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Regulatory Notice 09-73
FINRA Reminds Firms of Their Sales Practice Obligations Relating to Principal-Protected Notes
The retail market for principal-protected notes (PPNs) has grown in recent years, in part because they are often marketed as combining the relative safety of bonds with a potential for growth not available with traditional fixed income products. However, these products are not risk-free, and their terms and structures can be complex. Firms must ensure that their promotional materials or communications to the public regarding these products are fair and balanced, and do not overstate either the level of protection offered or an investment's potential returns. Firms also have a duty to ensure that their registered representatives understand the risks, terms and costs associated with these products, and that they perform an adequate suitability analysis before recommending them to a customer.
Questions concerning this Notice should be directed to the Office of Emerging Regulatory Issues at (202) 728-8472.


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Financial strain, unemployment and living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods can impact rates and severity of intimate partner violence.[1] NIJ has funded a number of studies that have shown relationships between:
Intimate partner violence is more likely to occur when couples are under financial strain.[2] Researchers in one study found a strong relationship between couples worried about financial strain (subjective feelings of financial strain
[3] ) and the likelihood of intimate partner violence. The violence for couples experiencing
low levels of subjective financial strain was
2.7 percent compared to
9.5 for couples experiencing
high levels of subjective financial strain.
See the reports
Economic Distress, Community Context and Intimate Violence: An Application and Extension of Social Disorganization Theory (2001) and
When Violence Hits Home: How Economics and Neighborhood Play a Role (2004).
Repeat victimization of women is more frequent in couples feeling financial strain. Results of a study showed that women in relationships in which the couples experience low levels of financial strain report
less than 2 percent of repeat victimizations or being injured by their male partners, while
just over 5 percent of women in relationships in which the couples experience
high levels of subjective strain report repeat victimizations or being injured by their male partners.
See the report
Economic Distress, Community Context and Intimate Violence: An Application and Extension of Social Disorganization Theory (2001).
Financial strain may keep women in abusive relationships. A review of census and survey data revealed that women at greatest risk of intimate partner violence tend to be those in relationships where the couple has few economic resources, high subjective stress about finances, experience higher unemployment and live in proximity to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. The choice to stay or leave violent relationships may be based on the decision that a partner's economic contribution to the relationship outweighs the risk of violence. It also may compel women to live with men's violent behavior rather than seek help or take other steps to leave the violent relationship.
Unstable employment increases the risk of intimate partner violence. The study showed that for couples where the male was always employed, the rate of intimate partner violence was
4.7 percent. When men experienced one period of unemployment the rate rose to
7.5 percent and when men experienced two or more periods of unemployment the rate of intimate partner violence rose to
12.3 percent.
See the report
Concentrated Disadvantage, Economic Distress, and Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships (2004).
Women who are victims of intimate partner violence may experience unstable employment. Women who were recently abused (but not those abused only in the past) experienced unstable employment
for up to two years.[4]
See the report
The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Women's Labor Force Participation (2004).
Intimate partner violence can lead to both mental and physical health problems, which decreases a woman's ability to retain employment. Researchers interviewed 1,311 women in Illinois once a year for three years and found that intimate partner violence contributes to stress-related physical and mental health problems for as long as a year after the abuse has occurred. Specifically, the researchers found:
These health problems decrease women's ability to retain employment even as long as two years after the abuse occurred.
See the reports
The Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Women's Labor Force Participation (2004) and
Concentrated Disadvantage, Economic Distress, and Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships (2004).
Violence against women in intimate relationships occurred more often, was more severe and was more likely to be repeated in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. A study showed that the rate of intimate partner violence in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods is 8.7 percent compared with 4.3 percent in more economically advantaged neighborhoods.
Women in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods were more likely to be victimized repeatedly or injured severely by their partners then women who lived in more advantaged neighborhoods (6 percent versus 2 percent respectively).
African-Americans and whites with the same economic characteristics have similar rates of intimate partner violence. However, African-Americans have a higher overall rate of intimate partner violence due in part to higher levels of economic distress and more frequent residence in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
See the reports
Concentrated Disadvantage, Economic Distress, and Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships (2004) and
When Violence Hits Home: How Economics and Neighborhood Play a Role (2004).
Next section: Domestic Violence Shelters Meet Survivors' Needs.
[note 1] While research shows that these factors individually affect the risk of intimate partner violence, they may interact or combine in ways that are not completely understood. Thus addressing only one of the three factors may not reduce the intimate partner violence.
[note 2] This study looked at data from the National Survey of Families and Households to examine whether employment instability and financial strain were related to the risk for intimate partner violence against women.
[note 3] Subjective financial strain was defined as perceptions of financial inadequacy and was operationalized by combining responses to questions about satisfaction with finances and questions regarding worry about money.
[note 4] This study defined employment instability as the number of periods of unemployment for men between waves of the National Survey of Families and Households.
National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531

subset: commoncrawl


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www.KNFilters.com | 888.858.3333 | Price: $199; PN 61-4020
The Flow Control line of air-cleaner assemblies from K&N isn't filled with cool-looking gadgets—instead, these pieces are designed with only power in mind. The lightweight, composite lids, inserts, and bases are specially built to cut down on turbulence and increase airflow through a carburetor, and multiple versions are available for 4150- or 4500-series carbs with or without choke horns. For circle-track racers, Flow Control units are also sold for Holley and Rochester two-barrel carbs. The price and part number listed above pertains to one of the most common applications— the 4150-series four-barrel with a stock choke horn and with a 14×4-inch K&N filter element.
02] Summit Racing
www.SummitRacing.com | 800.230.3030 |Price: $55.95; PN SUM-G3235
Summit Racing's brushed-aluminum air-cleaner assemblies offer a very clean look for common Holley and Edelbrock carbs with 51⁄8-inch necks. Three versions are offered with 14-inch diameters: PN SUM-G3236 ($52.95) has a raised base and a 2-inch-tall filter, PN SUM-3237 ($58.95) has a raised base with a 4-inch-tall element, and PN SUM-G3235 ($55.95, shown) has a flat base with a 3-inch element.
03] Summit Racing
www.SummitRacing.com | 800.230.3030 | Price: $201.95; PN SUM-G283
Summit offers two oval-style, polished-aluminum air cleaners with filtered lids for single four-barrel carbs. The one shown is PN SUM-G283, which is 15 inches long. Also sold is the 12-inch-long SUM-G282 ($171.95). Both use 2-inch-tall, red, cotton-gauze elements.
www.KNFilters.com | 888.858.3333 | Price: $137.95; PN 66-3020
K&N's XStream air-cleaner lids feature filter elements that are incorporated into the lids, adding airflow potential beyond the typical round, carb-style filter. The XStream line includes lids in diameters of 9, 11, 14, and 16 inches, and the most popular 14-inch size is available trimmed in black, chrome, blue, or red. These will drop onto your existing universal air-cleaner assembly, or you can buy complete K&N assemblies (which come with the carb base and the conventional filter) with the XStream lid included. The price and part number listed above are for a 14×4-inch assembly with a raised based for a 4150-type carb.
05] MJB Performance
www.MJBPerformance.com | 562.696.3468 | Price: Varies
MJB Performance makes a number of billet-aluminum air-cleaner housings using K&N oval elements and twin, round XStream elements in the lids. These are sold for single or multiple carbs—including Dominators—and are available polished, natural, chromed, or powdercoated. Myriad custom lengths, widths, and heights are available
06] Airaid
www.Airaid.com | 800.498.6951 | Price: $149.90; PN 801-454
Airaid is commonly known for drop-in replacement elements and cold-air kits for late-model cars and trucks, but for carbureted applications, the company also offers its Concept II air-cleaner assemblies with a unique conical filter with metal mesh on the inside and out so it will not collapse under high airflow. The interesting-looking lids use a flush attachment that comes with a special tool for your keychain. They are available in black or lightweight aluminum and can be easily painted to match your car. The 14-inch-round elements are offered in heights of 3, 4, and 5 inches.
07] Summit Racing
www.SummitRacing.com | 800.230.3030 | Price: $159.95; PN SUM-G3029
This is a little goofy for our taste, but it's unique. This 91⁄4-inch-round assembly sits atop a normal, 51⁄8-inch-diameter carb flange and draws air through the four velocity stacks, filtering it through a disc of red foam. Total height off the carb flange is 63⁄4 inches.
08] Vintage Parts
www.VintagePartsUSA.com | 877.522.0972 | Price: $139.95; PN LEDT79
This company is one of the sources for a modern iteration of the '51–'56 Oldsmobile and Cadillac-inspired twin-scoop air cleaners. The originals used oil-bath filtering, but this one comes with a 14×4-inch-round paper element inside the stamped-steel housing. (Note: This style is commonly called a batwing air cleaner, though we reserve that term for the triangular, Cadillac, Chevy, and Chrysler 300 dual-quad units that had the filters hanging underneath each side of the housing.)


