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Best Partnership Award
The "Best Partnership" category is dedicated to raising awareness about excellent models of businesses and nonprofit organizations partnering together effectively. A people's choice award, the publiv voting process determines the winning partnership.
Abbott Laboratories and Direct Relief International
To improve overall health of women and children in Cambodia, Abbott and the Abbott Fund have partnered with Direct Relief International to support nutrition awareness, education and training programs for physicians, nurses and families at Angkor Hospital for Children, a leading pediatric teaching hospital in Siem Reap that offers free comprehensive care and trains thousands of Cambodian health workers every year.
Since the partnership with the hospital began in September 2006, Abbott and the Abbott Fund have provided two grants totaling $139,500, along with almost $1 million worth of nutritional and pharmaceutical products. The partnership between Abbott and Direct Relief has made a significant impact over the past two years by supporting the hospital's ongoing efforts to train healthcare workers on counseling families and building awareness of the nutritional needs of children.
American International Group, Inc. and CHF International
CHF International, a U.S.-based nonprofit, and the American International Group (AIG), Inc., worked together during the aftermath of the August 15, 2007, earthquake near Pisco, Peru, to bring shelter to a number of minority communities. With AIG's assistance, CHF was able to focus its response on building basic infrastructure (such as shelters, classrooms, and toilet facilities) and restoring livelihoods (through micro-grants and employment) in order to give people the resources they needed to get back on their feet.
Among the short-term accomplishments of the CHF-AIG partnership was the construction of 700 homes with capacity for 3,500 individuals, 175 latrines to provide sanitary conditions for the affected families, 17 temporary classrooms, four communal dining areas and a community center. Together, these activities generated more than 5,000 hours of paid labor in the communities. In addition to the construction, the joint AIG-CHF program distributed a total of 324 small grants, between $50 and $100 each, that helped families and entrepreneurs get back on their feet economically following the disaster.
CHF and AIG collaborated on the creation of a local NGO comprising local architecture students who were fully trained in the earthquake-resistant construction technique. This local nonprofit continues today to provide assistance to other earthquake-affected communities and to disseminate information in Peru about the benefits of earthquake-resistant shelter.
CVS Caremark and the Simon Youth Foundation
Since 1998, Simon Youth Foundation has developed highly successful alternative schools called Education Resource Centers (ERCs) for students who are at risk of not completing high school. With ERC students thriving in the program, SYF has begun to focus on programs that assist with the transition to school or work. CVS started the Pathways to Pharmacy program as a proactive way to reach out to youth and recruit and retain high-quality employees. As SYF strives to offer students real-life job and life-skills training, and CVS seeks to expand the scope of the Pathways program, the partnership greatly benefits the students involved.
In 2007, its inaugural year, the partnership was piloted in Indianapolis. In total, six ERC students participated in the program. Each student worked an eight-week, paid internship as a pharmacy technician at a CVS pharmacy. CVS offers students who thrive to continue to work at one of their pharmacies and, if the student chooses to pursue a degree in pharmacy, CVS assists with the costs of pharmacy school. In addition, SYF offers post-secondary scholarships to graduates of ERCs. The partnership between CVS and SYF will continue to be expanded each year, eventually involving all of SYF's ERCs who have a CVS pharmacy in their community.
Eli Lilly and Company and the International Council of Nurses
The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership to fight the increasing global threat of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is comprised of 18 public and private partners. For five years, the alliance has supported a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy to fight this disease. A key component of the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is its work with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) to equip nurses around the world with the knowledge and tools for detection, treatment and management of TB and MDR-TB.
Working in countries hard hit by MDR-TB, but especially in China, India, Russia, and South Africa where the burden of the disease is most pronounced, the Partnership transfers Lilly drug-manufacturing technology to local pharmaceutical companies, implements MDR-TB healthcare training programs, involves communities and business in MDR-TB prevention and treatment, strengthens surveillance of drug resistance, and promotes patient advocacy. Eli Lilly and Company has thus far committed a total of $135 million to the global fight against MDR-TB.
mtvU and the Jed Foundation
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among college students, and the primary cause of suicide is depression. And while nearly half of students say they would encourage a friend to seek help, less than a quarter would get help if they were struggling. In an effort to reverse these trends, MTV Networks' college channel, mtvU, teamed up with The Jed Foundation, the leading organization working to prevent suicide and promote mental health among college students, to launch a multiplatform campaign called Half of Us. The campaign represents the reality that nearly half of college students have felt so depressed they could not function.
The Jed Foundation and mtvU partnership commenced in 2006, bringing together mtvU's reach within the college community and Jed's mental health expertise. Both organizations understood the urgency and importance of this issue and wanted to be among the first to address it via media on a national scale.
International Community Service Award
"The Citizen" award for this category goes to companies, accredited local or state chambers, trade associations, or American Chambers of Commerce with exemplary models of social and civic leadership in developing nations around the world.
American Chamber of Commerce of Nicaragua
Since 1999, the private sector represented at AMCHAM Nicaragua has been committed to the social and economic development of the country and has worked to strengthen the quality of education through its schools-sponsorship program. There are now 79 companies actively involved in the program.
The main focus of the program is to improve the quality of education with the help of the private sector in order to give Nicaraguans the tools to develop a highly trained workforce and simultaneously commit resources for the students` personal development in ethics and business development. The program promotes and strengthens specific components such as English lessons and school gardens, matching private-sector resources with donor funds and technical knowledge.
Coca-Cola China Ltd.
In support of the government's nationwide efforts to improve the living standard of people in rural communities, Coca-Cola China cooperated with Hunan provincial, city and township level governments to introduce the New Village Project to improve the standard of living in Hanfeng village, a typical poverty-stricken village with poor living conditions. Coca-Cola China's New Village Project was launched in April 2007 in Hanfeng village, Miluo city, Hunan Province.
The project has included 101 water wells drilled to provide access to clean drinking water, 50 marsh-gas chambers constructed to provide gas for cooking and heating, new roads paved for better mobility and a medical clinic built to provide free basic care to the 9,240 villagers. There is a multifunctional culture and recreation center, within which is a library, reading room, cinema, games room, basketball field and a modern playground for children. The project has directly improved the standard of living for more than 9,000 residents living in Hanfeng village. The project has encouraged 100 other enterprises to launch similar projects in Hunan, with a total investment of $29 million, benefiting more than 2 million people.
According to the World Health Organization, road crashes are the number-one killer of young people aged 10-24 in the world. More than 8 in 10 of these occur in low and middle-income countries where infrastructure development and auto sales often outpace efforts to keep pedestrians – especially children – safe. As an international transportation and logistics corporation, FedEx has more than 75,000 vehicles on the road each day worldwide. With this expansive network of drivers comes the responsibility to play a major role in keeping our global roads safe for everyone on them.
"Walk This Way" (WTW) programs, FedEx and Safe Kids Worldwide are making communities around the world safer places for children to play, explore and navigate streets through youth-focused pedestrian safety programs. WTW programs are customized based on each community's culture and specific needs. The programs deliver benefits on three levels: child-safety research and environmental assessments identify risks in communities; in-school curricula, events and educational tools teach safe behaviors; and infrastructure improvements address the root cause of many child injuries and deaths – unsafe roadways.
Hundreds of FedEx volunteers participate in WTW programming each year. Through their support and FedEx's funding, the program reached nearly 1,000 schools and 600,000 students in Brazil, the Philippines, China, South Korea, Canada and India in 2007 alone.
Pfizer Inc.,
Pfizer Global Health Fellows is Pfizer's high-impact, international corporate volunteerism program. Pfizer sends its highly skilled employees around the world on three- to six-month assignments to improve health care in underserved communities.
Global Health Fellows partner with experienced nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver better health care to people in need. By working with its worldwide network of international and local partners, Pfizer responds to in-country health challenges by matching its most qualified employees with NGOs that work to improve access to care. Employees work directly with partners to help them overcome operational, managerial and practical challenges. Fellows leverage their professional skills and share knowledge and expertise to leave the NGO stronger and more equipped to sustain long-term impact, even after the fellows have completed their assignments. To date, Pfizer has deployed 171 fellows to 34 countries.
Procter & Gamble Pakistan
P&G Pakistan partners with HOPE (Health Oriented Preventive Education), and has built a network of 60 informal schools across rural Karachi and Thatta that have been established in the homes of local trained teachers. Books and stationery are given free of cost to students. For training teachers, P&G prepares a detailed program with the Teachers Resource Center, as well as The Citizens Foundation. P&G Pakistan also regularly sponsors fun and educational tours for the children of P&G HOPE schools.
Partnering with a local NGO in Azad Kashmir, named READ Foundation, P&G Pakistan builds fully seismic-compliant schools in areas of north Pakistan that were affected by the earthquake, under the project "Safe Schooling For Building Futures." P&G has built two schools with READ -- a 53-classroom school for boys, girls and young kids aged 4-16 in main Muzaffarabad city, capital of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), which is one of the largest schools in Muzaffarabad, with over 1,100 students. A second school was recently established in a remote village near Muzaffarabad to reach a further student population of 150 students. Children are educated at a minimal fee and orphans receive full tuition waivers.
U.S. Community Service Award
"The Citizen" award for this category goes to companies, accredited local or state chambers, or trade associations with U.S.-focused community service projects. Finalists exemplify the ability of the business sector to demonstrate social or civic leadership through a single strategic initiative.
Air Conditioning Contractors of America
Through the Air Conditioning Contractors of America's (ACCA) "Heat the Country" program, ACCA and its member companies volunteer their technicians, trucks, and resources to provide heating assistance to elderly, disabled or low-income homeowners within ACCA-chapter areas who could not otherwise afford to have their heating systems cleaned and checked. Additionally, nonprofit social services agencies in the local community who serve elderly, disabled or low-income homeowners also benefit from the Heat the Country program. .
In four years, Heat the Country has mobilized more than 1,600 volunteers who have donated 7,000 work-hours to provide service to more than 2,300 buildings. The monetary contributions approach $500,000. Nearly 3,000 families now have working heating systems they would likely have gone without.
Car crashes are the number-one killer of U.S. teens. Each year, nearly 6,000 teens are killed and another 300,000 are injured in largely preventable collisions. Allstate Insurance Co., with the Allstate Foundation, is mobilizing national, state and local resources in the comprehensive "Teen Safe Driving Program" to make the roads safer in all communities.
Through research, advocacy advertising, teen empowerment, parent education and partnerships with schools, community organizations, government agencies and health care providers, Allstate and the Allstate Foundation have invested more than $18 million since 2007 to save young lives, preserve families and build safer communities.
Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP
In this uncertain economy, nonprofits are struggling to deliver on their social missions while dealing with business, operational and financial challenges with which they have little experience and for which they have few resources to secure professional help. This is why Deloitte & Touche USA developed IMPACT Day, a national day of volunteering, when all 40,000+ employees are encouraged to set aside their work and volunteer. Skills-based volunteering leverages the talent of Deloitte employees to help nonprofits more effectively manage business challenges.
