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Minimum Wage
Published: Friday, March 7, 2014 at 12:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 11:16 p.m.
A lot has been said about the pros and cons of increasing the minimum wage, but I haven't seen anyone question the legitimacy of the minimum wage itself. Why should a group of people who have no stake in a business, no investment whatsoever, dictate what the business owner pays his employees? The old adage "you get what you pay for" still applies.
If I pay employees $5 an hour and my competition pays $10, guess who is going to be in business longer and have the better employees? Let the market forces dictate the wage, not outsiders.
Minimum wage work was never intended to be a career position. They should be used as an incentive to increase your skill set so people can better themselves. A lot of minimum wage work is done by older employees who just want to supplement their income.
For the sake of argument, let's say $50 an hour was being proposed. Most (not all) would agree that is too high for minimum wage work. If we agree $50 an hour is too high, shouldn't the business owner make that decision rather than people who have no stake in the business and have nothing to lose if it fails?
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Floridians are calling for reform of personal injury protection (PIP). Will legislators listen, or will all the bills that contain meaningful changes be killed, just as they were in 2011?
Gov. Rick Scott and CFO Jeff Atwater joined a broad coalition of Florida consumers, business leaders, law enforcement officials and concerned citizens in Tallahassee on Jan. 25. They urged legislature to "Put the Brakes on Accident Fraud and Abuse.
Scott, Atwater and former Florida Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter said that fraud, abuse and excessive litigation were identified as problems in 1975. However, "PIP remains the domain of those who exploit the broken system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers — further illustrating that the PIP system is long overdue for meaningful reform and the Legislature must act this session to end the nearly $1 billion fraud tax and stop accident fraud," according to a joint statement.
"I urge the Senate and the House to work together on a comprehensive package that will actually get to the root of the problem and address this issue once and for all," said Gov. Scott.
Others spoke out on the need for reform:
"I am a good driver, but with current trends, I will soon be priced out of the automobile insurance market."
"Every day, I hear more and more deceptive and coercive advertisements that seem to encourage fraudulent claims," said Cydnee Knoth, a Tampa resident who traveled to Tallahassee to urge the legislature to act on PIP.
"We cannot wait any longer for relief from the expense of fraud and litigation abuse."
"Florida cannot sustain the ever-growing burden of a broken PIP system. Florida families and businesses continue to take the brunt of this unresolved billion dollar problem," said David Hart, executive vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. "We are hopeful and expectant that the 2012 Session will be marked by comprehensive change."
"Florida's no-fault system is creating problems for Florida's businesses and consumers."
"In order for this legislation to successfully impact Florida consumers and businesses, we truly believe it must have teeth to it," said Tom Feeney, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida. "Florida consumers and businesses deserve nothing less."
The coalition urged lawmakers to include these key reforms in a final bill:
- Reasonable limitations on attorneys' fees to remove the incentive to file frivolous lawsuits at the expense of Florida drivers.
- Increased anti-fraud controls to identify suspicious claims and allow insurers time to investigate those claims to avoid unnecessary payments paid by innocent consumers.
- Enhanced controls on medical costs, through clarification of the medical fee schedule and other tools that rein in high utilization of questionable medical procedures, the costs of which are passed on to consumers.
A leading business group, Associated Industries of Florida also participated in the event. In a separate editorial for a Florida newspaper, Jose L. Gonzalez, vice president of governmental affairs, said effective legislation is needed because PIP fraud affects, "the neediest Floridians most, particularly those on fixed incomes."

subset: commoncrawl


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Administrative Supplements for Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Teachers
Administrative Supplements for Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Teachers
As noted in the NIEHS 2006 Strategic Plan, the NIEHS will enhance opportunities for young, motivated high school and undergraduate students, and science teachers, to actively participate in environmental health research. The NIEHS hereby notifies Principal Investigators with R01, R15, R37, or P01 awards that funds are available for administrative supplements to support summer research experiences for talented and gifted high school students, college undergraduates, and science teachers. By offering an introduction to environmental health science research, the NIEHS expects to increase the number, and elevate the credentials, of the pool of applicants to graduate programs in the environmental health sciences.
The NIEHS anticipates the number of awarded supplements per year to be 15.
Any NIEHS-supported R01, R15, R37, or P01with a minimum of one year of funding remaining at the time of submission, is eligible for this supplement program. A Principal Investigator may have only one summer participant funded through this program at any given time.
Candidates eligible for support under this supplement program include high school students who have completed the 9th grade; undergraduate students, in good academic standing, who will have completed at least one year at an accredited school or university (including baccalaureate schools of nursing) at the time their research experience would begin; and science teachers. Institutions must adhere strictly to these requirements when selecting participants.
These supplements are intended to introduce students and teachers to research in the environmental health sciences that would not otherwise be available to them through their regular course of study. Institutions are encouraged to identify and actively recruit individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Awards under this program are limited to summer participants who are citizens, non-citizen nationals, or legal permanent residents of the United States (i.e., in possession of an Alien Registration Receipt Card or some other legal evidence of admission for permanent residence at the time of application). Non-citizen nationals are generally persons born in possessions of the United States (i.e., American Samoa and Swains Island). Individuals on temporary or student visas and individuals holding graduate degrees in the health sciences are not eligible.
Application Procedures:
The request for an administrative supplement must include the following:
- A completed face page (with appropriate signatures) from Grant Application Form PHS 398. Include the title and grant number of the parent grant on line 1 and the name "Administrative supplements to support summer research experiences for students and science teachers" on line 2.
- A detailed budget using the PHS 398 form pages 4 and 5.
- A brief three- page description, prepared by the Principal Investigator of the parent grant, that includes:
- A brief summary or abstract of the funded grant or project.
- A description and plan of the proposed research experience for the student/teacher, how it relates to the specific research goals and objectives of the parent grant, and a brief description of the research design, methods, and data analysis involved.
- A description of the mentorship that will be provided.
- A description of how the summer participant was identified or plans to identify the participant.
- Documentation, if applicable, that the proposed research experience was approved by the grantee institution's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) or human subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB) must be provided. Adherence to the NIH policy for including women and minorities in clinical studies must also be ensured if additional human subjects' involvement is planned for the supplement component.
- PHS 398 Checklist.
Funds Available:
Student Participation Allowance:
The salary for high school students, undergraduate students, and science teachers should be consistent with the institutional salary policies. Institutional salary rates for high school students that exceed the hourly minimum wage must be justified. Institutional rates for undergraduate salary that exceed $10 per hour must be justified. Participants may only receive funding for the period of time they participate in the program. Students are expected to devote sufficient effort to the research project and related activities during the period of support to gain insight into the process of scientific discovery.
Laboratory Supplies:
The institution may request up to $1000 per student to cover the costs of laboratory supplies and research related expenses. Equipment may not be purchased with these funds.
Application Deadline:
This is an on-going program with an indefinite duration, and applications may be submitted at any time up to February 28 of each year. Review and funding decisions will occur on or about April 1 of that year, with funds awarded in time for summer participation.
Applications must be countersigned by the authorized organizational representative and submitted electronically in PDF format to:
Please include "Summer Supplement" and the parent grant number on the email subject line.
Hard copies are not required. Do not submit applications to the Center for Scientific Review.
Review Criteria:
The administrative supplement requests will be reviewed by NIEHS staff to determine its overall merit according to the following criteria:
- Is the work proposed a logical extension of the scope of the original grant?
- Has there been adequate progress on the parent grant appropriate to the current stage of the project?
- Evidence that the proposed experience will enhance the research potential, knowledge, and/or skills of the summer participant.
- Evidence that mentorship will be provided.
- Evidence that the activities of the candidate will be an integral part of the project.
- Is a recruitment /selection plan described for identifying summer participants. For participants already identified, how were they selected?
Applications submitted in response to this funding opportunity will compete for available funds with all other recommended applications using the criteria shown above.
Astrid C. Haugen
Program Analyst
Summer Supplement Program Administrator
Tel (919) 541-4415
P.O. Box 12233
Mail Drop K3-15
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Delivery | Postal
Delivery Instructions
Related website: General Administrative Supplements Landing Page
Grantees are encouraged to contact their program officers before submitting an administrative supplement.


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On News 88.9 KNPR
On Classical 89.7
1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89146
Main Number: 1-702-258-9895
Toll Free: 1-888-258-9895
an member station
A choice selection of the best segments from our past year's interviews. Today: Comedy with Louie Anderson, George Wallace, Lewis Black, and Amanda Blake Davis and Craig Uhlir of Second City.
Add some items to your playlist to play them.


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Category:Collecting/all books
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
|This is an internally maintained category. It should be automatically populated with all books belonging to subject Collecting or to any of its descendant subjects.
Books or Pages
The following 8 pages are in this category, out of 8 total.


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Copyright © 2009-2011 BANG Media International
designed by John Seyfert Medien
designed by John Seyfert Medien
Jobs at BANG
BANG Showbiz is always looking for people to join our dynamic sales team.
We need individuals with a confident telephone manner, entrepreneurial drive, sales experience, good organisational skills and a passion for the fast-paced world of showbiz and celebrity news.
Working knowledge of a second language would be an advantage because our showbiz news reaches all over the world. But what really matters most is a great attitude and a hard work ethic.
You will be expected to use initiative in generating leads and calling potential clients and will be working with our experienced sales team.
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a dynamic and expanding agency who are the brand leaders in the world of showbiz news and have a prestigious client base.
Long-term and exciting career prospects await as well as the chance to party with the worlds top celebrities!
Please contact one of the team on +44 (0)207 428 7500 for further information.