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YUCAIPA, Calif. - The bus full of tired tourists from Mexico was slowly winding its way down the mountain from the ski resort town of Big Bear when it suddenly picked up speed. The driver shouted to call 911 - the brakes had failed.
As passengers frantically tried to get a cellphone signal, a group of teenage girls shrieked and prayed aloud as others cried and shielded their heads as they careened downhill.
The bus rear-ended a Saturn sedan, swerved, flipped and slid on its side. A Ford pickup in the oncoming lane plowed into it, righting the bus and tossing passengers out shattered windows before it came to a halt.
'Everything happened so fast. When the bus spun everything flew, even the people,' said Gerardo Barrientos, who was next to his girlfriend one minute and then scrambling out of the wreckage the next moment to find her and a friend in the highway, injured but alive among the carnage.
Seven people were killed and dozens injured Sunday in the accident 80 miles east of Los Angeles. On Monday, families from Tijuana anxiously sought loved ones in hospitals and investigators searched the scene for evidence and scrutinized the company's safety history.
Government records showed the bus, operated by Scapadas Magicas of National City, Calif., recorded 22 safety violations in inspections over a year - including brake, windshield and tire problems.
The crash littered State Route 38 with body parts, winter clothing and debris. The bus stood across both lanes with its windows blown out, front end crushed and part of the roof peeled back like a tin can.
'I saw many people dead. There are very, very horrendous images in my head, things I don't want to think about,' Barrientos said as he and girlfriend Lluvia Ramirez, who both work at a government hospital in Tijuana, waited outside the Loma Linda University Medical Center emergency room for word on a friend who broke her neck.
After the crash, Barrientos, who was uninjured, moved his friends to safety and then tried to help the bus driver, whose hand was pinned between rocks.
Ramirez, who had a bloody ear, dark bruises and a scratch on her neck, suffered a hairline vertebra fracture.
'I was overwhelmed,' she said. 'I'm a surgical resident and I usually know how to react, but I was so in shock I didn't know what to do. I just stayed with my friend.'
The bus was going slowly down the hill and was being passed by other vehicles, including the Saturn, when it suddenly sped up for an unknown reason, according to a person involved in the investigation who requested anonymity because the probe was ongoing.
The bus traveled about a mile from the point it struck the Saturn until it came to a stop, said California Highway Patrol Officer Leon Lopez.
Investigators will determine if mechanical failure or driver error was to blame. The road, which sometimes closes in winter during snow storms, was dry at the time.
The bus driver, Norberto B. Perez, approximately 52, of San Ysidro, was in serious condition, authorities said.
The driver told investigators the vehicle had brake problems.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to the scene to help in the probe.
Federal transportation records show the bus company was licensed to carry passengers for interstate travel and that it had no crashes in the past two years.
Stephen Keppler of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, a group with industry and government members, said buses and trucks average about two violations for each inspection.
Overall, buses operated by the firm flunked 36 percent of random inspections, the records indicate. That's higher than the national average for similar companies - a 21 percent failure rate.
The California company had an overall 'satisfactory' rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration - but records show three-quarters of similar companies had better safety records.
No one answered the door at the Scapadas Magicas office in a sprawling complex that houses more than 1,300 storage lockers and about 30 small offices.
The bus left Tijuana early Sunday for the three-hour ride to ferry people up to Big Bear for a day in the snow.
Crews worked through the night to recover the dead, removing the last body Monday afternoon.
At least 17 people were still hospitalized, including at least five in critical condition. One is a girl.
The pickup driver was in extremely serious condition, said Peter Brierty, assistant county fire chief. Three people were in the Saturn.
Rocky Shaw, San Bernardino County coroner's investigation, said one of the dead victims was a 13-year-old boy. The boy's family from Tijuana was meeting with Mexican Consulate officials after spending the night going from hospital to hospital looking for him.
Jordi Garcia, marketing director of Interbus, said his company rented the bus from Scapadas Magicas, which supplied the driver.
Interbus offers Mexicans near-daily bus tours to the western U.S. from Tijuana. Its office in a Tijuana strip mall displays photographs of some of its destinations, including Hollywood, the Las Vegas Strip and the San Diego Zoo.
There were 38 people aboard the bus that crashed, including the driver and a tour guide, Garcia said. The bus left Tijuana at 5 a.m. Sunday, with the itinerary calling for a return late that night.
'Everything points to faulty brakes,' Garcia said.
He said he spoke briefly with his tour guide, who suffered bruises. She told him she heard a loud pop before the crash.
Garcia said he believed all passengers were Mexican citizens, but one mother said her injured daughter was a U.S. citizen.
Big Bear Lake sits at an elevation of 6,750 feet, and the area has ski resorts and other snow play areas.
--- Associated Press writers contributing to this report included Gillian Flaccus in Loma Linda, Raquel Maria Dillon in San Bernardino County, Michael R. Blood, Andrew Dalton and Bob Jablon in Los Angeles, Amanda Kwan and Bob Seavey in Phoenix


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PASADENA >> The stepfather of one of two boys accused of threatening to kill teachers and students at South Pasadena High School said his child was non-violent and was a good student.
Vicke Bazerkanian, step-father of the 16-year-old linked to online threats against the school made his remarks outside a courtroom where the boy entered the equivalent of a not guilty plea to making criminal threats.
"Our son wasn't trying to kill the whole school," Bazerkanian said. "He had no intention of going to the school and actually harming the people he loved."
On Aug. 16, the South Pasadena teenagers threatened to kill another teen in a mass shooting, Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Lewis said in a statement.
Because the teens are being charged as juveniles, their names won't be released. The teens were arrested Monday on suspicion of criminal threats and conspiracy. They planned to kill three teachers and "as many people as possible" in an averted mass shooting at South Pasadena High School, South Pasadena Police Chief Arthur Miller said.
South Pasadena Unified School District notified police about the alleged mass shooting scheme on Aug. 14. Authorities conducted online surveillance via social media, obtained warrants and arrested the teens in their homes Monday — three days before the first day of school.
It was not immediately clear when the alleged mass shooting would happen, Miller said.
The teenagers mainly communicated through Skype, an online chatting and calling tool, Detective Bill Early said.


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Commercial, Military, Personal/Corporate, Products, Public Service
By Staff Writer | April 1, 2007
Send Feedback
With a backlog of $14.5 billion and a 50-percent jump in sales, Eurocopter faces the challenge of meeting delivery schedules without overheating its supply and production systems. That was the message new Eurocopter President and CEO Lutz Bertling brought to Heli-Expo. He cautioned against Eurocopter resting on its laurels as the dominant player in the civil helicopter market. "Feeling comfortable is the first step to losing."
The former CEO of Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH reported that Eurocopter booked 615 orders last year, versus 401 in 2005. It delivered 381 helicopters, vs. 334 in 2005. Turnover in 2006 was €3.8 billion ($5 billion), an 18-percent increase over 2005. Eurocopter's backlog at the end of 2006 amounted to €11 billion ($14.5 billion).
In addition to managing its spool-up of production, Bertling said customer support remains a challenge for Eurocopter. "We are number one in sales, but we are not number one in customer support," he said. "We intend to increase our level of customer support significantly in the coming year.