IMPACT Day is a day-long series of seminars and workshops designed to provide nonprofit leaders with the opportunity to network and share best practices with one another. Developed and delivered by local teams of Deloitte professionals who have both business acumen and familiarity with the local business climate, the sessions offer insights that will provide the greatest benefit to local nonprofit organizations. Now in its ninth year, IMPACT Day has evolved into a deeply valued celebration of year-round commitment to the community.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines' Adopt-A-Pilot program is a unique educational program which pairs fifth-grade classes across the country with Southwest pilots as mentors and reinforces how education is critical in reaching future career goals. For four weeks each spring, Southwest pilots visit students weekly and students track their "adopted" pilot while he/she is "on the road." Students also complete an Adopt-A-Pilot curriculum developed in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum and other educational specialists. The curriculum includes science, math, geography, language skills, life values and other activities that have made learning fun and have helped thousands of students outline their own career paths.
From 1997-2008, pilot volunteers have increased more than 1,300 percent and students have increased more than 2,200 percent. In 2007-08, 93 percent of teachers rated the program as "above average" to "excellent." Ninety-eight percent of teachers said it was appropriate for the age and level of students. Most important, feedback from teachers, parents and pilots concludes that Adopt-A-Pilot is making a significant difference in thousands of young lives.
Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy believes its ultimate future success is directly linked to the quality of education in Colorado and is committed to supporting and encouraging the people most responsible for making the changes to improve education -- the teachers. Classroom Connection is a teacher network/professional development program that awards "disseminator" grants to teachers who have designed and implemented successful, innovative classroom programs. Grant winners prepare a curriculum packet to share with teachers interested in adapting their program. Teachers wishing to "take an idea and go creative" can apply for "adapter" grants to replicate successful disseminator grant ideas in their classrooms.
Classroom Connection offers an important solution for improving the educational system. By supporting teachers and giving them the networking tools to share successful ideas, students become the recipients of proven, successful programs. Classroom Connection has been a community relations program at Xcel Energy for 15 years. More than 6,000 teachers have participated.
Best Corporate Steward Award (Small/Mid-Sized Business)
A corporate steward is a company that understands the linkages between its operations and society, and conducts its business in a way that creates "shared value:" both financially and responsibly over the long term. A corporate steward follows the letter and spirit of the law, but goes well beyond this to contribute actively to enhancing the communities in which it operates to support the long-term productivity of business.
Computer Systems Center Incorporated (CSCI) was founded with the vision of contributing to and making a difference in the efficient application of advanced technologies in the activities of U.S. government offices, agencies, and departments to carry out their missions. CSCI provides innovative technical counsel to clients including the Office of Naval Research, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff..
CSCI is committed to serving the community and employees who support charitable giving. CSCI's community relations programs positively impact the community, support organizations in which their employees are involved, and funds projects that support U.S. troops who are stationed overseas. Employees started the Santa Sac program, now a holiday tradition at CSCI. Every holiday season, employees donate the cash needed to purchase gifts and necessities to needy families in Northern Virginia. With matching donations from the CEO, CSCI has raised close to $34,000 for needy families in just the last three years. Employees work with local school officials to select families to be sponsored.
Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation is an international communications and information technology company, serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Harris is focused on developing best-in-class assured communications products, systems and services for global markets. The company generates revenue, income, and cash flows by developing, manufacturing, and selling communications products and software as well as providing related services.
As a global citizen, Harris strives to address current and emerging environmental requirements both in the U.S. and around the world – even in nations where there are no specific requirements to do so. Harris has strengthened their company-wide emphasis on assessing the environmental impact of manufactured products and reducing or eliminating any hazardous materials these products or their parts might contain. The Harris Foundation was established to assist Harris in its commitment to being a responsible corporate citizen. Support is provided either through employee gift matching or direct contributions. The Foundation supports educational, health and welfare, and civic and cultural initiatives, primarily in communities where Harris has significant numbers of employees. The Foundation also matches contributions made by regular, full-time employees to qualified secondary schools, colleges and universities, and to 501(c)3 community organizations that have been approved by the Board of the Foundation.
INTEGRITYOne Partners
INTEGRITYOne Partners (IOP) is a consulting services firm based in Reston, VA. IOP offers a broad range of industry-focused business consulting and technology solutions and innovation research and development services. IOP works in collaboration with private and pubic sector clients to help them achieve their business goals. Their primary client is the U.S. federal government. IOP has more than doubled in size from 21 full-time employees five years ago to its current roster of 44, and culminating in a five-year compounded annual growth rate of 42.4%.
IOP's founders have championed community service as an important part of each employee's professional and personal development. IOP leadership understands that community service benefits everyone; and while supporting charities and organizations that are close to the company's heart, service and philanthropy also serve as a platform for staff development.
IOP's social goals are to continue to support and build strong relationships with charities and groups they currently work with and add new programs and charity groups that are important to IOP personnel and clients. IOP's focus is to diversify participation and donation to multiple groups and individuals that need a helping hand.
NutraCea is a leader in stabilized rice bran nutrient research and dietary supplement development. Rice bran, including the germ, is the outer layer of the brown rice kernel after the husk has been removed. Until recently, the bran and the germ were an underutilized byproduct of the commercial, rice-milling industry. In the early 1990s, a determined group of innovators developed the technology to process rice bran while maintaining the highest nutritional value. The company's proprietary technology enables the creation of food and nutrition products from rice bran.
NutraCea has built on this success in the area of corporate citizenship. Through a partnership with Feed the Children, NutraCea helps provide nutrient-dense, nutritional fortification to malnourished women and children in Malawi and Indonesia and has fed 10,000 children daily for over one year in the most poverty-stricken areas of Malawi. The program has been expanded to thousands more orphans in Indonesia. In both countries, the children were dramatically impacted by improved quality of life, dramatically improved health and the ability to attend school.
Since the price of grains has increased dramatically and world food supplies for the undernourished are becoming more scarce, NutraCea believe that the 60 million metric tons of rice bran, currently underutilized but now processed with their stabilization technology, will have a profound and lasting impact on developing countries, both socially and economically.
Quality Float Works
Quality Float Works manufactures hollow float metal balls and float assemblies used to level liquid controls in a wide variety of industries including gas, plumbing, oil and agriculture. Quality Float Works encourages its supply chain and all employees to participate in constant quality improvements by upgrading supplied products and in-house process improvements. The company has implemented a 100% inspection rate at every level of production.
Quality Float Works has been actively implementing green practices on its shop floor. As a manufacturing company, Quality Float Works uses a tremendous amount of oil and scrap metal in production. The company has implemented ways to recycle these resources, preserve the environment and encourage employee participation. Adopting and implementing green practices allows the opportunity to maximize profit, lower costs and help the environment. Moreover, green practices may lead to new technological innovations and even job growth. Additionally, Quality Float Works has gone the extra mile in responding to the impact the housing crisis has had on its extended family of workers. Recently, the company was highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article for loaning two workers at risk of losing their homes an interest-free loan. This capacity to meet employees' needs helps to eliminate stress and, in turn, develops employees who enjoy their workplace, maintain a strong work ethic, produce a quality work product and enhance team building.
Corporate Stewardship Award for Large Business
Bank of America
Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services.
Bank of America, guided by its brand promise of being the "Bank of Opportunity," understands the important economic and social role it plays in the communities it serves domestically and globally and believes that a healthy community is important to all stakeholders, and Bank of America's bottom line.
As part of the company's core value of "doing the right thing," Bank of America is committed to creating positive change in the places it operates through philanthropic efforts, employee volunteerism and environmental initiatives. Bank of America is committed to supporting high-impact initiatives and organizations, developing visionary leaders now and for the future, and providing general operating support and funding flexibility to build strong, diverse communities for the future.
This year alone, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation has a goal to contribute $200 million to address critical issues facing our neighborhoods and communities.
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax, and advisory firm, is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International, one of the world's "Big Four" accounting firms. KPMG International's member firms have 113,000 professionals, including 6,800 partners, in 148 countries. KPMG operates in 93 offices across the U.S. with more than 23,000 professionals, including 1,800 partners.
KPMG operates in a complex and competitive environment. To attract, retain, and develop the very best talent is critical. One way KPMG attracts and nurtures the right people is by taking a long-term view – through their community service focus on youth and education, KPMG reaches out to youth before they begin their careers. KPMG's community service program is one of their key pipelines for engaging future partners and employees, as well as potential future clients and community leaders. Taking a comprehensive approach, their initiatives deliver educational benefits to youth from K-12 to post-graduate levels. The initiatives help KPMG do well -- attracting talented young professionals -- by doing good -- building stronger communities in the process.
Pilot Travel Centers LLC
Pilot Travel Centers LLC is the largest operator of travel centers in the United States, with more than 300 travel centers in 40 states. Additionally, the company licenses 10 locations in Kansas, Montana and Nebraska and in 2006 opened a travel center in Tilbury, Ontario, Canada. Pilot employs almost 14,000 people, and its revenues reached $13 billion in 2007. Professional drivers and the motoring public rely on Pilot to meet their travel needs.
Pilot's first company value is, "Do the right thing all the time." That philosophy guides all that the company does, from providing growth opportunities for employees and accessible health care for professional driver customers to making decisions on corporate citizenship and business challenges. Pilot has a long history of corporate citizenship and feels strongly that it is important to serve the community philanthropically in time and resources. Pilot's philanthropic reach touches all types of causes and reaches locales in the U.S. and abroad.
Siemens USA
Siemens USA provides a broad range of products, systems, and services to the nation's most technologically advanced enterprises. Siemens USA employs more than 70,000 people in nearly 800 locations throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Every day the average American is touched by Siemens' technologies. For instance, Siemens' power solutions help meet one-third of America's total daily energy needs. Siemens is one of America's leading providers of turbines for wind power – a renewable source of energy – and a leading provider of solutions to help reduce industrial CO2 emissions. In addition to the impact of its business activities, Siemens is also actively involved in the communities where its employees live and work, through its grassroots community volunteerism initiatives (Caring Hands) and its educational programs and scholarships (Siemens Foundation). Long-term business success can best be achieved in stable societies that are capable of meeting the challenges that face them. Based on this perspective, Siemens strives to improve the societies in which it does business, as a responsible citizen and neighbor.
Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless services to millions of people and businesses in communities across the United States and throughout the world. Every day more than 100 million people connect using a Verizon communications network—whether at home, at work, or on the move.
A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of approximately 232,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion. Verizon has spent the last decade transforming the company to grow and compete in the digital era. Verizon's goal is to be the best company in the communications sector.
Doing well, or creating shareowner value, is part of every big decision at Verizon. With more than 100 million people connecting via a Verizon network every day it is vital that Verizon provide excellent service and great communications experiences and put customers first. Verizon believes that by focusing on customers and acting responsibly, they will do well; that is, produce a solid return for our shareowners, create meaningful work and provide something of lasting value for society.