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Begin faceted search navigation.
Men's Shoes
Footwear For Wherever
See Today's Deals for the details and terms of our current offers and events.
Men's Shoes
Whatever your needs are, the selection of men's shoes at Kohl's has all the latest styles at great low prices. For the athletic type, Kohl's carries a huge selection of men's athletic shoes including Nike running shoes, adidas basketball shoes and ASICS sneakers. Look sharp and stay comfortable with Kohl's selection of men's dress shoes from brands like Apt. 9®, Stacy Adams, and Dockers.
Kohl's offers modern and traditional looks to suit any style, including oxfords, loafers and moccasin slippers from brands like Oxford & Finch, Deer Stags and SONOMA Goods for Life®. Whether casual or formal, you're sure to find shoes that are perfect for the office or a night on the town. Kohl's also offers fashion and outdoor boots for any terrain. Plus, get comfortable by checking out the selection of men's sandals, moccasins and slippers. Kohl's makes finding the perfect fit easier than ever!


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Westeros is the premiere fansite for George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Discuss the series on the forums, browse our resource collections, read about the TV series from HBO and play the MUSH, to name just a few of the things we offer.
New to the series? Read our spoiler-free review of A Game of Thrones.
Read our Privacy Policy.
We've updated the So Spake Martin collection—our archive of correspondence, interviews, and more with George R.R. Martin—with the latest interview we've seen from GRRM, with Mark Lawson for the BBC's Frontrow program.
The Westeros network consists of several different sites, including a forum and a wiki, for all your A Song of Ice and Fire needs.


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Boris Bike Extension: Work Begins In West
Thursday 4th April 2013
Work on the western extension of the Boris Bike hire scheme starts today.
By December, bikes will be available in areas within Wandsworth, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lambeth and Kensingon and Chelsea.
Today construction began on a docking station site near the junction of Finlay St and Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith - with the installation of electrical cables ahead of the docking station later this year.
"The cycle hire scheme is going to be fantastic for southwest London," The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said.
"It will be a real benefit to local people, it helps the economy and is key to my aim of making cycling an integral part of the capital's transport network."
SInce the scheme launched more than 20 million journeys have been made using the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, which currently stretches from Shepherd's Bush in the west, through central London and east to the fringes of the Olympic Park.
The new western extension will increase the number of bikes available by more than 2,000.


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This is an interview with President Bashir talking about the thousands and thousands killed in Darfur and why he killed them What a liar! While I have not been to Darfur, I believe he is lying. I have talked to enough people who have been to Darfur and I have seen his handiwork on the innocent people in the Nuba Mountains.
I saw with my own eyes what he is doing to the people of the Nuba Mountains — the people of the Nuba Mountains are not attacking anyone. These people are fleeing him. He is pursuing them with his Air Force and Army. He is killing them. (We had to travel in a mud caked vehicle to blend into the environment so that his bombers did not spot us and drop bombs on us!)


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Pottermore Open To Public
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If you haven't seen the site this sneak peak uploaded to Youtube to promote the website before its public launch will give you an idea what's in-store for you once you go their site. But like the title says Pottermore is officially open to the so if you haven't signed up yet –what are you waiting for? Aren't you curious to find out which house the sorting hat will place you? Or what type of wand you'll get? I was one of the lucky few that got accepted for the beta testing man its was fun. A little history on the site you may have a few FAQ hopefully I will address those in a moment. Pottermore's content is based off books from " The Harry Potter series".
*To avoid overtaxing the servers the site is activating a handful of accounts at a time, so you might have to wait awhile before you can get sorted into your house and step into the immersive environment of Hogwarts.
*User names are generated by the site so what you get is what use, this I believe is to avoid users from getting too over creative with the user-names or having a million variations of the main cast real and character's name.
*The site also promises "exclusive new content from J.K. Rowling," reportedly including 18,000 words of background material filling out the books' characters and settings. For newbies, Pottermore will sell e-book and audiobook versions of the series.
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Lessons from Bolton's China adventure
Advisers should not have rushed into China trust as no back-up plan was available
When veteran investor Anthony Bolton launched his flagship Fidelity China Special Situations investment trust in April 2010, investors and advisers rushed to buy into it even as a number of experts warned them away.
Following an initial honeymoon period, when the trust outperformed and traded at a premium, some shareholders may be wondering what hit them. In its second annual results for the 12 months to the end of March, the trust last week announced its shares lost 26.4 per cent, compared with 6 per cent for its China benchmark index.
It is impossible to judge the trust's success on the basis of just two years' performance
After two years of stomaching the trust's volatility, investors and advisers might be blaming Fidelity and Mr Bolton for persuading them to come on board with their Chinese adventure. They may also be looking to switch to a similar investment product. At this stage, however, they should be doing the opposite.
When the trust was launched, a number of industry watchers said privately that they were concerned about the sums it had attracted from retail clients. The main reason they cited was manager Anthony Bolton's relative inexperience investing in China, in spite of the back-up he could draw on from Fidelity's analysts and long-standing presence in the region. Some were also concerned about a resurgence in extremely high valuations in certain areas of the Chinese stockmarket.
These worries are rational and may prove to be valid. However, as the trust was launched off the back of long-term predictions about China, it is impossible to judge its success on the basis of just two years' performance.
When the trust launched, Mr Bolton said one of his key convictions about China was that its small and mid-sized firms represented an outstanding long-term opportunity. In fact, almost 80 per cent of the fund was in small and mid caps at the end of April - meaning, inevitably, it will be more volatile and lose money faster than a standard fund which seeks to compare its performance to the MSCI China index. By contrast, during up years, it should rise faster as well. Moreover, from its launch to June 11, the trust's shares have outperformed the MSCI China Small and Mid Cap index by more than 2 percentage points, according to FE.
If UK retail investors sell out and move to one of the other mainstream China funds available to them, they will crystallise losses on smaller companies, to which these other funds have far less exposure. If they move to generalist Asian smaller companies products, they risk locking in China's higher recent declines.
The real problem with rushing into Mr Bolton's fund was that advisers by definition could not have had a substitutes' bench - comparable investments they could switch into if their clients were dissatisfied with his results. IFAs who recommended China Special Situations may now be getting angry calls from clients and regretting they never researched this bench in full - but that is their fault, not Fidelity's. Fortunately, given Mr Bolton's relative returns, they can make a decent case to their clients to grit their teeth and stay put.
Nick Rice is editor of Investment Adviser


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No visit to Rome is really complete without a trip to Vatican City, the smallest independent city-state on earth. But when the main attractions at the Vatican are its immense collection of art and artifacts and its stunning basilica, it's easy to see how parents may need a little help to make the day more interesting for the kids. Certainly, you'll be the best judge of how much you'll need to tailor the day to your kids, depending on their ages and levels of patience with museums. Regardless of your kids' temperament, however, here are some of the things you'll want to keep in mind if you're visiting the Vatican with kids.
Waiting is Boring
No matter how patient your kids are, if you spend hours waiting in line just to get into the Vatican Museums, you're wasting precious energy in line that you won't be able to reclaim once you get into the museum. The most important thing you can do for your kids (and your sanity) is make sure you don't wait in that line. The Vatican website offers the option to buy tickets in advance, with a specific timed entry on a particular day, so that you just walk up to the museum entry rather than waiting in the line to purchase tickets. You can also book a spot on a guided tour of Vatican City that includes your entry to the museums. Keep reading to find out why the latter option is a particularly good idea if you're traveling with kids.
Kid-Focused Tour Guides are Awesome
Just because you bypass the line doesn't mean all that art and old stuff in the Vatican Museums are going to be remotely interesting to your kids, which is where a great tour guide comes in. Booking a family-friendly tour of Vatican City means you'll get a guide who can put the sights in context for your kids, thereby holding their interest for longer periods of time and giving you a chance to appreciate what you're looking at rather than constantly dealing with bored children. Plus, being on a guided tour also gives you a timed entry allowing you to skip the ticket line.
Bribery Works
You'd be smart to start your Vatican City visit first thing in the morning, when everyone's energy is high, and to plan a seriously kid-oriented activity for the afternoon. Would your kids get a kick out of a 3-D ride about Ancient Rome? How about a night-time ghost tour of Rome? Or maybe they want to go to Roman Gladiator School? Maybe just knowing there will be several gelato stops later in the day is enough to keep your kids going!


