. In 2017, as Emmanuel Macron was campaigning in the French presidential election, he was repeatedly met on the campaign trail by workers who challenged him to a handshake, believing he would turn them down. This belief was traced back to an article on satirical site Le Gorafi written almost a year earlier.
Adrien Senecat of Le Monde described the evolution of the rumour as part of the original CrossCheck project. Le Gorafi 'reported' that Macron would not shake hands with poor people, wrote Senecat, a report which was shared nearly 600,000 times on Facebook, including by many pages which supported his opponent, Marine Le Pen.
Other social media users then claimed a video in which Macron washed his hands came after a factory visit, spurring the falsehood on further. That clip came from a press event in which he handled a live eel.
This journey from a satirical article to real-life incidents took almost a year. But it was the active weaponisation of the joke which lit a rocket under a claim that had no basis in reality.
These historic examples are among those featured in a recently published book from First Draft by co-founder Claire Wardle titled 'Understanding Information Disorder', which looks at different types of mis- and disinformation.
"The reason that satire used in this way is so powerful a tool is that often the first people to see the satire often understand it as such," Wardle writes. "But as it gets re-shared more people lose the connection to the original messenger and fail to understand it as satire.
"On social media, the heuristics (the mental shortcuts we use to make sense of the world) are missing. Unlike in a newspaper where you understand what section of the paper you are looking at and see visual cues which show you're in the opinion section or the cartoon section, this isn't the case online."
The same goes for individual accounts themselves. The weekend before the Starmer video, a Twitter account posted screenshots of what appeared to be a story from the Daily Mirror about Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson. The story told an entirely fabricated tale of a video of Swinson found on her private Facebook page in which she used a slingshot to fire pebbles at squirrels. It has had nearly 1,000 retweets and nearly 3,000 likes. Dozens of Twitter users have referenced the baseless claim since.
One commenter replied: "[I don't know] if it is indicative of how tired I already am [of] this general election that I really did feel the need to Google this, being 100 per cent unable to tell whether it could be true or not."
And therein lies the difference. Satire is a sure sign of a healthy democracy. It is a powerful art form for speaking truth to power and can be more effective than traditional journalism in doing so. A good satirist exaggerates and illuminates an uncomfortable truth and takes it to often ludicrous extremes. They do so in a way that leaves the audience in no doubt about what is true and what is not. The audience recognises the truth, recognises the exaggeration and therefore recognises the joke. This is also the key legal distinction that separates satire from defamation in some countries. Crucially, satire is not supposed to be believed by an audience.
"The challenge in this age of information disorder is that satire is used strategically to bypass fact-checkers and to distribute rumours and conspiracies, knowing that any push back can be dismissed by stating that it was never meant to be taken seriously," wrote Wardle.
Now, in 2019, it is not only random social media users, hyper-partisan supporters and extremists who are weaponising satire for political gains, but the very parties and candidates themselves. What effect this will have on the election remains to be seen.
This article first appeared on First Draft. Find out more about First Draft's collaborative CrossCheck initiative to monitor disinformation and media manipulation around the UK election.
First Draft managing director Jenni Sargent speaks at newsrewired on 27 November at Reuters, London on how quality journalism can thrive in an era of disinformation. Head to newsrewired.com for the full agenda and tickets
political journalismfeed
first draftfeed
misinformationfeed
elections coveragefeed
satirical journalismfeed
Three free online classes for journalism students this lockdown
MoJo checklist: covering political events with a smartphone during covid-19
Mobile phone, mask and multi-pocket jacket: covering the US election as a smartphone journalist
How constructive journalism can help rebuild trust in the media
Where does journalism belong in an AI-powered news ecosystem?


OK, clearly I am going through some kind of pancakes obsession. I do that… lock into certain foods, want to eat them for ages, and then completely go off them and don't want them near me for weeks. Fickle. Anyway, now I am on Atkins Induction I perfected my Atkins pancake recipe… it is so good. It is very different from the protein pancakes – those are sweet and really like a dessert. These are savoury, much like a slightly less fluffy wholemeal buttermilk pancake.
Blend, and fry. Serve with your usual breakfast fixings, here bacon and a splash of sugar free syrup. For extra brownie points, fry them in leftover bacon grease (thanks Clio for the tip). NB: I cut these out of one large pancake using a glass rim. I found the mixture a little too runny to make individual ones.
I know y'all hate Atkins, but I don't think these are too unhealthy; the fat is mostly omega 3 and there is lots of fiber (so watch out if you eat them too often – don't forget to drink water 😉 ).
Nutrition (pancakes only): calories: 159; Fat: 11.32g; protein: 10.6g; carbs: 5.55g; fiber: 4.3g (net carbs: 1.2).
This entry was posted in Atkins, Low carb, Pre-wedding (Atkins), Recipes on March 22, 2011 by Me.