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Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2019, 16(3): 1525-1553. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2019073.
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Global stability of an age-structured epidemic model with general Lyapunov functional
1 Laboratoire d'Analyse Nonlinéaire et Mathématiques Appliquées, University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen 13000, Algeria
2 Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan
Received: , Accepted: , Published:
Special Issues: Differential Equations in Mathematical Biology
Keywords: SIR epidemic model; infection age; nonlinear incidence; persistence; Lyapunov function; global stability
Citation: Abdennasser Chekroun, Mohammed Nor Frioui, Toshikazu Kuniya, Tarik Mohammed Touaoula. Global stability of an age-structured epidemic model with general Lyapunov functional. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2019, 16(3): 1525-1553. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2019073
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- 1. Abdennasser Chekroun, Toshikazu Kuniya, V. Vougalter, V. Volpert, An infection age-space-structured SIR epidemic model with Dirichlet boundary condition, Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena, 2019, 14, 5, 505, 10.1051/mmnp/2019048
- 2. Boning Wu, Xuesong Zhou, Youjie Ma, Bus Voltage Control of DC Distribution Network Based on Sliding Mode Active Disturbance Rejection Control Strategy, Energies, 2020, 13, 6, 1358, 10.3390/en13061358
- 3. Soufiane Bentout, Abdessamad Tridane, Salih Djilali, Tarik Mohammed Touaoula, Age-structured Modeling of COVID-19 Epidemic in the USA, UAE and Algeria, Alexandria Engineering Journal, 2020, 10.1016/j.aej.2020.08.053
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Daniel HJ Mohd Sidek of Malaysia in action at the 9th Faldo Series Asia Grand Final 2014 golf tournament on March 18, 2015 at Faldo course in Mid Valley clubhouse in Shenzhen, China. Photo by Xaume Olleros / Power Sport Images
Copyright: © 2015 Power Sport Images. All rights reserved.