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Meinl Sonic Energy Natural Pan Drum
- Product code: HD1
- Diameter: 21,5" (54,61 cm)
- Tuning: D, A, A#, C, D, F, G, A
- Height: 10" (25,40 cm)
- Weight: 6090 g
- Material: Steel
- Production: Handmade
- Country of Origin: Columbia
- Accessories: Protective cover and Bag
Meinl Sonic Energy Natural Pan Drum · Handpan
Meinl Sonic Energy
The Meinl Sonic Energy range includes a considerable selection of gongs and musical instruments tuned to the planets, including tam tams, sound bars, tuning forks and bells. In addition to the instruments you will also find a variety of accessories such as carrying bags, Stands, sleeves, mallets and care sets. All instruments from the Sonic Energy collection are handmade masterpieces from the famous manufacturer Meinl, which serve esoteric purposes and are used mainly in meditation, sound massage, yoga and sound therapy. The instruments help to bring life into harmony with the cosmic universe. The gongs as well as the sound bars, tuning forks and some Tam Tams are handmade in a traditional European way and are "Made in Germany". They are exactly tuned to the frequency of the moon, the sun and the planets. In production, Meinl reverts to the calculations of the Swiss mathematician and musicologist Hans Cousto, who in 1978 discovered the natural law of the cosmic octave. For the determination of the frequency, calculations are made on the basis of rotation and rotation times of the planets. For each tone, the corresponding frequency of the celestial body is reproduced to provide a special effect. Altogether the Sonic Energy instruments are tuned to 16 different frequencies: from the Sun, Earth and Moon, Neptune and Saturn to the Platonic Year and the Synodic Day.
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Appalachian ranked 30th in Best Values in Public Colleges list
BOONE—Appalachian State University has been ranked as one of the top 100 Best Values in Public Colleges by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine for 2014. The report features schools that deliver a quality education at an affordable price.
Appalachian ranked No. 30 in the top 100 colleges for its cost to in-state students. Last year the university was ranked No. 36.
Kiplinger's annual rankings consider an institution's four-year graduation rate, low average student debt at graduation, financial aid and low sticker price, among other factors.
Appalachian's cost for an in-state student was $14,322, based on 2013 data compiled by Peterson's Undergraduate Database. The university's four-year graduation rate was 40 percent. Average debt at graduation was listed as $20,016.
Also on the best value list from North Carolina are UNC Chapel Hill (No. 1), N.C. State University (No. 16), UNC School of the Arts (No. 24), UNC Wilmington (No. 28) and UNC Asheville (No. 58).
The full list of schools is available at http://kiplinger.com/links/college.


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Please provide details of where you would refer a complaint that could not be dealt with in house.
All Regulated Firms are required to utilize an RICS approved redress provider. Currently we are working to identify and approve redress providers in the America's world region. If you could provide the details of this redress provider then we will contact them to ensure they are suitable.


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America I AM
America I AM: The African American Imprint
January 15 – May 3, 2009
In the Feature Exhibition Gallery
The National Constitution Center hosted the world debut of America I AM: The African American Imprint, celebrating 400 years of African American contributions to this country. The exhibition presents a historical continuum of pivotal moments in courage, conviction, and creativity that solidifies the undeniable imprint of African Americans across the nation and around the world.
Featuring more than 300 artifacts culled from every period of U.S. history, the exhibition will include objects, texts, religion, music, narration, and media. Among the poignant pieces are the doors to the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana that enslaved Africans passed through to board ships to the "New World" (Doors of No Return); Alex Haley's typewriter used to write Roots; a first edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin; personal effects of Malcolm X; the door key and stool from the Birmingham jail cell that held Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he authored his infamous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"; and many other important items from the beginnings of our nation through contemporary popular culture today. An interactive component of the exhibition allows visitors to leave their own video "imprints," and this collection will grow throughout the life of the exhibition to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history.


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One day it was "world's best practice", the next it was time to consider an "alternative method".
The operator of the Tasmania Mine at Beaconsfield has quietly stopped dumping its toxic waste back into the historic gold mine but neither the operator nor the state regulators is willing to explain the reasons for the backflip.
BusinessDay reported in August opposition to a proposal by the operator BCD Resources to dump 300,000 tonnes of tailings – mining leftovers thick with arsenic, cyanide and other toxins – straight back into the underground mine itself.
At the time, BCD chief executive Peter Thompson, West Tamar mayor Barry Easther, Tasmania EPA and the state department, Mineral Resources Tasmania, all denied there was a risk of poisonous seepage into the water table as a result of the waste.
The plan was "world's best practice", said Thompson. EPA director Alex Schaap agreed with Thompson's assessment and the company's waste proposals.
Fine print
Yet buried in the small print in the latest BCD quarterly release is this: "Removal of tailings from the plastic-lined tailing dam 2 by hydromining (water cannon and suction pumps) has been suspended after the removal of 20 per cent of its contents as this technique was neither effective nor efficient. Alternative, lower cost means for closure of tails dam 2 are under investigation".
The company has dumped one-fifth of its waste from its main tailings dam back down the mine but stopped, with little explanation. Contacted last week, BCD chief financial officer Rochelle Greenwood declined to elaborate on the decision.
Peter Thompson was unavailable for comment as he had left the company. The EPA's Alex Schaap issued this statement through a spokeswoman:
"I am considering a proposal from the company for an alternative method of management of tailings at the Beaconsfield site."
There is no news as to whether the decision to stop dumping the tailings was due to safety reasons, environmental reasons, technical reasons or cost reasons – a mixture of these – or even intervention by other parties.
Tragic past
This Beaconsfield gold mine is no stranger to controversy. Its collapse on Anzac Day in 2005 killed miner Larry Knight and buried two others underground, before a dramatic rescue.
Both before and after that there had been rancorous controversy and a slather of legal actions over the ownership and corporate activity of the mine. Even today, a nine-year battle over a Freedom of Information request relating to the abandoned investigation of the corporate collapse by the regulators remains unresolved.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is still refusing to hand over FOI documents despite orders from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). It still denies a cover-up.
The dispute over the tailings then, and the latest mysterious volte-face, is darkly befitting of the history of the Tasmania Mine.
The practice of pumping benign tailings underground to backfill mining stopes is common practice in Australia – as BCD had claimed – and it was used previously at the mine itself. But one mining expert told BusinessDay tailings had "never before been used in this country to fill up all the non-stope mine openings (such as ventilation shafts, the main access decline, main levels, drives, cross cuts etc) in an underground mine and therefore resulted in the sterilisation of significant JORC-standard mineral resources".
Waterlogged slimes
BCD had claimed, he said, that filling up all the mine openings with toxic tailings would not prevent the mine being reopened. Thompson had told BusinessDay that it would be easy to drill back through the tailings in all the openings even if the slimes were waterlogged.
Critics of the plan disagreed, citing not only environmental risks to the water table but also "economic vandalism" in sterilising a demonstrated gold resource. There is still plenty of gold in this mine, although costly and technically difficult to extract.
The company had declined to discuss the size of the remaining gold resources. It did not dispute the calculation (based on its own announcements before it began to play down the size of the resource this year) that remaining resources were at least 275,000 ounces of gold, worth over $420 million in the ground at the current gold price of about $1530 an ounce
Critics of the tailings proposal also claimed that BCD was seeking to obtain a short-term financial benefit, of the order of $2 million to $3 million, related to environmental bonds. The Tasmanian government, via its department, Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT), and its regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have approved the BCD proposal.