text:
BlogLegal Blogs#ATMA NIRBHAR BHARAT: Reforming M.S.M.E. Act, 2006
#ATMA NIRBHAR BHARAT: Reforming M.S.M.E. Act, 2006
By Legal Thirst
Reforming M.S.M.E. Act, 2006: A Transit For Indian Economy to Become Self-Reliant – By Sahil Mishra
Meaning and Classification of MSMEs According to Law
New Reformed Classification of MSMEs
Alleviation for MSMEs in COVID-19 Relief Package
This Article is written by Sahil Mishra (Content Writing & Legal Researcher at LegalThirst.com); a student of 2nd year Law at Llyod Law College.
In 2006, the government of India brought an act namely, "Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006"; for procuring the domestic enterprises from the impact of resilient foreign companies; on their businesses in a way by facilitating them with promotion, development, and enhancement of competitiveness. Prior to this act, these were known as 'Small and Village Industries'.
The objective of bringing Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006; was to bring all the complexities under a single comprehensive act for the development and regulation of small enterprises. Committees such as the Abid Hussain Committee and Dr. S.P. Gupta Study Group have also recommended providing a proper legal framework for the small sectors; to comply with complex formalities and rules and regulations. Also, in a fast-growing economy like India, the mobility of small enterprises to medium ones has to be assisted; or facilitated by reforming the policies and legal framework. With such objectives to achieve, the MSME Development Act, 2006 was brought in force.
But today, the world is going through a world-wide pandemic of COVID-19, the economy of every nation is at stake. India alone has sustained around 320 billion US$ of economic loss due to nation-wide Lockdown. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the course of a world-wide outbreak of COVID-19; on 13th May 2020 announced an economic package of 20 lakh crore for boosting the Indian economy; by ensuring effective and efficient domestic enterprises indulged into manufacturing or production of goods and service rendering. The package also included ambient of relaxations for the MSME sector; that would assist them in securing the backbone of Indian economy; by establishing a self-sufficient and quality manufacturing industries; as the current package is propounded on the principles of "World-class quality production"; and "Production on a world scale"
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (hereinafter MSMEs) have played a pivotal role in the growth of the Indian economy by contributing around 50% in the Indian exports. Also the MSME industries have contributed to providing maximum employment in remote areas; as under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation scheme (PMEGP), the MSME sector has increased by offering 5.87 lakh jobs in FY19.
According to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006; the criteria of classifying MSMEs has been laid down in section 7 of the act. The industries are defined and classified as;
#1. Micro Enterprises – According to Section 7 (a) (i) of the act, micro-enterprises engaged in manufacturing or production are those; where the investment in plant and machinery doesn't exceed the number of twenty-five lakhs. Whereas, micro-enterprises engaged in rendering services are those; where the investment in instruments doesn't exceed ten-lakh rupees according to Section 7 (b) (i).
#2. Small Enterprises – According to Section 7 (a) (ii), a small enterprise engaged in manufacturing does not incur investment more than five-crore and less than twenty-five lakh rupees. Whereas, if engaged in providing services then the investment must be more than ten-lakhs; but not exceeding two-crore rupees according to Section 7 (b) (ii).
#3. Medium Enterprises – According to section 7 (a) (iii), medium enterprises engaged in manufacturing are those where the investment is more than five-crore but doesn't exceed ten-crore. While, if engaged in service rendering then the investment is to be more than two-crore not exceeding five-crore rupees as per section 7 (b) (iii).
Due to the outbreak of Corona-virus, there has been a significant impact on these small industries; as the economy is going through a slump-period. The central government announced to amend the current definition contained in the MSME Act, 2006; to enlarge the scope of investments. Further, a new criterion has been added in the definition; which terminated the distinction in the previous definition between manufacturing; and service rendering enterprises. Now, both the sectors will be treated at par as the "Turnover-criteria" eliminated the gap in the definition.
The new definition (reformed) as per the announcement states; an enterprise to be recognized as a 'Micro-enterprise'; requires an investment up to 1-crore with a turnover not exceeding 5-crore of rupees. For a 'Small-enterprise', the requirement is an investment up to 10-crore with a turnover not exceeding 50-crore. Whereas, a 'Medium-enterprise' will require an investment up to 20-crore with a turnover not exceeding 100-crore of rupees.
This will play a vital role in bringing much more transparency and assisting in ease of doing business; as the abolishment of the distinction will enable the government to verify more easily; and quickly by inspecting the turnover of the enterprises as compared to inspect investment in plant and types of machinery.
For a better understanding of the modified definitions of MSMEs; below is a table-chart classifying the MSME sectors according to previous as well as revised definition.
medium enterprises development act 2006
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced major reforms; that would assist the MSMEs to cope up with the prodigious challenges; to enhance their ability to perform more efficiently and effectively. Some of the major reforms or measure take are as follows;
#1. Collateral free automatic loans up to 3 lakh crore to the MSMEs. It means that not even a single MSME; will have to pay any collateral amount, or show any guarantee to the banks for availing the loans. Also no interest will be charged on the principal loan amount taken by MSMEs in the first year. The tenure of these loans will be of 4-years. Around 45 lakh units would now be able to resume their business activities; also it will help in safeguarding the employment rate.;
#2. The government with the view to strengthen the MSMEs announced 20,000 crores subordinate debt for stressed or inefficient MSMEs. Under this scheme of the government, now around 2-lakh MSMEs which were economically stressed or were Non Performing Assets (NPA) will be able to function productively and to cope up with the current situations. Also that the promoters of the MSMEs will be given debt by banks under this scheme.
#3. The Finance Ministry has also given compliance reliefs under Taxation laws. The central government brought an ordinance namely, Taxation and other Laws (relaxation of certain provisions) Ordinance, 2020; which will extend several deadlines under the Taxation Laws such as; Income Tax Act, 1961, The Central Excise Act, 1944, The Customs Act, 1962, etc. Also, the government has emphasized on relaxing the GST laws too.
#4. MSMEs are also have been granted a huge relief by the government under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has increased the minimum default threshold; stated under section 4 of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016; from one-lakh to one-crore INR. This will protect the small industries and prevent the triggering of insolvency proceedings against MSMEs.
#5. Also, the employees, having an Employee Provident Fund (EPF) account, of MSMEs can withdraw up to 3-months of basic wages; the Ministry of Labour and Employment via notification implemented this scheme.
#6. The government of India has also designed an online platform, "Invest India Business Immunity Platform"; which helps the businesses inside the territory as well as investors outside the nation to get a real-time report; and facts regarding India's active response to the economic slump-period.
The reforms announced by the central government in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006; will definitely alleviate the Indian economy as the reforms have widened the scope of investments in the MSME sector; which will gradually pull the economy out from the current slump-period.
Moreover, the relaxations granted to MSMEs; pertaining to the Taxation laws and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code will succor in boosting the productivity of these sectors; as well as secure many jobs for the unskilled task force in India; because MSMEs are the only sectors which provide the highest rate of employment to unskilled labors in the country.
However, there are some unintended flaws in the reforms made by the government in categorizing the MSMEs. For instance, a micro-enterprise with an investment of less than 1-crore might have a turnover larger than 5-crore; but according to the investment criteria it will fall in the micro category; which means they would have to pay the less levied tax instead of having a larger turnover. This flaw in defining the MSMEs might increase the corruption practices; as an enterprise may hide real figures and would try to be recognized; as a micro-enterprise in a view to pay less tax and acquire more turnover.
#AtmaNirbharBharat
#CoronaLockdown
#Law
#LegalThirst
#Lockdown4
#LockdownIndia
#MSME
#SelfReliant
WHO 's Responsibility Against the World Community for Mishandling COVID-19
Hail to FEMINISM! – By Trishla Dwivedi
138 N.I. Act Certificate Course (Legal Drafting & Cross-Examination) – Enroll Now!
Legal Thirst – Is India Heading Towards a France-style Hijab Ban?
Legal Thirst Corporate Series – Litigation in Transfer Pricing by Tax Tattva
Legal Thirst - January 11, 2023
Legal Thirst - January 4, 2023
Legal Thirst - December 20, 2022
Legal Thirst - November 15, 2022

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
New PC Releases
PC Game Trailers
Index » Articles » Previews » PC
Darksiders Genesis Preview - E3 2019
We play through a demo of the new spinoff action title
When THQ Nordic began teasing a new Darksiders-related announcement for E3 2019, some fans were confused. After all, it was less than a year ago that Darksiders 3 made its debut. But alas, the publisher had a new trick up its sleeve. As franchises often do, this IP is hoping to branch out, and with the help of developers Airship Syndicate, Darksiders Genesis is going to offer a new way to experience the franchise. We had a chance to play through a couple of demos for the game at E3 2019.
We had a choice to play a Dungeon Demo and a Boss Fight Demo, and went into the former first. Players assume control of a new Horseman of the Apocalypse called Strife, as well as War, with whom fans of the series will be familiar with. For the entirety of the dungeon demo, we stuck with controlling Strife. This new character is clearly trying to show everyone he has an attitude problem. During the brief dialog, he behaved nonchalant to War's concerns about their situation. During combat, he'd constantly exclaim phrases like "Headshot", "That was easy", "Dude", and so on. It seemed OK in the demo, and hopefully the developers' attempts to make this character sound cool won't become grating over the course of longer sessions.
Strife had a few standard abilities, such as dash, light and heavy melee attacks, jump/double jump/glide, and special abilities. While Genesis uses an isometric camera perspective, it's no Diablo - this is an action game through and through, more akin to Shadowgrounds but with emphasis on melee combat. We'd hack and slash away at some creatures, and also used Strife's pistols to deal damage from afar. After shooting for a while, he entered a brief overpowered mode that allowed him to fire much more quickly. Enemies display health bars, so you know which ones are close to being stunned; when they are, you can perform stylish instant finishers.
We ran around the dungeon level for a while, taking out foes big and small, finding a few optional paths that contained chests, grabbing souls and collectibles. The level design was mostly straightforward, and presented a couple of easy puzzles that required levers to be pushed. We also did some basic platforming, like scrambling up ledges and beams, jumping across gaps and between wooden poles, and so on. It was all fairly standard stuff, but it was well implemented and controls felt satisfying and responsive. We came across an occasion where a Soul door blocked the way forward, until we had defeated a few large waves of foes. Here, Strife used his cunning to stay out of the way of enemy projectiles, jump and hang in the air to deliver some death from above, and used his special abilities, such as temporarily transforming into a huge beast.
With the dungeon cleared, we switched to the Boss fight demo. We faced off against Mammon, a Lord of Hell, who was living in a room filled with gold coin, reminding us of the scenes from Aladdin or Scrooge McDuck in his bank vault. As the battle began, this allowed the boss to dive under the surface and appear elsewhere. Things started out fine - Strife delivered solid damage and kept dodging the boss' ranged energy spheres. After depleting a certain amount of his health bar, things got more chaotic, as he spawned a magic coffin that began producing skeletons for us to contend with. The upside is that they dropped some healing items, but they also kept coming until the coffin was destroyed, which took a fair chunk of damage. While busy with the fodder, the boss also spawned a magic book that kept firing magic spells at us. With so much chaos in the room, we weren't able to keep up and were defeated.
For the second attempt, a better game plan was formed. After dealing an initial chunk of damage to the boss, we began to focus on eliminating the coffin and the magic book as priority targets. With those cleared, we re-focused on the boss, but he had more tricks. He spawned a mirror, which created multiple versions of himself. Now, we were facing off against numerous copies of the boss - and while the duplicates fell quickly, it was quite chaotic, and Strife took a lot of damage. But fret not - as mentioned, players can also switch to War at any time. With War, the controls stay the same, but he obviously has his own style of fighting, animations, and special attacks, as well as his own health bar. It was a challenging encounter, but eventually we prevailed.
Darksiders Genesis was a fun and engaging demo. The gameplay seemed fairly polished, and the pieces are clearly coming together for this spinoff. The spirit of the Darksiders franchise makes an effortless transition to the new perspective, and fans of both the series and similar top-down action games should keep this title on their radar. While no specific launch date has been confirmed as of yet, the title is planned for release this year on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Airship Syndicate
Our Review of Darksiders Genesis
Darksiders Genesis is not yet ranked
Darksiders: Wrath of War
Released: September 2010
Developer: Vigil Games
Developer: Gunfire Games
Released: October 2017
Developer: Airship Syndicate
Released: August 2012
Darksiders Genesis - Debut Teaser
All videos for Darksiders Genesis (1)
Popular PC Games
Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer


