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Rethink, Retool, Reboot
Technology as if people and planet mattered
In this powerful new book Simon Trace (Practical Action CEO 2005-2015) builds on Practical Action's Schumacher heritage to look at technology from both a human development and environmental perspective and provide an analysis of global relevance.
It addresses the issue of access to technology and problems arising from its unregulated use. It advocates changing how innovation systems deliver technology so that it addresses poverty and environmental sustainability, drawing on examples from food, energy, water and health.
Rethink, Retool, Reboot presents the evidence and analysis that informs Practical Action's organisational mission to create a world with Technology Justice: where technology and innovation is used to end poverty and provide a sustainable future for everyone on our planet.
A fifth of the world's population lacks access to technologies fundamental to a basic standard of living – technologies needed to provide food, water, shelter, health and education.
Technology is a double edged sword. And unfettered use of technology by those who have it brings its own problems – including pollution, global warming and threats to the very possibility of a sustainable future for humanity.
We urgently need to change how we govern the development and use of technology, using Technology Justice to:
- rethink how we provide access to and govern the use technology today.
- retool – to change our innovation systems to deliver technology that is socially useful and addresses the key challenges of poverty and environmental sustainability.
- Above all, our relationship with technology needs a reboot. We need Technology Justice to provide a radically different approach to our oversight and governance of the development and use of technology.
Buy the book from Development Bookshop
'Technology is always about politics and social justice: who wins, who loses, and what directions are chosen. This book puts these themes centre-stage in a clear and accessible style. Anyone interested in how technology can work for people, justice, sustainability and development should read it.'
Ian Scoones, Director ESRC STEPS Centre, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
Technology Justice in action
Lack of investment in extension services in the developing world lead to reduced productivity and low returns for farmers, while the private sector cherry picks areas of highest commercial return. Our work developing the kamayoq network in Peru has proved the value of this approach.
Full cost recovery approach to providing essential services means that the poor pay more for their water and sanitation. Our work in Mukuru addressed this injustice .
Since the 1900s, 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers worldwide have abandoned local varieties for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties. When genetic material is required to address a specific problem it can be hard to find. Our work on saline resistant rice in Sri Lanka helped address this issue.


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Federal, state and local authorities announced the results Monday of "Operation Pipeline Express," a 17-month multi-agency investigation responsible for dismantling a massive narcotics trafficking organization suspected of smuggling more than $33 million dollars' worth of drugs a month throughArizona's western desert.
Top-level representatives for the agencies overseeing the investigation, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office, laid out details of the case.
"Today we have dealt a significant blow to a Mexican criminal enterprise that has been responsible for poisoning our communities with the distribution of millions of dollars' worth of marijuana, cocaine and heroin," said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. "I find it completely unacceptable thatArizonaneighborhoods are treated as a trading floor for narcotics. This case is the result of an outstanding partnership between federal and county law enforcement authorities and the Arizona Attorney General's office, which will handle the prosecution. These partnerships are essential to making sure these criminals experience the full force of the justice system."
Officials say the ring, organized around cells based in theArizonacommunities of Chandler, Stanfield and Maricopa, used backpackers and vehicles to move loads of marijuana and other drugs from the Arizona-Mexico border to a network of "stash" houses in the Phoenix area. After arriving in Phoenix, the contraband, which also included cocaine and heroin, was sold to distributors from multiple states nationwide.
Monday's announcement comes just four days after federal and local investigators executed the third in a succession of large-scale enforcement actions tied to the probe, taking another 22 defendants into custody. To date, 76 individuals have been criminally arrested in connection with "Operation Pipeline Express," ranging from organizational "bosses" to stash house guards and load drivers.
During last week's warranted searches, authorities seized more than two tons of marijuana, 19 weapons – including assault rifles, handguns, and shotguns – and nearly $200,000 in cash.
"Through our joint efforts, we've sent a resounding message to the Mexican cartels thatArizonais off limits to their operatives," said Matthew Allen, special agent in charge for HSI inArizona. "As this case makes clear, law enforcement inArizonais united in its resolve to protect our communities and our country from the scourge of large-scale narcotics trafficking. We stand ready to use every tool and resource at our disposal to attack and dismantle these organizations."
Prior to last week's takedown, authorities had conducted two other major enforcement actions in connection with "Operation Pipeline Express." Earlier this month, agents executed a dozen search warrants throughout central and southern Arizona, including in the communities of Casa Grande and Stanfield, taking custody of 17 primary case targets. In mid-September, the initial enforcement action in the investigation resulted in the arrest of six suspects on state drug and conspiracy charges.
"We in Arizona continue to stand and fight the Mexican drug cartels, who think they own the place," said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. "This isAmericaand we shall bring a crushing hand of enforcement against those who threaten our families and our national security. While this is a historic drug bust, sadly this represents only a fraction of what my deputies face every day."
Intelligence gathered as part of "Operation Pipeline Express" indicates the organization is tied toMexico's Sinaloan cartel and has been in existence for at least the last five years. During that timeframe, authorities conservatively estimate the ring has smuggled more than 3.3 million pounds of marijuana, 20,000 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of heroin into to theUnited States, generating almost $2 billion in illicit proceeds.
Authorities believe the organization has produced such huge profits by gaining a virtual monopoly over the smuggling routes along an 80-mile section ofArizona's international border, fromYumato just east of the community of Sells.
The probe that evolved into "Operation Pipeline Express" began in May 2010 following a traffic stop by Pinal County Sheriff's deputies in Stanfield. To date, the case has resulted in the seizure of more than 60,000 pounds of marijuana; in excess of 200 pounds of cocaine; approximately 160 pounds of heroin; more than $750,000 in cash; and nearly 110 weapons, including multiple assault rifles.
In addition to the three lead agencies, more than 20 federal, state and local law enforcement organizations provided support for this investigation. They include: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both Border Patrol and CBP Air and Marine; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the U.S. Attorney's Office; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Arizona Department of Public Safety; the sheriff's offices in Pima and Maricopa counties; and the police departments of Ak-Chin, Casa Grande, Chandler, Coolidge, El Mirage, Eloy, Florence, Gila River, Glendale, Goodyear, Marana, Maricopa, Phoenix, and Young Town.
At Monday's news conference, officials stressed the drug-trafficking investigation is ongoing and U.S.-based authorities are continuing to coordinate closely with their Mexican law enforcement counterparts, as well as with the HSI and DEA Attache offices in Mexico, to pursue additional leads and suspects. Much of the cost associated with the investigation is being funded by two federal anti-drug initiatives, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). Additionally, HSI's Arizona-based Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) played a central role in the case.

subset: commoncrawl


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(In second-to-last paragraph, corrects buyout price to $100 instead of "original $10,000 investment")
By Ilaina Jonas and Tanya Agrawal
March 15 (Reuters) - The company that controls New York's Empire State Building has garnered about three-quarters of the investor votes it needs to realize a plan to roll the property into a newly created real estate investment trust that could eventually be taken public, according to regulatory documents filed on Friday,
Malkin Holdings LLC, the company that manages the Empire State Building - which for four decades after its completion in 1931 ranked as the world's tallest building - is seeking investor approval to create a real estate investment trust, called Empire State Realty Trust Inc. Of the investors who have already cast votes, 90 percent have favored the Malkin plan, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"The very strong support we have received from our participants in such a short period of time, both by their votes and kind words, is very encouraging," Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings, said in a statement.
Investors have until March 25 to vote on the move, though that can be extended until the end of next year.
The proposed REIT includes more than 18 properties. Investors in the other two Manhattan properties that need approval voted more than 95 percent in favor of the plan.
Based on the two-thirds of the votes cast, Malkin Holdings is almost three-quarters of the way to the 80 percent approval needed from each of three groups that owners of the Empire State Building were divided into when they first invested in the building in 1961.
As of March 14, 62 percent to 66 percent of the consent forms have been received, according to the filing. Of those who have voted, 89 percent to 92 percent of each group approved the plan to roll the Empire State Building into the REIT.
Richard Edelman, a member of a group of Empire State Building investors opposed to the plan, challenged those numbers.
"We've polled our investors and it's over a 40 percent 'no' vote," Edelman said.
"Not sending in a ballot is the same as voting 'no.' Most 'no' voters have told us that is how they are expressing their disapproval of the REIT plan," he added.
If the 80 percent threshold is reached, the remaining investors would have the choice of voting for the deal or selling each ownership unit for $100 back to the sponsor. Some investors are challenging that provision, which dates back to the original investment agreement.
The units, now held by 2,824 investors, could be worth more than $320,000 apiece if the REIT becomes publicly traded. A REIT is a property or mortgage company that is exempt from corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends. (Reporting by Ilaina Jonas in New York and Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Leslie Adler and Dale Hudson)