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Pheunix web designing company in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh based web design firm & company, web development solutions agency & e-commerce web site design entity which are passionate about creating innovative web design solutions. We offer Web Design Services in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh for the following areas:
E-Commerce Products Web Design, Flash Web Design, Website Design, Ecommerce Web Design, Embassy & Consulates Web Design, Fashion Industry Web Design, Telecom Web Design, Foods & Hotels Website Designing, Manufacturers Web Design, Trading website Design Online printing Web Design.
Our greatest strength in web design is in its high quality visualization interface design for the web. Pheunix web design firm in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh has several highly qualified graphic designers with years of experience developing website interfaces. It has always tried to steer clear of a 'house style', rather providing designs that fit with a client's identity and that are appropriate for their sector.
Pheunix Portal development services in India have executed some of the top of the line portals that incorporate the latest and most interactive options to attract users to the site. From running theme-based portals to general-interest ones, our team of offshore portal design professionals have achieved great success in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh.
Pheunix's web portal designers in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh draw heavily upon our pre-Internet IT experience to perform professional systems analysis, design, programming, testing, and documentation services.
We provide both kinds of web portals development that allows companies to deploy customer, consumer or community Internet sites to provide a centralized full-service starting point that can eventually be customized in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh.
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Our web designing services consist of everything from a common website designing to corporate or e-commerce web designing to the most complex Custom Web page designing, Psd To Xhtml, Table less Div Based Pages, Web 2.0, production Based Designs and Website Redesigning. Apart from being user friendly, all websites are W3C validated, easy to load and extremely functional.
Pheunix is leading web designing company in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh, offering professional website design service to businesses. The efficaciousness of our website design services is sure to build a brand image of your company in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh. As a reputed web site design company, we believe in offering the most affordable website designing services to our esteemed clients in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh. Our website designing services not only consist of simple webpage design but also highly fashionable web design flash and much more. Our team of highly qualified and expert professionals has the capability to complete any kind of project efficiently within the stipulated time.
With experience of over six years, we have been able to build the reputation of being an eminent web design company India at Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh. We offer a wide range of services for web design outsourcing in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh, including web development. We have also offshore programmers with unmatched skills and expertise. We provide complete web design and technology solutions as we connect with clients World-wide. Sound, cost-effective and appealing web designs is only one service that Designers-Den provides to clients all across the globe.
We pheunix Technologies at Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh offers web site design and website development services at very reasonable rates. We build exclusive custom website taking all our clients requirements into consideration. We offer an attractive, intuitive interface with a logical and easy to use layout. Our sites are easy to navigate and hence attract visitors to browse extensively and perhaps become customer. We have a track record of successful project management in outsourcing projects Young and professional team with history of quick turnaround in ever-changing environment complete web domain knowledge to make your online business a success Methodology which outshines competitors in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh.
Website Development in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh
We Pheunix in India at Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh have the experience of having worked with global majors in ecommerce business and have helped them streamline their business through effective ecommerce software product development services. We make sure that our solutions are customized to meet the supporting requirements of your online business.
As a Website development company in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh, every day we are searching for latest technologies so that we can promote your website on search engines to keep it on the top by following the current search engine norms. Pheunix Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh as a web promoter we use the words, graphics or animation what ever is needed and Internet Technologies in such a way so that you get best result and succeed in your business.
Whatever the need, the web application development team in Lucknow, Uttar-Pradesh is fully geared to build the application that will meet your business requirement and provide exceptional support and understanding of the ground level practicalities of how you work and what you need.
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With the surprise election of Pope Francis, following the stunning and completely unexpected abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, our prayers have been answered.
The Church, the family of God to whom Jesus promised he would always be present through a representative, beginning with St. Peter, who would lovingly rule the children of his flock — guiding them to holiness, teaching them and at times correcting them — is rejoicing.
Catholics affectionately call this representative Papa or Pope because we love and trust him to guide us in this life and show us the way to the heavenly Father. That is why we rejoice madly when that white fumata appears — no matter who the particular man is. In Pope Francis, we rejoice. We now have a new Holy Father. We are orphans no more!
The Church, which by its very essence was born universal, is now truly global — not only by the communion of the saints, but also thanks to new technologies that enable the word of God to be communicated in virtually any place, in any part of the world, at relatively low cost. And now, for the first time since early Christianity, we have a pope who is not only not from Europe, but also from another hemisphere that contains 40% of the world's Catholic faithful.
At first glance, there are several delightful characteristics about Pope Francis that undoubtedly will be a blessing to the Church.
Firstly, his intellect. He has degrees in philosophy, theology and chemistry. He has taught literature and psychology. Has any other pope in history arrived with such a broad academic résumé to the Chair of Peter?
Secondly, the respect he has received from his fellow Jesuits, who elected him superior of the Jesuit Province of Argentina. It is rare for a Jesuit to become not only an archbishop, much less a cardinal, and it's completely unprecedented for a member of the Society of Jesus to be the supreme pontiff.
Lastly, and perhaps most impressive, is his evident humility, as shown not only in his choice of pontifical name, but by his personal poverty and pastoral work in Argentina.
Pastorally, he has shown a preferential option for the poor. Indeed, one small example is how much time he spends hearing confession and giving spiritual guidance — not only to the elite, but also to the poor. They all know him simply as Father Jorge.
He has been heroically loyal to the Church's teaching on marriage and the right to life. And he has expressed those views strongly to the government.
On marriage, he has said: "Let's not be naïve; we're not talking about a simple political battle. It is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but, rather, a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."
He has also said: "At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our hearts."
All of this puts Pope Francis in line among the most remarkable succession of popes in the modern history of the Church. From Pope Pius XII up to Blessed John Paul II, all the popes in between have had their causes for canonization officially opened. And who would bet against an eventual cause for Benedict XVI when he leaves this valley of tears for a better place?
This remarkable succession of popes is a cause for hope. But we must also remain realistic about the Church's mission in this new millennium.
The Church's mission, simply put, is to help as many people on earth to get to heaven as possible before the world is shut down and Jesus comes in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Two words are key to fulfilling the Church's mission: evangelization and holiness.
However, the Church is in the world — though not of the world — and joyfully plays its role in the charitable service of mankind and all races, all of whom are seen as children of God, regardless of their religious beliefs.
How appropriate that Pope Francis has chosen St. Francis of Assisi as his patron of his pontificate.
What can we expect from this pontificate?
Above all, continuity. I suspect we'll see a continuation from him with the two special popes who proceeded him in finally and forever putting into global practice the primary message of the Second Vatican Council that we are celebrating in this Year of Faith.
That message is the joyful universal call to holiness, not just for clergy or consecrated religious, but for every baptized Christian. And a holiness that is evangelical — in both words and deed — from men and women whose hearts have burned within them when they encountered the risen Christ.
Indeed, we are orphans no more. Pope Francis, lead your children in holiness and apostolic zeal!
Opus Dei Father C.J. McCloskey III is a research fellow of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington.


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Housing Resources during Treatment
I live 100 miles from the radiation facility where I am going to be treated. Are there resources to help me with cost or housing or something?
Tracy Lautenbach MSW, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker at Penn Medicine, responds:
Check with the American Cancer Society at www.cancer .org or 1-800-ACS-2354 to inquire about a Hope Lodge in the area to where you are seeing treatment.
Also, Joe's House is a good resource to locate local lodging resources. Host for Hospitals may also have a program in the area. This is a wonderful organization that lodges patients in "host homes." Do contact the oncology social worker in the radiation facility that can assist you with resources for lodging along with coordination and arrangements.
This question and answer was part of the OncoLink Brown Bag Chat Series. View the entire Head and Neck Cancer Q&A Webchat transcript.