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Microfluidics or lab-on-chip devices are dealing with the precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimeter scale. These devices integrate one or several functions into a single chip. Microfluidics is a broader term that also describes mechanical flow control devices, including pumps and valves as well as sensors such as flow meters and viscometers. In the case of micro total analysis systems (µTAS), an entire sequence of lab processes is integrated into a single chip that performs a full chemical analysis. The term "lab-on-a-chip" generally describes the scaling of single or multiple lab processes down to chip format.
Hot Embossing Hot Embossing is a very versatile replication method which uses high pressure and elevated temperature to transfer the structures from the master into the polymer. It addresses a wide range of applications, from polymer-based lab-on-chip systems, where imprinting is done on thick polymers substrates to the fabrication of sub 50 nm features for bio-sensing or data recording applications, where imprinting is required.
EV Group's Hot Embossing Systems provide the best capabilities for large area imprinting applications. The systems are configured with a universal embossing chamber with top and bottom side heaters, offering high-vacuum and high-contact force capabilities to imprint spin-on polymers as well as polymer substrates.
Individual process steps featured by EV Group:
Please see our related products EVG Hot Embossing Systems and EVG®770 Automated NIL Stepper for detailed information.
Conventional template fabrication methods include mechanical micromachining, laser micromachining and lithographic methods (LIGA, UV-LIGA). EV Group offers the possibility to use soft working stamps materials for hot embossing which exhibits multiple benefits over hard stamps as described below:
Please see our related products EVG Nanoimprint Lithography Systems (UV-NIL, µCP) for detailed information.
SEM Image of 200 µm hot embossed micro fluidic channels. Source IMI-NRC.
SEM Image of 20 µm hot embossed micro fluidic channels utilizing polymeric stamps (height 180 µm). Source IMI-NCR.
SEM Image of 50 nm and 100 nm hot embossed meander structures utilizing polymeric stamps. Source EVG.
SEM Image of 50 nm hot embossed liness utilizing polymeric stamps. Source EVG.
EV Group Rolls Out Automated Metrology System for Advanced Packaging, MEMS and Photonics Manufacturing
EV Group Expands High-Vacuum Wafer Bonding Capabilities of EVG ComBond Platform for High-Volume MEMS Manufacturing
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HomeGeneral InformationStem Cell Reports8. Alternate Methods for preparing pluripotent Stem Cells
James F. Battey, Jr., MD, PhD; Laura K. Cole, PhD; and Charles A. Goldthwaite, Jr., PhD.
Stem cells are distinguished from other cells by two characteristics: (1) they can divide to produce copies of themselves (self-renewal) under appropriate conditions and (2) they are pluripotent, or able to differentiate into any of the three germ layers: the endoderm (which forms the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and interior lining of the stomach), mesoderm (which forms the bones, muscles, blood, and urogenital tract), and ectoderm (which forms the epidermal tissues and nervous system). Pluripotent cells, which can differentiate into any mature cell type, are distinct from multipotent cells (such as hematopoietic, or blood-forming, cells) that can differ into a limited number of mature cell types. Because of their pluripotency and capacity for self-renewal, stem cells hold great potential to renew tissues that have been damaged by conditions such as type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, heart attacks, and spinal cord injury. Although techniques to transplant multipotent or pluripotent cells are being developed for many specific applications, some procedures are sufficiently mature to be established options for care. For example, human hematopoietic cells from the umbilical cord and bone marrow are currently being used to treat patients with disorders that require replacement of cells made by the bone marrow, including Fanconi's anemia and chemotherapy-induced bone marrow failure after cancer treatment.
However, differentiation is influenced by numerous factors, and investigators are just beginning to understand the fundamental properties of human pluripotent cells. Researchers are gradually learning how to direct these cells to differentiate into specialized cell types and to use them for research, drug discovery, and transplantation therapy (see Figure 8.1). However, before stem cell derivatives are suitable for clinical application, scientists require a more complete understanding of the molecular mechanisms that drive pluripotent cells into differentiated cells. Scientists will need to pilot experimental transplantation therapies in animal model systems to assess the safety and long-term stable functioning of transplanted cells. In particular, they must be certain that any transplanted cells do not continue to self-renew in an unregulated fashion after transplantation, which may result in a teratoma, or stem cell tumor. In addition, scientists must ascertain that cells transplanted into a patient are not recognized as foreign by the patient's immune system and rejected.
Figure 8.1. The Scientific Challenge of Human Stem CellsThe state of the science currently lies in the development of fundamental knowledge of the properties of human pluripotent cells. The scientific capacity needs to be built, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms that drive cell specialization needs to be advanced, the nature and regulation of interaction between host and transplanted cells needs to be explored and understood, cell division needs to be understood and regulated, and the long-term stability of the function in transplanted cells needs to be established.
Stem cells derived from an early-stage human blastocyst (an embryo fertilized in vitro and grown approximately five days in culture) have the capacity to renew indefinitely, and can theoretically provide an unlimited supply of cells. It is also possible to derive stem cells from non-embryonic tissues, including amniotic fluid, placenta, umbilical cord, brain, gut, bone marrow, and liver. These stem cells are sometimes called "adult" stem cells, and they are typically rare in the tissue of origin. For example, blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cell experts estimate that only 1 in 2000 to fewer than 1 in 10,000 cells found in the bone marrow is actually a stem cell.1 Because so-called "adult" stem cells include cells from the placenta and other early stages of development, they are more correctly termed "non-embryonic stem cells." Non-embryonic stem cells are more limited in their capacity to self renew in the laboratory, making it more difficult to generate a large number of stem cells for a specific experimental or therapeutic application. Under normal conditions, non-embryonic stem cells serve as a repair pool for the body, so they typically differentiate only into the cell types found in the organ of origin. Moreover, there is little compelling evidence for trans-differentiation, whereby a stem cell from one organ differentiates into a mature cell type of a different organ. New discoveries may overcome these limitations of stem cells derived from non-embryonic sources, and research directed toward this goal is currently underway in a number of laboratories.
Cultures of human pluripotent, self-renewing cells enable researchers to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate differentiation (see Figure 8.2), including epigenetic changes (traits that may be inherited that do not arise from changes in the DNA sequence) in the chromatin structure, developmental changes in gene expression, exposure to growth factors, and interactions between adjacent cells. Understanding these basic mechanisms may enable future scientists to mobilize and differentiate endogenous populations of pluripotent cells to replace a cell type ravaged by injury or disease. Alternatively, scientists may some day be able to coax human pluripotent cells grown in the laboratory to become a specific type of specialized cell, which physicians could subsequently transplant into a patient to replace cells damaged by these same disease processes.
Scientists are gradually learning to direct the differentiation of pluripotent cell cultures into a specific type of cell, which can then be used as cellular models of human disease for drug discovery or toxicity studies. While it is not possible to predict the myriad ways that a basic understanding of stem cell differentiation may lead to new approaches for treating patients with cellular degenerative diseases, some avenues can be theorized. For example, in the case of Huntington's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, one could imagine that pluripotent cells derived from an embryo that carries Huntington's disease and differentiated into neurons in culture could be used to test drugs to delay or prevent degeneration.
Despite the incredible growth in knowledge that has occurred in stem cell research within the last couple of decades, investigators are just beginning to unravel the process of differentiation. Human pluripotent cell lines are an essential tool to understand this process and to facilitate the ultimate use of these cells in the clinic. To provide background on this fundamental topic, this article reviews the various potential sources and approaches that have been used to generate human pluripotent and multipotent cell lines, both of embryonic and non-embryonic origin.
Currently, at least six embryonic sources have been used to establish human pluripotent stem cell lines. All approaches involve isolation of viable cells during an early phase of development, followed by growth of these cells in appropriate culture medium. The various sources of these initial cell populations are discussed in brief below. It should be noted that the manipulation and use of embryonic tissues has raised a number of ethical issues.2,3 This article focuses on the scientific and technical issues associated with creating pluripotent cells, with the understanding that some of these techniques are currently subject to debates that extend beyond discussions of their scientific merits.
Figure 8.2. The Promise of Stem Cell ResearchStem cell research provides a useful tool for unraveling the molecular mechanisms that determine the differentiation fate of a pluripotent cell and for understanding the gene expression properties and epigenetic modifications essential to maintain the pluripotent state. In the future, this knowledge may be used to generate cells for transplantation therapies, whereby a specific cell population compromised by disease is replaced with new, functional cells. Differentiated derivatives of human pluripotent cells may also prove to be useful as models for understanding the biology of disease and developing new drugs, particularly when there is no animal model for the disease being studied. The greatest promise of stem cell research may lie in an area not yet imagined.
© 2008 Terese Winslow
Drawing upon twenty years of communal expertise with mouse ES cells,4 and on human inner cell mass culture conditions developed by Ariff Bongso and colleagues,5 James Thomson and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin generated the first hESC lines in 1998 using tissue from embryos fertilized in vitro.6 This method uses embryos generated for in vitro fertilization (IVF) that are no longer needed for reproductive purposes. During IVF, medical professionals usually produce more embryos than a couple attempting to start a family may need. Spare embryos are typically stored in a freezer to support possible future attempts for additional children if desired. It is estimated that there are approximately 400,000 such spare embryos worldwide.6 If these embryos are never used by the couple, they either remain in storage or are discarded as medical waste. Alternatively, these embryos can potentially be used to generate a hESC line.
To generate a hESC line, scientists begin with a donated blastocyst-stage embryo, at approximately five days after IVF (see Figure 8.3a). The blastocyst consists of approximately 150–200 cells that form a hollow sphere of cells, the outer layer of which is called the trophectoderm. During normal development, the trophoblast becomes the placenta and umbilical cord. At one pole of this hollow sphere, 30–50 cells form a cluster that is called the inner cell mass (ICM), which would give rise to the developing fetus. ICM cells are pluripotent, possessing the capacity to become any of the several hundred specialized cell types found in a developed human, with the exception of the placenta and umbilical cord.
Scientists remove the ICM from the donated blastocyst and place these cells into a specialized culture medium. In approximately one in five attempts, a hESC line begins to grow. Stem cells grown in such a manner can then be directed to differentiate into various lineages, including neural precursor cells,8 cardiomyocytes,9 and hematopoietic (blood forming) precursor cells.10
However, hESC lines are extremely difficult to grow in culture; the cells require highly specialized growth media that contain essential ingredients that are difficult to standardize. Yet the culture conditions are critical to maintain the cells' self-renewing and pluripotent properties. Culture requires the support of mouse or human cells, either directly as a "feeder" cell layer6,11,12 or indirectly as a source of conditioned medium in feeder-free culture systems.13 The feeder cells secrete important nutrients and otherwise support stem cell growth, but are treated so they cannot divide. Although the complete role of these feeder cells is not known, they promote stem cell growth, including detoxifying the culture medium and secreting proteins that participate in cell growth.14 hESC lines used to produce human cells for transplantation therapies may need to be propagated on a human feeder cell layer to reduce the risk of contamination by murine viruses or other proteins that may cause rejection. Thus, hESC lines often grow only under highly specific culture conditions, and the identification of ideal growth conditions presents a challenge regardless of the source of the hESCs.
Furthermore, human ES cell cultures must be expanded using an exacting protocol to avoid cell death and to control spontaneous differentiation. Since a limited number of laboratories in the United States are growing these cells, there is a shortage of people well-versed in the art and science of successful hESC culture. In the short term, challenges of working with these cells include developing robust culture conditions and protocols, understanding the molecular mechanisms that direct differentiation into specific cell types, and developing the infrastructure to advance this scientific opportunity. Once these challenges have been met, scientists will need to conduct transplantation studies in animal models (rodent and non-human primates) to demonstrate safety, effectiveness, and long-term benefit before stem cell therapies may enter clinical trials.
A second method for generating human pluripotent stem cell lines was published in 1998 by John Gearhart and coworkers at The Johns Hopkins Medical School.15
These researchers isolated specialized cells known as primordial germ cells (PGCs) from a 5–7-week-old embryo and placed these cells into culture (see Figure 8.3b). PGCs are destined to become either oocytes or sperm cells, depending on the sex of the developing embryo. The resulting cell lines are called embryonic germ cell lines, and they share many properties with ES cells. As with ES cells, however, PGCs present challenges with sustained growth in culture.16,17 Spontaneous differentiation, which hinders the isolation of pure clonal lines, is a particular issue. Therefore, the clinical application of these cells requires a more complete understanding of their derivation and maintenance in vitro.
Embryos that stop dividing after being fertilized in vitro are not preferentially selected for implantation in a woman undergoing fertility treatment. These embryos are typically either frozen for future use or discarded as medical waste. In 2006, scientists at the University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, generated hESC lines from IVF embryos that had stopped dividing.18 These scientists used similar methods as described under "Traditional hESC Line Generation" except that their source material was so-called "dead" IVF embryos (see Figure 8.3c). The human stem cells created using this technique behaved like pluripotent stem cells, including producing proteins critical for "stemness" and being able to produce cells from all three germ layers. It has been proposed that an IVF embryo can be considered dead when it ceases to divide.19 If one accepts this definition, such an embryo that "dies" from natural causes presumably cannot develop into a human being, thereby providing a source to derive human ES cells without destroying a living embryo.
Figure 8.3. Alternative Methods for Preparing Pluripotent Stem Cells
Couples who have learned that they carry a genetic disorder sometimes use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and IVF to have a child that does not carry the disorder. PGD requires scientists to remove one cell from a very early IVF human embryo and test it for diseases known to be carried by the hopeful couple. Normally, embryos identified with genetic disorders are discarded as medical waste. However, Dr.Yuri Verlinsky and colleagues have capitalized on these embryos as a way to further our understanding of the diseases they carry (see Figure 8.3d) by deriving hESC lines from them.20 These stem cell lines can then be used to help scientists understand genetically-based disorders such as muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease, thalessemia, Fanconi's anemia, Marfan syndrome, adrenoleukodystrophy, and neurofibromatosis.