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Last month, the folks at Budget Travel published their list of the 10 Biggest Travel Rip-Offs. While it is with some considerable trepidation that I disagree with anything connected to the redoubtable Frommer's clan or with Terry Trippler, the source of many of the story's entries, I take exception to at least some of the list.
Number 1: Budget Travel's biggest travel rip-off is excess baggage charges. I disagree. Yes, airlines' excess charges tend to be high. But anyone who tries to schlep more than the two pieces of baggage they can check at regular rates deserves to be fleeced.
My biggest travel rip-off is full-fare coach/economy-class air tickets. That's paying top dollar for the airlines' rock-bottom product. I've been saying that for almost 30 years, when we started Consumer Reports Travel Letter, and not much has changed since then. At bottom prices, economy air travel is a good value, but four times the bottom price for the same lousy product is a lousy deal!
Number 2: Budget Travel's second-biggest travel rip-off is trip insurance. Again, I disagree. Yes, some of it is unnecessary and duplicative, but you don't have to buy that. My take is that any time you have more money at risk in nonrefundables and cancellation penalties than you can afford to walk away from if your plans change, you should consider trip-cancellation insurance—specifically, the "cancel for any reason" type.
My second-biggest travel rip-off is car-rental companies' collision waiver. You pay something like $30 a day for coverage you can buy from a third-party source for less than $10 and can get free through many credit cards.
Number 3: Budget Travel's third-biggest travel rip-off is shady taxi drivers. I concur. Watch out for being "taken for a ride" anywhere you go, especially over the Triborough Bridge coming in from LaGuardia and exiting Las Vegas airport through the south exit.
Number 4: Budget Travel's fourth-biggest travel rip-off is eating like a tourist. I concur, sort of, but with a different focus. To me, the real rip-offs are those high-priced "trendy" or "hot" places that serve overly ornate, over-tweaked food in minuscule portions at astronomical prices.
Number 5: Budget Travel's fifth-biggest travel rip-off is Manhattan hotels. I only semi-concur. Yes, Manhattan hotel rates are off-the-scale exorbitant, and unless you pay $400 per night, they can be dismal. The same is true for London, Paris, and Rome, where mid-priced rooms can be equally dismal. But what you're paying for is, in the old real estate cliche, "location, location, location." And I disagree with Budget Travel's remedy: branching out to reputable hotels in other boroughs. When I visit New York, London, or Paris, I don't want to spend two or more hours riding subways every day. Instead, my choice is to get a deal through Hotwire or Priceline.
Number 6: Budget Travel's sixth-biggest travel rip-off is airport airline clubs. Again, I only partially agree. Yes, the price tag is high, at around $500 a year for most lines, but if you travel a lot—or can get in through a credit card or some other system—they're a godsend in what is otherwise any large airport's hostile environment.
Number 7: Budget Travel's seventh-biggest travel rip-off is uniformed "guides" at airports. Right on. But add the self-appointed guides you encounter (more accurately, that encounter you) around tourist centers purporting to offer guide service but really shilling for some souvenir shop.
Number 8: Budget Travel's eighth-biggest travel rip-off is changing money on the black market. I disagree. Yes, you can get fleeced. But black markets are virtually irrelevant these days, with convertible currencies and ATMs for exchange in most of the developed world. You do, however, have to be careful in some developing countries.
My eighth-biggest travel rip-off is exchange booths at airports, where you get terrible rates. On my last trip, I saw euros posted at 1.55 to the dollar at Munich airport, compared with 1.35 wholesale and no worse than 1.39 from an ATM.
Number 9: Budget Travel's ninth-biggest travel rip-off is minimum fees at restaurants and clubs. Agreed.
Number 10: Budget Travel's tenth-biggest travel rip-off is insanely high booze taxes. Yes, on hard liquor, and especially imported hard liquor. But most places I've visited offer local beer and many have local wine at reasonable prices.
So what are your nominations?
Ed Perkins Seniors on the Go is copyright (c) 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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Kanye West Booked at Los Angeles Police Station
Kanye West was formally booked at a Los Angeles police Station on Thursday (March 27) and U.O.E.N.O. it. The rapper-producer was booked in connection to his misdemeanor battery case for assaulting a photographer at LAX.
According to TMZ, Yeezy spent only 49 minutes in police custody and he was out. West arrived at the LAPD station at 4:30PM to get his mugshot taken and get fingerprinted.
Sadly, the LAPD doesn't release mugshots to the press.
West was ordered to get a booking record as part of his recent no contest plea deal to misdemeanor battery against photographer Daniel Ramos last summer at LAX.
The judge sentenced him to serve two years of probation and perform 250 hours of community service. In addition, the G.O.O.D. Music leader must attend 24 anger management sessions and pay restitution to the victim.
Lawyer Gloria Allred has filed a civil suit against West on behalf of Ramos, who claims that West assaulted him in an unprovoked attack and threw his camera to the ground during the altercation.


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Next, I fill in my brows with a 266 brush and Cork eyeshadow. That is done in this pic.
Now here's where things change. Instead of applying concealer with my finger, I use this trusty 208 to apply my concealer.
I use this concealer palette from MAC in medium. They don't sell these in the store anymore, only at the CCO. Any concealer can be used though.
I take my #208 brush and the concealer and pretty much sculpt and shape an eyebrow (use the concealer to draw my desired shape of my brows, almost like doing the white pencil method to tweeze brows.) Often times you do not have to line the top of the brow. This is known as "The MAC brow" in this region (DC area).
I take my #242 brush, spritz it with some Fix+
And with makeup!.. oh and my new lover Moon Glow mineral eyeshadow by Pure Luxe as my brow highlight. (I used to only use concealer also, but Moon Glow is subtle enough to fit my taste!)


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According to Oregon TV channel KPTV last week, �a crazed cat is behind bars after it attacked a baby.
According to Oregon TV channel KPTV last week, �a crazed cat is behind bars after it attacked a baby and held a Portland family hostage in a bedroom, forcing them to call 911.� KPTV reported �the ferocious feline � a 22-pound Himalayan named Lux � �went over the edge� Sunday evening after it was punished for scratching a couple�s 7-month-old baby.�
Truth really is stranger than fiction. And while we�ve always been warned to not believe everything we read, in this case apparently you CAN believe what you read.
So it may actually mean the media is not composed � in its entirety at least � of a lying bunch of miscreants. The attack cat story was reported initially by KPTV and then online and in wire reports the next day. Lux had a color picture of himself printed in the paper. Multiple media outlets were just reporting actual facts of what the public wants � exciting stories about cats!
In the spirit of full disclosure and while I have some real questions about the dog in this story, I am a dog person not a cat person. I admit I can vividly see Lux as a prime player in the bestselling book �101 Uses of a Dead Cat.� By this admittance I know I will not endear myself to those cat lovers who feed their cats Fancy Feast in crystal bowls and ring the bowl with a spoon to call their cats for dinner. Or to those, for that matter, who would allow a cat to �rule the roost� as Lux apparently does. So please forgive my doggedness.
But in the midst of a slow news last week with merely the Russian hordes possibly marching via Crimea into Europe itself and the worldwide search for a Malaysia jet liner that has mysteriously disappeared, the lying bunch of miscreants, er, I mean professional media correspondents, reported about a family � with a dog yet � held captive by a cat. Reporters needed some really important news to write about.
It�s either that or writing about this story provides an unsurpassingly rare opportunity to grossly overuse canine idioms, metaphors and puns for fun and entertainment. In the dog-eat-dog world of reporting, we professional media correspondents have to take every opportunity to doggedly pursue paper sales, or we�ll be in the dog house with our publisher.
However, the use of metaphor abuse is not endorsed by the Havelock News nor does the publisher, Halifax Media Group, recommend you attempt this at home. Such risks should be attempted only by trained miscreants, er, professional newshounds.
I don�t mean to come across as dogmatic, but this story is far more about a family mutt lacking the ability to run with the big dogs than it is about �Lux the ferocious feline.� �When the peeved pet cat began charging at its owners, the family and their dog hid in a bedroom where they called 911, according to KPTV. �He�s got kind of a history of violence,� the caller said, adding that the cat continued to charge whenever the family tried to open the bedroom door.
�When officers arrived on the scene, the cat �attempted to flee custody by running into the kitchen. Police used a dog snare to trap Lux in a crate.�
According to KPTV, �As of last week the Portland family is still deciding whether to keep Lux, who has been acting normal since the incident.�
�Normal� (for a cat) was not defined.
But clearly Lux is the tail wagging the dog for this family.
The owners of Lux must have not have taught their unnamed dog � we�ll call him �FiFi� � to speak. Nonetheless, too embarrassed to comment even if he could speak, FiFi has apparently learned that failing to show Lux from the get-go who was top dog in this family relegated him to being little more than a pound puppy. FiFi now knows that if you lie down with dogs you arise with fleas.
Even if FiFi�s bark was worse than his bite, he could have worked like a dog and kept Lux at bay. Instead he failed caninehood everywhere for cowering in the bedroom with his owners instead of being the leader of the pack.
FiFi�s owners could have walked the dog and ensured FiFi was better suited to protect their family. They share the responsibility, then, for FiFi being just a straw dog. So when the family needed a junkyard dog, they got an underdog.
Since you can�t teach an old dog new tricks, FiFi probably deserves a one-way ticket to the dog pound. Along with Lux. And this shaggy dog story too.
Barry Fetzer is a columnist for the Havelock News. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Includes tuition, course materials, parking and meals.
About the Program
Do you own a Mac? Do your Excel skills need an upgrade? Do you want to learn more about the functionalities of Excel — like macros, data tables, solver and sliders? If so, the Excel for Business Professionals (Mac Version) is the perfect course to help you become an Excel pro.
At this hands-on, one-day program you will learn to use Excel to successfully tackle financial forecasting, purchase order calculations, pro forma financials, manipulating text, capital budgeting and the effects of different economic scenarios on earnings.
This course is designed for beginner-to-intermediate-level Excel users. Participants should have some basic familiarity with Excel and its functions.
Topics Covered:
- Formatting
- Absolute vs. Relative Cell References
- Filtering
- Tables
- Sorting
- Formulas and Functions
- Macros
- Solver / Goal Seek
- Linking Spreadsheets
- Present Value Applications and Finance Functions
- Charting
- Conditional Formatting
- Sparklines
- Sliders
- Histograms
- Working with Text
Course Faculty
David Ravetch has been a UCLA accounting faculty member for over 25 years. He has received numerous teaching awards as well as the California Society of Certified Public Accountants' Faculty Merit Award. He was named as the director of the undergraduate accounting program by the Anderson School, where he served for seven years. Ravetch has taught several Executive Education classes at the Rady School, including the popular Accounting and Finance for Non-Financial Managers.
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at the Rady School of Management
*The Rady School of Management Center for Executive Development (CED) may change, postpone or cancel a class at any time. We do not provide refunds for any fees related to travel, including but not limited to gas, bus fare, train tickets, airline tickets, etc. Certificate requirements may also change. We will provide as much notice as possible should this occur.