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Bullshot Crummond (1983)
Directed by Dick ClementGenres - Comedy | Sub-Genres - Parody/Spoof, Satire | Release Date - Nov 1, 1983 (USA - Unknown) | Run Time - 85 min. | Countries - United Kingdom | MPAA Rating - PG
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Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka
Plot is a secondary consideration in this partially successful, partially failed take-off on the Bulldog Drummond series of the 1930s. "Bullshot" Crummond (Alan Shearman) is a square-jawed hero of World War I who longs to face off against his German arch-nemesis Count Otto von Bruno (Ron House) one more time. He gets his chance when he must save Rosemary Fenton (Diz White), a damsel in distress -- her father made a top-secret discovery before he died and Count von Bruno wants that secret for himself, no matter what happens to the good Rosemary. As the hijinks unfold inside the requisite Sinister Mansion (Bullshot fights a giant octopus and leaps onto a plane in mid-air as the action reaches a crescendo), caricature, and zany anarchy provide the humor.
mansion, rival, airplane, octopus


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General Biology Resource Sites
- Biology Corner
- National Association of Biology Teachers
- Awesome Science Teacher's Resources
- Explore Biology
- Serendip
- Biology Junction
- The Amoeba Sisters
- Science with Tom
- Paul Anderson's Video Lessons on Biology
- Ck12.org
- The Inner Life of a Cell
- UD Virtual Microscope
- Plant Cell Virtual Lab
- Cheek Cell Virtual Lab
- The Virtual Cell
- Cells Alive
- Cell Biology Animation
- Cell Craft Game
- Centre of the Cell
- Through the Virtual Cell
- Under what conditions do cells gain or loose water? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- Virtual Electron Microscope
- Interactive Animations
- Osmosis Pocus Animationa
- Construction of the Cell Membrane
- Diffusion in a Baggie
- Osmosis Lab with Potatoes
- Plants and Salt
- Under what conditions do cells gain or loose water? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- Mitosis Lab/Online Onion Root Tips – The Biology Project
- Mitosis Animation and Quiz
- Mitosis and Meiosis : How cells Divide
- Onion and Whitefish cell mitosis
- Meiosis Movie
- Active Art: The Cell Cycle
- Mitosis Movies
- Control the Cell Cycle Game
- Karyotyping – The Biology Project
- DNA Workshop
- Build a DNA Molecule
- Learn Genetics
- Gel Electrophoresis Animation
- Genotype to Phenotype
- DNA Detective
- Bacterial ID Lab HHMI
- Introduction to Microbiology Videos
- Mendel's Peas
- DNA Interactive
- What is the role of DNA and RNA in protein synthesis? (Virtual Lab)
- How are traits passed from parents to offspring?(Virtual Lab)
- Geniverse
- Virtual Karyotype
- About Genetics
- Evolution Lab
- Frog Pond Simulation Software
- Evolution 101
- The Tree of Life Web Project
- Tree of Life Cladogram
- Charles Darwin Game
- What are the stages of development before birth? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How can natural selection be modeled? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- Natural Selection (PHET Simulation)
- HHMI BioInteractives- Lizard Lab, stickleback Lab, Finch Activites and more
- The Great Fossil Find
- Animal Encyclopedia – http://www.eol.org/
- How can microscopic protists and fungi be characterized? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How do sponges, cnidarians and flatworms obtain food? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How are mollusks, worms, echinoderms and arthropods classified? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- Anatomy Arcade
- What kills germs? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- What are the major bones in a human body? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How can you design a healthful diet? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- What factors affect the likelihood of hypertension? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How do the parts of the respiratory system work together? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How does human hearing compare with that of other animals? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- How does the body protect itself against foreign substances? (Glencoe Virtual Lab)
- Eating and Exercise (PHET Simulation)
- The Biology Project
- Introduction to DNA
- Rediscovering Biology Videos for Teachers
- An Introduction to Microbiology
- Small World Photographs from Nikon
- Human Embryonic Stem Cells
- Stages of Mitosis Animation
- Biology in Motion
- Case Studies
- Next Generation Molecular Workbench
- Dr P's AP Biology
Images Databases
Recommendations to Research for Curriculum Updates for Biology
- Connection Biology – https://connectedbio.org/index.html
- Inquiry Hub Biology – https://www.colorado.edu/program/inquiryhub/curricula/inquiryhub-biology


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It's one of those days, when I will never finish anything.
I noticed I never posted Day 2 – Of our move from Wyoming, and it's not happening today. Oh Well!
I watched about 10 minutes of news and turned off the tv. That's actually a good thing.
I did two minutes on the treadmill. That's NOT a good thing.
I read two more pages of Terry Pratchett's The Color Of Magic. Okay, he's funny and I really want to like it but couldn't we just lose some of the made up words??
I posted mom's daily poem for her on her blog. Padairvanvleck's Weblog. I post her poems for her, send her copies of the comments and she is enjoying the comments a lot. She gets kind of lonely in her apartment so the blog helps a lot.
I did the dishes, all five of them. Pizza last night is so nice on the dirty dish front.
The dog finally got her butt up and went out and I have a stack of paperwork on the floor that is increasing in volume relative to the National Debt.
Did read a few blogs.Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom being one of my favorites, but who can think of 101 consecutive things. That's a long term project.
And, that's my morning. Hope yours is going well.


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Augmented reality app running on iPhone
With the the oncoming flood of powerful devices such as the iPhone, it's almost certain that we're about to make the leap into an augmented reality. I've predicted we'll have common-place AR apps in early 2009. My guess is that Google will introduce a Maps-based application; possibly one that displays landmark-labels.
UPDATE, 2009: I was right that a public consumer AR Maps application would debut around early 2009: the Wikitude AR Travel App displays hovering labels over buildings and landmarks when you point your phone at them. I was almost right about Google's part; it runs on Google Android phones—but was created by independent developers.
Here's a video giving us a taste of what's possible—an iPhone app capable of displaying 10 frames per second in live-video realtime tracking. It was made using version 4.4 of the ARToolkit, created by ARToolworks.
Gizmodo mentions that this won't be found in the Appstore anytime soon, and quotes the creators:
It's running slowly, but once Apple releases a video [API for the iPhone] SDK, performance should get to 20-30 frames/second. We've all seen the awesome 3D games that can run on the iPhone, so fast AR applications will also be possible in the future, with all that multi-touch goodness thrown in as well.
I'm thinking there must be someone already brewing AR apps of some sort. Evernote is close, letting you take a picture of text (e.g. a poster or DVD cover, etc.) and making the text searchable. Location-based social applications are also on a roll, displaying people in your area and what they're up to.
With the iPhone's 3G version there's nothing that stands in the way; there's bandwidth, GPS location and then the phone's accelerometer. These combined could be used to make a label-application like I mentioned above: The accelerometer could track which way you're facing and when you turn, the GPS where you are and the 3G could provide a fast and live connection to something like Google's maps.
I doubt AR is an area that Apple hasn't considered conquering. Even though it currently seems they'd rather want to use the phone's accelerometer to make lightsaber sounds.
Related posts:
- Mobile Second Life Client to Run on iPhones via Wi-Fi Following up on my writings about a Second Life Client for mobile phones being developed by Vollee — a company...


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Generational Differences
WhatŌĆÖs that do-hickey called?
You know, the thing that they used to put in the centre of the records (45s to be exact) to allow you to place them on your record player. I saw one on a radio station advertisement recently and immediately thought ŌĆ£How clever?!ŌĆØ I didnŌĆÖt have to think twice about the music the station played; that ŌĆśdo-hickeyŌĆÖ immediately conveyed a time and place in the last century making it┬Āinstantly recognisable and appreciated by its demographic.
My next thought was ŌĆ£Oh s*%!, IŌĆÖm that demographicŌĆØ, and I looked around the bus and started to wonder whether any of the youngŌĆÖns with their iPods cocooning them in an anti-social bubble of sound and their smart phones tearing their attention away from the world passing by would actually know what that do-hickey was?
Suddenly I felt old. But then I reminded myself:
Change is constant. Age is relative.
IŌĆÖm sure there are plenty of people that see me as a young ŌĆśwhippersnapperŌĆÖ. I donŌĆÖt say that as a consolation. I certainly donŌĆÖt believe that youth has the market cornered on embracing life. Quite the contrary, I extol the virtues of challenge and that is subjective to personality not governed by age.
Still … there was another time recently when I felt like an old man: I took something to get fixed and after the young ┬Āsalesperson finished making some comment like 'Wow, didn't know they made those back then' he proceeded to show me that it was actually substantially cheaper to buy the new & improved version (with added bells & whistles!) than repair my antiquity. (No thanks, I like my antiquity!)
ThereŌĆÖs a great ad for underwear that ran in Australia a year ago. (See below).┬Ā Again, I thought it was an incredibly clever ad that compared two different generations of men and having them both not understand the other, but walking a line that neither was right. Or at least thatŌĆÖs how I interpreted it ŌĆō perhaps because I sit between the two generations portrayed in the commercial I found myself laughing (good humouredly) laughing at both groups of men.
Age is all a matter of perspective. (Although I do have a burning question: If age brings wisdom, why do we still suffer (looking back) from so many bad haircuts/styles?)
Anyway, a final little anecdote about generational differences:
I remember stepping into a Virgin music store in San Francisco on a mission to find a copy of the BBC television series of Little Britain for some friends. I asked the young girl at the reception desk where I could find the videos. She paused for a moment looking perplexed before a dawning rose across her face. Then, raising her voice slightly (as if I couldnŌĆÖt hear) and speaking slightly slower and over-enunciating (as if I couldnŌĆÖt understand) she said, ŌĆ£Oh, you mean the D-V-Ds. TheyŌĆÖre on the 2nd floor.ŌĆØ


