text:
To use this web-site you do not have to provide us with any personal details nor do we specifically request such information. However, this page explains how the Scottish Ambulance Service uses any information you do give to us (e.g. if Emailing with a comment/suggestion), and the way we protect your privacy. Protecting the privacy and personal data of the visitors to our site is very important to us.
In accordance with the Data Protection Act, we have a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you and we will only use personal information you provide for the purpose(s) which you submit it. We will not pass your details to any other agency or third party unless we are obliged to do so under statute, you have given us your permission or we suspect actual or attempted criminal activity in the use or access of our website. You have a right to access any personal data we hold about you and rectify any inaccuracies.
We will not disclose any information given by you through our website with any third party organisation.
This privacy statement only covers the Scottish Ambulance Service Website. It does not cover links within this site to other websites.
If our privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing the page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.
A cookie is a small amount of data contained within a text file which is stored on your device's hard drive. A cookie is transferred via your web browser from some websites that you visit. Any website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser allows it. Your browser will only allow a website that has already sent a cookie to your computer to access it. Many sites use cookies in order to track online traffic flows or to apply specific styles to you during your time on the site. We do not use cookies on this site.
Log files allow us to record visitors' use of the site and enable us to enhance the future layout and content. The data gathered in this way does not contain any personal information from this site or any other sites you have visited. All log file information collected by the Scottish Ambulance Service is kept secure and no access to raw log files is given to any third party except where there is an obligation in the investigation/detection/prevention of crime or where we are obliged under other statute.
The Scottish Ambulance Service will make no attempt to track or identify individual users, except where there is a reasonable suspicion that unauthorised access to systems is being attempted. In the case of all users, the Scottish Ambulance Service reserves the right to attempt to identify and track any individual who is reasonably suspected of trying to gain unauthorised access to computer systems. As a condition of use of this site, all users give permission for the Scottish Ambulance Service to use its access logs to track users who are reasonably suspected of gaining, or attempting to gain, unauthorised access.


text:
2019/2020 Snow Plow Information
City of GP Snow Fleet:
- 6 Tandem salt/sand trucks with front plow
- 1 single axle plow truck with front plow
- 1 1-ton sander with front plow
- 1 tandem plow truck with front/wing plow
- 6 tandem trucks (city owned)
- 6 end dump trucks (contracted)
- 1 snow blower for windrow pick-up (plus 1 back-up unit)
- 6 graders
- 5 front end loaders with angle blade plow
- 1 front end loader with bucket for use in salt and sand yards
- 2 rubber tired backhoes
- 1 municipal tractor
- 1 skid steer
- 1 tool-cat
Material Storage:
- Sand and salt is stored at the City Service Centre.
- Snow is disposed of at the City snow dump site on Park Road. This dump is for City use only.
2018/2019 Winter Season Statistics:
- 134.8 cm of snow fell from September 2018 to March 2019, compared to 167.5 cm ten-year average.
- 17,942 loads of snow hauled to City Snow Dump, .
- 3 rotations of residential snow plowing, compared to 5 rotations in 2017/18 and 1 rotation in 2016/17.
Ice Control:
What ice control material do you use on the road?
We use a salt/sand mixture on our roads.
Why don't you use salt only?
Salt is only effective when temperatures are above -15C. Once temperatures lower, salt will sit on icy road surfaces and get blown to the sides of the roads.
How often are intersections sanded?
Ice control is applied to intersections on a continuous basis on all priority 1, 2, and 3 roads between October 15 to April 15 if deemed necessary by the Transportation Manager.
Do you apply ice control in Residential Areas?
Residential areas, along with parking lots, sidewalks and pathways, will receive ice control on an as-needed basis. Typically residential areas are not sanded solid but are treated for trouble spots. Salt/sand mixture may be applied to intersections, corners or downgrades in residential areas. You may report icy sections in your area by visiting cityofgp.com/report-issues.
Sidewalks and Trails:
Transportation Services plows commuter trails in the City by priority. Sidewalks adjacent to City owned property,such as public utility lots, easements and parks will be cleared of snow during the Residential Snow Plowing operation.Pathways within public utility lots and parks will not be plowed unless these pathways are links between sidewalks and pathways under City responsibility.
The Parks Department looks after recreational trails in subdivisions and Muskoseepi Park maintains the trails within the Bear Creek Park and Crystal Lake Pond areas
Residents are responsible for clearing sidewalks adjacent to their own property.
See Bylaw 1166 for more information
Will snow get pushed onto sidewalks on residential snow plow days?
The normal procedure is not to cover sidewalks. Certain conditions may result in snow from the road covering or partially covering the sidewalks. Certain conditions may be one or all of the below:
- When snow pushed to the sides of the road gets too high, or during residential snow plowing, some snow may spill over;
- If roadways get too narrow and there is an assessed safety issue, at the discretion of a Supervisor, snow may get pushed and stored onto the sidewalk.
For more information, download the Snow Plowing Priorities Sidewalks & Trails map from our GIS Maps and Services page.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Aerieel (Rare Game)
|Items In This Area
|Assassin's Dagger • Bronze Mace • Golden Armor (Drop from Aerieel) Leather Headgear • Numerology • Onion Bombs • Osafune • Serpent Rod • Silence* • Steel Gorget • Topkapi Hat.
Shaft Entry
This first trip to the Lhusu Mines is relatively short and fairly straightforward (yes, there will be multiple trips if you want to do everything in this game). You will be facing similar foes to past dungeons, such as the Steeling, Skeleton, and Skull Defender assuming you let the charge gauge diminish enough to encounter them regularly, that is. Other than being a little stronger and having more health, they behave in the same manner, have the same attacks and yield the same loot, both as drops and when stealing, so they won't be discussed again.
Tip : Lamont, despite being an annoying kid who should have no business competing with adults (and Vaan) when it comes to monster slaying, actually acquits himself rather well in combat. He does respectable damage in melee and has access to a host of magick, including the Cura spell. This will likely make him the best healer in the party at the moment. Enjoy it while you can.
From where you regain control after the cutscenes head north to the large east-west passage with two train tracks and look to your east. If you didn't pick up the Silence magick earlier in the Estersand, then you will find the treasure with it here; otherwise, there won't be anything. For some less predictable loot, turn west and follow the tracks to the western end of this passage, clipping the Steelings' wings as you encounter them and ignoring the two southern paths for now, until you get to the far end. A Skull Defender will likely pop out to say hello, so grind its bones to dust and you may find a treasure at the dead end, which could contain a Bronze Mace (Maces 1).
Once that loot is yours, turn your attention to the two tunnels running south, both of which lead to a more humble east-west passage, which serves as little more than a Steeling-occupied distraction. Instead turn your attention to two more tunnels running south. The western-most of these two tunnels leads to the area transition that'll bring you to the next area, but the eastern one will lead to some more treasure. Who can pass up treasure? Head down the eastern tunnel first and note that the two-tracked passage running east-west is blocked off by a gate at its western end. Shame, that. You'll encounter more Steelings in the smaller tunnels, but you will be facing Skeletons and Skull Defenders when you reach the east-west passage with the train tracks.
Kill the Steelings and undead that pester you, then explore the tunnel's eastern end to find a chest that may contain an Osafune (Katana 1), although you may have already bought one from the shops in Bhujerba. To the west of that are some stairs that lead to a switch, but you can't use this yet, so ignore it for now. In addition to the switch you may find another, unfortunate device waiting for you, which bears a bit of a tutorial…
Tutorials - Traps
If you have Libra active, either by use of someone with the Bangle equipped or from someone having used the technick, then you should see a red circle on the ground by the previously mentioned switch. This is a trap and they can be quite deadly in this game, as not only are they plentiful from here on out, but they can be triggered by anyone in your party. Of course, stepping on one will affect all of the nearby characters, but never any enemies. A large portion of traps will consist of you and your team taking damage, such as Explosion ones, which deal non-elemental damage when triggered. Of course, there are traps that do other things, such as reduce MP, inflict ailments and very rarely, restore HP or MP.
Normally, traps are invisible to the player and indirectly mentioned already, the only way to see them is with the use of Libra. That's why it's imperative to have a "Self: Any -> Libra" gambit somewhere on a character, preferably low on the priority list so that character doesn't take their sweet time activating it during an intense battle or a Bangle equipped, whichever you prefer. There are ways to walk over traps without setting them off, however, one of which is an accessory called the Steel Poleyn. The other way is via the Float status, which can be triggered with the corresponding Time Magick (you can also use Float Motes to give yourself Float). Unfortunately you don't have access to any of those right now, so you'll have to just use Libra and watch your step - and hope your companions aren't too stupid.
Tip : Basch starts out with the Libra technick, making him an ideal trap-finding candidate.
Oltam Span
With that out of the way, make your way back up the tunnel to the north and down the western tunnel you neglected earlier to reach the area transition. This area consists of a double-track-bearing bridge with two depressed walkways on either side of it. Both the bridge itself and its two subordinate walkways house a few traps, but the southern walkway is also home to a chest which may contain a Topkapi Hat , while the northern walkway may spawn a chest that holds Onion Bombs .
Not only will you face more Steelings and undead here, but there's a Rare Game that may possibly spawn, Aerieel. It has a chance of showing up somewhere on the bridge every time you enter the area, so if you don't get it the first time, exit and re-enter. The only problem is that you won't know it's there until you get close enough, as it will rise from the ground like a zombie. Aerieel is not much different than the normal Steelings, except it is stronger and undead. Yep, being undead means curative magicks and items will work on it. In fact, a single Phoenix Down will put Aerieel right back where it belongs. Aside from more health and strength, Aerieel has Gnaw and Leech, the latter of which will heal it for the same damage it deals to one of your party members. Also, its regular attacks have a chance to inflict poison. It can drop either a Bat Fang (common) or Golden Armor (rare), and the only thing you can steal from it is a Bat Wing.
Transitway 1
Cross the bridge to the west and enter the next area, Transitway 1. Near the eastern edge of this area - where you find yourself - is a tunnel to the north. This tunnel is trap-filled, but within you'll find a chest containing the Numerology technick. This is technically potentially the most damaging ability in the entire game, as it deals twice as much damage every time it hits in a row without missing. The first hit, for example, deals a measely one damage and has a 90% chance to hit, while the second attack deals double the damage (that's a whopping two damage) and also has a 90% chance to hit. The chance continues to go down and the damage doubles every time up until the 16th sequential hit, which has a pathetic 0.055% chance to hit, but will deal 65,536 damage if it does. If that's not enough the technick has a chance to deal splash damage, which deals double the normal damage, up to a maximum of 131,072 damage. The 17th hit always misses. While the chances to deal serious damage are too remote to be of much use (just over 3% to deal 4,096 damage, 1.5% to deal 8,192 damage) it should be noted that the counter is shared by the entire party, as it does not reset when you load. This being the case you can simply save/load Numerology uses and save your game after the hits, and reload when you miss. Whether it's worth the bother is up to you.
Other than that there's only one bit of lackluster loot to obtain in this area. Abandon the tunnel and return to the eastern-most edge of the area and follow the tracks west until they split. Turn northwest, as the southwestern path leads to a lowered gate, and keep your eye on the eastern wall to spot a chest, which may contain Leather Headgear . Defeat whatever undead and Steelings pester you as you loot, then exit via the area transition to the north.
Shunia Twinspan
Lo and behold, another bridge! This bridge area has only one depressed walkway, which is along the eastern side of the bridge. That said, there's precious little loot worth mentioning in this area, but that doesn't mean there's nothing worth your attention here. The bridge here is crawling with undead, both Skeletons and Skull Defenders, which will rise from the ground to oppose your crossing. Both of them count towards the same battle chain, and if you march up and down the bridge repeatedly you can end up encountering 30 - 40 foes on this screen. This easy chaining makes this area an obvious place to grind for Bone Fragments, which, remember, sell for 193G each, or 19,107G for 99 of the loot items. When you exhaust the area of undead, simply run through the Transitway 1 area (using Escape Mode to avoid killing any Steelings that may have respawned) and to the Oltam Span area. Oltam Span, being two zones away, will respawn all the undead in Shunia Twinspan. You really can't ask for easier grinding than this. Harvest Bone Fragments as much as you want, as it's an easy way to pack on a hefty amount of Gil - and XP and LP, while you're at it.
Site 2
When you're done exploiting the undead, head north to the next area where you'll find more undead. Joy. Fortunately you'll find a good bit of loot worth grabbing as well, so let's focus on that, taking the undead slaying for granted. From where you entered, follow the curving passage ahead to the northeast until you find a tunnel running north. Follow it until it deposits you in another two-tracked passage, the western end of which is blocked by a gate. At the eastern edge of this passage you can find a chest, which may yield a Serpent Rod (Rods 1).
Return south to the track-bearing passage you entered into and continue following it east, looting a chest that might possess a Steel Gorget (Accessories 4) before turning down another tunnel to the south. Follow this tunnel as it turns east, then north and ultimately leads to some stairs. Ascend the stairs and turn east to reach a natural stone cavern, or well, a Magicite cavern, in any event. Loot a chest along the eastern end of the chamber to possibly find an Assassin's Dagger (Daggers 2), then turn north and head up a passage to reach a larger chamber.
Here Lamont will find what he's looking for, and again utilize more resources and knowledge than he should. This is too much for Balthier, who begins to interrogate the kid, but before any answers are forthcoming, you'll be interrupted by Ba'Gamnan and his goons. Naturally you won't be getting out of here without a fight… or will you?
Boss - BaGamnan
|Fire (Absorbs), Dark, Earth, Holy, Ice, Lightning, Wind (Halves)
|Blind, Confuse, Disable, Disease, Doom, Oil, Petrify, Poison, Reverse, Sleep
|Potion (55%), Hi-Potion (10%), Round Shield (3%)
|Confuse, Disable, Disease, Doom, Petrify, Poison
|30 Gil (55%), Potion (10%), Hi-Potion (3%)
|Confuse, Doom, Immobilize, Petrify, Poison, Reverse
|30 Gil (55%), Potion (10%), Hi-Potion (3%)
|Confuse, Disable, Disease, Doom, Immobilize, Petrify, Poison, Stop
|30 Gil (55%), Water Mote (10%), Hi-Potion (3%)
When you're back in control you'll find yourself in the previous, smaller chamber (Where you can loot the Assassin's Dagger). Here you can choose to either follow Balthier's advice and flee or stand and fight Ba'Gamnan and his gang, which includes Bwagi, Gijuk and Rinok. To flee, simply hold down [R2] and retreat through the Lhusu Mines in Escape Mode, running all the way back to the Entry Shaft area to complete your escape. This can be made even easier by reducing the Battle Speed to its lowest value, as this doesn't affect how fast characters move, only how fast they act in combat, and since all you're doing is moving, it's decidedly biased in your favor.
If you choose to stand and fight, be wary that Ba'Gamnan and all of his goons likely have more HP than any of your characters, all of them start the fight with Protect active (a few might have Haste and Shell as well) and you don't have access to Lamont's excellent healing services, as he's making good his escape - from both Balthier and Ba'Gamnan, presumably.
As for your combatants, Bwagi can cast basic white magicks like Cure and Vox (removes the Silence status effect from allies) as well as attack physically. His casting prowess is completely over-shadowed by Gijuk, who can cast white magicks (Cure, Protect, Shell, Vox) and black magicks (Blizzard, Fire, Thunder), but isn't as adept in melee. Rinok is mostly a melee combatant, as is Ba'Gamnan himself. Ba'Gamnan is far stronger than his fellow Bangaa, and is capable of dealing much more damage and utilizing numerous technicks, including Kick and Lunge (both deal 1.5x normal damage), High Jump (area-of-effect attack) and Water Spout (water element damage, area-of-effect attack). Even worse, his physical attacks can all inflict Silence.
Their collective damage-dealing capabilities are rather respectible for this point in the game, and Cure probably won't be enough to keep up, so have characters use Hi-Potions when they're hard pressed. The damage spikes to watch out for come from Rinok's Jump attack (capable of dealing around 200~ damage), Ba'Gamnan's Water Spout (around 150~ to all characters in the area-of-effect), Ba'Gamnan's High Jump (200~ damage).
Setting up the Gambits "Foe: lowest max HP -> Attack" and "Self: HP Hi-Potion" will make this battle much simpler, just be sure to tailor your Hi-Potion usage to the amount of HP you have, you don't want to fall below 200 HP at any point in this fight, but you also don't want to waste Hi-Potions. If you have considerably more than 500~ HP, consider making the threshold lower (Self: HP
Escaping Lhusu Mines
After Ba'Gamnan and his goons are defeated, it'll be time to chase down Lamont - or whatever his name really is. To facilitate your desire to leave the Lhusu Mines, the treasure in this area will stop respawning. How rude. If you fled from Ba'Gamnan, you merely have to make your way through the Shaft Entry area and leave the mines to continue on, otherwise leave Site 2 and trek through the areas you've previously explored, watching Lamont flee periodically. You may come across new foes, like the Slavens in Transitway 1, the Oltam Span and in the Shaft Entry areas, but otherwise your escape shouldn't be terribly different from your intrusion.
When you're back in the open air of Bhujerba you'll witness a scene where Lamont, or rather Larsa, rescues Penelo from suspicion and absconds to Marquis Ondore's estate. Seems that everybody's goals once again converge on the same location, this time being Marquis Ondore's estate. Getting in, however, might be a bit of a problem, as past experience has shown that the Marquis is no fan of random strangers waltzing into his estate. Seems like you need fancy armor and a fleet of airships to get that key. Continue upstairs to the Save Crystal, near which the party will hit upon a plan that allows Vaan to put two of his only talents to use - causing a scene by being loud and annoying, and lying.


