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The five newly-independent republics of Central Asia face heavy challenges as they adapt to a decentralized economy. In addition to its own regionally-oriented efforts, ICARDA is supporting the work of a CGIAR Task Force to explore the potential for CGIAR collaboration in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The initiative in Central Asia began with two workshops in Tashkent.
Assisting Central Asia's Agricultural Research Needs
There is some cause for optimism in Central Asia. The five newlyindependent republics don't lack energy and commitment to their future agricultural development. Uzbekistan has increased its wheat area by 25 percent in the last five years. A similar expansion of the wheat area is reported from Kazakstan. But there are also frightening problems: monocropping, salinity and rangeland degradation. To help the newly-independent republics address these and other problems, ICARDA and its partners from within and outside the CGIAR System, with assistance from German bilateral aid (BMZ/GTZ), held a major workshop in Tashkent in December 1995.
Central Asia's scientists can base themselves on long experience. The workshop participants visited institutions which had been active in research for 60 years and more. The problems they are facing are, in any case, not confined to Central Asia but they have been compounded by a major transition from one philosophy of economic and social organization to another which, among other things, has cut supply lines for essential inputs such as fertilizer.
The objective of the ICARDA delegation was to research needs and priorities, and help draft a plan of action. The workshop closed with the signing of an agreement for future cooperation in agricultural research and development.
The participating nations were Kazakstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; the Kyrgyz Republic was also involved. Also attending were representatives from the West Asian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia-from a different agroecological zone that has much in common with parts of Turkey and Iran where the Highland Regional Program of ICARDA is active. CIMMYT, ISNAR and the Aga Khan Foundation were represented.
The total surface of the five Central Asian Republics is 400 million hectares, of which some 8o percent is farm land, equal to 30 percent of the former USSR's total. Wheat and cotton are important crops, as are livestock. About 70 percent of the farm land is permanent pasture and 51 percent of the population is rural. The environment is familiar to ICARDA-low rainfall, extremes of temperature and a mixture of mountain, desert and steppe. It is a natural continuation of the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region.
Food production in the republics is no longer supplemented by food imports from elsewhere in the former USS, and this has spurred a drive for food security and a concentration on cereal production. Raising cereal output can be achieved either by intensification, the expansion of area sown, or both. Intensification has led to monoculture systems operating with a lack of fertilizer that has damaged soil fertility, while the latter has tended to reduce crop diversity. There are feed and fodder supply problems and livestock numbers are declining in places.
The seed sector is no always able to meet demand. Seed supply was thus the important focus of discussion. This is an area where ICARDA has done much work in collaboration with national programs in countries farther South, with significant cooperation from Germany and the Netherlands.
Problems specific to the seed sector that had earlier been identified include, antiquated processing and testing equipment, weak variety maintenance, lack of marketing and the need to better understand the complexity of a seed program in which the essential components are strongly interrelated. The governments, as a consequence of a state monopoly culture that prevailed in the sector, have yet to fully appreciate the leading role that the private sector could play in the seed sector in future. In order to broaden understanding of these last two issues it had been recommended to hold a regional workshop on the seed sector.
The Needs
Since 1991 ICARDA had conducted germplasm collection missions in both Central Asia and the Caucasus, and three scientists from CIS countries have made long-term visits to ICARDA, Aleppo, to do collaborative work on cereals. There have also been other contacts.
At the end of the Tashkent meeting, ICARDA and its collaborators signed an agreement with the five republics for a plan of action that envisages:
As a result of the workshop, a joint project proposal was drawn up by ICARDA in collaboration with CIMMYT, IPGRI, ISNAR and IFPRI so that funding could be sought for the activities. This was submitted to BMZ/GTZ.
In the meantime, international nurseries of wheat have been supplied from the Turkey/CIMMYT/ICARDA International Wheat Program based in Turkey; and of barley from ICARDA in Aleppo. ICARDA also organized a Wheat Rusts Workshop for West and Central Asia in Karaj, Iran, from May 19-31, 1996, in collaboration with the Iran national program and CIMMYT, to initiate activities on yellow rust in wheat for the countries of West and Central Asia. Scientists from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, where yellow rust is important, were invited to this workshop.
Scientists from the region obtained the opportunity for interaction, through visits by ICARDA scientists to the national programs during the crop season, and by inviting three key wheat scientists from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia to attend the Fifth International Wheat Conference held in Ankara from June 10-14, 1996. The Central Asian scientists have also received necessary assistance in attending other international conferences.
Livestock: a key to the future
The December workshop was followed in February 1996 by another meeting, also in Tashkent, on Central Asian animal production organized by ICARDA and USAID-the latter through its Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Program (SR-CRSP, University of California, Davis).
The objective of the ICARDA/USAID workshop was to identify constraints to sustainable animal production-with an eye to environmental and desertification issues. There is real concern about these problems; and ICARDA scientists travelling through the region noticed that some steppe had been planted to cereals. Such cultivation in low-rainfall areas can be disastrous because the crop will often fail and the land won't easily revert to its former state, either to provide grain or grazing.
Other issues raised in the meeting included:
ICARDA is participating in the work and deliberations of the Task Force on Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At the request of the task force, ICARDA is organizing a CGIAR/NARS workshop in Tashkent in September 1996. This workshop will build on the outcome of the ICARDA/GTZ-organized meeting held in December 1995.
Much work and funding will be involved in all this but ICARDA thinks the investment opportunities represent good value. At stake is a fresh start in agriculture for five nations totaling 51 million people and 400 million hectares of land. These dimensions have major implications for environmental protection and regional stability--all for the price of a secondhand jet fighter.


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Round 2 of the tattoo chain is underway!
We've been blown away by your submissions over the past few months, and we're excited to now open up the tattoo chain to new participants.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
13,767 words (≈ about 1 hour)
Harry was a normal person living a normal life until, one day, he subscribed to the online world of Sword of Valour and the scourge of internet addiction claimed him. Now he lives on the fringes of reality, spending most of his time with virtual friends, killing virtual Ogres in a virtual world.
Luckily, Harry grasped his last chance to return to the real world when he accepted an invitation from Robert, his last remaining real friend, for a night on the town. This… (more)
Language: English
Written in: 2012
Published: 2012-07-09
Word count: 13,767 words (≈ about 1 hour)
License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (cc by-nc-nd)
Tags: internet, addiction, addict, mmorpg, computer, gaming
Dr Hercules Bantas has been teaching and reading political science for the better part of a decade. It is his opinion that he is too often immersed in some weighty tome or other, the authors of which always use one thousand words where one hundred words would suffice. It was while juggling no less than three weighty tomes by the same author and trying to understand what the fellow was trying to say that the idea of The Reluctant Geek Guides was born. He is well aware that publishing clearly written and unambiguous guides to important ideas in the human sciences is frowned upon in some circles, but he's going to do it anyway. Despite his well documented grumpiness, Hercules claims to like people and can be contacted by email at reluctantgeek[at]iinet.net.au.


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HourlyHours to be determined
Start DateMarch 6, 2013
I'm looking for an aspiring business journalist, or astute business/finance student who would like to prepare and write articles for my multi-contributor blog.
To date, the articles on the site are purely informational - very little current affairs information. However, I'm looking to change that.
I would like native English speakers to write 1 article a week (500-1000) words that looks at one area of modern Australian business that may not be obvious to most business owners.
What does this mean? Perhaps, you are aware of particular taxes, or benefits that business owners are entitled to, but are buried in the tax code. Maybe, you know of clever ways to reduce tax within the bounds of the law.
The articles must be relevant to small businesses. They may be about workplace relations, taxation, finance, or any other facet of business as long as they are current, applicable to small business and useful.
This is native english only! The blog is currently of high quality and low keyword rich articles. We are not in it for SEO, the site is there to help others, not necessarily to make money.
Skills: finance, english, benefits
About the Client
Gordon 08:03 AM
Jobs Posted
57% Hire Rate, 1 Open Job
Total Spent
55 Hires, 0 Active
Avg Hourly Rate Paid
24 Hours