In 2006, Dr. Robert Lanza and colleagues demonstrated that it is possible to remove a single cell from a pre-implantation mouse embryo and generate a mouse ES cell line.21 This work was based upon their experience with cleavage-stage mouse embryos. Later that same year, Dr. Lanza's laboratory reported that it had successfully established hESC lines (see Figure 8.3e) from single cells taken from pre-implantation human embryos.22 The human stem cells created using this technique behaved like pluripotent stem cells, including making proteins critical for "stemness" and producing cells from all three germ layers. Proponents of this technique suggest that since it requires only one embryonic cell, the remaining cells may yet be implanted in the womb and develop into a human being. Therefore, scientists could potentially derive human embryonic stem cells without having to destroy an embryo. However, ethical considerations make it uncertain whether scientists will ever test if the cells remaining after removal of a single cell can develop into a human being, at least in embryos that are not at risk for carrying a genetic disorder. Moreover, it is unclear whether the single cell used to generate a pluripotent stem cell line has the capacity to become a human being.
Parthenogenesis is the creation of an embryo without fertilizing the egg with a sperm, thus omitting the sperm's genetic contributions. To achieve this feat, scientists "trick" the egg into believing it is fertilized, so that it will begin to divide and form a blastocyst (see Figure 8.3f). In 2007, Dr. E.S. Revazova and colleagues reported that they successfully used parthenogenesis to derive hESCs.23 These stem cell lines, derived and grown using a human feeder cell layer, retained the genetic information of the egg donor and demonstrated characteristics of pluripotency. This technique may lead to the ability to generate tissue-matched cells for transplantation to treat women who are willing to provide their own egg cells.24 It also offers an alternate method for deriving tissue-matched hESCs that does not require destruction of a fertilized embryo.
Amniotic fluid surrounding the developing fetus contains cells shed by the fetus and is regularly collected from pregnant women during amniocentesis. In 2003, researchers identified a subset of cells in amniotic fluid that express Oct-4, a marker for pluripotent human stem cells that is expressed in ES cells and embryonic germ cells.25 Since then, investigators have shown that amniotic fluid stem cells can differentiate into cells of all three embryonic germ layers and that these cells do not form tumors in vivo.26,27
For example, Anthony Atala and colleagues at the Wake Forest University have recently generated non-embryonic stem cell lines from cells found in human and rat amniotic fluid.27 They named these cells amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (AFS). Experiments demonstrate that AFS can produce cells that originate from each of the three embryonic germ layers, and the self-renewing cells maintained the normal number of chromosomes after a prolonged period in culture. However, undifferentiated AFS did not produce all of the proteins expected of pluripotent cells, and they were not capable of forming a teratoma. The scientists developed in vitro conditions that enabled AFS to produce nerve cells, liver cells, and bone-forming cells. AFS-derived human nerve cells could make proteins typical of specialized nerve cells and were able to integrate into a mouse brain and survive for at least two months. Cultured AFS-derived human liver cells secreted urea and made proteins characteristic of normal human liver cells. Cultured AFS-derived human bone cells made proteins expected of human bone cells and formed bone in mice when seeded onto scaffolds and implanted under the mouse's skin. Although scientists do not yet know how many different cell types AFS can generate, AFS may one day allow researchers to establish a bank of cells for transplantation into humans.
An alternative to searching for an existing population of stem cells is to create a new one from a population of non-pluripotent cells. This strategy, which may or may not involve the creation of an embryo, is known as "reprogramming." This section will summarize reprogramming approaches, including several recent breakthroughs in the field..
In SCNT (see Figure 8.3g), human oocytes (eggs) are collected from a volunteer donor who has taken drugs that stimulate the production of more than one oocyte during the menstrual cycle. Scientists then remove the nucleus from the donated oocyte and replace it with the nucleus from a somatic cell, a differentiated adult cell from elsewhere in the body. The oocyte with the newly-transferred nucleus is then stimulated to develop. The oocyte may develop only if the transplanted nucleus is returned to the pluripotent state by factors present in the oocyte cytoplasm. This alteration in the state of the mature nucleus is called nuclear reprogramming. When development progresses to the blastocyst stage, the ICM is removed and placed into culture in an attempt to establish a pluripotent stem cell line. To date, the technique has been successfully demonstrated in two primates: macaque monkeys28 and humans.29
However, successful SCNT creates an embryo-like entity, thereby raising the ethical issues that confront the use of spare IVF embryos. However, pluripotent cell lines created by embryos generated by SCNT offer several advantages over ES cells. First, the nuclear genes of such a pluripotent cell line will be identical to the genes in the donor nucleus. If the nucleus comes from a cell that carries a mutation underlying a human genetic disease such as Huntington's disease, then all cells derived from the pluripotent cell line will carry this mutation. In this case, the SCNT procedure would enable the development of cellular models of human genetic disease that can inform our understanding of the biology of disease and facilitate development of drugs to slow or halt disease progression. Alternatively, if the cell providing the donor nucleus comes from a specific patient, all cells derived from the resulting pluripotent cell line will be genetically matched to the patient with respect to the nuclear genome. If these cells were used in transplantation therapy, the likelihood that the patient's immune system would recognize the transplanted cells as foreign and initiate tissue rejection would be reduced. However, because mitochondria also contain DNA, the donor oocyte will be the source of the mitochondrial genome, which is likely to carry mitochondrial gene differences from the patient which may still lead to tissue rejection.
A technique reported in 2007 by Dr. Kevin Eggan and colleagues at Harvard University may expand scientists' options when trying to "reprogram" an adult cell's DNA30. Previously, successful SCNT relied upon the use of an unfertilized egg. Now, the Harvard scientists have demonstrated that by using a drug to stop cell division in a fertilized mouse egg (zygote) during mitosis, they can successfully reprogram an adult mouse skin cell by taking advantage of the "reprogramming factors" that are active in the zygote at mitosis. They removed the chromosomes from the single-celled zygote's nucleus and replaced them with the adult donor cell's chromosomes (see Figure 8.3h). The active reprogramming factors present in the zygote turned genes on and off in the adult donor chromosomes, to make them behave like the chromosomes of a normally fertilized zygote. After the zygote was stimulated to divide, the cloned mouse embryo developed to the blastocyst stage, and the scientists were able to harvest embryonic stem cells from the resulting blastocyst. When the scientists applied their new method to abnormal mouse zygotes, they succeeded at reprogramming adult mouse skin cells and harvesting stem cells. If this technique can be repeated with abnormal human zygotes created in excess after IVF procedures, scientists could use them for research instead of discarding them as medical waste.
Altered nuclear transfer is a variation on standard SCNT that proposes to create patient-specific stem cells without destroying an embryo. In ANT, scientists turn off a gene needed for implantation in the uterus (Cdx2) in the patient cell nucleus before it is transferred into the donor egg (see Figure 8.3i). In 2006, Dr. Rudolph Jaenisch and colleagues at MIT demonstrated that ANT can be carried out in mice.31 Mouse ANT entities whose Cdx2 gene is switched off are unable to implant in the uterus and do not survive to birth. Although ANT has been used to create viable stem cell lines capable of producing almost all cell types, the authors point out that this technique must still be tested with monkey and human embryos. Moreover, the manipulation needed to control Cdx2 expression introduces another logistical hurdle that may complicate the use of ANT to derive embryonic stem cells. Proponents of ANT, such as William Hurlbut of the Stanford University Medical Center, suggest that the entity created by ANT is not a true embryo because it cannot implant in the uterus.32, 33 However, the technique is highly controversial, and its ethical implications remain a source of current debate.4,32
In 2005, Kevin Eggan and colleagues at Harvard University reported that they had fused cultured adult human skin cells with hESCs (see Figure 8.3j).36 The resulting "hybrid" cells featured many characteristics of hESCs, including a similar manner of growth and division and the manufacture of proteins typically produced by hESCs. Some factor(s) within the hESCs enabled them to "reprogram" the adult skin cells to behave as hESCs. However, these cells raised a significant technical barrier to clinical use. Because fused cells are tetraploid (they contain four copies of the cellular DNA rather than the normal two copies), scientists would need to develop a method to remove the extra DNA without eliminating their hESC-like properties. The fusion method serves as a useful model system for studying how stem cells "reprogram" adult cells to have properties of pluripotent cells. However, if the reprogramming technique could be carried out without the fusion strategy, a powerful avenue for creating patient-specific stem cells without using human eggs could be developed.
In 2007, two independent research groups published manuscripts that described successful genetic reprogramming of human adult somatic cells into pluripotent human stem cells.34,35 Although some technical limitations remain, this strategy suggests a promising new avenue for generating pluripotent cell lines that can inform drug development, models of disease, and ultimately, transplantation medicine. These experiments, which are discussed below, were breakthroughs because they used adult somatic cells to create pluripotent stem cells that featured hallmarks of ES cells.
In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka and colleagues at Kyoto University reported that they could use a retroviral expression vector to introduce four important stem cell factors into adult mouse cells and reprogram them to behave like ES cells (see Figure 8.3k).37 They called the reprogrammed cells "iPSCs," for induced pluripotent stem cells. However, iPSCs produced using the original technique failed to produce sperm and egg cells when injected into an early mouse blastocyst and did not make certain critical DNA changes. These researchers then modified the technique to select for iPSCs that can produce sperm and eggs,38 results that have since been reproduced by Rudolph Jaenisch and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).39
In addition, the MIT scientists determined that iPSCs DNA is modified in a manner similar to ES cells, and important stem cell genes are expressed at similar levels. They also demonstrated that iPSCs injected into an early mouse blastocyst can produce all cell types within the developing embryo, and such embryos can complete gestation and are born alive.
Once these research advances were made in mice, they suggested that similar techniques might be used to reprogram adult human cells. In 2007, Yamanaka and coworkers reported that introducing the same four genetic factors that reprogrammed the mouse cells into adult human dermal fibroblasts reprogrammed the cells into human iPSCs.35 These iPSCs were similar to human ES cells in numerous ways, including morphology, proliferative capacity, expression of cell surface antigens, and gene expression. Moreover, the cells could differentiate into cell types from the three embryonic germ layers both in vitro and in teratoma assays. Concurrent with the Yamanaka report, James Thomson and coworkers at the University of Wisconsin published a separate manuscript that detailed the creation of human iPSCs through somatic cell reprogramming using four genetic factors (two of which were in common with the Yamanaka report).34 The cells generated by the Thomson group met all defining criteria for ES cells, with the exception that they were not derived from embryos.
These breakthroughs have spurred interest in the field of iPSCs research. In early 2008, investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital40 and the University of California, Los Angeles41 reported generating reprogrammed cells. As scientists explore the mechanisms that govern reprogramming, it is anticipated that more reports will be forthcoming in this emerging area. Although these reprogramming methods require the use of a virus, non-viral strategies may also be possible in the future. In any case, these approaches have created powerful new tools to enable the "dedifferentation" of cells that scientists had previously believed to be terminally differentiated.42,43
Although further study is warranted to determine if iPS and ES cells differ in clinically significant ways, these breakthrough reports suggest that reprogramming is a promising strategy for future clinical applications. Induced pluripotent cells offer the obvious advantage that they are not derived from embryonic tissues, thereby circumventing the ethical issues that surround use of these materials. Successful reprogramming of adult somatic cells could also lead to the development of stem cell lines from patients who suffer from genetically-based diseases, such as Huntington's Disease, spinal muscular atrophy, muscular dystrophy, and thalessemia. These lines would be invaluable research tools to understand the mechanisms of these diseases and to test potential drug treatments. Additionally, reprogrammed cells could potentially be used to repair damaged tissues; patient-specific cell lines could greatly reduce the concerns of immune rejection that are prevalent with many transplantation strategies.
However, several technical hurdles must be overcome before iPSCs can be used in humans. For example, in preliminary experiments with mice, the virus used to introduce the stem cell factors sometimes caused cancers.37 The viral vectors used in these experiments will have to be selected carefully and tested fully to verify that they do not integrate into the genome, thereby harboring the potential to introduce genetic mutations at their site of insertion. This represents a significant concern that must be addressed before the technique can lead to useful treatments for humans. However, this strategy identifies a method for creating pluripotent stem cells that, together with studies of other types of pluripotent stem cells, will help researchers learn how to reprogram cells to repair damaged tissues in the human body.
Stem cell research is a rapidly evolving field, and researchers continue to isolate new pluripotent cells and create additional cell lines. This section briefly reviews other sources of pluripotent cells and the implications that their discovery may have on future research.
Epiblast Cells. While rodent and human ES cells are pluripotent, they maintain their respective pluripotencies through different molecular signaling pathways. It is not known why these differences exist. Recently, several research groups have reported the generation of stable, pluripotent cell lines from mouse and rat epiblast, a tissue of the post-implantation embryo that ultimately generates the embryo proper.44,45 These cells are distinct from mouse ES cells in terms of the signals that control their differentiation. However, the cells share patterns of gene expression and signaling responses with human ES cells. The establishment of epiblast cell lines can therefore provide insight into the distinctions between pluripotent cells from different species and illuminate ways that pluripotent cells pursue distinct fates during early development.
Existing Adult Stem Cells. As has been discussed in other chapters, numerous types of precursor cells have been isolated in adult tissues.46 Although these cells tend to be relatively rare and are dispersed throughout the tissues, they hold great potential for clinical application and tissue engineering. For example, tissues created using stem cells harvested from an adult patient could theoretically be used clinically in that patient without engendering an immune response. Moreover, the use of adult stem cells avoids the ethical concerns associated with the use of ES cells. In addition, adult-derived stem cells do not spontaneously differentiate as do ES cells, thus eliminating the formation of teratomas often seen with implantation of ES cells. The potential of adult stem cells for regenerative medicine is great; it is likely that these various cells will find clinical application in the upcoming decades.
Although the recent advances in reprogramming of adult somatic cells has generated a wave of interest in the scientific community, these cell lines will not likely replace hESC lines as tools for research and discovery. Rather, both categories of cells will find unique uses in the study of stem cell biology and the development and evaluation of therapeutic strategies. Pluripotent cells offer a number of potential clinical applications, especially for diseases with a genetic basis. However, researchers are just beginning to unlock the many factors that govern the cells' growth and differentiation. As scientists make strides toward understanding how these cells can be manipulated, additional applications, approaches, and techniques will likely emerge. As such, pluripotent cells will play a pivotal role in future research into the biology of development and the treatment of disease.
Chapter 7 | Table of Contents | Chapter 9
Page citation: Alternate Methods for preparing pluripotent Stem Cells . In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009 [cited Sunday, August 28, 2016] Available at <http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/scireport/pages/2006Chapter8.aspx>