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What are the implications for your camp?
HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This law, passed by Congress in 1996, helps to protect individuals' rights to health coverage during events such as changing or losing jobs, pregnancy, moving, or divorce. It also provides rights and protections for employers when getting and renewing health coverage for their employees. HIPAA is NOT an insurance policy.
HIPAA contains a privacy rule (Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information). This rule gives patients greater access to their own medical records and more control over how their personal health information is used. The rule also addresses the obligations of health-care providers and health plans to protect health information. By law, covered entities had until April 14, 2003, to comply.
The privacy provisions of the federal law apply to health information created or maintained by health-care providers who engage in certain electronic transactions, health plans, and health-care clearinghouses.
For patients, it:
- enables them to find out how their health information is used and disclosed;
- limits release of information to the "minimum reasonably needed" for disclosure;
- gives them the right to examine and obtain a copy of their own health records and request corrections; and
- allows them to amend their health information if they believe it is inaccurate.
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has implementation and enforcement responsibility for the privacy rule. The OCR has issued a series of guidance materials that answer some of the questions about the new protections for consumers and requirements for doctors, hospitals, and other providers. It also clarifies some of the confusion regarding the meaning of key provisions of the rule. The guidance and other technical assistance materials are posted on the OCR Privacy Web site at: www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa.
It is federally mandated that all of the U.S. states and territories comply with HIPAA. Failure to comply with the privacy rule of HIPAA can lead to civil penalties up to $100 per person per violation and up to $25,000 per person for violations of a single standard for a calendar year and/or criminal penalties that can result in a $50,000 to $250,000 fine and one to ten years in jail for improper disclosure of individually identifiable health information.
So, What Does This Mean for Camps?
Your camp is not automatically subject to HIPAA just because you provide health care to campers. HIPAA only applies to health-care providers that electronically engage in one or more specified electronic transactions.1 Those transactions are (among others that do not apply to directly to health-care providers): submitting health-care claims for payment; making inquiries to health plans about the status of health-care claims; making inquiries to a health plan about a person's eligibility for health-care benefits; and, certifying and authorizing referrals to health-care providers.2
Simply completing a camper's health form online or faxing a health form to a treating emergency room is not enough to confer "covered entity" status on a health-care provider. If your camp provides health care and electronically engages in one of the foregoing transactions, you may be a covered entity. For example, if your camp electronically bills a camper's health insurance for health-care services, you may be covered. However, if your camp does not engage in these electronic transactions, you should not be covered by HIPAA's privacy rule.
What Should My Camp Be Doing?
Camps have legitimate and important uses for health information such as providing emergency first aid and evaluating a camper's ability to engage in activities. However, all campers deserve to have their health information kept confidential. Therefore, even if your camp is not directly covered by HIPAA, you should still evaluate how your camp uses health information and limit it to only to necessary uses. The steps outlined in this article, while perhaps not legally required, are still good guidelines to follow when handling campers' health information.
If your camp is subject to HIPAA, you should have already taken steps to comply. When the privacy rule was initially issued, the American Camping Association (ACA) recommended the following to camps:
First, determine your camp's current way of handling protected health information (PHI). Remember to consider:
- Who receives completed health forms and who has access to those forms?
- Who of the kitchen staff are typically informed of health issues? Why are they told? Could that pool of people be more limited without jeopardizing safety?
- What health challenges are shared with cabin staff?
- Who in the specialized areas of camp — waterfront, ropes course, horseback riding, tripping, etc. — are told about health challenges? Why are they told?
- Under what circumstances does PHI leave camp? How is the privacy of that information monitored?
- What individuals have access to all and any PHI? Who has limited access and how is that access limited?
- When a person leaves camp — whether on a day trip or at the end of their camp session — how is their health history secured? Who makes decisions regarding the disposition of that information?
Second, talk with your legal counsel regarding "red flags" which surfaced as a result of reviewing this information.3
Hopefully, since this rule went in to effect this April, you've already done these things! You should also have developed written policies and procedures to safeguard health information, provided notice to campers regarding how you will use their health information, and trained your staff about privacy.
Important Questions
Several questions have come up that might be useful as you consider your specific situations:
- The rule talks about providing only the "minimum necessary information." How do we deal with that at camp?
The Privacy Rule acknowledges that health-care providers (such as your camp nurse or doctor) need free access to individual health information and in no way seeks to limit that access. In this situation, the rule directs entities to limit access to the minimum necessary or to that which is reasonable. What is meant by "minimal," "necessary," and "reasonable" is left to the discretion of the entity — camp, in your case. Because of this, the scope of what a given camp discloses may vary from other camps but, in all cases, only the minimum should be relayed. Thus, for your camp, the camp nurse or doctor has free access to health forms; camp staff generally would not. It should be noted that this Rule does not apply only to written documents — it also refers to oral communication about health information. In camps, we often use oral communication to convey health information about people at camp. This rule directs us to provide "reasonable safeguards" so oral information is limited only to those who need to hear the information. For example, the camp nurse may talk with a cabin counselor about a camper's care but would do so in a setting which limits — if not eliminates — who else listens to that conversation. Camps should also review screening practices of Opening Day to evaluate who is hearing what about whom during the process.4
- What if we need to refer a camper or staff to an out-of-camp provider such as clinics, hospitals, dentists, and chiropractors?
The camp may freely release a camper's health information to an out-of-camp health-care provider if it is doing so to further the health-care treatment of a camper. The health-care provider who receives the information has obligations to maintain the confidentiality of the information, too.
- My campers and some staff are minors, what does the rule say about protecting their health information?
The Privacy Rule recognizes a parent/guardian as the representative of a minor. Consequently, the parent/guardian can sign statements of authorization in the child's name. In addition, the rule also recognizes another person acting in loco parentis. This is a position that most camps assume with regard to campers.
- With all that is going on in the world, what are the HIPAA implications if public officials approach my camp and want information if they are responding to a bioterrorism threat? Is my camp medical staff permitted to disclose protected health information?
Yes. The rule recognizes that various agencies or public officials will need protected health information to deal effectively with a bioterrorism threat. You can disclose protected health information, without the individual's authorization, to a public health authority acting as authorized by law in response to a bioterrorism threat or public health emergency (see 45 CFR 164.512(b), public health activities). The privacy rule also permits a covered entity to disclose protected health information to public officials who are reasonably able to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to public health or safety related to bioterrorism (see 45 CFR 164.512(j), to avert a serious threat to health or safety). In addition, disclosure of protected health information, without the individual's authorization, is permitted where the circumstances of the emergency implicate law enforcement activities (see 45 CFR 164.512(f)); national security and intelligence activities (see 45 CFR 164.512(k)(2)); or judicial and administrative proceedings (see 45 CFR 164.512(e)).5
What Resources Are Available to Me?
- HIPAA Online
- HHS Office for Civil Rights Privacy
- For a copy of the regulations: www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/finalreg.html
HIPAA Privacy & Security Resource Kits: The following Web sites are just a few of the many resources that a health-care provider might consult to conduct a HIPAA privacy and security risk assessment and generate an implementation plan. ACA does not specifically endorse these, or any other, HIPAA consulting service.
Information compiled by ACA staff, based on guidance provided by ACA's legal counsel, Ice Miller, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Originally published in the 2003 Spring issue of The CampLine.


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There's not a song she can't sing.
What can't Céline Dion sing well?
The legendary songstress sat down with Jimmy Fallon for a chin-wag on the Tonight Show and, of course, game time came around for the YouTube hits and what ensued was genuinely hilarious.
As we've seen with Ariana Grande and Christina Aguilera, the game requires the guest to impersonate a singer and song chosen at random, which is why we're now watching Céline Dion impersonate Sia.
The best moment? Watch the star thrust whilst singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to the tune of Rihanna's "Work".
Thoughts? Let us know in Exhale.
And while you're at it… leave a comment and follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.


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Interact with Lil Wayne's New Video with Your iPhone [VIDEO]
Music app Shazam has teamed up with Vevo to create a special Shazam for TV-enhanced version of Lil Wayne's new video, How to Love.
Shazam recently raised $32 million to expand its efforts in creating interactive ads for television content. Weezy's new video, How to Love, is the first music video that will incorporate Shazam for TV.
Users can use the Shazam app while watching the video on YouTube or Vevo to get access to Weezy's discography, buy a digital copy of the single and enter a contest to see Lil Wayne in concert. Plus, users can also watch the video on their iPhone or Android devices after they open the tag.
Music videos are an interesting place for Shazam for TV to set its sights. It's also unique, in this case, that the Shazam experience can be activated through Vevo, where presumably users are watching content online.
We're fans of the technique and we also dig the video. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


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Our goal at Kargo Master is to make your job easier and make your vehicles as hard working as you are. Since the 1970s we have continuously improved our designs and processes based on your feedback. Our hallmark is to provide the best in truck and commercial van ladder racks, equipment, and accessories. We offer streamlined styling and easy assembly without compromising strength or security.
Materials like T-6 aircraft aluminum, swaged joints, and polyester marine-grade powder coating keep our products strong, durable, and long-lasting for years. We employ the highest technology to manufacture all of our custom Kargo Master truck racks and van racks. Our systems include truck racks, ladder racks, van shelving, lumber racks, and van roof racks to name a few. All of the Kargo Master rack systems are built using state-of-the-art computerized equipment and stringent quality control systems making our products the best in the industry.
For over 32 years, Kargo Master has been manufacturing the most durable modular truck and van racks available. From our first truck rack in 1982 till now, quality engineering and construction using the strongest materials have made Kargo Master racks best sellers in the industry. No matter your industry or trade, Kargo Master has a rack for you.
Our highly trained employees, state-of-the-art computerized equipment, and strident quality control systems guarantee that Kargo Master Products are second to none. All of our products are designed to be supremely functional.