text:
As Immunotherapy Revolutionizes the Cancer Treatment...
LC-MS Gains Favor Due To the...
Adapting to Evolving Business Environments Is...
Expanding Use of NGS Has Largely...
Sanofi has contracted French firm Median Technologies to provide an end-to-end medical image interpretation and management solution for a Phase II study in small-cell lung cancer. Under terms of the deal Median will deploy its Median LMS (lesion management system) platform at all of the study's 65 investigator and independent review sites.
Median claims the deal represents the first time that image interpretation tools will be standardized across all sites involved in a study. The aim is to reduce variability in image interpretation, a factor that can ultimately result in hampering regulatory review.
Installation of Median LMS at the Phase II trial sites will give investigators automated and semi-automated imaging processing capabilities through a standardized workflow. The firm says the sites will be able to carry out Recist 1.1 critera-based evaluations that comply with existing international recommendations, and transfer electronic imaging data from investigator sites to independent review sites in real time. End-to-end management will be carried out through Median CTIS (clinical trial imaging services). "Thanks to this first collaboration with Sanofi, we are now supporting four of the ten major pharmaceutical and biotech companies," claims Jerome Windsor, vp business development and Median.
Median's web-based LMS solutions have been designed to detect, measure, evaluate, and follow up lesions identified using CT scans. The technology objectively measures and tracks cancerous or suspicious lesions, distributes a standardized oncologic report, and centralizes lesion information for multidisciplinary review. Three products are currently available. LMS-Lung and LMS-Lung/Track are clinical applications for the detection, evaluation, and follow-up of lesions identified in CT chest images. LMS-Liver is a clinical application for the initial evaluation and the follow-up of metastases and any other lesions identified in CT images of the liver.
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text:
$20 million
The stadium's estimated cost, which likely would be paid for through a public-private partnership. Augusta commissioners would have to call for a referendum to issue bonds, and "ultimately, the people will decide," likely through a referendum, Mr. Copenhaver said.
"We're happy to let the people decide, because we think this is a project that will be supported by everyone," Mr. Copenhaver said.
Number of people the proposed park would seat. Currently, the Class A GreenJackets play in 12-year-old Lake Olmstead Stadium. It is the third-smallest park in the 16-team South Atlantic League, with a capacity of 4,322.
The current stadium could see increased use by area colleges and use from interested charities such as the Salvation Army's Kroc Center and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.
Available parking spaces within a 12-minute walk from the site on Reynolds Street, according to Mr. Copenhaver.
Exploratory committee members. The panel will visit Durham and Greensboro, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.
The study could be finished by August.
- Steve Sanders, staff writer


text:
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text:
What is the classification of keywords?
Hello to all here,
I am finalizing the keywords for one of my clients projects. While doing this I am getting confused somehow!
So, I would like to ask, How many types of keywords are there! I am not having any confusion with types of keyword matching that is broad, negative, phrases and exact. I don't want to know any thing about that, I basically wants to know the types of keywords! I have heard somewhere about single word, multiple word, theme based etc. From other resources I came to know the different type of classification that is primary keywords and secondary keywords, And so I am Confused what are are the specialties among these.
Please any one let me clear in some detail regarding this
Thanks a lot in advance!
Re: What is the classification of keywords?
Looks like you are randomly creating threads in the wrong forum and consider the infraction as a warning.
Re: What is the classification of keywords?
keywords plays very keen role in SEO. There are highly competitive keywords and less competitive keywords. Highly competitive keywords takes time and require efficient work to accomplish rank in search engine.
Re: What is the classification of keywords?
According to me there are two type of keywords Primary keyword and secondary keyword
Primary keyword
Primary keywords are the ones(mostly one or two) that are given the most importance while optimizing a web page.They appear on the most vital areas like the header footer inbound anchor text H1 tags Meta tags etc. Primary keywords should be repeated with a certain amount of keyword density through out the page.
Secondary Keyword
The secondary keywords are the ones that are less important and supports the primary keywords for its marketing.They are many a times combination of one or more keywords and can be used with or without more combination at different places.They form the lesser proportion of keyword density.They are keywords that other sites have already optimized for and therefore may be difficult to break into the top 10 search engine page results.
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text:
'Still Life'
About 1900
Platinum print
Museum no. PH.354-1980
This image is an example of a platinum print.
The process for making platinum prints was invented in 1873 by William Willis (1841-1923), who continually refined it until 1878, when commercially prepared platinum papers became available through a company he founded.
Platinum prints are recognised by their subtle tonal variations and the permanence of the image. This print shows the silvery grey tones (the most usual colours of the platinum print) and the texture of the paper, which are typical qualities of a platinum print.
The process depends on the light sensitivity of iron salts. A dried sheet of paper, sensitised with a solution of potassium chloroplatinate and ferric oxalate, an iron salt, was contact printed under a negative in daylight (or another source of strong ultraviolet light) until a faint image was produced by the reaction of light with the iron salt.
The paper was developed by immersion in a solution of potassium oxalate that dissolved out the iron salts and reduced the chloroplatinate salt to platinum in those areas where the exposed iron salts had been. An image in platinum metal replaced one in iron. The paper was washed in a series of weak hydrochloric or citric acid baths to remove remaining excess iron salts and yellow stain formed in the earlier steps. Finally, the print was washed in water.
Platinum prints were popular until the 1920s when the price of platinum rose so steeply as to make them prohibitively expensive. They were partly replaced by the somewhat cheaper palladium prints. Gordon Baldwin, 'Looking at Photographs', J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991
Pradip Malde
Irving Penn
Paul Martin
Frederick Evans
Frederick Hollyer
This photograph can be found in Print Room Box 12.


text:
Tom Bonviso (homer), Brad Levinson and Christian Rivera teamed for four hits and five RBI as Great Kills American dropped South Shore American 5-2 in the Little League District 24 All-Star 10-year-old winner's bracket final yesterday at East Shore LL.
Winning pitcher Jerry Huntzinger tossed a two-hitter in 4 2/3 innings, striking out five batters. Chris Ciaccio pitched 11/3 innings for the save.
Great Kills advances to the championship Friday at 7:30 p.m. South Shore American faces Mid-Island for the loser's bracket finale tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The winner of that game must beat Great Kills twice for the title.
Mid-Island 13, Snug Harbor 8
Winning pitcher Anthony Iglesias and Vincent Lorelli (save) combined for eight strikeouts in eliminating SH at ESLL.
Christopher Mercado (4 for 5, four RBI), Nicholas Pisciotta (two hits, three RBI) and Anthony Sperto (three hits) all had key hits in a seven-run second inning and Brandon Seltzer added two hits.