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This page has been permanently moved. Please
CLICK HERE to be redirected.
Thanks, Craig.
The first set of options relates to how the log writer background process writes. The options are either wait or nowait. As you can guess the default is wait, which is a synchronous write, that is, the log writer will effectively wait for the IO call to complete before issuing another IO call. As with accessing Oracle memory structure serially, synchronous writes can become a performance issue.
The other option relates to batching redo entries before the log writer physically issues the write. The options are immediate and batch. As you can guess, the default is immediate, which means as soon as the commit is issued, the log writer issues the write (either in wait or nowait mode).
As you would expect, the default mode is wait and immediate. And we would expect the fastest way to complete a commit would be a nowait (i.e., asynchronous) batch write. This is what I checked in my experiments far below.
In both Oracle 10g and 11g, the command line commit options both work. If you run the below command in either Oracle 10g or 11g, the results will look the same. In my experiments, I used the command line options.
If this sounds convoluted, it is a little. Especially in 10g where both parameters were set using a single entry, like "wait,immediate". So in Oracle 11g, the commit_write was replaced with both the commit_logging and the commit_wait parameters. The good news is, your 10g based applications will still functionally work after you upgrade to 11g, except they commit write facility will not technically be working! While issuing these statements in 11g still results in a statement processed, if you look at the alert log file, you'll see something like this:
SQL> update op_test set object_name='OraPub training rocks!' where object_id=100;
1 row updated.
SQL> commit write immediate nowait;
Commit complete.
SQL> update op_test set object_name='OraPub training rocks!' where object_id=100;
1 row updated.
SQL> commit write batch nowait;
Commit complete.
COMMIT_WRITE is deprecated,use COMMIT_LOGGING and COMMIT_WAIT instead.
So in 11g, there are two new parameters commit_logging and commit_wait instead of a single commit_write parameter. And you can still alter session, alter system, and change these instance parameters. For example:
While I issued the above commands, this is what occurred in the alert.log file.
SQL> show parameter commit_wait
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
commit_wait string WAIT
SQL> show parameter commit_logging
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
commit_logging string IMMEDIATE
SQL> alter system set commit_wait=nowait;
System altered.
SQL> alter system set commit_logging=batch;
System altered.
SQL> show parameter commit_wait
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
commit_wait string NOWAIT
SQL> show parameter commit_logging
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
commit_logging string BATCH
If you have been using the instance parameter commit_write="batch,nowait" in 10g, that should be replaced with the commit_logging=immediate and the commit_wait=nowait parameters.
[oracle@fourcore trace]$ pwd
[oracle@fourcore trace]$ tail -f alert_prod18.log
Mon Feb 20 09:58:43 2012
ALTER SYSTEM SET commit_wait='NOWAIT' SCOPE=MEMORY;
Mon Feb 20 09:58:54 2012
ALTER SYSTEM SET commit_logging='BATCH' SCOPE=MEMORY;
Why use the commit write facility
The log file sync wait event is posted by a server process (the only time I've seen it) after it has issued a commit, is not consuming CPU, and is waiting for the OK to continue processing the commit.
It's important to understand that when a server process commits, both the server process and the log writer engage in a very serial and very coordinated/controlled steps to ensure the committed data properly resides on an on-line redo log. Therefore, for every commit, CPU must be consumed, IO writing must occur, and serialization must be controlled. This allows for either a CPU, IO, or process CPU serialization issue (think: single core busy while other cores are not). This is one of the reasons why DBAs have trouble diagnosing and solving log file sync issues.
I'd say that 99% of the log file sync issues are the result of a commit occurring after each DML statement. For an extreme example, think of an insert and commit together in a plsql loop. As I researched and wrote about in my blog entries (4 in total) about log file sync and commit times, simply batching or grouping the DML before a commit (even a batch of two!) makes a massive performance difference.
This is why when you see a log file sync issue think application code first. Look for a situation where there is a commit (implicit or explicit) following a DML statement.
There are usually a number of options to resolve this, but one way is to cheat! Let Oracle do the batching of commits instead of the application. Or let Oracle ease up on the serialization control a bit. This is what the commit write facility allows us to do! The batch (vs immediate) allows Oracle to batch redo activity so it doesn't have to issue a write immediately after a commit. (Though it appears, based on the CPU bottleneck experiment below, the application change strategy has a greater affect.) And the nowait (vs wait) options allows for an async write, which immediate returns an "OK, your committed data is safely on an on-line redo log" when it may not quite be on disk yet and if there was a failure you may loose that data.
Each sample was 60 or 90 seconds and 30 or 32 were collected for each load and commit write options. This means over 240 samples where collected.
You can download the 8.5MB experimental pack HERE, which includes all the scripts, notes, and results in both PDF and Mathematica notebook format. There is much more interesting data, charts, and comments available than I have posted.
Remember, while I mention and link to specific scripts below, they are all included in the experimental pack zip file.
Here's a common situation: According to the users, the entire application is unacceptably slow. The top wait event is log file sync. During daytime processing, there is a clear OS CPU bottleneck and during the evening and nighttime processing there is a clear IO bottleneck.
Interesting, when the top wait event is log file sync there can be either a CPU or an IO bottleneck. As the experiments below will clearly demonstrate, we need to focus on minimizing time; both CPU consumption time and wait time. Focusing on one can lead to un-optimal results.
Because with log file sync the system can be constrained by either a CPU or IO bottleneck, I ran the experiment for both loads.
Experimental Setup
Simulating five concurrent sessions, there is a load script (dml1.sql (CPU) or dml2.sql (IO) which is run in the background five times. These two short plsql scripts are very different and you may want to quickly review them. Here is the actual dml2.sql script:
Here is how I used the dml2.sql script to place a log file sync / IO write load on the system using the nowait/batch option.
-- This is the dml2.sql SQL
def startv=&1
def endv=&2
def wait=&3
def batch=&4
def opt='write &wait &batch';
update op_test
set object_name='kldfkjldfkjdfkjdfakl;dakldkldkldsfakjldfkjldfadkldakldfksljdfkjldfskjldfsk;l'
where object_id=trunc(dbms_random.value(&startv,&endv));
commit &opt;
end loop;
In another session I collect the performance data. It's pretty straightforward: I gather the initial performance data, sleep x seconds, gather the final data, compute the differences, store the differences (op_results table), and repeat 30 or more times. The script is a little long to paste, but CLICK HERE and you can view it.
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 1 5000 $wait $batch &
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 5500 10000 $wait $batch &
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 10500 15000 $wait $batch &
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 15500 20000 $wait $batch &
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 20500 25000 $wait $batch &
sqlplus tester/jester @./dml2.sql 25500 30000 $wait $batch &
The experiment was run using Oracle 11.2 on a Dell single CPU 4 core server running Linux version 2.6.18-164.el5PAE (firstname.lastname@example.com) (gcc version 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-46)).
Now let's take a look at the actual results!
Experimental Results: CPU Bottleneck
First I need to mention that ALL the results and lots of notes reside in the Mathematica Notebook. You can view the 3.2MB PDF file here. For the CPU bottleneck experiment the load was placed on the system using the dml1.sql script.
From a broad perspective, here are the results:
Setting is the commit write setting.
Commit/sec is the average workload expressed in commits.
CPU % is the average OS CPU utilization percentage.
log file sync Wait Time % is the average log file sync wait time when compared to all the other non-idle wait time.
log file par write Wait Time % is the average log file parallel write wait time when compared to all the other non-idle wait time.
From a raw "did performance get better" perspective, the results are disastrous. Specifically, the workload rate only slightly increased and our users would probably not notice (or not tell us) a difference. But from a performance analysis perspective, there are deep Oracle performance analysis insights to be gleaned!
The good news is we essentially removed the log file sync wait time by using the "nowait" option. While we did very effectively alter the wait time situation (below: Avg Wt), wait time makes up a very small portion of the total time (below: Avg Rt) and so nearly eliminating the wait time did not improve the performance situation much. To better understand this, we need to look at the performance situation from a different perspective.
Advanced Analysis class, the last chapter in my Oracle Performance Firefighting book, conference presentations, white paper, and in my blog postings. Let me explain the strange looking columns from the above table.
Avg L is the workload, which in queuing theory is represented by the greek letter lambda, hence L.
Avg CPUt is the CPU time per each commit. This is an approximation and is derived as the total instance CPU time divided by the total commits that occurred over the sample period, which in this case is 90 seconds. The more singular the bottleneck, the less approximate the number becomes. This is also called the service time.
Avg Wt is the non-idle wait time per commit. This is an approximation and is derived as the total instance non-idle wait time divided by the total commits that occurred over the sample period, which in this case is 90 seconds. The more singular the bottleneck, the less approximate the number becomes. This is also called the queue time.
Avg Rt is the response time, which is simply the sum of CPUt plus the Wt time or queuing theory terms, service time plus queue time. Keep in mind, response time is the time to process a single unit of work, which in this case is a commit. The elapsed time is the time it takes to run a SQL statement, process a group of SQL statements, run a process, etc... many pieces of work.
If you look at the above table closely, you'll notice the CPU time per commit is a massive part of the response time (CPU + wait time) AND the commit write options did not change the CPU time component much. Regardless of the workload intensity, async IO, or batching the commits, it still took pretty much the same amount of CPU. Since CPU consumption is what drives this response time, our small CPU consumption drop didn't do much for performance. Yes, statistically the CPU decreased but not enough to make a real business difference.
We did see wait time percentage improvements (reduction) when comparing immediate to batch. If you look closely at the table above there is about a 2% wait time drop when changing from the default of wait immediate to wait batch, but the massive percentage drop occurred when going from nowait immediate to nowait batch. Because the wait time is so low, the 85% wait time reduction (1.3 to 0.2) doesn't amount to much. However, if wait time wait was the majority of the response time, it would have indeed made a difference!
Going deeper...
While not occuring in this particular experiment, it's important to understand that even a 5% drop in the service time (i.e., CPU consumption per unit of work) can make a significant performance improvement. This is especially true when the system is operating deep in the "elbow" of the response time curve. A drop in the service time (CPU time per unit of work) shifts the response time curve down and to the right. As a result of the response time curve shift, a 5% drop in service time can result in a much larger drop in the response time. And since elapsed time (i.e., the time to run a SQL/process/etc) is equal to the amount of work to be processed multiplied by the response time (time/work), a small drop in the service time can results in a much larger proportional drop in the elapsed time! I blogged about this in my Anticipating SQL Elapsed Times posting.
While this is out of scope for this posting, if you want to watch the response time curve change (before you eyes) when the service time decreases, download RT Explore interactive Mathematica tool. It's pretty cool.
What does this mean in real production system?
- Batch DML to reduce the likelihood of accumulating harmful log file sync time in the first lpace. (see blog post here).
- Using the commit write facility can dramatically reduce log file sync wait time, which can yield similar dramatic performance improvements.
- If the log file sync time is a small part of response time, don't expect a large performance improvement by reducing or even eliminating it. This is what occurred in this experiment.
Going deeper...
- Batch DML to reduce the likelihood of accumulating harmful log file sync time in the first place. (see blog post here).
- Using the commit write facility can dramatically reduce log file sync wait time, which can yield similar dramatic performance improvements. Which clearly occurred in this experiment.
- If the log file sync time is a large part of response time, expect a large response time decrease, a large workload increase, or a mix of the two. In this experiment we saw both a large response time decrease and a large workload increase.
1. Batch DML to reduce the likelihood of accumulating harmful log file sync time.
2. If the top wait event is log file sync and its wait time is a significant part of the total time (CPU + wait time), then using the commit write facility can yield impressive performance gains measured by both a decrease in response time and an increase in workload (i.e., arrival rate).
3. The 10g commit_write instance parameter has been replaced in 11g with both the commit_logging and the commit_wait parameters. The parameters can be altered in the instance parameter file or by issuing an alter session or alter system. And finally, the commit command line options remain the same.
4. Never use the commit write facility were loosing committed data is not acceptable. And always get this in writing! (or make sure your resume is updated)
Thanks for reading!