Software for managing and presenting bean series. Multi-Catalogues / Series and bean collections. Bean images and downloadable data. 550 images available. Virtual showcase, research, budget management. Compatible with Windows XP +.NET FrameWork, Vista & Seven x64. Check the FAQ, photos and shared data. To date, 53 series and 566 images are available for download.
Data cataloguer to organize documents, files, hyperlinks, programs, folders and notes, as a database for quick and easy access for them.
Vinyl Manager is a free software in which you will find all the tools necessary for the proper management of your vinyl collection.
At the request of an art dealer, we developed this collection management software. This software allows you to know at any time the status and profitability of each product.
KDOC is the ideal, light and fast companion for managing and filing your electronic documents (file, url).
This software aims to allow you to manage all your comic book collections.


text:
Namibia: Interview with Tjama Tjivikua
Tjama Tjivikua
Rector (Polytechnic of Namibia)
Click here for more Interviews In Namibia
The Polytechnic of Namibia, is a university of science and technology that was de-linked from the University of Namibia in 1995. The Polytechnic being a dynamic university which offers career-oriented undergraduate and post-graduate programmes at. Could you give us your thoughts on the evolution of the Polytechnic of Namibia activities from its creation to today?
Thank you very much for the opportunity to have an interview with you. Education is the backbone of any country's development. I am glad that in your visit you are able to cover education. Often times we lose the focus because we think, for instance, that mining is the largest generator of income and so we tend to focus on those sectors. But for a developing country like Namibia, formal education is new and must be given the extra push to make it organic, so people must think of learning because we are so far behind in terms of development. If you look at our Human Development Index (HDI), and the sectors that should be developed but do not have the qualified people, you realize we are really lagging behind. We have a huge gap in every discipline in Namibia - we have a huge gap for qualified people and expertise.
When I took over this polytechnic, my question was what does the new 'university of technology' look like. Basically my focus at that point was captured in the concept paper I wrote in 1995 before delinkage where I said the Polytechnic will become 'Namibia's University of Science and Technology' because there is a huge need in the market to create people necessary to attend to the needs of the country. I looked at the profile of the university and identified the gaps in the economy and what the university was producing.
We inherited a small component of 23 qualifications, ranging from one-year certificates to higher certificates and three-year diplomas. We did not have degree programs. So the question was where do we go from there; obviously we had to grow the qualifications but we had to revise them to bring them in line with the needs of the public sector, private sector, NGOs and so on.
The public needs had to be met. The challenge was then to create new courses, new qualifications, review them continuously every three years and we had to introduce degree programs, because internationally speaking, everyone demands it. And of course, we had to build capacity in other disciplines as well, and now we have master degrees.
I looked at our university then and realized this is a traditional university and I did not want to have a traditional university as well. You could clearly see the gap and hence I said then that I must focus on specific things that are not offered by the university but needed by the market. Thus we had to go full-blown on a program for IT and we had to re-do the whole program that we offered in computing. At that time we were only offering a one-year Certificate and three-year Diploma in Business Computing.
Later on we created what we call curriculum advisory boards and now we have people from the private sector, public sector, NGOs and education stakeholders who serve on these boards. This was important because otherwise you create qualifications for the tradition of it and without knowing what the market wants.
Could you tell about some of the University's key figures for the last year?
In that respect we also looked at the infrastructure in terms of what the institution needed. We did not have the necessary computer network at that time. There were only 80 computers that were linked by DCI's computer to the Computer Center to facilitate student's registration and the finance department, just to manage the financial accounts of the institution. So we had to go for a fiber optic network which is quite fancy, I must say, and we are now fully connected. The problem of bandwidth is still with us, a big issue and we are not there yet. It is very expensive and you get little for a lot of money. The point was to create an infrastructure to support the technical and technological qualifications and then to focus on new things that were not done.
For instance, in IT we had to diversify into software engineering, information systems administration as well as business computing. We currently do not have software experts in the industry; and they are not the same as business computing people and they are not the same as the hardware people either. We obtained Cisco certification because the industry is using Cisco hardware. We also had to look at where we come from and hence started a Land Management program.
As you know that land is a big problem (issue) in Southern Africa; in South Africa you know it is a big issues, as in Namibia; Botswana does not have the same problems that we have but land is still an issue with them, Angola of course now grapples with freehold and title holding. These are big issues and so we now offer a program in land management for the whole of Southern Africa. This is all technology based, ranging from surveying to Global Information System (GIS), land use planning, land valuation and so on.
Those are new things that we needed to address the needs of the Namibia people. We have grown from 23 qualifications when we started and we are now at 74 qualifications including master degrees. We started with 2500 students and we now have 7000 students. We have about 240 professors on full-time basis but we make use of other professionals on part-time basis for our part–time and distance education programs. Our total budget is at NAD200 million. We now have about 1300 computers because all the IT qualifications we introduced need computers. The IT department alone has 11 laboratories of 25 to 50 computers each and so is the engineering department which is not necessarily integrated with the IT department because of the capacity; you want to keep them separate although they are all connected to the network.
And then, of course, every student is connected as well - electronically. They can log on from anywhere in the world. They can check their accounts, view or send e-mail, whatever the case might be.
The thing we are fighting for right now is wireless connectivity. We cannot develop education properly, let alone higher education, without the right infrastructure. Infrastructure is hardware, software, connectivity, bandwidth and all that.
The Polytechnic of Namibia celebrated the tenth anniversary in 2005 winning the third consecutive Golden Arrow as Namibia's best education institution and the offering of the first master's degree in Information and Technology. What are the new programs you want to offer in the near future?
We are strategically focusing on certain things that are not necessarily offered either in Namibia or the region. If you, for instance, look at IT, it is absolutely necessary that we offer a master's degree in IT because not long ago, 80 percent of people working in the IT sector were not Namibians. So you have to bring in the graduates, the first degree holders, and then build up capacity to offer a master's degree.
All our qualifications are internationally recognized. We are in partnership with universities in South Africa and they have one accrediting body which evaluates and accredits; we also get audited. This year we are introducing a Master in International Business. Most of the universities in the region offer Masters in Business Administration and they are not quite the same. Regional integration has a lot in terms of trade amongst countries and there is lot of interaction with the UN bodies, WTO and so on and on. The other one challenge is to build the Land Management to the master's level which is funded by the European Union.
The Polytechnic of Namibia has international partnerships with other universities around the world in Austria, Germany, USA, South Africa, Netherlands, Finland, etc. Could you please tell us what your next partnerships will be?
We are still looking for more partnerships. We target partnerships obvious to the qualifications and to things we can do together in terms of research and so on. Because of Namibia's historic connection with Europe, especially with Germany, there are lots of connections for partnerships with Germany, and as you said, with Finland and others. Some of the partnerships are focusing on certain areas like some of the American partnerships which look at entrepreneurial skills development; we have a Center for Entrepreneurial Development that we built based on consultations with the domestic industries and our American partners. We have a Teaching and Learning Center that we also developed in the same way.
We will be happy to establish relationships with reputable universities. But you see, people are also traditional in thinking. You look at academe where you think people should have open minds but we are also still traditional in thinking. It is easy to partner with Harvard for the big university, but if your institution is not known, you are likely to find it difficult. This is one of the issues in which we are engaging government to change the name of the polytechnic to become the 'University of Science and Technology.' I am preparing a position paper now for the Ministry of Education.
In 1999, there was a commission appointed by the President to look at the status of education. Every 10 years there is a study on education just like there is a population census. That year, I made a submission to this body that amongst things proposed, we should be renamed and take some more responsibilities from the vocational component so that those people who went through the vocational system do not just go nowhere like it is in the current status quo. And after some arguments with some people, they believed us and they maintained that the Polytechnic should be renamed and transformed. The transformation has been ongoing and we are now looking for a name change.
Are you looking for partnerships in order to improve the infrastructures of the Polytechnic of Namibia?
You see, unfortunately the way it happens is if you form a partnership with another university, it is mostly limited to exchange of information, co-teaching, development of programs and you do not get adequate support to build your infrastructure through that partnership. The funding agencies won't give you money for that. The development assistance money given to government is for specific programs; be it drought relief, rural development and what not, and it is one of the thorny issues we have with government. The funding is not scientifically done for instance to say look, I have a new library and if I save money anywhere I would put it into the facility to enhance it. They will fund the library and not the equipment inside the library. It is very difficult to operate under those conditions.
We will obviously be interested to harness some funds in order to be able to build. Another predicament is that if you go for funding, normally if you take a loan you are required to produce a guarantee and government has to provide that guarantee. In the absence of that support, the project falls through. On your own just to invest like that, there must be returns on the other side and it does not happen very easily.
What are your main advantages?
I can testify that in many respects, we are better than many universities in the world. We are new, yes we are only 11 years old this year but we have much more to offer than people know or think. We offer an international environment where you can meet faculty members from everywhere in the world. We also offer an environment where you can learn and compete like you can in your own country and then more importantly, we offer the Namibian diversity. One of the things I have learnt is that your own qualification completed in your own country without an international exposure is so narrow and so limited that if you are a decision maker, you have a narrow view of things as opposed to a broader perspective.
If you want to study IT for instance, we give you what you can get somewhere else in terms of supporting infrastructure. Obviously we are not the best university in the world neither are we in Africa. But the growth we are creating here is to establish that enabling environment where we can accommodate exchange programs. Currently we have quite a number of exchange programmes with Europe. These students study for three years and then are required to do a semester elsewhere. Where do they go… Polytechnic of Namibia. The same applies to Namibians who are then accorded the opportunity to study in those countries to further their studies. But we acknowledge that we are new and we must sell our name and build a reputation and profile.
But you see the problem is the name polytechnic; in the traditional African context, it gives a different perspective and impression about the quality of products offered. We are a commonwealth country and in the commonwealth system, say if look to Britain, they have changed all their polytechnics; there are no longer there. The same is true for Australia and New Zealand. South Africa had 17 technikons which are basically the same as polytechnics. They have since changed them to universities of technology. Now you are basically in limbo because you are the only one left with the name called polytechnic and looking at the history, a polytechnic here is not the same as the one in Arusha, Tanzania or Nigeria for that matter. So we were part of that 'league' but were not talking the same language.
Your government has set a goal that you call "vision 2030" which aims to see the country prospering in many ways (economically, poverty eradicating, attract international investments, etc). How would your institution contribute to this?
We have been one of the strongest proponents of development in Namibia. People are looking at the Polytechnic as a source of human capacity. If you are looking for engineering graduates, you find them here; if you are looking for a graduate in land management, media technology and so forth. The secret is we take theory, we integrate with project-based learning, and practical learning, and in-service training, thus making graduates better adaptive to the industry. We need a knowledge worker and we are leading the way in that respect. In fact, our theme for this year is Innovation for a Knowledge Economy. For last year it was Vision 2030. We are at the forefront of professing that we need knowledge and with the support of government through funding and otherwise we will continue to make our contribution. We are fully conversant with Vision 2030 and we are leading the way in education.
Your personal experiences are also of interest to us. Could you tell us about your career up to your promotion to Rector of the Polytechnic University as well as your greatest accomplishment during your time as Rector?
I left Namibia to study overseas. I went to the USA where I did my first and second degrees and PhD in Chemistry. Then I worked at a university in the USA, where I was professor for five years before coming back to Namibia. I applied for this position and was offered the job. The greatest satisfaction is working in your country and seeing things happening. You are leading the way. It is nice to be at the top, it is very difficult, very challenging but if you have an open view, like I like to think I have, it is rewarding. But the greatest one is to see 'your own children' progressing from step one to step 10. It is very satisfying.
We're here in the Republic of Namibia to promote the investment opportunities of the country. What would your final message be to our readers concerning these opportunities?
We are a serious partner in development. Our track record of 10 years shows that we are developing for development and our job is not done yet. We are just beginning. We cannot reinvent the wheels of education and history and so ours is to leap-frog and form partnerships because we believe we make success of them. As they say 'nice things come in little packages' like the diamond ring and so on. We believe that even big universities have a lot to gain from smaller ones like ours, and generally Namibia has a lot to offer.


When Kyllian Warman's father was diagnosed with cancer when she was just a high school freshman, her family, determined to have her father see her graduate high school, fought the disease with all their might. But while treatments may have failed him, Kyllian did not. Using running as "her therapy, and medicine" to see her through the tough times, at the beginning of 2012, Kyllian vowed to run 2012 miles.
And she did. And she hasn't stopped since.
Then, after losing a friend to cancer soon after losing her father, Kyllian was moved to dedicate her running to raising awareness and funds for St. Jude Childcare's Research Hospital. St. Jude Childcare's Research Hospital.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened in 1962, and St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade.
They won't stop until no child dies from cancer. And either will Kyllian.
By running races around the country as a St. Jude Hero, she aims to witness an end to childhood cancer in her lifetime.
The Heroes program is just one of the many endurance events that help raise funds for the hospital. Walkers, runners, and triathletes of all skill levels and ages participate in Hero events around the country, from 5Ks to full marathons and triathlons. St. Jude Heroes are provided with personal fundraising pages, making the fundraising process easy for participants.
By being a Hero, and an excellent philanthropic example for other young people in her generation, Kyllian's initial goal was to raise just a few thousand dollars. But in just a few years, she has managed to raise over $100,000. It's no surprise that when Rick Shadyac, CEO of ALSAC, the fund-raising organization of the hospital, heard about Kyllian's efforts, he knew he had to meet her.
"It is critically important for our young people to embrace our mission. Our founder, Danny Thomas, called upon young people to do this. One of the first fund-raising events for the hospital was actually a teen march. Now, the power of a new generation of young people to use social media to spread our mission is invaluable. It is critically important to us. And Kyllian has been an amazing example of that." stated Shadyac.
Next weekend, over 20,000 runners will line up at the start line of the St. Jude Country Music Half and Full Marathon in Nashville. Several thousand of them will be walking and running as Heroes, lacing up their shoes and tackling the course to help keep the fight against childhood cancer, and the St. Jude mission going strong.
Standing humble among the thousands will be a very poised, special, and inspiring young lady- Kyllian. It will be her 13th marathon for St. Jude. When asked what keeps her motivated, what keeps her from hitting the snooze button on early morning training runs, she doesn't hesitate to share her inner motivation.
"I just consistently immerse myself in the mission. I read all the patient stories, some of them several times, so I can recall them on long runs. I remind myself of Danny Thomas' mission, it is a constant presence in my life. And really, what is my excuse? There is none. So I run. " Killeen states.
And you can too. Be a hero for a child. For a family. For the fight to end childhood cancer.
Visit St. Jude Heroes to start your journey to your race today.