text:
From the Infectious Disease Section (Drs Carson and Janoff and Messrs O'Brien and Hilo) and the Medicine Service (Dr Nichol), Department of Medicine, and the Mucosal and Vaccine Research Center (Drs Carson, Nichol, and Janoff and Messrs O'Brien and Hilo), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis. Dr Carson is now with MeritCare Health System, Fargo, ND; and Messrs O'Brien and Hilo are now with the Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Minnesota School of Medicine.
Decline in immune function has been reported to predictably accompany advancing age. However, to our knowledge, few studies have specifically characterized the rapidly expanding advanced elderly population or controlled adequately for concurrent diseases.
To assess whether successfully reaching an advanced age in good health is associated with preserved immune function.
We prospectively compared in vivo with in vitro variables of immune function in 29 healthy, independently living elderly subjects (mean age, 80 years; age range, 75-103 years) and in 21 healthy young control subjects (mean age, 29 years; age range, 25-35 years) in a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
In vivo, among elderly and young subjects, numbers of total white blood cells, monocytes, lymphocytes, and lymphocyte subsets (CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD20+ B cells) were similar, as were levels of total serum IgG and IgM. Only levels of serum IgA were higher in the elderly subjects (3.0 vs 1.7 g/L; P=.001). Functionally, both groups showed vigorous responses to protein (tetanus and diphtheria toxoids) and polysaccharide (23-valent pneumococcal) vaccines. Although levels varied, the fold increases in vaccine antigen-specific IgG were not significantly different in young and elderly subjects, and the avidities of IgG to pneumococcal polysaccharides 14 and 19F were similar before and after vaccination. In vitro, proliferative responses of blood mononuclear cells to T-lymphocyte and B-cell mitogens (pokeweed mitogen, Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I, and S aureus Cowan strain I plus interleukin 2), and lipopolysaccharide-induced production of tumor necrosis factor α, were comparable in elderly vs young subjects.
Successful aging, defined by reaching an advanced age with one's overall health intact, may be associated with preserved immune function and adequate responses to vaccines.
THE "OLDEST OLD" persons, those older than 85 years, constitute the most rapidly growing segment of our population. From 1960 to 1990, the number of Americans aged 85 years or older more than doubled, more than twice the rate of increase among persons older than 65 years and 6 times that of the total population.1 By the year 2040, estimates propose that 8 to 13 million Americans will be older than 85 years.1 The high prevalence of morbidity and mortality among this group is estimated to have a tremendous impact on future health care costs.2 Understanding the aging process and its physiologic consequences is of paramount importance in identifying and meeting the health care challenges posed by our growing elderly population.
Gerontological research on immune function during the past several decades has focused on the inherent loss of immunologic integrity associated with aging per se. Some researchers have suggested that a decline in immune function predictably accompanies the aging process,3,4(pp51-56) and even that immunosenescence itself may be a cause of aging.5,6 Elderly persons experience increased rates of malignant neoplasms and accelerating rates of infections with age, consistent with declining immunity and immunosurveillance over time.7,8 Investigators have most consistently identified abnormalities in the cell-mediated arm of immunity in elderly subjects. More specifically, decreased lymphocyte responses to mitogens, loss of delayed-type hypersensitivity, decreased production and responsiveness to interleukin (IL) 2, and increases in memory cells with concomitant loss of naive precursor cells are most commonly reported.3,4(pp57-60),9-15 Whether alterations in B-cell function and humoral immunity occur predictably in elderly persons is less clear,16,17 but several investigators3,18- 23 report lowered antibody responses to vaccines and relative increases in total IgG and IgA levels.
Not all studies confirm these abnormalities of immune function in elderly persons. This may be explained, in part, by the considerable variation in the definition of "elderly persons," varying methods and measures of immune function, and difficulties in controlling for concurrent illness or comorbidity.3,24 Furthermore, the idea of predictable physiologic loss of immune competence with aging itself has been challenged because this theory neglects the biological heterogeneity of older persons and such modifying factors as diet, exercise, personal habits, and psychosocial variables.24,25 Thus, to determine whether "successful aging" in a select population of advanced elderly subjects who were living independently and were in good health was associated with preserved immune function, we examined immune function in vivo and in vitro in these healthy elderly subjects compared with that in healthy young control subjects.
Elderly subjects older than 75 years were recruited from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn, general internal medicine clinic; a community outreach influenza vaccination clinic; and a hospital volunteer pool. Subjects had to be living independently and in overall good health. Subjects were excluded for any history of major medical disease (diabetes, cancer, collagen-vascular disease, or chronic diseases of the lung, heart, liver, or kidney), taking immunosuppressive medications, smoking, alcohol abuse, hospitalization within the previous year, any lower respiratory tract infection within the preceding year, or receipt of a pneumococcal polysaccharide immunization (by history and medical record review). Healthy control subjects aged 25 to 35 years were recruited from hospital and laboratory employees with similar exclusion criteria. Six elderly and 7 young control subjects who had received a tetanus toxoid (TT)–diphtheria toxoid (DT) booster in the previous 10 years were excluded from the tetanus-diphtheria immunization arm of the study. Written informed consent was obtained from each subject in protocols approved by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Human Subjects Committee in compliance with Department of Health and Human Services guidelines.
Each subject was given an intradeltoid injection of 0.5 mL of aluminum phosphate–adsorbed ultrafine TT and DT (Wyeth Laboratories Inc, Marietta, Pa) and 0.5 mL of a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (Pnu-Imune; Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, NY) on the same day in separate arms. Vaccines from the same lots were used for subjects and controls. Serum samples were collected from all subjects before and 4 weeks after vaccination. All serum samples were stored at −20°C until testing.
Total leukocyte, monocyte, and lymphocyte counts were determined by an automated counter (model ZBI; Coulter Electronics, Inc, Hialeah, Fla). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were separated on a gradient (Ficoll-Hypaque; Sigma-Aldrich Corp, St Louis, Mo). Peripheral blood T-lymphocyte and B-cell subsets were then measured on enrollment into the study by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis (FACS model 440; Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems, Inc, Mountain View, Calif) with murine monoclonal antibodies to T lymphocytes (CD3, CD4, and CD8) and B cells (CD20) (Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems, Inc) with appropriate isotype control antibodies.
Levels of total serum IgG, IgM, and IgA were measured by nephelometry. Levels of pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide–specific IgG for vaccine serotypes that commonly cause invasive disease in elderly persons (types 4, 8, 12F, 14, and 19F) and TT- and DT-specific IgG in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay exactly as previously described.26- 28 Coefficients of variation for each assay were less than 10%. Avidities of IgG to capsular serovars 14 and 19F were assayed in duplicate by incubation of antibodies bound to the solid phase with the mild denaturing agent ammonium thiocyanate (0.1-4 mol/L), for 1 hour, as recently described.29,30 A laboratory reference serum was included on every plate to assess the coefficient of variation (<15%). Results are expressed as the avidity index, which is equal to the molar concentration of ammonium thiocyanate required to elute 50% of antibody bound under conditions of antigen excess.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from young and elderly subjects were cultured at 1 × 106 per milliliter in Roswell Park Memorial Institute 1640 medium (Biofluids, Rockville, Md) containing levoglutamide, 2 mmol/L; penicillin, 50 IU/mL; streptomycin sulfate, 50 µg/mL; and 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (GIBCO, Grand Island, NY) at 37°C in 5% carbon dioxide. Cells were cultured with or without pokeweed mitogen, 1:1000 (GIBCO); Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I (SAC) (CalBioChem, San Diego, Calif), 1:100,000; and SAC with or without IL-2, 20 U/mL (Peprotech, Inc, Rocking Hill, NJ), in triplicate in flat-bottom, 96-well microtiter plates (Costar, Cambridge, Mass). Lymphocyte DNA synthesis was assayed by adding 3.7 × 104 Bq of tritiated thymidine (24.8 × 1010 Bq/mmol per liter) (New England Nuclear Co, Boston, Mass) during the final 4 hours of the 96-hour incubation at 37°C in 5% carbon dioxide. Cells were harvested on glass fiber filters for scintillation counting (Beta Plate; LKB Pharmacia, Piscataway, NJ).
To detect the ability of mononuclear cells to produce the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated in triplicate wells with increasing concentrations of lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli serovar O127:B8 (Sigma-Aldrich Corp), and culture supernatants were harvested after 4 hours of incubation in 5% carbon dioxide at 37°C and frozen at −20°C until tested. Tumor necrosis factor α levels in culture supernatants were measured by immunoassay using a murine anti–TNF-α monoclonal antibody (Miles, Inc, West Haven, Conn) as the capture antibody in phosphate-buffered saline on plates (MaxiSorp; Nunc, Inc, Naperville, Ill). Tumor necrosis factor α in samples, standards, and controls was detected with rabbit anti–human TNF-α antibody (Genzyme Corp, Cambridge) and a horseradish peroxidase–conjugated goat anti–rabbit antibody (Southern Biotechnology Associates, Inc, Birmingham, Ala). Tetramethylbenzidine (Miles Scientific, Naperville) and hydrogen peroxide substrate stopped by 4 N sulfuric acid was used for color development. The assay, which did not detect IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon γ, or transforming growth factor β, had a sensitivity of 20 pg/mL.
Values were compared using a statistical program (Stat-View; Abacus Concepts, Berkeley, Calif) to compare means and variance by an unpaired t test between clinical groups for all numeric data. Mean fold increases for antigen-specific IgG were calculated by dividing 1-month values by preimmunization baseline values for each patient. Data are given as mean±SEM.
Measures of absolute leukocyte, monocyte, and lymphocyte counts and lymphocyte subset analysis by fluorescence-activated cell sorting showed no differences between the young and elderly subjects (Table 1). Only levels of total IgA, but not IgG or IgM, in serum were increased among the elderly subjects.
Humoral responses to pneumococcal polysaccharide and protein (TT and DT) antigens were measured in serum before and 4 weeks after vaccination. Compared with preimmunization values, older subjects generated a significant increase in IgG to 4 of 5 common pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides (types 4, 8, 12F, and 14) following immunization with the recommended 23-valent vaccine, as did young adults (types 4, 8, 14, and 19F) (Table 2). Neither preimmunization nor postimmunization levels of capsule-specific antibody were significantly different between the 2 age groups, nor were mean fold increases in IgG to these polysaccharides.
In addition to levels of antibody, the avidity, or functional affinity, of antibodies may contribute to their protective effects. Avidity, a quality related to the strength of antigen-antibody binding, may influence the ability of antibodies to mediate killing of encapsulated organisms.20,29,31- 38 Before and following immunization, the avidity of pneumococcal capsule–specific IgG was similar among young adults and healthy advanced elderly subjects (Figure 1). Although the avidity of antibodies for type 14 did not change following immunization in either group, avidities for type 19F antibodies did increase significantly in both age groups. Whereas only 11% of each group showed greater than a 2-fold increase in the avidity index for type 14 after immunization, 22% of the elderly subjects and 35% of the young adults exceeded this threshold for type 19F. Such substantial changes in avidity have been shown in children immunized with capsular polysaccharides for Haemophilus influenzae type B, but they have not been described previously in adults immunized with pneumococcal polysaccharides.20,29,39 When analyzed by sex, avidities for type 19F antibodies were higher among elderly men than among young men or older women before immunization (P<.02; avidity index, 0.67±0.09 vs 0.33±0.03 or 0.40±0.05, respectively). No differences in avidity were observed between groups for type 14 or 19F after immunization. Thus, levels and functional affinity of antibodies to pneumococcal polysaccharides were quite comparable among healthy young and healthy advanced elderly adults.
Relative avidity of IgG for pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide types 14 and 19F in serum samples from 18 younger and 28 advanced elderly adults before and 1 month after immunization with a 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine. Avidity was determined based on the concentration of ammonium thiocyanate that inhibited 50% of binding of IgG to the capsular antigens by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, as detailed in the "Antibody Measurements and Avidity" subsection of the "Subjects and Methods" section. Values are shown as mean±SD. The asterisk indicates P<.02 compared with prevaccine values by the paired t test.