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In article
Bob Ball
> For the last 3 years, I've provided a rehearsal CD for my choir during a
> 3-day choir retreat, and to prepare and burn a one-hour CD x 35-40
> members on a 4x machine is a chore. This year four other members brought
> their laptops, one with an external CR-R drive. The result wasn't much
> better than when I did it solo: Two of the three Windoze machines
> couldn't burn at all, and the rest of us lumbered along at 4x speeds.
> So I'm ready to prepare for next year with a faster drive. Questions: Do
> they really operate at close to advertised speeds? Do they require a
> blindingly fast machine or gigs of RAM? I have a 400mhz Pismo with half
> a gig. Plenty of room on the drive so I can record from there. I see
> affordable, $120 drives advertised as 52x24x52 or 52x32x52. How fast are
> they really?
If you need, I'll test for you.
I need to copy a few audio CD's for use in the car.
I've got a LaCie / LiteOn 52/24/52 with Firewire.
And I have a Pismo 500 MHz.
Marc Heusser - Zurich, Switzerland
Coaching - Consulting - Counselling - Psychotherapy
remove the obvious CHEERS and MERCIAL... from the reply address
to reply via e-mail


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CSUN to offer students tickets to basketball tourney
CSUN will spend $10,000 to purchase Mountain West Conference Tournament tickets to provide to students.
The funding will provide 366 tickets, which will be distributed in the CSUN office on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Director of Campus Life Carly Shadid originally asked for $8,000, but representatives approved an amendment to increase the amount with a vote of 19-2-0.
Liberal arts senator Rachel Stephens and engineering senator Louis Pombo opposed the amendment, but the total expenditure was approved unanimously.
Senate says yes to elections operations, promotion costs
The CSUN Senate approved a total expenditure of $9,218 to put on the primary and general executive board elections that will take place in March and April.
All but $1,000 of the sum will be spent on compensation and food for professional poll workers and to provide for candidate debate forums and emergency planning.
The senate approved $8,218 worth of the total unanimously.
The remaining money will buy candy and "I voted" stickers that will be distributed at polling stations.
Elections director Katie Sears asked the senate for $3,500 to market the elections, explaining plans to provide Sno-Cones to voters through an outside vendor — a tactic she said worked during the fall senate elections to draw student participation.
But representatives voted 12-9-1 to amend the amount and then 15-4-2 to approve the $1,000 expenditure.
Sears said that the 2011 executive board elections cost CSUN $10,000.
She said that the Elections budget was cut by $8,655 for the current academic year and that her account currently contains $3,218.