text:
<?php

namespace PhpParser\Builder;

use PhpParser\Comment;
use PhpParser\Node;
use PhpParser\Node\Stmt;
use PhpParser\Node\Expr\Print_;
use PhpParser\Node\Scalar\String_;

class FunctionTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function createFunctionBuilder($name) {
        return new Function_($name);
    }

    public function testReturnByRef() {
        $node = $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->makeReturnByRef()
            ->getNode()
        ;

        $this->assertEquals(
            new Stmt\Function_('test', array(
                'byRef' => true
            )),
            $node
        );
    }

    public function testParams() {
        $param1 = new Node\Param('test1');
        $param2 = new Node\Param('test2');
        $param3 = new Node\Param('test3');

        $node = $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->addParam($param1)
            ->addParams(array($param2, $param3))
            ->getNode()
        ;

        $this->assertEquals(
            new Stmt\Function_('test', array(
                'params' => array($param1, $param2, $param3)
            )),
            $node
        );
    }

    public function testStmts() {
        $stmt1 = new Print_(new String_('test1'));
        $stmt2 = new Print_(new String_('test2'));
        $stmt3 = new Print_(new String_('test3'));

        $node = $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->addStmt($stmt1)
            ->addStmts(array($stmt2, $stmt3))
            ->getNode()
        ;

        $this->assertEquals(
            new Stmt\Function_('test', array(
                'stmts' => array($stmt1, $stmt2, $stmt3)
            )),
            $node
        );
    }

    public function testDocComment() {
        $node = $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->setDocComment('/** Test */')
            ->getNode();

        $this->assertEquals(new Stmt\Function_('test', array(), array(
            'comments' => array(new Comment\Doc('/** Test */'))
        )), $node);
    }

    public function testReturnType() {
        $node = $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->setReturnType('bool')
            ->getNode();

        $this->assertEquals(new Stmt\Function_('test', array(
            'returnType' => 'bool'
        ), array()), $node);
    }

    /**
     * @expectedException \LogicException
     * @expectedExceptionMessage Expected parameter node, got "Name"
     */
    public function testInvalidParamError() {
        $this->createFunctionBuilder('test')
            ->addParam(new Node\Name('foo'))
        ;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


High low steampunk skirt with plenty of drama from Punk Rave.
It's gypsy steampunk fun, we love the detailing of the oversized bronze buckle and matching eyelets plus the Tim Burton type striped frill on the hem.
The front section can be ruched higher with clever little bronze skull beaded cords.
Super cute and short at the front, it is perfect for Spring and summer steampunk or Burning Man festival parties and events.
Please check the size guide image, this label can run smaller than Australians & Kiwis are used to.