Similar to results with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, elderly subjects generated significant humoral responses to recall protein antigens TT and DT (Figure 2). However, when compared with the younger control group, elderly subjects had significantly lower prevaccine levels of TT-specific antibodies (P<.01), and convalescent levels for TT- and DT-specific antibodies tended to be lower in the elderly subjects (P=.06). Despite these lower absolute levels in the elderly subjects, the ability to generate a response on antigenic challenge (eg, mean fold increase in TT- and DT-specific antibodies) was comparable or greater in the elderly subjects (P=.02 for TT-specific IgG). Moreover, the absolute increase in antibody to TT (50.3±11.1 vs 65.5±14.4 µg/mL) and DT (6.2±2.2 vs 11.8±0.3 µg/mL) was comparable in the elderly subjects and in young adults, respectively. Thus, static measures of immune competence (cell numbers and lymphocyte subset distributions) and the functional immune reserve (responsiveness to vaccines) were relatively intact in the healthy advanced elderly subjects compared with those in younger adults.
IgG responses in serum to protein recall antigens tetanus toxoid (TT) (top) and diphtheria toxoid (DT) (bottom) in 23 elderly subjects and 14 young adults before and 1 month after immunization. Results are shown as mean±SEM.
Results of in vitro tests of immune function complemented those in vivo. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the elderly subjects showed a robust proliferative response to T-lymphocyte and B-cell mitogens (pokeweed mitogen and SAC, respectively) that paralleled that of young subjects (Figure 3, top). Moreover, although the elderly subjects have been described to show impaired responses to the T-lymphocyte–derived lymphotrophic cytokine IL-2,40,41 this factor was equally effective in augmenting proliferative responses to SAC in both age groups at the concentration tested (20 U/mL). Immunoglobulin production also increased significantly and comparably in response to each mitogen in the 2 groups (IgG and IgM not shown). Spontaneous and mitogen-stimulated production of IgA, levels of which were increased in serum samples from older subjects, was similar in the 2 age groups (Figure 3, bottom).
Lymphocyte proliferation as measured by tritiated thymidine incorporation (day 4) (top) and IgA production (day 9) (bottom) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro in response to a T-lymphocyte and B-cell mitogen (pokeweed mitogen [PWM]), a more selective B-cell mitogen (Staphylococcus aureus Cowan strain I [SAC]), and a T-lymphocyte–derived cytokine (SAC plus interleukin 2 [IL-2]). The results are given as mean±SEM for the 28 elderly subjects and the 20 younger adults.
Production of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α by peripheral blood mononuclear cells with and without stimulation with increasing concentrations of lipopolysaccharide was evaluable in 24 of the elderly subjects and in 16 of the young controls (Figure 4). Despite a trend for the older subjects to produce higher levels of TNF-α after stimulation with the midrange concentrations of lipopolysaccharide, cells from both age groups showed comparable dose-dependent production of this cytokine.
Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) production by freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 24 elderly persons and 16 young adults after 4-hour stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The results are shown as mean±SEM.
We have shown that a range of immune functions were relatively intact in a healthy group of advanced elderly subjects compared with those in young adults 50 years their junior. In almost all areas of in vitro, in vivo, and clinical examination, including responses to vaccine, we found few statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. Consistent with previous observations, aging did not appear to affect absolute numbers of most cell lines,3,5,10,42 including the number of monocytes, lymphocytes, and their subsets (B cells and CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes). Only levels of serum IgA were increased, as variably reported in the literature.3,10,18,24,43 Such polyclonal elevations may result from cumulative antigen exposure over time, increased mucosal exposure, or perturbations of B-cell activation. Deficits in cell-mediated immunity, as evidenced by poor lymphocyte responses to mitogens, have been one of the more consistent abnormalities described in elderly persons, particularly with T-lymphocyte mitogens.3,5,10,41,44,45 This defect has been hypothesized to be due, in part, to decreased production of and response to IL-2, a crucial growth factor for lymphocyte proliferation to mitogen or antigen, and dysregulation of activation requirements.14,15,46,47 However, in the healthy advanced elderly persons described herein, proliferative responses to T-lymphocyte (pokeweed) and B-cell (SAC) mitogens were intact. Furthermore, elderly and young subjects showed comparable proliferative responses with IL-2 supplementation. In each case, optimal doses of mitogen or IL-2 were used; dose responses may have revealed more subtle defects.
Aside from the IL-2–related responses noted, to our knowledge, few studies have examined other cytokine responses in elderly humans. Interleukin 1 production has been normal or decreased in elderly persons, whereas TNF-α levels were elevated in the serum samples from elderly subjects in one study48 but production of TNF-α in vitro was normal when compared with young subjects in another.44,48- 50 We showed that in vitro production of TNF-α, a key cytokine in the immediate inflammatory response to infection, by peripheral blood mononuclear cells with and without stimulation with lipopolysaccharide was not appreciably affected by age. These data are consistent with limited previously published data51 from this group of elderly and young subjects, among whom plasma levels of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and transforming growth factor β were all comparable.
Perhaps the greatest relevance of these data to the care of advanced elderly adults is their responses to these recommended vaccines. That prevaccine levels of TT-specific antibodies were lower in the elderly subjects compared with the younger adults likely reflects the longer intervals since the former's last immunization. In some cases, subjects had not been immunized since their military service in World War II, and others were uncertain if they had ever even received a primary immunization series. Despite these limitations, advanced elderly subjects showed vigorous responses to immunization with TT and overall higher mean fold increases in TT-specific antibodies compared with those in younger adults. This pattern of response was similar to that seen with DT. Earlier studies19,22 reporting lower responses to immunization with TT in elderly persons did not adjust for the potential impact of underlying diseases. The relatively increased rates of tetanus among older adults in the United States29,39 may well reflect a failure to immunize these adults, rather than a failure of elderly adults to respond to immunization.
Nevertheless, tetanus and diphtheria remain uncommon diseases in elderly persons; pneumococcal disease has a much greater clinical impact.52,53 Our elderly subjects had comparable or greater preimmunization levels of antibodies against pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides, reflecting, perhaps, their greater cumulative lifetime exposure to Streptococcus pneumoniae compared with younger adults. Indeed, Musher et al54 have reported that asymptomatic colonization elicits capsule-specific antibodies in serum. Moreover, elderly subjects generated appreciable antibody responses following immunization. That these results conflict with some previous reports20,55,56 of an overall lower response to pneumococcal vaccine in elderly persons may be related to differences in methods (23- vs 14-valent vaccine and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay vs radioimmunoassay for antibody measurement) and to our selection of healthy subjects.
Although mean fold increases to pneumococcal polysaccharides tended to be lower among elderly subjects, the peak levels at 1 month were not significantly lower. This peak value, and the persistence of the antibodies, is an important determinant of vaccine-derived protection against pneumococcal disease. We did not address the duration of antibody responses, but we did characterize the quality of the antibodies produced, or antibody avidity. The avidity, or functional affinity, of capsule-specific antibodies correlates with their ability to mediate complement-dependent killing of the organisms20,29,35- 38 by phagocytes. In this context, healthy advanced elderly adults were also able to generate antibodies with functional affinity comparable with those of healthy young adults.
Overall, these results may have implications for clinical practice as it pertains to adult immunization. Despite the universal recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination in persons older than 65 years, vaccination rates in the United States for this group have tended to be poor, at 25% to 50%.57- 60 These low rates are believed to be due, in part, to the widespread perception that pneumococcal vaccine is poorly immunogenic in elderly persons.6,61,62 Although our study does not purport to suggest clinical efficacy, it does suggest that advanced age per se may not be a risk factor for lowered immune responses. Limitations in our data include that, as noted, we did not assess the duration of these antibody responses. Indeed, some investigators19,22,29 have found that responses to various vaccines may be less long lasting among elderly persons. However, consistent with our results, a recent study29 of responses to pneumococcal vaccine in elderly persons found comparable avidity and durability of capsule-specific IgG antibodies in most elderly subjects and in younger control subjects. In addition, we did not measure the ability of these serum samples to mediate killing of S pneumoniae by phagocytes in vitro, and groups of debilitated advanced older adults with underlying illness showed impaired phagocytic activity in vitro.20 These data in healthy advanced elderly adults would lend support to the several retrospective case-control studies63- 66 that do suggest vaccine efficacy in this patient population against serious pneumonia and invasive S pneumoniae infections, although controlled data of efficacy against all pneumococcal pneumonia in older adults are more limited.
Our findings challenge the conventional notions of inherent immunosenescence. These contrasting results are likely explained in large part by differences in subject selection. Prior studies have varied considerably in the definition of "elderly" and "healthy" subjects. Many recruited healthy elderly subjects from clinics and nursing homes and did not specify strict case definitions and rarely included any discussion of other factors (underlying illnesses, medications, vitamins, smoking, or alcohol use) that may affect immune function.24 We used rigorous screening for potential immune-altering medications and comorbidities. Our data are somewhat limited by examination of a small, highly selected sample of healthy older adults and may not be readily generalizable to a large segment of the elderly population. Similarly, we cannot extrapolate these results to predict responses to other vaccines commonly used in elderly persons, such as the influenza virus vaccine22,23 or, more recently considered, the varicella vaccine.67 However, our results emphasize the need to more systematically characterize the impact of comorbidity and other factors that may contribute to the aging process as causes of immunosenescence.
Comorbidity has been a neglected area of investigation in studies24 of immune function in elderly persons. Although nutritional assessment was not available in our group of healthy advanced elderly adults, several variables of immune function were reported to be worse among elderly subjects with regular clinic visits for health problems than among healthy elderly subjects.5 Indeed, factors such as diet, exercise, personal habits, and psychosocial stress are often overlooked when studying "normal" physiologic losses associated with aging.25 Nutrition, including protein undernutrition68 and deficiencies of vitamins and trace elements,68 may underlie many immune deficits attributed to age.69,70 The association of vitamin B12 deficiency with impaired responses to pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination in elderly persons71,72 highlights that cofactors may contribute to immune integrity or dysregulation more than putative preprogrammed immunosenescence.73- 75
In summary, we have shown that in a group of healthy advanced elderly individuals, several measures of immune function remain essentially intact when compared with those in healthy adults 50 years younger. A prominent component of this immune competence is their ability to generate robust antibody responses to the panel of vaccine antigens tested. Our subjects represent a distinct subgroup of people who successfully reach an advanced age with their overall health intact. Our study did not measure all possible components of immune function and was not designed to establish primacy between functional immunity and attaining "healthy advanced elderly" status. Indeed, these data raise the question as to whether immunocompetence leads to or derives from overall good health and longevity, and what role genetics and environment play on these outcomes. Answers to these questions require long-term prospective longitudinal studies in which immune function and clinical outcome in a large cohort are monitored over time. Such investigations should characterize the roles of illness (comorbidity), nutrition, and stress on the development of immunosenescence or on the immunologic vitality of advanced elderly persons.
Accepted for publication January 6, 2000.
This study was supported in part by the Veterans Affairs Research Service, Washington, DC; the Mucosal and Vaccine Research Center, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn; and grants AI-41373, AI-39445, and HL-57880 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. Dr Nichol received research monies from Aviron, Mountain View, Calif, Merck and Co, West Point, Pa, and Pasteur-Merieux-Connaught, Lyon, France.
We thank Kelly Thomas for technical assistance; and Ann Emery for secretarial support.
Reprints: Edward N. Janoff, MD, Infectious Disease Section (Campus Box 111F), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1 Veterans Dr, Minneapolis, MN 55417 (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com).
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Hi all,
Currently putting together some user journeys that incorporate emotional flow (positive and negative) and different triggers that can be put in place throughout the user journey to either combat negative ones or re-enforce positive ones; these will then go on to inform the PET strategy.
An Invitation to Register for How to Design for Persuasion, Emotion,
and Trust (PET Design)
HFI will be presenting its new course for Usability professionals on
Wednesday, May 6 Friday, May 9, in NYC. The course explores the
next wave in Web site design persuasive design designing for
persuasion, emotion, and trust.