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Necessary Roughness Bosses on Mark Blucas' Exit: "There Were Two Choices" for Matt and Dani
Jun 12, 2013 11:02 PM EDT
[Warning: The following story contains spoilers from the Season 3 premiere of Necessary Roughness. Read at your own risk.]In with the new. Out with a major character.The Season 3 premiere of Necessary Roughness introduced viewers to Dani's new bosses… Read more


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Says Masters:
The past 25 days in a row have exceeded 30°C (86°F) in Moscow, and there is no relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures near 100°F (37.8°C) for the majority of the coming week. As I reported in yesterday's post, the number of deaths in Moscow in July 2010 was about 5,000 more than in July 2009, suggesting that the heat wave has been responsible for thousands of deaths in Moscow alone. I would expect that by the time the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 is over, the number of premature deaths caused by the heat wave will approach or exceed the 40,000 who died in the 2003 European Heat Wave. As seen in Figure 2, the Russian heat wave of this year is more intense and affects a wider region than the great 2003 heat wave, though the population affected by the two heat waves is probably similar.Another commentator writes:
To put this in rough perspective -- and note this is not absolutely precise, it's purely ballpark to give you some feel for what the Russian people are enduring -- if this heat wave was hitting North America, it would be near 100°F in Fairbanks, Alaska. Most of Canada would be baking at 100° or higher, the northeast, from Maine to the Great Lakes region would be hitting upwards of 105° everyday, even the nightly low in the massive urban heat islands of New York and Chicago would be over 90°! The midwest grain belt and parts of the Pacific Northwest would not see a drop of rain for two months and pushing as high as 110° in places. The desert southwest, even some of the higher elevations of Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas, would be as uninhabitable as Death Valley or the Sahara.Tens of thousands of deaths from the sort of weather event that will become more common as global warming continues apace. The usual caveat applies about the fallacy of attributing individual weather events to long-term climate trends, but needless to say, a warming planet will experience more severe heat waves. As Masters notes:
It would mean nation-wide massive power brownouts, unprecedented crop failures, water rationing like you have never seen, record wildfires raging in dozens of states, thousands of deaths [Correction: Dr. Jeff Masters at WeatherUnderground informs me it would probably more like tens of thousands of deaths] and life threatening heat related illness, roads and highways clogged with broken-down, over-heated cars, and emergency services stretched beyond the breaking point across the US and Canada. The conditions could be so severe in places, especially if the wave persisted for a couple of years, that it could produce mass migration, i.e., refugees, the likes of which haven't been seen since the Great Depression.
Looking back at the past decade, which was the hottest decade in the historical record, Seventy-five countries set extreme hottest temperature records (33% of all countries.) For comparison, fifteen countries set extreme coldest temperature records over the past ten years (6% of all countries).Weather events like these heat waves have proven their capacity to have death tolls in the five figures. But perhaps the most ominous portent of the Russian heat wave has been the government's move to ban grain exports - a response to the decimation of wheat crops due to the wildfires and drought that have attended the heat wave. Natural calamity leading to resource nationalism, causing food prices to spike across the globe: this story will be written again in the decades to come.


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The ISSS is an Association of technical experts involved in the investigation, development and testing of sports surfaces. Members of the Association may be individuals, scientific institutes, testing laboratories, sports federations or public authorities.
All Members are independent of the industries involved in the manufacture, supply and installation of these surfaces. However technical experts from these companies are invited to support and join the working groups of ISSS.


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J. William Gibson wrote the following Editorial which appeared in the LA Times.
Congress removed wolves in Montana and Idaho from the protection of the Endangered Species Act in April. And this fall, the killing began.
As of Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported that 154 of its estimated 750 wolves had been "harvested" this year. Legal hunting and trapping — with both snares to strangle and leg traps to capture — will continue through the spring. And if hunting fails to reduce the wolf population sufficiently — to less than 150 wolves — the state says it will use airborne shooters to eliminate more.
In Montana, hunters will be allowed to kill up to 220 wolves this season (or about 40% of the state's roughly 550 wolves). To date, hunters have taken only about 100 wolves, prompting the state to extend the hunting season until the end of January. David Allen, president of the powerful Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has said he thinks hunters can't do the job, and he is urging the state to follow Idaho's lead and "prepare for more aggressive wolf control methods, perhaps as early as summer 2012."
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead recently concluded an agreement with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to save 100 to 150 wolves in lands near Yellowstone National Park. But in the remaining 80% of the state, wolves can be killed year-round because they are considered vermin. Roughly 60% of Wyoming's 350 wolves will become targeted for elimination…
Read the entire editorial on latimes.com: The new war on wolves


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Grimm Quest for the Gatherer's Key is a Hack and Slash Fantasy game with some platforming elements that leans heavily on extremely bloody and satisfying gameplay. Players can explore a huge world that often offers several different routes that lead to accomplishment. Almost every part of it is customizable to taste, not only the graphical aspects but also it's gameplay aspects.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
This is the final release trailer for Grimm!


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Virginia: Smart Phones Become Weapon Against HIV
The University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine has won $525,000 from the AIDS United Foundation to develop its project plan to use smart phones to improve care of individuals recently diagnosed with HIV in rural Virginia. The project's smart phone application (app) will provide personalized, interactive reminders and offer access to a virtual community. It will also monitor treatment adherence and potential barriers to care so that the provider can respond quickly in nearly real time.
A one-year review indicated that individuals newly diagnosed with HIV infection missed an average of 1.7 scheduled appointments before reaching the UVA Ryan White Clinic, the largest HIV care provider in western Virginia. That delay can cause their health to worsen, increase the amount of virus in their blood, and add to the chances of spreading the disease to others. The new initiative will focus on problems such as depression, stigma, and poverty that often prevent or delay care for rural persons with HIV infection.
According to Rebecca Dillingham, MD, MPH, of the UVA Ryan White Clinic, the Positive Links program will provide a pathway to earlier entry into HIV care, building and reinforcing strong links to care through the tailored smart phone app. Counseling sessions based on the CDC-endorsed Antiretroviral Treatment and Services program will provide information about the disease and present skills and strategies for living with HIV; these lessons will be reinforced by the app. Also, a priority access pathway for newly diagnosed HIV-infected persons will ensure that they receive care within 24 hours of contacting the Positive Links coordinator. Project staff hopes the app will provide the critical support the newly diagnosed person needs. Project staff is in the process of developing the app and expects to begin recruiting participants this summer.