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Read More About
During the first-ever Alabama Gulf Seafood Summit, more than 100 attendees representing all segments of the seafood chain gathered at the Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama, to explore how best to move the Gulf seafood industry forward for businesses in the state.
From Governor Bentley's opening remarks to the Summit's closing commentary from Marine Resources director and Alabama Seafood Marketing Commission (ASMC) administrator Chris Blankenship, one common theme emerged: Increasing demand for Alabama Gulf Seafood starts with collaboration across all stakeholders in the seafood chain, and the Summit was an excellent start.
"It's one thing to tell folks to 'work together,' but to really move the dial in terms of sales volume, we needed the benefit of an open forum discussion," Blankenship says. "Individuals who represent all facets of our industry, from the point of origin to the point of sale, were able to meet and share their concerns, and they also had the opportunity to align with new business partners and tap into additional revenue streams."
Members from the entire seafood chain, as well as state and local elected officials, gathered and engaged in important dialogue to discuss the future of the Alabama Gulf Seafood industry.
Speakers included Governor Robert Bentley; Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries commissioner John McMillan; Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources commissioner Gunter Guy; local elected officials Representative Steve McMillan, Representative David Sessions, and Representative Jim Barton; seafood buyers fromWhole Foods, Sysco, Inland Seafood, and the Alabama Grocers Association; representatives from the restaurant industry, such as Wintzell's Oyster House and Aloha Hospitality (Baumhower's Wings, The Compleat Angler, and Wings U); James K Lyons, Alabama State Port Authority and Alabama Gulf Coast Restoration Council; and presenters fromAlabama International Trade Center, South Alabama Regional Planning Commission, Southern U.S. Trade Association, and Gulf Seafood Trace.
Participants engaged actively in panel discussions, presentations, and networkingsessions to address common barriers in the seafood sale and distribution process, as well as to examine industry topics.


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Can you jump like a jaguar or migrate like a monarch? Find out at Get Out and Play! This fun filled day encourages families to get outside and explore nature together. A special Zoo map will show exactly where activity stations are located, and a prize is awarded for completing all seven games!
The event runs from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and all ages are welcome.
This event is free with your paid Zoo admission, and is free for Zoo members.


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Ethiopia: The TPLF Regime
The Essence of hanging on power and the possible realistic solution
by Nebiyou A. (Ibro)
Removing ethnic oriented dictators is one of the most difficult tasks opponent forces do face. One of the main reasons is that after the new clique took over power through armed struggle, the rebel victories were usually translated into the victory of one ethnic group over another ,and this victorious ethnic group became the new privilege class, as their ethnic oriented leaders were forced to rely on their support. Dictators such as Hissen Habre and Idriss Debby of Chad, Samuel Doe of Liberia and Meles zenawi of TPLF, have manipulated ethnic identity to achieve and consolidate power.
Fortunately, Meles Zenawi, who surrounded himself with his ethnic groups and held a tight grip on the Ethiopian people through a divide and rule system, is out of a game.
After two months of time, under a cloak of complete secrecy of meeting over securing the reins of power, TPLF finally reached an agreement on a mode of succession that Hailemariam is the next "Prime Minster", who is given a window dressing of legality to the succession in front of the parliament.
There is still but an open question. Would Mele's departure make any difference in the regime? The answer is both yes and no.
Yes, Meles was a synonym for repression, corruption, arbitrariness, a complex phenotype, genocidal maniac, complete absence of rule of law and utter disregard for the most basic human rights. It is good riddance to him since the people of Ethiopia has suffered much, too much and for too long under his tyranny rule.
No, the problem of ethnic based dictatorship is deep. It is obviously in the best interest of the TPLF that Hailemariam became the Prime Minister, and it is all very carefully planned too. Despite the internal fissures, for which Meles is blamed, power is still in the hands of a collective leadership of the hard core groups, behind the scenes.
Of course, over the past two decades, two major dramatic changes have taken place in the TPLF ruling regime, with Meles as its sole architect.
While it was once controlled by the collective leadership of the TPLF, the power became completely under one man rule. After the internal crisis in 2001, he cleared away the influential key figures in the TPLF leadership and EPRDF as well. At the same time, he brought up "yes-men", whose support he could rely on, including his own wife. On top of that, by controlling the security apparatus and income generating sectors under EFFORT to dominate the political and economic of the country, he wielded more power.
After the rigged may 2005 election, Meles pushed away the remaining old guards, who might possibly be his contender, from his leadership. He prompted instead puppet, whom he changed whenever he wanted, and clipped the wings of anyone who looked as though they were gaining political support. Now, power was effectively confined to a very small inner circle. Outside of the inner circle, private oligarchy was formed, which operate within the orbit of a political patron. Accordingly, the power which gave him to make his own laws has definitely fallen the country into authoritarianism.
For dictators, politics is about keeping political power by any means. Some maintain power through terror, violence, repression and naked use of force applied by huge standing army and security forces. Others maintain power by exploiting ethnic and regional differences via a policy. But, one thing is common for all rulers: They erect a system of absolute control whose success depends on the obedience, submission, assistance and cooperation of their subjects. Indeed, the interrelationship is forthcoming if the rulers provide their cronies with more benefits and positions.
Apparently, members, families, supporters of TPLF regime are given privilege of economic power to accumulate immeasurable wealth at the expense of millions of other Ethiopians . Preferential access to land, granting easier and extended financial terms of its own and being a guarantor of debts obtained from donor agencies, are just games of political man-oeuvre . Moreover, Students from the region of the ruling class are treated with special advantages and they serve the regime in turn in spying students and safeguarding the regime.
Besides, the regime is the recipient of over three billion dollars a year, particularly those emanating from the USA, Britain, the EU, along with the World Bank. In exchange the west has a strategically placed ally in the horn of Africa which will act when asked to and function as a military outpost for the USA, which uses it as a base to launch drone attacks. Thus, even as his barbaric regime, the regime collects a whopping billions of dollar, from which the bulky amount is used as a tool to consolidate the power and an equal amount socked away in secret bank accounts to serve as a rainy-day fund in the event that they are not comfortable where they are.
On the other hand, the social, political, economic, and religious institutions have been deliberately weakened, subordinated and replaced by new regimented institutions used by the regime to control the society. As a result, the population has been turned into a mass of isolated individuals , who is unable to work together to achieve freedom, to confined in each other , or even to do much of anything at their own initiative. Besides, the preponderant economic dominance, mismanagement and systemic corruption have subjugated the Ethiopian people for rampant poverty. Therefore, the main concern for the millions of Ethiopians became what to eat for that day.
Unfortunately, the past is still with us and the current conditions in today's regime , which is in the hands of the so- called a collective leadership of TPLF, may be much worse than earlier due to the centralizing impact. However, there are grave challenges the regime face. The first one is economic: The inflation rate has reached to its highest level. The second is politic: The division and internal crisis within the TPLF ruling regime has made them frustrated. The third is social: The Muslim community, which is being caught up in government man-oeuvres to forcefully enlist followers for al-Ahbash, became a headache for the regime. What is to be done next, and how?
Until recently, the political landscape in general and the opposition forces in particular was suffering from lack of real unity, for many reasons. This created uproar and wide condemnation from the people within and outside Ethiopia. Yes, some sort of unity here and there was forged or attempted, but never held its ground to the true meaning of unity.
For me, change in the body of politics is part of paving the way for unity. There is no unity among us means no change in our thinking, in our political coalitions, in our understanding of unity, in our view and realities, in our old practices and rules, on how to bridge the generational gap etc.
The priority should be, therefore, realizing what is achievable and whether it is in the interest of the whole nation. Underlying the principle of unity, achieving our people with both freedom and peace requires great strategic skill, organization, and planning.
Unity at this time of uncertainty and opportunity is crucial for two reasons. First, It is a means of gaining political power: The opposition group strength is relative to regime strength. Thus, Understanding regime context is the first step in any frame work that attempts to explain opposition strength. In this aspect, we have to foster unity, because our unity sweep away the trait of fear, mistrust in our political culture and division. Moreover, It uses to dismantle the mentality, politics and historical differences that had stood as a wall for years between us and prevented us from seeing Eye to eye. Therefore, Closer ties would benefit the opposition forces to have power capacity that make themselves exceptionally strong to challenge the regime genuinely , to overcome ethnic divisions and rivalries and to influence on the sources of power that the regime is able to obtain from his subjects.
Second, Unity is a way to come to common goals: Due to the brutal ethnic dictatorship of the TPLF regime, most of our people become weak, lacks self-confidence, and is incapable of resistance. Unity among different forces makes our people to put the vision together, to band himself together, to become awaken and enlightened and the need to be thinking about change and salvation. As a result, a powerful internal resistance movement will be created inside the country, which put the regime under international pressure. From every angle, unity is a best insurance to speed up the downfall of the TPLF regime, and to pave the way for establishing a future democratic Ethiopia. Be part of it!
- Bruce Bueno De Mesquita and Alastain Smith, The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always good Politics. USA: Public Affairs, 1st ed. ,2011.
- Gene Sharp,Social Power and Political Freedom,(NH,USA:Extending Horizons Books,Porter Sargent Publichers Inc.,1982), p.21-377
- Wondwosen Teshome, Opposition Parties and the Politics of Opposition in Africa: A critical Analysis,International Journal of Human Sciences ,4:5 2009. Available: http://www.waset.org/journals/ijhss/v4/v4-5-41.pdf
- Human Rights Watch,Ethiopia: Donor Aids Support Repression. Availabel:http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/10/18/ethiopia-donor-aid-supports-repression,
- Lauren Ploch, Congressional Research Service, Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa. Available: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34003.pdf
- Genocide Watch, Ethiopian Dictator Meles Zenawi Dies. Available:http://www.genocidewatch.org/images/Ethiopia_2012_08_20_Ethiopian_Dictator_Meles_Zenawi_Dies.pdf
- T. Staffer of De Birhan media.Higher Education in Ethiopia on Death Row, Available: http://debirhan.net/?p=16
- Leonardo R. Arriola, Ethnicity, Economic Conditions, and Opposition Support: Evidence from Ethiopia's 2005 Elections, Available:http://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/ArriolaL/Arriola_2008.pdf