text:
LOWELL -- Last year, Greg Canfield bought and saved a downtown building at risk for demolition. Canfield recently got approval from the Planning Commission to restore the early-1900s building to its original condition by reconstructing the second floor of 117 and 119 Main Street.
E-mail the author of this story: email@example.com


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MOBILE, Alabama — A Detroit man accused of stealing $4,400 in a holdup of a BB&T Bank branch in Daphne pleaded not guilty in Mobile last week to a bank robbery charge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine "Kit" Nelson scheduled a January trial for David Paul Beaudoin. After robbing the bank on U.S. 98 in September, he led sheriff's deputies in Mississippi's Jackson County on a high-speed chase in his 1999 Buick Park Avenue, according to the allegations.
Deputy William Thornton noticed that Beaudoin turned his head away from him when he passed the officer on the interstate, according to law enforcement officers at the time.
Thornton attempted to stop Beaudoin, who turned off the interstate at mile maker 75 and began driving at excessive speeds through Pascagoula on U.S. 90, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Deputies released police dogs and captured him within minutes when a dog tackled the suspect and grabbed his shoe. He had $4,007, according to Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd.


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- 4 russet potatoes
- 2 1/2 quarts vegetable oil
- Coarse salt
Peel potatoes. Using a mandoline fitted with the zigzag blade, slice potatoes 1/8 inch thick, rotating them a quarter turn after each slice to create a waffle pattern. Soak slices in cold water 1 hour. Fill a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pot with 2 1/2 quarts vegetable oil, and heat over medium-high until it reaches 365 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Meanwhile, drain potatoes; blot dry with paper towels. In batches, fry potato slices until golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Lightly season with coarse salt. (Adjust heat between batches, if necessary, to keep oil temperature at 365 degrees.)
Cook's Notes
You will need a mandoline, such as the Japanese-style Benriner, to form the chips.


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In a nutshell:
- Incognito & never by appointment
- Always pay
- 3-6 months after opening
- Multiple visits
So, most importantly always incognito and never by appointment. It's the only way to get a 'joe bloggs' perspective of the bar. For me there is no point in writing a review if it's based on what the bar can do when it's trying to impress me – that's (most of the time) not going to be how it is the rest of the time, or for anyone else. So, softly softly catchy monkey incognito reviews wherever possible (relying on my trusty band of truly anonymous sidekicks if I need to – see below!).
The next point might sound ridiculous, but paying for your drinks is also pretty damn important. If I have to fork out cash out of my own pocket to pay for the cocktails then I'm going to be more invested in the experience. You're going to have to pay £16 for a cocktail, so I will too. How else will I truly know if it was worth it?
3-6 months after opening
The new bar thing. It's only fair to leave new venues for a few months before visiting to review it. In my opinion anyway. It gives them time to settle into service. It would be unfair to base a review on a visit in their opening weeks with so much to deal with and work out, so I don't!
Multiple visits
The review is also an amalgamation of my experience across multiple visits at different times of the day and week. I think this is essential, as bars can be vary vastly through the week. Take a Monday at 6pm for example, most bars are going to be very different (unsurprisingly) to Saturday at 10pm! This way I get an overall picture of the bar, and can give you handy hints such as 'book on a Thursday', 'live music on a Friday' e.t.c. It also means that I ALWAYS give bars a second chance. It's only fair.
The Gin Monkey sidekicks!
I consider myself so lucky to have the opportunity to experience and take part in so many brilliant events, however I stick by my commitment to try to review bars impartially, I believe reviews have to be based on an experience that is akin to that of any other Joe Bloggs member of the public who walks into the bar. I therefore occasionally call upon a small group of trusty, super anonymous, carefully selected sidekicks to visit bars for me. They are truly awesome and report back to me about their experience: standard of service, atmosphere, quality of the cocktails e.t.c. At the end of the day though, all content on the site is written by Me (Emma), alone.


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Log in to comment
Dear Readers,
The spam filter on wordpress.com has not been very efficient recently. Too many spam messages get the "pending" status that I need to review manually. I can't imagine why they aren't flagged automatically as spam…
I got tired of these spam messages, thus from now on you must be logged in if you want to leave a comment. Thank you for your understanding. I hope you will still leave comments, I love receiving feedbacks.
Best wishes,
Jabba Laci
My blog was suspended for 7 hours
Yesterday I made a new post in which I put a link on a forum. After pressing the "Publish" button, my blog got suspended immediately. I sent a mail to wordpress and they kindly replied to me and re-activated my blog. It turned out that the site hosting the forum is on a blacklist at wordpress. So I removed the problematic post. I was afraid that I lose my blog but fortunately I got it back.
Stupid pop-up at the bottom of wordpress pages
I just noticed that there is a new pop-up widget on my wordpress.com blog at the bottom (see the screenshot). How to get rid of that?
Install Adblock Plus and add the following filter:
See this post for another example.
Shorten the URL of your wordpress posts
If the URL of your wordpress post is too long, then you can use this trick.
Screenshot (inserted from here):
Of course, there are tons of URL shortener services, but who knows how long they keep your URLs…


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Stanford Furniture
Stanford creates upholstery pieces for today's lifestyles. The perfect balance of comfort and design is the hallmark of every piece Stanford creates. With styles ranging from traditional to contemporary, Stanford offers upholstery for every client. With a huge range of fabrics, finishes, leathers, and options, your options are endless.