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Publicly traded customer service software company Zendesk today announced that it has acquired We Are Cloud, the parent company of BIME Analytics, a startup with a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) tool.
Zendesk paid $45 million in the deal, according to a press release.
"BIME Analytics will become the core technology powering Zendesk's customer data platform, enabling Zendesk to further integrate data analytics capabilities across its products," Zendesk said in the release.
The cloud BI space has been heating up quite a bit lately. Amazon Web Services announced its QuickSight tool last week. Salesforce came out with the Analytics Cloud tool last year. The latter is probably more important here, because Zendesk competes with Salesforce in the service desk software market. Now Zendesk will have BI capability, just like Salesforce.
Meanwhile, other privately held cloud BI providers, like Birst and Domo, have taken on funding rounds in the past several months.
Zendesk will provide more information on the deal on its November 3 earnings call, according to the release.
BIME Analytics started in 2009 and was based in Montpellier, France. Alven Capital invested $4 million in the startup in 2013. BIME Analytics customers included Cars.com, H&R Block, Lenovo, McAfee, Pizza Hut, Shell, and Sodexo.
The audio problem: Learn how new cloud-based API solutions are solving imperfect, frustrating audio in video conferences. Access here


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Mono is a single point support system that opens up an abundance of creative layout options for wall displays. Mono exists in numerous shapes and sizes. The versatile merchandise supports are simple to insert and safely secured against twisting or unintentional removal though a catch.
Illuminated power
The powered round Mono 20 P/L holder with an inner diameter of 20 mm enables the easy integration of lighting and digital devices for enhanced merchandise displays. Mono 20 P/L merchandise supports can be combined with non-electrified merchandise supports.
The Mono merchandise supports and holders are designed to be able to bear a substantial weight load — concentrated on a single spot. This is particularly useful when incorporating heavy digital devices into the display.
Torsion proof and accessories
Available in a range of different versions, Mono allows considerable creative freedom when showcasing merchandise and adapting displays to individual requirements. Merchandise supports are simply inserted into the holders and securely held in place.


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To All Survivors of "Indian Residential Schools"
Labels: aboriginal peoples, genocide, residential school survivors
A blog devoted to my interests which include anarchism and social movements, history, archeology, and anything else I choose to write about.
Labels: aboriginal peoples, genocide, residential school survivors
At 7;30 this morning at least 30 of us were strung in several lines along the Pearson Bridge in Nanaimo. There may have been more as some workers stopped to participate for half an hour or so before heading to their jobs. We bore signs denouncing the Prosperity Partnership (sic) Summit, that latest act of corporate state graft and empire building. A great many people driving to work waved or beeped their horns in support. I saw only one negative response. Most people took the leaflets. Participants involved included the Green Party, the Canadian Action Party, the NDP, Council of Canadians and the Popular Participation Movement (a radical youth movement) Since this demo was organized word of mouth and Nanaimo is relatively a small town, I think it was a success.
Labels: corporate state, grass roots struggles, resistance
More evidence that the authoritarian mentality and pedophilia are connected. See
Labels: authoritarianism, sexual abberation, social psychology
One disturbing aspect of the article below are the disputes within Venezuelas small anarchist movement. There are, as I pointed out on a number of occasions in this blog, anarchist groups which give a certain amount of critical support to the Bolivarian Revolution. El Libertario is highly critical of the Chavistas. This article denounces El Libertario's anarchist opponents as " fictitious groups paid for by the state" and considers them an aspect of Chavista repression against themselves. The critically pro-Bolivarian anarchists in turn call them "liberals" , "anti-working class tools of the right" etc. To me this all smacks of sectarianism and hence any articles coming out of the Venezuelan anarchist milieu have to be taken with a grain of salt. (1)
The newspaper Tierra y Libertad, mouthpiece of the Iberian Anarchist Federation, published in edition 227 of June 2007 this manifesto of the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF-IFA; www.iaf-ifa.org) in support of those who in Venezuela today confront the bureaucratic capitalist project of the Chavez government as well as their social democrat and right wing opponents.
In the first three months of 2007, 23 popular demonstrations were repressed by the Venezuelan government and 99 activists were detained. This fact speaks of the growing unease as well as the criminalization of social struggle in this Latin-American country, in a reality masked by the propaganda and mystification of a regime that paints itself as the vanguard of '21st Century socialism' with the support of different groupings and persons associated with the authoritarian left throughout the world.
However, those who are concerned with the real situation of the oppressed and exploited in Venezuela know the inconsistencies and contradictions of the populist government led by the militarist Hugo Chavez. Far from structurally advancing the reduction of inequalities and the increase of possibilities of social development, the government in power in Caracas continues to maintain one of the most unjust systems of distribution of wealth in the continent, further deepening the role assigned to the country by economic globalization as a secure and trustworthy provider of energy to the global market, with trans-national oil corporations as pampered partners and principal beneficiaries of the actions of the Venezuelan state. After eight and a half years of a government relying on high oil prices with the highest financial income in national history, the social results of Chavez's politics are mediocre, the most notable being the apparition of a new parasitic bourgeoisie of the client state, the 'bolivarian bourgeoisie'.
According to recent government reports and statistics, over 5 million workers, 46.5% of the labour force remain in the informal sector of the economy, 43% of workers receive a salary under the legal minimum wage, a little less than 200 dollars per month, 2.5 million people lack suitable housing, 18% of the population suffer malnutrition, the network of public hospitals displays needs and limitations of every type, 90% of the indigenous population live in poverty, more than 400 people die violently each year in prison and there is an average of 15 people assassinated every month by repressive organs of the state.
The Venezuelan government has maintained over the last five years an inter-class dispute with certain traditional sectors of the local bourgeoisie which, in the midst of a strong political-electoral polarization, has allowed the division, immobilization, and recuperation of the country's social movements. Any critic of the corrupt, inefficient and wasteful official bureaucracy would immediately qualify it as being 'at the service of imperialism', and with the excuse of confronting possible 'coup's and 'reactionary provocations', they have announced diverse laws that penalize with greater vigour street actions and strikes in the basic state industries. These are part of legal mechanisms that since 2006 have been used against popular mobilizations which, trying to recuperate their own demands, demonstrate every week for the right to personal security, decent housing, work and decent working conditions. The response of the government has been with tear gas grenades, gunshots and arrests.
Faced with the deceitful polarization experienced in this country, and specifically as a response to the presidential mandate to dissolve previously existing parties and groupings in order to integrate them in to the single party of Chavism, with the acronym PSUV, diverse Venezuelan organisations are trying to create autonomous spaces for the social movements. Amongst these are the efforts of the anarchists who from separate initiatives, such as the publication El Libertario (www.nodo50.org/ellibertario) are building an alternative that is as removed from the social democrat and right wing opposition as it is from the capitalism of the Bolivarian state. This effort by the anarchists to construct alternatives and routes that are consistently autonomous implies risks: El Libertario, for example, must face a systematic campaign of recriminations and disrepute from fictitious groups paid for by the state, thus there is a growing harassment of anti-authoritarian activism.
This manifesto wishes to remind our libertarian brothers and sisters inside Venezuela, as well as the various grass roots autonomous organisations that they have our appreciation, support and solidarity. Our anarchist organisations and initiatives will denounce, in every way they can, the incoherence and demagoguery hidden behind the alias of the 'bolivarian revolution', activating the necessary support mechanisms in response to every government attack against the concrete aspirations of social justice and liberty of the Venezuelan people.
1. Just how vicious sectarianism can be within the anarchist movement can be shown by the splits within the Spanish CNT back in the 1980's. The old guard attacked the group which later became the CGT as "traitors," "anti-anarchist" and the two groups physically attacked each other. In the 1990's, the minority split-off from the French anarcho-syndicalist CNT slandered the majority as "fascists". The International Workers Association (AIT) to which the Spanish CNT belongs, forbids its members from attending conferences sponsored by non-AIT anarcho-syndicalist unions. The AIT is notorious for its sectarianism. It is believed that El Libertario has some connection to the AIT. I should point out that only a minority of anarchists engage in this sort of thing and that most try to work together.


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Irish triathlon: Morrison struggles to 43rd at Hyde Park
Last updated on .From the section Olympics
Aileen Morrison struggled to a disappointing 43rd place finish in the Olympic women's triathlon at Hyde Park on Saturday.
The Derry woman's hopes ended after she crashed on the first lap of the cycling near Buckingham Palace.
Morrison was aiming for a place in the top 10 after a excellent build-up to the Olympics.
Switzerland's Nicola Spirig took gold after a photo finish with Lisa Norden while Erin Densham came in third.
Morrison was regarded as a medal prospect going into the Games after finishing second in races in Japan and Spain to take her up to seventh in the world rankings.
She clocked a time of 2:08.16 at Hyde Park, which was well behind Spirig and Norden, who both finished in 1:59.48.
Morrison trained at a high altitude training camp in Spain in preparation for the Olympic race.