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Flaunt your glamorous side this season with the dream apparel that has come with creep material to give sheer feeling of ethnic touch. The saree embraces white color touch which gives outstanding angelic look & keeps you distinct in the huge mob.
Pair this stunning saree with minimal jewels to grab the timeless elegance as desired.
Cream, Green, CreamGreen
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WRUF Profiles
Author Archives: Lawrence Laguna
Life took four-time decorated star from the field to the track
By Lawrence Laguna on March 17th, 2014
Walking onto the University of Florida campus his freshman year, Eddie Lovett didn't see track and field as his future. Lovett was thrilled to run track, but his main focus was football. Now three years later as three years later … Continue reading
Posted in Gators Track and Field Tagged Eddie Lovett, Florida Gators, SEC, Track and Field, UF Track Leave a comment


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Pioneer Hi-Bred will offer a new variety of corn that's more tolerant to drought in a few states this spring. The seeds, called Optimum AQUAmax, are supposed to increase yields by 5 percent when water is short. The new product was developed though conventional breeding – without genetic engineering – so it won't need government approval.
Pioneer, a unit of DuPont, is in a race with other seed giants to get corn varieties to the market that could grow in drier areas or need less irrigation. Monsanto Co. is providing an update tomorrow on its biotech corn varieties that are in development. They include drought-tolerant products. Pioneer also is working on a biotech variety, but it won't be ready until the middle of the decade at the earliest, officials said.
Optimum AQUAmax seed will be available in limited quantities in four states: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas.
"Drought is a complex issue and can affect crops differently depending on the geography and stress factors of each environment," said Pioneer President Paul Schickler. "There is no single gene or 'silver bullet' solution" for drought.
Experts say the drought-tolerant crops can help mitigate the impact of climate change and meet the rising demand for food that is projected as the global population grows. But the drought-tolerant varieties are unlikely to have a significant impact on production for several more years, said Rich Nelson, a commodities analyst with Allendale Inc.


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Carestream CS 3500 Intraoral Scanner Information
0/5 - Based off 0 reviews View all ReviewsReview this Product
With the CS 3500 intraoral scanner*, practitioners can easily acquire true color, 3D images that can be used with CS Restore software to design crowns within their practice. Requiring no external heater, powder or trolley system, the CS 3500 features high-angulation scanning of up to 45 degrees and a depth of 16 mm. Additionally, this intraoral scanner includes a light guidance system that navigates the user through the image acquisition process, so the practitioner does not have to watch the monitor to ensure the image is being captured accurately.
* Work In Progress – not available for sale pending medical device regulatory clearances and registrations.
Faster Scan Speed
Superb Image Quality
The CS 3500 delivers 3D images in high resolution (1024 X 768) and in true color. Colored 3D scans allow practitioners to easily define the margin lines and identify the differences between natural tooth structure and existing restorations. This makes restoration planning more accurate for practitioners. Additionally, true color images help patients visualize their cases.
Light Guidance System
With other intraoral scanners, users must watch the monitor during scanning to ensure that images are being captured accurately. The CS 3500 has a light guidance system that lets practitioners focus on mouths instead of monitors. It uses colored lights to guide the practitioner through the image acquisition process. A green LED light illuminates when a scan is properly captured, while an orange LED light shines when a scan needs to be recaptured.
Portable for Easy Sharing
The CS 3500 can be easily shared between operatories because there is no heavy trolley to push around. Additionally, the intraoral scanner connects via USB 2 cable* to any PC workstation or laptop.
*Requires 64 bit version of Windows 7
Lightweight Hand Piece
The CS 3500's sleek, lightweight design (295 grams) makes it comfortable and easy for users to navigate the intraoral scanner around patients' mouths, especially during full arch acquisitions.
Disposable and Autoclavable Tips
While other intraoral scanners feature fixed tips that can't be removed and/or autoclaved, the CS 3500 includes disposable tips that can be autoclaved up to eight times. Since one size does not fit all, the scanner tips are available in two sizes, a standard tip for adults and a smaller tip for children.
Easy Acquisition Software
With just a few clicks, practitioners can acquire an image within the CS 3500's acquisition software. The software offers a high success rate of automatic bite registrations to help improve productivity.
*product info obtained here


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Call our experts: 888.808.FINE
Free printed return address printing on Checkerboard's Rosh Hashanah greeting cards It is that time of year for Prost! Host an Oktoberfest celebration!
Select a quantity and printing method. Changes are easily made later.
Coordinate the entire party theme down to the party ware with these guest towels featuring a red moire pattern.


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For some unknown reason practically all my KDE settings have vanished. I no
longer have any application menu entries (I have log out and run etc) on the
kicker (I think that's what it's called). All the application file type
associations have been lost as well.
I found this thread that seemed to be somewhat related
([url]http://lists.debian.org/debian-kde/2005/04/msg00100.html[/url]) but the solution
mentioned in there (removing and re-adding a blank ~/.config/menus folder)
didn't work. Any ideas what might be wrong and how I can fix it. I am running
unstable so I suppose I should have expected this :o).
I have a back up of my home directory from a few days ago when the menu system
was working so if push comes to shove I suppose I could copy the menu files
over. Trouble is I don't know which files.
Many thanks,
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email]email@example.com[/email]
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email]email@example.com[/email]


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NorthEast Seacoast Unit
Formed in 1987, The Herb Society's NorthEast Seacoast Unit is a 501 (c) 3 tax exempt organization dedicated to promoting the knowledge, use and delight of herbs through educational programs, research and sharing the experience of our members with the community.
Our meetings are held in the evenings on the last Tuesday of the month in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire vicinity. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in growing and/or the use of herbs. Both experienced and novice gardeners are welcome. Our members volunteer their time and expertise to actively support the unit's programs and projects.
- Sponsor an Annual Lecture Series on various herbal topics held at Strawbery Banke Museum
- Participate in a monthly Herbal Study Group (for members only)
- Hold an annual Herb Plant Sale and Market Place offering a wide selection of herbs and herbal products in May
- Volunteer to help maintain the Herb Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum
- Support local public herb gardens as well as the Internship Program at the National Herb Garden in Washington DC
- Participate in Portsmouth's Annual Fairy House Tour in September
- Fund a $1,000 horticultural scholarship for a second year student attending UNH Thompson School
- Participate in the Strawbery Banke Museum NH Fall Festival where we answer questions about the herb garden, help visitors make complementary herbal sachets and Tussie-Mussies and sell our herbal products and crafts.