text:
International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery
10.4236/ijohns.2017.63006
Altered Serum Lipids in the Cases of Head and Neck Cancer Associated with the Habit of Tobacco Consumption
Setty L. N. Chandra Mohan, D. Satyanarayana
Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital Warangal, Telangana, India
Received: March 26, 2017; Accepted: May 28, 2017; Published: May 31, 2017
Alterations in serum lipid profile patterns have long been associated with malignancies, and their role remains controversial with respect to head and neck cancer. Due to an increased rate of neoplastic cell multiplication and reduced supply, there is increased utilization of lipids causing Hypolipidemia. Adding to this, tobacco contains carcinogens capable of damaging the cell membrane components including lipids resulting in further hypolipidemia. Thus the purpose of the present case control study is to discuss the alterations in plasma lipid profile in head and neck cancer patients in association with tobacco consumption. This hospital based study includes 80 cases of head and neck cancer patients and 50 controls. Plasma Lipids included are total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triglycerides (TG). Student's "t test" was applied to the data acquired. Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant and P > 0.05 were considered statistically insignificant.
Lipids, Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Head and Neck Cancer
Lipids are the main cell membrane components that are essential for various biological functions. Cholesterol is an extremely important biological lipid molecule involved in the synthesis of a number of essential vitamins, steroid hormones and bile acids. The cellular requirement of cholesterol is satisfied from two sources: exogenously from receptor mediated uptake of low-density lipoproteins and endogenously from mevalonate. The mevalonate pathway is a sequence of enzymatic reactions (Figure 1) leading to Farnesyl pyrophosphate, which is the common substrate for the biosynthesis of cholesterol and isoprenoid compounds. Mevalonic acid having an essential role in DNA replication raised the possibility that a derangement in mevalonate synthesis might play a role in carcinogenesis [1] . Since 1980, a number of studies have revealed that there is a loss of cholesterol feedback control in cancer cells. This loss of the cholesterol feedback control leads to uncontrolled synthesis of mevalonate causing damaged DNA synthesis and uncontrolled hypocholestrelemia. Lipids are associated with cancer because they play an important role in cancer cellular integrity [2] [3] Lipids are useful for the study of variation in Cholesterol levels in many diseases.
It has been found that altered Serum Cholesterol levels are associated with breast and colorectal cancers [4] [5] [6] . Head and neck cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in India. Globally, it's the 6th most common cancer in the world [7] . Tobacco is the most important etiological agent in head and neck cancer. There are 72 measurable carcinogens in tobacco and are classified as Group I carcinogens by IARC [8] .The most important players in tobacco causing head and neck cancer are 4-Nitroquinilone-1-oxide (NQO) and Dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) [9] . The carcinogen in tobacco stimulates free radicals and reactive oxygen species release which in turn cause increase in Peroxidation and Oxidation of Polyunsaturated fatty acids. Due to enhanced lipid peroxidation, there is a greater consumption of lipids including total cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipoproteins for the synthesis of new cell membranes. To meet the voracious requirement, there is an increased metabolism of
Figure 1. Mevalonate pathway in normal cells and an altered pathway in cancer cells leading to carcinogenesis and Hypocholestrelemia.
lipoprotein fractions such as VLDL, LDL, and HDL. The present study is aimed to evaluate the Plasma lipid profile (including total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triglycerides (TG)) in head and neck cancer patients.
The following study was conducted in Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck surgery at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Warangal during a span of 1 year from January 2016 to January 2017. A total of 80 patients were taken into the study and 50 subjects acted as controls .The controls were selected from the relatives of the patients who accompanied them. The case taken into account were diagnosed both clinically and histo pathologically. All the cases taken into this study had well differentiated Squamous cell carcinoma.
Staging of the cases was done as per AJCC Classification 2009 (7th edition). 28 cases of Stage I, 34 cases of Stage II, 8 cases of Stage III, 8 cases of Stage IV, were included in this study. The patients diagnosed with Head and Neck cancer were having Oral cancer (n = 34), Oropharyngeal cancer (n = 6), Hypopharyngeal cancer (n = 8), Laryngeal cancer (n = 24), Thyroid cancer (n = 6), Unknown primary (n = 2). All the above data is represented in Table 1.
Criteria for Cases Selection
Study Inclusion Criteria
1) Individuals with habit of smoking tobacco and chewing tobacco.
2) Individuals who were diagnosed clinically and histopathologically with Cancer.
3) Patients age 25 and above.
4) Patients with an Unknown primary, with a histological diagnosis, in form of wedge biopsy/Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC).
Study Exclusion Criteria
1) Individuals suffering from other diseases that might alter the lipid levels (Hypothyroidism, Hyperthyroidism, Nephritic syndrome, Malabsorbtion, Adrenal Insufficiency, Marfan Syndrome, Hematological diseases, Liver diseases).
2) Patients who have habit of Tobacco consumption in any form.
3) Patients with History of Head and Neck cancer or treated cancer.
4) Patients with Benign head and neck tumors.
5) Patients having skin cancer.
6) Patients with Lymphomas, Haematological Cancers, Tuberculosis.
7) Patient with history of/diagnosed with HIV/AIDS/Tuberculosis and receiving Anti Tuberculosis treatment/Treatment for HIV.
8) Patients receiving Hypolipidemia drugs or drugs causing Hypolipidemia were excluded.
Table 1. Clinicopathalogical details of the cases and controls in the study.
Blood Sample Collection
Fasting serum lipid profile was obtained from both Cases and Controls who were placed on fasting for a minimum of 12 hours prior to obtaining the blood samples. The blood samples were collected at least two times to evaluate the lipid changes in patients. The samples were allowed to clot and the serum obtained was centrifuged in an Automated Alere Cholesterol LDX analyzer.
Habit of Tobacco Consumption in the Subjects
Habit of tobacco consumption in one or the other form of smoking tobacco/chewing tobacco/chewing lime/chewing Areca nut is highly prevalent in India. In our study, 97.5% of the patients with Head and Neck cancer were consuming tobacco in one form or other. The association of cancer of oral cavity and tobacco was 42.5%.The details regarding habit of tobacco consumption in association with head and neck cancer are provided in Figure 2. Tobacco chewing form of readily available pouch (Gutka) and/or with lime was common in the patients with Oral cancer and Oropharyngeal cancer. A combination of Bidi and Gutka was more commonly seen in Oral cavity cancer and in the female subjects the habit of Tobacco chewing along with Areca Nut was more commonly seen. Tobacco smoking for more than 10 years was seen in 23 cases (28.75%) and smoking for more than 20 years was seen in 41 cases (51.25).
A Significant decrease in Serum Total Cholesterol (P < 0.001), HDL (P < 0.001), LDL (P < 0.001), in Head and Neck cancer patients when compared to Controls. Our results strengthen the evidence of an Inverse relation existing between Serum Lipid levels and Cancer. Table 2 depicts the data recorded from the cases and controls. Table 3 shows that significant P values in Stage I, II, III, and IV in TC, HDL, and LDL. Non significant value of P was noted in Stage I, III, IV of VLDL, and TG. The total cholesterol in males and female with cancer in comparison to controls is depicted in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Showing tobacco consumption in various forms in Head and Neck cancer patients.
Figure 3. Comparing total cholesterol in cancer in males, female and controls.
Table 2. Comparing lipid profile in cases and controls.
*P < 0.05 is significant.
Table 3. Comparing mean lipid value and P value in different stages of cancer.
*P < 0.05 is significant
Our study reveals that there is a significant reduction in Lipid parameters (TC, HDL, LDL) in cancer patients. The study also reveals Stage II cancer showing Significant reduction in VLDL and TG. Hence in depth study is necessary involving larger populations to confirm this finding.
The majority of the Cholesterol in the body is in the cell membrane structure while the rest of it is in blood. Sphingolipids and cholesterol form rafts that move within the cell membrane bilayer. These rafts function as platforms for the attachment of proteins when membranes are moved around inside the cell and during signal transduction [10] . Cholesterol plays important part in membrane trafficking assembly of signaling complexes on the plasma membrane. The Cholesterol presenting in blood is in constant transit between blood and tissue, carried in form of four major Lipoproteins namely HDL, LDL, VLDL, IDL. The normal human body derives energy from break down of free fatty acids and lipoprotein. On the other hand the cancer cell requires a high amount of metabolic intermediates in form of proteins, nucleic acids and lipids, a prerequisite for rapid proliferation [11] . HDL transports cholesterol from peripheral tissue to liver thereby prevents accumulation within tissue .The cancer cell accumulates a large cholesterol intracellularly for its rapid cell growth and division resulting in decreased cholesterol efflux from cancer cell and thus resulting in reduced HDL cholesterol [12] . Cancer cells show De novo Lipogenesis [13] to meet their increased requirement but even then this won't be sufficient for oncogenic signaling and its cell membrane synthesis, leading it to derive this from exogenous fatty acids. The oncogenic signals include ceramide-1-phosphate, platelet activating factor, diacylglycerol and lysophosphatidic acid [14] [15] [16] . The De novo lipogenesis in cancer cells causes increase in Monosaturated fatty acids which protect the cancer cell from oxidative killing and also chemotherapeutic agents [13] . Furthermore all cases in our study had habit of tobacco consumption in one form or other. Carcinogens in tobacco are responsible for increase in peroxide free radical production due to oxidation/peroxidation of Poly unsaturated free fatty acids [17] . This results in further consumption in lipids adding to already decreased plasma lipids.
In 1974, Rose et al. [18] reported that serum cholesterol was found lower in cancer colon patients, followed by Kark et al. [19] reporting low cholesterol levels in lung cancer patients. Following these discoveries many researchers found Hypolipedimia in several cancers though alterations were seen with respect to LDL, VLDL, TG, reduced levels of HDL seen in most of the studies. Schatzkin et al. [2] and Chyou et al. [20] observed an inverse trend between lower serum cholesterol in head and neck cancer as well as in esophageal cancers. The lower serum lipid status may be considered a useful indicator for initial changes occurring in the neoplastic cells. In the study done by Omoti et al. the mean serum cholesterol & LDL in the cancer patients were significantly lower than those of controls [21] . In one study done at The Edith Wolfson Medical Centre in, Israel they found that the LDL levels showed that a 1 mg/dl increase in LDL was accompanied by a relative 2.4% and 2.5% reduction in odds of hematological cancer and fever/ sepsis respectively [22] . This leads to the question if there can be a value so significant that we can determine the prognosis of a patient by the lipid values. Aexopoulos et al. [23] had found non-significant difference in serum triglycerides between cases and controls. Study done by Nydegger et al. revealed that serum
Figure 4. Comparing the lipid parameters between cases and controls.
triglycerides and cholesterol levels were markedly decreased in cancer patients [24] .
Figure 4 depicts the different lipid parameters comparing cases and controls.
It shows that there is significant difference between cases and controls with respect to TC, HDL, and LDL. In our study we noted that though the mean levels of VLDL, TG in the cases were lower compared to controls, they weren't significant. However values of VLDL, TG in Stage II cancer shows significant P value. Hence to correlate with our findings an in depth study is necessary to find out the changes in lipid levels per stage of cancer by involving a larger populations based study.
Mohan, S.L.N.C. and Satyanarayana, D. (2017) Altered Serum Lipids in the Cases of Head and Neck Cancer Associated with the Habit of Tobacco Consumption. International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, 6, 28-37. https://doi.org/10.4236/ijohns.2017.63006
1. Huneeus, V.Q., Wiley, M.H. and Siperstein, M.D. (1980) Isopentenyl Adenine as a Mediator of Mevalonate-Regulated DNA Replication. Transactions of the Association of American Physicians, 93, 347-356.
2. Schatzkin, A., Hoover, R.N., Taylor, P.R., Ziegler, R.G., Carter, C.L., Albanes, D., et al. (1988) Site-Specific Analysis of Total Serum Cholesterol and Incident Cancers in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study. Cancer Research, 48, 452-458.
3. Halton, J.M., Nazir, D.J., McQueen, M.J. and Barr, R.D. (1998) Blood Lipid Profiles in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer, 83, 379-384.
https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19980715)83:2<379::AID-CNCR24>3.0.CO;2-P
4. Gerber, M., Richardson, S., DePaulet, P.C., Pujol, H. and DePaulet, A.C. (1989) Relationship between Vitamin E and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Breast Cancer: Nutritional and Metabolic Aspects. Cancer, 64, 2347-2353.
https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0142(19891201)64:11<2347::AID-CNCR2820641126>3.0.CO;2-V
5. Gerber, M., Cavallo, F., Marubini, E., Richardson, S., Barbieri, A., Capitelli, E., et al. (1988) Liposoluble Vitamins and Lipid Parameters in Breast Cancer. A Joint Study in Northern Italy and Southern France. International Journal of Cancer, 42, 489-494.
6. Forones, N.M., Falcan, J.B., Mattos, D. and Barone, B. (1998) Cholesterolemia in Colorectal Cancer. Hepatogastroenterology, 45 1531-1534.
7. Paul, L., Kruger, E. and Tennant, M. (2010) Oral Cancer in Western Australia, 1982-2006: A Retrospective Epidemiological Study. Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine, 39, 376-381.
8. International Agency for Research on Cancer (2004) Tobacco Smoke and Involuntary Smoking. Vol. 83, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, World health organization.
9. Steele, V.E. and Lubet, R.A. (2010) The Use of Animal Models for Cancer Chemoprevention Drug Development. Seminars in Oncology, 37, 327-338.
https://doi.org/10.1053/j.seminoncol.2010.05.010
10. Simons, K. and Gerl, M.J. (2010) Revitalizing Membrane Rafts: New Tools and Insights. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 11, 688-699.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2977
11. Feinleib, M. (1983) Review of Epidemiological Evidence for a Possible Relationship between Hypocholesterolemia and Cancer. Cancer Research, 43, 2503S-2507S.
12. Mandal, C.C. and Rahman, M.M. (2014) Targeting Intracellular Cholesterol Is a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Cancer Treatment. Journal of Cancer Science and Therapy, 6, 510-513.
13. Rysman, E., Brusselmans, K., Scheys, K., Timmermans, L., Derua, R., Munck, S., Van Veldhoven, P.P., Waltregny, D., Daniels, V.W., Machiels, J., Vanderhoydonc, F., Smans, K., Waelkens, E., Verhoeven, G. and Swinnen, J.V. (2010) De Novo Lipo-genesis Protects Cancer Cells from Free Radicals and Chemotherapeutics by Promoting Membrane Lipid Saturation. Cancer Research, 70, 8117-8126.
https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-3871
14. Wymann, M.P. and Schneiter, R. (2008) Lipid Signaling in Disease. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 9, 162-176.
15. Arana, L., Gangoiti, P., Ouro, A., Trueba, M. and Gomez-Munoz, A. (2010) Ceramide and Ceramide-1-Phosphate in Health and Disease. Lipids in Health and Disease, 9, 15.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-511X-9-15
16. Tsoupras, A.B., Iatrou, C., Frangia, C. and Demopoulos, C.A. (2009) The Implication of Platelet Activating Factor in Cancer Growth and Metastasis: Potent Beneficial Role of PAF Inhibitors and Antioxidants. Infectious Disorders—Drug Targets, 9, 390-399.
17. Ames, B.N. (1983) Dietary Carcinogens and Anticarcinogens: Oxygen Radicals and Degenerative Diseases. Science, 221, 1256-1264.
18. Rose, G., Blackburn, H., Keys, A., et al. (1974) Colon Cancer and Blood-Cholesterol. The Lancet, 303, 181-183.
19. Kark, J.D., Smith, A.H. and Hames, C.G. (1980) The Relationship of Serum Cholesterol to the Incidence of Cancer in Evans County, Georgia. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 33, 311-332.
20. Chyou, P.H., Nomura, A.M., Stemmermann, G.N. and Kato, I. (1992) Prospective Study of Serum Cholesterol and Site-Specific Cancers. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 45, 287-292.
21. Omoti, C.E. and Idogun, E.S. (2009) Serum Lipid and Lipoprotein Profile in Nigerian Patients with Hematological Malignancies. International Journal of Health Research, 2, 267-272.
22. Shor, R., Wainstein, J., Oz, D., Boaz, M., Matas, Z., Fux, A. and Halabe, A. (2007) Low Serum LDL Cholesterol Levels and the Risk of Fever, Sepsis, and Malignancy. Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science, 37, 343-348.
23. Alexopoulos, C.G., Blastsios, B. and Avgerinos, A. (1987) Serum Lipid & Lipopro-tein Disorders in Cancer Patients. Cancer, 60, 3065-3070.
https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-0142(19871215)60:12<3065::AID-CNCR2820601234>3.0.CO;2-Q
24. Nydegger, U.E. and Butler, R.E. (1972) Serum Lipoprotein Levels in Patients with Cancer. Cancer Research, 32, 1756-1760.
●IJOHNS Subscription
●Most popular papers in IJOHNS
●About IJOHNS News


News - Vacuum Cleaner Power,What gives you the best suction?
The obvious answer might be the higher the wattage the more powerful the cleaner right? Well this isn't entirely correct when it comes to vacuum cleaners and depends on a number of things.
Watts are used to give a measure of the vacuums motor power, the higher the watts the faster the motor can spin and therefore generate suction. However just because one vacuum cleaner has a more powerful motor than the other, it doesn't mean it has better suction. The amount of suction you receive at the end of the hose depends on the vacuum's design and efficiency, as well as filter type. A vacuum with less motor power but a shorter hose can out-perform a longer hose model with more power. Better filters such as HEPA will consume more power than standard ones, reducing suction.
Confused? Well to the rescue is another unit of measurement used for suction – air watts. By comparing air watts between vacuum cleaners you are directly comparing actual suction power combined with motor power. At the end of the day most people want the vacuum with the best possible suction for the price.
For really effective cleaning, an upright vacuum cleaner will need around 100 air watts and a cylinder vacuum cleaner will need around 220 air watts. It's important that a cylinder vacuum cleaner has a high wattage because more power is required to pull the dust further up the tube. Air watts should be shown as a European test standard (IEC60312). So if it doesn't show one then air on the side of caution as the number quoted may not be reliable.
So when comparing suction it is not just the motor power that's important it's the air watts as well. But you must also take into account the style of vacuum cleaner, as the cylinder version needs almost twice as much power as an upright model. Make sure you consider the tube length and also type of filter being used. The more common HEPA filters are designed to have smaller holes to catch more dust particles that can cause irritation. You will need extra suction power to get the air through the tightly woven fibres. Finally when you do compare air watts make sure it has a European stamp of approval, but most important of all, if you are buying a vacuum cleaner for good suction power, make sure the filter is cleaned as often as recommended as air watts are significantly reduced by a blocked filter.


text:
misono desperate for sales on CD cover, no more releases unless 10k sales
As reported earlier today, Koda Kumi's little sister misono is making a return to the music scene with her brand new PV for 'Uchi Uchi Rock – Toriatsukai Setsumeisho –'.
The song will be featured on her upcoming album 'UCHI', her first album release in over 4 years due out October 13th. The covers have been released, and as expected, there is a portrait of misono and her striking eyes. But what's grabbing everyone's attention is what's written on it. Besides the title of the album, plastered over her face in large type is a message that has internet users and articles calling her out for her desperation.
"If this album doesn't sell 10,000 copies, misono can't release any more CDs."
The album has been organized to celebrate the singer's 30th birthday and will be released in two versions: a CD+DVD edition and a CD Only edition. The album will have a limited release of 10,000 copies, each album numbered by misono's hand herself. If she does not successfully sell all 10,000 copies, she will not be able to have any future releases.
Futhermore, on the Oricon ranking for 9/22, there are singers that have less than 10,000 albums sold in the Top 10, so there is attention for how well her new album will sell in the future. With all the drama concerning her life and career this past year or two, do you think she'll be able to manage to sell all 10,000 copies?
For context, her previous album 'Me', released in 2010, sold a little under 7,000 copies on the Oricon charts.
Posted by ARAMA! JAPAN
Shinsei Kamattechan release PV for 'Shinjuku eki' Performances from Bokura no Ongaku's final episode


Video of the speaker together with slides and audio. With rich media webcasting we give your audience the experience as if they were in the room theirselves. They can adjust their screen layout and ask questions. This way of streaming is the perfect solution for sharing a conference to an online audience.
Talking to an online public while thinking about the smallest details for instance for giving a training or product demo? Go for our webinar solution then. One to many, perfectly served.
With Streamdis Event Services we send well trained and professional technicians to your event. You just organize your meeting and we take care of the rest. After years of experience, we came up with a worry free system that will make your online event a true success. Our team can also assist you as project managers that work together with your AV supplier so that all technical aspects will be present to guarantee you an excellent online experience.
Organizing a multilingual conference? No problem! We stream and record your event with 7 languages included simultaneously. Any viewer can choose his desired language and can change on the fly while watching.
We show your speakers and their slides and provide visual info on screen during the live stream. Simple and easy.
1 webcast or 100? With our dynamic catalog you only need 1 link where you can find all webcasts. Above all the catalog can be branded to your look and feel. Click here to find out.
Thanks to our compact systems 1 Streamdis engineer can manage transportation and operation of 1 room. So no extra transportcosts and very fast service.
PC, mac, mobile device,.. It doesn't matter: As long as you have internet connection you can see our content. Also slide navigation and other extra features are useable on mobile devices.
Authentication, adding downloadable files to the webcast, Closed captioning, registration system, Q&A, polling, searching for words in the slides? Piece of cake for our rich media webcasting!
A slide or a piece of the presentation that needs to be censored? We edit on the fly and provide you in no time the adjusted result as you wished.
Due to our approach we stay transparent for 100% for the speakers and delegates: We don't need any files and don't instruct the speaker on presentation level. Streaming and captioning the speaker and his presentation at the most transparent way.
Who has watched what and for how long? Which speaker has the most viewers and which slides were the best?
You can see it all with our detailed statistics.
What about sponsoring your eventwebcast? All our webcasts can be personalised by brandable (sponsor)logo's and advertisingslides and files.


We had a Fire Safety lesson about fire extinguishers. We were reminded how important they are and if the extinguishers are tampered with, they could endanger lives. Mr Bird also reminded us about smoke alarms and asked us if we had any in our homes. It is vital they are checked weekly and he told us all to ask our parents/carers if this happens. He also told us that if we don't have a fire alarm in our homes our parents can phone the local fire station and request one. We were reassured it would be fitted free of charge.


text:
Q: Different results for stratified cross validation and train test split for CNN I am trying to develop an image classifier using conventional neural networks. Now I was looking at evaluating the model using 10-fold cross validation and through repeated train test splitting (hold out partitioning). When I do repeated hold out partitioning, I get an average error of 1.5%, and for stratified cross validation, I get error of more than 10%. Just was wondering how this was happening?
The code is as given below
# X is the image feature input which is of size (4571, 91, 91) which represents 4571 images each of size 91x91.
# y is the vector of labels

# Repeated hold out partitioning
y_c = to_categorical(y)
for i in range(10):
    X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y_c, test_size=0.1, stratify = y_c)
    X_train, X_val, y_train, y_val = train_test_split(X_train, y_train, test_size=0.1, stratify = y_train)

    # reshape to be [samples][pixels][width][height]
    X_train = X_train.reshape(X_train.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')
    X_test = X_test.reshape(X_test.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')
    X_val = X_val.reshape(X_val.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')

    # create model
    model = Sequential()
    model.add(Conv2D(32, (5, 5), input_shape=(91, 91, 1), activation='relu'))
    model.add(MaxPooling2D(pool_size=(2, 2)))
    model.add(Dropout(0.2))
    model.add(Flatten())
    model.add(Dense(128, activation='relu'))
    model.add(Dense(2, activation='sigmoid'))
    # Compile model
    model.compile(loss='binary_crossentropy', optimizer='adam', metrics=['accuracy'])

    model.fit(X_train, y_train, validation_data = (X_val, y_val), epochs=40, batch_size=8, verbose=1)
    # Final evaluation of the model
    scores = model.evaluate(X_test, y_test, verbose=0)
    print("CNN Error: %.2f%%" % (100-scores[1]*100))

//
# X is the image feature input which is of size (4571, 91, 91) which represents 4571 images each of size 91x91.
# y is the vector of labels

# Stratified cross validation
skf = StratifiedKFold(n_splits=10, random_state=42)
skf.get_n_splits(X, y)

print(skf)
conf_mat = np.zeros(shape=(2,2))

for train_index, test_index in skf.split(X, y):
#     print("TRAIN:", train_index, "TEST:", test_index)
    X_train, X_test = X[train_index], X[test_index]
    y_train, y_test = y_c[train_index], y_c[test_index]
    X_train, X_val, y_train, y_val = train_test_split(X_train, y_train, test_size=0.1, random_state=42, stratify = y_train)

    # reshape to be [samples][pixels][width][height]
    X_train = X_train.reshape(X_train.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')
    X_test = X_test.reshape(X_test.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')
    X_val = X_val.reshape(X_val.shape[0], 91, 91, 1).astype('float32')

    # create model
    model = Sequential()
    model.add(Conv2D(32, (5, 5), input_shape=(91, 91, 1), activation='relu'))
    model.add(MaxPooling2D(pool_size=(2, 2)))
    model.add(Dropout(0.2))
    model.add(Flatten())
    model.add(Dense(128, activation='relu'))
    model.add(Dense(2, activation='sigmoid'))
    # Compile model
    model.compile(loss='binary_crossentropy', optimizer='adam', metrics=['accuracy'])

    model.fit(X_train, y_train, validation_data = (X_val, y_val), epochs=40, batch_size=8, verbose=1)
    # Final evaluation of the model
    scores = model.evaluate(X_test, y_test, verbose=0)
    print("CNN Error: %.2f%%" % (100-scores[1]*100))

X is the image feature input which is of size (4571, 91, 91) which represents 4571 images each of size 91x91. y is the label vector of size(4571, )

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Makeup brushes contain lots of bacteria, bacteria cause pimples, dirty eyeshadow brushes cause eye infections bla bla bla.. We've heard these before but sometimes we're just so lazy to clean our brushes or it's just not possible to wash them everyday.
Introducing the solution for lazy makeup brush users! xP This bottle is a daily brush cleaner. You can use it to clean your brushes after/before using or between different eyeshadow colours.
For small brushes, I moisten a tissue paper/serviette with it.
For bigger or fluffier ones, I spray it directly on the brush & massage it a lil. Then I wipe it on the serviette.
The makeup should come off easily on the serviette. Use a wiping and dabbing motion (not too hard though! You don't want your brushes to fan out). Repeat until no residue comes off on the serviette.
It's also important to clean your brush holders & covers.. Btw, this is only a mild cleaner. It's still recommended to wash your brushes properly at least once a week. I like to use the Daiso Sponge Cleaner for that.
My conclusion : Really handy! I clean my brushes with this after applying eyeshadow and sometimes when my blusher/foundation brush looks dirty. I wouldn't recommend cleaning it before applying your makeup since it's a bit moist.
sounds great, would love to try it. and yeah, i'm also so lazy when it comes to cleaning and often forget how important that is.
Well, I don't really spray a lot (a couple of spritz is enough unless it's black/thick eyeliner) so it's only a little moist looking.
This is such a good and useful product! I didn't know it existed. I agree that it's not sanitary to have your makeup brushes just full of dirt/bacteria. This product seems like a lifesaver!
This looks so easy and nice! I've been looking for a good blush cleanser myself. :o I will give it a try!
Thankyou for the review. The product looks so handy for cleaning your brushes quickly! Less drying time as well.
I love this brush cleanser too. I bought like 4 bottles the last time Stage had sales. LOLX!
xD True! I find it a waste to use a whole wipe for my brushes since I sometimes only clean one eyeshadow brush (I can't stand putting a 'colourful' brush back into my brush bag).
hahaha! How much was it?


A combined team of researchers from Marine Ecology and Telemetry Research and the U.S. Navy's Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division has found evidence of whales diving deeper and longer than normal when exposed to sonar from submarines and helicopters.
In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes their study, which included tagging whales and monitoring their behavior when exposed to artificial sonar signals.
Makes me sad to read this... we are endangering so many species and they are suffering. I hope there is a fast solution to this particular issue!