text:
Nahanni National Park Reserve, Canada, World Heritage site
Nahanni National Park contains several canyons with fast-moving rapids, as well as Virginia Falls, known as Nailicho in the local Dene language, a large waterfall more than twice the height of the Niagara Falls. One of the key features of this park is the South Nahanni River. Originating as a small stream in the Mackenzie Mountains, it grows dramatically over the course of the next 563 km, hurtling through the deep mountain canyons, some over 1,200m deep, and scenic valleys of the park before it calms and meets with the Liard River. Along the path of the river, some of the notable landmarks in the park are the Rabbitkettle hot springs, and caves such as Grotte Valerie, which contains dozens of skeletons of Dall's sheep (Ovis dalli).
Created in 1976, Nahanni National Park Reserve protects a representative sample of the Mackenzie Mountains Natural Region. The park was designated among the twelve first UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1978.
Nahanni is cooperatively managed by Parks Canada and the Dehcho First Nations. Parks Canada is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for protecting and presenting nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage and fostering public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure the ecological and commemorative integrity of these places for present and future generations. Founded in 1911, Parks Canada is the world's first national parks service and is a global leader in conservation.
The Dehcho First Nations is the organization that represents the interests of the local Dene & Métis communities. The vision of the Dehcho First Nations is to maintain "Strong, proud, happy people through self-government and sustainable economic development while maintaining the integrity of the land and Dene/Metis traditions".
View photos of the World Heritage site
Size and Location
Nahanni National Park Reserve is located in the southwestern corner of the Canadian Northwest Territories, approximately 500 km west of the city of Yellowknife. The park is most commonly accessed by chartered floatplane. The World Heritage site covers an area of approximately 476,560 ha.
Flora and Fauna
Rivers, canyons, alpine tundra and boreal forests create the scenery in Nahanni National Park Reserve. Many wildlife species live in the park, including wolf (Canis lupus), grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), moose (Alces alces), beaver (Castor canadensis) and many species of birds and fish.
Nahanni is home to seven species at risk in Canada, including wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), woodland caribou – Northern Mountain population (Rangifer tarandus), olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi), common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus), yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis), and short-eared owl (Asio flammeus). Species on the IUCN Redlist with status higher than Least Concern include 'American bison' (includes wood bison and plains bison; Near Threatened), olive-sided flycatcher (Near Threatened), and rusty blackbird (Vulnerable).
The woodland caribou is a species of great cultural significance to the Aboriginal people of the Dehcho. Several factors, including habitat loss and alteration, predation, and hunting and disturbance by humans may have contributed to the decline of the woodland caribou in Canada. Due to their importance to local communities around the park, several research initiatives have occurred over the past 15 years to ensure the long-term health of local woodland caribou herds.
The park also includes the only known locations of a rare plant species, the Nahanni Aster (Symphyotrichum nahanniense), which is closely associated with mineral springs.
The re-establishment of a winter road to a lead-zinc mine adjacent to Nahanni National Park Reserve has the potential to cause negative environmental impacts to the land, waters & wildlife within the park.
Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) is a species of special interest within Nahanni National Park Reserve. This fish is sensitive to impacts of industrial development, and is scheduled for assessment by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
Dealing with the threats
Park staff and Dehcho First Nation representatives have been working with the mining company through a technical team, providing feedback on mitigation of environmental impacts of the new winter road. Parks Canada is also actively participating in the environmental assessment and regulatory permitting process to ensure protection of the park environment.
To ensure adequate protection for the Bull trout, a research program in cooperation with Fisheries and Oceans Canada is underway, which includes the use of acoustic tags and receivers to show movements of fish.
Visitor experience
Parks Canada is committed to make every national park a treasured place and a living legacy for all Canadians, connecting hearts and minds to a stronger, deeper understanding of the very essence of Canada. Visitors can experience the wonders of Nahanni by camping, fishing, canoeing and hiking. Nahanni National Park Reserve has the reputation as Canada's premier wilderness river national park. Several rafting, canoeing and kayaking trip options are available for a variety of skill levels, lasting from eight days to three weeks, on which visitors can experience true Canadian wilderness.
Air charters are also available for flight-seeing trips over the park to Virginia Falls (Nailicho).


text:
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I am a native Greek- Athenian college educated who is teaching modern Greek in New York for the past 10 years with many satisfied and happy students and many recommendations. I use the same method and books as at the Athens Centre for Greek Studies which is an established and efficient method of teaching with great results. All levels and all ages are welcome from beginners to advanced students.
Both my husband I have been taking lessons in Greek from Spiros for several years. My husband is Greek-American, but did not learn the language growing up, and we travel to Greece fairly often to visit relatives. We had taken Greek lessons years ago with mixed results. That teacher's rote drills of grammar made for very slow and tedious progress. In contrast, when we started taking lessons again with Spiros after many years, we began to learn to converse immediately. We certainly learned grammar from textbooks, but also honed our skills by putting our lessons into ...
About Spiros
Many years of teaching experience and many happy and satisfied students, some of them are now professional musicians.
5 personal cds.
Award for best Rock album in Greece.
Conservatory trained.
Music Theory-Harmony degree from the Athens Conservatory
(Athens -Greece)
Degree in Musicology from Stockholm`s (Sweden) University.
Regular appearances at BBKING`s in NYC since Jan. 2006
and at many other major NYC venues.
Music Therapy sessions while learning how to play the tunes that you love.
My playing is influenced by the British masters
Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour,
and American guitarists Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan,B.B.King,Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton and many others.
Some of my students come from the corporate world and use my lessons as music therapy.
Some of m
All of my students love my lessons and benefit greatly from them
in so many ways.
*** Lesson Details ***
I customize the lessons to fit the level of proficiency of my students,and to fit to their schedule of practicing.
*** Studio Equipment ***
Guitars,Bass,Amps,recording equipment
*** Specialties ***
Guitar,Bass,& Music Theory teacher.
· Greek · In home
· Guitar · In studio
Not only did I learn how to play, he actually thought me how to read music and work on my vocals.
I couldn't be happier 😃.
I absolutely recommend to take him as your teacher, you will not regret it!
· Greek · In studio
Spiros S.
Spiros S.
About Jenni G.Close
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I have taught Classical and Koine Greek to students of all ages and levels. I can help you master Ancient Greek for your studies or your own personal interests. I can help you read Ancient Greek clearly and comprehensibly. I am currently only providing Ancient Greek lessons, not Modern Greek
About Jenni
I also have familiarity with spoken Latin and Ancient Greek, and I teach all of my professional courses in a 100% immersion setting. My passion is to show every interested student that they have the capability to master these languages.
With my help, the complicated aspects of these languages will become clear to you, as I help my students learn tools and strategies that they will keep with them in the classroom and out – all in a fun and fr
With specifically tailored instruction, either as a supplement to current courses or an education ab initio (i.e. from the beginning), I will work with you to help you access the beautiful literature, history and music of the languages of the Ancient World.
· Latin · Online
· Hebrew · Online
· Latin · Online
Jenni G.
Jenni G.
About Jonathan H.Close
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I studied Ancient Greek at Cambridge University and have taught students of all ages and abilities since.
About Jonathan
· Latin · Online
· Latin · In studio
· Latin · Online
Jonathan H.
Jonathan H.
About Pantelis P.Close
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You can learn Greek language using my new online teaching method of Ellinognosia, a unique curriculum going step by step learning while being fun. Using technology you can have more structured learning opportunities online 24/7 such as videos, assessments, tests, vocabulary training, exercises and grammar
About Pantelis
• Awarded by National Youth Leadership "Certificate of Nomination as a Foreign & World Language Teacher" Year 2014- 2015
• Master's Degree for 'School Leadership
• Certified "Superior" level by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL 10/2013)
• Certified examiner for "Ellinomatheia" Greek TOEFL,
• Bachelor's Degree in Journalism
• Bachelor's Degree in Education
• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering
Socrates Academy Charter School Matthews NC Greek Language and
Math Teacher
Assistant Director in Elementary school in Greece
Working experience at e-learning education 5 years
Language Instructor at DLS, Arlington VA
Teaching experience in Elementary public schools 14 years in
· Greek · Online
· Greek · Online
· Greek · Online
Pantelis P.
Pantelis P.
About Molly C.Close
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I tutor Ancient Greek to students of all age levels.
About Molly
I also teach German! We will listen to current music, read articles, and practice grammar while learning to read, write, speak and listen to German! It's a fun course developed in order to increases students practical skills.
· German · Online
· German · Online
· Latin · Online
Molly C.
Molly C.
About Marrea G.Close
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I am teaching at Greek high schools and primaries for more than ten years.
About Marrea
Marrea G.
Marrea G.
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By taking a positive approach to tasks and understanding the value you provide, you will be able to complete work in a more effective and successful manner. This session will allow you to assess your own capabilities, overcome inhibitions, understand your assets, and put your skills and experience to use in the best possible way.
Suitable for: All experienced professionals