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Pro Evolution Soccer makes its return this fall, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012! This year, Konami is determined to give global football fans a truly realistic, immersive and a delightfully playable take on the beautiful game. Creative Producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka has been sourcing the desires of fans across the globe and working non-stop on marrying the digital game to the real life game so fans can get as close to the real thing. All elements have been examined - defense, offense, AI, penalties, officiating and of course, graphics! The result is a game truly represents the key attributes of the game and it's players. Pro Evolution Soccer... "Can you play?"


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Hay-on-Wye, with a man-made mountain of books!
Best known as 'the town of Books' Hay-on-Wye at the top of the Golden Valley is famous for its specialist and secondhand book shops. A visit to Herefordshire wouldn't be complete without nipping across the border to sample all the delights that Hay-on-Wye has to offer.
Or stay a while and while away your days in the hotels, B&Bs, camping and caravan sites, self-catering cottages and guest houses. With wonderful local food and drink served at the inns, pubs and cafes, you can browe the galleries, top up with tasty treats and get energetic on the hills and rivers.
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Brilliant for bibliophiles
With over 30 antique and secondhand bookshops Hay is a treasure-trove for bookworms. Whether you've a thirst for facts or fancy a bit of fiction, Hay will have it. From Children's to Natural History, Gardening, Detective, Crime, Horror and more – you could easily spend a day exploring the pages of Hay and the hills that surround it – the rolling green hills of Radnor, the uninterrupted Brecon Beacons National Park and Black Mountains, the amazing 8th century earthworks of Offa's Dyke.
From gentle strolls to long distance leg-stretchers, Herefordshire has it all. Thinking about bringing a group? Take a look at the Herefordshire Walking Festivals – many festival organisers offer a hosting service to help you plan a few days in the county with your group
Hey hey, it's the Hay Festival
The Hay Festival of Literature and Arts – or simply 'Hay Festival' as it has become known – is one of the most highly regarded events in the international literary calendar. The festival takes place across 10 days in late May and early June.
It's a delightful carnival gathering that presents some 500 events from writers, poets, musicians, politicians, philosophers, comedians, television and radio presenters – in fact anyone who is anyone in literary art.


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A man found naked wandering along the Nevada border has been tased and arrested despite his claiming to be a Terminator sent from the future. We're a little upset that police would harm anybody this hilarious.
The 19-year-old, a Nevada native named Sean Stanley (we publish his name in hopes of honoring, not embarrassing, this hero) was wandering nude around the highway until he was ordered to stop by police—at which point he immediately headed into a crowded casino. He was tased by police there in the casino, in full view of a group of children (nudity and gambling, now there's a great family trip), despite his claims that he was a Terminator sent from the future, a wry reference to the Terminator films.
As it turns out, Stanley was actually stoned out of his mind on LSD and pot, though we don't have concrete evidence as of publication that he is not a Terminator. Stanley was charged with indecent exposure and resisting arrest by the police, and honored by us with the prestigious Tracy Morgan Award for Intoxicated Hilarity (hence the video accompanying this story). Congratulations, Sean! [Yahoo! via Geekologie]


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|My "Godfather," Lorraine Schilling.
|Little dreamer.
|I knew how to "work it" even then.
|I dreamed of this day for a long time.
|Student of the Year in 5th Grade!
|Climbing my first "Fourteener" with my dad and cousin.
|Undergraduate graduation.
|The hubby: Probably trying to dig to China!
|Me in South Africa. Spot the doggie behind me?


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The City has two prevailing type of climate. The type that prevails in the west coast has two distinct seasons: six months dry (November-April), and six months wet (May-October) with the heaviest recorded rainfall in September, While the lowest or driest month occurs in February. Western barangays of the City (New Panggangan, > read more
Honda Bay
Copyright © 2005-2014 VisitPuertoPrincesa.com All rights reserved. All materials in this web site are property of their respective owners


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The find-index function investigates whether the requested path is a directory. If yes, the function searches for an index file in the directory, and then changes the path to point to the index file. If an index file is not found, the server generates a directory listing. If the obj.conf file has a NameTrans directive that calls home-page and the requested directory is the root directory, the server returns the home page to the client instead of the index page.
The find-index function does nothing if there is a query string, if the HTTP method is not GET, or if the path is that of a valid file.
The following table describes parameters for the find-index function.Table 7–20 find-index Parameters
Comma-separated list of index file names to look for. Use spaces only if they are part of a file name. Do not include spaces before or after the commas. This list is case-sensitive if the file system is case-sensitive.
(Optional) Common to all obj.conf functions. Adds a bucket to monitor performance. For more information, see The bucket Parameter.
PathCheck fn="find-index" index-names="index.html,home.html"


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by Tom Utescher
During this unusually rainy spring season, it's been an accomplishment for any tennis team just to complete its schedule of league matches. Chestnut Hill Academy finished the task on Monday, May 16, moving from its own courts to the indoor facility at Flourtown's Magarity Tennis Center to host its final Inter-Ac League contest of 2011.
It was a make-up match with Malvern Prep, and unfortunately for the Blue Devils, it ended in the same manner as their other Inter-Ac outings this spring, with CHA on the short side of the final score. A 5-2 victory by the visitors capped Chestnut Hill's season with a league mark of 0-10 (2-11 overall). The Malvern Friars went to 2-6, and still had to complete a match against Haverford School and play a full match against Germantown Academy.
CHA lost to the Friars out in Malvern by the same score earlier this spring, but in that match the Devils had their regular number one, sophomore Sam Shropshire. Second in the USTA Middle States rankings in the 16's division, Shropshire missed last week's rematch because he had been playing at a juniors tournament down in Georgia.
CHA's line-up has been far from a constant, anyway, with various injuries, illness and other complications forcing the Devils into a number of different alignments. Last week CHA was missing another regular singles player, senior Elliot Baxter, who had injured an ankle a few weeks earlier.
Nick DiDonato, a senior who'll attend Drexel University, bumped up to the first singles position for last week's Malvern match. Persevering amid the humidity at the indoor venue, he won a three-setter over visiting senior Chris Conway, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8). CHA's other victory was furnished by a freshman, Josh Moss, who won 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 over a second Malvern senior, Ian Kelleher.
The Friars had an upperclassman in the third singles slot, as well, and here Leo Parsons prevailed, 6-1, 6-2, against Chestnut Hill freshman Harrison Tracy.
Malvern swept the doubles bouts, starting with a 6-3, 6-0 win in the number one match, where sophomore twins Conor and Ryan Bradley knocked of CHA senior Peter Lynn and junior Crosby Harris. Friars juniors Ian McLarney and Jason Marra opened with a 7-5 win at second doubles, but Blue Devil sophomores Christian Dorff and Tim Ogle took the second stage, 6-4. Because of the length of the points in the first two rounds, the match was decided by a super tiebreaker, won 10-7 by Malvern.
The third doubles players got in three full sets, with Blue Devils senior Andrew Moss and sophomore Alex McCall succumbing, 0-6, 7-5, 5-7 to senior John Moran and sophomore Colin Sweeney of the Friars. At fourth doubles, freshman Brandon Butts and sophomore Nick Zimniski of Malvern teamed up for a 6-3, 6-2 win over a pair of CHA sophomores, Abe Bilger and Peter Vlahakis.
CHA tennis ducks indoors to finish season
by Tom Utescher


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Moderator: ijeep
The purpose of our website is have a place on the web, so all of the geocachers who live in Alabama, can have a place to call "home".
Our main goal is to have fun and find lots of caches!
We will strive to keep this site family friendly and maintain it as a site to keep in touch with our fellow geocaching family.
All geocachers are welcome here, it doesn't matter if you live in Alabama or not.
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chanson on Family Tree Circles
view: full | list
Journals and Posts
Looking for related Hanson family of Canada / Sweden
My grandfather Karl Gustav Hansson was born in Tranas Parish, Skane, Sweden on March 25 , 1884. He came to Canada in 1900 , had his 16th Birthday aboard ship. He went by Charles Hanson once in Canada. He married my grandmother Hanna Katarina (daughter of Anders and Kristina Olsson) on July 7 1907 in North Portal , Saskatchewan. His parents remained in Sweden but he was accompanied by all his brothers( Rasmus ,Nels Magnus , George , Frank John Alfred , Ernest , Louis , Richard and Herman ) to Canada , although one brother , Nels Magnus , returned to Sweden. I'm interested in corresponding with any relatives with similar interests in our family ancestry.
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Product 165/262
Built for long days outside, the Boys' Toddler Nike Woodside 2 High Boots have everything your little tyke needs to take the wilderness (or backyard) by storm. Steep, muddy hills are no match for these boots. A thick, non-marking rubber outsole grips the ground like nobody's business, while a synthetic leather and rubber upper protects tiny feet from even the most monstrous of elements. Ice and snow? Fuggetaboutit. These tough boots are built to last through it all. He'll be super cozy when the temperature drops with the warm textile lining that delivers cushiony comfort for every outdoor excursion. Rugged construction, and secure lace-up closure complete the package for a durable boot he'll reach for over and over. The icing on the cake? A fun pop of bright color of the eyelets, midsole and outsole for an extra dose of style. Good luck reeling him back in from the great outdoors!
Nike Toddler Woodside 2 High Boots (TD) #524874-001 | Basketball - X9ULY18V3


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Women, Heart Disease and Stroke Brochure
Published by: American Heart Association
Product Code: 50-1720
This brochure provides women of all ages with information that raises awareness of heart disease and stroke, related risk factors (including family history, diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure), warning signs, and what to do in an acute event. Women are urged to work with their healthcare provider to make a plan for achieving ideal cardiovascular health.
If you are interested in placing an order, receiving print samples or viewing online e-samples, visit our distributor, Krames. Registration is required to request samples and order online.