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Everyone wants to build a brand. And its not easy!
Please do review my views and share and comment and contribute the best way you care!
For best results, please blow up the ppt (click the X on the slideshare panel on the right hand side) and enjoy!
Views: 360
Nice :)
I've downloaded this for careful review.
I just like to summarize what i felt after reading it, U've compared brands but they from different product categories, perhaps your slide show should have been called 'what kind of 'Business/Products' you wanna build. i think that's more appropriate to the description you've given em. Google/Apple on starting out were businesses that gave you fantastic products thus a creating a niche brand, for themselves/products, had their product failed they would have never turned into big brands.
Many thanks for your view.
If you look at the deck I made, the terms I have used are ' democratic, extroverted, inspirational, greeedy, collaborative' etc etc..
These are best used to describe BRANDS (loosely) rather than Products/Services.
Let me try and explain with simple Analogy.
I say that Ashford is a really 'charitable' person. Or if I were describing humans as BRANDS, then it fits the bill of BRAND = CHARITABLE.
Now, literally taken, it doesn't mean that your skins and bones and teeth are charitable. It means obviously that your ACTIONS (product/services) are charitable.
Similarly, the MANIFESTATION of brands in the world - be it a service or product AND sometimes JUST THEIR NAME and PRESENCE is what I have used for describing the KIND of approach taken by various brands to build valuable businesses.
So, the discussion was and is NOT a CSI like post mortem on the word 'brand' more that it a description of the approach Brands (and sure - their representation as a service or product) take long term in the world of business.
I mean, if I said that 'services' are 'authoritative' or a product is ' democratic', then that will really sound weird - wouldn't it?!
Point taken, Your analogy was concise. Perhaps there was perception barrier in my understanding prior to your slideshow.
Neways the good part is you have a new topic of ur next slide show 'What kind of 'Business/Products' you wanna build...
Cheers !!!
here u are - http://therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/products-vs-services
This just in:
We have your email address as email@example.com.
Click here to unsubscribe from ALL SlideShare emails or here to adjust your email notifications........
Alok, let me take rather simplistic 'for dummies' approach on branding here. I am not necessarily commenting on your decks.
A brand is what your label or trade mark means to the consumer. The idea that it opens in the consumers' mind when he sees your brand. That's it! rest of the post mortem is just that. Back fit theory on what the consumer thinks of your label.
I wonder if anyone starts by scribbling the 'traits' that his business would have 10 years down the line.
well, I haven't come across anyone who starts a business without thinking of what may happen as it gets build out.
Even having said that, if you ARE starting a business - the deck is supposed to guide people into thinking:
- Hmmm - can I always be EXTROVERTED like FCUK - is it in me to start a brand like that?
- Am I a control freak or not - so should my brand my collaborative or authoratative.
I think you are confusing NAMING of a business or service or product with the PERSONALITY of the same (a la what I am describing as a BRAND)
That is the point. The PERSONALITY of the company/product. A brand is only what the consumer perceives its personality to be. And, to different consumers i may appear differently very much like in case of people. The goal is to appear like so and so to the majority of the audience.
And these personality traits are shaped as much by circumstances, business climate, luck as they are by the entrepreneurs' design and planning. The Personality grows, even radically changes, over years. Case in point Lucky Goldstar or even (F)Volkswagon.
Even FCUK accidentally became extrovert and hip in 1997 due to a fax. For about two decades before that they were just another fashion brand.
so, what is your point really? That the title of the PPT should be 'so you wanna build a personality'??
sometimes i wonder why people dont get it - In slide 2 itself i warn that advertising and marketing folks always over exaggerate their roles (probably to keep their jobs).
With the details of the +/- and the examples and the titles, even morons will understand that this is not a wikipedia discussion of the word and meaning and derivative and expansion and usage of the word BRAND
Its all about just thinking of what your business/service could be and some directional hints!!!
Some real good insights!
Would be interesting to know how would you assign similar attributes to smaller cos (in revenue/user base/popularity) like Infosys vs TCS, Jet Airways vs Kingfisher, RIL vs Aditya Birla, etc
On a sidenote, i'd suggest you avoid including footer in notifications from online services (like slideshare) on a public forum
We have your email address as firstname.lastname@example.com.
Click here to unsubscribe from ALL SlideShare emails or here to adjust your email notifications........
Maybe somebody just accidentally clicks on the "here" link and you could not be receiving a notification next time your deck tops the charts...


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Singer-songwriter, poet and mega-star Jewel performs a charity concert tonight at 9:30 at New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
The four-time Grammy nominee is partnering with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and The Plastic Surgery Foundation to raise awareness about breast reconstruction. Event proceeds will be donated to The Breast Reconstruction Awareness Fund of The Plastic Surgery Foundation which supports research and breast reconstruction organizations including the Breastoration program of the Cancer Association of Greater New Orleans. Tickets cost $45.25 including fees.
Christ Church Cathedral hosts a Halloween organ concert at 7 tonight. Organists play the largest pipe organ in New Orleans. The famous Toccata & Fugue in D Minor will be performed.
Theodore Ross ('Am I a Jew?') and Beau Boudreaux ('Running Red, Running Redder') will read from and sign their books from 6 to 8 p.m. at Maple Street Book Shop. Wine and cheese will be served. Elizabeth Kaiser interviewed Ross over at Press Street's Room 220 blog:
Rm220: Lying and pretending are themes you return to throughout the book. You pretended to be a Christian in Mississippi and a Jew in New York. Does this type of pretending ever transcend religion and affect other aspects of your life, or the lives of others who had similar experiences?
TR: Everywhere I went, what interested me is the way people construct identity. It's not something they necessarily inherit or are bound by—so, I didn't think of it was lying or concealing. With most of the people that I met, it was more them taking a form of agency over who they are and what that means. For example, there are people I write about who get themselves DNA tested for Judaism, and they find a Jewish person in their family tree from 500 years ago. Because of that, they want to convert to Judaism—they think they're Jewish because of this connection from many, many years ago. That's not lying—maybe you're lying to yourself—but you're making a decision about who you are. You're not just saying: Life has dealt me this hand of cards and that's it, that's who I'm going to be.
The DNA test I had cost like $150. You get "results" in a week or two. You put your name in this database, and as people enter the database, and they share certain genetic components with you, you can contact them. I was more interested in why people construct identity—why do they go and get this testing done? What does it say to them? Because, really, it's somewhat nebulous. It's just genetics. DNA is not destiny.
There's a lot more at the link, and that's just one of this week's literary highlights.
The Northlake Nature Center guides a moonlight hike beginning at 6 this evening.