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On Zor.bio
Zor.bio is nice agario-styled game with some cool new features. The generetic 2d io game became 3D game with a 360 degree movement.
How to play Zor.bio
Like many other io games Zor.bio is free for all game, where your task is to grow by consuming food and other players. However, the game has 3D environment and this fact has changed the whole perspective of io game. Your task is to consume colorful orbs from around the space in order to became bigger. It is recommended to stay away from the big planets because you can confuse them with the food. Those players that can consume you has indication red text — danger. So, it is easy to save yourself from these players.
Controls Zor.bio
The control in this io game is very simple. The movement and its direction follows for mouse, but because 360 degree movement it can have some difficulties in the start. Use W key to boost your planet forward at the cost of your size, and use S key (and hold it) if you want to stop your blob on one spot.


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Rose Oud - Black Candle
Floral rose blends with smoky arabian oud, clove and praline. This complex and luxurious combination creates a soft, rich and uplifting fragrance.
This unique hand poured soy wax candle created by Union of London uses quality fragrances and essential oils for a clean burn. Wide cotton wick creates a broad flame, generating a great scent throw and an even pool of wax.
Large size: H10cm x W8.5cm - Weight: 290g, 10.2oz Burn Time: +35hrs £35
Medium size: H10cm x W8.5cm - Weight: 185g, 6.5oz Burn Time: +25hrs £25
Small size: H6.5cm x W5.5cm - Weight: 75g, 2.6oz Burn Time: +18hrs £15
Material: Soy Wax
Care: Keep wick trimmed
Votive: Gloss black glass
Origin: UK
Free from: Petroleum, Phthalates & Preservatives


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This is one of the sketches i made while trying to design my Sumerian concept series. I thought it could look nice when printed.
I'm an illustrator and concept artist painting for video games, books, tabletop games and movies.
This is a gallery-quality giclée art print on 100% cotton rag archival paper, printed with archival inks. Each art print is listed by sheet size and features a minimum one-inch border.


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4 Items
Facebook, online political advertising under fire following Cambridge Analytica data breach | The Drum
NewsPublication Date: 2018-03-17
Facebook and its data practices have been attacked by numerous government officials following revelations that Cambridge Analytica clandestinely gained access to the information of 50 million users. Cambridge Analyica, which has now been suspended from Facebook, stands accused of fraudulently obtaining Facebook user data and then using it to run election ads on US president Donald Trump's behalf. Facebook's vice president and deputy general counsel, Paul Grewal, admitted in a post yesterday...
Targeting by Interests | Reddit Help
NewsPublication Date: 2016-11-07
Interest Targeting With over 250 million users, it can be difficult to know how best to reach your audience. Interest targeting gives you the ability to pinpoint your audience whether you're a seasoned Reddit marketer or new to Reddit Ads. Why Should I Use Interest Targeting: With interest targeting, you can display your ad to the right audience based off a user's browsing behavior on Reddit! How Interest Targeting Works: Targeting an interest group means you are targeting users who have...
Google Canada rejects allegations it's mismanaging user data | CBC News
The former head of Research in Motion warned government officials today of the risks of failing to regulate tech giants, while Google Canada's head of public policy rejected allegations the company is failing to transparently and securely manage data. "It's a complex issue because this is the biggest force in the history of capitalism, where six companies come from nowhere to be the most valuable companies in the world in a very short period of time," Jim Balsillie, chair of the Council of C...
In Its Own User Base, Facebook Confronts a Wide and Varied World
The latest shoe has dropped on Facebook: Private data on 50 million users found its way to a shadowy research outfit, Global Science Research, and then on to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm launched by former White House adviser Steve Bannon. How does Zuckerberg convert his apology into action while respecting the vastly differing circumstances that his network connects? Zuckerberg has come out with a mea culpa for this latest breach of digital trust. But his company's glob...


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That Shade Of Confidence Looks Hot As FUCK On You
This is a fancy AF giclée print on fine art, archival Hahnemhle Photo Rag 308gsm paper.
PLEASE NOTE: I print to order. The print time is approximately 3-7 business days. Standard shipping of the item is approximately 3 – 7 business days, however due to COVID-19 I want to stress there have been very unpredictable prolonged wait times which are out of my control sorry! ALL orders that total $50 or above will automatically come with tracking. Orders under $50 will not come with tracking and cannot be refunded if they go missing. You can purchase tracking and/or the Express Post option in the 'Shipping' section of my store. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch!


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Price: £49.50 Buy Now
This classic slip-on from Fin's with it's super-soft lining and suede heel-toe patches are the perfect way to bring a little luxury to Winter mornings. Beautifully gift boxed, these make an ideal gift.
Ships to: United Kingdom, Ireland, Mainland Europe
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© People Love Presents 2020 Web design by D3R


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Foundation Seeks To Boost Schools Awareness of Asthma
In response to the growing number of children who have asthma, a private group has joined forces with federal officials to teach educators about the causes of and treatments for the chronic disease.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America is set later this month to begin distributing an informational poster about asthma to schools across the country.
"I think most school personnel, just like the general population, are unaware about asthma," said Mary Worstell, the foundation's executive director.
The group developed the poster together with officials from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
Health officials estimate that at least 10 million Americans--one third of them under age 18--have asthma.
In recent years, the number of children with the disease, especially black children, has been on the upswing. Between 1983 and 1985, 4.4 percent of white children and 5.6 percent of black children had asthma, government statistics show. Between 1988 and 1990, however, the rate increased to 5.4 percent of white children and 7 percent of black children.
Experts said that better diagnosis of the disease, along with a rise in indoor-air pollution, may be responsible for the upsurge in cases.
Although medication can control asthma, many children are not receiving it, federal statistics show. Between 1979 and 1987, there was a 43 percent increase in the percentage of children who were hospitalized for asthma. And black children, the statistics show, are more likely than white children to be hospitalized for and to die from asthma. Despite the higher prevalence of the disease, asthma experts say, teachers and other educators often are unaware of the symptoms of and treatments for asthma, a chronic illness in which the airways become temporarily narrowed or blocked when affected by a "trigger," which could include exercise, cold air, or allergens.
Many school officials, they note, do not know that most children who are treated for asthma can participate in physical activities. The experts also say that educators sometimes do not take the physical complaints of asthmatic students seriously, which can lead to a medical emergency.
New Guide
A new guide developed by the National Asthma Education Program, which is run by the heart, lung, and blood institute, and the U.S. Education Department aims to increase asthma awareness in schools.
According to the guide, which will be sent to school officials later this month, educators should know the early warning signs of asthma, one of the leading causes of school absences. These include shortness of breath, coughing, increased breathing rate, and wheezing.
Educators should also know that asthma medications can cause children to be drowsy or tired, it says.
Schools, the guide says, should develop plans for dealing with children who have an asthma attack, including a list of medications that the child should receive and emergency phone numbers.
It says schools should develop policies that allow asthmatics to receive medication when they need it. Children with asthma, experts say, can participate in physical education if they take their medication at least 20 minutes before class. But many pupils feel embarrassed about having to leave their previous class early in order to receive the medication from a school nurse, experts note.
Ms. Worstell and others also noted that many schools forbid children with asthma and other chronic diseases to carry their own medication. At the same time, many districts have cut back on the number of school nurses they hire, making it difficult to ensure that these children are properly medicated.
Vivian Haines, the coordinator of health services for the Council Rock, Pa., school district, said the junior high school she works in, which has 40 known asthmatics out of a student population of 950, is highly sensitive to the needs of these children. But others schools, she said, are not.
"We know that in some schools, the secretary is taking care of children with asthma," she said.
Vol. 11, Issue 19, Page 5Published in Print: January 29, 1992, as Foundation Seeks To Boost Schools Awareness of Asthma
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Acidgrass: New Riders of the Purple Sage, electric and eclectic.
By Greg Cahill
Talk about a ringing endorsement. In 1970, some of rock's biggest stars--including Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and a relatively unknown sideman named Buddy Cage--took a rail tour across Canada, a moment captured in Bob Smeaton's 2004 rockumentary Festival Express. Unbeknownst to Cage, that trip would provide a ticket across a psychedelic landscape and a charter membership in the progressive-country band the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
A few weeks before the tour began, Jerry Garcia, who was pulling double duty as the New Riders' pedal-steel player, had announced that he was backing out of NRPS, just weeks before the release of their first album. "The Dead were in debt to Warner Bros. and he needed to concentrate on that band," Cage explains, "and he didn't feel like he knew the instrument all that well.
"He told the Riders, 'Look, you need a ringer, you need a real steel player.'"
They didn't have to look far. During the festival's first stop, Garcia and NRPS guitarist David Nelson heard Cage playing from across a football field, backing folkies Ian and Sylvia. "Garcia said, 'Oh, man, that's the ringer.' When we got on the train that night, he asked me if I'd be interested in doing that gig."
Cage never looked back. For the next 12 years, he helped engineer an acid-drenched country sound that put them in league with such prairie rats as the Flying Burrito Brothers and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
Next week, Cage will team up with Nelson, a Petaluma resident, at the Mystic Theatre for their second tour after reuniting last fall for the first time since 1982. "For us, it was a kick to come up and do it again," says Cage during a phone interview from his East Village apartment. "We just fell right into it. It was really good, man!"
For stoners who had survived the onslaught of acid-rock and prog-rock during the late '60s and early '70s, NRPS offered a breath of fresh air in a desert of ponderous sonorities. Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart conceived of the band as a way to explore bluegrass music between the Dead's country-inflected albums Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden later replaced Hart. Garcia and Lesh also moved on. But the New Riders continued to lure Deadheads, with Nelson stepping in and out of both bands. In 1973, Cage convinced esteemed Nashville insider Norbert Putnam to produce NRPS' fourth album, The Adventures of Panama Red, built around a catchy Peter Rowan-penned ballad about pot smugglers.
"Norbert knew better than to make the album sound like a slick Chet Atkins session," Cage says.
The album captured a freewheeling California spirit centered largely in the North Bay--a mythic landscape strewn with good vibes and lazy days that would soon give way to the harsh cosmopolitan realities of cocaine.
The album is a classic. "Musically, it can do a lot to teach modern-day alt-country cookie cutters something about knowing the rules before trying to break them," critic Thom Jurek writes in the All Music Guide.
Cage would go on to perform on Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks sessions and tour with the Band, but Panama Red still sums up the musical explorations that took him from straight-ahead folk and country to the cutting edge.
"Here was this burgeoning '60s scene, and everybody was experimenting with all sorts of things: folk bands, rock bands and metal bands, all looking at me and wondering what I was up to with this weird instrument," he says of his unwieldy pedal steel. "I mean here were these Indian guys dressed in linen and smoking menthols asking, 'Hey, can you play raga music with that?' And I'd tell them, 'Sure,' even though I didn't even know what raga music was.
"I just had to make that instrument fit in. Working it into the scene with the Dead and the Riders turned out to be the real McCoy--this wasn't some fucking hippie-dippy deal; this was our ethos, this was what we felt like doing. And we knew that we would buck the system at every turn.
"I mean, we weren't into this for the money," he adds. "Believe me, if you're into the music for money, you're into it for the wrong reason."
The New Riders of the Purple Sage perform Saturday, April 8, at the Mystic Theatre. 21 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. 8pm. $22. 707.765.2121.