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New software tool helps farmers compare two hybrids, varieties or other agronomic inputs.
To help farmers in their quest for better localized on-farm trials, Pioneer has teamed up with Agris to offer split-planter comparisons. The systems allow simple evaluation of crop performance with yield maps or the comparison of any two agronomic treatments applied in parallel strips.
Download this. Get a taste of the technology by downloading a free browser on the Agris Web site at www.agris.com.
Todd Peterson, manager of emerging technologies for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, says with this free software, users can create and print a difference map from a split-planter study using the company's Split-Planter Comparison Method. The method was developed to allow growers to compare two different products or techniques that are planted or applied in parallel, alternating strips compatible in width to a combine header.
See the difference. Using Pioneer's method, you can compare two different hybrids, varieties, tillage practices, herbicides, seeding rates, seed treatments, and standard vs. newer hybrids or varieties. A combine outfitted with a yield monitor and DGPS receiver collects the data for analysis.
Then using the Split-Planter Comparison Tool from Agris, you can evaluate the results and read data directly from yield monitor cards, generate a dot map to show the differences in the treatments, or generate a raster map to show trends across a field. To compare the difference maps to other layers of information, such as soil type, topography, nutrient levels, aerial photographs or remote sensing information, you also need Agris's Aglink software. Contact Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Dept. FIN, Box 1150, Johnstown, IA 50131-1150, 800/247- 6803 or circle 210; or Agris Corp., Dept. FIN, 300 Grimes Bridge Rd., Roswell, GA 30075, 800/795-7995.


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HAITI – The earthquake-torn country got a pleasant visit from Shakira who has some big plans in the works!
Colombian pop star Shakira met with children living in makeshift camps on Sunday. Thanks to the earthquake in January, more than 200,000 people were killed and over one million were left homeless. Shakira met survivors on a Haitian golf course turned into a makeshift camp for over 50,000 quake survivors.
Shakira was welcomed by Hollywood star Sean Penn, whose work in Haiti has been well documented. Both have taken on the challenge of helping the country get back on its feet and have urged individuals to get involved.
Shakira's charity, Barefoot, is searching for suitable land to build a school for needy children. Her foundation provides nutrition to more than 6,000 children in Colombia, and she is also a member of the ALAS foundation that advocates for children across Latin America.
Watch Shakira speak about Haiti below.


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I didn't know that there were LinkedIn company pages, but they aren't exactly like business pages on other sites.
Heck there is even something called Showcase pages…Who Knew?
After watching this video, I think I should try to go back to LinkedIn and see what it is all about. Maybe find some good company pages to follow and see what they do.
What are LinkedIn Company Pages and Who Should use Them
I think I avoid LinkedIn because it seems like just a less user friendly place or people to "gather targets". But, those who are trying to sell by pushing to the connections of their personal profile are doing it wrong.
Watch this so you aren't lost and can possibly get some business rolling in from there.


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The team here at Rhodes-Traveller have just stumbled upon an amazing hotel price comparison website that lets you compare the prices on Rhodes Hotels from over 20 leading hotel booking websites in a single search. > Compare Hotel Prices – … Continue readingShare
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If you're aged between 18 and 30 and looking for a good time then take a look at some of the wild party holidays offered by Club 18-30 to Rhodes. As everyone knows the party scene in Rhodes is focussed … Continue readingShare


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Mate X launch date, US cyberstrikes and NASA's surprising discovery
Latest Stories
How to use the newest Instagram features
by Katie Conner
It's time for your word art to shine. Plus, we show you how to use Instagram's new fundraiser and sh...Read more
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Facebook updated its Marketplace app this week.Read more
Best ways to repurpose your old Android or iPhone
by Katie Conner
How to turn your old phone into something new you'll actually use.Read more
Academics gain access to Facebook data trove to study election influence
by Shelby Brown
Researchers will get to parse Facebook ad data, the popularity of news items and URL data sets.Read more
Best 9 party-planning apps for hosting a Kentucky Derby Party
by Katie Conner
Plan your Kentucky Derby party from start to finish with the help of these apps.Read more
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by Katie Conner
Facebook said it uploaded 1.5 million email addresses. Now you can see if yours was on the list.Read more
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Transfer your iPhone photos, videos and contacts with this step-by-step guide.Read more
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German-headquartered car tuning enterprise DMC has come up with another Lamborghini Aventador LP988 Edizione GT. The tuner has also sold one example. The customer who bought the first example opted for an intimidating all-black appearance.
Following the Spezial Version and the Molto Veloce, this is the third modification kit for the Aventador by DMC. The package costs $288,888 (£176,138.33) and features:
• An all-encompassing use of carbon fibre
• Huge rear diffuser
• Large wing
• An enormous front splitter
Under the bonnet, the 6.5-litre V12 engine received a variety of improvements. The most significant improvement is a twin-turbo conversion that boosts the engine's power from 700 hp (515 kW) to 988 hp (727 kW). The engine bears:
• Fresh fuel lines
• Modulators
• Fuel pumps
• Injection nozzles
• Individual throttle plates for each cylinder
• A modified ECU
You also have the possibility of buying the body kit without the performance boost. If you do opt for that, you will have to shell out $89,990 (£54,867.94). However, if you go for the entire package, you will get:
• Fresh forged alloy wheels
• A two-tone paint
• Bespoke suspension
• A modified interior cabin with a different steering wheel
Car Spec & Details:
Model: Aventador


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Extensive Assessment of Global Meso Erythritol Market based on Upcoming Trends, New Technologies, and Growth Prospects
The Global Meso Erythritol Market Research Report 2019 primarily throws attention to current as well as forecast market overview, size, scope, segmentation, history, and competitive landscape. The objective of the report is to help the customer to launch a new product, identify & define problems, and develop the approaches in their business.
The report studies past data and explains the industry environment, growth momentum, demand-supply proportions, consumption scenario, and market rivalries. The Meso Erythritol market growth is highly increased in the worldwide economic situation and it will grow in the future period also. The report exhibits top to bottom analysis of the Meso Erythritol industry which studies raw material and suppliers, manufacturing cost structure, as well as definition, specifications, and classification of the market.
Click here to get sample copy of the Global Meso Erythritol Market research report
The Meso Erythritol market research report includes top vendors with their market share, driving factors, restraints, technologies, competitive intelligence as well as current and emerging market trends. The Meso Erythritol market report deeply focuses on enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of products, industry development trends, and policies of the industry. Also, depending on the Meso Erythritol industrial chain, this report elaborated in the form of product types, applications and key players of the Meso Erythritol market.
Detailed survey of Predominant Vendors of the Global Meso Erythritol Market on the basis of the company profile, sales data and product specifications.
- Cargill
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- Futaste
Besides, the report calls attention to the rivalry stage of the market and offers a thorough investigation based on the contender's niche markets, core business values, missions, and objectives. It also discusses the association between the global Meso Erythritol market and its peer and parent markets. The report executes superior analytical tools such as SWOT, Porter's Five Forces, Feasibility, and Capacity Utilization to determine strength, weaknesses, threats of contenders and examine the competition from every possible perspective.
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The report provides methodical research on each and every segment with its impact on the growth of the market. It gives five years projection based on an evaluation of how the market is projected to grow. The report presented by Market Research Explore will help you to implement forthcoming winning strategies throughout the period 2019 to 2024.
We are honestly thankful to you for reading our report. Still, if you have any queries or want more details regarding the report, you can speak to our expert through mail or call. firstname.lastname@example.com