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I finally beat RE 6. It was "alright". Ada's section had a few interesting twists towards the end and I picked up infinite rounds for the shotgun while also increasing the item spawn rate of ammo for certain other weapons to boot. It was an enjoyable experience overall but it felt a little hollow. I wasn't scared by anything and it's the "small bumbles" that prevented me from being deeply immersed. For example, RE 6 has a hud system arrow pointer to help you navigate but it feels less natural than the navigational aid attached to Issac's power suit in Dead Space 2. Getting prompts to waggle my analog stick or frantically mash buttons likewise reminds me I'm simply an outside participant playing a videogame.
Still, RE 6 is probably the best 3rd person action adventure shooting gallery game I've played in awhile. If someone had introduced RE6 to my kid self my fragile mind would have been blown away! Of course now I'm an adult so I've had time to experience what's come before. I hate to admit it but I'm jaded. Because of this I really crave an interactive experience that brings me back to life and puts the spring back in my step. Unfortunately, RE 6 is not the second wind that's needed to animate my bitter old bones. However, it's a fun distraction. For $31.00 it was a good bargain!
I've pinpointed what's wrong with Resident Evil now. These new "settings" are ridiculous. We can relate to visiting a small town or living in an actual city. We can relate to stumbling across an old cabin, derelict asylum, sprawling graveyard, or an abandoned mansion during a hiking expedition. Most of us have seen these kinds of places before in real life.
Yet have any of you been in a friggin submarine? Have you been to the friggin Swiss Alps? How about China? Yeah, me either. I'm sure some privileged poster is going to raise their hand with a smug smirk. "My family and I go to China every year via submarine right before moving onto the European continent via helicopter!" Well good for you. You're not like the rest of us! (And I'm totally jealous you have the means to travel like that. You must feel like Ryu or Sakura roaming the earth for street fighting perfection!)
I've also thought about main characters for future RE games. Claire and Rebecca pop up a lot. The awesome thing about Claire and Rebecca is neither one of them is a super spy or a mercenary badass. When Claire was in raccoon city all we knew about her is she liked motorbikes. And Rebecca? She was a field medic. Chances are she became a doctor or nurse while the A-lister protagonists were doing ridiculous Rambo and James Bond stunts in some random third world country. (Y'know, like punching boulders!)
What makes Claire and Rebecca so perfect for a horror setting is they're "normal people". Sure, maybe Claire is involved in some sort of clichéd underground illegal motorcycle street racing but it's not as if she's a super soldier like her brother is. Though she survived in RE2 & Code Veronica those situations were not ones she was trained to handle.
I really would like a return to a more believable setting. When did RE become a globe trotting adventure about fighting terrorists? All it needs now is the song "America, Fuck Yeah" blaring in the background. Yup, I said that. Feel free to quote me!
I realize I've defended the evolution of Resident Evil in other blogs. The truth is I like the more diversified maneuverable controls presented in RE 6 and I usually like the over the shoulder camera. However, I am getting kind of tired of the elite military overtones and out of place Indiana Jones set-pieces that have been sneaking into this beloved franchise through the back door.
So, what do you gals/guys want in the next Resident Evil? Do you still want mustache twirling bio terrorists threatening the planet at large or is subtle ambience, foreboding atmosphere, and panicky tension in a more compact centralized area the way to go?
Other random nonsense
Game link definked!
Remember the site my game demo used to be on? Sadly it's down. Trin actually reminded me I hadn't updated that information. It was actually a site I originally paid for to put up information on my best friend's tabletop rpg, Ultranet-worlds. In lu of that fact, the info was woefully out of date since Ultranet-worlds has seen many revisions since then. We decided to kind of drop it. My game demo from rpgmaker xp was tacked onto there as an afterthought.
Don't worry. I'm sure I'll find a new place to upload it and when I do you'll all be the first to know!
Scott Pilgrim FINALLY getting online co-op support?
So why did I bring up Scott Pilgrim in my last blog? Supposedly it is getting an online multi-player patch. Chris (Cly) seems to have read the same rumor! Aka, we're not getting an awesome sequel but if everything goes well we might be able to have another great beat em up to play online with our buds. Oh, and Wallace will be a playable character.
Are Wallace and the online co-op option apart of the same update? I don't know for sure, they could be separate. I wouldn't mind buying ms points for Wallace himself but I do kinda hope the co-op update is free. I believe we can all agree it's something that should have been in the core game at launch.
Belated apologies
I really love you guys for sticking with me during the recent dilemma. It's good to know I'm perceived as a "nice guy" but though it strokes my ego it's not 100% accurate. Sadly, I have "trolled" "neglected" and "argued" with other individuals on 1up and abroad. Not to the point I carried grudges on multiple boards and seeded the internet with thousands of venomous tweets but it's happened. There are a few people who deserve an apology and I want to dedicate this blog to honoring them properly!
madhat is a very nice guy. We've had a couple of great conversations about anime and games and it's a shame our disagreements over the new DmC started to put bad blood between us.
It's my opinion the new DmC game looks fantastic but as I've not played it yet, I'm not 100% certain on that myself. (Though some of your reviews have reaffirmed my hypothesis to a degree)
At first I was pissed off so many traditional DMC fans were attacking Ninja Theory's efforts. I really began seeing "classic" Dante's supporters as crazed weaboos.
Yet these people have a right to feel passionate about DMC. I don't have a right to say they're wrong. Mad, if you're reading this I really am sorry. Though we disagree on the DmC reboot I don't think you're a terrible person! In this case I was being the immature one.
Brandon used to be a regular here. He was going to college to get a degree in game design and he was even able to put some of his indie projects up on Xbox live. The awesome thing about Brandon was he unapologetically loved games with his whole being. Brandon never bitched about dlc, on disc locked content, or drm. If a game was good he would appreciate it, warts and all!
Sadly, it was my pessimism that led to arguments between us. I was one of those guys trashing Diablo III for its' online only requirement and trashing Skyrim for it's bevy of launch day bugs. Brandon on the other hand defended both games amiably and brought up good counterpoints in the process.
When Brandon was leaving I thought it was because of one of our debates but he reassured me that there was a lot of other stuff going on too thus our arguments had nothing to do with his departure.
Still, I felt as if my cynicism of the industry and self entitlement as a gamer certainly didn't help Brandon's spirits.
Regardless Bran, I miss ya! You were a prince!
I never meant to hurt Pam but I think when I put up blogs expressing my bitterness towards F.E.A.R 3 she felt partly responsible. You see, that was the game meant to bring us together. In the beginning of our friendship we used to co-op in games all the time but this tapered off once she began becoming more busy and I began to go through increased bouts of social anxiety. Pam mentioned she liked F.E.A.R 3 a lot so I bought it just for us. (I don't mean that in a creepy way. Get those minds out of the gutter!)
The truth is F.E.A.R. 3 kind of disappointed me. I thought the campaign was too short and too easy (Should have played it on a higher difficulty) and I couldn't appreciate its' mythos on account I had no knowledge of the other two games.
Pam, it's cool! F.E.A.R 3 only cost me $17.00 and perhaps once you have some idle time again we can try some of its' multiplayer & co-op modes! (Or play RE 6 together)
My friend Shane and I have a long history. We never argued per se, but I do feel as if we've grown apart lately. Part of this is because my headset is wonky and in need of repair. I wouldn't call my headset a lost cause but I need to tinker with it! The other issue is because Shane and I like different games right now. He's into Halo and Final Fantasy whereas I've veered more towards Resident Evil and more obscure rpgs Shane has never heard of. Though Shane is not a 1upper he is important so he belongs on this list.
Chris Newton (We call him Chris nuisance but love him all the same!)
Chris is akin to a brother from another mother. Along with Shane, he made up my old tabletop role-playing posse which Alex usually GM-ed for. Those were during the good ol days when we were all local and in the same area. Chris visited us a year or so ago and it was good to see him again! I hope we can get back in touch because it's been awhile.
Ben (Other Ben aka, terminal patience)
Ben is hardcore when it comes to 3rd and 1st person shooters. He's someone you want having your back when shit it going down. Ben and I had problems just because we're different kinds of gamers. Ben plays to win and I play just to have fun. Yet there's nothing inherently wrong with being competitive. I should also expand this to Blue, Tex, and Warhammer too. These peeps are "professionals". I wish I could keep up with them but it's safe to say I'd just be that random flat tire holding everyone else back! I don't always understand the "super competitive gamer mentality" but I should at least respect it and proclaim that it has the right to exist.
Last time I checked up on Jas she was happy but preoccupied. Akin to myself, she's an illustrator and it's probably safe to say at this point she's produced more work and has probably improved more to boot! When I began taking up game design with rpg-maker it did cut into my artistic pursuits a bit. As such if Jas and I were in a race she would be winning!
Jas and I both loved playing fighting games together. SSF4 was our martial arts epic fantasy fulfillment of choice.
I don't think Jas and I ever got mad at each other but we have fallen out.
Carly was this weird anomaly for me. She was a female who loved Japanese rpgs. Yes, it may seem trivial, but for a geek like me that's like finding a diamond the size of a baseball! The awesome thing about Carly is she was knock out gorgeous but still nice to everyone. She never seemed to look down her nose at anyone and was always a complete peach.
Carly has been preoccupied so getting hold of her even via twitter might be difficult but I wanted her to know she rocks!
Tion wrote wonderful blogs about Dragonquest and other rpgs. Not surprisingly she was snatched up for her literary awesomeness, open mindedness, and down to earth honesty. I miss you Tion. You really were the sun in my sky.
Metajay and I went to fisticuffs over Leonardo Devinci then we became amigos. He was actually around recently to blurb about Wasteland 2 and it's definitely something we're both excited for. But more than that metajay introduced me to GOG which is a holly Mecca for gamers everywhere. He also loves Divinity II Dragon-knight saga so I know he's a man of impeccable tastes! Anyway, where you been, man? Haven't seen you posting quite as much lately. Of course that simply implies you have an actual life so I'm happy for you. lol.
Kay is a beautiful creature. I've met very few "nice trolls" who primarily go after mean trolls but Kay does it with gusto. She's one person you don't want to piss off and because she's hard to offend you're not going to get her to flinch first! Like myself, Kay puts it all out there. She's not afraid to admit she's bisexual or that she likes the boob physics in DOA 5. She's also not afraid to show her tender and vulnerable side which actually takes more courage than wearing a porcelain mask of nonchalant snarky apathy. Kay, I know I'm not your type but if I was I'd totally do you! (thumbs up) Kay isn't exactly gone from 1up permanently but life has caught her up in its' currents and taken her downstream . We miss ya, Kay!
Matt and I met at ZTGD. Incidentally I know many other Matts who are also great people but "this Matt" and I both used to write out elaborate ideas for videogames. It's the one defining passion that's driven us both throughout our lives. Matt's flamboyantly gay and he looks gorgeous in make up. I honestly think if I didn't already know he was a "dude" I would have totally slept with him already. Matt, you're fabulous, sir!
One has many other acronyms and aliases he goes by but "One" stands out the most. What defines One is he has heart and soul. He's passionate about life and despite having gone through difficult times he keeps an optimistic attitude. He's sort of like Riley from Boondocks…..well, if Riley actually had Huey's brain!
Camille Ling
Camille was my first game friend ever to buy me stuff and send it to me. She sent me a white Eyore and Knights Of The Old Republic. But fuck all that. You see, that's not why I remember Cam. I remember her because she was an infinitely complex yet infinitely beautiful woman. Like a geisha's wardrobe, she had many layers. Some might interpret this comparison as sexual in nature but if you're educated and know about foreign traditions you 'll better understand the jyst of what I've written.
Of course Camille is Chinese so the geisha robe analogy is kind of out of place. (I'll give you that much!) What I'm getting at is Cam means a lot to me and she helped me clear up many of the misconceptions I had about the opposite gender. She's strong, independent, and loves fast cars. What's not to love here?
In closing I'm sure I've missed a few people and I offer my condolences for that as well. However, I just wanted to express that I haven't always had perfect relationships with people. I've had friends drift away and I've had friends who I have quarreled with. I haven't always been in the right while arguing either.