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Hi friends, Rebecca here. My husband, Chris, and I live in beautiful northern New Hampshire where God placed me as a young child, and it's where we've raised our own children. It feels like Heaven on Earth to me (except for the frigid cold, at times, in the winter – I'm sure God doesn't allow cold like that in Heaven).
Welcome to my virtual home. Thank you for visiting. Make yourself comfortable. I pray that while you're here you'll feel encouraged to place God, first and foremost, at your center. In that intimate space, you'll experience true unconditional love and a peace that does pass all understanding. True peace is only found in a personal relationship with Christ. There will be troubles here during our Earthly walk, but God is an amazing refuge! His qualities are satisfying and yet keep us longing for more of Him. Join me on this journey. Let's experience the narrow path together as we are fed by and led by His Holy Spirit.
Browse around and check out what goes on in my neck of the woods. Though my goal is to illustrate what God can do in your life when you entrust it to Him, I'm sharing all He's done in mine as well; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Enjoy your visit, drop me a line to say hi, and come back often!
Latest Blogs
Join me on this earthly journey as I blog the adventures and messages our Lord prompts, allows, and carries me through. Life's messy, but Christ's peace is available to all of us. Let's embrace Him.
Behind the Scenes of the Christmas Story
When God speaks His promises to our hearts, prophesies on our lives, He's working behind the scenes to achieve the goal. What then, when we've not seen results? When will they come to pass?
The Living God
It was the middle of the night. Life had changed for me. I felt like I'd returned home, a child of God who'd been lost in a chaos that'd held me captive for too long. Evil works like that, using circumstances to draw our attention away from the living...
God Altered My Life
My publisher had closed unexpectedly and my own marketing efforts came to an end. I run my husband's vinyl record shop now, but God altered my life for good reason.
Latest Video Messages
I love to tell the story of Jesus and His love, of how wonderful a personal relationship with Him is, and the strength and power He imparts when we trust in Him. I share some of the messages God has put on my heart through video. Check them out here.


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Open Europe state, in today's press summary, that: The Sunday Times reported that the EU referendum 'No' campaign is in talks with at least eight cabinet ministers about joining the call for withdrawal. Leaked documents show that the campaign's chief executive will be Matthew Elliott, the founder of the Business for Britain group. The director of operations will be Victoria Woodcock, Michael Gove's former private secretary, while Georgiana Bristol, a fundraiser for Boris Johnson's 2008 London mayoral campaign, will be development director.
Tag Archives: Matthew Elliott
Talking Heads
We read in the Telegraph that George Osborne hails the written agreement that a loan to Greece via the EFSM – which he said was not on the table (ie, it won't be happening) has been successfully agreed; and that any liabiility against non-repayment is insured. He continues by stating that because the Government refused to compromise its principles, it demonstrates a red-line they will not cross.
The media appears unable to express any incredulity that if one agreement can be torn-up, then just when in the future will this latest agreement suffer the same fate. This entire episode brings to mind 'Referism' incorporated in the 6 Demands of The Harrogate Agreement (specifically Demand #4).


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THE LARGEST SOLAR ENERGY PLANT IN UKRAINE RELIES ON FRONIUS ECO INVERTERSTokmak is a small town in the southern part of central Ukraine. In 2018, the local installation company Tokmak Solar Energy completed Ukraine's largest PV system, which generates an impressive 51.9 MWp of solar energy. The solar energy plant is therefore making an extraordinary contribution to increasing the role of renewables in Ukraine's energy mix. Find out more
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Winona State Warriors team begins practice remembering their fallen teammate
Shawn Afryl, 22, died in July during voluntary workout
WINONA, Minn. (WKBT) — Football season kicks off at Winona State Thursday, but it's with a bit of a heavy heart for athletes and coaches.
Last month, 22-year-old Shawn Afryl collapsed and died on the field about 20 minutes into a voluntary workout. Medical staff and coaches tried CPR, but were unsuccessful.
The Warriors are looking to use Shawn's memory as motivation this season.
Afryl spent three season at the University of Illinois where he graduated with a degree in political science last year. He came to Winona State to be a defensive linemen and pursue a degree in education to be a social studies teacher.
Afryl was only around the team for a few short weeks, but he made quite an impression, which the Warriors have rallied around to kick off their season.
Maxwell Field will never be the same. Nor will any of the players on the Winona State Football team.
"That was–for the guys that experienced it was just such a huge tragedy on our team, but at the end of the day it kind of brought us closer together," running back Theo Burkett said.
Even though Afryl isn't physically on the field for the first practice of the season, he will always be on the field with his teammates.
"He's going to play a huge role in this season even though he's left us he's going to be a huge part of this season for the Winona State Warriors," linebacker Ryan Gerts said.
"It's going to be a motivation that I feel like no other team has," Burkett said.
Head coach Tom Sawyer says the season begins with a bit of an empty feeling. He said Thursday's practice is a time for the team to reflect and talk about Afryl. It's also a time to begin paying tribute to his memory.
"Just like Shawn would want to be, we want to get out and get going. We'll think about it, we'll make homage to it, but the most important part is to know what he would really want and that's he'd want these guys out doing everything they can to be the best football player they can be," Sawyer said.
"The loss of a loved one or teammate, which is a loved one, everyone is going to handle that and process that a little bit different, but it's difficult," athletic director Eric Schoh said.
"He is always going to be in our hearts, he is always going to be one of our guys, once a Warrior, always a Warrior," Gerts said.
Schoh said Afryl's family has started the Shawn Patrick Afryl #56 Shoe Fund, which will donate athletic shoes for under privileged high school athletes. Growing up his family didn't always have enough money for new football cleats so Afryl wore old ones for many years. When he played at Illinois, when he got new shoes with the team, he would keep his old ones and give the new ones to kids in his home community.
Winona State University will be honoring Afryl's family at their first home game of the season Sept. 13. There will also be a moment of silence held at the team's season opener at Northern State in Aberdeen, South Dakota Sept. 4.