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Prior to the new rule, mining companies could use provisions contained within an arcane 1872 law to swoop in and take priority over all other land-use claims.
The new rule, which segregates renewable energy applications from mining company claims, is part of an effort by President Barack Obama's administration to accelerate the authorisation of 10GW of non-hydropower renewable energy for construction on public land by 2015. About a quarter of the total is expected to come from wind generation, according to Ray Brady, manager of BLM's energy policy team.
In the past two years, 437 new mining claims were lodged within 47 wind energy ROW application areas in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. As a typical mining claim affects a land area of just eight hectares, individual wind developments have been susceptible to multiple claims. In some cases, mining companies demanded payments from renewable-energy developers before allowing them to pursue the ROW, says Brady.
Prior to the rule, the prospect of last-minute mining claims — relatively inexpensive to make and easy to file — often made investors wary of financing renewable energy projects on BLM land, according to Brady. The 1872 law prevented the agency from issuing leases for renewable-energy projects until all mining claims were completely resolved.
"It became an issue that was raised to our level because of the loan guarantees and other financing that the US Department of Energy was providing to some of these projects," says Brady. "Some of the financing has been held up until the resolution of the mining claim. We wanted something that would eliminate the potential for conflict."
The National Mining Association (NMA), meanwhile, has no problems with the new rule. "We don't oppose the policy that BLM has adopted," says Luke Popovich, NMA vice-president of external communications. "In our view, it isn't anything harmful to mining. We only caution that the proof will be how they apply the policy on the ground."
The new, interim ROW rule will remain in place for two years with the possibility of a two-year extension. A comment period, open until July 26, will determine the shape of a permanent rule expected to take effect when the temporary version expires. "Our intent is to have a permanent rule in place," Brady says. "But you have to go through a proposed- and final-rule process to get there."
As part of the US Department of Interior, BLM administers public lands with a total area in excess of 100 million hectares, including more than eight million hectares in 11 western states with wind power potential. It has roughly 200 ROW applications pending for wind energy site testing. To date, 25 wind projects with a combined capacity of 437MW have been installed on BLM land in Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada and Wyoming. An additional 358MW has been approved.