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Hey guys. So I am trying to make a bullet hell game in as2, but I have come to a problem where I do not know how other bullet hell games make certain enemies pop up at certain times. I only know how to make it randomly generate enemies. Any ideas? Thanks.
Bullet Hell
3 posts


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The aim of the under-20 programme is to identify, develop and prepare young players to progress on to the full Scotland Women senior squad.
From season 2013/14 Alex Laybourne has been head coach and is assisted this season by Eric Jones.
An open trials day, on Sunday 19
October 2014 (see video right)
attracted nearly 50 girls from
which a squad will be
selected for the season.
The first training day - on 23 November
will be followed by training camps
in January, February and March,
leading to two matches later in
the spring.


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November 11, 2014 - Industry News
One of the nation's largest truckstop chains will soon have one less location and truckers will reportedly lose nearly 130 parking spaces along the Interstate 81 corridor.
Tags: Drivers, Virginia, Truckstops, I-81, Interstate 81, Travel Centers of America, Truck Parking
August 27, 2013 - Industry News
Both lanes of southbound Interstate 81 between mile markers 120 and 125 near Blacksburg, Va., remain closed due to an unstable slope. As a safety precaution, traffic is being detoured until enough unstable material can be brought down to stabilize the slope, according to the Virginia DOT.
Tags: Virginia, Highway Construction, I-81, Interstate 81
May 14, 2013 - Industry News
Traffic in both directions near Harrisburg, Pa., has reopened following a tanker crash and fire that closed the route last Thursday.
Tags: Pennsylvania, I-81, Interstate 81, Highways
We offer e-newsletters that deliver targeted news and information for the entire fleet industry.
The expert, Steve Carlson from Xantrex, will answer your questions
The expert, Brian Fletcher from Eaton, will answer your questions
Dual Shield Protects Power Sources on Trucks
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Refrigeration Unit Runs off of a Vehicle Alternator
Engine Pre-Heater Features Compact Design


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Definition of annex in English:
verb[with object]
1Add as an extra or subordinate part, especially to a document: the first ten amendments were annexed to the Constitution in 1791
More example sentences
- I think that some of the documents that were referred to are annexed to the affidavit of Ms Chang in any event.
- Pages 3 onward of the Laudervest / Skyline Agreement are annexed to the Gantzes' Purchase Agreement.
- It is annexed to an affidavit sworn by the applicant.
1.1 archaic Add or attach as a condition or consequence: extreme anointing hath neither ordinance of God to be grounded on, nor promise of grace annexed
More example sentences
- Stalin is annexed to the general study of pathological dictatorship.
- Of relevance here is his observation to which I alluded earlier, that with the creative function being annexed to a wider range of discourses, the role of the author as creative origin of a text or document acquires greater salience.
add, append, attach, join
informal tack on, tag on
2Add (territory) to one's own territory by appropriation: the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France in 1797
More example sentences
- King Moshoeshoe I was left with a mountainous, infertile kingdom when most of his arable land was annexed to the Orange Free State in the 1860s.
- The lands were annexed to the City of London on January 1st 1993.
- This procedure was deemed to have been an 'Act of Free Choice' in accordance with the United Nations requirements and Indonesia formally annexed the territory in August.
noun(chiefly British also annexe) (plural annexes)
1A building joined to or associated with a main building, providing additional space or accommodation: the school's one-storey wooden annex
More example sentences
- Many of the consulate staff were working in the vulnerable annexes because the main building - a grand Italianate palace known as Pera House - was being renovated following a fire three years ago.
- It feels to me that this is like building an annex before the main building has gone up.
- These are located in an annex to the main building.
2An addition to a document: an annex to the report
More example sentences
- He said the risk streets were listed in an annex to the report, but the annex had not been made available to the press or public.
- The Licence Committee considered other available evidence, including that derived from the four publications referred to in the attached annex.
- The context for the purpose of the interpretation of a treaty shall comprise, in addition to the text, including its preamble and annexes.
North American informal ell
Late Middle English: from Old French annexer, from Latin annectere 'connect', from ad- 'to' + nectere 'tie, fasten'.
This is from Latin annectere 'connect', made up of the elements ad- 'to' and nectere 'tie, fasten'.
Words that rhyme with annexconvex, ex, flex, hex, perplex, Rex, specs, Tex, Tex-Mex, vex
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: annex
Definition of annex in:
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Society is committed to the security of your private information. In order to accept credit card data on this site
we are recquired to be in compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards. Current PCI standards will not allow us to accept traffic
from browsers that do not support TLS 1.2 after June 30, 2016. We are alerting you to the important need to update your browser. Changes to our web server
made on or before June 30, 2016 will make was.org unavailable with the browser you are currently using.
World Aquaculture 2015 will be held in Jeju Island – one of the leading flatfish production centers in the world. The rest of the growing aquaculture industry in Korea and the Asian Pacific region will also be represented.
A major international trade show at WORLD AQUACULTURE 2015 is the place to learn about the latest in aquaculture, see the newest technology presented by exhibitors from around the world.
Jeju Island is designated as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site and the 8th most popular convention city in Asia. Explore some of the most beautiful scenery in the world in the various locations around Jeju Island.
Become an exhibitor! Fill out an agreement here
Abstract submission deadline has been extended to April 15, 2015. Submit an abstract or register online here
The International conference and trade show on
Aquaculture, World Aquaculture 2015, Jeju, Korea, will
enhance industry participation by incorporating the
newly organized WA2015 AquaForum. To encourage
participation, the AquaForum committee is offering admittance to the trade show free of
charge for first 700 registrations.
The WA2015 AquaForum has been created to benefit industry
professionals during the WA2015 conference and exhibition.
The organizing committee invites Asian farmers, suppliers,
and other industry professionals to Jeju, Korea to attend
this forum. Activities will include specific topical industry
sessions, facilitated workshops, round table discussions,
simultaneous translations, designated meeting spaces,
farm tours, etc. The focus of the WA2015 AquaForum is
targeted towards the most important industry issues
affecting key Asia Pacific aquaculture producing countries.
It is a true industry forum whereby timely topical and
regionally relevant sessions are tailored to enhance
industrial representation and participation. Session topics
will include health, nutrition, and production systems of
fish and shrimp in freshwater and marine environment.
The session will have flexibility for specific subtopics
that are interested to the attendees.
Combine the AquaForum with your World Aquaculture 2015 registration here
See who is attending AquaForum and learn more about the program here
World Aquaculture 2011 was one of the most highly attended WAS meetings ever. In 2015, WAS will again team up with FENECAM 2015 for
LACQUA 2015, the Annual Meeting of the LACC Chapter and WAS Regional Meeting, SOUTH AMERICAN REGIONAL AQUACULTURE 2015. This
time, it will be held in Fortaleza, Brazil and located in the midst of many kinds of aquaculture. In 2011, aquaculture in Brazil was doing well, but now the aquaculture industry is doing even better. There is a lot of government support for expansion
of aquaculture in Brazil.
Fortaleza will be the perfect place for the world aquaculture community to assemble to consider "Science & Industry Joining Forces to Meet Seafood Demands ". The program will explore the many aspects of this topic as well as addressing technical and practical changes in aquaculture. [more..}
Become an exhibitor! Fill out an agreement here
Abstract submission deadline is June 1, 2015. Submit an abstract or register online here
Aquaculture 2016
Every three years, the Triennial is held somewhere in the United States. In 2016, the Triennial returns to the exciting city of Las Vegas, Nevada!p>
The Triennial is the largest aquaculture conference and tradeshow held in the world with nearly 4000 attendees from over 90 countries and even more countries are expected to have attendees at AQUACULTURE 2016. The Triennial combines the annual meetings of the World Aquaculture Society, National Shellfisheries Association, Fish Culture Section of the American Fisheries Society, and the National Aquaculture Association.
The last Triennial was held in 2013 in Nashville where it
was pronounced a huge success by the nearly 3000 people
who attended. Don't miss this Triennial!p>
Become an exhibitor! Fill out an agreement here
Abstract submission deadline is Agust 31, 2015. Submit an abstract or register online here
I write this on my long flight home from another successful WAS conference, Aquaculture America, held in New Orleans (Feb 20-22). This conference was well attended, with nearly 2000 participants, and a strong and diverse program. Particularly encouraging was the strong student representation, evidenced by the exceptionally well-attended student reception. (I counted nearly 200 students at the event.) The US Chapter of WAS (USAS) focuses heavily on student events as it recognizes students as the future of the Society and a driver for future growth. Throughout WAS, we try to invest in engaging students through sponsorship, awards and student-targeted events. I would particularly like to acknowledge the contributions of Chris Green, who works hard as Chair of the WAS Student Activities Committee to facilitate a wide range of creative student awards and events