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Michael Costa
Michael Costa is no longer a member of the WPJA and so their Member Profile cannot be accessed at this time.
The Wedding Photojournalist Association proudly recognizes the accomplishments and creative excellence of Michael Costa. The following awards have been earned by Michael from the WPJA. These achievements come with great merit considering the high level of competition that a member faces in the contests.
|8th Place - Creative Portrait
11th Place - Creative Portrait
17th Place - Details (Found)


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Top Definition
Chewing gum.
Used in Grimsby and surrounding areas
Used in Grimsby and surrounding areas
Do you want a piece of spoggy?
di Peter Stanley 05 ottobre 2004
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
A sparrow. Common name downunder for the little buggers.
"Ey, look! A spoggy just bloody flew into the house! Marge, get the broom!"
di ceigered 03 febbraio 2009


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RICHMOND, Va. Ukrop's Super Markets here is not for sale, according to remarks attributed to its top officials in a newspaper report Monday. "We can assure you that we have not spoken or talked to a single company, broker or banker about the possibility of selling our company. End of story," James E. Ukrop, chairman of the retailer, was quoted as saying in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article. Robert S. Ukrop, president and chief executive officer, expressed the same sentiment, the report added.
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Dr. Frances Flannery
Contact information:
Director, Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Terrorism and Peace (CISTP)
Professor of Religion, Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
James Madison University
215 Cleveland Hall
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
phone: 540.568.6340
Ph.D. in Religion, The University of Iowa (Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman World)
M.A. in Religion, The University of Iowa
B.S. in Environmental Science, The College of William and Mary (Environmental Geology and Ecology)
Dr. Flannery is the 2012-2013 recipient of the Carl Harter Distinguished Teacher Award for the College of Arts and Letters. She teaches in the areas of Hebrew Bible, Judaism, religious terrorism, world religions, and religion and culture, including: World Religions (GREL 101); Introduction to the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (REL 201); Judaism (REL 320); Religion and Film / Religion and Monsters (REL 300); Apocalypticism, Terrorism, and Peace (REL/IA 363); and Apocalypticism and Mysticism in Early Judaism and Early Christianity / Jewish Mysticism (REL 460). Dr. Flannery was a Finalist for the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.
Research and Outreach:
Professor Flannery is Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Terrorism and Peace (CISTP) at JMU, which seeks to bridge the gap between academic subject matter experts, the intelligence community, and public policy arenas. She recently (2015) published a monograph entitled Understanding Apocalyptic Terrorism: Countering the Radical Mindset.
Her main area of research is apocalypticism from its origins to the present day, including a present emphasis on understanding the relationships between apocalyptic thinking and religious/ideological terrorism. In addition to apocalyptic terrorism, she has also extensively researched early Jewish mysticism, Jewish and Christian dreams and visions, and religious experience, and is also deeply interested in the influence of religious systems on environmental sustainability. Her many publications include two books, over twenty peer-reviewed major articles or book chapters, and over ten smaller articles, encyclopedia articles, and reviews. With Rodney Werline, she co-founded the Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity program unit (the "Experientia" group) of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Selected Publications:
Frances Flannery. Understanding Apocalyptic Terrorism: Countering the Radical Mindset (Routledge, 2015).
Frances Flannery, Michael L. Deaton, and Timothy R. Walton. "Radical Apocalypticism and Iranian Nuclear Proliferation: A Systems Oriented Analysis." International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. August, 2013.
Frances Flannery, "Dreams, Visions, and Religious Experience in the Apocalypses and Apocalypticism." Oxford Handbook of Apocalypticism. Ed. John J. Collins. London: Oxford University Press. Forthcoming, 2013.
Frances Flannery, Colleen Shantz, Rodney Werline, eds. Experientia, Volume One: Inquiry into Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008.
Frances Flannery, Dreamers, Scribes and Priests: Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras. Leiden: Brill, 2004.


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A Houston TV host charged with murdering her boyfriend claims she acted in self-defense when she allegedly struck him more than 10 times in the face, head and neck with her stiletto heel.
Lawyers on both sides say they're still gathering evidence about the relationship between Ana Trujillo, 44, and Alf Stefan Andersson, 59, a top researcher in women's health issues at the University of Houston, and what really happened the night Andersson died.
"We only have a dead man and a woman who confessed to doing it," says Harris County District Attorney spokeswoman, Sara Marie Kinney.
According to local TV station KTRK, Trujillo hosted community access shows in which she went by Ana Fox.
On the night of June 9, she and Andersson drank tequila at Bodega's Taco Shop and he got angry over another man who offered to buy Trujillo a drink, authorities say. They then went to his 18th-floor condominium at around 2 a.m. and he got angry over her plans to visit her daughter from a previous relationship.
Trujillo called 911, led officers to the body and told them Andersson "was attacking her and grabbed her hair and neck," according to DA spokeswoman Kinney. But officers observed no injuries on Trujillo, says Kinney.
Andersson, however, suffered "at least 10 very serious puncture wounds to the back of the skull, and to the head and neck," says Kinney, all inflicted by a stiletto.
Investigators are trying to determine if Trujillo stomped Andersson with the shoe or held it and struck him as she claims.
Kinney says she is unaware what kind of stiletto was used. The shoe is in evidence and can't be examined by a prosecutor until after Trujillo enters a plea – which is expected to happen at her next court appearance in July. Trujillo is being held on $100,000 bail.
Lott J. Brooks, Trujillo's attorney and former employer, tells PEOPLE that he believes Trujillo suffered from battered women's syndrome. He says Trujillo is a non-confrontational person who would not have instigated the fight.
"This doesn't seem like something she would have done without provocation, without some sort of triggering mechanism," Brooks tells PEOPLE. He adds, however, that he is still learning about the case and he doesn't specifically know what Andersson may have done to Trujillo before she started hitting him with the shoe.
Local TV Host Stabs Boyfriend to Death with Stiletto Heel: Cops
James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle/AP


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Top Definition
When a girl takes her shirt off and her one nipple is facing straight ahead and the other is looking off in another direction.
When I got her into the room and we were about to get it on, I noticed she had a Sammy Davis Jr.
Beküldő: robotboots 2009. január 9.
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
The act of sexually penetrating the empty eye socket of a one eyed individual
My one-eyed friend really enjoys the sammy davis jr...wink wink
Beküldő: J Wright 2006. szeptember 26.


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JACKSON – School consolidation, an issue that has been talked about in Mississippi for decades, appears to be gaining a little traction – emphasis should be placed on "little" – going into the 2010 legislative session.
It has been identified by some as a way to save money as Gov. Haley Barbour and legislators scramble to deal with historically bad state budget problems.
A task force created by the Legislature to study how to improve under-performing school districts has decided to consider the issue to see if it should make any recommendations.
Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, speaking on behalf of Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, at a Mississippi Economic Council-sponsored meeting of the state's business establishment last week, said consolidation of kindergarten through 12th grade school districts, as well as universities, should be on the table for discussion during the 2010 session.
Most of the focus has been on the possible consolidation of local school districts.
Through the years, various political groups have argued against additional funding for education, saying the money would go only to hire more administrators and would not benefit students.
A 2004 study of the Adequate Education Program, which provides the bulk of state funding for Mississippi school districts, found that per student the average instruction spending by the state was $2,296 compared to $598 on administration and $465 on maintenance and operation of facilities.
It is logical that if the 149 school districts and three agriculture high schools were merged into 82, matching the number of counties in Mississippi, there would be some savings.
But to try to contend that consolidation would solve the state's budget problems would be akin to throwing a five-pound stone in the Ross Barnett Reservoir here in the Jackson metro area and saying it was going to cause flooding.
It's just not the case.
A study several years ago by the state Department of Education said the bulk of that modest savings would be in local funds for public education.
Claiborne Barksdale, chief executive officer of the Barksdale Reading Institute, a nonprofit that works in the public schools to improve reading scores, and a member of the task force on under-performing school districts, had the most sensible response on the issue of school consolidation.
He said he always assumed there would be some savings by consolidating school districts – savings, he said, that should be plowed back into education.
But he quickly stressed that money should not be the overriding reason to consolidate. Instead, he said, student performance should be the main consideration.
If school consolidation can be identified as leading to better academic performance, that is a reason – a legitimate reason – to push consolidation.
It has long been conventional wisdom that Speaker McCoy, who previously served as House Education Committee chair, would block any consolidation efforts. It is well documented that in his home county of Prentiss there are those who are not crazy about consolidation.
Some interpreted Flaggs' remarks to the business group as evidence that either McCoy was softening on the issue or that Flaggs was stepping off the reservation. It may be that neither of those guesses is right.
McCoy are Flaggs communicate on almost a daily basis, and are strong allies, but they are not necessarily in lock-step on every issue.
Who may be more upset with Flaggs are his fellow members of the Legislative Black Caucus. The caucus reportedly will meet this week to discuss his comments.
There are many impediments to school consolidation. During a recent meeting of the under-performing schools task force, Senate Education Committee Chair Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian – a former county school superintendent – not House Education Chair Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, was the most vocal critic of school consolidation.
For school consolidation to work, a lot of problems must be solved. Like many things in Mississippi, some of those problems, though far from all, are racial in nature.
Any study should look at such issues as:
– What districts would be consolidated?
– Would any schools be closed?
– What would the governance of those districts be? Currently some districts have elected boards and superintendents and some have appointed boards and superintendents.
It is a complex issue worthy of study – not because of the state's current budget woes, but because the state should look at every avenue to improve student performance.
It is feasible that in the short run school consolidation could cost money and thus hurt, not help, the state budget.
Contact Journal Capitol Bureau chief Bobby Harrison by e-mail at email@example.com or call him at (601) 353-3119.
Bobby Harrison/NEMS Daily Journal


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