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NCI Data and Safety Monitoring Guidelines
Essential Elements of a Data and Safety Monitoring Plan for Clinical Trials Funded
by the National Cancer Institute
This document outlines the essential elements of an adequate plan for data and safety monitoring (DSM) of clinical trials. It is intended to assist investigators and institutions in the formulation of DSM plans for all phases of cancer clinical trials, in accordance with NIH requirements. We suggest that institutions sponsoring a significant number of clinical trials formulate institutional DSM plans that can be broadly applied to the individual trials in their portfolio. Investigators from institutions or organizations without institutional DSM policies may also find this document useful as a guide in fashioning suitable DSM plans for their individual trials.
NIH policy (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not98-084.html with additional description at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-038.html) requires that grantees have in place procedures for DSM of clinical trials. This is to insure the safety of participants, the validity of data, and the appropriate termination of studies for which significant benefits or risks have been uncovered or when it appears that the trial cannot be concluded successfully. The NIH DSM policy covers clinical trials of all phases for which grant support is sought. DSM plans must be in place before grants supporting such studies can be funded. Applicants must submit a general description of the DSM plan for peer review as part of the grant application and, subsequently, a more detailed plan for review and approval by NCI staff prior to issuing a Notice of Grant Award.
Operational Definition of a Clinical Trial
For purposes of this document, we define a clinical trial operationally as a prospective study involving human subjects designed to answer specific questions about the effects or impact of particular biomedical or behavioral interventions; these may include drugs, treatments, devices, or behavioral or nutritional strategies. Participants in these trials may be patients with cancer or people without a diagnosis of cancer but at risk for it.
- In the area of molecular or imaging diagnostics, we consider a study to be a clinical trial if it uses the information from the diagnostic test in a manner that somehow affects medical decision-making for the study subject. In this way the information from the diagnostic may have an impact on some aspect of outcome, and assessment of this impact may be a key goal of the trial. By contrast, studies that do not use information from the diagnostic test in any manner that can affect the outcome of study subjects but whose objective is only the gathering of data on the characteristics of a new diagnostic approach are not clinical trials and are not covered by this DSM policy unless performing the diagnostic test itself imposes some risk on study subjects.
- Behavioral clinical trials test interventions aimed at eliminating or reducing human activities associated with enhanced cancer risk, such as tobacco use, poor nutrition, and sun exposure, or eliminating or reducing morbidity associated with cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
Requirements for a DSMB
For some time now NCI policy has required that Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB) be in place for all Phase III randomized clinical trials (http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/grantspolicies/datasafety.htm). The present document modifies this policy, in that there is no longer a blanket requirement for DSMB in the cases of low-risk behavioral and nutrition trials. As discussed further below, all such trials should include a DSM plan, but this may or may not include a DSMB, depending chiefly on the anticipated level of risk to participants.
Nor does NIH or NCI policy require that formal DSMB's be constituted for clinical trials other than phase III, though investigators or institutions may wish to do so for certain non-Phase III trials involving particular risk, complexity, likely decisions about early stopping, or the need to obviate conflict of interest.
The Role of Institutional DSM Plans
Cancer clinical trials funded by the NCI are conducted in thousands of institutions nationwide. Many of these institutions — notably the comprehensive and clinical cancer centers — have particularly intensive clinical research portfolios that include dozens or hundreds of trials. It makes sense for such institutions to have in place institutional plans for an effective DSM process. An effectively formulated and executed institutional plan should improve both participant protection and trials conduct and should greatly reduce the need to set up new policies ad hoc on a trial-by-trial basis. For most investigator-initiated grant applications supporting clinical trials in an institution with an already approved institutional plan, the investigator should only have to supply the approved institutional plan in the Human Subjects section of the grant application and describe how it applies to the specific trials.
Tailoring Institutional DSM Plans to Specific Studies
The NCI clinical trials portfolio encompasses a vast array of investigation; examples range across early feasibility studies in treatment, prevention, or diagnosis; nutritional interventions to modulate risk of cancer; gene transfer; and behavioral research relating to cessation of tobacco use. Accordingly, the essential elements for DSM outlined below are described in general terms, and we do not stipulate details of how this process should be carried out. We have used general language to describe the essential content of such plans, leaving to individual institutions and investigators wide discretion in how to carry out these activities in an effective manner.
Clearly, a sensible DSM plan for a particular clinical trial must be based on the medical or health-related context of the particular study and, in particular, the degree of risk to which participants in the trial are exposed. In applying an institutional plan to a particular trial, therefore, the principal investigator will consider whether the institutional plan is sufficiently specific or whether it needs some further tailoring to the conditions of the particular trial. An institution might choose to have one general plan, which investigators tailor to individual trials. Alternatively, the institution might choose to have a plan that is essentially formulated in modules, each of which describes in adequate detail how monitoring will be accomplished for a major class of trials the institution supports (e.g., early phase studies in treatment, behavioral studies, bone-marrow transplantation, chemoprevention studies in healthy populations, etc.). Investigators can then apply these plans to particular protocols with little or no change in the description. For purposes of NCI review, as noted above, investigators may append the institutional plan to the Human Subjects section of their own grant applications and use these institutional documents in their interactions with NCI staff reviewing their plan. Under most circumstances NCI anticipates that a properly prepared institutional plan should suffice both for peer review and for NCI staff review.
Review of DSM Plans by NCI Staff
NCI staff review of institutional or individual DSM plans prior to grant award will focus on the adequacy with which the plan covers the essential elements outlined below. It is not necessary that submitted plans (whether they are institutional or individual plans) cover all possible aspects of each element down to the last detail. Rather, the plan should describe processes for dealing with these elements such that a reasonable reviewer would conclude that the institution or investigator has a serious, robust process in place for assuring the safety of research participants and the oversight of data integrity.
Essential Elements
Monitoring the Progress of Trials and the Safety of Participants. Description of these monitoring processes should include a number of elements. Who actually monitors the trials? How often are the data examined in the course of trial conduct? What do the monitors look for? What procedures are in place to insure adequate feedback of information to researchers and medical decision-makers, so that trials involving excessive risk in relation to anticipated benefits are terminated appropriately? What is the oversight or supervisory role of institutional committees, if appropriate? What procedures does the institution have for coordinating multi-center trials, if applicable?
In relation to who actually has responsibility for monitoring a trial, DSM plans should explain how the institution averts or manages any conflict of interest implicit in having a Principal Investigator (or a direct report of the PI) as the only monitor of trials that pose significant risk to study subjects.
Plans for assuring compliance with requirements regarding the reporting of adverse events (AE). The plan should describe the processes and oversight that the institution has in place for assuring that AE reporting requirements are actually met. For multi-center trials coordinated by the institution, the plan should outline procedures by which the institution establishes a central reporting entity that collects and reports AE to all necessary destinations, including co-investigators at participating institutions.
The requirements for proper reporting of AE on clinical trials are complex (summarized in Appendix A). Possible destinations for AE reports include the institutional IRB, the sponsor (if an IND is involved), the FDA (for AE from commercially available agents), and the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA)(if gene transfer is involved). Note that current federal regulations almost always require reporting of AE in all categories of clinical trial to the institutional IRB, in addition to what is specified in Appendix A.
Note also that there is no requirement that individual AE be reported in real time to the NCI, unless NCI is also the IND sponsor of the study (see Appendix A). Where appropriate, investigators should summarize toxicities or adverse consequences of interventions as part of the progress reports in their non-competitive (Type 5) or competitive (Type 2) renewal applications.
Plans for assuring that any action resulting in a temporary or permanent suspension of an NCI-funded clinical trial is reported to the NCI grant program director responsible for the grant. These actions include, for example, any FDA actions that affect NCI-funded trials (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-00-053.html). It also includes actions by an IRB or by a commercial sponsor, or by the investigator him/herself, if an NCI-funded trial is involved.
Plans for Assuring Data Accuracy and Protocol Compliance. Institutions should describe what quality-control procedures are in place for assuring data accuracy and completeness in studies funded by NCI.
If an IND is in place, quality-control procedures are generally stipulated by the IND sponsor and may be simply referenced or summarized in the DSM plan. For studies not done under an IND, the institution should describe whatever procedures are in place to assure data integrity and protocol adherence. Appropriate procedures may range, for example, from regular data verification and protocol compliance checks performed by a data manager and a principal investigator to a formal external data-audit process by an agent external to the institution.
Special Circumstances
A. Behavioral and Nutritional Studies
For behavioral and nutritional Phase I-III trials, the NCI requires that a DSM plan be in place appropriate to the anticipated level of risk involved in the particular study. A DSMB can be constituted at the investigator's discretion and seems particularly appropriate when investigators anticipate the possibility of early stopping based on emerging differences in either risk or benefit.
B. Training Grants
Certain types of NCI career and training awards may support clinical trials, directly or indirectly. NCI's DSM policy covers those career and training awards in which the trainee has direct responsibility for conduct of the clinical trial or in which award funds directly support the trial. Responsibility for compliance with NCI's DSM policies rests with the grant recipient; this may be either the trainee or the training program director, depending on the award (individual versus institutional). Trainees in a mentored career program should consult with their mentors about adapting or designing suitable DSM plans for their clinical trials. In most cases the trainees will be in a mentored stage of their career and will lack the experience needed to provide appropriate oversight of the trial. The DSM plan must therefore clearly identify the senior individual responsible for monitoring the trial and the function of the trainee in this process.
- For institutional career development programs (e.g., K12, R25T) in which clinical trials are an integral part, applicants should provide with their application documentation that either (a) the sponsoring institution has an institutional DSM plan in place that covers all trials supported by the grant, or (b) the trials are covered by individualized DSM plans, included in the application submission, that apply to the trials directly.
- For individual career development awards in which the trainee has direct responsibility for trial conduct or in which award funds directly support the trial, the DSM plan covering the trial may be either institutional or individual at the discretion of the grant recipient.
- If the clinical trial is not to be started immediately upon award but will follow after a considerable lapse of time (years), submission of a DSM plan to NCI for approval may be delayed until the nature of the trial is clear and its initiation is in the near future. This will insure that the DSM plan, whether institutional or individual, suits the needs of the trial.
Appendix A: Summary of Reporting Requirements for Adverse Events on NCI Trials Supported by Grant or Contract Funding
A. Trials for which NCI is also the IND Sponsor (for details, see the NCI Investigator Handbook, available on-line at http://ctep.cancer.gov/investigatorResources/investigators_handbook.htm)
TABLE A: Expedited Reporting for Phase 1 Studies
Attribution of Possible, Probable or Definite
GRADES 4 and 5
Regardless of Attribution
GRADES 4 and 5
Regardless of Attribution
Grade 2 — Expedited report within 10 working days
Grade 3 — Report by phone to IDB within 24 hrs. Expedited report to follow within 10 working days.
(Grade 1 — Adverse Event Expedited Reporting NOT required.)
Report by phone to IDB within 24 hrs. Expedited report to follow within 10 working days.
This includes all deaths within 30 days of the last dose of treatment with an investigational agent regardless of attribution or any death attributed to the agent (possible, probable, or definite) regardless of the timeframe.
Adverse Event Expedited
Report by phone to IDB within 24 hrs. Expedited report to follow within 10 working days.
This includes all deaths within 30 days of the last dose of treatment with an investigational agent regardless of attribution or any death attributed to the agent (possible, probable, or definite) regardless of the timeframe.
TABLE B: Expedited Reporting for Phase 2 and 3 Studies
Attribution of Possible, Probable or Definite
GRADES 4 and 5
Regardless of Attribution
GRADES 4 and 5
Regardless of Attribution
Expedited report within 10 working days
(Grade 1 — Adverse Event Expedited Reporting NOT required.)
Report by phone to IDB within 24 hrs. Expedited report to follow within 10 working days.
This includes all deaths within 30 days of the last dose of treatment with an investigational agent regardless of attribution or any death attributed to the agent (possible, probable, or definite) regardless of the timeframe.
Adverse Event Expedited Reporting NOT required.
Expedited report, including Grade 5 Aplasia in leukemia patients,within 10 working days.
This includes all deaths within 30 days of the last dose of treatment with an investigational agent regardless of attribution or any death attributed to the agent (possible, probable, or definite) regardless of the timeframe.
Grade 4 Myelosuppression or other Grade 4 events that do not require expedited reporting will be specified in the protocol.
* For Hospitalization Only — Any medical event equivalent to CTC Grade 3, 4, 5 which precipitated hospitalization (or prolongation of existing hospitalization) must be reported regardless of requirements for Phase of study, expected or unexpected and attribution.
Expedited reporting may not be appropriate for specific expected adverse events for certain later Phase 2 and Phase 3 protocols. In those situations the adverse events that will not have expedited reporting must be specified in the text of the approved protocol. An expected Grade 3 event that is definitely related to the investigational agent is only to be reported if the patient is hospitalized using the generic reporting criteria, for instance. In a trial of an investigational agent where Grade 3 diarrhea requiring hospitalization is expected, only diarrhea requiring ICU care (Grade 4) might be designated for expedited reporting.
B. Trials of an investigational agent for which NCI is not the IND holder
The controlling regulations are those of the Food and Drug Administration (21 CFR Part 312.32 Expedited Safety Reporting Requirements for Human Drug and Biological Products) and are available at http://www.fda.gov/cder/aers/fr07oc97.htm. They describe the responsibilities of the investigator and the IND holder. Additional sponsor or institutional requirements may be appropriate for specific agents and included in the pertinent protocol sections.
C. Trials involving commercially available agents only (no IND's involved)
Serious adverse events that occur with commercially available agents/devices are reported through Food and Drug Administration Medwatch (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/index.html).
D. Trials involving recombinant DNA molecules (gene transfer)
In addition to the reporting requirements for investigational agents (see A or B above, as appropriate), investigators should adhere to NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules (Gene Transfer) (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-02-052.html)
E. Food and Drug Administration reporting requirements of serious adverse events for post-marketing trials of vaccines (no cancer vaccines yet in this category)
Serious adverse events must be reported according to applicable FDA regulations (http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaers/vaers.htm).
F. Trials involving behavioral or nutritional interventions that do not use an investigational agent
Since there are no standard grading scales for adverse events, defining suitable grades for adverse events is the responsibility of individual investigators for each protocol. Adverse events of a psychological nature can occur with behavioral trials and should be specified for the particular intervention in question.