text:
There are some jobs in this fine isle of ours that, on the surface, seem like perfectly mundane career paths without serious risk of injury or in some cases, death. You may have one of these jobs, so we are here to save you and let you know how much you should fear for your life.Continue reading
Health & Safety in Numbers - Infographic
Whether you are a start-up business or long established company, the well-being of your employees should be a top priority. It is vital to have the correct practices in place to ensure members of staff remain safe when carrying out their jobs. Here's why health and safety is too important for any manager to ignore.Continue reading
2 Item(s)


text:
Where You Can Get Hua Hin News
Hua Hin Overview | Hua Hin hotels and travel guide
When looking into the current Hua Hin news, you may run into several roadblocks. Of course, there is the fact that you'll find limited availability outside of Thailand, but because it is a tourist mecca and well-known resort area, Hua Hin news is a little easier to find than general news about Thailand. At the same time, Hua Hin news that you do find may often be in a language you can't understand, catering to immigrant families looking for news of their homeland. Aside from going to Thailand, where can you find Hua Hin news that is easy to access and in your native tongue?
If you have satellite television, Hua Hin news can be found or ordered especially, since satellite often provides access to specialized cultural channels of all kinds. Of course, you may end up with Hua Hin news in native Thai speech with subtitles, but this is probably the easiest way to find what you are looking for. You may also be able to find Hua Hin news on satellite radio, which has thousands of international channels offering everything from ethnic music to news from across the globe. You can subscribe to blogs or newsgroups that produce updates of Hua Hin news, as well.
Hua Hin news is often fairly easy to find compared to other areas of Thailand apart from Bangkok because it is an extremely well known and popular tourist resort area full of hotels, spas, and activities. With the area growing rapidly and other surrounding areas being developed, Hua Hin news will come up sometimes even in domestic news shows. If you can find no other way, you may find a friend or relative who can forward Hua Hin news via international mail, including papers and clippings from magazines that will keep you up to date. Just because you no longer live in the area doesn't mean you can't keep track of Hua Hin news. There are always ways to get the information you need, including difficult to find things like Hua Hin news.