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NOV can help keeping your operations going as well as developing and growing the subsea infrastructure. Our subsea pig launchers as well as tracking system will help operators work safely even with multiple pigs in the pipe system. When operational needs change and fields develop and grow, we are also ready to support.
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Hot tapping is the act of creating a connection by drilling into the pipeline while in full operation.
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Marco Bicego
Marco Bicego Lunaria 18ct Yellow Gold Aquamarine Necklace CB1982 AQD
Marco Bicego Lunaria 18ct Yellow Gold Aquamarine Necklace, CB1982 AQD.
For luxury easy to wear jewellery, the Marco Bicego collections are the perfect place to start. The fascinating combination of Italian craftsmanship and creativity produces the signature designs that Marco Bicego is famous for. Bicego's designs are based upon three signature hallmarks including multi coloured gem stones, hand twisted coil and hand engraved 18ct gold, all which are showcased in his world renowned collections.
The Marco Bicego Lunaria collection was designed as a tribute to the Lunaria flower. The Latin name Lunaria means moon-like which reflects the collections notable and delicate petal shaped pieces of hand engraved gold. The Marco Bicego Lunaria 18ct Yellow Gold Aquamarine Necklace features beautiful faceted Aquamarine gemstone which alternate with 18ct yellow gold oval shaped accents, elegantly placed on an 18ct yellow gold chain. To complete the look, the piece is textured with the distinctive bulino finish. There are also matching items in the collection that can be found on our website.
The necklace comes beautifully packaged in a unique Marco Bicego presentation box with certificate of authenticity.
Dimensions: Length 100cm.
Brand Marco Bicego
Supplier Model No. CB1982 AQD
Size 100cm
Collection Lunaria
Gemstone Aquamarine
Coloured Gemstone
Colour Blue
Metal Gold
Yellow Gold
Packaging Marco Bicego
Gender Ladies
We offer Free UK next day delivery on orders over £50, in stock items will be sent the same day when ordered before 4pm. All our items are dispatched using a Royal Mail tracked signed for service.
We offer worldwide shipping, charges will be calculated in the checkout for deliveries outside of the UK.
For more information about our delivery services available, contact us on 01335 453453 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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'White Storm' Opens Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
Actors Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo and Nicholas Cheung attended the opening ceremony on Friday night.
HONG KONG (AP) — The White Storm, a crime thriller starring three of Hong Kong's most prolific actors, has opened the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.
Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo and Nicholas Cheung star in the action film about a clash between an undercover cop and a drug lord that director Benny Chan called his most defining work to date.
The three actors said at the opening ceremony of the festival Friday night that while the movie is filled with explosions and gunfights, some of the more memorable scenes showed the trio at their quietest and most emotional.
FILM REVIEW: Snowpiercer
"Although the three of us just sit together without moving, I found that scene very hard to shoot, hard to write, hard to act. The result was very heartwarming. I think that was one of the most memorable scenes for me," Lau said.
Cheung said the support of his co-actors was touching, especially after he performed a dangerous stunt jumping off a cliff.
"They both saw me do a really dangerous stunt, so after I jumped and came back, they immediately gave me a beer and a cigarette. ... I felt really touched because they cared and they were worried about me," Cheung said.
The film will be released Nov. 29 in China and Dec. 5 in Hong Kong.
The film festival runs until Nov. 19, when it closes with South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer, starring Tilda Swinton and Chris Evans.


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PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles aren't considering trading quarterback Nick Foles at all, a person familiar with the team's plans told The Associated Press on Friday.
Despite restructuring Michael Vick's contract and signing Dennis Dixon, the Eagles haven't been shopping Foles and it may take a significant offer to get them to even think about it.
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Eagles won't publicly discuss trade rumors, said new coach Chip Kelly and the front-office brass 'haven't discussed trading Foles with any team.'
Foles was selected in the third round with the 88th overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft. The Eagles 'absolutely' rate his value higher than that because of his success as a rookie, the person said.
Foles replaced an injured Vick last November and started six games, going 1-5 on a team that finished 4-12.
He completed 60.8 percent of his passes for 1,699 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions.
Dixon was signed on Thursday after spending last season on the practice squad of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.
The 28-year-old Dixon had a standout career at Oregon when Kelly was Ducks offensive coordinator. A fifth-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2008, Dixon has started three NFL games in five seasons. He has 402 yards passing and one touchdown on 35 for 49 passing. He's also rushed for 56 yards and one score.
When the season ended, it appeared Foles was poised to be the team's No. 1 quarterback going forward and Vick was heading elsewhere. But after Kelly was hired to replace Andy Reid, Foles' future in Philadelphia became questionable.
Foles is a classic, dropback passer who doesn't possess the speed or mobility to fit into the up-tempo offense Kelly successfully ran at Oregon. But Kelly insists there's more than one way to run his offense and he'll work his system around his personnel. After all, New England coach Bill Belichick borrowed from Kelly's offensive philosophy and Tom Brady is purely a pocket passer.
'I don't think what we do offensively can be said in one or two words that we're either this or we're this,' Kelly said. 'There is a skill set that Nick has that really excites me about him.'
The decision to keep Vick at a much lower salary seemed to indicate he'd be the front-runner, but there's no guarantee the Eagles won't trade or release him if Foles outperforms him this spring and summer.
Kelly plans to have Vick and Foles compete for the starting job in training camp. Dixon, signed off the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad this week, played for Kelly at Oregon and is quite familiar with his read-zone offense. But Dixon has started just three games in five seasons in the NFL and he isn't even a lock to make the roster.
'There is an open competition,' Kelly said. 'Michael knows that. Nick knows that. Nick knew every step of the way what we were doing. I wanted to make sure Nick was included in the plans, and I think both of them have outstanding qualities in terms of being quarterbacks in this league. Both of them have started in this league.'
Should the Eagles decide to deal Foles, the Kansas City Chiefs are considered a logical destination because Reid drafted and groomed him last year. The Chiefs also have uncertainty at the position and aren't likely going to keep Matt Cassell.
Though Reid was fired by the Eagles after 14 seasons, he left on great terms and still maintains an excellent relationship with team executives. The Chiefs have the No. 1 overall pick in a draft that doesn't appear to have a franchise quarterback worthy of that choice. They also have the 34th and 63rd picks in the second and third rounds.
Maybe that's what it would take to get the Eagles to think about moving Foles. For now, though, he's not going anywhere.
--- Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobMaaddi


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Spain's main squares
Outdoor cafés in the Plaza Mayor square in Salamanca
Plaza de la Corredera Square (Cordoba)
The Plaza Mayor is the "living room" for Spain's towns and cities. They are majestic, welcoming places, overflowing with life. When you discover them you will see that their special architecture sets them apart from other main squares to be found in Europe. They are a place for social encounters, but also a lively centre for cultural and commercial activity, Be warned: you won't want to leave.
They can be found in almost all towns and are one of Spain's most characteristic urban elements. The Plaza Mayor in each destination is not to be missed for many reasons. Some are real, grandiose, magnificent monuments; others are attractive in a more simple, traditional way. Nevertheless, you will always be surprised by their ornamental details, their colour, the beauty of their façades... and especially for the pleasant atmosphere to be found within.
Plazas mayores (main squares) began to appear in Spanish towns and cities at the end of the Middle Ages. Over the years they have given rise to squares in a range of different styles, from Renaissance to neo-Classical and Baroque. If you take a close look you will see that, in general, they have certain characteristics that distinguish them from other kinds of squares: a rectangular layout with semi-circular arches, uniform façades, colonnades, balustrades, galleries of balconies and medallion decorations.
The Plaza Mayor was traditionally the place where the Town Hall was located, and the centre of the town. It was the site for the market, for public justice, for the celebration of solemn events, festive occasions and all kinds of traditional spectacles: comedies, bullfights, tournaments, games... Nowadays you will see that they continue to be the "heart" of a town, the ideal place to get together, take a stroll, shop, eat or have a coffee.
In the square's colonnade and nearby streets you will find many traditional taverns and shops; there are often musicians and artists to be found amongst the columns; you will see too that this is the usual site for fairs and street markets; furthermore, it is often the setting for a host of cultural shows and events (concerts, drama, festivals, exhibitions...). The Plaza Mayor in Madrid or that of Salamanca are two of the most famous examples; nevertheless, there are others that are well worth discovering, such as those in Valladolid and Cáceres, La Corredera in Cordoba, Zocodover Square in Toledo, those in Chinchón, Almagro and Alcaraz, amongst many others. Don't miss the chance to discover Spain's main squares.
Have you found this information useful?
Don't miss
Consorcio de Turismo de Córdoba.