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You can sort and filter companies and see why they made the list.See our methodology and credits
Fortune's list of unicorn startups is ranked by valuation. (Where there are ties, rankings are based on alphabetical order.) The list is based on a combination of data from PitchBook, CB Insights, news reports, and our own investigation. Be forewarned: The valuations of these companies are in constant flux, and the list you see below may not necessarily reflect the most recent estimates.
—Andrew Nusca
» The list was last updated on January 19, 2016.
They're called "unicorns"—private companies valued at $1 billion or more. The billion-dollar technology startup was once the stuff of myth. Today they're seemingly everywhere, backed by a bull market and a new generation of disruptive technology.See our methodology and credits
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Following Microsoft's Recipes for Android Self-Programming
Jul 12, 2012 5:00 AM PT
Microsoft is involved in a project geared toward self-programming and extending the functionality of the Android smartphone environment. That's surprising, because Microsoft has got its own phone OS that competes.
However, on{X} (pronounced "on-ex") in beta is bringing some unique JavaScript APIs to the table that let you program your phone remotely.
How It Works
Javascript rules you create on the on{X} website are pushed to the phone. When they are triggered using phone functions like GPS, they run actions. Actions can include SMS text messaging, opening an app, and so on. Triggers can include GPS location, news and weather feeds.
on{X} uses the term "recipes" for its rules. Example recipes include turning the phone's Bluetooth radio on when you arrive or leave a location; showing you the weather forecast everyday at a specific time if the anticipated temperature is below a set level; and texting someone when you arrive or leave a specific location.
Recipes can be turned on and off at the phone.
If you've used the common website programming language JavaScript before, you'll find the whole process easy and can jump in. If you haven't, here follows a brief "how to" explaining the editing of a simple example recipe and getting it to work.
Step 1: Getting Started
Browse to the on{X} website using a PC and click on the "Get Started" link. Choose "Download the on{X} app" and follow the hyperlink that takes you to the Google Play store.
Install the app onto your Android smartphone. Log in to the phone app with a Facebook account.
Browse back to the on{X} website on the PC, and log in with Facebook. Choose your Facebook privacy settings here.
Select the "Recipes" tab on the PC website, and scroll down to the recipe sample: "When I arrive home, remind me to buy milk." This code snippet will form the basis for our test recipe and will use your location as defined by a variable to create a geo-region for a trigger. On entering the region, a notification will be initiated on the phone.
Click "Code" and the base source code will be displayed. Then click "Create new rule from source code."
Step 2: Your Location
Browse to Worldatlas or similar within a new browser tab on the PC (see below) and choose the "Quickly find the latitude and longitude" link.
Enter your current street address location, and the latitude and longitudinal coordinates of your location will be displayed in decimal position format -- the format used by on{X}.
You can also use a free GPS tool apps like Mictale's GPS Essentials or Chartcross's GPS Test to pull this data from your phone. Verify it's displaying in decimal format and not degrees by checking that the syntax is two digits followed by a decimal point followed by a series of digits.
Step 3: Your Code
Replace the existing latitude and longitude "initializing variables" in the on{X} source code with your data. Include six digits after the decimal point -- dropping any further digits generated by your source. The minus sign represents "W" in decimal notation.
Replace the text "buy milk" with something more interesting, like "open beer."
Reduce the geographic region's size by changing the radius (in yards) within the "geo region" to "500." This will mean you won't have so far to go when testing.
Change the rule name to "When I arrive home remind me to open beer," or whatever is appropriate, depending on the changes to the reminder verb and noun in the initializing variable.
Click "Save and Send to Phone." Then check the phone and your rule will be listed in the on{X} app on the phone.
Step 4: Testing
Test by leaving the perimeter you set earlier, and then returning.
Bear in mind GPS inaccuracies, and that the app utilizes sensor readings that take into account your motion. More motion equals more sampling. Verify the GPS stays alive while outside your perimeter.
Tips: Full documentation, including objects, further samples and a user forum are at the website.
Want to Ask a Tech Question?
Is there a piece of tech you'd like to know how to operate properly? Is there a gadget that's got you confounded? Please send your tech questions to me, and I'll try to answer as many as possible in this column.
And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!


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A suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a group of pigs delivered to a Minnesota processing plant from an Iowa livestock facility has turned out to be negative, according to a release from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.
Samples were collected and shipped to Plum Island Animal Disease Center for analysis and turned out to be negative for FMD.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Information Service's Administrator Ron DeHaven released an official statement indicating that tissue from a shipment of sick hogs from Canada turned out to be enterovirus and circovirus, two viruses already known to exist in the United States.
A total of 185 animals were identified as sick and isolated when they reached Hormel's slaughter facility at Austin, MN. Another shipment of 169 head was placed in the same holding site, though they showed no signs of illness."Enterovirus and circovirus pose no threat to human health or food safety. Therefore, the USDA hold has been lifted for all animals associated with this investigation," DeHaven says.


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Splash Magazines
Gil Shaham is drawn to works from the 1930s; Violinist's repertory focuses on works by Stravinsky, Bartók, Berg, Schoenberg, Prokofiev and others who wrote in that era.
Gil Shaham
Los Angeles Times
By David Mermelstein
Unless you happen to be David Letterman, little of value tends to come from making top 10 lists. But violinist Gil Shaham has lately turned this common time-waster into something of a consuming passion, and music lovers are the beneficiaries.
One of the era's star fiddlers, Shaham began musing about his favorite 20th century violin concertos at the turn of the millennium. He found to his surprise that most were written in the 1930s. This led to a decision to devote several seasons almost exclusively to these works, specifically concertos by Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Alban Berg, Sergei Prokofiev, William Walton, Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber and Paul Hindemith. "They're all composed between 1931 and 1939," Shaham said of the scores, speaking by phone late one night from his home in Manhattan, just before leaving for London to perform one of them, Berg's Concerto, with Michael Tilson Thomas. "It's a pretty astonishing list, almost like a music-101 of composers. And though I'm hoping this project might lead to some interesting conversations, I started thinking of it purely selfishly, because these are pieces I love and want to play."
Shaham, 38, is also scheduled to perform the Berg Concerto this week with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The aching, 12-tone work, dedicated to "the memory of an angel," is a lament on the death of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, daughter of Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler.
But the violinist, who holds Israeli and American citizenship, perceives additional associations here. "There is something about this concerto beyond its being sort of a requiem," he said. "It captures Vienna in the 1930s. When you hear that famous passage where the Bach chorale is first set, with the clarinets imitating an organ, and then there's the weeping violin over serialist harmony, you feel Old Europe is lost."
He finds similar connections in other concertos from this period, comparing movements in Barber's to the erection of American skyscrapers and the plight of Dust Bowl farmers. And after noting the originality of placing traditional Hungarian folk elements within a modern rhythmic setting, he calls Bartók's Second Violin Concerto "the story of all the refugees of the time."
Though it's early days for this project, Shaham is thus far sticking to scores he knows well, confining himself this season to Stravinsky, Berg, Barber, Prokofiev and Walton. "I'm a slow learner," he said. "But next season, I'll add the Britten, then I'll do Hindemith. And if we end up going to a fourth season, there's Karl Amadeus Hartmann's 'Concerto Funebre,' which is amazing. We might also add the Korngold, even though he published it in 1945, because the movie themes it's based on were written in the 1930s."
'He has all the tools'
Those unfamiliar with Shaham's career may think his commitment to performing these concertos reveals an artist with a decidedly modernist bent. But he is even more associated with music of the 19th century, a golden era for the violin. His latest CD, released on his own Canary Classics label, is devoted to showpieces by Spanish violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. And his most recent appearance in Los Angeles, at the Hollywood Bowl in July, found him performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto, a cornerstone of his repertory.
Marin Alsop conducted that concert, and she lauds his "passionate and committed" playing as well as his collaborative spirit, sense of humor and sunny disposition. "I think he's in music for all the right reasons, because he adores it," she said. "That's his motivation -- the repertoire, the composer, the experience."
Shaham is less involved with new music than other leading violinists -- like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Gidon Kremer and Leila Josefowicz -- but he has forged ties with composers William Bolcom and John Williams. His relationship with Williams is especially noteworthy, because the composer wrote the concerto-like "TreeSong" (2000) for him. Shaham was also the first to perform Williams' late-1990s revision of his Violin Concerto (1976) and was the dedicatee of "Devil's Dance," an encore piece based on themes from the composer's score to the movie "The Witches of Eastwick." Next season, Shaham plans to perform Williams' "Duo Concertante" for violin and viola -- among the few works that fall outside his '30s concerto scheme.
The esteem is mutual, for Shaham has no bigger champion than this composer-conductor. "When I think about Gil," Williams said, "I think of a gentle, giving and humble man with a gargantuan talent. In listening to him, there is the sense that the brilliance is coming from the music and that we can apprehend its intention unobstructed by vanity, though Gil is capable of a broad range of emotional qualities, from gently persuasive to forceful. The other thing is that he has all the tools, including fantastic rhythmic flow and beautiful intonation."
Perhaps that explains why Shaham remains perpetually in demand on the world's foremost stages despite his insistence on performing only about 50 concerts annually. The reason: to spend more time with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their two young children. And there has even been an unintended benefit to this limiting of public appearances.
"Adele and I have both noticed the same thing," Shaham said. "We enjoy our music even more now because it's really our thing. In a way, we're enjoying it more by doing it less."
Fortune has continued to favor Los Angeles as far as Shaham's concert dates go. In addition to his four performances with Dudamel and the Philharmonic, the violinist returns to Disney Hall in April, performing Stravinsky's concerto with the touring Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson, the ensemble's music director and Shaham's brother-in-law.
As a relation, Robertson may not be the most objective judge of Shaham's talents, but they worked together long before any familial connection -- indeed, Shaham was merely 16 at their first collaboration, in Jerusalem. Since then, Robertson's esteem for him has only grown.
"He has a perfect ear for sound and an ability to express the love and joy he feels in music," the conductor said. "Sometimes he will play so that the harmonics of his instrument just envelop you. It's so exciting to stand next to him when he's playing the Beethoven Concerto and hear him in the final cadenza. It's wild and pure and so loud -- and all perfectly in tune."