text:
Check your numbers, Oak Cliff. One of you is $1 million richer this morning.
Someone bought a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket, with five matching numbers, from the Tom Thumb on Hampton at 12th.
The number were: 29 46 53 64 73 10.
No one won the jackpot in Tuesday night's drawing, a record-setting 34th time in a row no one has one, and it will grow to an estimated $508 million.


text:
There are two kinds of people who give the interview, the shy introverts and the bold extroverts. Both of them are not balanced or interview ready. For an extrovert, answering questions like "tell about yourself" is an easy task, whereas introverts like to avoid it. So all the extremists out there, check out the customized guides to performing well in an interview.
The guide will help you balance out your personality during an interview. You cannot always be your real self. Because being real may cause trouble for you (professionally speaking).
Introvert's guide for an interview:
Sound a little enthusiastic while answering questions: You are very calm and prefer not to speak much which gives an ignorant impression to the recruiters. So, whenever you are asked something, be a little enthusiastic about it. Recruiters are very quick to judge and they will not take much time to understand your serenity. You must answer with a smile to make the surrounding pleasant for the recruiter. Also, don't always give to-the-point replies, try saying something more than what you usually say.
Be more expressive while sharing your interest: Express yourself in a balanced way, as it is difficult for the recruiters to understand you in such a shorter span. Complete your sentences, as half sentences show your disinterest towards the job which may not be the situation. Don't fear to express. It's better to balance your shy and calm personality with a little chirp.
Avoid fumbling: The fears and nervousness of the interview can lead to fumbling. Practice your interview at home, so that you are not clueless in the middle of it. Remember, you can tell them whatever you want to. It's not necessary for you to share your personal thoughts with them. Just let out your professional side.
Work on your body language: You are a little uptight in front of the strangers. Before the interview starts, drink water and take deep breaths and tell yourself that "you can do it, relax!" This will help you release out your unnecessary stress, mentally and physically.
And chill, they won't kill you!
Extrovert's Guide for an interview:
Sound professional: If introverts are dark then you are the light! You are too chirpy and speak a lot. Keep in mind the thin line between letting out the personal and professional stuff. Don't get too personal while addressing the questions. You need to see where to stop. Just share your professional details with the recruiter. Too friendly behavior may not be well received by the recruiter.
Mold your facial expressions: Don't make too many expressions while talking. Also, if the recruiter shares something, don't express any negative opinion even though you have one. The recruiter might feel a little offended. Balance out, even if you want to say something, change your words, be a little polite in expressing yourself. Practice a poker face if you must!
Think before you leap: You are always too quick to answer, which may land you in trouble. Interview questions are not the ones to be answered within an instinct or impulse. Think before you come to any conclusions. Don't just randomly say things. Your random answers can land you in trouble in the future. It also gives an impression of irresponsibility and lack of concentration and patience. Work on it. When you are asked something, take a deep breath and then answer. This will give more relevance and weight to your answers.
Work on your body language: You may be very casual while acting in front of others. The recruiter may not receive a little pat or any other gesture very well. So avoid doing any such thing. If possible sit at a little (up)tight to avoid your natural behavior. Even unnecessary laughter can be troublesome and offend the other. Keep a minimal body behavior.
And relax, like literally!
Take a note of these and you will definitely succeed. Practice your interview before to avoid any awkward situation! You are a perfect version of yourself but for an interview try being an ambivert, which is a mix of an extrovert and an introvert. Your real self is for your personal life (only). Professionally, try balancing your personality. Speaking less or more, showing emotions or not, any extreme behavior is not good for the interview.


text:
To everyone in town this weekend for what are apparently a series of basketball games played by unpaid teenagers, we say welcome! Welcome to North Texas! How was the weather last night? That bad, huh? Well. If a few tornadoes and storms and the odd bit of baseball-sized hail are getting you concerned, then Dallas during the springtime is potentially not the best place for you.
I wish I could tell you that Saturday and Sunday will have the beautiful sunshine and blue skies of last weekend, but if I told you that, I would be a liar. One thing I am not is a liar. Terrible weather forecaster with no relevant experience, yes. Liar, no.
So, this weekend, it's looking like you'll want to get your plans out the way on Saturday. Something you want to attend on Sunday? Give up. Petition the organizers to move it to Saturday. Re-create the event in the comfort of your own home, which I hope is equipped with exterior shutters and a sizable garage, because that hail is not kidding around.
HUGE! MT @hhaugseth: @wfaaweather @TxStormChasers My friend just took this at Discovery Park #Denton #txwx #dfwwx pic.twitter.com/DxL5ufZKzP"
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) April 4, 2014
Here's the 7-day forecast... pic.twitter.com/uZXBGoswsE
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) April 4, 2014
We Believe Local Journalism is Critical to the Life of a City
Engaging with our readers is essential to the Observer's mission. Make a financial contribution or sign up for a newsletter, and help us keep telling Dallas's stories with no paywalls.
Support Our Journalism
See that? That's a 60 percent chance of an apocalyptic Sunday. Let's be kind and imagine it's only a 50 percent chance. Got a coin? Flip it. There you go. That's it. It's raining now. See what you just did? Never do anything a satirical weather blog tells you to do. Will there be more tornadoes? Probably. I would invest in shares of Super Glue and window repair right now. Good luck with that Springsteen concert, 40,000 people.
In better news, if we've learned anything from the film Twister, it's that you should only attempt to tackle a tornado by standing outside and attaching your belt to a pipe of some sort, which will grant you immunity from the flying debris. Doing this will, in some way, protect you from the storms at the same time as providing a baffling climax to the weather-based movie you're starring in.
Oh, and there's a 20 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms on Saturday too. Just in case you were feeling secure about those plans. We asked a dog for his verdict on this weekend's weather. Here it is.


text:
It's not who you know. It's what you're making.
Edmonton currently has the second highest median family income among Canadian cities, one that is +30 per cent higher than the Canadian national average.
A well-balanced city for youth in urban work, Edmonton was named by YouthfulCities as the overall winner in areas of affordability, education, employment and entrepreneurship.
The University of Alberta is ranked 3rd globally for the past 25 years (CSRankings) in Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning research, and has contributed to some of the field's most important advancements.
Some cities are finished. Others you can change.


text:
A Week of BreakthroughSign Up Now
Our high-performance camps are focused on a week of breakthroughs in each player's tennis game.
Our camps, run during the school holiday period, are an environment of dedication, focus and intensity that sees rapid improvements in player's games.
The week allows the player's to work on the full range of their game under the instruction, guidance and encouragement of our high-performance coaches.
Areas of focus include:
- Advanced tennis tactics and strategies
- Developing a strong professional mind-set
- High performance footwork and fitness
- Match-play under a competitive environment
Players come out of the camp with a renewed confidence in their game as well as a deeper understanding of how to be a more competitive player on court.
The holiday period is a great transitional period for our high-performance camp players, where momentum is carried through from the previous term's training into the new school term, as the player's are given time to focus on making improvements everyday of the week-long camp.
Our camps are a great opportunity to tackle the essential key of improving in tennis, that being consistency. The 5 day camp gives an element of ongoing consistency which is vital if a player is plateauing in any of their tennis game.
The camps run from 9am-3pm with a 3 day or 5 day option available.
For more information on this camp, please contact us at [email protected]Sign Up Now


text:
PhD in Threesomes: TSOS Podcast Ep. 6!
Is it really "not gay if it's in a threeway?" This week on The Science of Sex, Joe and I speak with Dr. Ryan Scoats, a man who according to the New York Post "got his PhD in threesomes." Dr. Scoats got his BA (hons) and masters of research from the University of Bath, and his PhD in sociology from the University of Winchester, studying under Professor Eric Anderson. He is currently a researcher at Birmingham City University in the faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences, and his research focuses on masculinities, sports cultures, sexualities, identity, consensual nonmonogamy, and, obviously,Read more


text:
Not only are these three words spelled similarly, they also have similar meanings. The main "basis" of these words is to guarantee something in some way, shape, or form. However, there are small intricacies other than that, so let's take a look at these words individually.
This form is most commonly used when a person says or writes down a guarantee. I tried to think of an awesome memory hook, but all I got was "talk = Assure" The "a" in talk can help remind you of the "a" for "assure." Let's look at an example. "I assure you, everything will be alright." In this case, the speaker is giving a verbal guarantee that everything will be fine. "The letter assured her that she would be compensated." In this case, it is written. I view assure more like a "comforting" guarantee that someone would try to say to you.
Whereas assure is a verbal or written guarantee, ensure is when you do something to guarantee something happens. Ever hear of the drink Ensure? Basically it's a health drink that claims you'll be a healthier person if you drink it. Therefore, you're DOING something that guarantees your health. Make sense? Let's look at an example. "I put a deadbolt on my door to ensure no one will break in." Because you installed a deadbolt, you believe your action guarantees your safety.
So assure is verbal or written, ensure is an action, and that leaves us with insure. Insure is the basis of insurance, which is a good way to remember this word. This guarantee is done though insurance, or some other form of financial or legal thing. An example is "I have insured my house against fires." This would mean you are guaranteed a level of protection from the insurance company if you do have a fire.
Hope this helps, and good luck!


text:
Do you love the tools we provide but don't have the time or desire to learn and manage them? No problem. We offer a full-service web hosting and marketing package. For the same $99/mo* and a $199 setup, we will create your website for you and setup the tools you would like to use. In addition, we will manage your website on an ongoing basis and work closely with you on your online marketing strategy to get more business. This service includes:
To get started with this option, just order the service here. We do everything else, including contact you with questions specific to your website. We will work with you over the phone, video chat (Skype, Zoom, Google), or e-mail—whatever works best for you. You do what you do best, and we will do what we do best, on your behalf :)
* This service includes one website, but you still have the option to create unlimited websites. If you want us to manage your additional websites the same way we manage your primary website, each additional website managed is $50/mo. This service is based on an expectation of one hour of webmaster, design, marketing, and/or consulting per month. If more than an hour is spent per month, extra time will be billed ($50/hr for webmaster work and $100/hr for marketing/consulting/design). Clients will never be billed for extra time without approving charges in advance.


text:
Groundhog Day
HIV researchers of many stripes convene at the annual Keystone meeting and discuss some familiar obstacles
By Kristen Jill Kresge and Simon Noble
The Whistler-Blackcomb Mountains form one of the world's premier ski resorts, the largest in North America, and provided the backdrop for the 2007 Keystone Joint Symposia on HIV Vaccines: From Basic Research to Clinical Trials and Molecular and Cellular Determinants of HIV Pathogenesis. Whistler got its name from the whistling calls of the marmots that populate the alpine area, and this year's conference did have something of a 'Groundhog Day' feel to it—the same familiar scientific obstacles and a field waiting for that vital breakthrough.
There are now more than 30 ongoing clinical trials of AIDS vaccine candidates but one thing they all have in common is that none are expected to induce the much sought after protective antibody response capable of neutralizing a diverse array of HIV isolates. The consensus among most researchers is that, at best, the cellular-mediated immunity (CMI)-based candidates might significantly lower the viral load in vaccinated individuals who do become HIV infected, delaying disease progression and reducing the risk of transmission.
This would be no small accomplishment—such a first generation, partially-effective AIDS vaccine would help curtail the global epidemic and perhaps reduce the number of years that an HIV-infected person has to take antiretrovirals (ARVs). But just what researchers can expect from this pipeline of candidates is still unclear and may remain so until results are available from the first test-of-concept trials with CMI-based vaccines in a few years time.
Merck expects results from one of their first Phase IIb trials with an adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) candidate vaccine at the end of 2008 or early 2009. In 2011 the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) anticipates having results from their soon to begin test-of-concept trial known as PAVE 100, which will administer DNA and Ad5 candidates as a prime-boost. Even then, as some researchers point out, there is little agreement about what the parameters are for success of these vaccines. Bruce Walker of Massachusetts General Hospital urged the field to come to a consensus regarding what level of reduction in viremia would constitute success with a CMI-based vaccine.
Processing antigens
In the meantime, AIDS vaccine researchers are intensifying efforts into fundamental immunological questions rather than advancing too many new CMI-based candidates into clinical trials. Jonathan Yewdell of NIAID gave a highly entertaining and thought-provoking talk on the first evening of the conference, starting out by emphasizing the truism that there are still many unknowns in immunology and plenty of scope for much more basic research. His research group is initiating studies in neuroimmunology—an intriguing field he admitted "doesn't have the best reputation"—looking at the involvement of sympathetic innervation on antiviral immunity. They have found that CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses can be increased up to 4-fold by ablating sympathetic neurons.
Yewdell then switched to a topic that he and colleagues Jack Bennink and Luis Anton have pioneered. Class I peptide complexes can reach sufficient levels to trigger CD8+ T-cell activation within an hour of adding virus to cell culture. Since these viral proteins must compete with a pool of billions of already translated cellular proteins, this suggests that there must be an active sampling mechanism in place to direct such a rapid presentation process. He and colleagues hypothesize that the peptides presented by MHC class I molecules originate from defective ribosomal products (DRiPs) that arise from imperfections in transcription, translation, post-translational modifications, or protein folding, and are trying to define the contribution to antigen processing. Provocatively he declared, only partly tongue in cheek, "we're not here to refine our favorite model to the nth degree, we're here to overturn the applecart."
In its latest incarnation, the DRiP hypothesis further postulates that there is a subset of ribosomes that purposely generates DRiPs for antigen presentation; the 'immunoribosome.' Yewdell pointed out in his talk that protein translation is much more intricate than generally appreciated, that different mRNAs and different tissues use different tRNAs, and that 451 tRNAs have been annotated in the human genome. He also pointed out that the largest locus for tRNAs is in the HLA complex, suggesting that the immune system and viruses probably exploit tRNA heterogeneity, and presented evidence that virus infections induce misloading of tRNAs with the wrong amino acid, perhaps to better generate DRiPs. He ended by predicting to the audience that "tRNAs are in your future."
Program updates: CHAVI
A new development at this year's Keystone Symposia was a session of HIV Vaccine Program Updates that gave representatives from some of the major research programs the opportunity to describe their respective approaches and progress. Bart Haynes of Duke University kicked off this session with an update on the progress of the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), of which he is director. The CHAVI Grant was awarded by NIAID in July 2005, and Haynes began by giving an overview of the infrastructure that has been put in place that, as of March 2007, includes 94 investigators at 51 institutions or sites in Africa, Europe, and the US.
He then gave an update on the progress of three of CHAVI's Discovery Teams, beginning with the Genetics Discovery Team that is looking genome-wide for human gene variants that affect early virus set-point. They are using a microarray chip that can check 550,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to study their EuroCHAVI Consortium cohorts in five European countries and Australia. Preliminary results from these studies have confirmed the strong link between the HLA*B5701 allele and low virus set-point, calculating that this allele accounts for 8% of the total variability in set-point. The team has found other polymorphisms associated with set-point, two of which are genome-wide statistically significant, and are now further evaluating these SNPs in additional cohorts.
Another Discovery Team is conducting studies in patients with acute HIV-1 infection in cohorts in South Africa and the US to look for signatures and functional characteristics of transmitted viruses to eventually develop new immunogens. The analysis strategy is to align over 4000 B-clade env sequences from 103 acutely-infected individuals to identify transmission signatures, and Haynes reported on two initial signatures in the env leader sequence and gp120. Functional and immunogenicity studies are underway.
The B Cell Discovery Team is looking to define viral and host mechanisms that affect antibody production during acute HIV-1 infection. Haynes presented some ideas as to what might account for the delay between the initial infectious event and the peak antibody titers against Env, and hypothesized that some species of broadly neutralizing antibody may be under the control of B-cell immunoregulatory events. Published evidence indicates that there is also massive apoptosis occurring during HIV infection, and the team has now looked at apoptosis during the time of viral load ramp-up in acute HIV infection. They do indeed see elevated levels of apoptosis markers (FasL, TNFRII, and TRAIL) in plasma that is temporally associated with the initial viral load increase, and postulate that this may mediate immune suppression of early B-cell responses.
Program updates: IAVI
Next up was Wayne Koff, Senior Vice President of R&D at IAVI, who said the theme of his presentation would be fostering innovation in AIDS vaccine discovery and development. The scientific priorities for IAVI are to design, develop and advance to efficacy trials vaccine candidates that (i) elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV or (ii) control HIV infection to a similar degree that live attenuated SIV protects against pathogenic SIV challenge. IAVI has three main scientific consortia working on these goals—Neutralizing Antibody Consortium (NAC), Vector Design Consortium (VEC), Control of HIV/SIV-Live Attenuated Consortium (LAC)—in addition to the IAVI Vaccine Development Laboratory at State University New York, Brooklyn, and the IAVI Human Immunology Laboratory at Imperial College, London, as well as a product development infrastructure and a network of partner sites in developing countries.
Koff first talked about the NAC and the neutralizing antibody problem. In designing immunogens to elicit broadly-neutralizing antibodies, one of the current major roadblocks is screening candidates for immunogenicity. IAVI has been using large-scale automated neutralization assays with pseudotyped virus for some time, and is also now conducting a study called Protocol G, a large-scale screen of sera looking for broadly-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Newly-identified MAbs will then enter the new robotic platform at The Scripps Research Institute to accelerate crystallization and structural studies that will in turn inform immunogen design.
Koff briefly talked about the Control of HIV/SIV-LAC, specifically identifying antigenic targets for HIV control in human elite controllers who spontaneously control their HIV infection below undetectable levels, as well as some exciting data coming out of the LAC with SIVmac239Δnef (see below, Watkins).
The various research groups that make up the VEC are now developing novel virus vectors that seek to induce persistent immunity—cytomegalovirus (CMV; see below, Picker), reovirus, and paramyxovirus—or chimeric virus vectors that mimic the live attenuated SIV vaccines—Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus/HIV, and vesicular stomatitis virus/HIV.
With regard to clinical trials, Koff reported that in addition to 13 completed AIDS vaccine clinical trials and 4 ongoing, IAVI also has a series of clinical research studies completed, underway, or in development to test everything from HIV prevalence and incidence to acute infection and vector seroprevalence. One of these he described in some detail, Protocol D in 2400 participants in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Rwanda to determine reference ranges for a number of clinical parameters relevant to the immunological and general health status of trial volunteers in developing countries. He presented data on eosinophil and neutrophil counts and showed that these values deviated extensively from the ranges found—and currently universally used in clinical trials—in 'Western' populations. These datasets will be published this year in a series of papers.
IAVI is collaborating with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and US Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) in the ongoing Phase I/II multi-site evaluation of the VRC DNA and Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate. IAVI is conducting the trials at sites in Rwanda and Kenya, and Koff presented data showing that 72% of vaccinees given 1010 particles responded by interferon (IFN)-gELISPOT assays. When segregated by pre-existing anti-Ad5 antibody titer, 78% of vaccinees with titers <1000 were responders, compared to 57% of vaccinees with higher titers. This compares favorably with the data previously obtained in relation to the Merck Ad5 AIDS vaccine candidate currently in Phase IIb trial.
In response to the potential of pre-existing immunity to Ad5 to compromise any immunogenicity or efficacy of Ad5-based candidates, IAVI has been developing and testing AIDS vaccine candidates based on adenovirus serotypes with low seroprevalence, including human Ad35 and chimpanzee Ad7 (C7), the latter in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. In rhesus macaque immunogenicity studies Koff showed that heterologous C7 prime/Ad35 boost elicited the highest T-cell responses.
Koff finished his presentation by talking about Phase II Screening Test of Concept (STOC) trials, a novel clinical trial paradigm that would garner preliminary efficacy data on promising vaccine candidates in a short period of time and in fewer trial participants. A series of these trials could rank the most promising candidates in a relatively rapid timeframe, rather than test them all in lengthy, expensive Phase III trials in >10,000 volunteers. Koff's suggested numbers for STOC trials were 30 incident HIV infections to detect a 1 log suppression of viral load, which would require a 4% incidence and 500 subjects with 18-month post-vaccination follow up. STOC trials might also have utility in systematically testing other parameters such as different immunogen combinations in a specific platform or delivery routes.
Program updates: VRC
Gary Nabel, Director of the VRC at NIAID, then followed with a comprehensive update on the VRC multiclade AIDS vaccine candidate that Koff mentioned that is being tested in the Partnership for AIDS Vaccine Evaluation (PAVE) collaboration. Nabel began by explaining that the DNA/Ad5 prime boost platform was the most potent currently available for inducing CD8+ T cells, and that the candidates contained—in addition to the internal Gag, Pol, and Nef antigens—Env antigens because evidence suggested they could increase the breadth of immunity and potentially diminish viral escape. He presented data that indicated that the DNA/Ad5 combination elicited more polyfunctional (as measured by the number of cytokines produced) HIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells than either candidate alone, and that DNA/Ad5 but not Ad5/Ad5 showed efficacy against SIVmac239 challenge in macaques.
Nabel then talked about the PAVE 100 Phase IIb efficacy trial that will further test the VRC candidate subsequent to the Phase I/II trials currently underway. The multi-site collaboration between HVTN, USMHRP, IAVI, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will enroll 8500 participants in North and South America, the Caribbean, and eastern and South Africa starting later this year, with results available in 2011. Nabel then went on to discuss potential outcomes and what should be done to best respond to those outcome scenarios.
If the VRC DNA/Ad5 candidate is a complete success then it will be necessary to identify the most expedient way to obtain licensure, and Nabel expects that would be no sooner than 2013, and probably more likely around 2016. Scientifically, complete success would require that immune correlates of the protection be determined to inform further improvements in vaccine design. It would also be necessary to identify pharmaceutical collaborators or licensees for large-scale manufacture, and to develop the infrastructure required to administer the vaccine to those at high risk throughout the world.
In an outcome Nabel called "success with limitations" he said a 2016 licensure would be ambitious and it would be necessary to refine the existing candidate for a licensure trial. This would entail, among other things; engineering improved T-cell immunogens to elicit better coverage against circulating isolates; optimizing DNA immunogenicity through adjuvants, electroporation delivery, and stimulatory cytokines; and developing second generation recombinant adenovirus (rAd) vectors like rAd35 (see below), hexon chimeric rAD5, and rAd26. In preparation the VRC has engineered a rAd35 prototype candidate that contains a single clade A Env insert, and an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission has been filed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Contingent on its approval, Phase I studies are scheduled for May this year that will test rAd35 alone and in combination with the Ad5 and/or DNA.
In the event that PAVE 100 shows no efficacy then Nabel said it would be necessary to develop next generation vaccines, particularly candidates that elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies, mucosal and/or innate immunity, and consider the use of persistent vectors. Nabel said it may also be time to seriously consider radical new concepts like inducing responses to self molecules like CD4 or CCR5 to try to interfere with HIV infection.
Nabel finished up by describing research that the VRC is undertaking to look at the neutralizing antibody problem, such as the mutagenic stabilization of the CD4-bound conformation of gp120 to produce immunogens (see below, Wyatt).
Persistent vector
Louis Picker of Oregon Health and Science University presented data in the rhesus macaque model on T-cell populations, particularly the elicitation of effector memory T (TEM) cells that he suspects may be in the best position, both spatially and temporally, to exploit the window of opportunity that precedes the massive replication and mutation in SIV infection. He is hoping that SIV-specific cells with TEM differentiation can be elicited with non-lentiviral vectors, specifically the novel rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) vectors that he and colleagues are developing. Picker called CMV the "quintessential" inducer of TEM responses, and other potential advantages of CMV as a vector include: efficient re-infection; low pathogenicity; lifetime persistence of both vector and response; and a large genome with potential for manipulation.
After showing that the RhCMV vectors express the SIV gene inserts at high levels, the team assessed the immunogenicity of vaccine candidates with different inserts. Picker showed data that repeated re-immunization with RhCMV containing different inserts elicited robust step-wise increases of SIV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses both in peripheral blood and lung lavage, a representative mucosal site, even at very low doses. He described CMV as the "Energizer Bunny" of vaccine vectors that keep going and going, resulting in responses that "rival or exceed" those elicited by any other viral vector to date. All vectors persisted at secretory sites (mouth and bladder).
Picker concluded by saying that definitive challenge studies in immunized macaques will happen later this year, and thinks that RhCMV vectors will provide the opportunity to see if "TEM flavored" T-cell responses offer enhanced efficacy against pathogenic SIV challenge. He and colleagues also plan to investigate how genomic modification might increase immunogenicity and decrease pathogenicity through deletion of non-essential genes involved in immune evasion or modulation, and the application to human CMV.
Heterologous control
One of the most exciting new findings presented at Keystone came from David Watkins of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As part of IAVI's LAC his research group has been looking at live attenuated SIVmac239Δnefprotection of rhesus macaques. There are several published studies where macaques have been homologously protected from pathogenic SIVmac239 challenge, reducing set-point viral load by about 1.5 logs at most.
However, rather surprisingly, very recently his group have found that animals vaccinated with SIVmac239Δnef and challenged six months later with pathogenic SIVsmE660 are robustly protected from this heterologous challenge—the geometric mean viral load four weeks after challenge was lowered by an impressive 3 logs. Macaques with Mamu-B*08 and -B*17 MHC alleles showed the most impressive control, and Watkins alluded to data that show these alleles bind similar peptides to the HIV-ameliorating human HLA-B*57 and -B*27 alleles
Watkins cautioned that it was still early days but such a reduction in viral load is the most impressive described to date with a heterologous challenge, and he is hopeful that the system will provide immunogenetic clues to further understanding heterologous control.
Lessons on cellular immunity
While cellular immune responses are unlikely to be sufficient to protect people from HIV infection, they do clearly play a role in the control of HIV in infected individuals. Walker has been studying different categories of people who spontaneously control HIV infection without ARV therapy. In his cohort of elite controllers—HIV-infected individuals who maintain a viral load below 50 HIV RNA copies/ml of blood—more than 25% of the individuals do not have any genetic characteristic, such as an HLA allele like B*57 or a particular chemokine receptor, that has been previously shown to correlate with protection against HIV. The level of neutralizing antibody responses in Walker's elite controllers are also very low and the CD8+ T-cell responses are both of lower breadth and magnitude than those seen in progressive infection, targeting primarily Gag. John Mascola of NIAID reported also seeing a greater breadth of T-cell responses in progressors than in long-term nonprogressors, in his cohort of 32 HIV-infected individuals.
Yet something permits these individuals to still keep HIV in check. "We don't really have a clue as to why this is, but we're trying to recreate this phenotype with a vaccine," said Walker. "We sure hope it's the immune system that's doing something because that's good news for vaccine development." His group is now studying the antiviral effects of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses in elite controllers.
It's not magic
To further expand the body of knowledge on how cellular immunity functions in HIV, researchers are also studying the role of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses in controlling or clearing other viral infections. "The way T cells behave isn't magic," said Picker, "there are rules and we're beginning to understand those rules."
Rick Koup and colleagues at the VRC are investigating how CD8+ T-cell responses are involved in vaccine-induced protection where cellular immunity is known to play an important role and also how these cells function in response to other pathogens, including vaccinia, CMV, and HIV-2 infections. His group has observed an association between polyfunctional CD8+ T cells that secrete multiple cytokines/chemokines—including CD107a, IFN-g, TNF-a, MIP-1b, and interleukin (IL)-2—and control of HIV replication. Polyfunctional CD8+ T cells secrete even more IFN-g, on a per cell basis, than a monofunctional cell that is only secreting this single cytokine, said Koup. But he also points out that while such polyfunctional CD8+ T-cell responses are capable of providing life-long protection against vaccinia virus, they aren't even able to protect against superinfection with a different strain of HIV.
In CMV infection, CD4+ T cells produce higher levels of MIP-1b than in HIV infection. Koup said studies have shown that cells that secrete MIP-1b and are CD57+ contain 20-fold lower levels of HIV, indicating this cytokine may actually play a protective role against HIV infection.
The adaptive immune system, especially the T-cell response, controls CMV for the lifetime of the host. There is evidence that this immune control is mediated, at least in part by CD4+ T cells, which can perform both their traditional helper function and antiviral effector functions, according to a presentation by David Price of Oxford University in the UK.
He is studying, in collaboration with colleagues at the VRC and Oregon Health Sciences Center, the role of CMV-specific CD4+ T cells in persistent infection of rhesus macaques. After sorting CMV-specific CD4+ T cells expressing both CD25 and CD69—markers of T-cell activation—in both acute and chronic CMV infection in macaques, Price observed that the CD4+ T-cell repertoire is polyclonal during acute infection and evolves substantially over time, becoming much less polyclonal during the period of chronic infection.
When macaques that were already infected with RhCMV were re-challenged 224 days later, there were transient breakthroughs of virus, but overall the animals controlled the virus more effectively than in primary infection. Their CD4+ T-cell responses were also more diverse and polyclonal during secondary infection. Furthermore, the dominant CD4+ T-cell clonotypes in these repertoires were a repeat of those observed in primary infection. These data indicate that the CMV-specific CD4+ T-cell clonotypes induced after primary infection persisted in the memory pool and contributed to the immune response after reinfection.
Bigger isn't always better
Charles Bangham of Imperial College London is studying the antiviral CTL response in human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), which preferentially infects both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. This virus infects from 10 to 20 million people worldwide and can cause chronic inflammatory diseases and a rapidly progressing and fatal leukemia, but 95% of those infected are able to effectively control the virus and remain healthy, leading Bangham to ask why most people infected with HTLV-1 don't develop disease.
Individuals infected with HTLV-1 have strong virus-specific immune responses, involving both antibodies and T-cell responses. The HTLV-1-specific CTLs are extremely abundant, chronically activated, and directed primarily against the Tax protein of the virus (Curr. Opin. Immunol. 12, 397, 2000), and according to Bangham these cellular immune responses play a dominant role in controlling HTLV-1 infection.
The HTLV-1 viral load varies greatly between individuals and the main determinant of this variation in vivo is the lytic efficiency of virus-specific CD8+ T cells (CTLs). Bangham said that in a typical HTLV-1-infected individual, each CD8+ T cell kills approximately five virus-infected cells per day, leading to the destruction of almost two billion HTLV-1-infected CD4+ T cells each day.
The efficiency of these CTL responses is determined partly by HLA class 1 genotype. However Bangham said there is not an observed correlation between the frequency of virus-specific CTLs and their efficacy—many infected individuals who mount the most effective cellular immune responses also have the lowest quantity of virus-specific T cells. Rather, their lytic capacity is associated with high granzyme expression and, according to yet unpublished data from Bangham's group, Tax-negative CD4+ FoxP3+ T regulatory cells seem to control the rate of CTL killing capacity in HTLV-1-infected individuals.
This analysis predicted that CD4+ T memory cells—the main cell type infected by HTLV-1—turn over abnormally fast in HTLV-1 infection. Recently, Bangham's group verified this by tagging lymphocytes in vivo with deuterium-labeled glucose.
Bangham contends that studying the cell-mediated immune response to other viral infections, especially persistent viral infections such as HTLV-1 or CMV, will help to improve the understanding of HIV infection and can be useful to AIDS vaccine development. "It will enable us to identify and quantify the factors that determine the efficacy of the antiviral cellular immune response and to understand the dynamics of persistent viral infections," he says. The finding that the frequency of virus-specific cellular immune responses is not necessarily a reliable guide to their efficacy in HTLV-1 infection also seems to hold true for HIV infection, based on some of Walker's data from HIV controllers. In these individuals immune responses directed towards less variable regions of the virus, like Gag, are correlated with immune control even if they exist at much lower levels than CD8+ T cells that target the highly variable Env. Walker said it's not yet time to start tossing out vaccine candidates that include env, but he does suggest caution. "We need to look at this data closely and see if there is competition between Gag- and Env-focused responses," added Walker.
Picturing the Holy Grail
While researchers sort out the functions and meaning of cellular immune responses, structural biologists are painstakingly trying to figure out how and where the already-identified broadly-neutralizing antibodies bind to HIV. Several presentations focused on how structural biology can be used to identify sites of vulnerability on the virus, as was done recently by the work of Peter Kwong and colleagues at the VRC (see An Interview with Dennis Burton: Structure-function in HIV research, IAVI Report 11, 1, 2007). Information like this should eventually lead to the structural-based design of immunogens that can be used in AIDS vaccine candidates. But as Rich Wyatt of the VRC pointed out, this has been a remarkably difficult task and in the 9 years following the elucidation of the structure of HIV gp120 bound to CD4 and the CD4-induced antibody 17b, there has been only incremental progress.
Part of the reason for this difficulty is the extreme flexibility of the gp120 molecule, which hides the functionally-conserved regions from neutralizing antibodies and diverts the immune response to irrelevant conformations; it also employs other diversionary tactics, like immunodominant variable loops and a mask of glycan residues. Ideally, researchers would like to lock the gp120 protein into a particular conformation related to that of the functional spike to see if they can induce different antibodies or increase the neutralization potency of antibodies against the virus. Wyatt and his colleagues have been trying to do just this by stabilizing the CD4-bound conformation of gp120 with various space-filling mutations and internal added cysteine pairs within gp120, with the aim of eliciting antibodies to the CD4 binding site.
To try to lock the gp120 trimer into place, Wyatt's group started out by making YU2 gp120 trimers that incorporated space-filling mutations. They then measured the entropy readout of the molecule to determine the effect of these mutations on its stability. The space-filling mutations resulted in a trimer that was 30-40% stabilized, but it only minimally increased the antibody neutralization potency as compared with other pseudotypes and offered no increase in breadth of antibodies directed towards the CD4 binding site. Next they tried also adding cysteine pairs into the core of gp120 to further stabilize the trimer relative to CD4 interaction; as a by-product, 17b affinity also increases with these changes. With these additional changes, core gp120 interaction with CD4 was stabilized by 55% as measured by calorimetry, but the recombinant Env molecules would no longer fold into a trimer. Testing immunogenicity of the stabilized core proteins in rabbits revealed that 17b-like antibodies were elicited at high titer but neutralization capacity was not enhanced.
Wyatt's group will now assess the percentage of antibodies directed towards the stabilized gp120 core that are CD4-like and will also attempt to stabilize the CD4-binding region by alternative strategies. They see the large increase in 17b-affinity as establishing proof of principle and now hope to be able to do the same with the CD4 binding site.


text:
The Top Nations Should Show Respect
This argument could be said in many formats, in the womens game also, I know there was discussion on why developing countries like Estonia for example should even bother playing against the top ten for instance in major competitions.
But I agree with the San Marino FA.
The top nations should show respect for those not yet at their level, they have to understand that they are the role models for aspiring nations and their players. Because, in my experience anyway they are not likely to seek friendly internationals then in qualifying competitions is the only place the smaller countries can face their better known counterparts and in many cases heroes: The whole concept of football is that it brings people together of all shapes, sizes, colours, gender and ability.
Those qualifying games may well be the absolute pinnacle of that countries players career, why should they be denied that any more than the superstars reaching their dreams. That goes for the coaches the support staff and everyone involved they are all entitled to at least taste those dreams. There is that much used word again RESPECT…


text:
Brief Introduction
Tottori City is the capital city of Tottori prefecture and is located on the northern edge of the prefecture near the Japan Sea, in the Sanin region. It is a small city with a population of 196,000 people and is best known for the Tottori Sand Dunes, which lie in northern section of the city and stretch to the Japan Sea.
The Tottori Sand Dunes are the only large sand dune system in Japan, and are therefore a popular destination for tourists. The dunes have existed for over 100,000 years and are a stark contrast to the scenery in all other parts of Japan, which is generally humid and subtropical with lush greenery.
Visitors can hike up the huge dunes (some of which are 50 meters tall!) and down the other side to the crisp, clear waters of the Japan Sea. It is common to see thousands of people out on the sand, as if they were part of some great procession.
The city's natural environment is largely defined by its position on the Japan Sea and its seemingly endless coastline. Indeed, many visitors come to Tottori for its ample number of swimming beaches, many of which are near hotels, pension houses and campsites.
Other popular things to do and see in Tottori City include Tottori castle ruins; Shikano, the old castle town which is popular in spring when the cherry blossoms are in bloom; Jinpukaku, the French Renaissance-style residence of the historical Ikeda clan; the annual Shan-shan Festival, or the umbrella dance festival, in August; several washi Japanese paper studios, and a large number of hot springs in and around the city.
Tottori prefecture is renowned for its fresh seafood including crab, shrimp, squid, oysters, and various fish, and well as for its melons, Japanese pear (nashi) and watermelons. These gourmet items are readily available at many dining establishments throughout the city.


text:
Lauro Cavazos
Lauro Cavazos
|4th United States Secretary of Education
|In office
September 20, 1988 – December 12, 1990
|Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush
|Preceded by
|William Bennett
|Succeeded by
|Lamar Alexander
|Personal details
Lauro Fred Cavazos
January 4, 1927
Kingsville, Texas, U.S.
|Political party
|Peggy Murdock
|Texas Tech University (BS, MS)
Iowa State University (PhD)
Lauro Fred Cavazos Jr. (born January 4, 1927) is an American educator and politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Education, and was the first Hispanic to serve in the United States Cabinet.
Early life and education[edit]
A sixth-generation Texan, he was born on the King Ranch near Kingsville, Texas, where his father served as foreman of the showcase Santa Gertrudis cattle division.[1] He was the son of Lauro F. Cavazos, Sr., and the former Tomasa Quintanilla. Through his maternal ancestry, he is a descendant of Texas Revolution heroine Francita Alavez, the "Angel of Goliad".
He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in zoology from Texas Tech University,[2] and a Ph.D. in physiology in 1954 from Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa.[3] While in college, he was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi.
Following a stint on the faculties of Tufts University and the Medical College of Virginia, he served as Dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine from 1975 to 1980. From 1980 to 1988, he served as President of Texas Tech University. He was both the first alumnus and the first Hispanic to serve as Texas Tech president.[citation needed]
A Democrat, Cavazos served as Secretary of Education from August 1988 to December 1990 during the Republican Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. He was forced to resign amid an investigation into improper use of frequent flyer miles in December 1990.
Following his resignation as Secretary of Education, he returned to the faculty of Tufts University where he has served as Professor of Public Health and Family Medicine since then. He is married to the former Peggy Ann Murdock. The couple has ten children and currently reside in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the brother of U.S. Army General Richard E. Cavazos.[4]
In 2006, his alma mater Iowa State University awarded him the Distinguished Achievement Award, their highest honors.[3]
- ^ "Texas Tech to install president April 15", Canadian Record, Canadian, Texas, February 14, 1980, p. 14
- ^ University, Texas Tech (1949). "La Ventana, vol. 024". hdl:2346/48689. Cite journal requires
- ^ a b "Iowa State University alumni, friends to receive top awards April 20". Iowa State University. 2006-04-17. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- ^ "Bobby Cavazos, son of the King Ranch, Tech all-American, dies at 82". Retrieved 2016-08-21.
External links[edit]
- Lauro F. Cavazos papers (Texas Tech Archives)
- Answers.com-Lauro Cavazos
- "Cancel Our Reservations" - Time Magazine article regarding use of frequent flier miles
- Appearances on C-SPAN
|Political offices
|Preceded by
Bill Bennett
| United States Secretary of Education
|Succeeded by
Lamar Alexander
- 1927 births
- 20th-century American politicians
- American politicians of Mexican descent
- 21st-century American zoologists
- George H. W. Bush administration cabinet members
- Hispanic and Latino American members of the Cabinet of the United States
- Iowa State University alumni
- Living people
- Massachusetts Democrats
- People from Boston
- People from Kingsville, Texas
- Presidents of Texas Tech University
- Reagan administration cabinet members
- Texas Democrats
- Texas Tech University alumni
- Tufts University faculty
- United States Secretaries of Education


text:
| 7.9°C Belfast
Coleraine Football Club have sacked defender Aaron Canning for breach of the club's code of conduct.
It comes after the 23-year-old appeared at North Antrim Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty to exposure.
The footballer was found to have pulled his car up alongside a 57-year-old woman before showing her his "fully erect penis".
He then asked: "Would you like some of it?"
He was sentenced to 18 months probation and given a seven-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
Under the terms of his SOPO Canning will have to disclose his sex offender convictions to any woman with whom he has a casual or intimate relationship.
Canning was dropped from his club's match against Portadown on Saturday.
In a statement the club said on Monday: "Player Aaron Canning has been found in breach of the Coleraine FC Code of Conduct.
"As a result, the club has terminated the player's contract with immediate effect.
"The player accepts and is in full agreement with the decision.
"Coleraine FC will make no further statement on the matter."
Sentencing Canning at North Antrim Magistrates' Court district judge Liam McNally said the footballer's "modus operandi" was to "target older women".
Ordering him to read a report on how his actions impacted upon his victim, the judge said: "This is a very serious offence, that is why I asked you to read the victim impact report, so you know how much you have affected this woman's life.
"It is the court's duty to protect the women within my jurisdiction and as such I am imposing an 18-month probation order and placing you under a SOPO for seven years."
Warning the footballer about his future behaviour, Judge McNally added: "Mr Canning use this as a red light to stop your offending.
"If you breach any of these terms or commit and further crimes you will be sent to prison."
Belfast Telegraph


text:
Well, hello chickens, I said. They paid me no attention whatsoever.
Then I happened to look down from the porch. Do you see it?
Under the rose bush, there is a nest. A nest with two eggs. Maybe it didn't belong to any of these chickens. They didn't seem to care that I was standing there, at any rate.
I guess your mother will be back soon, you two. I hope so, anyway.


text:
Articles by a variety of authors, including some by Gwen Williams.
Breastfeeding Made Better With Acupuncture
|Posted on March 21, 2018 at 4:15 PM
Breastfeeding Made Better With Acupuncture http://acutakehealth.com/breastfeeding-made-better-with-acupuncture
Nutrition: It is not just about what you eat
|Posted on March 15, 2018 at 3:15 PM
Did you know that the nature or properties of the foods you eat, how you eat and your frame of mind, affects nutritional intake and ultimate wellness?. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/42725133-nutrition-it-is-not-just-about-what-you-eat
History of Chinese Medicine Nutrition
|Posted on March 7, 2018 at 12:15 PM
Eating out the Chinese Way, The History of Chinese Medicine Nutrition: https://www.chinesemedicineliving.com/blog/eating-out-the-chinese-way-the-history-of-chinese-medicine-nutrition/
Natural Remedies for Tendonitis
|Posted on February 28, 2018 at 3:10 PM
11 Natural Remedies for Tendonitis - https://www.care2.com/greenliving/11-natural-remedies-for-tendonitis.html
Wind and Water
|Posted on February 24, 2018 at 10:45 PM
We have lots of wind and water in Nova Scotia, especially here on the Eastern Shore. We are blessed. In Chinese "Wind Water" translates to "Feng Shui". (see Heart's Discovery Blog for Parts 2,3 & 4) http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/42725237-wind-and-water-part-1
Got Muscle Knots?
|Posted on February 24, 2018 at 3:05 PM
Got Muscle Knots? https://buff.ly/2DWtlF9
Acupuncture Beneficial for Sleep Apnea
|Posted on February 23, 2018 at 10:40 AM
Study Finds Acupuncture Beneficial for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Relief https://buff.ly/2E3eXee
The Signs of Kidney Yang Deficiency
|Posted on January 23, 2018 at 10:35 AM
The Signs of Kidney Yang Deficiency https://buff.ly/2DUatqk
Acupuncture providing relief for PTSD
|Posted on December 23, 2017 at 10:45 AM
Acupuncture providing relief for PTSD - http://fox6now.com/2017/11/24/acupuncture-providing-relief-for-ptsd/
Preparing for Winter
|Posted on December 1, 2017 at 9:45 AM
Some of us look forward to this time of year. The air is so fresh and clean. Soon we will enjoy the silence of snow. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/42725120-getting-ready-for-winter
Acupuncture has long term effects on pain
|Posted on November 23, 2017 at 10:50 AM
Acupuncture has long term effects on pain - https://www.neilkingham.com/2017/11/acupuncture-long-term-effects-pain/
Thanksgiving and Gratitude
|Posted on October 7, 2017 at 8:40 PM
The state of gratitude is such a calming state of mind and is a wonderful place from which to view the world. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/44300402-thanksgiving-gratitude
Autumn - It is Time to Celebrate
|Posted on September 22, 2017 at 7:10 PM
Autumn is here. The colours of the leaves, in this part of the world, will soon be glorious. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/43612092-time-to-celebrate
Autumn: Keep Your Feet Warm
|Posted on September 7, 2017 at 9:55 PM
There's a popular saying in China: hanlu jiao bu lu. This means that people should not leave their feet bare because cold weather is on the way.See: Putting your best feet forward
The Secret to Longevity
|Posted on August 2, 2017 at 11:45 AM
Time goes by so fast when you are busy. I wonder therefore if you age more quickly when you have a lot going on? http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/44300493-the-secret-to-longevity
What to eat? Looking Back in Time for Perspective
|Posted on July 3, 2017 at 12:20 AM
There is so much confusion and conflicting reports about what we need to eat to be healthy that many people are saying, "I don't know what to eat anymore." http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/42725085-what-to-eat-looking-back-in-time-for-perspective
It is Summer!
|Posted on June 20, 2017 at 11:30 PM
As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, summer is fire and is about the heart, relationships, joy, laughter and heat. That could also translate to passion in intimate relationships and lots of socializing and partying in our wider scope of friendship. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/42725156-it-is-summer-
Chinese herbs can help symptoms of Diabetes
|Posted on June 11, 2017 at 9:15 AM
This study involved a controlled clinical trial of 800 type 2 diabetic adults, comparing the anti-diabetic drug Glibenclamide as a stand-alone treatment and treatment with Glibenclamide in conjunction with traditional Chinese medicine. http://www.futurity.org/chinese-herbs-help-cut-diabetes-symptoms/
Emotions: the Good and the Bad
|Posted on June 3, 2017 at 10:10 PM
Suppressing extreme emotions makes it harder to find our life path. It can also make us sick. Our life force needs to be flowing appropriately for us to be healthy. http://www.gwenwilliams.ca/apps/blog/show/43899682-emotions-the-good-and-the-bad
Importance of Soaking your Feet
|Posted on May 20, 2017 at 11:45 AM
Some of you have heard me tell you to soak your feet at night. Here is a great article. You can just use the water or the few herbs you recognize. https://www.shine.cn/archive/feature/ideal/TCM-calls-for-feet-soaks/shdaily.shtml


text:
AFTER more than 24 hours of blackout, Telstra still does not know when its BlackBerry wireless email service will be restored. The problems began at 10 am (AEST) on Wednesday. "The problem is in a third party network somewhere in North America and we are still trying to resolve it," Telstra spokesman Rod Bruem said.
"I'm still waiting for my emails to appear - it's been more than 24 hours, and I'm getting cross," one user told AustralianIT.
"I don't have any clarity about when it will be fixed," Mr Bruem said. Telstra thought it had fixed the problem on Wednesday night, but users have continued to report issues with the service.
Telstra had compensation arrangements in place for business customers, Mr Bruem said. "We have established policies in place of business customers if they feel they have experienced a loss due to loss of service," he said.
Mr Bruem said that although Canada-based BlackBerry manufacturer RIM routes email from around the world sent via its handheld units, it was not to blame for the outage. "Email from BlackBerries gets sent to Canada and back and there is something wrong with that process," he said.


text:
Miscellaneous books
January 25, 2020
Yong Yan
Farmers' magazine
Mixed Dialects
Lu Xun
The growth of seedlings in New China
Chen Jiying
Historical stories (part a)仙桃附近想过夜电话联系
Zhu Wenshu
Journal of the new life movement Promotion Association
Folk Education Monthly
Basic knowledge
Zhang Zhu
Precise solutions to all subjects in middle school仙桃附近想过夜电话联系
Chen Zhi
Opening time:
The opening hours are from 10:00 to 17:00, and are closed every Tuesday
Traffic routes:
Bus: metro line 15 maquanying exit b, along maquanying West Road 240 meters north, turning left to West 800 meters, right side of T-junction
Self driving: navigation to "miscellaneous library" (Hongchang design creative industrial park, No. 328, Hegezhuang village, cuigezhuang Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing)
Appointment telephone:
All rights reserved, 2015-2020 Beijing ICP Certificate No. 041501-7


text:
This Email with the Subject "We Fight Against Fraud, Funds Delay and Impersonation...." was received in one of Scamdex's honeypot email accounts on Thu, 05 Oct 2017 11:13:01 -0400 and has been classified as a Advance Fee Fraud/419 Scam Email. The sender shows as "Chairman ICPC Nigeria."<<>>, although that address was probably spoofed. We recommend that you do not attempt to contact any persons or organizations referenced in this email, or follow any URLs as you may expose yourself to scammers and, at the very least, you will be added to their email address lists for spam purposes.
INDEPENDENT CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMISSION Abuja Office - Headquarters Plot 802 Constitution Avenue, Central District, P.M.B 535, Garki Abuja Nigeria. Our Ref: ICPC/NG/FG/14 .....We Fight Against Fraud, Funds Delay and Impersonation.... APPROVED SETTLEMENT NOTICE. Attn: Beneficiary I know that this mail will hit you by surprise, but firstly I will like to introduce myself; I am (Mr. Nta Ekpo) the Legal chairman of "ICPC", (Nigeria's Anti-Fraud Unit).on the 1st of October 2000, the President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) introduced a Commission named the "ICPC", (Nigeria's Anti-Fraud Unit) which is duly registered under the United Nations (U.N.O), This particular Commission was initiated to detect fraud/funds delay/impersonation of Government Officials. Secondly,we were mandated by the US Government and the FBI to settle foreign debts/fraud victims/UN-paid beneficiaries in other to maintain peace in the world at large and also to create a good relationship with the international bodies. Presently, we are being paid by the American government in other to avert beneficiary funds delays/fraud here in Nigeria.So far, we have settled these person's, likes (Mrs. Mary Mason, Mr. Greg Mendez etc). You are being contacted by this office today dated 10/04/2017, because your Case File (A) is on our Settlement Files priority. From our intelligent investigations and Probing processes we discovered that you have been denied your claim. The "ICPC", is faithfully under my governance as the Legal Chairman of the great Commission and on this Authority I took an oath of allegiance to settle all fraud victims peacefully. This Memorandum is to notify you that you will be settled by the Nigerian Government from our initial Deposit Account with KEYSTONE BANK OF NIGERIA PLC, on the approval of our legal department. You will be settled with the actual amount which you lost in your previous transaction, including your Inheritance Funds. Your settlement will be actualized within 3working days(72hrs) after your response to this Official Letter. For further clarifications/investigation kindly send the below information to office immediately: 1. Your residential address. 2. Mobile and fax number (for regular official contact). 3. Your inheritance funds value. 4. Amount, which you have lost previously. 5 Scan copy of your International Passport/Drivers License. This above-mentioned information will officially enable us to carry out our verification processes and after that your sum/Inheritance Funds will be Electronically wired into your designated Bank account,or any of your choice of receiving your payment. Your immediate compliance to this office will expedite action, Call me immediately +234-907-754-6103 We await your urgent response and for more clarifications. Officially Closed by, Mr. Ekpo Nta. Chairman ICPC Nigeria. Cc:The Accountant General of the Federation. Cc:The Federal Ministry of Finance (F.M.F). Cc:The Presidency/ATM Payment Office


text:
IT Initiatives worked continuously and diligently with our team members at Fellowship Senior Living and provided strategic technology planning, expertise, and advice that has helped us provide advanced services and exemplary care for all those we care for and serve. IT Initiative also went above and beyond to address any concerns from our team members and from the seniors we serve. They are a professional team with heart and we would highly recommend them.
Resident Monitoring System
A Resident Monitoring System helps protect the safety of senior care community residents.
A Resident Monitoring System helps protect the safety of senior care community residents by carefully monitoring their location and status, and detecting falls and wandering. The system is typically managed from multiple staff work areas or nurses' stations via monitoring equipment. Calls and emergencies are sent to both care stations and staff via wireless phones or pagers, identifying the location, name and room numbers of the resident. This provides staff with immediate knowledge of the request, as well as accountability via system software. The system is a fully integrated with access control technologies, using common hardware throughout the installation. In addition, residents location services can be provided as well as advanced reporting capabilities.
Facilities can also track the performance of caregivers by documenting the reason for emergency calls, the amount of time until the call is completed and the personnel who responded to the call. This provides administrators with staff performance information while ensuring families their loved ones are well cared for.
| Patient Location
Allows your staff to know where every resident is – at all times
|Fall Management
Lowers your residents' risk of injury by helping to reduce serious falls and response times.
|Wander Management
Lessens the risk of elopement while allowing residents to move within their community.
|Nurse Call
Improves residents' quality of care by reducing care-givers response times.


text:
Combating H-1B Abuse:
H-1B abuse is on notice. The H-1B visa program helps U.S. companies maintain competitive advantage by recruiting highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country. Yet, the Trump Administration claims too many American workers who are as qualified, willing, and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged. Employers who abuse the H-1B visa program negatively affect U.S. workers, decreasing wages and opportunities as they import more foreign workers.
Protecting American workers by combating fraud in our employment-based immigration programs is a priority for Trump's USCIS. USCIS continuously works to deter and detect fraud in all immigration programs and we are furthering our efforts by enhancing and increasing site visits, interviews, and investigations of petitioners who use the H-1B visa program. These efforts will help assist in the prosecution of program violators and ensure that American workers are not overlooked or replaced in the process.
Reporting Suspected H-1B Abuse
Trump Administration has established an email address dedicated to receiving information about suspected H-1B fraud or abuse. Anyone (including both American workers and H-1B workers who suspect they or others may be the victim of H-1B fraud or abuse) can email [email protected] to submit tips, alleged violations, and other relevant information about potential H‑1B fraud or abuse. When submitting information to [email protected], please provide the following information in the email:
- The name of the H-1B petitioning employer/company
- The address of the employer/company or location of the H-1B worker(s), including the city and state
- A description of the alleged violation, abuse, or suspected fraud
- Your email address
- Your name and phone number (optional)
- Any other information that may be useful to investigate the alleged fraud or abuse
The Trump Administration encourages individuals to report allegations of employer fraud and abuse by submitting a Form WH-4 to the Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division. The public may also contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by completing the HSI Tip Form.
H-1B Fraud and Abuse Indicators
Examples of H-1B abuse indicators may include:
- The H-1B worker is not or will not be paid the wage certified on the Labor Condition Application (LCA).
- There is a wage disparity between H-1B workers and other workers performing the same or similar duties, particularly to the detriment of U.S. workers.
- The H-1B worker is not performing the duties specified in the H-1B petition, including when the duties are at a higher level than the position description.
- The H-1B worker has less experience than U.S. workers in similar positions in the same company.
- The H-1B worker is not working in the intended location as certified on the LCA.
Protections for H-1B Workers Who Report Suspected Abuse
If a worker on the visa reports H-1B Abuse, immigration law may provide certain protections to these workers. If an H-1B worker:
- applies to extend their H-1B status or change their nonimmigrant status,
- indicates that they faced retaliatory action from their employer because they reported an LCA violation, and
- lost or failed to maintain their H-1B status,
USCIS believes this situation is an instance of ''extraordinary circumstances'' as defined by sections 214.1(c)(4) and 248.1(b) of Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations. Normally, H‑1B workers are not eligible to extend or change their status if they have lost or failed to maintain their H-1B status. However, if they can demonstrate ''extraordinary circumstances,'' we may use our discretion to excuse this requirement on a case-by-case basis.
Expansion of Site Visits
Since 2009, USCIS has conducted random administrative site visits to ensure that employers and foreign workers are complying with requirements of the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. We verify H-1B workers' wages, job duties, and work locations during site visits. This action is not meant to target nonimmigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system.
We seek to determine if workers are not being paid while in the United States as they wait for projects or work, a practice known as "benching" which violates U.S. immigration laws. We also conduct site visits in cases where there are suspicions of fraud or abuse and refer many of the cases to our counterparts at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for further investigation.
Starting this month, we will take a more targeted approach focusing on:
- H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to U.S. workers, as defined by statute);
- Cases where we cannot validate the employer's basic business information through commercially available data; and
- Employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organization's location.
Targeted site visits will also help us determine whether H-1B-dependent employers who normally must meet H-1B recruitment attestation requirements are actually paying their workers the statutorily required salary to qualify for an exemption from these requirements. These site visits will assist in determining if these employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit U.S. workers and to not displace U.S. workers.
Targeted site visits will allow us to focus resources where H-1B abuse may be more likely to occur. We will also continue to make unannounced and random visits to all H-1B employers across the country, both before and after any petition is adjudicated.
Promoting Transparency
Trump administration declared that transparency about how the H-1B program is being used is vital to ensuring accountability for employers and improving policies and practices that protect American workers. After the H-1B cap filing season for fiscal year (FY) 2018 concludes, USCIS plans to publish a report on the H-1B visa petitions submitted for FY 2018 along with data about the petitions. USCIS also plans to create a web-based, searchable platform for the public to better understand how H-1B visas are being used.


text:
Company Details
Hunan Gaoqiao Market Joint-Stock Co., Ltd.
|Payment Type:
|L/C,T/T,D/P,Paypal,Money Gram,Western Union
|Min. Order:
|1000 Bag/Bags
|Delivery Time:
|10 Days
Capacity: 10 oz
Shape: Cylindrical Shape
Cup Accessories: with Handle
Type: Single Wall
Glass Type: Clear Glass
Technics: Decal DECORATED
Style: Creative
Usage: Crystal Glass
Fancy: Colorless
Certification: ROHS
Material: Lead Free Glass
Name: Champagne Glass
Feature: Eco-Friendly, Stocked
Packaging: Box
Productivity: 100000 pcs per month
Brand: Dongjiu
Transportation: Ocean,Land,Air
Place of Origin: China
Supply Ability: 100000 pcs per month
Crystal Wine Glass Champagne Drinking Glasses
1.Using high quality clear glass and crystal beads.
2.During the manufacturing procedure, other mineral substances are added, such as barium, potassium, titanium, etc., which will make glass with high transparency, high refraction.
3.Our crystal wine glass meet the qualification of SGS International Food Safety Standard.
4.Precision cutting on edges, and on surface of foot are quite elegant. Each piece of even cutting reflects light beautifully.
5.There are two silver ring on the stems which can not only protect the glass but also beautify the glass.
6.The shiny stems are filled in crystal beads.
Reference pictures for the Red wine glass
Product Categories : Hotel Products Market > Chinese and Western Tableware