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The council voted 38-10 in favor of the plan for the school, slated for a site on 58th Avenue and 74th Street. Three council members were absent and did not vote.
The vote, which came at a stated council meeting, ends a long period of debate between the Department of Education (DOE) and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley who, along with Maspeth community leaders, have steadfastly called for the school to be locally zoned.
The DOE proposal approved by the city council does not include a local zoning provision, which would have guaranteed Maspeth teens enrollment priority.
"Let me clear, I want a school in Maspeth, but I cannot agree with this plan," Crowley said in a statement after voting against the proposal, which drew no votes from nine other council members, including Councilmen Tony Avella and Peter Vallone.
Crowley criticized the DOE for pushing through a plan that did not receive support from community leaders in Maspeth.
"As the plan stands now it does not have the approval of the community education council, it does not have the approval of the community board, [and] it does not have the approval of the local civic association," Crowley said.
Nonetheless Crowley- a vocal critic of the DOE's citing and zoning policies since taking office this year- thanked other city officials for working unusually long on the project. Twice the city council and the DOE agreed to extend the review process to allow for more community input on the project.
"While I do not agree with Deputy Mayor Walcott and the Dept of Education policies,"said Crowley, "I do thank Deputy Mayor Walcott for his and the department's focus over the past month on the Maspeth HS project."


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UNODC is mandated to assist Member States in their struggle against illicit drugs, crime and terrorism. In the Millennium Declaration, Member States also resolved to intensify efforts to fight transnational crime in all its dimensions, to redouble the efforts to implement the commitment to counter the world drug problem and to take concerted action against international terrorism.
The three pillars of the UNODC work programme are:
- Field-based technical cooperation projects to enhance the capacity of Member States to counteract illicit drugs, crime and terrorism
- Research and analytical work to increase knowledge and understanding of drugs and crime issues and expand the evidence base for policy and operational decisions
- Normative work to assist States in the ratification and implementation of the relevant international treaties, the development of domestic legislation on drugs, crime and terrorism, and the provision of secretariat and substantive services to the treaty-based and governing bodies
In pursuing its objectives, UNODC makes every effort to integrate and mainstream the gender perspective, particularly in its projects for the provision of alternative livelihoods, as well as those against human trafficking.
Menu of Services - an overview of the technical assistance provided by UNODC
The international community confronts a host of menaces, including illicit drugs, threats to security and health and new and emerging crimes. As Governments and other development partners increasingly look to UNODC for specialized assistance and expertise, the Office has expanded it scope and volume of work to provide comprehensive and coherent responses to these challenges.
UNODC has released a new Menu of Services published in October 2010, which provides a detailed overview of how clients can access targeted assistance or the range of publications and online tools available
UNODC can help in the following areas:
- Organized crime and trafficking UNODC helps Governments react to the instability and insecurity caused by crimes like the smuggling of illicit drugs, weapons, natural resources, counterfeit goods and human beings between countries and continents. It is also addressing emerging forms of crime, such as cybercrime, trafficking in cultural artefacts and environmental crime.
- Corruption Corruption is a major impediment to economic and social development, UNODC partners with the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, to loosen the grip that corrupt individuals have on government, national borders and trading channels. In recent years, the Office has stepped up its efforts to help States recover assets stolen by corrupt officials.
- Crime prevention and criminal justice reform UNODC promotes the use of training manuals and the adoption of codes of conduct and standards and norms that aim to guarantee that the accused, the guilty and the victims can all rely on a criminal justice system that is fair and grounded on human rights values. A strong rule of law will also instill confidence among citizens in the effectiveness of the courts and the humanness of the prisons.
- Drug abuse prevention and health Through educational campaigns and by basing its approach on scientific findings, UNODC tries to convince youth not to use illicit drugs, drug-dependent people to seek treatment and Governments to see drug use as a health problem, not a crime.
- Terrorism prevention On this issue, UNODC is moving towards a more programmatic approach that involves developing long-term, customized assistance to entities involved in investigating and adjudicating cases linked to terrorism.
For each of these five areas, the Menu of Services contains information about some of the publications and online tools it has developed and examples of the impact that the UNODC is having on the ground.
In the words of UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov: "If UNODC provides services that you require, or if you would like to support our work, please call on us. Working together to take action against drugs, crime, corruption and terrorism, we can increase security and improve the lives of individuals, families and communities all over the world."
At a time when these problems without borders are becoming widely recognized as threats to individuals and nations alike, requests for coordinated UNODC initiatives at the national, regional and transnational levels continue to grow. Our work enhances security and improves the everyday lives of people across the globe.


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About Us
It's hard to imagine Melbourne without Federation Square.
Home to major cultural attractions, world-class events, tourism experiences and an exceptional array of restaurants, bars and specialty stores, this modern piazza has become the heart and soul of Melbourne.
Fed Square is managed by Fed Square Pty Ltd, which was established by the Victorian Government in 1999. Fed Square Pty Ltd is responsible for the co-ordination and management of self-governing tenancies, programming and marketing of all the public spaces and all aspects of asset management and development.
Fed Square Pty Ltd has a board of directors and operates with a Chief Executive Officer and a small team of professionals with experience across a diverse range of areas including project management, finance, leasing, marketing, media and promotions, event management and operations.
Since opening in 2002, Fed Square has seen more than 100 million visits and has been named the 6th Best Public Square of the World in a list of 10 international icons including Naghsh-e Jahaan Square in Iran and Red Square (Krasnaya ploshchad) in Moscow, Russia.
Civic and Cultural Charter
Fed Square Pty Ltd operates under a Constitution and a Civic and Cultural Charter that was jointly developed and agreed by the State Government of Victorian and Melbourne City Council at the outset of the project.
The Civic and Cultural Charter recognises Melbourne's pre-eminence as a centre for creativity and innovation, its diverse and successful arts and cultural festivals, its cultural diversity, the popularity and beauty of its gardens and river and the desirability for a new focal point for contemporary cultural and civic activities.
In line with the Charter, Fed Square Pty Ltd ensures that these themes and strengths find expression in Fed Square's management philosophy, marketing, programmed events and activities, and hiring and leasing activities, including the presentation and market positioning of its commercial spaces.
Customer Service Excellence Program
Our Service Goal
Fed Square's service goal is to be widely recognised for providing exceptional seamless customer service that will inspire visitors, customers and clients to return time and time again.
Our Service Commitments
- Providing consistent service and value that customers and visitors can rely on
- Ensuring that all we do – we do with pride
- Establishing a tradition of excellence as ambassadors for Victoria
Our Service Excellence Standards
- Welcoming
- Helpful
- Respectful
- Accountable


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I saw the TV news about Combretastatin. Can you tell me how this drug works?
Bradley Somer, MD, OncoLink Editorial Assistant, responds:
Combretastatin (A4 Prodrug) is a newly developed anti-angiogenesis drug. In the test tube and in mice it has been shown to limit the blood supply to the tumor. This eliminates the vital nutrients needed for the tumor to grow. There is growing evidence from phase I studies in humans with a variety of cancers that Combretastatin has allowed for the cancer to be stabilized in a sizable proportion of patients, and a few patients have had their cancers truly respond to the drug. It will be finishing its phase I study shortly and then enter the phase II studies. It is hoped that this drug will be a novel weapon in the fight against cancer either alone or with other conventional therapies.
Phase I studies evaluate the maximum tolerated safe dose and are offered to patients with cancer that has not responded to conventional treatment. The Combretastatin trials, as with other phase I studies, are available for virtually all cancer types. These studies allow patients access to novel treatments which would otherwise not be available. Patients should discuss with their oncologist in detail whether or not there are other conventional treatments available and whether the patient would be eligible for the study.
To find out more information about Combretastatin, and the locations and qualifications for the study, please visit: